271
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1851
Genius has marked him for her own; but he is not an American, either by education or the moral impulses that make the man. Had he been educated an American, but few rivals would have presented themselves in the last century. He was ambitious- he had taken Napoleon for his model. Doubtless he had imitated all his vices, without having the community to operate upon to give the grand code of civil jurisprudence that is necessary to the upholding of power. Santa Anna subverted the Federal Constitution of 1824; although he did not assume tbe imperial title, his authority was absolute. Congress was at his feet, and his will dictated law and his bayonet enforced his authority. He was addressed by the people, though not in the official form of emperor, yet in reality as dictator, and was so recognized in their statutes. He determined to establish a dynasty upon the throne which the proud chieftains of ancient times had set up, the throne of Montezuma, where he might even rival the fame and the heroism of the great Montezuma. Zacatecas was refrac- tory to his will, and was marked as the victim of his vengeance; he marched upon it, not reducing it by the force of his arms, but seducing it by wealth, and by the mean artifice of sending a hired traitor and spy into the enemy's camp to obtain their confidence. He ordered him to go with his back lacerated as if he had driven him out of his camp. Tbe spy insinuated himself into the confidence of the Zacatecans, obtained command, drew them into the power of Santa Anna, causing the capture of the city. The scenes which followed are beyond human description. Oratory cannot portray them, eloquence cannot impress them upon the human heart, and the highest wrought feelings of human sympathy cannot imagine them. Texas was next doomed to chastisement: he advanced with his triumphant myrmidons, who had tasted blood upon Texas; but what was his demand? That they should surrender individuals who had shown the spirit becoming the obligations which they owed the government. Texas had declared solemnly, in a consultation of fifty-six of its post prominent citizens, that she would adhere to the Constitution of 1824, and issued an address exhorting the citizens of every state in Mexico to step forward and rally to the maintenance of that constitution against the tyrant and usurper. Texas alone, with some twenty or twenty-five thousand Rouls; surrounded by hordes of Indians, ready to be stimulated by the advance of the enemy to aid Santa Anna; not communicating with the United States; with but one vessel, or perhaps two
Powered by FlippingBook