Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/53

Rh popular within the last thirty years; there have been many factions of all kinds some of which have borne British appellations—as the centralists termed Ecossais or Scotch and the federalists called Yorkinos, or Yorkists; and the number of sanguinary insurrections which have disgraced the country—both before and after the accession of Santa Anna—is fearful.

On the occasion to which I allude the town fair was brilliant, and numerously attended both by merchants and purchasers; the traffic was at its height; pleasure parties thronged the streets, music and dancing echoed from the pavements, the balconies and azoteas were alive with visitors, gamblers were crowding to their resorts, the sun shone gaily upon the scene, and all was happiness and security. Only one circumstance appeared singular to the thinking portion of the community—a very small one—and this was, that there was not a priest to be seen in any of the streets, while everything was unusually silent in and around the churches. Presently, however, a troop of soldiers under an excited leader, accompanied by a host of tattered and hastily armed depredators entered the town;