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.