ART. 9.--Should his Majesty Ferdinand VII. and his august brothers, decline the invitation, the nation is at liberty to invite to the imperial throne any member of reigning families whom it may choose to select. ART. 10.--The formation of the constitution by the congress, and the oath of the emperor to observe it, must precede his entry into the country. ART. 11.--The distinction of castes is abolished, which was made by the Spanish law, excluding them from the rights of citizenship. All the inhabitants are citizens, and equal, and the door of advancement is open to virtue and merit. ART. 12.--An army shall be formed for the support of religion, independence, and union, guaranteeing these three principles, and therefore shall be called the army of the three guaranties. ART. 13.--It shall solemnly swear to defend the fundamental basis of this plan. ART. 14.--It shall strictly observe the military ordinances now in force. ART. 15.--There shall be no other promotions than those which are due to seniority, or which are necessary for the good of the service. ART. 16.--The army shall be considered as of the line. ART. 17.--The old partizans of independence who shall adhere to this plan, shall be considered as individuals of this army. ART. 18.--The patriots and peasants who shall adhere to it hereafter, shall be considered as provincial militiamen. ART. 19.--The secular and regular priests shall be continued in the state which they now are. ART. 20.--All the public functionaries, civil, ecclesiastical, political and military, who adhere to the cause of independence, shall be continued in their offices, without any distinction between Americans and Europeans. ART. 21.--Those functionaries, of whatever degree and condition who dissent from the cause of independence, shall be divested of their offices, and shall quit the territory without taking with them their families and effects. ART. 22.--The military commandants shall regulate themselves according to the general instructions in conformity with this plan, which shall be transmitted to them. ART. 23.--No accused person shall be condemned capitally by the military commandants. Those accused of treason against the nation, which is the next greatest crime after that of treason to the Divine Ruler, shall be conveyed to the fortress of Barbaras, where they shall remain until congress shall resolve on the punishment that ought to be inflicted on them. ART. 24.--It being indispensable to the country, that this plan should be carried into effect, inasmuch as the welfare of that country is its object, every individual of the army shall maintain it, to the shedding (if it be necessary) of the last drop of his blood. Town of Iguala, 24th February, 1821. [Footnote 61: Ward vol. i, 221.] [Footnote 62: See Calleja's confidential letter to the Spanish minister of war, with a private report on the Mexican Revolution. Ward, vol. i, p. 509--Appendix.] CHAPTER IV 1821-1824.