as effective an instrument as the oppressor can wield. _Divide et
impera_ is a maxim of despotic state-craft, old as despotism itself;
"flatter and rule" is a method equally sure, and such Santa Anna
practised to its full. He let pass no opportunity of flattering the
national vanity, which brought the Mexican nation to shame, with much
humiliation--as the French at a later period, and as it must every
people that aims at no higher standard of honour than what may be
derived from self-adulation.

At the time I am writing of, the chief of the Mexican Republic was
aiming at "Imperium"--eagerly straining for it. Its substance he
already had, the "Libertas" having been long since eliminated from his
system of government, and trodden under foot. But the title he had not
acquired yet. He yearned to wear the purple, and be styled "Imperador,"
and in order to prepare his subjects for the change, already kept a sort
of Imperial court, surrounding it with grand ceremonials. As a matter
of course, these partook of a military character, being himself not only
political head of the State, but commander-in-chief of its armies. As a
consequence, _Palacio_, his official residence was beset with
soldier-guards, officers in gorgeous uniforms loitering about the gates,
or going out and in, and in the Plaza Grande at all times exhibiting the
spectacle of a veritable Champ de Mars. No one passing through the
Mexican metropolis at this period would have supposed it the chief city
of a Republic.

On that same day in which Carlos Santander had shown himself at the
Acordada, only at an early hour, the would-be Emperor was seated in his
apartment of the palace in which he was wont to give audience to
ordinary visitors. He had got through the business affairs of the
morning, dismissed his Ministers, and was alone, when one of the
aides-de-camp in attendance entered with a card, and respectfully
saluting him, laid it on the table before him.

"Yes; say I can see him. Tell him to come in," he directed, soon as
reading the name on the card.

In the door, on its second opening, appeared Carlos Santander, in the
uniform of a colonel of Hussars, gold bedizened, and laced from collar
to cuffs.

"Ah! Senor Don Carlos!" exclaimed the Dictator in a joyous, jocular
way, "what's your affair? Coming to tell me of some fresh conquest
you've made among the _muchachas_? From your cheerful countenance I
should say it's that."

"Excellentissimo