Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican Part 26

The success of the centralist Pedraza over the federalist Guerrero, a man whose name and reputation were scarcely less dear to the genuine republicans than that of Guadalupe Victoria,--was not calculated to heal the animosities of the two factions, especially, as the scant majority of two votes had placed the _Escoces_ partizan in the presidential chair. The defeated candidate and his incensed companions of the liberal lodge, did not exhibit upon this occasion that loyal obedience to const.i.tutional law, which should have taught them that the first duty of a republican is to conceal his mortification at a political defeat and to bow reverentially to the lawful decision of a majority. It is a subject of deep regret that the first bold and successful attack upon the organic law of Mexico was made by the federalists. They may have deemed it their duty to prevent their unreliable compet.i.tors from controlling the destinies of Mexico even for a moment under the sanction of the const.i.tution; but there can be no doubt that they should have waited until acts, instead of suspicions or fears, ent.i.tled them to exercise their right of impeachment under the const.i.tution. In an unregulated, military nation, such as Mexico was at that period, men do not pause for the slow operations of law when there is a personal or a party quarrel in question. The hot blood of the impetuous, tropical region, combines with the active intellectual temperament of the people, and laws and const.i.tutions are equally disregarded under the impulse of pa.s.sion or interest. Such was the case in the present juncture. The Yorkinos had been outvoted lawfully, according to the solemn record of congress, yet they resolved not to submit; and, accordingly, Lorenzo de Zavala, the Grand Master of their lodge, and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who was then a professed _federalist_, in conjunction with the defeated candidate Guerrero and Generals Montezuma and Lobato, determined to prevent Pedraza from occupying the chair of state. Santa Anna, who now appeared prominently on the stage, was the chief agitator in the scheme, and being in garrison at Jalapa, in the autumn of 1828, p.r.o.nounced against the chief magistrate elect, and denounced his nomination as "illegal, fraudulent and unconst.i.tutional." The movement was popular, for the people were in fact friendly to Guerrero. The prejudices of the native or creole party against the Spaniards and their supposed defenders the Escocesses, were studiously fomented in the capital; and, on the 4th of December, the p.r.o.nunciamiento of the Accordada, in the capital, seconded the sedition of Santa Anna in the provinces. By this time the arch conspirator in this drama had reached the metropolis and labored to control the elements of disorder which were at hand to support his favorite Guerrero. The defenceless Spaniards were relentlessly a.s.sailed by the infuriate mob which was let loose upon them by the insurgent chiefs. Guerrero was in the field in person at the head of the Yorkinos. The Parian in the capital, and the dwellings of many of the noted Escocesses were attacked and pillaged, and for some time the city was given up to anarchy and bloodshed. Pedraza, who still fulfilled the functions of minister of war previous to his inauguration, fled from the official post which he abandoned to his rival Santa Anna; and on the 1st of January, 1829, congress,--reversing its former act,--declared Guerrero to have been duly elected president of the republic! General Bustamante was chosen vice president, and the government again resumed its operation under the federal system of 1824.

NOTE.--Although a masked Indian slavery or _peonage_, is permitted and encouraged in Mexico, African slavery is prohibited by positive enactments as well as by the const.i.tution itself. But as it may interest the reader to know the Mexican enactments relative to negroes, on this subject, the following doc.u.ments are subjoined for reference:--

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

_The President of the Mexican United States to the Inhabitants of the Republic._

BE IT KNOWN--That, being desirous to signalize the anniversary of independence, in the year 1829, by an act of national justice and beneficence, which may redound to the advantage and support of so inestimable a good; which may further insure the public tranquillity; which may tend to the aggrandis.e.m.e.nt of the republic, and may reinstate an unfortunate portion of its inhabitants in the sacred rights which nature gave to them, and the nation should protect by wise and just laws, conformably with the dispositions of the thirtieth article of the const.i.tuent act, employing the extrordinary faculties which have been conceded to me, I have resolved to decree--

1. Slavery is and shall remain abolished in the republic.

2. In consequence, those who have hitherto been regarded as slaves, are free.

3. Whensoever the condition of the treasury shall permit, the owners of the slaves shall be indemnified according to the terms which the law may dispose.

GUERRERO.

_Mexico, Sept. 15, 1829._

MEXICAN LAW FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE REPUBLIC.

ART. 1.--Slavery is abolished, without any exception, throughout the whole republic.

2. The owners of the slaves manumitted by the present law, or by the decree of September 15, 1829, shall be indemnified for their interests in them, to be estimated according to the proofs which may be presented of their personal qualities; to which effect, one appraiser shall be appointed by the commissary general, or the person performing his duties, and another by the owner; and, in case of disagreement, a third, who shall be appointed by the respective const.i.tutional alcalde; and from the decision thus made, there shall be no appeal. The indemnification mentioned in this article shall not be extended to the colonists of Texas, who may have taken part in the revolution in that department.

3. The owners to whom the original doc.u.ments drawn up with regard to the proofs mentioned in the preceding article, shall be delivered gratis--shall themselves present them to the supreme government, which will authorise the general treasury to issue to them the corresponding orders for the amount of their respective interests.

4. The payment of the said orders shall be made in the manner which may seem most equitable to the government, with the view of reconciling the rights of individuals with the actual state of the public finances.

_April 5, 1837._

The Const.i.tution of 1843, or _Bases organicas de la Republica Mejicana_, of that year, declares that: "_No one is a slave in the territory of the nation_, and that any slave who may be introduced, shall be considered free and remain under the protection of the laws."--_t.i.tle_ 2d.

The Const.i.tution of 1847--which, in fact, is the old Federal Const.i.tution of 1824--does not reenact this clause; but, in the _Acta de Reformas_ annexed to it in 1847, declares, "that _every Mexican_, either by birth or naturalization, who has attained the age of twenty years, who possesses the means of an honest livelihood, and who has not been condemned by legal process to any infamous punishment, _is a citizen_ of the United Mexican States."--_Acta de Reformas, Article 1._ "In order to secure the _rights of man_ which the Const.i.tution recognizes, _a law_ shall fix the guaranties of _liberty_, security, property and _equality_, which _all the inhabitants of the republic enjoy_, and shall establish the means requisite to make them effective."--_1d.

Article 5._ The third article provides that "the exercise of the rights of citizens.h.i.+p _are suspended_ by habitual intemperance; by professional gambling or vagabondage; by religious orders; by legal interdict in virtue of trial for those crimes which forfeit citizens.h.i.+p, and by refusal to fulfil public duties imposed by popular nomination" (_nombramiento popular_.)

[Footnote 63: Zavala's Hist. Rev. of Mex. 2 vols.;--and Pazo's letters on the United Provinces of South America.]

CHAPTER VI.

1829-1843.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST GUERRERO BY BUSTAMANTE--GUERRERO BETRAYED AND SHOT.--ANECDOTE--REVOLT UNDER SANTA ANNA--HE RESTORES PEDRAZA AND BECOMES PRESIDENT.--GOMEZ FARIAS DEPOSED--CHURCH.--CENTRAL CONSt.i.tUTION OF 1836--SANTA ANNA--HIS TEXAN DISGRACE--MEXIA.-- BUSTAMANTE PRESIDENT.--FRENCH AT VERA CRUZ.--REVOLTS IN THE NORTH AND IN THE CAPITAL.--BUSTAMANTE DEPOSED--SANTA ANNA PRESIDENT.

Violent as was the conduct of the pretended liberals in overthrowing their rivals the Escocesses, and firmly as it may be supposed such a band was cemented in opposition to the machination of a bold monarchical party, we, nevertheless, find that treason existed in the hearts of the conspirators against the patriot hero whom they had used in their usurpation of the presidency. Scarcely had Guerrero been seated in the chair of state when it became known that there was a conspiracy to displace him. He had been induced by the condition of the country, and by the bad advice of his enemies to a.s.sume the authority of dictator. This power, he alleged, was exercised only for the suppression of the intriguing Escocesses; but its continued exercise served as a pretext at least, for the vice president, General Bustamante, to place himself at the head of a republican division and p.r.o.nounce against the president he had so recently contributed to place in power. The executive commanded Santa Anna to advance against the a.s.sailants; but this chief, at first, feebly opposed the insurgents, and, finally, fraternizing with Bustamante, marched on the capital whence they drove Guerrero and his partisans to Valladolid in Michoacan. Here the dethroned dictator organized a government, whilst the usurping vice president, Bustamante, a.s.sumed the reins in the capital. In Michoacan, Guerrero, who was well known and loved for his revolutionary enterprises in the west of Mexico, found no difficulty in recruiting a force with which he hoped to regain his executive post. Congress was divided in opinion between the rival factions of the liberalists, and the republic was shaken by the continual strife, until Bustamante despatched a powerful division against Guerrero, which defeated, and dispersed his army. This was the conclusion of that successful warrior's career. He was a good soldier but a miserable statesman. His private character and natural disposition are represented, by those who knew him best, to have been irreproachable; yet he was fitted alone for the early struggles of Mexico in the field, and was so ignorant of the administrative functions needed in his country at such a period, that it is not surprising to find he had been used as a tool, and cast aside when the service for which his intriguing coadjutors required him was performed. His historical popularity and character rendered him available for a reckless party in overthrowing a const.i.tutional election; and, even when beaten by the new usurper, and with scarcely the shadow of a party in the nation, it was still feared that his ancient usefulness in the wars of independence, might render him again the nucleus of political discontent. Accordingly, the pursuit of Guerrero was not abandoned when his army fled. The west coast was watched by the myrmidons of the usurpers, and the war-worn hero was finally betrayed on board a vessel by a spy, where he was arrested for bearing arms against the government of which he was the real head, according to the solemn decision of congress! In February, 1831, a court martial, ordered by General Montezuma tried him for this pretended crime. His sentence was, of course, known as soon as his judges were named; and, thus, another chief of the revolutionary war was rewarded by death for his patriotic services. We cannot regard this act of Bustamante and Santa Anna, except as a deliberate murder for which they richly deserve the condemnation of impartial history, even if they had no other crimes to answer at the bar of G.o.d and their country.

Whilst these internal contests were agitating the heart of Mexico, an expedition had been fitted out at Havana composed of four thousand troops commanded by Barradas, designed to invade the lost colony and restore it to the Spanish crown. The accounts given of this force and its condition when landed at Tampico, vary according to the partizans by whom they are written; but there is reason to believe that the Spanish troops were so weakened by disease and losses in the summer of 1830, that when Santa Anna and a French officer,--Colonel Woll--attacked them in the month of September, they fell an easy prey into the hands of the Mexicans. Santa Anna, however, with his usual talent for such composition, magnified the defeat into a magnificent conquest. He was hailed as the victor who broke the last link between Spain and her viceroyalty. Pompous bulletins and despatches were published in the papers; and the commander-in-chief returned to the capital, covered with honors, as the saviour of the republic.

There is an anecdote connected with the final expulsion of the Spaniards from Mexico, which deserves to be recorded as it exhibits a fact which superst.i.tious persons might conceive to be the avenging decree of retributive providence. Dona Isabel Montezuma, the eldest daughter of the unfortunate Emperor had been married to his successor on the Aztec throne, and, after his wretched death, was united to various distinguished Spaniards, the last of whom was Juan Andrade, ancestor of the Andrade Montezumas and Counts of Miravalle. General Miguel Barragan, who afterwards became president _ad interim_ of Mexico, and to whom the castle of San Juan de Ulua was surrendered by the European forces--was married to Manuela Trebuesta y Casasola, daughter of the _last_ Count of Miravalle, and it is thus a singular coincidence that the husband of a lady who was the legitimate descendant of Montezuma, should have been destined to receive the keys of the _last_ stronghold on which the Spanish banner floated on this continent![64]

By intrigue and victories Santa Anna had acquired so much popular renown throughout the country and with the army that he found the time was arriving when he might safely avail himself of his old and recent services against Iturbide and Barradas. Under the influence of his machinations Bustamante began to fail in popular estimation. He was spoken of as a tyrant; his administration was characterized as inauspicious; and the public mind was gradually prepared for an outbreak in 1832. Santa Anna, who had, in fact, placed and sustained Bustamante in power, was, in reality, the instigator of this revolt.

The ambitious chief, first of all issued his _p.r.o.nunciamiento_ against the ministry of the president, and then, shortly after, against that functionary himself. But Bustamante, a man of nerve and capacity, was not to be destroyed as easily as his victim, Guerrero. He threw himself at the head of his loyal troops and encountering the rebels at Tolomi routed them completely. Santa Anna, therefore, retired to Vera Cruz, and, strengthening his forces from some of the other states, declared himself in favor of the restoration of the const.i.tutional president Pedraza, whom he had previously driven out of Mexico. As Bustamante advanced towards the coast his army melted away. The country was opposed to him. He was wise enough to perceive that his usurped power was lost; and prudently entered into a pacific convention with Santa Anna at Zavaleta in December, 1832. The successful insurgent immediately despatched a vessel for the banished Pedraza, and brought him back to the capital to serve out the remaining three months of his unexpired administration!

The object of Santa Anna in restoring Pedraza was not to sustain any one of the old parties which had now become strangely mingled and confused by the factions or ambitions of all the leaders. His main design was to secure the services and influence of the centralists, as far as they were yet available, in controlling his election to the presidency upon which he had fixed his heart. On the 16th of May, 1833, he reached the goal of his ambition.[65]

The congress of 1834 was unquestionably federal republican in its character, and Santa Anna seemed to be perfectly in accord with his vice presidential compeer, Gomez Farias. But the church,--warned by a bill introduced into congress the previous year by Zavala, by which he aimed a blow at the temporalities of the spiritual lords,--did not remain contented spectators while the power reposed in the hands of his federal partizans. The popular representatives were accordingly approached by skilful emissaries, and it was soon found that the centralists were strongly represented in a body hitherto regarded as altogether republican. It is charged in Mexico, that bribery was freely resorted to; and, when the solicitations became sufficiently powerful, even the inflexible patriotism of Santa Anna yielded, though the vice president Farias, remained incorruptible.

On the 13th of May, 1834, the president suddenly and unwarrantably dissolved congress, and maintained his arbitrary decree and power by the army, which was entirely at his service. In the following year, Gomez Farias was deposed from the vice presidency by the venal congress, and Barragan raised to the vacant post. The militia was disarmed, the central forces strengthened, and the people placed entirely at the mercy of the executive and his minions, who completed the destruction of the const.i.tution of 1824 by blotting it from the statute book of Mexico.

Puebla, Jalisco, Oaxaca, parts of Mexico, Zacatecas and Texas revolted against this a.s.sumption of the centralists, though they were finally not able to maintain absolutely their free stand against the dictator.

Zacatecas and Texas, alone, presented a formidable aspect to Santa Anna, who was, nevertheless, too strong and skilful for the ill regulated forces of the former state. The victorious troops entered the rebellious capital with savage fury; and, after committing the most disgusting acts of brutality and violence against all cla.s.ses and s.e.xes, they disarmed the citizens entirely and placed a military governor over the province.

In Coahuila and Texas, symptoms of discontent were far more important, for the federalists met at Monclova, and, after electing Agustin Viesca governor, defied the opposite faction by which a military officer had been a.s.signed to perform the execute the duties of the state. General Cos, however, soon dispersed the legislature by violence and imprisoned the governor and his companions whom he arrested as they were hastening to cross the Rio Grande. These evil doings were regarded sorrowfully but sternly by the North Americans who had flocked to Texas, under the sanctions and a.s.surances of the federal const.i.tution, and they resolved not to countenance the usurpation of their unquestionable rights.

Such was the state of affairs in the Mexican Republic when the PLAN OF TOLUCA was issued, by which the federal const.i.tution was absolutely abolished, and the principles of a consolidated central government fully announced. Previous to this, however, a _p.r.o.nunciamiento_ had been made by a certain Escalada at Morelia, in favor of the _fueros_, or especial privileges and rights of the church and army. This outbreak was, of course, central in its character; whilst another ferment in Cuautla had been productive of Santa Anna's nomination as dictator, an office which he promptly refused to accept.

The Plan of Toluca was unquestionably favored by Santa Anna who had gone over to the centralists. It was a scheme designed to test national feeling and to prepare the people for the overthrow of state governments. The supreme power was vested by it in the executive and national congress; and the states were changed into departments under the command of military governors, who were responsible for their trust to the chief national authorities instead of the people. Such was the Central Const.i.tution of 1836.

It is quite probable that Santa Anna's prudent care of himself and his popularity, as well as his military patriotism induced him to leave the government in the hands of the vice president Barragan whilst the new const.i.tution was under discussion, and to lead the Mexican troops, personally, against the revolted Texans, who had never desisted from open hostility to the central usurpations. But as the history of that luckless expedition is to be recounted elsewhere in this volume, we shall content ourselves with simply recording the fact that on the 21st of April, 1836, the president and his army were completely routed by General Houston and the Texans; and, that instead of returning to the metropolis crowned with glory, as he had done from the capture of Barradas, Santa Anna owed his life to the generosity of the Texan insurgents whose companions in arms had recently been butchered by his orders at Goliad and San Antonio de Bejar.[66]

During Santa Anna's absence, vice president Barragan filled the executive office up to the time of his death, when he was succeeded by Coro, until the return from France of Bustamante, who had been elected president under the new central const.i.tution of 1836. In the following year Santa Anna was sent back to Mexico in a vessel of the United States government. But he was a disgraced man in the nation's eyes. He returned to his _hacienda_ of Manga de Clavo, and burying himself for a while in obscurity, was screened from the open manifestation of popular odium. Here he lurked until the brilliant attempt was made to disenthral his country by Mexia, in 1838. Demanding, once more, the privilege of leading the army, he was entrusted with its command, and, encountering the defender of federation in the neighborhood of Puebla, he gave him battle immediately. Mexia lost the day; and, with brief time for shrift or communication with his family, he was condemned by a drum-head court martial and shot upon the field of battle. This was a severe doom; but the personal animosity between the commanders was equally unrelenting, for when the sentence was announced to the brave but rash Mexia, he promptly and firmly declared that Santa Anna was right to execute him on the spot, inasmuch, as he would not have granted the usurper half the time that elapsed since his capture, had it been his destiny to prove victorious!

Soon after the accession of Bustamante there had been _gritos_ in favor of federation and Gomez Farias, who was, at that period, imprisoned; but these trifling outbreaks were merely local and easily suppressed by Pedraza and Rodriguez.

In the winter of 1838, however, Mexico was more severely threatened from abroad than she had recently been by her internal discords. It was at this time that a French fleet appeared at Vera Cruz, under the orders of Admiral Baudin, to demand satisfaction for injuries to French subjects, and unsettled pecuniary claims which had been long and unavailingly subjects of diplomacy. Distracted for years by internal broils that paralyzed the industry of the country ever since the outbreak of the revolution, Mexico was in no condition to respond promptly to demands for money. But national pride forbade the idea of surrendering without a blow. The military resources of the country and of the Castle of San Juan de Ulua, were, accordingly, mustered with due celerity, and the a.s.sailed department of Vera Cruz entrusted to the defence of Santa Anna, whose fame had been somewhat refreshed by his victory over Mexia. Meanwhile the French fleet kept up a stringent blockade of Vera Cruz, and still more crippled the commercial revenues of Mexico by cutting off the greater part of its most valuable trade.

Finding, however, that neither the blockade nor additional diplomacy would induce the stubborn government to accede to terms which the Mexicans knew would finally be forced on them, the French squadron attacked the city with forces landed from the vessels, whilst they a.s.sailed the redoubtable castle with three frigates, a corvette and two bomb vessels, whence, during an action of six hours, they threw three hundred and two sh.e.l.ls, one hundred and seventy-seven paixhan, and seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-one solid shot. The a.s.saults upon the town were not so successful as those on the castle, where the explosion of a magazine forced the Mexicans to surrender.

The troops that had been landed were not numerous enough to hold the advantages they gained; and it was in gallantly repulsing a storming party at the gates of the city, that Santa Anna lost a leg by a parting shot from a small piece of ordnance as the French retreated on the quay to their boats.

The capture of the castle, however, placed the city at the mercy of the French, and the Mexicans were soon induced to enter into satisfactory stipulations for the adjustment of all debts and difficulties.

In 1839, General Ca.n.a.les fomented a revolt in some of the north-eastern departments. The proposal of this insurgent was to form a republican confederation of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, and Durango, which three states or departments, he designed should adopt for themselves the federal const.i.tution of 1824, and, a.s.suming the t.i.tle of the independent "Republic of the Rio Grande," should pledge themselves to co-operate with Texas against Bustamante and the centralists. An alliance was entered into with Texas to that effect, and an expedition of united Texans and Republicans of the Rio Grande, was set on foot to occupy Coahuila; but at the appearance of General Arista in the field early in 1840, and after an action in which the combined forces were defeated, Ca.n.a.les left the discomfitted Texans to seek safety by hastening back to their own territory.

The administration of Bustamante was sorely tried by foreign and domestic broils, for, whilst Texas and the Republic of the Rio Grande were a.s.sailing him in the north, the federalists attacked him in the capital, and the Yucatecos revolted in the south. This last outbreak was not quelled as easily as the rebellion in the north; nor was it, in fact, until long afterwards during another administration, that the people of the Peninsula were again induced to return to their allegiance. Bustamante seems to have vexed the Yucatecos by unwise interference in the commercial and industrial interests of the country. The revolt was temporarily successful; On the 31st of March, 1841, a const.i.tution was proclaimed in Yucatan, which erected it into a free and sovereign state, and exempted the people from many burdens as well as the odious intolerance of all other religions except the Roman Catholic, that had been imposed by both the federal const.i.tution of 1824 and the central one of 1836.

The discontent with Bustamante's administration, arising chiefly from a consumption duty of 15 per cent. which had been imposed by congress, was now well spread throughout the republic. The p.r.o.nunciamiento of Urrea on the 15th of July, 1840, at the palace of Mexico was mainly an effort of the federalists to put down violently the const.i.tution of 1836; and although the insurgents had possession, at one period, of the person of the president, yet the revolt was easily suppressed by Valencia and his faithful troops in the capital.

But, a year later, the revolutionary spirit had ripened into readiness for successful action. We have reason to believe that the most extensive combinations were made by active agents in all parts of Mexico to ensure the downfall of Bustamante and the elevation of Santa Anna. Accordingly, in August, 1841, a _p.r.o.nunciamiento_ of General Paredes, in Guadalajara, was speedily responded to by Valencia and Lombardini in the capital, and by Santa Anna himself at Vera Cruz. But the outbreak was not confined merely to proclamations or the adhesion of military garrisons; for a large body of troops and citizens continued loyal to the president and resolved to sustain the government in the capital. This fierce fidelity to the const.i.tution on the one hand, and bitter hostility to the chief magistrate on the other, resulted in one of the most sanguinary conflicts that had taken place in Mexico since the early days of independence. For a whole month the contest was carried on with b.a.l.l.s and grape shot in the streets of Mexico, whilst the rebels, who held the citadel outside the city, finished the shameless drama, by throwing a shower of bombs into the metropolis, shattering the houses, and involving innocent and guilty, citizens, strangers, combatants and non-combatants, in a common fate. This cowardly a.s.sault under the orders of Valencia, was made solely with the view of forcing the citizens, who were unconcerned in the quarrel between the factions, into insisting upon the surrender of Mexico, in order to save their town and families from destruction. There was a faint show of military manuvres in the fields adjoining the city; but the troops on both sides shrank from battle when they were removed from the protecting shelter of walls and houses. At length, the intervention of Mexican citizens who were most interested in the cessation of hostilities, produced an arrangement between the belligerants at Estanzuela near the capital, and, finally, the PLAN OF TACUBAYA was agreed on by the chiefs--as a subst.i.tute for the const.i.tution of 1836. By the seventh article of this doc.u.ment, Santa Anna was effectually invested with dictatorial powers until a new const.i.tution was formed.

The Plan of Tacubaya provided that a congress should be convened, in 1842, to form a new const.i.tution, and in June, a body of patriotic citizens, chosen by the people, a.s.sembled for that purpose in the metropolis. Santa Anna opened the session with a speech in which he announced his predilection for a strong central government, but he professed perfect willingness to yield to whatever might be the decision of congress. Nevertheless, in December of the same year, after the a.s.sembly had made two efforts to form a const.i.tution suitable to the country and the cabinet, president Santa Anna,--in spite of his professed submission to the national will expressed through the representatives,--suddenly and unauthorizedly, dissolved the congress. It was a daring act; but Santa Anna knew that he could rely upon his troops, his officers, and the mercantile cla.s.ses for support. The capital wanted quietness for a while; and the interests of trade as well as the army united in confidence in the strong will of one who was disposed to maintain order by force.