406 



FAILURE OF THE NEGOTIATION. 



the national drama of intrigue, war, and government. As a party, 

 they were doubtless unwilling to risk their strength and prospects 

 upon a peace which might be made under his auspices. 



In this crisis the President had no elements of strength still firmly 

 attached to him but the army, whose favor, amid all his reverses, he 

 generally contrived to retain or to win. But that army was now 

 much disorganized, and the national finances were so low that he 

 was scarcely able to maintain it from day to day. The mob, com- 

 posed of the lower classes, and the beastly leperos, knowing nothing 

 of the principles of the war, and heedless of its consequences, — 

 plied moreover by the demagogues of all the parties, — shouted 

 loudly for its continuance, and thus the president was finally forced 

 to yield to the external pressure, and to be governed by an impulse 

 which he was either too timid or too weak to control. 



The armistice provided that the Americans should receive sup- 

 plies from the city, and that no additional fortifications should be 

 undertaken during its continuance ; nevertheless the American trains 

 were assailed by the populace of the city, and, it is alleged, that 

 Santa Anna disregarded the provision forbidding fortifications. 

 When it became evident to the American commissioner and General 

 Scott, that the Mexicans were merely trifling and temporizing, — 

 that the prolongation of the armistice would be advantageous to the 

 enemy, without affording any correspondent benefits to us, — and 

 when their supplies had been increased so as to afford ample sup- 

 port for the army during the anticipated attack on the city, — it was 

 promptly resolved to renew the appeal to arms. Accordingly, on 

 the 6th of September, General Scott addressed Santa Anna, calling 

 his attention to the infractions of the compact, and declaring that 

 unless satisfaction was made for the breaches of faith before noon of 

 the following day, he would consider the armistice terminated from 

 that hour. Santa Anna returned an answer of false recriminations, 

 and threw off the mask. He asserted his willingness to rely on 

 arms; — he issued a bombastic appeal to the people, in which he 

 announced that the demands of the Americans would have converted 

 the nation into a colony of our Union. He improved upon the pre- 

 tended patriotic zeal of all the parties — puros, moderados, monar- 

 quistas and mob — who had proclaimed themselves in favor of the 

 war. Instead of opposing or arguing the question, he caught the 

 war strain of the hour, and sent it forth to the multitude in trumpet 

 tones. He was determined not to be hedged or entrapped by those 

 who intrigued to destroy him, and resolved that if he must fall, his 

 opponents should share the political disaster. Nor was he alone in 



