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588 in 1851 in obtaining for his party a nearly equal representation in the congress; but in the following year his rivals again obtained a decisive majority.

The disorders in Yucatan and Sierra Gorda affected tumultuous spirits elsewhere, which were encouraged by the weakness of the government, as displayed in coping with these troubles. Chiapas had been greatly disturbed by a faction hostile to the local government, and which sustained itself for a long time, despite several defeats, with aid from Guatemala and from the adjoining state of Tabasco. The overthrow here in 1850 of an aspiring partisan of Sentmanat named Beltran only caused the rise of others, notably Moreti. He stood in league with Melendez, who for a year held the Tehuantepec Isthmus in alarm, advocating partly its separation from Oajaca. The repression of both entailed trouble and expense to all the adjoining states, even to the borders of Guerrero and Puebla, where a native leader, Juan Clara, had given new energy to the lingering mountaineer revolt, which began several years back at Chilapa, and gave occasion for numerous local pronunciamientos by