246
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
State; another example of the extreme liberality of Victoria, who too frequently allowed his kind-heartedness to dominate his judgment. In the eyes of eYeryone, however, that appointment ridiculed the one who made it as much as the one who received it, because it was known that Santa Anna was as well qualified to be an engineer as a sailor would be to preach. This gave occasion for the most bitter sort of satire. In a short time Farfulla resigned the position and retired to private life in Veracruz where, for want of other occupation, he commenced to intrigue against the progress of liberal ideas and would have joined the conspiracy of Father Arenas had it not been for Guerrero who had always been his friend, and who on several occasions had saved him from the wrath of Pedraza and other enemies. Not very long after his return from Yucatan Santa Anna formu- lated a plan to involve himself in the intrigues of Don N. Garcia, a Spaniard who, although he was a short-sighted man, nevertheless, was very rich and had two daughters, Tomasa and Ines. Farfulla sent a messenger to ask for the hand of Tomasa, but the ambassador, through some mistake, asked for that of Ines. The parents granted the request, and shortly thereafter, the preparations for celebrating the wedding having been completed and the guests having assembled, the bride dressed in her wedding finery made her appearance, when to the aston- ishment of those present, the bridegroom exclaimed: "this is not the one that I wanted; I want the prettier one" and after a short pause, he continued: "it does not matter. Although there has been a mis- take I will adjust myself to it" and he celebrated his wedding. Santa Anna did not continue long in this state of inactivity. De- spite all the favors he had received from Victoria we see him joining in a conspiracy with Barragan against Victoria. ,The object of this conspiracy was to demolish the administration of that veteran and va- triot and to place Vice-President Bravo at the head of the Government. Santa Anna had three very powerful motives, or at least he thought he had, in enlisting in this enterprise, to wit: his lack of occupation, his implacable hatred of Pedraza, the Minister of War, and the hope of again entering public life; because, in the event that the revolution should be successful, he would receive the appointment of Minister of War. This conspiracy was discovered under the following circumstances. In the State of Veracruz the influence of the Scottish rite or ancient Bombonist party predominated. These flourished under the shadow of the Governor, Don Miguel Barragan, who held the office of military and political chief. Ile commenced as a Republican, but played turn- coat and became an aristocrat. There was a considerable number of Spaniards in that State who were monopolizing the wealth, nearly all of whom belonged to the Escoceses party. With these advantages it was not difficult for them to secure a majority in the legislature. The only supporter of liberal ideas was the paper entitled "Mercury" and two York lodges. In this State the first attacks upon the Constitution had begun, but as the party did not commit any criminal acts, the Government was not informed of its conduct. Nevertheless, it was well known that a spirit of rebellion existed in that portion and that the Egcoceses were in secret communication with certain persons who, it was supposed, were forming a conspiracy in the Capital. All of this
Powered by FlippingBook