l Creoles, and by a far larger number of the
middle classes, and of the military--the object being to shake off the
ignominious yoke that pressed so heavily upon them. The treason of one
of the conspirators, who on his death-bed, in confession, betrayed his
confederates, accelerated the outbreak of the plot.

It was at nine o'clock on the evening of the 15th September 1810, that
Don Ignacio Allende y Unzaga, captain in the royal regiment _de la
Reyna_, came in all haste from Gueretaro to Dolores, and burst into the
dwelling of Padre Hidalgo, the parish priest of the latter place, with
news that the conspiracy had been discovered, and an order issued to
take prisoners, dead or alive, all those concerned in it. With the
prospect of certain death before their eyes, the two conspirators held a
short consultation, and then hastened to announce to their friends their
firm decision to stake their lives upon the freedom of their country.
Two officers, the lieutenants Abasalo and Aldama, and several musicians,
friends and companions of the cura, joined them, and by these men,
thirteen in number, was the great Mexican revolution begun.

Whilst Hidalgo, a crucifix in his left hand, a pistol in his right,
hurried to the prison and set at liberty the criminals confined there,
Allende proceeded to the houses of the Spanish inhabitants, and
compelled them to deliver up their plate and ready money. Then, with the
cry of "_Viva la Independencia, y muera el mal gobierno!_" the
insurgents paraded the streets of Dolores. The whole of the Indian
population ranged themselves under the banner of their beloved curate,
who, in a few hours, found himself at the head of some thousand men.
They took the road to Miguel el Grande, and, before reaching that place,
were joined by eight hundred recruits from Allende's regiment. Shouting
their war-cry of "Death to the Gachupins!"[5] the rebels reached San
Felipe; in three days their numbers amounted to twenty thousand; at
Zelaya, a whole regiment of Mexican infantry, and a portion of the
cavalry regiment of the Principe, came over to them. On they went,
"Mueran los Gachupinos!" still their cry, to Guanaxato, the richest city
in Mexico, where they were joined by some more troops. Indians kept
flowing in from all sides, and the mob, for it was little more, soon
reached fifty thousand men. The fortified alhondega, or granary, at
Guanaxato, was taken by storm; the Spaniards and Creoles who had shut
themsel