Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/77

Rh vessels, between that peninsula and Cuba, though contrary to law; it is even asserted that a number of such vessels arrived, August 18, 1824, at Sisal, escorted by Spanish men-of-war to the entrance of the port.

Fernando was no doubt planning the reconquest of his former colony, and conferred upon the ex-viceroy Apodaca the appointment of-captain-general of Cuba, to carry out the scheme. The count, however, did not come out to Cuba.

A few days after the constituent congress began its labors, a plot was divulged, at the head of which was a friar named Joaquin Arenas. This individual, on the 19th of January, 1827, approached Ignacio Mora, comandante general of the federal district, inviting him to join in a plan for the restoration of the Spanish government, and the protection of the true faith, which he claimed to be imperilledimperiled [sic] by the freedom of the press and the introduction of heretical books. He threatened Mora with death if he divulged the plot to the government, assuring him that it had ramifications throughout the country, and was on the eve of execution. Mora, of course, at once apprised the president, and it was arranged that he should invite Arenas to a second interview, and that Colonel Tornel, the president's private secretary, and Molinos del Campo, the governor of the federal district, hidden from sight, should be present at the conference. The