372 CONDITION OF MEXICO ALVARADO, ETC., CAPTURED. 



apprised, and they were probably prevented from doing so chiefly 

 by the plans of Santa Anna, who supposed that Taylor would fall 

 an easy prey to the large Mexican forces in the field at Buena Vista, 

 especially as the American army had been weakened by the abstrac- 

 tion of its regulars for the operations at Vera Cruz. Victorious at 

 Buena Vista, he could have hastened, by forced marches, to attack 

 the invaders on the eastern coast, and under the dismay of his an- 

 ticipated victory in the north, he unquestionably imagined that they 

 too would have fallen at once into his grasp. Besides these military 

 miscalculations, Mexico was so embarrassed in its pecuniary affairs, 

 and disorganized in its Central Civil Government, that the proper 

 directing power in the capital, — warned as it was, — had neither 

 men nor means at hand to dispose along the coast of the Gulf, or to 

 station at points in its neighborhood whence they might quickly be 

 thrown into positions which were menaced. 



It was at this juncture that Santa Anna's voice was again heard 

 in the council and the field. At the conclusion of the last chapter 

 we left him hastening to the new scene of action ; and when he an- 

 nounced the capitulation of the vaunted castle and sea port of the 

 Republic, he declared in his proclamation, that although " chance 

 might decree the fall of the capital of the Aztec empire under the 

 power of the proud American host, yet the Nation shall not perish." 

 " I swear," continues he, "that if my wishes are seconded by a sin- 

 cere and unanimous effort, Mexico shall triumph! A thousand 

 times fortunate for the nation will the fall of Vera Cruz prove, if the 

 disaster shall awaken in Mexican bosoms, the dignified enthusiasm, 

 and generous ardor of true patriotism !" This was the tone of ap- 

 peal and encouragement in which he rallied the credulous and vain 

 masses, the disheartened country, the dispersed troops of the north, 

 and reanimated the broken fragments of the army which still con- 

 tinued in the field. 



Meanwhile, General Scott placed Vera Cruz under the command 

 of General Worth ; opened the port to the long abandoned com- 

 merce which had languished during the blockade ; established a 

 moderate tariff, and together with the forces of the navy took pos- 

 session of the ports of Alvarado and Tlacotlalpam on the south, and 

 directed the future capture of Tuspan on the north of Vera Cruz. 

 All his arrangements being completed, and these captures made and 

 projected, he marched a large portion of his twelve thousand vic- 

 torious troops towards the capital. 



When the road to the interior leaves Vera Cruz, it runs for a mile 

 or two along the low, sandy, sea-beaten shore, and then strikes off, 



