Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/321

Rh The position of Morelos was in the highest degree satisfactory. Venegas had immediately at hand neither troops nor an efficient leader to send against him, and the rainy season now approaching would assure him freedom from molestation for some time to come. He would thus be able to devote himself to the organization of his forces, while, whenever he chose to advance, Oajaca, Puebla, and Mexico, only defended by a few companies, lay open before him. But while all was thus bright overhead, the horizon was not without clouds. A conspiracy directed against his life and cause was at work in his own ranks, which but for his energy might have been attended with fatal consequences. His method of suppressing it was characteristic.

The first information received by Morelos of the capture of Hidalgo was by intercepted letters. Fearing the effect on his followers, he kept the matter to himself, but commissioned David and Tabares, both of whom had rendered him good service in the attack upon Páris at Tres Palos, as his agents to solicit the aid of the United States. On their journey thither they met Rayon, who informed them of his appointment by Hidalgo and Allende as captain-general of the revolutionary forces and ordered them to return, having conferred upon Tabares the rank of brigadier, and that of colonel upon David. Morelos, however, on their arrival at Chilapa, refused to recognize their commissions, and deeply offended they withdrew to Chilpancingo on the pretence of attending to private