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MEXICO IN 1827.

where it was not credited at first, so firmly was every one convinced of his death; but as soon as it was known that Guădĕlūpĕ Vĭctōriă was indeed in existence, all the old Insurgents rallied around him. In an incredibly short time, he induced the whole Province, with the exception of the fortified towns, to declare for Independence, and then set out to join Iturbide, who was, at that time, preparing for the siege of Mexico. He was received with great apparent cordiality; but his independent spirit was too little in unison with Iturbide's projects, for this good understanding to continue long. Victoria had fought for a liberal form of Government, and not merely for a change of masters; and Iturbide, unable to gain him over, drove him again into the woods during his short-lived reign, from whence he only returned to give the signal for a general rising against the too ambitious Emperor.

I have now brought the history of the Revolution up to the year 1817, which was distinguished by the expedition of Don Xavier Mina, the famous Spanish Guerilla chief, (nephew to Espoz y Mina, now in England,) who, driven from Spain by his unsuccessful attempt to create a rising in favour of the Cortes, at Pampeluna, after the dissolution of that assembly by the King, resolved to advocate the same cause in Mexico, and landed for that purpose on the coast, with a small body of foreigners, (principally Americans,) on the 15th of April 1817.

Nothing could be more unfortunate than the mo-