about to die, he confessed all to the priest. Most of the clergy were hand in hand with the tyrants, and this one of the fraternity, though bound by oath not to reveal the secrets of the confessional, lost no time in spreading the news.
Tidings came to Hidalgo late one evening in December. Not a moment was to be lost. Messengers were sent to the captain of a regiment, La Rexia, near by, who was also one of the conspirators. He came with his men early the next morning, and the standard of Mexican independence hastily set up before the curate's door attracted all eyes. The villagers flew to arms. In twelve days twenty thousand Indians had gathered about this new flag, the first that had roused any enthusiasm since the old tribal banners had been laid low. They were a motley crowd, armed with slings, bows, clubs, lances and the machetes, or hoes, with which they tilled the soil. Very few besides the soldiers had muskets or knew how to handle them. Hidalgo put on a general's dress and marched at the head of the mob to Guanajuato. Every ranche and every hamlet on the way had furnished new recruits to join the wild shout,"Death to the gachupines and independence for Mexico!" Then Hidalgo arrested the gachupines. The whole city was in an uproar. The next morning he presented his cause to the people and carried all hearts before him. The citizens rose almost to a man and joined the insurgents.
But the partisans of Hidalgo were a cruel and lawless mob. Unused to war, they could not be held in check, and divided councils soon imperiled the cause so righteously begun. On the march to the capital his army increased to one hundred thousand men. The leading classes were by this time in arms against them, and their
