187
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
cause, headed by Santa Anna, and Pedraza was placed in the seat of government. At the beginning of 1833', he proposed a law of ostracism for 52 of the most influential persons of the Servil party; he personally wrote the names of the unhappy men on a list which he sent to Congress and some months after, when he himself adhered to the Servil party, he declared that the law had been dictated by party spirit and that Con- gress on making it public had committed an arbitrary act and a usur- pation of power His break with the Congress of 1833 and 34 had its origin in the fact that a great majority of the deputies and Senators were in favor of carrying out the reforms which they had begun. What most attracted the attention of Santa Anna was the insistence with which the legislative power employed itself in destroying the power of the Clergy and the Army; this conduct of the deputies was modeled on what all the legislatures of the States were observing, from whom they were receiving frequent instructions whjch had for their object the leveling of all things to the republican system which was dominant. As Santa Anna observed that the reforms were being made without the people objecting to them, he fomented in secret the revo- lutions of Generals Arista and Duran known by the name of the revo- lution for religion and law. All of the rank and file took part in the military movement against the reforms, but the militia of the States and the people sustained Congress and finally after eight months of continual strife, the militia triumphed over the mercenaries, and Arista and his partisans were expelled from the republic, (Nov. 1833). Santa Anna who saw that public opinion was against the military movement, abandoned the very persons whom he had incited to the revolution, and even directed the campaign against them. After these events he asked permission of congress to go to his hacienda under the pretext of being sick. There he came to an agree- ment with the absolutists, ·and when he left to return to the govern- ment, he already had his plan figured out to overthrow the popular party and the federal institutions. Much has been said and written about a letter which at that time Santa Anna wrote to Mexia inviting him to abandon the popular cause and join him in order to establish in the Nation a theocratic military government; but it is beyond all doubt that, although Santa Anna de- nied afterwards that he had written such a letter, as on many other occasions he had denied acts the most public and proved, there is no doubt, I repeat, that the document was autographed and his conduct after that event sufficiently proves the truth. What could have been the object of Mexia and of the federalists in forging such a letter? Mexia did not make any use of it until Santa Anna himself wrote him to present it to the government, and it is clear that in a matter so delicate it would not be merely for the plea.sure of amusing himself that he would do so. Moreover, in case of doubt, we should give our attention to the facts and all of them speak against Santa Anna, since we have seen realized everything set forth in the letter, and Mexia could not guess such things. . When Santa Anna returned to Mexico, and again took control of
Powered by FlippingBook