This page has been validated.
MEXICO IN 1827.
187

of Paris. The father, Don Lĕŏnārdŏ, and one of his brothers, perished in the course of the Revolution; but Don Nicolas Brāvŏ (the son) survived it, and has been placed, by the unanimous voice of his countrymen, with Vĭctōriă, at the head of the present government.

The whole of the year 1811 was occupied by a series of petty engagements, (the details of which can only be interesting to Mexicans,) and by the strenuous efforts of Morelos to introduce something like discipline amongst the Blacks, who had enlisted in considerable numbers in his army. Their ferocity was of use in the field of battle, but it was only by frequent examples that it could be prevented from showing itself on other occasions; and it required all the firmness of Morelos to keep it within any bounds.

In the mean time, the scene of action had been, gradually, brought nearer to the Capital; and, in January 1812, the Insurgents advanced so far, that Tasco, a town famous for its mines, and only twenty-five leagues from Mexico, was taken by Gălĕānă and Brāvŏ, after an obstinate resistance.

Various actions took place in January, and the beginning of February, 1812, in all of which Mŏrēlŏs was victorious; so that, at last, his advanced guard, under Bravo, pushed on to Chalco, with outposts at Săn Aŭgŭstīn de las Cūēvăs, within three leagues of the gates of Mexico. But the alarm which this movement excited drew upon Morelos a