Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/429

Rh and the air of triumph given it, the acerbity existing between Venegas and Calleja became still more imbittered with the fiasco of Morelos' escape; and the former did not miss the opportunity to wound his rival's feelings. The army of the centre was dissolved, and Calleja resigned. The troops were in corporated in the garrison of the capital, and there after were under the immediate orders of the mayor general, Conde de Alcaraz,

Venegas now set himself about recovering the places the independents had seized; and to that end he formed a plan of campaign from which he expected brilliant results. But the point about which he felt particular anxiety at this time was Toluca. Soon after the supreme junta settled in Sultepec, leaving his colleagues Liceaga and Verdusco there, the president, Rayon, had placed himself at the head of a respectable number of troops, with his headquarters at the hacienda of La Huerta, and early in April appeared before Toluca with the view of taking the city. The comandante, Porlier, having only 700 men was forced to concentrate them in the town to meet the emergency, also putting the citizens under arms to aid in the defence. Rayon fortified the surrounding positions, cut off communications with Mexico, and constantly threatened the town, against which he made several vigorous though unsuccessful assaults. The viceroy, as before stated, had not lost