When such a fire, however, has been the work of men--when kindled by man's will and for man's purpose--and not the result of accident or spontaneity, then, indeed, the flames may be expected to burst forth anew at some other point of the prairie or the forest. Just so was it with the Mexican revolution. Another champion of independence, of origin even more obscure than his predecessors--if that were possible--soon appeared upon the arena which they had quitted, and with an _eclat_ likely to eclipse any of those who had preceded him. This was the curate of Caracuaro, he whom historians designate as "_El insigne Morelos_" (the illustrious Morelos). The Mexican writers do not state in what year Morelos was born. Judging from the portraits I have seen of him, and comparing the different dates that have been assigned to his birth, he should have been about thirty-eight or forty years old, at the commencement of his career as a revolutionary leader. His native place was Talmejo, a small hamlet near the town of Apatzingam, in the state of Valladolid--now called _Morelia_, after the most illustrious of its sons. The only patrimony of the future heir of the Mexican independence was a small _recua_ of pack-mules, left him by his father, who was a muleteer. For a long time the son himself followed this humble and laborious calling; when, for some reason or other, the idea came into his head to enter holy orders. History does not say what was his motive for this resolution; but certain it is that Morelos proceeded to carry it out with that determined perseverance which was an essential trait in his character. Having sold off his mules, be consecrated his whole time to acquire those branches of education, rigorously indispensable to the attainment of his purpose--that is to say, the study of Latin and theology. The college of Valladolid was the scene of his student life. Having gone through the required course, orders were conferred upon him; but Valladolid offering to him no prospect of advancement, he retired to the little _pueblo_ of Uruapam, where for a time he subsisted upon the scanty means supplied by giving lessons in Latin. About this time the curacy of Caracuaro became vacant. Caracuaro is a village as unhealthy as poor, where no one could be supposed to reside from choice; and yet Morelos, lacking powerful friends, had great difficulty in getting appointed to the living.