WEAKNESS OF THE SPANISH TITLE.
My limits will not permit me to follow General Tornel through his statement of the manner in which Louisiana, Florida, and Texas were acquired, and to notice his complaints of the injustice committed by the Americans in all these acquisitions. He loses sight of the fact that Spain had no title to her possessions in America but that of discovery, and that very doubtful claim had not, in a period of 300 years, been strengthened by actual settlement. Three or four dilapidated mud forts, and as many more feeble missions, constituted the sum total of the Spanish possession of Texas; and settlements scarcely worthy of the name in the other northern departments constituted all the title that Spain could put forth to those countries; while the right of Mexico was as much weaker, as Mexico was a weaker power than Spain, and morally incapable of settling the disputed territory. The claim of the United States was the necessity for land in which to settle her population, which was so rapidly augmenting by foreign immigration. Once in ten years she requires a portion of the wild land nominally belonging to Mexico, and once in ten years she must take it.
SANTA ANNA.
In 1836, while Santa Anna was a prisoner in Texas, Bustamente, then in banishment in Europe, was elected President by the same party that had chosen Santa Anna as Dictator. In 1838, the government having incurred the hostility of France, Vera Cruz was blockaded for several months, during which time a night foray was made into the town by a party of French sailors, headed by the Prince de Joinville. On their return, they were pursued by Santa Anna to the Mole, where they stopped farther pursuit by discharging a cannon, which deprived Santa Anna of one of his legs, and effectually wiped out the recollections of his unfortunate Texan campaign. In 1841, the government being no longer able to raise funds at two per cent. a month, the Minister of War, Valencia, pronounced against Bustamente in the citadel of Mexico. The result was, that Santa Anna was again elevated to supreme power, according to the plan of Tacubaya, and the interpretation he put on that plan. In 1843 a slight change was made in the Constitution, but he remained in power until 1845, when, having left the capital to put down the insurrection of Paredes, Congress declared against him. Herrera was appointed President, and Santa Anna was imprisoned for a while in the castle of Perote, and finally banished from the country. In 1847 he was recalled by the Federal party, with the consent of President Polk, and became the chief support of the war, notwithstanding his totally inadequate means for organizing a successful defense. When the defense could no longer be protracted, he left the city by night, and retired to the West Indies, and afterward to Carthagena, where he remained until he was recalled in 1852, and again restored to supreme authority.
We may sum up the politico-military life of Santa Anna by saying that he has been engaged in eight pronunciamientos. Five of these have been made by himself; three by others, for his benefit. Twice he has been chosen President by the Federal party of the Federal Republic of Mexico. Three times he has been made President by the Central, or Ecclesiastical party. He has been twice banished from Mexico, and each time recalled again and placed at the head of affairs. He has twice been taken prisoner, when his captors held long consultations upon the propriety of putting him to death. He has, in turn, been the candidate of all parties, and has served all parties faithfully in turn, but most faithfully of all he has served himself. Actively engaged through life as a politician and a soldier, he has found time to readjust the whole complicated system of Mexican laws, and, in a series of volumes of autocratic decrees, he has drawn from that chaotic mass a new system of jurisprudence, that will stand as a monument of his genius as long as the Mexican nation shall continue.
CHAPTER XI.
From Puebla to Mexico.—The Dread of Robbers.—The Escort—Tlascala.—The Exaggerations of Cortéz and Bernal Diaz.—The Truth about Tlascala.—The Advantages of Tlascala to Cortéz.—Who was Bernal Diaz.—Who wrote his History.—First View of Mexico.
At early twilight, two stage-loads of passengers, drawn rapidly by twelve wild horses through the now deserted streets of Puebla, approached the gate that opened out upon the road to Mexico. The rattle of the wheels and the clatter of so many hoofs had awakened the gatekeeper, and at our approach the ponderous portals that inclosed the city by night flew open, and away we whirled out into the beautiful vega of Puebla.
In times of civil disorder, this is a fine field for robbers to ply their vocation in; and even now, when all was quiet, there was no little apprehension of a visit from these sovereigns of the road. The passengers had noticed my unmistakable Anglo-Saxon name, as it was called at the stage-door, and, when I had taken my seat, an elegant, long Colt's revolver was passed to me by a passenger in full uniform. Such is one of the advantages that a traveler enjoys who belongs to a race of men of acknowledged courage—an advantage that enabled we to travel alone across the continent without encumbering myself with a weapon; for, where all supposed me fully armed, and skilled in the use of weapons by instinct, I found it convenient to go unarmed. Upon the present occasion, I did not wish to raise a smile of incredulity by protesting that I had never fired a pistol in my life, so I quietly consented to play the part of hero.