Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/623

Rh local issues, which only too frequently were the cloak for more serious designs to be revealed in case the attempt should succeed.

The most serious movement was promoted on the north-east frontier by contrabandists. The extremely high duties imposed by this debt-ridden and badly administered country were in themselves an encouragement to illegal traffic. The officials were induced to close their eyes to it, and the inhabitants found enough profit therein to encourage it, disliking, as they besides did, a distant government which burdened them with disorderly and useless troops, while doing little toward their protection and welfare. Moreover, the merchants and manufacturers suffered so much from the undermining of their business that they secretly joined issue with the contraband party, in order to obtain some change for the better. The leader was the irrepressible Carbajal, who still labored to form an independent republic in this region, assisted by sympathizers in Texas and adjoining states, and meanwhile sought to benefit himself and his friends by smuggling. The moment appearing ripe for either project, he enlisted from his headquarters at Brownsville some 500 adventurers, and crossed the border river on September 18th. He was joined by two hundred Mexicans, who had already been stirred by a confederate to pronounce for a