Antonio López de Santa Anna

“ He was neither a general nor a statesman, nor even an honest man, but he was the most conspicuous and continuously active of the military adventurers who filled Spanish America with violence during the first two generations of its independence. He entered the colonial army of Spain as a cadet in 1810, and served as one of the Creole supporters of the Spanish government till 1821. In that year Mexico fell away from the mother country. Iturbide, who was master of the country for the time, made Santa-Anna brigadier and governor of La Vera Cruz. ”

“ They set all the Mexican prisoners at liberty—in short, so great was their generosity and courtesy that the Mexicans were unable to comprehend their motives.
Even Lopez was troubled at it. “I assure you,” he said to Dr. Worth, “they will despise such civility; they will not believe in its sincerity. At this very blessed hour of God, they are accusing the Americans of being afraid to press their advantage. Simply, you will have the fight to make over again. I say this, because I know Santa Anna.”
“Santa Anna is but a man, Lopez.” ”

“ Slow progress was made, and, food falling short, the whole army had to be put on short rations. Some of the soldiers tried to desert, but these were promptly shot by Santa Anna's orders. Whenever a settlement was passed, the inhabitants were made to give the hungry Mexicans all the provisions they could possibly spare. Once the whole army came close to open rebellion, but Santa Anna's orders were supreme, and on the 22d day of February, 1836, the first of his troops appeared within sight of San Antonio ”

“ He looks like a good man, with an honest, benevolent face, frank and simple in his manners, and not at all like a hero. His conversation was not brilliant, indeed I do not know apropos to what, I suppose to the climate, but it chiefly turned on medicine. There cannot be a greater contrast, both in appearance and reality, than between him and Santa Anna. There is no lurking devil in his eye. All is frank, open, and unreserved. ”

“ When Santa Anna is in authority the fickle multitude cry out against him, and when he is in exile no suffering innocent can compare with him; and the books that at such times sell best in Mexico are those that vindicate his past career. Of such a man something must be said, and to render that something intelligible, a brief account of the social and political changes of his times must be rendered.
Santa Anna was born at Vera Cruz, in the year 1796, in the most prosperous era of the colonial government of the vice-kingdom of New Spain, while Ravillagigedo was Virey. ”

“ In the present confusion of Mexican affairs, the recollection of Santa Anna has been frequently brought before the mind of his nation, as the only man fit to sustain it under the difficulties of the crisis; and nothing can be more fully acknowledged, than that, among the successive leaders of the country, he has had no rival in point of decision, intelligence, and intrepidity, the qualities obviously most essential for the time. ”

“ Unlike the irresolute and bewildered masses, often guided by ridiculous notions of liberty and equality, these well-drilled pupils of the master could interpret the slightest wink of superior policy, and knew their duty even in so far as to impress upon the duller brains of subordinates and civilians of prominence the prudence of following example, and that promptly. The result was an overwhelming indorsement of the new plan of Guadalajara, couched in the most earnest and even supplicating terms. Santa Anna felt moved by such devotion, such popular tribute to his greatness ”

“ On the result of the battle on the field of San Jacinto, on the twenty-first of April, 1836, turned the decision of the question whether Texas should become wholly Spanish, for Santa Anna had threatened that he would put to death every man, woman, and child west of the Sabine who would jabber English, and the massacre of the Alamo and of Fannin's command at Goliad, tell how bloodily he was executing his diabolical threat. We are accustomed to look on Santa Anna as a monster of crime. ”

“ He was buried in the city of Guadalupe, without honors or recognition by government, who, naturally, it may be supposed, retained their fear of rousing the populace even by so dead a lion.
A family connection of Santa Anna has written a life of him, in which fulsome justice is done to his good qualities. He says, and perhaps with reason, that had he died immediately after the loss of his leg in driving the French from Vera Cruz "this benemerito mutilado had surely left not one single personal enemy." ”

“ But in these cases, every one must suffer more or less; and meanwhile, we are surrounded by friends and by friendly attentions. It will be impossible for us to leave Mexico without regret. It requires nothing but a settled government to make it one of the first countries in the world. Santa Anna has much in his power. Reste a savoir how he will use that power. Perhaps in these last years of tranquillity, which he has spent on his estate, he may have meditated to some purpose. ”

“ Santa Anna possessed neither prominent civic traits nor deep convictions in political affairs; hence we see him at one time the president of the republic under the federal form of government; at another, under the central system; and lastly, dictator. Nature had implanted in him the germ of action, which he brought into play whenever required to subserve his own purposes. As regarded his conscience, it was both elastic and numb, never being disturbed by actions that would have greatly troubled most men. ”

“ Santa Anna's first campaigns as a cadet were in Nuevo Santander and Texas, taking part in several actions of war, and distinguishing himself for gallantry and general efficiency. In 1811 he served in San Luis Potosí, and in 1812 in the Sierra Gorda, receiving an arrow-wound in his left arm at the action of Amoladeras. On the 18th of August, 1813, he was in an action fought against revolutionists and their Anglo-American allies on the Medina River in Texas, for which he was decorated. ”

“ In 1822 he was first to proclaim a Republic in the Plaza of Vera Cruz; and when I stood in the Plaza of the city of Mexico, in the winter of 1854, I heard him proclaimed absolute ruler of a state which had already ceased to be a Republic. This was not the first time that he had been raised to absolute authority in Mexico, but the third time that this had occurred in his checkered career—a career that resembles more the vicissitudes in the life of a hero of Spanish romance than the memoirs of a living politician.
SANTA ANNA.
Santa Anna is a man of whom the truth has seldom been spoken ”

“ Some cowardly wretch, or spy in disguise, secretly despatched one of his letters to the ministers; consequently, as Austin was returning, they made him prisoner, and carried him back to Mexico. Santa Anna is at the head of affairs. He has subverted the too liberal constitution of 1824, but is opposed by a few brave hearts, who scorn the servitude in store for them. Santa Anna knows full well that we will not submit to his crushing yoke, and therefore sends General Cos to fortify the Alamo. ”

“ Few are so utterly selfish as never to bestow a kind wish upon their fellow-creatures, and Santa Anna was bad in a spontaneous, human way, not in that of cold villainy. Probably he was largely guided by worse men than himself, who had more ability to think but needed him to execute their designs. ”

“ One of his first conditions was, that the Mexican troops should return to their own quarters unmolested. Thus, with merely six hundred men, he escaped from five times that number. In a few days he was joined by several hundred men. He then commenced a vigorous and incessant attack on the Spanish position, which was followed by the surrender of the entire corps; and 2200 Spaniards were embarked for the Havannah as prisoners of war. Santa Anna’s force never exceeding 1500 men. ”

“ El Telégrafo said in capitals on March 31: "Many a nation would like to take by the hand" one of the heroes who helped to establish it, and "the silence of the majestic tomb replies, 'He no longer lives'; but Santa Anna does live, and his voice proclaims, 'Mexico shall be great, free and happy.'"
24. A revolt in favor of Santa Anna occurred at Mazatlán on May 7, but it was not an integral part of the movement. ”

“ Santa Anna, the logical hero of such a nation, was also its logical scourge—a statesman unable to guide, a general unfitted to command, a leader qualified only to win revolutions, lose battles, and alternate between dictatorship and exile. Some observers—even American officers—impressed by the imposing front that he reared time after time, felt that he was a great man. Unquestionably he gathered troops and resources as no other Mexican of the time could have done. No doubt his lunge into the north and his defence of the capital were remarkable ”

“ The Conservative Body has been invited to go to Tacubaya, but has refused. The majority desire the election of Paredes, or of any one who is not Santa Anna or Valencia; but Paredes himself, while drawing no very flattering portrait of Santa Anna, declares that he is the only man in the Republic fit for the Presidency; the only man who can make himself obeyed; in short, the only one capable of taking those energetic measures which the safety of the Republic requires. He flatters himself that he, at the head of his division, will always keep Santa Anna in check ”

“ Various other assurances of fidelity from Victoria, from Galindo, etc., are inserted, with the remark that the Mexican public will thus see the uniformity and decision of the whole republic in favour of order, and especially will receive in the communication of his Excellency, General Santa Anna, an equivocal proof of this unity of sentiment, notwithstanding the assurances given by the rebels to the people, that Santa Anna would either assist them, or would take no part at all in the affair. It must be confessed, however, that his Excellency is rather a dangerous umpire. ”

“ Other aspirants have risen to popular favor, and then fallen, one after the other, and have disappeared. But Santa Anna's falls have ever been a prelude to his rising again to a greater elevation; and there is no point of elevation to which he has risen from which he has not been ignominiously hurled. He is a politician whose course reminds us of a skillful swimmer in the breakers; half the time he rides the waves and half the time he is submerged, yet never sinks so deep but that he rises again to the surface. ”

“ As a military demagogue he was often valuable even to honest patriots who were willing to call him to power for a moment to save the country either from anarchy or from the grasp of more dangerous aspirants. Until the army was destroyed, Santa Anna could not fall, nor would the military politicians yield to the civil. As long as this dangerous chief and his myrmidons remained in Mexico, either in or out of power, every citizen felt that he was suffering under the rod of a Despot or that the progress of his country would soon be paralyzed by the wand of an unprincipled Agitator. ”

“ Overthrow of Santa Anna's Government.—The people in the capital soon arose in arms; the military declared against the dictator, and on the rëassembling of congress, General Herrera, the leader of the constitutional party, was appointed provisional president of the republic, and a new ministry was formed. This was an occasion of unbounded rejoicing throughout the country. Santa Anna, however, with the troops still under his command, attempted to rëgain his lost authority ”

“ Santa Anna had come to regard himself a god; he fancied he could regulate thought with bayonets. He had inklings of an intended movement against him in Guerrero, to guard against which he sent Colonel Rafael Espinosa as military commandant to Acapulco. This department, for the liberal ideas of its authorities, its past record, position, rough mountainous ground, and unhealthy climate, was one that he feared. Its most influential citizen, General Juan Álvarez, had been at first among Santa Anna's powerful supporters, but soon became disgusted with the dictatorial régime. ”

“ Santa Anna hardly reached his estate when a fatal blow was struck against his administration from the departmental junta of Jalisco. This revolt was lead by General Paredes, and after a multitude of military and diplomatic [Pg 70] manœuvres, resulted in Santa Anna's downfall on the 4th of January, 1845. The ex-president fled towards the sea-coast; but was captured by a detachment of volunteers at the village of Jico, whence he was transferred under a strong escort to the castle of Peroté. ”

“ Having saved the Confederation, as he put it, Santa Anna considered that he had more of a right to Mexico than ever, and in 1832 he got into a wrangle with Bustamente, who was then occupying the Mexican presidential chair, with the result that Bustamente was banished by Santa Anna's followers, who forthwith made the general president. At this Santa Anna went still further by dissolving the Mexican congress, which action made him virtually a dictator. How it was that the Mexicans at large stood such treatment is one of the political mysteries of the age that has never been explained. ”

“ When the revolution broke out, Santa Anna was at Magna de Clavo, the presidency being provisionally held, during his absence from the capital, by Canalizo. Instantly, on hearing the tidings of the movement at Guadalajara, Santa Anna, in open violation of one of the articles of the new organic basis, was placed in command of the army, and rapidly traversed the republic, from Jalapa to Queretara, with all the forces he could raise, to encounter Paredes. But the departments which he had left behind him speedily revolted, not excepting even Vera Cruz ”