Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/319

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BRAVO AS ACTING PRESIDENT.
299

the difficult position on the 28th of July. The cabinet formed by Bravo consisted of the following ministers, namely: José Joaquin Pesado, of relations; José M. Jimenez, of justice; Antonio Garay, of the treasury; and Ignacio Mora y Villamil, of war. This cabinet thought it was not the proper time now to frame a new constitution, and attempted to induce the congress to declare that the bases orgánicas of 1845 were the political constitution of the republic; with the view that after their acceptance, and the adoption of some regulations, that body should go into recess. But no project could now be developed, the republic having become the plaything of the military element. Anarchy reigned supreme. On the 3d of August the garrisons of Vera Cruz and San Juan de Ulúa revolted, proclaiming the plan of Guadalajara; and early in the morning of the 4th General Salas, with upwards of 1,000 men that Paredes had fitted out to go with him to the front, did the same in the citadel of Mexico. Paredes succeeded in escaping that same night, and expected to join a force he had despatched some days before to the field of operations, but was captured with some other officers, by General Ávalos, and brought back as a prisoner to the citadel.[1] At a conference, afterward held by the belligerents on the 6th, it was resolved that Bravo's power should cease, and the government troops accept the plan adopted at the citadel,[2] pursu-

  1. After an imprisonment in a convent, Paredes was exiled from the country on the 2d of Oct. 1846, just 10 months after he became the executive by Herrera's overthrow. In the various actas adopted by the several towns as they accepted the revolution, he was called a traitor. It has been said against him that during his residence in France he intrigued to bring about European intervention in Mexican affairs. When the Americans had occupied Mexico he was residing in Tulancingo, having eluded the American blockade. Thence he was called by the government at Querétaro, but did not go, alleging ill health. He rendered no service during the war. Не afterward showed himself again in the revolutionary arena, opposed the treaties of peace with the U. S., but was defeated by Bustamante. He was included in the general amnesty of April 1849. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 296. Paredes died in September of that year, leaving his family in poverty. It is recorded to his credit that he was an honest man in money matters. His management of public funds was without peculation. Bustamante, Mem. Hist. Mex., MS., iv. 33; Arrangoiz, Méj., ii. 295.
  2. The plan consisted of a preamble in seven articles, and resolutions in