2G6
TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
instead of sacrificing him to the malice of the Escoceses, Guerrero ~mg~t to have promptly repulsed all advice and threats with that end 1n view. He yielded to the threats of his enemies, however, and with the hope of calming their resentment and restoring peace he wrote to President 3 ackson to demand the recall of his l\linister. Zavala, tired of so much persecu~ion, rejoiced at the opportunity of withdrawing from an administration, which, it was clearly foreseen, was doomed to fall urrder the machinations of its enemies. He actually resigned his office in the Cabinet on the first of October, and on retir-· ing informed Guerrero of the dangers that threatened him, of the snares that were being prepared for his destruction, and advised him to turn a deaf ear to the cowardly and egotistic advice of his new friends and call to his side the public men most noted for their virtues and talents, €nding with these memorable words: "I retire wearied of suffering ingratitude and calumny. A storm threatens you within a short time." The storm took place as :Mr. Zavala had predicted. Shortly after he left office a conspiracy was formed against Guerrero which caused his sudden downfall and final ruin. This conspiracy is known in history as the Plan of J alapa, and a brief account of it follows. In conse- quence of Barradas' invasion an army of 3,000 men called the Reserve Army had been organized, and at its head Guerrero had placed the Vice President Bustamante. The latter, seeing that popular sentiment was strongly against the administration and that many of its friends had abandoned it, therefore conceived the idea of placing himself at the head of the malcontents and of usurping the Presidency. Santa Anna joined him in the enterprise, but for what reason is not known, unless it was in the hope of obtaining a following in the general con- fusion. The first preparatory step of this movement was made by Santa Anna in Tamaulipas, when he joined the enemies of the admin- istration and dispatched Garza to the City of Mexico with a com- mission requesting Guerrero to change his cabinet and call to his side the sanguinary Alaman and others of the Escoceses and Centralist par- ties. We shall hear what Mr. ZaYala has to say in regard to this mat- ter. He writes as follows. "At the beginning of the month of Novem- ber it was announced in a positive and general manner that Busta- mante, Santa Anna and Musquis were attempting a conspiracy against the Federal Government with a view to supplanting the existing sys- tem by the central form of government, and consequently to dissolving the State Legislature and Congress. A proclamation of the Veracruz Legislature, in wh1ch these suspicions were exposed, gave more validity , to this rumor. As soon as Santa Anna reached Veracruz he united his forces with the Reserve Army which was quartered in J alapa without awaiting orders from the Government, and, as }fr. Zavala says, all believed that he had the intention of starting a new revolution. From there, or from Veracruz, (we do not recall from which), Santa Anna sent the Government an account of the battle against Barradas, a document which seemed to be purposely designed to bring odium upon Guerrero and to prepare the nation for the conspiracy which he was forming. The author undertook a great deal in blaming the administration for the real or imaginary ills which afflicted the nation, and also in making
Powered by FlippingBook