Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/622

602 The enforced retrenchments of the government gave rise to a number of internal difficulties tending to weaken its hold on the public, although the blame mainly belonged to the states, legislative bodies, and people generally, which expected too much. One result was an alarming increase in highway robbery and other crimes, owing to the reduced patrol service and the indifference or connivance of underpaid officials; another, the increase of pronunciamientos fostered by factions, and joined in or permitted by a neglected army. One broke out at Guanajuato immediately after the election of Arista; and although the government inflicted a severe lesson in suppressing it, another futile effort was made in July 1851. Similar demonstrations were reported from San Luis Potosí, Vera Cruz, Puebla, Tlascala, and other central parts into the ever-restless Jalisco, and southward, as a rule on