whom was Ignacio Allende, a man of wealth and of noble Spanish descent,
and a captain of dragoons in the army. These men, with a few intimates,
consulted often and matured their plans, confident that the desire for
liberty was strong in the country and that the patriot people needed only
a leader to break out into insurrection.

Hidalgo's eager desire for liberty, long smouldering, burst into flame in
1810, when the Spanish authorities attempted to arrest in Queretaro some
revolutionists who had talked too freely. Warned of their danger, these
men fled or concealed themselves. News of this came quickly to Hidalgo and
taught him that with his reputation there was but one of two things to do,
he must flee or strike. He decided to strike, and in this he was supported
by Allende, whose liberty was also in danger.

The decisive step was taken on the 15th of September, 1810. That night
Hidalgo was roused from slumber by one of his liberty-loving friends, and
told that the hour had come. Calling his brother to his aid and summoning
a few of those in the secret, he led the small party of revolutionists to
the prison, broke it open, and set free certain men who had been seized
for their liberal ideas.

This took place in the early hours of a Sunday. When day broke and the
countrymen of the neighboring parish came to early mass the news of the
night's event spread among them rapidly and caused great excitement. To a
man they took the side of Hidalgo, and before the day grew old he found
himself at the head of a small band of ardent revolutionists. They at once
set out for San Miguel le Grande, the nearest town, into which marched
before nightfall of the day a little party of eighty men, the nucleus of
the Mexican revolution. For standard they bore a picture of the Holy
Virgin of Guadalupe, taken from a village church. New adherents came to
their ranks till they were three hundred strong. Such was the movement
known in Mexico as the "Grito de Dolores," their war-cry, the _Grito_,
being, "Up with True Religion, and down with False Government."

Never before had an insurrection among the submissive common people been
known in Mexico. When news of it came to the authorities they were
stupefied with amazement. That peasants and townspeople, the plain workers
of the land, should have opinions of their own about government and the
rights of man was to them a thing too monstrous to be endured, but for the
time being they were so dumf