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160 MEXICO. Congress, and Teran was thus reduced to become, de facto, a dependant upon the body, which had just thrown itself upon his protection, or to deny its authority altogether. He asserts, however, that he would have supported with patience, his share of the dead weight of the Congress, had any disposi- tion been shown by the other Independent chiefs to contribute towards its support. But no offers of the kind were made ; and although all blamed Teran for dissolving the National Assembly, and all refused to acknowledge the Government which he attempted to establish in its place, none would re- ceive the Deputies into their camp, or undertake the charge of protecting their sessions, which might, in that case, have been resumed, as Teran had no more right to dissolve a Con- gress, than he had to create one himself, in the name of the people, had he been inclined to attempt it. It must, however, be admitted, that the breaking up of the only Central Government that had ever been generally recog- nized by the Insurgents, was attended with the most disas- trous effects. From that moment, universal disorder pre- vailed : Victoria, Guerrero, Bravo, Rayon, and Teran, con- fined themselves each to his separate circle, where each was crushed in turn, by the superiority of the common enemy. A multitude of inferior partizans shared the same fate. The arrival of fresh troops from the Peninsula, enabled the Viceroy to estabhsh a regular chain of communication throughout the country, and to enforce obedience, even at the most distant points ; and these discouraging circumstances, together with the facilities held out to all who had embarked in the Revolu- tion, by the new Viceroy Apodaca, for reconciling themselves with the Government by accepting the indulto, or pardon, of- fered by the King, reduced the number of those actually in arms, during the years 1816, 181 7, and 1818, to a very incon- siderable amount. But the reverses sustained by the Creole leaders in the field were more than counterbalanced by the effect previously pro-