Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/237

But it was an illusion to suppose that any intimate union could be effected, where the passions had been reciprocally excited by so long a series of inveterate hostility. Creoles might forgive Creoles for the part which they had taken in the preceding struggle ; but Spaniards, never : and from the first, the basis of " Union," which was one of the three " Guarantees " proposed by the plan of Ĭgŭālă, was wanting. The idea itself was singular. Iturbide, conceiving that Independence, the Maintenance of the Catholic Religion, and Union, were the three great objects which he ought to hold in view, denominated them, "the three Guarantees," and the troops who agreed to uphold them, "the Army of the three Guarantees." As a proof of his own principles, by the first Article of his plan, the Independence of the nation was de- clared ; by the second, its religion fixed ; and by the eighth, the crown offered to his Majesty Ferdinand VII., and, in case of his refusal, to the Infants Don Carlos and Don Francisco de Paula, provided any one of them would consent to occupy the throne in person. Such was the project, which was proclaimed on the 24th of February, 1821, at the little town of Iguala, (on the road to Acapulco,) where Iturbide had then his head-quarters. His whole force, at the time, did not exceed eight hundred men, and of these, though all, at first, took the oath of fidelity to the plan of Iguala, many deserted when they found that it was not received by the country at large, with the enthusiasm that was expected. There was a moment when Iturbide's progress might, undoubtedly, have been checked ; but it was lost by the indecision of the Vice- roy, who hesitated to put himself at the head of a force, which he had concentrated for the defence of the Capital. The Europeans, alarmed at this delay, deposed him, (as they had done Iturrigaray, in 1808,) and placed Don Francisco Nŏvēllaă, an officer of artillery, at the head of affairs : but the authority of the new Viceroy was not generally recognized, and Iturbide was enabled by this schism in the Capital, to