Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/69

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YERMO AS LEADER.
53

person of the viceroy should be seized, and the government of the country held for Spain. Yerrno told his associates that if he took the lead the affair must be conducted without display of any rancorous feelings, that bloodshed must be avoided, and the proposed coup d'état accomplished in a single night.

Assembling in the city a force composed of faithful laborers on his estate, [1] he next proceeded to gain over the officers of the palace guard. This force was composed of a company drawn from the infantry regiment organized and paid by the merchants of the capital, [2] who moreover had the appointment of the officers. These, being selected from the commercial class, were with few exceptions devoted to the European faction, and it would not be difficult to win over the officers of a single company. The troops of the viceroy were already drawing near to the city, and the active conspirators, who numbered three hundred, appointed the night of the 14th of September. The viceroy had been several times warned of the plot, and had it not been for his egotism, apathy, and obstinacy, he might have prevented it. [3]

  1. Bustamante, in making mention of this fact, apologizes to Yermo's family for doing so. 'Protesto. . . no es mi animo ofender en nada á la virtuosa familia de aquel ciudadano, justamente apreciada hoy en México.' Cavo, Tres Siglos., iii. 238.
  2. Called el regimiento del comercio. Each day a company of this regiment formed the guard of the viceregal palace.
  3. 'Conduciase en todo como un hombre narcotizado. ' Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., i., carta 1a, 5. A month before Bustamante had informed Iturrigaray that a conspiracy was on foot to seize his person and depose him, but the viceroy paid no heed to him. A woman, also, presented a paper to him one day as he was leaving the palace and implored him to read it, as it revealed a plot to make him captive. Others warned him to no purpose. Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 236-7. Iturrigaray states in his defence that at the commencement of the conspiracy a youth unknown to him informed him that the oidores were forming a design to seize him. Alaman, Hist. Mcj., i. 244-5.