chiefs pretended much resolution to continue fighting, but it was a mere ruse to gain time. Indeed, in the morning of the 19th, Paredes, Doblado, and the rest escaped. The city then surrendered. The chief leader, Paredes, went to Europe. All the implicated were finally pardoned.[1]
In the midst of the confusion, the election for president of the republic took place, and José Joaquin de Herrera was reëlected and assumed his duties, and Peña returned to his post of president of the supreme court on the 3d of June, 1848.
Ex-president Peña was the author of several lectures on jurisprudence, which are highly valued by the legal profession of Mexico. He had the reputation of being an excellent husband and father, a loyal friend, and upright judge. He was greatly respected and beloved, though there were not wanting some who called him a traitor for the treaty with the United States that he advocated as chief magistrate of the republic. His death occurred on the 2d of January, 1850; his remains were accompanied to the grave by rich and poor, and all classes.[2]
- ↑ El Heraldo, Nov. 20, 1848; El Repub. Jalisciense, July 20, 1848; Méx., Legisl. Mej., 1851, 116-18; Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., vi. 46-7, 82.
- ↑ The coffin was carried on the shoulders of the sergeants of the several regiments, and the pall-bearers represented the army, the treasury, and the university. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 354.
American writers on the war with Mexico are numerous; and many of their productions, owing to extravagant exaggeration, or to the fact that they are mere compilations without any originality or reflection, are worthless to the historian. Apart from official documents, the most important of American authorities for a history embracing the whole war is: R. S. Ripley, The War with Mexico. 8vo, 2 vol., pp. 524, 650. New York, 1849. The author was a brevet major of the U. S. army, and first lieut of the 2d regiment of artillery, and his work possesses merit, not only on account of the ability displayed, but also owing to the advantages possessed by the writer for collecting material. A personal observation of both the principal routes of operation, his intimate acquaintance with many American officers, and his intercourse with Mexican officers, together with his access to the official pub-
Méj., ii. 295, says Jarauta was allowed only half an hour to prepare for death. According to Bustamante's report, he was shot three hours after capture. Jarauta was a friar, and had been a carlist leader in Spain in favor of absolutism. It is claimed that, though not a Mexican, he had done good service to Mexico, and whatever his political faults, he should have been spared. Zamacois, Hist. Méj., xiii. 198-202. The fact is, that in his guerrilla warfare he was hardly better than a highwayman, plundering both friend and foe without much discrimination.
