against Itúrbide, Santa Anna had been eclipsed by larger figures, and
to shine again he took up arms as Protector of the People; but this
enterprise collapsed at once, and he issued a very humble proclamation,
closing with the words, "Permit me, permit me to dig myself an obscure
grave that my ashes and my memory may disappear." A fairly comfortable
grave was, however, dug for him by removing His Penitence to Yucatan
as military commandant, and he proceeded at once to gild its interior
by permitting illicit commerce with Cuba. Returning after a while to
the proper field of ambition, he was more than suspected of complicity
in two insurrections; but in each case he read the omens in season to
extricate himself, and virtuously offered his sword to the government.
Now, however, he took a bold stand. Not only were he and the successful
candidate personal enemies, but he felt that little would be left of
himself after four years of Pedraza's rule; and he knew that Guerrero,
in addition to being favored by the army, really had a majority of the
people on his side. Accordingly he unfurled his flag in September, 1828,
for Guerrero, popular rights and a total expulsion of the Gachupines. In
this contest he showed amazing quickness, audacity and resourcefulness,
keeping up his motley troops principally by brigandage; but very soon
his cause appeared to be doomed.[2.6]
At this point Lorenzo de Zavala, one of those human meteors that rarely
illuminate Anglo-Saxon skies, came forward. His political relations were
extremely intense; and now, believing the Centralists intended to place
him before a firing-squad, he organized at Mexico, in the hope of saving
himself and Santa Anna, the woeful insurrection of the Acordada, which
fixed the example of party revolution. Victoria had an understanding
with him, though after betraying the government and letting the handful
of rioters get a safe start, he lost his nerve and betrayed them also;
and in the end, at the cost of some bloodshed and extensive robberies,
the insurrection triumphed; "the vile and unnatural Pedraza"--as his
foes called him--fled to the United States, and Congress, after having
declared Pedraza elected, pronounced Guerrero President on the express
ground that revolts had occurred in his favor. In reality this was a
revolution of numbers and popular ideas against privilege and oligarchy,
and before long the country accepted the situation.[2.6]
[A NEW REVOLUTION]
Santa Anna was now a popular hero, the saviour of the nation; and he
proceeded to confirm his title. In 1829 came the long expected blow from
Spain, and having calmly assumed the military authority at Vera Cruz,
he advanced to meet it. Near Tampico the invading army, stricken with
fever, desired to lay down its arms; but Santa Anna, eager for laurels,
attacked it. Spanish valor accepted the challenge; the Mexicans were
repulsed; and their ambitious leader left the field before the battle
ended. The invaders were then permitted to surrender, and soon a new cry
was echoing through the streets of Mexico, "Viva Santa Anna, the Victor
of Tampico!" Clothing himself with modesty and grace he now posed as a
sort of benevolent divinity. Rather tall, thin, apparently feeble but
capable of great exertions on occasion, with a head that bulged at the
top, a swarthy complexion, brilliant and restless eyes, a very clear-cut
voice and a voluble tongue, he moved about his estate at Manga de Clavo
and the near-by city of Vera Cruz in an easy, affable way, accumulating
popularity. "Can read somewhat," reported our consul in that city; but
his thoughts were above literature. "Were I made God," it was said that
he once remarked, "I should wish to be something more."[2.6]
Meantime, April 1, 1829, Guerrero assumed the Presidency. In his green
jacket edged with fur, red waistcoat bound with a blue sash, brown
mantle and heavy sabre, with his thick hair bristling toward all
points of the compass, he was a picturesque figure, and as candidate
had answered very well. For the role of chief magistrate, however, the
British minister justly described him as "totally unfit." Being mostly
of Indian and partly--it was stated--of negro blood, he instinctively
distrusted the whites, while the latter utterly despised the class to
which he belonged. Though his intuitive judgment was quick and within
the range of his experience remarkably correct, he knew nothing whatever
of letters and politics, necessarily depended upon the self-seeking
flatterers of his party, and veered about like the wind. In military
emergencies he could burst his bonds like a Samson, but the things he
really cared for were a wench, a bottle, a game of monte and a nap
under some spreading tree. Without ideas, knowledge, experience or
high character, he faced a terrible inheritance: the laws ignored, the
authorities despised, the administration disorganized, the treasury
worse than empty, the country in distress and turmoil.[2.6]
Professions of loyalty to the "sacred" constitution and the laws could
not blot out the fact that his authority was based upon a riot; and
others would not feel satisfied merely because he was content. The
extraordinary powers of the Executive, granted in view of the Spanish
invasion, were used oppressively. A multitude of persons clamored for
money and he could give them none; a multitude clamored for reforms, and
he scarcely knew what they were talking about. As far as possible the
rest of the Gachupines were driven out, but this merely added to the
confusion. President and nation simply drifted, and the rocks were near.
Before long the general government was practically ignored except at the
capital, and the heads of the secret societies wielded the real power.
Guerrero even allowed the oligarchy, his deadliest foe, to alienate him
from the common people, the source of his strength. He became almost
as isolated as Mahomet's coffin; and then--as soon as ambition could
disguise itself with a programme--he fell.[2.6]
Mainly owing to the good-will of Guerrero, the Vice-President was
General Anastasio Bustamante, a heavy, dull, rather kindly and fairly
honest aristocrat, though nominally a moderate Federalist. When
appointed by Guerrero to command the army of reserve at Jalapa, the
principal military force in the country, he exclaimed on taking leave
of the President, "Never will I unsheathe my sword against General
Guerrero," but within a year (December, 1829) he did it; and, though a
beneficiary of the Acordada riot, he revolted against the government
in the name of the constitution. As a matter of fact his rebellion was
merely another effort of the privileged classes, a revised edition of
Montaño's, and the army received its pay from the money chests of the
oligarchs. Little opposition was encountered, for Guerrero had let
Delilah shear him, the Acordada episode and much other misconduct had
completely discredited the radical Federalists, and the Federalists in
general--who had raised Bustamante from a political prison to the second
place in the nation--could not believe, after his fresh protestations of
loyalty to the constitution, that he would betray them. The President,
finding nobody to lean upon, fled to his old haunts in the south,
was treacherously captured and was shot; and meanwhile, on the first
of January, 1830, Bustamante took up the reins. Greed, corruption,
imprudence, evil passions and lawlessness had ruined the cause of
democracy, and Victoria's experiment of letting aristocrats administer a
professedly popular system had to be tried again.[2.6]
Bustamante opened Congress with a bit of the fashionable hypocrisy,
asserting that a "sacred Constitution" had placed him in power; but he
showed that what interested him was "the wishes of the army," and the
army reciprocated this affection. Alamán, who had been Victoria's chief
adviser at first, now became the real head of the government. More
than any other man in Mexico he could claim to be called a statesman,
for he knew some history, had observed politics in Europe, and in a
superficial yet impressive way could reason; but he was a statesman of
the Metternich school, wily and insincere, wholly unable to sympathize
with democracy, and profoundly in love with force. Whatever did not suit
the government he demolished without regard to law; whoever opposed it
was crushed. In administration the government did well, but--attempting
to represent democracy and privilege, progress and reaction, the past
and the future, a self-governing state and an all-controlling church at
one and the same time--it undertook to perform an impossible task by
impossible means. Consequently it satisfied neither of the parties and
offended both. King Stork proved worse than King Log.[2.7]
Santa Anna, incensed because Guerrero would not appoint him minister
of war, had at first coquetted with Bustamante's movement; but soon,
overshadowed at Jalapa by the Vice-President and by Bravo, whom
Guerrero had pardoned, he retired to his estate. On the outbreak of
the revolution he took up arms for Guerrero; but when his chief gave
up, he followed that example, and patiently awaited, crouching, the
time to spring. Now he saw the tide of passion rising, and saw also
the best citizens agreeing that Mier y Terán,[F] an able and honorable
man, should be the next chief magistrate. Accordingly, to prevent an
election if nothing more, he "pronounced" in the name of Federalism
at the beginning of 1832, and called for a change of Cabinet, though
four years earlier he had battled for the principle that nobody should
interfere with a President's choice of ministers; and then he required
that Bustamante should give up his place to Pedraza as the rightful head
of the state, though Santa Anna himself had been the cause of Pedraza's
exclusion on the ground of illegal election. Supported by the Vera Cruz
customhouse and defended by the pestilence of the coast, he occupied a
most advantageous position; and consistency did not signify.[2.7]
[F] A Mexican sometimes chose to bear the family name of his mother
as well as that of his father. The former was connected to the
latter with the word "and" (_y_). Paredes y Arrillaga, Peña y
Peña, Mora y Villamil are instances. In referring to such
persons, however, it was customary to use only the first of the
names. Thus one finds much more often "Paredes" than "Paredes y
Arrillaga."
Near the close of the year the two chiefs, brought together by Pedraza,
adjusted the affairs of the nation--that is to say, the offices--as
private business, and the troops on both sides were liberally rewarded.
Congress protested, but was utterly powerless. Bustamante soon found it
wise to give up the Presidency; and as the elections were not general
enough, at the proper time, to create a Congress, constitutional
government vanished. However, though Pedraza had resigned and even
left the country, which no President could legally do, Santa Anna and
Bustamante now hoisted him into power to complete the term interrupted
by Guerrero, while the "best citizens" fell out over offices and
personal issues, and so dissipated the brightest prospect seen as yet in
Mexican public life.[2.7]
[SANTA ANNA PRESIDENT]
Under these circumstances, of course, the dominant general, Santa Anna,
was elected President. For Vice-President the choice fell upon Valentín
Gómez Farías, leader of the radical Federalists. In many ways Farías
deserved warm admiration. He was active, indefatigable, fearless,
thoroughly honest, and willing--perhaps a little more than willing--to
serve the public in the humblest or the highest office. He loved
Mexico ardently, and he believed in the supremacy of law and the civil
authority. Unfortunately, however, his education was inadequate for the
work he undertook to do; and he lacked prudence, patience and common
sense. In short, he may be characterized as a fanatical democrat and
political idealist.[2.7]
Santa Anna now had the army at his back, but he desired to have also
the privileged classes there, and they had been exasperated by his
overthrowing Bustamante. He therefore decided to let them see they
needed him; and, retiring early in 1833 to his estate--which in fact he
enjoyed much more than bearing the burdens of administration--he left
the Vice-President in power. Farías then undertook to transform Mexico,
by merely saying "Open Sesame!" to the Federalist majority in Congress,
into a modern, liberal, orderly and prosperous nation; and reform
projects made their appearance at once. The privileges of the army
were boldly attacked and still more those of the Church, which aimed
to be _in_ the social order enough to dominate it, yet enough outside
to escape from all obligations. Farías proposed, therefore, without
having a well-digested plan, to reassert the supreme authority formerly
exercised by the king, abolish the clerical fuero and the compulsory
tithes, provide for popular, lay education, and bring into productive
circulation the immense wealth controlled by the Church; and Congress,
fully aware that reforms were necessary, dazzled by the boldness and
novelty of his programme, and misled by the Mexican faith in theories
and formulæ, supported him.[2.7]
Naturally such projects and their foreseen consequences roused the
clericals and all in that camp to fury, and the proprietors of great
estates also grew alarmed. The President felt his time had come, and
in May, therefore, he resumed his functions. The progress of reform
promptly halted, and soon it was announced that Santa Anna, ingeniously
made a prisoner by his own troops, had been proclaimed dictator.
Undoubtedly he expected the mutiny that now broke out at the capital
to overthrow the government; but Farías, again in power during the
President's absence, quelled the revolt, and Santa Anna found it
necessary to "escape" and resume his office.[2.7]
[A CHANGE OF RÉGIME]
Pretending still with consummate address to favor both parties--though
really a Centralist now--he made both of them court and fear him, and
proved his power by breaking down and then restoring the army. Of
course, however, these manoeuvres excited suspicion. The privileged
classes, though anxious for his support, hesitated to pledge him theirs,
and so he returned on a six months' leave of absence to his figurative
plow, leaving Tornel, whom an American minister described as "a very bad
man," to scheme in his interest. The now embittered and excited forces
of reform were thus unleashed, and before long the Church and the rich
proprietors offered the Cincinnatus of Manga de Clavo absolute power on
condition that he should protect them. In April, 1834, therefore, two
months before his leave was to expire, he took possession of the supreme
power again, and was hailed by the clergy as a new Messiah. Supported
soon by the revolutionary "plan" of Cuernavaca, he made himself in
effect a dictator. The cause of reform was harshly checked and turned
back. Congress found the door of its hall barred; and Farías, covered
with abuse, was driven from the country.[2.7]
Secretly encouraging reactionary insurrections and instigating demands
for a centralized régime, though still professing publicly the other
creed, Santa Anna ordered the people to surrender their weapons, and
crushed with a ruthless hand the state of Zacatecas, which dared to
oppose his will. "Worthy son of the father of lies," "unrivalled
chameleon," "shameless hypocrite," "atheist and blasphemer," shrieked
his opponents. "With the tranquility of a tiger, which, sated with the
flesh of its prey, reposes on what it does not wish to devour, Santa
Anna reports his victory," cried _El Crepúsculo_. But resentment counted
for nothing; Mexico was prostrate. Late in 1835, therefore, a packed
Congress of self-seeking politicians decided upon centralization, and
it was understood that Santa Anna would be chosen President for ten
years, with a longer term and a higher title in prospect. But now the
scene was tragically shifted. In March, 1836, the Texans declared their
independence. The Napoleon of the West fell into their hands at San
Jacinto, where they defeated his army; and, as an inkling got abroad
of the unpatriotic agreements made with his captors while in fear of
revenge for his cruelties, he thought it wise to announce, on returning
to Mexico in 1837, a definitive retirement from public life.[2.7]
According to the organic law, any proposed constitutional change had to
remain under consideration for two years; but the Congress of 1835, not
minding a trifle like this, drew up as fast as possible what it named
the Seven Laws--called by others the Seven Plagues. By December, 1836,
despite the resistance and threats of the Federalists, the new régime
was fully organized, and Bustamante soon held the reins again. The
Church and the wealthy were now satisfied. The army also felt pleased,
for the Federalists denounced its privileges, the cost of the many state
offices created by them reduced the amount of money it could get, and
an aristocratic government seemed likely to need it constantly and pay
it with some regularity; and so the prospect was, especially with Santa
Anna eliminated, that the new regime would be stable.[2.7]
But among the aristocrats it had become unfashionable by this time to
meddle with politics. The groups that made up the dominant party,
though united against the democrats, had little else in common. Each
group desired to enjoy privileges and shun burdens; each aimed to
exploit the nation; and there was not enough to satisfy all. The
expulsion of the Spaniards had weakened the numbers, ability, energy
and wealth of the party; and now, as after every revolution, it proved
so impossible to fulfill the promises made to win support, that soon
disappointed friends were allying themselves with open enemies.[2.8]
A new difficulty, too, arose, for under a centralized system the
government had to assume financial responsibilities previously borne
by the states. A strong treasury was therefore essential; yet the
rich, and in particular the clergy, would not pay enough to carry on
the government they had established. Consequently funds had to be
borrowed, Church property being the only available security; and the
clergy, instead of meeting the terms of the money-lenders, busily hid or
exported their wealth. Every dollar that could be raised had to be given
the army as the price of its allegiance, and for six months not one
civil employé, from the President down, received a salary. In October,
1837, the ministry resigned in a body, and would not return to their
desks, for nobody cared to support so heavy a load when there was no
chance to steal or even to get paid.[2.8]
Early in November the British representative, although the legation
had all along sympathized with the aristocratic party, reported
that Centralism had completely failed; and it was notorious that
Bustamante himself desired a restoration of Federalism as the only
possible expedient. Seeing their enemies divided, the liberals took
heart, and petitions for a change of system were soon pouring in
from the departments, which had now taken the places of the states.
Dissatisfaction spread. Pronunciamientos began, and only the popularity
of Bustamante, who had mellowed with age and foreign travel during his
period of eclipse, maintained the government. Yet Federalism could not
act, for at this juncture the French minister was pressing claims,
and the two wings of the party--the moderates led by Pedraza and the
radicals led by Farías--disagreed passionately on this foreign issue.
A complete state of anarchy prevails, reported our consul at Mexico in
December, 1838.[2.8]
[FALL OF BUSTAMANTE]
Santa Anna all this time was quietly at work, though he had called
heaven to witness that he would be loyal to the existing regime; and,
as often happened, chance came to his aid. A French fleet captured the
fortress of Ulúa, off Vera Cruz, at this time, and a party of marines
landed at the town, destroyed some war material, and then marched
back to reëmbark. Santa Anna commanded there, and, being wounded in
attacking these troops, had to undergo amputation at the knee. This was
his opportunity, and he at once issued a most eloquent address. Already
he had outdone opera bouffe, and now he outdid himself. "Probably this
will be the last victory I shall give my country," he said; "I die happy
that Divine Providence has permitted me to devote to her every drop
of my blood.... May all my fellow-citizens, forgetting my political
errors, concede to me the one title that I would leave my children,
that of a Good Mexican." There had been no victory, for the French
drove him out of Vera Cruz before he could dictate the address, and he
did not dream of dying; but the Mexicans are tender-hearted, and the
episode--particularly in contrast with the inaction of the government,
which could not afford an efficient regular army and dared not arm the
people--gave him a fresh hold on the nation, even though all capable of
thinking felt by this time profoundly skeptical about him.[2.8]
Accordingly he became the power behind the tottering throne in December,
1838, and when Bustamante took the field early the next year to put
down an insurgent named Mejía, the Centralist leaders had Santa Anna
made temporary President as a bulwark against Federalism. The quality
of his penitence quickly showed itself. His power was audaciously used
to cripple Bustamante, suppress liberty, gain partisans and benefit
himself and his friends. In a word, he achieved the most lawless and
shameless administration yet witnessed, and though universally feared,
was now execrated by almost all except his personal followers. In July,
1839, the President resumed his functions, but matters only went on from
worse to worst--corruption rampant in the administration, public spirit
dead. In July, 1840, rioters actually made him their prisoner for a
time. False advisers, particularly Tornel, drew him farther and farther
into Santa Anna's net. Corpulent and aging rapidly, he fell into a sort
of mental stupor; and in August, 1841, the British minister reported
that the government, if left to itself, would soon expire of inanition.
As for the nation, it was not merely in anarchy but in chaos. Even the
conservatives admitted that the Seven Laws would not do.[2.8]
This very month rang the bell for the next scene. General Mariano
Paredes, another important figure in the history of our war with Mexico,
was a brave but rather besotted officer, more honest but less clever
than his leading contemporaries. On a mere pretext, though he owed much
to Bustamante, he revolted; more or less in collusion with him Santa
Anna pronounced as mediator; and General Valencia, correctly described
by an American consul as "destitute of every principle of honor or
honesty," treacherously getting hold of what was called the citadel
at Mexico, rebelled on his own account: check from two knights and a
castle, as Señora Calderón wittily described the situation. Weary,
disgusted, indifferent, cynical, men heard unmoved the "Quién vive?" and
"Centinela alerte!" of the insurgents at the capital, and between two
puffs of their cigarettes gossiped about the revolution as if it had
occurred in Europe. It was only a game of chess, and the public were
spectators. They understood now that nearly all the pompous phrases of
the politicians had meant, as Lara's _Revista Política_ of 1840 put it,
"Move, and let me have your place."[2.8]
In this confusion Santa Anna, whom the conservatives had now decided
to support instead of the inefficient Bustamante, came rapidly to the
front. His triumph was soon foreseen, and the nation acquiesced. Most
people knew he was a villain, but felt that at any rate he possessed
energy. Probably he could keep order, they said, and perhaps, if
entirely trusted, would act well. If not, one big rascal could not be
so bad as many little ones; and at the very least any change must be an
improvement. In reality this bold, cunning, hungry, sharp adventurer,
who knew what he wanted and got it, dazzled the average Mexicans. They
saw in him a fulfilment of themselves, and in letting him rule they had
the feeling of success without the trouble.[2.8]