Vera Cruz, whence it was determined to march direct upon the capital. Our squadrons were already blockading the eastern and western ports, our armies (as we have already seen) had successfully invaded the northern states and provinces. The fatal blow was to be aimed at the central power of the Republic.
Our forces were in great strength in the valley of the Rio Grande, under such able generals as Taylor, Butler, Quitman, Worth, Patterson, and Pillow, but the demands of General Scott, which withdrew the greatest number to a different region, weakened General Taylor's command at a moment most critical. Though successively beaten at every point of attack, the Mexicans had promptly rallied after each encounter. Fresh hordes were pouring down upon the little American army, now so reduced by the levies of the imperious Scott as to be compelled to assume only the defensive. By the end of December a force of twenty thousand men had assembled at San Luis Potosi, south of Monterey, and the centre of one of the richest mining regions of the country, under the command of General Santa Anna.
This irrepressible revolutionist, whom we have seen suffer defeat after defeat, and finally exiled to Cuba, had returned to his native land under peculiar circumstances. Believing that his presence in Mexico would aid the forming of a speedy peace, the Government of the United States had given orders to the blockading squadron off Vera Cruz to permit the returning exile to land in peace. He had no sooner done so than he issued a manifesto, proclaiming to the people that he had radically changed his views, and no longer believed in a central government, to the exclusion of the outside states, and recommended the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1824. When he arrived at the capital, on the 15th of September, the people hailed
