On the other hand, Montt and Varas relentlessly pursued a policy of centralisation, subjecting even the affairs of the municipalities to the control of the Santiago bureaucracy. Re-elected as a matter of course in 1856, Montt's second term was even more intransigent than his first. Many leading liberals were driven from the country, and minor insurrections broke out more than once, only to be sternly suppressed. The landed aristocracy had, however, ceased to be unanimous against concessions; its more progressive members belonged now to the liberal party; and the "montt-varistas" in congress were compelled to ally themselves now with the clericals, now with the liberals, in order to secure a working majority. In 1858 Montt came to an open rupture with congress because it insisted on passing a law permitting the return of his banished political enemies. Meanwhile he had alienated the clergy by compelling the ecclesiastical authorities to submit to the decisions of the civil tribunals, and some conservatives united with the liberals against him in the elections in the fall of 1858. His measures became arbitrary and oppressive. Newspapers were suppressed, meetings dispersed, and agitators imprisoned. At the end of the year a great meeting was called at the capital to promote a reform of the Constitution. The government forbade it as a menace to public order, and the dissatisfaction was so wide-spread that Montt proclaimed martial law. The liberals in the southern and northern provinces simultaneously rose in rebellion and for four months civil war raged furiously. Gallo, a young, rich, and powerful leader, was at the head of the insurrection in the North and at first he defeated the government forces and occupied Coquimbo. But his hopes were crushed by the news that the southern liberals advancing from Concepcion had been repulsed at Chillan, enabling Montt to concentrate the whole army against him. Four thousand regulars routed the two thousand men who followed Gallo, and the remnants fled across the Argentine border. Defeated and banished, the liberals in reality had won. The seriousness of the rebellion had convinced the aristocracy that concessions must be made or a renewal of the conflict would be inevitable. Montt did not seek a re-election, and it was necessary to unite on some man of high personal prestige, and of distinguished family, who had remained neutral in the recent struggle. Such a one was found in Perez, who accordingly received the unanimous vote of the electoral college and was inaugurated in 1861. That the new president's policy would be one of reconciliation and compromise was soon made evident by his procuring the passage of a law granting amnesty for political offences. A coalition of moderate liberals and conservatives threw Montt and Varas with their party of "nationalists" into opposition along with the radicals or "reds" under the leadership of Gallo. The curious spectacle was presented of two sets of men, united