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PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
honorable and enthusiastic man, the friend of liberty and a republican at heart. We pay this tribute to his memory because he was a friend to Texas and had suffered for her cause. In his necessity he asked the Congress of that country for a donation of land which, we believe, was not granted him. CHAPTER XIV. Despotic and cruel character of Bustamante's administration. The nation comes to hate him. The Veracruz garrison rises in insurrection against him. Santa Anna at the head of . the rebellion. He orders the recall of Pedraza. Calderon is appointed to march against the rebels. Slowness of his movements. Santa Anna captures a convoy. Calderon retires to Jalapa. Santa Anna pursues him. Battle of Tolome. Defeat of Santa Anna. He flees to Veracruz, appropriates the public funds and prepares to escape by sea. Calderon be- sieges Veracruz. He unsuccessfully attacks the city. He raises the siege and'. retires to Jalapa. Santa Anna pursues him. He suddenly finds himself sur- rounded by Rincon, Facio and Calderon in the retreat. Armistice between the belligerent parties. Santa Anna violates 'it. He takes possession of the Na- tional bridge. Several states declare in favor of the rebels. Santa Anna goes to Oajaca. Facio follows him. Battle of San Augustfn del Palmar. Death of Azc1J,rate. Santa Anna marches against Puebla. He takes the city. Treacherous conduct of Santa Anna toward Andrade. He marches upon the City of Mexico. Headquarters in Tacubaya. The troops take possession of several towns. He demands the surrender of the Capital. CHAPTER XIV. On the 7th of January Bustamante formed his cabinet. The two most famous ministers were Lucas Alaman, Secretary of Foreign Re- lations, and Jose Antonio Facio, Minister of War. The well known character of these men, together with that of their chief, was sufficient reason to believe that the administration would be bloody and doomed to destruction. In a short time the bad effects of the elevation of this usurper began to be felt. Firm in the principles which placed Busta- mante in power, his government was essentially and purely a military despotism. Violent and arbitrary attempts were made to abolish . the state legislatures, and the National Congress was forced to work at the point of the bayonet. In a short time all vestige 0£ public and personal liberty had disappeared. The reign of terror commenced. The insolence of officers, the punishment of private citizens, and the numerous executions which took place every day intimidated the weak and imposed silence even upon the strong. More than three hundred patriots were sacrificed solely because of their beliefs and without being accused of any crime or wrong-doing. But it is useless to enumerate the thousands of assassinations, exiles and punishments which deprived the nation of its best sons and stained its soil with the most noble blood of the country, all of which had its origin in an immoderate desire for power to rule and an ambition for aggrandizement. So general and profound was the wickedness of this epoch that not a year had passed before the nation became a thousand times more disgusted with Busta- mante's administration than it had been with Guerrero's, for the worst that can be said of the latter is that it was weak and vacillating, whereas the former was tyrannical and brutal. As an 1_1xamp1e of the atrocious character of the administration of this cruel triumvirate-Bustamante, Alaman and Facio-we give the following anecdote in which treason equal to that which caused the
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