and North Mexico, to act till a regularly elected congress might be installed.[1] Victoria and Osorno took no notice of the project, and so it was abandoned, nor did the dissolved assembly attempt to form anew. With it vanished the representative government started by Hidalgo's followers and reorganized by Morelos, leaving the insurgents adrift, at least for a while, and giving the royalists greater reason for treating them as rebels and bandits;[2] yet this applied rather to the east, for in the home of the original junta rose another to influence the destinies of the cause.
Rid of the burdensome assembly, and with forces swelled to nearly fifteen hundred men from its late escort and other sources, Teran felt himself strong enough to take the offensive against the royalists, and so break in upon the plans forming against him. He succeeded, in fact, in giving so effectual a check to a column under Barradas, which was advancing against Tepeji, that it had to abandon the expedition.[3] As a further measure, he sought to strengthen his posi-
- ↑ The new triumvirate was to be called convencion departamental, and its three members comisarios. They were to reside alternately in the three districts electing them. The plan was dated at Tehuacan Jan. 16, 1816. The district of Tehuacan elected in Feb. the cura Montezuma Cortés, but Victoria paid no attention to the project, nor did Osorno, although he had sent in his usual meaningless consent. The argument against the existing congress was its illegality, as self-elected, and its unwise elections and other acts. The deputies and other prisoners were released and departed, chiefly for Vera Cruz, where Victoria figured as passive sympathizer. Alas and Cumplido soon returned to Michoacan. About this time Liceaga set out to join the congress. Informed of what had happened, he turned back, but he was overtaken by royalists in Mexico Valley, and lost all his baggage, having a narrow escape with his life. Gaz. de Mex., 1816, vii. 191.
- ↑ For details concerning the affair, see the account of Bustamante, who participated. Cuadro, iii. 308-34. He is naturally somewhat offended with Teran, and prefers to let the report of a royalist spy and the documents issued on the occasion speak for themselves in quoted form. Mendíbil reproduces also the proclamations, Res., 259-61, 404-11, one of them the effusion of a royalist intriguer. Negrete, Mex. Siglo XIX., vii. 400-36. Royalist versions, in Torrente, Hist. Rev., ii. 198-200, 202-3, implicate Teran as main actor, 'á amenazar con la muerte a varios de sus compañeros. ' Ward, Mex., i. 212-14, and Robinson, Mex. Rev., i. 72-3, 213-15, while not blaming Teran for his conduct, ascribe to the dissolution of the common bond the downfall of the revolution. Teran naturally maintains a garb of innocence. Segunda Manifest., 26; Zavala, Rev. Mex., ii. 74-116, 194-5.
- ↑ This triumph was gained at Rosario Dec. 27, 1815, with 500 men. Barradas admitted the loss of two officers and nine men; but not a defeat.
