Hidalgo The Patriot And The Grito De Dolores

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century ideas of revolution were

widely in the air. The people were rising against the tyranny of the

kings. First in this struggle for liberty came the English colonies in

America. Then the people of France sprang to arms and overthrew the

moss-grown tyranny of feudal times. The armies of Napoleon spread the

demand for freedom through Europe. In Spain the people began to fight for

their freedom, and soon the thirst for liberty crossed the ocean to

America, where the people of the Spanish colonies had long been oppressed

by the tyranny of their rulers.



The citizens of Mexico had been deeply infected by the example of the

great free republic of the north, and the seed of liberty grew for years

in their minds. Chief among its advocates was a farmer's son named Miguel

Hidalgo, a true scion of the people and an ardent lover of liberty, who

for years longed to make his native Mexico independent of the effete

royalty of Spain. He did not conceal his views on this subject, though his

deeper projects were confided only to a few trusty friends, chief among

whom was Ignacio Allende, a man of wealth and of noble Spanish descent,

and a captain of dragoons in the army. These men, with a few intimates,

consulted often and matured their plans, confident that the desire for

liberty was strong in the country and that the patriot people needed only

a leader to break out into insurrection.



Hidalgo's eager desire for liberty, long smouldering, burst into flame in

1810, when the Spanish authorities attempted to arrest in Queretaro some

revolutionists who had talked too freely. Warned of their danger, these

men fled or concealed themselves. News of this came quickly to Hidalgo and

taught him that with his reputation there was but one of two things to do,

he must flee or strike. He decided to strike, and in this he was supported

by Allende, whose liberty was also in danger.



The decisive step was taken on the 15th of September, 1810. That night

Hidalgo was roused from slumber by one of his liberty-loving friends, and

told that the hour had come. Calling his brother to his aid and summoning

a few of those in the secret, he led the small party of revolutionists to

the prison, broke it open, and set free certain men who had been seized

for their liberal ideas.



This took place in the early hours of a Sunday. When day broke and the

countrymen of the neighboring parish came to early mass the news of the

night's event spread among them rapidly and caused great excitement. To a

man they took the side of Hidalgo, and before the day grew old he found

himself at the head of a small band of ardent revolutionists. They at once

set out for San Miguel le Grande, the nearest town, into which marched

before nightfall of the day a little party of eighty men, the nucleus of

the Mexican revolution. For standard they bore a picture of the Holy

Virgin of Guadalupe, taken from a village church. New adherents came to

their ranks till they were three hundred strong. Such was the movement

known in Mexico as the "Grito de Dolores," their war-cry, the Grito,

being, "Up with True Religion, and down with False Government."



Never before had an insurrection among the submissive common people been

known in Mexico. When news of it came to the authorities they were

stupefied with amazement. That peasants and townspeople, the plain workers

of the land, should have opinions of their own about government and the

rights of man was to them a thing too monstrous to be endured, but for the

time being they were so dumfounded as to be incapable of taking any

vigorous action.



While the authorities digested the amazing news of the outbreak, the

movement grew with surprising rapidity. Hidalgo's little band was joined

by the regiment of his comrade Allende, and a crowd of field laborers,

armed with slings, sticks, and spades, hastened in to swell their ranks.

So popular did the movement prove that in a brief period the band of

eighty men had grown to a great host, fifty thousand or more in numbers.

Poorly armed and undisciplined as they were, their numbers gave them

strength. Hidalgo put himself at their head as commander-in-chief, with

Allende as his second in command, and active exertions were made to

organize an army out of this undigested material.



The next thing we perceive in this promising movement for liberty is the

spectacle of Hidalgo and his host of enthusiastic followers marching on

the rich and flourishing city of Guanajuato, capital of a mining state,

the second largest in Mexico. This city occupies a deep but narrow ravine,

its houses crowded on the steep slopes, up which the streets climb like

stairways.



The people of the city were terrified when they saw this great body of

people marching upon them, with some of the organization of a regular

army, though most of them bore only the arms of a mob. The authorities,

who were advised of their approach, showed some energy. Resolving not to

surrender and making hasty preparations for defence, they intrenched

themselves in a strongly built grain warehouse, with the governor at their

head.



Much better armed than the mass of their assailants, and backed up by

strong stone walls, the authorities defended themselves vigorously, and

for a time the affair looked anything but promising for Hidalgo's

improvised army. Success came at last through the courage of a little boy,

called Pipita, who, using as a shield a flat tile torn from the pavement,

and holding a blazing torch in his hand, crept through a shower of bullets

up to the gate of the stronghold and set fire to it. As the flames spread

upward, the insurgents broke in upon the frightened defenders, killing

some and making prisoners of the others.



The common people of the city, in sympathy with the revolutionists, and

inspired with the mob spirit of pillage, now rushed in disorder through

the streets, breaking into and robbing shops and houses, until checked in

their career of plunder by Hidalgo, who restored order by threatening

condign punishment to any plunderers. He proceeded to make the city a

stronghold and centre for the collection of arms and money, his forces

being increased by the defection from the Spaniards of three squadrons of

regular troops, while the whole province declared for the cause of the

revolution.



While this was going on, the governing powers in Mexico had recovered from

their stupefaction and begun to take active measures to suppress the

dangerous movement. Shortly before a new viceroy had arrived in Mexico,

Don Francisco Venegas, a Spanish general who had distinguished himself in

the war with Napoleon. Fancying that he had a peaceful life before him in

America, he began his work of government by calling a council of prominent

persons and asking them to help him raise money from the loyal people for

the support of their brethren in Spain who were fighting against Napoleon.

Three days later the Grito de Dolores broke out and he saw that his dream

of peace was at an end, and that he would need all the funds he could

raise to suppress revolution in his new government.



The viceroy, an experienced soldier, at once ordered the troops in

garrison at Mexico to Queretaro, strengthening them by rural detachments,

and summoning garrisons from the north, west, and east. He issued at the

same time a decree under which all Indians were released from taxation,

and promised pardon to all rebels who should at once lay down their arms;

a reward of ten thousand dollars being offered for the capture or death of

the three chief insurgents, Hidalgo, Allende, and Aldama.



The civil authorities were vigorously supported by the clergy in this

action against the revolution. Hidalgo and his chief comrades were

excommunicated by the bishops, and the local clergy denounced them

bitterly from their pulpits. The Inquisition, which had taken action

against Hidalgo in 1800 for his dangerous opinions, now cited him to

appear before its tribunal and answer these charges. But bishops and

inquisitors alike wasted their breath on the valiant insurgents, who

maintained that it was not religion but tyranny that they were banded

against.



The revolutionists took possession of Valladolid on the 17th of October,

without resistance, the bishop and authorities fleeing at their approach.

As the bishop himself was gone, Hidalgo forced the canons he had left

behind to remove the sentence of excommunication. The town was made a

second stronghold of the revolution and a centre for new recruiting, the

army increasing so rapidly that in ten days' time its leader took the bold

step of advancing upon Mexico, the capital city.



The approach of the insurgents, who had now grown greatly in numbers,

filled the people of the capital with terror. They remembered the sack of

Guanajuata, and hastened to conceal their valuables, while many of them

fled for safety. As the insurgents drew near they were met by the army of

the viceroy, and a fierce battle took place upon an elevation called the

Monte de la Cruces, outside the city. A hot fire of artillery swept the

ranks of the insurgents, but, filled with enthusiasm, and greatly

outnumbering the royal troops, they swept resistlessly on, bearing down

all before them, and sweeping the viceroy's soldiers from the field with

heavy loss. Only his good horse saved Trujillo, the commanding general,

from death or capture, and bore him in safety to the city.



Mexico, filled with panic and confusion at the news of the disastrous

defeat of its defenders, could perhaps have been easily taken, and its

capture might possibly have closed the struggle in favor of liberty. It

certainly was a moment for that boldness on which success so often

depends, but Hidalgo at this critical stage took counsel from prudence

instead of daring, and, fearing the arrival of reinforcements to the

beaten army, withdrew his forces towards Queretaro--a weak and fatal

retrograde movement, as it proved.



The viceroy had another army advancing from the north, under the command

of Calleja, a skilful general. Meeting Hidalgo at Aculco on his march

towards Queretaro, he attacked him with such vigor that, after a hot

combat, the insurgents were utterly worsted, losing all their artillery

and many men. In fact, the whole loose-joined army fell to pieces at this

severe repulse, and Hidalgo was followed to Valladolid with an

insignificant remnant of his mighty host.



Calleja followed up his victory with a pursuit of Allende and a fierce

attack on him at Guanajuato, forcing him to abandon the city and retreat

to Zacatecas, which had proclaimed independence. Calleja, who had much of

the traditional Spanish cruelty, now sullied his triumph by a barbarous

retaliation upon the people of the city he had taken, who were most

savagely punished for their recent plundering outbreak.



The remainder of this story of revolution is a brief and unfortunate one.

Hidalgo gathered another army and led them to Guadalajara, where he

organized a government, appointed ministers, and styled himself

generalissimo. He despatched a commissioner to the United States, but this

personage soon found himself a prisoner. Arms were collected and the army

organized as rapidly as possible, but his forces were still in the rough

when, disregarding the advice of Allende and others, he resolved to attack

Calleja. He advanced on the 16th of January to the Puenta de Calderon,

where he found himself in face of a well-equipped and disciplined army of

ten thousand men, superior in everything but numbers to his undisciplined

levies. They fought bravely enough in the battle of the next day, but they

were no match for their opponents, and the contest ended in a complete

rout, the insurgents scattering in all directions.



Hidalgo hastened towards Zacatecas, meeting on his way Allende, Jiminez,

and other leaders who had escaped from the fatal field of Calderon. The

cause of liberty seemed at an end. Calleja was vigorously putting down the

revolution on all sides. As a last hope the chiefs hastened towards the

United States borders with such men and money as they had left, proposing

there to recruit and discipline another army. But before reaching the

frontier they were overtaken by their pursuers, being captured in a desert

region near the Rio Grande.



The captives were now taken under a strong escort to Chihuahua, where they

were tried and condemned to death. Allende, Aldama, and Jiminez were shot

on the 26th of June, and Hidalgo paid the penalty of his life on the 27th

of June, 1811. Thus, in the death of its chiefs, ended the first struggle

for independence in Mexico. The heads of the four chiefs were taken to

Guanajuato and nailed to the four corners of the stronghold which they had

taken by storm in that city. There they remained till the freedom of

Mexico was won, when they were given solemn burial beneath the altar of

the sovereigns in the cathedral of Mexico. The Alhondiga de Grenaditas,

the building to which their heads were attached, is now used as a prison,

but its walls still bear the spike which for ten years held Hidalgo's

head. Before it there stands a bronze statue of this earliest of the

Mexican patriot leaders.



Shall we add a few words descriptive of the later course of the struggle

for independence? The death of Hidalgo left many patriots still alive, and

one of these, Moreles the muleteer, kept up the war with varying fortunes

until 1815, when he, too, was taken and shot.



The man to whom Moreles owed his downfall was Augustin de Yturbide, a

royalist leader, who pursued the insurgents with relentless energy. Yet it

was to this man that Mexico in the end owed its independence. After the

death of Moreles a chief named Guerrero kept up the war for liberty, and

against him Yturbide was sent in 1820. As it proved, the royalist had

changed his views, and after some fighting with Guerrero he joined hands

with him and came out openly as a patriot leader. He had under him a

well-disciplined army, and advanced from success to success till the final

viceroy found himself forced to acknowledge the independence of Mexico.



The events that followed--how Mexico was organized into an empire, with

Yturbide as emperor under the title of Augustin I., and how a new

revolution made it a republic and Yturbide was shot as a traitor--belong to

that later history of the Spanish American republics in which revolution

and counter-revolution continued almost annual events.