CHARACTER OF GENERAL PAREDES. 



333 



These military demonstrations denoted the unquestionable de- 

 sign and will of Paredes, who had acquired supreme power by a 

 revolution founded upon the solemn pledge of hostility against the 

 United States and reconquest of Texas. His military life in Mexico 

 made him a despot. He had no confidence in the ability of his 

 fellow-citizens to govern themselves. He believed republicanism 

 an Utopian dream of his visionary countrymen. Free discussion 

 through the press was prohibited, during his short rule, and his 

 satellites advocated the establishment of a throne to be occupied by 

 an European prince. These circumstances induced our government 

 to believe, that any counter-revolution in Mexico, which might 

 destroy the ambitious and unpatriotic projects of Paredes, would 

 promote the cause of peace, and accordingly, it saw with pleasure, 

 the prospect of a new outbreak which might result in the downfall, 

 and total destruction of the greatest enemy we possessed on the 

 soil of our sister republic. 



43 



