British Consul General visited the American camp, and was naturally anxious to spare the effusion of blood and the assault by an army on a city in which his country had so deep an interest. On the morning of the 21st, when General Scott was about to take up battering or assaulting positions, to authorize him to summon the capital to surrender or to sign an armistice with a pledge to enter at once into negotiations for peace, he was met by General Mora y Villamil and Señor Arrangoiz, with proposals for an armistice in order to bury the dead, but without reference to a treaty. Scott had already determined to offer the alternative of assault or armistice and treaty to the Mexican government, and this resolution had been long cherished by him. Accordingly he at once rejected the Mexican proposal, and, without summoning the city to surrender, despatched a note to Santa Anna, expressing his willingness to sign, on reasonable terms, a short armistice, in order that the American Commissioner and the Mexican Government, might amicably and honorably settle the international differences, and thus close an unnatural war in which too much blood had already been shed. This frank proposal, coming generously from the victorious chief, was promptly accepted. Commissioners were appointed by the commanders of the two armies on the 22d; the armistice was signed on the 23d, and ratifications exchanged on the 24th; and thus, the dispute was for a while transferred once more from the camp to the council chamber. On the morning of the 21st, the American army was posted in the different villages in the vicinity. Worth's division occupied Tacubaya. Pillow's Mixcoac, Twiggs's San Angel, while Quitman's remained still at San Agustin, where it had served during the battles of the 19th and 20th in protecting the rear and the trains of the army. Tacubaya became the residence of General Scott, and the headquarters of the commander-in-chief were established in the Bishop's Palace.
There are critics and politicians who are never satisfied with results, and, whilst their prophecies are usually dated after the events which they claim to have foreseen, they unfortunately find too much favor with the