Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 1.djvu/408

380 the matter to a council of general officers of the army. This body, however, was quite as timorous as Congress, and dismissed the project by declaring that "it was inexpedient to enter into negotiations for peace, until another opportunity had been afforded Mexico to retrieve her fortunes in the field."

These were the negotiations that met the public eye, and are reported in the military and diplomatic despatches of the day; but there was a secret correspondence, also, which denotes either the duplicity or strategy of Santa Anna, and must be faithfully recorded. It seems that the Mexican President, about the time that the public answer was proclaimed, sent private communications to the American head quarters at Puebla, intimating that if a million of dollars were placed at his disposal, to be paid upon the conclusion of a treaty of peace, and ten thousand dollars were paid forthwith, he would appoint commissioners to negotiate! The proposal was received and discussed by General Scott, Mr. Trist, and the leading officers, and being agreed to, though not unanimously, the ten thousand dollars were disbursed from the secret service money which Scott had at his disposal, and communications were opened in cypher, the key of which had been sent from Mexico. Intimations soon reached Puebla, from Santa Anna, that it would be also necessary for the American army to advance and threaten the Capital;—and, finally, another message was received, urging Scott to penetrate the valley and carry one of the outworks of the Mexican line of defences, in order to enable him to negotiate!

The sincerity of these proposals from the Mexican President, is very questionable, and we are still in doubt whether he designed merely to procrastinate and feel the temper of the Americans, or whether he was in reality angling for the splendid bribe of a million which he might appropriate privately, in the event of playing successfully upon the feelings or fears of the masses. The attempt, however, proved abortive; and although both General Scott and Mr. Trist deemed it proper to entertain the proposal, the commander-in-chief never for a moment delayed his military preparations for an advance with all the force he could gather. Thus were the last efforts of the American authorities in Mexico and Washington repulsed in the same demagogue spirit that hastened the rupture between the nations in the spring of 1846, and nothing remained but to try again whether the sword was mightier than the pen.