Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/234

198 were issued by General Salas, then charged with the supreme executive power. Officers in "the Mexican service were sent to Havana, and other ports, with blank commissions for privateers, letters of citizenship, and naturalization papers for crews, which were offered for sale. The prompt measures taken by the Captain General, in conformity with the stipulations of the treaty between Spain and the United States, to prevent the fitting out of privateers in the harbors on the island of Cuba, and the absence of sufficient pecuniary inducements to risk a capture by the American men of — war, rendered the attempt of the Mexican government entirely abortive.

Small steamers and schooners adapted for entering the harbors in the Gulf, were purchased for the use of the Home Squadron, in the fall of 1846; and on the 15th of October, Commodore Conner made a second effort to capture Alvarado. The entrance of the river was defended by several batteries that opened a brisk fire on the American vessels, which attempted to cross the bar in two divisions. The first, consisting of the schooners Reefer and Bonita, towed by the steamer Vixen, crossed in safety, and engaged with the batteries; the steamer Mississippi, commanded by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, having also gained a favorable position, brought her heavy guns to bear, and nearly destroyed one of the enemy's breastworks; but unfortunately, the steamer McLane, with the schooners Nonata and Petrel, and the revenue cutter Forward, in tow, comprising the second division, grounded on the bar, and the enterprise was again defeated. Commodore Conner thought it would be imprudent to go