Latin-American Constitutions — Revolutions 173 



' ' the liberals will never consent to serve 

 again under a president forced upon the 

 people by the conservatives. ' ' The New 

 York Independent, in seeking to give its 

 readers an account of affairs, sa^^s : ' ' The 

 revolution in Colombia that was said to 

 be put down some months ago is alive 

 again and widespread. It is a most re- 

 markable fact that this revolution has 

 caused the loss of thousands upon thou- 

 sands of lives, and yet no one seems to 

 know anything about it. Cities are 

 taken and retaken, generals are killed, 

 neighboring republics are accused of 

 helping the insurgents, business is par- 

 alyzed, towns are razed to the ground, 

 and yet there seems to be no principle 

 involved, nor wrong to be redressed by 

 either party's victory." 



I have noticed the provision of the 

 constitution of Brazil, one of the most 

 recent, which, in addition to the prohi- 

 bition of reelection, makes ineligible to 

 the presidency candidates related by 

 blood or marriage to the outgoing presi- 

 dent in the first or second degree. This 

 is intended to strike at an evil akin to 

 the continuance in power of the incum- 

 bent — the perpetuation of the same fam- 

 il}^ influence in the executive office. We 

 have seen that in Venezuela two brothers 

 alternated for some years in the presi- 

 dency, until overthrown by revolution. 

 Two of these republics are today gov- 

 erned by the same family, one president 

 making way at the end of his term for 

 another member of the family. 



Owing to the sad experience of the 

 past, the lyatin-American States have, as 

 we have .seen, with a great degree of una- 

 nimity attempted to remedy the evil by 

 inserting in their constitutions a prohi- 

 bition against the reelection of the chief 

 executive ; but that has proved in many 

 cases a most ineffectual remedy, because 

 the men who are ready to resort to arms 

 to secure what the}^ claim as their rights 

 seldom hesitate to disregard the consti- 

 tution, or else find means to amend it to 

 suit the exigenc}^ 



I have referred to the fact that one of 

 the exceptions in existing constitutional 

 prohibitions of reelection is to be found 

 in the fundamental code of Mexico. The 

 circumstances which have brought this 

 about are peculiar and interesting. The 

 constitution of 1857, still in force, con- 

 tained no such prohibition. General 

 Porfirio Diaz was twice a candidate for 

 president against Juarez, and he claimed 

 that he was the people's choice, but had 

 been counted out by the administration 

 officials who had control of the elections. 

 Terdo, the head of the cabinet, became 

 president upon the death of Juarez, and 

 when the time approached for the elec- 

 tion upon the expiration of lycrdo's 

 term, Diaz announced to the country 

 that it was useless to stand as a candi- 

 date, because of the absolute control of 

 the electoral college by the government. 

 He therefore issued a prominciamento, 

 declaring for an amendment of the con- 

 stitution, and with the cry of "no re- 

 election," he organized a revolution 

 which was successful. I^erdo and his 

 cabinet fled to the United States, Diaz 

 assumed the presidency', ordered a new 

 election, and was unanimousl}^ chosen. 

 The constitution was in due course 

 amended so as to prohibit the reelection 

 of the president until four 3'ears after 

 his flrst term had expired. 



At the end of his term Diaz retired 

 from office, and his favorite general was 

 elected his successor. The latter proved 

 so inefficient and dishonest that at the 

 end of his term all classes clamored for 

 the return of Diaz, whose first adminis- 

 tration had been quite a successful one. 

 His second term was even more success- 

 ful than the first. Peace and security 

 prevailed throughout the land. Com- 

 merce, agriculture, mining — every in- 

 dustry of the country — prospered as 

 never before. Railroads were built, cap- 

 ital began to flow in from abroad, the 

 government credit, which had been ut- 

 terly discredited for nearlj- half a cen- 

 tury, was fully reestablished. No one 



