Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/763

Rh increase the general hatred toward the reactionary administration, which, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, continued favored by fortune in its military operations. The triumphs obtained in battle made it believe that the so-called reformed plan of Tacubaya would soon rule over the whole country unopposed, in view of the fact that within four months the conservative standard had been planted in most of the populous cities of the republic amidst the enthusiastic acclamations of its partisans.

Vera Cruz had now no communication with the interior. The reactionists claimed that Juarez had come to reside there because he could not obtain recognition elsewhere. Zuloaga passed several decrees of a military character, and others to create resources; and with the view of crippling those of his enemy, ordered the closure of the ports of Vera Cruz, Matamoros, Acapulco, and Manzanillo, and the temporary opening of that of Tuxpam, which had recognized his authority.

The national existence of Mexico was danger; the bonds of government in the interior and the diplomatic relations with foreign powers being broken, the situation was only growing worse, and there was no apparent cure. Juarez had no idea of giving up the struggle. In Yucatan the reactionists possessed only Mérida; Tabasco was beset by the liberals; Chiapas was entirely under the control of the latter; and so were Oajaca, Guerrero, nearly the whole of Michoacan, Sonora, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and Chihuahua, Tehuantepec, Colima, and even Tlascala; and among the states where Zuloaga's authority was recognized, such as Vera Cruz, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Mexico, there were some now in