426 



SANTA ANNA LEAVES MEXICO FOR JAMAICA. 



Alamo ; and the imprisonments in Mexico, Puebla, or Perote in 

 1842. Bat when Lane and his troopers reached Tehuacan, the 

 game had escaped, though his lair was still warm. All the per- 

 sonal effects left behind in his rapid flight, were plundered, with the 

 exception of his wife's wardrobe, which, with a rough though chiv- 

 alrous gallantry, was sent to the beautiful but ill matched lady. A 

 picked military escort, personally attached and doubtless well paid, 

 still attended him. But, beyond this, he had no military command, 

 and as a soldier and politician, his power in Mexico had departed. 



Having sought by public letters to throw, as usual, the disgrace 

 of his defeats at Belen and Chapultepec, upon General Terres and 

 the revolutionary hero Bravo, he aroused the united hatred of these 

 men and the disgust of their numerous friends. Public opinion 

 openly condemned him every where. After Lane's assault he took 

 refuge in Oajaca; but the people of that region were equally inimi- 

 cal and significantly desired his departure. Thus, broken in fame 

 and character, deprived of a party, personal influence, patronage, 

 and present use of his wealth, the foiled Warrior-President stood 

 for a moment at bay. But his resolution was soon taken. From 

 Cascatlan he wrote to the minister of war on the 1st of February, 

 demanding passports, and at the same time he intimated to the 

 American Commander-in-chief his willingness to leave an ungrate- 

 ful Republic and to "seek an asylum on a foreign soil where he 

 might pass his last days in that tranquillity which he could never 

 find in the land of his birth." The desired passports were granted. 

 He was assured that neither Mexicans nor Americans would molest 

 his departure; and, moving leisurely towards the eastern coast with 

 his family, he was met near his Hacienda of Encero by a select 

 guard, detailed by Colonel Hughes and Major Kenly, and, escorted 

 with his long train of troopers, domestics, treasure and luggage to 

 La Antigua, where he embarked on the 5th of April, 1848, on 

 board a Spanish brig bound to Jamaica. One year and eight 

 months before, returning from exile, he had landed from the steamer 

 Arab in the same neighborhood, to regenerate his country ! 1 



1 In his letter to the Secretary of "War on the 1st of February from Cascatlan, he 

 says : " to enable me to live out of the way of the banditti travelling about here in 

 large parties, I have had to spend more than two thousand dollars, necessary to 

 maintain a small escort, when, through the scarcity of means in the treasury, / 

 served my country without pay." This is a singular illustration of Santa Anna's char- 

 acteristic avarice. Perhaps no man ever served his country for more liberal and cer- 

 tain pay than this chieftain. We have been informed by one of our highest officers, 

 who was in the capital after its occupation by our troops, and had access to the Mexi- 

 can archives, that, amid all Santa Anna's political and military distresses he never 



