Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/578

562 assumed a firm attitude, charged the president with, obstinately seeking to injure the cause by creating dissension, and peremptorily commanded him to join the meeting at Chilpancingo and assist Liceaga, then under restraint, to do likewise. With the members against him, with his prestige shattered, and hardly an escort to sustain him, Rayon had to yield, although not without quibbling.

Meanwhile, Morelos had been actively carrying out his plan, which required, foremost, that he should strengthen his position by completing the council with a fifth member elected by the friendly citizens of Oajaca, as a compliment to them and the province. The choice fell on the able and patriotic intendente, José María Murguía, esteemed no less by the royalists, and figuring prominently throughout this period. On September 13th took place the election of a deputy for Tecpan, the new province corresponding to the present Guerrero, and the same day a representative meeting of electors and officers was opened before whom Morelos read his views on the proposed congress and its labors, and stated that it should be composed in the first place of the council members, Rayon, Verdusco, Liceaga, and Murguía, representing respectively Nueva Galicia, Michoacan, Guanajuato, and Oajaca;