Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/719

Rh, on the 17th, decreed the suppression of the convent and the sequestration of all its property, excepting the main church and chapels, sacred vessels, ornaments, relics, and images, which were surrendered to the archbishop. These energetic measures to curb the clergy lost force by the pardoning of the officers who had capitulated at Puebla, and were actually plotting more than ever, and in despatching Ezequiel Montes, early in October, to beg the pope to accede to an impossible arrangement. The archbishop was requested to check that portion of the clergy who by word and example urged rebellion against the national administration; and he made an effort to that end, which had no effect. In thousands of documents, religion, fueros, and the extermination of the liberals were proclaimed, and the masses were called on to take up arms in the name of God against the authorities. Comonfort, thinking to mollify the opposition of Puebla, accepted Governor Traconis' proffered resignation, and sent there José María García Conde, a man possessed of moderation and prudence blended with firmness, to inaugurate a less rigid rule; but it was all useless, and the government was thus placed in the necessity of putting down by force of arms the revolutionary movements breaking out at several places simultaneously, at a time when nearly all its available troops were operating on the frontier against Vidaurri.

Querétaro, with a small garrison, after a slight resistance, in which the comandante general, Magaña, perished, fell on the 13th of October into the hands of Tomás Mejía, an officer who had been pardoned for his share in Uraga's rebellion. The rebels, together with religion and fueros, promised the Indians to protect the tenure of landed property. San Juan del