Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/270

232 MEXICO. appeared. Since the insurrection of Lobato, in 1824, there has been but one instance of gross insubordination on the part of any corps, or regiment, and that was repressed with- out the intervention of an armed force. It occurred at Du- rango, where one of the heutenants of a regiment of cavalry quartered in the town, found means to persuade his men, that he had orders from the President to carry into execution, there, a project for centrahzing the Republic ; and, after seizing, with their assistance, his superior officers, pubHshed a bando, or decree, deposing the constituted authorities, dis- solving the State Congress, and, in fact, declaring himself the lord and master of the place. This extraordinary state of things lasted until intelligence of what had passed reached the Capital, when Gonzalez and his followers were outlawed by the Congress, and troops from the neighbouring States of Jalisco and Zacatecas were ordered to march against them. Three thousand men would have been assembled before Durango in three weeks, but Ge- neral Parres, the Military Commandant of Jalisco, who was appointed to take the command of the expedition, felt so con- fident that the troops under Gonzalez had been deceived by false representations, that he advanced upon Durango with an escort of only fifty dragoons, and was joined, as he expected, by the whole of Gonzalez's men the instant that the decree of Congress was communicated to them. Their leader, unfor- tunately, escaped with one of his associates, and, up to the time of my departure from Mexico, had not received the punishment, which he had so justly merited. The vigour displayed, both by the Congress and the Exe- cutive, upon this occasion, produced the very best effect ; but it must be admitted that in a country where, from the extreme ignorance of the soldiery, and the unsettled character of many of the officers, facilities exist for such attempts as these, a large standing army is not unaccompanied with some danger. The best security lies in the separation of the dif-