ll before the forces of the Emperor. Iturbide, however,
did not desire to disrupt the nation. He had been crowned and anointed
with great pomp and ceremony in the beautiful Cathedral of Mexico, but
he abdicated, and sailed on an English ship for Italy, and the Congress
passed an Act pronouncing him an outlaw and traitor. This Act, as
before stated, showed the spirit of singular remorselessness and
ferocious ingratitude characterising the Spanish-Americans' political
methods. These were the days of the "Holy Alliance," which strove to
bring about Spain's re-domination of America, and Iturbide, in London,
learning of the plan, and ignorant of the iniquitous Act launched
against him, embarked for Mexico, thinking to lend his sword on behalf
of his native country if she were threatened by the Alliance. He was
captured and illegally sentenced by the Congress of a petty Mexican
province--Tamaulipas--and shot. Serene and disdainful, he fell, a
figure which compels more respect than censure in the mind of the
student of to-day.

These were portentous times in the history of the New World. It must
not be forgotten that the independence of Mexico took place in what was
a reactionary time in Europe, and the spirit of the Holy Alliance was
rendered evident by the attitude of France. But there was Britain to be
reckoned with. Britain did not hesitate to declare for the emancipation
of the Spanish colonies, and the "Monroe Doctrine" was conceived by the
famous words of Canning in "calling into being the New World to redress
the balance of the Old." In August, 1823, Canning sounded the American
Government as to whether they "would act in concert with Britain
against any aggression against the independence of the Spanish-American
Republics," which brought forth the famous enunciation of President
Monroe in Washington "that any such aggression would be hostile to
themselves and dangerous to their peace and safety"--the basis of the
now well-known Monroe Doctrine. Nevertheless, the United States
regarded Mexico at that period with little favour or sympathy, and
indeed this fact has been noted with some resentment by Mexican
historians. But it is to be recollected that the United States itself
was weak, and could not be expected to antagonise Europe too deeply. As
it was, Mexico entered into the concert of nations without a friend in
the world, save as the not necessarily disinterested or altruistic
declaration of Britain and the United S