428 SANTA CRUZ DE ROSALES COURT OF INQUIRY. 



Plenipotentiaries to Mexico to secure its passage by the Mexican 

 congress. 



Meanwhile the last action of the war was fought and won on the 

 16th of March, in ignorance of the armistice, by General Price at 

 Santa Cruz de Rosales, near Chihuahua; and the diplomatic and 

 military career of two of our most distinguished citizens was ab- 

 ruptly closed on the theatre of their brilliant achievements. Scott, 

 the victor of so many splendid fields, was suspended from the 

 command of the army he had led to glory, and General William 

 O. Butler was ordered to replace him. Hot dissensions had oc- 

 curred between the Commander-in-chief, Worth, Pillow, and other 

 meritorious officers, and although our government might well have 

 avoided a scandalous rupture at such a moment in an enemy's capi- 

 tal, a Court of Inquiry was, nevertheless, convened to discuss the 

 battles and the men who had achieved the victories ! Nor was Mr. 

 Trist, the steadfast, persevering and successful friend of peace, 

 spared when he had accomplished all that his government and coun- 

 trymen desired. Learned in the language of Spain ; intimate with 

 the character of the people ; familiar, by long residence, with their 

 tastes, feelings and customs, he had been selected by our Secretary 

 of State in consequence of his peculiar fitness for the mission and 

 its delicate diplomacy. Yet he was not allowed the honor of finish- 

 ing his formal task at Querctaro but was ordered home almost in 

 disgrace. History, however, will render the justice that poli- 

 ticians and governments deny, and must honestly recognize the 

 treaty which crowned and closed the war as emphatically the result 

 of his skill and watchfulness. The fate of the four most eminent 

 men in this war illustrates a painful passage in the story of our 

 country, for whilst Fremont, the pacificator of the west, was 

 brought home a prisoner, and Taylor converted into a barrack 

 master at Monterey, — Scott was almost tried for his victories in the 

 presence of his conquered foes, and Trist disgraced for the treaty 

 he had been sent to negotiate ! But the private or public griefs of 

 our commanders and diplomatists should properly find no place in 

 these brief historical sketches, nor must we dwell upon them, even 

 in passing. The great victors and the able negotiators are secure 

 in the memory and gratitude of the future. 



While the court of inquiry pursued its investigations in the capi- 

 tal, and the United States Senate, at home, was engaged in rati- 

 fying the treaty, President Pena-y-Pena and his cabinet still labored 

 zealously to assemble a Congress at Queretaro. The Mexican Pre- 

 sident resolved, if necessary to obtain a quorum, to exclude New 



