Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-10-26
mexico =. n ,,spus,,e.


which we referred some time ago,
has refreshed our recollection with |
many facts Of interest in the his
tory Of our neighbor. Mr.. Lester
0 correctly assumes that tho strug-
glss from which Mexico emerged
independent ard Republic were
longer. fiercer and more trying
than any the people Of the United
States had to go through. Our rev.
olutlonists of l776 we're men whose
ancestors had been trained to the
traditions OF constitutional govern
ment. On the other hand, the il
llterate people who followed the
standard of Hidalgo in the first
steps Of the struggling nationality
to assert the rights Of the natives
knew nothing Of liberty, and were
just emerging from q slavery Of
centuries.
The attentive student of Mexico
will be pleased to note that the
leading Republicans Of country
absolutely unused to Republican
Institutions or trains of thought,
have always spoken in = splendid
and masculine key. Washington
could not have improved upon the
utterances Of Juarez before, during
and after the French occupation.
This pure blooied Indian seems to
have been worthy ofa niche in the
Pantheon Of all nations. His pol
Icy was habituslly enlightened, his
conduct patriotic, and he-seems to
have caught the exact sentiments
and language OF the most illustrl.
GUS Republicans Of all ages.
From the first stand in the inter-
est Of the common people in 1908,
Mexico has been substantially
sixty years in conquering q Repub.
lie, for certainly as long as a
large body of Mexicans could be
found to tender the Imperial
crown of Mexico to Maximilian
the country could hardly be called
. Republic until the issue should
have been determined. Mexico
has tried all forms OF governme ent.
Naximilian's experiment OF EN-.
pire had been preceded fifty years
ego. and about twenty years after
the fall Of the heroic insurrectionary
priest Hidalgo, by the empire of
Yturbide, whose son, by the way,
is at present residing in New York
city. This mushroom empire was
as short Tired as its successor
The supreme power passed success
sively into the hands OF such men
as Generals Victoria and Santa
Anna, but the Republic could hard
~ be said to have been formally
proclaimed, even, until, in 1857.
Generals Alvarez and Comonfort
overthrow Santa Anna and estab-
lished the famous Constitution of
that year. 1t could not be called
stablished until Macmillan was
driven from his throne. So that
our neighbors have had not only
to fight their war of Independence
with Spain, but to maintain an un-
csasing internecine struggle of
sixty years to assert their pres
ent recognized status rs Repub.
lie.
Mr.. Lester Is right in assuming
that, taking all things into the
count, Mexico has made greater
progress In the science of free gov
ernment than we have. If any
thing we have retrograded while
every passing year is signalized by
some essential advance of Republi-
can sentiment and institutions in
our neighbor. or course, ideas of
psrsonal liberty and political res
possibility are not so universally
distributed amongst the masses of
the Mexican Republic as amongst
those Of the United States. But
there was SO much room for them
to advance and for us to retrograde
that the result has really been as
We have stated.
In one capital feature the Mexi-
can people have shown their wis.,
d,m. They have inserted in
their constitution q provision for
bidding a second term as President
to any man. II the Republic of
the United States is ever over
thrown 1t will be through the sue.
cessive elections of some popular
soldier. That is the way in which
Republics are always overthrown,
and Mexicans do we'll to put up
the bars.
The recent message Of President
Disz is q firm, dignified and tenn
perate document. Diaz has proved
himself to be much more Of a
patriot, more of an able man and
more Of q ruler than even his
friends gave him credit for. But
for the strength which he devel-
oped so rapidly we doubt If the
Mexican Republic would have re-
maIned intact. The national gov
ernment, with the full appreciation
Of Diaz. is now engaged in extern
slve public Improvements, embrac-
ing several useful systems Of rail-
wnY IL Ia HIGHLY desi rahla for the