Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/387

Rh power, or dictatorship. This offer was made on the part of the provisional government.

Santa Anna immediately replied in the following strain to the missive of his partizan:

General, commander-in-chief of the Liberating Army, to General , minister of war of the republic of Mexico. , 1 o'clock, A. M., Sept. 14, 1846.


 * I have received your favor of this date, acknowledging a decree issued by the supreme government of the nation, embracing a programme of the proceedings adopted to regulate a due celebration of the re-establishment of the constitution of 1824, the assumption by myself of the supreme executive power, and the anniversary of the glorious grito of Dolores.

My satisfaction is extreme to observe the enthusiasm with which preparations are made to celebrate the two great blessings which have fallen upon this nation—her independence and her liberty—and I am penetrated with the deepest gratitude to find that my arrival at the capital will be made to contribute to the solemnities of so great an occasion. In furtherance of this object I shall make my entree into that city to-morrow at mid-day, and desire, in contributing my share to the national jubilee, to observe such a course as may best accord with my duties to my country—beloved of my heart—and with the respect due to the will of the sovereign people.

I have been called by the voice of my fellow-citizens to exercise the office of commander-in-chief of the army of the republic. I was far from my native land when intelligence of this renewed confidence, and of these new obligations imposed upon me by my country was brought to me, and I saw that the imminent dangers which surrounded her on all sides, formed the chief motive for calling me to the head of the army. I now see a terrible contest with a perfidious and daring enemy impending over her, in which the Mexican republic must reconquer the insignia of her glory and a fortunate issue, if victorious, or disappear from the face of the earth, if so unfortunate as to be defeated. I also see a treacherous faction raising its head from her bosom, which, in calling up a form of government detested by the united nation, provokes a preferable submission to foreign dominion; and I behold, at last, that after much vacillation, that nation is resolved to establish her right to act for herself, and to arrange such a form of government as best suits her wishes.

All this I have observed, and turned a listening ear to the cry of my desolated country, satisfied that she really needed my weak