Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/135

Rh, which opened to him at once the gates of the state capital. The authorities created by a revolution on the 21st and 22d of July and the comandante general Zenon Fernandez took to flight, leaving as governor Felipe Manjarrez, a member of the city council. On the 5th of August the ayuntamiento accepted the situation, and six days later the legislative diputacion permanente met for the sole purpose of nullifying Bustamante's authority, and declaring Pedraza the rightful executive of the republic.

The occupation of San Luis by the revolutionists staggered the government. The chamber of deputies at once authorized the vice-president to take command of the army. In his absence the executive was intrusted, by special choice of the deputies voting by states on the 7th of August, to General Melchor Muzquiz, who on the 14th took possession of the office with the title of president ad interim. Bustamante retained his position as vice-president; but after a victory over his enemies he resigned it on the 19th of September.

His resignation was not accepted by congress, but the course of events made it effective.

General Melchor Muzquiz was born about 1790 in Santa Rosa, in the district of Monclova, Coahuila. In 1810 he left the college of San Ildefonso to join the revolution for independence. When a colonel he was captured by the royalists, and would have been shot at Puebla but for an opportune amnesty decree that included him. He supported the plan of Iguala, and in 1824 was governor of Mexico. From his