Accordingly the viceroy offered Iturbide the command of a force upon the west coast, at the head of which he was to proclaim the re-establishment of the king's _absolute_ authority. The command was accepted; but Iturbide, who had been for four years unemployed, had, in this interval of repose, reflected well upon the condition of Mexico, and was satisfied that if the creoles could be induced to co-operate with the independents, the Spanish yoke might be cast off. There were only eleven Spanish expeditionary regiments in the whole of Mexico, and although there were upwards of seventy thousand old Spaniards in the different provinces who supported these soldiers, they could not oppose, effectually, the seven veteran and seventeen provincial regiments of natives, aided by the masses of people who had signified their attachment to liberalism. Instead, therefore, of allying himself with the cause of a falling monarchy, whose reliance must chiefly be confined to succors from across the ocean, Iturbide resolved to abandon the viceroy and his criminal project against the constitution, and to throw himself with his forces upon the popular cause of the country. It was a bold but successful move. On the 24th of February, 1821, he was at the small town of Iguala, on the road to Acapulco; and on that day, at his headquarters, he proclaimed the celebrated PLAN OF IGUALA, the several principles of which are:--"Independence, the maintenance of Roman Catholicity, and Union;"--whence his forces obtained the name of the "Army of the three Guaranties." As this is probably one of the most important state papers in the history of Mexico, and is often referred to without being fully understood, we shall present it to the reader entire: PLAN OF IGUALA. ARTICLE 1.--The Mexican nation is independent of the Spanish nation, and of every other, even on its own continent. ART. 2.--Its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhabitants profess. ART. 3.--They shall all be united, without any distinction between Americans and Europeans. ART. 4.--The government shall be a constitutional monarchy. ART. 5.--A Junta shall be named, consisting of individuals who enjoy the highest reputation in different parties which have shown themselves. ART. 6.--This Junta shall be under the presidency of his excellency the Conde del Venadito, the present viceroy of Mexico. ART. 7.--It shall govern in the name of the nation, according to the laws now in force, and its principal business will be to convoke, according to such rules as it shall deem expedient, a congress for the formation of a constitution more suitable to the country. ART. 8.--His Majesty Ferdinand VII. shall be invited to the throne of the empire, and in case of his refusal, the Infantes Don Carlos and Don Francisco De Paula.