his best officers and several thousand men reached Saltillo in January, 1811. Leaving Rayon in command, he concluded to hasten to the United States to purchase military equipments with which to cope successfully with the efficient Spanish troops. He reached the Texas boundary with a large sum of money, when he was betrayed by Elizondo,[1] a former friend and compatriot, and taken a prisoner to the city of Chihuahua.
The triumphs of his brief career were as marvelous as his defeat was signal and irretrievable. Henceforward the floor of his prison cell must be the theater for the closing scenes of his eventful life. No hope of escape could penetrate those low, gray, pitiless walls! Defeat and captivity have transformed him, and he turns once more to his early vocation. The intrepid warrior is again the gentle priest! The eagle glance which enthused the hearts of his countrymen is once more softened in dove-like gentleness and benediction! The hand that smote is now raised in supplication as he implores Divine support and guidance. As he paces to and fro, he surveys the bloody path over which he led his victorious army, and while the retrospect discloses ghastly horrors, he pleads, in extenuation, grim necessity; but his undaunted spirit glows afresh as he recalls his glorious successes. He has opened the path to freedom, and the grito of Dolores will not cease to reverberate over the mountains and plains of Mexico until the work of liberation, begun by him and his compatriots, is completed.
In the long trial that followed, even the chains and shackles could not detract from the dignity and patience that characterized him.
On the 27th of July Dr. Valentine, as delegated by Bishop Olivares of Durango, pronounced the sentence by which Hidalgo was degraded from the priesthood. On the 29th he was summoned before the ecclesiastical tribunal, clad in clerical garb, and relieved of his fetters for the first time since his incarceration. He was then arrayed in the
- ↑ The treachery of Elizondo was avenged when in 1813 he went on an expedition to Texas and was mortally wounded, when in bed, by one of his lieutenants. He died on the bank of the San Marcos River, September, 1813.
