294 



CONDITION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY. 



in battles. These popular excitements, served to sustain the 

 spirits of the people, notwithstanding the losses of the army ; so 

 that when Apodaca, assumed the reins of the viceroyalty in 1816, 

 the country was still republican at heart, though all the insurgent 

 generals were either captured or hidden in the wilderness, whilst 

 their disbanded forces, in most instances, had accepted the indulto, 

 or pardon, proffered for their return to allegiance. 



The remaining officers of Morelos spread themselves over the 

 country, as there was no longer any centre of action ; and each of 

 them, occupying a different district, managed, for a while, to sup- 

 port revolutionary fervor throughout the neighborhood. "Guerrero 

 occupied the west coast, where he maintained himself until the 

 year 1821, when he joined Iturbide. Rayon commanded in the 

 vicinity of Tlalpujahua, where he successively maintained two for- 

 tified camps on the Cerro del Gallo, and on Coporo. Teran held 

 the district of Tehuacan, in Puebla. Bravo was a wanderer 

 throughout the country. The Bajio was tyrannized over by the 

 Padre Torres, while Guadalupe Victoria occupied the important 

 province of Vera Cruz. " 1 



The chief spite of the royalists, — who hunted these republican 

 heroes, among the forests and mountain fastnesses of Mexico, as 

 the Covenanters had been hunted in Scotland, — seems to have 

 fallen upon the last named of these patriot generals. Victoria's 

 haunt was chiefly in the passes near the Puente del Rey, now the 

 Puente Nacional, or National bridge, on the road leading from the 

 port of Vera Cruz to the capital. He was prepared to act either 

 with a large force of guerillas, or, with a simple body guard ; and, 

 knowing the country perfectly, he was enabled to descend from his 

 fastnesses among the rocks, and thus to cut off, almost entirely, all 

 communication between the coast and the metropolis. At length, 

 superior forces were sent to pursue him with relentless fury. His 

 men gradually deserted when the villages that formerly supplied 

 them with food refused further contributions. Efforts were made 

 to seduce him from his principles and to ensure his loyalty. But 

 he refused the rank and rewards offered by the viceroy as the price 

 of his submission. At length he found himself alone in his 

 resistance, in the midst of countrymen, who, if they would no 

 longer fight under his banner, were too faithful to betray him. 

 Yet he would not abandon the cause, but, taking his sword and 

 a small stock of raiment, departed for the mountains, where he 



1 Ward vol. i, 221. 



