he
first of that long list of military insurrections that have afflicted
Mexico. It was an insurrection of the Creole supporters of the
government, and rendered the government powerless at once. Colonel
Iturbide had distinguished himself, as a Creole soldier, by his
courage, and by the cruelty which he exercised toward the first
insurgents.

When an officer in the service of the king in the first insurrection
obtained a victory, he went to make his offering, not at the shrine of
the Virgin of Guadalupe, but at the shrine of the Virgin of Remedies,
so that as long as the Spanish cause prospered, the shrine of Guadalupe
remained in obscurity; but as soon, however, as Iturbide and the
Creoles deserted the cause of the king and joined the national
standard, the Lady of Guadalupe was made the national patroness, and
the order of Guadalupe was established as the first and only order of
the empire, while Our Lady of Remedies sank into obscurity. This gave
occasion to an unbelieving Mexican to remark that the revolution was a
war between the Blessed Virgins, and that she of Guadalupe had
triumphed over her that had taken shelter in the plant.

As soon as the tidings of the plan of Iguala reached Vera Cruz, Santa
Anna hastened to give in his adhesion to the cause now truly national,
which guaranteed equal rights to all under the united leadership of
Iturbide and of General Guerrero, the only remaining Creole leader of
the first insurrection still in arms. On the 18th day of March, 1821,
he was the first to proclaim the plan of Iguala in the Plaza of Vera
Cruz. This promptness of Santa Anna in proclaiming the independence
determined many who were hesitating in dread of a bombardment from
Spanish forces in the Castle of San Juan de Ulua; and this important
step it was which first brought him prominently into notice. As a
consequence of this political movement, Santa Anna was appointed second
in command in Vera Cruz.

CHAPTER III.

Incidents of Travel.--The Great Road to the Interior.--Mexican
Diligences.--The Priest was the first Passenger robbed.--The National
Bridge.--A Conducta of Silver.--Our Monk visits Old Vera Cruz.--They
grant to the Indians Forty Years of Indulgence in return for their
Hospitality.--The Artist among Robbers.--Mexican Scholars in the United
States.--Encerro.

A railroad eleven miles in length, crossing the morass, connects Vera
Cruz with the great National Road to the table-land of the inter