Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-07-03
Santa Anna.

Gen. Santa Anna has returned to
the City of Mexico after an exile of
eighteen years. He is living in the
plainest style, and receives guests
without ceremony. He is now rs
years Of age, having been born in
1893. His face is full of wrinkles,
and his raven hair has grown scanty;
yet his carriage is still erect and mar
tial, and his whole appearance that Of
a man not beyond 60. A corrcspon-
dent of the Alta California has re-
Gently paid a visit to the old soldier
and cx-President, and narratcs the
conversation held during the inter-
view. 81 have returned to Mexico
said the General, "bccausc my native
country has too much attraction for
me. When / was asked abroad,
why do you long for your migrate
full countrymen?' | answered that /
wanted to be buried where my lost
foot was resting. ! now feel as if /
had come to a foreign land. Already
ut Vera Cruz, when asking for an
old friend, | was invariably answer
ed, 'Dcad' A whole generation has
passed over me, and, like the sands
Of the desert, the years are heaped on
my head. l met on the road an old
man with a white beard who was my
god-child in 1922. have become a
stranger to all parties. / have no
ambition. l am astonished at every
thing / now see in this country; but
l hope yet to find here last resting
place"
These are sad words to fall from
the lips of the man who is acknowl-
edged by his countrymen to be the
bravest soldier and the ablest ruler
they have had. Santa Anna was but
"a years ofage when, at the head of
the Mexican troops, he helped his
country to throw off the Spanish yoke;
and, on the downfall of the tyranni-
cal Iturbide, who had established an
Imperial rule, proclaimed Mexico a
Republic.
He Is chargeable, during the fol
lowing twenty-five years, when he
was President or Dictator of the Re-
public, with unjustifablc crueltics in
suppressing certain Instructions,
with an INSCRIPTIONS greed of wealth,
and with boundlcss ambition; but,
by his gallant action in the field and
his sagacious measures in the Cabi-
net, he succeeded in quelling the sue
ccssive civil wars that threatened the
dissolution Of the Republic, and in
giving greater dignity and strength
to the Government than it has since
possessed under any of its rulers.
In the interview with Santa Anna,
from which we have already quoted,
he related the following curious sto-
ry about his lost leg. 1t will be re-
mcmbcrcd that it was in a gallant and
victorious action against the French
invaders at Vera Cruz, in 1897, that
the General received a bullet in the
leg, which rendered amputation of
the limb inevitable: ''Regarding my
foot" said Santa Anna, II must men
ton that l believed it lost when the
rabblc took it from the tomb on the
9th of December, 1871, and dragged
it through the streets; but yesterday
4 lady came to see me, telling me
that her husband, who was an old
Colonel in the Mexican army, had
preserved it, and recommended her
to return it to me if l should ever
come back to Mexico. am expect
ing this gift to-day at noon. l con-
slider this conduct the more praise
worthy because the gift might have
been made in 1853 when was Pres
ident; but then such an action would
have been considered adulation."
Santa Anna had scarcely finished
these words when the lady arrived
with the promised gift. The Gener-
al opened the box, and examined the
relic with interest. The foot was
we'll preserved, having been perfectly