Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 2.djvu/149

Rh In Mexico, however, a lubricant almost always had to be applied in government affairs, and that lubricant was gold. Knowing that the United States eagerly desired peace and had already appropriated millions to gain it, not a few Mexicans would have felt they sinned against nature and custom had they been willing to oblige us for nothing. Santa Anna's greed overtopped the mountains. Rejón was well understood to be corrupt. Valencia, one of the loudest declaimers against peace, had a large family, was old and was poor; and in Santa Anna's opinion he desired to be a little more comfortable. Numerous minor figures, more or less prominent in Congress, also appreciated comfort. The British merchants, with whom "arrangements" were a regular feature of dealings with the government, believed the Americans would have to apply the lubricant. Such was Bankhead's opinion, and on his second visit Thornton intimated as much. Scott, though he would not have attempted to corrupt an honest person, considered it no worse to employ a "statesman" than a spy, if the statesman desired to serve him; and he believed that without the use of money a year of bloodshed would not force Mexico to sign an acceptable treaty. He offered, therefore, to provide the requisite funds for carrying out Thornton's idea, and Trist welcomed his assistance.

Santa Anna doubtless felt eager to obtain peace provided he could remain in authority, and that proviso was natural, for otherwise he would have lost a position he loved, and exile or death would have been his early portion; but it was not easy to calculate the chances. Buchanan's despatch seemed to many a fresh sign of weakness. Scott had less than half the numbers that Marcy had promised, and many inferred that no more good troops could be sent. For a nation to succumb before less than 10,000 isolated men, poorly trained and poorly supplied, seemed ridiculous and even irrational. Trist's lack of prestige was another offence to Mexican pride. The charge of collusion, supported by the known fact that an American officer had visited Santa Anna in Cuba, manacled him; his countless enemies were awake and implacable; and he found it necessary to deny that he thought of treating.

The Coalition opposed all thoughts of peace. Fearful of responsibility and paralyzed by personal and factional intrigues,