360 



PLANS OF SALAS AND SANTA ANNA. 



fusing to accept the pay of president while discharging the func- 

 tions of his office. 



On the 15th of August, Salas issued a proclamation, in which he 

 announced to his countrymen that a new insult had been offered to 

 them, and that another act of baseness had been perpetrated by the 

 Americans. He alluded to the Californias, which, he said, " the 

 Americans have now seized by the strong hand, after having vil- 

 lanously robbed us of Texas."' He announced that the expedition 

 which had been so long preparing would set forth in two days for 

 the recovery of the country, and that measures would be taken to 

 arrange the differences existing between the people of the Califor- 

 nias and the various preceding central administrations. In con- 

 clusion, he appealed eloquently to the Californians to second with 

 their best exertions the attempt which would be made to drive out 

 the Americans, and to unite their rich and fertile territories forever 

 to the Republic. 



During the administration of this chief, various proclamations 

 were issued to arouse the people to take part in the war, by en- 

 listing and by contributing their means. Efforts were also made 

 to organize the local militia, but with little effect. 



Santa Anna, in his reply to Salas on the 20th of August, accepts 

 the trust which is formally devolved upon him, and approves of the 

 acts of the latter, especially in sending forward all the troops to 

 Monterey, New Mexico, and California, and in summoning a Con- 

 gress for the 6th of December. These, he says, are the two first 

 wants of the nation, the formation of a constitution for the country, 

 and the purification of the soil of the country from foreign invaders. 

 These ends gained, he will gladly lay down his power. " My 

 functions will cease," he says, "when I have established the nation 

 in its rights ; when I see its destinies controled by its legitimate 

 representatives, and when I may be able, by the blessing of heaven, 

 to lay at the feet of the national representatives laurels plucked on 

 the banks of the Sabine — all of which must be due to the force 

 and the will of the Mexican people." 



Santa Anna at length quitted his hacienda, where he had doubt- 

 less been waiting for the opportune moment to arrive when he 

 could best exhibit himself to the inhabitants of the capital, and pro- 

 fit by their highest enthusiasm, pushed to an extreme by alternate 

 hopes and fears. On the 14th of September he reached Ayotla, a 

 small town distant twenty-five miles from the city of Mexico. 

 Here he received a communication from Almonte, the secre- 

 tary of war, ad interim, proposing to him the supreme executive 



