The constitution was received at Guatemala on the 10th of September, 1812, proclaimed on the 24th, and its support solemnly sworn to by the authorities and people on the 3d of November, with great satisfaction and evidences of loyalty. Gold and silver medals were struck off to commemorate the event.[I-24] The installation of the córtes took place, with the apparent approval of Guatemala. The president, members of the audiencia, and other dignitaries who had thriven under absolutism, looking on Americans as 'our colonists,' became at once liberals and constitutionalists, pretending to recognize the wisdom of the national congress in declaring that the Americans were no longer colonists, but citizens of one common country. Their manifestation of September 15, 1812, was followed three days after by one from the ayuntamiento of Guatemala to Deputy Larrazábal, in the same strain, suggesting the creation of a board advisory to the córtes, on the reino de Guatemala legislation. * * * * * [Sidenote: EXPEDITION TO OAJACA.] After the fall of Oajaca during the Mexican war of independence, the patriot chief Morelos regarded the rear of his military operations as secure. Sympathizing messages had reached him from men of weight in Guatemala, which lulled him into the belief that attack need not be apprehended from this quarter. To Ignacio Rayon he wrote: "Good news from Guatemala; they have asked for the plan of government, and I'll send them the requisite information." It was all a mistake. His cause had friends in Central America, and enemies likewise. Among the most prominent of the latter were Captain-general Bustamante and Archbishop Casaus. The ecclesiastic, with a number of Spanish merchants from Oajaca who had sought refuge in Guatemala, prompted the general, then anxious to avenge the execution of his predecessor, to fit out an expedition, invade Oajaca, and harass the insurgents even at the gates of the city. About 700 men, mostly raw recruits, were accordingly put in the field, early in 1813, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Dambrini, a man of little ability and unsavory record, and crossed the line into Tehuantepec. Dambrini could not abandon his money-making propensities; and having been led to believe he would encounter but little or no resistance, took along a large quantity of merchandise for trading. On the 25th of February a small insurgent force was captured in Niltepec, and Dambrini had its commander, together with a Dominican priest and twenty-eight others, shot the next day. This was the usual treatment of prisoners by both belligerents. But on April 20th the Guatemalans were flanked and routed at Tonalá by the enemy under Matamoros. Dambrini fled, and his men dispersed, leaving in the victors' possession their arms, ammunition, and Dambrini's trading goods. The fugitives were pursued some distance into Guatemalan territory.[I-25] * * * * *