184 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



decided on taking an active part, in liberating 

 his country from the Spanish yoke. No 

 native has been so conspicuous in the long 

 and arduous struggle, or has acquired the 

 confidence of the people in a greater degree, 

 than he has. A real well-wisher to the cause 

 of rational liberty, coolness and determination 

 in the hour of danger, and an ardent desire to 

 form a connexion with this country, have ever 

 been the leading features of his character. 

 The moment he considered the views of the 

 ex-emperor injurious to the rights of the 

 people, he publicly denounced him, on which 

 he was arrested and confined ; but his friends 

 enabled him to escape from prison, and to 

 proceed a second time for concealment to 

 the woods between Xalapa and Vera Cruz, 

 where he had formerly been for thirty months 

 without having seen the face of a human crea- 

 ture, being proscribed, and an immense price 

 set on his head, by the Spanish Viceroy. His 



