Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/523

Rh This view they supported in a representation to the córtes, wherein Calleja stood accused as the main cause for all existing trouble, partly for neglecting to let the constitution prevail. Indeed, if we except the clauses relating to tribunals and elections, the organic law remained a dead letter. Not only did Calleja retain his power as viceroy, but by allowing the attributes of the audiencia to decline, and the administration of justice to became involved, and by nullifying to a great extent the effect of the elections, he obtained more unrestrained control of affairs. Nor can he be blamed for acting as he did, levying funds and troops, suppressing the liberty of the press, and otherwise encroaching on the prerogatives of the córtes; for the situation was critical, and in order to perform his duty as royal representative and agent for Spain, arbitrary measures were needed.

The insurgents, as we have seen, had risen with renewed strength after the apparently crushing disaster at Cuautla, and occupied at the time of Calleja's entry into office the greater part of the region south of a line drawn from Tampico to Lagos and Colima. "The government," writes the viceroy himself, "could barely claim anything else than the capitals of the provinces, and even one of these, perhaps the richest, Oajaca, was absolutely lost." Morelos controlled