further difficulties of the kind, Calleja was instructed to march with his army to the capital, and the 5th of February was appointed as the day for his entrance.
The reception given to the victorious general, and the army of the centre, was an imposing one. His triumphal entry presented a spectacle never before witnessed in the capital on so grand a scale.[1] As the van approached the gates of the city, a salvo of artillery announced the arrival to the immense multitudes which thronged the streets, eager to gaze with hate or admiration upon the soldiers of whose victories they had heard so much. The city was gay with decorations;[2] salutes were fired, and the te deum chanted with unusual sublimity in the cathedral.[3] But this display was attended with an accident to the hero of the occasion, which in the eyes of some was foreboding of disaster to him. When near the gate of Mercaderes the horse of the mariscal de campo, Júdas Tadeo Tornos, who was riding by the side of Calleja, became restive, and rearing struck the general on the head, bringing him to the ground. Calleja was carried into a house near by, and only recovered some hours later sufficiently to be conveyed in a carriage to the palace to present himself to the viceroy, having been unable to attend the joyful ceremony at the cathedral.[4]
Although the viceroy and Calleja maintained an outward appearance of friendship, their sentiments toward each other were none of the kindest. The jealousy with which Venegas had for some time regarded his general was increased by the flattering reception now given him. The applause with which
- ↑ His forces consisted of 2,150 infantry, 1,832 cavalry, accompanied by a train of 1,500 loads of provisions and over 400 of munitions of war. Bustamante. Camp. de Calleja, 167.
- ↑ The day was that of San Felipe de Jesus, on which a festal procession was made from the cathedral to San Francisco.
- ↑ Gaz. de Mex., 1812, iii. 133-4.
- ↑ Alaman, Hist. Mej., ii. 477. Bustamante states that the horse which Calleja rode was a stolen one, and recognized by its owner, Doña María Gertrudis Bustos, sister of the marquesa de Rayas. Cuad. Hist., i. 324.
