granted.[1] Next day news came that Vicente Fernandez with a force from Tlahuelilpan was approaching to relieve Pachuca. With some difficulty Madera satisfied the insurgents that there had been no treachery on his part; and to convince them, he went with a priest of the apostolic college to request Fernandez to retire. But during the conference the latter chief noticed that insurgents were occupying positions in his rear; indeed, they had opened fire on his men. He therefore beat a retreat, and the insurgents used this as a pretext to arrest all the Spaniards and convey them to Sultepec.[2] The viceroy, in ignorance of the occurrences at Pachuca, on the 25th of April despatched 300 men with two howitzers to bring away the silver bars, and provide the place with coin and tobacco; but the force only reached San Cristóbal and returned on the 27th.
The repeated losses thus sustained by the royalists in the last two months greatly troubled Venegas, who in his correspondence with Calleja clearly intimated that the capture of Cuautla was a question of life or death. Had the insurgents acted together under one or more leaders, and on some uniform plan,
- ↑ The terms of capitulation were: All arms and valuables of the royal treasury, including upwards of 200 bars of silver, were to be surrendered, and in consideration thereof the lives of the soldiers and Spaniards were guaranteed, and passports were to be given the latter to go where they pleased. The troops were left free to join the revolution if they desired; many of the men and one Spaniard, named Videgaray, did so. Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., i. 369-73.
- ↑ Madera was left free and joined Las Piedras at Tulancingo. He was never again trusted with a command. The conde de Casa Alta, though carried to Sultepec, was suspected of having gone there not unwillingly because he was of the family of the late viceroy Iturrigaray, and had been his master of the horse. His subsequent conduct strengthened the suspicion. The count certainly remained with the independents till his death, which occurred shortly after from disease in a small town of Michoacan. The insurgents divided the booty; a portion of the bars were sent to Rayon, and a portion reserved for Morelos; some were coined by Osorno under Beristain's direction, at Zacatlan. It was stated that Serrano paid one silver bar for a pair of fancy shoes of the kind used by the country people at their feasts. The infringement of the capitulation at Pachuca, sustained by the junta at Sultepec, was an evidence that Doctor Cos' plan de guerra really had no weight with the existing powers. The Spaniards, with the exception of three who escaped, were shot. It was alleged that they had attempted to escape. Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 577-81; iii. 152-3; Zamacois, Hist. Mej., viii. 348-52; Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 717-20.
