Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/347

Rh large military force, he commenced fortifying the Pass of Rio Frio, and the approaches to the capital; and General Alvarez was sent with a body of irregular cavalry and Indians from Sonora and Sinaloa, about 5,000 strong, to hover on the road between Perote and Puebla, and cut off the trains coming up to join General Scott, then at the latter place, waiting for the arrival of his reinforcements.

When the dispatch forwarded from Puebla on the 12th of June, reached Mexico, it was laid before Congress. At this time Santa Anna manifested something like a disposition to favor the conclusion of a peace, although he did not openly attempt to infuse a spirit of conciliation into the breasts of his countrymen. Various messages passed between him and the representatives of the nation, in relation to the dispatch. He evidently desired to have the decree of the 20th of April repealed, but no request was made to that effect. The invariable reply returned by Congress to the communications of the Executive, inquiring as to the disposition which should be made of the matter, was, that the incipient steps of a negotiation belonged to the latter, and that they could not interfere. They feared for their own popularity too much to repeal the decree, and Santa Anna was probably influenced by a similar feeling. Nothing was done towards procuring an interview with Mr. Trist; but, on the contrary, the general cry was for the continuance of hostilities. In July General Valencia came up from San Luis Potosi, with over 4,000 men, all eager for war, and ten pieces of artillery. The publication of the different journals issued in Mexico, with the exception of the "Diario del Gobierno," — the recognized organ of the government, — was suppressed, and when that paper