Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/629

Rh on May 5th, but certain mishaps delayed him for one day. This saved the assembly; for warning came just as the session began, whereupon the startled members rose in tumultuous flight. Deeply mortified at the failure of his project, Iturbide allowed his resentment free play, leaving a bloody track to mark the return route by way of Pátzcuaro, and destroying the valuable though neglected stronghold of Chimilpa.

The three fugitive insurgent powers reunited at Uruapan, save Morelos, who had gone to the borders of Tecpan to assist the struggling guerillas, and Cos, who flattered by the appeal of several old followers cast aside his legislative duties to place himself at their head in the field, selecting for his headquarters the fortress of Zacapo, south of Puruandiro. This change was due to more than a military whim; for when the congress remonstrated against this infringement of the constitution, his choleric nature took fire, and he circulated a manifesto declaring that body arbitrary and illegal. The members had not been elected by popular vote and were exceeding their usurped faculty in controlling executive and judicial powers, and in authorizing abuses against the church, revealing besides a traitorous disposition. Such charges could not be left unchallenged, and Morelos was instructed to arrest the rebellious member. Doctor Cos prepared to resist, but his own men delivered him up at the command of the generalissimo, and the congress