CHAPTER VIII.
THE PASTRY WAR.
1838-1839.
Foreign Reclamations — French Demands — Ultimatum and Blockade — Federalist Agitation — Admiral Baudin Appears on the Scene — Conference at Jalapa — The Mexican Gibraltar — Bombardment and Fall of San Juan de Ulúa — Mexico Declares War — Expulsion of Frenchmen — Descent on Vera Cruz — Santa Anna Poses as a Hero and Martyr — Critical Condition of the Government — The Ministry of Three Days — Santa Anna Called to Assist Bustamante — English Mediation — Arrangement with Baudin — Disappointing Result of the French Expedition
And now comes the first brush with a foreign power, the penalty of a marked national failing, unfulfilled promises. In course of the ever-increasing number of pronunciamientos, with their attendant wars and outbreaks, foreigners suffered in common with the natives in person and property, with the difference that while the latter cried in vain to a protecting government for relief, the former invoked the aid of ministers and consuls to press for goodly solace. If the diplomatic agent represented a powerful nation, he generally succeeded in obtaining a profusion of—promises; sometimes in the shape of formal assignment of compensation; but the fulfilment was only too frequently thwarted by change of rulers and an empty exchequer.
Prominent among claimants were a number of Frenchmen, with several heavy demands dating from, the time the Parian was sacked in 1828, notably one by a baker whose pastry had tempted the mob—a cir-
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