A distant community near the mountainsMONTEREY.
MONTEREY.
Frémont, at the head of his new battalion, moved his camp to Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento and whilst he was preparing, in July, to follow General Castro to Santa Clara, he received the joyfulnews that Commodore Sloat had raised the American flag on the 7th of the month at Monterey, and that war actually existed between Mexico and the United States. The Californian Americans of course immediately abandoned their revolution for the national war, and substituted the American ensign for the grisly emblem under which they designed conquering the territory.
On the 8th of July, Commander Montgomery took possession of San Francisco, and soon after, Frémont joined Commodore Sloat at Monterey. Sloat, who had in reality acted upon the faith of Frémont's operations in the north, knowing that Gillespie had been sent to him as a special messenger, and having heard, whilst at Mazatlan, of the warlike movements on the Rio Grande, was rather fearful that he had been precipitate in his conduct; but he resolved to maintain what he had done; and accordingly, when admiral Sir George Seymour, arrived in the Collingwood at Monterey, on the 6th of July, the grants to the Irish clergyman were not completed, and the American flag was already floating on every important post in the north of California. Seymour took Macnamara on board his ship, and thus the hopes of the British partizans were effectually blighted when the Admiral and his passenger sailed from the coast.
Commodore Stockton arrived at Monterey during this summer and Sloat returned to the United States, leaving the Commodore in command. Frémont and Gillespie, who were at the head of forces on shore determined to act under the orders of the naval commander, and Stockton immediately prepared for a military movement against the city of Los Angeles, where, he learned, that General Castro and the civil governor Pico had assembled six hundred men. Frémont and the Commodore, embarking their forces at Monterey, sailed for San Pedro and San Diego, where, landing their troops, they united and took possession of Los Angeles on the 13th of August. The public buildings, archives and property fell into their possession without bloodshed, for Castro, the commanding general, fled at their approach. Stockton issued a proclamation announcing these facts to the people on the 17th of August, and having instituted a government, directed elections, and required an oath of allegiance from the military. He appointed Frémont, military commandant and Gillespie, secretary. On the 28th of August he reported these proceedings to the government at Washington, by the messenger who was met by General Kearney, as we have already related, on his way from Santa Fé to the Pacific. Carson, the courier, apprised the General of the conquestof California, and was obliged by him to return as his guide, whilst a new messenger was despatched towards the east, with the missives, escorted by the residue of the troop which was deemed useless for further military efforts on the shores of the Pacific.
But before Kearney reached his destination, a change had come over affairs in California. Castro returned to the charge in September with a large Mexican force headed by General Flores, and the town of Los Angeles and the surrounding country having revolted, expelled the American garrison. Four hundred marines who landed from the Savannah under Captain Mervine, were repulsed, while the garrison of Santa Barbara, under Lieutenant Talbott had retired before a large body of Californians and Mexicans. Frémont, immediately resolving to increase his battalion, raised four hundred and twenty-eight men, chiefly from the emigrants who moved this year to California. He mounted his troopers on horses procured in the vicinity of San Francisco and Sutter's Fort, and marched secretly but quickly to San Luis Obispo, where he surprised and captured Don Jesus Pico, the commandant of that military post. Pico having been found in arms had broken his parole, given during the early pacification, and a court-martial sentenced him to be shot; but Frémont, still steadily pursuing his humane policy towards the Californians, pardoned the popular and influential chieftain, who, from that hour, was his firm friend throughout the subsequent troubles.
On Christmas day of 1846, amid storm and rain, in which a hundred horses and mules perished, Frémont and his brave battalion passed the mountain of Santa Barbara. Skirting the coast through the long maritime pass at Punto Gordo,—protected on one flank by one of the vessels of the navy, and assailed, on the other, by fierce bands of mounted Californians,—they moved onward until they reached the plain of Couenga where the enemy was drawn up with a force equal to their own. Frémont summoned the hostile troops to surrender, and after their consent to a parley, went to them with Don Jesus Pico and arranged the terms of the capitulation, by which they bound themselves to deliver their arms to our soldiers and to conform, at home, to the laws of the United States, though no Californians should be compelled to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, until the war was ended and the treaty either exonerated them or changed their nationality.
Meanwhile General Kearney, on his westward march from Santa Fé, had reached a place called Warner'sRancho, thirty-three miles from San Diego, where a captured Californian mail for Sonoma apprised him that the southern part of the territory was wrestedfrom our troops. The letters exulted over our discomfiture, but it was supposed that, as usual in Mexico, they exaggerated the misfortune of the Americans. Kearney's small troop was much enfeebled by the long and fatiguing journey it had made from Santa Fé amid great privations. From Warner's Rancho the commander communicated with Stockton by means of a neutral Englishman, and, on the 5th of December, was joined by Gillespie, who informed him, that a mounted Californian force, under Andres Pico, was prepared to dispute his passage towards the coast. On the 6th the Americans left therancho, resolving to come suddenly upon the enemy, and confident that the usual success of our troops would attend the exploit;—but the fresh forces of this hardy and brave Californian band, composed perhaps, of some of the most expert horsemen in that region, were far more than a match for the toil-worn troopers of Kearney. Eighteen of our men were killed in this action at San Pascual, and thirteen wounded. For several days the camp of the Americans was besieged by the fierce and hardy children of the soil. The provisions of the beleagured band were scant, and it was almost entirely deprived of water. Its position was, in every respect, most disastrous, and, in all probability, it would have perished from famine or fallen an easy prey to the Mexicans, had not the resolute Carson, accompanied by Lieutenant Beale and an Indian, volunteered to pass the dangerous lines of the enemy to seek assistance at San Diego. These heroic men performed their perilous duty, and Lieutenant Grey, with a hundred and eighty soldiers and marines, reached and relieved his anxious countrymen on the 10th of December, bringing them, in two days, to the American camp at San Diego.
As soon as the band had recruited its strength, Kearney naturally became anxious to engage in active service. He had been sent to California, according to the language of his instructions, to conquer and govern it; but he found Commodore Stockton already in the position of governor, with an ample naval force at his orders, whilst the broken remnant of the dragoons who accompanied him from Santa Fé, was altogether incompetent to subdue the revolted territory. By himself therefore, he was altogether inadequate for any successful military move. Stockton, quite as anxious as Kearney to engage in active hostilities, was desirous to accompany the general as his aid; but Kearney declined the service, and, in turn, volunteered to become the aid of Stockton. The commodore, less accustomed, perhaps, to military etiquette than to prompt and useful action at a moment of difficulty, resolved at once to end the game of idle compliments, and accepted the offer of General Kearney; but,before they departed, Stockton agreed that he might command the expedition in a position subordinate to him as commander-in-chief.
On the 29th of December, with sixty volunteers, four hundred marines, six heavy pieces of artillery, eleven heavy wagons, and fifty-seven dragoons composing the remains of General Kearney's troop, they marched towards the north, and, on the 7th of January, found themselves near the river San Gabrielle, the passage of which the enemy, with superior numbers under General Flores, was prepared to dispute. It was a contest between American sailors and soldiers, and California horsemen, for the whole Mexican troop was mounted; yet the Americans were successful and crossed the river. This action occurred about nine miles from Los Angeles, and our men pushed on six miles further, till they reached the Mesa, a level prairie, where Flores again attacked them and was beaten off. Retreating thence to Couenga, the Californians, refusing to submit to Stockton and Kearney, capitulated, as we have already declared to Colonel Frémont, who had been raised to this rank by our government. On the morning of the 10th of January, 1847, the Americans took final possession of Los Angeles. Soon after this a government was established for California, which was to continue until the close of the war or until the government or the population of the region changed it.
The disputes which arose between Stockton, Kearney, and Frémont, as to the right to command in California, under the orders from their respective departments, are matters rather of private and personal interest than of such public concern as would entitle them to be minutely recounted in this brief sketch of the Mexican war. It is impossible to present a faithful idea of the controversy and its merits without entering into a detail of all the circumstances, but for this, we have no space, in the present history. Strict military etiquette appears to have demanded of Kearney, immediately upon his arrival, the assertion of his right to command as a general officer operating in the interior of the country. This was a question solely between Stockton and himself, in which Frémont, a subordinate officer, recently transplanted from the Topographical corps into the regular army as a Colonel, had of course, no interest save that of duty. Nevertheless he became involved in the controversy between the claimants, and although raised to the rank of Governor of California, by Commodore Stockton, he was deprived of his authority when General Kearney subsequently assumed that station. The disputes between the Commodore and the General seem to have arisen under the somewhat conflicting instructions of the War andNavy Departments, and were calculated, as distinguished officers afterwards declared officially, to "embarrass the mind, and to excite the doubts of officers of greater experience" than the Colonel.
Although Frémont's services were lost for a while on the shores of the Pacific, he was not forgotten either there, or at home. What he had done for his country in that remote region by exploring its solitudes with his hardy band; what he added to geographical and general science; what regions he almost revealed to American pioneers; what services he rendered in securing a happy issue to the war in California—have all been recollected with gratitude and rewarded with the virgin honors of the new born State. But, at that time, this brilliant officer who combined the science of Humboldt with the energy and more than the generosity of Cortéz, was doomed to suffer more than the temporary deprivation of power. After the war was in reality over, after Commodore Stockton had departed and General Kearney had assumed the governorship which was subsequently given to Colonel Mason—Frémont was refused permission to continue his scientific pursuits in California or to join his regiment on the active fields of Mexico. When General Kearney turned his face homewards, towards the close of the spring of 1847, Frémont was ordered to follow in his train across the mountains, and was finally arrested at Fort Leavenworth, on the borders of civilization. During the next winter he was tried by a Court Martial on charges of mutiny, disobedience, and conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, and being found guilty was sentenced to be dismissed the service. A majority of the court, however, considering all the circumstances of the case, recommended him to the lenient judgment of the President, who not being satisfied that the facts proved the military crime of mutiny—though he sustained the court's opinion otherwise—and recognizing Frémont's previous meritorious and valuable services, released him from arrest, restored his sword and ordered him to report for duty. But Frémont, feeling unconscious, as he declared, of having done any thing to merit the finding of the court, declined the offered restoration to the service, as he could not, "by accepting the clemency of the President, admit the justice of the decision against him."
VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE.—SANTA ANNA AT SAN LUIS.—SCOTT COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.—PLAN OF ATTACK ON THE EAST COAST.—GENERAL SCOTT'S PLAN.—DONIPHAN'S EXPEDITION.—BRACITO—SACRAMENTO.—REVOLT IN NEW MEXICO.—MURDER OF RICHIE.—SELECTION OF BATTLE GROUND—DESCRIPTION OF IT.—BATTLE OF ANGOSTURA OR BUENA VISTA.—MEXICAN RETREAT—TOBASCO—TAMPICO.
VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE.—SANTA ANNA AT SAN LUIS.—SCOTT COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.—PLAN OF ATTACK ON THE EAST COAST.—GENERAL SCOTT'S PLAN.—DONIPHAN'S EXPEDITION.—BRACITO—SACRAMENTO.—REVOLT IN NEW MEXICO.—MURDER OF RICHIE.—SELECTION OF BATTLE GROUND—DESCRIPTION OF IT.—BATTLE OF ANGOSTURA OR BUENA VISTA.—MEXICAN RETREAT—TOBASCO—TAMPICO.
We return from the theatre of these military operations on the shores of the Pacific, to the valley of the Rio Grande and the headquarters of General Taylor. The armistice at Monterey had ceased by the order of our government, and the commander of our forces, leaving Generals Worth and Butler at Monterey and Saltillo which had been seized, hastened with a sufficient body of troops to the gulf for the purpose of occupying Tampico, the capital of the state of Tamaulipas. But he did not advance further than Victoria, when he found that Tampico had surrendered to Commodore Conner on the 14th of November.
In the meanwhile the political aspect of Mexico was changed under the rule of Santa Anna who had returned to power, though he had not realized the hopes of our president by acceding to an honorable peace. A secret movement that was made by an agent sent into the country proved altogether unsuccessful, for the people were aroused against this union, and would listen, willingly, to no advances for accommodation. Santa Anna, cautiously noted the national feeling, and, being altogether unable to control or modify it,—although he studiously refrained from committing himself prior to his return to the capital,—he resolved to place himself at the head of the popular movement in defence of the northern frontier. Accordingly, in December, 1846, he had already assembled a large force, amounting to twenty thousand men, at San Luis Potosi, the capital of the state of that name south of Monterey, on the direct road to the heart of the internal provinces, and nearly midway between the gulf and the Pacific.
The news of this hostile gathering which was evidently designedto assail our Army of Occupation, soon reached the officers who had been left in command at our headquarters during Taylor's absence; and, in consequence of a despatch sent by express to General Wool at Parras for reinforcements, that officer immediately put his whole column in motion, and, after marching one hundred and twenty miles in four days, found himself at Agua Nueva, within twenty-one miles of Saltillo. Thus sustained, the officers in command, awaited with anxiety, the movements of the Mexican chief and the return of General Taylor.
But, in the meantime, the administration at home, seeing the inutility of continuing the attacks upon the more northern outposts of Mexico,—which it was, nevertheless, resolved to hold as indemnifying hostages, inasmuch as they were contiguous to our own soil and boundaries,—determined to strike a blow at the vitals of Mexico by seizing her principal eastern port and proceeding thence to the capital. For this purpose, General Scott, who had been set aside at the commencement of the war in consequence of a rupture between himself and the war department whilst arranging the details of the campaign,—was once more summoned into the field and appointed commander-in-chief of the American army in Mexico. Up to this period, November, 1846, large recruits of regulars and volunteers had flocked to the standard of Taylor and were stationed at various posts in the valley of the Rio Grande, under the command of Generals Butler, Worth, Patterson, Quitman and Pillow. But the project of a descent upon Vera Cruz, which was warmly advocated by General Scott, made it necessary to detach a considerable portion of these levies, and of their most efficient and best drilled members. Taylor and his subordinate commanders, were thus, placed in a mere defensive position, and that, too, at a moment when they were threatened in front by the best army that had been assembled for many a year in Mexico.
It is probable that the government of the United States, at the moment it planned this expedition to Vera Cruz and the capital, was not fully apprised of the able and efficient arrangements of Santa Anna, or imagined that he would immediately quit San Luis Potosi in order to defend the eastern access to the capital, inasmuch as it was not probable that Taylor would venture to penetrate the country with impaired forces, which, in a strictly military point of view, were not more than adequate for garrison service along an extended base of three hundred miles. But, as the sequel showed, they neither estimated properly the time that would be consumed in concentrating the forces and preparingthe means for their transportation to Vera Cruz, nor judged correctly of the military skill of Santa Anna, who naturally preferred to crush the weak northern foe with his overwhelming force than to encounter the strong battalions of veterans who were to be led against him on the east by the most brilliant captain of our country.
The enterprise of General Scott was one of extraordinary magnitude and responsibility. With his usual foresight he determined that he would not advance until the expedition was perfectly complete in every essential of certain success. Nothing was permitted to disturb his equanimity or patient resolution in carrying out the scheme as he thought best. He weighed all the dangers and all the difficulties of the adventure, and placed no reliance upon the supposed weakness of the enemy. This was the true, soldier-like view of the splendid project; and if, at the time, men were found inconsiderate enough to blame him for procrastinating dalliance, the glorious result of his enterprise repaid him for all the petty sneers and misconceptions with which his discretion was undervalued by the carpet knights at home. There is but one point upon which we feel justified in disagreeing with his plan of campaign. He should not have weakened the command of General Taylor in the face of Santa Anna's army. It was almost an invitation to that chief for an attack upon the valley of the Rio Grande; and had the Army of Occupation been effectually destroyed at Buena Vista, scarcely an American would have remained, throughout the long line of Taylor's base, to tell the tale of cruelties perpetrated by the flushed and revengeful victors.
*****
Whilst events were maturing and preparations making in the valley of the Rio Grande and the island of Lobos, we shall direct our attention again for a short time to the central regions of the north of Mexico in the neighborhood of Santa Fé.
A considerable force of Missourians had been organized under the command of Colonel Doniphan, and marched to New Mexico, whence it was designed to despatch him towards Chihuahua. Soon after General Kearney's departure from Santa Fé for California, Colonel Price, who was subsequently raised to the rank of general, reached that post with his western recruits and took command, whilst Doniphan was directed, by orders from Kearney, dated near La Joya, to advance with his regiment against the Navajo Indians, who had threatened with war the New Mexicans, now under our protection. He performed this service successfully;and, on the 22d of November, 1846, made a treaty with the chiefs, binding them to live in amity with the Spaniards and Americans. Reassembling all his troops at Val Verde, he commenced his march to the south, in the middle of December, and, after incredible difficulties and great sufferings from inadequate supplies and equipments he reached Chihuahua, fighting, on the march, two successful actions against the Mexicans at Bracito, and Sacramento. Having completely routed the enemy in the latter contest, Chihuahua fell into his power. Here he tarried, recruiting his toil-worn band, for six weeks, and, as the spring opened, pushed onwards to the south until he reached the headquarters of Taylor, whence he returned with his regiment to the United States. His army marched five thousand miles during the campaign, and its adventures form one of the most romantic episodes in the war with Mexico.
Whilst Doniphan was advancing southward, the command of Price was well nigh destroyed in New Mexico and the wild region intervening between its borders and the frontiers of the United States. A conspiracy had been secretly organized, among the Mexican and half-breed population, to rise against the Americans. On the 19th of January, 1847, massacres occurred, simultaneously, at Taos, Arroyo Hondo, Rio Colorado and Mora. At Taos, Governor Charles Bent, one of the oldest and most experienced residents in that region was cruelly slain, and a great deal of valuable property destroyed by the merciless foe. Price received intelligence of this onslaught on the 20th, and rapidly calling in his outposts, marched with a hastily gathered band of about three hundred and fifty men against the enemy, whom he met, attacked and overawed on the 24th, at Cañada. Reinforced by Captain Burgwin from Alburquerque, he again advanced against the insurgents; and on the 28th, defeated a Mexican force estimated at fifteen hundred, at the pass of El Embudo. Passing, thence, over the Taos mountain, through deep snows, in midwinter, the resolute commander pursued his way unmolested through the deserted settlement which had been recently ravaged by the rebels, nor did he encounter another force until he came upon the enemy at Pueblo, when he stormed the fortified position, and gained the day but with the loss of the gallant Burgwin and other valuable officers. Mora was reduced again to subjection, early in February, by Captain Morin; and, in all these rapid but successful actions, it is estimated that near three hundred Mexicans paid the forfeit of their lives for the cruel conspiracy and its fatal results.
From this moment the tenure of our possessions in New Mexico was no longer considered secure. The troops in that district were not the best disciplined or most docile in the army, and, to the dangers of another sudden outbreak among the treacherous Mexicans, was added the fear of a sudden rising among the Indian tribes who were naturally anxious to find any pretext or chance for ridding the country of a foe whom they feared far more, as a permanent neighbor, than the comparatively feeble half-breeds and Mexicans.
In December of 1846, Lieutenant Richie, who bore despatches to Taylor apprising him of the meditated attack upon Vera Cruz, was seized and slain by the Mexicans whilst on his way to the headquarters, and, thus, Santa Anna became possessed of the plan of the proposed campaign. The Army of Occupation had been sadly impaired by the abstraction of its best material for future action on the southern line under the commander-in-chief. But General Taylor resolved at once to face the danger stoutly, and to manifest no symptom of unsoldierlike querulousness under the injustice he experienced from the government. Nevertheless,—prudent in all things, and foreseeing the danger of his command, of the lower country, and of themoraleof the whole army, in the event of his defeat,—he exposed the error of the war department in his despatches to the adjutant general and secretary, so that history, if not arms, might eventually do justice to his discretion and fortitude.
The note of preparation preceded, for some time, the actual advent of Santa Anna from San Luis Potosi, and all was bustle in the American encampments which were spread from Monterey to Agua Nueva beyond Saltillo, in order to give him the best possible reception under the circumstances. Wool was encamped with a force at Agua Nueva, in advance on the road from Saltillo to San Luis, about thirteen miles from the pass of Angostura, where the road lies through a mountain gorge, defended, on one side, by a small table land near the acclivities of the steep sierra and cut with the channels of rough barrancas or ravines worn by the waters as they descend from the summits, and, on the other by an extensive net work of deep and impassable gullies which drained the slopes of the western spurs.
This spot was decided upon, as the battle ground in the event of an attack, and the encampment at Agua Nueva, in front of it was kept up as an extreme outpost, whence the scouts might be sent forth to watch the approach of Santa Anna.
A mass of troopsSIERRA MADRE PASS.
SIERRA MADRE PASS.
On the 21st of February, the positive advance of that chief was announced. The camp was immediately broken up, and all our forces rapidly concentrated in the gorge of Angostura. Our troops did not amount to more than four thousand six hundred and ninety efficient men, while we had reason to believe that Santa Anna commanded nearly five times that number and was greatly superior to us in cavalry, a part of which, had been sent by secret paths through the mountains, to the rear of our position, so as to cut off our retreat, in the event of our failure in the battle.
The great object of Taylor in selecting his ground and forming his plan of battle, was to make his small army equal, as near as possible, to that of Santa Anna, by narrowing the front of attack, and thus concentrating his force upon any point through which the Mexicans might seek to break. In other words, it was his design to dam up the strait of Angostura with a living mass, and to leave no portion of the unbroken ground on the narrow table-land undefended by infantry and artillery. The battle ground that had been selected was admirably calculated for this purpose; and his foresight was justified by the result. It was not necessary for Taylor to capture, or annihilate his enemy, for he was victor, if with, but a single regiment, he kept the valley closed against the Mexicans. The centre of the American line was the main road, in which was placed a battery of eight pieces, reduced, during the action to five, supported by bodies of infantry. On the right of the stream, which swept along the edge of the western mountains, was a single regiment and some cavalry, with two guns, which it was supposed, would be sufficient, with the aid of the tangled gulleys to arrest the Mexicans in that quarter. On the left of the stream, where the ravines were fewer, and the plain between them wider, stood two regiments of infantry, suitably furnished with artillery, and extending from the central battery on the road, to the base of the eastern mountains, on whose skirts an adequate force of cavalry and riflemen was posted.
In order to break this array, Santa Anna divided his army into three attacking columns, each of which nearly doubled the whole of Taylor's force. One of these, was opposed to the battery of eight guns in order to force the road, and the other two were designed to outflank our position by penetrating or turning the squadrons stationed at the base of the mountains.
On the afternoon of the 22d of February, the attack began by a skirmishing attempt to pass to the rear of our left wing; but as the Mexicans climbed the mountain, in their endeavor to outflank usin that quarter, they were opposed by our infantry and riflemen, who disputed successfully every inch of ground, until night closed and obliged the Mexicans to retire. General Taylor, fearing an attack from the cavalry upon Saltillo, immediately departed with a suitable escort to provide for its safety, and left General Wool to command during his absence.
After day dawn, on the 23d, Santa Anna again commenced the battle, by an attack upon the left wing, and, for a while, was withstood, until a portion of our forces, after a brave defence, mistaking an order to retire, for an order to retreat, became suddenly panic-struck, and fled from the field. At this moment, Taylor returned from Saltillo, and found the whole left of our position broken, whilst the enemy was pouring his masses of infantry and cavalry along the base of the eastern mountains towards our rear.
Meanwhile the battery in the road had repulsed the Mexican column sent against it, and spared three of its guns for service on the upper plain. The regiment, on the right of the stream, had been brought over to the left bank with its cannons, and was now, in position with two other regiments, facing the mountains, between which and this force, was a gap, through whose opening, the Mexicans steadily advanced under a dreadful fire. Nearly all the artillery had been concentrated at the same place, while, in other parts of the field and nearer to thehaciendaof Buena Vista, in the American rear, were bodies of our cavalry, engaged in conflict with the advancing foe.
As Taylor approached this disastrous scene, he met the fugitives, and speedily made his dispositions to stop the carnage. With a regiment from Mississippi, he restrained a charge of Mexican cavalry, and ordered all the artillery, save four guns, to the rear to drive back the exulting Mexicans. This manœuvre was perfectly successful, and, so dreadfully was the enemy cut up by the new attack, that Santa Anna, availed himself of aruse, by a flag of truce, in order to suspend the action, whilst he withdrew his men.
The transfer of so large a portion of Taylor's most efficient troops to the rear of his original line, had greatly weakened his front, in the best positions, where the inequalities of ground sustained his feeble numbers. Santa Anna was not unmindful of the advantage he had gained by these untoward events, and prepared all his best reserves, which were now brought for the first time into action, for another attack. Taylor had with him three regiments and four pieces of artillery. His front was rather towards the mountain than the open pass, while his back was towards the roadalong the stream. On his right was the whole Mexican army; on his left, far off in the rear, were the troops that had repulsed and cut up the Mexican column; and the great effort, upon whose success all depended, was to bring these dispersed squadrons again into action, whilst he maintained the position against the assault of the fresh reserves. As Santa Anna advanced with his inspirited columns, he was met by regiments of infantry, which stood firm, until, overwhelmed by numbers and driven into a ravine, they were cruelly slaughtered. After the American infantry had been overcome, the last hope was in the artillery, and, with this, the Mexican advance was effectually stopped and the battle won.
The whole day had been spent in fighting, and when night came, the field was covered with dead. It was an anxious season for our battered troops, and whilst all were solicitous for the event of a contest, which it was supposed would be renewed on the morrow, the greatest efforts were not only made to inspirit the troops who had borne the brunt of two days' battle, but to bring up reinforcements of artillery and cavalry that had been stationed between Saltillo and Monterey. At day dawn, however, on the 24th, the enemy was found to have retreated.
This wonderful battle saved the north of Mexico and the valley of the Rio Grande; for Miñon and Urrea were already in our rear with regular troops and bands ofrancheros, ready to cut up our flying army, and descend upon our slender garrisons. Urrea captured a valuable wagon train at Ramos, in the neighborhood of Monterey. From the 22d to the 26th of February, he continually threatened our weakened outposts, and from that period until the 7th of March inflicted severe injuries upon our trains and convoys from the gulf. In the meantime Santa Anna retreated to San Luis Potosi with the fragments of his fine army, and not long after, General Taylor retired from a field of service, in which he was no longer permitted to advance, or required except for garrison duty.
*****
In the months of October and November, 1846, Tobasco and Tampico had yielded to our navy; the former after a severe attack conducted by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, and the latter without bloodshed.
SANTA ANNA'S RETURN—CHANGES HIS PRINCIPLES.—SALAS EXECUTIVE.—CONSTITUTION OF 1824 RESTORED—PAREDES.—PLANS OF SALAS AND SANTA ANNA—HIS LETTER TO ALMONTE—HIS VIEWS OF THE WAR—REFUSES THE DICTATORSHIP—COMMANDS THE ARMY.—STATE OF PARTIES IN MEXICO—PUROS—MODERADOS—SANTA ANNA AT SAN LUIS.—PEACE PROPOSITIONS—INTERNAL TROUBLES.—FARIAS'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE CHURCH.—POLKO REVOLUTION IN THE CAPITAL—VICE PRESIDENCY SUPPRESSED—IMPORTANT DECREE.
SANTA ANNA'S RETURN—CHANGES HIS PRINCIPLES.—SALAS EXECUTIVE.—CONSTITUTION OF 1824 RESTORED—PAREDES.—PLANS OF SALAS AND SANTA ANNA—HIS LETTER TO ALMONTE—HIS VIEWS OF THE WAR—REFUSES THE DICTATORSHIP—COMMANDS THE ARMY.—STATE OF PARTIES IN MEXICO—PUROS—MODERADOS—SANTA ANNA AT SAN LUIS.—PEACE PROPOSITIONS—INTERNAL TROUBLES.—FARIAS'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE CHURCH.—POLKO REVOLUTION IN THE CAPITAL—VICE PRESIDENCY SUPPRESSED—IMPORTANT DECREE.
When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna landed from the steamer Arab, after having been permitted to pass the line of our blockading fleet at Vera Cruz he was received by only a few friends. His reception was in fact not a public one, nor marked by enthusiasm.
By the revolution which overthrew Paredes, General Salas came into the exercise of the chief executive authority, and as soon as Santa Anna arrived he despatched three high officers to welcome him, among whom was Valentin Gomez Farias, a renowned leader of the federalist party, in former days a bitter foe of the exiled chief. Santa Anna, in his communications with the revolutionists from Cuba, had confessed his political mistake, in former years, in advocating the central system. "The love of provincial liberty," said he, in a letter to a friend dated in Havana on the 8th of March, 1846, "being firmly rooted in the minds of all, and the democratic principle predominating every where, nothing can be established in a solid manner in the country, which does not conform to these tendencies, nor can we without them attain either order, peace, prosperity or respectability among foreign nations.
A military campFIELD OF BUENA VISTA.
FIELD OF BUENA VISTA.
"To draw every thing to thecentre, and thus to give unity of action to the republic as I at one time deemed best, is no longer possible; nay, more, I say it is dangerous; it is contrary to the object I proposed to myself in the Unitarian system, because we thereby expose ourselves to the separation of the northern departments which are most clamorous for freedom of internal administration. * * * * I therefore urge you to use all your influence to reconcile the liberals, communicating with Señor Farias and hisfriends, in order to induce them to come to an understanding with us. * * * * I will in future, support the claims of the masses; leaving the people entirely at liberty to organize their system of government and to regulate their offices in a manner that may please them best."
These declarations, and the knowledge of Santa Anna's sagacity and influence with the masses had probably induced Farias to adhere to the project of his recall which was embraced in the movements of the revolutionists. And, accordingly, we find that upon his landing, Santa Anna published a long manifesto to the people which he concludes by recommending that, until they proclaim a new constitution, the federal constitution of 1824 be readopted for the internal administration of the country.
Salas, who had previously ordered the governors of the departments to be guided solely by the commands of Santa Anna, immediately issued abando nacional, or edict, countersigned by the acting secretary of state, Monasterio, which embodied the views of the returned exile, and proclaimed the constitution of 1824, in accordance with his recommendation.
Paredes, meanwhile, who had been taken prisoner on the 5th of August, 1846, whilst attempting to fly the country, was held in close confinement at the castle of Peroté. Some persons proposed to treat him severely in consequence of his monarchical notions; but Salas averted dexterously all the spiteful blows that were aimed at him, and he was finally allowed to retire to Europe, where he remained until a later period of the war, when he returned to yield no significant services to his invaded country. Since the termination of the contest he has paid the great debt of nature, on his native soil, and a merciful pen will conceal the faults of a mixed nature which was not unadorned by virtues, and, under other circumstances and with different habits, might have made him a useful ruler in Mexico.
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General Salas, who exercised supreme command from the 7th to the 20th of August, professed to have done as little as possible of his own will, and only what was urgently demanded by the necessity of the case. He boasted, however, that he had effected what he could "to aid the brave men who, in Monterey, have determined to die rather than succumb to the invasion and perfidiousness of the Americans." In his communications to Santa Anna he urged him to hasten to Mexico as soon as possible to assume his powers, and the Mexican gazettes commend him for refusingto accept the pay of president while discharging the functions of his office.
On the 15th of August, Salas issued a proclamation, in which he announced to his countrymen that a new insult had been offered to them, and that another act of baseness had been perpetrated by the Americans. He alluded to the Californias, which, he said, "the Americans have now seized by the strong hand, after having villanously robbed us of Texas." He announced that the expedition which had been so long preparing would set forth in two days for the recovery of the country, and that measures would be taken to arrange the differences existing between the people of the Californias and the various preceding central administrations. In conclusion, he appealed eloquently to the Californians to second with their best exertions the attempt which would be made to drive out the Americans, and to unite their rich and fertile territories forever to the Republic.
During the administration of this chief, various proclamations were issued to arouse the people to take part in the war, by enlisting and by contributing their means. Efforts were also made to organize the local militia, but with little effect.
Santa Anna, in his reply to Salas on the 20th of August, accepts the trust which is formally devolved upon him, and approves of the acts of the latter, especially in sending forward all the troops to Monterey, New Mexico, and California, and in summoning a Congress for the 6th of December. These, he says, are the two first wants of the nation, the formation of a constitution for the country, and the purification of the soil of the country from foreign invaders. These ends gained, he will gladly lay down his power. "My functions will cease," he says, "when I have established the nation in its rights; when I see its destinies controlled by its legitimate representatives, and when I may be able, by the blessing of heaven, to lay at the feet of the national representatives laurels plucked on the banks of the Sabine—all of which must be due to the force and the will of the Mexican people."
Santa Anna at length quitted his hacienda, where he had doubtless been waiting for the opportune moment to arrive when he could best exhibit himself to the inhabitants of the capital, and profit by their highest enthusiasm, pushed to an extreme by alternate hopes and fears. On the 14th of September he reached Ayotla, a small town distant twenty-five miles from the city of Mexico. Here he received a communication from Almonte, the secretary of war,ad interim, proposing to him the supreme executivepower, or dictatorship. This offer was made on the part of the provisional government.
Santa Anna immediately replied in the following strain to the missive of his partizan:
GeneralSanta Anna, commander-in-chief of the Liberating Army, to GeneralAlmonte, minister of war of the republic of Mexico.Ayotla, 1 o'clock, A. M., Sept. 14, 1846.Sir: I have received your favor of this date, acknowledging a decree issued by the supreme government of the nation, embracing a programme of the proceedings adopted to regulate a due celebration of the re-establishment of the constitution of 1824, the assumption by myself of the supreme executive power, and the anniversary of the gloriousgritoof Dolores.My satisfaction is extreme to observe the enthusiasm with which preparations are made to celebrate the two great blessings which have fallen upon this nation—her independence and her liberty—and I am penetrated with the deepest gratitude to find that my arrival at the capital will be made to contribute to the solemnities of so great an occasion. In furtherance of this object I shall make my entrée into that city to-morrow at midday, and desire, in contributing my share to the national jubilee, to observe such a course as may best accord with my duties to my country—beloved of my heart—and with the respect due to the will of the sovereign people.I have been called by the voice of my fellow-citizens to exercise the office of commander-in-chief of the army of the republic. I was far from my native land when intelligence of this renewed confidence, and of these new obligations imposed upon me by my country was brought to me, and I saw that the imminent dangers which surrounded her on all sides, formed the chief motive for calling me to the head of the army. I now see a terrible contest with a perfidious and daring enemy impending over her, in which the Mexican republic must reconquer the insignia of her glory and a fortunate issue, if victorious, or disappear from the face of the earth, if so unfortunate as to be defeated. I also see a treacherous faction raising its head from her bosom, which, in calling up a form of government detested by the united nation, provokes a preferable submission to foreign dominion; and I behold, at last, that after much vacillation, that nation is resolved to establish her right to act for herself, and to arrange such a form of government as best suits her wishes.All this I have observed, and turned a listening ear to the cry of my desolated country, satisfied that she really needed my weakservices at so important a period. Hence I have come, without hesitation or delay, to place myself in subjection to her will; and, desirous to be perfectly understood, upon reaching my native soil, I gave a full and public expression of my sentiments and principles. The reception which they met convinced me that I had not deceived myself, and I am now the more confirmed in them, not from having given them more consideration, but because they have found a general echo in the hearts of my fellow-citizens.I come, then, to carry my views into operation, and in compliance with the mandate of my country. She calls me as commander-in-chief of the army, and in that capacity I stand ready to serve. The enemy occupies our harbors—he is despoiling us of the richest of our territories, and threatens us with his domination! I go, then, to the head of the Mexican army—an army the offspring of a free people—and joined with it, I will fulfil my utmost duty in opposing the enemies of my country. I will die fighting, or lead the valiant Mexicans to the enjoyment of a triumph to which they are alike entitled by justice, by their warlike character, and by the dignity and enthusiasm which they have preserved, of a free nation. The war is a necessity of immediate importance; every day's delay is, an age of infamy; I cannot recede from the position which the nation has assigned me; I must go forward, unless I would draw upon myself the censure due to ingratitude for the favors with which I have been overwhelmed by my fellow-citizens; or, unless I would behold her humbled and suffering under a perpetuation of her misfortunes.Your excellency will at once perceive how great an error I should commit in assuming the supreme magistracy, when my duty calls me to the field, to fight against the enemies of the republic. I should disgrace myself, if, when called to the point of danger, I should spring to that of power! Neither my loyalty nor my honor requires the abandonment of interests so dear to me. The single motive of my heart is to offer my compatriots the sacrifice of that blood which yet runs in my veins. I wish them to know that I consecrate myself entirely to their service, as a soldier ought to do, and am only desirous further to be permitted to point out the course by which Mexico may attain the rank to which her destinies call her.In marching against the enemy, and declining to accept power, I give a proof of the sincerity of my sentiments; leaving the nation her own mistress, at liberty to dispose of herself as she sees fit. The elections for members of a congress to form the constitution which the people wish to adopt, are proceeding. Thatcongress will now soon convene, and while I shall be engaged in the conflict in armed defence of her independence, the nation will place such safeguards around her liberties as may best suit herself.If I should permit myself for a single moment, to take the reins of government, the sincerity of my promises would be rendered questionable, and no confidence could be placed in them.I am resolved that they shall not be falsified, for in their redemption I behold the general good, as well as my honor as a Mexican and a soldier. I cannot abandon this position. The existing government has pursued a course with which the nation has shown itself content, and I have no desire to subvert it by taking its place. I feel abundant pleasure in remaining where I am, and flatter myself that the nation will applaud my choice. I shall joyfully accept such tasks as she shall continue to impose upon me; and while she is engaged in promoting the objects of civilization, I will brave every danger in supporting its benefits, even at the cost of my existence.Will your excellency have the goodness to tender to the supreme government my sincere thanks for their kindness? I will personally repeat them to-morrow, for which purpose I propose to call at the palace. I shall there embrace my friends, and hastily pressing them to my heart, bid them a tender farewell, and set out to the scene of war, to lend my aid to serve my country, or to perish among its ruins.I beg to repeat to your excellency assurances of my continued and especial esteem.Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
GeneralSanta Anna, commander-in-chief of the Liberating Army, to GeneralAlmonte, minister of war of the republic of Mexico.
Ayotla, 1 o'clock, A. M., Sept. 14, 1846.
Sir: I have received your favor of this date, acknowledging a decree issued by the supreme government of the nation, embracing a programme of the proceedings adopted to regulate a due celebration of the re-establishment of the constitution of 1824, the assumption by myself of the supreme executive power, and the anniversary of the gloriousgritoof Dolores.
My satisfaction is extreme to observe the enthusiasm with which preparations are made to celebrate the two great blessings which have fallen upon this nation—her independence and her liberty—and I am penetrated with the deepest gratitude to find that my arrival at the capital will be made to contribute to the solemnities of so great an occasion. In furtherance of this object I shall make my entrée into that city to-morrow at midday, and desire, in contributing my share to the national jubilee, to observe such a course as may best accord with my duties to my country—beloved of my heart—and with the respect due to the will of the sovereign people.
I have been called by the voice of my fellow-citizens to exercise the office of commander-in-chief of the army of the republic. I was far from my native land when intelligence of this renewed confidence, and of these new obligations imposed upon me by my country was brought to me, and I saw that the imminent dangers which surrounded her on all sides, formed the chief motive for calling me to the head of the army. I now see a terrible contest with a perfidious and daring enemy impending over her, in which the Mexican republic must reconquer the insignia of her glory and a fortunate issue, if victorious, or disappear from the face of the earth, if so unfortunate as to be defeated. I also see a treacherous faction raising its head from her bosom, which, in calling up a form of government detested by the united nation, provokes a preferable submission to foreign dominion; and I behold, at last, that after much vacillation, that nation is resolved to establish her right to act for herself, and to arrange such a form of government as best suits her wishes.
All this I have observed, and turned a listening ear to the cry of my desolated country, satisfied that she really needed my weakservices at so important a period. Hence I have come, without hesitation or delay, to place myself in subjection to her will; and, desirous to be perfectly understood, upon reaching my native soil, I gave a full and public expression of my sentiments and principles. The reception which they met convinced me that I had not deceived myself, and I am now the more confirmed in them, not from having given them more consideration, but because they have found a general echo in the hearts of my fellow-citizens.
I come, then, to carry my views into operation, and in compliance with the mandate of my country. She calls me as commander-in-chief of the army, and in that capacity I stand ready to serve. The enemy occupies our harbors—he is despoiling us of the richest of our territories, and threatens us with his domination! I go, then, to the head of the Mexican army—an army the offspring of a free people—and joined with it, I will fulfil my utmost duty in opposing the enemies of my country. I will die fighting, or lead the valiant Mexicans to the enjoyment of a triumph to which they are alike entitled by justice, by their warlike character, and by the dignity and enthusiasm which they have preserved, of a free nation. The war is a necessity of immediate importance; every day's delay is, an age of infamy; I cannot recede from the position which the nation has assigned me; I must go forward, unless I would draw upon myself the censure due to ingratitude for the favors with which I have been overwhelmed by my fellow-citizens; or, unless I would behold her humbled and suffering under a perpetuation of her misfortunes.
Your excellency will at once perceive how great an error I should commit in assuming the supreme magistracy, when my duty calls me to the field, to fight against the enemies of the republic. I should disgrace myself, if, when called to the point of danger, I should spring to that of power! Neither my loyalty nor my honor requires the abandonment of interests so dear to me. The single motive of my heart is to offer my compatriots the sacrifice of that blood which yet runs in my veins. I wish them to know that I consecrate myself entirely to their service, as a soldier ought to do, and am only desirous further to be permitted to point out the course by which Mexico may attain the rank to which her destinies call her.
In marching against the enemy, and declining to accept power, I give a proof of the sincerity of my sentiments; leaving the nation her own mistress, at liberty to dispose of herself as she sees fit. The elections for members of a congress to form the constitution which the people wish to adopt, are proceeding. Thatcongress will now soon convene, and while I shall be engaged in the conflict in armed defence of her independence, the nation will place such safeguards around her liberties as may best suit herself.
If I should permit myself for a single moment, to take the reins of government, the sincerity of my promises would be rendered questionable, and no confidence could be placed in them.
I am resolved that they shall not be falsified, for in their redemption I behold the general good, as well as my honor as a Mexican and a soldier. I cannot abandon this position. The existing government has pursued a course with which the nation has shown itself content, and I have no desire to subvert it by taking its place. I feel abundant pleasure in remaining where I am, and flatter myself that the nation will applaud my choice. I shall joyfully accept such tasks as she shall continue to impose upon me; and while she is engaged in promoting the objects of civilization, I will brave every danger in supporting its benefits, even at the cost of my existence.
Will your excellency have the goodness to tender to the supreme government my sincere thanks for their kindness? I will personally repeat them to-morrow, for which purpose I propose to call at the palace. I shall there embrace my friends, and hastily pressing them to my heart, bid them a tender farewell, and set out to the scene of war, to lend my aid to serve my country, or to perish among its ruins.
I beg to repeat to your excellency assurances of my continued and especial esteem.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
On the 15th of September, Santa Anna arrived at the capital, amid rejoicings more enthusiastic than had ever been witnessed before. The people seemed to behold in him their saviour, and were almost frantic with joy. The testimonies of attachment to his person were unbounded, and the next day the most vigorous measures, so far as declarations go, were adopted by the provisional government.
A levy of thirty thousand men to recruit the army was ordered. Requisitions were forthwith transmitted to all the principal places in the republic, for their respective quotas of men. Puebla, and the whole of the towns within a circuit of fifty or sixty leagues of the metropolis, are stated to have complied with the requisition for troops, with the greatest alacrity. To facilitate the arming and equipping of this large body, the government ordered that duties on all munitions of war shall cease to be levied, until further notice.
Santa Anna was thus once more in the capital and effectually at the head of power; but he remained only a short time to attend to political matters, and dreading, doubtless, to assume openly the management of the government or to trust himself away from the protection of the military, he hastened to surround his person with the army;—as commander-in-chief, he effectually controlled all the departments of the government.
In order to perceive distinctly the perilous position of Santa Anna, we must understand the state of parties in Mexico. The revolution which placed him in power was brought about by a union of the federalists with his partizans. Santa Anna, of course, retained an influence over his adherents after arriving in Mexico; but the federalists were divided into two parties—thePurosandModerados, or, democrats and conservatives. The dissensions in these sections enabled Santa Anna, in a degree, to hold the balance between them.Salas, the acting executive, was a conservative, and Gomez Farias, president of the council of government, was a democrat. Intrigue after intrigue occurred in the cabinet and elsewhere among theultrasto supplant Salas, and several resignations gave evidence of the ill feeling and dissensions betwixt the ministers—Cortina and Pacheco, both conservatives, resigned—and so did Rejon and Farias. The National Guard intimated its discontent with the condition of things very manifestly, and the new cabinet was filled with old enemies of Santa Anna. Meanwhile Almonte, the ablest man in the country, retained the ministry of war.
About this time the state of San Luis Potosi pronounced against the presidency of General Salas, demanding that General Santa Anna should assume the executive functions, or that some one should be named by him. As a precaution against the apprehended attempts upon his life, Salas retired on the 25th of October from the capital to Tacubaya. The greater part of the permanent garrison of the capital took up its quarters in the same place. Santa Anna was probably determined that General Salas should not obtain too absolute an ascendancy. Report said that Salas was honest enough to attempt to carry into effect all the guaranties of the revolution of Jalisco and the citadel, and that his policy did not suit the chief; but Santa Anna professed to act in the utmost harmony with him.
This outbreak against the provisional government of General Salas was soon suppressed, and Santa Anna remained in command of the army at San Luis Potosi, but without making any attackupon our forces on the Rio Grande after the defeat of Ampudia at Monterey, or endeavoring to prevent our subsequent capture of Victoria and Tampico.
On the 23d of December congress voted, by states, for provisional president and vice president. Each state had one vote in this election, determined by the majority of its deputies. Twenty-two states voted, including the federal district of Mexico, and two territories. Santa Anna's opponent, Francisco Elorriega, was the choice of nine states, and Gomez Farias was elected vice president. The day before the election the members of the cabinet threw up their portfolios; and, in the midst of his evident political unpopularity with the politicians Santa Anna seems to have been left by the authorities at San Luis Potosi with an army destitute of efficient arms, of military knowledge, and of the means of support. Santa Anna accepted the provisional presidency.
Meanwhile our army had been advancing steadily since the battles of Resaca de la Palma and Palo Alto on the 8th and 9th of May, 1846. California had fallen into our hands, and New Mexico had been subjugated. Tampico was, also, ours, and Taylor had pushed his victorious army to Saltillo. Santa Anna stood, at bay, in San Luis Potosi; for he was not yet prepared to fight, and popular opinion would not permit him to negotiate. In this forlorn condition he resorted to the usual occupation of the Mexican government when in distress, and issued, despatch after despatch to stimulate congress, the cabinet and the people in the lingering war.
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Nor was the government of the United States, meanwhile, inattentive to this position of affairs in Mexico, or indisposed to afford the government an opportunity to reconcile our difficulties by negotiation. Two distinct efforts were made by Mr. Buchanan, our secretary of state in the summer of 1846, and in January, 1847; but both proved abortive, and we were therefore obliged to continue hostilities.
At length, when Santa Anna perceived the enfeebled condition of General Taylor, and believed that Scott would be for a long time hindered from effecting his attack upon Vera Cruz, he marched to Buena Vista and experienced the sad reverse which we have already recounted. As soon as the battle was over the wily and discomfited chief immediately began to repair the losses of his arms by the eloquence and adroitness of his pen. In a long account of the battle he treats the affair as almost a victory, and leaves the public mind of Mexico in doubt as to whether he hadbeen beaten or victorious. The few trophies, taken in the saddest moments of the action, were sent in triumph to the interior and paraded as thespolia opimain San Luis and the city of Mexico. The public men of the country knew that Angostura had in reality been lost, and Miñón who was seriously assailed in the press by Santa Anna for not co-operating at the critical moment, published a reply in which he treated Santa Anna in the plainest terms and denounced, as false, the general's statement that his troops were famishing for food on the 24th of February, and that his failure to destroy Taylor's army was only owing to this important fact! This system of mutual denunciation and recrimination was quite common in Mexico, whenever a defeat was to be accounted for or thrown on the shoulders of an individual who was not in reality answerable for it.
When Santa Anna returned to San Luis Potosi, he entered that city with not one half the army that accompanied him on his departure to the north. It was moreover worn out and disorganized by the long and painful march over the bleak desert, and had entirely lost its habit of discipline. Such was the condition of things at San Luis in the month of March, when Santa Anna found himself compelled to organize another force to resist the enemy on the east; but whilst his attention was diligently directed to this subject the sad news reached him, that Mexico was not only assailed from without, but that her capital was torn by internal dissensions.
The peace between the president, and the vice president, Don Valentin Gomez Farias, had been cemented by the good offices of mutual friends, though it is not likely that any very ardent friendship could have sprung up suddenly between men whose politics had always been so widely variant. Nor was there less difference between the moral than the political character of these personages. Santa Anna, the selfish, arrogant military chieftain,—a man of unquestionable genius and talent for command,—had passed his life in spreading his sails to catch the popular breeze, and by his alliances with the two most powerful elements of Mexican society,—the army and the church,—had always contrived to sustain his eminent political position, or recover it when it was temporarily lost. Such was the case in his return to power after the invasion of the French, in the attack upon whom he fortunately lost a limb which became a constant capital upon which to trade in the corrupt but sentimental market of popular favor. Valentin Gomez Farias, on the contrary was a pure, straightforward, uncompromising patriot, always alive to the true progressive interests of theMexican nation, and satisfied that these could only be secured by the successful imitation of our federal system, together with the destruction of the large standing army, and the release of the large church properties from the incubus of mortmain.
There was much discontent in Mexico with the election of these two personages to the presidency and vice presidency. Reflecting men thought the union unnatural, and although the desperate times required desperate remedies, there was something so incongruous in the political alliance between Farias and Santa Anna, that little good could be expected to issue from it. The clergy were alarmed for its wealth, and the moderate party was frightened by the habitual despotism of Santa Anna. The latter personage was in fact, regarded with more favor at the moment by all classes, than Farias, because the country had reason to believe him a man of action, and familiar in times of danger and distress, with all its resources of men and money; and as he was entirely occupied with the organization and management of the army at San Luis, the opposition party directed all its blows against the administration of the vice presidency.
A few days after the installation of the new government, the agitation of the mortmain question was commenced in congress. The Puro party united with the executive, made every effort to destroy the power of the clergy, by undermining the foundation of its wealth, while the Moderados became the supporters of the ecclesiastics, under the lead of Don Mariano Otero.
At length the law was passed, but it was not a frank and decided act, destroying at once the privileges of the clergy and declaring their possessions to be the property of the republic. In fact it was a mere decree for the seizure of ecclesiastical incomes, which threatened the non-complying with heavy fines if they did not pay over to the civil authorities, the revenues which had formerly been collected by the stewards of convents and monks.
This act, comparatively mild as it was, and temporary as it might have been considered, did not satisfy the clergy, even in this moment of national peril. They resorted to the spiritual weapons which they reserved for extreme occasions. They fulminated excommunications; and published dreadful threats of punishment hereafter for the crime that had been committed by placing an impious hand upon wealth which they asserted belonged to God alone. This conduct of the religious orders had its desired effect not only among the people, but among the officers of government; for the chief clerk of the finance department, Hurci, refused tosign the law, and it was sometime before a suitable person could be found to put the law in operation. Santa Anna adroitly kept himself aloof from the controversy, and wrote from San Luis, that he merely desired support for the army, and that in other questions, especially those touching the clergy, he had no desire to enter, but would limit himself to the recommendation, that neither the canons, nor the collegiate establishment of Guadalupe, should be molested, inasmuch as he entertained the greatest friendship for the one, and the most reverential devotion for the other.
But the executive, fixed in its intention to liberate the property held in mortmain, took every means to carry the law into effect, and experienced the utmost resistance from the incumbents, especially when the property happened to belong to the female sex, which is always averse from intercourse or dealings with persons who are regarded as inimical to the church.
This rigorous conduct of the executive, and the opposition it encountered from the Moderados, fomented by that powerful, spiritual class which has so long controlled the conscience of the masses, gave rise, at this period, to the outbreak in the capital, which is known as the revolution of the Polkos. It began on the 22d of February, 1847, in Mexico, whilst Santa Anna was firing the first guns at Angostura; and its great object was to drive Farias from executive power. The forces on both sides, amounted to six thousand men, and were divided between the Polkos and the partizans of the government. Funds were found to support both factions, and from that time to the 21st of March, the city of Mexico was converted into a battle field. On the morning of that day Santa Anna, who had already despatched a portion of his broken army towards the coast, and who had been approached on his journey from the capital, by emissaries from both factions, arrived at Guadalupe, and immediately the contest ceased. The stewards of the convents refused to expend more money for the support of their partizans, and the treasury of the government was closed against its adherents. The personal influence of Santa Anna thus put an end to a disgraceful rebellion which threatened the nationality of Mexico, within, whilst a foreign enemy was preparing to attack its most vital parts from the gulf.
The conflict of arms was over, but the partizans of the clergy did not intermit their efforts to get rid of the obnoxious vice-president; and at length, they effected pacifically, what they had been unable to do by force.
They brought in a bill declaring that "the vice presidency of the republic, created by the decree of the 21st December, 1846, should be suppressed." The debate upon this was of the most animated nature, the friends and enemies of Farias showing equal vehemence in sustaining their views. On the 31st day of March the vote was taken, and the proposition carried by a vote of thirty-eight to thirty-five.
The following day a decree was passed embodying the above proposition and others:
1. Permission is granted to the actual president of the republic to take command in person of the forces which the government may place under his command, to resist the foreign enemy.
2. The vice presidency of the republic, established by the law of 21st December last, is suppressed.
3. The place of the provisional president shall be filled by a substitute, named by congress according to the terms of the law just cited.
4. If in this election the vote of the deputations should be tied, in place of determining the choice by lot, congress shall decide, voting by person.
5. The functions of the substitute shall cease when the provisional president shall return to the exercise of power.
6. On the 15th day of May next the legislatures of the states shall proceed to the election of a president of the republic, according to the form prescribed by the constitution of 1824, and with no other difference save voting for one individual only.
7. The same legislatures shall at once transmit to the sovereign congress the result of the election in a certified despatch.
This decree having been passed, it was at once signified to congress, through a minister, that Santa Anna was desirous of assuming the command of the army immediately and marching to the east to provide for the national defence. Congress went at once into permanent session, in order to choose a substitute for the president. The election resulted in the choice of Señor D. Pedro Anaya. He received sixty votes and General Almonte eleven, voting by persons, and eighteen votes against three, counting by deputations. The result being promulgated, permission was granted that Señor Anaya should at once take the oath of office. This was on the 1st of April, and on the 2d, Anaya entered upon his duties. He dispensed with the usual visits of congratulation and ceremony on account of the pressure of public business, and Santa Anna left the capital for the army in the afternoon of the same day.