SIR,

(25.)-James Smith Wilcocks, Esq. to the Secretary of State. Mexico, 25th October, 1821. THE love of my Country, the spring of every noble and generous action, induces me to communicate to you, for the information of the President, and for the benefit that may result to the Government and Citizens of The United States, the following circumstantial and exact Account of the happy Revolution that has lately occurred in this Kingdom of New Spain, which, by the blessing of God, the intrepidity, talents, and exertions, of its Patriotic Chief, General Don Augustin Iturbide, the enlightened policy of its Mother Country, and the liberal and philanthropic ideas of its late Captain General Don Juan O'Donoju, has ended in its complete and entire Emancipation.

That you may have a clear and distinct view of the subject, be fully impressed with the justice of the Cause of this hitherto afflicted and oppressed People, and have also a general idea of the face of the Country, its Inhabitants, productions, &c., it may not be improper to state, that, since its Conquest, which, if my memory serves me, was in the Year 1521, it has been governed by 62 Viceroys, and innumerable Commandant Generals, Governors, and Superintendents of Provinces, who, according to general tradition, have been, with very few exceptions, as many merciless and mercenary Tyrants, the rapacity and unfeeling barbarity of which nothing could have withstood for such a length of time, but a Land enriched by the beautiful hand of Nature to a most extraordinary degree, and a People born and brought up, until of late, in all the intolerance of superstition and ignorance, and accustomed from its earliest infancy to the innumerable, and I may say, almost incredible impositions, of both Church and State.

Few Foreigners have, perhaps, had an opportunity of seeing as much of the Kingdom as myself, having travelled on horseback from the Port of Guayınas, on the Gulf of California, to almost every part of Sonora, and afterwards through the Provinces and Superintendencies of New Biscay, New Galicia, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, and Mexico, to this City; a distance at least of 700 Leagues, passing through all the principal Cities, visiting the most celebrated Mines, and conversing familiarly with all Classes of People.

The Provinces of Puebla, Mexico, Mechoacan, San Luis Potosi, and Guanajuato, may be termed the central ones, and of those I have seen, the best watered, most fertile, most productive, and most inhabited those that border on the Gulf of Mexico are Merida de Yucatan, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, New Santandero, and Texas; the second, from all accounts, beautiful in the extreme, and the third and last very fertile, but almost entirely uncultivated: those on the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California, New Galicia, Sinaloa, and Sonora,

fertile in parts, but very scant of water; and the extensive internal ones of New Leon, New Biscay, and New Mexico, that reaches to the Latitude of 42° N. which have for the most part the same defect, and which may be called a general one throughout the Kingdom, there being in most parts but little rain, and in no part excepting Texas, what we would call Rivers. Where there is an abundance of water, however, the Country is wonderfully fertile, producing in many parts 2 and 3 crops a Year, and yielding each time 4 and 500 for 1, with the singular advantage of a diversity of temperature within very short distances, produced by the greater or less elevation of the lands, the centre of the Kingdom being from 8,000 to 12,000 feet above the level of the Sea, so that it is not uncommon to see in the same market all the fruits, grains, and other productions, of temperate, hot, and cold climates, as is the case in this, and most of the principal Cities.

Before the Insurrection of the Year 1810, the Kingdom contained 6,000,000 of Inhabitants; and it is worthy of remark, that Providence has been no less lavish in the distribution of her gifts as respects mankind, than in the fertility and production of the earth; the Natives of this Country, not excepting even the Indians, being endowed with a quickness of perception, and ability to acquire and make themselves masters of the arts and sciences, that is very notable, and far exceeds that of the Inhabitants of Old Spain, and, perhaps, many other Countries. At the abovementioned period, the Kingdom may be said to have been at its acme of prosperity; the Royal Revenue exceeding 20,000,000 of Dollars, and the Money coined at the Mint of this City, upwards of 28,000,000 annually: it has, however, ever since been on the decline, in consequence of the devastations committed by both Parties, in the long and cruel War carried on between the Europeans and Americans, so that the Population cannot now be computed at more than 4,000,000, the Revenue at more than half of what it was, and the Money coined yearly, at from 5 to 8,000,000; this Year it will probably not exceed 4.

I have been informed that a very correct History of this Insurrection up to the unfortunate Expedition of General Mina, has been written by a Mr. Robinson, and published in Philadelphia; it is useless, therefore, to say more on the subject than that its commencement was undoubtedly caused, by the abuses daily committed in all branches of the Government in this Kingdom, by the disorder in which Spain was thrown in consequence of the Invasion of the French, and by the imprudent measures adopted in this City, one of which was the arrest of the Viceroy Iturigaray, and many of its principal American Inhabitants. It is also worthy of remark, that, in proportion as it was prolonged, the evils increased, and its symptoms became more malignant; the various incidents of the struggle, imbruing its character with blood, produced other passions, and among them those of rancour and

hatred, which, irritated and inflamed by the inconsideration, imprudence, and want of policy, on both sides, divided the Kingdom into 2 Parties, the Europeans and Americans, whose respective opinions formed essentially the War that destroyed both.

Among those that contributed most to quell the Insurrection, was the beforementioned General Don Augustin Iturbide, then Colonel of the Regiment of Celaya, and native of the City of Valladolid, in the Province of Mechoacan. Born of European Parents, and animated by a mistaken zeal, he was induced to embrace the Royal Cause, and, with a fervour and impetuosity peculiar to his character, committed many arbitrary and violent acts, that, in a great degree, tarnished what would otherwise have been deemed brilliant achievements, and over which it is necessary to draw a veil, his subsequent conduct having entirely effaced them from the memory even of those most aggrieved. Indeed, it would appear that a sense of the injustice he had committed, an innate conviction of the impropriety of adhering to the Party he had espoused, and a remorse of conscience, were the principal causes of the change in his political sentiments; for we see him all at once assume a different character, and at a moment when his Sovereign had heaped upon him innumerable honours.

The impossibility of re-establishing peace and quietness in the Kingdom by the force of arms, was fully ascertained during the ViceRoyalty of the Captain-Generals Vanegas and Calleja, of whom it may be said that they rather dispersed than conquered the Americans, the Country being in a complete state of revolt, and full of Chieftains that commanded from 3 to 600, and even 1,000 Men each, and bands of Robbers that infested the highways, in September, 1816, when the Viceroy Apodaca arrived. To this disinterested, good, and virtuous Man, is due the pacification of the Kingdom; his penetration, skill, and humanity, having suggested to him the propriety of laying aside the arms that had hitherto been in use, and of winning the affections of the People, by means of persuasion, pardons, and premiums, who without General Officers, Money, or any immediate expectation of establishing the Liberty of their Country, and weary of the wandering and wretched life they had so long endured, embraced readily the opportunity that presented of returning to the bosom of their families. No sooner was the plan adopted than its wisdom became palpable; entire Towns and Districts yielding to the solicitations of the Agents appointed by the Government for carrying it into execution, so that at the end of 2 Years all was tranquillity, and you could travel in every direction without escort of arms, except that of Acapulco, between which and this City, the Chieftains Guerrero, Asensio, and a Colonel Bradburn, of Virginia, that came with General Mina, with about 1,500 Men, had taken refuge, and fortified an almost inaccessible Mountain, from whence they made predatory excursions. To reduce

these to obedience was the ultimate object and wish of the Government, and with this view General Iturbide was invested with the important military command of the Department of the South, that contained about 3,000 veteran Troops, and had its Head-quarters in the Town of Yguala, distant about 30 Leagues from this City, on the direct road to Acapulco. It is proper to mention here, that a few months previous to his nomination, news had been received of the regeneration of Old Spain, and of the establishment of the Constitution in that Country, a circumstance that created great alarm in this, among the Clergy and Friars; the lower class of People were also taught to believe that the planting of it here would be attended with the entire destruction of their long-established forms of Religion.

The Viceroy, Apodaca, who was now graced with the title of "Conde del Venadito," was also opposed to the new system, and discovered so much reluctance in the change of his measures, that his unwillingness and tardy mode of proceeding became evident to all, and gave occasion to many just and violent complaints that were made by its admirers, who publicly accused him of its infraction, while the American Writers, taking advantage of the liberty of the press, and confused and unsettled state of the public opinion, called aloud for Independence as the only certain remedy for the numerous evils that surrounded them.

The crisis was too important and obvious to escape the penetration of our hero, Iturbide, who was also instigated to an immediate execution of the plan he had in consequence formed, of liberating his Country for ever from its thraldom, by the mutiny of several of the Officers of the Regiment of the "Four Military Orders," that had before given many unequivocal proofs of disaffection and insubordination, which was supposed to extend to the Soldiers of that Corps, and by the departure of a Convoy for Acapulco, with near a million of Dollars, that was intended to be embarked in a Ship bound to Manilla, that he resolved on detaining. He immediately, therefore, concerted his measures with the Clergy and Friars, and, with the specious pretext of upholding them in their privileges and immunities, secured their favour and protection. He also communicated his design to such of the Governors of the Provinces as he thought likely to aid him in the execution of it, and, on his arrival in Yguala, persuaded a great part of the Troops under his command to join him in the undertaking, in the belief that the Government secretly favoured it, a circumstance that they at first readily gave credit to, from their knowledge of the anti-constitutional sentiments of its leading Members, but in which they were soon after undeceived, and, in consequence, not more than 1,000 remained faithful of those that espoused his Party. The design was also made known to Guerrero, Asensio, and Bradburn, who pledged themselves to support him in the enterprise, and, thus prepared, he openly declared the

Independence of the Kingdom, swearing it in the most solemn manner at the head of his Army, in the said Town of Yguala, on the 24th day of February last, seizing, at the same time, and appropriating to the use of the Nation, the Treasure destined for the Manilla Ship.

His next step was to form a Plan for the Installation of the New Government, a Copy of which I inclose, and to give to his Army the style and title of the "Army of the Three Guarantees," from the protection it was to afford to the Catholick Religion, to the Independence of the Kingdom, and to the indissoluble Union between the Europeans and Americans. A Copy of the Plan was immediately sent by him to the Vice-Roy, with a Letter, stating all that had passed, explaining his motives for having formed and adopted the new system, inviting him and the Government to aid and assist in its establishment, and, finally, naming the said Vice-Roy, the " Conde de Cortina," and the President of the Royal Audience, the Members that were to compose the Regency, reserving to himself the Command that he had assumed of the National Army.

The Viceroy, had he been left to himself, would, I believe, have assented to the proposal, from the vehement desire he has ever manifested to avoid the effusion of blood, and the miseries concomitant to a renewal of the War, as well as from the conviction that the plan and policy adopted by Iturbide could not fail to gain him innumerable friends, and to enable him, finally, to accomplish his views. It was necessary, however, to call to his counsel the Members of the various Tribunals of which the Government was composed, as well as the principal Military Officers, all of whom, counting on the versatility that had been conspicuous in the American character up to that period, resolved, unanimously, to maintain the then existing Government, in the belief that the few Troops that had adhered to Iturbide, would leave him the instant the Royal Army should approach Yguala.

The old favourite system of blood and murder was also upheld, but to this the Viceroy would not consent, and an amnesty was offered to all, not excepting Iturbide. The Field Marshal Liñan was named Commander-in-Chief, and a numerous Staff and Army was committed to his charge. He was, however, so slow in his motions, that a detachment of Troops, sent by Iturbide, had taken possession of the Town and Castle of Acapulco, and he himself, with the remainder, were on march in the direction of Valladolid, before the Army of Liñan moved from its cantonment in the neighbourhood of this City.

The cry of Independence was no sooner raised in Yguala than it spread in all parts, and an Army was formed in the Provinces of Puebla and Vera Cruz, by the Colonels Herrera, Bravo, and Santana, that took possession of the Cities of Orizaba, Cordova, and Jalapa, which was a most important conquest, the two former being the Depots of the Government tobacco, of which a prodigious quantity fell into the