Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/157

Rh Santa Anna, who had retired to Manga de Clavo, daily received invitations to become the leader of the reactionary movement, with unrestricted powers. After completing his arrangements he went back to Mexico, removed Gomez Farías from power, and assumed it himself on the 24th of April, 1834, at a time when in many places acts had been passed against the reform measures.

Gomez Farías has been blamed by the liberal party for not having acted with energy on this occasion; for failing, in fact, to place Santa Anna in confinement. He had been intrusted with the mission of doing away with the old practices and traditional institutions, and should have energetically destroyed all opposition. The militia and both houses of congress would have supported his action, as he had in his possession the evidence that Santa Anna was conspiring against the country's institutions. And yet he hesitated, solely because he disliked being suspected of personal ambition, or accused of unconstitutional acts. His present course — which he repented of and tried to correct in 1840 — led to the overthrow of all that had been done, and to the triumph of a violent reaction based on the plans of Orizaba and Cuernavaca, which restored their power to the clergy and army.

Farías left the executive office, which he had been exercising with dictatorial powers, without a stain upon his character. His action was so vigorous that, notwithstanding the efforts of powerful hands to erase the marks of it, they remained visible to the latest day. When the reaction had fairly become master