HIS LETTER TO ALMONTE. 



361 



power, or dictatorship. This offer was made on the part of the 

 provisional government. 



Santa Anna immediately replied in the following strain to the 

 missive of his partizan : 



General Santa Anna, commander-in-chief of the Liberating Army, 



to General Almonte, minister of war of the republic of Mexico. 



Ayotla, 1 o'clock, A. M., Sept. 14, 1846. 



Sir : I have received your favor of this date, acknowledging a 

 decree issued by the supreme government of the nation, embracing 

 a programme of the proceedings adopted to regulate a due celebra- 

 tion of the re-establishment of the constitution of 1824, the as- 

 sumption by myself of the supreme executive power, and the anni- 

 versary of the glorious grito of Dolores. 



My satisfaction is extreme to observe the enthusiasm with which 

 preparations are made to celebrate the two great blessings which 

 have fallen upon this nation — her independence and her liberty — 

 and I am penetrated with the deepest gratitude to find that my ar- 

 rival at the capital will be made to contribute to the solemnities of 

 so great an occasion. In furtherance of this object I shall make 

 my entree into that city to-morrow at mid-day, and desire, in con- 

 tributing my share to the national jubilee, to observe such a course 

 as may best accord with my duties to my country — beloved of my 

 heart — and with the respect due to the will of the sovereign people. 



I have been called by the voice of my fellow-citizens to exercise 

 the office of commander-in-chief of the army of the republic. I 

 was far from my native land when intelligence of this renewed con- 

 fidence, and of these new obligations imposed upon me by my coun- 

 try was brought to me, and I saw that the imminent dangers which 

 surrounded her on all sides, formed the chief motive for calling me 

 to the head of the army. I now see a terrible contest with a per- 

 fidious and daring enemy impending over her, in which the Mexican 

 republic must reconquer the insignia of her glory and a fortunate 

 issue, if victorious, or disappear from the face of the earth, if so 

 unfortunate as to be defeated. I also see a treacherous faction 

 raising its head from her bosom, which, in calling up a form of 

 government detested by the united nation, provokes a preferable 

 submission to foreign dominion ; and I behold, at last, that after 

 much vacillation, that nation is resolved to establish her right to 

 act for herself, and to arrange such a form of government as best 

 suits her wishes. 



All this I have observed, and turned a listening ear to the cry of 

 my desolated country, satisfied that she really needed my weak 



