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FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

By Arthur Howard Noll

A SHORT HISTORY

OF MEXICO

i6mo . . 75 cents net

FROM EMPIRE TO

REPUBLIC

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A. C. McCLURG & CO.

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BENITO JUAREZ

PORFIRIO DIAZ

FROM
EMPIRE TO EEPUBLIC
THE STORY OF
THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL
GOVERNMENT
IN MEXICO BY
ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL
AUTHOR OF " A SHORT HISTORY OF MEXICO," "TENOCHTITLAN,''
ETC.
With Map and Portraits

CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1903

Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1903
Published October 10, 1903

DHIVEBSITY PEES8 • JOHN WILSON
AND SON . CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

Preface

IN the preparation of the following chapters, the
result of a careful study of that most interest
ing phase of Mexican history which relates to the
struggles for Constitutional Government, the writer
takes pleasure in acknowledging the very kind assist
ance rendered by his friend, Mr. W. W. Blake, of the
City of Mexico, an authority on all Mexican subjects,
who has reviewed the manuscript of the book and
suggested some corrections which have been cheer
fully made ; whose aid in the preparation of the
accompanying Bibliography has been invaluable ; and
whose approval of the work as it now stands the
author regards as the best guarantee that can be
offered of its historical accuracy. The author's best
thanks are also due to Mr. Francis Fisher Browne, of
Chicago, whose interest in the book has been shown
by his offers of wise suggestions that have been fol
lowed by happy results.
A.H.N.
University of the South,
Sewanee, Tennessee,
September, 1903,

Contents

Page
Chapter I. Mexico under Spanish Rule ... 1
Chapter II. The Beginning of the Struggle for
Independence  24
Chapter III. The Continuance of the Struggle
for Independence  52
Chapter IV. The " Plan de Iguala," the Treaty
of Cordoba, and the First Mexican Empire . 74
Chapter V. The Fall of the Empire, the Rise of
the Republic, and the Constitution of 1824 . 91
Chapter VI. Santa Anna and Centralism . . 109
Chapter VII. Centralism under the "Bases Or-
ganicas" of 1843  136
Chapter VIII. "War with the United States,
and its Consequences  155
Chapter IX. The "Plan de Ayotla" . ... 169
Chapter X. The Constitution of 1857 . . . 187
Chapter XI. Benito Juarez and the War of
the Reform  204
Chapter XII. Foreign Intervention, French In
vasion, and the Second Empire  232

x CONTENTS Page
Chapter XIII. The Conflict between the Re
public and the Empire  259
Chapter XIV. The Restored Republic and the
Death of Juarez  284
Chapter XV. Constitutional Government bear
ing Fruits  292
Appendix A. — Chronological Summary of Prin
cipal Events related to Mexican History 305
Appendix B. — Bibliography  313
Appendix C. — Notes on the Historical Geog
raphy of Mexico  325
Index  327

r»c

7TLer$L\CO \&Z\-]C}OJ

TO THE MEMORY
OF
FRANCIS K. HOWELL, Esa.,
Late of the New Jersey Bar,
this book is reverently and affectionately
dedicated

FROM
EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
CHAPTER I
MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE
IN the early years of the sixteenth century, the
territory to which the name " Mexico " has
since been given, was occupied, to an extent
now unknown, by various Indian tribes. Of these,
the farthest advanced toward civilization, and the
most powerful, was that known as the Aztec tribe.
It occupied the pueblo of Tenochtitlan, upon an
island in the borders of Lake Texcoco, in the centre
of the Valley of Mexico. In the previous century
this tribe had confederated with certain neighbor
ing tribes for purposes of war, and had thereby be
come elevated to a position whence it could inspire
with fear and dread other tribes far and near.
In the year 1519, Europeans appeared upon the
coast of Mexico and advanced inland to the pueblo
of Tenochtitlan. The capture and destruction of I
this pueblo by the Spaniards under Hernando Cortes ¦
in 1521, and the subsequent subjugation of the
Indians of the surrounding country, comprise a series
of events embalmed in history under the fascinating
but misleading title of " The Conquest of Mexico."
These events are too generally known to require re-
1 1

2 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
counting here. With San Hipolito's Day (August 13),
1521, when Corte*s accepted the surrender of the last
Aztec war-chief and formally took possession of the
pueblo's site, begins the history of the territory as
a province of Spain, — or, perhaps more properly
speaking, as a kingdom of the vast Spanish Empire.
Officially, it bore the name of Nueva Jflspafia, or New
Spain ; though it continued to be popularly known as
Mexico. Exploration of this territory soon ^revealed the
fact that it was by far the most beautiful, as well
as the richest, of all the possessions ever gained
by Spain in the New World. It possessed every
feature of picturesque scenery, reaching in many
places to unimaginable grandeur. Nature had fur
thermore been peculiarly lavish of her wealth; she
had provided the mountain chains with some of the
richest mines in the world, and had furnished the
valleys with regions of the greatest fertility, capable
of producing every vegetable growth of every clime,
in sufficient quantities to support a population of one
hundred and fifty millions.
The history of the Spanish Domination in Mexico
extends over three centuries. It took a considerable
time for Spain to devise and put into operation a
system of government for her newly acquired pos
sessions in the Western Hemisphere. The Consejo
de las Indias (Council of the Indies) and the Casa
de Contratacion (answering in Spain very nearly to
the English India House) were already in existence
in anticipation of the establishment of colonies in the
New World ; but neither of these agencies was pre
pared at once to arrange for the government of the
vast country brought suddenly within its jurisdic-

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 3
tion by the almost incredible exploits of Corte"s. For
several years the Conquistadores assumed charge of
the country as Military Governors ; though the Ayun-
tamiento (the Spanish form of municipal government)
was established, first in Vera Cruz and afterwards in
the City of Mexico. This provisional form of govern
ment was subsequently more widely adopted for the
organization of cities, the division of land among
colonists, and the greater security of the inhabitants
of the Province. At the same time, the districts into
which the Province was early divided were superin
tended by Cahildos controlled by a central government
in, the City of Mexico. But to a great extent, the
ordinances and rules of the Ayuntamiento of Mexico
have been in force in the country from 1522 up to
very recent times.
Los Oficiales Reales (the Royal Officers), appointed
to govern the country in the absence of Corte"s, were
early added to the governing machinery of the new
country ; and Los Visitadores y Jueces de Residencia
(Visitors and Resident Judges), who were at first
sent by the Crown to investigate the conduct of Cortes
and the other Military Governors, soon superseded
them in the government and exercised extraordinary
powers. In 1528 a body of men styled Audiencia Real
(Royal Audience) arrived in Mexico. It was com
posed of five commissioners known as Oidores (Au
ditors), sent out by the King of Spain to impose a
further check upon Cortes. The Audiencia super
seded the Military Governors, Oficiales Reales, and
Visitadores y Jueces de Residencia, in the government
of New Spain, and performed for a while all the
functions relating to the administration of justice.

4 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Mexico, however, had not become a colony in the
sense in which that term would be used in England
or France. It was governed, in common with the
other Spanish possessions in the Western World, by
codes of laws distinct from the laws of Spain and
intended to suit what were considered the special
exigencies of the trans-Atlantic Provinces. Mexico
was, in fact, a separate kingdom, and was so termed
in all legislation upon the subject; and, with Peru,
Buenos Ayres, Chili, and other South American
countries, contributed to form that vast empire whose
sovereign was enabled thereby to call himself " King
of Spain and the Indies."
In 1535, with the arrival of the first of the Spanish
Viceroys, the scheme of government finally settled
down into that of a Vireinate ; and this system con
tinued for three centuries, until the Mexicans, after
a long struggle, in 1821 threw off the yoke of Spain,
and, as an independent nation, began a series of
experiments in self-government. Throughout this
long period, however, the Royal Audiences were con
tinued as a permanent institution to which even the
Viceroys were subject in judicial matters. The Audi
ences were to act as a check upon the Viceroys, and
had the privilege of placing their President in charge
of the government during any vacancy that might
occur in the Viceregal office. In a number of cases
the President of the Audiencia not only discharged
the functions of the Viceregal office, but took the
title of Viceroy. All this was in accordance with
Spain's usual policy with her possessions beyond the
seas, of setting one part of a government to watch
the other. For a similar purpose, an Intendente was
appointed by the Crown, charged with the duty of

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 5
collecting and applying the taxes, revenues, and im
posts, which in New Spain were predestined to be
many and exceedingly vexatious.
The Viceroys were appointed for five years, by the
King, at the instance of the Consejo de las Indias.
They were to be the supreme rulers or chiefs of New
Spain, representing in everything, as their political
title implied, the King of Spain, — with their authority
limited only in certain cases by the Audiencias or by
the Ayuntamientos. They were wholly without re
sponsibility to the people whom they were sent to
govern. All the powers of administration were con- j
centrated in this Viceregal authority, — though the !
holders of the office were of necessity provided with
Fiscales, or Administrators of various kinds, whom,
because of their own too general lack of familiarity
with the administration of justice, they were obliged
to consult before taking any important step.
The Viceroys were for the most part Spanish nobles
and courtiers who desired the position for their own
selfish purposes, for repairing their dilapidated for
tunes; and they generally returned to Spain with
wealth wrung from the Mexicans, after maintaining a
court in Mexico patterned after that of Madrid and
accompanied by all the pageantry of the royal admin
istration of the sixteenth century. In their govern
ment they seem to have been actuated chiefly by a
desire (after recuperating their own fortunes) to se
cure all that was possible for the royal treasury, to
build up and strengthen the government and wealth
of Spain, and to extend the dominion of the Church.
As would naturally be expected under such cir
cumstances, the Viceroys were not in every case
wise and just rulers. Some were, indeed, distin-

6 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
guished for their honorable services in New Spain.
But the list of these is not a long one, and includes
few names besides those of Antonio de Mendoza
(1535-1550), Luis de Velasco (1550-1566), Fray Payo
de Rivera, Archbishop of Mexico (1673), the Marquis
of Croix (1766-1771), Bucareli (1771-1779), Matfas
de Galvez "the Diligent" (1783-1785), his no less
diligent son Bernardo (1785-1787), and the eccen
tric second Count of Revillagigedo (1789-1794). A
majority of the Viceroys exhibited characters reflect
ing too clearly the deplorable condition into which
the affairs of Spain were falling.
Viceroys and Viceregal government were expensive
luxuries for New Spain. The fact that some of the
Viceroys were able to build churches and aqueducts,
and make other expensive public improvements at
their own cost and charges (as is so often recorded
of those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries),
out of a salary of forty thousand dollars a year, in
creased about the year 1689 to seventy thousand
dollars, indicates a state of affairs likely to awaken
suspicion, to say the least. There were many ways
by which the Viceroys could gain wealth in the
discharge of their official duties. Some of these
methods were looked upon as quite legitimate in the
easy-going morality of those days. Titles and dis
tinctions obtained from the King upon the recom
mendation of a Viceroy were made matters of bargain
and sale from which the Viceroys derived a profit.
The granting of licenses furnished another source
of revenue; and there were some offices without
salary, for which large sums were paid because of
the opportunities they afforded the holders for pecu
lation and the acceptance of bribes.

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 7
There were other methods, however, by which a
Viceroy was enabled to amass a fortune, not so readily
condoned by popular opinion, even in that age of
loose public morals. The Viceroys were frequently
coming into conflict with the people ; and thus were
occasioned the numerous insurrections recorded in
the period of the Spanish Domination. And it is
especially noticeable that on the occasions when the
Audiencia assumed ad interim the supreme power in
New Spain, it seldom failed to distinguish itself by
some act that served to outrage the people.
The offices of the government under the Viceroys
were generally conferred upon those needing posi
tions. Offices were created for the purpose of pro- '
viding for such as had claims upon the good graces
of the sovereign. And as new abuses were discovered
in the new country, new offices were created for the
purpose of correcting them, or with the object of
espionage ; and so the official list grew, until the
number of officials and the amount of governing
exercised in New Spain exceeded that of any province
on record. Yet for all that, even when Spain was
made aware of some of the maladies that afflicted her
provinces beyond the Atlantic, growing out of defects
in her governing system, she showed herself incom
petent to cure them.
Even earlier than the Vireinate, an Ecclesiastical
government was established in New Spain. As its
development proceeded, it supplied to some extent
an added check upon the government of the Vice
roys ; for so closely were Church and State allied
in Spain, that interference in the government by the
religious and secular clergy was not only possible
in New Spain, but was scarcely to be avoided.

8 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
This Ecclesiastical government might be traced,
as to its origin, to the bull of Pope Alexander VI., —
himself a Spaniard, — who, when news of the wealth
of the New World first came to Europe, promptly
divided the New West between Spain and Portugal,
upon condition that the King of Spain should assume
charge of the spiritual destinies of the natives. In
1502 the King of Spain was constituted the head
of the Church in America, with the sole right of
appointing to benefices and offices therein. Eccle
siastical government was destined, from the start,
to exert an important influence upon the affairs of
New Spain, and to entail some serious problems for
settlement by the subsequent Republic of Mexico.
The evangelization of the country kept pace ^vith,
or even in many cases outstripped, its colonization, in
the early years of New Spain. It was effected by the
religious orders, whom Carte's preferred to the secular
clergy, as best fitted for the work awaiting them in
a new country ; and as a consequence, the members
of these orders increased in number more rapidly
than the secular clergy.
In this work of evangelization by the religious
orders, the Franciscans took the lead. They were
followed by the Dominicans, and later by a number
of other orders. The work of all these extended
rapidly, until in a short time the colonized portions
of New Spain resembled one vast ecclesiastical estab
lishment. A glance at the map of Mexico serves to
strengthen this assertion as well as to illustrate it.
The Spanish names to be found thereon are for
the most part religious names, and mark points at
which the missionaries established their work in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. So widespread

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 9
had the system of the Franciscans become in 1606
that the entire country was divided into six prov
inces. Mexico was erected into a Bishopric before the
Viceregal government was established therein. New
Bishoprics were organized so rapidly that in 1545
Mexico was advanced to the dignity of an Arch
bishopric, including four other dioceses. Two more
dioceses were added within a few years subsequently.
It may be frankly admitted that the influence of
the religious orders was in the main beneficial to the
country throughout the sixteenth century. The
Archbishops and Bishops of Mexico exercised great
influence in the affairs of government. They were
respected by the civil authorities and venerated by
the natives. The Franciscans, by zealous missionary
work among the natives, gained a powerful influence
over their converts, which they used judiciously to
strengthen the position obtained for the Spaniards
through conquest, and maintained by force of arms.
The Jesuits, who arrived in the year 1572, true
to the purpose of their order, tried to foster learning
in the new land, though with but limited success.
Other religious orders established and maintained
admirably appointed hospitals and asylums in every
large city.
The Dominicans were not slow in establishing the
detestable Inquisition; but it was for the express
and very plausible purpose of keeping the colonists
and foreigners in order, and advancing the spiritual
interests of the Church. The Indians were, by spe
cific command, exempted from its operations. Of all
the orders, the Dominicans exerted the most powerful
influence in political affairs. It was upon the sug
gestion of Zumarraga, a Dominican, who was the

10 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
first Bishop of Mexico, that the Viceregal system
of government was adopted for New Spain. And
the government was more frequently under Domini
can than Franciscan or any other religious influence.
The Archbishopric of Mexico was likewise filled with
members of the Dominican order. Under the Vice
regal system, combined as it was with the system
of Royal Audiences, in case of a vacancy a prelate
would frequently hold the office of Viceroy ad interim ;
and thus the names of ten prelates, nearly all Domini
cans, appear in the list of the sixty-two Viceroys of
New Spain.
In the seventeenth century the beneficial influence
of the religious orders began to wane. They had
grown rich and worldly; the Carmelites, who had
come to Mexico as late as 1585, had become so
wealthy that they owned estates in the province of
San Luis Potosf one hundred leagues in extent,
reaching from the city of that name to Tampico on
the Gulf coast. The protection of the Indians from
the aggressions of the colonists, previously afforded
by the orders, was greatly relaxed. It is not without
significance "that one great source of the Church's
wealth during this period was found in the opulent
colonists, who by their munificent gifts to the Church
were able to acquire an ascendancy over the ecclesias
tical authorities and maintained it ready for use when
ever an emergency arose rendering it serviceable.
Feuds arose between the religious and the secular
clergy, and led to contentions in the Church. The
Franciscans and the Dominicans had but to transfer
to their homes in the New World the bitter jealousies
that had characterized them in the Old. The man
agement of the Indians furnished a constant occasion

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 11
of strife between the friars of all the orders and the
civil authorities.
So it came about most naturally, and as one of the
repetitions to which history is proverbially committed,
that the influence of the religious orders proved ex
ceedingly harmful during the last of the three centu
ries of Spanish rule in Mexico. The Dominicans,
who had all along been a dominating power, had, by
the exercise of the functions of the Holy Office,
engendered a deep feehng of hatred for the religious
government, and this hatred reacted upon the politi
cal government so closely connected with it. The
Dominicans alone might be said to have furnished a
powerful cause for the overthrow of Spanish rule, at
the very time that they were laboring hardest to up
hold it as it manifested signs of tottering. And all
the orders, — by seizing and holding vast amounts of
property, by building churches and monasteries in
times when the people were suffering the most abject
poverty, and by enforcing the law of tithes and thus
gaining control of wealth which should have been
applied to encouraging industry and relieving the
needs of the people, — conspired to stimulate the
popular discontent which finally broke out into open
revolt. It is too often the custom of nations dominating
foreign peoples, or founding colonies, to extort as
much as possible of the products of their subjects,
and make their happiness and progress a mere sec
ondary consideration or leave them out of the account
altogether. Spain exemplified this custom in regard
to her possessions in America. After the abdication
of Carlos I. and the accession of his narrow-souled ,
and bigoted son Felipe II. (more generally known to

12 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
English-speaking readers as Philip II.), the colonial
policy was lowered from the high standard set for it
by the father. Felipe cared nothing for the New
World, save as a source of supply for gold and silver,
and as a field for the exercise of his religious bigotry.
From the time of Felipe II., the Inquisition, the
power of the Church, and unjust taxation, marking
the downward course of the Spanish Empire, exer
cised a dominating influence upon the colonial policy
in Mexico. The unwholesome spirit of absolutism in
the court of Madrid manifested itself likewise in the
Viceregal court of New Spain.
Under Carlos III. (1759-1787), a reform was
1 undertaken in Spain, and the effects thereof were
felt in Mexico. The Inquisition was stifled, the
power of the Church was curtailed, and taxation
was reduced. Viceroys who were men of energy and
probity were sent out to New Spain, and with them
a Visitor-General with full power to investigate and
reform all parts of the government and especially the
financial system employed there. Special privileges
were granted to the natives, and an attempt was made
to give the Europeans in Mexico a better opportunity
for self-government. All this, however, lasted but
for a time. Then affairs relapsed into their former
state, and the evils of that state were worse than at
first. Colonization resulted in the creation of various
social classes among his Majesty's subjects in New
Spain. There were, first of all, the white colonists of
pure Spanish blood. These comprised the only recog
nized society in the social organization that existed in
Spanish America. They were attached to the Vice-

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 13
regal court, or were in thorough sympathy therewith,
under a policy of government that permitted only
Spaniards to fill the offices in New Spain. They were
wild adventurers for the most part, — gold-thirsty trad
ers, often less civilized in their notions of truth and
in the refinement of their manners and mode of life
than the races whose land they had invaded. Yet to
them only were the doors open for preferment in the
Church, in the army, or at the bar, for many years
previous to the opening of the nineteenth century.
They inhabited chiefly the table-lands of the interior
of the country, and were inclined to uphold Spain's
unjust policy of government in the Western World
as against all the other social classes. In the later
period of Spanish Domination they became known as
" Old Spaniards " ; and to the Indians they were
known as Crachupines, — a word of dubious origin,
always applied opprobriously and probably meaning
" thieves." In the opposite social scale were the Indians, the
pure native races, — Aztecs, Zapotecs, Tarascans,
Otomies, and many others, — who were scarcely rec
ognized as having any rights which the Spaniards
were bound to respect. It is evident, from various
decrees of the Crown and of the Viceroys, that the
Spanish government never recognized as vested in
the Indians any but possessory rights in the land to
which they were indigenous, and that it never intended
to grant them anything more than this. These people
were concentrated mainly in the vicinity of the large
cities of the table-lands, — Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca,
Guanajuato and Valladolid.
A third class was composed of Creoles, as they were
called, — the white natives of New Spain of pure

14 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
European descent. These, although the possessors
of wealth, and arrogating to themselves positions of
equality with the Spaniards, were regarded by the
latter in almost the same category as the native In
dians. Usually classed with the Creoles, and going
by their name, were people of mixed Indian and
Spanish blood, more properly known as Meztizos.
There were, besides these three chief classes, vari
ous kinds of half-castes, — the mixture of whites and
negroes, or mulattoes; Indians and negroes, called
Zambos or Chinos; and there were some African
negroes, principally upon the Gulf and Pacific coasts,
whither the African slaves imported into Mexico were
sent because of the unhealthfulness of those regions
for the Europeans.
In 1793, according to a report made to the King by
the Viceroy of that time, — the energetic but eccentric
Count of Revillagigedo, — the proportion of these
various classes was about as follows : out of a popu
lation of five and a quarter millions in New Spain,
there were less than ten thousand Europeans, about
two-thirds of a million of white Creoles, a million
and a half of the different half-castes, and over two
and a quarter millions of Indians. The number of
Europeans is supposed to have increased to eighty
thousand within the next quarter of a century, and
that of the white Creoles to about a million.
The asperities resulting from the mutual repug
nance of the Mexican and Spanish stocks were in
creased by the refusal of the Spaniards, in their pride,
to make any distinction between the Indians and the
Creoles, even though the latter might be as rich as
themselves, and certainly were more numerous ; and
although, also, they were numerically strong enough

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 15
at any time, either alone or by uniting with the In
dians, to overthrow the power of Spain and set up a
government of their own. Yet so great was the
Spanish contempt for all but " Old Spaniards " that
one of the later Viceroys, after the question of " home
rule " had arisen, declared that as long as a Castilian
remained in the country, though he were no more
than a cobbler, he ought to rule in New Spain.
Not only had the conquest and subjugation of
the country been marked by extreme cruelty to the
native races, but with the earliest schemes for
colonization, the iniquitous system of encomiendas
and repartimientos had been introduced into Mexico.
Thus had been established a kind of slavery for the
Indians, partaking somewhat of the nature of feudal
vassalage in different forms, ranging from mere ward
ship to absolute servitude of the most abject type. It
is true that laws were enacted by the Consejo de las
Indias, apparently emanating from a desire to protect
the Indians and put some curb on the extortions and
cruelty of the colonists. But Spain was too far dis
tant, and communication was too difficult, for the cry of
the oppressed to be distinctly heard, or to enable the
mother country to exercise any supervision or exert
any great influence in ameliorating their condition.
Some of the decrees for the amelioration of the
Indians illustrate, as nothing else can, the extent
of the evils sought to be remedied. E'or example, a
royal ordinance of 1554 decreed that no slaves should
be made in future wars ; that the system of assigning
slaves to each colonist should be abandoned ; and that
the Indians should not as a class be solely devoted to
ignoble pursuits. Thirty years later the attempt was
made to secure for the Indians employed in the mines,

16 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
" regular hours of repose, and some time to breathe
the fresh air on the surface of the earth."
f Decrees abolishing slavery were numerous. Luis
jde Velasco, the second Viceroy, by his act manumit-
/ ting one hundred and fifty thousand Indians held as
1 slaves by the Spanish colonists, gained for himself the
title of " The Emancipator." Yet upon a division of
the royal domain, some time subsequently, the gov
ernment established a bad precedent of inconsistency
with its own decrees, by transferring the Indians with
the soil. And notwithstanding decrees of manumis
sion and restriction, slavery continued under various
forms throughout the Spanish regime ; and cruelty to
the slaves bore fruit from time to time in terrible
pestilences, whereby nearly two millions of Indians
are said to have perished.
The colonists eagerly sought the revocation of the
decree of 1554, and were wont to plead, in defence of
their cruel treatment of the Indians, that only by the
employment of slave labor could they hope to make
the country produce the exorbitant taxes levied upon
colonial products by the Spanish government. There
may have been something in the plea by which they
sought to hold Spain responsible for the continuance
of an institution which she was ostensibly endeavor
ing to keep within bounds and eventually to abolish.
The laws enacted by the Consejo de las Indias for
the government of the colonists (who were, however,
denied all voice in their enactment) had little or no
regard for the needs of the Spanish subjects in New
Spain ; they were involved in contradictions, and
were arbitrarily enforced. The Consejo was in some
respects the most peculiar governing body known to
history. It was established in 1511, and gradually

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 17
usurped exclusive control of the Spanish possessions
in the New World. It enacted all the laws and regu
lations for the government of Spanish America, and
made or confirmed all appointments — civil, military,
and even ecclesiastical — for that country. The
higher officials of New Spain received from the Con
sejo orders and instructions regarding the perform
ance of their duties, which had to be explicitly
obeyed ; and the Consejo was a final Court of Ap
peals in all cases involving important questions aris
ing in the New World. Over all its proceedings the
monarch reserved the right of veto; but this right
was seldom exercised.
Vacancies in the Consejo were filled upon its own
recommendation ; consequently it was a self-perpetu
ating body, both as to its constituency and as to its
policy. It soon became forgetful that it owed any ob
ligations to the native Mexicans, or that those people
were any other than beasts of burden, bound to eter
nal vassalage to the Spanish people quite as much as
to the Spanish monarch. Some one has remarked that
" the worst features of the two worst governments in
the world — the Gothic rule and that of the Spanish
Moors — had been combined to form the government
of Spain ; and then the worst features of this mongrel
government had been carefully preserved to oppress
the native population of Mexico, in the code sent out
to it by the Supreme Council of the Indies."
The law in New Spain was exceedingly slow in its
course. Redress sought by appeal to the Viceroy
might have to go to the Council of the Indies ; and
matters that ought to have been settled by the Al
calde or Regidor of a provincial town must be de
layed until they could reach the Viceroy and await

18 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
his deliberations. In fact, so impossible was it to ob
tain, through the Council and the officials sent from
Spain, redress for injuries which those in Mexico
might receive, that a maxim came into vogue to
the effect that " God is in Heaven, and the King is
in Spain," — implying that there was no limit to the
power of the royal representatives, and no remedy
for the wrongs done to the subject ; significant also
of the forgetfulness of all humanity on the part of
Spanish officials and hopeless submission of the sub
jects to their rule. In other parts of the Spanish
possessions a proverbial expression was current and
was applied to any official whose conduct proved un
just, arbitrary, or tyrannical : Es muy Rey, He is very
much King !
In regard to commerce, the Spanish monarchs,
aided and abetted by the Consejo and the Casa de
Contrataeion, manifested a peculiar phase of absolu
tism. That the trade might be controlled for the sole
advantage and benefit of the home government, the
colonists were prohibited, under penalty of death and
forfeiture of property, from trading with any country
but Spain. Even a carrying trade between one col
ony and another was forbidden ; and commerce with
Spain was so trammelled with burdensome regula
tions as to render it far from profitable save to the
favored few.
The Casa de Contrataeion had been established in
1501, for the purpose of directing the course of com
merce between the colonies and the mother country.
It was a court of judicature, and had jurisdiction over
the conduct of all persons connected with the trade
between the two countries. An appeal from it could
be made to the Consejo after that body was created.

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 19
By the regulations of the Casa, all commerce was
to be carried on in Spanish ships. Not a vessel could
unload a cargo except at a given port, — Sevilla at
first, and until Cadiz was made a like favored city, —
and an outgoing vessel could receive only such goods
as had passed through that port. No foreign vessel
could enter any harbor in Mexico. Other ports of
Spain were opened to trade in the time of Carlos III.,
but only for a short time. In Mexico, commerce was
restricted to the port of Vera Cruz.
All English goods had to be carried first to Spain,
there landed, and thence once more shipped for their
first destination in the New World ; so that the price
was enhanced a hundred-fold by the time the goods
reached the consumer in Mexico. Such restrictions
upon trade threw it into the hands of a few business
houses, and created monopolies with all their attend
ant evils. When Sevilla enjoyed exclusive com
merce with Mexico, the whole amount of shipping
employed did not exceed twenty-eight thousand tons.
For a long time fifteen ships, voyaging at intervals
of one or two years, carried all the trade between
Spain and Mexico. The number was afterwards
increased to fifty or sixty.
The system of prohibitive duties was so exacting
that- three-fourths of the imports into Mexico were
smuggled. The custom-house officers were bribed to
connive at the violation of laws which decreed death
as a penalty for their infraction. The great wonder
is that Spain succeeded for so long a time in main
taining a trade monopoly that, by all the rules of
political economy ever formulated, was destined from
the start to decline and shrink to dwarfish proportions,
and sooner or later to collapse.

20 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Restrictions upon commerce with Mexico might
have been to the advantage of that country in stimu
lating the development of her industries and of her
natural resources. But so anxious was Spain to
monopolize every possible advantage, that it was
made illegal in Mexico to erect factories, or to culti
vate any raw products that would come into direct
competition with home industries. Mexico was looked
to for a supply of the precious metals only. Saffron,
hemp, olives, grapes in vineyards, and many other
things that Mexico might have raised for her own use
or for shipment to Spain, were inhibited by law.
Immigration was thoroughly discouraged. No for
eigner could enter New Spain without the express
permission of the Spanish government. It was in the
enforcement of this law that the Holy Office was
expected to render its greatest assistance.
Education was discouraged in all the Spanish
possessions. It is customary to cite as historic facts,
in contradiction of this statement, the setting up in
Mexico, in 1535, of the first printing-press in the New
World, and the establishment there, in 1551, of the
first University on this continent. But neither the
printing-press nor the so-called University proved
very powerful agents in the dissemination of learning.
The printing-press was necessarily limited in its use
fulness by circumstances ; the one newspaper emanat
ing from it — the Graceta — was published immediately
under the direction of the government, and carefully
excluded anything which might be opposed to the
Viceregal Court or Audiencia. Newspapers were
allowed to be imported from Spain only, and such as
came from that quarter once or twice a year gave
information only of the movements of the Spanish

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 21
Court and of the Church. The University was re
stricted in its usefulness to those who inherited or
otherwise possessed a knowledge of the Spanish
tongue; and it never had more than two hundred
students at any one time. What other schools and
colleges there may have been were kept under the
sole direction of ecclesiastics who were charged with
keeping the people in ignorance rather than with
extending their knowledge, and who carefully ex
cluded from the course of instruction such branches
of study as were likely to elevate the feelings or
strengthen the mind.
The Index Expurgatorius of the Roman See was
extended in its scope to meet the requirements of the
Indies; and the literary productions of Mexico be
longing to the period of the Spanish Domination
comprise a few poems and plays of small value, and
some works on natural history and on the antiquities
of the country which it would be far from safe for the
modern student to accept as authoritative.
The laws which excluded Spaniards born in Amer
ica — that is, the Creoles proper — from equal rights
with those who were of direct importation from Spain,
and especially from any share in the government or
of the higher dignities of the Church, were sufficient
in themselves to make the Creoles discontented and
unhappy. Their unhappiness and discontent were
readily communicated to the Meztizos, with whom
they had much in common, and added to those feelings
which the latter had derived from their Indian ances
tors. Three centuries of Spanish rule, under Mili-\
tary Governors, Royal Audiences, Viceroys, Religious j
Orders, and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, were not suf- /
ficient to subdue the proud spirit of the Indians with /

22 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
which Cortes and his soldiers had to contend in the
sixteenth century, and which has since been the in
heritance of every Mexican born with so much as a
drop of Indian blood in his veins. The cruel treat
ment they had received left a legacy of hatred for
their European masters stored up by each successive
generation of Indians. It has not yet been exhausted.
It is in no way surprising that they should have
become sullen and vengeful ; nor that they fostered,
until it became inveterate, a hatred of the very name
of Spaniard.
The most important and the most disastrous result
of the long period of misgovernment in New Spain,
however, was not the destruction of the present hap
piness of the people, but the almost total destruction
in them of all capacity for self-government in the
future. The Mexican people were so long oppressed,
that, like all people thus treated, they were unable to
\establish good government of their own until they
/"had learned by the most painful experiences that free-
Idom is not merely the absence of restraint, but a rule,
Ithe correct administration of which requires the sacri-
[fice of the wishes of the individual to the interests of
¦ the commonwealth.
Few countries have passed through more political
calamities in order to attain to a knowledge of what
Constitutional government is, and how people are
to be served thereby, than Mexico. The lesson is
really in process of learning still ; but to appreciate
the advancement already made toward that knowledge,
and the difficulties to be encountered in the approach
thereto, it is not only necessary to consider the three
centuries when Mexico was under the domination of
Spain, and when her national character was being

MEXICO UNDER SPANISH RULE 23
imperfectly formed, but also the means by which she
gained her independence, and her various failures in
self-government ere a few of her people awoke to a
sense of the obstacles that presented themselves to
her progress, and of the means by which these
obstacles could be surmounted.

24 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER II
THE BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE FOR
INDEPENDENCE
THROUGHOUT three centuries of misrule,
Spain had furnished her subjects in Mexico
with abundant grounds for revolt. The
tide of revolution in America, begun in 1776, reached
in time the Spanish provinces, and awakened there,
among a people already discontented, a spirit of inde
pendence. Any shrewd observer of the social condi
tions of New Spain in the early years of the nineteenth
century would have said that there existed therein
every element of revolution. There were aborigines
and half-breeds, — all ignorant and superstitious ;
there was a less numerous class of Creoles, — wealthy
but discontented; and there were a few thousand
Europeans, — proud and corrupt, profiting by every
act of administrative iniquity. Such an observer
would have predicted, furthermore, that the people
were but waiting for some special occasion or for
some competent leader to arouse them to an effort
toward freeing themselves from the domination of
Spain. Yet when the struggle for independence was
finally inaugurated, in 1808, it was directly caused
not so much by these conditions in Mexico as by the
disruption of the Spanish government at home.
For many years, Spain had been under the spell of
the French Revolution, and subservient to Napoleon
Bonaparte, who had set his covetous eyes on the

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 25
southwestern peninsula, and had determined that
the Escurial should be occupied by a member of his
family. Spain had been making war and peace at
his behest, and in 1807 had arranged with him the
partition of Portugal. But it was in defiance of all
treaties that Napoleon was now proceeding to the
military occupation of Spain. Murat entered the
country with eight thousand French troops, in March,
1808, and proceeded to Madrid. The movement was
nothing less than an attempt on the part of Napoleon
to steal the crown of one of the greatest states of
Europe, and if successful to rule not only Spain but
also a boundless empire in the New World. Every
thing was favorable at the time for such an enter
prise. In fact, had he chosen to wait patiently he
might have attained his end in a short time without
such an open and flagrant breach of law.
Carlos IV., the Spanish sovereign, was wholly
unfitted to be the ruler of a kingdom. He had been
reckless of his territorial possessions in the New
World, and had, by the Treaty of Ildefonso, in 1801,
" not as the spoils of an open war, but as the price
of a dishonorable peace," basely and ignorantly aban
doned to France what was known as the Province
of Louisiana, containing 899,579 square miles ; and
Napoleon, without even taking possession, had subse
quently sold this territory to the United States for
fifteen millions of dollars.
The virtual ruler of Spain, however, was the cor
rupt Manuel Godoy, who, though high in favor with
the King, was known to be the paramour of the
Queen (Maria Luisa of Parma). The heir-apparent
to the Spanish throne was Fernando (Ferdinand),
Prince of Asturias, — narrow-minded, incapable of

26 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
generous emotions, and in no respects better than
Godoy, Carlos, or the Queen. He had lately been
suspected of harboring designs upon his father's
life. Scarcely had Murat advanced to the capital, when
an outbreak occurred in Aranjuez. Godoy fell, the
King abdicated, and the Prince of Asturias was pro
claimed King as Fernando VIL, with all the enthu
siasm of which the Spaniards have shown themselves
capable throughout their history. That this move
ment was encouraged by Napoleon, if not actually
instigated by him, there can be little doubt, despite
his subsequent attempts to relieve himself of culpa
bility in the matter. He at first refrained from
acknowledging Fernando, and encouraged Carlos to
withdraw his abdication as having been given under
duress. When it thus became doubtful who was the
King of Spain, Napoleon signified his readiness to
act as arbitrator.
Fernando was persuaded to appear before the
French Emperor in Bayonne, and was followed
thither by Carlos and the Queen. A violent scene
occurred between the father arai son, and Napoleon
succeeded in securing the abdication of both and their
surrender for themselves and for their heirs of all
rights to the crown of Spain. The two royal refu
gees then found themselves virtually prisoners in
France. Carlos attempted to embark for his domin
ions in America, but was prevented. Fernando re
mained a captive in Valencay for five and a half
years, with no knowledge of what was going on
in Spain save as derived from French newspapers.
The crown thus relinquished by Carlos and Fer
nando was, much to the disappointment of Murat,

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 27
first offered to Louis Bonaparte, then occupying the
throne of Holland ; and when indignantly refused by
him, was hastily conferred upon Joseph Bonaparte,
another brother of the great Napoleon.
Napoleon's efforts to obtain some show of consent,
on the part of the Spanish nation, to the nomination
of his brother to the throne, resulted in the submis
sion of the nobles of Spain to the new order of things.
The Council of Castile, the chief political body, gave
its consent, — somewhat reluctantly, it may be, —
and thereby set an example that was followed by the
municipality of Madrid. A junta of one hundred
and fifty Spanish notables, summoned to Bayonne in
July, 1808, accepted a constitution proposed by Napo
leon, by the terms of which the Spanish subjects in
America were to enjoy the same privileges as those
of the mother country, and were to be represented by
deputies in the C6rtes of Madrid.
Fernando, in this emergency, exhibited the duplic
ity of his character in the letters and proclamations
which he sent forth from his imprisonment. The
letters were to Napoleon and Joseph, and contained
expressions of satisfaction and congratulation. Of
the proclamations, one called upon the Spaniards not
to oppose the " beneficent views " of Napoleon ; and
the other was to the Asturians, calling upon them to
assert their independence and never to submit to the
perfidious enemy who had deprived the King of his
rights. The first of these proclamations was regarded as
having been extorted from Fernando under duress
of imprisonment, and was more effective than the
other in arousing the indignation of Spain. Except
ing in localities where the French arms were domi-

28 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
nant, the people rose everywhere in revolt. The
[city of Valencia renounced allegiance to the govern-
jment of Joseph Bonaparte. Sevilla did the same,
and established a junta to watch over the interests
of Fernando and claim the obedience due to him.
This junta declared war against France, in June,
1808. England proclaimed peace with Spain, and
proceeded to aid the Spaniards in their war against
France. The war thus begun continued until 1814,
when Napoleon abdicated the throne of France and
retired to Elba.
Each of the several political juntas now formed in
various parts of Spain sent official notice of its proceed
ings to the Viceroy of Mexico, demanding his obedi-
! ence, and asking for money to carry on the war. At
1 the same time, Napoleon had his emissaries in Mexico
1 striving to promote revolution. They brought orders,
professedly from Fernando and the Council of the
Indies, for the Mexicans to transfer their allegiance
to France.
Information of the course of events in Spain was
communicated to the Mexicans by the proclamation
of the Viceroy dated on the twentieth of July, 1808.
Naturally, perplexity and dismay resulted. The whole
social system seemed to have been shaken loose. The
Mexicans had been taught to regard the possessions
of Spain as vested in the King, and not in the state
or in the people. They could see no justice in any
demand upon their obedience by a government which
the Spanish people had established without their con
sent, and in the absence of their recognized sovereign.
As there was no government in Spain, that country
being overrun by French troops, were not they of the
American provinces left absolutely without a govern-

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 29
ment? and was the necessity not clearly revealed
of their making some provision for a government of
their own?
It is somewhat remarkable, under such circum
stances, to find the people generally manifesting a
feeling of stanch loyalty to Fernando VIL, and of
opposition to the French. It was especially so to
find the Creoles more loyal to the King than were the
Europeans. A former Viceroy had made advances to
the people in the name of Napoleon, and the Audi
encia had been disposed to favor the Junta of Madrid.
But the Creoles received the news of the declaration
of war with France with every demonstration of joy
and loyalty, and it was with enthusiasm that they
proclaimed Fernando VII. their King.
But for the class hatred that existed between the
various components of Mexican society, and for the
lack among Mexicans of leaders having a knowledge
of the science of government, an immediate result of
the perplexing state of affairs in Spain might have
been the pacific withdrawal of Mexico, and the organ
ization there of a representative government with,
perhaps, Fernando VII. as King. The first effort in
that direction, however, unfortunately aroused the
class hatred to its intensest degree, and was thereby
defeated. The Viceroy of that time was Jose* de Iturrigaray,
the fifty-sixth, and by no means the worst, of those
who had occupied that exalted office. He was pub
lic-spirited, an excellent ruler in many ways, and had
shown himself rather favorably disposed toward the
people. He had fostered commerce and stimulated
home industry, although he had pursued the exactions
characteristic of the Viceroys besides such as were.

30 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
necessary to supply Spain with the means to meet
the extraordinary demands upon her finances.
In the perplexities that confronted him, the Vice
roy declared himself determined to sustain in his
government the interests of the dethroned Spanish
Borbons ; and this seems to have been the popular
determination throughout the Spanish-American prov
inces. It was with this purpose in view that Iturri
garay announced the establishment of the Junta of
Sevilla, and required the Ayuntamiento of Mexico to
submit to the orders of that body. But he encountered
most unexpected opposition. In the Ayuntamiento
there happened to be at that time a majority of
Creoles; and some ideas of government had been
developed in the minds of these, ever since the revolt
of the British colonies to the north of Mexico in 1776.
These ideas asserted themselves in the prompt refusal
of the Ayuntamiento to submit to the Junta of Sevilla.
The Ayuntamiento proposed to recognize Fernando
VII. as the monarch, and to remain faithful to him.
But it was recognized that Spain and Mexico were
two kingdoms, and that a junta established in the
former had no authority in the latter, either directly
or indirectly, or by any sort of implication. The
Ayuntamiento therefore recommended the establish
ment of a junta in Mexico, to be composed of deputies
from all the various cabildos of the province, for the
purpose of conserving the interests of Fernando VII.
in Mexico and giving to that country a government.
It then seemed to Iturrigaray that the opportunity
had presented itself for the establishment of some
kind of " home rule " in New Spain, and he was in
clined to assent to the suggestions of the Ayuntamiento
if they could be somewhat modified. He accordingly

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 31
announced his intention of calling a junta or con
gress, to be composed of the Royal Audience, the
Archbishop, and the Ayuntamiento ; and to include
representatives from each province, and from the
several ecclesiastical and secular bodies, the nobility,
the military, and some of the principal citizens. He
also proposed the adoption of some form of provi
sional government in which the people would be likely
to have confidence.
The Creoles were naturally flattered by the impor
tant part conceded to them in this proposed new
order of things. There were ideas of independence
beginning to crystallize in the minds of a few Mexi
cans who had studied the course of events in the
United States, in Mexico, and in Europe. These also
fell in with such a proposition. But the Audiencia,
the Fiscales, and the military and civil officers sent
out from Spain, were of a different mind; and they
formed a powerful oligarchy with whom to reckon.
They were naturally disposed to oppose any measure
advocated by the Creoles, and especially one that re
quired their cooperation with that hated class. They
misconstrued the scheme of Iturrigaray into a trea
sonable design to set up an independent empire in the
country, and to occupy the throne thereof.
The precise details of Iturrigaray's plan do not
clearly appear. He may have hoped that during the
absence of Fernando VII., who was to be the chosen
ruler, the proposed junta would invest him with the
government of Mexico ; and he would thereby insure
his retention of the viceregal office. But neverthe
less it was his undoubted purpose to save the king
dom from anarchy, as well as from French intrigue ;
and the disinterestedness of his motives has never

32 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
been called in question by representative Mexicans.
On the eve of the day set for the accomplishment of
whatever it was intended to do (the sixteenth of Sep
tember — a date which, by a strange series of coinci
dences, was to be associated with a more prominent
effort for the freedom of Mexico), a rich Spanish
merchant living in Mexico, acting under the direc
tions of the Audiencia, and jealous of the ascendancy
the Creoles might gain from the popular form of gov
ernment proposed, appeared before the Viceregal
Palace at the head of a body of five hundred men.
The guards of the palace were overpowered, and the
Viceroy and his family were put under arrest, con
veyed to Vera Cruz, and confined in the fortress of
San Juan de Ulua until they could be sent across the
Atlantic to Spain as prisoners of state.
This " counter-revolution," or " reactionary conspir
acy," was indorsed by the Spaniards of the viceregal
court and of the Audiencia, not only because they sup
posed the plan of Iturrigaray to be an infraction of
their rights and prerogatives, but because they were
alarmed, and their bitter class hatred was aroused by
the suspicion that Creoles and Meztizos were to be
admitted to a share in the government. As the Vice
roy had been held in the highest esteem by all classes
of Mexicans, this treatment of him awakened univer
sal indignation ; and the " Old Spanish party " found
it necessary to take some defensive measures. They
proceeded, therefore, to arm the Europeans against
the Creoles, and to form " patriotic " associations for
the defence of their " rights." They went even fur
ther, and made several arrests among the Creoles,
accusing them, whether justly or otherwise, of being
particeps criminis with Iturrigaray in his schemes.

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 33
A leader of these persecuted Creoles was Licen-
ciado Verdad, whose contributions to the cause of
Independence had been made in the form of pasqui
nades and proclamations appearing daily in the City
of Mexico. He was arrested upon a charge of treason,
and imprisoned in the Archiepiscopal Palace. A few
days later, he was hanged in his prison, without hav
ing had so much as the pretence of a trial. He was
thereupon regarded as a martyr to the popular cause,
and his death awakened a widespread sympathy for the
upholders of the political principles he had espoused.
There was a mystery attending the execution of
Verdad that has never been cleared up, though the
crime of his death was laid at the door of Pedro de
Garibay, an "Old Spanish" soldier whose whole
career had been spent in Mexico, and whom the
Europeans hastened to put in the place of the ejected
Viceroy. He was a bitter partisan of the Spaniards,
and during his brief term as Viceroy ad interim recog
nized the Junta of Sevilla, sent to Spain all the money
he could raise in Mexico, and vigorously prosecuted
those who were under arrest for treason. He sought
by a system of bold and oppressive action to drown all
opposition to the authority of the " Central Junta,"
or Junta of Sevilla.
The discontent of the people increased. The Cre
oles were thoroughly aroused. Strength was given
to the revolutionary sentiments already spreading.
The authority of the " Old Spaniards " began to be
disputed, and from that time to decline. Ideas of a
government independent of Spain began to take deep
root in the minds of the Mexican people. The vio
lence and arrogance of the Audiencia but increased
the Creoles' feeling of hostility to the Europeans.

34 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
I The question in controversy became purely a class
1 question, as to whether Spaniards or Creoles should
' govern New Spain during the captivity of the King.
By the order of the Spanish Central Junta, Garibay
was superseded by the Archbishop of Mexico, Fran
cisco Javier de Lizana. He had been in Mexico since
1804, and had taken part in the deposition of Itur
rigaray ; but he had afterwards changed his views of
the political situation, and so expressed himself to
the Spanish C6rtes. He openly favored the Creoles,
although he promptly crushed an abortive conspiracy
in favor of Independence discovered in Valladolid, in
the province of Michoacan, in 1810, and arrested and
executed the conspirators.
The year 1809 was one of great distress in Spain.
The French overran the country, and drove the Cen
tral Junta from Sevilla to Cadiz. The Junta had
summoned a C6rtes in which the American subjects
of his Majesty were to be represented. This Cortes
was to convene in Cadiz, in March, 1810. Conse
quently there was no time to notify the Mexicans
of the concession made to them, and their places in
the C6rtes were temporarily filled by persons chosen
in Spain. The Junta appointed a Regency of five to
administer the affairs of the government, and then
disappeared from history.
/ This Regency issued a decree, on the twelfth of
/ March, the declared object of which was " to Furnish
/ the Inhabitants of the Extensive Provinces in America
i all the Means Necessary to Promote and Secure their
| Real Happiness." It declared that the Spanish sub
jects in America " were now raised to the dignity of
freemen," and their " lot no longer depended upon the

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 35
will of Kings, Viceroys, or Governors, but would be
determined by themselves " ; and it urged them to
select deputies to the C6rtes from the Spanish posses
sions in the New World.
Thus the spirit of independence was fostered in the j
colonies of Spain by the acts of Liberals at home. It j
seemed to both the governing class and to the gov
erned, that after this action upon the part of the
Regency of Spain, nothing could again permanently
subjugate those who had been so long the slaves
of the iniquitous system of Spanish government.
And even before the idea of popular rights gained
a firm hold on the minds of the Mexicans, the
reverses sustained by the Spanish arms taught them
that those arms were not invincible, and that it
was a military possibility for them to free themselves
from the control of the Audiencia or of an unpopular
Viceroy. The governing class in Mexico felt that the govern
ment of Spain was completely subverted; but there
was a lack of unity among them as to what it was
best to do in such a case. Otherwise they would
have separated from Spain, and compelled the people
to continue their submission to the same harsh rule
to which they had been accustomed, only under a
different name. The loyalty of the people to Fer
nando VII. naturally inclined some of the Old Span
iards. * favor the continuance of the Central Junta ;
o** favored the Regency ; others still sought to
neutral. Could the people — the Creoles
.eztizos — have taken advantage of these divi-
among the dominant classes, and of their
owrr superior numbers, or could they have found a
competent leader who could have guided them to

36 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
such a course, a mighty nation might then have
sprung into existence destined to achieve a splendid
career. But the people lacked leadership and a
knowledge of the science of government. There was
no one even to tell them the value of the oppor
tunity that was theirs. The news of the disasters
in Spain, however, did this at least, — it caused the
formation of clubs to further a scheme for inde
pendence from the control of Central Junta, Regency,
and Audiencia, each of which had become, in the
absence of the legitimate government of Fernando
VIL, a usurper of the supreme power in Mexico.
Lizana's career as Viceroy was brief. He was
summoned to Spain by the Regency, to answer
charges lodged against him by the Junta, upon
representations from Mexico that his lenient policy
towards the Mexicans was breeding insurrection. Pe
dro Catani, the President of the Audiencia, was
Viceroy ad interim until the thirteenth of September,
1810 ; then Francisco Javier Venegas received the
Vireinate in Guadalupe, and arrived in the City of
Mexico as the sixtieth Viceroy.
Venegas had been the leader of the Spanish armies,
but had not been very fortunate in his conduct of
the war then in progress in the Peninsula. He was
scarcely the man to cope with such conditions as
were then existing in New Spain. The mild Iturri
garay would have done better for Spain in such
an emergency. In the first place, Venegas, by reason
of his military failures on the Peninsula, was not
calculated to inspire popular confidence. He was,
furthermore, of hasty and passionate temper. He
continued with vigor the policy of the Audiencia,
and soon forced the people into resistance to his

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE ( 37
efforts to compel them to resume a position from
which they had been specifically released by the
action of the Regency that had appointed him to
office. Three days after Venegas took the oath of office
in Guadalupe, the first actual uprising of the Mexi
cans began in the little town of Dolores, not far from
the city of Guanajuato, and about two hundred miles
northwest of the capital of Mexico. It was under the
leadership of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who has since
been known as " The Father of Mexican Independ
ence." This distinguished patriot was the cura, or
parish priest, of the village of Dolores. He was a
Creole, nearly sixty years of age, and had been for
several years nursing the idea of the independence
of his country. He had mingled with the Indians, had
gained a knowledge of their language, and acquired
a powerful influence over them. At the same time,
his learning and many excellent qualities had made
him popular and influential among the Creoles and
Meztizos. .„— _
From the time of Iturrigaray, the cause of Inde
pendence had been fostered in the cities of Valla
dolid and Queretaro, as well as elsewhere, by means
of clubs, nominally of a literary character, but really
political in their purposes. The clubs maintained
a mutual correspondence, with a view to devising
and ultimately cooperating in a scheme for the estab
lishment of the Independence of Mexico. Of the
club in Dolores, Hidalgo was president. He was
maturing his plans for an uprising to occur during
the great annual fiesta of the Indians, which begins
on the eighth of December. It was expected that
the support of the native races could then be easily

38 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
obtained. Though the plan was intended primarily
for the benefit of the Creoles and Meztizos, yet
Hidalgo had been surreptitiously, manufacturing
lances in a neighboring hacienda for the purpose
of arming the Indians.
Ignacio Allende, Aldama, and Abasalo, — officers
in the provincial militia, which was composed at that
time chiefly of Creoles, — were confidants of Hidalgo,
and participants in his schemes as far as he had re
vealed them. Their plan of action, as at first formu
lated, included the capture of all public officers and
of all persons connected or in sympathy with the
Viceregal government and the Audiencia. This plan
was by no means chimerical, considering the great
disparity in numbers between the Europeans and the
Creoles and higher-classed Meztizos whom it was
intended to enlist in the enterprise. They were then
to proclaim the Independence of Mexico, and to es
tablish a government with a Senate and House of
Deputies, all in the interests of Fernando VIL, who
was to be the recognized sovereign.
To obtain resources for their government, they pro
posed to confiscate the property of the Europeans,
whom they intended to send back to Spain. In its
inception, it was not essentially a race insurrection
that was proposed. It was primarily a Creole move
ment. But when it was concluded to call in the
Indians and half-breeds, a race feeling in all its bitter
ness was aroused.
Discussion of the details of these plans at a so-
called Literary Club in Queretaro, of which the
Corregidor of that city and his wife were members,
and an effort to enlist confederates and cooperating
clubs in some of the principal provincial towns, led

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 39
to the detection of the scheme by the Spanish authori
ties at Guanajuato. This followed closely enough
upon the suppression of the threatened insurrection
in Valladolid to make the Old Spaniards suspicious.
The movements of the Corregidor of Queretaro and
his wife were closely watched, and orders were issued
for the arrest of Allende, Aldama, and Hidalgo. It
was in consequence of all this that the sixteenth of
September, and not a later date, became the received
birthday of Mexican Independence and Nationality.
At two o'clock on the morning of that date, Allende
and Aldama came to the house of Hidalgo, awakened
him, and informed him that their plans had been
betrayed to the government authorities, and that the
whole movement was jeopardized unless the blow
were struck at once. Allende had indeed intercepted
the order for his own arrest, as well as for that of
Aldama and Hidalgo, and showed it to the priest.
They accordingly sallied forth from Hidalgo's house,
with seven other men hastily notified. They went to
the juzgado (jail), and liberated the political prisoners
therein; secured arms from a neighboring cuartel
(military quarters), and armed eighty men whose
allegiance they had by this time and by these means
secured. They promptly seized the Europeans living
in Dolores, and confiscated their property. This open
declaration, at the outset, that the campaign was to
be one of spoils, was not without its effect in attract
ing volunteers from among the Indians and half-
castes. But it was not long before it had the
unfortunate effect of repelling the better class of
Creoles. It was Sunday; and earlier than usual, Hidalgo
prepared to celebrate mass in his parish church. To

40 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
all who were in attendance he announced that the
time had come for Mexico to free herself from Eu
ropean rule, which had become no longer Spanish but
French, and which threatened to overthrow their most
holy rehgion. He intimated that the Spaniards, who
had so long been enemies to the best interests of the
country, were now selling them out to French infidels.
It was no difficult matter to arouse the feelings of his
hearers, and his appeals for the uprising of the people
have since been called the Crrito de Dolores. They
were responded to most promptly and heartily by the
Indians of the little town and of the neighboring
haciendas, and Hidalgo was able to set out that morn
ing at the head of three hundred men, armed, for the
most part, with the rudest kinds of weapons.
Passing the church of Atotonilco, Hidalgo took
therefrom a banner bearing a picture of the Virgin of
Guadalupe, the special patroness of the Mexican
Indians. This banner he affixed to a lance and
adopted as the standard of the " Army of Independ
ence," as he called his motley rabble. He thus ap
pealed to the religious enthusiasm of the Mexicans,
and excited to the utmost their hatred of their Spanish
oppressors; for already a rivalry had sprung up
between the votaries of the Virgin of Guadalupe and
those of the Virgin de los Remedios, the latter being
the special patroness of the " Old Spaniards."
Shouts of " Viva la Religion ! Viva nuestra Madre
Santisima de Guadalupe ! Viva la America y muera
el mal Gfobierno ! Viva Fernando VII. ! " (Long live
religion ! Long live our most holy mother of Guada
lupe ! Long live America and death to bad govern
ment 1 Long live Ferdinand VII.) rent the air as the
insurgents continued their march, their passions in-

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 41
flamed by recollections of years of oppression, — burn
ing for revenge of real or fancied wrongs, and with
the prospect of obtaining rich spoils. But they
were unfortunate in adding soon afterwards to their
war-cry, "Death to the Gachupines!" — for such a
bloodthirsty cry resulted first in alarming and then
in alienating the Creoles. Many of these people were
distinguished for their wealth and high standing, and
they were naturally alarmed at an insurrection which
placed them and their property at the mercy of an
infuriated mob of Indians. In the first excesses com
mitted by the uncontrollable Indians, many of the
Creoles were slaughtered through failure to discrimi
nate between them and the Europeans. The Creoles
were therefore forced to the side of the Viceroy, as he
prepared to adopt defensive measures.
The- insurgents reached San Miguel that night.
The regiment to which Allende belonged declared for
Independence, and joined them. There the riotous
character of the newly formed army became evident
to the leaders, and they perceived what difficulty there
would be in keeping the insurgents within bounds.
A quantity of gunpowder, sent from the City of
Mexico for use in the mines at Guanajuato, was inter
cepted and secured, — more than enough to supply an
army having a limited number of fire-arms and relying
upon its weapons of a ruder sort. More Indian vol
unteers were received, all as ill-armed and lacking in
discipline as the others. Celaya surrendered to the
insurgents, on the twenty-first of September, as they
marched through it on their way to Guanajuato. An
organization of the " army " was attempted in Celaya,
and Hidalgo was proclaimed "Captain-General" of
troops numbering twenty thousand men, including

42 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
some Creole priests, but for the most part a hetero
geneous mass without suitable equipment or discipline
of any kind.
Meanwhile, the Viceroy had awakened to the dan
gers of the situation, and was sending out troops
under skilled commanders to combat the insurgents
and protect the places along the line of their proposed
march. The discovery of the schemes of Hidalgo
had been made in the time of Catani ; and Venegas
had been informed thereof on his way from Vera
Cruz to the capital. He did not regard the matter
as of great importance, however, and upon entering
the capital he proclaimed the decree of the Cortes of
March 12, 1810, and published a long list of rewards
offered for services which might be rendered to the
Spanish government. The main article of this decree
related to the reduction of taxes and the removal of
restrictions upon trade. It was accompanied, how
ever, by a demand for twenty millions of dollars for
the conduct of the Peninsular War. The Viceroy
succeeded in attaching the Creoles more closely to his
government; but his act had no effect whatever
upon the hordes of infuriated Indians overrunning
the province of Guanajuato, or upon their leaders,
who were failing utterly in their efforts to keep them
under control.
The Church had also awakened to the dangers which
threatened it and the government over which it
had established a quasi protectorate. The Bishop
of Michoacan was issuing edicts of excommunication
against the insurgents. Archbishop Lizana issued a
pastoral letter combating the principles upon which
Hidalgo justified the revolution he had started, and
ordering the Spanish and Creole clergy to declare

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 43
from their pulpits, and cause it to be everywhere
known, that the purpose of the revolution was to
subvert the Holy Catholic Rehgion. The Inquisi
tion charged Hidalgo with every error of which that
tribunal took cognizance.
This action would have had greater effect upon
the faithful adherents of the Church among the
popular classes, had it not been that at that time
offices of profit and distinction were being conferred
upon all the Spaniards who had taken part in the
overthrow of Iturrigaray. For Iturrigaray had come
to be regarded as a popular hero and martyr ; and
the benefits conferred upon his opponents revived
the feeling of dissatisfaction aroused by the deposi
tion of that Viceroy. The friends of liberty were
stimulated afresh. The Viceroy Venegas was there
fore forced to recall his conciliatory proclamation and
his list of " inducements," and to publish a proclama
tion offering a reward of ten thousand dollars for the
capture, dead or alive, of Hidalgo and his two chief
military companions.
The city of Guanajuato, capital of a province of the
same name, had about eighty thousand inhabitants, and
was so rich as to divert the Indians under Hidalgo from
the direct route to the City of Mexico. It was, in
fact, next to the capital in point of wealth, being
in the midst of the richest silver mines in Spanish
America. The political chief of the province, Riaflon,
was universally respected for his courage, and was in
command of a small body of troops. The people of
the city showed a disposition to side with Hidalgo.
Riaiion therefore determined not to attempt the de
fence of the city, but he and all the Old Spaniards
took refuge in the Alhondiga, or Castle Granaditas,

44 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
— the fortified warehouse belonging to the Casa de
Contrataeion. There they put themselves in the best
state of defence possible, in anticipation of the arrival
of the insurgents.
Hidalgo arrived on the twenty-seventh of Septem
ber, and, announcing that he had been elected " Cap
tain-General of America," demanded the surrender of
the city. The demand was at first accompanied with
an offer of favorable terms, but was renewed with
the warning that it would be impossible to hold in'
check the infuriated Indians if the surrender were
refused and resistance were made. Riafion, however,
refused to surrender, and prepared to sell his life and
the fives of his fellow refugees as dearly as possible.
The fight that ensued was a bloody one. The
provincial mihtia fought desperately, under skilled
officers, in defence of the city; but without avail.
The insurgents, — for the most part savages armed
with bows, arrows, shngs, machetes, lances, and the
weapons to which they had been accustomed in their
aboriginal state, without discipline, but fighting with
desperate courage, — surrounded the city, occupied
the various eminences that commanded the Alhondiga,
shouted " Death to the Gachupines I " and emphasized
their cries with showers of missiles. They finally
forced the gates of the Alhondiga, and captured the
place by storm on the twenty-eighth. Riafion was
killed as the place was carried.
After the capture, Hidalgo, as he had given warn
ing, found it impossible to restrain his undisciplined
army, and the wildest scenes of confusion ensued.
Despite his efforts and entreaties, a general massacre
took place. For three days the carnage and destruc
tion of property continued, until satiety and weariness

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 45
stayed the hands of the insurgents. Hidalgo suc
ceeded in adding five millions of dollars, found in
the Alhondiga, to the treasury of the revolutionists.
The whole province declared for him. Many of the
provincial militia deserted to his standard, deeming it
unsafe to remain opposed to his army. He continued
his attempts to organize his troops, and kept the
mint at Guanajuato employed in the coinage of
money in the name of Ferdinand VII. He had the
bells of the city cast into cannons for his army.
On the tenth of October he left Guanajuato for
Valladolid, in Michoacan ; and that city declared for
independence immediately upon his arrival. The
Bishop, the- Cdbildo, the civil authorities, and the
European residents, had evacuated the place upon
his approach. He now found himself at the head of
eighty thousand men, but with the army of the Vice
roy organized to oppose him, with himself excom
municated by the Bishop of the Diocese, and with
a reward offered for his head. There was, further
more, a Viceregal proclamation abroad decreeing that
any one taken with arms against the government should
be shot within fifteen minutes of the capture, and
awarding no " benefit of clergy." The decree offered
pardon to all who would return to their allegiance to
Spain. Hidalgo received vast sums from the coffers
of the Cathedral in Valladolid, and began his march
in the direction of the City of Mexico. He re
viewed his troops at Acambaro, and was proclaimed
" Generalissimo." On the thirtieth of October the army of the Inde
pendents gained a victory over the Spanish forces
under General Truxillo at Monte de las Cruces, be
tween Toluca and the capital, and within twenty-five

46 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
miles of the latter place. In this battle the Spaniards
established the precedent of suspending the customary
rules of war, and a flag of truce sent by Hidalgo was
fired upon by order of Truxillo. Of this act Truxillo
boasted in his report of the battle, and it was applauded
by the Viceroy. It is not remarkable that such acts,
which characterized the Spanish in their conduct of
the war that had now opened in good earnest, should
have stimulated acts of a like character on the part of
the insurgents.
The defeat at Monte de las Cruces completely
demoralized the Viceregal army, and might have
served Hidalgo a very good purpose, even to the
extent of the complete success of his plan. The
City of Mexico was panic-stricken, and might easily
have been taken had the insurgent leader followed
up his victory by a march in that direction. But he
manifested an utter lack of military sagacity. After
advancing to the hacienda of Quaximalpa, — only five
leagues distant from the capital, and in full view
thereof, ¦ — and sending a summons to the Viceroy to
surrender (to which the Viceroy vouchsafed no reply),
Hidalgo retreated with his army toward the interior
of the country. The only plausible explanation ever
offered by the admirers of Hidalgo for this strange
conduct is that he dreaded subjecting the capital of
his country to the frightful excesses he had seen visited
by his troops upon Guanajuato.
Allende conducted the retreat, though it was
against his better judgment, and in the face of his
vigorous protest ; and many of the insurgents, disap
pointed by this retrograde movement and terrorized
by the ecclesiastical edicts fulminated against them,
deserted. On the seventh of November the insurgents

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 47
encountered a train of artillery and ten thousand well-
equipped Creole troops under the command of Gen
eral Felix Maria Calleja del Rey, who had been sent
by the Viceroy to concentrate the Viceregal forces.
A bloody and desperate battle followed. The Indians
under the command of Hidalgo displayed courage,
but no discretion. Rushing with their clubs upon the
bayonets of the enemy, they fell in heaps. They were
so ignorant of the effects of artillery that they ran
fearlessly up to the mouths of cannons belching forth
death and destruction, and attempted to stop them
with their sombreros. As an inevitable consequence,
the insurgents were defeated with a loss equal to the
entire troops under Calleja del Rey. Such was the
battle of Aculco.
Calleja went to Guanajuato after this battle, and
made that city the scene of frightful cruelties in
retaliation for the excesses committed by the Indians
under Hidalgo. The inhabitants of the city were
driven into the Plaza Mayor, and men, women, and
children were deliberately butchered. Calleja boasted,
in his official report, that by cutting their throats he
had saved the Viceregal government the expense of
powder and shot. The number of the slain is given
as fourteen thousand ; though it is difficult to believe
that such a scene as this actually occurred upon our
continent and in the nineteenth century. Its effect
upon the Independents may easily be imagined.
Hidalgo succeeded in concentrating his remaining
forces in Guadalajara, where he was received with
every demonstration of joy. He made an attempt to
organize something in the way of civil government.
Retaining for himself the title of " Generalissimo,"
he exercised the functions of political dictator and

48 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
appointed a " Minister of Grace and Justice " and a
" Minister of State and Business." He attempted to
send a commissioner to the United States; but the
commissioner was made a prisoner by the Spaniards,
and from him the exact state of Hidalgo's military
resources and plans were learned, and other informa
tion was gained which hastened the overthrow of the
Patriot-Priest. Hidalgo had lost, in killed, wounded,
prisoners, and desertions, at least thirty thousand
men ; but he still had an army of about eighty thou
sand, mostly raw recruits.
From Guadalajara he issued decrees abolishing
slavery and stamp duties. He changed his policy
somewhat, and removed the portrait of Fernando
VII. from his banner. He began the publication of
a series of " broadsides " entitled Despertador Ameri
cano, in which he sought to justify his acts and to
explain his intentions more fully than he had previ
ously had the means of doing. His edicts declaring
all slaves set at liberty, and his declarations, both by
word of mouth and by printed manifestos which he
sent out until he flooded the land with them, that
Mexico was freed from the Spanish yoke and released
from all obligations to Spanish rulers, had but little
effect. The opposition of the Church authorities was
being felt in restraining citizens from flocking to his
banner, as at first.
Though Hidalgo is now regarded as a national
hero, it must nevertheless be admitted that he fell
far short of being a model leader or an altogether
admirable character. If he were only indirectly or
remotely responsible for the excesses committed, by
the army of half-savage Indians whom he had enlisted
and whom he was incapable of disciphning or control-

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 49
ling, there are some acts recorded for which he was
more directly responsible, and for which it would be
folly to seek justification.
Other Spanish forces were sent against the insur
gents, and they suffered a final defeat in a battle
fought at Puente de Calderon on the sixteenth of
January, 1811. The army of the Independents was
completely dispersed. Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama,
and another insurgent leader, Jimenez by name, held
together, and started toward the North, intending to
purchase arms and procure assistance in the United
States with which to renew the struggle. They were
apprehended and taken under a strong guard, first to
Monclova and then to Chihuahua. In the latter city,
some time in June, 1811, Allende, Aldama, and
Jimenez were executed. Hidalgo was reserved for
more deliberate action. He was tried by an ecclesias
tical court, degraded from the priesthood, and then
dehvered over to the secular arm. He was shot in
his prison in Chihuahua, on the thirty-first of July.
The old man met his death heroically, with his last
breath supplicating Heaven to favor the struggles of
his country for independence.
The heads of these four martyrs to the cause of the
Independence of Mexico were taken to Guanajuato
and placed upon pikes at the four corners of the
Alhondiga, as a warning to Mexicans of the fate that
awaited any who chose to continue in revolt against
the government of Spain. There they remained until
1821 and the dawn of a better day for Mexico. In
1823 the bodies of these heroes were buried under the
" Altar of the Kings " in the apse of the great Cathe
dral in the City of Mexico.
Thus failed, chiefly through lack of a clearly defined

50 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
purpose, the first great movement on the part of the
Mexican people toward Independence. Hidalgo's
mission seems to have been to arouse his people, to
stimulate them to a struggle which must inevitably
result in securing popular liberty, however long de
layed. The cause survived its earliest leaders. The
revolution had advanced too far to be crushed by the
death of its projectors. The ghastly heads upon
the Alhondiga in Guanajuato inculcated a lesson very
different from that which was intended, and served to
inflame the Mexicans with a new sense of their wrongs
and to inspire them with a desire to renew the struggle
with increased vigor.
Other leaders arose, one after another. But as the
conflict deepened in intensity, it was apparent that
hatred of the Spaniards was the animating prin
ciple of the Independents ; and it was scarcely to be
expected that a people brought up under the Spanish
provincial system should suddenly prove themselves
either worthy of liberty or capable of acquiring and
maintaining it.
Among the military chieftains who, in irregular
succession, assumed the direction of affairs, no man
arose of such commanding talent as to insure the com
plete submission of his fellow-citizens and bind them
together by the bonds of a common belief and a com
mon purpose. Personal jealousies began to divide
the Independents into factions, each governed by the
temporary interests or humors of its leaders. Even
in those early days we catch a foreglimpse of the two
great political parties which afterwards kept Mexico
in a disturbed condition for more than half a century.
The partisans of these several factions ignored what
ever at the outset bound them together for common

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 51
action, and betrayed each other. Otherwise the inde
pendence of Mexico had not been so long delayed.
For what might not two millions of Indians, and the
various castes, have accomphshed by concerted action,
under wise and efficient leaders, against ten thousand
or even a hundred thousand Europeans ?

52 - FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER III
THE CONTINUANCE OF THE STRUGGLE FOR
INDEPENDENCE
AT the time of the collapse of Hidalgo's in
surrection, Ignacio Lopez Rayon was left in
command of a remnant of the Army of the
Independents that escaped to Saltillo. There he
found himself with four thousand men and twenty-
two pieces of artillery as the nucleus of an army for a
renewed struggle for liberty. Accompanied by Jose"
Maria Liceaga, he took possession of Zacatecas and
made it his headquarters for a while.
From Zacatecas these new leaders sent word to
General Calleja that the object of the revolution was
to establish a national junta, or congress, which
would conserve the rights of the Roman Catholic
Religion and of Fernando VIL, and prevent New
Spain from falling into the power of Bonaparte. This
explanation was far from satisfactory to Calleja, and
he made a military demonstration which forced Rayon
from Zacatecas. Rayon next established himself in
Zitacuaro, near Valladolid, where he formed a govern
ing board, calling it the " Supreme Junta of Zita
cuaro." This board was composed of five members,
elected by as many land-owners as could be collected
for the purpose, in conjunction with the authorities of
the town. Rayon was himself the President; and
Jose" Maria Morelos, Jose- Maria Liceaga, Dr. Verduzco,
and Dr. Cos were members. Previous to this, the

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 53
insurgents had recognized no authority but force of
arms, and their armies existed without any colorable
authority whatever. This junta was intended to
correct these defects, to give some authority to the
mihtary, and to furnish the armies with a systematic
plan of attack. It was also expected to regulate the
affairs of the "Independents," as they were now
generally called, and to unite the people more closely
against the Viceroy and Audiencia. Rayon therefore
became, to the establishment of civil government in
the provinces held by the Independents, what Hidalgo
had been, and what Morelos was shortly afterwards
to become, to the military conduct of the revolution.
The newly formed junta distinctly recognized Fer
nando VII. as the sovereign of Mexico, and claimed
to govern the country in his name. It claimed an
authority in Mexico equal to that of any of the
juntas of Spain. Doubtless much might have been
gained could all the Independents have united upon
some such theory of government as this. It was,
indeed, somewhat similar to that which was after
wards embodied in the " Plan " that eventually suc
ceeded. It was scarcely more than a revival, if not
actually a survival, of the project of Iturrigaray, as
that project is now generally understood. The first
principle of the junta was more intimate union with
Spain. Events in Spain, however, soon made such
a principle untenable, and it was superseded by a
principle which involved a separation from Spain,
and there was at least one member of the junta
who stood out boldly in his refusal to acknowledge a
king of any kind or on any terms. The junta's chief
importance was in the fact that it served as a nucleus
for the subsequent Congress of Chilpantzingo.

54 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Jose" Maria Morelos was a greater military genius
than Rayon, or any others of his time ; and hence
he was the logical successor to Hidalgo in the military
leadership of the Independents as soon as they could
be rallied and reinforced after the battle of Puente
de Calderon. He was a Meztizo, and like Hidalgo
(whose pupil he had been) a priest of the Roman
Catholic Church. He had followed his old school
master into the conflict with the Viceregal govern
ment, — starting out with more humane and liberal
ideas than those that had prevailed in the earlier
part of the conflict, and adhering to them until
driven by the conduct of his enemies into an oppo
site course. He had distinct and clear ideas of the
Independence of Mexico; and it was natural that
the struggle, as he now prepared to maintain it,
should become more definite in its aims, and con
sequently that it should accomplish more, than those
which had preceded it.
Morelos had already fought twenty-six engage
ments in the south, and had been victorious in all
but two of them. In a battle near Acapulco, which
he made his first objective point when sent out
by Hidalgo in 1810, he defeated a large number of
Viceregal troops, and captured eight hundred mus
kets, five pieces of artillery, seven hundred prisoners,
some ammunition, and a large sum of money. It was
because of such successes as this, often repeated, that
his name has been added by the historiographers of
Mexico to their long list of " Heroes of a Hundred
Battles." Among the lieutenants of Morelos was still another
patriot-priest, Mariano Matamoros, who is sometimes
accredited with even greater military genius than

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 55
Morelos. Dr. Cos, a member of the Zitacuaro junta,
was likewise a priest; so was Navarete, another
patriot-warrior. Later there was a Padre Torres
who established an insurrectionary despotism in the
heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, calling it
the "Junta of Jauaxilla," where he became a terror
alike to Spaniards and Independents. The attitude
of these priests in the conflict is remarkable, inas
much as the revolution was opposed from the first
by the leading clergy in accordance with a papal
encyclical directing them to oppose all attempts to
secure the separation of Mexico from Spain.
A daring plot was discovered in August, 1811. It
was no less than a plan to take the person of the
Viceroy from the City of Mexico and send him to
Rayon at Zitacuaro; there he was to remain in
Rayon's custody, and sign such orders as the latter
might see fit. This discovery so alarmed the Viceroy
that he took steps for the extermination of Rayon
and his followers. Rayon being considered the most
formidable enemy of Spanish rule in America, General
Calleja was sent to Zitacuaro to capture him; but
Rayon escaped, together with his junta. Calleja
destroyed the town, burned the houses, and killed
many of the inhabitants. Prisoners taken at the
time were executed.
The junta went to Sultepec, and there Rayon
found himself at the head of twenty thousand men,
with Manuel de Mier y Teran as his most valuable
mihtary assistant. Rayon was a man of unquestioned
energy and executive ability. He established found
ries in Tlalpujahua for the manufacture of cannon,
and factories for the supply of guns and ammunition.
He secured some coarse wooden type, and printed in

56 " FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Sultepec the Seminario Patriotiea and the lllustra-
dor Americano, papers (perhaps scarcely more than
" broadsides ") which upheld the rights of the people
and justified the movement for Independence. A
paper appeared in the City of Mexico, called El
Pensador Americano, in which Carlos Maria Busta
mante, an eminent historian of Mexico, echoed the
words of Rayon and defended popular rights. It
was at great personal risk that Bustamante thus
undertook to mould public opinion, and he wrote
with such vigor and effect that the Viceroy thought
best to suspend the liberty of the press, although
it had been guaranteed to the people by the Spanish
Constitution and the action of the Regency.
At Sultepec the junta came to be called the " Junta
Americana." When driven out of Sultepec, its mem
bers took the field in various parts of the country,
where the Independent armies met with a discourag
ing series of defeats. There was finally a bitter disa
greement between Rayon on one side and Liceaga and
Verduzco on the other, and this caused the influence
of the junta to decline.
Spain was still at war with France, and Fernando
was still in captivity, when the C6rtes at Cadiz
adopted a new Constitution, in March, 1812. Fifty
Americans had sat in that C6rtes, together with one
hundred and thirty-two members from other parts
of the Empire. By the provisions of this Constitu
tion, the Spanish nation was declared to consist, of
all Spaniards in either hemisphere. All free men
born and residing in the Spanish Dominions, and all
those to whom the privileges of citizenship might be
granted, were to be included in the term " Spaniards."
Spanish citizens alone could vote, or be elected or ap-

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 57
pointed to civil trusts or offices ; and the term " Span
ish citizens " included all Spaniards excepting those
who were by either parent of African descent. Even
these, however, might be admitted to the privileges
of citizenship upon certain conditions.
The government of Spain was to be an hereditary
monarchy, Fernando VII. being recognized as King.
But the royal authority was reduced to little more
than a name, and the Regency became a mere show ;
for the C6rtes invested itself with executive as well
as legislative powers. The legislative power was to
reside in a single body of deputies, and the King was
to possess only a limited power of veto upon the enact
ments of this body. The executive duties were com
mitted nominally to the King, but he was to be aided
by a Council of State and act through nine respon
sible ministers. The application of the laws in civil
and criminal cases was to belong to the Audiencias
and courts alone.
The territories of the Empire were divided into
provinces, each to be governed by a chief to be ap
pointed by the King and a provincial deputation
composed of members chosen biennially by the citi
zens of the respective provinces. The basis of na
tional representation was to be the same in every part
of the Dominions, the number of deputies sent by each
province being proportioned to the number of its
Spanish citizens.
The Council of the Indies had already disappeared
in the course of the political tempest that had swept
over Spain. Under the new Constitution, this Coun
cil was to be replaced by a " Minister of the Kingdoms
beyond the Seas." The Inquisition was suspended,
and the convents and monasteries were dissolved.

58 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The press was freed from all restraints excepting
such as might be imposed upon it by specific laws.
Generally speaking, though the new Constitution
was by no means a perfect one, it was liberal in its
provisions, and a long way in advance of anything
the Spanish provinces beyond the seas had ever
known. It improved the condition of the Indians in
some respects, by exempting them from military ser
vice and from the payment of the most irksome of the
taxes formerly levied upon them. But the Central
Government was empowered to delay the extension
of the privileges granted under this Constitution in
any of the dominions to which it was not considered
safe or judicious to apply them at once, and Mexico
was liable to be placed in that category at any time
at the will of the Viceroy.
Early in 1812, two battalions of Spanish troops,
including a famous Regiment of Asturias which had
won the title of " The Invincibles " in the Peninsula,
came to Mexico, sent there by the Regency of Spain
to support the Viceregal government and to assist in
reducing the Independents to subjection. The C6rtes
of Cadiz was furthermore known to be in negotia
tion with England regarding means for the pacifica
tion of the American provinces. The Constitution
had been proclaimed in some parts of America before
the arrival of the Spanish troops ; but in some prov
inces the proclamation was postponed until after that
time, and consequently the Mexicans were suspicious
of the concessions made to them therein. They had
had a long experience of the falsehood and injustice of
Spain, and had little confidence in the sincerity of the
Cortes or in the power of that body to maintain the
new institutions it had apparently sought to create.

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 59
Thoughtful men in Mexico felt and expressed distrust,
and the more courageous and patriotic of them openly
disregarded the new Constitution.
Venegas, the Viceroy, took the view that the new
Constitution was in most of its provisions impracti
cable in Mexico. He proclaimed it, but he soon saw
that it was impossible for him to maintain his author
ity under it, and after two months he began to sus
pend one provision after another until in a short
time nothing remained. He could not, however,
revoke the concessions made to the people, and the
general effect of his vacillations was to spread the
revolution and make it more popular. For though
the Mexican people might lack confidence in the
ability or even in the intention of the C6rtes to secure
them their rights, they were ready enough to take the
C6rtes at its word when it declared what those rights
were. The military exploits of Morelos were checked
neither by the publication nor by the suspension of
the new Constitution. They included the brilhant
evacuation of Cuautla, and the capture of Tehuacan,
Orizaba, and Oaxaca, in 1812. The first-named place
was a town of about five thousand inhabitants. In
some unexplained manner, Morelos had permitted
himself to be shut up in this town with several of his
brave lieutenants and with not more than three thou
sand soldiers. General Calleja appeared before the
town with twelve thousand men, perfectly equipped
and well disciplined. He was certain of success
when he attacked the town, on the nineteenth of Feb
ruary. But he was repulsed, and forced to lay siege.
The little army within the town suffered all the
horrors of siege until the second of May. Attacks

60 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
were made almost daily during that time, and the
conduct of the besieged was marked by the highest
heroism. The evacuation of the place is regarded as an in
stance of military genius. The soldiers of Morelos
formed in three divisions and marched out of the
town in the middle of the night, unobserved by the
Spaniards until they reached a deep barranca (moun
tain gorge) some distance beyond the Spanish lines.
The Spaniards then discovered the movement, and
made an attack ; but the Independents, by a pre
concerted signal, suddenly dispersed to rendezvous
elsewhere. The Spanish troops began to fire upon
one another in the darkness. So well executed was
the manoeuvre on the part of the Independents, that
only seventeen men were missing at the appointed
rendezvous. After this brilliant retreat, Morelos continued his
successes in other regions. In the towns captured
by him toward the end of the year, much rich booty
was secured. In Oaxaca particularly, sixty cannon,
one thousand muskets, and many prisoners, were
taken. In March, 1813, General F61ix Maria Calleja del
Rey succeeded Venegas as Viceroy. He had been
knighted because of his success at the battle of
Puente de Calderon, and was now the Count of
Calderon. The order for the change in the admin
istration of affairs in New Spain was dated on the
sixteenth of September in the previous year, — the
date most significant in Mexican history. Calleja
was totally indifferent to the provisions of the Con
stitution of 1812, and continued the pursuit of the
Independents, which he had begun in the time of

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 61
Hidalgo, with such vigor as to gain for himself the
title of "The Cruel."
After making the important captures above men
tioned, Morelos made a mistake similar to that of
Hidalgo, and instead of following up the advantage
he had gained and advancing upon the capital with
every prospect of taking it, he returned to the scene
of his first military operations, besieged Acapulco,
and compelled its surrender, in August, 1813. He
then called a Congress of Mexicans, numbering forty
deputies, from the different provinces under the con
trol of the Independents. This Congress was to com
bine with the Junta of Zitacuaro, and take steps
toward the organization of an independent nation.
The deputies were elected by popular vote, and as
sembled in the month of September, 1813, in Chil
pantzingo, about a hundred and thirty miles south of
the City of Mexico. Among the members were More
los, Liceaga, Rayon, Verduzeo, Cos, Carlos Maria
Bustamante, and other distinguished patriots.
This Congress issued an important manifesto, show
ing the principles of the revolution at that time. It
declared that the sovereignty resided in the people.
Spain and America were integral parts of one mon
archy, subject to the same king, — equal, and without
any dependence upon or subordination to each other.
America, because of her fidelity to Fernando, had
more right to convoke the C6rtes and call together
representatives of the few patriots of Spain than Spain
had to call from America deputies who were not
worthy representatives of Mexico. In the absence of
the King, the inhabitants of the Peninsula had no
right to arrogate to themselves the sovereign power
over these Western dominions, and all orders ema-

62 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
nating from such a source were absolutely null and
entitled to no obedience. In refusing to submit to
an arbitrary power, the American nation was only
exercising its proper and inherent rights ; and so far
from this being high treason or a crime, it was a
proof of patriotism worthy of the King's gratitude,
and which he would undoubtedly approve if he were
on the spot. After what had occurred, both in the
Peninsula and in Mexico, since the overthrow of the
throne in Spain, the Mexicans were right in demand
ing such guarantees for the Dominion of New Spain
for its legitimate sovereign, free from the intervention
of any European people.
After this preamble, the manifesto went on to make
the following demands. The European residents of
Mexico were to resign the command of the armed
forces into the hands of a national Congress, inde
pendent of Spain, which was to represent Fernando
VII. and secure his rights in Mexico. They might,
however, if they so chose, remain as citizens under the
protection of the laws, and under a guarantee of safety
as to their persons, families, and property. Such Eu
ropeans as were then in office were to remain with
the honors, privileges, and distinctions thereof, and a
part of the emoluments ; but they were not to ex
ercise any official functions. The most effective
measures were to be advocated with the independence
of Mexico in view ; and all the people of the land,
Creoles as well as Europeans, were to constitute
themselves a nation of American citizens, subjects
of Fernando VIL, bent only upon promoting the
pubhc weKare. On such a basis, Mexico would be
able to contribute for the prosecution of the war in
Spain such sums as Congress might appropriate, as

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 63
evidence of the fraternal relations existing between
Mexico and the Peninsula and as proof of their com
mon aspirations. The Europeans who might desire
to leave Mexico were to be granted passports for
whatever place they wished, but in such case public
officials were not to be allowed any part of their
official pay.
An important part of the document was devoted
to propositions regarding the prosecution of the war
then in progress in Mexico. It was declared to
be a war between brethren and fellow-citizens. The
two contending parties both acknowledged Fernando
VII. as their sovereign. Of this the Mexicans had
given proof by swearing allegiance to Fernando, by
proclaiming him in every part of the country, by
carrying his portrait upon their banners, by invoking
his name in their official acts, and by stamping it
upon their coinage. The war ought not, therefore,
to be more cruel than one between foreign nations.
The rights of nations and the rules of war, observed
even among infidel and savage people, ought certainly
to be regarded among those who were subjects of the
same sovereign. The contest, if it were indeed in
evitable, should be carried on, as far as possible, in
such manner as to be least shocking to humanity.
Prisoners of war should not be treated as guilty of
high treason, and sentenced to death as criminals for
causes purely political. If kept as hostages for pur
poses of exchange, they should not be placed in irons,
but treated each according to his proper condition.
By the rules of war, effusion of blood was only per
missible in the act of combat. The Spaniards had
need to be reminded of this. When the combat was
over, no one should be killed, nor should those who

64 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
threw down their arms or fled be fired upon. They
might be made prisoners by the victors. The severest
penalties should be meted out to such as entered
defenceless towns with fire and sword, or assigned
persons to be shot by tenths or fifths, and thus con
founded the innocent with the guilty.
Ecclesiastical tribunals were not to interfere in
what was clearly and exclusively an affair of the
state, and in no way connected with the cause of
rehgion. The Independents avowed their profound
respect and veneration for the clergy, and recognized
the clergy's jurisdiction in matters relating to their
sacred calling. But if the clergy were not restrained
in their present inclinations, the Independents would
not be responsible for what might result from popular
indignation. And if the propositions set forth in
the manifesto were not accepted by the Europeans to
whom they were submitted, the Independents would
be forced to pursue a policy of vigorous reprisals.
Had the offers of this admirable declaration of
rights been accepted by the Viceregal government,
not only might Mexico have remained to Spain for
many years, but the subsequent history of Spain
itself might have been differently written. The
Viceroy, however, instead of according to the docu
ment the courteous consideration it deserved, treated
it as a treasonable paper, and had it ceremoniously
burned by the public executioner in the Plaza Mayor
of the City of Mexico.
The Congress of Chilpantzingo, under date of
September 15, nominated Morelos Captain-General
of the forces of the Independents, and proceeded to
pass decrees abolishing slavery, imprisonment for debt,
and the collection of tithes for the support of religious

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 65
houses. This action indicated some of the abuses
existing in the pohtical system of New Spain to which
political reformers were beginning to awaken, and
foreshadowed some of the reforms which were to
occupy the thoughts of publicists at a later period.
The Congress first removed to Tlacotepec, and
finally convened in Apatzingan. There, on the six
teenth of November, 1813, it published its formal
Declaration of Independence of Spain. " Mexico was
declared free from Spanish control, with liberty to
work out its own destiny and with the Roman Catholic
Religion for its spiritual guidance." The name chosen
for the new nation was " The Kingdom of Anahuac,"
— under the misapprehension that there had been an
Aztec empire of that name before the advent of the
Europeans. A Constitution was adopted, liberal in
its provisions; and Liceaga, Morelos, and Dr. Cos
were named as the Poder Ejecutivo (Executive Power)
to cany it into effect. Both the Declaration and the
Constitution had the distinction of being ceremoni
ously burned in public, by order of the Viceroy, in
the City of Mexico and in the principal towns of the
country. The Declaration of Independence made but a
slight impression upon the popular mind, for various
reasons, — least of all for the treatment it received at
the hands of the Viceroy ; and the liberal Constitu
tion appealed even less than the Declaration to the
Mexicans. For one thing, the fortunes of Morelos
had begun to wane. Furthermore, there was lack
of harmony in the Congress of Chilpantzingo ; nor
were the members of the Poder Ejecutivo wholly of
one mind upon political subjects and as to what was
best for the welfare of Mexico. Some of the deputies

66 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
in the Congress of Chilpantzingo desired to establish
the traditional colonial system under the Constitution
of 1812. Others desired to adopt purely American
institutions modelled after those of the United States.
The partisan spirit thus rising was marked by great
bitterness. There was a similar want of unanimity
between Congress and the military authorities of the
Independents. But it was news received from Spain
at this time that most powerfully affected the fortunes
of the Declaration and of the Constitution.
Before the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1814, he
had hoped that by releasing Fernando from his
captivity and sending Mm back to Spain he might
create divisions in France by which his own interests
could be served. He accordingly executed a treaty
with his royal captive, and released him. Fernando
ignored the C6rtes altogether, and sent notices of his
release, and of the treaty concluded with Napoleon,
to the Regency of Spain. He entered Madrid in
May, and began at once to carry out his plans for the
reestablishment of absolutism. He rejected the Con
stitution of 1812, and restored the religious orders
to the dominant position they had held before their
suspension by that Constitution. He abolished the
C6rtes, and burned the official records of its proceed
ings. He reestablished the Inquisition, and appointed
a Grand Inquisitor, by whom fifty thousand persons
were imprisoned and not a few were put to the torture.
In pursuance of Fernando's decrees, all adherents
of the Cortes were exiled, and all Liberals, Free
Masons, and the purchasers of property nationalized
under decrees of the C6rtes, were relentlessly
persecuted. The news of the return of Fernando to Spain, and

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 67
of his action in regard to the Constitution of 1812,
caused dissension among the adherents of the Vice
regal government in Mexico; and the Independents
might have profited by taking advantage of these
circumstances, had they maintained harmony among
themselves. The action of Fernando rendered him
persona non grata to those Mexicans whose "rebel
lion " had been against what they had regarded as an
improperly constituted authority opposed to him, and
who had been all the while loyal to him as their King.
For they had learned to rebel against absolutism in
any form, — against even a king, if he were oppressive.
They were furthermore interested in the Cortes to the
extent of being committed to some of the principles
set forth by that body. But while the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution of Apatzingan, and
the Poder Ejecutivo furnished bases of union and
government for the Independents, there was such lack
of harmony among the Mexicans that they failed to
attract adherents. So, though the revolt against
Spain was renewed and invigorated, there was no
definite purpose set before the revolutionists, and the
general result was anarchical, the government of the
Viceroy being the more conservative of the two then
' claiming to exist in Mexico.
Morelos had been anxious to establish himself in
Valladolid and make that place the basis of his future
mihtary operations. No doubt there was a senti
mental regard for his birthplace as an actuating motive
in this matter, — Mexicans are apt to be thus moved,
and their national history exhibits many similar
instances, — though there was also the possibility of
being better connected with the Independents of the
Provincias Internas, as the region was called in which

68 FROM UMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Guanajuato, Guadalajara, and other important towns,
were lootted. So he set out for Valladolid, just after
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, hav
ing seven thousand men in his command. Mata-
moros was able to defeat the Spaniards at Palmar, and
to capture the famous " Invincibles " of Asturias.
This destroyed the prestige of Spanish military superi
ority in Mexico, and gave the people some encourage
ment. But less favorable occurrences were in store
for the army of Morelos.
Congress and the Poder Ejecutivo were forced to
flee before the troops of the Viceroy, and Ario was
selected as the headquarters of the Provisional Govern
ment. Discord continued among the members of this
body, and of the Congress. Differences of political
opinion caused the death of several prominent Inde
pendents at the hands of others. Dr. Cos took
grounds upon some subject contrary to Morelos, and
the latter promptly condemned him to death. He
had worked hard and sacrificed much for the Independ
ents, and in disgust at the treatment he received he
now sought reconciliation with the Europeans and
with the Church, applied to the Viceroy for pardon
for his political derelictions, and spent the rest of his
hfe in the discharge of the duties of his priestly
office. It was evident that another act in the drama of
Mexican Independence was about to close. Morelos
undertook to make a junction with the troops of
Mier y Teran (who was in Tehuacan in the province
of Puebla), and to place Congress under the latter's
protection. He had but five hundred men with him,
and had to traverse sixty leagues of a country of
which the Spaniards were in full possession. His

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 69
despatches were intercepted, and General Mier y Teran
did not learn of his projected movements until too
late to extend him aid. Morelos was attacked near
Texmalaca, on the fifteenth of November. He ordered
an officer to continue his march with the main body
of the troops, and to escort the Congress to a place of
safety, while he with fifty men attempted to divert
the attention of the attacking Spanish troops. He
regarded the safety of Congress of more importance
to the future of the country than his own life.
Morelos was soon captured, loaded with chains,
and taken a prisoner to the capital. There his case
was brought before the Holy Office, which, after
having been suspended by the Constitution of 1812,
had been reestablished in January, 1814, partly for
the purpose of combating the " spread of revolutionary
ideas in Mexico." His condemnation was a foregone
conclusion. It was pronounced on the twenty-sixth
of November, and his was the final auto-de-fe of that
tribunal in Mexico, if not in the world. After de
grading him from the priesthood, as had been done in
the case of Hidalgo, and condemning him to do pen
ance in a penitent's robe, the Inquisitors handed him
over to the secular arm. The inflammatory effect his
execution might have upon the popular mind if too
publicly accomplished was fully appreciated by the
Spanish authorities, and the Viceroy had the prisoner
removed to a small town in the vicinity of the capital.
He was shot, on the twenty-first or twenty-second of
December, 1815, at San Cristobal Ecatepec. From
the time of his capture he persistently refused to
answer any questions regarding his fellow-patriots or
their plans. At his execution, after praying for the
emancipation of his country, he said : " Lord, if I

70 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
have done well, Thou knowest it ; if ill, to Thy in
finite mercy I commend my soul." With Morelos
ended the heroic days of the Mexican Revolution.
Congress convened in Tehuacan, attempted to fill
the vacancy in the Poder Ejecutivo caused by the cap
ture and death of Morelos, and then gave its attention
to subordinate matters rather than to affairs of state.
It voted to each of its members an ample salary, and
gave to one of them the management of the public
funds. It made Mier y Teran (who was the logical
successor to Morelos as Captain-General of the army,
and who was more of a statesman than any of the
Independents had thus far shown themselves to be)
subject to the will of a body of men whom he humor
ously described as ostentatiously calling each other
"Your Most Honorable," while neglecting to trans
act any public business.
Mier y Teran finally dissolved Congress vi et armis,
and put its members under arrest. He justified his
action in a manifesto wherein he showed that Con
gress was inimical to him and was about to deprive
him of his military command, which, as he declared,
had not been derived from Congress and was not
under its control. As Congress at that time had
little influence, and had begun to practise the dis
honest political methods learned of the Spanish offi
cials and in large measure characteristic of later
Mexican office-holders, the step he took was a neces
sary one, whatever question there might be as to his
right to take it. He liberated the members almost
immediately, gave each some money, and allowed
them to depart from Tehuacan. The incident was,
however, fatal to the revolutionary movement then in
progress. The various military chiefs were again left

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 71
without any unifying authority over them, and every
man became a law unto himself. This permitted the
Spanish forces to^rush, one after another, the Inde
pendent leaders, and to disperse their bands of fol
lowers. The struggle rapidly assumed the conditions
of guerrilla warfare.
Mier y Teran was the most influential and promi
nent member of an Executive Junta which succeeded
to the Congress and Poder Ejecutivo, and for a while
he was the most active of the mihtary chiefs. But it
was apparent that the cause of Independence was
languishing. There was no directing power to which
the various military chiefs could bow. Each was ab
solute over his immediate followers, and would brook
no interference from another. A combination of any
two or more forces was rendered impossible by reason
of mutual jealousies and distrust. Their movements,
independent of each other, though constantly harass
ing to the Viceregal government, accomplished no
good whatever to Mexico. In fact, the Viceroy was
justified in regarding them in the same category with
brigands and banditti.
Under these circumstances, many of the wealthy
and intelligent people of Mexico began to look to the
standard of Spain as the symbol of law and good
government, and there was every prospect that quiet
would be gradually restored to the land. The people
were especially flattered by the policy which Spain
now began to adopt, of employing the natives of the
country — Creoles and Meztizos — in offices of trust
and profit. Antonio Perez, a Mexican priest of learn
ing, talent, and character, was, by way of example,
made Bishop of Puebla. This had the effect of recon
ciling a large number of the inferior clergy who had

72 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
previously been sympathizers with Hidalgo, Morelos,
Matamoros, and Navarete, and the most determined
opponents of European domination. The government
furthermore employed every means consistent with
prudence to secure the allegiance of a large body of
native soldiers, and to discipline them ; and retained
only five thousand Spanish troops in the country.
Meanwhile, however, Calleja's cruelties continued.
Matamoros had been executed after being taken pris
oner at the battle of Paruaran, in February, 1813.
Francisco Rayon, the brother of Ignacio, was executed
the day of Morelos' death. Some patriotic women
were cast into prison. Galeana, another of the old
stock of insurgents, was defeated in battle, taken pris
oner, and, in violation of the rules of war, beheaded.
These are but examples of the methods by which the
bloodthirsty Calleja sought to uphold the Viceregal
power, at a time when statesmanship would have
accomplished far more than military rigor.
When, in September, 1816, Calleja del Rey was suc
ceeded in the Vireinate by Juan Ruiz de Apodaca,
the revolution appeared to have been crushed out.
The freebooting expedition of Francisco Javier Mina,
a Navarrese sympathizer with the Independents of
Mexico, was cut short by his defeat at Venadito, in
October, 1 817 ; and his execution followed the next
month. This expedition was, in fact, scarcely more
than an effort on Mina's part to transfer to Mexico
the guerrilla warfare he had carried on in Spain.
It failed to awaken any enthusiasm in the people
generally. He had set forth as his object the estab
lishment of the Independence of Mexico on a consti
tutional basis without the separation of the country
from Spain.

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 73
Excepting for Mina's military operations, Mexico
was little disturbed by actual war after the capture
of Morelos, until 1820. The policy of the new Vice
roy was conciliatory, and did more in a short time to
suppress the revolution than all the rigors of Felix
Maria Calleja del Rey had done in all the years in
which he ruled Mexico with a rod of iron. Some of
the Independent leaders accepted the pardon offered
by Apodaca, and joined the party of the Viceroy.
Only a few patriots suffered imprisonment. Rayon,
deserted by his professed followers, was captured and
detained in prison in the capital until 1821. In 1828
he was a General, held in high esteem by the people ;
but he disappeared from view in the later history of
the country. Verduzco fell into the hands of the
Spanish, and escaped execution only by taking advan
tage of the general amnesty offered under the Consti
tution of 1812, when it was reestablished in Spain.
Liceaga was assassinated by one of his own captains.
Mier y Teran surrendered, and retired to private life.
In 1819 the Viceroy reported to the Regency that he
would answer for the safety of Mexico, and that there
was no need of sending any more troops from Spain.
Nevertheless there were a few scattered mihtary
leaders who held out against the offers of the Viceroy
and the blandishments of the Constitution of 1812.
These were destined to become conspicuous in the
subsequent history of the country. Feiix Fernan
dez's adventures in the mountain passes read hke a
romance. Juan Alvarez, a full-blooded Indian, was
operating in the south ; and Vicente Guerrero was
fighting for the Independence of his country in the
region already famous by reason of the mihtary ex
ploits of Morelos.

74 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER IV
THE "PLAN DE IGUALA," THE TREATY OF COR
DOBA, AND THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE
UPON Fernando's reestablishment of Absolut
ism in Spain, a revolution broke out in that
country. In 1820, the Constitution of 1812
was proclaimed by the revolutionists in Saragossa,
and Fernando found himself under the necessity of
proclaiming it in Madrid, and convening the C6rtes.
His speech at the opening of that body was remark
able for its expressions of liberal sentiments, and for
its general hypocrisy. The C6rtes proceeded to re
store its former work : it dissolved the convents,
abolished the Inquisition (this time finally), ordained
the freedom of the press and the right of holding
popular meetings and forming political clubs, and
even went so far as to seize the tithes of the secular
clergy on the grounds that the money was required
by the State in a great emergency.
When the restored Constitution and the decrees of
the C6rtes came to be promulgated in Mexico, there
was a great commotion among the European resi
dents there. The results were almost the opposite
of what had been expected in Spain. The people
were at the time excited over an election in which
they were to exercise the suffrage, and the spirit
of Independence was about to break forth again.
The Creoles were of course pleased with the restora-

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 75
tion of the Constitution, whereby their rights were
recognized and enlarged. The Europeans, however,
were divided in their opinions. Some were favorable
to the new order of things, while others preferred the
old system under which they had fattened and grown
wealthy. The pay of the army was reduced under
the new system, and this caused widespread discon
tent in that powerful political body.
In Spain, the adherents of the King in his struggle
with the liberal party were known as " Serviles."
The Serviles among the Europeans of New Spain
thought of offering a refuge to Fernando in Mexico,
and thus securing to the clergy through him the
rights of which they were deprived by the Constitu
tion and the liberal decrees of the Cortes. The Vice
roy, Apodaca, was under the influence of the Serviles.
After taking the oath prescribed by the C6rtes to
support the Constitution, he was really planning its
overthrow. The clergy of Mexico now found themselves forced
into a curious position. Under orders from the Pope,
they had, nine years before, opposed the revolution
in Mexico, and had denounced as heretical the idea of
Independence or separation from Spain. But that
was at a time when they felt that Spain and the
Spanish system were the only conservators of their
rights and privileges. Now they found their rights
and privileges menaced from that very quarter. The
liberal Constitution took from them much valuable
property and many prized prerogatives. It was
the liberalism of Spain, not that of Mexico, that
now threatened religion itself. Their interests de
manded " an absolute separation from Spain and its
radicalism."

76 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The clergy began to hold secret consultations with
their closest adherents among the " Old Spaniards,"
and to devise means whereby the rights and preroga
tives of the religious orders might be conserved, the
immense revenues of the Church saved, and the co
operation of the people of Mexico (whom they had
previously estranged) secured in their interests. The
Spanish treasury was known to be exhausted, the
army was unpaid and ready to mutiny, and there
were other indications that should the struggle for
Independence be renewed it would be successful. It
was a foregone conclusion that sooner or later an
independent nation would be established in Mexico.
It seemed best for the clergy and their friends to
effect a compromise with the extreme Independents,
and get control of the revolutionary movement. With
this object in view, meetings were held in the Church
of the Profesa in the City of Mexico, and were at
tended by " Old Spaniards," Creoles, and the more
influential Meztizos. The clergy were, of course,
largely represented. As a result of these meetings,
a plan of action was agreed upon for accomplishing
what Hidalgo, Morelos, and thousands of heroes had
fought and died for — the Independence of Mexico.
Prominent among those interested in this new
movement was Agustin de Iturbide, who was des
tined to take a very prominent part in the affairs
of Mexico. He was a native of Valladolid (now
Moreha), and a Meztizo, his father being Spanish
and his mother a Mexican; but he was regarded
as a Creole, and was generally so termed. He had
entered the provincial mihtia at the age of sixteen,
was rapidly promoted until he reached the rank of
colonel, and in 1820 was in his thirty-eighth year.

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 77
Upon the outbreak of the revolution under Hidalgo,
he looked into the nature of the quarrel between
Mexico and Spain, and at first espoused the cause
of his native land. But he soon afterwards joined
the troops organized for the support of the Viceregal
government. Up to 1820, the energy, not to say
vindictive cruelty, with which he had pursued the
revolutionists left no grounds for suspicion as to the
direction of his sympathies in political affairs. But
he had recently been removed from the army for
some malfeasance, and was an idler in the City
of Mexico, devoting himself to religious exercises
and extending his intercourse with the clergy. He
was handsome in person, of elegant address and
polished manners, and was highly esteemed by the
clergy, through whose influence he regained much
of the popularity he had lost by his cruelties and his
rupture with the army and the government.
His rapid promotion in the Viceregal army stimu
lated his ambition, and his observation of affairs in
Spain changed his political views. With the entire
separation of Mexico from Spain, there would be no
chances for his further advancement, civil or mihtary.
He had nothing to hope from the Mexicans, having
been a bitter opponent of the Independents. If, on
the other hand, he were allied to the successful party,
and had a hand in effecting the separation which he
now concluded was inevitable, his chances for promo
tion under the new regime would be greatly enhanced.
He believed that the cause of Independence could be
made to triumph by effecting a union of the Euro
peans, the Creoles or Meztizos, and the Revolutionists,
under a " Plan " then under discussion at the Church
of the Profesa. He was taking an active part in the

78 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
meetings being held there, and afterwards claimed to
have originated the "Plan" which was finally adopted.
When the necessity for a military leader arose, the
qualifications of Agustin de Iturbide were readily
seen by the plotters at the Church of the Profesa,
and he was selected for that position. The military
leader being thus secured, it became necessary to
secure an army for him to lead. This was accom
plished by inducing the unsuspecting Viceroy to
appoint Iturbide to the command of a native army
which was preparing to destroy Vicente Guerrero,
and proclaim in the western coasts of Mexico the
restoration of the King's absolute authority, which
the Viceroy was expecting simultaneously to proclaim
in the capital.
General Vicente Guerrero was the one revolution
ary chief who had refused all overtures from the
Viceroy, and was still in formidable resistance to his
authority. He was of humble origin, and was said
to possess that drop of African blood in his veins
which deprived him of the rights of Spanish citizen
ship under the Constitution of 1812. He had been a
follower of Morelos, and had led bands of guerrillas
after the defeat of that great patriot-priest. In March,
1818, he was apparently the only general officer in
resistance to the government of the Viceroy. Thus
early he set to work to collect the scattered patriots
and reorganize them for a final struggle. By a series
of victories over the Viceregal forces in 1820, he won
recognition as a formidable revolutionary leader. He
was destined to become an important factor in the
liberation of Mexico from Spanish domination.
The army of Guerrero was threatening a march on
the capital, where the mihtary strength of the Vice-

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 79
roy was concentrated, when Iturbide was sent to
destroy it and proclaim the absolute authority of the
King. ' Iturbide left the capital, in November, 1820,
with twenty-five hundred soldiers, and established
himself near the headquarters of the Independent
chief. He was in no haste, however, to engage in
battle. He was convinced that by bringing the old
insurgents to act in concert with the Creole troops,
he might easily shake off the authority of Spain and
proclaim the absolute Independence of Mexico. On
these points there was a perfect understanding be
tween him and the clerical schemers at the capital.
The following February (1821), an interview was
arranged between the two mihtary leaders. Iturbide
disclosed his plan for the establishment of a Constitu
tional Monarchy in Mexico which should guarantee
to the people, (1) the Roman Catholic Religion, with
out toleration of any other, and with the rights, im
munities, and property of the clergy preserved and
secured; (2) the absolute independence of the coun
try; and (3) the enjoyment of the same civil rights
by all of the actual inhabitants of Mexico, whatever
their birthplace or descent, — thus doing away with all
distinctions of race or color. The scheme provided
for the recognition of Fernando VII. as Emperor, pro
vided he would consent to occupy the throne in per
son and take an oath to observe the Constitution to
be adopted by a Congress of the Mexican nation.
Guarantees were to be given for the conservation of
the property and rights of the clergy ; and provision
was to be made for an army to take the Roman
Catholic Religion under its protection, for a Mexican
Congress to frame a Constitution, and for a governing
junta pending the arrival of the King.

80 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
On the twenty-fourth of February, 1821, Iturbide
assembled the chief officers of his army at Iguala and
presented to them a set of propositions for the institu
tion of a national government in Mexico in conform
ity with this scheme, to which was given the name
of Las Tres Gfarantias (The Three Guarantees),
though it has ever since been popularly known as
the " Plan de Iguala " from the little village (now in
the State of Guerrero) directly south of the capital,
where it was announced to the army of the Viceroy.
The " Three Guarantees " — Religion, Independence,
and Union — were to be symbolized, in the national
flag to be adopted, by the colors red, white, and
green. The " Plan de Iguala " was more definite than any
that had preceded it, and gave more certain promise
of success. The concession on the part of the cleri
cal promoters of the plan was, of course, in regard to
the equality of the various social classes ; all class dis
tinctions were to be abolished. Compensation for this
concession was to be had in the protection which the
clergy hoped to receive for their religious privileges.
The proposal of adherence to Fernando was intended
merely to deceive. When the Independents hesitated
to accept a government under a Borbon prince, they
were assured that there was little prospect of the exe
cution of that part of the plan, though the primary
intention was to free Mexico from the domination of
Spain and Spanish people, not from that of the King.
It was necessary to have this provided for at the out
set, though it was generally understood that the pro
vision was not likely to be retained. The Mexicans
generally, apart from the Independent leaders, knew
little and cared less about the form of government to

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 81
which they were to submit when once freed from that
of the Viceroy and Audiencia ; and, visionary and im
practicable as it now appears, the idea of giving to
Fernando VII. an Empire in the Western World, in
place of one he had found so irksome in Spain under
the constitutional restrictions imposed in 1812, was
very attractive to the Mexican people at that time.
It was, in fact, the Spanish C6rtes that objected.
The " Plan de Iguala " was a most impudent subver
sion of their plans. Fernando was, indeed, under
their arrangement of affairs, a mere figure-head in the
government of Spain and persona non grata to the
Spanish people. But the C6rtes preferred to have
that figure-head kept at home. It was not the inten
tion to have the King transfer his capital from Madrid
to the City of Mexico, and establish on American
soil a new Empire to be the rival of the old. And
although the C6rtes treated the matter with all seri
ousness when it came before it, it could not fail to
see the ludicrous side of the Mexican proposal.
Guerrero received the disclosures of Iturbide's plan,
when first made to him, with uncontrolled joy, and
at once ceded to the Meztizo Colonel the command
of the "Army of the Three Guarantees," composed of
his own forces and those under Iturbide, who swore
to support the " Plan de Iguala." The news of the
movement spread like wild-fire throughout the coun
try. Iturbide went into the Provincias Internas to
arrange for its publication there, leaving Guerrero in
command of the troops in the south.
All the Viceroy's offers of money and pohtical
advancement failed to win the now revolutionary
Commander-in-chief back to his former allegiance.
Iturbide not only took with him the soldiers in his
6

82 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
immediate command, but he influenced many others
to espouse the cause of the " Plan de Iguala."
Pedro Celestino Negrete, who up to this time had
been in command of a division of the Viceroy's troops,
pronounced for the Plan in Guadalajara. Colonel
Anastasio Bustamante, afterwards President of Mex
ico, with his whole regiment, declared in favor of
the Plan; and the Creole troops, which had not
joined in the previous revolutions, now came forward
in support of this. Juan Alvarez, Carlos Maria Bus
tamante, Jose- Joaquin de Herrera, Nicolas Bravo,
and many others who were destined to attain to promi
nent places in the subsequent history of the country,
gave in their adhesion to it. Antonio L6pez de Santa
Anna, and others on the Gulf Coast, arose in support of
the Plan ; Felix Fernandez came forth from his hiding-
place ; Revolutionary leaders who had retired from the
struggle discouraged., again came to the front; and
Iturbide soon found himself at the head of sixteen
thousand men, all enthusiastic over the success of the
new enterprise. The Bajio, Valladolid, Toluca, Quere
taro, Puebla, Durango, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, and other
localities, came into the ranks of the " Three Guaran
tees." The Independence of the country seemed
assured without the sacrifice of another drop of
blood. Such were the conditions which caused the retire
ment of Viceroy Apodaca from Mexico. It is believed
that he was at first inclined to favor the "Plan de
Iguala " ; but when he saw the true state of affairs,
and what it was that Iturbide was seeking to accom
plish, he declined the offer made to him of the Presi
dency of a junta to be created to carry the Plan into
effect, and issued a proclamation warning the people

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 83
against the new movement and offering pardon to all
who would abandon the constantly growing forces of
the " Three Guarantees." Nevertheless, the Serviles
seemed to regard him with suspicion, and brought
charges against him of lacking energy in an emergency
and of taking no active measures against the Plan.
The troops in the capital mutinied, and seemed in
clined to go over to the army of Iturbide. So Apo
daca resigned, and on the fifth of July, 1821, turned
the government over to his Chief of Artillery, Fran
cisco de Novella.
Apodaca is known in history as " The Unfortunate."
Novella appears as Viceroy ad interim, but he did httle
by way of discharging the functions of the Viceregal
office, and his term lasted but a few days. His author
ity was scarcely recognized. The Serviles failed to
support him; the officers of the army ignored him.
On the thirtieth of July, 1821, General Juan
O'Donoju, bearing the commission of Captain-Gen
eral, arrived in Mexico to supersede Novella. Upon
landing in San Juan de Ulua, he took the oath of
office as Viceroy, and issued a proclamation declaring
the liberality of his principles and the rectitude of his
intentions, and holding out the prospect of arranging
satisfactorily all that was desired by the "Plan de
Iguala." He requested that hostilities might be
suspended until he could consult with the Independ
ents and receive instructions from Spain. Vera Cruz
was then in the hands of the Independents under
Antonio L6pez de Santa Anna. O'Donoju was there
fore placed in the embarrassing position of having to
ask of Santa Anna the privilege of landing upon the
continent, and of requesting from Iturbide a safe-
conduct to the capital.

84 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
O'Donoju (whose name bespeaks his Irish origin)
saw at a glance that it would be impossible to arrest
the revolution by force, and he proposed to treat with
Iturbide. Iturbide answered his letter by offering to
meet him in C6rdoba; and there they met, on the
twenty-fourth of August, 1821. With that date, the
Independence of Mexico may be considered as begun.
There was apparently no difficulty in getting O'Donoju
to sign, on behalf of the government he was supposed
to represent, what is known as the Treaty of C6rdoba.
This Treaty embodied the "Plan de Iguala." It
declared Mexico sovereign and independent, and pro
vided for a constitutional, representative monarchy;
for the call of the Borbon family of Spain to the
throne; and for the immediate establishment of a
provisional government, pending the arrival of the
chosen monarch. The Treaty also assured to the
people the liberty of the press and the equal rights of
Mexicans and Spaniards then residing in the country,
and agreed that the army of the " Three Guarantees "
should occupy the capital and that the Spanish troops
should be sent out of the country as speedily as pos
sible. In accordance with this stipulation, Colonel
Herrera entered the capital, on the twenty-third of
September, with a detachment of the Independent
troops. The Commandant at San Juan de Ulua and
Novella, in the City of Mexico, were the only promi
nent military officials who remained in opposition to
the Treaty of Cordoba ; and their following was but
small. The Treaty of C6rdoba having been secured, and
all things being in readiness, Iturbide, on his thirty-
ninth birthday (twenty-seventh of September), entered
the capital in triumph at the head of his army. He

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 85
was hailed as " The Liberator," and the occasion was
marked by every demonstration of joy. He at once
gave his attention to executing that clause of the
Treaty which provided for a government ad interim.
The provisional government, consisting of the Bishop
of Puebla and two lay associates, selected Iturbide,
O'Donoju, Manuel de la Barcena, Jose' Isidro Yafiez,
and Manuel Vasquez de Le6n, to compose the
Regency. Barcena, Yafiez, and Leon are new names in the his
tory of these times. They were among the promoters
of the " Plan de Iguala," and had previously taken no
interest in the Independence of Mexico save to oppose
the Revolutionists. The five Regents were without
delay solemnly installed in the Cathedral, upon taking
an oath to support the Treaty of C6rdoba. The
Regency organized by electing Iturbide President.
He appointed a ministry altogether inconsistent with
the declared purposes of the " Plan de Iguala," and
inadequate to the special demands of the times. The
old Revolutionary party was completely ignored, and
the portfolios of Hacienda (State), War and Marine,
Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs, and Domestic and
Foreign Relations, were given to the new party of
Independents, — those who had sought and obtained
the separation from Spain through the "Plan de
Iguala." The death of O'Donoju, on the eighth of October,
enabled Iturbide to augment his powers still further.
The Bishop of Puebla was appointed to the place of
the deceased Viceroy in the Regency, and Iturbide
conferred upon the prelate the honorary presidency
of that body, while he retained for himself the com
mand of the army, with the title of Generahssimo and

86 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
an annual salary of one hundred and twenty-five thou
sand dollars, and thus grafted upon the political system
of the new nation one of the worst features of the Old
Spanish rigime — ecclesiastical and military domina
tion. With the further title of " Lord High Admiral "
conferred upon him, and addressed by the people as
" Serene Highness," the Meztizo Colonel was within
a step of the gratification of his loftiest ambition. He
separated himself from the old Revolutionary leaders,
ignored the services they might render him, allied
himself with the army, and ingratiated himself with
the clergy and aristocratic classes as most likely to
serve him in time of need.
A junta composed of thirty-eight " Notables," and
more popularly constituted than the Regency, pro
ceeded to arrange for the organization of Congress, as
contemplated by the " Plan de Iguala ; " but its mem
bers did not propose to accept too readily Iturbide's
plans for the organization of that body. Instead of
two houses of legislation, they proposed to allow but
one, and that was to be composed of deputies elected
by the people. In those provinces which were to
send more than four deputies, they proposed that
there should be one ecclesiastic, one military man,
and one lawyer; and although all the members of the
junta professed to be guided by the " Plan de Iguala,"
a diversity of political views became apparent from
the outset. Certain writers at this time began to pro
pose openly the adoption of the Republican form
of government. The public press began to attack the
" Plan de Iguala." An organized movement toward
the establishment of a Republic was actually dis
covered and suppressed by Negrete, toward the end of
the year, and Felix Fernandez, Nicolas Bravo, and

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 87
others, were made to suffer imprisonment in con
sequence thereof.
When assembled, on the twenty-fourth of Febru
ary, 1822, Congress was found to comprise three
distinct parties, notwithstanding the oath taken by
each deputy to support the " Plan de Iguala " and
the Treaty of C6rdoba. The " Borbonistas " were
the strictest adherents to the Plan and Treaty, and
desired a constitutional monarchy with a Prince of
the House of Borbon at its head. They comprised
the Spaniards who had been unable to leave the
country because of their valuable interests therein,
and whose welfare could only be conserved by a
strict construction of the Plan, of which they were,
in fact, the original promoters.
The " Republicans " desired that the Plan should
be set aside, and a Federal Republic be instituted.
They fully appreciated the difficulties in the way
of realizing their hopes, but they had begun to be
suspicious of Iturbide; and being composed for the
most part of the old Revolutionary leaders, they
were naturally hostile to him personally.
The third party called themselves "Iturbidistas."
They accepted the " Plan de Iguala," but, anticipat
ing the action of the Spanish Cortes in regard to the
Treaty of C6rdoba, they were preparing to substitute
Iturbide for the Borbons named in the Plan and
Treaty, and elevate him to an Imperial throne.
These partisans of Iturbide comprised representatives
of the army, the clergy, and the more influential
Creoles. The three political parties thus beginning
to crystallize foreshadowed those which subsequently
played foot-ball with the highest interests of the
Mexican nation.

88 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The declaration of the Spanish C6rtes that the
Treaty of C6rdoba was null and void, was received
in Mexico at the time that the Constituent Assembly
or Congress was organized under the Presidency of
a pronounced opponent of Iturbide. The resolution
of the Cortes to make an effort to recover the Ameri
can provinces by reinforcing the troops in the revolt
ing countries, meant nothing more than an emphatic
protest against the course affairs were taking; for
Spain had neither money nor men to spare at the
time. And the immediate result in Mexico was that
the " Borbonistas " ceased to exist as a party, and the
interests of the Congress were narrowed down to those
of the " Iturbidistas " and Republicans. The latter
were led by such men as Guerrero, Fernandez, Bravo,
and others of their class, and were augmented by the
former " Borbonistas." They were bitterly opposed
to the further advancement of Iturbide. Guerrero
naturally felt that he was entitled to some recognition
in the distribution of honors under the new regime.
Congress, which was largely dominated by the
Republicans, placed further obstacles in the way of
Iturbide's progress toward the gratification of his
ambition. The reduction of the army was a blow
aimed at his personal support. The Regency was
deposed, and General Bravo, the Count of Heras, and
Miguel Valentin were placed in their stead. A de
cree inhibiting the members of the Regency from
bearing arms, intended to suppress Iturbide's candi
dacy for the Imperial throne, passed to its third read
ing, and was about to be adopted, when Iturbide
made up bis mind that it was time for his friends to
take the final step necessary to secure the ends he
had in view.

THE FIRST MEXICAN EMPIRE 89
On the eighteenth of May, 1822, the " Liberator "
obtained a pronunciamento in his favor in the cuartel
of San Hipolito in the capital. The ostensible
leader in the movement was one Pio Marcha, a ser
geant in the First Regiment of Infantry, who but for
this would have been absolutely unknown to history ;
and despite his important relation to the incidents
now brought to our attention, obtained no greater
promotion than to a captaincy. He was seconded
by Epitacio Sanchez, Colonel of a regiment of Horse
Guards, and the movement spread to the various
cuartels of the city and was assisted by demonstra
tions in favor of Iturbide in the theatres and by
salvos of artillery in the streets. Enthusiasm is
infectious, and to any disinterested spectator in the
City of Mexico that day it would -undoubtedly have
appeared that the popularity of Iturbide had been
increasing rather than diminishing since he made his
triumphal entry into the city as the Liberator of his
people, and that the whole city had determined upon
his becoming the Emperor of the nation.
In a turbulent meeting of the Congress, from which
the Republican members were in a measure excluded,
and in which the influence of Iturbide was by various
means greatly extended, — with the galleries filled
with his friends, who were instructed to applaud at
any mention of his name, — Iturbide was elected
Emperor of Mexico by a vote of seventy-seven to
fifteen. If we may accept his own account of these
proceedings, his election was greeted with unre
strained enthusiasm, and the air was rent with shouts
of " Viva el Emperador! Viva Agustin I. !"
He immediately took the oath of office before Con
gress, and organized a Provisional Council of State,

90 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
composed of thirteen persons. Then, to the neglect
of matters upon which the welfare of the nation and
the happiness of the people depended, he applied
himself to the arrangement of the succession to the
throne and the titles to be borne by the members
of the Imperial family. On the twenty-fifth of July
he was anointed and crowned in the Cathedral
in Mexico, and assumed the title of "Agustin I.,
Emperador."

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 91

CHAPTER V
THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE, THE RISE OF THE
REPUBLIC, AND THE CONSTITUTION OF 1824
THE Empire over which Iturbide thus became
ruler was the third largest in extent of ter
ritory of any in the world, — China and
Russia alone being larger. Of the former posses
sions of Spain in the North American continent, it
lacked the Province of Louisiana, of which Carlos
IV. had disposed without regard to the wishes of his
subjects ; and the Province of Florida, nearly sixty-
seven thousand square miles, which Fernando VII.
had sold to the United States in 1819. Shortly after
the establishment of the Independence of Mexico,
Guatemala separated from that country, and Chiapas
became a part of Mexico's territory. The Empire
was divided into five Captaincies-General, and in
cluded a large and but partially explored territory
north of the Rio Grande del Norte, extending to the
Pacific Ocean.
It was -a nation of magnificent opportunities. Its
natural resources were without limit; and had Itur
bide been guided by counsels of prudence, and had
he known something about government, the history
of the Mexican Empire might have been differently
written. Had he been more desirous of emulating
the virtues of Washington, and less influenced by
the example of Napoleon Bonaparte, he might have

92 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
laid the foundations of a nation whose development
would have been steady and continuous. But he
soon proved himself a foolish sovereign, and his
Empire was short-lived. His head was turned by his
sudden elevation. He drove about the capital, invit
ing the admiration of the people, and too plainly ex
hibiting the delight which it afforded him. He gave
attention to the devising of court pageants, rather
than to the more important affairs of government.
He instituted an order of nobility, calling the mem
bers " Gentlemen of Guadalupe," — which caused the
members of the Spanish nobility who still resided in
Mexico to express their disgust with what they called
" a caricature of the European system." The attempt
at regal splendor which marked his establishment in
Tacubaya was criticised, and he was sneered at for
the attention which he bestowed — out of all propor
tion to their importance — upon his person, his car
riage, and his clothes. His arrogant manner was such
as to draw out the caustic remark that " he seemed
to believe that he dominated the world."
Had he confined his authority within constitutional
bounds, both he and his Empire might have fared
otherwise than they did. But he forgot that his
Empire was but an experiment, and that his throne
rested upon a very unstable foundation. It was -to
the intense disgust of the Old Spaniards remaining
in the country, of the Creole aristocracy and of the
privileged classes, who could ill endure the elevation
of a Creole Colonel to an Imperial throne over their
heads, as well as to that of the sturdy old Revolution
ary leaders with expanding Republican ideas, that he
assumed the airs of hereditary royalty.
A monarchical government for Mexico fell far short

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 93
of meeting the ideas of the Revolutionary leaders.
Some of them had ambitions equal to those of Itur
bide, and it was far from agreeable to them to witness
his elevation and find themselves without any politi
cal reward for all their patriotic services and pre
cluded from all hope of promotion. It was not for
Iturbide's aggrandizement that they had sacrificed
fortune and incurred the perils of the battle-field.
The Empire of Iturbide seemed a poor result for the
sacrifice of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, Jimenez, Mat
amoros, Morelos, Galeana, and a hundred other dis
interested and pure-minded patriots.
Iturbide's conduct in the use of the power thus
suddenly bestowed upon him increased the opposition
he had aroused. His rule was arbitrary and dicta
torial. He claimed the right to veto any article of
the Constitution which the " Constituent Assembly "
(as Congress was called) was laboring hard to provide,
and the absolute right to appoint judges for the tri
bunals which the Assembly created. He urged the
creation of a military tribunal which was to have
jurisdiction in civil causes. He placed repeated ob
stacles in the way of popular government, and thus
instituted theories of Centrahsm destined to cause seri
ous trouble to the country in the future and require
the expenditure of lives and fortunes to correct.
The Emperor's proposal for the establishment of
military tribunals was rejected by Congress, and an
open breach was created between the Executive and
Legislative branches of the government. Iturbide
arbitrarily imprisoned some of the most distinguished
members of Congress, and established a Junta of
Notables comprising two deputies from each province.
This action Congress resented as an insult, A revo-

94 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
lutionary movement resulted, and on the thirty-first
of October Iturbide issued an Imperial decree dis
solving Congress. The Junta of Notables possessed
little influence of its own, but served as the tool of
the Emperor. Forced loans were made and paper
money was issued by its authority. The new nation
thus displayed its lack of credit and resources at a
time when it was incurring extraordinary expenses.
The Junta was responsible for the interception and
appropriation by the government, at Vera Cruz, of a
conducta, the greater part of which belonged to Span
iards. The young Empire was thus chargeable with
pursuing a system of ethics in public matters learned
from the Spanish officials in the times of the Vice
roys, and unfortunately too often practised subse
quently in the Republic of Mexico. It is no wonder
that it fell into disrepute, and aroused the same feel
ing of resentment as that which had existed against
the government of Viceroy and Audiencia.
A growing lack of confidence in the capacity of
Iturbide for government, as well as in the integrity
of his motives and the honesty of his actions, led to
efforts to overthrow him. Opposition to the Empire
first took form in an Assembly composed of liberals
who favored a Republic. The dissemination of trac
tates and pamphlets setting forth Republican ideas, the
rights of citizenship, and the defects of an aristocratic
form of government, led to a manifestation of the
spirit of rebellion; and it was impossible for the
Emperor to ignore the symptoms of anarchy that be
gan to appear. Before the end of November, revolts
occurred in the northern Captaincies-General. These
the Emperor, with the aid of the national troops, was
able to quell promptly, but without quieting the

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 95
spirit of discontent which was daily manifesting itself
and increasing in and about the capital.
In December, General Antonio L6pez de Santa Anna
headed a formidable uprising in the vicinity of Jalapa
and Vera Cruz. Santa Anna was a young officer who
had previously supported Iturbide, but having been
haughtily dismissed by the Emperor from the govern
ment of Vera Cruz he now turned against the Empire.
He boldly proclaimed the Republic, pointing out in
his manifesto that the Emperor had violated his coro
nation oath by dissolving Congress. He promised
that the soldiers under him would aid Congress to
reassemble and would protect it during its sessions.
Felix Fernandez (who now assumed the names of
Guadalupe Victoria, the former in allusion to the
patroness of Mexico, the latter implying the fortune
that had attended many of his encounters with his
enemies) joined him in the east, and took the leader
ship of the movement which was readily acceded to
him by Santa Anna, with the hope that the name and
reputation of this great Revolutionary leader would
inspire the confidence of those who favored the
Republican form of government.
Guerrero and Bravo followed the example of Santa
Anna and Guadalupe Victoria, and led a revolt in the
north. Notwithstanding a counter-pronunciamento
by Manuel Pedraza, the Military Commander of
Huasteca, the Emperor was unable to suppress these
formidable insurrections. Disaffection was fostered
among the chiefs of the Imperial army, and the " Plan
Casa Mata " was promulgated', in February, 1823.
The leading features of this Plan were the calhng
of a new national representative Congress and the
guarantee of a Republican form of government. It

96 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
was fortunate in securing the adherence of all the
national troops in the Captaincies-General.
The opposition to the Emperor was gaining ground
daily, and he became fully aware that his popularity
was subsiding and that he was being regarded as the
enemy of the people and of the national life. The
feehng against him was aggravated by his natural in
capacity for government, by the character of the min
isters whom he had chosen, — men who were not in
sympathy with a popular form of government, — and
by the arrogance of his military adherents. He tried
to placate his opponents by releasing the Congressional
deputies whom he had imprisoned, and by recalling
and reinstating the Congress he had dissolved. But
his conciliatory action came too late, and proved in
effectual. The only apparent course open to him was
to abdicate ; and this he prepared to do. He had
partisan supporters sufficient to have won at least a
temporary victory over his opponents had he sought
an appeal to arms, and no imputation rests upon the
personal courage of Iturbide. But, to his credit be
it said, he preferred to abdicate, and not to involve the
country in civil war.
His abdication bore date the twentieth of March,
1823 ; but it was not made effective without some
difficulty and delay. It was impossible at once to
obtain a quorum of Congress to act upon it, and the
question arose as to the competency of Congress and
the capacity in which it could treat with Iturbide.
All technicalities were finally waived, and a treaty
was agreed upon by which Iturbide recognized the
Congress which he had previously dissolved, as being
legally convened and free to act. The command of
the army was given to Manuel Gomez Pedraza. The

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 97
abdication of the Emperor was accepted, and Iturbide
was permitted to retire from the capital. Thus the
Empire came to an end. Mexico's first attempt to
form an independent government had proved a failure.
The wars for Mexican Independence had been wars
of escape from oppressive rulers. They had settled
no principle, nor had they established any system of
government. Now that the old order of things was
entirely done away, and the question arose as to what
the form of government should be in the future,
there was neither precedent nor experience to guide.
Monarchy had proved a failure, — or, at least, the
Republican partisans were for the time being in the
ascendancy ; and with the rest of the world open to
their view, the people resolved to adopt the form of
government which they beheld bearing apparently
desirable fruits in the United States.
Congress met in March, with twenty-nine deputies
present. By way of a provision al government, a Poder
Ejecutivo was created. This was a triumvirate, com
posed of Negrete, Bravo, and Guadalupe Victoria, —
representatives respectively of the Old Spanish, the
Monarchical, and the Republican elements in the some
what chaotic politics of the country. This arrange
ment would seem to indicate a spirit of fairness, but
practically it was found to be most inconvenient and
unwise. The three members were to alternate monthly
in the control of affairs. It was an unhappy circum
stance that the three alternating rulers should have
been mihtary men, for it has since been found difficult
to rescue Mexico from the hands of military oligarchies.
The three chosen rulers were all absent from the
capital at the time (which may have been the reason
for their selection), and alternates or substitutes were
7

98 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
appointed. These were Mariano Michelena, Miguel
Dominguez, and Guerrero. It was the only promi
nence in political affairs to which Michelena and
Dominguez ever attained, and they served as scarcely
more than figure-heads in the provisional government.
Of the Cabinet which was formed, Lucas Alaman,
Minister of Foreign and Domestic Relations and vir
tual Premier, was probably one of the best and the
most statesmanlike of the Mexicans of his time. He
was a political economist and a famous historian of
his country. He had been a deputy from New Spain
to the General C6rtes which sat in Cadiz in 1820.
He was committed to decidedly monarchical opinions,
which marked him out for the ill-will of the Republi
can partisans; and though he subsequently attained
to a post in the cabinet, after the establishment of the
Republic, he was never a popular candidate for the
chief magistracy. Nevertheless, his influence in shap
ing the form of government was quite marked at this
time ; for he was almost the only one in Mexico who
had a knowledge of the science of government.
When General Bravo returned to the capital and
took charge of the government, the Poder Ejecutivo
took up the matter of the final disposition of the
abdicated Emperor. A liberal pension was granted
to him in recognition of his services as the Liberator
of Mexico ; but the condition attached to it was that
he was to reside in Italy. Thither he went with his
family, departing from Vera Cruz in an English
vessel, in May, 1823. On leaving the country, he
addressed a letter to Congress explaining his conduct
and expressing his desire that the Mexicans might be
happy under the new order of things.
The fate of this ambitious man, whose previous

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 99
career had been so brilliant, was exceedingly sad, but
quite characteristic of this period of Mexican history.
There was still left in Mexico a party favorable to the
maintenance of a monarchy. There were also many
who were warmly attached to the ex-Emperor per
sonally ; for with all his ambition and vanity he seems
to have been a man of great attractiveness. Natu
rally the sympathy of these friends was strengthened
by his misfortunes and exile. Iturbide was in cor
respondence with them, and received frequent reports
from them of the state of affairs at home. These
reports were flattering to his vanity, and misleading
as to the political conditions of his country.
The government immediately succeeding the Em
pire was, as the result of the widely divergent politi
cal views held by the members of the Poder Ejecutivo,
far from satisfactory ; and, taking advantage of this,
an insurrection in favor of Iturbide was incited.
These and other matters were brought to the ex-
Emperor's attention in his exile, and, miscalculating
their significance and probable results, and without
being informed that the insurrection in his favor had
been promptly suppressed and its leaders cast into
prison, Iturbide left Italy and took up his residence in
London. There he began to plan a return to Mexico,
where he hoped to regain his former popularity and
be restored to the head of the government, if not as
Emperor at least as Dictator, or perhaps as President
of the Republic.
In view of this contingency, Congress formally
declared him a traitor and condemned him to death
should he ever return to the country whence he had
been banished. In ignorance of this Congressional
action, Iturbide sailed from Southampton in May,

100 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
1824, and arrived in Soto de la Marina, near Tampico,
in July. He was by the military commandant at that
place treacherously invited to land ; and upon accept
ing the invitation, he was escorted to Padilla, some
miles inland, and was there notified of the purport of
the declaration of Congress and informed that he had
but a few hours to live. Five days later (the nine
teenth of July) he was executed at Padilla. He met
death like a hero ; for, though a weak sovereign, he
was a brave soldier. With his last words he exhorted
the Mexicans to observe the religion, maintain the
peace, and obey the laws of their country. His body
was first buried in the church at Padilla, — for death
for a political offence was then no bar to Christian
burial or to mortuary honors. With characteristic
inconsistency, the Provincial Assembly that, without
a particle of legal support for their action, had ordered
his execution, followed him to the grave and mourned
him as a public benefactor. The news of his untimely
end, which had evidently not been contemplated by
the national authorities, was received at the capital a
week later, and caused a profound sensation. The
government and the pubhc press expressed deep
regret at the means that had been employed to crush
out the Monarchical party. Immediate steps were
taken to provide for the family of the late Emperor,
and the pension then granted was scrupulously paid
to the family as long as one of them survived.
In 1836 the body of Iturbide was removed to the
Cathedral in the City of Mexico, and placed in the
Chapel of San Felipe de Jesus, where it still rests.
In the inscription upon the sarcophagus, Iturbide is
called " The Liberator." It is the title by which his
country is willing to remember the services he ren-

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 101
dered the cause of Independence, and by which he is
enrolled among the national heroes of Mexico.
Upon the abdication of Iturbide, Congress declared
that his administration of the government during the
continuance of the short-lived Empire had been a rule
of force and not of right; that his government was
unworthy of recognition, and that the nation was free
to constitute itself at its pleasure, maintaining of its
free will the three guarantees of Religion, Independ
ence, and Union. The " Plan de Iguala " and the
Treaty of C6rdoba were repudiated as inconsistent
in their expressed principles of government. The
Captaincies-General were abolished, and Command-
ancies were estabhshed in the Provinces. Political
prisoners were set at liberty, payment of the paper
money issued by the Junta was suspended, and the
exportation of precious metals was permitted. The
Supreme Tribunal and the Council of State, which
the Emperor had instituted, were dissolved, and all
the monarchical machinery of the State was undone.
The national treasury was practically empty when
the provisional government was installed. Funds
were raised by the sale of tobacco in the government
warehouses, and by the disposal of the temporalities
of the evicted Jesuits and the property of the Hospi
tallers and of the Inquisition ; a loan of sixteen
million dollars was negotiated at London, and the
first page of the history of the "English Debt" was
opened. The national flag was adopted, in the form
in which it still remains, as the flag of the Republic
of Mexico. The bars of green, white, and red, in the
flag of the " Three Guarantees," had been horizontal ;
they were now changed to upright, with the green
bar next to the staff. The national coat-of-arms

102 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
then adopted, embraced the ever-famous eagle upon a
nopal, strangling a serpent, — referring to the legend
ary establishment of the Aztecs on the site of the City
of Mexico.
The Iturbidistas having been withdrawn from the
active politics of the country by the exile and death
of their chief, the Repubhcans began to be divided
into factions and parties, and to adopt party cries
which disturbed the peace of Mexico for nearly half
a century. The pubhc press oxcited the intense
passions of the people in those cities which had
always been revolutionary centres. Negrete, Bravo,
and others, declared themselves " Centralists," and
as their party comprised the remnants of the old
Monarchists' party, the name of " Borbonistas " was
given to them in derision. They maintained a
paper, El Sol, advocating a centralized form of
government. Victoria and Guerrero proclaimed themselves leaders
of the " Federalists." Some of the former partisans
of Iturbide chose to charge his overthrow upon the
Centralists, and attached themselves, out of revenge,
to the Federalist party, and took a prominent place
therein, despite the fact that the Federalists advo
cated the maintenance of a Federal Constitution, the
adoption of a distinctly Federal system of govern
ment, and the reduction of the privileges of the aris
tocracy and clergy. Their organ was the Archivista,
afterwards El Aguila Mexicana. It was edited by
Navarete, who had been Iturbide's Government
Attorney. A Congress, installed in November, 1823, discussed
the adoption of a fundamental law for the country.
The Federalists were largely in the majority. Among

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 103
their deputies was Valentin Gomez Farias, repre
senting the State of Coahuila, — an influential man,
destined to still greater prominence in pubhc affairs.
Among the Centralist leaders were Carlos Maria
Bustamante the historian, and Manuel de Mier y
Teran, who was a deputy from Nuevo Leon. The
article of the proposed Constitution furnishing the
principal subject for debate was one declaring that
" The nation adopts the Republican, Federal, Popular,
Representative form of Government." Dr. Mier y
Teran (opposing the adoption of this provision)
showed how different were the circumstances of
Mexico from those of the United States, which the
Federalists were attempting to copy. The United
States had been separate provinces which had feder
ated to resist the oppression of England. They first
suppressed the King's name from their separate State
constitutions ; and the States thus estabhshed were
fitted to become afterwards the components of the
Republic. But Mexico was in no such category ; and
the difference between the two cases, in the opinion
of Dr. Mier y Teran, was radical. Mexico had suf
fered as a whole the yoke of an absolute monarch
during three centuries, and neither the whole nor any
part had any experience whatever in the workings of
Republican institutions. He might well have called
attention also to the racial differences between the
Mexican amalgamation of Latin and Indian peoples
and the Anglo-Saxons who had estabhshed the Repub
lic of the United States.
Among the newly enfranchised citizens of Mexico,
there were few who had any knowledge or experience
in the functions of civil office or had made a profound
study of the different systems of government. And

104 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
whether rightly or wrongly, the advice and influence
of the American Minister to Mexico were sought
and freely exercised, to the final triumph of the
Federalist principles over the opposition of the
Centralists. Thirty-six articles were adopted, in January, 1824,
to serve as the basis of a future Constitution. This
tentative or provisional Constitution defined the
government to be Popular, Representative, Federal,
and Republican. Later in the year the Acta Consti-
tutiva, or definitive Constitution (copied in most
particulars from that of the United States), was sub
mitted to the people. It proclaimed the national
sovereignty, the independence of the States, the
organization of the supreme power, the independence
of the judicial powers, and guaranteed to the clergy
and mihtary their already vested rights or fueros, and
to the nation the same religious intolerance which had
characterized the " Plan de Iguala."
The Republic thus constituted comprised nineteen
States and five Territories. Each State had its
governor and legislature, and a tribunal of justice,
with its own proper officers, and was vested with
power to dispose of its own revenues. The rights
given to the several States marked the chief char
acteristic of this Constitution as being the product
of Federalist influence. The States were to organize
their governments in conformity to the Federal act,
and each State was to protect its citizens in the full
enjoyment of their liberties.
The general powers of the National government
resided in Mexico, or the Federal District ; and these
powers comprised a General Congress, a Supreme
Court of Judicature or Justice, and a President of

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 105
the Repubhc with four Ministers. The Legislative
power was vested in a Congress comprising a Senate
and House of Representatives. The Senate was to
be composed of two Senators from each State, elected
by the Legislature for the term of four years. The
House of Representatives was to be composed of
deputies elected by the direct vote of the citizens for
a term of two years. The Supreme Executive author
ity was to be vested in one individual, who was to be
styled " The President of the United Mexican States."
He was required to be Mexican born, thirty-five years
of age, and was to be elected by the legislatures of
the several States for the term of four years. The
Supreme Court was to be composed of eleven judges,
elected by the legislatures of the several States.
The tliird article of the Constitution read as follows :
"The Rehgion of the Mexican Nation is and will
perpetually be the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The
nation will protect it by wise and just laws, and
prohibit the exercise of any other whatever." This
was one of the inheritances which the Constitution
received from the " Plan de Iguala."
Some of the provisions of the Constitution might
be considered chimerical and Utopian ; as, for example,
no individual was to begin a suit at law until after
having tried to settle the case by arbitration. And
the defect might be pointed out that trial by jury was
not provided for, nor was proper publicity given to
the processes of the courts in which justice was to
be administered. These details show that the Latin
rather than the Anglo-Saxon influence was predom
inant in the formation of this organic law.
The Constitution was proclaimed on the fourth of
October, and was received with great enthusiasm.

106 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Under the Constitution, the Republic of Mexico pro
ceeded to organize its government by the election to
the Presidency of Guadalupe Victoria, the Federalist
candidate for that office, by a majority of the votes
cast. General Nicolas Bravo, the candidate of the
Centralists, receiving the next highest number of
votes, was chosen Vice-President. Upon their in
stallation into their respective offices, on the tenth of
October, 1824, the Poder Ejecutivo passed out of ex
istence, and Mexico began a career as a Constitutional
Repubhc. Almost simultaneously with some of the events
narrated in the foregoing chapters, the Spanish prov
inces in South America, by a revolutionary move
ment somewhat similar to that of Mexico, threw off
the yoke of Spain and estabhshed their Independence.
All the Spanish-American countries were therefore
at this time the subject of the especial attention of
the European powers and of the United States. Dur
ing the imprisonment of Fernando VII. there had
been no diplomatic relations existing between the
United States and any of the rival authorities in
Spain. Joseph Bonaparte attempted to procure the
recognition of the American Congress in 1809, but
failed ; and the agent of the Central Junta was never
recognized by the United States in that capacity. But
the time had now come for the United States to give
up the position of strict neutrality.
The message of President Monroe to the Congress
of the United States, in December, 1823, contained
declarations to the following effect: (1) that "The
American Continents, by the free and independent
condition which they have assumed and maintained,

THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE 107
are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for
future colonization by any foreign power " ; (2) that
any attempt on the part of European powers to ex
tend their political systems to any portion of the
Western Hemisphere would be considered dangerous
to the peace and safety of the United States; that
any interposition by such powers for the. purpose
of opposing or controlling the governments which
have declared their independence and maintained it,
and whose independence had been acknowledged by
the United States, could not be viewed in any other
light than as a manifestation of an unfriendly dispo
sition towards the United States; that the pohtical
system of European powers could not be extended to
any portion of either of the American continents
without endangering the peace and happiness of the
United States, nor would such extension be regarded
with indifference.
This is, in substance, the famous "Monroe Doc
trine " to which appeal is made whenever a conflict
between European and American interests on the
American continent is threatened. It is interesting
to note, in passing, that the " Doctrine " had its rise in
the events herein briefly narrated. The United States
government, having recognized the independence of
Mexico, was resolved to use its influence to secure a
like recognition from the governments of Europe.
There seems to have been at no time in the United
States a perfect understanding of the pohtical con
dition of Mexico. Iturbide had sent an envoy to the
government at Washington, but he was not received,
nor was Mexico recognized as a nation until after the
fall of the Empire. But the United States could
be relied upon to sympathize with a country which

108 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
had, by whatever means, gained its independence of a
European power, — and without examining too closely
into the character of the government established
there. The government at Washington was no less
ready to recognize the Mexican Republic when estab
lished than it had been to recognize the vague and
uncertain government which had immediately suc
ceeded the Mexican Empire and was in vogue at the
time that Mexican Independence was acknowledged.
The declaration contained in President Monroe's
message was especially gratifying to England, whose
Minister of Foreign Affairs had long been urging
upon the United States the necessity of promulgating
some such statement. Information of its promulga
tion, when it was received in Europe, was doubtless
effectual in preventing Spain from making further
serious attempts to reclaim her provinces in America,
although she withheld the recognition of the Repubhc
of Mexico until the latter part of 1836.

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 109

CHAPTER VI
SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM
THE administration of Guadalupe Victoria,
the first President of the United Mexican
States, began under exceedingly happy aus
pices, was wise and beneficent in its intentions, and
proved generaUy popular. It was permitted to last
out the full constitutional period of four years, and
the country was prosperous to a greater degree than
it ever was before, or ever has been since until very
recent years. The new Republic had apparently been
established in peace. Partisan feehng was as yet but
partially developed; and there was, for the time
being, no one to question the authority of the Presi
dent under the Constitution just adopted. The treas
ury was replete with funds from the loan negotiated
with England and from the development of the na
tional resources, and everything promised a happy
career for the new nation.
In 1825 the President signahzed the anniversary of
Hidalgo's Grito by the liberation, in the name of the
country, of certain slaves purchased by the govern
ment with a fund raised for that purpose; and of
other slaves given up by their owners with the same
object in view. Thus African slaveiy was reduced
to narrow limits in Mexico ; the slaves remaining in
the country were in domestic service, and were gen
erally treated more hke members of the famihes they
served than as actual chattels.

110 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
For two years the country succeeded in avoiding
those political disturbances which were destined to
break out sooner or later among a people trained,
as the Mexicans had been, under Spanish rule. The
Administration and Congress were chiefly of the
Federalist party, and through the exertions of that
party a law was passed in 1826 abolishing all titles
of nobility and restricting parents with regard to the
distribution of property among their children, thus
striking a blow at the Spanish institution of mayo-
rasgo, or primogeniture. In 1827 the natural effects
of the Spanish domination upon the popular character
asserted themselves. An insurrection broke out,
which was a manifestation of the " Old Spanish "
feehng. It was headed by two Franciscan friars, who
vainly expected to restore the Spanish rule, and who
paid for their temerity with their lives. The incident
excited a strong anti-Spanish feeling ; and in March,
1828, the Federalists, who had always been more or
less opposed to allowing the Spaniards to remain in
the country, secured a decree for their expulsion.
Shortly afterwards another characteristic insurrec
tion occurred. It was headed by an obscure array
officer, who " pronounced " in Otumba, and put forth
a "plan" for a new constitution, and a demand for
the dismissal of the Ministers of Victoria's cabinet
because of their alleged lack of virtue and capacity;
for the expulsion of the American Minister, Mr.
Poinsett; and for the extinction of Freemasonry.
The feeling against Mr. Poinsett was due to the
active and prominent part he had taken in the institu
tion of the York Lodges of Freemasons in Mexico
Freemasonry had been introduced into Mexico
in 1820, at the time of the restoration of the Consti-

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 111
tution of 1812 in Spain. It was derived from the
Scotch branch of the order, and was called Escoces.
Many of the " Old Spaniards," the Creole aristocracy,
and the privileged classes — the Serviles of the later
days of Spanish rule in Mexico and the "Borbon
istas " of the early days of Mexican Independence —
were initiated into its mysteries. In 1822 Mr. Poin
sett eame to Mexico as Envoy from the United
States. He brought with him a charter for a Grand
Lodge of York Masons, and some of the leaders
of the Republican party were initiated into its
rites. The names of the two rival lodges became
the rallying-cries of the contesting political par
ties. The " Escoceses," consistent with their Servile
Borbonist traditions, became Centralists; while the
" Yorkinos " were identified with the Federalist party.
The " Yorkinos," against whom the " Plan " of 1828
was launched, protested that the movement was in
tended " to prevent the banishment of the Spaniards)
to destroy Republican institutions, and to place the
country under the yoke of the Borbons."
It was, in fact, time for the two rival branches
of Freemasonry to try conclusions ; for by the end of
the year 1826 the " Yorkinos " had a majority in Con
gress and in the State legislatures. They composed
the party of advanced liberal ideas, and hence the
popular party. The " Escoceses " were losing ground
in the popular favor, were envious of their more
prosperous rivals, and were determined to save
themselves and ruin the "Yorkinos," if possible, by
pronouncing against all secret societies. It was one
of the earhest of the numerous petty quarrels which
are dignified by the title of " Revolutions " in Mexi
can history.

112 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The scene was characteristic of Mexico, and of
human nature as exemplified among the Mexicans.
General Bravo, the Vice-President of the Republic,
was a leader of the "Escoceses," having been the
Centralist candidate for the Presidency. He issued
a bombastic proclamation, denouncing the President
as being connected with the " Yorkinos," and declar
ing that as a last resort he appealed to arms to rid
the Repubhc of the " pest " of secret societies ; and
that he proposed never to give up the contest until
he had exterminated them root and branch. Pre
viously, he had been an advocate of law and order.
He now made common cause with the insurrection
already in progress, and took up a position with some
troops at Tulancingo, thirty miles north of the city
of Mexico. Such a challenge as he gave is usually
accepted in Mexico.
By the action of his Vice-President, Victoria was
compelled openly to declare his affiliation with the
" Yorkinos," and to seek their aid. He appointed
Guerrero chief of the government forces, and sent him
out to attack Bravo. An engagement occurred in
January, 1828, in which Guerrero's forces killed eight
of the insurgents, wounded six, and took Bravo and
his party prisoners. Bravo and some of his followers
were exiled by Congress, but were subsequently al
lowed to return to their homes. .Thus perished the
" Escoceses " as a political power. Both candidates
for the Presidency at the next election were " York
inos," which caused dissensions in their own ranks ;
and the " Yorkinos," as a political party distinct from
the Federalists, did not long survive their triumph
over the "Escoceses."
In that election the Federahsts began to call them-

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 113
selves High Liberals, or Radicals. Their candidate
for the Presidency was the old Revolutionary hero,
General Vicente Guerrero. Mr. Poinsett, the Ameri
can Minister (who seems to have taken more than a
proper amount of interest in the politics of Mexico),
threw the weight of his influence into the scale with
Guerrero. The Centralists, combined with the Con
servatives and Moderates, put forward as their candi
date General Manuel Gomez Pedraza, a former friend
of Iturbide, and the Minister of War under Victoria.
He was a man of strong character, though somewhat
arbitrary, and for this reason unpopular in the army.
Nevertheless, under the influence of the Victoria ad
ministration, and by the aid of the " Old Spanish "
element, he received a small majority of the votes in
the State legislatures.
The disappointed Liberals appealed to Congress to
reverse the decision of the legislatures. They suc
ceeded in getting a majority of the deputies of the
lower House to vote for the reversal, but in the Senate
the majority voted to sustain the election of the
legislatures. The partisans of Guerrero thereupon
established what proved a dangerous precedent, and
appealed to that always potent factor in Mexican
politics — arms. The Governor of the State of Mex
ico, and other pronounced Liberals, espoused the
cause of Guerrero, in a pronunciamento issued in
November, and carried the war directly to the Na
tional Palace. For thirty days the capital was the
scene of insurrection. The Liberal leaders, following
precedents established by both sides in the wars for
Independence, executed several of the prisoners taken.
The whole course of Mexican history was now
"changed. General Santa Anna, who had been a

114 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
leader in the movement for the overthrow of the Em
pire of Iturbide and the establishment of the Repub
lic, again came into prominence. He claimed that
the election had not shown the real will of the people,
and sought to give it opportunity for more genuine
expression by taking possession of the Castle of
Perote, a strongly fortified position on the eastern
slope of the Sierras, commanding the road from the
capital to Vera Cruz. He pubhshed an address declar
ing that he had taken it upon himself, by proclaiming
Guerrero President, to correct the fraud by which
Pedraza's election had been procured, and to main
tain the character and assert the dignity of the Mexi
can Nation.
A few days later, President Victoria issued a procla
mation declaring Santa Anna's acts treasonable and
calling upon the States and the citizens of the Repub
lic to aid in arresting Santa Anna and his followers.
The doughty General was besieged in Perote, and a
battle was fought there. Santa Anna escaped, but
was pursued and captured. But with that fickleness
which has ever been a trait in the Mexican political
character, pubhc sentiment suddenly veered around,
and the command of the army that had captured him
was given to Santa Anna.
Anarchy prevailed in the capital, and was attended
by the destruction of much property there and in all
the large cities of the country. The Constitution was
tossed aside. Pedraza escaped by flight, first sending
in his resignation to Congress. It was amidst confu
sion such as this that the administration of Guadalupe
Victoria came to an end ; and it was to be many years
before Mexico was to see another President fulfil his
constitutional term of four years.

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 115
In January, 1829, Congress, acting not as a repre
sentative body and within the restrictions imposed
upon it by the Constitution, but as the instrument of
a political faction, undertook to adjust the Presi
dential question. The partisans of Guerrero held the
City of Mexico. They changed their former war-
cry for the expulsion of the Spaniards to " Long live
Guerrero," and they proclaimed him President by a
pronunciamento. Congress was almost wholly under
their influence, and promptly declared the election of
Pedraza null and void, and elected Guerrero in his
place, with General Anastasio Bustamante as Vice-
President. Bustamante had formerly been a pronounced " Itur-
bidista " ; but after the fall of his chief, he had allied
himself with the Federalists. Though now a " York-
ino," he was virtually a Centralist. He was a native
of Mexico, had been the family physician of Felix
Maria Calleja del Rey when the latter was Military
Commander of San Luis Potosi, and when the emeute
of Iturrigaray occurred, in 1808, he had received a
commission in a regiment of militia composed of the
sons of wealthy Creoles. He served with distinction
in all of the campaigns of Calleja against the Revolu
tionists until 1819, and rose to the rank of Colonel.
He declared for the Plan de Iguala when that was
proclaimed, and gained the confidence of Iturbide,
who made him Commander-in-chief of Cavalry and
a member of the Provisional Junta. He was Field-
Marshal under the Regency, and " Captain-General of
the Eastern and Western Provinces of the Interior "
under the Empire. After the overthrow of the Em
pire, he was among those who held the Monarchists
responsible for Iturbide's misfortunes, and so allied

116 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
himself with the Federalist party. He was appointed
Military Governor of a Province by President Vic
toria, with the highest rank in the Mexican army —
that of General of a Division.
Such was the man of rather doubtful pohtical prin
ciples, but of undoubted intellectual ability, who was
now linked with Guerrero, the stanch Federalist
and Republican, in the Government of Mexico. Guer
rero took possession of the Presidential office on the
first of April, 1829. He favored the " Yorkinos " in
making up his cabinet, though his appointees were
of rather dubious politics. Lucas Alaman, the theo
retical Monarchist, was made his Premier ; and Santa
Anna, the future Centralist and Absolutist, was made
his Minister of War.
This strange Cabinet was intended to be conciliatory,
and a compromise with the various political factions ;
but it failed to restore order to the Republic. Yet
despite the continuance of the chaotic state in which
the new administration found affairs, and the dis
organization which fettered every branch of the gov
ernment in the latter part of 1829, Guerrero was able
to place himself on record as a reformer and as a
friend of human liberty. He decreed several impor
tant progressive measures, one of which was the total
abolishment of slavery. The decree was signed on
the fifteenth of September, and proclaimed the next
day, being the anniversary of Hidalgo's Grito. That
the law met with opposition in Coahuila and Texas,
and was never fully enforced, does not detract from
the honor due to Guerrero and his administration for
furthering such a cause.
The President and his Vice-President, however,
were not in full political accord, and it was not long

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 117
before an opportunity came for the latter to exhibit
his opposition and jealousy. In July, Spanish troops
from Cuba landed in Tampico, ostensibly to retahate
upon Mexico for banishing the Spaniards from the
country, but really to make an effort to regain the
lost Spanish provinces. Guerrero was invested by
Congress with dictatorial powers, and instituted a
vigorous and successful campaign against the invad
ers. He proved, however, disinclined to relinquish
the dictatorial powers that had been conferred upon
him for meeting an especial emergency, even after the
emergency had been successfully met. Bustamante,
his Vice-President, thus found an opportunity to
charge him with a desire to exercise arbitrary and
unconstitutional powers.
Santa Anna's opposition to Bustamante was mild at
the first, and he did not allow his relations with the
administration of Guerrero to interfere, with his early
desertion to Bustamante ; and his " Plan de Jalapa "
brought about a very interesting situation. Busta
mante was in command of troops at Jalapa, held
in reserve in the campaign that had just closed. By
the " Plan de Jalapa," which Santa Anna put forth,
these troops virtually rebelled against the government
of Guerrero. Leaving Jose" Maria Bocanegra in the
capital as Acting President by the provision of Con
gress, Guerrero set out to quell the disturbance in
Jalapa. Thereupon Bocanegra, taking possession in
December, 1829, usurped the full powers of the Presi
dency, and Guerrero was forced to abandon the office
to be a bone of contention between Bocanegra and
Bustamante. Bocanegra was President for only five days. He
was ousted by a pronunciamento headed by General

118 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Luis Quintanar. Pending the full establishment of
the government of Bustamante, the President of the
Supreme Court of Justice, Pedro Velez (whose con
stitutional right to succeed to the Presidency in case
of a vacancy in that office appears to have been over
looked until then) took charge of the Presidential
office, and associated with him two persons designated
by the Cabinet or Government Council. They were
General Quintanar, the author of the pronunciamento,
and Lucas Alaman.
Thus was Mexico over-supphed with rulers, and the
question of the constitutional status of the several
claimants to the chief magistracy was one that was
well-nigh impossible to decide. Congress found it a
puzzling question, when it tried to settle it. It had
no power to declare the election of Guerrero illegal,
for that would be to render a like judgment in the case
of his Vice-President, who was in the same category
with him. So it was declared, as the only way out
of the difficulty, that Guerrero was " morally in
capacitated." He was formally deposed upon those
grounds, and Anastasio Bustamante was elevated to
the Presidency.
Bustamante took up the reins of government on the
first of January, 1830, and a brief season of quiet en
sued. He retained Alaman as his Minister of Foreign
and Domestic Relations, — practically the Premier
ship of the Cabinet. The administration was sup
ported by the military, the clergy, and the wealthy
Creoles, for whose advantage it existed. It should,
however, be said, that Alaman, the able Minister of
Foreign and Domestic Relations, set out upon the
discharge of his duties with the determination to re
form some of the branches of the government, and

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 119
unquestionably began a new era of pubhc order and
morality in 1830 and 1831. This was, unfortunately,
but temporary ; and things went back to their former
condition after Alaman left office.
Guerrero, upon abandoning the Presidency, retired
to private hfe upon his hacienda among the mountains
of the south. There were some people who, recalling
the part he had taken in the struggle for Independ
ence, resented the outrage that they felt had been
perpetrated upon him. There were demonstrations
in his favor, sufficiently open to alarm the adminis
tration ; and a member of Bustamante's cabinet began
to plot the downfall of the Revolutionary hero. Par
don was offered to six criminals under sentence of
death, on condition that they would make it their
duly to assassinate Guerrero. Learning of these ef
forts upon his hfe, Guerrero retired still further into
the mountains. In the spring of 1830, the old Revo
lutionary hero ventured from his hiding-place and
attempted to establish his government in Valladolid.
He was driven thence by government troops, to Aca
pulco ; and at the latter place he fell into the hands
of his enemies. Being entertained at a complimentary
dinner on board a Sardinian ship in the harbor, the
captain of the ship, who was his host, betrayed him,
for a bribe, to Bustamante's Secretary of War. He
was taken to Oaxaca, tried by a court-martial, and in
February, 1831, was executed.
Rightly, the name of Vicente Guerrero belongs in
the list of Mexican heroes and of the martyrs to the
cause of good government in that much misgoverned
land. He was of low birth and humble parentage,
belonging to that mixed caste which under Spanish
rule had no political or social rights whatever. It

120 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
had been a matter of deep personal interest to him,
therefore, to fight in the wars for Independence ; and,
as we have seen, so great was the rank to which he
attained, and so brilliant his success in those wars,
that it was necessary for Iturbide's plans to secure his
allegiance and cooperation.
Yet he was ignored by Iturbide, under the Regency
and in the Empire. He was one of the men to whom
was intrusted, tentatively, the charge of the govern
ment after the fall of Iturbide. He maintained his
former rank in the army of the Republic. Generally
he acquitted himself with credit in whatever station
he was placed. He was bold, honest, and frank ;
but he was not intellectually strong, and was much
better qualified for war than politics. The charges
upon which he was deposed from the Presidency
were notoriously unjust. His unconstitutional strug
gle for the Presidential office was certainly not credit
able, and was fraught with deplorable consequences to
the nation — retarding its progress toward enlighten
ment and self-government. His career shows him to
have been an apt scholar in the school of Spanish
politics, and marked him as one of the restless, am
bitious class, so prominent in the history of Mexico.
During his brief term of political office, Guerrero
exhibited liberal ideas in advance of his times. His
humble origin made him hated by the Spaniards and
the aristocratic Creoles ; while the clergy hated him
for his pronounced Repubhcanism. He was there
fore, from the beginning of his public career, doomed
to failure. The treacherous manner of his death, re
minding us of that of Iturbide, with whose life his own
had been so fatefully linked, disposes us to regard his
faults with leniency and his virtues with respect.

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 121
The- tranquillity purchased by the death of Guerrero
did not last long. In January, 1832, Santa Anna pre
tended dissatisfaction with the arbitrary measures of
Bustamante, whom he had formerly supported, and
demanded that the cabinet be reorganized. He led a
revolt in Vera Cruz, declaring himself in favor of the
restoration of the Constitution and the enforcement
of the laws passed in accordance therewith. Such a
proclamation naturally drew to his standard the ad
herents of the Federal system of government, and
Bustamante in person took the field in command of
the army which was supposed to be intent upon crush
ing out this new menace to his administration. Con
gress, meanwhile, appointed General Melchor Musquiz
Acting President. He occupied the Presidential chair
from the fourteenth of August until Christmas Eve,
while Bustamante was maintaining his struggle with
the insurgents in Vera Cruz.
The conflict between Bustamante and Santa Anna
resulted in the defeat of the former near Puebla, and
the " Capitulation of Zavaleta " was signed on the
twenty-third of September. By this document, Busta
mante agreed to resign the Presidency in favor of
General Manuel Gomez Pedraza, in whose interests
Santa Anna claimed to have been fighting. The lat-
ter's advocacy of Pedraza was based upon the elec
tion of 1828, notwithstanding the fact that Santa
Anna had himself been the cause of the overthrow of
that election, and of the exile of Pedraza, whom he
now declared entitled to the Presidential office. It
was not by any means the first manifestation of incon
sistency in the political character of Santa Anna;
nor was it to be the last.
General Pedraza was a man of elevated ideas,

122 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
severe morals, and ardent patriotism, — considering
the times, the country, and the circumstances in
which he lived. He was distinguished for wise and
intelligent measures in his former positions in the
government, although his arbitrary management of
the War portfolio in the cabinet of Victoria had been
an offence to the military class whose favor it was
generally deemed necessary to court. His present
support was expected to be derived from the Con
servatives, who were apparently in the ascendant.
He was already in the country, ready to take charge
of the national government in Puebla, on the twenty-
fourth of September, the day after the signing of
the Capitulation of Zavaleta. In his inaugural ad
dress he reviewed the events of the preceding years,
eulogized Santa Anna, — who, though once his foe,
was now his friend and supporter, — and by his
references to him as his predestined successor he dis
closed the purpose of his own brief elevation to the
power which he had once resigned. This purpose
was intended ultimately to serve the personal ends of
Santa Anna, rather than to serve the State and the
people. At the end of three months a new election was
held. It was the proper time for the third election
under the Constitution. General Mier y Teran, the
old Revolutionary leader, was the candidate of the
Centralists, or Conservatives ; and General Bravo
(strange to say !) stood for the Liberals whom he had
previously opposed. Bravo received the votes of a
majority of the States ; and from mortification Mier y
Teran committed suicide. These " sad circumstances "
were accepted by Congress (which was Centrahst or
Conservative in its constituency) as a pretext for set-

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 123
ting aside the election by the State legislatures ; and
this act, though in accord with the Constitutional pro
vision, was distasteful to a Centralist Congress. In
the revision of the election proceedings, Congress
promptly returned General Antonio L6pez de Santa
Anna as President, and Valentine Gomez Farias as
Vice-President. There was a wide difference between the characters
and careers of these two men into whose hands the
government of Mexico was now committed, as well as
of the parties they represented and the political ideas
they respectively advanced. Santa Anna was the son
of a wealthy Creole who possessed large estates lying
on the road between Vera Cruz and Jalapa. At a
very early age he had raised on his estates a body of
light cavalry, composed of farmers and Indians ; and
after distinguishing himself with these in guerrilla war
fare, and commending himself by his courage and ad
dress to the Mexican people, he had become a supporter
of Iturbide. His wealth, his handsome person, win
ning manners, and fine command of language (which
latter accomplishment seems to have been afterwards
exercised chiefly in writing manifestos and similar
documents designed to hoodwink his countrymen and
deceive them as to his political intentions), all these
peculiarly fitted him to be a party leader in Mexico.
And as he was never troubled by any scruples of con
science, or by any respect for the truth, he entered
with all the eagerness of a gambler upon the political
game being played in his native land, in which the
highest interests of his country were the stakes.
From the first, Santa Anna showed himself ready
to espouse any cause which promised to advance his
personal interests. He had not long remained faithful

124 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
to Iturbide; and upon the removal of that pohtical
schemer from power, Santa Anna had not been more
obedient to Congress when it assumed direction of
affairs, or to the constitutional government when that
was established. His mind was fertile in the device
of plans and pronunciamentos of the most varied and
even contradictory character. He was so thoroughly
acquainted with the disposition of his fellow-country
men, and so fertile in resources, that he proved him
self the beau-ideal of a guerrilla chieftain. It was in
vain that apparently superior forces were sent against
him, whenever he chose to " pronounce " against the
government. By stratagems, of which he was an ac
complished master, he was usually enabled to elude
them. His influence and popularity were at times
invincible. He was ignorant of the science of government,
never able to submit himself to any recognized pohti
cal authority, without fixed principles, arbitrary, rest
less, ambitious, adventurous, anxious for power yet
using power when once obtained for his own ends,
though it might be for the ruin of his country. After
his personal interest had been gratified, his next
thought was always the Church, for which he had a
superstitious and not altogether disinterested regard.
The Church was by this time fully identified with
the Conservative or Centralist party. Although re
peatedly able to deceive his fellow-countrymen into
believing him otherwise, Santa Anna was always
thoroughly in sympathy with that party.
Yet Santa Anna was but a type, — a conspicuous
type indeed, but still a type, — of the pohtician of
those days, not only in Mexico but throughout all
Spanish America; brought up under the political

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 125
training offered by Spain in her colonial government ;
depending for success upon the strength of an army
for the moment under his control, or upon chicane
and bribery; one to whom no constitution furnished a
law of restraint. The hfe of Santa Anna admirably
illustrates the pohtical condition of Mexico during
the early years of the Republic. His plots against
the government began during the First Empire.
They continued almost to the time of his death, in
1876, when he had reached the age of eighty.
Gomez Farias, the Vice-President, was, on the other
hand, a high Liberal, — honorable, intelligent, and of
thoroughly democratic ideas. As such, he was a type
and forerunner of a new era that was dawning upon
Mexico — a type of the new statesman, of whom other
examples were soon to come into view. He was a
patriot as well as a statesman, and with him began
the active effort to establish liberal ideas and firm
constitutional rule in Mexico. His name appears in
the record of every important patriotic movement
since the Revolution. He was a deputy to the earli
est Congresses ; he was a defender of popular liberties,
and always ready to stand by any one who would take
a step toward the advancement of popular government.
This eminent statesman was a native of Guadala
jara. He was largely self-taught, but was skilled in
medicine and science, and at the time of his elevation
to the Vice-Presidency was in his fifty-second year.
He had sacrificed a fortune in the cause of Inde
pendence, had organized a battalion in the army of
Hidalgo, and had sat as a deputy in the first Congress
of the Repubhc. Under the Constitution of 1824, he
had organized the State of Zacatecas. He was active
in promulgating the liberal ideas then beginning to

126 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
gain a hearing in the land. He was now joined in
the government to a person of almost directly oppo
site character and political aims, because, under the
exceedingly pernicious constitutional provision, the
Vice-Presidency was conferred upon the candidate
for the Presidential office receiving next to the high
est number of votes, and he, of course, was of the
party opposing the successful candidate for the Presi
dency. The provision was an apparently fair one, but
in practice it worked out badly in every case.
These two men were installed in their respective
offices on the sixteenth of May, 1832, and alternated
in ruling the destinies of the nation until January,
1835, when a revolution occurred which will claim
our attention in its proper place. It was character
istic of Santa Anna that, with all his love of power,
he disliked the exercise of it in the appointed way,
and was inclined to relinquish the responsibilities of
office to a deputy whenever he could find one ; and he
interfered with his deputy in such a case only when
the deputy acted independently, and not in accordance
with his principal's ideas. Santa Anna's idea of gov
ernment was to occupy some secluded place where he
could wield the supreme power entirely unseen by the
world, and to possess some willing tool, who remained
in the plain view of the people, and would bear the
odium of any unpopular measure, while Santa Anna
was ready to appear at any time, to take the credit for
any popular measure, or to check his deputy should
he transcend his supposed powers.
In accordance with this plan of governing by
deputy, Santa Anna, on the first of April, 1833, re
tired from the capital to his hacienda of Mango de
Clava, on the road between Jalapa and Vera Cruz,

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 127
leaving the government in the hands of Vice-Presi
dent Gomez Farias. On the first of June following,
a shrewd observer of pohtical affairs might have dis
covered the object he had in view in thus relinquish
ing the exercise of the Presidential functions and
retiring from the pubhc view. On that day, General
Duran pronounced and put forth the "Plan de San
Agustin," in favor of the Church and Army, and de
claring Santa Anna " Supreme Dictator of Mexico."
There can be but httle doubt that Santa Anna had
instigated this movement, preferring to accomphsh
his purposes by an indirect and dramatic method
rather than by openly announcing them while in the
discharge of the office of Chief Magistrate.
Santa Anna resumed the Presidency, appointed
General Mariano Arista his second in mihtary com
mand, and went with him to suppress the revolt of
Duran. They had not proceeded far before Arista
declared in favor of the " Plan de San Agustin," se
cured the person of the President, and proclaimed him
Dictator. News of this movement was received with
enthusiasm by the military in the capital, and the air
was filled with shouts of " Santa Anna for Dictator."
The most curious phase of the incident is that it
should have deceived any one. But the Mexican
people were always susceptible subjects for Santa
Anna's duplicity.
Gomez Farias, however, rallied the Federalists, and
compelled the President to declare himself more posi
tively against the insurgents. Santa Anna thereupon
pretended to make an escape from his captors, re
turned to the capital, and compelled the surrender of
the insurgents. He pardoned Arista and banished
Duran. The Mexican people, too readily imposed

128 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
upon by such theatrical play, hailed him upon his
return to the capital as the champion of Federahsm.
He left the Presidency again in the hands of Gomez
Farias, and again retired to Mango de Clava.
Gomez Farias, thus left to handle the reins of
government, embraced the opportunity to put in prac
tice some of the theories of reform and popular gov
ernment which he had long been cogitating. The
hberal principles he sought to promulgate included,
(1) the absolute hberty of the press ; (2) the abolish
ment of special class privileges, or fueros, as they were
called, whereby the clergy and the army gained great
advantages over the masses of the people ; (3) the
separation of Church and State, including the sup
pression of monastic institutions, and more particu
larly the abohtion of the right of ecclesiastics to
interfere in secular affairs ; (4) the restoration and
maintenance of the national credit by a readjustment
of the pubhc debt ; (5) the improvement of the moral
condition of the popular classes, more particularly in
struction in colleges by lay professors in place of, or
at least in addition to, the priests, who had heretofore
claimed the sole right to teach, and whose curriculum
was far from broad or edifying ; (6) the abolition of
capital punishment for political offences ; (7) laws en
couraging immigration and colonization, and for the
better protection of territorial property, and guaran
teeing the integrity of the national territory — a dis
position having been manifested on the part of Santa
Anna to alienate it.
In accordance with this programme, Gomez Farias
issued a decree abolishing the system of tithes levied
as a tax for the support of ecclesiastical institutions ;
and another, enjoining the civil courts from maintain-

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 129
ing the binding force of monastic vows — thus leav
ing members of religious orders legally free to abandon
their convents if they chose to do so. As the head
of the University faculty, he instituted some wise re
forms in that institution, and excluded the clergy
from teaching in educational institutions supported by
national funds. Thus he began the system of govern
ment reforms which it took the remainder of the nine
teenth century to see accomplished.
These attempted reforms were not, of course, with
out violent opposition, and Gomez Farias was even
criticised by some of the friends of his administration
for being too timid on occasions when strong and
positive action was needed. Yet that he was no mere
pohtical doctrinaire he showed by some of his more
vigorous actions, — for example, by consigning Bus-
¦amante to exile as a disturber of the peace and quiet
of the country ; and by expelhng the Spanish refu
gees and monks, who, after being driven out of Guate
mala and Central America, flocked to Mexico, to the
demoralization of pohtical affairs there.
Ah this was occurring in the early months of 1834.
Meanwhile Santa Anna, the wily political schemer,
was busy in his hacienda of Mango de Clava, concoct
ing the " Plan de Cuernavaca," intended to confer
dictatorial powers upon him in the Presidency — in
fact, to do all that the emeute of June, 1833, had
failed to accomplish. The professed purpose of the
new "Plan" was to reorganize the government, to
repeal certain laws offensive to the Church, to se
cure the banishment of certain persons obnoxious to
the Conservatives, and to " sustain the peace and
order" which were represented as being threatened
by Congress.

130 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
In accordance with this programme, Santa Anna
returned to office in April, 1834, and at once repu
diated the Federal principles he had formerly pre
tended to entertain. By a mihtary order, issued by
him as President, Congress was dissolved, on the
grounds that it had abused the right of free discus
sion, — as in fact it had from Santa Anna's point of
view, for he had very plainly intimated that if it did
not comply with his wishes he would silence it by
force. By another military order, a new Congress
was assembled, without having so much as a shadow
of constitutionality to rest under. Pending its as
sembling, the entire government was in the hands
of Santa Anna, and he used the power thus obtained
for the destruction of the Constitution which at his
inauguration he had sworn to support and defend.
The liberal decrees of Gomez Farias were quickly
annulled, and that able official was deposed from the
Vice-Presidency without the formality of an impeach
ment or trial, and was compelled to leave the country.
A faithful adherent of Santa Anna was found, in
General Miguel Barragan, to take the place of Gomez
Farias, and to serve as Vice-President whenever
Santa Anna should again see fit to retire from the
capital and rule the country by deputy. In a word,
the nation became retrogressive under the " Plan de
Cuernavaca," and the lovers of liberal institutions
and good government looked on with dismay but
without power to interfere. Mexico had already
gained a world-wide reputation for unstable govern
ment and for frequent pohtical changes. Its people
were regarded as restless and revolutionary, and in
some quarters as being savage and uncivilized. The
elevation of Santa Anna to such unlimited power was

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 131
destined to confirm this evil reputation. The coun
try was agitated to the verge of anarchy. Petitions
and declarations in favor of a centralized government,
emanating from the clergy and the mihtary, were
poured in upon the so-called " Constitutional Con
gress," which, when finally convened in January,
1835, set out to revise the Constitution and to bring
it into accord with the ideas of the Conservatives.
These petitions and declarations were received as the
" Voice of the Nation." At the same time, protests
and remonstrances on behalf of the Federal Constitu
tion, sent in by some of the State Legislatures and by
the people, received no further notice than to involve
their supporters in persecution and imprisonment.
Congress asserted the principles of Centralism in
one of its first acts, intended to reduce and disarm the
mihtia of the several States. The State of Zacatecas
refused to disband its militia, taking its stand on the
rights vested in it by the Constitution of 1824. The
organization of that State had been effected by Gomez
Farias, and it had imbibed his Federal ideas, and was
always ready to assert its sovereign rights as a State.
It was now ready to resort to arms to resist the over
throw of Federahsm. The insurrection which re
sulted was regarded as of sufficient importance for
Santa Anna to proceed thither in person to put it
down. A few days later (May, 1835) the " Plan de Toluca "
was promulgated, whereby the Federal system was
declared changed into a Centrahzed government. A
new Constitution was adopted by Congress, known
as Las Siete Leyes (The Seven Laws). It was the
confirmation of the Centralized System, with but
one house of Legislature for the entire country. The

132 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Executive was to be furnished with a " Council" in
place of a Cabinet. The States, their legislatures
wholly abohshed, were changed into Departments,
under the control of Mihtary Commandants who
were responsible to the chief authority of the nation,
and that authority was concentrated in the hands of
an individual whose word was to be law. General
Barragan, as Acting President, issued a decree, on
the thirtieth of October, proclaiming the Constitution
of Las Siete Leyes as that of what was termed the
" Central Republic."
The openly avowed opinion that Congress had
power to change the Constitution at will, and with
out consulting the several State legislatures or the
wishes of the people, was vigorously combated by
several of the Mexican States. They asserted their
purpose of taking up arms for the reestablishment of
the Constitution of 1824. None of them were suc
cessful, however, save one, Texas, to whose struggle
against absolutism we shall shortly give some con
sideration. The Siete Leyes were only a sample of what was
to follow, and a new Fundamental Law was adopted,
in 1836, which explicitly rejected the Federal princi
ple of government. The change of the States into
Departments being recognized, they were thereby
divided into districts, and subdivided into Partidos,
and the functions of the Central Government were
still further enlarged. The Repubhc became a mili
tary oligarchy ; and thenceforth, until 1847, the su
preme power in Mexico was vested in whoever might
be, at the time, the most successful military leader.
The Federahsts did not tamely submit to this new
order of things, and it was because of conditions

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 133
almost anarchical in Mexico that the revolt of the
immense territory of Texas became necessary and
that its independence of Mexico was made possible.
That territory had been colonized by Americans
under charters made to Empresarios as early as
1821, and renewed from time to time by the suc
cessive governments of Mexico. There was every
prospect of the formation and development of a
prosperous State in Texas; but as the colonists of
Anglo-Saxon traditions were unaccustomed to Span
ish institutions, and particularly to such fickle gov
ernment as that which was over them in the City of
Mexico, it was impossible for this prospect to be real
ized. The colonists were especially outraged by the
actions of Santa Anna, in despoihng them of rights
vested in them by the charters and by the Consti
tution of 1824. The Constitution of 1836 had been
adopted wholly without their consent, and their rep
resentatives to the Mexican government had been
shamefully treated and cast into prison without being
allowed means of getting a hearing for their personal
claims or for those which they had come to present.
The Texans were by these means goaded into rebel
lion; and in a convention of citizens held in 1836,
they pubhshed a manifesto declaring themselves no
longer bound to support the Government of Mexico,
and offering their assistance to such of the Mexican
States as would take up arms in defence and support
of their rights guaranteed under the Constitution of
1824. Santa Anna, intoxicated by what he was pleased to
consider his " uninterrupted mihtary successes," and
glorying in his self-assumed title of the "Napoleon
of the West," set out, in February, 1836, at the head

134 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
of an army of eight thousand of the best troops of
Mexico, to suppress this rebellion. He concentrated
his entire army at San Antonio de Bexar, and fol
lowed up the atrocious cruelties practised in other
places by putting the whole garrison of the Alamo to
the sword. He was about to withdraw his army from
the territory which he supposed had been completely
subdued, when he met with a totally unexpected ex
perience. The Texans, goaded now to desperation
by the fresh instances of barbaric despotism furnished
by the Mexican Dictator, prepared for a final struggle.
Only 783 strong, under the command of General Sam
Houston, they met Santa Anna at San Jacinto River,
on the twenty -third of April ; and after a battle which
lasted but twenty minutes, they succeeded in captur
ing the whole Mexican army, including Santa Anna
and General Juan N. Almonte, who was destined to
some future notoriety in the history of the Republic
of Mexico.
The majority of the Texans demanded the execu
tion of Santa Anna, in retahation for the cruelties
practised by him upon their countrymen ; and nothing
but the firmness of General Houston saved him from
the fate which he had so often meted out to his po
litical enemies. But to General Houston, a Mexican
Dictator ahve was worth far more than one executed,
however justly. A treaty was entered into, by which
the entire Mexican forces were to be withdrawn from
the territory, the independence of Texas was ac
knowledged, and Santa Anna was allowed to return
to Mexico by way -of the United States. This, how
ever, he was in no hurry to do ; and he did not reach
his native State until nearly a year after he had left
the capital of his country, and ten months after his

SANTA ANNA AND CENTRALISM 135
capture by the Texans. He then addressed a letter
to the Mexican Secretary of War, disavowing all trea
ties and stipulations with the Texans made under
duress ; and having delivered himself of this com
munication, he retired to his hacienda, where he
remained in deserved obscurity for two years.
General Barragan was Acting President of the Re
public of Mexico at the time of the Texan revolt.
He died before the battle of San Jacinto was fought,
and was succeeded by Jose" Justo Corro, whom Con
gress appointed Acting President. Corro, being an
insignificant and obscure person, was a very suitable
tool of the Conservative rulers at the capital. One
notable event characterized his brief administration.
Notice was received that Spain had at last recognized
the independence of Mexico, and had sent a Minis
ter to represent her in the capital of the supposed
Repubhc.

136 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER VII
CENTRALISM UNDER THE "BASES ORGANICAS "
OF 1843
IN 1837 Anastasio Bustamante returned from his
exile in France, whither he had been sent by
Gomez Farias, and was elected by his friends in
Congress to supersede Corro in the titular Presidency.
One plot after another against the government dis
turbed his administration. Almost immediately after
his accession there was a movement in favor of Fed
eralism, and designed to restore Gomez Farias, (who
was being held as a political prisoner) to hberty
and to put him into the Presidency in Bustamante's
place. Another plot had for its supposed object the
division of the country and the setting up of " The
Republic of Sierra Madre " upon the eastern slope of
the mountains so named. The Republic was to be
composed of the States of that locality, which were
largely Federahst in their political principles. Doubt
less if all the States in which Federalist principles
predominated had been contiguous, the disruption
of the country would have ensued, or the Centralists
would have been earlier forced to yield to the demands
of the Federalists. These insurrections were, how
ever, put down before they had gained any headway.
In 1838 General Mexia made a brilhant effort for
the emancipation of Mexico from the rule of Abso
lutists. He advanced as far as Puebla with a brave
band of patriots, and with the purpose of proceeding

CENTRALISM 137
to the capital, but he was encountered by General
Santa Anna, who had crept forth from his retirement
to recover his lost popularity by some daring exploit
of arms, and was intrusted by Bustamante with the
command of the government troops sent out against
Mexia. Mexia was taken captive, not by superiority
of military skill, but by treachery ; and was executed
by his inhuman captor upon the field of battle.
It was in the same year that a French squadron
blockaded Vera Cruz in pursuit of what is known in
Mexican history as the " Pie Claim." Santa Anna,
taking advantage of this opportunity to recover the
military and pohtical prestige lost at San Jacinto,
took command of the Mexican troops and drove the
French back to their vessels. In this battle he re
ceived wounds that necessitated the amputation of a
leg. The loss of this member became thenceforth a new
and important element in Mexican politics. Santa
Anna was able to plead with his fellow-countrymen,
when it became necessary to send forth one of those
manifestos for which he was famous, that his patri
otic sacrifices had been greater than those of Napoleon
(with whom he was fond of comparing himself), as he
had lost a limb in defence of his native land.
In 1839 President Bustamante left the care of the
government to Santa Anna, and put himself at the
head of the army to repel another insurrection. This
was hkewise a Federalist movement, and was headed
by Gomez Farias and one of his military friends. It
started at some distance from the capital, but soon
spread in that direction; and the following year,
when Bustamante returned to the capital and to the
exercise of his presidential functions, he found him
self at one time a prisoner in the hands of the insur-

138 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
gents. Some sort of an understanding was reached
by which hostilities were suspended, the lives of the
insurgents were spared under a general amnesty, and
this insurrectionary movement came to an end with
out accomplishing anything for the improvement of
Mexico. It was evident, however, that a more serious struggle
was pending. In 1842 General Mariano Paredes y
Arrillaga pronounced against the government. He
was followed by General Valencia and General Lom-
bardini in the capital, and by the irrepressible General
Santa Anna in Vera Cruz. Among various indefinite
causes alleged for this insurrection was the inade
quacy of the Constitution of 1836. There was also a
well-recognized popular discontent over certain oner
ous duties and taxes imposed by the Conservative
government. Bustamante occupied the National Palace at the
capital, and with his troops held certain other portions
of the city. General Valencia, in opposition to him,
controlled the ciudadela from which he cannonaded
the city. For months the city was in a state of siege,
with frequent contests in the streets, and some more
harmless conflicts between the rival troops on the
adjacent plains. The chief damage was done to inno
cent non-combatants in the city, upon whom shot
and shell occasionally descended.
The President finally decided upon a more vigorous
campaign, and took the field against the insurgents,
leaving the government in the hands of the Senior
Member and President of the Government Council,
who was virtual Vice-President under the Constitu
tion of 1836. Javier Echavarria, who thus became
Acting President of the Republic, was a merchant of

CENTRALISM 139
Vera Cruz, and a notable exception to the military
character of the Mexican rulers. After fruitless bat
tles, and after interviews and negotiations equally
fruitless, between the chiefs of the different parties,
the revolution was terminated by a meeting at Tacu
baya in September. A " Plan," inspired by the fol
lowers of Santa Anna, was agreed upon and signed
by one hundred and ninety-one persons, by which the
then existing Constitution was superseded.
The " Plan de Tacubaya," as it was called, pro
claimed a general amnesty to pohtical offenders on
both sides, and provided that a Congress should be
called to frame a new Constitution for the better gov
ernment of the Repubhc. A " Junta of Notables "
was formed, the members to be named by the General-
in-chief of the army. The junta was to elect a
Provisional President, who, by one of the articles of
the " Plan," was to be " clothed with all power neces
sary to reorganize the nation and all branches of
administration " — in other words, to be invested with
supreme power. The General-in-chief of the army,
by the appointment of Bustamante, was Santa Anna.
'He selected the junta in accordance with the terms
of the " Plan." The junta returned the compliment,
and elected Santa Anna Provisional President.
The " Plan de Tacubaya " was so far successful
that Bustamante left the Presidency and departed for
Europe, and Echevarria was superseded as Provisional
President by Santa Anna, who thus, after defeat, dis
grace, and capture by his enemies, now recovered the
Supreme power in the land. A Congress, composed
of " patriotic citizens " chosen by the people, met in
June, 1842, and was opened by a speech from the
Provisional President, in which he positively declared

140 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
his preference for a firm and centrahzed government,
but intimated his readiness to acquiesce in the deci
sions of that deliberative body.
After Congress had made two unsuccessful attempts
to devise a system of government that would be ac
ceptable to both parties, Santa Anna thought it best to
retire from the scene. He placed the affairs of the gov
ernment in the hands of General Nicolas Bravo and
Valentin Canahzo, who were by turns to execute his
mandates during his absence from the capital. Bravo
promptly dissolved Congress and revived the " Junta
of Notables " created under the " Plan de Tacubaya."
The junta put forth a new Constitution, known as
the " Bases Organicas Politicas de la Repubhca Mexi-
cana." It was dated on the thirteenth of June, 1843,
and centrahzed the government still further than the
Constitution of 1836 had done.
By its first section, the new Constitution declared
that Mexico adopted the form of a popular represen
tative system for its government ; that the territory
was divided into departments ; that the political
power resided not in the people but in the nation;
that the Holy Roman Cathohc and Apostohc Creed
was professed and protected to the exclusion of all
other forms of religion. The second section abolished
slavery, and declared that no one should be molested
for his opinions or called upon for contributions or
government loans excepting such as were regularly
imposed by law. The third section declared citizens
all persons born in Mexican territory, or born else
where of a Mexican father, as well as all who were in
Mexico in 1821 who had not renounced their alle
giance; also all natives of Central America at the
time it belonged to Mexico, who had continued to

CENTRALISM 141
reside in Mexico, and all who had obtained or should
thereafter obtain letters of naturalization. It limited
the right of suffrage to male citizens of eighteen years
and upwards if married, or twenty-one or upwards if
not married, provided they were in the enjoyment of
an annual income of at least two hundred dollars de
rived from actual capital, industry, or honest personal
labor ; and after 1850 the suffrage was to be further
restricted to those who were able to read and write.
The rights of citizenship were to be forfeited by enter
ing into domestic servitude, by habitual intemperance,
by the taking of rehgious vows, the keeping of prohib
ited gambling-houses, and by fraudulent bankruptcy.
The legislative power was to reside in a Congress
divided into a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate.
The first branch was to consist of individuals elected
by Electoral Colleges in the departments, in the ratio
of one for every seventy thousand inhabitants, ex
cept that every department should have at least one
deputy. There was also to be a deputy in any de
partment having a population of thirty-five thousand
in excess of the seventy thousand or a multiple
thereof. The Senate was to consist of sixty-three
members, — forty-two to be elected by the Depart
mental Assemblies, and the remaining twenty-one by
the Chamber of Deputies, the President of the Repub
hc, and the Supreme Court of Justice. The Depart
mental Assemblies were to select five persons each
from the classes of agriculturists, miners, merchants,
and manufacturers, and the rest of them from the
class called " Distinguished Individuals." Those ap
pointed by the President and by the Supreme Court
were to be men who had signalized themselves in a
civil, military, or ecclesiastical career.

142 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The Executive Power was to be confided for five
years to a President, who was to be a Mexican by
birth, in full enjoyment of the rights of citizenship,
over forty years of age, and a resident of the Repubhc
at the time of his election. Among the duties pre
scribed for him were the following : He was to impose
fines, not exceeding five hundred dollars,- on those
who disobeyed his orders, and were wanting in respect
and obedience to the laws ; to see that prompt justice
was administered ; to visit the tribunals whenever
informed of delays or of the existence of disorders in
those bodies ; to require that precedence be given in
the courts to causes concerning the public welfare;
to demand information regarding the same whenever
deemed proper ; and he had the right to veto, within
thirty days, any laws passed by Congress not meeting
his approval, said veto subject to being overruled by
the vote of two-thirds of the members of both houses
of Congress ; he might declare war, and dispose of
the armed forces of the nation as he saw fit, in accord
ance with the purposes for which they were created ;
he might expel from the Republic unnaturalized for
eigners who were deemed dangerous ; and he might
name speakers from the Council to defend the opinions
of the government before the legislative chambers.
A Council of the Government, composed of seven
teen persons to be named by the President, was to
perform certain duties in aid of the government in all
matters required by the " Bases," and in other matters
upon which it might be deemed proper to consult.
It was to be the privilege of this Council to propose
to the government any regulations that might be
deemed necessary for the public welfare in any branch
of the administration. The judicial power was de-

CENTRALISM 143
clared to reside in a Supreme Court, in Departmental
tribunals and others already established by law, and
in a perpetual Court Martial chosen by the Presi
dent. Each Department was to have an Assembly,
but, as defined, this amounted to scarcely more than
a species of municipal police subject to review by the
President and the Departmental Governor appointed
by him.
The population of Mexico was divided into sections
of five hundred inhabitants each for the election of
" Primary Juntas," and the members of each junta
were to vote by ballot for one elector. These pri
mary electors were to name the secondary, — one for
every twenty primaries; and these latter were to
form the Electoral College of the Department. The
Electoral College was to elect Deputies to Congress
and Members of the Departmental Assembly. Each
Departmental Assembly was, every five years, to select
a person for President of the Republic. The person
receiving the vote of the majority of the Assemblies
was to be declared elected. The number of terms for
which a person was eligible was not stated, nor was
the mode of supplying a vacancy caused by death,
resignation, or incompetency, provided for.
Thus had Santa Anna succeeded in forcing upon the
country his favorite scheme of government by Cen
tralization of power. He was fortified in his position,
and his power was intrenched on every side. He was
absolutely removed from the people. Four millions
of Indians among his subjects were utterly unrepre
sented in the government, and were without hope of
advancement or of any improvement in their condition.
Nothing could be less "popular" than the government
organized upon the Bases of Pohtical Organization of

144 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
the Mexican Republic, proclaimed in June, 1843, as a
" Popular Representative Government."
The people were divided into classes of " citizens "
and " inhabitants." Property qualifications were cre
ated. The voter must have an annual income of at
least two hundred dollars, the Deputy to the Depart
mental Assembly five hundred doUars, the Deputy to
the Congressional Chamber, twelve hundred dollars,
and the Senator two thousand dollars. Domestic ser
vants and the clergy were disfranchised in the same
category with gamblers and drunkards. The direct
vote of the people for men to represent them in the
Departmental Assemblies, and in Congress or in the
Presidency, was abolished. The opinions, sentiments,
and preferences of the people were to be filtered
through three or more bodies of electors before their
representatives could be chosen; and the Supreme
Power was vested in a Central government, the people
being left with scarcely a shadow of authority over
their homes and their political interests in the Depart
ments. Thus, all the revolutions that had gone on
in Mexico for twenty years, in which there had ap
peared now and then some slight evidence of a
progressive principle, had culminated in the estab
lishment of what was really a retrogressive system of
government ; and so far from getting nearer to liberty
and enlightenment, the country had at last reached
the acme of Centralism and Oligarchy.
A glance at the social conditions of Mexico at this
time will in a measure account for this strange situa
tion. The people were forced to submit to a twofold
domination especially fostered by the " Bases," that
of a military rule and that of the Church. Eight
million dollars were annually expended upon the

CENTRALISM 145
mihtary establishment, and this sum went to the
support of the younger members of those families
whose influence it was deemed wise to secure for
the government. Almost every respectable man met
upon the streets of the larger cities wore military
dress. But while to a partially informed observer
Mexico might thus have appeared as a mihtary
nation, to the better informed this military strength
was known to be created and maintained, not to
protect the nation from foreign aggressions, but to
guard the government from the assaults of the peo
ple. Although for twenty years the country had been
one vast camp and battlefield, the contests had been
between the possessors of power and the aspirants
therefor. The military strength of the nation was
not only being dissipated, but was working a positive
injury to the country.
The Church had accumulated a large share of the
real property of the country, in addition to the untold
wealth which swelled its coffers; and its influence
was naturally in favor of that branch of government
which preserved its property and protected the re
ligious orders through which it derived its power.
These were direct inheritances from the Spanish
system, which lingered in spite of the efforts that
had been made to cast it off. The result was that
there was in the country no numerous and distinctive
body of enlightened lawyers or merchants, or educated
mechanics or agriculturists, to counterbalance the in
fluence of the two really influential classes of people,
— the clergy and the military. An aristocracy of
arms and of the spiritual power having been created,
agriculture was regarded as a menial occupation. A
few Mexicans there were who loved hberty and strove
10

146 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
to secure the well-being of the people. Every Con
gress that assembled contained some of these. They
were looked upon as obstructionists by the aspirants
to political power, and their efforts were in a large
measure thwarted by the people at large, who, hope
lessly unhappy in the condition in which they were
placed, were indifferent as to the kind of government
that was over them.
A Congress was installed in accordance with the
"Bases," on New Year's day, 1844^aE!d_^ ^election by
this Congress confirmed Santa Anna in the Presidency.
He at once began to enjoy, to the fullest extent, the
pomp and circumstance of royalty, rather than the sim
plicity presumed to inhere in a Republic. The state
he observed as President was, in fact, altogether in
consistent with the Republican institutions he pro
fessed to observe. He rode abroad from the National
Palace in a coach richly decked with crimson velvet
and gold, drawn by four white horses, accompanied by
a troop of gaily caparisoned hussars, and with six
mounted aides-de-camp at the sides. He wore the rich
gold-embroidered dress of a General of Division. A
number of decorations were about his neck, and a
medal of great brilliancy upon his breast. In his per
sonal character he was thoroughly inconsistent. He
was the habitue of the cock-pit, as he had been before;
for it was not at this time considered beneath the
dignity of the grandees of the country to interest
themselves in cock-fighting and other low sports. As
with the government, so with the people ; and the
morality of the country was at a lower ebb under the
" Bases " than ever before.
Congress was at first disposed to sustain the views
of Santa Anna in regard to the re-conquest of Texas,

CENTRALISM 147
and granted four million dollars of the ten millions
he desired for that purpose. But when it was dis
covered that the first-named sum was impossible of
reahzation, Congress refused to sustain his plans any
longer. In point of fact, Congress had become sus
picious of the honesty of the President, and was un
willing to intrust so large a sum to his control. And
this was but an indication of the bitter opposition to
the absolutism of Santa Anna, manifested all over
the country. Pubhc opinion was being aroused and
was resulting in popular uprisings. So threatening
was the aspect of affairs that the President, fearing
a serious outbreak and always ready to fly before a
coming storm, asked permission of Congress to retire
to his estate at Mango de Clava, to arrange his private
affairs. The " Bases " had made no provision for the
selection of a President ad interim in such an exi
gency, and Congress took the matter in hand. Santa
Anna was shrewd enough to interpret the meaning of
the bare majority by which Canalizo, his candidate
for the office of President ad interim, was elected.
Canalizo took charge of affairs at the capital, and
Santa Anna retired to Vera Cruz to indulge in further
intrigues against the country.
He had taken the precaution, however, to mobilize
the better part of the army (ostensibly for his pro
posed expedition upon Texas) eastward, of the capi
tal, where he might avail himself of its services in
case of need. But his plans were disconcerted by
a movement in a most unexpected quarter. General
Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga had been one of the chief
instruments of Santa Anna in the overthrow of Busta
mante and the establishment of the ultra-Centralized
government, and he had received as the reward of his

148 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
efficient services the position of Military Commandant
of the Department of Jalisco. He disagreed with
Canahzo, the President ad interim, and did not hesi
tate to express his disapproval in a most pubhc and
official manner. He had the Departmental Junta, or
Assembly of Jalisco, publish an " Initiative," or "Con
stitutional Act," as it was called, demanding that the
National Congress " make the provisional government
amenable to the Plan of Tacubaya;" that it repeal
a certain law imposing extraordinary contributions
(forced loans); and that it reform those articles of the
Constitution which were inimical to the prosperity of
the Departments. All the civil and military authori
ties of Jalisco indorsed this initiative, and the De
partments of Aguas Cahentes, Zacatecas, Sinaloa and
Sonora concurred. Paredes, who was on his way to
take command of the Department of Sonora, stopped
at Guadalajara with his troops, and from that city
dated his pronunciamento against Santa Anna and
" assumed the functions of Military Chief of the
Revolution." He took up his position, with fourteen
hundred men, at Lagos, on the borders of Jalisco.
Between him and the City of Mexico were the Depart
ments of Queretaro and Guanajuato. In the latter
Department, General Cortazar was established with
two thousand men, and Paredes depended upon him
for support.
Santa Anna, however, started for the City of Mexico
with eight thousand five hundred men, received some
additional troops in Puebla, and fixed his headquar
ters at Guadalupe, a suburb of the capital. The sit
uation was interesting. The Departments of Puebla,
Vera Cruz, Mexico, Queretaro, and Guanajuato pro
fessed loyalty to the Santa Anna government, and

CENTRALISM 149
Santa Anna seemed abundantly able to march into
Queretaro with thirteen thousand men and crush the
little army of Paredes. But he was confronted by
constitutional questions. By the " Bases Organicas "
the President was prohibited from commanding the
mihtary forces in person without previously obtaining
the consent of Congress. Such constitutional ques
tions, however, were not wont to trouble Santa Anna;
and this Constitution, being of his own creation, one
would think could easily be made to stand aside.
But he was likewise confronted by a Congress which,
while not professedly supporting Paredes, was dis
posed to support the Constitution. Santa Anna and
Paredes were both alike engaged in revolutionary acts.
Santa Anna marched into Queretaro under an order
signed by the Minister of War. Congress at once
passed a resolution impeaching the Minister of War
for issuing such an order, and voted to receive, print,
and proclaim, and thus to indorse, the pronuncia
mento of Paredes. Meanwhile the Departmental
Junta of Queretaro adopted the " Initiative " of
Jalisco. Santa Anna threatened to imprison the
members of the Junta of Queretaro if they did not
pronounce in his favor. He carried out his threat
upon three of them, sending them under a strong
guard in the direction of the capital.
Congress, with great promptness, summoned the
Minister of War before it, and demanded of him
whether he had authorized General Santa Anna to
imprison the members of the Junta of Queretaro.
The proceedings of Congress were of such a menac
ing character that Canahzo, after consultation with
Santa Anna, determined upon extreme measures.
The Deputies, who repaired to the National Palace

150 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
on the first of December, found the doors closed and
a guard of soldiers to prevent access to the Palace.
The following day a proclamation was issued by
Canalizo declaring Congress dissolved indefinitely,
and all powers of the government, legislative as well
as executive, conferred upon Santa Anna as Presi-
dente Proprietario, with Canalizo as Presidente Interino
until otherwise ordered by Santa Anna.
Popular indignation rose to its greatest -height.
The Commandant General of the Department of
Puebla, aided and abetted by the municipal author
ities, pronounced against Santa Anna, and a few
days later the garrison and people of the City of
Mexico rose up, imprisoned Canalizo and his ministers,
and thus permitted Congress to assemble. General
Jose" Joaquin Herrera, President of the Government
Council, was advanced by Congress to the place of
Canalizo. The situation increased in interest. Santa Anna
was constitutional President, but was unconstitu
tionally in command of troops and (in conjunction
with Cortazar) in military possession of two Depart
ments of the country. The Departments farther north
were in a state of revolution under Paredes. Puebla
and Vera Cruz adhered to Santa Anna. The Minis
ter of War, under instructions from Congress, now
ordered Santa Anna to give up the command of the
military forces, with the understanding that if he re
fused, he would be considered a rebel and a traitor,
for the new provisional government was unquestion
ably constitutional. If he chose to disobey this man
date, and was successful in his opposition to Congress
and the constitutional government, he became at once
the Mihtary Dictator of the country. To obey the man-

CENTRALISM 151
dates of Congress was to relinquish his mihtary sup
port and place himself at the mercy of his opponents.
The Senate acted with great dignity and firmness.
In a document signed by all but four of the Senators,
it protested against the absolutism of Santa Anna.
The Chamber of Deputies also protested in like
manner ; and both houses of Congress resolutely ex
pressed a determination to resist any mihtary or other
encroachments upon the rights of popular govern
ment. An exchange of letters between Herrera and
his ministers on one side, and Santa Anna on the
other, brought no results ; and on the seventeenth
of December a decree was issued declaring that the
government no longer recognized Santa Anna's au
thority as President of the Republic, pronouncing
all his acts as President null and void, and calhng
upon the army under him to submit at once to the
authority of Congress.
Continuing his march toward the Capital and his
messages to the government, Santa Anna proceeded
in his now clearly unconstitutional course. But the
government cause gained ground steadily. The capi
tal was put in a state . of defence, and General Bravo
was placed in command, with General Valencia as his
heutenant. The approach of Santa Anna was antici
pated with no httle concern, and all the roads leading
up to the capital were torn up to impede his progress ;
and although Herrera, in his letters to Santa Anna,
had urged him to yield to the will of the people
and avoid bloodshed, preparations were made for a
desperate struggle.
Paredes followed Santa Anna, and gave to his ad
vance somewhat the character of a retreat. Santa
Anna was before the gates of the capital throughout

152 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
the holiday week, but the battle waged was one of
gasconade ; and Santa Anna withdrew to Puebla.
From the first to the seventh of January, 1845, he
made daily attacks on the latter city ; but the Gen
eral in command of it replied to his demands, that he
would never surrender the city so long as he had a
man left to fire a shot. Santa Anna made an assault
while the Poblanos were considering propositions made
to them under a flag of truce, but was finally repulsed
with the loss of two hundred of his men.
Thus foiled at Puebla, Santa Anna sent General
Cortazar, Antonio Haro y Tamaris, and others, to the
capital, to arrange terms, while he retreated towards
Jalapa. His troops surrendered a week later, and an
effort was made to create the impression that Santa
Anna had escaped from the country. - He was cap
tured, however, and conveyed under a strong guard
to Perote. There he was imprisoned, though treated
with all consideration due to a distinguished soldier
in misfortune.
The capture was treated by Congress and by the
press at the capital very considerately. Only the
papers of Vera Cruz, Santa Anna's own Department,
cried aloud for " the blood of the tyrant." Congress
proceeded in a dignified manner with his impeach
ment for high treason in attempting to subvert the
Constitution and to elevate himself to the supreme
authority in Mexico as Emperor; for violating the
Constitution by an arbitrary exercise of power not
conferred upon him; for malfeasance in office in
applying funds of the government to his own use,
and in sending out of the country, on his individual
account, several millions of the public money; for
violating the usages of war at Puebla ; for robbing

CENTRALISM 153
the mint at Guanajuato; for pillaging cities, and
appropriating public and private property to his own
use ; and for refusing to dehver up the command of
the army when ordered by the government to do so.
Some of these charges might not have been sub
stantiated iu all their details, yet there were ample
grounds for all of them ; and they furnished a com
mentary upon the character of the man whose highest
ambition was to rule Mexico as dictator, and also
upon the low moral state of the country where such
acts, as he was unquestionably guilty of, could go on
unchecked as long as they had in his case. Mexico
was learning her need of a wholesome public opinion,
— of a quickened, educated public conscience, — and
of the necessity of preventing such atrocious crimes
being committed against her by those to whom she
intrusted the oversight of her highest interests. It
was a hopeful sign that the country was awakening
to a determination to purge the government of iniq
uity in high places. It was especially encouraging
to those who longed for a reformation in Mexican
public affairs, to see the government proceed in a
constitutional manner in such a case of malfeasance,
and not as Santa Anna himself would have done.
The efforts of such men as Gomez Farias were begin
ning to bring good results.
Perhaps it was well not to deal with the case as it
would have been dealt with in an Anglo-Saxon coun
try. In May, a general amnesty was agreed upon, from
which were excepted Santa Anna, Canahzo, Haro y
Tamaris, the corrupt Minister of War, and others who
were regarded as members of the "ring." It was,
however, extended to Santa Anna, upon condition of
his leaving the national territory forever; and to.

154 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Canahzo and others, upon condition of their leaving
Mexico for ten years. The government was to ap
point the place where Haro y Tamaris was to reside.
While Congress and the public press acted with
moderation in bringing something like order out of
the chaos which Paredes and Santa Anna had pre
cipitated upon the country, it was quite otherwise
with the people, who but a short time before had
dared speak the name of Santa Anna only in praise.
A wild scene ensued upon his overthrow. A statue
of him was destroyed by an infuriated mob, and the
leg he had lost at Vera Cruz, and which had been
entombed with much pomp at the capital while he
was at the height of his power, was taken from its
tomb and dragged about the streets. Ribald songs
about him were sung in the streets, and caricatures
were hawked about holding him up to the most scur
rilous ridicule. This proved the bitterest potion in
the cup of mortification that the fallen chieftain had
to drink. It aroused all the vindictiveness of his
nature. The treatment he had received while a
prisoner in the hands of the Texans, was infinitely
more humane, he declared, than that which he experi
enced at the hands of his own countrymen in the
hour of his misfortune. To some intimate friends he
announced his intention not to allow a Mexican to
govern the country if he could prevent it, but to use
his influence to establish a foreign dynasty to be sup
ported by European bayonets. He estabhshed him
self in Cuba. On arriving in Habana he met General
Bustamante, who, taking advantage of the general
amnesty proclaimed at this time, was returning to
his native land from the exile to which he had been
condemned by the " Plan de Tacubaya."

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 155

CHAPTER VIII
WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES, AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES
TEXAS had been independent of Mexico for
nine years, had established a Republic, and
had been recognized as such by the United
States and by the principal nations of Europe. All
the plans of Santa Anna for its re-conquest had come
to naught. It was now applying for admission to the
United States. The project for annexation was re
garded with feelings of great bitterness in Mexico ;
for not only did this project place the United States
in the position of an oppressive neighbor taking ad
vantage of the unhappy conditions that had prevailed
in Mexico and enabled Texas to gain her independ
ence, but it also made the United States a party to
the dispute over the claim of Texas (under the Treaty
of Peace concluded between General Houston and
Santa Anna) to the Rio Grande, and not the Nueces,
as her boundary. Diplomatic relations between Mex
ico and Texas were suspended ; and immediately upon
the passage of. the act of annexation by the Congress
of the United States, General Almonte, who had been
Santa Anna's fellow-prisoner at the battle of San
Jacinto and was now Envoy to the United States,
demanded his passports and returned to Mexico.
President Herrera issued a proclamation declaring
the annexation a breach of international faith, and

156 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
called upon the citizens of Mexico to rally to the
defence of the territorial integrity of the country.
Troops were sent to the Rio Grande to enforce the
claims of Mexico to the territory in dispute. This
prepared the way for the United States government
to send troops, under General Zachary Taylor, to take
up a position at Corpus Christi. Herrera was evi
dently convinced of the inabihty of Mexico, in her
then crippled condition, to carry on a successful war
with the United States, and he showed a disposition
to negotiate for a peaceable settlement of the terri
torial dispute. Nevertheless troops were forwarded
to the frontier; and among the officers in command
was General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga.
During the progress of the war that ensued, the
changes in the government of Mexico were unusually
frequent. The Federalists were in the ascendant in
1845, and Gomez Farias and Herrera were promi
nent candidates for the Presidency. The latter was
almost unanimously elected. A certain weakness in
declaring his Federalism alienated him from his own
party, without attracting to him the Church and the
Centralists who were the natural enemies of his gov
ernment. In addition to this, his efforts to avoid a
conflict with the United States raised a popular clamor
against his administration, and speedily brought it to
an end.
General Paredes, on his way to the seat of war,
" pronounced " in San Luis Potosi, in December,
1845, and returned to the capital at the head of
about six thousand men. A pronunciamento, eman
ating from the army in San Luis Potosi and Tam-
pico, expressed the discontent that was becoming
general over the administration of Herrera. But no

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 157
acts of violence occurred, and arrangements were
made for the surrender of the capital without dis
order or bloodshed. Paredes reached the capital on
the second of January, 1846. He called together a
Junta of Notables, comprising two representatives
from each Department; and by this Junta he was
elected President two days later.
He took an oath at his inauguration to " sustain
the independence and integrity of the national terri
tory against any foreign aggressions whatever, and
to maintain the Republican popular representative
system of government according to the Plan of Ad
ministration of the Republic agreed to by the act of
the army on the second of January." The acts of
the junta were signed by Bravo, Valencia, Almonte,
and other professed enemies of Paredes. In the
cabinet appointed by him, Almonte held the post of
Secretary of War.
The man who had once built up and now destroyed
Herrera's administration was a strangely contradic
tory character. Many supposed him to be acting at
this time under the influence of Santa Anna. He
dechned to take up his residence in the National
Palace, avoided all ostentatious display, and moved
about the capital unattended by any military or other
escort. But he was nevertheless an advocate of mon
archy; and to the neglect of subjects of greater
importance then prominently before the people, and
of the war then in progress, he used his position
to further a retrogressive movement and to propa
gate his monarchical ideas. Lucas Alaman, the pro
nounced monarchist, was intrusted by Paredes with
the task of drawing up a new Constitution similar
in form to the " Bases Organicas." Paredes was

158 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
favored, in his monarchical plans, by the Spanish
minister then in Mexico. He supported a paper
called El Tiempo, edited by eminent persons of the
Conservative party, and made it the organ of his
government. He was intolerant to the extent of
active persecution of the Liberal writers on the staff
of El Monitor Republicano, who were outspoken in
their opposition to his administration. It is remark
able that it should have escaped suspicion at the
time, that he was in collusion with Santa Anna to
destroy the Republic and to carry out the threats
which Santa Anna is alleged to have made when he
entered upon his exile.
A revival of monarchical ideas in an extreme wing
of the Conservative party was scarcely to be regarded
as a novel phase of Mexican politics. It had mani
fested itself before to such an extent as to attract the
attention of publicists. It was one of the phases of
political life to be taken into serious consideration by
any one who would attempt to study the constitutional
history of Mexico or the various efforts to establish
constitutional government therein.
When, as late as 1851, a political pamphleteer
attempted to describe the various parties and factions
in Mexico, he accorded recognition to the Monarchists,
but flippantly referred to them as " calling themselves
Conservatives," and stated that they had assumed the
task of propagating their "peculiar political heresies,"
and stirring up feehng against the Republic. He
pointed out, however, the impossibility of the Mon
archists making any headway toward the accomplish
ment of their purposes as long as the United States
maintained a Republic. In according to Lucas Ala
man, the celebrated historian and publicist of Mexico,

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 159
the chief place in the Monarchical wing of the
Centralist or Conservative party, the pamphleteer
ignored a more outspoken Monarchist than Alaman,
Paredes, or any of the contributors to El Tiempo, and
overlooked an event quite worthy of his attention
and of ours, being not without its bearing upon the
events now under consideration and upon others to
which we must shortly pass.
In August, 1840, Jose" Maria Gutierrez de Estrada
addressed from his home, in one of the suburbs of
the capital, a letter "to the President of the Republic,
upon the necessity of seeking in a Convention the
possible remedy for the evils which afflict the Repub
hc." The letter reviewed, with unsparing frankness
and with great accuracy, the attempts and the failures
of the Mexicans to govern themselves, and proposed
the establishment of a monarchy under the rule of
some European prince. In order to write this letter,
Gutierrez de Estrada resigned the office of Minister
of Foreign Relations in the Cabinet of Bustamante,
and also his seat in the Mexican Senate. When read
in Congress, the letter created a profound sensation.
The writer's position in society, his respectable ante
cedents, and the widespread popular confidence in
the sincerity of his convictions, prevented his being
dealt with in accordance with the customs prevailing
in Mexico at that time. But the feeling against him
was so strong that he concluded that it was best for
him to reside in Europe, which he did until near the
end of his hfe.
Paredes was a good soldier but an indifferent ex
ecutive, and utterly incapable of inspiring the people
with any respect for him or any enthusiasm for the
measures he desired to have adopted. He summoned

160 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
a " Constituent " Congress, as it was called, in May,
1846, and it sat until July. On the sixteenth of
June it went into a formal election of President, as a
result of which Paredes was declared elected President,
and General Nicolas Bravo became Vice-President.
In the meantime, in March, 1846, General Taylor
of the United States Army had begun his advance
from Corpus Christi toward the Rio Grande. On the
twenty-sixth of that month he was on the banks of
that river opposite Matamoras, within the territory in
dispute between the United States and Mexico. On
that soil the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la
Palma were fought in May, resulting in victories for the
superior arms of the Americans. President Polk, who
had been elected chief magistrate of the United States
upon the issue of the projected annexation of Texas,
asserted in a message to Congress that " by the act
of the Republic of Mexico, war existed between that
government and the United States." From the pres
ent point of view, and studied in the light of subse
quent events, the statement of the Whig members of
the American Congress is verified, — that the war
was really begun by General Taylor, who sought an
opportunity to cross the Rio Grande and take posses
sion of Matamoras, which was in undisputed Mexican
territory. This he did immediately afterward, and
proceeded to the capture of Monterey the following
September. Upper California had already submitted
to the navy of the United States, commanded by Com
modore Sloat ; and Santa F6, the key to New Mexico,
was in the possession of General Kearney. All this
is now proved to have been part of the programme
upon which Polk had been elected President of the
United States. The remainder of the programme was

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 161
carried out in a war of aggression which few histo
rians now attempt to justify, with the acquisition of
territory in view from the start.
Paredes was at the head of the party in Mexico
favorable to prosecuting the war, as opposed to the
policy of Herrera, who, seeing that it was impossible
for Mexico to gain anything from a struggle with a
superior power, had been disposed to submit the ques
tions at issue to arbitration and arrangement. Again
lack of unity proved the curse of Mexico, and internal
feuds opened the way for the success of the invading
army, and brought the whole land to the feet of the
government of the United States.
Paredes, when elected President, received the per
mission of Congress to lead the army against the
United States ; and, also with the permission of Con
gress, he left the government in the hands of General
Bravo in July. A pronunciamento at the Ciudadela,
in the capital, a few days later, brought the administra
tions of both Paredes and Bravo to an end, and made
General Mariano Salas President. This pronuncia
mento had evidently been instigated by letters written
by Santa Anna, in his Cuban exile. All who had
been banished for their political opinions since 1821
were by the pronunciamento invited to return and
cooperate with the Mexicans in driving the invaders
out of the country; Congress was to take all nec
essary action relative to the war with the United
States, and Mexicans were to be guided accordingly.
General Santa Anna was declared to have had the
glory of establishing the Repubhc, and, whatever his
errors, he was still the firm supporter of public liberty
and of national honor. Hence he was proclaimed
leader of the enterprise proposed in the pronuncia-
n

162 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
mento ; and Mexico was prepared for another exhibi
tion of pohtical inconsistency, and for surrender to a
man who was acting as the agent of the United States
with scarcely an effort at concealment.
Salas was chief of the army at the capital when he
took charge of the executive office. He was a Mod
erate Liberal, and his administration was in the direc
tion of Federalism. He succeeded in reconciling the
various parties and factions, in the face of the peril in
which all were placed ; Paredes was put under arrest,
and, though treated with respect, was imprisoned in
Castle Perote for a time, and finally sent into exile.
The Constitution of 1824 was reestablished, by the
decree of Salas, upon the recommendation of Santa
Anna. Having done this, Salas attempted to extri
cate the Presidential office from the tangle in which it
was found, and convened Congress for a new election.
Santa Anna was recalled from his exile as the military
leader most competent to cope with the difficulties
then presenting themselves.
It seems to have escaped the attention of the Mexi
cans at the time that for Santa Anna then to land at
Vera Cruz it would be necessary for him to run the
blockade which the United States army under General
Scott had estabhshed in front of that city ; and it was
not until afterwards that it was seen that his presence
in Mexico at such a juncture was only possible through
the collusion of the United States government. The
interest of that government in having him at the
head of the armies of Mexico lay in the understand
ing that the wily and unscrupulous politician would
be sure to add to the discord at the capital of Mexico,
and thus render the victory of the United States an
easier one.

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 163
Accordingly Santa Anna landed at Vera Cruz, on
the sixteenth of August. He was received by but
few friends, and his welcome was of neither a pubhc
nor a popular character, nor was it marked by any
enthusiasm. His personal vanity received a wound.
He was chilled and disappointed by the coldness of
his fellow-countrymen. He entertained at a public
dinner in Vera Cruz a large number of civil digni
taries and mihtary officers, and thus succeeded in
securing something in the way of a demonstration
and some show of enthusiasm. He was placed in
communication with Salas, and letters passed between
them filled with bombastic expressions of patriotism.
Santa Anna was nothing if not theatrical. He had
learned, however, to be cautious of his countrymen.
He tarried, on the plea of ill-health, until General
Almonte could go to the capital and make sure what
was the popular feeling, and whether his advent in
the City of Mexico would be safe.
He then issued a long manifesto, apologizing for
his conduct since 1834, and criticising Herrera and
Paredes very severely. He denounced the proposal
for monarchy, despite the ugly stories that had ap
peared in a French paper to the effect that he had
sent a memorial to the courts of France, Spain, and
England, " offering to put himself at the head of an
expeditionary army to plant a monarchy on the Mexi
can soil, and to place all his influence and resent
ments at the disposal and for the service of a foreign
dynasty." He had denied this story most emphati
cally from the place of his exile in Cuba ; but the
evidence seems clear that he had actually entered
into negotiations of that character. He recom
mended that Congress, about to be assembled, be

164 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
empowered to regulate ah branches of the govern
ment, and that the Provisional Executive be entirely
under its control, and that, until a new Constitution
could be adopted and proclaimed, the Constitution of
1824 be revived for the internal administration of the
Departments. On the twenty-second of August, Salas issued a
Bando Nacional, or edict, embodying the views of
Santa Anna, and at the same time sent word to him
to hasten his appearance at the capital. After further
correspondence between them, Santa Anna left his
hacienda, and reached Ayolla on the fourteenth of
September. It is so usual to find Mexican leaders
consulting the dramatic features of a situation, that
we fully understand the selection of this date for
Santa Anna's proclamation, wherein he hoped to
enter the City of Mexico on the following day at
noon, that he might "celebrate with the people the
two great blessings which had fallen upon the nation,
— her independence and her liberty, — the Grito de
Dolores and the Constitution of 1824." The procla
mation was otherwise filled with bombastic profes
sions of disinterested patriotism, which are ludicrous
in view of his well-known love of power and of the
strong dictatorial character of his government. But
it was characteristic of the Mexican people that they
should accept the proclamation in good faith ; and,
forgetting the manner in which they had driven
Santa Anna out a year and a half before, under accu
sations of treason and robbery (which charges had
never been so much as denied on his part), that they
should now receive him in their capital with rejoic
ings more enthusiastic than had ever before been
witnessed in that city. The people were almost

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 165
frantic with joy, and seemed to behold in Santa Anna
their national savior.
The prosecution of the war with the United States
was very popular at this time, and Santa Anna's pref
erence was to be at the head of the army. He wisely
shrank from openly assuming the political manage
ment of the government. He had been placed in
power by means of a coalition between the Federahsts
and his special partisans. But the division of the
parties had then recently changed. It was assumed
that the old Centralists, the "Escoceses," and the
Conservatives, had gone out of existence. All were
now Federahsts. But the Federalists were divided
into two factions. One was called " Puro," or Ultra
Liberal ; the other comprised the " Moderados," or
Moderates, who were scarcely in advance of the Con
servatives. These two factions were now in a conflict
quite as bitter as any that had formerly existed be
tween Conservatives and Federahsts. Santa Anna
was shrewdly aware that he could retain his hold upon
the popular regard only so long as dissensions were
kept alive between these opposing factions.
The election provided for by Salas was eventually
held in Congress. Each State cast one vote, which
was determined by the majority of its deputies. Santa
Anna received a majority of four votes for President.
A separate vote for Vice-President resulted in the
election of Gomez Farias. This election by no means
signified that the popularity of Santa Anna had been
fully or permanently restored, or that he had the full
confidence of those who were in public life. He was
at San Luis Potosi, with a poorly equipped and un
disciplined army, and with but scanty means of sup
port. The condition of the country was deplorable.

166 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The army of the United States was rapidly advancing
upon Buena Vista. Large territories had been sub
jugated by the invaders. Santa Anna's position was
far from an enviable one. He issued despatch after
despatch and proclamation after proclamation, to stim
ulate Congress and the people to uphold him in the
defence of the country.
While Santa Anna was thus in the field, Gomez
Farias was left in charge of the government. In
January, 1847, he proposed, as a means of raising
money for the conduct of the war, a forced loan of
four million dollars from the Church. The Church
was in possession of ah the available wealth of the
country. Her interests were quite as much imper
illed as any in the land, by the invasion of the army
of the United States ; and she was receiving the pro
tection of the army of Mexico quite as much as any
other of the constituents of the nation. It was but
right, therefore, that she should assist the govern
ment in the prosecution of the war. The Moder
ates, however, with their Conservative antecedents
and clerical sympathies, opposed the measure when
it was brought before Congress ; and both " Moder
ados " and Clericals were greatly exasperated when,
in spite of their opposition, the measure was adopted.
They succeeded, however, in creating dissensions in
the troops raised for the defence of the country.
They not only resisted all attempts of the govern
ment to disarm mutinous soldiers, but they furnished
resources for the maintenance of a struggle against
the government, and sought to prevent the decrees
from being carried into effect by which the Church
was to be made to disgorge her wealth for the relief
of the national distress.

WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES 167
Thus arose the " Polkos Pronunciamento," as it
was called, taking its name from the President of the
United States, who was regarded in Mexico as hav
ing precipitated this war upon a defenceless country.
The name " Polkos " was applied to the " Modera-
dos," who, under the leadership of General Salas,
were practically assisting the United States in their
war of aggression. For a month the streets of the
capital were scenes of wild confusion and violence.
The efforts of Gomez Farias to obtain the assistance
of the Church in the prosecution of the war was
resisted by the "Polkos." While the squadron of
the United States was in the Gulf of Mexico, and
preparing to land soldiers in Vera Cruz to march
upon the capital of Mexico, the " Polkos " were seek
ing to make terms of peace with the United States,
without even attempting to preserve the integrity
of the national territory. It was the action of the
"Polkos" that made the war, on the part of the army
of the United States, a mere military progress through
Mexico from the borders of the land to the capital.
The adoption of the measure proposed by Gomez
Farias brought Santa Anna back to the capital from
the battlefield of Buena Vista, where he had suffered
defeat. He removed Gomez Farias from office, and
himself resumed the functions of chief magistrate for
a few days. When he was called again to the seat of
war, in April, he ignored Gomez Farias, abolished the
office of Vice-President, and appointed General Pedro
Anaya as Acting President, or Presidential Substi
tute. Anaya was a man of the highest probity, and
his period of rule, though brief, was honorable. Lead
ing Liberals offered him their services in defence of
the country.

168 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Santa Anna suffered another defeat at Cerro Gordo,
and returned with the Mexican army to the capital,
where he resumed control of the government until
the occupation of the city by the victorious army
under General Scott. Then he turned the command
of the Mexican army over to General Lombardini,
resigned the Presidency, and, as one who had ac
complished ah that he had intended, left the coun
try. He was succeeded in the Chief Magistracy by
the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Manuel
de la Pefia y Pefia, who took charge of the govern
ment in Caneleja, near Toluca, and then removed it
to Queretaro. Congress, when convened in Quere
taro, appointed General Anaya Acting President, in
November, 1847. He remained in office until the
following January, when Manuel de la Pefia y Pefia
resumed the office, and held it until the third of June,
1848. Then, by virtue of an election, General Jose"
Joaquin Herrera became President a second time, and
somethmg hke order was restored for a while to the
government of Mexico.

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 169

CHAPTER IX
THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA"
HERRERA was installed in the Presidency,
in Queretaro, on the third of June, 1848.
The first important act of his administra
tion was to conclude, by a treaty of peace with the
United States (the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo), the
war which, though he had tried to avert it, had. be
gun in his former term of office. As a result of this
treaty, Mexico was deprived of what might have been
made her fairest and wealthiest province, compris
ing 522,955 square miles of territory, including New
Mexico and California.
As the armies of the United States retired, Herrera
removed the seat of his government to the City of
Mexico, the rightful capital of the nation. The tasks
confronting his administration were exceedingly diffi
cult. The country had been sadly demoralized by the
war, though it had been less devastated thereby, even
in the track of the victorious army, than by the almost
incessant wars that had resulted from the pohtical
turmoils to which the unhappy nation was subject.
It was necessary to reorganize the various depart
ments of government ; to replenish the national treas
ury, depleted notwithstanding the fifteen million
dollars paid by the United States for the territory
acquired as the spoils of war; to establish credit
abroad, and to reunite a divided country, before the
prosperity of the nation could be advanced.

170 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
In the face of all these difficulties, Herrera succeeded
in pursuing, in his administration, a course that was
wise, economical, tolerant, and moral. His cabinet
was composed of men of honor. He was, however,
unpopular with the clergy, who lost no opportunity
for expressing their disapproval of his liberal and pro
gressive ideas ; and, in order to delay the accomplish
ment of the tasks confronting him in his government
of the country, General Paredes " pronounced " in
Aguas Calientes, using as a pretext for his revolt his
dissatisfaction with the terms on which peace had
been concluded with the United States. The out
break was quickly suppressed by government troops,
and the land had peace for a time. But the disturb
ing elements in the social economy of Mexico were
only quiescent in order that they might regain their
wonted strength.
General Mariano Arista was constitutionally elected
President in 1850 and was installed in office in
January, 1851. He had been commander of the Mexi
can army at the battle of Resaca de la Palma, and had
subsequently held the post of Minister of War in
Herrera's cabinet. He was a man of no scholastic
attainments, but was possessed of correct judgment,
having sought to supply the deficiencies in his educa
tion by consulting the wisdom of others. He was at
least capable of impressing foreign nations as being
liberal-minded, patriotic, honest, and as one of the
best men of his time and country.
It was impossible long to hold in check the restless
spirit of the Mexican political leaders. Arista had
begun certain reforms in the army, without which it
was impossible to reform the state. Interference with
the mihtary branch of the government, hke meddling

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 171
with the religion of the people, was a fruitful source
of disturbance in Mexico ; and the clergy had already
taken alarm at his liberalism. Arista made the fur
ther mistake of trying to bring the various political
factions into accord. Congress was at the time de
cidedly Liberal, and united with him in a policy
of opposition to Centrahsm. Arista was himself a
" Moderado." In a conscientious endeavor to concili
ate the parties, he appointed to his cabinet persons
who were not fully in accord with the Federal idea of
government. This, like compromises attempted on
former occasions, failed of its purpose, and served to
hasten the downfall of his administration.
In July, 1852,. a revolution broke out in Guadala
jara, in the State of Jalisco, and spread to Chihuahua,
and even as far south as Oaxaca. It took the name
of the " Plan del Hospicio," and was clearly in the
interests of the Conservative element. The Governor
of the State of San Luis Potosi was assassinated, and
the revolution otherwise assumed alarming propor
tions. Arista found it impossible to act in accordance
with the advice of his friends without violating what
he regarded as the law of the land, and he was averse
to assuming the responsibility of involving the country
in another civil war. Disheartened at the course af
fairs were taking, he resigned the Presidency, without,
however, dissolving Congress. Thus Mexico lost, in
an important crisis, one of the best of her rulers, — an
eminent patriot, a model soldier, and citizen. He left
the country immediately, and died a year later, in
poverty and. obscurity, at Lisbon, Portugal.
Congress installed, as Arista's successor, Don Juan
Bautista Ceballos, who was President of the Supreme
Court of Justice and a pronounced Moderado. This

172 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
meant, in his case, that he was strongly inclined to be
a Conservative. In accordance with former usages in
such crises, Congress, after releasing all prisoners held
by the government for pohtical offences, conferred full
discretionary powers in all branches of the govern
ment upon the President, which was equivalent to
constituting Ceballos Dictator.
But Congress was far too hberal in its principles to
suit Ceballos, ' and he forthwith dissolved the body
from which he derived both his office and his au
thority. Congress- immediately reassembled in the
house of one of the deputies in the capital, passed
resolutions branding the doughty President as a
traitor, and proceeded to elect JuanMugica y Osorio
to the Presidency ; and Mexico returned once more to
a state of anarchy and political chaos. Mugica was a
merchant of the capital, serving at the time as Gov
ernor of the State of Puebla. He declined the rather
shadowy office thus offered him (a rare instance of
self-abnegation in the history of Mexican public life),
and Ceballos, reahzing the seriousness of the opposi
tion to his arbitrary administration, resigned the Presi
dency. A military demonstration was made in favor
of General Manuel Maria Lombardini and Centralism,
coupled with a demand for a national convention to
frame a new Constitution. Lombardini was seated
as Acting President; and Ceballos, to relieve him
self of further responsibihty and to insure the accept
ance of his resignation, went through the f ormality of
appointing him President.
Lombardini had been reared a soldier, had partici
pated in the struggle between the "Yorkinos" and
" Escoceses " in 1828, and had suffered banishment
by Arista after the war with the United States. He

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 173
was a clear-headed man, but without any ability
as a statesman.
The purposes of the leaders of the revolution which
was now in progress became apparent when a com
mittee of public men started out for New Granada in
search of Santa Anna. That irrepressible person had
throughout his exile maintained a correspondence with
the Conservative, Centralist, and Clerical leaders, and
no one could be more successful than he in influenc
ing the minds of the Mexicans by means of letters.
He was far more successful in managing the domestic
affairs of Mexico when abroad than he had been in
efforts to control them at home. General Lombardini
had no difficulty in securing the election, by the States,
of General Santa Anna as President of Mexico.
He landed in Mexico on the first of April, 1853, and
almost before the people were aware of his presence
among them he began a journey which was in the
nature of a triumphal procession from the coast to the
capital. Banners and bells, cannon, triumphal arches
and flowers, were all called into requisition in welcom
ing the man who had repeatedly threatened Mexico's
destruction, and who had never yet answered the
charges of robbery and treason brought against him ;
who had been engaged in secret negotiations with the
United States government, through which the issue
of the war between that nation and Mexico had been
disastrous to the latter country; who had intrigued
with European powers for the institution of monarchy
in his native land ; and whom the Mexican people had
more than once declared worthy of death, and had not
suffered to remain in their land.
At Guadalupe-Hidalgo, he took the oath as Presi
dent on the fifteenth of April. He organized his

174 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
government, with Lucas Alaman, the avowed mon
archist, at its head as Secretary of State ; and with
Conservatives, in full accord with his plans of abso
lutism, in charge of the other portfolios. Five days
later he entered the capital, and issued a proclamation
of general amnesty to all who had been charged with
political offences. It was an appropriate afterpiece
to the farce he had been acting ; for nothing could be
more ludicrous than Santa Anna, guilty as he was of
every political crime, offering pardon to those who
had fallen under the displeasure of his adherents
because of their efforts to support the Constitutional
Government of Mexico.
The Centrahsts and Conservatives were again
everywhere triumphant. The nation had volunta
rily placed itself at the feet of its oppressors, and
was really entitled to little sympathy. An era of
the most despotic absolutism ensued. Congress was
dissolved, and the legislatures of the several States
were abolished. The government of every city
having less than ten thousand inhabitants was sup
pressed, and the administration of the revenue was
centrahzed. Public employees were deprived of the
right to express an opinion upon pubhc affairs. The
hberty of the press was curtailed to such an extent
as to be virtually destroyed. The mihtia was dis
banded, and the army was increased. The Jesuits
were reestablished by decree, dated May first, 1853.
The Dictator provided himself with ample funds, by
the sale to the United States, for ten millions of
dollars, of a tract of land known as the Gadsden
Purchase. Of this amount, very little found its way
into the national treasury of Mexico. While thus
depriving the Mexicans of their rights, and using

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 175
his position for his personal aggrandizement, Santa
Anna sought some means to flatter certain classes.
He reestablished the Order of Guadalupe, originally
instituted by the Emperor Iturbide, retaining for
himself therein the office of Grand Master. Throw
ing aside all pretentions to Republican simplicity,
he demanded that he be addressed as " Serene High
ness." At the same time, plans for the establishment of a
monarchy in Mexico were being revived, as though in
fulfilment of his alleged threat; and in July, 1854,
Santa Anna appointed Gutierrez de Estrada (who
had been maintaining an active correspondence with
the Clerical and Monarchical leaders in Mexico) a
special commissioner to negotiate with the govern
ments of France, England, Austria, and Spain, for
the establishment of a European prince upon a throne
to be erected in 'Mexico. But for the sudden and
timely fall of Santa Anna, some results might have
been obtained from these negotiations. " Whom the
gods would destroy they first make mad." Santa
Anna's personal vanity carried him to the extent of
madness. To many persons who by no means sanc
tioned his acts, his assumptions of grandeur were the
subject of ridicule. The army was naturally pleased
with his policy of Centralism, and some of the garri
sons were ready at any time to proclaim him Em
peror. There were some who actually believed that
his strong personal government was necessary to save
Mexico from anarchy and ruin. He had a body of
sychophants about him who held him up before the
people as a self-sacrificing hero who was giving up
his all to the public good. But his pride and arro
gance caused his final downfall.

176 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
On the sixteenth of December, 1853, he issued a
decree declaring himself Perpetual Dictator. A gov
ernment was thereby established more absolute than
any Mexico had ever yet known. The press was
muzzled, and a system of espionage was instituted
by which the enemies of the Dictator could be dis
covered and brought to punishment. The Dictator
ship was to be largely a government by intrigue.
High Liberals were imprisoned, and the " court " of
the Dictator was filled with the most vicious members
of society.
Alaman promptly resigned the portfolio of State.
Monarchist as he was, he was disgusted with the
prospect of Mexico under the Imperial rule of such
a man as Santa Anna. A revolution long brewing in
Acapulco finally broke out. The leader was the old
revolutionary hero, General Juan Alvarez. A new
order of things was dawning upon Mexico.
Alvarez was a full-blooded Indian, who exerted a
great influence over the people of his race. He had
served under Morelos, and had never ceased to love
liberty. At this time he was over sixty-three years
of age, and was serving as governor of the State of
Guerrero. The Dictatorship of Santa Anna proposed
to deprive him of his governorship and destroy the
sovereignty of his State.
The new revolutionary movement was called the
" Plan de Ayotla." It called for a Congress to form
a new Constitution, by which a Federal Repubhcan
system would take the place of the Dictatorship estab
lished by Santa Anna. The " Plan " as originally
set forth was somewhat modified, in order that it
might commend itself to the "Moderados," or less
extreme Conservatives, and gain their support, which

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 177
seemed to mean its eventual success ; and more par
ticularly that it might gain the support of General
Ignacio Comonfort, who was destined to be a leader
in the affairs of Mexico at a critical period of her
history. Comonfort was in many respects a remarkable man.
He was at this time about forty years of age, and in
addition to his military training (he was a captain of
cavalry as early as 1832, and had risen to the rank
of General since) he had some knowledge of pubhc
affairs. He was prefect of Tlalpa when scarcely more
than of legal age, and at the age of thirty was a deputy
to Congress ; and again, four years later, was sitting in
the Congress at Queretaro. He was then chosen Sena
tor by the State of Puebla, and served until 1851.
He was a third time elected to Congress in 1852,
and served subsequently as Custom-House director.
His dismissal from this post by Santa Anna was the
direct cause of his joining Alvarez and attaching him
self to the " Plan de Ayotla." He was of the Liberal
party, but was disposed to be conciliatory, and pro
posed the modification of the original " Plan " which
was intended to attract the " Moderados."
Comonfort organized and reinforced the troops iden
tified with the new movement, and found himself at
the head of an army ready to assume the aggressive
and. make itself formidable to the Dictator at the
capital. The " Plan " received jubilant support from
every quarter. It was seconded by distinguished lead
ers in Michoacan, in Nuevo Le6n, in Tamaulipas, in
San Luis Potosi, in Vera Cruz, and in the State of
Mexico. Santa Anna, being unsuccessful in his efforts
to suppress the revolution, now tried to conciliate the
malcontents by changing his policy. He removed the
12

178 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Conservatives from his cabinet, and appointed " Mod-
erados " in their places. But it was all to no purpose.
His changes of front while he was in office deceived
nobody. It was only when he was out of the coun
try that his professions of conversion to Liberalism
affected the popular mind. The " Plan de Ayotla "
continued to gain ground. The popular elections,
proposed by Santa Anna to determine whether or not
his government by Dictatorship should continue, were
so fraudulently manipulated by the Conservatives as
to increase the popular discontent and contribute to
the success of the cause of Alvarez and of the " Plan
de Ayotla."
Santa Anna gave up the governmental experiment
as hopeless. He appointed a triumvirate, composed
of the President of the Supreme Court of Justice,
General Salas, and General Martin Carrera, to admin
ister the government during his proposed absence
from the capital ; then he secretly left the city, on the
night of the ninth of August, 1855, and was escorted
by Haro y Tamaris to Perote. There he issued a mani
festo — - the last of the remarkable papers of that class
by which he was to address the Mexican people. It
commended his own services, and laid upon others the
culpability of having ruined the country. On the thir
teenth of August he went into voluntary exile. He
was never again permitted to take a prominent part
in the pohtics of Mexico.
According to the new " Plan," Santa Anna was to
be deprived of the Presidency ; a President ad interim
was to be appointed by a Junta, or Assembly of Rep
resentatives from all the States ; and a Congress was
to be convened for the purpose of adopting a consti
tution by which Mexico was thenceforth to be gov-

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 179
erned. Santa Anna had, by his own act, obviated
the necessity of taking the first step in this pro
gramme ; and the leaders of the " Plan " proceeded
forthwith to convene a "Constituent Congress," as
it was called. In the anarchy which followed the
flight of Santa Anna from the capital, General Rom-
ulo Diaz de la Vega became Acting President, by the
nomination of the garrison at the capital and with the
consent of the governing triumvirate appointed by
Santa Anna. He was quickly succeeded by General
Martin Carrera, who resigned within a month, and
the duties of the Executive office again devolved upon
General Diaz de la Vega, who practically represented
the party sustaining the " Plan de Ayotla," and he ap
pointed a cabinet composed of Liberals and adherents
of the " Plan."
The Junta of Representatives was convened in
Cuernavaca, for the election of a President ad in
terim until the whole programme of the " Plan de
Ayotla " could be accomplished and a Constitutional
President could be elected and installed. General
Juan Alvarez, General Ignacio Comonfort, Melchor
Ocampo, and Santiago Vidaurri, were candidates for
the office of President ad interim. The choice fell
upon General Alvarez, and he received the recogni
tion of the representatives of the foreign governments
at the capital.
Two distinct factions among the professed adher
ents to the " Plan de Ayotla " made themselves con
spicuous as soon as the adherents of the " Plan "
entered seriously upon the tasks they had set them
selves to accomplish. Comonfort and his immediate
followers, calling themselves " Moderados," were dis
posed to compromise somewhat with the past, and to

180 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
invite the cooperation of the parties then in existence
and lately in power. As a result of their conciliatory
action, some pronounced Conservatives had professed
adherence to the " Plan." Antonio de Haro y Tama
ris, Felix Zuloaga, and others, were among them.
These afterwards proved utterly unfaithful to the
party supporting the " Plan," and withdrew to organ
ize the party of the Reactionaries, which included the
clericals and clerical sympathizers, and the Ultra-Con
servatives. The other faction was thoroughly radical,
and would make no compromises whatever with the
past misgovernment of the country. The members
called themselves " Puros," and came to be known as
High Liberals, Advanced Liberals, and later as the
Reform Party. They brought new names into promi
nence in the history of Mexico, — Melchor Ocampo,
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, and Benito Juarez, among
them. General Diaz de la Vega tried to harmonize these
two factions in the interests of the " Plan de Ayotla,"
by appointing representatives of both upon his cabi
net ; but this experiment resulted as similar ones had
done before in Mexican pubhc affairs, though the
administration of Diaz de la Vega was of too short
duration to bring about the disasters that had pre
viously ensued from such attempted conciliatory
measures. The Advanced Liberals sent to Alvarez, immedi
ately after his election, begging him to come at once
to the capital and begin his plans for the reorganiza
tion and reformation of the nation. The " Moder-
ados," or less advanced wing of the new Liberal
party, showed themselves still under the spell of the
Conservatives, by seconding the appeal of the clergy

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 181
and aristocrats for Comonfort to take charge of the
government and "free society from the invasion of
the barbarians." For Alvarez, himself a pure Indian,
was being accompanied upon his march to the capital
by a body-guard of Indians. Between these and the
hordes of savage Indians whom Hidalgo had aroused,
the Conservative alarmists sought to establish analo
gies; and they were not averse to arousing a race
feeling to carry their ends.
Alvarez arrived in the capital, with his body-guard
of Indians, in November, 1855, and organized his gov
ernment with Comonfort as his Minister of War, and
Benito Juarez as Minister of Justice and Ecclesiasti
cal Relations. These appointments were, in effect, a
notice to Centrahsts, Conservatives, Clericals, and the
Military Power, and even to the "Moderados," that
Mexico was to be free from their control, and was to
be supphed with a government based upon a funda
mental law seeking the highest welfare of the
governed. The Advanced Liberals had formulated a definite
programme for the constitutional regeneration of the
country, and it was one of the steps in the reform of
the government that was promulgated, on the twenty-
third of November, 1855, in what is known as the
"Ley Juarez." This law (taking its name from
Benito Juarez, its author) was intended to regulate
the administration of justice and the organization of
courts of law. By certain articles of this law, special
courts were suppressed, and jurisdiction in civil cases
was removed from mihtary and ecclesiastical courts.
This might seem hke beginning at the wrong end
to work a great reform in the constitutional gov
ernment of a nation; and the measure was, indeed,

182 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
censured by the enemies of the Liberal government
as an attempt, from ulterior motives, to humiliate
the clergy and limit their influence. The fact is
that these measures were in strict conformity to
the "Plan de Ayotla," and were necessaiy to pre
vent political disturbances already threatening ; they
formed, therefore, an important part of the Liberal
programme of reform. It was felt, after long and
patient study of the subject, that this measure would
strike at the very source of some of the greatest evils
from which the country had long suffered. For one
of the inheritances Mexico had received from the
period of Spanish rule was the exclusive jurisdiction
claimed by ecclesiastical and military courts in all
cases, civil and criminal, in which clerics or soldiers
were involved. The evils of such a system are easily
seen when it is considered that half the crimes com
mitted in Mexico were by men amenable only to
military courts, and that these courts were exceed
ingly lax in the administration of justice. More
than a quarter of the landed property in the country
belonged to clerics, and even the women who kept
house for them, and their servants, evaded the pay
ment of just debts because the tradesmen could not
enforce their claims in the civil courts.
The ecclesiastical authorities saw at once, in the
passage of the " Ley Juarez," an attack upon the rights
of the Church, — their petted fueros, — and they pro
tested most vigorously against the passage of the law
and against the means which the Liberals proposed
should be provided for the administration of justice
and for equalizing the operations of law. This cleri
cal opposition brought into prominence the Bishop of
Michoacan, the Rt. Rev. Antonio Pelagio de Labastida

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 183
y Davilos, who had been but recently advanced to the
Episcopate. He was a native of Morelia, and had
gained some notoriety there, as a parish priest and
orthodox pulpit orator, by preaching against liberal
and democratic doctrines and against Freemasonry.
He had thus made the home of Morelos, and the entire
State of Michoacan, a great bulwark for the Conserva
tives. In March, 1854, he anathematized from the
pulpit, as heretical, the doctrines of Ocampo and
Miguel Lerdo. His zeal in that regard was rewarded
by his elevation to the Episcopate.
Alvarez was without ambition to rule the coun
try, and comphed with the request of some of the
" Moderados " that he resign. Having all confidence
in Comonfort, he practically abandoned the Presidency
to him, on the twelfth of December, 1855. Comon
fort, with the evident intention of carrying his policy
of conciliation and compromise as far as possible, ap
pointed, as his cabinet, men who had been identified
with the former governments, as "Moderados " or Con
servatives ; thus relieving of office Benito Juarez, who
was in disfavor with the " Moderados " and Clericals.
Comonfort continued, however, to reform the army
and advance the principles of the Liberals. The
next decisive step in the direction of reform was
the famous "Ley Lerdo," — the production of Juarez
and Ocampo, though revised and introduced in Con
gress by Miguel Lerdo de Tejada and passed on the
twenty-fifth of June, 1856. Lerdo was especially ac
tive among the men who were endeavoring to reform
the nation, though he had taken a prominent part in
the movement by which Santa Anna had been re
called in 1853. He afterwards allied himself with the
Liberals, and continued with them to the end of his

i84 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
hfe. He was a native of Vera Cruz, had received a
collegiate education, and had engaged in commercial
pursuits. He had likewise acquired a reputation as
a statistician and publicist, and had published a history
of the State of Vera Cruz. Alvarez appointed him
Under Secretary of Public Works, and Comonfort
made him Secretary of the Treasury, in May, 1856.
It was in the latter capacity, and with extensive
statistical and politico-economical knowledge at his
command, that he was able to revise and complete the
law which is known by his name, and which revolu
tionized Mexico.
This " Ley de Desamortizacion civil y ecclesiastica,"
as it was officially called, removed from all corpora
tions, civil and ecclesiastical, the right to own lands
beyond what was necessary for the transaction of
their legitimate business, and thus prevented the
accumulation of wealth in hands where it would be of
no benefit to the commonwealth. It gave to all
lessees of Church property the right to purchase the
same on advantageous terms, at a price to be assessed
by commissioners appointed for that purpose ; and
gave the right of " denunciation," by which any im
proved untenanted property of the Church could be
entered and possessed and the title secured by any
citizen. All unimproved land of the Church was to
be sold at an assessed value. The Church was to
receive the proceeds of all these transactions, but the
land was to be freed from ecclesiastical control and no
longer exempt from taxation. Up to the end of the
year 1856, the total value of property transferred under
this decree was over twenty millions of dollars.
The Clericals made strenuous efforts to defeat this
law. The bishop of Puebla protested against the in-

THE "PLAN DE AYOTLA" 185
tervention of the government in matters belonging
to the Church, and preached sermons of a seditious
character thereupon. The Archbishop of Mexico de
sired that the question involving ecclesiastical fueros
be submitted to the Pope of Rome — a proposition
which was at once indignantly refused by the govern
ment of Mexico. Why should a foreign ecclesiastical
potentate be called upon to decide a question between
the Mexican government and its subjects ? — and es
pecially a question in which the Pope had an interest
identical with that of one of the parties ?
A reactionary movement was organized in Puebla,
where forces variously estimated at from five to fifteen
thousand were mobihzed by the Clericals. Antonio
de "Haro y Tamaris was given the title of General-in-
chief of these forces. He had never fully accepted
the principles of the Liberals, and after recognizing
Comonfort and the " Plan de Ayotla," he returned to
the Conservatives with whom he had been accustomed
to affiliate. In January, 1856, he had been suspected
of attempting to establish an Empire, with either him
self or a son of Iturbide as Emperor. He was then
arrested, and taken to Vera Cruz, to be sent into exile.
He escaped to Puebla, and in February placed himself
at the disposal of the Clerical Reactionaries.
Puebla was besieged by the government forces.
Haro y Tamaris defended the city obstinately; but
Liberal ideas spread, disaffection grew up among the
soldiers, and on the twentieth of March the gates
of the city were opened to the besiegers. Haro y
Tamaris was taken prisoner and sent into exile.
Comonfort not only acted with great promptness
and decision in regard to suppressing the revolution
in Puebla, but he issued a decree punishing the Re-

186 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
actionary officers and causing the sequestration of
enough of the Church property in the Diocese of
Puebla (whose clergy had been the chief instigators
of the insurrection) to pay the expenses of the war
and to indemnify the government for all damages
sustained thereby. It was a bold step, and created a
sensation. Despite all opposition, Congress passed the "Ley
Lerdo," eighty-two out of ninety deputies voting for
it. The law took effect on the twenty-fifth of June.
On the fifth of that month the Jesuits were sup
pressed by a decree of the government. The Reform
was advancing. But the Clergy were in opposition,
and from that time the war-cry of the Clerical Reac
tionaries was Religion y Fueros.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 187

CHAPTER X
THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857
THE moral condition of the country at this
time was in itself sufficient proof of the
need of constitutional reform in Mexico.
The law of the land, as it was administered under
the inefficient pohtical institutions of the middle of
the nineteenth century, was wholly inadequate to
protect the citizen in the enjoyment of hfe, liberty,
the possession of property and the pursuit of happi
ness. The country was overrun by banditti. Even
the most travelled thoroughfare in Mexico, — that
between Vera Cruz and the capital, — was exceed
ingly unsafe. Bands of thieves frequently waylaid
the diligencias (the popular conveyance of those
days), and robbed the passengers of all they possessed.
Life was held very cheap, and murders, either for
robbery or for revenge, were of frequent occurrence.
To travellers, the roadside crosses, so frequently seen
in all parts of the country, were explained as mark
ing the places where violent deaths had occurred.
As in all such countries, the crimes committed by
the bandits, thieves, and murderers, who thronged
the country, were alleged to be too easily condoned
by the Church, and hence were in a measure charge
able upon the Clerical party. They were, in fact, to
a large extent committed by persons who, previous
to the passage of the " Ley Juarez," had, through

188 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
some mihtary or ecclesiastical connection, been ex
empt from the jurisdiction of the civil courts.
From the time of the Independence of Mexico,
constitutional government had been viewed, by those
who gave any attention whatever to it, as in its experi
mental stages, even when appearing to the best advan
tage. The numerous " Pronunciamentos," " Plans,"
and " Bases," proclaimed in the years from 1824 to
1857, seemed to argue fatal defects in the Constitution
of 1824, and to suggest the question of the possibihty
of self-government in Mexico under any form that
might be devised. The opinion that it was impossi
ble was held not alone by the Monarchists, but by
more disinterested observers of public affairs. It
was declared in 1846, that since 1823 there had been
no less than seventeen revolutions in Mexico ; and
it was pertinently asked, Could it be said that a
nation was competent to govern itself in which
revolutions were of such frequent occurrence ? Had
Mexico governed herself peaceably even for a single
year? The rapidly growing Liberal party had set out to
answer the question of the ability of Mexico to gov
ern herself. That party thought that if she were
now given a new Constitution, based upon what she
had learned from her past experiences and what had
been learned for her by the study of the pohtical sys
tems of other nations, she would be able to establish
a strong and safe government, and maintain peace
and order. The Liberals were, for the most part,
careful and thoughtful Republicans, who had begun
to see that the Constitution of 1824, while the origi
nal after which it was modelled might be sufficient
to furnish stable government for the Anglo-Saxons

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 189
north of the Rio Grande, was wholly unsuited to the
government of people having the peculiar tempera
ment of the Spanish- American or the Mexican Indian,
and the unhappy traditions and political training
received from three centuries of Spanish domina
tion. While refusing to take the ground assumed
by Gutierrez de Estrada or Paredes, they felt that
something should be done to provide as strong a
government as any that Mexico had yet secured.
They desired, and believed it possible to obtain, a
Constitution sufficiently centralized to suppress an
archy at home and aggressions from abroad, and yet
to have popular features which the other Constitu
tions lacked. It was especially necessary to secure
such a Constitution as would check the aggressions
of the Church party and the military arm of the gov
ernment. The military should be the servant of the
government, not its master. Mexico should no longer
be a mere mihtary oligarchy, nor an ecclesiastical
hierarchy, if it would serve the best and highest
interests of the people.
If Mexico were ever to become a free nation in the
fullest meaning of that term as understood by Anglo-
Saxon peoples, the establishment of a Constitutional
Confederacy was of the highest importance, with the
assurance that such an institution would be perma
nent and that peaceable self-government would be
secured. The establishment of religious hberty was
of importance scarcely secondary. It was also highly
important that a system of free education be estab
lished ; that the press be made absolutely free ; that
Church lands be distributed among the people at
such prices that all classes might be enabled to be
come freeholders ; that the army be reduced ; that

190 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
the corruptions of government patronage be purged
away ; that the civil service be freed from abuses ;
that the judiciary be purified, and the laws be fairly
administered between man and man; and that immi
gration be encouraged. Such were the tasks which
the Liberals set themselves to accomplish in 1857,
fully appreciating the difficulties that opposed the
successful accomplishment of all they had planned.
The most important of the reforms proposed were
those touching the Church in her relation to the State.
These also required the most delicate handhng. It
would be a grave error to suppose that the clergy
in Mexico had been engaged, throughout the years
of the Church's existence there, solely in enriching
themselves, and in scandahzing the Faith. The
wealth of the Church was not at all times devoted
to base and sordid objects, or used to corrupt its pos
sessors or the people. Few countries have been
better supplied than Mexico with hospitals and asy
lums. The Sisters of Charity there, as elsewhere,
pursued their vocation with zeal and energy, and
with excellent results. The rural clergy throughout
the land acted as the protectors, advisers, and friends
of the members of their flocks, and were always the
agents of charity and mercy. They were the de
fenders of the Indians, interposing on their behalf
in times of persecution or whenever they were
menaced with injustice ; and they ever stood forth
as the champions of outraged rights. The class to
which Hidalgo, Morelos, Matamoros, and a host of
others in tlieir time, belonged, had not by any
means died out. It was largely due to these that
so many people attached themselves to the clergy,
and enlisted themselves in defence of the Church.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 191
and of church property whenever an attack was made
upon either.
The clergy generally became, in their turn, jealous
and watchful of the power which this popular affec
tion created. Avarice was not wanting to increase
their gains, — from dying penitents, pious bequests ;
from the living, holy offerings and lavish endowments.
It was not unnatural that the Church should desire
to preserve the property that had been accumulated
during many years of religious toil; nor that the
religious orders should dread the advance of that
intellectual march which was sure, sooner or later, to
consign their monastic establishments to destruction,
as in other countries.
What the wealth of the Church in Mexico at this
period was, though it might be interesting to know,
it would be impossible so much as to estimate. Fif
teen years previously, it had been estimated that
there were two thousand nuns, seventeen hundred
monks, and thirty-five hundred secular clergy in
Mexico, and that the number of their conventual
estates was one hundred and fifty. The nuns alone
possessed fifty-eight estates, or properties, producing
an annual revenue of five hundred and sixty thousand
dollars ; in addition to a floating capital of four mil
lion five hundred thousand dollars, producing an
annual income of two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. While the above number of clergy was in
adequate to the spiritual needs of a population esti
mated at that time at seven million souls, it was
small indeed to be the possessor of estates worth at
least ninety million dollars.
The clergy to some extent defeated the purposes of
the " Ley Lerdo," by denouncing all who would pur-

192 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
chase the lands of the Church under that law, and
declaring that the " Curse of God " would rest upon
them because of their unholy traffic in holy things.
The public was by these threats terrorized from pur
chasing at the government sales, and few bidders were
found with courage to risk the " Curse." Those who
were not thus terrorized, and were of a speculative
turn, saw their opportunity, and bought in the prop
erty at low figures, and thus made fortunes at slight
outlay, while gaining the more bitter enmity of the
Church. All this served to make the task of the
government reformers the more difficult.
One of the avowed purposes of the "Plan de
Ayotla," even as modified by Comonfort, was to con
vene a Constitutional Convention. Alvarez, by a de
cree issued from Iguala in September, 1855, called
such a Convention, or " Constituent Congress," to
meet at Cuernavaca, in the State of Morelos, on the
fourth of the following month. This Convention was
composed of twenty-five members, each of the States
and Territories sending one representative. It organ
ized with Gomez Farias as its presiding officer, and
with Benito Juarez as one of its secretaries. Among
its members were Melchor Ocampo, Felix Zuloaga,
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, and Manuel Doblado, of
whom mention will be made hereafter.
The first step toward securing a Constitution was
the adoption of a tentative or provisional Constitution
entitled " Estatico Organico Provisional de la Repub
lica Mexicana." This consisted of one hundred and
twenty-five articles, and was promulgated by Comon
fort, by virtue of authority conferred upon him by
the " Plan de Ayotla." Its principles were Centralist,
so far as these concerned the organization of the ex-

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 193
ecutive and judicial powers of the government. It
was Liberal in its definition of the civil and pohtical
rights of the Mexicans. But even these Liberal pro
visions were neutralized by the eighty-second article,
which gave to the President discretionary power when
ever in the judgment of a Council of Ministers this
should be necessary in order to defend the independ
ence or the integrity of the territory, to maintain the
law and the established order, or to preserve public
tranquillity — with the proviso, however, that in no
case should the death penalty, nor certain other pro
hibited punishments, be imposed.
Local disturbances made it inexpedient for the
Constituent Congress to continue its sessions in Cuer
navaca, and it removed to the City of Mexico, thus
carrying the war into the enemy's country. Each
proposition regarding the new Constitution was an
attack upon some abuse that had existed perhaps for
three centuries and involved the wealth or the influ
ence of some powerful class. It was proposed, for
example, to prohibit forced labor, monopolies, alcaba-
las (or inter-state customs duties), the acquisition of
property by religious communities, and many other
common features of Mexican life. These prohibitions
were suggested, not as mere doctrinaire theories, but
as solutions of some of the social problems presented
to the reformers of the Constitution. In opposition to
the proceedings of the Congress, the Bishops through
out the country issued pastoral letters denouncing the
Reform propositions and the entire Constituent Con
gress. They went so far as to excommunicate certain
officials in the City of Mexico who had been active in
executing the " Ley Lerdo."
Comonfort had yet another bold stroke to make
13

194 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
before the work of the Constituent Congress could be
completed. In September, 1856, he received informa
tion that a conspiracy against the government was
hatching among the Franciscans in the monastery
whose magnificent buildings dominated that portion
of the capital between the Main Plaza and the Ala
meda. The national troops were ordered to take
possession of the building and to arrest the inmates.
The monastery was suppressed and the magnificent
property was confiscated. The decree of suppression
was subsequently recalled, but the confiscation was
allowed to stand, and soon afterwards a street was
opened up through the property. To this street the
name " Independencia " was given, — intended to
signify the era of Independence which the Liberals, in
the face of the opposition of the Clericals, were striv
ing to bring in. This action on the part of Comon
fort excited further active sedition on the part of
the clergy, which the government sought to suppress
by banishing some of the more conspicuous clerical
leaders. The new Constitution was finally ready for adop
tion. It proclaimed in its preamble that it was set
forth " in the name of God and with the authority of
the Mexican people." The strong declaration of the
first section was that " The Mexican people recognize
that the rights of man are the basis and the object of
social institutions. Consequently they declare that
all the laws and all the authorities of the country
must respect and maintain the guarantees which the
present Constitution establishes." It went on to
declare that " the national sovereignty resides essen
tially and originally in the people, and is instituted
for their benefit. The people have at all times the

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 195
inalienable right to alter or modify the form of their
government. . . . The Mexican people voluntarily
constitute themselves a democratic, federal, repre
sentative Republic, composed of States free and sov
ereign in all that concerns their internal government,
but united in a federation established according to
the principles of this fundamental law. . . . No cor
poration, civil or ecclesiastical, whatever may be its
character, denomination, or object, shall have legal
capacity to acquire in proprietorship or administer for
itself real estate, with the single exception of edifices
destined immediately and directly to the service and
object of the institution. ... It belongs exclusively
to the Federal authorities to exercise, in matters
of rehgious worship and external discipline, the inter
vention which the law may designate."
Such were some of the more radical clauses of the
new Constitution. It abolished slavery ; declared in
struction to be free, and that every man was left free
to adopt whatever useful and honorable profession,
industrial pursuit or occupation suited him ; that the
State would not permit any contract to be carried
out which had for its object the diminution, loss, or
irrevocable sacrifice of man's liberty, for the sake
of labor, education, or rehgious vow. It decreed
freedom of speech and of the press, without other
hmitations than respect for private life, morality,
, and the public peace ; and secured the right of peti
tion, of association, of carrying arms. It suppressed
titles of nobility, the prerogatives and special privi
leges {fueros) of corporations ; punishment by muti
lation, torture, infamy, or confiscation of property. It
prohibited the acquisition by corporations of property
for speculative purposes, abolished special tribunals,

196 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
retroactive laws, private laws, and imprisonment for
debts of a purely civil character. It consecrated as
inviolable the home, private correspondence, and the
right of an accused to legal defence. It abohshed
the death penalty for political offences. It estab
lished religious toleration.
Such a Constitution opposed all the monarchical
ideas abroad in the land. It positively affronted the
Church party. It abolished at once all the ecclesias
tical and mihtary privileges that had been so long
enjoyed and so much abused by Conservatives, Cen
tralists, and Clericals. It destroyed, as by a blow, the
domination of the Church, and replaced it with that
of a Liberal party that in its radicalism was disposed
to go to an opposite extreme. And the immediate
result of the new Constitution was likely to be, not
the bringing of much desired peace to the land, but a
reaction instigated by the Church. The Church in
deed accepted the adoption of the new Constitution as
a declaration of war, and it proved the bitterest civil
war Mexico had ever known.
It was with great difficulty that Comonfort could
be prevailed upon to support and sign so radical a
Constitution. Both Church and Army were bitterly
opposed to it, and did all they could to create a reac
tion. Comonfort was a devout religionist ; and being
in his pohtical faith more confident of the opinions of
others than of his own, he was especially susceptible
to outside influences. He early began to show signs
of wavering in the face of the threats of the Church
party. His intimate friends in Congress withdrew
therefrom, and, with members of his own family,
urged him to suppress at any cost the publication of
the Constitution, and thus avert the gathering storm.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 197
His vacillations did much to precipitate the contest
between the Church and the Liberals, — or, as they
now became, the Constitutionalists.
He yielded at last, though with great reluctance, to
the pressure of the Liberal leaders, and on the night
of the fifth of February, 1857, the Constitution was
adopted. The occasion was an ever-memorable one
in the history of Mexico. Gomez Farias, aged and ill,
entered the legislative chamber leaning upon the arms
of his two sons, and took his seat as the presiding
officer of the Constituent Congress. He was received
with enthusiasm, all the people present rising to their
feet as he entered. It was with deep emotion that he
proceeded to take the vote of the members, which
resulted in the adoption of a Constitution embodying
principles of government more liberal than the most
radical opinions he had ever entertained. It is sub
stantially the Constitution of Mexico to-day. Any
official action apart from its provisions since its adop
tion has been considered a Golpe de Estado — a blow
to the State.
The Constitution was to take effect on and after
the sixteenth of September, the recognized anniversary
of Mexican Independence. No sooner was it published
than great excitement prevailed in all parts of the
country, and wherever the clergy were dominant the
people were incited to rebellion. An allocution was
received from Pope Pius IX., declaring the govern
ment of Mexico " apocrypha," and putting it under
the anathema of the Church. The officials of the gov
ernment, who were charged with the duty of having
the Constitution sworn to, met with opposition every
where. The clergy protested against it most strenu
ously, and exerted all their influence to prevent its

198 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
being made effective. Their opposition culminated
in scandals in the churches in Holy Week, and re
sulted in the arrest and deportation of the Archbishop.
He was succeeded in the Archbishopric by the Bishop
of Michoacan, Dr. Antonio Pelagio de Labastida.
As the time drew near for the Constitution to go
into effect, General Felix Zuloaga proclaimed its
nullification in a " preliminary pronunciamento," and
proposed to call a new Congress, to provide " a Con
stitution more in harmony with the interests of the
country," — meaning, of course, the clerical and mih
tary interests of the country. He received military
support from General Miguel Miramon, General Tomas
Mejia, and other Reactionary leaders in various parts
of the country, and moral support, either openly or
otherwise, from some members of the Cabinet. Com
bats, with bloodshed, took place in the streets of the
capital between the Liberals and the Reactionaries,
and the war was begun. The Reactionaries took up
their headquarters in the Convent of Santo Domingo.
The Cabinet of Comonfort took alarm and resigned.
In the new Cabinet, Benito Juarez took the portfolio
of Gobernacion (Domestic Relations), which made
him practically the premier.
As soon as the Constitution went into effect, the
election therein provided for was held. This election
the Reactionaries could not prevent, although it was
one purpose of the movement under Zuloaga to do
so. The result was the choice of Ignacio Comonfort
for President by a large majority over Miguel Lerdo
de Tejada. Benito Juarez was elected, by an almost
unanimous vote, President of the Supreme Court of
Justice, and became thereby virtual Vice-President.
Comonfort was installed in the Presidency on the

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 199
first of December, and took an oath to support the
Constitution then recently adopted. Almost immedi
ately the powerful influence of the Conservatives over
him became apparent. He had been so courageous and
straightforward in the beginning of his career, albeit
so concihatory and moderate, that much had been ex
pected of him, and he had secured the sympathies of
many who stood for the cause of Liberal principles.
No one doubts his honesty of purpose ; but he showed
weakness by ignoring his Cabinet and the Congress
of the nation, and calling to his aid a " Council of
Representatives" from each State and from among
the highest dignitaries of the Church, — a purely
extra-constitutional body. Through them, the united
action of the clergy and the army, supported as it was
by many government officials, was too strong for him.
Under the advice he had sought, and influenced by
threats of evils to the country which he was anxious
to avert, he took the step which proved a Golpe de
Estado. Ten days after he had sworn to support the Consti
tution, he gave way to the Clerical party, set aside the
Constitution, and tried to resume government under
the " Bases of Political Organization " of 1843. His
plea was that he found the new Constitution imprac
ticable. He desired a strong government rather than
a popular one, and the new Constitution failed to pro
vide a government sufficiently strong. To placate the
Church party, he acceded to their demands and cast
Juarez into prison.
His action failed, however, to relieve the situation
of its difficulties. He lost his friends among the
Liberals, and the Reactionaries lost faith in him and
broke faith with him. He tried to correct his mis-

200 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
takes ; but it was too late. He released Juarez, re
stored the Constitution, reorganized the National
Guard, and took steps to suppress the insurrection in
the capital. But affairs had become sadly demoral
ized. It required a strong hand, a steady nerve, and
a cool head to extricate the government from its
difficulties ; and it was evident that Comonfort had
not these qualities.
Felix Zuloaga had taken advantage of the situation,
and, as leader of the Reactionaries and commander of
an important division of the army, had developed a
formidable rebellion out of the insurrection of which
he had previously been the head. He was a trained
soldier, having served throughout the war with the
United States. In 1835 Santa Anna made him Presi
dent of a " Perpetual Court Martial," and in 1854 sent
him south in command of a brigade against the Revo
lutionists of Ayotla. He was forced to surrender, and
was saved from being shot by the efforts of Comon
fort, who kept him on his staff. He served with the
Liberals in the siege of Puebla in 1856, and was a
member of the Constituent Congress at Cuernavaca.
But, like many professed Liberals in those days, he
went back to his former affiliation with the Conserva
tive and Church party, and was now their military
champion against Comonfort and the new Constitu
tion. He formally "pronounced," with his brigade,
in Tacubaya, on the seventeenth of December.
Discouraged in his efforts to bring about a settle
ment of the difficulties in which the government was
now involved, Comonfort, anxious to avoid the hor
rors of another war, abandoned the Presidency on the
twenty-first of January, 1858, and retired from the
country, leaving the Reactionaries apparently masters

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 201
of the situation. A Junta of Notables, created by the
" Plan de Tacubaya," as the pronunciamento of De
cember seventeenth was called, assembled and elected
Zuloaga Acting-President. He took possession of
the executive office on the twenty-second of January,
wholly ignoring the constitutional provision by which
the President of the Supreme Court of Justice was
to become President of the Republic upon the death,
resignation, or disability of the President.
The Reactionaries, even in their apparent triumph,
were incapable of creating a stable government. There
was no harmony among them or among their leaders.
A revolt was organized at a town near the capital bear
ing the same name as that in which the "Plan" of 1855
had been formulated. This was with the evident in
tention of confusing the popular mind and committing
to the new scheme some of the adherents of the " Plan
de Ayotla," though it took the name of " Plan de
Navidad " because adopted on Christmas eve (1858).
It pronounced against further warfare, " which, how
ever the tide of victory might run, would be sure to
result in an irreparable injury to the country." This
seemed quite plausible, but, — as though there had
not been enough constitutions prepared for the Mexi
can people, and as though their chief characteristic
was to observe constitutional government, — a call
was issued for a Convention of Deputies from several
States to form a new Constitution and elect a Presi
dent in the interests of peace. The army in the
capital supported this "Plan," and General Robles
Pezuela was elected Provisional President. The
Convention of Deputies, called together in pursu
ance of the "Plan," elected General Miguel Mira
mon President and General Pezuela Vice-President,

202 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
in January, 1859 — actions which portended anything
but peace.
Zuloaga took refuge in the British Legation from
the fury of this "peace pronunciamento." Miramon,
who was absent from the capital at the time, returned
on the twenty-first of January, declared the deposition
of Zuloaga illegal, and reinstated him in the Presi
dency. Zuloaga, however, as though by a previous
understanding, resigned, after appointing Miramon
his substitute and delivering to him the executive
office, on the second of February. But he seemed
at times disposed to resume control of the govern
ment. He advanced the theory that Miramon, who
was only his substitute, had exceeded his authority
in certain cases — notably in negotiating a certain
loan, of which more will be said hereafter.
Miramon suddenly appeared at the capital, arrested
Zuloaga, and forced him to accompany him on his
campaign — nominally as Chief of Engineers, but
really as a prisoner. At Leon, the following July,
Zuloaga escaped from his Presidential jailer, issued a
manifesto revoking his resignation of the Presidency
and declaring himself " Constitutional President." He
found no followers ; but Miramon submitted the ques
tion to Jose' Ignacio Pavon, President of the Supreme
Court of Justice under the Reactionary government,
and that distinguished jurist took the opinion of the
Council of State, and Miramon was declared to be the
President. That worthy thereupon turned the office
over to Pavon, who reconvened the Representative
Junta of January, 1859. In this junta, Miramon
was elected President by a vote of nineteen to four.
Zuloaga, tired of this kind of child's play, retired to
private life.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1857 203
Miguel Miramon was in many respects of the same
type of character as Santa Anna, but with less ability
and of shorter career. He was a native of Mexico,
though of French name and ancestry. He was but
twenty-five years of age, and hence ineligible to the
Presidency even under the " Bases Organicas," — the
most ultra of the attempts at a Constitution made
by the party he represented, — the Constitution under
which, if under any, he was supposed to be governing.
He was a dashing soldier, educated at the Govern
ment Military Academy, and had served with his
classmates in the defence of Molino del Rey and
Chapultepec against the United States army in 1847.
He was with Haro y Tamaris in Puebla in 1856,
was made prisoner by the Liberals three times, and
escaped each time — all within eighteen months.
He was engaged in guerrilla warfare for the Cler
icals until the fight in the streets of Mexico in
September, 1857. Zuloaga promoted him to the
command of a brigade, and he became a prominent
mihtary leader and a political intriguer in the ranks
of the Reactionaries.
So much for the attempts of the Reactionaries to
fill the Presidency after the disaffection and flight of
Comonfort. They succeeded in holding the capital,
and in furnishing a succession of what are now termed
"Anti-Presidents," none of whom could show the
least colorable title to the executive office. The
futile efforts of these Reactionaries to govern is the
best commentary that could be given upon the needs
in Mexico of the Constitutional Government which
the Liberals were at this time striving to establish.

204 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER XI
BENITO JUAREZ AND THE WAR OF THE
REFORM
THE plan put forth by Zuloaga, in his pronun
ciamento of December seventeenth, 1857,
drew off some of the " Moderado " deputies of
Congress, and these became members of the Junta
of Notables by whom Zuloaga was elected. He pro
ceeded to secure the arrest of the Liberal deputies,
but seventy of them escaped from the capital and
made a rendezvous in Queretaro. There they organ
ized under the Constitution of 1857, recognized
Benito Juarez as Constitutional President in succes
sion to Comonfort, and had him installed on the tenth
of January, 1858, several days before the election of
Zuloaga. From that time to the end of his life,
Benito Juarez was so closely identified with Constitu
tional Government in Mexico that the history of the
one is the history of the other.
Benito Juarez was one of the most remarkable men
who has ever appeared in the history of Spanish
America. He rose from the humblest origin to the
greatest eminence attainable in his country, — not
through the army, as was the case with most of his
contemporaries, nor by military, successes (for he was
never a soldier), but by industry, perseverance, single
ness of purpose, and the force of an indomitable will,
and through the influence of his personal abilities and
sterling honesty.

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 205
He was born in the small but picturesque pueblo
which at that time bore the name of San Pablo Gue-
latao, lying about forty miles northeast of the city of
Oaxaca, on the outskirts of Ixtlan, among the rugged
mountains of that locality, and upon the shores of a
mountain lake known from the transparency of its
waters as Laguna Encantada, or the Enchanted Lake.
The pueblo contained, in the early years of the nine
teenth century, about two hundred inhabitants — all
Zapoteca Indians. The Zapotecas, although of the
native races which, under the social organization then
in vogue in Mexico, had scarcely any rights that
others were bound to respect, had ever been the most
independent and self-respecting of the aborigines.
Possibly they were the direct descendants of the
most civilized of the native races whose architectural
remains, plentiful in the State of Oaxaca, still baffle
the inquiry of the scientist.
It was said of them, in the periods antecedent to
the advent of the Europeans, that they maintained
their freedom throughout all the wars waged against
them, and gained the reputation of being the boldest
and most vigorous of all the native races. They were
characterized as a race of virtuous and well-favored
women, and of strong, well-built, brave, and often
ferocious, but withal honest, men, with powerful
frames and rugged looks. And even after the con
quest of the land by the Europeans, and the subjec
tion of the other races to the power of the white men,
the honest mountaineers of Oaxaca, — the Zapotecas,
— maintained a quasi-independence.
The birthday of Benito Juarez was the twenty -first
of March, 1806 ; and both his parents were Zapotecas.
He was baptized when a day old, and received the

206 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
name of Benito Pablo (Benjamin Paul). The second
of these names he seems never to have used, and
within half a century of his birth the simple name of
Benito Juarez became a household word in Mexico, and
was known throughout the world in attractive contrast
with the long names usually borne by the aristocrats
of Mexico and Spanish-American countries generally.
The home of Juarez's infancy was a rude adobe
hut with thatch roof, such as may be seen in great
numbers throughout the country. No other language
was spoken in San Pablo Guelatao than the Zapoteca
dialect, and Benito learned no other before he reached
his twelfth year. His parents died when he was three
years of age, and he was for nine years left to the
care of a grandmother.
The reputation for honesty and industry acquired
by the Zapoteca mountaineers stood their children
in good stead, and made them in demand for house
servants in the homes of Oaxaca, the capital and
metropolis of that province. A sister of Benito had
obtained some domestic service there, and in 1818,
alone and unassisted, Benito took his journey to that
city, probably intending to assist her in her labors. He
was so fortunate as to find a home with a book-binder,
who was also a member of a minor religious order, —
the third, or lay order, of the Franciscans. By him,
Benito was taught to read and write Mexican-Spanish,
rudimentary mathematics, and the principles of Span
ish grammar, without neglecting his religious and
moral training or instruction in good habits. Thus
the boyhood of Juarez was spent in the midst of
the scenes of the military exploits of Morelos, whose
memory was fresh in the minds of all with whom he
came in contact.

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 207
After this preliminary education, Juarez was put in
the Church school in Oaxaca, in October, 1821. The
Independence of Mexico had just been established,
and Juarez had reached an age when the subjects
discussed about him were likely to make a deep and
lasting impression upon his mind. During these im
pressionable years of his youth, while the stirring
events succeeding the putting forth of the " Plan de
Iguala" were in progress, down toward the close of
Victoria's Presidency, Juarez was pursuing a course
in Mediaeval Latin, canon law, dogmatic theology,
and philosophy, — the utmost range of study then
permitted to a student, education in Mexico being
still exclusively in the hands of the clergy. Iguala
was within the limits of the Province of Oaxaca, and
its importance in the events of the time were not
likely to be overlooked by any of the Oaxacans, espe
cially by so bright a student as Juarez was already
proving himself to be.
In those days, a few Indians were annually per
mitted to enter the priesthood, and the door of the
seminary was open to these. Not only was the career
of the Church the only one open to talent in Mexico
in the year when Juarez began his studies, but it was
the one which his guardian naturally selected for him.
Consequently, in 1827, Juarez began the study of
theology, being intended by his guardian for the
priesthood. But one of the immediate results of the
Constitution of 1824 was a strong impulse given to
popular education. The sturdy Oaxacans availed
themselves of the exceptional opportunities offered
them, and in 1826 the Legislature of the newly organ
ized State of Oaxaca founded an Institute of Arts and
Sciences, in the City of Oaxaca. Juarez withdrew

208 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
from his theological studies and matriculated in the
Institute. Two years later he was appointed Pro
fessor of Experimental Physics in the Institute. His
preference for the law had caused his discontinuance
of his theological studies upon his attaining his
majority, and he pursued his legal studies while
engaged as a professor in the Institute. It required
seven years of study to fit him for the practice of his
chosen profession. In the year 1832 he received the
degree of Bachelor of Laws in the University of Oax
aca, which afterwards conferred upon him the degree
of Doctor of Civil Law, — a rare honor in Mexico,
with its multiplicity of military titles. He was finally
admitted to the bar in 1834, being then in his twenty-
eighth year.
Already he had entered upon a political career. In
1831 he was elected Regidor of the City of Oaxaca,
and filled the position of Judicial Secretary to the
Municipal Council. The following year he was
elected a Deputy to the State Legislature. As the
result of the close attention he gave to public affairs,
he adopted Liberal ideas, and attached himself at once
to the Federalist party, which was the popular party
of Oaxaca. He remained true to that party through
out his career, and throughout its transformation into
the Liberal party of later days. He was ever a stanch
supporter of the ideas of Gomez Farias. His was a
political fidelity not usual among the pubhc men in
Mexico. Few men there have been as consistent as
Benito Juarez in acting in accordance with avowed
political principles.
It was not long before he was brought into close
contact with national affairs, and made to learn that
political life in Mexico has its discomforts and may

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 209
be slow in bringing its rewards. Oaxaca was by no
means so provincial as to be withdrawn from all in
terest fa the stirring events of Santa Anna's career of
intrigue. That State had always maintained such
sturdy Federalist principles that it was naturally re
garded with suspicion by the Centralists and Conser
vatives. In 1836, during the disturbed state of affairs
resulting from the change of the Constitution of 1824
to the Siete Leyes and the Centralized Constitution,
Oaxaca, like other States, was deprived, by the new
order of things, of her sovereignty. Against this she
protested ; and because of the boldness of her protest,
Juarez with others suffered imprisonment for several
months. The allegation was that he was implicated
in a revolution against the Conservatives, similar to
that of Texas, and with the same end in view. There
can be no doubt that Juarez sympathized, as did most
of the Oaxacans, with the Texans in their assertion
of the rights of their State, although he regretted
deeply that the course pursued with them was such
as to occasion the loss of such valuable territory to
his country.
During the next ten years, while Oaxaca was at the
mercy of the Conservative politicians at the national
capital, Juarez held the office of Civil and Revenue
Judge for two years ; acted for a short time as Secre
tary of the Governor of the State ; and served as one
of a triumvirate into whose hands the executive power
of the State was placed, after the revolution of August,
1846, had restored to the State her constitutional sov
ereignty. These positions demanded the exercise of
a large amount of tact and political sagacity ; for the
State of Oaxaca never wholly relinquished her sover
eignty, and had to be constantly on her guard to avoid
14

210 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
an open breach with the Centralized Autocratic Gov
ernment at the capital of the country, and the appear
ance of rebellion. That Juarez avoided arrest all these
years, attests the clear, cool judgment which dictated
his course.
Besides his pubhc career, Juarez practised his pro
fession, at intervals, with success. In this he was
associated with a young man named Porfirio Diaz, his
pupil, the inheritor of his political ideas and the future
wearer of his mantle.
In 1846 Juarez made his dibut in national politics,
being that year a Deputy to Congress from his native
State. He supported the measures of Gomez Farias ;
and when Congress was dissolved, he retired to
Oaxaca. He was almost immediately elected Gov
ernor of that State, and for five years he administered
its affairs with economy and prudence. During his
gubernatorial term he prepared and promulgated a
civil and criminal code for the State — the first code
of laws ever published in Mexico.
On a vague charge of complicity in a revolution in
Oaxaca, Santa Anna had Juarez arrested in May, 1853.
He was imprisoned, first in Puebla and then in Jalapa.
Then, without being permitted to communicate with
his family, he was again taken to Puebla, whence he
was removed to Vera Cruz. After an incarceration
in the dismal dungeon of the prison of San Juan de
Ulua, he was sent into exile. He went on an Eng
lish vessel, first to Havana, and thence to New
Orleans, where he resided until July, 1855, finding
abundant opportunity, even in the poverty imposed
upon him by his exile, to study the institutions of
a successful Repubhc, and to perfect himself in a
knowledge of constitutional law and the science of

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 211
government — a knowledge which he deeply felt
was necessary to the working of a thorough ref
ormation in Mexico and bringing to that country
permanent peace and stabihty of government.
News of the " Plan de Ayotla " reached Juarez in
New Orleans, and he felt that the time had come for
Mexico to free herself from bad government. Going
by way of Panama, he arrived in Acapulco in July,
1855. There he found himself in company with men
having political views identical with his own. The
part he took in the preparation of the new Constitu
tion and the reform in the government was second to
that of no one. He remained firm when Comonfort
wavered. And he now took up the burdens of the
exalted office of President, under circumstances which
would have caused another to put them aside.
Without the means to establish his government in
the capital, Juarez arrived in Guanajuato on the nine
teenth of January, 1858, barely escaping General
Tomas Mejia, who was in San Juan del Rio with
Reactionary forces. In Guanajuato he was hospita
bly entertained by Manuel Doblado; and there he
formed his Cabinet, and issued a proclamation declar
ing himself Constitutional President. He received
the recognition of some of the States, and these con
tributed forces for the defence of the Constitutional
Government. As a body of Reactionary troops had left the capital
in pursuit of the Constitutionalists, the latter deemed
it wise to retire in the direction of Guadalajara.
The battle of Estanea de las Vacas was fought near
Celaya, and the " Constitutionalistas," or " Juaris-
tas " as they began to be called, were defeated by a
superior force of Reactionaries, and retired to Sala-

212 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
manca. On the thirteenth of March the battle of
Salamanca was fought. Again the victory was with
the Reactionaries.
Juarez arrived in Guadalajara on the fifteenth of
February, and established his government in the State
Executive Palace there. When the news reached him
of the defeat of his little army at Salamanca, he issued
a proclamation stating that the Constitutional Gov
ernment was determined to resist all attacks made
upon it. This was intended for the encouragement
of his followers, who might otherwise take this second
defeat of his troops as evidence that he had given up
the struggle for constitutional government.
It was at this juncture that soldiers from the garri
son at Guadalajara, having just pronounced in favor
of the Reactionaries, entered the palace and arrested
all who were found therein. Not content with this
high-handed proceeding, the commandant of the
garrison gave the order to shoot all the prisoners.
For a moment Juarez stood with muskets levelled at
him, awaiting the shot that would end the struggle
for constitutional government and add his name to
the long list of martyrs for the cause of law and
order in Mexico. The cool behavior of one of his
followers caused the soldiers to hesitate. They were
induced to espouse the cause of the Constitutional
ists. The report that Juarez had been captured was
forwarded to the City of Mexico, and before it could
be contradicted caused great rejoicing among the
clericals. Juarez was joined in Guadalajara by a few troops,
and with these he advanced to Colima and Manzanillo.
But so lamentable was the situation that the Presi
dent and his ministers gained among the Mexicans

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 213
(who are fond of bestowing nick-names) the popular
title of the " Sick Family." On the way, a battle
was fought at Santa Ana Acatlan. In view of the
dangers encountered at Acatlan, and in order that his
own determination to uphold the Constitutional Gov
ernment in the face of all opposition and at the risk
of his hfe might not involve the safety and happiness
of his followers, Juarez proposed that his ministers
might resign if they wished to. But they all dechned,
and renewed their pledges to support him in what
must have seemed to all but Juarez a forlorn hope.
Proceeding on his way to Colima, Juarez appointed
General Degollado to be Secretary of War and Marine
and General-in-chief of the army to be raised in de
fence of the Constitutional Government. Accom
panied by his Cabinet, he proceeded by way of
Mazatlan and by steamer to Panama. Crossing the
Isthmus, he took steamer first to Havana, thence to
New Orleans, and finally to Vera Cruz, where he
established his government on the fourth of May,
1858. He was cordially received by the Governor
of the State, and other Liberals whom he found there.
The city of Vera Cruz was admirably adapted,
under the circumstances, to be the seat of the Con
stitutional Government. It was the principal port of
entry in the whole country, by far the greater part of
the public revenues being derived from the import
duties at this port, and at Tampico, not far distant
on the same Gulf coast. The city also afforded ad
mirable facilities for securing arms and munitions
from the United States ; and within a year the United
States (April 9, 1859) recognized President Juarez as
the legitimate constitutional ruler of Mexico. From
Vera Cruz the Constitutional President continued the

214 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
war with the Reactionary party and with the usurpers
of the Presidential office in the capital of the country.
In this he conducted himself in such a manner as to
win the admiration of the world.
This war is known in history as the " War of the
Reform." It was the bloodiest of all the civil wars
ever waged in Mexico, and by reason of the ecclesias
tical interests at issue in the struggle it was marked
with all the bitterness and cruelty of a religious war.
Certainly the ecclesiastical powers did all within the
limits of possibility to give it that character; they
supplied the Reactionaries with resources for the con
duct of the war, and encouraged them by the issue of
inflammatory pastorals which kept the popular mind
continually stirred up against the Liberal government.
Miramon won the battle of Carretas, and went to
San Luis Potosi. The Reactionary forces attacked
Zacatecas and killed some of the government officials.
Degollado was defeated by Reactionaries under Mi
ramon at Atenquique. Santiago Vidaurri (then a
"Juarista") defeated Miramon at Ahaululco. The
" Juaristas " met with reverses at Guadalajara and
Tolototlan. By the capture of Zacatecas (which, how
ever, he was unable to hold) General Leonardo Marquez
attained to eminence as a Reactionary leader, and
began a career of cruelty scarcely paralleled in the
history of the nineteenth century. The war proceeded
with varying fortunes, though for the most part
disastrously to the " Juaristas," who lost battles and
leaders, not a few of the latter by desertion to the
Reactionaries. Vidaurri held the northern States for the " Consti-
tutionalistas " throughout the struggle, and deserted
the Repubhc subsequently. To General Porfirio Diaz

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 215
was assigned the task of the "pacification" of the
State of Oaxaca, which he accomplished in May, 1860.
The seat of the war extended, therefore, across the
central portion of the country, but was concentrated
upon the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre, between
the capital and Vera Cruz.
Encouraged by his successes in the interior, Mira
mon attempted, in February, 1859, to capture Vera
Cruz, the seat of the Constitutional Government. He
succeeded in investing the city, but found the resist
ance so stubborn that he was forced to raise the siege
the following month. To hide his defeat, he hastened
to join Marquez in the defence of the capital, then
threatened by the " Juaristas " under General Degol
lado. The two armies engaged in battle at Tacubaya ;
and, not content with victory, Marquez executed a
great number of prisoners, and among them six medi
cal men who had gone from the capital to care for the
wounded of the army of the " Juaristas " — thereby
gaining for himself the title of " The Tiger of Ta
cubaya." The day following the battle, Marquez
made a triumphal entry into the capital, and was pre
sented by the women with a silk sash inscribed
with the words " To virtue and valor ; a token of the
gratitude of the daughters of Mexico." Marquez
was subsequently arrested by the Reactionary chief
at Guadalajara, for insubordination, and for robbing
a conducta of six hundred thousand dollars, on its
way from Mexico to Guadalajara.
Miramon reorganized his army in three divisions,
taking the command of one himself and giving the
command of the other two to General Marquez and
General Tomas Mejia respectively. Mejia was of
pure Indian blood, claiming lineal descent from the

216 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Aztec war-chiefs. Being a stanch and fanatical ad
herent of the Church, he had been in arms against the
Liberals since 1853, most of the time carrying on a
guerrilla warfare in the mountain districts. He was
the soul of honor compared with Marquez, for whom
no deed of cruelty or robbery was too disgraceful to
be perpetrated.
On the fifteenth of November, 1859, Miramon and
Mejia defeated Degollado at a second battle of Estanca
de las Vacas. Juarez reheved Degollado of the com
mand of the army, and appointed him military governor
of Zacatecas. He was succeeded in the command of
the army of the Constitutionalists by General Jesus
Gonzalez Ortega.
Early in 1860, Miramon returned to his former
design of capturing Vera Cruz ; and in March he
appeared before that city. In preparing to besiege
the city he sent to Havana, and, with funds furnished
by the Church, purchased two steam vessels and muni
tions of war, to be brought to Vera Cruz and to co
operate from the Gulf with his forces on land. The
approach of the two vessels was disputed by the
squadron from other nations in the port of Vera
Cruz, and they were regarded as semi-piratical, being
unable to show proper ship's papers. Juarez re
quested the United States squadron to examine the
papers of the two vessels ; and in the attempt to
do so, the United States frigate was fired upon.
The commander of the frigate at once seized the
ships and took them to New Orleans for further
investigation. They were finally released; but the
delay gained by their detention was valuable to the
" Juaristas," and resulted in Miramon's failure in
his attack upon Vera Cruz.

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 217
The commander of the British squadron in Vera
Cruz, acting in the interests of the merchants of the
city and of the foreign residents, offered to mediate
the cause at issue between the two governments.
An armistice was arranged, and an assembly of
prominent Mexican citizens convened to devise some
plan by which to settle the difficulties between the
" Juaristas " and the Reactionaries, and to avoid the
bombardment of the city. The assembly proposed a
convention from the several States, to form a Consti
tution to be submitted to the vote of the people, with
a provisional government ad interim : that is, a repe
tition of the " Plan de Ayotla," but entirely under
the control of the Reactionaries.
Juarez, who was tired of the repeated proposition
for a new Constitution from the party that had showed
no capacity for constitutional government, declared,
as his ultimatum, that the country already had a Con
stitution and a government. What he demanded was
the calling of a Congress according to the provisions
of the Constitution of 1857. Miramon accordingly
broke off negotiations and renewed the siege. From
mere wantonness, he bombarded the city from the fif
teenth to the twentieth of March. Having exhausted
his ammunition, and finding that sickness was deplet
ing his troops, on the twenty-first of March he raised
the siege and returned to the capital to take his last
stand against the Constitutionalists.
It was while these military operations were in prog
ress in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, and in the
very darkest hour of the Constitutional Government,
that Juarez issued the decree nationalizing and se
questrating the property of the Church in Mexico.
Its ultimate effect was to deprive the Reactionary

218 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
party of its resources, and thus to break its power. It
was followed, on the twenty-sixth of July, by the law
regarding civil marriage ; and still later by the decrees
of rehgious toleration and the secularization of the
cemeteries. These were comprised in the " Laws of the
Reform " — the basis of the great economic and social
revolution so necessary to the regeneration of Mexico.
The apology offered for the first-mentioned of these
decrees is somewhat analagous to that offered by Com
onfort for confiscating the property of the clergy in
Puebla after quelling an insurrection incited by them.
The clergy had been the chief supporters of the Span
ish party in the wars for the independence of the
country, and since that time had been the most power
ful enemies of progress and of popular government.
They had promoted the present civil war, with the
purpose of overthrowing the Constitution which the
Mexican people had adopted, and of retaining their
former supremacy in political as well as spiritual af
fairs. They furnished the active enemies of consti
tutional government with resources enabling them to
maintain the war.
The decree was most sweeping in its effects. By
virtue thereof, the nation was entitled to possess all
the properties of the clergy, both religious and secu
lar, and the Church was denied the right to possess
real estate ; rehgious orders and religious communities
were absolutely and definitively dissolved, as being
contrary to public welfare; Church and State were
absolutely separated, and religious freedom was fully
and firmly estabhshed. The clergy were thenceforth
to receive such compensation for their services as
might be voluntarily bestowed by their parishioners,
instead of a stipend, from the State.

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 219
By the other decrees, marriage was thenceforth to
be considered in law as a civil contract only, and was
thus freed from the restraints and expenses previ
ously imposed upon it by the clergy, which had
tended to the corruption of morals throughout the
country and had been the means of sustaining among
the poor a system of peonage beyond the power of
the laws abolishing slavery to efface.
These decrees were intended to correct many abuses
which existed in the country, and they were a part of
that programme of Reform which Juarez had set out to
accomplish. As such, they were issued in good faith,
although at the time they may have seemed intended
merely to cripple the resources of the enemy and in
spire the friends of the Constitutional Government
with fresh courage. It was several years before they
could be engrafted upon the organic law of the land ;
but their direct result was to secure reinforcements
for the " Juaristas," and to turn the tide of popular
favor in the direction of the Constitutional Govern
ment. For the " Constitutionalistas " were thereby
proving themselves honest and consistent. No previ
ous effort at reform had ever been adhered to in the
face of obstacles as this had been. One-half the diffi
culties experienced by Juarez and his adherents would
have been deemed, at any time in the previous history
of Mexico, ample excuse for suspending any effort to
secure popular government, or for throwing over any
Constitution. Juarez was honest. He meant what
he said, and was determined to do all he promised ;
and the Vera Cruz decrees inspired the people with
confidence in him. Though the Reactionaries seemed
at that time to hold the balance of power, and to be
able to prevent the enforcement of the decrees, yet

220 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
they were inspired with dread of the man who could
so coolly proceed with the performance of his duty
under such trying circumstances as those which they
had created.
The position of the Reactionaries was, in fact,
becoming critical. They were in possession of the
capital, of Puebla, and of Guadalajara. But they
were themselves split up into contentious factions.
The people were beginning to take cognizance of the
cruelties and robberies that marked then- conduct of
affairs. It was not long before General Ortega was
able to capture Guadalajara, reorganize his army, and
march toward the City of Mexico. Miramon made an
unsuccessful attempt to recapture Guadalajara, and
won an unimportant victory in the south of Jalisco.
In August, 1860, the army of the " Juaristas " under
Ortega defeated the Reactionaries under Miramon, at
Silao ; and by the tenth of November, Ortega was able
to surround the capital. So assured was he of the
final success of his plan, that he addressed a circular
letter to the representatives of the foreign govern
ments in the capital, making known his determination
to occupy the city and to allow no reclamations under
any pretext whatever for supplies furnished or for
loans made to the Reactionaries.
Miramon gained a partial victory at San Bartolo, on
the first of December ; and on the sixth he surprised
and captured Toluca, taking many prisoners, Gomez
Farias and Degollado among them. These reverses
did not, however, retard the preparations of the
"Juaristas" for the final decisive conflict. Ortega
directed his march toward the east, that he might be
between Vera Cruz and the capital. General Ignacio
Zaragoza was brought from the defence of Guadala-

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 221
jara, to' assist the " Juaristas " in the vicinity of the
capital. On the twenty-second of December the
" Juaristas " (an army of eleven thousand men under
General Ortega) and the Reactionaries (eight thou
sand men under Miramon) faced each other at Cal-
pulalpam for the decisive battle of the War of the
Reform. The battle raged for two days, and the
' ' Juaristas ' ' were completely victorious. Miramon fled
to the capital, where he and Zuloaga divided the
Reactionary treasury between them. Miramon then
went into exile. Zuloaga, Marquez, and other Re
actionary leaders, retired to the mountain districts,
where they continued to raise partisans to oppose the
Liberal government.
The troops of the " Juaristas," under General Ortega,
entered the capital on the twenty-seventh of Decem
ber, and the decree of sequestration issued from Vera
Cruz was speedily put into operation. In the spolia
tion of the Church which followed, it was due to the
forethought of Ignacio Ramirez, a famous publicist
whom Juarez appointed Minister of Instruction and
Public Works, that the valuable paintings previously
existing in the monasteries, went to enrich the galleries
of the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts ; and that the
Biblioteca Nacional was founded in the San Augustin
Monastery, and was made the permanent depository
of the books derived from the religious houses.
The defeated and scattered Reactionaries continued
a guerrilla warfare, and sought by acts of wanton
cruelty to wreak their vengeance upon the victorious
Constitutionalists, or the party of the Reform, as they
came now to be called. In February, 1861, Mariano
Escobedo, who had risen from an humble position to
the rank of Brigadier-General, and had been present

222 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
in the latter capacity with the forces of the " Juaristas "
at the battle of Calpulalpam, was sent to check the
depredations of Marquez and Mejia. He was sur
prised and taken prisoner at Rio Verde, and Marquez
issued an order to have him shot. His life was spared
at the intercession of Mejia, and he subsequently es
caped from imprisonment.
In April, Marquez, encouraged by the hope that
the European nations would intervene in the affairs
of Mexico in aid of the Reactionaries, marched upon
Tulancingo, but was defeated in an attempt upon
Queretaro. Joining Zuloaga, however, he occupied
Villa del Carbon the following month. The Re
actionaries now selected Melchor Ocampo as the
especial object of their hatred, and encouraged the
guerrilla bands which infested the country to capture
him. This remarkable man was probably, next to
Juarez, the most prominent of the Reform leaders.
He was born in the city of Valladolid, in 1815, — the
year when another great native of that city (in whose
honor its name was changed to Moreha) was exe
cuted. He was a man of education, and a graduate
in law ; but after a few years of practice in that pro
fession, he gave himself up to the study of botany,
chemistry, and scientific agriculture, and acquired a
reputation in those subjects abroad as well as at
home. He served as Deputy in Congress in 1843 and
in 1846, and was then unanimously elected Governor
of Michoacan. During his term of office he made
many public improvements, and established the college
of San Nicolas Obispo and had it placed under State
and not under ecclesiastical control. He resigned the
Governorship in 1846, and retired to his country-seat,
which he had named " Pomoca," being an anagram of
his name.

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 223
He was reelected Governor, in June, 1852, but
resigned again in January, 1855. The Legislature,
in accepting his resignation, passed a unanimous vote
of thanks for his eminent services to the State. He
was among those arrested by Santa Anna upon the
latter's assuming the Dictatorship in 1855, and was
imprisoned in San Juan de Ulua awaiting a vessel to
take him into exile. The " Plan de Ayotla " secured
his release from prison, and he was for about eight
weeks chief of the cabinet of President Alvarez. He
resigned because of his lack of sympathy with Comon-
fort's policy of compromise. As a member of the
Constituent Congress, he was active and influential.
He was a member of Juarez's cabinet in Guadalajara.
A guerrilla band, under the leadership of a noted
desperado named Cajiga, went to Pomoca for the pur
pose of capturing Ocampo. Meeting a visitor and
mistaking him for the man they sought, they arrested
him. The prisoner, desiring to protect his friend, re
fused to disclose his identity, and would have suffered
in the place of Ocampo had not the latter appeared
and promptly told who he was.
Ocampo was taken before Marquez, and by his
orders was shot at Tepeji del Rio, on the road to
Moreha, and his body was hanged on a tree. It was
afterwards taken to the City of Mexico, and lay in
state in the Chamber of Congress until entombed in
the Panteon de San Fernando. The tomb of this
noble patriot and progressionist bears the inscription,
" Sacrificado por la Tirania."
The people in the neighborhood of Pomoca were
infuriated by this crime of the Reactionaries, and
threatened to sweep them out of existence. A feel
ing of .intense indignation swept over the land. Con-

224 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
gress offered a reward of ten thousand dollars for the
heads of Marquez, Mejia, Cajiga, and other guerrilla
'chiefs who had been connected with the crime of
Ocampo's murder. Though inexcusable in the eyes
of the Liberals of the present day, this action of
Congress seemed justifiable then because the City
of Mexico was menaced by a reign of terror, and
the people were not to be appeased by less drastic
measures. Santos Degollado, then recently elected a member
of Congress, and having been guilty of a certain mal
feasance in office for which he wished to atone, asked
the permission of Congress to take command of the
forces sent out to suppress the Reactionary leaders.
He was to be convoyed by General Tomas O'Horan,
but was impatient of that officer's delay, and left the
capital with only one hundred and fifty men. In the
dense woods of Monte de las Cruces he fell into an
ambush prepared by some bandit leaders. A desper
ate fight ensued. Degollado was taken prisoner, and
was assassinated without regard to his rights as a
prisoner of war. It was then discovered that the
reason why General O'Horan had not accompanied
Degollado was that he had deserted to the Reaction
aries. The following June, General Leandro Valle,
a young man of excellent character, was sent against
Marquez. He was defeated, and, by the orders of
O'Horan, was shot and his body hanged. The list
of " Sacrificados por la Tirania " was being ex
tended. Such was the disturbed state of the country after
the War of the Reform. A great war, — the first real
war for a principle in the history of Mexico, — had
been fought to a finish, and the victory was for Con-

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 225
stitutional Government over the rule of the Church
and the army or that of an oligarchy. But Juarez was
anxious that the principles involved in the war should
be fully and firmly established and decided, not by
force of arms, but by the voice of the people. He
was occupying the Presidency, as he felt, by a series
of accidents. So he called for an election for Presi
dent in accordance with the Constitution of 1857,
knowing full well that the result of the election
would be either for or against the decrees he had put
forth in Vera Cruz in 1859. These- decrees furnished
the platform upon which he stood before the people
asking their suffrages. There was no uncertain sound
about the announcement of the principles for which
he stood. In no instance does Benito Juarez stand
out more heroically than in this act.
The proclamation for the election was made while
Juarez was still in Vera Cruz. Miguel Lerdo de
Tejada offered himself as a candidate, but died in
March, 1861, before the election could be held. This
was much to the regret of Juarez, who looked upon
him, not as a rival for pohtical preferment, but as an
earnest supporter of his own schemes for good gov
ernment. The only other candidate was General
Ortega. The election resulted in a large majority
for Juarez, and General Ortega was elected President
of the Supreme Court of Justice, thereby becoming
virtual Vice-President. When Congress met, in May,
1861, the result of the election was formally declared,
and Juarez was promptly instaUed, on the first of
June, as Constitutional President of Mexico.
The tasks which lay before the Constitutional party
were stupendous. The condition of Mexico was piti
able. The country was literally exhausted by suc-
15

226 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
cessive revolutions. Nearly two hundred thousand
Mexicans had been engaged in the war of the past
three years, and the loss of life had been frightful.
The public administration of the law had been de
stroyed ; robbery and murder had been practicaUy
legahzed, and were the order of the day. The clergy
had been stirring up strife in famihes by means of the
confessional, the pulpit, and the power of excommuni
cation, and by withholding absolution and the right of
Christian burial from all who professed Liberal ideas.
They had threatened with present excommunication
and eternal malediction aU who took possession of the
property of the Church under the Reform decrees.
Juarez lacked the means to reorganize the Govern
ment at once. Of the chiefs of the Reform party, the
greater number had but slight knowledge of military
science. The old soldiers of the Republic had, with
few exceptions, turned to the Reactionaries. There
was the same difficulty in finding men of ability and
training to serve the State in a civil capacity. The
President was compelled, under the circumstances,
to expend a large part of his energies and to waste
his means in negative activity and in guarding against
impending evils and checking present dangers. He
was unable to devise measures for the immediate
amelioration of the condition of the country, espe-
ciaUy as the country was not educated up to the level
of constitutional government.
His first measures, after entering Mexico, were
severely criticised as indicating a change of temper.
Most of the Bishops were banished, and with them
were sent the Papal Nuncio and the Spanish Envoy,
because they had misused their positions and done all
in their power to aid the Reactionaries to drag out

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 227
the civil war. The small property left to the Church
was entirely taken from its hands, and the estates of
the clerical communities were let out to farmers on
the payment of twelve per cent of their values.
Civil marriage was introduced. The opponents of
the President, offended at these measures, gave ex
pression to their want of confidence, in an address
asking him to resign (September 7, 1861). It was
signed by fifty-one of the Deputies. The same
day, Juarez received a petition from fifty-two of the
Deputies, urging him to retain his office.
Those who complained that the government of
Juarez was unable instantly to restore order to the
land, or that it lacked energy and spirit, and a sincere
desire to deal fairly with its foreign claimants, evi
dently failed to take aU of the circumstances into
consideration, — circumstances extending back for
years in the history of the country. Those persons
were the more just who, allowing that much was to
be said in favor of the government of Juarez, thus
expressed themselves, in May, 1861 : " However
faulty and weak the present government may be,
those who witnessed the murders, the acts of atroc
ity, and plunder, almost of daily occurrence under
the government of General Miramon and General
Marquez, cannot but appreciate the existence of law
and order. Foreigners especially, who suffered so
heavUy under that arbitrary rule and by the hatred
and intolerance toward them which are a dogma of
the Church party in Mexico, cannot but make a broad
distinction between the past and the present. . . .
The Mexican Government has been accused, and not
without reason, of having frittered away the Church
property recently nationalized ; but it must be remem-

228 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
bered that while forced contributions, plunder, and
immense supplies from the Church and its support
ers, have enabled General Zuloaga and General
Miramon to sustain the civil war for three years, the
Constitutional Government had abstained from such
acts, and has the sole robbery of the conducta at Lagos,
towards the close of the war, to answer for." And
again, in June : " Progress has been made. The
signs of regeneration, though few, are still visible.
Had the present Liberal party enough money at com
mand to pay an army of ten thousand men, it could
suppress the present opposition, restore order, and
preserve external peace." The government of Juarez
was indeed answering for its one act of plunder dur
ing the recent war — the robbery of a conducta near
Lagos. This was the act of Degollado, without the
knowledge or consent of Juarez, who did all he could
to repair the damage done by this act of insubordina
tion, — not only to the owners of the conducta, but
also to the reputation of his government.
Taken all together, the Juarez government, whatever
its defects, was seen by the foreign powers who chose
to examine it dispassionately, even at the time when
it appeared least to an advantage, to be the only
promising government that had made its appearance
for years in Mexico ; the only one which was likely
to be actuated by liberal and constitutional principles.
It had succeeded in overthrowing one of the most
despicable, disgraceful, and sanguinary systems that
ever debased and exhausted a country.
The British Consul and Charge' d'affaires wrote, in
May, 1861, of the President himself: "President
Juarez is an upright and weU-intentioned man, ex-
ceUent in all the private relations of hfe; but the

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 229
mere fact of his being an Indian exposes him to the
hostility and sneers of the dregs of Spanish society,
and of those of mixed blood who ludicrously arrogate
to themselves the higher social position in Mexico."
And Mr. Charles Wyke wrote : " The Church party,
though beaten, is not subdued, and several of their
chiefs are within six leagues of the capital with forces
varying from four to six thousand. The religious
feehng of a fanatic population has naturally been
shocked by the destruction of churches, and the dis
banded monks and friars wandering about amongst
the people fan the embers of discontent kept alive by
the women, who are as a body in favor of the Church
party." The combined forces of Marquez were defeated by
Ortega in August, 1861. Zuloaga, Marquez, and
Mejia ceased to menace the capital, and fled to the
mountains back of Queretaro. Marquez was finally
defeated in Pachuca in October.
In July, 1861, Congress approved of the decree
issued by the President, suspending for two years all
payments on account of foreign debts. This was in
tended to gain time for the government of Juarez to
straighten out the finances of the country, which were
in a deplorable condition. Its best analogy might
perhaps be found in the business house which has
justifiable confidence in the business in which it is
engaged, though it finds itself crippled for the time
being by reason of recent misfortunes, but which,
instead of going into bankruptcy or making an
assignment for the benefit of its creditors, asks for
an extension of time on its obhgations.
There was special reason why the Mexican govern
ment should ask for such extension. The Juarez

230 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
administration found itself confronted by claims origi
nating with the pseudo-government which had just
been put down — some of them of very questionable
character. The " Mon-Almonte Treaty " was of that
nature. Through the Spanish Minister and General
Almonte, the Miramon administration had arranged
that Mexico should assume the demands of Spanish
subjects for reclamations, outrages, and compulsory
loans agreed to in 1855 under the Santa Anna govern
ment, in consideration of assistance to be rendered the
Reactionary government in the nature of a European
protectorate over Mexico. This treaty was in itself
sufficient justification to Juarez for sending the Span
ish Minister out of Mexico, as a person unacceptable
to the Government.
Already English and French squadrons had ap
peared off Vera Cruz, demanding the payment of so
much of the national debt of Mexico as was due the
citizens of those countries for indemnity for outrages ;
and the Spanish residents of Tampico had made com
plaint to their government of outrages received at the
hands of the contending Mexican factions, and of the
losses they had sustained by reason of forced loans.
A Spanish vessel appeared at Vera Cruz, and de
manded satisfaction and guarantees. To these, Juarez
gave satisfaction only by diplomatic promises. It re
quired time to look into these claims and determine
precisely what ones were valid and what were fraudu
lent — what ones the government would assume as in
honor bound, and what ones would be paid only as a
matter of generosity to the claimants.
Nevertheless, the measure suspending payment
served to precipitate the action of the European
powers, which had apparently been in contemplation

THE WAR OF THE REFORM 231
for some time. The English and French nations im
mediately broke off diplomatic relations with Mexico ;
and, to delay still longer the enforcement of constitu
tional government, there ensued the Foreign Inter
vention resulting in the French Invasion and the
Second Mexican Empire.

232 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER XII
FOREIGN INTERVENTION, FRENCH INVASION,
AND THE SECOND EMPIRE
ON the thirty-first of October, 1861, a treaty
was signed in the city of London, on be
half of England, France, and Spain, which
proved the beginning of what was at first known as
the Foreign Intervention in the affairs of Mexico.
Later it was transformed in its character, so as to be
more properly known as a French Invasion of the
territory ; and from it was developed, as it was un
doubtedly intended should be from the outset, the
Second Mexican Empire.
By the terms of the treaty, — known as the Treaty
of London, — 'the three nations that were parties to it
were to send a sufficient naval and military force to
Mexico to seize and occupy the several fortresses and
military positions on the coast, for the purpose of
sequestrating the customs revenues of the principal
ports of entry; the treaty providing for the appoint
ment of a commission to determine the just distribu
tion of these revenues among the foreign creditors of
Mexico. It was expressly stipulated that no territory
should be appropriated by the Foreign Powers, nor
should any influence be exerted to interfere with the
rights of the Mexican people to arrange their own
form of government.
It was deemed expedient that the government at
Washington should be invited to acquiesce in the

THE SECOND EMPIRE 233
terms of this treaty. The treaty was, however, to
be ratified within fifteen days by the respective gov
ernments concerned, and its provisions were to be
carried into effect without waiting for an answer from
the United States. That answer, when it came, was
a positive declination by the United States to take
any part in the transaction, on the ground that the
Federal Government at Washington thought it right
to pursue its usual policy of refraining from alliances
with foreign powers.
The purpose of this extraordinary proceeding on
the part of the three powerful European nations was,
as stated in the preamble of the treaty, to demand
more effective protection for the persons and property
of their subjects in Mexico, and to secure the fulfil
ment of certain obligations contracted by the Mexican
Government. But when this diplomatically worded
treaty comes to be examined in the light of contem
poraneous documents and subsequent events, it is
found to conceal purposes of greater importance than
any it expressed.
Upon the earliest suggestion of the advisability of
pursuing the course prescribed by the treaty, the
English Minister of Foreign Affairs asserted that
England was opposed on principle to forcible inter
ference in the internal affairs of independent nations.
In every despatch addressed by England to either
Paris, Madrid, or Washington, it was declared over
and over again that England would have nothing to
do with the proposed expedition if it were not clearly
laid down in the beginning that the expedition was
not to interfere with the internal affairs of Mexico.
Subsequently it was sought to discover that Mexico
furnished an exception to the general rule under

234 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
which England claimed to be acting. Few cases of
internal anarchy, bloodshed, and murder exceeded,
according to the English idea, the atrocities perpe
trated in Mexico. One instance alone of the many
that were cited in this apology was held to be suffi
cient to place Mexico beyond the operations of the
law of nations. That was the robbery of the English
bondholders by Marquez, acting under Miramon 's
orders, on the seventeenth of November, 1860. Coin
to the amount of about six hundred and sixty thou
sand dollars had been collected by Juarez, for the
payment of certain English bondholders. The money
was deposited, for safe keeping, at the British lega
tion, and was supposed to be further secured by the
seal of the British Minister. The robbery of it was
indeed a gross violation of the law of nations, as well
as of common morality; but it was a crime for which
the Constitutional Government of Mexico was not
responsible, having been powerless to prevent it.
It seemed to have been generally overlooked that,
with scarcely an exception, the wrongs, to redress
which the intervention was to take place, were com
mitted by the pseudo-government, and not by the true
government then existing. Some of the outrages for
which reparation was sought were perpetrated by
Marquez and his followers while Juarez and Ortega
were trying to capture them. This might not furnish
a claim for remission, though it ought certainly to
have furnished a plea for indulgence.
England felt, however, that it was no longer pos
sible to deal with Mexico as with an organized and
established government. It was asserted, on behalf
of the English Government, that the mere presence
of a combined squadron in the Gulf of Mexico would

THE SECOND EMPIRE 235
serve as a wholesome menace, — would urge the
Mexican Government to keep the peace, and con
vince malcontents that they must seek " some form
of opposition more constitutional than brigandage."
England's position from the first was apologetic, and
was based upon a total misapprehension of the char
acter of Benito Juarez, and of his efforts, and the
efforts of his followers, to establish constitutional
government. That position was never approved by
the mass of the English people, and, as has been said,
"nothing in the Mexican expedition so became the
British Government as the giving of it up."
Spain and France, on the other hand, had objects
in view which were not expressed in the treaty and
were not at once disclosed to the public. The hope
of Spain was to found an Empire in Mexico, and to
place upon the throne thereof a member of the same
Borbon family that had been called to the throne
created by the Treaty of Cordoba in 1821. Events
interfered to prevent this scheme from taking definite
shape, although it transpired that it was with this
purpose in view that Spain had been furnishing secret
but strong aid to the Zuloaga and Miramon govern
ment in Mexico. The object of France was also to
establish a monarchy, but it was to be in some way
feudatory to France. The Emperor of the French
had already offered the crown of the Mexican Empire,
which he had in view, to the Archduke of Austria.
Yet both Spain and France were all the while assur
ing England that neither of them had any intention
of forcible interference in Mexican affairs. England,
however, was suspicious of Spain, and would not have
entered the convention at all, or have signed the
treaty, but for the positive assurances of both Spain

236 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
and France that there was no intention whatever of
conquest, of reestablishing by foreign influence a
monarchical form of government, or of otherwise
meddling with the internal administration of the
Government of Mexico. It was the scheme of France
that was shortly afterwards developed to the serious
inconvenience of Mexico.
Ostensibly, it was the purpose of the three nations
to act as receivers of the property of their hopelessly
bankrupt debtor, and to administer the estate for the
payment of its debts. Of these debts, that of Eng
land was the largest and of the longest standing. It
was based upon an alleged loan of three million two
hundred thousand pounds, contracted by the agent of
the Mexican Government with a London banking-
house in the first year of the Republic. It amounted,
at the time of the Treaty of London, to nearly eighty
million dollars in Mexican money. To Spain, Mexico
was alleged to owe a little more than fifteen million
dollars, and to France about two million five hundred
thousand dollars, in Mexican money.
Each of these debts had a history so interesting
that Mexican historians devote whole chapters to the
subject, and some of them make it appear that of the
sum upon which the enormous claim of England was
based, only about a third had been actually received
by Mexico, and that the sum actually due at the time
of the treaty was seventy millions instead of eighty
million dollars ; that the debt to Spain grew out of
indemnities incurred during the War for Independ
ence, and amounted to a little less than ten millions
instead of fifteen million dollars ; while the debt to
France included a most remarkable claim of the
Swiss banking-house of Jecker and Company, for

THE SECOND EMPIRE 237
one million dollars and interest thereon at the rate
of twelve per cent per annum from its date.
It was alleged by Mexico, and scarcely denied by
the other party to the transaction, that less than half
the money for which Jecker and Company had re
ceived bonds to the above amount had been paid by
them to the Zuloaga and Miramon government at a
time when the Liberal government was in existence
and was contending against the self -constituted dic
tatorship of Zuloaga and Miramon. So that at the
very time when France had acknowledged Miramon
as President, and had aided his pretensions against the
Constitutional Government, she was holding Juarez
and the Constitutional Government responsible for
the debts of the insurgents. Jecker, the head of the
banking-house, had in some way become a French
subject since this debt was contracted, and thus his
exorbitant demands were included in the claim of
France, and were made to play an important part in
the plans of the Emperor of the French for the estab
lishment of a monarchy in Mexico.
It is but just to say that the Mexican Expedition
never obtained the slightest degree of popularity in
France. It was looked upon with coldness, indiffer
ence, dislike, and contempt, by the people ; and it was
ably combated, in the Corps Legislatif in 1863, by
leading Deputies, who were returned by overwhelm
ing majorities in the subsequent election, thus show
ing that their constituents fully approved of their
position. But whether just or unjust, whether extortionate
or legal, these debts were made the basis of opera
tions under the Treaty of London. There were also
allegations of attacks made from time to time on the

238 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
persons and property of foreigners in Mexico, which
had been the subject of much diplomatic correspond
ence for several years without prospect of satisfactory
adjustment. Spain's chief injury was the failure of
the Mon-Almonte Treaty.
Forty years of almost incessant civil war had
wrought utter confusion to the finances of Mexico,
as well as to her social conditions. Her government
was entirely at the mercy of people of revolutionary
spirit. It had not served to render affairs less com
plicated, that during the three years then past there
had been two opposing governments in the country
with which to treat, neither being responsible for the
acts or promises of the other. It was therefore,
viewed from the standpoint of the foreign powers,
time for something to be done to obtain the payment
of Mexico's obligations and to secure to foreigners in
that country immunity from outrage.
The treaty was doubtless precipitated by the decree
of the Mexican Government suspending the payment
of foreign debts for two years. England and France,
as we have seen, at once broke off diplomatic relations
with Mexico until the decree of suspension should be
revoked. The Spanish Minister had already been
given his passports as a persona non grata, because of
his too intimate connection with the Zuloaga-Miramon
government, and of his part in the Mon-Almonte
Treaty. It is not to be overlooked that an opportunity for
pursuing such a course as was now determined upon
by France was afforded at that time by the Civil War
then in progress in the United States. The foreign
powers regarded that war between the States as likely
to result in the independence of the Confederate

THE SECOND EMPIRE 239
States of the South. Such an opportunity as this
afforded was especially appreciated by Louis Napo
leon, Emperor of the French, who had long cherished
dreams of establishing an Empire in Mexico, to be
to some extent under his control. With the United
States (as he supposed) likely to be divided, and with
the Confederate States, when independent, as his
allies, he need have no fear of any trouble with
the Government at Washington over "the Monroe
Doctrine." Notwithstanding the stipulation in the Treaty of
London that the allied forces should not seek any
acquisition of territory, or exercise any influence
over the internal affairs of the country prejudicial to
the rights of the Mexicans to establish such form
of government as they might desire, the Emperor of
the French was laying plans to accomplish both the
acquisition of territory and the interference in the
political affairs of the country. He was already
negotiating with certain persons, looking to the
future disposition of the Mexican State of Sonora
and adjacent territory ; and he had been in consulta
tion with General Almonte, General Miramon, Jose'
Maria Gutierrez de Estrada, Francisco J. Miranda
("Padre Miranda," a turbulent Mexican cleric),
Haro y Tamaris, and other banished Reactionary
leaders. It was largely upon such ex parte testimony
as these men were able to furnish as to the status of
Mexican affairs, that he had laid his plans for the
establishment of a trans -Atlantic Empire. How fully
he had absorbed this scheme may be judged by his
remark, after the complete overthrow of the Mexican
Empire was regarded by every one else as merely a
question of a few months, that he looked upon it

240 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
as the greatest creation of his reign. Subsequent
events, however, proved it the beginning of his over
throw—the Moscow of the Second French Empire
of the Napoleons.
The allied nations proceeded without loss of time
to send forces to occupy the coast cities of Mexico,
as provided in the treaty; and early in December,
1861, the Spanish squadron arrived, in advance of
the others, at Vera Cruz. A week later, the city was
occupied by the Spanish troops. This was regarded
as not in accord with the agreement, and was made
the pretext, on the part of France, for sending out
reinforcements to the number of four or five thousand
men. Here again was an occasion for the French
Minister to protest that it was not the intention of
France to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico.
An assurance to that effect was again asked, and was
earnestly given.
The French and English forces arrived on the
eighth of January, 1862, and the whole foreign army
was placed under the command of the Spanish Mar
shal Prim, Count of Reus, who was Commander-in-
chief of the Expedition and Plenipotentiary of Spain.
This army then consisted of about six thousand Span
ish soldiers; twenty-five hundred French soldiers,
under Admiral Jurien de la Gravi&re ; and one line-
of-battle ship, two small frigates, and seven hundred
English marines, under Commodore Dunlop. The
Count de Saligny and the Admiral Jurien de la
Gravidre -were the diplomatic agents of France; and
England was to be represented by Sir Charles Wyke.
Through its minister in France, the Mexican Gov
ernment had been advised that France and England
were taking measures to compel Mexico to accede to

THE SECOND EMPIRE 241
their demands, and that Spain was intending to join
them, with the hope of establishing a monarchy in
that country. A man of less character than Benito
Juarez would have been appalled by such news, fol
lowing closely upon three years of civil war that had
sapped the resources of his government. But Juarez
was of tougher fibre than others of his countrymen.
He rose to the occasion, and took immediate steps to
encounter these new difficulties in the way of estab
lishing constitutional government. He appealed to
Mexicans to lay aside their private feuds and unite
against the common foe. He reorganized his army,
and made efforts to defend the country. He raised
money by forced loans or voluntary contributions,
negotiated upon terms the most unfavorable to the
government, as is usual in such cases. If he showed
an arbitrary spirit in these measures, it was no more
than the emergency seemed to demand, nor was it
contrary to precedents established by the previous
rulers of his nation. It must also be remembered
that all he did had in view the final establishment of
a Constitutional Government which was to do away
forever with the necessity of applying such arbitrary
measures again.
On the twenty-fifth of January, 1862, Juarez issued
a decree declaring that all men between the ages of
sixteen and sixty who refused to take up arms in
defence of the country should be regarded as traitors ;
establishing courts-martial in the place of the ordi
nary tribunals ; and giving authority to the governors
of States and magistrates of towns to dispose of the
persons or property of all disloyal persons within
their jurisdictions. It declared any armed invasion
of the country by Mexicans or foreigners without a
16

242 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
previous declaration of war, and any invitation offered
by Mexicans or foreign residents of Mexico for such
invasion, to be crimes against the Independence of
Mexico, punishable with death.
This stern decree was issued, it must be remem
bered, in times that demanded drastic measures, and
for the governance of a people of revolutionary tend
encies who were yet unprepared for constitutional
government. A Reactionary leader, General Robles,
made an effort to join a party in the French camp
soon afterward, but was arrested by the Mexican
authorities, banished from the capital, and confined
on parole in a small town. He violated his parole,
and escaped from his imprisonment. Before he
could reach other plotters against the government of
Juarez, he was again arrested, and under the decree
of January twenty-fifth was sentenced to be shot.
General Prim and the English Plenipotentiary made
an effort to save him, and succeeded in inducing the
Mexican Minister to suspend the sentence of death ;
but the courier bearing the reprieve lost his way, and
arrived at the place appointed for the execution
after the. sentence had been carried out.
Juarez was anxious to postpone as long as possible,
and to avoid altogether, if might be, a collision with
the foreign troops. He accordingly invited the en
voys of the allied powers to a conference, to be held
at Orizaba, in April, 1862. To arrange for this
conference, a preliminary convention was held at
Soledad, near Vera Cruz, in February. The Mexi
can Government was represented on this occasion by
Manuel Doblado, who acquitted himself as an able
and influential diplomat, winning the respect and
approval of the British and Spanish Plenipotentiaries.

THE SECOND EMPIRE 243
An agreement was reached respecting the matters to
be discussed and decided upon at Orizaba. Doblado's
argument was conclusive that the robbery of the funds
at the British Legation by Marquez was the work of
bandits for which the Government of Mexico could
not be held accountable; and he also showed conclu
sively to the Spanish Plenipotentiary that certain
assassinations of which he complained, and for which
his government sought redress, were acts which the
government of Juarez had tried to prevent and was
now taking energetic measures to punish.
Although Doblado's efforts and arguments were
less successful with the French agents than with the
British and Spanish, it was agreed that the allies
should recognize the Mexican Government as con
stitutional and legitimately established; that their
troops should be allowed to occupy certain towns,
as healthful and convenient garrisons; and that if
the conference to take place at Orizaba failed of a
satisfactory issue, and negotiations were broken off,
the troops of the allies were to fall back from the
places they had been allowed to occupy conditionally,
and hostilities would then of course begin.
At the Orizaba Conference, the Count de Saligny
declared that the Mexican Government had heaped so
many fresh grievances upon the French subjects that
he could no longer treat with it, and would be con
tent with nothing less than a march upon the capital
of the country. General Laurencez had already
arrived in Mexico with reinforcements which in
creased the French army to over six thousand five
hundred men. These had been sent in order, as was
alleged, that the Spanish forces might not exceed in
number those of France.

244 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
With these reinforcements came also General Al
monte, Padre Miranda, Haro y Tamaris, and others
whose characters were odious in the eyes of Mexico,
and whose names recalled some of the worst scenes
in a civil war that had proved a disgrace to the civil
ization of the nineteenth century, and who were
responsible for many of the outrages for which the
allied powers now sought redress. Almonte might
not have been precisely in such a category, but he
was offensive to the Constitutionalists of Mexico, both
because of his former connection with the Conserva
tives and Reactionaries, and because while living in
exile in Paris he had been active in poisoning the
mind of the Emperor of the French in regard to
Mexican affairs. Under the protection of the French
flag, these men assumed an arrogant air, and Almonte
went so far as to assume the title of "Provisional
President of Mexico," and to issue manifestos and
proclamations calling upon the Mexicans to overthrow
the government of Juarez. Miranda and the others
openly and vauntingly avowed that they had come by
the express command of the Emperor of the French,
to upset the government of President Juarez. The
execution of Robles, which for his offence at such a
time was justifiable in any country of the world, was
proclaimed as a murder, and was given as a new
reason for the French support of the projects of
Almonte. Unquestionably, the French expedition
was assuming, — by the presence of General Almonte,
Padre Miranda, and the others, — the character of an
afterpiece to the War of the Reform.
Juarez protested against the presence of these men
in the French camp, and his protest was emphasized
by the declaration of the English and Spanish com-

THE SECOND EMPIRE 245
missioners that the persistence of France in protecting
the Mexican conspirators was contrary to the terms
of the Treaty of London. But all was to no avail.
The decisive action of the British Commodore in
regard to Miramon was more effectual. Miramon
attempted to join Almonte and the others in the
French camp, but Commodore Dunlop declared that
if he attempted to land he would at once arrest him
on account of his part in the robbery of the British
Legation. Miramon accordingly thought it wise to
withdraw to Havana.
In the attempt to adjust the claims of the allied
powers at Orizaba, the French commissioners de
manded on behalf of France a round sum of twelve
million dollars, without details or items, "as an
approximation to the value of the French claims by
a million or two more or less," in addition to the
Jecker claim of one milhon five hundred thousand
doUars. It was shown, however, that on its bonds
issued to the above amount the government of
Miramon had received no more than seven hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. Jecker was demanding
the face value of his bonds from the Juarez Govern
ment, on the plea that one government was bound
by the acts and obligations of another. Juarez
offered to assume the seven hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars, with interest at five per cent, but re
pudiated the idea of being liable for the one million
five hundred thousand dollars.
The English Commissioner showed that the de
mands of the French could only lead to war, as no
nation on earth could accede to them. It was
unquestionably with war in view that the French
Commissioners advanced them. The projects of the

246 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
three allied powers were soon found to be " incompat
ible, " and the English and Spanish troops were with
drawn from the enterprise. The Treaty of London
was quickly thrown aside by the commissioners from
France, and the French were left in Mexico to carry
out the purposes of Napoleon III.
In April, 1862, immediately after the Convention
of Orizaba, the French General issued a proclamation
declaring a military dictatorship established in Mex
ico, with Almonte as Supreme Chief of the nation.
The same day, the French army was reorganized in
two divisions, and advanced towards the capital,
one division by way of Jalapa, the other by way of
Orizaba. An army of Mexicans, under the com
mand of General Marquez, joined the forces of the
Interventionists. The peril in which Mexico again found herself had
the effect of sifting her military leaders. Zaragoza,
Escobedo, and Porfirio Diaz remained stanch adher
ents of the Republic. Comonfort early returned
from France, and, joining the forces of Juarez, was
appointed Commander-in-chief. Seiior Gallardo,
father of a gallant young Republican Colonel, raised
and equipped two troops of cavalry, and undertook
to advance twelve thousand dollars a month for
the services of the Republic- until its independence
was restored. Vidaurri held the State of San Luis
Potosi for the Republicans for a time, and then
deserted to the Imperialists. Zuloaga refused to
fight against his country, and retired altogether from
the scene of the approaching conflict. Mejia joined
the cause of the Interventionists, and Miramon came
back to Mexico to do the same as soon as it was safe
for him to enter the country.

THE SECOND EMPIRE 247
One column of the Army of the Intervention ad
vanced toward the capital by way of Orizaba and
Puebla. By the French it was supposed that the
advance was to be a mere military parade ; that the
mass of the Mexican people were either indifferent
to or absolutely in favor of the Intervention; and
that the few who objected to it had neither strength
nor spirit to resist. But there was a surprise in store
for the advancing army. Puebla was found to be
occupied by an inferior force of badly equipped raw
recruits, under the very efficient command of General
Zaragoza, who had prepared for the advance of the
French invading forces by hastily fortifying the hills
of Guadalupe and Loretto. No plausible excuse was
offered by the French for attacking Puebla. The
attacking forces numbered more than seven thousand
well-organized and well-disciplined men. Yet not
withstanding their disadvantages the Republican
forces repulsed the invaders with terrible slaughter,
and won a glorious victory.
The battle was fought on the fifth of May, 1862.
It was exceedingly inspiriting to the Republicans,
and it gave to Mexico one of her greatest national
feast days, M Cinco de Mayo. In appreciation of his
brilhant victory and defence of the city, General
Zaragoza was appointed Military Governor of Vera
Cruz, his name was inscribed in letters of gold upon
the waUs of the Hall of Congress, and the official
name of Puebla was changed to "Puebla de Zara
goza." Porfirio Diaz was promoted to the rank of
General for the brilliant part he took in the defence
of the city.
The defeated French retreated to Orizaba, not
strong enough to attack again, but too strong to be

248 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLld
attacked. Zaragoza was soon transferred, at his own
request, to the army of operations under Ortega, and
returned to the defence of Puebla. He attempted to
follow up the advantage he had gained, by marching
against the French at Orizaba; but was surprised
and defeated at Cerro del Borrego. He withdrew to
Puebla, and there he died of typhus fever the follow
ing September, to the great loss of the Republican
cause, for he was regarded as the greatest military
genius the country had ever produced.
Toward the end of September, General Laurencez
was superseded in the command of the Army of the
Intervention by the French General Forey, who
brought from France sufficient reinforcements to
raise the army to twenty thousand men. Not only
did he assume command of the army, but he also
constituted himself Military Dictator over the whole
country, declaring that he had come by order of the
Emperor of the French, to destroy the government
of Juarez, and to free the people of Mexico from his
despotic sway. He was so indiscreet as to issue a
proclamation confiscating the property of all who
failed immediately to give in their adhesion to the
new system. This, however, met with no favor in
Europe, — not even in France, where the papers sar
castically commented upon the "inconvenience of
addressing remonstrances to Russia regarding the
confiscations in Lithuania, while Forey was carrying
the same system a step or two farther in Mexico."
The French army, thus reinforced, began a second
advance toward the capital. Puebla was captured
in May, 1863, but not without desperate fighting, for
the Mexicans defended their city inch by inch, and
preferred death to submitting to any terms of sur-

THE SECOND EMPIRE 249
render offered by the French. The city was finally
taken, however; the soldiers who had held it so
valiantly were either slain or dispersed, and some of
the officers were taken prisoner and carried away to
France. Diaz escaped from imprisonment before he
could be carried into exile.
The fall of Puebla broke the heart of the Mexican
resistance, and left the City of Mexico exposed to the
invaders without means of defence. On the last day
of May, President Juarez left the capital, accom
panied by his ministers, and set up his government
at San Luis Potosi on the tenth of June. There he
remained until near the end of 1863.
On the eleventh of June the Army of the Inter
vention occupied the capital. General Forey was
accompanied by Dubois Saligny (the French Com
missioner who had conducted negotiations on behalf
of France at the late Conferences of Soledad and
Orizaba), General Marquez (the "Infamous Mar
quez," as Europeans were already beginning to call
him), and General Almonte. Forey appointed a pre
fect for the city, and proceeded to select thirty-five
citizens to act as a " Supreme Council of the Nation,"
and as a basis for the establishment of a permanent
government. The Supreme Council elected General
Almonte, General Mariano Salas, and Archbishop
Labastida as Regents, with the Bishop of Puebla as
the alternate of the Archbishop, who was in France.
Into the hands of the Regency passed the govern
ment of Mexico, pending the completion of the plaus
of the Emperor of the French, which were now no
longer concealed, and were found to include the long-
cherished schemes of the Monarchical or Imperialistic
party of previous years.

250 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Subsequently an "Assembly of Notables" was
organized as a legislative body. It was composed
of two hundred and thirty-one members, apparently
selected at random, representing the twenty-four
States of Mexico then in existence, without regard
to the population of those States. They were, of
course, all of monarchical predilections.
On the tenth of July, 1863, this strangely consti
tuted Assembly passed an "Act" adopting for the
country a monarchical _£orm of government, and
offering the crown to Fernando Maximiliano (Ferdi
nand Maximilian), Archduke of Austria. It further
provided that in case Maximilian should decline the
crown it should be offered to any Roman Catholic
prince whom the Emperor of the French should des
ignate. A Committee of Monarchists and Reaction
aries (including Gutierrez de Estrada, who was
already in Europe) was appointed to proceed to the
Archducal Palace of Maximilian, at Miramar, to
offer him the crown and hasten his departure for
Mexico. The Regents nominally at the head of the govern
ment of Mexico were under the direct control of two
agents of the Emperor of the French. They were
General Forey, Commander-in-chief of the Army of
the Interventionists, and Dubois Saligny, the French
Minister who had been unpleasantly involved in the
business of the Intervention from the beginning.
That all the actions of the Assembly of Notables
were brought about by these two persons, acting
under explicit instructions from Paris, cannot now
be doubted. If not at the time of the Treaty of
London, very soon afterwards, Napoleon III. had
communicated to the Imperial house of Austria his

THE SECOND EMPIRE 251
intention of placing the Archduke Maximilian at the
head of the Empire he proposed to establish; and
this had been the subject of diplomatic correspond
ence with other European nations. Hence the action
of the Assembly of Notables in offering the crown to
Maximilian was no surprise to Europeans.
Before the end of 1863, both Forey and Saligny
were recalled, owing to the too great precipitancy
with which these events had been brought about.
Napoleon deplored the actions of these agents, or at
least the frank publicity given to them, as of " too
reactionary " a character. Forey was succeeded in
the command of the army in Mexico by Marshal
Bazaine, who throughout the subsequent history of
the Intervention proved a faithful servant of Louis
Napoleon. Under the command of Bazaine, the French troops
proceeded to occupy the interior of Mexico. The
army was again divided into two columns. One of
these, under the command of General Marquez, took
the road to Morelia. The other, under the com
mand of General Tomas Mejia, advanced toward
Queretaro. Within a month, the Interventionists
had control of the country as far as Guadalajara
in the northwest, Queretaro in the north, and Vera
Cruz in the east. The extreme northern States and
the extreme southern States, — twelve in number, —
were not yet occupied by the Interventionists. There
were Members of the Assembly of Notables claiming
to represent those States, but they were mere refugees
at the capital.
Meanwhile, the Republican forces were scattered
but not exterminated. There were bands of patriots
in Michoacan, in Jalisco, in Sinaloa, in Sonora, in

252 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Durango, in Zacatecas, in Tamaulipas, in the moun
tains of Puebla and Oaxaca, in Vera Cruz, Tabasco,
and the south. A Republican press was maintained
by able political writers, and continued to instruct
the people in their rights under the Constitution.
Porfirio Diaz was made Commander-in-chief of the
Republican Army in the South, and invested with
full power for the administration of affairs and for
the defence of the southeastern States, — that is,
Oaxaca, a part of Puebla, Chiapas, Tabasco, Cam- '
peche, and Yucatan. He took up and maintained a
position between Puebla and Oaxaca.
The advance of the French army in the direction
of San Luis Potosi forced the Constitutional Govern
ment from that city to Saltillo, where it was estab
lished in November, 1863. Being informed that
Santiago Vidaurri, Governor of the States of Leon
and Coahuila, who had formerly been an adherent of
the Constitutional party, was in negotiation with the
French, Juarez removed the seat of his government
to Monterey. Vidaurri refused to recognize the Re
publican government, and fled to the City of Mexico,
where he openly avowed his adherence to the Im
perialists. Juarez maintained his government in
Monterey from April to the middle of August,
1864. The Committee appointed by the Assembly of
Notables lost no time in discharging the duties laid
upon them. They were received at the Archducal
Palace in Austria, and made known to the Archduke
their business. Much to their surprise, Maximilian
withheld his acceptance of the proffered throne until
he could be assured that the people of Mexico had,
state by state and town by town, expressed their

THE SECOND EMPIRE 253
wish that he should come to reign over them, by
suffrage of some kind, certified in such way that he
could determine the number of voters in favor of
the Empire, and the ratio of this number to the
population of the country. He desired also that
the European nations should give him guarantees
that the throne of Mexico would be protected from
dangers which then appeared to threaten it.
The whole matter was therefore, in effect, referred
back to Marshal Bazaine, as the agent of the French
Government, to secure such an election as would
satisfy the scruples of the Archduke and induce him
to accept the proffered throne. Shortly afterwards,
certificates of election in favor of the Empire and of
Maximilian for Emperor were produced from "all
places occupied by the French bayonets." These
words are significant of the manner in which the
election was conducted, and indicate how faithfully
Bazaine was prepared to perform the duties intrusted
to him by the Emperor of the French. That Em
peror furthermore gave the Archduke every assurance
that the Empire of Mexico would receive such sup
port from France as might be required, but he believed
that it could be upheld without further bloodshed,
aU "military questions " having been already settled.
Maximihan was therefore prepared to accept the
throne as early as the tenth of December, 1863. He
concluded all the preliminaries with Napoleon III.
and with his Imperial brother, Francis Joseph of
Austria, who was the head of his family. This was,
however, without the participation in .any way of the
Austrian Government. That government studiously
avoided all complication in the affair, and it is clearly
erroneous to speak of the " Austro-French " or of the

254 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
" Franco- Austrian Empire "in Mexico. The Aus
trian Emperor looked with disfavor upon the scheme
from the beginning, and the Austrian people were
bitterly opposed to the acceptance of the throne by
Maximilian. The " thought of ruling the old Empire
of the Aztecs was not devoid of poetic charm and
romantic character," said the Austrian newspapers,
" but the time had gone by when such caprices were
sufficient to compromise the policy of great states
and throw them into endless complications." It
was deemed especially unwise in an Austrian prince
to accept any crown from the hands of a Napoleon.
In the official circles of the Austrian capital, the
Mexican scheme met with decided resistance up to
the last moment. The Archduke's persistence, how
ever, triumphed over all opposition, even though his
decision caused a coolness between himself and his
Imperial brother; and it was openly declared in
Vienna, upon the announcement of his acceptance
of the throne, that "Mexico and its Emperor were
strangers to Austria and her interests."
In the journalistic phrase about the poetic charm
and romantic character of ruling the (supposed) an
cient Empire- of the Aztecs, in all probability lay the
strongest of the motives actuating Maximilian in the
matter. His was precisely the character of mind to
be dazzled by the romantic traditions regarding Mexico
which had been set afloat in Europe ; and to be af
fected by the belief, widespread in Europe, that the
Indians of Mexico hoped for the return of a sovereign
from the East who was to restore a former govern
ment to which they had been accustomed in the be
ginning. This belief was one of the stock arguments
of Gutierrez de Estrada, in his " open letter " of 1840,

THE SECOND EMPIRE 255
and in pamphlets upon that subject subsequently
issued from his European exile.
Ferdinand Maximilian was at this time in the
thirty-second year of his age. He had been trained
for the naval service, and had spent several years in
travel and upon the seas. In 1855 he was appointed
Commander-in-chief of the Austrian Navy, and is
credited with the reorganization of the navy and its
elevation to a respectable place among the navies of
Europe. In 1857 he married the Princess Carlota of
Belgium, a woman of lovely character and excellent
mind. He was appointed by his brother, the Em
peror of Austria, Military and Civil Governor of
Lombardy and Venice, where he proved a liberal-
minded and public-spirited ruler. The capitals of
these provinces still attest the attention he gave to
arts, sciences, and public improvements. Indeed,
the bent of his mind seems to have been in those
directions rather than toward the sterner duties of
statesmanship. The books he wrote were of travel
and of " aphorisms, " and were not likely to attract
notice beyond the circle of courtiers among whom
his life was spent. His penchant for public im
provement was gratified at the expense of the public
funds, and with little idea of public or private econ
omy. The magnificent Archducal Palace of Mira
mar, on the rocks overlooking the Gulf of Trieste,
involved him heavily in debt. The French govern
ment had not only to provide the money for the pay
ment of this debt, but to supply the means to defray
the expenses of his journey to the new Empire.
Unaffected and altogether charming in his man
ner, spotless in personal character, possessed of pure
motives, Maximilian was yet lacking in political

256 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
sagacity, as he was somewhat effeminate in appear
ance. He was tall and slender, with blonde hair
and beard, both worn long and parted in the middle.
His eyes were blue. The rather weak character in
dicated by his personal appearance seemed to imply
that he was one likely to be deluded by the promises
of Louis Napoleon and deceived as to the wishes of
the Mexican people, as well as unsuspicious of the
flattering attentions bestowed upon him by others,
and thus easily lured to his ruin.
On the eighth of April, 1864, Maximilian signed
at Vienna the " Family Compact " whereby he re
nounced all rights which he might have in the
succession to the Austrian throne, and dedicated
himself entirely to the Mexican enterprise. Two
days later, at a high function in the Palace of
Miramar, the Committee of the Mexican Assembly of
Notables again formally tendered him the Imperial
crown of Mexico, and it was accepted by him in a
speech declaring that he had not the slightest doubt,
from the " Act of Adhesion " then presented to him,
that an immense majority of the Mexican people were
in favor of the Imperial form of government with
himself at its head. Before an ecclesiastic present,
Maximilian took an oath that he would, " by every
means in his power, procure the well-being and pros
perity of the Mexican nation, defend its independ
ence, and preserve the integrity of its territory." The
Mexican flag was unfurled on the tower of Miramar,
salutes were fired by the vessels in the harbor of
Trieste, and within the palace and among the crowds
without, the greatest enthusiasm prevailed.
The same day was executed the " Treaty of Mira
mar," a very important document in its relation to

THE SECOND EMPIRE 257
subsequent events. It was an agreement, the details
of which had been arranged some time previously
between Maximilian and Napoleon HI., by which
Maximilian was to pay the Jecker claims, the sum
of fifty-four million dollars for the support of the
army, and all the expenses of the expedition of the
Intervention, — making a total sum of one hundred
and seventy-three million dollars of public debt with
which to begin his career as Emperor of Mexico.
The Treaty stipulated, among other things, that
from year to year the force of thirty-eight thousand
men, which then composed the French army occupy
ing Mexico, should be withdrawn as rapidly as Mexi
can troops could be organized to replace them, but
that eight thousand men of the French army should
remain in Mexico for six years. The French troops
were to be in complete accord with the Mexican
Emperor, and the French military commander was
not to interfere in any branch of the Mexican govern
ment. Four days later, the Emperor and Empress were on
their way to the New World in an Austrian frigate
escorted by a French man-of-war. The city of Rome
was visited, on the way, and the young Imperial couple
had an audience with the Pope, the particulars of
which are shrouded in deepest mystery. But the
papal interests in the success of Conservative, Reac
tionary, and Monarchical parties having been already
engaged, and the new Empire having in its inception
been committed to the Roman Catholic religion, the
interview is generally inferred to have been of deep
significance. The Imperial party arrived in Vera Cruz on the
twenty-ninth of May, 1864. The sovereigns were
17

258 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
received by General Almonte as President of the Re
gency. The seventh of June (the twenty-fifth birth
day of the Empress) was spent by the Imperial party
in Puebla, on the way to the capital. Five days
later, Maximilian and Carlota arrived in the City of
Mexico, where they were received with every mani
festation of enthusiasm by the Imperialist residents
of the city. In selecting his Council of Ministers,
Maximilian took many who had been associated with
the government of previous Absolutists. He ap
pointed as his Minister of State, however, a pro
nounced Liberal, thinking thereby to conciliate the
Republicans and win them over to the Empire ; and
the Liberal was induced, by the blandishments of
Carlota, to accept the responsibilities of that trying
position. But when the Emperor asked Mariano
Riva Palacio to take a portfolio in his cabinet, he
encountered a person of entirely different character.
Senor Riva Palacio flatly refused, on the ground
that it would be inconsistent for a Republican to
hold office under an Empire.
The Regency continued in office until the arrival
of the Emperor, and then dissolved by limitation.
The members retired, or assumed other duties as
signed them under the Imperial government. The
Regents left the record of few official acts performed
by them, — only such as were intended to secure the
proper accomplishment of what might be called, in
a country where every new scheme of government
has been called a " Plan " of some kind, the " Plan
Napoleon."

THE CONFLICT 259

CHAPTER XIII
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC AND
THE EMPIRE
TO the apparently few adherents of the Re
public and of Constitutional Government in
the northern States of Mexico, the events
set forth in the preceding chapter must have been
disheartening in the extreme. It must have seemed
that the end had come to all possibility of a Repub
lican form of government, or of a Constitution that
would maintain the rights of individuals irrespective
of class and in the face of the claims of the Church.
But to the iron-willed man who was at the head
of the apparently defeated Republican Government,
there was no such word as surrender when applied to
a great principle.
Juarez felt that the French army was the concrete
obstacle he had to overcome. All else was for the
time a mere incident to that. He foresaw the end,
and with Indian stoicism he bided his time, view
ing meanwhile, perhaps with grim satisfaction, all
the difficulties which he knew would beset the at
tempts of Maximilian to maintain himself, and of the
Clerical party to keep its hold upon the government
of Mexico and to rule it through the Empire. It was
well for him and for his country that through this
grave crisis he had the tenacity of purpose which is
characteristic of the race to which he belonged.

260 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
In the middle of August, 1864, Juarez was forced
to leave Monterey upon the approach of Imperial
forces ; and after some detentions in Viesca, Mapimi,
and Nazas, — necessary for the re-organization of the
slender forces of the Republican Government, — he
went to Chihuahua. Here he was able to maintain
his government until the following August (1865),
when the approach of some Imperial troops again
caused the removal of his provisional capital. Ac
companied by twenty-two of his most trusted friends,
the President went to the frontier town of Paso del
Norte (now Ciudad Juarez), and there established
his government.
Among his twenty-two close adherents (afterwards
dubbed " the Immaculates ") was Sebastian Lerdo de
Tejada, brother of the late Miguel Lerdo de Tejada,
who, in the capacity of Minister of State, exerted a
powerful influence upon the affairs of the Republic
even in those dark days. From Paso del Norte,
Lerdo issued a circular declaring that it was the firm
determination of the President not to abandon the
territory of Mexico, but to maintain the struggle
against the invaders of his country. The circular
was followed by a letter from the President confirm
ing it. Both documents gave proof of the energy of
the President and of his faith in the final triumph of
constitutional government. Juarez declined several
invitations from the Commandant at Fort Bliss, on
the United States side of the Rio Grande, and gave
no opportunities for the enemies of the Republic
to gain the impression that he had abandoned the
territory. The term for which, under the Constitution, Juarez
had been elected President, expired while he was a

The conflict 261
fugitive from his capital. It would scarcely seem
possible that the Presidency of Mexico under such
circumstances could be the object of any one's ambi
tion; stranger yet that one who must have known
the situation as well as did General Jesus Gonzalez
Ortega should have aspired either to the title or the
office. Ortega had virtually abandoned the office of
President of the Supreme Court of Justice to which
he had been elected, the Court itself having prac
tically dissolved during the peregrinations of the
Executive department of the government. Yet in
November, 1865, Ortega, by means of a pronuncia
mento, claimed the executive power. The term of
Juarez had expired, he announced, and there had been
no election to fill the vacancy thus created. The
Presidency was therefore his by virtue of his office as
President of the Supreme Court, in the same manner
as that in which Juarez had himself first attained
thereto. It was a situation calling for the exercise of that
cool judgment which was one of the chief character
istics of Benito Juarez. Willingly would he have
embraced this opportunity to escape the cares of the
office of President of Mexico, when it was engaged
solely in strugghng against adversity. But Juarez
clearly foresaw the disasters that must inevitably
overtake the Republic if a change were effected in
the government under the circumstances then exist
ing. He maintained that his term of office legally
continued until, in time of peace, constitutional elec
tions could take place and his successor could be
elected ; and in this position he was sustained by all
the Republican authorities remaining in the Northern
States.

262 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Probably Juarez was wise enough to see that his
best course was to wait for the Empire to expire felo
de se. It had, in fact, already reached its zenith,
and was beginning to dechne. Its earliest months
had been devoted to instituting the paraphernalia of
Imperial dignity in its alien home. There can be no
question of the genuineness of Maximilian's efforts
to " regenerate Mexico, " — to quote the phrase he
loved to use. That he made every effort to familiar
ize himself with his new country and its needs must
also remain unquestioned. But after the novelty of
the situation wore off, he failed to give that satis
faction to his partisans which had been expected.
He found that Mexico was not easily governed by
the mere issuance of decrees, however wisely and
beneficently conceived. He discovered also that the
professed partisans of the Empire were not to be
trusted, and were not at peace among themselves.
Efforts which he made to placate the Liberals, while
failing of their direct object, alienated the members
of his own party. The difficulties of the situation
were enhanced by the fickleness of the Mexican char
acter. We have seen how much Juarez had to
contend with in this trait of the Mexicans. Now
Maximilian found that the many who had deserted
Juarez for what was then apparently the more popular
cause, were equally ready to desert the Imperialists
when occasion offered.
The Emperor came also into collision with the
Clerical party very early. Though decreeing that
the Roman Catholic religion was the established reli
gion of the country, Maximilian declared that other
religions might be tolerated under some restrictions.
The earliest demand of the Clerical party was that

THE CONFLICT 263
the property taken from the Church by the decree of
sequestration should be restored. But inasmuch as
this property had gone into the hands of third parties,
and it was impossible to recover it, the "Reform
Laws " of Juarez were allowed to remain in force.
Upon the declaration of the Emperor to that effect,
the Papal Nuncio then in Mexico at once withdrew,
signifying thereby not only that the Clerical party
in Mexico was offended, but the Papal See as well.
Between Marshal Bazaine and the Mexican Em
peror, during the early days of the Empire, the warm
est friendship existed. So great was the Emperor's
confidence in the integrity and good judgment of the
Commander-in-chief of the French army, that it
was not difficult for the latter, in contravention of
the Treaty of Miramar, to dictate in many cases the
policy of the Empire. When, however, the French
soldier discovered that the interests of Maximilian
and those of Napoleon were not absolutely identical,
he hesitated not as to whom he owed the higher
allegiance. He had nothing further to expect in
Mexico, while a career awaited him in France, and
the friendship of Napoleon III. was greatly to be pre
ferred to that of his puppet on the throne of Mexico,
whose Empire was already hopelessly in debt and
rapidly falling to pieces.
The final downfall of the Empire may be directly
traced to the action of the government at Washing
ton. The clouds of Civil War, hanging so heavily
over the United States when the Treaty of London
was signed, had furnished Napoleon III. with the
opportunity to carry out his schemes. He looked
for the dismemberment of the United States and the
permanent establishment of the Southern Confed-

264 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
eracy. That the Confederate States of America and
the Mexican Empire should be kindly disposed to
each other, was thought to be quite natural, — al
though this might seem strange in view of the fact
that the people of the Southern Confederacy were
fighting for principles almost identical with those
which Juarez was striving to establish, and against
a principle of centralization which he was opposing.
It was one of the inconsistencies of politics, that
the professedly democratic Southern Confederacy,
avowedly opposed to Imperialism, should be looked
upon as the ally of the Empire in Mexico. Neverthe
less, news of every Confederate victory was received
in France with enthusiasm, and the French news
papers made much of the reports of a public demon
stration in Richmond, the capital of the Confederate
States, on the receipt of the news, in 1863, that the
French army had captured Puebla. The Confederate
States had given definite pledges that an alliance with
the Mexican Empire might be counted on as soon as
the Confederacy gained its independence. It was an
important feature of the Napoleonic Plan.
As long as the United States were engaged in war
within their own borders, and especially during the
dark days when if was doubtful what the issues of
the struggle would be, nothing could be done by the
government at Washington beyond protesting against
the action of the French Emperor in trampling upon
the rights claimed in the Monroe Doctrine. The
United States government remained firm in its early
recognition of the Juarez government. In fact, in
July, 1862, it had been proposed by the United States
government to loan Mexico sufficient funds for the
payment of all her foreign debts (some seventy-two

THE CONFLICT 265
millions of dollars), and to take as a pledge for the
repayment thereof in five years the provinces of
Lower California and Sonora — about one hundred
and forty thousand square miles. But Juarez felt
compelled to decline this offer, as well as another of a
loan of ten milhon dollars on easy terms but with
the same pledge of territory as security for its repay
ment. The charge, once widely circulated, that
Juarez had negotiated the sale of, or was desirous of
selling, some of the Mexican territory, may have
been based upon these offers of the United States.
The efforts of Napoleon to sell Sonora to a promi
nent Confederate sympathizer belong, not to a his
tory of the struggle for Constitutional Government
in Mexico, but to a more detailed account of the
Second Mexican Empire. Maintenance of the integ
rity of Mexican territory was one of the political
principles which Juarez had adopted; and he was
true to it, even when it might Seem to have been the
better statesmanship or better financial policy to have
relaxed it.
The government at Washington had declined to
pay any regard to the notification received from the
" Under Secretary of State and Foreign Affairs of the
Regency of the Empire of Mexico," of the action of
" The Assembly of Notables " on the tenth of July,
1863. Its relations with the Minister Plenipoten
tiary of the Juarez government remained unbroken
throughout the years when it must have seemed to
many that the Empire was triumphant and that the
restoration of the Republic was well-nigh hopeless.
On every occasion that offered, it reiterated the
interest it felt in the " safety, welfare, and prosperity
of Mexico," and whenever it mentioned Mexico it

266 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
implied thereby the constitutionally organized gov
ernment of the Republic there. At first it accepted,
as though made in good faith, the declaration of
France that she was at war with Mexico "for the
purpose of asserting just claims " and obtaining pay
ment for just debts due from that nation, and not for
the purpose of colonizing or acquiring any territory
for herself or for any other nation ; that she did not
intend to occupy Mexico permanently, nor do vio
lence to the sovereignty of the people ; and that " as
soon as her griefs were satisfied and she could do so
with honor," she would quit Mexico entirely.
So long as these assurances were relied upon, the
United States maintained a position of strict neutral
ity, disclaiming any " right or disposition to intervene
by force in the internal affairs of Mexico, to establish
or maintain a Republic or even a domestic govern
ment, or overthrow an Imperial or foreign one if
Mexico chose to establish or accept it." But as it
was clearly stated in a letter from the Hon. William
H. Seward, Secretary of State, to the United States
Minister to France, September twenty-sixth, 1863,
the government at Washington claimed to know that
"the inherent normal opinion of Mexico favored a
government there, republican in form and domestic in
its organization, in preference to any monarchical in
stitution to be imposed from abroad, . . . that such
normal opinion of the people of Mexico resulted
largely from the influence of popular opinion in the
United States, and was constantly invigorated by it."
The government of the United States was prepared,
however, to declare that "should France determine
to adopt a policy in Mexico adverse to American
opinions and sentiments, that policy would probably

THE CONFLICT 267
scatter seeds which would be fruitful of jealousies
which might ultimately ripen into collision between
France and the United States and other American
Republics. "
When the purposes of France became apparent
beyond all possibility of doubt, the Senate and House
of Representatives at Washington passed a joint reso
lution to the effect that the occupation of Mexico by
the Emperor of the French, or by " the person indi
cated by him as Emperor of Mexico," was an offence
to the people of the United States ; that the move
ments of France, and the threatened movements of
"an Empire improvised by the Emperor of the
French," if insisted upon, demanded war; and this
resolution was furthermore declared to embody noth
ing inconsistent with what had been held out to
France from the beginning. Although the United
States did not at that time seem in a position to
carry out its threat of war with France, there was
no hesitancy about the assertion of the "Monroe
Doctrine," and it was hoped that the means to main
tain the position thus asserted would be forthcoming
if required.All protests and warnings were, however, un
heeded by France so long as the war continued in
the United States. But before the summer of 1865,
the entire aspect of affairs took a change totally un
expected by Napoleon III. The Civil War came to
an end, without any dismemberment of the United
States. The Mexican Empire was thus left without
any prospect of an ally in the North American con
tinent; while the government at Washington was
free to give to the French Intervention the attention
it demanded. It returned to the subject, and pur-

268 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
sued it with vigor. It declared in the most emphatic
terms that France had trespassed upon the rights
which the United States claimed as set forth in the
"Monroe Doctrine," both in attempting European
colonization in some of the Mexican States, and by
establishing and maintaining an Empire on the
American continent. It demanded that the French
troops be withdrawn from Mexico without delay,
and that all attempts at colonization cease; and it
emphasized these demands by ordering an officer of
high rank in its army to the side of President Juarez,
and by placing an "army of observation" on the
Mexican frontier.
So resolute was the tone of this diplomatic corre
spondence, and so unmistakable was the disposition
of the government at Washington to enforce its de
mands by war should this be necessary, that these
warnings could no longer be disregarded. Napoleon,
finding public opinion in France strongly opposed to
his projects and their continuance, yielded to the
situation; he agreed to withdraw his troops from
Mexico within a specified time, and to abstain from
further interference in Mexican affairs or attempts at
colonization in that country. The triumph of the
"Monroe Doctrine" was complete.
It was after this course had been agreed upon, but
before the mobilization of the French troops, prepar
atory to their final withdrawal from the country, had
begun, that Maximilian took the step which sealed
his own fate and that of his Empire. It was the
issuing of the famous Decree of October 3, 1865.
The Mexicans, who are expert in devising nick
names, often call it the "Decree of Huitzilopochtli,"
that being the name of the War-god of the Aztecs,

THE CONFLICT 269
who was only to be propitiated by human sacrifices.
This decree was so utterly at variance with the
temper and spirit of the Emperor's official acts gen
erally, that it has been debated as to whether it
originated with him or was a measure dictated by
others. It was held subsequently that Bazaine was
responsible for the false information upon which the
decree was based, and had inspired the decree itself.
The decree purported to be based upon information
that President Juarez had abandoned the Mexican
territory, crossed the northern frontier, and gone to
Santa Fe, New Mexico. It declared that the cause
sustained by him with so much valor had at last
succumbed, and that the chief had abandoned his
country and his government. "Henceforth," it went
on to say, "the struggle will no longer be between
opposing systems of government, but between the
Empire established by the will of the people and the
criminals and bandits which infest the country." It
therefore declared that all persons carrying arms
against the Empire, as well as all persons aiding
them by selling them arms or supplies, were to be
tried by courts-martial and condemned to death.
Punishments by fine and imprisonment were pre
scribed for all who in any other way opposed the
Empire. The Emperor's recognition of the courage and
constancy of Juarez, in the preamble of the " bloody "
decree, caught the fancy of the Mexicans and tickled
their sense of humor; and one of the papers, pub
lished in the capital, produced a caricature of the
Emperor fastening upon the breast of Juarez (who
wore a Phrygian cap) a medal for courage and con
stancy. In various ways the Emperor had paid

270 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
tribute to the wisdom and statesmanship of the
President, — sometimes by allowing the measures of
the latter to stand altogether unopposed, and often by
his failure to reverse them when he tried to do so.
Naturally, this decree has often been compared
with that issued by Juarez on the twenty-fifth of
January, 1862. But in such a comparison it must
not be forgotten that the Imperial decree was based
upon more than one false premise, as well as upon
information that was untrue and the falsity of which
was easily ascertainable. It was a false premise that
the President had abandoned the country and his
government. It was a false premise that the Mexi
can Empire had been established by the will of the
people, and that the supporters of constitutional
government were criminals and bandits. Far differ
ent, therefore, were the measures, however drastic,
put forth by a Constitutional ruler in support of a
legitimate national government threatened with trea
son within and invasion from without; far different
would have been the most cruel decree that could
have been sent forth under such circumstances, from
a measure adopted to sustain an Empire obtruded
upon a people in the first place, and then in the last
throes of dissolution, being dependent upon foreign
arms for its support throughout.
It was subsequently claimed, also, in mitigation of
the criminality of the Decree of October 3, that it
was only intended to terrorize the opponents of the
Empire, and was not expected to be enforced. Un
fortunately it was enforced, and in such a manner as
to be the suicidal act of the Imperial Government.
A few days after it was issued, and before it could
be generally known outside of the capital except

THE CONFLICT 271
in the Imperial army, General Salazar (Military
Governor of Michoacan), General Arteaga, Colonel
Trinidad Villagomez, Colonel Jesus Diaz, and Cap
tain Gonzalez, officers of the Republican army, < — men
of excellent reputation and high standing, — were
made prisoners in the State of Michoacan by Gen
eral Mendez of the Imperial army. They were tried
by court-martial, condemned to death, and on the
twenty-fourth of October were taken to Uruapan and
there executed, in total disregard of the rules of war
and of civilization.
The force of this iU-advised decree could not have
fallen more unfortunately for the fate of the Emperor.
The Imperialist newspapers at the capital described
Arteaga as " an honest and sincere man, whose career
had been distinguished by humanity." Salazar was
one who could write to his mother the night before
his execution : " My conscience is at rest. I go down
to the tomb at thirty-three years of age, without a
stain upon my military career or a blot on my name. "
Two hundred Belgian prisoners, in the hands of the
Liberals at Tacambaro, protested most vigorously
against this act of inhumanity, and stated in their
letter to the Emperor that they had come to Mexico
solely to act as a guard of honor to their Empress,
and had been forced to fight against principles iden
tical with their own.
The summary execution of this decree upon brave
soldiers, in arms in defence of their land and consti
tutional government, raised a storm of indignation
against the Emperor and his ministers in still another
quarter. Many who had been favorably disposed
toward the Empire now became lukewarm, or turned
directly against it ; while the neutrals were prompted

272 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
to declare themselves openly in favor of the Republic.
If such were the workings of a monarchical form of
government, they were thenceforth in favor of the
Constitution which was designed to furnish immunity
from that class of experiences which had already
stained too many pages of the history of Mexico.
Disappointed that the Empire, with its "prince of
foreign stock at its head," did not furnish an im
provement upon what Mexico already knew far too
well, a great many turned toward Juarez with the
determination to support him in his efforts to rees
tablish constitutional government. And thus the
fortunes of the little band of stalwart Republicans on
the frontier began to turn.
The work of withdrawing the French troops from
the interior and concentrating them upon the capital
was successfully accomplished by Bazaine before the
end of 1866. Some time was spent in arranging
the exchange of prisoners between the foreign and
the Republican armies, but this was finally done in a
manner greatly to the credit of both armies, and the
forces of the Republic were augmented by the return
of some of those previously held as prisoners by the
Imperialists. Toward the close of January, 1867,
the foreign army began to retire, " and extended like
a girdle of steel along the sandy road from the City
of Mexico to Vera Cruz."
Bazaine used his influence with Maximilian to
induce him to abdicate and return with the French
army to Europe. The only way open to him to dis
charge the many obligations he was under to Maxi
milian was, it seemed to Bazaine, to urge him to
escape from the fate that must inevitably overtake
him if he persisted in remaining in Mexico. This

THE CONFLICT 273
he urged in personal interviews and in many letters ;
and the last act of Bazaine, before sailing from Vera
Cruz, in March, 1867, was to write to Maximilian
offering him a final opportunity to escape in the
vessels provided for the transportation of the French
army. Bazaine returned to Europe to become the trusted
Commander-in-chief of the unfortunate armies of
France in the war with Prussia in 1870-71. He was
faithful to his Emperor to the very end, but after the
surrender of Sedan lost the confidence of the French
people. He was court-martialled, and sentenced to
death. After an escape from prison, he sank into
obscurity, from which his death raised his name for a
short time. He carried to the grave the maledictions
of the Mexican people, in whose memory dwelt a large
number of cruelties practised in his ready obedience
to the behests of the Emperor Napoleon III.
As the French troops had withdrawn from the
towns of Northern Mexico, the Republicans of the
northern States reunited and occupied them. Thus,
in November, 1865, a few of his soldiers having cap
tured Chihuahua, Juarez promptly transferred thereto
the seat of his government from Paso del Norte. He
had to retreat, however, before returning troops in
December, and was in Paso del Norte again on the
eighteenth of that month. Early in June, 1866, the
Republican troops were sufficiently reorganized to
gain their first decided victory over Mexican Impe
rialists; Chihuahua was finally evacuated by the
Imperial troops, and the seat of the Republican
government was established there.
Thenceforth the tide of war turned in favor of the
Republican arms. Escobedo, who had been in Texas
18

274 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
from June, 1864, to the latter part of 1865, organ
izing help for Mexico, surprised and captured the
Imperial garrison at Monterey. This had the effect
of augmenting his forces and bringing together the
dispersed soldiers of the Republic. In March, 1866,
he was enabled to begin offensive operations toward
the South. In June he captured Saltillo, after a
brief resistance. He was appointed General-in-chief
of the Army of the North, and continued his success
ful operations. In September he marched toward
Guanajuato, and established his headquarters in
Celaya. There he was joined by forces from Mich
oacan and from the north. Thereupon Juarez felt
justified in transferring his seat of government to
Zacatecas in January, 1867; but on the twenty-
seventh of that month, he and his cabinet barely
escaped falling into the hands of Miramon, and were
obliged to take refuge in Sombrerete. Escobedo
defeated Miramon at San Jacinto on the first of Feb
ruary, and the latter retired to Queretaro. Juarez
removed the seat of his government to San Luis
Potosi, where it remained throughout the closing
scenes of the Imperial regime.
After the news came to Maximilian of the final
decision of Napoleon III. to withdraw his support
from the Mexican Empire, the unhappy Archduke
pursued for a time a vacillating policy. A self-
sacrificing effort, on the part of Carlota, to induce
Napoleon to reverse his decision and adhere to the
Treaty of Miramar, resulted in disaster to the beauti
ful Princess. This misfortune made the position of
Maximilian the more trying. Plunged in melancholy
by his domestic sorrows, and with the support with
drawn upon which his Empire had chiefly rested, he

THE CONFLICT 275
debated with himself what he ought to do. The
purity and honesty of his personal motives remain
unquestioned. He had accepted the task of "regen
erating Mexico," and of giving good government to
that country. He had failed to accomplish this. He
was confronted by his own mistakes; but he felt in
duty bound to embrace an opportunity, if it were
extended to him, to make another effort. He finally
attempted to shift the responsibility of the choice of
duties resting upon him, by calling a meeting of his
Council, at Orizaba, in November, 1866, and leaving
with that body his abdication. The Council, by a
small majority, declined to accept it. At the same
time, the Church party stepped forward with an offer
of support and a proposition to try the Emperor once
more. The Empire therefore gathered itself together
for a final struggle.
Miramon, after the establishment of the Regency,
entered Mexico by way of the northern frontier, and
hastened to the capital to tender his services to the
Empire. They were not accepted, and he went
abroad again. When Maximilian came, Miramon
renewed his offer, and it was accepted; but Maxi
milian, fearing that his presence in the country might
embarrass the Imperial government in some way,
asked him to remain abroad and "study the Prus
sian system of military tactics." Marquez was at
the same time sent as a special envoy to Turkey,
that the Empire might not be embarrassed by his too
close intimacy. When Miramon now opportunely
returned to Mexico, he was sent by Maximilian to
the capital to take command of a division of the
Mexican Imperial army which it became necessary
to organize there with the means provided by the

276 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
Church. Marquez was recalled and made Com
mander-in-chief of the forces at the capital.
It was then decided to transfer the Imperial seat
of government to Queretaro ; and in February, 1867,
the Emperor, in command of the entire army, and
with Marquez as the chief of his forces, set out to
march thither. General Tomas Mejia, as commander
of the Third Division of the Army of the Empire,
had evacuated San Luis Potosi in December, 1866,
and retired to Queretaro. After his defeat by Esco
bedo at San Jacinto, Miramon made Queretaro his
objective point; and subsequently General Mendez,
from Morelia, added to the number of Imperial troops
gathered in that city, which, though supposed to be
a stronghold of the Church, was a very poor strategic
position, being, as Maximilian afterwards called it,
" a mouse-trap. "
The troops within Queretaro numbered eight thou
sand picked men. Maximilian, writing to one of his
ministers on the ninth of February, reviewed the
condition of his army after he had been abandoned
by the French, and acknowledged the mistaken im
pression under which he had labored when he signed
the decree of October 3, 1865. "The Republican
forces, wrongly represented as demoralized, disor
ganized, and united solely by the hope of pillage,"
he wrote, " prove by their conduct that they form a
homogeneous army whose stimulus is the courage
and perseverance of a chief moved by a great idea —
that of defending the national independence which
he believes threatened by the establishment of our
Empire." The opportunity for which the Republican govern
ment had so long and so patiently waited had arrived

THE CONFLICT 277
at last, and Juarez took advantage of it. In Novem
ber, Escobedo found himself at the head of an army
numbering fifteen thousand men. He was ordered
to advance upon Queretaro. After an obstinate
fight with the Imperialists on the heights of San
Gregorio, Escobedo, his army now increased to
twenty thousand men, surrounded Queretaro, and
from the twelfth of March to the fifteenth of May,
1867, held the city in a state of siege.
The Imperialists made a series of brilliant sorties.
In one of these, Marquez was sent to the City of
Mexico with Vidaurri, — the former to raise rein
forcements for the relief of the besieged, the latter
to assume the office of Lieutenant of the Empire.
Marquez, in disobedience of the Emperor's orders,
and perfidious as ever, went to the relief of Puebla,
then hard pressed by the soldiers of General Porfirio
Diaz. His idea appears to have been that the Empire
was about to go to pieces, but that there were chances
of three governments being established, one in the
North, one with Queretaro as its capital; and that
his career lay in the establishment of the third, with
Puebla as its capital, if not the City of Mexico. He
was defeated by Diaz, and returned to the capital.
There he assumed dictatorial powers, marked by the
cruelty for which he was always famous.
On the fourteenth of May, a general sortie from
Queretaro had been planned, and the Emperor met
with his officers in a Council of War. It was then
declared by Mejia that the success of the movement
was impossible at that time, and upon his advice the
matter was postponed for twenty-four hours. After
the breaking up of the Council, Colonel Miguel
Lopez, a favorite member of the Emperor's staff

278 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
went over to the Republican headquarters and gave
information which enabled a small detachment of the
Republican army to enter the city at daybreak the
next morning.
The Emperor was awakened by his secretary, in
his headquarters in the Church of La Cruz, early on
the fifteenth of May, and was bidden to try to escape.
He went out hurriedly, and was joined by Mejia on
the Cerro de las Campanas. The assault on the city
threw everything into confusion. The little party of
Imperialists on the Cerro attracted the attention of
the Republicans, and the fire of some of the batteries
was directed toward it. Maximilian asked Mejia, the
stoical Indian soldier at his side, what chances there
were, and received the reply that it was utterly futile
to prolong the struggle. A white flag was displayed,
and Maximilian delivered his sword to a Republican
officer who rode up in response to the signal. Thus
ended the Second Mexican Empire.
Mendez was apprehended, and with the recollection
vivid in the minds of his captors of his too prompt
execution of the decree of October third, he was un
ceremoniously shot. Miramon was wounded in the
assault upon the city, and was put under arrest.
Shortly afterwards, the Teatro de Iturbide, in the
city of Queretaro, was the scene of a remarkable
court-martial. " Fernando Maximiliano of Hapsburg,
Archduke of Austria," was arraigned, with Miguel
Miramon and Tomas Mejia as particeps criminis, on
charges of filibustering, treason, and putting forth
the Decree of October third, 1865. Nothing was said
in the process about an order, issued as lately as the
fifth of the preceding February, for the prompt exe
cution of Juarez and his ministers should they fall

THE CONFLICT 279
into the hands of the Imperialists, though that order
was then actually in the hands of the President. The
process against Maximilian was not actuated by a
spirit of revenge.
The conduct of Maximilian throughout these scenes
was heroic, and such as to awaken the interest and
attract the sympathy of the entire world. He had
been a weak ruler, the dupe of more than one unprin
cipled person, and the tool of those who were seeking
to overthrow constitutional government in Mexico.
But he was a brave and noble prince. Too ill to be
present at the trial, he placed his defence in the
hands of Mariano Riva Palacio (the noted Republican
who had declined a place in his Council), and gave
his attention to the arrangement of his worldly
affairs in the prospect of death. He made several
propositions to leave the country, but they were not
accepted. Sefior Riva Palacio, with the assistance of other
distinguished lawyers, did all in his power to save
his unfortunate client, but without success. The
court-martial, sitting from 10 A. M. on the fourteenth
of June until 10 p. M. on the fifteenth, brought in a
verdict of guilty, and fixed the death penalty. The
death sentence was approved at once by the General
of the army, and the execution was ordered to take
place the next day. It was postponed, by telegram
from Juarez, until the nineteenth.
In the interval, every effort possible was made to
save the life of the unfortunate prisoners. Senor Riva
Palacio went to San Luis Potosi to plead with the
President. The Princess Salm-Salm rode across the
country, a hundred and twenty miles, on a similar
errand. Those who were in San Luis Potosi at the

280 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
time tell how the President suffered during his inter
views with those who pleaded for the lives of the
condemned men. Although personally inclined to
show clemency, it seemed to Juarez necessary to
strike a decisive blow in behalf of the maintenance
of the Republic. The possibility of Mexico's having
to go through similar bitter experiences was to be
obviated at all cost. "Now or never," said Lerdo de
Tejada, " we must consolidate the Republic." Juarez
felt that he was compelled by stern necessity to take
the life of the noble Maximilian and of his two com
panions in arms. "If all the kings and queens of
Europe were prostrate before me, I could not save
the life for which you plead," he said to those who
approached him. " I do not take it. It is the law, —
the people demand it, not I. If I fail to do the will
of the people, my life would justly be the penalty."
A protest from the United States government was
also received, but all to no avail. Maximilian sent
in an appeal, not on his own behalf but on behalf of
his companions in misfortune, which met with no
better success.
On the morning of the nineteenth of June, at
seven o'clock, the stern sentence of the court-mar
tial was executed upon Maximilian, Miramon, and
Mejia, upon the Cerro de las Campanas, the spot
where Maximilian had surrendered to the Army of
the Republic. The bright dream of Napoleon III.,
of the establishment of an Empire in the New
World, was at an end. The Republic of Mexico
was triumphant.
It has been customary to blame Juarez for this
apparently needless taking of the life of the noble-

THE CONFLICT 281
hearted but weak Maximilian. But it would seem,
upon carefully looking at all the circumstances, that
it was the great occasion in the life of Benito Juarez
when he was to be pitied rather than blamed, and
that throughout that trying period he was acting
contrary to his own inclinations, and in obedience to
what he regarded as the stern law of duty and neces
sity. He may have erred in his judgment as to the
necessities of the case, but he was honest as to his
convictions, and he had the courage to act in accord
ance therewith, even though the penalty was to bear
the odium of having needlessly executed the death-
sentence. If we are to look at the matter from the standpoint
of Juarez, we must take into account his whole
career, give due weight to the tasks he had assumed,
and consider what must have appeared to him the
probable result of his leniency to the most important
personage he had ever held in his power. He could
be lenient with any one else with less risk to the
future welfare of his country. He had taught stern
lessons to conspirators in the Conservative and Reac
tionary parties ; it was absolutely necessary to extend
the lesson, and show that conspirators were not to be
allowed to succeed even though they used a European
prince for their foil. Nor were foreign princes hence
forth to think it safe to lend themselves as tools for
the schemers against constitutional government in
Mexico, or to be carried away with the glamour of
an imagined monarchy in the " Halls of the Monte-
zumas." It was necessary that Emperors, and Em
perors' sons, be taught that they could not join with
impunity in plots against the independence of a
nation. Neither high admiration for the virtues of

282 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
the Archduke, nor pity for his sufferings, should
blind our eyes to the baneful consequences that must
have ensued from the suppression of independence
and nationality in Mexico. It was a disagreeable
lesson which the New World had to teach the Old,
and we may pity rather than blame the master who
had the courage to teach it.
Diaz, in the south, had gained possession of
Puebla, had defeated Marquez, and dispersed the
soldiers of the latter. He had followed up his ad
vantage by advancing and laying siege to the capital.
He was joined by part of the army from the north,
after the fall of Queretaro. The capital surrendered
on the twenty-first of June. Marquez hid himself
from the fury of the citizens, from whom he had
kept all knowledge of the fall of Queretaro, and upon
whom he had inflicted his accustomed cruelties. He
succeeded in escaping to Habana. Vidaurri, the
traitor, was discovered in hiding, and, without the
formality of a trial, was executed.
With the indisputable title of having saved the
honor, the independence, and the national dignity
of Mexico, Juarez returned to the City of Mexico on
the fifth of July, 1867, and established the seat of his
government in its proper place. His moderation in
dealing with the conquered enemies of the govern
ment was in striking contrast with the conduct of
Conservatives and Reactionaries whenever they had
been triumphant. It promised well for constitutional
government. The Imperialist chiefs, and their fol
lowers to the number of about two hundred, were
imprisoned in old conventual houses until they could
be regularly tried; but only nineteen were executed,

THE CONFLICT '283
and these were guilty of more than political offences.
Among them was General Tomas O'Horan, who had
proved treacherous at the time of Ocampo's assassi
nation. There was but little confiscation of property,
and the Constitutional Government directed its ener
gies toward the repair of the evils wrought by the
war. Before the end of the year, the body of Maximilian
was requested on behalf of his family; and after a
delay, in which it was necessary for the New World,
through Benito Juarez, the Indian President of
Mexico, to teach another lesson to the Old World, —
a lesson in diplomacy and international courtesy, —
the body was delivered to an Admiral of the Austrian
Navy, and was taken to Vienna. There it was re
ceived with Imperial honors, and entombed in the
vaults of the Capuchin Monastery.

284 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER XIV
THE RESTORED REPUBLIC AND THE DEATH
OF JUAREZ
BY the triumph of the Republic over the Em
pire, Benito Juarez reached the pinnacle of
his fame, and vindicated his right to be re
garded as the greatest of national heroes of Mexico
up to that time. His name was already a household
word throughout his own country, and was well
known in Europe. Europeans, however, having lent
too ready an ear to tales related for political effect by
Conservatives and Reactionaries, and having been
remiss in more honest efforts to learn the character
of the man, did him an injustice in regarding him as
an Indian savage, "less civilized than Theodore of
Abyssinia," and as quite capable of devising a plot
to "exterminate the entire white population of
Mexico " and to sell a part of the territory to the
United States.
His return to the capital, in 1867, after an absence
of five years, furnishes an opportunity to pay some
what closer attention to his personality than has been
permitted heretofore in the course of this history;
and without some knowledge of this man's person
ality it is impossible to understand the history of the
struggle for constitutional government in Mexico.
He was now in the sixty-second year of his age,
though in his personal appearance giving little indi
cation of his years, as was characteristic of persons

THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 285
of his race. A somewhat stoical temperament, a
reserve in matters of public importance, coolness and
self-possession in the face of danger, patient endur
ance of adversity, dignified courtesy at all times —
these were other racial characteristics which he pos
sessed to a marked degree.
He was short of stature, but of powerful frame,
like most of the Zapotecans, and had small hands and
feet. His was a "very dark complexioned Indian
face, which was not disfigured, but on the contrary
made more interesting, by a very large scar across it.
He had black piercing eyes, and gave the impression
of a man reflecting much and deliberating long and
carefully before acting." His dress was that of the
Mexican student or professional man — plain black
broadcloth, unrelieved by any official or military
insignia. This placed him in such striking contrast
with the brilliant dress affected by other Mexican
officials, who were, almost to a man, military officers,
and with the foreign diplomats with whom he came
in contact, that he was known in semi-diplomatic
language as "The President in the Black Coat."
While other public men in Mexico had military titles,
he preferred to be known simply as Ciudadano —
Citizen. They were greatly mistaken who supposed him
deficient in mental acquirements. He was able to
write French with ease; and could read English,
though he never attempted to speak it. He was
well read in Constitutional law. History was his
favorite study. He received the degree of Doctor
of Civil Law from his alma mater, and the honor was
worthily conferred. His state papers were models of
clearness and exact style.

286 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
The conduct of the Church in Mexico had been
such as to embitter him against that phase of religion
which manifests itself wholly in institutionalism.
On the subject of personal religion he maintained
such an impenetrable reserve as to make it impos
sible to say to what extent he was a religious man.
He was doubtless affected by the reaction from the
devoteeism, at one time so prevalent in Mexico, and
represented by men of the Santa Anna stamp, — a
reaction that carried many of the public men into
religious indifferentism, if not agnosticism. Juarez
was excommunicated by the Church in which he was
born and for whose ministry he was at first intended.
He never sought to have the ban of excommunication
removed. He instituted in Mexico a policy of reli
gious toleration; and not unlikely, could the influ
ences of a purer form of Christianity than what he
saw around him have extended to him, he might
have sought to give his religion some expressive
form. His attitude toward the Church of Rome
probably gave some color of vengefulness to the
measures of reform which he advanced; but they
were in reality actuated by his regard for the rights
of man and the welfare of the State. He had an
innate sense of justice, and desired to see the privi
leges which the Church was enjoying at the people's
cost restored to the people to whom they properly
belonged. Even Maximilian, devotee of the Church
though he was, bore frequent testimony to the wis
dom of Juarez's statesmanship and to the justice of
his measures in regard to the Church.
Despite the Decree of January, 1862, and his
refusal to interfere to suspend the law in the case of
Maximilian, and despite the seeming hardness of his

THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 287
Indian nature, Benito Juarez was a humane man,
rising in that respect far above the average of Mexi
can public men of his time. He sought to prevent
the execution of the death sentence upon Robles,
though that sentence was justified under the circum
stances by the rules of war in any civilized land.
There is small doubt that he would have been glad
of Maximilian's escape could it have been effected
without any dereliction on his part. Vengeance was
foreign to his nature. Bloodshed was no part of his
policy. After the close of the War of the Reform,
he was provoked to no reprisals by the constant
cruelties and reckless military executions which had
characterized the conduct of his savage opponents;
and there is no act of wanton bloodshed or popular
vengeance chargeable upon the successful party in
that struggle. He was the author of more than one
decree of amnesty at times when he had his enemies
in his power. The French prisoners taken at Puebla,
in 1862, were sent to the French camp under safe
conduct; their wounded were cared for; their medals
and decorations were restored to them, and money
was provided them for their expenses. While in
Paso del Norte, and his government was at its
lowest ebb, Juarez, who was in other matters a poor
financier, managed to despatch more than twenty
thousand dollars to France for the relief of the
Mexican prisoners taken to that country by the
French after the fall of Puebla in 1863.
Juarez stood out conspicuously in the history of
Mexico as a thoroughly honest and incorruptible
man. He was thus placed in striking contrast with
the representatives of some of the European nations
with whom he was called upon to treat in 1862. Not

288 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
the least difficult of the tasks which confronted him
in his pubhc career, and in his efforts to establish
constitutional government, was that of maintaining
a high standard of morality in his administration.
The public men of Mexico, who had been trained in
the old Spanish school of politics, or in the later
school of Santa Anna, were accustomed to no such
distinctions between right and wrong as the new
Constitution presupposed or as Juarez in his govern
ment made. They were incapable of appreciating
the nice distinctions between honesty and fraud being
constantly made by their Indian President. The
robbing of the conducta at Laguna Seca, in 1860,
by Degollado, was an ordinary transaction in the
history of Mexico — quite characteristic, indeed, of
the Zuloaga-Miramon-Marquez regime. But it was
absolutely unique in the administration of Benito
Juarez, who was deeply mortified by it and did all
in his power to make apology and restitution.
Juarez was a patriot. Love of country, and the
desire to set her far forward toward the realization of
the destiny which he felt to be hers by nature and by
the will of Providence, actuated his whole life and
engaged all his energies of body and mind. It took
strange forms sometimes, — as, for example, at the
breaking out of the war with the Interventionists,
when he refused all offers of foreign troops for his
army, declaring that he would invite no foreigner to
shoot down men who, though in rebellion against
Mexico, were yet citizens of that nation.
Simple in his tastes, not personally ambitious,
deprecating pomp or display, Benito Juarez gave his
life to the effort to set law above force in Mexico, and
served his country in honorable poverty in the Chief

THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 289
Magistracy for thirteen years, the greater part of the
time an exile from his capital.
In August, 1867, Juarez called for a general elec
tion for Members of Congress and for President.
The election was to determine the propriety of his
action in continuing in the Presidency in Paso del
Norte after the expiration of his former term of office.
He was elected over Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and
Porfirio Diaz, and his action at Paso del Norte was
thereby fully sustained. He began a new constitu
tional term in the Presidency, upon his installation
in that office in December.
It might seem that the country had now had its
fill of revolutions and pronunciamentos, and was
ready to cooperate with the President in an effort to
maintain peace and constitutional government. But
the administration of Juarez was much disturbed by
revolutionary attempts made by those who were still
under the spell of the ancient Spanish methods of
"practical politics." Santa Anna entered the Re
public with no very honorable intentions, we may be
sure. He was taken prisoner and sentenced to be
shot, but was allowed to escape, and returned to the
place of his former exile. Probably the measure by
which Juarez himself would have preferred that his
administration of the government from 1867 to 1871
should be best known was his decree of General
Amnesty. Under its provisions, even Santa Anna
was enabled to return to Mexico and spend the re
mainder of his days at the capital.
As the electoral campaign of 1871 approached,
Juarez was advised by many of his best friends to
decline a reelection. They urged that, inestimable
19

290 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
as was the value of the services he had rendered in
securing the Constitution and in maintaining the
government of Mexico thereunder during the period
of stress and storm from 1861 to 1867, he was not
a pronounced success in the administration of the
Presidency. His preeminent quality — adherence to
a great principle in the face of opposition — did not
especially fit him for the task of building upon the
foundation he had laid. He was blind to the actual
needs of the nation, it was said. His mind was giv
ing way, some alleged, — and such might well have
been the case, in one who had passed through all that
he had suffered. He remained, however, firm in the
belief that his presence in the administration was
necessary for the continuance of the effort to maintain
good government in Mexico, and prevent a suspen
sion of the Constitution which had been established
at so much cost. He therefore entered as a candidate
against the same opponents as four years previously.
The contest was an exciting one, and his election
was extremely close. Congress met on the sixteenth
of September, and it was not until the twelfth of
October that Juarez was officially declared elected
by the vote of a plurality of the States. Pronun
ciamentos followed, but Juarez, with indomitable
energy, confronted every attempt to overthrow the
Constitution and return to the former methods of
governing the country by force.
On the seventeenth day of July, 1872, he who had
never before known more than a day's sickness, was
taken suddenly ill with heart disease. Near mid
night on the eighteenth he died. Two days later
the body was taken to the National Palace, where it
lay in state, under guard of government officials, and

THE RESTORED REPUBLIC 291
was visited by throngs of Mexicans of all classes. On
the twenty-second it was borne through the streets of
the capital, followed by five thousand people, and laid
to rest in the Panteon of San Fernando. There, over
the dust of Benito Juarez, now rests an exquisitely
sculptured marble group representing the grief of
Mexico over the death of her great national hero.
Thither, on the eighteenth of July every year, lovers
of constitutional government go to rehearse the story
of his noble and devoted life, and of how through his
efforts the Constitution of Mexico came into being.
And it is weU that this annual pilgrimage be made,
and this commemoration be observed, lest in the
midst of the prosperity and peace, and the national
greatness to which they have recently attained and
the progress they are now making, the people of
Mexico forget how much of all this is due to the
Zapotecan who spent his life in an honorable endeavor
to give a Constitution and Constitutional Government
to a previously misgoverned land.

292 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC

CHAPTER XV
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT BEARING
FRUITS
JUAREZ had not been inducted into office in
December, 1871, without a formal protest from
Porfirio Diaz, whose action in regard thereto —
taking the name of the "Plan de Noria " — 'might
be regarded as revolutionary and reactionary. His
proposition was to avoid threatened evils by conven
ing an Assembly of Notables, and to reorganize the
government. The movement collapsed with the death
of Juarez, who was immediately succeeded in the
Presidency by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, the Presi
dent of the Supreme Court of Justice, and constitu
tional successor to the Presidency.
Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, like his brother Miguel,
was a scholar and a gentleman. He had long been
identified with the struggle for constitutional govern
ment, and was, as we have seen, one of the "Im-
maculates " of the fugitive government of Juarez.
He had been perhaps unpleasantly influential in that
government in the trying time when it had the con
demned Austrian Archduke to dispose of. In the
subordinate positions he had occupied under Juarez,
he passed readily for a statesman and a patriot. But
both statesmanship and patriotism failed to stand the
severe test to which his sudden call to the Presidency
subjected them.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 293
Nor was he the man to lead turbulent Mexicans on
to an appreciation of the blessings they might enjoy
under constitutional government. He was somewhat
under the spell of the old system. He sought at
first to maintain the policy of Juarez, and retained
his cabinet, which was something of an affront to
the leaders of the movement under the "Plan de
Noria." He looked upon Porfirio Diaz from the
start as a dangerous rival, and had him proscribed.
He tried to strengthen himself in the affection of the
people by a Decree of General Amnesty, and then
ordered a special election. He thus began a consti
tutional term of four years in the Presidency, in
December, 1872.
For three years his administration was tolerated,
and the country was quiet and progressive. His
contribution to the history of Constitutional revision
was the adoption of the following Reform laws as
Amendments to the Constitution on the twenty-fifth
of September, 1873.
"Article 1. The State and the Church are independent
of one another. Congress may not pass laws establish
ing or prohibiting any religion.
" Art. 2. Marriage is a civil contract. This and the
other acts relating to the civil state of persons belong
to the exclusive jurisdiction of the functionaries and
authorities of the civil order, within limits provided by
laws, and they shall have the force and validity which
the same attribute to them.
"Art. 3. No religious institution may acquire real
estate or capital fixed upon it, with the single exception
established in Article 27 of this Constitution.
"Art. 4. The simple promise to speak the truth and to
comply with the obligations which have been incurred,

294 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
shall be substituted for the religious oath, with its effects
and penalties."
And to Article 5 of the original Constitution were
added the words :
"The law, consequently, may not recognize monastic
orders, nor may it permit their establishment, whatever
may be the denomination or object with which they claim
to be formed."
The immediate effect of these additions to the Con
stitution was the suppression of the last remaining
religious order in Mexico — the Sisters of Charity.
It was evident, as the expiration of his term of
office drew near, that Lerdo was preparing to secure
a reelection. It was alleged also that his administra
tion had lost the confidence of the Mexican people.
It had been guilty of gross abuses under certain elec
tion laws, the passage of which it had secured. It
had subverted the Federal system and reestablished
Centralism. It was charged with corruption in the
granting of subsidies and franchises to railroads, with
reckless financiering in refunding the English debt,
and with jeopardizing the territory to the United
States. A remedy for the evils thus alleged to have
been brought upon the country was not to be secured
by pacific means, owing to the outrageous manner in
which the elections were conducted. There were
hints, also, that Lerdo had taken at least the sub-
diaconate in the Church, and was hence ineligible to
the Presidency under Article 77 of the Constitution,
which says that the President shall " not belong to
the ecclesiastical order."
The days of " Plans " and pronunciamentos had
not fully passed; for in January, 1876, the "Plan

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 295
de Tuxtepec " was put forth in the State of Oaxaca,
and by midsummer the whole country was again in a
state of revolution. General Porfirio Diaz appeared
upon the scene early in April, emerging from a place
of exile not far from the Rio Grande. The last of
the "Plans," as indorsed by him, furnishes a fair
specimen of this class of pronunciamentos, which has
played such a prominent part in the history of Mexico.
It was as follows :
"Article 1. The Supreme law of the Republic shall be
the Constitution of 1857, the Reform act promulgated
September 25, 1873, and the Law of December 14, 1874.
"Art. 2. The same law making the President and
Governors of the States ineligible to the same position
will be maintained, this being a measure of constitutional
reform which we agree to sustain by all the legal means
afforded to us by the Constitution.
"Art. 3. We repudiate Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada
as President of the Republic, and all those persons
employed by him or occupying positions under him,
or elected at the elections of July, 1875.
"Art. 4. All State Governments adhering to this Plan
will be recognized ; those refusing to do so will be placed
under a provisional government to be appointed by the
executive officer of the army.
"Art. 5. The election of the officers of the Union will
be held two months after the capture of the capital of the
Republic, at such places as the Executive shall appoint
one month after the capture, and will be held under the
election laws of February 12, 1857, and October 23,
1872. At the time appointed for the interior elections,
Congress shall assemble, and shall proceed immediately
to carry out the provisions of Article 51 of the first-men
tioned laws, in order that the constitutional President of
the Republic may enter upon the discharge of the func-

296 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
tions of his office, and that the supreme tribunal may be
installed. "Art. 6. The executive powers, except those which
are purely administrative, will be conferred during the
elections upon the President of the Supreme Court of
Justice, or upon the magistrate discharging the duties of
his office, provided they shall have accepted in all their
parts and provisions the conditions of this Plan, and
shall have signified their said acceptance by publishing
the same in the public press within one month from the
day the said Plan shall have been published in the news
papers of the capital. The neglect or refusal on the part
of the functionary will invest the chief military officer of
that State with the powers of chief executive."
The situation was complicated by a pronunciamento
issued by Iglesias, President of the Supreme Court
of Justice, whose argument was that if Lerdo were
not President he was his constitutional successor.
Iglesias attempted to establish his government in
Guanajuato, and it seemed for a time that Mexico
had gone back to the old unhappy days of rival parties
and revolutions. The three new parties received the
names of "Lerdistas," " Porfiristas, " and " Iglesistas, "
respectively. Diaz took command of the revolutionary army, and
pursued an energetic and finally successful campaign.
The decisive battle was fought at Tecoac, in the
autumn of 1876, and the victory was with the
" Porfiristas." The " Iglesistas " promptly collapsed.
Lerdo fled to the United States, taking with him
some of the public funds. General Diaz advanced
to the capital in November, and was proclaimed
Provisional President. The following April he was
elected " Constitutional " President, and was so

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 297
formally declared by Congress for a term ending
November 30, 1880.
There is, of course, much reasonable doubt as to
the legality of the steps by which the Presidency of ¦
General Porfirio Diaz was brought about. The career
of this wonderful man, who was now at the head of
affairs, reflects much of the history of his country at
the time the struggle for constitutional government
was going on, and explains many of the strange fea
tures of a movement by which a man attaining to
power by means that can only be called unconsti
tutional, and subversive of all law, should finally
establish constitutional government in his land.
Diaz was a Oaxacan, born on the anniversary of
the Grito de Dolores, in 1830. Through his mother
he derived some Indian blood. Like many of his
time, he was at first intended for the Church; but at
an early age he volunteered for service in the war
with the United States, though he was not sent to
the front. He then decided upon a career at the
bar, took a four years' course at the Institute with
which Juarez was connected, and, entering the law-
office of Juarez, became Professor of Roman Law in
his alma mater. In war and politics, he took lessons
under Herrera in the revolt against Santa Anna. He
received honorable wounds on the side of good gov
ernment in the little wars waged in the neighborhood
of Oaxaca, until he got a Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and
finally came to be Chief of a Brigade in the War of
the Reform. The bare record of his military exploits,
wounds, captures, and escapes, in the War of the
Reform and in that of the Intervention, would read
like a romance.
As the Empire fell to pieces, the effort was twice

298 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
made by the Imperialists to make Diaz President.
But Diaz was loyal to the Republic as established
under the Constitution of 1857, and to his friend and
early benefactor Benito Juarez. After the fall of
Queretaro he secured the surrender of the City of
Mexico, and prepared for the return of Juarez to his
capital. He then retired to his estate of " La Noria, "
in the State of Oaxaca. The " Progresistas " made
him their candidate for the Presidency, against
Juarez, in 1867 ; but he made little effort on behalf
of his election. When, however, Juarez was re
elected in 1871, and showed a laxity about the
reforms which he had promised to institute, and
gave further evidence of failing powers, Diaz pro
tested in the famous pronunciamento, or "Plan de
Noria." Friendly as he was with Juarez, he placed
the principles for which Juarez stood before Juarez
himself. It would have been remarkable indeed if, when the
" Plan de Tuxtepec " was proclaimed, it had failed
to appeal to Porfirio Diaz. It would have been
remarkable indeed if such a man had failed to see, in
the course events were taking, the great opportunity
for Mexico to establish constitutional government
permanently. He was by training a military strate
gist. His mind was trained to seek ends, irrespective
of the means employed. To secure the vantage-point
from which to render the Constitution operative in
the government of Mexico, no other course was open
to Diaz and his followers than that which was suc
cessfully pursued under the "Plan de Tuxtepec."
It may be that none of these considerations were in
the mind of Diaz and his followers at the time, or
until long subsequently ; and in such a case the his-

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 299
tory of Mexico is by no means unique. In other
nations, the path to independence and to constitu
tional government has led through acts that were in
themselves unconstitutional. And Mexico's training
for national life had not been such as to prepare
her to take in every case a course of unimpeachable
legality. Whether or not these ideas were in the minds of
Diaz and his followers before the success of the " Plan
de Tuxtepec, " it is obvious that, immediately after
the estabhshment of General Diaz in the Presidency
by means of a constitutional election, his unquestioned
purpose was to confine every act of the government
within the limits of the Constitution of 1857. It was
a slow and tedious process by which the nation and
those employed in the national government were to
be trained up to such a course. Nor is it to be
doubted or denied that the earlier administration of
Diaz was full of mistakes. But nevertheless Mexico
began forthwith to develop all the resources of a
great and powerful nation.
Soon the time came to furnish proofs of the inten
tion of the new administration to maintain the Consti
tution. In accordance with the "Plan de Tuxtepec,"
the Constitution was amended to inhibit the President
from holding office for consecutive terms. When,
in 1880, the term for which Diaz had been elected
expired, he steadfastly adhered to his purpose of
abiding by the constitutional provision which ren
dered him ineligible for a succeeding term. In vain
was it pleaded that there were no others who could
be trusted to carry out his schemes for constitutional
government; he declined to allow his name to be
exploited as a candidate for the office. There were

300 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
no less than eight presidential candidates in the
field; and of these, General Manuel Gonzalez — by
no means the best of the eight — was constitutionally
elected. Gonzalez was not a man of the new type of states
man needed in Mexico, and his administration was in
many respects a reaction from the high principles
which had begun to prevail. The influence of Por
firio Diaz was all that kept it from reverting to the
days of Santa Anna. Diaz was for a time a member
of the cabinet of Gonzalez, at another time Senator
from the State of Morelos, and at another time Gov
ernor of Oaxaca. In each capacity he sought the
material welfare of Mexico. The friendly relations
cultivated with the United States, and the investment
of American capital in railroads and other enterprises
in Mexico, went on with success, even though the
moral tone of the government seemed retrogressive.
In 1884, Diaz was, with practical unanimity, re
elected President. But ere the administration of
Gonzalez gave place to that of Diaz under the Con
stitution, an incident occurred which, while it seemed
for a time about to engulf the country in revolution,
gave signs of a regeneration, and that the lessons of
the Constitution were being learned.
Under the spell of the old system of politics, a
measure was proposed by which the English debt was
to be refunded. The measure was in most particulars
acceptable to all persons interested, but there were
certain features which were clearly in the category
of contracts made by the government in the most
corrupt periods of its existence. It was evidence
of an awakened national conscience that the measure
met with opposition when it came up for final passage

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 301
in the Mexican Congress. And it was a healthy sign
that the insurrection that resulted was led by the
students of the University. The postponement of
the measure until after the inauguration of Diaz was
celebrated as a triumph for Los Estudiantes, who
obtained credit for the success of their opposition.
Thenceforth a new element was introduced into
national affairs. Indifferentism in the citizens had
been an evil with which the advocates of constitu
tional reform in Mexico had always to contend.
Now there was evidence that the young citizens were
taking an interest, — that there were young men in
course of training for an intelligent participation in
national affairs.
The second constitutional term of President Diaz
was inaugurated with financial reforms which were
in themselves an earnest of greater things to come.
It was not very long before the finances of Mexico
were placed upon a firm and altogether satisfactory
basis, and the credit of the nation was recognized in
all the exchanges of Europe. Alcabalas (local duties
which goods of all descriptions had to pay at state and
city boundaries), a long surviving relic of Spanish
domination, were abolished. The whole system of
tariff was revised and improved. Home industries
were encouraged, and the railroad and telegraph lines,
begun in a feeble way in the time of Juarez, were
extended until distances were annihilated in Mexico
as in all parts of the United States.
Immense sums were spent upon public improve
ments. The improvements made in the harbor at
Tampico increased the facilities for Mexico's foreign
trade. The drainage canal, intended to solve the
problem of protecting the Valley of Mexico from

302 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
those inundations with which the Spaniards had
begun to struggle three centuries before, was begun
and carried to a successful termination. The agri
cultural resources of the country were developed, and
manufactures were encouraged. The prison system
was improved, and reformatories have already taken
the place of what were in former times nests of crime
and harbors for the criminal classes. In the re
organization of the army, the matter was managed
with such statesmanship that the country was rid of
the banditti, who now find it to their interests to
serve the country as soldiers, with the prospect of
promotion, rather than to pursue their nefarious call
ing as outcasts from society.
But the greatest result was attained in the stimulus
given to education. A system of public schools has
been built up which is surpassed by nothing else
where in the world. It fixes a minimum of instruc
tion, beyond which anything that is useful and
honorable may be taught.
It was not at once that all this was accomplished ;
and it is, in fact, only in process of accomplishment
at the present time. President Diaz learned, and
the country learned with him in 1888, that in one
important particular the " Plan de Tuxtepec " pro
posed a political principle that was very defective,
and that the changes it had wrought in the Consti
tution of 1857 were far from desirable. Rotation in
office might be in theory advisable in a country which
was likely to be governed by time-serving politicians,
and where politicians are not educated up to a sense
of their duty and responsibility; but when reforms
are to be instituted, and a nation is to be regenerated,
time is required, and the work is not benefited by a

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 303
change of administration and of policy every four
years. And for a nation such as Mexico to learn
self-government thoroughly, a long paternalism is
necessary. Juarez had some such idea, but had been
unable to put it in practice.
So, when the second constitutional term for which
Porfirio Diaz had been elected President drew toward
its close, and thoughtful men who were beginning to
have a high regard for the needs of the nation cast
about them as to who could be found to take his place
and carry out his work of reform, it was generally
conceded that it would be far easier to amend the
Constitution by eliminating the clause, added after
the "Plan de Tuxtepec," making the President in
eligible for two terms in succession, and leave the
Constitution as it was adopted in 1857. And though
good-natured critics called attention to what they
chose to call the inconsistency of a man's consenting
to this amendment of the Constitution after he had
come to power upon a "platform" or "plan" ex
pressly declaring against such a succession in office,
yet nearly all are ready to recognize that an effort to
be precisely " consistent " about details which stand
in the way of progress may sometimes amount to
stubbornness. So the Constitution was amended, in 1888, to allow
a President two consecutive terms; and in 1892 all
limitations were abolished and the Constitution was
made to conform in that regard with the instrument
which was adopted in 1857, through the efforts of
Ocampo, Gomez Farias, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada,
and Benito Juarez. In 1892, in 1896, and again in
1900, there was no one to run against Porfirio Diaz
for the Presidency of Mexico. Nor is it likely that

304 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
any one will be found to compete with him for the
Presidential office, or for his place in the popular
regard, until he concludes that his work of reform is
in such shape that it can be safely committed to the
hands of another, or until death shall close one of
the most remarkable careers of recent times. And
it is to be greatly hoped that whoever then succeeds
him will be a man who has learned, by close obser
vation of the lives of Juarez and Diaz, and of the
course of Mexican history for the past half -century,
what blessings are to be obtained by means of a true
Constitutional Government. THE END

APPENDIX A 305

APPENDIX A
CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF
PRINCIPAL EVENTS
RELATED TO MEXICAN HISTORY
1469. Marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, union of Aragon
and Castile, and virtual beginning, of Spanish national
history.
1481. Inquisition established at Sevilla.
1492. The Great Voyage of Discovery.
1493. The Papal BuUs of Partition.
1501. Papal Bull entitling Spanish sovereigns to tithes in the
colonies.
1503. Casa de Contrataeion established.
1508. Papal Bull giving to King of Spain right of collation to
benefices in the colonies.
1511. Consejo de las Indias instituted by Ferdinand.
1518. Expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan.
1519. Carlos I. of Spain elected Emperor and becomes Charles V.
of Germany. Cortes lands in Mexico.
1520. Retreat of Cortes from Tenochtitlan.
1521. Tenochtitlan captured and destroyed by Cortes and vir
tual subjugation of Mexico.
1522. Cortes Governor, Captain-General, and Chief Justice of
New Spain.
1523. Pedro de Alvarado sent by Cortes to Guatemala.
1524. Consejo de las Indias perfected by Charles V. Arrival
in Mexico of the Franciscan "Twelve Apostles."
1527. Bishopric of Mexico created. Juan de Zumarraga,
Bishop.
1528. First Audiencia in New Spain.
1529. Second Audiencia in New Spain.
20

306 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
1530. " La Puebla de los Angeles " founded in Mexico.
1531. Alleged apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico.
1534. Four Bishoprics created in New Spain.
1535. Antonio de Mendoza, first Viceroy of New Spain. First
printing-press and first book published in the New
World, in Mexico. Peninsula of Lower California
discovered.
1536. Cabeza de Vaca and three companions, survivors of the
Narvaez expedition of 1528, meet Spanish explorers in
northern Mexico.
1540. Expedition of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in search
of the " Seven Cities of Cibola."
1541. Guadalajara founded in New Spain.
1542. Death of De Soto on the Mississippi. Valladolid (now
Morelia) founded in New Spain.
1544. Las Casas Bishop of Chiapas in Mexico.
1545. Archbishopric of Mexico created.
1550. Mendoza promoted from vireinate of New Spain to
that of Peru. Luis de Velasco, "the Emancipator,"
Viceroy of New Spain.
1551. Alonso de Montufar, Archbishop of Mexico.
1552. Santa Hermandad established in New Spain.
1553. University of Mexico founded.
1556. Abdication of Carlos I. and accession of Felipe II.
1563. City of Durango founded in New Spain.
1566. Gaston de Peralta, Viceroy.
1568. Martin de Enriques de Almanza, "the Inquisitor,"
Viceroy.
1571. Inquisition established in the New World.
1572. Arrival of the Jesuits in Mexico.
1574. First Auto-de-fe' in Mexico.
1577. Drake lands at Bodega Bay and takes possession of Cali
fornia for England calling it "New Albion."
1580. Lorenzo Juarez de Mendoza, Viceroy.
1584. Pedro Moya de Contreras Archbishop of Mexico and
Viceroy.
1585. Humana's expedition into New Mexico results in the
settlement of Paso del Norte. Alvaro Manrique de
Zuniga, Viceroy.
1590. Luis de Velasco, son of " the Emancipator," Marquis of
Salinas, Viceroy.

APPENDIX A 307
1595. Gaspar de Zuniga y Acevedo, Count of Monterey, Viceroy.
One of the dates assigned for the foundation of Santa
Fe, New Mexico.
1596. Expedition of Sebastian Viscayno along the Pacific
coast.
1598. Death of Felipe II. and accession of Felipe HI. First
Spanish settlement in New Mexico by Juan de Onate.
1602. Second expedition along the Pacific coast reaches point
two degrees north of Cape Mendocino on coast of
California.
1603. Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marquis of Montes Claros,
Viceroy.
1607. Velasco, Marquis of Salinas, Viceroy a second time.
1608. Probable date of founding of Santa Fe".
1612. Diego Fernandez de Cordova, Marquis of Guadalcazar,
Viceroy.
1621. Diego Carrillo Mendoza y Pimentel, Marquis of Gelves,
Viceroy.
1624. Rodrigo Pacheco Osorio, Viceroy.
1635. Lope Diaz de Armendariz, Viceroy.
1640. Diego Lopez Pacheco Cabrero y Bobadillo, Viceroy.
1642. Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Bishop of Puebla and Royal
Visitor, Viceroy for about five months and then suc
ceeded by Garcia Sarmiento Sotomayor, Count of
Salvatierra.
1648. Marcos Lopez de Torres y Rueda, Bishop of Yucatan,
Viceroy.
1650. Luis Enriques de Guzman, Count of Alba Liste, Viceroy.
1653. Francisco Fernandez de la Cueva, Viceroy.
1660. Juan de Leiva y de la Cerda, Viceroy.
1664. Diego Osorio Escobar y Llamas, Bishop of Puebla,
Viceroy for a few months and then succeeded by
Antonio Sebastian de Toledo.
1665. Death of Felipe II. and accession of Carlos II.
1673. Pedro Nuno Colon de Portugal y Castro, Viceroy for
six days and then succeeded by Fray Payo de Rivera,
Archbishop of Mexico, who proves one of the best of
Viceroys.
1680. Tomas Antonio Manrique de la Cerda, Viceroy.
1686. Melchor Portocarrerro Laso de la Vega, Count of Mon
clova, Viceroy.

308 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
1688. Gaspar de la Cerda Sandoval Silva y Mendoza, Viceroy.
1696. Juan de Ortega Montaflez, Bishop of Michoacan, Viceroy,
quickly succeeded by Jose Sarmiento Valladares, Count
of Moctezuma (more properly Moteczuma).
1700. Death of Carlos II., end of Hapsburg line of Spanish
Kings; accession of Felipe V. and beginning of the
Borbon dynasty.
1701. Montanez, Bishop of Michoacan, Viceroy a second time,
succeeded in a few months by Fernandez de la Cuevas
Enriques.
1711- Fernando Alencastro Norona y Silva, Viceroy.
1716. Baltasar de Zuniga Guzman Sotomayor y Mendoza,
Viceroy.
1718. Casa de Contracion transferred to Cadiz.
1722. Juan de Acuna, Viceroy.
1734. Juan Antonio de Vizarron y Eguiarreta, Archbishop of
Mexico, Viceroy.
1740. Pedro de Castro Figueroa y Salazar, Viceroy.
1741. Jose' Antonio Villasenor y Sanchez, " Cosmographer of
New Spain."
1742. Pedro Cebrian y Agustin, Viceroy.
1746. Death of Felipe V. and accession of Fernando VI. Juan
Francisco de Guemes y Horcasitas, Viceroy.
1747. City of Mexico reported by Villasenor, the " Cosmogra
pher," to contain fifty thousand families of Europeans
and Creoles, forty thousand Meztizos, mixed castes and
negroes, and eight thousand Indians.
1755. Agustin de Ahumada y Villalon, Viceroy.
1759. Death of Fernando VI. and accession of Carlos in.
1760. Francisco Cajigal de la Vega, ex-Governor of Cuba,
Viceroy for a short time, succeeded by Joaquin de
Monserrat.
1763. Louisiana acquired by Spain.
1766. Carlos Francisco de Croix, Viceroy.
1767. Expulsion of Jesuits from Spain and Spanish America.
1771. Antonio Maria de Bucareli y Ursua, Viceroy; the best
of rulers in New Spain.
1779. Martin de Mayorga, Governor of Guatemala, becomes
Viceroy.
1783. Matias de Galvez, "the Diligent," Viceroy.
1785. Bernardo de Galvez, Viceroy.

APPENDIX A 309
1787. Alonso Nunez de Haro y Peralta, Archbishop of Mexico,
Viceroy for a few months; succeeded by Manuel An
tonio Flores, Governor of Bogota.
1788. Death of Carlos III. and accession of Carlos IV.
1789. Juan Vicente Pacheco de Padilla, Viceroy.
1794. Miguel de la Grua Talamanca, Viceroy.
1798. Miguel Jose' de Azanza, " the Bonapartist," Viceroy.
1800. Felix Berenguer de Marquina, Viceroy.
1801. Retrocession to France of Louisiana by secret treaty.
1803. Jose de Iturrigaray, " the Monarchist," Viceroy.
1808. Intervention of Napoleon Bonaparte in Spanish affairs.
Revolution in Spain. Abdication of Carlos IV. and
accession of Fernando VII. Joseph Bonaparte usurps
the throne. National revolt and establishment of
Juntas. English Alliance and Peninsula War. Iturri
garay deposed and Pedro Garibay, " the Revolutionist,"
made Viceroy ad interim.
1809. Francisco Javier Lizana, Archbishop of Mexico, Viceroy.
1810. Pedro Catani, President of Audiencia, Viceroy ad interim,
succeeded by Francisco Javier Venegas. Grito de
Dolores (September 16).
1811. Execution of Hidalgo and other Revolutionists.
1812. Liberal Constitution in Spain.
1813. Congress of Chilpantzingo. Mexican Declaration of In
dependence and first Mexican Constitution.
1814. Release of Fernando Vn. from captivity. Absolutism
reestablished in Spain.
1815. Capture and execution of Jose Maria Morelos, — " the last
victim of the Inquisition."
1816. Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, " the Unfortunate," Viceroy.
1817. Freebooting expedition of Mina into Mexico.
1820. Restoration of Constitution of 1812 in Spain. Inquisi
tion finally abolished. Vicente Guerrero becomes
formidable Independent chief in Mexico.
1821. Francisco de Novella, Viceroy ad interim. Plan de Iguala
and Treaty of Cordoba. Independence of Mexico.
Iturbide, the Liberator. Regency installed. Juan
O'Donoju, the last of the Viceroys.
1822. Mexican Congress organized. Borbonista, Republican
and Iturbidista political parties formed. Iturbide,
Emperor.

310 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
1823. Abdication of Iturbide and collapse of the First Mexican
Empire. Centralist and Federalist parties formed.
Monroe Doctrine proclaimed.
1824. Federal Constitution proclaimed. Mexican United States
organized. Guadalupe Victoria, President.
1828. Yorkino and Escoces party names become prominent.
Rise of High Liberal or Radical, Conservative and
Moderate parties. Election of Manuel Gomez Pedraza
as President.
1829. Vicente Guerrero proclaimed President. Spain's effort
to reclaim Mexico. Jose" Maria Bocanegra, . Acting
President.
1830. Anastasio Bustamante, President.
1832. Melchor Muzquiz, Acting President. Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, President ; Valentin Gomez Farias, Vice-
President.
1834. Gomez Farias proclaims programme of Government Re
forms.
1835. Constitution of " Las Siete Leyes " replaces Constitution
of 1824. Central Republic established.
1836. New Constitution proclaimed. General Barragan, Act
ing President, followed by Jose' Justo Corro as Acting
President. Spain acknowledges the Independence of
Mexico. Revolt of Texas.
1837. Anastasio Bustamante, President.
1840. Gutierrez de Estrada's letter proposing an Empire.
1841. Santa Anna, Provisional President.
1842. Javier Echavarria, Acting President pending the Plan de
Tacubaya; succeeded by Santa Anna, Provisional
President.
1843. Bases Organicas Politicas de la Republica Mexicana and
final centralization of the government.
1845. Revolutions culminate in deposition and impeachment
of Santa Anna and elevation of Jose' Joaquin Herrera
to the Presidency. Annexation of Texas to the United
States. War between Mexico and the United States.
1846. Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, President with Monarchical
tendencies. Advance of General Taylor to Monterey.
California and New Mexico captured by the United
States. Paredes succeeded by Nicolas Bravo and the
latter by Mariano Salas, pending the election of Santa
Anna as President.

APPENDIX A 311
1847. Presidential functions exercised by Santa Anna, Gomez
Farias, and others. Constitution of 1824 in force for
a short time. American army under General Scott
advance from Vera Cruz to the Capital.
1848. Jose Joaquin Herrera elected President. Treaty of Gua
dalupe-Hidalgo ends war with the United States.
1851. Mariano Arista, President.
1852. Juan Bautista Ceballos, President, succeeded by Manuel
Maria Lombardini as Acting President.
1853. Santa Anna, President, — Absolutism triumphant. Santa
Anna decrees himself Perpetual Dictator.
1854. General Juan Alvarez pronounces in Acapulco. Plan
de Ayotla proclaimed. Final deposition and exile of
Santa Anna.
1855. Alvarez Provisional President under Plan de Ayotla,
succeeded by Ignacio Comonfort. Ley Juarez pro
claimed.
1856. Ley Lerdo proclaimed. Constituent Congress adopts
" Estatico Organico Provisional de la Republica Mexi
cana," as tentative Constitution.
1857. Final Constitution adopted and Ignacio Comonfort elected
and installed as Constitutional President. Reactionary
movement headed by Felix -Zuloaga.
1858. Comonfort abandons Presidency and is succeeded by
Benito Juarez as Constitutional President. Reaction
aries elect Zuloaga and he, Miguel Miramon and others
attempt to control the Presidential office and are known
as Anti-Presidents.
1859. Juarez finally establishes his government in Vera Cruz.
War of the Reform.
1860. Juarez issues Reform Decrees from Vera Cruz. Decisive
Battle of Calpulalpam, collapse of Reactionaries, and
return of Juarez and Constitutionalists to the capital.
1861. Juarez constitutionally elected President. Decree sus
pending for two years' payment of foreign debts.
Forces of England, France, and Spain arrive in Vera
Cruz to carry out provisions of Treaty of London.
1862. Convention of Soledad and Conference at Orizaba.
Treaty of London dissolved. England and Spain with
draw from Mexico. French army advances and is
defeated at Puebla in battle of Cinco de Mayo.

312 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
1863. French capture Puebla and advance to the capital.
Republican government retires to San Luis Potosi,
thence to Saltillo, and thence to Monterey. French
organize government at capital and elect Maximilian
of Austria Emperor.
1864. Maximilian arrives in Mexico. Juarez at Chihuahua.
1865. Juarez at Paso del Norte. United States Government
demands withdrawal of French troops from Mexico.
Maximilian's famous decree of October 3.
1866. Withdrawal of French troops from North of Mexico.
Republican forces, recruited and re-organized, advance
toward the South. Juarez returns to Chihuahua.
1867. French troops withdraw from Mexico. Collapse of the
Second Mexican Empire. Execution of Maximilian.
Juarez returns to the capital and is re-elected Constitu
tional President.
1871. Juarez again elected Constitutional President.
1872. Death of Juarez and accession of Sebastian Lerdo de
Tejada to the Presidency.
1873. Reform Laws incorporated in the Constitution of 1857.
1876. Successful Plan de Tuxtepec and Provisional Presidency
of Porfirio Diaz.
1877. Porfirio Diaz elected Constitutional President.
1880. Manuel Gonzales elected Constitutional President.
1884. Porfirio Diaz elected Constitutional President.
1888, 1892, 1896, 1900. Diaz again elected President.

APPENDIX B 313

APPENDIX B
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APPENDIX B 317
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APPENDIX B 321
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21

322 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
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APPENDIX B 323
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324 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
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APPENDIX C 325

APPENDIX C
NOTES ON THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
OF MEXICO
A study of the historical geography of Mexico properly
begins with a consideration of Spain's possessions on the North
American continent prior to the year 1821.
It was about the middle of the eighteenth century that Span
ish territory in North America reached its maximum extent.
With the changes which subsequently took place in the north
ern boundaries on the Atlantic coast, we have little to do, for
Florida was not a part of New Spain. On the Pacific coast,
Spain claimed all the territory from Panama to Prince William's
Sound, though no permanent settlements had been made north
of San Francisco. By the Treaty of Nootka (1790), to which
Spain and England were parties, the former renounced all sov
ereignty to the North Pacific coast. Subsequently (1795), she
fixed the limits of her territory on what is now the northern
boundary of California.
By the Treaty of Ildefonso in 1802, Spain gave up to France
the Territory of Louisiana, which had been hers since 1760.
Napoleon, the following year, sold Louisiana to the United
States. Spain and France were at the time rival claimants to
the territory lying west of the Sabine River in Texas, and the
United States succeeded, by the terms of the purchase, to the
claim of France in that territory. It was not until 1819 that
the boundary line between the United States and the northern
provinces of New Spain was established, and then it was as one
of the terms of the Treaty by which the United States effected
the purchase of Florida.
This boundary line began at the mouth of the Sabine River
and ascended that river to the thirty-second parallel of north
latitude ; thence it ran due north to the Red River ; thence up the

326 FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC
river to a point one hundred degrees west of Greenwich ; thence
due north to the Arkansas River and up that river to its head ;
thence to the forty-second parallel of latitude ; thence along
that line, which was the line adopted by Spain in 1795, to the
Pacific Ocean. This line, so far as it affected the boundary of
Texas, was affirmed in a treaty with Mexico in 1828 and ten
years later in a treaty with the Republic of Texas.
The blue line on the accompanying map shows the extent of
territory comprised in the First Mexican Empire and in the
United States of Mexico up to the year 1836. In that year
Texas revolted and established her independence of Mexico.
The boundaries of the new Republic of Texas were by no means
clearly defined and the lands between the Rio Grande and the
Rio Nueces were in dispute between Mexico and Texas. A
further dispute would undoubtedly have arisen in regard to the
western boundary of Texas had not the war between the United
States and Mexico resulted in the loss to Mexico of the territory
including the dubious boundary line. A green line upon the
accompanying map indicates the boundary of Mexico after the
revolt of Texas, according to the claims of the latter.
By the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo at the close of the war
with the United States in 1848, the northern boundary of Mex
ico was established upon the Gila River and extended eastward
to the Rio Grande, and down the Rio Grande to its mouth, as
indicated by a red line upon the accompanying map.
By a treaty concluded in 1853, with James Gadsden represent
ing the United States, Mexico sold to the latter a tract south of
the Gila River which is known historically as the " Gadsden
Purchase," and is indicated upon the accompanying map by a
red tint. Thus the northern boundary of Mexico became fixed
as it is to-day.
It is in no way remarkable that, after the loss of so much
territory, the " maintenance of the territorial integrity of Mex
ico " should become one of the fixed principles of government in
that country, answering to the " Monroe Doctrine " in the
United States in the tenacity with which it is held, the empha
sis with which it is asserted, and, it might be added, the curi
ous manner in which it has sometimes been applied in political
argument.

INDEX

INDEX

Abasalo, 38
Acambaro, 45
Acapulco, 54, 61, 119, 176, 211
Aculco, 47
Aguas Calientes, 170
Agustin I., see Iturbide, Agustin
Ahualulco, 214
Alaman, Lucas, 98, 116, 118, 119,
157-159, 174, 176
Alameda, 194
Alamo, The, 134
Aldama, 38, 39, 49
Alexander VI., Pope, 8
Alhondiga, 43-45, 49, 50
Allende, Ignacio, 38, 39, 41, 46, 49,
93
Almonte, General, 134, 155, 157, 163,
230, 239, 244-246, 249, 258
Alvarez, Juan, 73, 82, 176-181, 183,
184, 192, 223
America, 11, 24, 26, 27, 34, 40, 58,
Gl
Anahuac, 65
Anaya, Pedro, 167, 168
Apatzingan, 65
Apodaca, Juan Ruiz de, 72-75, 82,
83
Aranjuez, 26
Archiepiscopal Palace, 33
Ario, 68
Arista, Mariano, 127, 170-172
Arteaga, General, 271
Asturians, 27
Asturias, 58, 68
Atenquique, 214
Atotonilco, 40

Audiencia, 3-5, 7, 10, 20, 29, 31-33,
35, 36, 38, 53, 57, 81, 94
Austria, 175, 250, 252-254
 , Emperor of, 255
Auto-da-fe', 69
Ayolla, 164
Ayotla, 200
 , Plan de, see Plan de Ayotla
Ayuntamiento, 3, 5, 30, 31
Aztecs, 1, 2, 13, 268
Bajio, 82
Barcena, Manuel de la, 85
Barragan, Miguel, 130, 132, 135
Bases Organicas, see Constitution of
1843
Bayonne, 26, 27
Bazaine, Marshal, 251, 253, 263, 269,
272, 273
Belgium, 255
Bernardo Galvez, 6
Biblioteca Nacional, 221
Bliss, Fort, 260
Bocanegra, Jos^ Maria, 117
Bonaparte, Joseph, 27, 28
 , Louis, 27
 , Napoleon, see Napoleon I.
Bravo, Nicolas, 82, 86, 88, 95, 97, 98,
102, 106, 112, 122, 140, 151, 157,
160, 161
Bucareli, 6
Buena Vista, 166, 167
Buenos Ayres, 4
Bustamante, Anastasio, 82, 115, 117-
119, 121, 129, 136-139, 147, 154, 159
 , Carlos Maria, 56, 61, 82, 103

330

INDEX

Cadiz, Spain, 19, 34, 56, 58, 98
Cajiga, 223, 224
Calderon, Count of, see Calleja del
Rey, Felix Maria
Calientes, Aguas, 148
California, 160, 169, 265
Calleja del Rey, Felix Maria, 47, 52,
55, 59, 60, 72, 73, 115
Calpulalpam, 221, 222
Campeche, 252
Canaleja, 168
Canalizo, Valentin, 140, 147-150, 153,
154
Capuchin monastery, 283
Carlos I., 11
 III., 12, 19
 IV., 25, 26, 91
Carlota, 255, 257, 258, 274
Carmelites, 10
Carrera, Martin, 178, 179
Carretas, 214
Casa de Contrataeion, 18, 19, 44
Catani, Pedro, 36, 42
Cathedral, 49, 100
Ceballos, Juan Bautista, 171, 172
Celaya, 41, 211, 274
Central America, 129, 140
Cerro de las Campanas, 278, 280
Cerro del Borrego, 248
Cerro Gordo, 168
Chapultepec, 203
Chiapas, 91, 252
Chihuahua, 49, 171, 260, 273
Chili, 4
Chilpantzingo, 61
China, 91
Chinos, see Zambos
Cinco de Mayo, 247
Ciudad Juarez, see Paso del Norte
Ciudadela, 161
Coahuila, 103, 116, 252
Coat-of-arms, National, 101
Colima, 212, 213
Comonfort, Ignacio, 177, 179, 181,
183, 184, 185, 192-194, 196, 198,
200, 203, 204, 211, 218,. 223, 246
Confederate States of America, 264
Congress, 53, 61-66, 68-71, 86-89, 93-
102, 105, 110-115, 117, 118, 121-125,

129-132, 135, 136, 139-141, 146, 147,
149-152, 154, 159-163, 165, 166, 168,
171, 172, 174, 176, 177-179, 186,
193, 194, 196-199, 204, 224, 229,
301
Consejo de las Indias, see Council of
the Indies
Constitution of 1812, 56-60, 66, 67,
69, 73-75, 78, 111
 1813 (1st Mexican), 65-67
 1824, 104-106, 114, 115, 121,
122, 125, 130-133, 162, 164, 188,
207, 209
 1836, 132, 133, 138-140, 209
 1843, 140-144, 146, 147, 149,
152, 157, 199, 200, 203
 1857, 172, 176, 378, 187-203,
204, 211, 217, 218, 225, 294, 298,
299, 302, 303
 1857 amended, 303
Cdrdoba, 84
 , Treaty of, 84, 85, 87, 88, 101, 235
Corpus Christi, 156, 160
Corro, Jose' Justo, 135, 136
Cortazar, 148, 150, 152
Cortes, Hernando, 1, 2, 3, 8, 22
Cortes, Spanish, 27, 34, 35, 42, 56-
59, 61, 66, 67, 74, 75, 81, 87, 88, 98
Cos, Dr., 52, 55, 61, 65, 68
Council of Castile, 27
 of the Indies, 2, 5, 15-18, 28, 57
Creoles, 13, 14, 21, 24, 29-35, 37-39,
41, 42, 47, 62, 71, 74, 76, 77, 79, 82,
87, 92, 111, 115, 118, 120
Croix, Marquis of, 6
Cuautla, 59
Cuba, 117, 154, 163
Cuernavaca, 179, 192, 193, 200 '
 , Plan de, see Plan de Cuernavaca
Decree of Huitzilopochtli, 268, 270,
276, 278
Degollado, Santos, 213-216, 220, 224,
228, 288
Diaz, Jesus, 271
 , Porfirio, 210, 214, 246, 247, 249,
252, 277, 282, 289,292, 293, 295-304
Diaz de la Vega, Romulo, 179, 180
Doblado, Manuel, 192, 211, 242, 243

INDEX

331

Dolores, 37, 39
 , Grito de, 40, 109, 116, 164, 297
Dominguez, Miguel, 98
Dominicans, 8-11
Dunlop, Commodore, 240, 245
Duran, General, 127
Durango, 82, 252
Echavakkia, Javier, 138, 139
El Cinco de Mayo, see Cinco de Mayo
El Monitor Republicano, 158
El Tiempo, 158, 159
Elba, 28
Empire, First, established, 89-90
 ,  , overthrown, 96-97
 , Second, established, 256-258
 ,  , overthrown, 280
Enchanted Lake, see Laguna Encan-
tada
England, 4, 28, 58, 103, 108, 163, 175,
232-236, 238, 240
Es mnv Rey, 18
Escobedo, 221, 246, 273, 274, 276, 277
Estanca de las Vacas, 211, 216
Estrada, Jose Maria Gutierrez de, 159,
175, 189, 239, 250, 254
Executive Power, see Poder Ejecutivo
Fakias, Gomez, 103, 123, 125, 127-
131, 136,- 137, 153, 156, 165-167,
192, 197, 208, 210, 220, 303
Ferdinand VII., 25-31, 35, 36, 38, 40,
45, 48, 52, 53, 56, 57, 61-63, 66, 67,
74, 75, 79-81, 91, 106
Fernandez, Felix, see Victoria, Gua
dalupe
Fernando, Prince of Asturias, see
Ferdinand VII.
Flag of Mexico, National, 101
Florida, 91
Forey, General, 248-251
France, 4, 25, 26, 28, 29, 56, 66, 136,
163, 175, 232, 235-238, 240, 243,
245, 246, 248, 249, 253, 263, 264,
266-268, 273, 287
Francis Joseph, 253
Franciscans, 8-10, 206
Freemasonry, 110, 111
French Revolution, 24

Gaceta, 20
Gachupines, 13
Gadsden Purchase, J74
Galeana, 72, 93
Gallardo, 246
Galvez, Matias de, 6
Garibay, Pedro de, 33, 34
Godoy, Manuel, 25, 26
Gonzalez, Manuel, 271, 300
Granaditas, Castle, see Alhondiga
Graviere, Jurien de la, 240
Grito de Dolores, see Dolores, Grito
de
Guadalajara, 47, 48, 68, 82, 125, 148,
171, 211, 212, 214, 215, 220, 223,
251
Guadalupe, 36, 37, 148, 247
- — , Order of, 175
 , Virgin of, 40
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 169, 173
Guanajuato, 13, 37, 39, 41-43, 45-47,
49, 50, 68, 148, 153, 211, 274, 296
Guarantees, Three, see Plan de Iguala
Guatemala, 91, 129
Guerrero, 80, 176
 , Vicente, 73, 78, 81, 88, 95, 98,
102, 112-117, 119, 121
Habana, 154, 282
Haro y Tamaris, Antonio de, 152-
154, 178, 180, 185, 203, 239, 244
Havana, 210, 213, 216, 245
Heras, Count of, 88
Herrera, Jos^ Juaquin de, 82, 84, 150,
151, 155-157, 161, 163, 168-170, 297
Hidalgo y Costilla, Miguel, 37-50,
52-54, 61, 69, 72, 76, 77, 93, 109,
116, 125, 181, 190
Holland, 27
Holy Office, see Inquisition
Houston, Samuel, 134, 155
Huasteca, 95
Iglesias, 296
Iguala, 80, 192
 , Plan de, see Plan de Iguala
Ildefonso, Treaty of, 25
Independence, Declaration of, 65-68
Independencia, 194

332

INDEX

Indians, 9, 10, 13-16, 21, 22, 37-44,
47, 48, 51, 58, 123, 143, 181, 207,
254
 , Slavery of, 15, 16
Inquisition, 9, 12, 20, 43, 69; sus
pended, 57; reestablished, 66;
finally abolished, 74
Italy, 98, 99
Iturbide, Agustin, 76, 78-102,. 107,
113-135, 120, 123, 124, 175, 185
 , Teatro de, see Teatro de Iturbide
Iturrigaray, Josi* de, 29-32, 34, 36,
37, 43, 53, 115
Ixtlan, 205
Jalapa, 95, 123, 126, 152, 210, 246
 , Plan de, see Plan de Jalapa
Jalisco, 148, 149, 171, 220, 251
Jecker claim, 236, 237, 245, 257
Jesuits, 9, 101
Jimenez, 49, 93
Juarez, Benito, 180, 181, 183, 192,
198, 199, 200, 204-213, 216, 217,
219, 221-223, 225-230, 234, 235,
237, 241-246, 248, 249, 252, 259-
265, 268, 269, 270, 272-274, 277-
293, 298, 301, 303, 304
Judges, Resident, 3
Junta Americana, 56
Junta of Jauaxilla, 55
 of Madrid, 29
 of Notables, 93, 94, 139, 140, 157,
201, 204
 of Queretaro, 149
 of Sevilla, 30, 33, 34
 of Zitacuaro, 52. 53, 55, 61
Keaexey, General, 160
La Cruz, Church of, 278
La Noria, 298
Labastida, Antonio Pelagio de, 182,
198, 249
Lagos, 148, 228
Laguna Encantada, 205
Laguna, Seca, 288
Las Siete Leyes, see Laws, The
Seven

Las Tres Garantias, see Plan de
Iguala
Laurencez, General, 243, 248
Laws, The Seven, 131, 132
Leon, 202, 252
 , Manuel Vasquez de, 85
Ley de Desamortizacion, see Ley
Lerdo
Lev Juarez, 181, 182, 187
— — Lerdo, 183, 184, 186, 191, 193
Liceaga, Jos^ Maria, 52, 56, 61, 65,
73
Lisbon, Portugal, 171
Literature, 21
Lithuania, 248
Lizana, Archbishop, 42
 , Francisco Javier de, 34, 36
Lombardini, Manuel Maria, 138, 168,
172, 173
Lombardy, 255
London, 99, 101
 , Treaty of, 232, 235-237, 239,
245, 246, 250, 263
Lopez, Miguel, 277
Loretto, 247
Louisiana, 91
 purchase, 25
Madrid, 5, 12, 25, 27, 66, 74, 81,
233
Mango de Clava, 126, 128, 129, 147
Manzanillo, 212
Mapimi, 260
Marcha, Pio, 89
Maria Luisa of Parma, 25, 26
Marquez, General, 214-216, 221-224,
227. 229, 234, 243, 246, 249, 251,
275-277, 282, 288
Matamoras, 160
Matamoras, Mariano, 54, 68, 72, 93,
190
Maximilian, Ferdinand, 250-259, 282,
263, 268, 271-276, 278-283, 286,
287
Mazatlan, 213
Mejia, Tomas, 198, 211, 215, 216, 222,
224,229,246,251,276-278,280
Mendez, General, 271, 276, 278
Mendoza, Antonio de, 6

INDEX

333

Mexia, General, 136, 137
Mexican Independence, Birthday of,
39
 , Father of, 37
Mexico, City of, 3, 13, 33, 36, 41, 43,
45, 46, 49, 55, 56, 61, 64, 65, 76, 77,
81, 84, 89, 100, 102, 115, 133, 148,
150, 163, 164, 169, 193, 212, 220,
223, 224, 249, 252, 258, 272, 277,
282, 298
 , Gulf of, 167, 234
 , University of, 20, 21
Meztizos, 14. 21, 32, 35-38, 54,71, 76,77
Michelena, Mariano, 98
Michoacan, 34, 45, 177, 183, 222, 251,
271, 274
 , Bishop of, 42
Mier v Teran, Manuel de, 55, 68-71,
73, 103, 122
Mina, Francisco Javier, 72, 73
Miramar, Palace of, 250, 255, 256
 , Treaty of, 256, 257, 263, 274
Miramon, Miguel, 198, 201-203, 214-
217, 220, 221, 227, 228, 230, 234,
235, 237, 239, 245, 246, 274-278,
280, 288
Miranda, Francisco J., 239, 244
Molino del Rey, 203
Mon-Almonte Treaty, 230, 238
Monclova, 49
Monroe Doctrine, 106-108, 239, 264,
267, 268
Monte de las Cruces, 45, 46, 224
Monterey, 160, 252, 260, 274
Morelia, 76, 183, 222, 223, 251, 276 ;
see also Valladolid
Morelos, 192, 300
 , Jos($ Maria, 52-55, 59, 60, 61,
64, 65, 67-70, 72, 73, 76, 78, 93,
176, 183, 190, 206
Mugiea y Osorio, Juan, 172
Murat, 2*5, 26
Musquiz, Melchor, 121
Napoleon I., 24-29, 52, 66, 91, 133,
137
 in., 239, 246, 249-251, 253, 254,
256, 257, 263, 265, 267, 268, 273,
274, 280

National Palace, 113, 138, 146, 149,
150, 157, 290
Navarete, 55, 72, 102
Nazas, 260
Negrete, Pedro Celestino, 82, 86, 97,
102
New Granada, 173
 Mexico, 160, 169
 Orleans, 210, 211, 213,
Novella, Francisco de, 83, 84
Nueces River, 155
Nuevo Leon, 103, 177
Oaxaca, 13, 59, 60, 82, 139, 171,
205-210, 215, 252, 295, 297, 298,
300
 University of, 207, 208
Ocampo, Melchor, 179, 180, 383, 392,
222, 223, 224, 283, 303
O'Donoju, Juan, 83-85
O'Horan, Tomas, 224, 283
Orizaba, 59, 242, 243, 245-249, 275
Ortega, Jesus Gonzalez, 216, 220,
221, 225, 229, 234, 248, 261
Otomies, 13
Otumba, 110
Pachuca, 229
Padilla, 100
Palacio, Mariano Riva, 258, 279
Palmar, 68
Palo Alto, 160
Panama, 211, 213
Panteon de San Fernando, 223
Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano, 138,
147-151, 154, 156, 157, 159-163,
170, 189
Paris, 233, 240, 242, 244, 250
Paruaran, 72
Paso del Norte, 260, 273, 287, 289
Pavon, Jos^ Ignacio, 202
Pedraza, Manuel Gomez, 95, 96, 113-
115, 121
Peiia y Pefia, Manuel de la, 168
Perez, Antonio, 71
Perote, 152, 178
 Castle of, 114, 162
Peru, 4
Pezuela, Robles, 201

334

INDEX

Philip II., 13, 12
"Pie claim" 139
Pius IX., Pope, 197
Plan Casa Mata, 95
Plan de Ayotla, 169-186, 192, 201,
211, 217, 223
 Cuernavaca, 129, 130
 Iguala, 79-87, 101, 104, 305,
315, 207
 Jalapa, 117
 Navidad, 201
 Noria, 292, 293, 298
 San Agustin, 127
 Tacubaya, 139, 140, 148, 154, 201
 Toluca, 131
 Tuxtepec, 295, 296, 298, 299, 302,
303
Plan del Hospicio, 171
Plan Napoleon, 258, 264
Plan of 1828, 111
Poblanos, 152
Poder Ejecutivo, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71,
97-99, 106
Poinsett, Mr. 110,113, 113
Polk, James K., 160
Polkos Pronunciamento, 167
Pomoca, 222, 223
Portugal, 8, 25
Printing-press, 20
Profesa, Church of the, 76, 77, 78
Prussia, 273
Puebla, 13, 68, 82, 121, 122, 136, 148,
150, 152, 172, 177, 185, 186, 200,
203, 210, 218, 220, 247-249, 252,
258, 264, 277, 282, 287
 Bishop of, 249
 de Zaragoza, 247
Puente de Calderon, 49, 54, 60
Quaximalfa, 46
Queretaro, 37-39, 82, 148, 149, 168,
169, 177, 204, 222, 229, 251, 274,
276-278, 282, 298
 , Junta of, see Junta of Queretaro
Quintanar, Luis, 118
Ramirez, Ignacio, 221
Rayon, Francisco, 72
 , Ignacio, 52-56, 61, 72, 73

Reform, War of the, 204-231, 244,
287, 297
Reform laws, 238, 263, 293-294
Remedios, Virgin de los, 40
Republic established, 104-106
 restored, 280
Resaca de la Palma, 160, 170
Revillagigedo, Count of, 6, 14
Riafion, 43, 44
Richmond, 264
Rio Grande del Norte, 91
Rio Grande River, 155, 166, 160, 189,
260, 295
Rio Verde, 222
Rivera, Payo de, 6
Robles, General, 242, 244, 287
Rome, 257
Royal Audience, see Audiencia
 Officers, 3
Russia, 91, 248
Salamanca, 213, 212
Salas, Mariano, 161-165, 167, 178,
249
Salazar, 271
Saligny, Count of, 240, 243, 249-251
Salm-Salm, Princess, 279
San Antonio de Bexar, 134
San Augustin Monastery, 221
San Bartolo, 220
San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts,
221
San Cristobal Ecatepec, 69
San Felipe de Jesus, Chapel of, 100
San Fernando, Panteon of, 289
San Gregorio, 277
San Hipolito, 89
San Hipolito's Day, 2
San Jacinto, 135, 137, 155, 274, 276
 River, 334
San Juan de Ulua, 32, 83, 84,
223
San Juan del Rio, 211
San Luis Potosi, 10, 115, 350,
373, 177, 214, 246, 249, 252,
276, 279
San Miguel, 41
San Nicolas Obispo, 222
San Pablo Guelatao, 205, 206

210,

165,
274,

INDEX

335

Sanchez, Epitacio, 89
Santa Ana Acatlan, 213
Santa Anna, Antonio L6pez de, 82,
83, 95, 113, 114, 116, 117, 121-130,
133, 134, 137-140, 343, 146-155, 157,
158, 161-168, 173-179, 183, 200, 203,
209, 210, 223, 230, 286, 288, 297,
300
Santa Fe\ 160, 269
Santo Domingo, Convent of, 198
Saragossa, 74
Scott, General, 162, 168
Sedan, 273
Sevilla, Spain, 19, 28
Seward, William H., 266
Sierra Madre, Proposed Republic of,
136
Sierra Madre Mountains, 55, 215
Siete Leyes, 209
Silao, 220
Sinaloa, 148, 251
Sisters of Charity, 294
Slaves, African, imported, 14
 , liberated, 109
Sloat, Commodore, 160
Soledad, 242, 249
Sombrerete, 274
Sonora, 148, 239, 251, 265
Soto de la Marina, 100
South America, 106
Southampton, England, 99
Spaniards, 1, 8, 9, 13, 14, 21, 22, 26,
28, 32-35, 39, 40, 43, 46, 48, 50, 55-
57, 60, 63, 68, 84, 87, 94, 110, 115
117, 120, 302
Spain, 2-8, 11, 12, 15-20, 22, 24-28,
30, 32-36, 38, 45, 49, 52, 53, 55-58,
61, 62, 64, 66, 67, 71-75, 77, 80, 81,
83, 84, 88, 91, 106, 108, 125, 135,
163, 175, 232, 235, 236, 238, 240,
241
Sultepec, 55, 56
Tabasco, 252
Tacambaro, 271
Tacubaya, 92, 139, 200, 215
 , Plan de, see Plan de Tacubaya
 , Tiger of, see Marquez, Leonardo
Tamaulipas, 177, 252 -

Tampico, 10, 100, 117, 156, 213, 230,
301
Tarascans, 13
Taylor, Zachary, 156, 160
Teatro de Iturbide, 278
Tecoac, 296
Tehuacan, 59, 68, 70
Tejada, Miguel Lerdo de, ISO, 183,
192, 198, 225, 260, 292, 303
 , Sebastian Lerdo de, 260, 280,
289, 292, 294, 296
Tenochtitlan, 1
Tepeji del Rio, 223
Texas, 116, 132-134, 146, 147, 155,
160, 209, 273
Texcoco, Lake, 1
Texmalaca, 69
Tlacotepec, 65
Tlalpa, 177
Tlalpujahua, 55
Tolototlan, 214
Toluca, 45, 82, 168, 220
 , Plan de, see Plan de Toluca
Torres, Padre, 55
Trieste, Gulf of, 255, 256
Truxillo, General, 45, 46
Tulancingo, 112, 222
Turkey, 275
United States, 25, 31, 48, 49, 66,
91, 97, 103, 304, 106-108, 134, 155,
156, 158, 160-162, 165-167, 169, 170,
172, 174, 200, 203, 213, 216, 233,
238, 239, 260, 263-268, 280, 284,
294, 296, 297, 300, 301
University of Mexico, see Mexico,
University of
Uruapan, 271
Valencay, 26
Valencia, 28
 , General, 138, 151, 157
Valentin, Miguel, 88
Valez, Pedro, 118
Valladolid, 13, 34, 37, 39, 45, 52, 67,
68, 76, 82, 119, 222; see also
Morelia
Valle, Leandro, 224
Velasco, 6, 16

336

INDEX

Venadito, 72
Venegas, Francisco Javier, 36, 37, 42,
43, 59, 60
Venice, 255
Vera Cruz, 3, 19, 32, 42, 83, 94, 95,
98, 114, 121, 123, 126, 137-139,
147, 148, 150, 152, 154, 162, 163,
167, 177, 184, 185, 187, 210, 213,
215-217, 219, 220, 221, 225, 230,
240, 242, 247, 251, 252, 257, 272,
273
Verdad, Licenciado, 33
Verduzco, Dr., 52, 56, 61, 73
Viceregal government, 4-7, 10, 12, 13
Victoria, Guadalupe, 73, 82, 86, 88,
95, 97, 102, 106, 109, 110, 112,
113, 114, 116, 122, 207
Vidaurri, Santiago, 179, 214, 246,
252, 277, 282
Vienna, 254, 256, 283
Viesca, 260
Villa del Carbon, 222
Villagomez, Trinidad, 271
Vireinate, 36
Visitors, 3

Washington, 107, 108, 232, 233,
239, 263-267
 , George, 91
Wyke, Charles, 229, 240

Yanez, Jos£ Isidro, 85
Yucatan, 252

Zacatecas, 52, 82, 125, 131, 148,
214, 216, 352, 274
Zambos, 14
Zapotecans, Zapotecas, Zapotecs, 13,
205, 206, 285
Zaragoza, Ignacio, 220, 246-248
Zavaleta, 323, 122
Zitacuaro, 52, 55
 , Junta of, see Junta of Zita
cuaro
Zuloaga, Felix, 180, 192, 198, 200-
204, 221, 222, 228, 229, 235, 237,
246, 288
Zumarraga, 9

By the Author of "From Empire to Republic*'
A SHORT HISTORY
OF MEXICO
By ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL
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