Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/707

Rh April, 1820, further proceedings against the prisoners were stayed; and when during the same year the Spanish constitution was restored and the king decreed the release of all political prisoners, Apodaca, in spite of doubts raised as to the application of the edict to persons on trial in Mexico, liberated on his own responsibility all such captives by order of October 13th. Bravo on his release was treated with much consideration by the viceroy, who restored his estate to him. He retired to Izúcar, where he lived in seclusion, while Rayon and Verdusco went respectively to Tacubaya and Zamora.

After the fall of Cóporo the viceregal government directed its attention to the destruction of the junta de Jaujilla, with the object of blotting out the official existence of the revolution. This junta now consisted of Ignacio Ayala, Doctor San Martin, a canon of Oajaca, and Antonio Cumplido. The fort to which they had withdrawn was situated on an isolated rock in the lake of Zacapo, the only access to it being by means of a narrow neck connecting it with the main land. They had also rendered their position still more unassailable by diverting the current of a neighboring river, and thereby flooding the country adjacent to the lake. Aguirre was accordingly ordered to proceed from Valladolid and reduce this stronghold. On the 20th of December, 1817, he appeared before it; and though his offer of pardon to the authorities and