Latin-American Constitutions — Revolutions 171 



tions the revolutions and bloody contests 

 of these republics for the past three- 

 quarters of a century have been purely 

 of a personal character, the struggles of 

 the partisans of one aspiring individual 

 against the partisans of his ambitious 

 opponent. One of the most notable ex- 

 ceptions was the war of reform waged 

 in Mexico for ten years, beginning in 

 1857, b}^ the liberal party against the 

 united power of the clergy and Emperor 

 Napoleon. That was a heroic war, in- 

 volving great principles of government. 



I can probably best illustrate the his- 

 torical fact of this personal cause of 

 revolutions by a ver^' brief sketch of 

 the experience of tAvo of these repub- 

 lics — one the most revolutionary and the 

 other the most conservative and prosper- 

 ous of the Spanish-American countries. 



Venezuela, on its separation from Co- 

 lombia in 1 83 1, chose Paez president. 

 He filled out his term, and in 1835 

 sought by his official influence to trans- 

 fer the presidency to Vargas, who was 

 very unpopular, and within four months 

 was overthrown and banished. Paez 

 came from retirement, gathered an army, 

 took the capital, reinstated Vargas, and, 

 ultimately succeeding him, was made 

 dictator. In 1847 he transferred the 

 presidency, against the protest of con- 

 gress, to Monagas, who caused his .sol- 

 diers to invade the assembly, killing 

 some and dispersing the rest. Paez 

 finally took up arms against the govern- 

 ment, but was outlawed, defeated, and 

 escaped to New York. In the election 

 to succeed Monagas three candidates 

 were in the field, and as none had the 

 constitutional majority, the election 

 went to congress, and Monagas' brother 

 Gregorio was selected, and until 1858 

 the two brothers alternated in the pres- 

 idency. In that year their career ended 

 by a revolution, which created a pro- 

 visional government that brought in 

 Castro as president ; but his was a turb- 

 ulent reign, and he was displaced b}^ 

 Gual, who tried and convicted Castro as 



a traitor and then pardoned him. Tovar 

 succeeded by election to the presidency, 

 and he recalled Paez and made him com- 

 mander-in-chief of the army, but the 

 latter quarreled with Tovar, compelled 

 him to abdicate, and placed Gual again in . 

 the presidency. Gual likewise lost the 

 favor of Paez, the president and his 

 ministers were imprisoned, and Paez was 

 declared dictator. Revolution and an- 

 archy followed for two years, when Paez 

 and his partisan, Rojas, had to surrender 

 the government to the insurgents under 

 Falcon in 1863. A constituent assem- 

 bly and a new constitution followed in 

 1864, and Falcon, the insurgent leader, 

 was declared president, and he turned 

 the government over to his partisan, 

 Trias, which occasioned a new revolu- 

 tion, and general anarchy and financial 

 distress prevailed. In 1867 congress 

 gave unlimited powers to the president, 

 but the next year Monagas, after de- 

 feating Falcon, succeeded to the presi- 

 dency, and died in office. His adherents 

 made Pulgar provisional president, but * 

 the Falcon part}^, led by General Guz- 

 man Blanco, were enabled to overturn 

 the provisional government, and Blanco 

 entered upon his checkered career, cov- 

 ering several years, in which he assumed 

 dictatorial powers, to be at last rejected 

 by his country, and he spent the last 

 years of his life in Paris, enjoying lux- 

 urious ease with his ill-gotten fortune. 

 He was followed by a list of constitu- 

 tional and revolutionary rulers, in turn, 

 up to the actual president, Castro, who 

 came to power through force and be- 

 trayal of his chief. 



Ivet us turn from this dismal narrative 

 to a less dreary story, but one which 

 illustrates as well the point which I am 

 seeking to make clear. Chile has had 

 from the beginning of its existence a 

 more fortunate career, in that its wealth}- 

 and more intelligent citizens have usu- 

 ally controlled the government, and as 

 a result it has prospered and its financial 

 credit has led all the other states. But 



