430 TREATY RATIFIED EVACUATION REVOLUTIONARY 



Deputies. On the 30th of May the ratifications were finally ex- 

 changed, and the first instalment of indemnity being paid in the 

 city of Mexico, our troops evacuated the country in the most or- 

 derly manner during the following summer. 



It cannot be denied that the Mexican Government, whose tenure 

 of power was so frail, almost trembled at the sudden withdrawal of 

 our forces and the full restoration of a power for which, as patriots, 

 they naturally craved. The sudden relaxation of a firm and dread- 

 ed military authority in the capital, amid all those classes of in- 

 triguing politicians, soldiers, clergymen, and demagogues, who had 

 so long disturbed the nation's peace before Scott's capture of Mex- 

 ico, naturally alarmed the president and cabinet, who possessed no 

 reliable army to replace the departing Americans. But the three 

 millions, received opportunely for indemnity, were no doubt judi- 

 ciously used by the authorities, while the men of property and 

 opulent merchants leagued zealously with the municipal authorities 

 to preserve order until national reorganization might begin. One 

 of the first steps in this scheme was the election by Congress of 

 General Herrera, — a hero of revolutionary fame, — as Constitu- 

 tional President, and of Pena-y-Pena as Chief Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court. These and other conciliatory but firm acts gave 

 peace at least for the moment to the heart of the nation ; but be- 

 yond the capital all the bonds of the Federal Union were totally 

 relaxed. Scarcely had the National Government been reinstalled 

 in the city of Mexico, when General Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga 

 unfurled the standard of rebellion in Guanajuato, under the pretext 

 of opposing the treaty. The administration, possessing only the 

 skeleton of an army, did not halt to consider the smallness of its 

 resources, but promptly placed all its disposable men under the 

 command of Anastasio Bustamante, who with Minon, Cortazar, 

 and Lombardini, not only put down the revolution of Paredes, but, 

 by their influence and admirable conduct imposed order and in- 

 spired renewed hopes for the future wherever they appeared. In 

 the same way the strong arm of power was honestly used to destroy 

 faction wherever it dared to lift its turbulent head, — and the Na- 

 tional Guard of the Federal District faithfully performed its duty in 

 this patriotic task. Paredes disappeared after his fall in Guanaju- 

 ato, and remained in concealment or obscurity until his death. 



Various outbreaks occurred in Mazatlan, on the western coast ; 

 in the State of Tobasco; in Chiapas, and among the Indians of 

 Puebla; in the Huasteca of the State of Mexico; and in the 



