Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/335

Rh strife, until Bustamante despatched a powerful division against Guerrero, which defeated, and dispersed his army. This was the conclusion of that successful warrior's career. He was a good soldier but a miserable statesman. His private character and natural disposition are represented, by those who knew him best, to have been irreproachable; yet he was fitted alone for the early struggles of Mexico in the field, and was so ignorant of the administrative functions needed in his country at such a period, that it is not surprising to find he had been used as a tool, and cast aside when the service for which his intriguing coadjutors required him was performed. His historical popularity and character rendered him available for a reckless party in overthrowing a constitutional election; and, even when beaten by the new usurper, and with scarcely the shadow of a party in the nation, it was still feared that his ancient usefulness in the wars of independence, might render him again the nucleus of political discontent. Accordingly, the pursuit of Guerrero was not abandoned when his army fled. The west coast was watched by the myrmidons of the usurpers, and the war-worn hero was finally betrayed on board a vessel by a spy, where he was arrested for bearing arms against the government of which he was the real head, according to the solemn decision of congress! In February, 1831, a court martial, ordered by General Montezuma tried him for this pretended crime. His sentence was, of course, known as soon as his judges were named; and, thus, another chief of the revolutionary war was rewarded by death for his patriotic services. We cannot regard this act of Bustamante and Santa Anna, except as a deliberate murder for which they richly deserve the condemnation of impartial history, even if they had no other crimes to answer at the bar of God and their country.

Whilst these internal contests were agitating the heart of Mexico, an expedition had been fitted out at Havana composed of four thousand troops commanded by Barradas, designed to invade the lost colony and restore it to the Spanish crown. The accounts given of this force and its condition when landed at Tampico, vary according to the partizans by whom they are written; but there is reason to believe that the Spanish troops were so weakened by disease and losses in the summer of 1830, that when Santa Anna and a French officer,—Colonel Woll— attacked them In the month of September, they fell an easy prey into the hands of the Mexicans. Santa Anna, however, with his usual talent for such composition, magnified the defeat into a magnificent conquest. He