Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/93

Rh resisted on the playa de Jerez, or Cabo Rojo, 36 miles from Pueblo Viejo.

After the disembarkation the fleet went back to Habana, pursuant to the orders of the captain-general of Cuba. Barradas' force marched toward Tampico, and after much suffering from the heat, scarcity of water, and myriads of merciless insects, having captured on the way a well defended redoubt with four guns and fifty prisoners, the advanced column on the 18th of August entered that city, which had been evacuated by the inhabitants.

Had the invasion amounted to anything, the Mexican nation would indeed have been unprepared to face it. When the news of it was announced at the capital, July 31st, the alarm among all classes was great. The troops were in want of everything; and to add to this perplexity, the ministers encountered opposition on all sides, even to their calling the congress to hold an extra session. The opposition press circulated false reports, pretending to doubt that any invasion had occurred. The intrigues of the government's enemies so hampered every effort to meet the situation that the Spaniards had been landed ten days before the national congress assembled. Even then it did nothing till the 25th of August, on which date the executive was invested with extraordinary power.

The national and state governments then lost no time in making preparations on an extensive scale, apprehending that Barradas' force might be but the avant-guard of a large army. The suspicious