FATE OF ITURBIDE. 



51 



of death. This memorial was sent to Congress 

 accordingly ; but at five o'clock in the afternoon 

 of the same day, and before his memorial had gone 

 many miles, the sentence of death was intimated 

 to Iturbide for the second time, and that it would 

 be executed at six o'clock. 



To put this sentence in execution, the hundred 

 men from Soto la Marina, and about fifty more 

 who were in Padilla, were formed in the public 

 Plaza, and a picquetof twenty under an adjutant, 

 conducted Iturbide to the place of execution. As 

 he was taken from the house where he was con- 

 fined, he requested that he might be permitted to 

 be seen by the people, and he appeared to look 

 eagerly around him. He asked how many soldiers 

 were to fire at him, and being informed that four 

 had been ordered, he said they were too few, and 

 requested that three more might be added. He 

 then desired to be led to the place where he was 

 to be shot. No preparations had been made ; and 

 on reaching the spot, he asked for a handkerchief, 

 with which he bound his eyes himself. The 

 attendants next proceeded to tie his hands ; this he 

 at first resisted, but being informed that compli- 

 ance would be enforced if he did not willingly 

 grant it, he quietly submitted himself to be bound, 

 and proceeded to the place of execution. There 

 addressing himself to the soldiers, he spoke thus 

 — " Mexicans, at the very moment of dying, I 

 recommend you to love your country, and to 

 observe our holy religion ; these will conduct you 

 to glory. I die for having come to help you, and 

 I die happy because I die amongst you. I die 

 with honour, and not as a traitor. That stain 

 will not rest upon my sons, and their descendants. 

 I am no traitor. Be subordinate and obedient 

 to your chiefs in executing what they and God 

 may command. I do not say this from vanity, 

 for I am far from vain." Having said this, he 

 knelt down and raising his voice he said, " I par- 

 don all my enemies with all my heart." He had 

 hardly uttered these words, when the soldiers 

 taking aim, discharged their muskets, and Iturbide 

 died. His body was then conveyed to the house 

 where he had been detained in the morning, and 

 on the 20th of July 1824, it was buried in an un- 

 covered church, without the customary ceremonies, 

 and even without a coffin. 



Thus terminated the career of this ill-fated and 

 ill-advised chief. To those who were personally 

 acquainted with him, and believed him honest and 

 patriotic, however indiscreet, (of which number I 

 acknowledge myself one,) his death is a subject of 

 sincere regret, on his account, and that of his 

 family. At the same time, it is impossible to deny, 

 that the existing government of Mexico has been 

 much more firmly established by this vigorous 

 measure than it ever was before ; so that Itur- 

 bide's death, just or unjust, has materially contri- 

 buted to the present political tranquillity of that 

 country, and his fate therefore, on public grounds, 

 is not to be lamented. 



In Mexico, the capital, the news seems not to 

 have been welcomed with any unseemly exultation 

 over a fallen enemy, or any tumultuous feeling of 

 recovered security. The Mexican papers only 

 publish the official bulletins, and give not a word 

 of comment for the first three days. On the 29th 

 of July the following temperate and generous 

 remarks appear in the Sol, a Mexican journal. 



u We have received various communications 



relative to the death of Iturbide ; but we think 

 that we ought to insert none of them in our paper. 

 Humanity and policy equally counsel us not to 

 disturb the ashes of the dead. His misfortunes 

 ought to make us forget his previous conduct, since 

 he has expiated by his death whatever offences he 

 may have committed against his country. Such 

 at least shall be our conduct on the present occa- 

 sion. As long as Iturbide lived and was danger- 

 ous, we constantly endeavoured to expose the 

 manoeuvres of his partisans, to put the nation on 

 its guard against them, and events have confirmed 

 our predictions. He is now dead, and this cir- 

 cumstance changes the state of things. Let us 

 commiserate his misfortune, and let us endeavour 

 to sink into oblivion the mournful divisions into 

 which we were about to be plunged. — Let this be the 

 epoch of reconciliation ; and forgetting the number 

 of parties which drag us to our ruin, let there be 

 no party but the nation — no desire among us but 

 that of consolidating its beneficent institutions." 



The Congress and the executive Government 

 seem to have been actuated by the Fame feelings 

 of moderation and mercy. While addresses were 

 arriving from the provinces, congratulating them 

 on the adventurer's fate, we find a considerable 

 party in the Congress disposed to provide liberally 

 for his widow and children. On a proposition 

 being made in the sitting of the 27th of July! 824, 

 to authorise the Government to send his widow 

 and her children out of the country to any place 

 they thought proper, many members delivered 

 their opinions. The Minister for Foreign Affairs 

 said that the Executive Government was far from 

 wishing to aggravate the misery of an unhappy 

 family ; but it was considered, that till their insti- 

 tutions were consolidated, it might be dangerous 

 for this family to inhabit the republic of Mexico, 

 or any place from which they might easily return 

 to it. A Senor Bustamante was of the same 

 opinion. He thought that the factious should not 

 be allowed such a rallying point as the eldest son 

 of the Pretender, who he heard was of perverse 

 inclinations, and disposed to follow up his father's 

 tyrannical ideas. Several members admitted the 

 propriety of banishing the family, but denied the 

 right of Congress to fix their residence in another 

 country. After a good deal of discussion, the 

 first article for empowering the Government to 

 dispose of the Ex-Emperor's family was agreed to. 

 On the next day, the debate was resumed on the 

 mode of disposing of Iturbide's widow and children, 

 when the following proposition was made and dis- 

 cussed, namely, — " The Government shall punctu- 

 ally pay to Dona Ana Hecarte, 8000 dollars 

 annually; and her children, on her death, shall 

 enjoy a corresponding allowance under the rules 

 of military pensions." — Several members supported 

 this proposition, on the ground that the crimes of 

 Iturbide furnished no reason why his family should 

 be deprived of the decent provision made by an 

 anterior congress. Public decency dictated that 

 some provision should be made for persons who 

 were, for reasons of state, compelled to reside out 

 of their native land. One member proposed as 

 an amendment, that the above sum of 8000 dollars 

 should be allowed, but be lodged in the bank of 

 Philadelphia, and drawn only so long as the family 

 should reside in the republic of Colombia. The 



