Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/352

336 fourth member of the junta of Zitácuaro, he held aloof.

The establishment of this junta, however, caused Venegas considerable alarm. He could not close his eyes to the fact that even the mere semblance of a government would give impulse to the revolution, and afford a dangerous opportunity to the insurgent leaders of uniting under the direction of rulers who were no more illegitimately constituted than had been the junta of Seville. Its destruction, therefore, was of the first importance; and Calleja, who had already been ordered to proceed against Zitácuaro after Empáran's repulse, was again urged to use all possible despatch. In order to counteract the effect from the use of the name of Fernando VII. by the newly organized junta, Calleja proclaimed in Guanajuato on the 28th of September that no junta was here recognized except the national congress of the córtes in Spain, nor any authority as legitimate except that of the viceroy. He moreover placed a price of $10,000 on the head of Rayon and those of his principal associates.

While Calleja was making his preparations to assault Zitácuaro with that unhurried leisurely system always pursued by him, and which in this case detained him till the end of the year, a variety of events occurred. The danger to which Valladolid had been exposed during July caused Venegas, as soon as Empáran's troops had recovered from their fatigue, to despatch Colonel Joaquin Castillo y Bustamante with his battalion to the assistance of Trujillo. This officer, having joined Linares in Valladolid,