Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/57

Rh for which Rincon was arrested. He effected his escape, however, took command of his battalion, and issued a proclamation to the effect that he would recognize no authority not emanating directly from the supreme federal powers.

Seconded by the artillery brigade, Rincon maintained himself upon the defensive, till finally the president ordered him to Tlaliscoyam, there to await further orders. The president also compelled several of the chief escoceses to remove to Jalapa; placed San Juan de Ulúa, which had been surrendered in 1825 to the Mexicans, in trusty hands; and in July Barragan, who was in command there, was superseded by Guerrero.

The failure of their plans in Vera Cruz demoralized the escoceses, to the great joy of their opponents. The escoces party, which about the middle of 1827 had taken the name of novenarios, had spread in Vera Cruz, Puebla, and Guanajuato. Its members were not numerous, but among them figured several prominent political men, and not a few wealthy ones. The Spaniards belonged to it, and supported it in its work by contributions of money. The society made a strenuous effort to recover its influence, proclaiming at Otumba on the 23d of December, 1827, the plan of Montaño, so called after an obscure lieutenant-colonel of the old insurgents, who was its figure-head, Nicolás Bravo, the grand master, being the real leader. The plan embraced four articles, namely: