Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/601

Rh and the return cargoes of quicksilver and other effects; and Calleja, who bore no spotless reputation, was widely accused of having favored convoys from Tampico to the exclusion of Vera Cruz trains.

The most dangerous part of the route lay in Vera Cruz, which fairly swarmed with lusty bands, living partly by direct plunder, partly by the exemption tax obtained from traders, and unwilling to recognize any superior authority under which their profits might have to be shared or restricted. After the departure of Nicolás Bravo to join Morelos, their independence of spirit ripened into actual discord, and there was need for a guiding spirit to uphold the tottering cause. During the flight of the congress to Michoacan, Rosains ingratiated himself so far with the members as to be confirmed as comandante general of Puebla, Vera Cruz, and northern Mexico; but on reaching his new field he found that Rayon had already claimed the command, on the strength of his superior rank as captain-general and minister of Hidalgo, and of the appeal to him of several chiefs who objected to Rosains, notably Perez, intendente of Puebla.

Rayon would listen to no proposals from Rosains, who thereupon resolved to try his influence in the adjoining province of Vera Cruz, where Joaquin Aguilar, the congressional intendente, disputed for control with Rincon, the comandante general left in Morelos' name. Rincon had been humbled in a severe encounter with the royalists under Álvarez, while