Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/605

Rh the defensive. The cause lay in dissensions due to the assassination of the leader Chí, and the unwise act of Pat in imposing a contribution for obtaining war material. Of what avail a rebellion directed chiefly against taxation, if this had to come after all? The Indians did not choose to consider that they had been driven from the raiding grounds that supplied the spoils for purchasing arms, and they readily listened to the appeal of his rivals against him. He fled, but was overtaken by them and killed, leaving to Chan, the eastern leader, the control, which was shared to some extent, however, with his lieutenants Pec and Poot.

Before his death, Pat had despondently sought British mediation for terminating the war, and his successors advocated the project with a view to obtain the shelter of a protectorate. Pat's appeal succeeded, and the superintendent of Belize met the rebel representatives in November 1849, to arrange a basis for negotiations. They insisted on being accorded independence, with a concession of the territory lying east of a line drawn from Bacalar northward to the gulf. The government very naturally refused to entertain the terms, and availed itself of the disposition for peace to send clergymen to the different districts with persuasive inducements. A number of chiefs did yield; but the majority held out, on the ground