Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/75

Rh of breaking out in Mexico, headed by a lieutenant, Basiliso Valdés, to overthrow the government, plunder and slaughter the Spaniards, and set fire to the Parian. The plot was fortunately detected, Valdés being arrested and executed, though much influence was brought to bear on Bravo, then president, to save the prisoner's life.

In the midst of the electoral agitation in 1824, the comandante general of Oajaca, Antonio Leon, a man who had rendered good service in the war of independence, and his brother Manuel, attempted there to. carry out Lobato's plan of removing the old Spaniards from office, but in a more alarming way, for the attempt was begun with the murder of Cayetano Machado, collector of taxes at Huajuapan, while journeying with his family toward Oajaca. He was assailed by Sergeant Trinidad Reina, and put to death in the most shocking manner. The executive looked on this movement as a most dangerous one, and Victoria was sent to quell it, leaving Mexico on the 8th of August. While on his march he learned that a Spanish fleet with reënforcements for San Juan de Ulúa was off the coast, and immediately despatched a considerable part of his troops to Vera Cruz, proceeding with only 250 infantry and 50 horsemen to Huajuapan, the birthplace of Leon, whose influence there was great. Leon, though at the head of a force three times that number, listened to reason, and the trouble was ended without further bloodshed. This happy result increased the esteem in which Victoria was held by his countrymen.