THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC
The Spanish _cortes_ on the 16th of February, 1822, annulled the
Plan de Iguala as modified by the Treaty of Córdoba. On the assembling
of the first congress of Mexico, February 22d, at the capital, elected
according to the provisions made by a committee of the regency, in
accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Córdoba, it was seen that
the members were aligned in two factions, the “Bourbonistas” and the
“Republicans.” Perez, Barcena and De Leon were displaced and Nicolás
Bravo, the Conde de Heras Soto and Miguel Valentin were substituted.
But the purpose of Iturbide to secure the crown as emperor was soon
manifest. On May 18th, Pio Marcha, a non-commissioned infantry officer
launched a movement in favor of Iturbide, and a public demonstration
resulted in his election next day by the congress by a vote of
seventy-seven to fifteen and on July 21st, he was crowned in the
cathedral with his wife as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. The Emperor
took the title of Augustin I. Energetic as he was, he was nevertheless
a weak ruler and abandoned himself to the display of royal pomp and
power rather than to the initiation of measures for the welfare of the
people and the establishment of the nation, and he soon found himself
at odds with the Congress, which he dissolved on October 31st and
established a _junta_. A revolutionary movement was set on foot by
Guerrero, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria. The old revolutionists
joined Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and on February 1, 1823, the “Plan
de Casa Mata” was promulgated, according to which a new Congress was to
be elected and a republican form of government guaranteed. Meantime,
in December, a republic had been proclaimed at Vera Cruz and only
the capital remained as the empire. In vain did Iturbide recall the
Congress he had dissolved. The opposition was determined; he shrank
from retaining power through a civil war and accordingly tendered his
abdication March 19th, but the Congress refused to accept it, declaring
instead that Iturbide’s crown had been obtained by force and therefore
his acts as Emperor were illegal. He was banished from Mexico and set
sail on April 11th, from La Antigua. Congress however voted him an
annual pension of 25,000 pesos as a reward for his great services to
his country.
The government was now vested in a _Poder Ejecutivo_, composed
of Pedro Celestino Negrete, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria, all
of whom were absent from the capital at the time of their nomination.
The second Congress, it may be called the first of the republic, met
on November 7, 1823. Nevertheless the independence of Mexico was
largely assured by the United States, whose Congress received the
message of President Monroe on December 2, 1823, in which he formulated
the doctrine known by his name which secured the governments of the
Continent of America from interference by any European power. The
course pursued by the government was little calculated to inspire
confidence in its wisdom, financially or politically. In the early
part of 1824, Iturbide addressed the Congress from London intimating
that the clergy was plotting the restoration of Spanish rule in Mexico
and offering his services in defense of the republic, but instead it
was believed that an insurrection in favor of the banished emperor
himself was on foot and a decree was issued declaring him a traitor
and condemning him to death should he return to Mexico. Not knowing
of this decree, Iturbide started from Southampton on May 11th, and on
landing at the little port of Soto la Marina, north of Tampico, he was
arrested, taken before the legislature of Tamaulipas, which was in
session, and condemned and shot at Padilla on July 19, 1824. His dying
advice was intensely patriotic and he manifested remarkable courage.
But his execution was a vengeful act, unwise, nay ungrateful, and a
blot on the page of Mexican history which the honors paid later to his
family and to his own remains, when on August 6, 1838, they were buried
with great ceremony in the Cathedral of Mexico, can never erase; while
the title of the “Liberator” which was graved on his sarcophagus but
emphasizes the self-reproach of his countrymen.
[Illustration: BENITO JUAREZ.]
Two parties, or factions, emerged in the Congress, the Bourbonistas,
or Centralists, and the Federalists. The leaders of the former were
Negrete, Bravo, Bustamante and Mier y Teran; of the latter, Victoria
and Guerrero, whose adherents were more numerous, and they were
successful in framing the Republican Constitution that was proclaimed
on October 4, 1824. It declared the Roman Catholic religion to be
perpetually the religion of the Mexican people. The Republic thus
established consisted of the States of Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila
and Texas, Durango, Guanajúato, Mexico, Michoacán, Nuevo León,
Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sonora and Sinaloa,
Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Vera Cruz, Jalisco, Yucatán and Zacatécas and
the territories of Upper and Lower California, Colima, Santa Fé and
Tlascala--nineteen states and five territories. On the 10th of October
the first president, Nicolás Bravo, took the oath of office. Congress
was dissolved on December 24th and the first Constitutional Congress
convened on January 1, 1825. In the same year, the last position held
by the Spaniards, Fort San Juan de Ulua, was evacuated and the republic
was recognized by the United States and Great Britain.
During this administration the question of secret societies became
urgent in consequence of the influence of the freemasons in political
matters. The insurgent force was led by Vice-president Bravo who was
of the Scottish lodge faction, but Guerrero defeated him and took him
prisoner.
The election in 1828 resulted in favor of General Manuel Gomez Pedraza,
who was supported by the Scottish (Escoseses) masons, who defeated
Vicente Guerrero, whose candidacy was espoused by the Yorkinos; but a
_pronunciamiento_ was made by the liberals in favor of Guerrero, who
resorted to arms under the leadership of Santa Anna. The government
forces defeated him, when he was given command of the army at whose
hands he had suffered defeat. Pedraza, in view of the extreme
excitement, resigned and Congress declared his election null and void
and elected Guerrero president and Anastasio Bustamante vice-president
on January 12, 1829. Among the measures of Guerrero’s administration
is to be noted the abolition of slavery. Bustamante was then elected
president and Congress declared Guerrero “morally incapacitated to
govern the nation.”
The government of Bustamante began on January 1, 1830. His principal
adviser was the former historian, Lucas Alamán, who was minister of
foreign and domestic relations and who had filled the same office under
the _Poder ejecutivo_ in 1823. The country was, however, agitated
by dissensions and revolts instigated by Guerrero and his partisans and
he was driven to Acapulco where he was trapped on the _Colombo_, a
Sardinian ship whose captain had been bribed to invite Guerrero aboard
and who delivered him to his enemies, by whom he was courtmartialed and
shot on February 14, 1831.
Bustamante’s power did not last long, for in 1832 he was overthrown
by the turbulent Santa Anna, who secured the elevation of Pedraza as
the legitimate president by virtue of his election in 1828, although
he had opposed him then in favor of Guerrero. In the election that
followed, Bravo was chosen president, but Congress declared his
election void and the way to the supreme magistracy was then open
to Santa Anna who succeeded on April 1, 1833, Valentin Gomez Farias
becoming vice-president. In 1836 the complete overthrow of the federal
system was effected and centralized government established under a new
constitution, the effect of which set at a greater distance the freedom
of democratic government and the blessings of peace, thereby retarding
the real development of the nation.
One of the fruits of the rule of Santa Anna was the loss of Texas to
Mexico. On November 27, 1838, war was declared against France. Santa
Anna, who had come forth from his retirement at Manga de Clavo was
given command at Vera Cruz. The French captured the forts Santiago and
Concepcion, but failed in their attempt to capture Santa Anna in Vera
Cruz and retreat to the ships was ordered by the French admiral. In
following up the French to the shore Santa Anna acquired the laurels of
a popular hero at the cost of his left leg, which was so badly wounded
that amputation was necessary. Vera Cruz was then shelled by the French
and evacuated, but this trivial war ended by a treaty in which Mexico
agreed to pay the French demand of six hundred thousand dollars within
six months.
A revolt broke out in Tampico during the troubles with France and
President Bustamante took the field, leaving the again popular Santa
Anna provisional president, on March 9, 1839. The movement spread and
soon became a federalist revolution, involving the capital itself,
in 1840. General Urrea and Gomez Farias were its successful leaders
and Bustamante was taken prisoner. Once more the retirement at Manga
de Clavo was abandoned and Santa Anna emerged to overthrow the
federalists, to whom Bustamante, however, granted favorable conditions
and the revolution ended. So unsettled were affairs that Gutierrez
de Estrada, a former minister, publicly advocated a monarchy under a
foreign prince. His plan however, merely resulted in his fleeing the
country. Whatever the troubles of the people, they were not ready to
seek relief in a monarchy.
In 1841, General Paredes made a _pronunciamiento_ against
Bustamante’s government. On this occasion General Valencia and Santa
Anna, who had been successful in 1840, against the federalists, now
joined the new insurrection, and the government troops having abandoned
the president in favor of the insurgents, Bustamante was forced to
retire from the presidency in 1842, notwithstanding his efforts at
conciliation by the proclamation of federation. The proposals of Santa
Anna had won; he offered his “Bases of Tacubaya” proposing that the
legislative and executive functions of the government should cease
and that pending a congress, within eight months, to frame a new
constitution, a _junta_ should name a provisional president.
As a result, Santa Anna became such provisional president, but the
Congress elected showing a federalist majority a _pronunciamiento_
of the army was issued naming a council of notables and opposing the
Congress, which was dissolved by the executive, as a matter of course,
and the proposed council installed in January, 1843. In June, _Las
Basas Organicas_, the new constitution, was adopted and its terms
were less liberal than the _Leyes_ of 1836, instigated by Santa
Anna. The dictator under this new constitution did not assume direction
at the capital till June 3d, Bravo and Canalizo governing as acting
presidents. Shortly after, Santa Anna’s wife died and he was married by
proxy to a girl of fifteen. His government was truly despotic and he
affected the pomp of a monarch. In fact, the general sentiment was well
expressed when, on one of his many retirements to his estate, it was
said: “The president is going in order to return crowned.”
[Illustration: SEÑOR GENERAL DON RAMÓN CORONA, ONE OF
MEXICO’S FAMOUS GENERALS.]
The autocratic, costly, and inefficient rule of Santa Anna was at
length challenged by a combination of opponents. In October 1844, the
Guadalajara assembly declared against him and this was followed by a
_pronunciamiento_ made by General Paredes, who had previously
supported Santa Anna, on November 2d, at that place, which declared for
the suspension of the president pending investigation of his conduct.
Puebla shortly joined Guadalajara, and then immediately followed the
capital, where José Joaquin de Herrera was installed president of the
council. Santa Anna met this condition by emerging from retirement
and led an army to Querétaro. So great was the indignation at the
capital that the precious leg lost by the dictator in his attack on the
French was taken from the tomb and dragged in the streets, while the
destruction of his statue was averted only by its removal to a hiding
place. This outbreak in the capital changed Santa Anna’s plans and he
turned his army of fourteen thousand to the revolutionaries there. His
deposition had been secured and his arrest ordered by the Congress
and finding the resistance to him to be so formidable he marched to
Puebla, which he attacked on January 2, 1845. A few days later the
troops under Paredes and Bravo arrived on the scene and Santa Anna was
compelled to withdraw on January 12th. After vain proposals to make
terms with Herrera, he took flight but was captured and taken prisoner
to Perote. His impeachment followed and he was banished perpetually,
while Canalizo and four of his ministers were banished for ten years.
A general amnesty was proclaimed otherwise. Santa Anna took ship to
Havana on June 3, 1845.
[Illustration: SEÑOR GENERAL DON MARIANO ESCOBEDO, WHO TOOK
EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN PRISONER.]
Herrera now became constitutional president, September 16, 1845. His
first serious trouble was the Texan; he endeavored to compromise the
situation; but, because of opposition, he resorted to warlike measures
and sent six thousand men under Paredes to the frontier. Paredes,
however, issued a _pronunciamiento_ against the president on
December 14th, at San Luis Potosí, and on January 2, 1846, turned to
the capital and overthrew Herrera.
Reverting to Texan affairs, as being so largely the basis of the next
great event to be described in Mexican history, it will be sufficient
to notice that on several occasions since the independent government
was established, a number of conflicts had occurred in which Mexican
officers were employed. In 1839, a movement of federalists in Mexico
was effected having as its object the establishment of the Rio Grande
Republic, of which Texas was to be a member.
In 1844, an armistice was accepted between Mexico and Texas, proposed
by Great Britain, but Texas refused to ratify it in consequence of its
conditions declaring that the independent republic still constituted
a part of the republic of Mexico. Hence, Santa Anna declared that a
state of war existed. After this act by Great Britain, suspicion became
widespread in the United States that the purpose of the British was
to suppress slavery in Texas. Great Britain’s course arose out of a
request made by Texas in 1842, to Great Britain, France and the United
States to intervene and put an end to Mexico’s hostilities, but this
appeal was not fruitful. The situation was further complicated in 1843,
when the Congress of Mexico declared that if the Congress of the United
States should pass an act to incorporate Texas with the United States
such legislation would be deemed equivalent to a declaration of war.
On April 12, 1844, a secret annexation treaty was signed by the United
States and Texas, but the United States Senate failed to ratify it.
The popular sentiment in America had, however, appeared to demand
incorporation and accordingly on March 1, 1845, a resolution was passed
by Congress enabling Texas to frame a constitution, preparatory to
admission into the Union. Neither the purpose of the measure nor its
form could be acceptable to Mexico; nevertheless, on December 29th,
after Texas had adopted an ordinance of annexation to the United States
and the State constitution, Congress enacted its admission as a State
into the Union. The resultant conflict, however inevitably the logic
of events pointed to this absorption of the independent republic, was
almost a foregone conclusion.
There was ground of dispute enough to afford pretext for war. The
claims of American citizens due since 1839, were still in large part
unpaid. The boundary question, based on the claim of Texas of all
territory between the United States and the Rio Grande from source to
mouth was another. Trouble had occurred as to Upper California, when
Commodore Jones had temporarily seized Monterey. The United States had
sent a force under General Taylor to Fort Jesup with instructions to
proceed to the Sabine in case of Texas being endangered, and a naval
force was sent to the Gulf of Mexico. Such was the situation when
Congress adopted the annexation resolution.
[Illustration: RURALES ON THE 16TH OF SEPTEMBER.]
It was inevitable that the Mexican minister to Washington should demand
his passports; that the United States Envoy should be graciously
dismissed from Mexico, and that preparations for war should be actively
pressed. Before the storm broke, futile efforts were made to avert it,
the United States sending Slidell as commissioner, but the essential
condition of Mexico that the United States fleet off Vera Cruz should
be withdrawn not having been complied with on his arrival in Vera Cruz
on December 3, 1845, he was not recognized and his mission completely
failed, and he withdrew from Mexico on March 21, 1846. This closed the
diplomatic procedure.
Meanwhile, General Taylor had taken Point Isabel and erected a fort
opposite Matamoros. Here he was attacked by General Arista, who
superseded Ampudia on April 24, 1846, and a formal declaration of
war by the United States followed on May 13th, on the ground that
“Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded
our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil,” as
President Polk stated.
The second event was the attack on May 8th, at Palo Alto, which
resulted in Arista’s falling back next day to a position at Resaca de
la Palma, from which he was driven with considerable loss, the same
day, his artillery and supplies being captured. As a consequence of
this defeat, Arista, whose forces greatly outnumbered the Americans,
was deprived of command, being replaced by Ampudia. On May 18th,
General Taylor occupied Matamoros. The turn of affairs in Mexico
now brought the ubiquitous Santa Anna to the head, he following
the now familiar course of a congress, called in pursuance of a
_pronunciamiento_ issued by General Mariano Salas, and the election of
Santa Anna took place in December. He had returned to Mexico in August,
and was passed through the American fleet off Vera Cruz in the hope
that he would be a source of weakness at home rather than of strength.
In addition to the _pronunciamiento_, General José Maria Gomez declared
against President Paredes at Guadalajara and he was sent into exile.
The new president took command of the army, leaving the government in
the hands of vice-president Fariás. On the 5th of that month he began
his march against Monterey with a force of regulars and volunteers
numbering in all about six thousand men. On the 19th, he was before
Monterey, which was held by Ampudia, who had put this city in a good
defensive state. The assault was made on the 21st, the defenders
exhibiting the utmost bravery as they defended street by street.
Three days passed when Ampudia capitulated with honors, after which
an armistice of two months was agreed upon. During this time, General
Patterson was sent to Tampico with a strong force and General Winfield
Scott led a third force against Vera Cruz, previous to a march on the
capital. To effect these movements, General Taylor’s force was largely
drawn upon and Santa Anna having learned of the proposed attack on Vera
Cruz left San Luis Potosí on January 28, 1847, with twenty thousand
troops to encounter Taylor at La Angostura (Buena Vista) where he hoped
to surprise the Americans. On the 22d of February, Santa Anna demanded
the surrender in terms that indicated his certainty of success. The
following day he was repulsed, suffering great loss and retreating to
San Luis Potosí. This victory was almost decisive, the defeated Santa
Anna reaching his destination with his force reduced by one-half.
The engagement was a terrible blow to the prestige of the man who had
seemed “to hold Mexico in his despot grasp, strange as it may seem.”
Taylor’s great success gained him only the task of defending the
territory acquired and the Rio Grande frontier.
The further operations in Mexico were concluded by the American
commander-in-chief, General Scott. He landed his force of twelve
thousand men near Vera Cruz on February 15th, and invested the
city, the port being blockaded by Commodore Perry’s squadron. Siege
operations were prepared and on March 22d, the artillery and guns of
the ships opened fire. The defence, under General Morales was worthy
of a less bitter experience than that of the surrender, even with the
honors of war, which was forced on the 26th. On April 12th, in view of
the season, the American general withdrew his troops from Vera Cruz.
Santa Anna, defeated by Taylor, had resumed his duties as President
but his spirit was aroused on hearing of the defeat of Morales and
the surrender of Vera Cruz. He hurried from the capital “to wash out
that disaster.” With ten thousand men he fortified himself stoutly at
Cerro Gordo, about eighteen miles from Jalapa. Here he was attacked
by General Scott on April 18th, and utterly defeated. Then fell,
successively, Jalapa, Perote, and Puebla, and at the last named city
Scott received instructions from the State Department to arrange a
peace treaty, if the occasion served. Secret emissaries of the Mexican
president visited the American commander as to this matter and Santa
Anna has been charged with treason on account of it.
On August 9th, General Scott entered the Valley of Mexico, tracing the
route followed by the Spanish _Conquistadores_ nearly three and
a half centuries earlier, and arrived before the capital on the 20th,
defeated Santa Anna at Padierna and Churubusco where a most gallant
stand was made by General Anaya. In these last efforts, all credit is
due to Santa Anna; his operations were marked with ability, courage and
resourcefulness.
Negotiations now followed for peace. On the 22d, hostilities were
suspended and Nicholas P. Trist, chief clerk of the State Department
of the United States, who had arrived at Puebla as peace commissioner,
now proposed terms of peace on the basis of the cession of Texas,
New Mexico and Upper California, and the right of free transit
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the payment to Mexico of a
money consideration. These terms were rejected by Mexico and active
hostilities were resumed on the night of September 7th, by an attack
on Molino de Rey, which after stubborn fighting was taken the next
day, but so strong was the position of the Mexican army that General
Scott abandoned the field. Though success was not theirs, if valor and
conspicuous ability merited it, General Antonio León and his brave
aides deserved it, as well as the splendid rank and file. Not until the
12th, did General Scott move against the Castle of Chapultepec which
was magnificently defended by General Bravo and the military cadets
of the Academy, to their imperishable honor and glory. The capture
of the stronghold was effected on the 13th. The death roll of the
Mexicans bears the names of many noble sons, among whom conspicuous
merit signalizes Colonel Felipe Xicotencatl, the descendant of a famous
Tlascaltec chief. The way to the city was now assured, and after
securing causeways and the fortified gates of Belem and San Cosme,
General Scott entered the city fighting his way step by step, valiantly
opposed by soldiers and citizens. Santa Anna did not await the final
issue but deserted both the government and the city on the successful
forcing of the gates of Belem and San Cosme and turned the residue of
his brave army over to General Reyes, having been deposed and summoned
to appear before a council of war, but he left Mexico and fled to
New Granada. In his place, Manuel Peña y Peña was elected temporary
president and he made Querétaro the seat of government.
[Illustration: SEÑOR GENERAL DON MANUEL GONZALES,
EX-PRESIDENT OF MEXICO.]
Such was the condition of affairs when the Mexican capital fell to
the Americans. New Mexico and California were conquered. Texas was
irrevocably severed. To the task of restoring peace in the face of
such disaster the new president resolutely directed his efforts.
Commissioner Trist, though no longer officially authorized, succeeded
in arranging a treaty, known as the Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which was signed
on February 2, 1848, by the terms of which Texas, the territory
between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, New Mexico and Upper California
were to pass to the United States, the latter country agreeing to pay
Mexico fifteen million dollars and to assume and discharge all claims
of American citizens against Mexico. Thus was Mexico stripped, as a
consequence of a war which President Lincoln severely criticized and
which General Grant characterized as “the most unholy and unjust ever
waged by a stronger nation against a weaker one;” nor do the vast
material advantages that have followed to the territories reach back to
palliate this view of the quarrel or justify the bitter suffering that
it brought.
The American army was soon withdrawn and on June 12th, José Joaquín de
Herrera was elected constitutional president and the government was
re-established at the capital. Its chief labor was to heal the wounds
caused by the war, to ameliorate the general condition. The spirit of
insurrection was not subdued, however, for General Paredes effected a
temporary revolt which was soon subdued, and Herrera was successful in
the difficult task of reducing the army establishment and encouraging
the building of railroads and telegraphs, the first of such latter
undertakings being that of making communication between the capital
and Puebla. With troubles also in Yucatán owing to the serious Indian
uprisings in August, 1848, the president found his entire energies
occupied, but he succeeded in establishing a union of the Province with
Mexico, and relinquished the government to his successor with a record
of great improvement accomplished.
[Illustration: GENERAL CARLOS PACHECO, FORMERLY MINISTER OF
FOMENTO.]
General Mariano Arista, who had commanded the Mexican Army at Palo
Alto was elected to succeed Herrera and he assumed the presidency in
January, 1851. But neither his high sense of honor nor his patriotic
purposes could stay the revolutionary spirit which broke out at
Guadalajara in July, 1852, and, in consequence of the “Plan of
Jalisco,” intended to overthrow him, and of the _pronunciamientos_
in its favor, Arista resigned on January 3, 1853. The true purpose of
the revolution was the installation of Santa Anna as dictator, and
after a brief direction of the government by Ceballos and Lombardini,
he was elected and assumed office on April 20th, after Ceballos had
failed in an effort to call a national convention. The government
during the next two years was one of persecution and arbitrary use
of power. The dictator relied on the army to support his despotism
and increase the military strength. He was, however, re-elected in
December, 1853, and his power was greatly augmented. He was empowered
to appoint his successor in office and virtually became dictator for
life. Pomp and ceremonial befitting his supreme power was assumed
and he obtained the title of “serene highness.” In the same month he
effected the sale to the United States of the territory known as “La
Mesilla,” in Southern Arizona, for ten million dollars.
Such rule as that of Santa Anna could not be endured and the fabric
of perpetual power which the dictator had assiduously striven to
weave was rudely shattered in 1854, by the “Plan de Ayutla,” which
was proclaimed by Colonel Villareal on March 1st. A _junta_ of
notables was to appoint a provisional president and call a constituent
Congress. This plan gained powerful support, among others who acceded
to it being Colonel Ignacio Comonfort. The president marched against
the insurgents, but failing to subdue the movement, he returned to
the capital. Simultaneously, a force under Count de Boulbon entered
Sonora from Upper California with the object of establishing there an
independent dominion.
Comonfort having equipped a powerful army, Santa Anna abandoned his
government and went to Vera Cruz, giving the executive power into the
hands of a triumvirate. Then he left Mexico, fleeing to Havana. The
provisional president, appointed in pursuance of the revolutionary
“plan,” was Carrera but his nomination was not agreeable to Comonfort
and General Juan Alvarez received the office at the hands of the
_junta_. Among the ministers he selected were Benito Juarez and
Comonfort, the latter of whom was elected as president on December 11,
1855.
Early in 1856, Comonfort faced fresh insurrections that seemed to
spring from their like as it were so many hydra-headed evils. He
adopted drastic measures against the church and the clergy, enforced
the Lerdo law, abolishing civil and ecclesiastical mortmain and
establishing individual ownership of lands. On June 5th, he suppressed
the Jesuits and on September 17th, the Franciscans, in consequence of a
conspiracy which was hatched in the convent of the latter to overthrow
the government on Independence Day, the 15th, and secure the supremacy
of the church in the nation. Comonfort took possession of the church of
San Francisco and all its appurtenances early in the morning and the
next day decreed the opening of a street, to be called Independencia,
east and west through the grounds. The following day came the
suppression of the monastic order.
[Illustration: PICTURESQUE SPOT IN THE ALAMEDA.]
Again Puebla revolted, and for the second time in nine months it was
retaken by the government troops on December 3d. This was followed by
a _pronunciamiento_ at San Luis Potosí, which was quickly put
down. The bird of peace now hovered over stricken Mexico for a short
time under the vigorous and enlightened rule of Comonfort. On February
5, 1857, a new constitution was adopted, liberal in character and
establishing a republican federal form of government. The executive
power was vested in a president elected for four years; a single house
was to constitute the legislature, the members of which were to be
elected for three years; a judicial branch was to comprise a supreme
and inferior courts. The important question of presidential succession
was regulated, so that in case of vacancy the president of the Supreme
Court was to succeed temporarily pending a regular election.
This constitution furnished safeguards against the abuses of power
which had been possible under the Ayutla plan. The election of
Comonfort to succeed himself followed, yet, inconsistently, a few days
after entering office on December 1st, he overthrew the constitution
he had sworn to maintain and adopted the “Plan de Tacubaya,” announced
by General Felix Zuloaga on December 17th, on the pretext that the
constitution was not adapted to the usages of the people. Under
Zuloaga’s “plan,” Comonfort was to remain in power and convoke a
congress to frame a more suitable constitution, to be submitted to the
electorate. Benito Juarez had been chosen president of the supreme
court and it seemed necessary to the success of the new plan that
he should be imprisoned and Congress dissolved, which was done in
December. But Comonfort’s plans failed, for on January 11, 1858, a
_pronunciamiento_ issued by the conservatives substituted General
Zuloaga as president. The opposition was too strong and Comonfort,
unable to defend the capital, abandoned it on the 21st of January and
proceeded to Vera Cruz, whence he went into exile. The reactionaries
now annulled the reform measures of the constitutionalists, who had
organized a government at Guanajuato under Juárez, who had been obliged
to abandon the capital, and began war on their opponents, but suffered
defeat at Salamanca. Later, the president was seized at Guadalajara
by the garrison there, who had mutinied, but escaping he made his
way to Panama and thence to New Orleans, and returning to Vera Cruz
administered the government from there.
Benito Juarez was born in Oaxaca, on March 21, 1806. He was imbued
with the loftiest sentiments for the public weal and his counsel and
direction had proved the greatest strength of the liberal party. He
had been one of the professors at the Institute of Science and Art at
Oaxaca, and one of his students was Porfirio Diaz, who doubtless owed
much of his political bent to the training of Juarez, the full-blooded
Indian, to whose patriotic labors Mexico owes her successful entry on
a path of liberal policies which have led to so wonderful a development
of national progress and prosperity. The keynote of his life was
devotion to the public welfare and the highest ideals of manhood. But
the time was not yet ripe for the possible accomplishment of his great
purposes. The people had yet to learn, through long years of suffering
and struggles, the true principles of republican government and the
rights of men.
During this period of legitimate or constitutional government, under
Juarez, the reactionaries maintained a government at the City of
Mexico, under Zuloaga, and hostilities were bitterly waged against the
reform party throughout the republic. Important successes were won by
them, notably in the capture of Guanajúato, in July, by General Miguel
Miramon and in Ahualulco in September, and as a result Miramon was
named his substitute by Zuloaga after _pronunciamientos_ in his
favor by Generals Echeagaray, at Ayutla, and Robles Pezuela, at the
capital. A _junta_ having elected him president, he took office on
February 2, 1859. The chief object he sought was to overthrow Juarez at
Vera Cruz, but after a vigorous siege he abandoned the vain effort.
On July 12, 1859, Juárez proclaimed the Laws of Reform, by which the
issues of the conflict were clearly manifested. The United States
recognized the legitimacy of the Juarez government and ministers were
respectively appointed in Washington and Mexico. As a sequence of this
constitutional proclamation, the Juarez government greatly abridged the
influence of the clergy; severance of church and state was aimed at;
civil marriages and civil rights were defined.
The two governments were in conflict in foreign relations as well as
domestic and their acts were on one side or the other protested against
and repudiated. Juarez made a treaty with the United States giving the
latter the right to protect its citizens in Mexico by force of arms.
Miramon, on the other hand, gave treaty rights to Spain in regard to
indemnity to Spanish subjects in Mexico.
Miramon abandoned the field after his defeat on August 10, 1860, at
the Silao Hills and repaired to the capital. Zuloaga having withdrawn
the power conferred on Miramon as his substitute, the latter procured
his own election as president by a _junta_. The resistance of the
reactionaries was fast weakening, and their party rapidly diminishing;
nevertheless, on December 20th, Miramon left the capital to meet the
liberal forces and at Calpulalpam encountered General Gonzalez Ortega,
by whom he was defeated. The capitulation of the capital followed on
January 11, 1861. Juarez entered it in triumph with the liberal army
of twenty-five thousand. Miramon escaped to Jalapa and finally reached
France on a French war vessel.
[Illustration: A COUNTRY ROAD IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.]
With the return of Juarez to the capital he began the active
administration of the Reform Laws. One of his earliest acts was
the dismissal of the Spanish minister and the papal legate. The
half-century strife between Federalists and Centralists had triumphed
finally in the success of the Liberals, though a guerrilla warfare
was continued for some little time. Zuloaga joined the reactionaries,
declaring himself to be president in virtue of his “Plan de Tacubaya.”
Melchor Ocampo, one of the great leaders of the Reform, was seized
at his hacienda and shot by order of General Marquez; Degollado who
pursued the executioners was caught by bandits and was shot. These
outrages aroused extreme indignation and a price was put on the heads
of Marquez, Mejia and other rebel leaders. Marquez attacked the capital
in June, 1861, and was repulsed only after heavy fighting. It was
in this defence that Porfirio Diaz, who had returned to his native
state and later was elected to Congress to represent Iztlan district,
leaving his seat in the legislative chamber took a distinguished part.
A little later, in August, Marquez was totally defeated by Diaz at
Jalatlaco which brilliant event earned for the victor the rank of
brigadier-general; a month later he was again disastrously defeated
at Pachuca. The three years of war was over, and the way to domestic
peace, progress and prosperity might seem clear.
Juarez was elected constitutional president and assumed office in
June. On July 17th, the Congress, in view of the severe drain on
the resources of the people caused by the protracted war, found it
necessary to enact suspension of the sinking fund provision and the
payment of interest on the foreign-held debt, for two years. Thereupon,
France and England closed diplomatic relations and these nations
together with Spain made a treaty on October 31st, under the terms of
which they were to seize the principal ports and collect and distribute
the customs receipts among the several foreign creditors of Mexico. The
condition was also agreed that no Mexican territory should be acquired
or any interference be assumed as to the form of the Mexican government
by either of the powers. The United States refused to join in this
intervention. The French claim against Mexico was for six hundred
thousand dollars, which had been collected by Juarez and seized by
Miramon from the British legation where it was deposited for British
bondholders. There was, besides, an old debt of about eighty million
dollars contracted in the early days of the Republic. The claims of
Spain and France were together about eighteen millions, all Mexican
money.
It was soon evident that political motives were involved in the
intervention, at least on the part of France. When the allied fleet
arrived at Vera Cruz in December, 1861, bearing the commissioners
of the European powers, General Prim for Spain, Monsieur Dubois de
Saligny for France, and Admiral Wyke for Great Britain, they issued
a proclamation according to which their purpose was merely to secure
settlement of the financial questions. On December 14, 1861, the
Spaniards, whose fleet reached there earlier than its allies, occupied
Vera Cruz, which aroused the energetic resistance of the Mexicans,
especially on the arrival of the French and British fleets on January
8, 1862. The united forces numbered nearly ten thousand men.
Juarez issued a decree on January 25th calling on Mexicans to resist
the invaders and imposing the penalty of death on all who should fail
in this or who should aid or abet the invaders. This course seemed
inevitable, inasmuch as the partisans of Almonte, Miramon and Gutierrez
de Estrada, who in their exile had actively plotted in favor of a
monarchy for Mexico, were prepared to give aid to the invaders.
Juarez was anxious to avoid serious complications, if this could be
honorably done, and he invited the commissioners to a conference at
La Soledad, which resulted in a treaty on February 19th, by the
terms of which the Spanish troops were to advance as far as Orizaba
and the French to Tehuacán, and were to occupy those places until the
treaty was confirmed. The Mexican government was to be recognized
as constitutional. The ulterior aim of France was so insistent that
the British and Spanish support was soon withdrawn. Meantime, large
reinforcements had arrived from France and with them came Almonte,
Miranda, Haro y Tamaris and Miramon; the latter, however, to avoid
arrest by the British, went to Havana.
[Illustration: GENERAL PORFIRO DIAZ.]
[Illustration: NATIONAL MUSEUM, SHOWING AZTEC RELICS.]
[Illustration: NATIONAL GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.]