Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/678

658 situation was indeed critical; and as late as August 12th nothing could be done to pacify the people, the despot being still in the republic. On that date he reached Perote and published a manifesto, extolling himself, and accusing others of things which might have been averted if he had been a faithful public He wrote to the commander in Mexico to servant. install the triumvirate at once, but was answered the next day that the capital had already adopted the plan of Ayutla. This plan had circulated, and been received with marks of approval by the people and troops. Generals Carrera and Diaz de la Vega had to second it in order to avert greater evils. On the 13th of August the garrison and ayuntamiento proclaimed the plan, and the populace, led by men who afterward figured in congress, committed many outrages.

Santa Anna, on receiving the news of the change in Mexico, embarked the 16th and 17th, with his family, on the war steamer Iturbide, bound to Habana, whence he went to Cartagena in the United States of Columbia. He never again figured prominently in public life. His death was on the 21st of June,