duced Colima with all its district to refuse further recognition of the authorities at Guadalajara, and the troops stationed there under Colonel Correa joined Bravo's force. This action led to the erection of Colima as a federal territory,[1] and brought about temporarily the settlement of affairs in that quarter, an arrangement being made at Lagos between Bravo and Quintanar. The former then retired with his army to Guanajuato and established his headquarters at Celaya, his troops acting as a corps of observation to be ready for possible disturbances in the future.
The absence of Victoria in Vera Cruz, and of Bravo and Negrete in Nueva Galicia, had left the executive in charge of the substitutes Michelena and Dominguez, and necessitated the appointment of a third substitute, the choice by the congress falling on General Vicente Guerrero. The government was then practically in charge of Michelena.[2]
The congress in its deliberations enacted measures for the improvement of the country's industries, and for the reorganization of the army. The frequency of conspiracies in favor of the ex-emperor, as well as of robberies on the public highways, prompted the adoption of a law giving the cognizance of such cases to the military courts, and fixing a very short and peremptory term for the termination of each cause. This law was used afterward as a weapon in the warfare of parties. The government was also authorized, October 2d, to confine at convenient places persons of whose guilt there was a moral certainty, even though it had not been actually proved by process of law. This last measure was adopted in consequence of the alleged discovery of a plot that was to be carried into
- ↑ The authorities of Guadalajara in the latter part of 1823 made an unsuccessful attempt to bring Colima again under their control. Bustamante, Hist. Iturbide, 189, 217, 237-43; Id., Mеm. Нist. Mex., MS., ii. 13; Id., Cuad. Hist., MS., viii. 179, 192-3, 215, 229-30; Dispos. Var., iii. 55, 116; Colima, Represent., 7; Mex. Col. Leyes, Órd. y Dec., ii. 147-8, 159.
- ↑ Dominguez was very aged. Guerrero, though possessed of much penetration and sound sense, was uneducated, and inexperienced in state affairs. The latter's appointment appears in Mex. Col. Leyes, Ord. y Dec., ii. 141-2.
