their colleagues, and becoming alarmed, the deputies, to the number of thirty-seven, finally embarked.[1]
The command given Iturbide was not the most suitable for carrying out his purposes, and he even accepted it with some reluctance.[2] It comprised the region extending from the districts of Tasco and Iguala to the coast, and was divided from one end to the other by the river Mescala, which separated the Goleta range, occupied by Ascensio Alquisiras as a subordinate of Guerrero, from the Sierra Madre on the south, where Guerrero had established his headquarters, in the vicinity of Ajuchitlan and the Coronilla Mountains.
Iturbide endeavored to prevail on the viceroy to place at his command the largest possible force and pecuniary means; and his correspondence is replete with flattering promises and assurances of devotion, couched in phraseology, however, carrying a double meaning.[3] The call for an increased force was apparently well grounded. The troops hitherto serving
- ↑ The deputies wanted independence provided it dropped from heaven. At one time they thought of joining Iturbide, but were deterred by the fear that the viceroy might be alarmed and frustrate Iturbide's plans. They accordingly embarked for Cuba. Pedraza, Manif., 9-10. In this connection Alaman's biographer says that Alaman and other deputies were informed in Jan. 1821, by one of their number, Juan Gomez Navarrete, of Iturbide's plan for independence, and asked not to embark, but to meet in congress at the opportune time. There being good reason, however, to fear the government had now suspicions, they departed on the 13th of February. Even those who had no intention of going to Spain did so, but tarried at Habana to await coming events. Alaman, Apuntes Biog., 12-13; Id., Hist. Méj., v. 87-9; Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 403-4; Gaz. de Mex., 1821, xii. 285-7.
- ↑ On account of the insalubrity of the climate. In 1811 he had been twice at the point of death from disease in the tierra caliente. The viceroy verbally promised to relieve him soon. Prior to his departure, doubtless with the view of better concealing his intent, he addressed a petition through the viceroy to the king for promotion to a brigadiership, and in a private note to Secretary Badillo asked his good offices with the viceroy to forward his wishes. Liceaga, Adic. y Rectific., 389-90. Alaman declares that he saw the note in Badillo's possession. Hist. Méj., v. 68.
- ↑ In a letter of Nov. 19, 1820, he pledges himself to embody in his future statements only such facts as behooved an honorable man, declaring at the same time that his purpose was to restore order and to operate to the viceroy's glory by bringing peace to the whole country. He assures Apodaca that after striking the blow he has planned, the troops may go back to their respective stations, and 'if in the mean time the capital (which God forfend) should demand attention,' he would rush to its succor, as well as to any other place that might need it. Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., v. 93-4.
