THE GUIDING HAND
“I should like to live fifty years to see the result of the seed I have
planted,” said Porfirio Diaz a number of years ago. It is not within the
limit of human possibility that such a boon could be granted this amiable
“republican despot” but he had lived long enough to see the good results
of the policies established by him for the upbuilding of his country.
Succeeding to a government that had been in the throes of revolution ever
since the patriot-priest Hidalgo first proclaimed independence on the
16th of September, 1810, President Diaz at once restored peace to the
country that has lasted for thirty years. Inheriting a bankrupt treasury
from his predecessors, and a large foreign debt that had on several
occasions brought about foreign intervention, he succeeded in placing the
finances of the country in a prosperous condition and has accomplished
more for Mexico than had been done in three centuries of Spanish rule.
He organized the army along modern lines and established the _rurales_
which insured the safety of life and property. Railroads under the
wise system of encouragement inaugurated by him have increased from
three hundred and fifty miles to thirteen thousand five hundred miles;
telegraph lines from four thousand five hundred miles to thirty-five
thousand miles; the number of post-offices now number two thousand three
hundred and fifty instead of seven hundred and twenty as it was in 1876.
Imports and exports have doubled several times, and the annual balance
sheet now shows a comfortable surplus instead of a deficit as in former
days. All this has been done and old obligations met in spite of the
serious loss in exchange due to the depreciation in silver, and the fact
that the heavy foreign obligations had to be met in gold purchased with
silver at a low and constantly varying valuation.
[Illustration: A COMPANY OF _RURALES_]
The life of Porfirio Diaz is fascinating. It savours of the days of
knighthood and romance. We are reminded of those heroes of old around
whom time has cast a glamour, for he has had adventures as exciting,
escapes as miraculous and a life seemingly as charmed as any hero created
by the masters of romance, and his life may well be termed “stranger
than fiction.” One is naturally inclined to be rather eulogistic in his
treatment of such a character.
The present President of Mexico was born in the city of Oaxaca in an
unimposing house on the Street of La Soledad, that is now used as a sugar
factory, on the 15th of September, 1830, a day already celebrated in
Mexican annals. His father, Captain José Faustini Diaz, was of Spanish
descent and followed the occupation of innkeeper, but died when Porfirio
was only three years of age. His maternal grandmother was a Mixteca
Indian. The church and law were the only two occupations open to an
ambitious youth in those days, and this young lad was intended for the
former. He chose the law much to the disgust of his relatives but never
followed that calling. The fighting blood in him impelled him to the
sanguinary conflicts on the field rather than the bloodless battles in
the courts between contending counsel.
About this time the war with the United States broke out and the future
president, a youth of seventeen, volunteered but saw no fighting,
although he thus early in life showed his genius for organization by
forming his fellow-students of the academy into a battalion for the
defence of his home city. Benito Juarez, afterwards president, was
attracted by this youth and invited him to read law in his office,
which offer was accepted. Thus was begun an association between two
men who were destined in later years to occupy such a prominent place
in Mexican history. Through the influence of Juarez, the younger man
was made assistant librarian and by the aid of the salary attached to
this position, and money earned as tutor, he completed his course, and
received his law degree.
Politics and war seem to have divided the attention of Diaz from the very
first with a preference for the latter in early life. Diaz was a military
genius. I can say this in all seriousness. Although he never commanded a
large army yet, under his hands, the rawest recruits soon became valuable
troops. He is possessed of a personal magnetism and the quality of
_simpatica_, (which can not be translated into English) that draws people
to him and, when once aroused, they become his enthusiastic partisans.
In a land of lethargy and procrastination his movements were quick and
decisive, and he soon became noted for night marches and early morning
attacks. He never was overcome except by superior forces, and then only
after his stores and ammunition were exhausted. Even when beaten and his
army captured or separated, a few days of freedom would again place him
at the head of a respectable force ready to take aggressive stand against
the enemy. Had he been in command of a hundred thousand men, he would
have met the situation with the same tact and ability.
The first of the many political offices held by Diaz was that of Jefe
Politico, or mayor, of the little Indian town of Ixtlan when only
twenty-five years of age. Here he devoted his time to organizing the
Indians into a company of militia, and this little body of soldiers
formed a nucleus that proved a great help to him in the troublous times
which followed. Later he was made Jefe of Tehuantepec where he showed
great administrative ability. Soon afterward, in 1861, he was elected a
deputy to congress from Oaxaca, but at that time would not sacrifice the
excitement of war for the more prosaic duties of law-making.
Captain Diaz had seen his first military service in the revolts against
the notorious Santa Anna, of Alamo fame. He had the courage to sign a
remonstrance against this usurper, and was compelled to fly for his life.
Later, in the campaigns against Santa Anna, he was so successful that
he had become almost a hero in the eyes of his fellow Oaxacans. At the
beginning of the French invasion, the rank of general of a brigade had
been conferred upon him at the early age of thirty-two years, and he was
assigned to the defense of Puebla under General Zaragoza. It was due to
his tactics more than anything else that the way was paved for the great
victory of _Cinco de Mayo_, 1862, when an inferior force of Mexicans
defeated a numerically larger army of veteran French troops. It was
nearly a year later before the armies of the allied French and Austrians,
greatly augmented by new arrivals, were able to capture Puebla after a
two months’ siege, the ammunition of the Mexicans had been exhausted.
General Diaz refusal to give _parol_ and was made prisoner but escaped
after a short confinement.
Because of the approach of the invading armies toward the capital,
President Juarez had removed the seat of government to San Luis Potosi.
He made General Diaz commander-in-chief of the armies south of the Valley
of Mexico. Returning to his favourite haunts in Oaxaca, he soon gathered
together an army and some money and marched forth on the offensive. By
this time General Diaz had become such a formidable opponent that General
Bazaine himself, later of European fame, leader of the French forces,
took the field against this young leader with the determination to crush
him. He finally shut him up in Oaxaca and captured that city in 1865. The
French general had carefully laid his plans for this campaign, having
transported a large number of guns, and was at the head of an army, Diaz
claims, of sixteen thousand. The fame of this general and his large force
created a panic among the troops of Diaz and his little army had dwindled
to a few hundred. General Diaz was captured and taken to Puebla by his
captors where he was prisoner for more than seven months in a former
house of the Jesuits in that city. His escape is celebrated in Mexican
annals, and his own account is as follows, although I have greatly
abbreviated it:—
“After taps for silence had been sounded for the night, I went to a room
which was roofless and which on that account was used as a yard. I had
with me three ropes, wrapped up in canvas, and I threw them onto the
roof. I also had another rope, and I succeeded in throwing it around
a projecting stone spout which seemed to be sufficiently firm. When I
had satisfied myself that the support was sufficient, I climbed up by
the rope to the roof. My progress along the roof to the corner of San
Roque street, where I had made up my mind to descend, was attended with
much danger, for on the roof of the church a detachment and sentries
were stationed to keep watch. Gliding on all-fours I made towards the
point where I was to let myself down. I often had to stop to feel my
way, for the roof was strewn with many fragments of glass which sounded
when touched. Moreover, there were frequent flashes of lightning, which
exposed me to being discovered.
“I finally reached the wall of the church. In order to arrive at the
corner of the street of San Roque it was necessary to pass through a
portion of the edifice which was occupied by the priest in charge of the
church, and I was aware that shortly before he had denounced to the court
martial some political prisoners who had bored a hole through their place
of confinement into his dwelling, and as a consequence they had been shot
the next day.
“I let myself down into an upper yard of the priest’s house at the moment
when a young man who also lived there had come in from the street; he had
probably been to the theatre, for he was in gay humour and was humming
an air from an operetta. He did not see me as he passed, and I remained
quiet until he had entered his room. When I considered that sufficient
time had elapsed for him to get into bed, and perhaps to fall asleep, I
climbed to the roof of the convent on the opposite side to that by which
I had descended and pushed forward to the corner of the street of San
Roque, and I arrived there at last. There is at the corner, in a niche,
a statue of St. Vincent Ferrer which I proposed using to fix the rope
by which I was to descend. The saint wobbled when touched, but probably
there was inside the statue an iron spike to hold it. In any case, in
order to be more sure, I adjusted the rope around the pedestal of the
statue which seemed to be quite firm. I resolved to alight in a vacant
lot which adjoined and which was only fenced in. I did not know that
there was a drove of hogs in this yard. As when I began the descent I
turned somewhat with my rope, my back struck against the wall, and the
impact caused a poniard which I carried at my waist to fall from its
sheath among the hogs, probably wounding one of them, for they set up a
grunting which grew louder as they saw me descending among them. I had
to wait for some time for them to quiet down. I then climbed to the top
of the partition separating the lot from the street, but I had at once
to bob down again for just at that moment a gendarme was passing on his
round, seeing if the doors were well fastened. When he had retired I
sprang into the street.”
In a few days he had rallied around him a few faithful followers and
captured the small garrison of Tehuitzingo. From this time his career was
a succession of victories until the capture and execution of Maximilian.
These victories and the firm stand of the United States government
re-established republican supremacy. Early in 1867 preparations were made
to regain Puebla which city was defended by a force of several thousand
French troops. On April 2nd he made a feint with a few hundred men on
the convent of “El Carmen” which caused the army of the defenders to
be concentrated there. Then a concerted attack followed from several
points, and the soldiers of Diaz drove back the hardened troops of the
third Napoleon, and the flag of liberty waved over the city in the early
dawn. He followed up the fleeing foreigners and a series of engagements
followed in which Diaz was victorious. The war was ended by the capture
of the City of Mexico after a siege of several assaults.
From boyhood until the close of the empire in 1867, General Diaz had
worked against great odds. He was by this time easily the most popular
man in Mexico. One party at the general elections of that year nominated
him for president, but he refused to run against his old friend and
patron, President Juarez. He even refused an office and resigned his
commission in the army. In search of rest he retired to the place of
his birth, and his trip from the capital was a triumphal journey. The
citizens of Oaxaca received him with open arms, and presented him with
the estate of La Noria near that city. Hither he went with the wife
whom he had married by proxy during the war and spent a few years in
comparative quiet. In 1871 another presidential election was held.
Juarez, who had failed both mentally and physically, had advocated
a number of unpopular measures, but was determined to have himself
reëlected to office. Diaz was also a candidate. When Juarez was declared
elected, the “Porfiristas” declared a revolution with the slogan “less
government and more liberty.” However Juarez died in a few months and the
executive power temporarily fell upon the president of the Supreme Court,
Lerdo de Tejada, who was afterwards elected to that office to serve the
unexpired term.
General Diaz refused reconciliation with this government, and, fearing
trouble before the next presidential election, for Lerdo was an active
candidate, he sold his estate and left for the United States after a
“_pronunciamento_,” called the “Plan of Tuxtepec,” had been issued to
which he gave his allegiance, if he was not the author of it. This “plan”
declared a president ineligible to succeed himself. By the time the
revolution was well underway in several states, General Diaz had crossed
the Rio Grande at Brownsville, Texas, with forty followers. These forty
men increased to four hundred in a few days and they captured Matamoros
on April 2nd, 1876.
Learning that a large force had been sent after him, General Diaz decided
to return south. He went to New Orleans and took a steamer from there,
called the City of Habana, sailing for Vera Cruz, and passed himself
off as a Cuban doctor. He was not suspected until some of the troops he
had captured at Matamoros a few weeks before got on board the ship at
Tampico. They immediately made arrangements to secure him on arriving
at Vera Cruz. Although the ship was four miles from land, Diaz jumped
overboard and attempted to swim ashore. He was picked up after nightfall
in an exhausted condition, and taken on board the ship again. However
the purser was won to his cause and concealed him in a wardrobe, where
he remained for several days on a diet of ship’s biscuit and water.
The purser, as a matter of policy and in order to disarm all suspicion,
invited the Lerdist officers into his cabin, where they would spend hours
in playing at cards. Oftentimes the chair of the one sitting in front
of the wardrobe would be tilted back against the door behind which was
the man they would have given almost anything to catch. From his cramped
position General Diaz was in torment. He could not stand upright, nor was
he able to sit down. When the _City of Habana_ arrived at Vera Cruz the
chief of the coast guard service, who was the fugitive’s friend, managed
to smuggle in to him a dilapidated sailor’s suit and a very old pair of
boots. At the same time the chief sent word that a rowboat, in charge of
a man he would recognize by certain signals, would come alongside for
him. When the ship began to unload bales of cotton into barges, this boat
appeared among them, and the noted prisoner made his escape to land.
After several exciting adventures on the way, General Diaz again appeared
at Oaxaca among his friends and ardent supporters. His popularity and
prestige in Oaxaca have always been remarkable. Never did he appeal to
his neighbours and friends of that state in vain. It was not long until
he was at the head of an army of four thousand “Porfiristas”—men who
would follow their leader to the death if need be, and many of whom had
fought with him at Puebla and elsewhere. The news of the escape of Diaz
brought gloom to the “Lerdistas.” Lerdo immediately marched his army
southward. The two armies met on the 16th of November, 1876, at Tecoac,
and for a few hours the battle waged hotly and bitterly. The Lerdist
army, which was considerably larger, began the engagement with every
prospect of success. At the last moment Diaz led a charge in person
which routed the enemy, and the result was a complete triumph for the
“Porfiristas.”
Flushed with victory, and determined to press his advantage to the
utmost, General Diaz promptly proceeded toward the capital with his
augmented army. Panic seized Lerdo and his followers. He took all the
public funds available, and, with his ministers, fled to Acapulco. Upon
arriving there he embarked for San Francisco, and made no further effort
to impede the progress of the Diaz forces. Iglesias, President of the
Supreme Court, upon whom the succession legally fell upon the death or
resignation of the President, established headquarters at Guanajuato and
issued a proclamation assuming the office of chief executive. Diaz at
once marched upon Puebla, which he entered without opposition. City after
city sent representatives announcing their adherence to his cause. The
onward march was continued without a halt until Guadalupe, about three
miles from the capital, was reached. Here he halted for a day in order to
get his forces into presentable condition to make a triumphal entry into
the historic capital.
It was on the 24th of November, 1876, that General Diaz made his
memorable march into the City of Mexico. Riding at the head of an army
of several thousand armed men he made a triumphal entry into that
ancient capital, while thousands gathered along the route to see this
new adventurer—as he was styled by his enemies. The Plaza was packed
with the populace. This son of an innkeeper, this man with the blood
of the Indian in his veins, this hero of many battles passed through
the portal of the National Palace and became master of Mexico. From
there he issued a proclamation assuming the provisional presidency of
the republic, until an election could take place in regular form and a
constitutional ruler should be chosen. This was held in December. With
the government in his hands the result of that election was never in
doubt. After a three months’ campaign his authority was recognized over
the entire republic. Since that time Porfirio Diaz occupied that high
office continuously, except for an interval of four years from 1880 to
1884, when Manuel Gonzalez held that title, until May 25th, 1911, when he
resigned. Diaz himself became a victim of the “Tuxtepec Plan,” forbidding
two consecutive terms, and gracefully retired at the end of his first
term, although urged by a large following to remain at the head of the
government. For the first time in Mexican history was seen the spectacle
of one President voluntarily relinquishing the sceptre to his successor,
and returning to private life without an effort to retain himself in
power. Gonzalez entered the office one of the most popular men in Mexico,
having been elected by an almost unanimous vote. Four years later he left
it under a cloud of almost universal execration and contempt. During the
four years of Gonzalez’s administration Diaz was not idle, but served in
the cabinet, as governor of Oaxaca and senator from Morelas. Isolated
disturbances have arisen at times, but no formidable opposition arose
against him until 1910. This revolution is treated in the succeeding
chapter. The law limiting the succession was revoked during his second
term, and the length of office was subsequently extended to six years. At
the various elections the reported vote was almost unanimous for Diaz.
On December 1st, 1910, he was inaugurated President for the seventh
consecutive term, or eighth term in all.
Immediately upon first assuming the executive office after the flight
of Lerdo, Diaz issued a statement in which he set forth in clear terms
his intention to restore constitutional order and institute reforms. He
invited all factions and cliques to coöperate with him. This soon won
the regard of the intelligent and honest partisans of all factions, and
he early showed his impartiality by selecting his advisers irrespective
of party. It was not long until most of the Lerdistas and Juaristas were
won to his cause. By this skilful handling of the leaders, he secured
the good will of Congress in furthering his plans for reforms, and in
organizing the finances on a better basis. New treaties were negotiated
with foreign nations and able diplomatic representatives sent abroad.
It has been said that the best peacemakers are those who have made war.
Those who detest powder most are generally those who have smelled it
on the field of battle. To them—more than all others—are known the
horrors and hardships of war, and what it entails upon the innocent and
guilty alike. Even though a battle-scared hero may have profited by the
advantages gained by military success, the tragedy of empty homes and
nameless graves is known to and acknowledged by him. General Sherman
said: “The main thing is to deal as hard blows at the enemy’s forces
as possible, and then cause so much suffering to the inhabitants that
they will long for peace.” A similar belief animated President Diaz. He
himself has said in explaining his actions in suppressing brigandage:
“Sometimes we were harsh to the point of cruelty. But it was all
necessary to the life and progress of the nation. If there was cruelty,
the results have justified it. It was better that a little blood be shed
that much blood be saved. The blood that was shed was bad blood; the
blood that was saved was good blood.” Almost before they knew what was
happening the professional malcontents found themselves in the grip of
this masterful new leader. It was to this quality of firmness that he
owed his pronounced success during the first years of his presidency.
Several scattered uprisings occurred during the first term, most of them
being fostered by the “Lerdistas.” Lerdo issued a proclamation on the
24th of February, 1877, from New York, claiming to be the constitutional
President, and, a few months later, Iglesias did the same thing from New
Orleans. Neither of these manifestos were looked upon seriously by the
Mexicans, but they were in a great measure responsible for the tardy
recognition of the Diaz government by the United States and other foreign
powers. One revolt is worthy of mention because of its novelty. A part of
the crew of the armed vessel _Trinidad_ mutinied during the absence of
the commander at Vera Cruz. They headed for a Campeche port, where they
seized several thousand dollars of public funds. While the leaders of the
mutiny were ashore enjoying the money, a counter mutiny was led by the
boatswain, who took the ship back to Vera Cruz and returned it to the
government.
Judging this man at a distance, we, who live in a country where even
a third term is a “bogie,” are inclined to smile at these successive
elections to the presidency, and dismiss the matter with the charge of
“dictator” and “republican despot,” with all the odium that those terms
imply. President Diaz was both. But, above all, he was, I believe, a
true patriot. Whatever may have been his original motives in seeking this
high office his later actions prove the statement. Responsibility will
often develop a man, and that may have been true with Diaz. In securing
the control by driving out Lerdo, and assuming the provisional presidency
over Iglesias, who was the official designated by the constitution in
case of a vacancy, he only did what many had done before. Whether his
retention of the office for so long was a good or bad thing for the
country, the historian of the future will be a better judge.
The accomplishments of Diaz were many. It would require a long
enumeration to give them in detail. The very fact that he succeeded
to a government which had seen fifty-four different rulers, including
two emperors and a number of avowed dictators, in the fifty-five years
preceding his own accession, and ruled the country for more than a
generation, is in itself sufficient to stamp him as an extraordinary man.
Those were indeed troublous times in Mexico while we were celebrating
the centennial of our independence. The strong spirit of Juarez had
been broken by the long strain from 1857 to 1872, during which time
he was nominally President. His successor was a weak, ambitious man
who accomplished little. Disorder everywhere, the country overrun with
bandits and a worse than empty treasury were the conditions when Diaz
grasped the reins. It was not until nearly two years afterward that his
government was formally recognized by the United States. Few men could
have steered the country through such a state of affairs so successfully.
He did it without repudiating any valid claims. He established credit
by paying foreign obligations rather than the salaries of government
employees. He surrounded himself with an able cabinet, and started the
machinery of government in a business-like way.
I do not subscribe to the doctrine of Shakespeare that all the world
is a stage, and that each person is a player, for that would take away
sincerity. Porfirio Diaz has been accused of only acting a part. He
could not always be acting, for his course was too consistent under many
and diverse circumstances. As a young man he refused pay for military
services because the government was so poor. He declined promotion over
the heads of men older in the service for fear of jealousies. He refused
remuneration after the close of the war of intervention, although not
a rich man at that time. He turned a deaf ear to the emissaries of
Maximilian, who wanted to place him in command of the Mexican army when
that ruler abdicated, which would practically have made him President. He
was a humane adversary, as is shown by his treatment of prisoners of war.
He disregarded ceremony as much as is possible in a Latin country. He
declined to live in the National Palace, but resided in a private house
the most of the time, and at Chapultepec a part of the year.
It is not to be wondered at that the man who rules with a strong arm
will make bitter enemies as well as warm partisans. Likewise such a
policy will always have its defamers as well as its supporters. Opinion
is still divided upon Napoleon, and whether his high-handed methods
wrought more good than evil. Hence it is that some can see nothing in
Diaz but a tyrant, an enslaver of his people, and a man unfit for even
life itself. They forget that peonage was not originated by Diaz, but was
inherited from the Spaniards and supported by the voters of the country.
They do not look into the conditions faced by Diaz when he first became
President, nor the bloody history of the republic before that time. I
believe that Diaz would have been permitted to serve his term had it not
been for his efforts to control the vice-presidency, and the fact that
his choice fell upon a man who was very unpopular. Knowing that at his
age the President’s span of life was uncertain, the politicians wanted to
control this office because of the succession. For this reason discontent
and jealousies had been growing for several years. Diaz had publicly
declared his intention not to seek another term, so that those ambitious
for that office took him at his word and began their wire-pulling. This
was in February, 1908. Then, in the spring of 1910, he announced that
yielding to importunity he would accept another term. This was the one
great mistake in his political career. Had Diaz adhered to his previous
declaration, he would have retired from the office of chief executive
full of honours. As it is he resigned under pressure, and left the City
of Mexico unannounced and accompanied only by his family and a few
friends. He boarded a steamer in the harbour of Vera Cruz and sailed for
Spain, where he has quietly resided since that time.
The personality of this dictator-president, who has filled such an
important place in the world’s history, is most interesting. As I sat
in the great salon of the National Palace, awaiting the appearance
of President Diaz, I spent the intervening fifteen or twenty minutes
in examining the room. On the high walls were pictures of General
Washington, the father of liberty in the whole of the two Americas; of
the patriot-priest Hidalgo, who first raised the standard of revolt in
Mexico, and of Diaz himself. Then Diaz appeared—a man tall for a Mexican,
solidly built, with white closely cropped hair and white moustache. He
approached with an elastic, graceful and springy step entirely belying
his almost eighty years. The Indian blood could easily be traced in
his complexion and features. The most striking feature of this man is
his eyes, which seem to look into the very soul of all he meets. It is
probably this intuitive perception that has been one of the key-notes
of his success. He has always been a democratic sort of man and easy
of approach, and impresses his sincerity on all those who talk with
him. Diaz was always a tireless worker and methodical in his habits. He
is abstemious, and it is probably due to this characteristic and his
methodical habits, that at eighty years of age he remained as active and
energetic as the average man twenty years younger. He kept in touch with
the most remote parts of the republic, even to the most distant village.
His advisers were often surprised at the vast knowledge he displayed in
all matters of state. The private life of Diaz has always been above
reproach. He has been twice married. His first wife was Delfina Ortega
y Reyes, who died in 1880 before sharing in the full greatness of her
husband, leaving a son and two daughters, all of whom are still living.
Three years later he was married to a daughter of Romero Rubio, whose
full name is Señora Doña Carmen Romero Rubio de Diaz. She is a woman who
by her sweetness of character, kindly disposition and charities won a
warm place in the affections of the Mexican people.
The end of the political career of Diaz is not without a touch of pathos,
as well as an element of personal dignity. Broken in health, and deserted
by many of his former friends, he resigned the office of President in the
following letter addressed to Congress:—
“SEÑORES: The Mexican people, who have generously covered
me with honours, who proclaimed me as their leader during
the international war, who patriotically assisted me in all
works undertaken to develop industry and the commerce of the
republic, to establish its credit, gain for it the respect
of the world and obtain for it an honourable position in the
concert of the nations; that same people has revolted in armed
military bands, stating that my presence in the exercise of the
supreme executive power was the cause of this insurrection.
“I do not know of any facts imputable to me which could have
caused this social phenomenon; but acknowledging as possible,
though not admitting, that I may be unwittingly culpable, such
a possibility makes me the least able to reason out and decide
my own culpability.
“Therefore, respecting, as I always have respected, the will
of the people and in accordance with Article 82 of the Federal
Constitution, I come before the supreme representatives of
the nation in order to resign, unreservedly, the office of
Constitutional President of the republic with which the
national vote honoured me, which I do with all the more reason,
since in order to continue in office it would be necessary to
shed Mexican blood, endangering the credit of the country,
dissipating its wealth, exhausting its resources and exposing
its policy to international complications.
“I hope, señores, that, when the passions which are inherent
to all revolutions have been calmed, a more conscientious and
justified study will bring out in the national mind a correct
acknowledgment, which will allow me to die carrying engraved in
my soul a just impression of the estimation of my life, which
throughout I have devoted and will devote to my countrymen.
“With all respect,
“PORFIRIO DIAZ.”