230 MEXICO. 
As we trotted over the league of level ground that intervened between 
the town and hill, this story of the " tio"* brought out some of the revo- 
lutionary recollections of one of our party. I will record a couple of 
these illustrating the jugglery of the chiefs, and the controlling supersti- 
tious power of the priesthood over the mass of insurgent Indians. 
It is related that Hidalgo, the celebrated priestly leader of the Revo- ' 
lutionary movement, was accustomed to travel from village to village 
preaching a crusade against the Spaniards, and exciting the Creoles and 
Indians ; and one of his most effective tricks is said to have been the fol- 
lowing. Although he had thrown off the cassock for the military coat, 
he wore a figure of the Virgin Mary suspended by a chain around his 
neck. After haranguing the mob on such occasions, he would suddenly 
break off, and looking down at his breast, address himself to the holy 
image, after the following fashion : — " Mary ! Mother of God ! Holy Vir- 
gin ! Patron of Mexico ! behold our country, — behold our wrongs, — be- 
hold our sufferings ! Dost thou not wish they should be changed ? that 
we should be delivered from our tyrants ? that we should be free ? that 
we should slay the Guachupines? that we should kill the Spaniards?" 
The image had a moveable head fastened to a spring, which he jerked 
by a cord concealed beneath his coat, and, of course, the Virgin responded 
with a nod ! The effect was immense — and the air was filled with In- 
dian shouts of obedience to the present miracle. , 
During the heat of the insurrection, it was deemed necessary, upon a 
certain occasion, to execute a priest ; and the officer in command of the 
party ordered a common soldier to lead the padre to a neighboring ditch, 
and dispatch him with a bullet. 
The soldier peremptorily refused, declaring that it was unlawful for 
him to kill a "servant of God." The officer threatened him with instant 
death if he persisted in his refusal ; but the soldier continued firm. The 
Captain then turned to the priest, ordered him to ^'■receive the confession of 
the soldier on the spot," and then sent both to the ditch, where they were 
murdered together ! 
He who writes the secret history of the Mexican Revolt, will have to 
record a story of blood, crime and superstition, unequalled in the annals 
of the world. 
* " Tio," or uncle, is a familar mode of addressing intimates in tlie country. 
