Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/256

236 country by a party with which the people at large were not in sympathy. With undefined ideas and scanty means he had started upon the experimental course, trusting to fortune and bad advisers, and neglecting the lessons taught by experience. Active and passive opposition encountered him on every side, based partly on stagnated resources, and breaking out in pronunciamientos, which, added to the French fiasco, the secession of Yucatan, the insolence of Texas, and Indian border raids, left his administration in no enviable plight.

On October 7th Santa Anna made his triumphal entry into Mexico, and was declared provisional president. Two days later he assumed control of affairs, forming a new cabinet, composed of Gomez Pedraza, Crispiniano del Castillo, Ignacio Trigueros, and General Tornel. Popular approval naturally followed the winning side, but any change was now welcomed as an improvement, and the hero of Vera Cruz seemed the most promising man for the occasion. A