1846-1847.
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.
[Illustration: FIELD OF BUENA VISTA.]
"To draw every thing to the _centre_, 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 his friends, 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 a
_bando 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.
* * * * *
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 refusing to 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 executive power, 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:
General SANTA ANNA, commander-in-chief of the Liberating Army, to
General ALMONTE, 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 glorious _grito_ of 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 weak
services 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. That
congress 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--the _Puros_ and
_Moderados_, 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
the _ultras_ to 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 attack upon 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.
* * * * *
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 had been beaten or victorious. The few
trophies, taken in the saddest moments of the action, were sent in
triumph to the interior and paraded as the _spolia opima_ in 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 the Mexican 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 to sign 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.