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nydus/Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 1 of 2Public
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Table of Contents

CHAPTER XVII. 1847–1850.

Querétaro, to combine once more the elements of a congress and a government. He summoned, moreover, the Governors of States to convene and consult upon the condition of affairs; he suspended Santa Anna; ordered Paredes into nominal arrest at Tololopan; directed a court martial upon Valencia for his conduct at Contreras; attempted to reform the army, and in all his acts seems to have been animated by a sincere spirit of national reorganization and peace. Nevertheless, among the deputies who were assembled, the same quarrels that disgraced former sessions again arose between the Puros, the Moderados, the Monarquistas, and Santannistas or friends of Santa Anna, who now formed themselves into a zealous party, notwithstanding the disgraceful downfall of their leader. These contests were continued until early in November, when a quorum of the members reached Querétaro and elected Señor Anaya, the former President substitute, to serve until the month of January, to which period the counting of votes for the Presidency had been postponed, as we have already stated, by the intrigues of Santa Anna. Anaya's election was a triumph of the Moderados.

Congress broke up after a few day's session, having provided for the assemblage of a new one on the 1st of January, 1848; but, unfortunately most of the leaders did not depart from Querétaro which was henceforth for many months converted into a political battle field for the benefit or disgrace of the military partizans. The Puros, led by Gomez Farias, were joined by the disaffected officers of the army ready for revolution, pronunciamientos, or any thing that might prolong the war with the same ultimate views that animated them during the armistice in August. But Peña-y-Peña and Anaya were both firm, discreet and consistent in their resistance. The assembled Governors of States resolved to support the President, his opinions, and acts, with their influence and means, while the mass of substantial citizens and men of property throughout the republic joined in an earnest expression of anxiety for peace. Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, and Jalisco, under the lead of Santannistas and Puros who mutually hated each other, alone continued hostile to a treaty.

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