CHAPTER I.
1809–1810.
LIANZA VICEROY.—AUDIENCIA.—VENEGAS VICEROY.—TRUE SOURCES OF THE REVOLUTION.—CREOLES LOYAL TO FERDINAND.—SPANIARDS IN FAVOR OF KING JOSEPH.—MEXICAN SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR SPAIN.—SECRET UNION IN MEXICO AGAINST SPANIARDS.—HIDALGO—ALLENDE—FIRST OUTBREAK.—GUANAJUATO SACKED—LAS CRUCES.—MEXICO MENACED.—INDIAN BRAVERY AT ACULCO.—MARFIL—MASSACRE AT GUANAJUATO—CALLEJA.—INSURGENTS DEFEATED—EXECUTION OF HIDALGO.
The Archbishop Francisco Xavier de Lianza,
LVIII. Viceroy of New Spain.
The Audiencia of Mexico, and Venegas, LIX. Viceroy.
1809–1810.
The pictures presented in the introductory chapter to the viceroyal history and in the subsequent detailed narrative of that epoch, will suffice, we presume, to convince our readers that they need not penetrate deeply for the true causes of misery and misrule in Spanish America. The decadence of Spain as well as the present unhappiness of nearly all her ancient colonies may be fairly attributed to the same source of national ruin—bad, unnatural government. A distinguished statesman of our country has remarked that "the European alliance of emperors and kings assumed, as the foundation of human society, the doctrine of unalienable allegiance, whilst our doctrine was founded on the principle of unalienable right." [51] This mistaken European view, or rather assumption of royal prerogative and correlative human duties, was the baleful origin of colonial misrule. The house of Austria did not govern Spain as wisely as its predecessors. The Spain that Philip I. received and the Spain of those who followed him, present a sad contrast. As the conquest of America had not been conceived, although it was declared to be, in a beneficent spirit, the sovereigns continued the system of plunder with which it was begun. Its results are known. The Americans were their subjects, bound to them by "unalienable allegiance;" vassals, serfs creatures, whose human rights, in effect, were nothing when compared to the monarch's will. This doctrine at once converted the southern portions of our continent into a soulless machine, which the king had a right to use as he pleased, and especially, as he deemed most beneficial for his domestic realm. The consequence was, that, in concurrence with the Council of the Indies, he established, as we have seen, an entirely artificial system, which contradicted nature, and utterly thwarted both physical and intellectual development.
The Indians and creoles of Mexico and Peru, ignorant and stupid as they were believed to be by Spain, had, nevertheless, sense enough to understand and feel the wretchedness of their condition. They cherished in their hearts an intense hatred for their foreign masters. There was no positive or merely natural enmity of races in this, but rather a suppressed desire to avenge their wrongs.
When the French seized Spain, the colonies in America were, for a period, forced to rely upon themselves for temporary government. They did not, at once, desire to adopt republican institutions, but rather adhered to monarchy, provided they could free themselves from bad rulers and vicious laws. This especially was the case in Mexico. Her war against the mother country originated in a loyal desire to be completely independent of France. The news of the departure of Ferdinand VII. for Bayonne, and the alleged perfidy of Napoleon in that city, excited an enthusiasm among the Mexicans for the legitimate king, and created a mortal hatred against the conqueror of Europe. All classes of original Mexican society seem to have been united in these sentiments. Subscriptions were freely opened and in a few months, seven millions were collected to aid their Peninsular friends who were fighting for religion, king, and nationality. The idea did not strike any Mexican that it was a proper time to free his native land entirely from colonial thraldom. [52] But after a short time, the people began to reflect. The prestige of Spanish power, to which we have alluded heretofore, was destroyed. A French king sat upon the Spanish throne. The wand of the enchanter, with which he had spell-bound America across the wide Atlantic, was broken forever. The treasured memory of oppression, conquest, bad government and misery, was suddenly refreshed, and it is not surprising to find that when the popular rising finally took place, it manifested its bitterness in an universal outcry against the Spaniards.
After the occurrences at Bayonne, emissaries from king Joseph Bonaparte spread themselves over the continent to prepare the people for the ratification and permanence of the French government. These political propagandists were charged, as we have stated with orders from Ferdinand VII. and the Council of the Indies, to transfer the allegiance of America to France. [53] It may be imagined that this would have gratified the masses in America, who perhaps, had heard that the French were the unquestionable patrons of "liberty and equality." But, the exact reverse was the case among the creoles, whilst the Spaniards in America, received the emissaries with welcome, and bowed down submissively to the orders they brought. Blinded for centuries to all ideas of government save those of regal character, the Mexicans had no notion of rule or ruler except their traditionary Spanish king. They clung to him, therefore, with confidence, for they felt the necessity of some paramount authority, as political self control was, as yet, an utter impossibility.
A secret union among leading men was, therefore, formed in 1810, which contemplated a general rising throughout the provinces, but the plot was detected at the moment when it was ripe for development. This conspiracy was based upon a desire to overthrow the Spaniards. "They felt," says Mr. Ward, "that the question was not now one between themselves as subjects, but between themselves and their fellow subjects, the European Spaniards, as to which should possess the right of representing the absent king," as guardians and preservers of the rights of Ferdinand. The Europeans claimed this privilege exclusively, with customary insolence. "The Ayuntamiento of Mexico was told by the Audiencia that it possessed no authority except over the leperos"—or mob of the capital; and it was a favorite maxim of the oidor Battaller that "while a Manchego mule or a Castilian cobler remained in the Peninsula, he had a right to govern." [54]
In those times, a certain country curate, by name Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, dwelt in the Indian village of Dolores, adjacent to the town of San Miguel el Grande, lying in the province of Guanajuanto. One of the conspirators being about to die, sent for his priest, and confessing the plot, revealed also the names of his accomplices. The curate Hidalgo was one of the chiefs of this revolutionary band, and the viceroy Venegas hoping to crush the league in its bud, despatched orders for his arrest and imprisonment, as soon as the confession of the dead conspirator was disclosed to him. Hidalgo's colleagues were also included in this order, but some of the secret friends of the insurgents learned what was occurring at court and apprised the patriot priest of his imminent danger. The news first reached Don Ignacio Allende, who commanded a small body of the king's troops in San Miguel, and who hastened with the disastrous tidings to his friend at Dolores. Concealment and flight were now equally unavailing. The troops of Allende were speedily won to the cause of their captain, while the Indians of Dolores rushed to defend their beloved pastor. As they marched from their village to San Miguel and thence to Zelaya, the natives, armed with clubs, slings, staves and missiles, thronged to their ranks from every mountain and valley. The wretched equipment of the insurgents shows their degraded condition as well as the passionate fervor with which they blindly rushed upon the enemies of their race. Hidalgo put on his military coat over the cassock, and, perhaps unwisely, threw himself at the head of a revolution, which rallied at the cry of "Death to the Gachupines." [55]