CHAPTEK IV. 

 1821 — 1824. 



o'DONOJU VICEROY. CONDUCT OF ITURBIDE NOVELLA. RE- 

 VOLT TREATY OF CORDOVA. FIRST MEXICAN CORTES 



ITURBIDE EMPEROR HIS CAREER EXILED TO ITALY. 



ITURBIDE RETURNS ARREST EXECUTION HIS CHARACTER 



AND SERVICES. 



O'Donoju, LXII. Viceroy of New Spain, 

 Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico. — 1821 — 1824. 



It will be seen by the Plan of Iguala, that Mexico was designed 

 to become an independent sovereignty under Ferdinand VII. or, in 

 the event of his refusal, under the Infantes Don Carlos and Don 

 Francisco de Paula. Iturbide was still a royalist — not a repub- 

 lican ; and it is very doubtful whether he would ever have assented 

 to popular authority, even had his life been spared to witness the 

 final development of the revolution. It is probable that his pene- 

 trating mind distinguished between popular hatred of unjust 

 restraint, and the genuine capacity of a nation for liberty, nor is it 

 unlikely that he found among his countrymen but few of those self- 

 controling, self-sacrificing and progressive elements, which consti- 

 tute the only foundation upon which a republic can be securely 

 founded. His ambition had not yet been fully developed by 

 success, and it cannot be imagined that he had already fixed his 

 heart upon the imperial throne. 



When the Plan of Iguala was proclaimed, the entire army of the 

 future emperor, consisted of only eight hundred men, all of whom 

 took the oath of fidelity to the project, though many deserted when 

 they found the country was not immediately unanimous in its 

 approval. 



In the capital, the viceroy appears to have been paralized by the 

 sudden and unexpected movement of his officer. He paused, 

 hesitated, failed to act, and was deposed by the Europeans, who 

 treated him as they had Iturrigaray in 1808. Don Francisco de 

 Novella, an artillery officer, was installed temporarily in his stead, 

 but the appointment created a dissension among the people in the 



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