Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/70

Rh only were he and the successful candidate personal enemies, but he felt that little would be left of himself after four years of Pedraza's rule; and he knew that Guerrero, in addition to being favored by the army, really had a majority of the people on his side. Accordingly he unfurled his ﬂag in September, 1828, for Guerrero, popular rights and a total expulsion of the Gachupines. In this contest he showed amazing quickness, audacity and resourcefulness, keeping up his motley troops principally by brigandage; but very soon his cause appeared to be doomed.

At this point Lorenzo de Zavala, one of those human meteors that rarely illuminate Anglo-Saxon skies, came forward. His political relations were extremely intense; and now, believing the Centralists intended to place him before a ﬁring-squad, he organized at Mexico, in the hope of saving himself and Santa Anna, the woeful insurrection of the Acordada, which ﬁxed the example of party revolution. Victoria had an understanding With him, though after betraying the government and letting the handful of rioters get a safe start, he lost his nerve and betrayed them also; and in the end, at the cost of some bloodshed and extensive robberies, the insurrection triumphed; "the vile and unnatural Pedraza"—as his foes called him—ﬂed to the United States, and Congress, after having declared Pedraza elected, pronounced Guerrero President on the express ground that revolts had occurred in his favor In reality this was a revolution of numbers and popular ideas against privilege and oligarchy, and before long the country accepted the situation.

Santa Anna was now a popular hero, the saviour of the nation; and he proceeded to conﬁrm his title In 1829 came the long expected blow from Spain, and having calmly assumed the military authority at Vera Cruz, he advanced to meet it. Near Tampico the invading army, stricken with fever, desired to lay down its arms; but Santa Anna, eager for laurels, attacked it. Spanish valor accepted the challenge; the Mexicans were repulsed; and their ambitious leader left the ﬁeld before the battle ended. The invaders were then permitted to surrender, and soon a new cry was echoing through the streets of Mexico, "Viva Santa Anna, the Victor of Tampico!" Clothing himself with modesty and grace he now posed as a