M Li- 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRP<;<: 
 
 ■■i 
 
F 1232 
 .5 
 
 Copy 1 
 
 i t s wMiw y - ' w&waMa«wi5M«B« g M!Mga^^ 
 
 -") 
 
 
 p D \l If r \T ^^ 
 
 Vi^iUJDji\ 
 
 1 
 
 ITS POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 PRINTED BY LEMUEL TOWERS. 
 1860. 
 
FlX3Z 
 
^■j: 
 
 ITS -PRESENT GOYER.,....,., 
 
 ITS POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 As there is a good deal of discussion about Mexican affairs, 
 we consider the two articles which were published in June, 
 1858, with regard to this subject, and which throw a good 
 deal of light upon it, will be interesting at the present time. 
 They are therefore reprinted, as deserving the careful perusal 
 of all persons desirous of getting information concerning a 
 subject which is becoming prominent in our national politics. 
 
 A connected narrative and history of the events of the revo- 
 lution now going on in Mexico, commencing with the cov^ 
 d'etat of Decemler last, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The inaccuracy of the various accounts published in the 
 United States of the late events in Mexico, and especially of 
 the cou2y detat of the 17th of December last, impels us to 
 publish the following brief but compendious narrative of the 
 events which have quite recently occurred in that country. 
 Our account of these events is derived from sources deserv- 
 ing full and implicit credit, and are based upon and borne out 
 by all the official and public documents which have appeared 
 at the time. Let us hope that this exact and faithful narration 
 of the true state of things and of the course of events may 
 
 y^ '^i>l^'^ 
 
tend to enligliten public opinion in the United States and to 
 convey to the Government of that great Union the most cor- 
 rect views in reference to events which are, withont exaggera- 
 tion, of the greatest interest and importance. 
 
 There are two great antagonistic principles struggling fierce- 
 ly against each other in Mexico at the present time. These 
 two opposite and conflicting ideas are the foundation and basis 
 on which the two great parties into which Mexico is divided 
 are severally constituted — namely, the party of reaction, or, 
 more properly speaking, of retrogression, and tlie party of 
 progress — the former being the advocate of despotism and the 
 latter of liberty. This struggle between the two great prin- 
 ciples must necessarily be regarded with deep interest by the 
 neighboring nations of America, inasmuch as whatever its 
 termination may be, the result cannot but exercise great in- 
 fluence upon the political condition of all the various people 
 of the continent of America. We propose, in a future sepa- 
 rate article upon the principles and doctrines of the two great 
 parties in Mexico, to show what would be the consequence of 
 the success and triumph of either one of them. At present 
 we shall confine ourselves to a narrative of facts, in order that 
 the public may be furnished with fixed and certain data on 
 which to form a judgment and obtain a correct idea of the 
 true situation of things in Mexico. 
 
 OF THE COUP d'etat OF DECEMBER LAST. 
 
 As early as the month of September preceding, the neces- 
 sity of a cou^ (Tetat was a common topic of free conversation 
 in Mexico, the object in which couj) was to be to declare the 
 Federal Constitution of the 6th of February, 185T, as inade- 
 quate for the country, and to establish Don Ignacio Comonfort 
 as President of the Kepublic, invested with dictatorial powers. 
 Notwithstanding the state of anxiety and mistrust produced 
 by these sort of rumors, the Constitutional Congress proceeded 
 to its installation in the following month of October, and 
 entered immediately upon the exercise of its legitimate func- 
 tions. On the very first day of the meeting of Congress, the 
 minister of the Executive Government presented to the House 
 a suggestion, in which it was stated that the President of the 
 Hepublic was of the opinion that the sphere of action marked 
 
out for liini by tlie Constitution was not sufficient to enable 
 him to maintain public peace, and to cany out in an adequate 
 manner the execution of the laws. In consequence thereof 
 the President requested Congress, in accordance with the 
 twenty-ninth article of the Constitution, to pass an act suspend- 
 ing for a time the action of several of the guarantees secured 
 to the people in the same Constitution, and conferring upon 
 Iiim the power of rcsoi-tiiig to extraordinary measures in the 
 several branches of the finances and of tlie war department. 
 
 Congress liereupoii, with the most unexampled generosity, 
 not only granted to the Executive all the powers which he de- 
 manded, but when the committee of Congress brought in a 
 bill granting all that was necessary and adequate for the crisis, 
 it extended the powers granted in the bill, and went further 
 in amplifying them than the committee had proposed. 
 
 T]iere was every reason to hope and expect, after such a 
 disti4iguislied mark of confidence given by Congress to Presi- 
 dent Comonfort, that the employment of violent measures 
 against the Congress would be abandoned. Such, in fact, was 
 the prevailing opinion after this generous action of Congress, 
 and consequently the rumors which had the month before been 
 circulating very extensively with respect to an approaching 
 coup d'etat began wholly to disappear. In addition to all this, 
 the appointment of Senor Juarez as Minister of the Govern- 
 ment, was the cause of increasing the general confidence in 
 Comonfort, and it was hoped that he would now proceed to 
 initiate and forward those liberal measures which were looked 
 upon as indispensible for the welfare of tlie country. This 
 increased confidence in him sprung from the fact that the 
 selection of Juarez was by many, if not by all persons, re- 
 garded as a pledge of a sincere alliance on the part of Com- 
 onfort with the liberal party. 
 
 With these hopes, the liberals in Congress were preparing 
 to mature the measures which it w^as pro])osed to bring for- 
 ward in the House, when suddenly it became known that 
 General Huerta, commander of the brigade of Michoacan, 
 had received a letter signed by General Zuloaga, who com- 
 manded the troops stationed at Tacubaya, and also signed by 
 Payno, Minister of Finance, in which he was invited and 
 called upon by these two persons to join them with the troops 
 
iiuder his command, in proclaiming the cou]) cTStat. General 
 Huerta, like a man of honor and integrity, as he is, on re- 
 ceiving this letter, laid it before the Governor of the State, 
 who immediately transmitted it to the Legislature, in order 
 that they miglit adopt, in relation to XhQ transaction, snch 
 measures as they might think fit. The Legislature thereupon 
 immediately appointed two of its members to proceed to the 
 City of Mexico, who were charged with the business of bring- 
 ing the matter to the knowledge of General Comonfort, the 
 President hoping by< this step to be able most effectually to 
 break up the conspiracy and bring the guilty parties to pun- 
 ishment. 
 
 The manner in which President Comonfort received the com- 
 munication, and the terms in which he spoke, not believing 
 in the reality of the conspiracy, led the two gentlemen from 
 the Legislature of Michoacan to suspect that President Com- 
 onfort himself approved of the plan and desired to be of the 
 party of the conspirators. They therefore handed over the 
 letter to one of the delegates to the Federal Congress from 
 their State. That gentleman, at the next meeting of Congress, 
 brought the matter forward and publicly charged the Minister 
 of Finance, Senor Payno, with being guilty of the conspiracy, 
 demanding, at the same time, that he should be brought to 
 trial for the offence. The whole affair was in consequence 
 referred to the action of a committee of investigation, which 
 proceeded immediately into an investigation of the charge. 
 The accused minister was sent for by the committee, in order 
 to receive his statement. For two days Payno failed to make 
 his appearance, giviiig various excuses for his not coming, and 
 on the third day (which was the 16th of December) he sent a 
 letter to the committee, in which he said that he had no other 
 statement to make before them except to say at once and 
 openly, that he was the writer of the letter in possession of 
 Congress, and he alone was responsible for the conspiracy. 
 
 At sight of this audacity wliicli the Minister Payno ex- 
 hibited, it was no longer doubtful to any man but that the 
 conspiracy would break ont very shortly. There was, there- 
 fore, in consequence of this expectation, the utmost agitation 
 and excitement in Congress. All, however, was speedily 
 calmed, and confidence restored, in consequence of Juarez, 
 
the Minister, appearing before Congress and protesting in the 
 name of the President, that he (the President) was firmly re- 
 solved to snstain the constitution at all hazards and nnder all 
 circumstances. The deputies accordingly were satisfied, owing 
 to their confidence in Juarez, whose personal integrity and 
 honor appeared to them a sort of pledge of the sincerity of 
 this promise. They were soon, however, undeceived. 
 
 Early on the morning of the following day (Dec. 17) the 
 city of Mexico was occupied by the troops of Zuloaga, who 
 had made ^ jpronunciamiento and commenced a revolution at 
 Tacubaya, proclaiming tlie plan of government known by the 
 name of the Plan of Tacubaya. ^y this plan, for which 
 Zuloaga with his troops had pronounced, the constitution vras de- 
 nounced and set aside; Comonfortwas recognized as President, 
 to be invested with dictatorial and unlimiled power; it was 
 promised that an Extraordinary Congress should be assembled 
 to make a new constitution, and in the meantime a Council of 
 Government should be appointed. 
 
 This plan was adopted on the same day (December 17) by 
 the brigade of Echeagaray, which was quartered in Cholula. 
 On their pronouncing for the Plan of Tacubaya, (that is, on 
 their revolutionary manifestations against the constitution) 
 they took possession of the city of Puebla and expelled the 
 Governor, Alatriste, from the place. Vera Cruz, under the 
 lead of Zamora, Governor of the State, also declared for the 
 plan-; as did also the city of Tlascala, under the Governor, 
 Yalle. General Moreno, with the garrison of Tampico, and 
 General Morel, with the troops at San Luis Potosi, also de- 
 clared their adhesion to the new plan, ^oluca immediately 
 followed these examples. 
 
 r On the 19th Comonfort published a manifesto, in which ho 
 drew a deplorable picture of the state of the country, and 
 asserted that all the evils which it labored under were the 
 efi'ect and consequence of the new constitution, which he said 
 was odious to all the Mexican people ; he furthermore said in 
 his manifesto that the soldiers, in pronouncing ao-ainst it had 
 done nothing more than to act as faithful echoes of the uni- 
 versal public opinion ; and that he (Comonfort) acquiesced in 
 assuming the dictatorship, with which he had been invested 
 
6 
 
 in order tliat he might save the Republic from the anarchy 
 into which he beheld it ready to fall. 
 
 On the same day of this coicp cfetat — viz., the 17tli of De- 
 cember — certain events transpired in Mexico which it was 
 thought would produce a most decisive effect in causing the 
 triumph of this new revolution. The first of these was the 
 violent dissolution of the Federal Congress ; the Speaker of 
 the House and several members were arrested <imd sent to 
 prison, thus making it impossible for the other members to 
 assemble and to adopt any resolntion or action. Notwith- 
 standing this, however, a majority of the deputies held a 
 meeting and drew up and adopted a solemn protest against 
 all that had occurred. This protest, which was distinguished 
 by strong reasoning and great energy and boldness of expres- 
 sion, was then published. The second event of this revolution 
 was the conveying of the Minister, Juarez, to prison, the very 
 same man who, the day before, had made his appearance be- 
 fore Congress, on the part of President Comonfort, to protest 
 on behalf of the President, that he (the President) was deter- 
 mined to sustain the constitution at all hazards. Juarez had 
 been appointed Chief Justice, or President of the Supreme 
 Court of Justice, and in this character, as also in fulfillment 
 of the seventy-ninth article of the constitution, it became his 
 duty to enter upon the exercise of the functions of President 
 of the Pepublic, on the supposition that Comonfort, by his 
 accepting the Plan of Tacubaya, had thereby annulled his 
 legal title to the Presidency, and had thereby descended from 
 the post of Chief Magistrate of the Republic, to which the 
 voice of the citizens had called him, into the ranks of a con- 
 spirator. It was, therefore, believed that by sending Juarez 
 to prison there-establishment of the federal government would 
 be rendered impossible, and that the several States, for want 
 of a centre of nnion, would be obliged to succumb, and that 
 thus the triumph of the Plan of Tacubaya would be effectively 
 secured. 
 
 But in spite of all these measures, and notwithstanding that 
 it is usual in Mexico that every revolution effected by the 
 chief power of the State always succeeds, at least for a short 
 time, the authors of the Plan of Tacubaya beheld all their 
 hopes blasted before them and their schemes defeated ; the 
 
several States of the Eepublic rejected with indignation the 
 cowp (Vetat^ and prepared to support the constitution by force 
 of arms. The revolutionists of the citj of Mexico, instead of 
 increasing the number of their partisans, beheld tliemselves 
 and tlieir cause deserted bj all those who had been perfidi- 
 ously led away and seduced by their false representations. 
 They had falsely represented that the whole republic was 
 agreed in the movement; and people had been made to be- 
 lieve that if this revolution was not adopted it would be im- 
 possible to prevent the return of Santa Anna to power. Gov- 
 ernor Zamora and the State of Yera Cruz abandoned, therefore, 
 their cause on the 30th of December, and returned to the 
 support of the constitution and the defence of the constitutional 
 order of things. General Moreno, also, in Tampico, published 
 a protest in favor of liberal principles. The State of Tlascala, 
 and Toluca, the capital of the State of Mexico, as also General 
 Morel, with part of the garrison of San Luis Potosi, all came 
 back again to support the constitutional order of things. 
 ]N"ever before has public opinion been seen to make itself 
 known and to utter its voice more unanimously or more ener- 
 getically against the usurpations of an arrogant soldiery, than 
 was done on this memorable occasion. It may also be said 
 that never before has there been witnessed a greater error than 
 that which Comonfort committed when he ventured to assert 
 that the people of Mexico wer^ those who rejected and spurned 
 the constitution. 
 
 For want of a legal centre which the States mi^ht reco^- 
 nise — in consequence of the imprisonment of Juarez — the 
 plan was adopted, as the best and most suitable means of op- 
 posing the revolutionists, of forming a coalition between the 
 States of Queretaro, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, 
 Michoacan, Jalisco and Colima. These States agreed to levy 
 an army, in order to attack the revolutionists in Mexico on the 
 western side. 
 
 The States of Puebla, Tlascala, Yera Cruz and Oajaca united 
 together for the same purpose against the city of Mexico on 
 the eastern side. Tamaulipas, ]S"ew Leon and Coahuila also 
 formed a similar coalition on the northern side, in defence of 
 constitutional institutions, and at the same time the State of 
 Guerrero formally protested against the new revolution. 
 
8 
 
 In the more distant States of Diirango, Cliiliualiua and 
 Souora, the coup cVetat had been prochiimed hy a few parties, 
 but they were speedily reduced to order and to submission to 
 the constitution. The same thing happened also in Chiapas. 
 
 Snch, then, was the situation of the Republic of Mexico in 
 tlie first days of January of the present year. Comonfort, 
 having- alienated from himself the sympathies of the liberal 
 party, which had hitherto sustained him in power, now saw 
 this selfsame party risen up en masse in order to oppose him, 
 while the clergy and all the other members of the retrograde 
 party, from whom alone he could now look for support, re- 
 fused to lend him their aid, unless he would submit to grant 
 them all they demanded. Thus it is, that the njan who had 
 imagined that it was in his power to establish his own personal 
 authority, paramount to and without the assertion of certain 
 lixed principles — who had imagined that he could make him- 
 self the regulator between the two antagonistic principles 
 Avliich were disputing for the empire over men, very speedily 
 beheld himself reduced, by his double-dealing, to a condition 
 of helpless impotence — to a most anomalous position. Hence- 
 forth he would be able to perceive that his double-minded 
 policy, his conduct in seeking to find a middle path without 
 attaching himself decidedly and uncompromisingly to either 
 one of the antagonistic principles, instead of tending, as he 
 vainly imagined it would do, to the pacification of the country, 
 only resulted in opening a deep abyss at his feet, into which 
 he was quickly to sink down, and there to be buried, leaving 
 to his country, which he had brought into such peril, the legacy 
 of a terrible and sanguinary struggle to go through — a strug- 
 gle still carrying on, and which, it may be, will be protracted 
 to a lengthened period of time. 
 
 THE KEACTION BY AN EREATIO SOLDIERY. 
 
 The clergy and the other members of the retrograde party 
 being dissatisfied with the conduct which Comonfort had 
 pursued, and being fully persuaded that he was not the man 
 who would suit their views, determined at once to cast him 
 down from the post to which he had been elevated, so as 
 thereby to make themselves complete masters of the situation 
 in the capital, when they would openly proclaim the reaction. 
 
9 
 
 without any reservations, and without any half measures. 
 Since now they had succeeded by the coup (Tetat in separating 
 Comonfort from the liberal party, and in stripping him, by 
 his own acts, of every legitimate title to power, it would be 
 a very easy aifair to get into their own power the instruments 
 on whom Comonfort had relied when he launched forth out 
 of the path of legality ; for, inasmuch as those, his agents 
 and instruments, were, for the most part, mercenary soldiers 
 and hireling ofl&ce-holders, the money of the clergy was a 
 certain means of drawing such people over to their side. 
 
 This, therefore, they did, and acted accordingly. On the 
 lltli day of January the troops of Zuloaga, who had been 
 among the foremost to pronounce for the coup (TStat, and for 
 Comonfort as Dictator, now made a new ffonunciamiento 
 against Comonfort. They now went for a new revolution, and 
 pronounced Comonfort to be unfit for rule and incapable of 
 carrying out the purposes of the revolution. Zuloaga himself 
 was appointed by them to repulse Comonfort and to take the 
 chief command. The troops of Zuloaga, on this pronouncing 
 being made, were immediately augmented by a number of 
 the reactionists joining them, who had hitherto kept them- 
 selves in the background, concealed in the city or roaming 
 about in the neighborhood, together with the adherents of 
 Santa Anna and several Spaniards. 
 
 Then it was that Comonfort might have been able to com- 
 prehend what his real situation was ; then he might have been 
 able to understand what an immense blunder he had com- 
 mitted in breaking to pieces all his titles to legitimate authori- 
 ty, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, and in alienating from 
 himself all the regard and sympathy of the liberal party. 
 One recourse, at all events, was left him — a recourse which 
 would enable him, if not to maintain himself in the posses- 
 sion of power, yet at least to put down the reaction, and to 
 witness the chastisement of those who had so infamously be- 
 trayed him. This recourse was to set Juarez immediately and 
 without delay at liberty, to deliver up the Presidency to him, 
 and to proclaim the re-establishment of the constitution. 
 
 But whether it was from blindness, or whether it was from 
 his still keeping up in his own mind the delusion that he could 
 sustain himself as a solitary and separate unit, Comonfort lost 
 2 
 
10 
 
 the most precious time in inaction. Of tliis time the clergy 
 took advantage, and seduced from liim by their money the 
 troops, which up to this moment had remained faithful to him. 
 Hence it was that when at last Comonfort decided upon set- 
 ting Juarez at liberty, (which he did on the 16th of January,) 
 and upon obtaining the assistance of the liberals, it was too 
 late. There was not time enough for the liberal party to' or- 
 ganize and lead on troops to the capital from the several 
 States ; nor, indeed, after all, could they trust any more a man 
 who, if he was now fighting against the reaction, evidently 
 was doing so more under the impulses of his own personal 
 interest than as a decided and earnest defender of a great 
 political principle. 
 
 Comonfort was finally overthrown in the capital. But this 
 overthrow was owing more to the seduction produced by the 
 gold of the clergy, and chiefly to the irresolution and want of 
 frankness on the part of Comonford toward the liberal party, 
 than to the force of arms. Comonfort erred also in this re- 
 spect — namely, he mistook the character of the reactionists, 
 and lost time in efforts to produce an amicable arrangement 
 of matters — whereas they in the meantime, in violation of the 
 armistice agreed upon, made themselves masters of the best 
 military positions in the city, and at the same time, by the 
 corrupting power of gold, spread dissatisfaction and dissension 
 among the troops of Comonfort. 
 
 On the 21st day of January Comonfort found himself 
 obliged to retreat, which he did, leaving the capital in the 
 power of the retrogradists, who thereby became possessed of 
 an immense quantity of munitions of war. On reaching the 
 State of Yera Cruz he placed at the disposition of the Gov- 
 ernor of the State the few forces which had accompanied him, 
 and published a manifesto dated the 2d of February, in which 
 he gave an account of the events which had happened in 
 Mexico since the lltli instant, previous to the moment when 
 he had made up his mind to leave the country. "We shall 
 here copy two paragraphs from this manifesto, because they 
 are of great interest and help greatly to the formation of 
 a correct judgment upon the things and event which had 
 occurred. 
 
 He says, "a majority of the nation had given exjjression to 
 
11 
 
 its will in favor of the constitutional order of things, and had 
 rejected and disavowed the revolutionary plan of Tacubaya. 
 Also, the States of Yera Cruz, Tlascala and of Mexico, who 
 at first had favored the plan, being gifted with greater fore- 
 sight than I myself had possessed, when they saw the turn 
 that things were taking, retraced their steps and returned 
 back to the support of the constitutional system." 
 
 Such is the narrative of these events. Since all the means 
 which I had brought together for the purpose of combatting 
 the reaction have proved a failure, and having recognized 
 the President of the Supreme Court of Justice (Juarez) as the 
 centre of nnion of all the States, I have now made np my 
 mind to leave the country, considering such a step on my part 
 as the best thing "I could do in the present circnmstances." 
 
 Juarez, who, as we have before mentioned, had been set at 
 liberty on the 16tli of January, by Comonfort, immediately 
 on recovering his liberty proceeded to Guanajuato, in which 
 city he installed the Federal Government on the 19th of the 
 same month. He of course considered the city of Mexico, in 
 the state of warfare and confusion in which it was, as a very 
 unfit place for the residence of the head of the government. 
 He informed the several States of the Kepnblic of the fact 
 of the Government being installed in Guanajuato, by des- 
 patches sent by Ruez, the Secretary of the Interior, and he 
 made it known to the Mexican people generally by a mani- 
 festo which he immediately published. On the 22d of the 
 same month, Ocampo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, despatched 
 an official note to the diplomatic corps in the city of Mexico, 
 informing tliem of the installation of the Federal Govern- 
 ment in Guanajuato. 
 
 l^ow, then, that this Government was in existence, which 
 was both dejure and de facto the Government of the Republic, 
 (since it was founded upon and recognized by the Y9tli article 
 of the constitution,) the following States consequently recog- 
 nized and gave in their allegiance to it: namely, the States 
 of Aguas Cahentes, of Colima, of Chiapas, of Chihuahua, of 
 Durango, of Guanajuato, of Guerrero, of Jalisco, of Mexico, 
 of Michoacan, of JSTew Leon and Coahuila, of Oajaca, of 
 Queretaro, of Sonora, of Tabasco, of Tamaulipas, of Tlascala, of 
 Yera Cruz, of Zacatecas, the Territory of Lower California, and 
 
12 
 
 the chief part of the States of Puebla and of San Luis Potosi. 
 
 The reaction party in the city of Mexico, immediately on 
 the departure of Comonfort, set abont establishing what it was 
 pleased to call the government of the Republic. This (their 
 government) can be considered as being nothing more than 
 the mere government of the city, since its territory and power 
 extended no further than the limits of the city ; for, although 
 General Echeagary who had possession of the city of Puebla, 
 did not, it is true, recognize the Federal Government under 
 Juarez, yet neither had he at this time any more recognized the 
 government of Zuloaga. It was only some time after, viz : on 
 the 24:th of January, that he recognized Zuloaga's government. 
 Also, Sanaloa, though it had indeed pronounced against the 
 government, yet had done this, not for the government of 
 Zuloaga, but for the revolution of the lYth of December. 
 General Yanez also, commander of the forces of the State, had 
 expressed his determination to remain neutral. The city of 
 San Jjuis Potosi had also pronounced against the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, but it had done so in favor of a different revolution 
 to that which placed Zuloaga in power. Lastly, the State of 
 Yucatan, which at first had pronounced in favor of the coup 
 cVetat^ so far from afterwards assenting to the revolution of the 
 11th of January, by which the retrograde party seized upon the 
 chief power, proclaimed again the establishment of the con- 
 stitutional system, while also at Tampico, General Moreno did 
 the same thing. 
 
 Such, at this moment, was the situation in which the Re_ 
 public of Mexico was placed, viz., on the 22d of January 
 On that day, Zuloaga, with no other title or authority than 
 that of a leader of the rebels who had got possession of the 
 capital, appointed twenty-eight persons, who, being made to 
 re]3resent the States and Territories of the Republic, (which 
 States and Territories had neither appointed them nor recog- 
 nized them,) were to proceed to the business of electing a 
 Provisional President of the Republic. The election was 
 made on the very same day by these persons ; and, as is always 
 the case in such transactions, the chieftain who had assembled 
 them, Zuloaga, the captain of the rebel soldiers, was elected 
 by them to the President of the Republic. On the 25th, 
 Zuloaga, the newly elected President, appointed the members 
 
13 
 
 of bis cabinet, wlio consisted of Messrs. Cuevas, Elguer«, Parra, 
 HieiTO, Maldonado, and Larrainzar. 
 
 The revolutionary government having in this manner been 
 organized, the sphere of whose power extended no farther 
 than over the Federal District, and over the city of Puebla; 
 it was immediately afterwards, viz., on the 27th inst., acknow- 
 ledged by the diplomatic corps. This recognition of such a 
 government by that body, created much and general surprise; 
 for Zuloaga, under no consideration, could be considered as 
 the head of the nation. His was not a government de jure^ 
 as was manifest, for it was present before the eyes of every- 
 body how he had seized upon the government by the force 
 of arms. JSTor v/as his government de facto^ because all the 
 States of the confederation not only refused to acknowledge 
 him, but were actually engaged in making preparations to 
 resist and oppose him. 
 
 So precarious in fact was the situation of the so-called gov- 
 ernment of Mexico, that in the manifesto which was issued 
 by the individuals who formed this government on the 28tli 
 instant, the very day after they had been re-organized by the 
 Ambassadors of the friendly Powers, the following remarkable 
 words occnr : 
 
 "The constitutional party, which has been the incendiary cause of all our 
 hostilities and enmities, which has also been in favor of a dictatorship without 
 any limit to its powers, will, no doubt, ask the government by what right it has 
 been set up, and what is its legal character. The government which only desires 
 to present itself before the country under the simple form of disinterestedness and 
 of trutli, will instantly reply to tliis question by granting that its right is 
 founded upon the right of self-preservation, and its legal character will be that 
 which the Republic will bestow upon it, whose duty it is to save itself. It is 
 possible that the government will be a national administration, or only the 
 government of some of the departments of the Republic." 
 
 Can men whose own consciousness of their total want of 
 any leg&,l or even of material power drew from them a con- 
 fession so conclusive as this — can such men ever be regarded 
 as the government of the Republic? Yet they were thus re- 
 garded by the members of the diplomatic corps, while at the 
 very same time, the nation at large was protesting against the 
 re-action, and against this government which it had set up and 
 recognized, and yielded obedience only to the lawful gov- 
 ernment now established in Guanajuato. 
 
14: 
 
 PART II. 
 
 The political parties now struggling against each other in 
 Mexico may be distinguished by the names of the " pai'ty of 
 progress" and the " party of retrogression." The first is tlie 
 democratic party, which demands a government by the peo- 
 ple for the beneJS.t of the people, and the other is the party 
 of the aristocracy, which demands that the people shall be 
 governed exclusively by the privileged classes. 
 
 The one party proposes that society should be emancipated 
 from the tutelage under which the colonial government held 
 it subject ; the other desires to keep it bound in the fetters of 
 this guardianship, that it may remain forever in perpetual 
 minorit3^ The democratic party proclaims the sovereignty 
 of the people and their right to govern themselves. The aris- 
 tocratic party proclaims the government of right divine, and 
 denies that the people have the right to govern themselves. 
 Such are the respective doctrines of the parties which exist 
 in Mexico. 
 
 The democratic party is, therefore, the representative of 
 new ideas, of the principle of the liberty of man ; it sustains 
 the liberty of thought and of speech — that is, of political lib- 
 erty — and it goes for civil, for religious, and for commercial 
 liberty. It proclaims liberty to be a right belonging to man, 
 essential to him, and imprescriptible ; and it requires that 
 there shall be no other restrictions put npon the exercise of 
 this right, than such as are necessary to cause that no man 
 within the sphere of his individual action shall injure or in- 
 vade the rights of other men. Starting from these principles, 
 it proclaims the principle of equality — not, however, of that 
 absurd equality with which it is charged by its enemies with 
 proclaiming, but the equality of rights in the presence of the 
 law — that is to say, that equality which asserts and maintains 
 that the law shall be the same for all men, and which alto- 
 gether excludes the existence of a class of noblemen in socie- 
 ty, as well as of hereditary titles and privileged classes. 
 
 The democratic party desires the greatest moral and mate- 
 rial development for the people. It seeks to j^roinote the 
 former by extending public instruction, and the latter by en- 
 couraging labor and setting it free from all injurious and 
 
15 
 
 vexatious trammels. And whereas, in order to attain both 
 these desirable objects, the best means are the content of the 
 people with the well conducted individuals and workmen of 
 other nations, (who may be the means of communicating a 
 practical education to Mexicans,) it labors incessantly to pro- 
 mote emigration on a large scale. Its object herein is that, 
 ^7 applying to Mexico all those agricultural and manufactur- 
 ing improvements which have so much tended to advance the 
 interests of other nations, all the immense elements of wealth 
 and riches whicli Mexico contains so abundantly within her 
 bosom may be gradually developed ; that thus her deserts and 
 wilderness plains may be populated with an industrious peo- 
 ple ; and that her territory, being delivered from the invasions 
 of the savage Indians by a numerous and hardy population, 
 peace, order, and liberty may be secured to the country; and, 
 lastly, the existence of Mexico as an independent nation may 
 be firmly secured and established. 
 
 As there still exists in the social organization of Mexico a 
 portion of the principles established while she was yet a colony 
 of Old Spain, it is the desire of the liberal party that these 
 principles should be modified and altered, and made hence- 
 forth to be more in harmony with the new political institution. 
 Inasmuch as the greater portion of the landed property of 
 Mexico is in the hands of the clergy, they have not only by 
 this circumstance exercised a most pernicious influence in the 
 march of public aifairs and business, but also by the immova- 
 bility of property, as held by them, they have prevented the 
 development of the national wealth, by circumscribing and 
 limiting the range of the exchange of property to an im- 
 mense amount, thereby impeding the movement and circu- 
 lation of goods and property and preventing the increased 
 production consequent thereon — all which contribute greatly 
 to the welfare and prosperity of a people. On this account 
 the democratic party has forwarded the measure of the sale 
 of the real estate and landed property which the clergy held 
 as administrators and trustees, with a view thereby to increase 
 the number of property holders ; causing the lands to pass 
 into the possession of a greater number of persons, promoting 
 thereby the subdivision of property, and giving an impulse 
 to the circulation and distribution of wealth throughout the 
 
16 
 
 country, tliiis leading to increased activity in agricultural and 
 industrial production. 
 
 Ever since the time wlien the idea of independence began 
 in Mexico, the clergy — who are, properly speaking, nothing 
 more than simple administrators of the property in their hands 
 (and not owners and lords thereof) — have never ceased em- 
 ploying that property in opposition to the liberty and inde- 
 pendence of the country, in promoting and encouraging civil 
 war, and in aiding in the subversion and demoralization of 
 society. Such an abuse made by the clergy of property, 
 which the piety of religious persons had confided to them for 
 the purposes of beneficence and charity, is considered by the 
 democratic party as the greatest hindrance to the peace, pro- 
 gress, and well being of the people of Mexico. For this rea- 
 son it is the desire and great object of that party that the 
 clergy should be deprived of the administration of property, 
 which they have so much abused. They desire this not 
 merely for the purpose of preventing the abuse itself, but also 
 for the sake of converting the property to useful public ob- 
 jects, and to employ it profitably for the benefit and advant- 
 age of the people. These useful objects it is proposed to 
 effect in various ways, namely, by giving regular salaries to 
 the poor curates of the church, and thereby 'putting an end to 
 the. burthensome and impoverishing taxation which, under 
 the name of parochial dues, &c., the poor are subjected to for 
 the support of the clergy. It is also proposed to employ a 
 part of the said property in efi^ecting various public improve- 
 ments which are imperatively called for by society, such as 
 the erection of public schools, the formation of roads, &c., 
 and also to employ another portion in the payment of the 
 national debt, both domestic and foreign — a debt which 
 weighs so heavily and oppressively upon the Mexican people. 
 
 Conformably with these views and principles, in the con- 
 stitution of 1857, (that same constitution which, because it 
 offended the clergy, has been, at their instigation, overthrown 
 by Zuloaga and by the coup cVetat^ the democratic party in- 
 serted and incorporated the principles of liberty of trade and 
 commerce, liberty of industry, liberty of labor, and liberty of 
 religion ; declaring therein the abolition of all monopolies, of 
 all exclusive privileges, of all prohibitory laws ; abolishing 
 
17 
 
 tlierein tlie system of passports and the law requiring foreign- 
 ers to take out letters of security and permits of residence. 
 By these measures it was proposed to promote the comrfiercial 
 relations with foreign countries, and to facilitate commercial 
 exchanges both in the interior and with foreign nations — to 
 encourage the settlement of foreigners of all nations in the 
 country who might be willing to bring their capital and their 
 industry among us, and, in a word, to communicate a great 
 and general irapnlse to all the fountains and sources of Mexi- 
 can national wealth. 
 
 The democratic party was determined to separate the 
 Church from the State, because it was a union which has never 
 been employed for any other purpose than for that of tyran- 
 nizing over men. In this view, the right to a civil action to 
 enforce payment from the agriculturist and farmer of certain 
 dues, or tithes, which were claimed by the clergy, has been 
 taken away. Also, the power which the clergy possessed, of 
 compelling persons who had entered into religious vows, to 
 remain against their will, subject to monastic constraint in 
 consequence of such vows, after they were no longer willing 
 out of choice to submit to them, has been taken away. The 
 democratic party does not desire that the civil law should be 
 at the service of the clergy and made to interfere in that 
 which solely pertains to matters of conscience. It is this view 
 which has dictated the above measures ; and in the same spirit 
 the constitution of 1857 put an end to that religious intole- 
 rance which the clergy desires so earnestly to maintain ; for 
 the democratic party recognizes the right which eveiy man 
 has to worship God freely according to the dictates of his own 
 conscience. It could not, therefore, lend itself to the tyranny 
 of imposing by force of law a religion upon men, inasmuch 
 as religion ought to be the spontaneous eftect and result of 
 inward feeling and faith, and not of coercion and force. 
 
 Such are the doctrines, the deeds, and the views of the 
 Mexican democratic party in respect to the social, political 
 and religious organization of the country. Its views with re- 
 spect to foreign politics are plain and simple. It is firmly 
 convinced that the interest of all the nations and people of 
 America requires that they should maintain among themselves 
 full, frank, and cordial relations of friendship and amity, and 
 
18 
 
 that thej sliould establish a continental — that is, an American 
 policy — so as to bring about, by the friendly connection of all 
 the republics of the American continent, that union and nnity 
 of action which is absolutely necessary for the successful 
 maintenance of American republican doctrine. This would 
 enable them to put an effectual barrier to European intrigues 
 and European ambition, which are making constant efforts to 
 establish their power upon the continent and over the nations 
 of America. Such are the views and objects of the liberal 
 party of Mexico. 
 
 The principles of the "retrograde party," or, as they call 
 themselves, " the conservative party," are diametrically op- 
 posite to those of the Mexican democratic party. The views, 
 purposes and expectations of the two parties are thus naturally 
 and diametrically opposed to each other. 
 
 The retrograde or conservative party denies to the j)eople 
 the right of governing themselves, and wishes to set up a Icing 
 or a supreme power, and an aristocracy, who may among 
 themselves dispose of at their own will and pleasure the fate 
 and fortune of the peoj^le and of the country. In order to 
 obtain and secure the supremacy after which they aspire, they 
 support what they call " vested rights," and all sorts of special 
 privileges, and, in short, all and everything which may help 
 to build up a class and make it superior to the great mass of 
 the people. 
 
 Since it is one of the fundamental principles of the retro- 
 grade party that the people ought not to possess either moral 
 or material well being, for fear that these things might lead 
 them to a desire of emancipating themselves from thraldom ; 
 hence it is tliat they are in favor of putting restrictions upon 
 the liberty of the press — of establishing individual monopo- 
 lies — of separating and isolating the people from connection 
 and contact with other nations — of establishing and keeping 
 up intolerance in religion, and of uniting the Church with 
 the State — that is to say, the material or physical power with 
 the spiritual power. Thus they hope and desire that the peo- 
 ple, being effectually subjected to the two-fold despotism both 
 of the political power and the religious yoke — (the first being 
 master over the bodies and the second lording it over the 
 minds, the actions and the thoughts of men) — all and every- 
 
19 
 
 thing may, thereby, be wholly, exclusively and unreservedly 
 subjugated by, and obedient to the throne and the select privi- 
 leged classes. 
 
 The retrograde party, firm in its determination to succeed, 
 if possible, in establishing monarchy and priestcraft in Mexi- 
 co, has ever attacked v^^ith determined opposition all the po- 
 litical institutions which have been established at various 
 times ever since the nation obtained its independence, and to 
 which it lent its aid in order to pi'event the establishment in 
 Mexico of that liberty which had been proclaimed in Spain 
 in 1820. Thus it was that this party conspired against the 
 constitution of 1824 ; then again against that of 18o6, though 
 it had contributed in a great measure to its formation. Then 
 again it conspired to overthrow the constitution of 1843 ; and 
 lastly, it has conspired, as we have described, against the libe- 
 ral constitution of 1857, by bringing about the gouj) d'etat. 
 This party has conspired to overthrow all those constitutions, 
 notwithstanding that all of them, except the last, guaranteed 
 the military and ecclesiastical " vested rights," and proclaimed 
 the continuance of the system of religions intolerance, secur- 
 ing the clergy in the continued enjoyment of all the immense 
 property Avhich they had got into their possession. 
 
 The views of the retrograde party, and the conduct they 
 have hitherto uniformly pursued in order to carry their views 
 into eifect, clearly show what would be the nature of the 
 policy they would pursue towards foreign nations if they 
 should succeed in obtaining the government of the country. 
 Should this party at any time succeed in making itself master 
 of the situation in Mexico, and in procuring a complete triumph 
 for its principles — inasmuch as, accotding to their views, there 
 is no person in the whole country worthy of receiving the 
 office and title of king ; they would immediately set about 
 offering the throne of Mexico to some prince of the Euro]3ean 
 royal families. Such has always been their purpose and ob- 
 ject, not merely because monarchy is a part of their principles, 
 but also with a view of fortifying and supporting the monarch 
 set up by them, by forming a close connection with some 
 powerful European dynasty. Thus they would hope so to 
 connect the new monarch with the old families of Europe, as 
 to give to the throne a powerful support against the difficulties 
 
20 
 
 and oppositions it would nndonbtedly have to encounter with 
 the great majority of the Mexican people, for their sentiments 
 and opinions are strongly and decidedly in favor of republican 
 institutions. Acting under the guidance of these ideas they 
 have endeavored to keep up a constant and intimate commu- 
 nication with the Courts of Spain and of France, looking upon 
 these two nations as those wdiich were most disposed to favor 
 and promote their objects, and to co-operate with them in 
 bringing about their views. Should they then succeed in 
 realizing their favorite idea, they would forthwith inaugurate 
 a policy and course of action eminently hostile and dangerous 
 to all the nations on the American continent living in the en- 
 joyment of republican institutions. 
 
 What we here state to be tiie views and purposes of the 
 retrograde party is fully proved to be the truth, by the fticts 
 which have occurred at various periods. On the proclamation 
 of the independence of Mexico, under their direction, in 1821, 
 they exhibited their views and succeeded in establishing them 
 on the plan or platform of Iguala. But when, afterwards, 
 their hopes were all dashed to the ground by the refusal given 
 to their propositions by Ferdinand YII. of Spain, and when 
 the Mexican people, in 1824, had made a constitution for 
 themselves, and had established a government on republican 
 principles, they then had recourse, again, to Spain, with their 
 offers, and attempted a revolution against the established con- 
 stitutional government, by setting up and proclaiming the 
 plan of Montano. Afterwards, again, in 1829, they returned 
 back upon the idea of bringing Mexico under the Spanish 
 rule. This was the cause and origin of the invasion of Mexico 
 by the Spaniards, under General Barradas, who landed with 
 three thousand Spanish troops at Tampico. As they were, 
 however, completely disappointed and discouraged by the 
 unfortunate and disastrous termination of this attempt, they 
 quietly reserved their projects, and kept them a secret, wait- 
 ing for better times and a more favorable opportunity to bring 
 them forward again. This was not presented to them till the 
 year 1846, when they again obtained the assent of the Cabinet 
 of Madrid to their views. Defeated again in this new project, 
 they perseveringly returned to their purpose in 1853, putting 
 
21 
 
 forward before the public tlie idea that Mexico ought to solicit 
 Spain to assume the protectorship over the country. 
 
 If by means of the late reactionary movement which has 
 taken place in the capital of the Republic, they (the party of 
 the retrogradists) should succeed in establishing their power, 
 we shall see them again soliciting, not merely the assistance 
 and co-operaton of the Captain General of the island of Cuba, 
 as Santa Anna, one of their chiefs, has already done, but we 
 shall behold them calling for a more direct intervention on 
 the part of Spain and France, and putting the country, if 
 they can, under the protection of one or the other of those 
 powers. 
 
 Having now endeavored with the greatest fidelity and truth 
 to describe the doctrines and dogmas, the views, objects, 
 and deeds of the two parties in Mexico, we will proceed, in 
 conclusion of the rapid sketch which we have made, to j)resent 
 a few very brief reflections to the reader. 
 
 The views, tendencies and objects of the retrograde party 
 of Mexico, absurd as they are, are impossible to be carried 
 into execution from their very absurdity. Blinded by the one 
 great passion which animates it, this j^arty does not appreciate 
 nor even understand the progress of the age, the wants of our 
 time, and the great power of those irresistible operating causes 
 now working in society, which it would be perfect madness to 
 think of resisting. The laws which govern the world, in the 
 moral as well as in the physical order, are infallible and irre- 
 sistible. They must and will be obeyed. To attempt to arrest 
 the progress of the people would be so absurd as to attempt 
 to stop the law of gravitation and to prevent it from acting 
 and producing its effects. This, however, is what the retro- 
 grade party is attempting to do ; it thinks of checking the 
 onward progress of the people. 
 
 It desires to establish a monarchy in Mexico, wdien all the 
 elements which unite to constitute society are opposed to it. 
 It desires to subject the country to a European intervention or 
 protectorate, when both Europe and America are, in the 
 natural order of political things, completely separate and 
 isolated from each other, and each is the representative of a 
 distinct and different mission, which it is their business to 
 fulfill. Even if by a series of impossible events they should 
 
22 
 
 succeed in beholding tlie realization of their great idea, yet 
 would tliey not on this account find themselves much advanced 
 in tlie completion of their projects. The social organization 
 of those Eui'opean monarchies from Avhom the conservative or 
 retrograde party solicits support and assistance, is opposed to 
 the very things which this party desires to establish. It de- 
 sires to establish complete religious intolerance ; whereas all 
 civihzed countries, even Rome herself, grant to otlier religions 
 the liberty of being exercised in their midst. It desires to 
 establish the military vested rights and privileges ; whereas 
 the French army is free from them, and is, notwithstanding, 
 the first army in Europe. It desires to establish the ecclesi- 
 astic " vested rights," whereas the clergy of France, consisting 
 of the most enlighteued and famous ecclesiastics in the world, 
 has, no such thing, and is, notwithstanding, a respectable body. 
 It desires to put down the law, secularizing ecclesiastical 
 property, whereas this law is founded upon a social and eco- 
 nomical principle — a principle of political economy — the jus- 
 tice and necessity of which are admitted, and had been 
 carried out, not only in France, but even in Spain itself. It 
 desires to put down the law that the clergy should be salaried 
 and paid by the State, whereas this is the principle which is 
 established both in France and Spain. 
 
 So then, an absolute monarch, under the auspices of a 
 European protectorate, religious intolerance, privileged rights, 
 holding in mortmain the chief part of the land of the country, 
 privileged monopolies — in a word, all and everything which 
 constitute the aim and object of this retrograde party, are 
 stamped with the seal of condemnation by the actually exist- 
 ing civilization of every civilized country. Therefore, to 
 think of setting up these things as a regular system in 
 America — in America, which is the nucleus of new ideas, 
 and the hope of human progress for future ages — is simply 
 absurd. But because it is absurd, it is also impossible. 
 
 The retrograde party of Mexico is doomed to be annihi- 
 lated — to die — to perish by means of its own excesses and 
 from its own absurdities, in the folly and madness of its views. 
 Before, however, this event takes place, it has done and will 
 do immense injury to the country. It may, in fact, be 
 likened to a lunatic ; but this lunatic, this raving maniac, is 
 
}3 
 
 armed with an incendiaiy torch, with which he is kindling 
 
 a vast 
 
 perish. 
 
 a vast conflagration, hnt in the midst of whicli he himself will 
 
\ 
 
■■M 
 
 M LI 
 
 1 llllill 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 015 999 109 A