578 



GUER RE RO OUESCLIN. 



the disorderly movement of colonel Rincon, and 

 quelled tlie rebellion without a struggle. In Dec., 

 1827, don Jose" Montano, a colonel in the army, set 

 afoot at Otumba an insurrection for the forcible reform 

 of the government, in order to counteract the 

 influence of the Yorkino party. In January follow- 

 ing, general Bravo, the vice-president, who was the 

 leader of the Escoceses, or the aristocratical party, 

 left Mexico, in order to join the rebels, and stationed 

 himself at Tulancingo, where he issued a manifesto 

 declaring himself in favour of the views of Montano. 

 To suppress this insurrection, general Guerrero was 

 hastily despatched at the head of a large force, to 

 which Bravo and his associates surrendered with little 

 or no resistance. The Vorkinos were now triumph- 

 ant. Bravo was banished from the republic ; and 

 Guerrero, as the most prominent individual of the 

 successful party, was universally looked upon as the 

 probable successor of Victoria in the presidency. 

 But the Escoceses, and the Mexicans of Spanish 

 birth, who all belonged to that party, and who knew 

 that their expulsion would be the immediate conse- 

 quence of the government's being placed entirely in 

 the hand of the Yorkinos, rallied all their strength 

 to turn the scale against Guerrero. Nothing could 

 exceed the disappointment of the friends of the latter, 

 when the election of September, 1828, took place, 

 and it appeared that don Gomez Pedraza, the secre- 

 tary of war, had the votes of ten states, while only 

 eight declared for Guerrero. It appears that many 

 moderate men of the Yorkino party united with the 

 whole body of the Escoceses to produce this result. 

 Pedraza had been an active partizan of the Yorkinos, 

 and had been particularly active and instrumental in 

 putting down the insurrection of Otumba, and with 

 it Bravo, the hope of the Escoces party. Neverthe- 

 less, being deemed more moderate in his political 

 principles than Guerrero, the Escoceses threw their 

 votes for him, as their last resource, to prevent the 

 introduction of a radical and prescriptive administra- 

 tion, which they knew would come, if Guerrero 

 should be elected. The Yorkinos loudly exclaimed 

 against the election of Pedraza, as having been 

 effected by bribery and military violence. In a coun- 

 try of stable laws and well organized government, 

 the defeated party would have awaited the result of 

 a constitutional inquiry into the legality of the elec- 

 tion. But in Mexico they order things otherwise. 

 The Yorkinos determined to resort to arms to prevent 

 the elevation of Pedraza to the presidency; and general 

 Santa Anna, who, since the fall of Iturbide, had been 

 living in comparative retirement at Jalapa, seduced a 

 small body of troops, marched to Perote, and gained 

 possession of the castle, before the government were 

 well aware that another civil war had broken out. 

 Here he issued a manifesto, proposing that the people 

 and army should annul the election of Pedraza ; that 

 Guerrero should be declared president ; and that 

 the Spanish residents should be expelled from Mexico. 

 When information of these incidents reached the 

 government, Santa Anna was denounced as a rebel, 

 and a force was sent against him, which he found 

 himself unable to withstand, and retired into the 

 mountains of Oaxaca. But meanwhile measures 

 were secretly planning in the capital for a more 

 decisive movement in favour of Guerrero. It was 

 discovered by the executive that don Lorenzo de 

 Zavala, the governor of the state of Mexico, was in 

 correspondence with Santa Anna. He was arrested, 

 but found means to escape. Soon afterwards, a 

 battalion of militia, aided by some troops of the line, 

 took possession of the artillery barracks, called the 

 acorfada, situated on the outskirts of the city, and, 

 being joined by general Lobato, by Zalvala, and by 

 other persons of distinction, announced their inten- 



tion to annul the election of Pedroza, and to force 

 the government to expel the Spaniards. But as the 

 constitutional authorities were resolved not to give 

 up the point without a struggle, a violent contest 

 ensued, in some of the principal streets of the city, 

 during the three first days of December, in which 

 many persons were killed on both sides. At length 

 Guerrero openly joined the insurgents, with a rein- 

 forcement of his friends ; on which Pedraza left the 

 city, and, on the 4th, president Victoria agreed to a 

 partial accommodation. (See Mexico.) Victoria was 

 obliged immediately to appoint a cabinet favourable 

 to the insurgents, including Guerrero himself as 

 secretary of war. Finally, when the national con- 

 gress assembled in January, some of the votes given 

 for Pedraza, were pronounced to have been illegally 

 obtained, and Guerrero was declared to be regularly 

 elected president, with Anastasio Bustamente as 

 vice-president. The new magistrates were inducted 

 into office in April 1829, soon after which the expedi- 

 tion of Barradas gave employment to the government, 

 and a subject of engrossing interest to the people. 

 The better to enable the president to meet the 

 exigency, he was invested witli extraordinary powers; 

 but after the victory over the Spanish troops, and 

 when the invading expedition was destroyed, Guer- 

 rero evinced an unwillingness to relinquish the 

 dictatorship, which became the cause or pretext of 

 another revolution. He had previously abolished 

 slavery, September 15, 1829, the anniversary of 

 Mexican independence, with a promise of indemnity 

 to the proprietors when the resources of the govern- 

 ment permitted it. Bustamente, the vice-president, 

 took command of the army of reserve stationed at 

 Vera Cruz, and commenced his march towards Mex- 

 ico, for the purpose of reforming the government by 

 force. Guerrero left the city to meet him ; but no 

 sooner was he gone, than the troops in Mexico 

 revolted, and declared for Bustamente ; in conse- 

 quence of which, Guerrero, and the other leaders of 

 the acordada revolution, resigned their offices, and 

 Bustamente assumed the reins of government. He 

 was not destined, however, to continue in the tran- 

 quil exercise of power. Disturbances soon broke 

 out afresh, and in September, 1830, Guerrero collect- 

 ed a large force in Valladolid, and established a form 

 of government in opposition to that of Bustamente, 

 and the whole country was agitated by troops in 

 arms, in different parts and under various chiefs, for 

 the purpose of either preventing or effecting the 

 reinstatement of Guerrero. In February, 1831, 

 Guerrero was taken in arms against the government, 

 and shot. 



GUESCLIN, BERTRAND DU, constable of France, 

 a man renowned for talent and courage, was born 

 about the year 1314, at the castle of Motte-Broon, 

 near Rennes. The poets derive the origin of his 

 family from a king of the Moors. Like most of the 

 nobles of his time, he could neither read nor write. 

 From childhood, he longed but for war and for 

 battle. He united his young companions into a 

 regiment, made himself their general, and, dividing 

 them into companies, taught them to form in order of 

 battle. According to the descriptions which remain 

 of him, he was of a vigorous frame, with broad 

 shoulders and muscular arms. His eyes were small, 

 lively, and full of fire. His face had nothing pleas- 

 ing in it. " I am very ugly," said he when a youth 

 ' I can never please the ladies ; but I shall at least 

 know how to make myself terrible to the enemies of 

 my king." He rose entirely through his own exertions. 

 At the age of seventeen, he won the prize at a tourna- 

 ment at Rennes, where he had gone against the will and 

 without the knowledge of his father. From this time 

 he was always in arms. After the disastrous battle 



