from the military commander and placing them in the hands of its own officials; thus making the com- manding general, to whom congress owed not only its protection, but its very livelihood, a mere de- pendent upon its authority. The congress was promptly dissolved by General Teran who said: "That instead of attending to the interests of the people its members were occupied in taking care of themselves and calling each other excellentisimos."[1] The same historian, in describing Mexico's eleven years' struggle for freedom, is compelled to note the evil results to the patriots' cause of the selfish ambitions of individual leaders and he says, in speaking of the condition of the revolution in 1817, the sixth year of its existence:
"There was no longer among the insurgents any directing power to which the various chiefs would bow; each was absolute over his own followers and would brook no interference on the part of another leader; a combination of movements among them was rendered impossible by mutual jealousies and mistrust. Under these circumstances rule became a series of contests between the local authorities and hordes of banditti; and the wealthy and in- telligent part of the population began to look to the standard of Spain as the symbol of order."[2]
