Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/755

Rh kept up an active guerrilla warfare, striking the enemy or crippling his resources, as opportunity favored them. It was easy to see that after its victory at Salamanca the reactionary government would leave no stone unturned to secure possession of the port of Vera Cruz. With this object in view, intrigues were carried on with some residents of the place, all of which were frustrated by the vigilance of the authorities. Echeagaray marched with troops into the state, where he had friends, through whom money was used to breed discord between the regular forces and the national guard; but, thanks to Governor Gutierrez Zamora's good management, harmony was restored.

Zuloaga decreed the dismissal from the army of the generals and other officers serving with the liberals, and believed his triumph secured, when a portion of the garrison in Guadalajara mutinied, with Lieutenant-colonel Landa at its head, and seized Juarez, whom the circumstances of the war had obliged to remove there from Guanajuato, together with his ministers and other officials. The mutineers confined their prisoners in one room, threatening them with death, particularly Juarez, as the only obstacle to the triumph of the reactionists. They were extricated, however, from their perilous position, or with Juarez' death there would have been an entire change in the country's political affairs, for some years, at least.

This was a thrilling episode. Nuñez, the commander of the garrison, hastened to the mutineers' barracks, where he was fired upon and then placed in confinement. However, a portion of the cavalry and national guard started to rescue the prisoners, and as they were about entering the palace, the mutineers