378 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



independence of the general government, and in the 

 interior of both states the officials of the Central gov- 

 ernment had been driven out. The seaports of Tobas- 

 co and Campeachy, garrisoned by Central troops, still 

 held out, but they were at that time blockaded and be- 

 sieged on land by the Federal forces. All communi- 

 cations by sea and land were cut off, their supplies 

 were short, and Don Francisco thought they would 

 soon be obliged by starvation to surrender. 



The revolution seemed of a higher tone, for greater 

 cause, and conducted with more moderation than in 

 Central America. The grounds of revolt here were 

 the despotism of the Central government, which, far 

 removed by position, and ignorant of the condition and 

 resources of the country, used its distant provinces as a 

 quartering place for rapacious officers, and a source of 

 revenue for money to be squandered in the capital. 

 One little circumstance showed the impolicy and ineffi- 

 ciency of the laws. On account of high duties, smug- 

 gling was carried to such an extent on the coast that 

 many articles were regularly sold at the Palisada for 

 much less than the duties. 



The revolution, like all others in that country, began 

 with pronunciamentos, i. e., declarations of the munici- 

 pality, or what we would call the corporation of a 

 town, in favour of any particular party. The Palisada 

 had made its pronunciamento but two weeks before, the 

 Central officers had been turned out, and the present 

 alcalde was hardly warm in his place. The change, 

 however, had been effected with a spirit of moderation 

 and forbearance, and without bloodshed. Don Fran- 

 cisco, with a liberality unusual, spoke of his immediate 

 predecessor as an upright but misguided man, who was 

 not persecuted, but then living in the place unmolested. 



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