teen other prisoners, Spaniards and creoles, was shot on the 4th of January following.[1] Thus terminated the second campaign of Morelos, by which he became master of the territory extending from Chilapa to the mountain range which separates the valley of Mexico from the tierra caliente of the south.
Meantime the junta of Zitácuaro was experiencing that opposition to its authority already foreshadowed. Tomás Ortiz, a nephew of Hidalgo, and who had been appointed by him comandante of that district, made himself particularly obnoxious, both on account of his want of deference and his rapacity, which drew angry complaints from Morelos. In order to sustain the authority of the new government, the junta therefore caused Ortiz to be arrested, as well as several of its own commissioners who had displayed a similar disposition, and to whom Rayon himself applied the epithet of voracious.[2] Ortiz and two other delinquents were condemned to death; but in consideration of their services, execution of the sentence was suspended. When Calleja, however, approached Zitácuaro the junta, apprehensive that they might cause future trouble in case the royalists should prove successful, gave orders for their execution, and they were shot on the 31st of December.[3] Nor did Rayon meet with that subserviency to his wishes which he had expected from his colleagues, who soon began to regard his ambitious views of self-aggrandizement with jealousy. In his correspondence with Morelos he speaks of the disgust which he had experienced at their differences, of the puerile disposition which they displayed, and of their weakness of character.[4] Thus enmity
- ↑ Morelos, Declar., 23. Rios had made himself an especial object of hate by his cruelty. Bustamante describes him as 'hombre pequeñito de unas entrañas diabólicas.' Cuad. Hist., ii. 28.
- ↑ Oficio de Rayon a Morelos, Enero 18 de 1812; Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 444.
- ↑ Oficio de Liceaga á Morelos, Enero 13 de 1812.
- ↑ It was through Rayon's influence that Liceaga and Verdusco had been elected members of the junta. Mora says of them: 'Eran personas oscuras
