The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 22

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

would soon come to be known far and wide. According to the testi-
mony of a resident of Cadiz at the time, both men were members of
Los Caballeros Racionales, a secret society which purportedly had
connections with Masonic lodges in the United States, England, and
Spain.'
About the middle of 1811, with the receipt of news of the death of
his father, Ortiz decided he must return to Mexico to help support
his mother and sisters. Moreover, he had learned of the progress of
the insurgent movement under Miguel Hidalgo, and since he had be-
come disillusioned about the prospects that Spain's colonies could ever
gain an equal voice with the peninsular representation in the Cortes,
an elective body serving as a provisional government resisting French
rule, he decided, it would appear, to dedicate himself to the cause of
Mexican independence." With Toledo he secretly left Spain for the
United States, arrived in Philadelphia late in 1811, discussed plans for
revolutionizing the northern frontier of New Spain, and conferred
with American officials in Washington about the possibilities of ob-
taining aid.6 Probably about this time the 'two insurgents met Jos6
Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, an ardent Mexican revolutionary who
claimed he had been commissioned by Miguel Hidalgo to enlist the
support of the United States.' In their plans to liberate Texas the
insurgents received enthusiastic encouragement but little material as-
sistance from the American officials. Ortiz and Gutierrez de Lara then
sailed to New Orleans, arriving there late in March, 1812. Toledo, who
apparently had broken with Gutierrez in a quarrel over command,
remained in Philadelphia until the latter part of the year."
'Testimony of Fray Servando de Mier before the Inquisition, December 4, 1817, ibid.,
VI, 821.
5Ortiz to Ray6n, June 16, 1812.
"Tadeo Ortiz, "Relaci6n de mi viaje," AGI, Estado-Santa F6, Legajo 6 (22); Isaac J.
Cox, "Monroe and the Early Mexican Revolutionary Agents," Annual Report of the
American Historical Association for the Year z911 (2 vols.; Washington, 1913), I, 201-203.
7Elizabeth H. West (trans. and ed.), "Diary of Jos6 Bernardo Gutidrrez de Lara,"
American Historical Review, XXXIV (October, 1928), 71-72; Josh Bernardo Gutierrez
de Lara to the Mexican Congress, August 1, 1815, in Charles A. Gulick and Katherine
Elliott (eds.), The Papers of Mirabeau B. Lamar (6 vols.; Austin, 1921-1928), I, 9-1o;
Harris G. Warren, "Jos6 Alvarez de Toledo's Initiation as a Filibuster, 1811-1813,"
Hispanic American Historical Review, XX (February, 1940), 6o.
"Ortiz to Guti6rrez, May 29, 1812, Historia, Operaciones de Guerra, Yndependientes
(Archivo General de la Naci6n, Mexico), XXVII; West (trans. and ed.), "Diary of Jose
Bernardo Guti6rrez de Lara," 289; Harris G. Warren, The Sword Was Their Passport
(Baton Rouge, 1943), 1-32. Archivo General de la Naci6n, Mexico, is hereafter cited as
AGNM.