MEXICO. 



Mr, 



done in certain places, by the discipline, the valor, 

 and loyalty <>t the national unny, which baa given 



so niuny proof.-, <>!' it rcpuhlivan virtue*. 



Tin- KxviMitivi: has demontrated his dosiro to 

 use as little as possible tin- PO\MT which Congress 

 thought proper to concede to him. In regard to 

 applying nu-n tor tlie urmy, fur from its increase, he 

 resolved upon its diminution, and had commenced 

 to curry it into ell'ei-t when the insurrection of the 

 Siorru "of Oiixaoa oiviim-il, which was dcvdopi-d 

 from ini-idt ntiil causes. In respect to public ex- 



the Supreme Court, and especially the mem- 

 bers of the then existing Congress, all ! \\ l.< m 

 having been returned at the June and July 

 !( lions in 1875 ; provided for the organiza 

 tion of a provisional government, and stated 

 the general-in-chief of the regenerating nnnit * 

 to be Porfirio Diaz, who was at that time in 

 Brownsville, Texas. General Porfirio Diaz, it 

 will be remembered, had been a candidate for 



penscs, notwithstanding their considerable increase the presidency against Juarez in 1867, and 



again against Juarez and Lerdo in 1871. This 

 e {a received a plurality of the popular 

 vote, but Congress deciding in favor of Juarez, 

 Diaz appealed to arms, and was at the head of 

 a revolution at the time of the death of the 

 former, in July, 1872. Seflor Lerdo, as Chief- 

 Justice of the Supreme Court, then succeeded 

 to the presidency, ad interim, issued a general 

 amnesty, and convoked Congress. The revolu- 

 tionists laid down their arms at once, and Con- 

 gress ordered a presidential election, which, 



m order to combat the revolutionists of Michoacan 

 during one year, by means of strict economy the 

 idea of new contributions was not entertained until 

 ciri'iitnstMiuvs made the imposition of a tax inevi- 

 table, which it was sought to make just in its basis 

 uiui in the manner of collecting it. 



The words italicized in the foregoing ad- 

 dress embody the first official announcement 

 to Congress of the commencement of the 

 revolution which was to terminate in the over- 

 throw of Sefior Lerdo's Administration. 



During the greater part of 1875 the State 

 of Michoacan had been 

 kept in unceasing tur- 

 moil by armed bands of 

 self-styled revolutionists, 

 who. in the name of re- 

 ligion, offered open op- 

 position to the estab- 

 lished Government. For 

 the suppression of these 

 movements, President 

 Lerdo petitioned Con- 

 gress in May of the same 

 year for powers extraor- 

 dinary, which were then 

 granted, and afterward 

 extended. The opposition 

 organs, however, pro- 

 tested against the grant- 

 ing of the powers ex- 

 traordinary, alleging that 

 the real end to which 

 they were to be applied 

 was the securing a favor- 

 able issue at the con- 

 gressional elections to take place in June and Diaz offering no opposition, resulted in favor 

 July (1875). The elections resulting in a Gov- of Lerdo. 



THE CATHEDRAL, CITT OT MEXICO. 



ernment triumph, that circumstance was pro- 

 claimed by the opposition party as confirmatory 

 of their charges. 

 Toward the end of the year General Esco- 



Shortly after the plan of Tuxtepec another 

 was published, bearing the signature of Gen- 

 eral Porfirio Diaz, and proclaimed by General 

 Donate Guerra, one of those chiefs who had 





bedo was sent to the troubled State, with distinguished themselves in the Revolution of 

 forces which would have enabled him soon to 187l-'72. In this plan, similar in all other re- 

 suppress the revolts and restore perfect order spects to that of Tuxtepec, was omitted the 

 and peace, had not events of a graver character article assigning the command-in-chief of the 

 transpired elsewhere to necessitate his being revolutionary forces to General Diaz. Several 

 recalled. Late in January, 1876, the journals other chiefs proclaimed plans in rapid succes- 

 of the capital published a revolutionary pro- sion, all of whom assigned as the reason foi 

 gramme, which had been proclaimed on the commencing the revolution before the presi- 

 1 7th of that month, at Tuxtepec, a small moun- dential elections had begun that Lerdo was 

 tain-town of the State of Oajaca. This plan determined to resort to fraud and official press- 

 proclaimed the Constitution of 1857, with all ure to secure his reflection, and by armed force 

 its amendments, thus showing that its authors render opposition hopeless, 

 were not in league with the Church revolution- The plan of Tuxtepec was seconded by all 

 ists of Michoacan. It repudiated the authority the mountain-towns of the State of ^Oajaca. 

 of President Lerdo, his ministers, the judges of The rebels raised an army, marched into the 

 VOL. xvi. 35 A 



