Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/766

746 Nevertheless, the reactionary government controlled only the places where it had heavy garrisons. A number of liberals deluded themselves with the hope that the war could be ended by compromise, and suggested it to Degollado — as if compromise were possible between parties separated by such a bloody chasm! Indeed, their opponents did not fail to breed discord in their ranks, and some of the liberal leaders aided them to accomplish that end. Several prominent leaders pretended to feel contempt for the inactivity of Juarez' government precisely at a time when it was nost active. Vidaurri by his exactions and arbitrary acts greatly alarmed Juarez, who wrote Degollado to reassume the chief command in the north which he had virtually abandoned.

On the other hand, Zuloaga's special permits for trade greatly favored the liberal government. When this was detected, the reactionary commander Echeagaray declared the communication with the port of Vera Cruz closed on the 30th of August. The plottings of the reactionists in the liberal camp were met with liberal plots in the city of Mexico. One of these conspiracies was, unhappily for the parties concerned in it, detected on the 15th of September. The spirit of freedom, manifested in so many ways, prompted the government at Vera Cruz to refuse aid from private persons in the United States so long as its opponent did not seek the protection of a foreign flag; for an intervention on the part of England, France, and Spain in Mexican affairs was already contemplated as among the possibilities. Juarez had gained the good-will of the United States, whose minister, Forsyth, demanded his passports from Zuloaga.