Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/193

MEXICO. given to it. His examination was conducted by the Oidor Bataller, (whose insolent assertion of the natural superiority of the Spaniards to the Creoles, is said first to have roused Morelos into action,) and was not of long duration. On the 22d of December, 1815, Concha was charged to remove him from the prisons of the Inquisition to the hospital of San Christoval, behind which the sentence pronounced against him was to be carried into execution. On arriving there, he dined in company with Concha, whom he afterwards embraced, and thanked for his kindness. He then confessed himself, and walked, with the most perfect serenity, to the place of execution. The short prayer which he pronounced there, deserves to be recorded for its affecting simplicity. " Lord, if I have done well, thou knowest it ; if ill, to thy infinite mercy I commend my soul !" After this appeal to the Supreme Ju^ige, he fastened with his own hands a handkerchief about his eyes, gave the signal to the soldiers to fire, and met death with as much composure as he had ever shown when facing it on the field of battle.