Remember the Alamo [60]
with the fight between the royalists and
republicans, and the city and the citadel passed from, one
party to the other continually. And when it came to the
question of freedom and American domination, San Antonio
was, as it had ever been, the great Texan battle-field.
Its citizens then were well used to the fortunes and changes
of war. Men were living who had seen the horrors of the auto
da fe and the splendors of viceregal authority. Insurgent
nobles, fighting priests, revolutionizing Americans, all sorts
and conditions of men, all chances and changes of religious
and military power, had ruled it with a temporary absolutism
during their generation.
In the main there was a favorable feeling regarding its
occupation by the Americans. The most lawless of them were
law-abiding in comparison with any kind of victorious
Mexicans. Americans protected private property, they honored
women, they observed the sanctity of every man's home; "and,
as for being heretics, that was an affair for the saints and
the priests; the comfortable benefits of the Holy Catholic
Church, had not been vouchsafed to all nations."
Political changes are favorable to religious tolerance, and
the priests themselves had been sensible of a great decrease
in their influence during the pending struggle. Prominent
Mexicans had given aid and comfort to the Americans in
spite of their spiritual orders, and there were many men who,
like Lopez Navarro, did not dare to go to confession, because
they would have been compelled to acknowledge themselves
rebels.
When the doctor and Dare and Luis reached the Plaza, the
morning after the surrender, they found the city already
astir. Thousands of women were in the churches saying masses
for the dead; the men stood at their store doors or sat
smoking on their balconies, chatting with the passers-by or
watching the movements of the victorious army and the
evacuation of the conquered one.
Nearly all of the brave two hundred occupied the Plaza. They
were still greatly excited by the miraculous ecstacy of
victory. But when soldiers in the death-pang rejoice under
its influence, what wonder that the living feel its
intoxicating rapture? They talked and walked as if they
already walked the streets of Mexico. All things seemed
possible to them. The royalty of their carriage, the
authority in their faces, gave dignity even to their deerskin
clothing. Its primitive character was its distinction,
and the wearers looked like the demi-gods of the heroic stage
of history.
Lopez Navarro touched the doctor and directed his attention to
them. "Does the world, Senor, contain the stuff to make their
counterparts?"
"They are Americans, Navarro. And though there are a variety
of Americans, they have only one opinion about submitting to
tyrants--THEY WON'T DO IT!"
This was the conversation interrupted by Ortiz and the message
he brought, and the doctor was thoroughly sobered by the
events following. He was not inclined to believe, as the
majority of the troops did, that Mexico was conquered. He
expected that the Senora's prediction would be verified. And
the personal enmity which the priesthood felt to him induced
a depressing sense of personal disaster.
Nothing in the house or the city seemed inclined to settle.
It took a few days to draw up the articles of capitulation and
clear the town of General Cos and the Mexican troops. And he
had no faith in their agreement to "retire from Texas, and
never again carry arms against the Americans." He knew that
they did not consider it any sin to make "a mental
reservation" against a heretic. He was quite sure that if Cos
met reinforcements, he would have to be fought over again
immediately.
And amid these public cares and considerations, he had serious
private ones. The Senora was still under the control of Fray
Ignatius. It required all the influence of his own personal
presence and affection to break the spiritual captivity in
which he held her. He knew that the priest had long been his
republicans, and the city and the citadel passed from, one
party to the other continually. And when it came to the
question of freedom and American domination, San Antonio
was, as it had ever been, the great Texan battle-field.
Its citizens then were well used to the fortunes and changes
of war. Men were living who had seen the horrors of the auto
da fe and the splendors of viceregal authority. Insurgent
nobles, fighting priests, revolutionizing Americans, all sorts
and conditions of men, all chances and changes of religious
and military power, had ruled it with a temporary absolutism
during their generation.
In the main there was a favorable feeling regarding its
occupation by the Americans. The most lawless of them were
law-abiding in comparison with any kind of victorious
Mexicans. Americans protected private property, they honored
women, they observed the sanctity of every man's home; "and,
as for being heretics, that was an affair for the saints and
the priests; the comfortable benefits of the Holy Catholic
Church, had not been vouchsafed to all nations."
Political changes are favorable to religious tolerance, and
the priests themselves had been sensible of a great decrease
in their influence during the pending struggle. Prominent
Mexicans had given aid and comfort to the Americans in
spite of their spiritual orders, and there were many men who,
like Lopez Navarro, did not dare to go to confession, because
they would have been compelled to acknowledge themselves
rebels.
When the doctor and Dare and Luis reached the Plaza, the
morning after the surrender, they found the city already
astir. Thousands of women were in the churches saying masses
for the dead; the men stood at their store doors or sat
smoking on their balconies, chatting with the passers-by or
watching the movements of the victorious army and the
evacuation of the conquered one.
Nearly all of the brave two hundred occupied the Plaza. They
were still greatly excited by the miraculous ecstacy of
victory. But when soldiers in the death-pang rejoice under
its influence, what wonder that the living feel its
intoxicating rapture? They talked and walked as if they
already walked the streets of Mexico. All things seemed
possible to them. The royalty of their carriage, the
authority in their faces, gave dignity even to their deerskin
clothing. Its primitive character was its distinction,
and the wearers looked like the demi-gods of the heroic stage
of history.
Lopez Navarro touched the doctor and directed his attention to
them. "Does the world, Senor, contain the stuff to make their
counterparts?"
"They are Americans, Navarro. And though there are a variety
of Americans, they have only one opinion about submitting to
tyrants--THEY WON'T DO IT!"
This was the conversation interrupted by Ortiz and the message
he brought, and the doctor was thoroughly sobered by the
events following. He was not inclined to believe, as the
majority of the troops did, that Mexico was conquered. He
expected that the Senora's prediction would be verified. And
the personal enmity which the priesthood felt to him induced
a depressing sense of personal disaster.
Nothing in the house or the city seemed inclined to settle.
It took a few days to draw up the articles of capitulation and
clear the town of General Cos and the Mexican troops. And he
had no faith in their agreement to "retire from Texas, and
never again carry arms against the Americans." He knew that
they did not consider it any sin to make "a mental
reservation" against a heretic. He was quite sure that if Cos
met reinforcements, he would have to be fought over again
immediately.
And amid these public cares and considerations, he had serious
private ones. The Senora was still under the control of Fray
Ignatius. It required all the influence of his own personal
presence and affection to break the spiritual captivity in
which he held her. He knew that the priest had long been his