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was two millions of dollars, and it is a fact that precisely that sum was appropriated by Congress to be used by the President at his discretion, in opening a way for peace negotiations, and that the declaration of war by the United States was immediately followed by orders to the Gulf Squadron blockading the Mexican coast to place no obstacle in the way of Santa Ana's return to Mexico, and he did return, landing at Veracruz after the war had been waged for some time. But whatever engagements Santa Ana might have entered into with the United States, it seems to me clear that he had not the intention of complying with them, and only entered into them for the sake of securing his safe return to Mexico.'

When the army of the United States occupied the City of Mexico, on September 14, 1847, General Santa Ana fled from the country, as he had done before, and Don Manuel de la Peña y Peña, a civilian President of the Supreme Court, and, under the Constitution of 1847, ex-officio Vice-President, assumed the government and established the capital at Queretaro, and under his administration peace was made with the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, of February 2, 1848.

Anaya's, Peña y Peña's, Herrera's, and Arista's Administrations.The Mexican Congress met at Queretaro on November 12, 1847, and appointed President ad interim General Anaya, who remained in office until January 18, 1848, when Peña y Peña was called again to fill that office.

1 The Midland Monthly of Desmoines and Chicago, for May, 1897, published an article on General Grant's life by Mr. John W. Emerson, in which it was stated that overtures were made to General Scott to induce him to remain in Mexico, of which the following is an extract:

"It may surprise many readers to learn that overtures were made to General Scott by many Mexicans of position and by many American officers to permanently occupy Mexico and organize a new government. The scheme proposed to General Scott was in substance this: It was supposed that upon the conclusion of a treaty of peace at least three-fourths of the American army would be discharged, and that a large portion of the officers would resign, and with many of the men would enter the new army of Mexico, and enough others could be recruited in the United States to make the American contingent 15,000 strong, and to this might be added a like number of Mexican soldiers. With such an army it was suggested that Mexico could be held and governed in an orderly way and prosperity might be assured. The plan contemplated a pronunciamiento, in which General Scott should declare himself Dictator of the Republic for a term of five years or more, to give time for agitators to acquire pacific habits and to learn to govern themselves and to respect an orderly government, where the rights of property were not only respected, but fully protected. Already in possession of the forts, arsenals, foundries, cities, mines, and ports of entry, with nearly all the arms, it was not doubted that a general acquiesence would follow."

I have heard that the higher clergy in Mexico made some overtures of that kind to General Scott with the expectation of establishing under their control a firm govern. ment, but I am sure that that idea was not a popular one in Mexico.

An election was held under the existing Constitution, and General Herrera was elected President, and assumed that office on June 3, 1848, returning to the City of Mexico when it was evacuated by the troops of the United States. General Herrera finished his term of office, being the only such case after Victoria's administration, but several military uprisings occurred during his administration. General Paredes rebelled against Herrera, but was defeated, and Herrera's administration was noted for its simplicity and morality.

When General Herrera's term was over, General Arista, Herrera's Secretary of War, was elected President, assuming the government on January 15, 1851. General Arista followed the traditions of his predecessor; but, his government being a remarkably good one with tendencies to a liberal policy, it had the opposition of the Church party, which organized several uprisings against him. Colonel Blancarte rebelled in Guadalajara on July 27, 1852, first against the Governor of the State of Jalisco, and finally proclaimed the return of Santa Ana as President. General Arista sent General Uraga against Blancarte; but, instead of attacking the rebels, Uraga joined them with the army that the President had entrusted to him. Several other uprisings occurred in different sections of the country, and, the rebels having a majority in Congress, General Arista's only alternative was either to dissolve Congress or resign, and, like a man of principle, he followed the second extreme, and on the 5th of January, 1853, he sent in his resignation, and left the City of Mexico.

Ceballos, the President of the Supreme Court, was called to assume the government; but he dissolved Congress. Congress appointed Don Juan Mujica y Osorio, President, ad interim, and Ceballos sent against him an army under General Robles Pezuela, who joined the in surgents, and this finally ended in the recall of Santa Ana as Dictator, and with full powers.

Santa Ana's Last Administration.—Santa Ana landed at Veracruz on April 1, 1853, and sided entirely with the Church party, establishing a kind of empire, giving himself the title of Serene Highness. To procure himself means to remain in power he sold to the United States a portion of territory called the Messilla Valley, and ruled the country with an iron hand. The Liberal party could not stand such government, and the leaders of the South, under General Alvarez, proclaimed, on March 1, 1854, the Plan of Ayutla, which proposed the restoration of a Constitutional Government. Santa Ana took the field in person against the insurgents, and went as far as Acapulco, without being able to capture that city, and after several efforts on his part to subdue the insurrection, which had spread all over the country, abandoned the Government, and on the 9th of August, 1855, left the City of Mexico for Veracruz, where he sailed for his estate in Turbaco, New Granada.

WAR OF REFORM AND FRENCH INTERVENTION.

The Ayutla revolution finally succeeded, and General Alvarez was appointed President, assuming that office on October 4, 1855, when he organized a Liberal cabinet, of which Benito Juarez was Secretary of Justice, occupying soon afterwards the City of Mexico. Before an election could be held, General Alvarez appointed his successor as President ad interim, General Comonfort, one of the supporters of the Plan of Ayutla, and who belonged to the moderate wing of the Liberal party, and who assumed that office on December 12, 1855.

Federal Constitution of 1857.-Several military insurrections, promoted by the Church, took place against Comonfort in 1858, the city of Puebla having been twice the headquarters of the rebels; but General Comonfort finally succeeded in subduing them. Under the Plan of Ayutla, a Constitutional Congress was convened on February 18, 1856, which issued the present Constitution of February 5, 1857. An election was held, and Comonfort was elected Constitutional President for four years, his inauguration taking place on December 1, 1857. He appointed Juarez his Secretary of the Interior during his new administration. Unfortunately, Comonfort wavered in his political views, and he was persuaded by the Church party to annul the Constitution, under the plea that it was impracticable, and that it would keep up political agitation, and on December 11, 1857, he dissolved the Constitutional Congress which had just convened, and on the 17th of the same month he abolished the Federal Constitution which he had sworn to support on the first of the month, and to which he owed his position, and declared himself Dictator. The Liberal party could not, of course, stand such conduct, and they raised as a man against Comonfort's usurpation. Soon afterwards he saw that he had been betrayed by the Church party, as they proclaimed President, General Zuluaga, one of Comonfort's most devout friends, and Comonfort left the country. Fuarez's Leadership.-Juarez was a most remarkable man. He was a full-blooded Indian, born in a small town, Guelatao, inhabited only by Indians, and where there was but one man—the parish priestwho spoke Spanish and could read and write. Juarez was so anxious to learn Spanish and to acquire an education that he offered his services as a domestic to the priest on condition that he should be taught. The priest found him so intelligent that he sent him to the adjoining City of Oaxaca to be educated. From such humble beginnings he rose to be a prominent lawyer and a distinguished statesman. He was, at different times, Secretary of State of his own state, member of the State Legislature, State Senator, Governor of his state for several terms, Representative to the Federal Congress, Secretary of Justice and of the Interior, Chief-Justice, Vice-President, and finally Presi

dent of the Republic. His principal characteristics were his profound attachment to liberal principles, his clearness of intellect, his remarkably good common sense, his great moral courage, his unimpeachable integrity and honesty, his ardent patriotism, his tenacity of purpose, and his devotion to civil government. In time of war, when the destinies of the country often depended on the result of a battle, and when many others in his place would have led an army, he purposely abstained from exercising any military duties. These he left entirely to those of his associates who had shown talent for war, and he himself gave the example of a purely civil government. He had as much personal courage as any man in the world. I saw him more than once facing as near certain death as any man ever faced with perfect calmness and almost indifference, but without bravado. I am sure that he felt that it is best for a patriot to die in the service of his country, because in that case he wins for himself immortality, and on this theory I account for the fact that he was never afraid of death if it should come to him, while in the performance of a patriotic duty.'

Mr. Seward's estimate of the character of Juarez shows how the Anglo-Saxon was impressed by the little Indian. When Mr. Seward visited Mexico on his trip around the world, he was heartily welcomed by my country, and in a remarkable speech that he made at the city of Puebla he said that Juarez was the greatest man that he had ever met in his life. His speech was taken down in shorthand, and Mr. Thomas H. Nelson of Terre Haute, Ind., then United States Minister to Mexico, noticing this phrase and thinking that in the excitement of the moment Mr. Seward had gone further than he intended, and further than he would like to have repeated on sober second thought, took it to Mr. Seward and said to him: “Governor, will you be willing to stand by what you said in your speech about Juarez being the greatest man you ever knew? Remember that you have been the peer and contemporary of Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and many other distinguished men of our country, and that you place Juarez above them all." Mr. Seward answered: "What I said about Juarez was after mature consideration, and I am willing to stand by my opinion." This statement has heen submitted to General Nelson and his reply, which I insert below, shows that he found it correct.

TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, September 30, 1895.

His Excellency Matias Romero, etc., Washington, D. C.:

MY DEAR MR. ROMERO:

The receipt of your kind note would have been acknowledged sooner but for my absence from home.

During Mr. Seward's visit to Mexico he often spoke of President Juarez in terms of enthusiastic praise, in private conversation and in public speeches. In his speech at the banquet in Puebla especially he paid a lofty and eloquent tribute to the ability, statesmanship, and patriotism of the President, ranking him among the most illustrious names of the century. If I can find a copy it will afford me pleasure to send it to you; also some allusions of mine in public addresses to Mr. Seward's estimate of the exalted character and public services of that truly great man.

With kind regards, I remain, como siempre,

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As already stated, Benito Juarez was appointed Secretary of Justice by President Alvarez, and on November 23, 1855, he issued the first law against the clergy, which deprived them of the civil privileges they were enjoying in the exercise of their religious functions. Under the Spanish rule, and also after the independence of Mexico up to that date, the clergy had special courts made up of clergymen to try them for any offence that they might commit. This was a privilege which insured them almost perfect immunity, and exempted them from the control of the civil laws of the country. The Liberals thought that this was an outrage, but they could not change the condition of things until the Juarez law of 1855, although they had attempted it in 1833. The army enjoyed similar privileges, of which the Juarez law also deprived them, by restricting the jurisdiction of military courts to military offences.

The Juarez law was succeeded by the Lerdo law of June 25, 1856, which provided that no corporation - meaning the clergy, as the Church was the only corporation existing in Mexico-could hold real estate, and that such as was held then by any corporation should be sold to the actual tenants at a price which was to be arrived at by capitalizing the rent on a basis of six per cent. per annum rate of interest. Thereafter the tenant was to be the owner of the property, the corporation retaining a mortgage equal to the price fixed in this way. These two laws were the cause of the two insurrections already referred to, promoted by the Church and subdued by President Comonfort.

Juarez, after the enactment of the law which bore his name, had for a time been Governor of the State of Oaxaca, and while holding that office he had been elected Chief-Justice of the Republic and exofficio Vice-President, and was at the time of the Comonfort rebellion acting as Secretary of the Interior. He became Comonfort's successor, and undertook to stem the tide of rebellion and reaction. In the City of Mexico most of the old regular army of the country were in favor of the Conservative or Church party, and the city, therefore, fell into the hands of Juarez' enemies, and he had to fly from it. He went to the interior, where he established his government, first at Queretaro and afterwards at Guanajuato and Guadalajara. Finally he sailed from Manzanillo, a Mexican port on the Pacific, to Panama, thence to New Orleans, and then back to Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, where he remained for about two years. Veracruz was the stronghold of the Liberal party, as it was naturally a strong place and was well forIt was protected also by its bad climate and prevalence of yellow fever, and was the best place that Juarez could have selected to establish his government, and, being more in contact with foreigners, its inhabitants were Liberals. He remained at Veracruz from March, 1858, to January, 1861, the principal cities of the country being during

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