expectedly, and by a mere nominal majority; but they were not content to bow with submission, like good republicans, to the will of the people expressed according to the forms of a Federal Constitution. The consequence was, that before the new President had taken his seat, Santa Anna made his appearance on the political stage, and, under the plea that the election of Pedraza had been produced by fraud, "pronouced" against him at the head of a small but determined force. The movement became speedily popular. The prejudices of the Creoles, or natives, against the Spaniards and their aristocratic partisans, were skillfully played upon, and the émeute resulted on the 4th of December, 1828, in the "Pronunciamientos of the Acordada" in favor of the defeated candidate, Guerrero. The City of Mexico was given up to a mob; the Parian was sacked; the defenceless Spaniards suffered from the resentment of an infuriate populace; and Pedraza abandoning the post of Minister of War to his opponent, Santa Anna,) fled from the country, and took refuge in the United States. On the first of January, 1829, Congress declared Guerrero to have been duly elected President;—Bustamante was named Vice-President; and the government went once more into quiet operation under the old Constitution.
The case with which the supreme authority could be destroyed or established by a bold and daring chieftain, had been now most fatally demonstrated for the future peace of the country; and ambitious spirits were not long wanting to take advantage of this dangerous facility. Scarcely had Guerrero been seated in the presidential chair, and signalized his duplicity by desiring the recall of Mr. Poinsett, when Bustamante, who came into power with him as Vice-President organized the army at Jalapa, and upon some trifling pretext, "pronounced" in that city. Santa Anna at first feebly opposed this movement, but at length joined the discontented General. The revolution was made effectual;—Guerrero was overthrown, and fled;—the Vice-President, Bustamante, assumed the reins of government, and under his administration, the Spanish power was finally subdued by the victory gained by Santa Anna over Barradas, on the 11th of September, 1829, at Tampico. The unfortunate Guerrero was in the meantime taken prisoner, and, in 1831, was executed for treason.
After this, tranquillity prevailed until 1832, when Santa Anna—who in fact had been the author of the present dynasty—suddenly "pronounced" against the Ministers, and soon afterward against the President himself, at Vera Cruz. A battle was fought at Tolomi, and the insurgents uefeated;—but he retired again to Vera Cruz, strengthened his power by forces from some other Departments, declared himself in favor of Pedraza, {whom he had driven out of the country two years previous,) entered into a convention with Bustamante at Zavaleta, in December of 1832, and—having dispatched a vessel for the exiled Pedraza—brought him back to the Republic and sent him to the Capital, to serve out the remaining three months of his unexpired term!
