The Portland daily press., 1871-12-09
The Situation in Mexico.

A correspondent OF the New York Times writ
ing from the City of Mexico, gives a concise &C
count of affairs in that country He says:
Again is this unhappy country ON the verge
of actual revolution. 1t appears it has been the
deliberate intention of the Porfirio Diaz party
in any case if not successful in the election, to
appeal to arms, and notwithstanding the high
opinion many people had formed of that person,
he has proved to be utterly without political
character, capacity or patriotism. For several
months there have been constant rumorS that
there would be a revolution of which he would
be the head, but SO high has been the estima-
ton entertained of him personally that there
has been great reluctance to believe that this
could be true But about the time of the affair
of the cltdel in this city, on the LIST of October,
several OF his most violent parties in Congress,
| including Justo BeniteZ, his former chief OF
staff, left their seats and proceeded to Oaxaca,
| from whence there continued to come thereai-
| ter rumors of military preparations that iefs
little doubt of the attitude OF that State ana OF
the two brothers, Porfirio and Felix, the latter
of whom is the Governor of the State, and per-
sonally bears a very bad character.
| The Government meanwhile was taking its
precautions, and has concentrated large force
at Tehuacan and about the frontier of the State
of OaXaca The pronunciamentO of Treyino in
Nuevo Leon, on the 9th of September last, and
the affair of the CITADEL both pointed to direct
understanding with Porfira Diaz, whose name
was the rallyng cry of the prisoners when lib
Grated from the Carcel de Belem, and since has
been the watchword of every little squad of ban
dts robbing the hacendas, and attacking the
defenceless villages throughout the ccuntry.-
But nothing was heard from Diaz himself, and
it was supposed he would wait until the LIST of
December, when President Juarez, having fin
| lshed his present term, would pronounce against
| his further continuance in office on che ground
of the illegality of his re election, and it was
| believed such was the estimation in which he
| was held, that he would confine himself to that
sole point and the vesting of the Presidency in
| Mr.. Lerdo de Tejada, the Chief-Justice of the
| Supreme Court (Vice-President) until a new
| election could be called. i,.-
On the 18th inst, however, there reached here
| proclamation, issued at last by Porfirio Diaz,
| from his rancho of La Noria, which was at once
republished here by all the papers, and has
caused the most profound and may say also,
almost universal disgust, so great even that very
many at first refused to credit its authenticity,
and but one paper has come out in its defence,
In this manifesto, Diaz, while pretending to
sustain the Constitution, sets it aside entirely,
and proposes that convention of notables like
that of Forey, shall be called to be composed of
three members, to be elected by each of the
States, who shall reconstruct the form of gov
eminent and appoint provisional President,
thus setting aside, OF his own sole will, not only
the Constitution, but also the entire present
government, the Congress and all of the exist
ing Federal authorities, and going back of the
time even of Santa Anna, he proposes nothing
less than pure military dictatorship. Say
what you will of the faults and incapacity for
self-government of this people, there is one
| thing in which they are set, and that is in the
| preservation of some form OF Republican
| constitutional government. Since the Consti-
tuition of 1874 that has been their aim, and he
knows little of their character or history who
believes that any other form of government is
now practicable here, however imperfect in its
workings even this may be-.
The result of this proclamation or plan of La
Nova, as it is called, which has been followed
by a decree of the Legislature of Oaxaca in
conformity Herewith, and declaring the State
independent, has been to force a union between
the Lerdo and the Juarez parties, and to unite
all who are opposed to anarchy, and to return
to the era OF military peOnu1acidTaie7tOS in sup
port OF the government and to render the per-
manent triumph of the revolution impossible
Inere may be military successes, and there may
be serious OBJECTIONS in the army, but as yet
The revolution both in Oaxaca and Nuevo Leon
is without resources, and the number of the
forces at its control does not probably exceed
ZOO to 1000 men in each of those States. The
rlslngs in other States, as in Domingo and in
isolated localities elsewhere, are not important
IN numbers, and are characterized by such ex-
tortlons to get resources as to necessarily rem
der them unpopular and prevent their having
little else than the character of mere robbery
and an attack upon property.
All this is very bad and discouraging and
consumes the means and time of the Govern
agat e na 81 fhe 81 s
order, this desperate attempt of one of the
three parties IN the late election to appeal from
the ballot to the. bayonet may be the last move
ment of the kind that will be attempted, for
the partisans of revolution, seeing the constant
failure of their attempts and the risk incurred,
are losing confidence in the possibility of sue
cess in such attempts, and on the other hand
the public at large see in them only attack
upon property and upon public order. The
Government has wanted much in tact and good
management, but there is now probability of
change of Cabinet, it being likely that Lerdo
will again resume his former position of Minis
ter of Foreign Affairs, and L think after some
months the present revolutionary movements
will be suppressed.
If, then, thereafter, there could be short Pc
Rod of peace railroad enterprises could be got
under way here SO as to give employment to
many of the disaffected, and create interests
that would strengthen the chances of peace,
while, with increased means of communication,
the strength and efficiency of the Federal Gov
eminent would be largely increased and its
revenue also improved And if communication
by railroad could be opened with the United
States, and extended as far as this capital the
contact with and movement hither of our peo-
pie, the large commerce that would result, and
the enterprise that would follow, would alone
so change the condition of things in this coun-
try as almost to guarantee tranquility there
after thus leaving us with the benefit of their
commerce without the embarrassment of the
political charge of this country.