Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/804

784 to reassume his position or make some one else his substitute. The council of state slurred over the plan of Tacubaya that created it, declaring that under any circumstances Miramon should continue as president. His partisans alleged that on assuming the presidential office he had limited his tenure of it till the republic should be pacified; which not having been as yet accomplished, he was to continue holding the supreme power.

The liberal party now felt certain that the reactionist government could not hold out much longer. After its defeats at Pinos, Ixcuintla, Loma Alta, and Peñuelas, and the retreats from Vera Cruz and Sayula, the triumph of the constitutional cause could not be a doubtful matter. Many hopeful advantages for the country in the enjoyment of free institutions, law, and order were expected from the present political situation, despite the hostile attitude toward Juarez' government of England, France, and Spain, and a large portion of the American press. Prussia also, and the two most retrogressive governments in America at that period, Guatemala and Ecuador, continued recognizing Miramon's government until its collapse.

Miramon's star was now in the descendent. The constitutionalists, under Gonzalez Ortega, Zaragoza, Antillon, Doblado, Berriozábal, and other chiefs, marched against him on the Silao hills and completely routed him, on the 10th of August. The victorious army under the chief command of Ortega was entitled 'Divisiones Unidas de Zacatecas y Michoacan.' He remained on the field till he saw there was no retrieval, and then started for Querétaro, where he