Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/132

112 of the fact that he had voluntarily resigned his claim to the position. By right he could not be regarded as legitimate president without a new election; but the party of progress, formed by two strong sections of the yorkinos and escoceses, had no other man after General Teran's death in whom it could repose confidence, especially on the eve of the presidential election, which under the law could not be postponed.

When the secret of the legitimists, as they were called from the project to bring the general government again to a legitimate status, leaked out, though it had been carefully kept by the authorities of Zacatecas and Jalisco, the administration at Mexico considered itself in imminent peril, inasmuch as the revolution in its new tendencies was assuming a different aspect. This condition of affairs evidently called for peremptory measures and extraordinary sacrifices. Alaman did not allow himself to be intimidated, and believing that with the presence of an able and influential general at the head of the army in the field the impending storm might be weathered, he recommended that the vice-president should assume the command of the government's forces in person, and on the 10th of May asked authorization therefor from the chamber of deputies. It was refused, and the enemies of the administration had the opportunity to say that the proceeding had been a farce with the ulterior view of recovering in that puerile manner its lost prestige. This false step was followed by another, which was an attempt to remove the foundations on which the revolutionists based their opposition. They had demanded the dismissal of the ministers, and on the acceptance of their resignation the executive thought that the question would terminate.