Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/316

296 not fail to remind the rulers that the frontier was in imminent danger of invasion, demanding that the troops Paredes had diverted from its defence, and brought with him from San Luis Potosí, should be sent back at once, and not kept in idleness at the capital. These suggestions were soon carried out, after the government was apprised of the advance movements made by General Taylor. The utmost activity was then exercised to place a respectable army on the frontier. Troops, artillery, and money were also sent to Vera Cruz, where it was feared the enemy would land forces. Some provision was likewise made for the defence of the ports on the Pacific.

The position of the government was daily becoming more and more difficult, for it had not only to provide means to meet the invaders wheresoever they might appear, but also to withstand the deadly attacks of the opposition press, which now openly accused it of an intention to set up a monarchy in Mexico. Federalists, centralists, and the personal supporters of Santa Anna were now working in unison and threatening to upset the government. This decided aggression prompted the adoption of restrictive measures against the press, which were virtually an attack against the republicans and tended to widen the breach. The president then, with the view of allaying if possible the hostility of parties at a time when he needed general coöperation, issued on the 24th of April a manifesto, promising to sustain the republican form till the nation should resolve upon a change. This did not save him, however, from being set up by the opposition press as an enemy of the institutions of the country. He was also accused of