28!
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
rfor in wisdom and civilization. Where is there an honest man in ou:r favored Union who may not have reason to lament the triumphs of the demagogues over the patriots, of the corrupt over the virtuous and of the audacious over the talented? Men whose lives have been marked by deceit, vice and crime have very frequently been the favorites of a people and have received their confidence when they merited their in- dignation and should have been punished. It seems that every country has its Santa Annas for the mockery and contemptuous ridicule of all human virtue. Santa Anna did not enter upon the duties of his office at once, but remained on his hacienda in Veracruz leaving Farias in the Presidency. We will fill in the period between the time of his triumphal entry into the Capital with Pedraza and the time he took possession of the presi- dency with a few anecdotes and a rapid glance at the plans which he had formulated during that time. While passing through Puebla and J alapa on his way from Mexico to Veracruz, he stated that the spoils of the victory belonged to the victors, and that if he should be elected president the Escoceses or Aristocrats should not hope for favor at his hands- language which was popular at that time and which made him more popular with the rabble. We do not blame him for this sentiment; for his recent victory having been a triumph of liberal principles-a decided manifestation of the spirit of the nation-it was his duty to maintain and defend these principles in .the Cabinet as he had done on the battle field. We blame him only for not having fulfilled these promises when he came into power. He had previously left in the care of a priest a young girl whom he had snatched from the home of her parents close to his hacienda. On reaching Veracruz he sent out to find the priest for the purpose of· killing him, for like a good priest he had usurped the pleasures which the lascivious General was reserving for himself. He did not kill the• priest, but forced him to return the money which he had received for- the support of the girl, a sum of thirty dollars a month, and also pay· for some percale dresses which he had bought her. "His diversions with the £air sex were always at their expense or at the expense of the public. They never cost him more than a few reales and several falsehoods. A girl in Orizaba with. whom he was enam- oured granted him the favors which he asked on condition that he- would make her father a colonel in the army. The only notable thing that occurred in this affair was that instead of deceiving the girl, he immediately ordered the commission to be issued, the only case we know of in which he complied with his promise when he could avoid it, and this time it was at the public expense. As an example of the literary taste of our hero be pleased to read the- follo':ving. A gentleman from Veracruz who was visiting at his ha-- cienda asked for a book with which to entertain himself for a while and received this reply: "As I have never wasted my time reading nonsense, I have never owned, nor ever will own a book. It is better that I should let you rest your body by taking a nap in the hammock." In consideration for his services, which it was supposed he had ren-' dered in the campaign against Barradas, the Legislature of the State
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