Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/720

700 Rio, Tulancingo, and Tlaxco were also assailed. The centre of all these revolts was Mexico. Puebla, the cradle of the reaction, again became a bloody field. On the 16th of October the reactionists attempted to bribe a body of troops, but failed and lost their money. They were, however, more successful on the 20th, when there was a revolt under the lead of Colonel Joaquin Orihuela and Lieutenant-colonel Miguel Miramon, but really directed by the clergyman Francisco J. Miranda, rector of the chief parish. A portion of the garrison had been prevailed on to mutiny, demanding the repeal of the Juarez and Lerdo laws; seized the artillery and ammunition; for a while kept under arrest the governor, comandante general, and other officers; and finally compelled the loyal force under Cayetano Montero to retreat in the direction of Mexico. The prisoners obtained their freedom through the energetic defence made with 80 men by Lieutenant-colonel Diaz Quijano, thereby securing a favorable capitulation.

These overt acts against the reform, to which the majority of the nation was laboring to give life, served to strengthen the liberal union; this became evident when congress, on being asked by the president to suspend for a time its revisory authority over