was wholly a tool of the maimed hero, although in secret understanding with him. He stood everywhere esteemed so far as an honorable soldier, energetic, and with scientific tastes, who believed that the country needed a better administration,[1] and that the energetic Santa Anna could provide it. In order to insure the movement, he installed new ayuntamientos in different towns, left a reliable garrison at Guadalajara, and marched with 700 men by way of Lagos into Guanajuato, where Cortazar, the most influential governor in the republic, stood prepared to coöperate, General Juvera of Querétaro following the example. The government at once sent a body of over 1,000 men against him, but they passed over almost in a body. The far-seeing Santa Anna had ever taken the precaution to treat the soldiers well. Under Bustamante they had suffered comparative neglect, and were therefore readily won by the prospects now held forth. Although loyal assurances reached the government from different quarters, the revolution continued to spread. The citizens and garrison of Vera Cruz and Ulúa pronounced for it on August 25th, declaring for a large reduction in taxes. Other towns followed,[2] among them Mexico itself, or rather the garrison of the citadel, under Valencia,[3] who had
- ↑ Thompson, Recol. Mex., 84-6, and Löwenstern, Mex., 289-90, join in praising him. Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga was born at Mexico in 1797, and figured till 1821 as a royalist officer, rising only to a captaincy. He then joined Iturbide and was rapidly promoted for brave and efficient action. In 1832 he became a general, and in 1841, as a strong centralist, he received command of a division, with the control of Jalisco. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 287; Robinson's Mex., and her Mil. Chieftains, 243. In his own declaration to the nation, preceding the plan, with documents, he distinctly points to Santa Anna as the man. Esposicion, 1-28; Pap. Var., cliv. pt 25. Doc. 5 herein shows that over 2,200 men belonged to Paredes' division, scattered in different places.
- ↑ Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iii. 495-7, states that Jalapa presented at first a protest and petition rather than a pronunciamiento. Santa Anna was staying here at the time, as comandante general of the province. In June took place a slight outbreak at Orizaba, which Bustamante connects with the present one. The people of San Luis Potosí had attempted to drive out Governor Sepúlveda shortly before. For Guanajuato pronunciamiento, see Vallejo, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., ii. 464.
- ↑ 'De orígen muy obscuro,' says Bustamante, Hist. Sta Anna, MS., i. 125, adding instances of his low brutality. Diario, MS., xlvi. 96-7. Charnay, Cités, 197-9, speaks of him as a bad debtor.
