Agustin De Iturbide, emperor of Mexico, born at Valladolid (now Morelia), Sept. 27, 1783, executed near Padilla, July 19,1824. His parents were from Pamplona, Spain, and settled in New Spain shortly before his birth. He studied at the seminary of his native town until the death of his father, when at the age of 15 years he assumed the direction of the patrimonial estates. In the same year (1798) he became lieutenant in a militia infantry regiment of Valladolid. In 1805 he joined the army at Jalapa. On his return in 1809 he aided in repressing a revolutionary movement, which was followed on Sept. 16, 1810, by the revolution planned by the priest Hidalgo, who offered to make Iturbide lieutenant general. He declined from a conviction that the plan was not feasible, and Hidalgo sought to secure his neutrality, granting him a safe-conduct for himself and family, and promising that his hacienda should be protected from pillage and fire. But this proposal also was rejected, and Iturbide took the field "in the service of the Mexicans, the king of Spain, and the Spaniards," vying with the latter in rigor toward the insurgents.

He gained great distinction in the battle of Cruces, and was made a captain in the southern army; but ill health compelled him to go to the city of Mexico, and he was sent to Michoacan as second in command under Garcia Conde. Here he again aided in quenching the revolutionary fire, rekindled by Albino Garcia, whom he captured; and he was soon afterward made colonel. From that time till the end of 1815 he took part in all the engagements of the royal troops, directed for the most part against Jose Maria Morelos, who after the execution of Hidalgo succeeded him as leader of the insurgent forces. The year 1816 found him in command of the provinces of Guanajuato and Michoacan, and of the northern army, by which they were then occupied; but he had incurred the displeasure of some leading citizens, and grave accusations were preferred against him, which led to his dismissal, although he was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of complicity with the revolutionists. On returning to private life, Iturbide set seriously to maturing his long cherished project of independence, and events soon opened a way to the accomplishment of his design. The news of the Spanish constitution, proclaimed in the peninsula in 1820, filled Mexican soldiers with the desire of freeing their country.

The movement soon became general, and Iturbide, seeing that the time for action had come, secured the command of the southern army, about to inarch against Guerrero, who was then at Acapulco at the head of the remaining rebel forces. On Nov. 16, 1820, he set out from the capital, and to lull the suspicions of the government simulated some encounters with Guerrero, to whom he in reality communicated his project; and having concerted with him relative to future operations, he informed the viceroy that the rebellion was entirely at an end. This intelligence restored confidence among merchants, and a convoy was despatched to Acapulco with $525,000, which money Iturbide seized, promising to refund it to its owners. With these resources at his disposal, and secret agents in all parts of the country, he promulgated on Feb. 24, 1821, his plan of independence, known in history as the " plan of Iguala," from the name of the town where it was put forth. The principal bases of the plan were "religion, union of Spaniards and Mexicans, and independence; Ferdinand VII., or in case of his refusal, such other member of a reigning family as the congress soon to be organized might choose, to be called to the new empire." His next step was to inform the viceroy of what had taken place; and the latter immediately organized an army to crush the revolution in its infancy.

But this measure came too late; public opinion was everywhere in favor of the plan of Iguala, and its author began his march toward the capital with comparatively little opposition, his forces increasing daily. Meantime the newly appointed viceroy, Don Juan de O'Donoju, arrived from Spain, and finding the suppression of the new order of things to be impossible, he concluded with Iturbide, at Cordova, Aug. 24, 1821, a treaty in accordance with the plan of Iguala, except in the clause relating to the election of emperor, who, in case of the refusal of Ferdinand VII. and of some other princes enumerated, should be " any one designated by the cortes." On Sept. 27 Iturbide made his entry into the capital amid the acclamations of the people. The junta gubernativa prescribed in the plan of Iguala was at once organized, and Iturbide, who at Iguala had prudently refused the title of lieutenant general, and accepted that of first chief of the army, was formally installed in office. Peace was soon established; the few Spanish troops in garrison at important stations became discouraged; the only stronghold left to the Spanish government was the fortress of San Juan de Ulua off Vera Cruz; and the peninsula of Yucatan, with the province of Chiapas, and several towns in Guatemala, declared their independence and were ultimately united to the Mexican empire.

Such of the Spanish residents as desired to leave the country were permitted to do so without restraint; which liberal measure, with numerous others emanating from the new government, served to increase its short-lived popularity. But Iturbide, who had been so successful in organizing and carrying out a bloodless revolution, was unable to establish a government upon a solid basis. A regency, composed of three members, according to the plan, was appointed; Iturbide was proclaimed generalissimo of the land and marine forces, and president of the regency, with an annual salary of $120,000, an immediate donation of $1,000,000, 20 square leagues of land in Texas, and the title of serene highness. Before long signs of discord between Iturbide and the junta became visible. The treasury was depleted, and nearly all sources of revenue were cut off, while the national expenses were greatly enhanced; the army was without discipline; and public opinion was divided between republicanism and the new form of government. Iturbide hastened the convocation of the first congress, in the hope of immediate relief; but that body obstinately refused to grant him money for the troops, and even declared the command of the army to be incompatible with the executive power.

But the generalissimo had 16,000 men at his disposal in the capital; and through the agency of his partisans, who knew his popularity with the military, he was proclaimed emperor on the night of May 18, 1822. On the 21st the proclamation was confirmed by congress, which declared the crown hereditary in his family, fixed the civil list at $1,500,000 annually, created an order of knighthood and other accessories of a monarchy, established the imperial household with the customary pomp, and ordered money to be coined with his effigy. He was crowned on July 21. But the symptoms of anarchy had not disappeared; the friends of liberal institutions either fled or temporized; and a conspiracy organized in Valladolid led to the arrest of several persons suspected of participating therein, and among them 15 deputies. This act, together with the arbitrary seizure by the government of $1,300,-000 deposited at Perote and Jalapa, exasperated the people; and the emperor, harassed by the continued opposition of the congress, dissolved that body by decree on Oct. 31. But Santa Anna proclaimed the republic at Vera Cruz on Dec. 2; the junta instituyente, which had succeeded the congress, was unable to es • tablish order; defection became general among the army officers, and the republican troops were fast advancing to the capital.

Iturbide in despair hastily reassembled the congress, and tendered his abdication; but that body, not recognizing the abdication, annulled the election of the emperor, and decreed that he should at once leave the country and " fix his residence in Italy," granting him a yearly pension of $25,000, and declaring null the plan of Iguala and the treaty of Cordova. On May 11, 1823, Iturbide set sail for Leghorn, whither he arrived on Aug. 2. But, impelled by an insane desire for the recovery of his crown, he proceeded to England, and on May 11, 1824, embarked for Mexico. During the year a new government had been formed, with a republican constitution, and Iturbide had no influential friends left in the country. The government, apprised of his movements, declared him " a traitor and an outlaw, in case he should at any time, and under any title whatsoever, set his foot upon Mexican territory, and that by that act alone he should be regarded as a public enemy of the state." Iturbide arrived at Soto la Marina on July 14, unaware of the severe measures taken against him, and landed in disguise, in company with his secretary Beneski; but he was apprehended by the military commandant, who retained him a prisoner at Pa-dilla, awaiting the decision of the congress of Tamaulipas. That body, in spite of entreaties, remonstrances, and protestations of innocence, in proof of which he referred to the presence of his wife and children on board the vessel he had come in, sentenced him to immediate execution.

He was shot on the evening of July 19, after assuring the multitude that his intentions were not treasonable, and exhorting them to religion, patriotism, and obedience to the government. The congress of Mexico decreed that his family should reside in Colombia, and settled upon them a yearly pension of $8,000. But as there was no ship for a Colombian port, his wife was permitted to go to the United States. She lived for many years in Philadelphia, and then went to Bayonne in France. Angel de Iturbide, the eldest son of the emperor, died in the city of Mexico in 1872, leaving a son who had been adopted by Maximilian as heir to the throne; and the emperor Iturbide's younger son died in Paris in May, 1873, where he had earned a precarious subsistence as keeper of a public house.