Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/432

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412
LERDO, IGLESIAS, AND DIAZ.

of the legislature of Hidalgo, which protested, considering the sovereign rights of Yucatan attacked. In August General Palomino was sent to take command of the federal troops, and several engagements occurred. But it was no easy matter to restore order. There was so much knavery and intrigue in the December elections that when the legislature met it was found impossible to declare who was governor or vice-governor, and new elections were held, Castellanos Sanchez being chosen governor. But this did not put an end to the political confusion. Further difficulties followed. Two electoral districts declared that the members representing them in the legislature were not the legitimate ones, and others were substituted in their places. The ejected deputies, in conjunction with other discontented members, and supported by a strong armed force, constituted themselves into a legislature and appointed Arcadio Escobedo governor. Thus in 1874 two governors and two legislatures were struggling for supremacy. In October 1874 Sanchez resigned and left the state; but it was not until November 1875 that the rebellion was suppressed and tranquillity restored in distracted Yucatan.[1]

Of a different nature was the uprising which took place in Michoacan in 1874. Instigated by the priesthood, which was furious in its denunciations against the reformı laws, the Indian population in many portions of the state rose in rebellion, and a revolution of a religious rather than a political character followed. The insurgents, divided into numerous bands, headed by guerrilla chiefs, carried on a desultory warfare, which extended over the whole state. The condition of Michoacan became deplorable. Banditti infested the different districts, and all kinds of atrocities were committed by them and by religious fanatics. During 1875 numerous encounters took place, without

  1. For further details regarding affairs in Coahuila and Yucatan, consult Riva Palacio, Hist. Admin. Lerdo, 257-8, 288-90, 297-300, 350-1, 391-404, 412-13, 422 3; El Federalista, 1873, 1874, 1875, passim; El Monitor Rep., El Diario Oficial, and La Voz de Méj., for the same years.