Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/699

Rh they had been forgiven the past, and Comonfort was a firm friend to them.

The reactionists were divided. Some advocated the federal system, others the famous seven laws, or centralist constitution, which had ere this gone out of mind. Fears were felt by many that there would be no congress, and that the nation must continue for an unlimited period in an abnormal condition. The government, however, hoped with God's favor and the aid of the people soon to reëstablish a constitutional régime.

Some prominent men were plotting in the capital; among them Haro y Tamariz, Francisco Pacheco, and Agustin Zires, and Comonfort decreed their expatriation. Other officers were scattered in distant places. An anonymous document found in Haro's house contained a plan to raise Agustin Iturbide to the throne of the 'Imperio de Anáhuac,' and if he refused acceptance, then Haro himself was to be emperor. The Roman catholic was the religion alone to be tolerated.

Haro made his escape, and joining the rebels at Zacapoaxtla, was chosen their chief. He denmanded the reëstablishment of the bases orgánicas of 1843. Meantime a congress should be convoked, and the government vested in a president, named by the chief of the movement, with ample powers.

The revolutionary forces attacked Puebla on the 16th of January; the governor, having with him but a small garrison, had to parley, and was allowed to