The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-12
GEN. DIAZ ON MEXICO.
The President Talks About His
COuntry's Possibilities.
HOW THE GREAT RULER LOOKS.
His Beautiful Wife and the Mexican
White House-what Railroads Are
Deins-Reciprocity Treaties.

| pondence. ~ have Just bad long inter-
| view with President Diaz on American
and Mexican matters. The audience was
arranged for me by the secretary of foreign
affairs, Mr.. Mariscal, and it took place in
the great national palace which stands on
the site where Montezuma held his court
when Cortez came to see him, and it was
| upon this same spot that Cortez lived after
the death of the Aztec king. 1t was in
this structure that many of the Spanish
yiceroys reigned, and where MAMMALIAN
held his court. The building is several
hundred years old, and its architecture is
OF the old Spanish order. Imagine low,
gray, two-story building, covering many
acres. Let its walls be of gray
stucco, and let it have many
courts within it, rooted only by the
blue sky and paved with great blocks of
stone. Some of these courts are so large
that regiment of cavalry could go
through their evolutions within them, and
the entrance to the palace is by great doors
| or gateways, faced with massive columns,
against which soldiers in uniform stand
and scrutinize carefully all those who 60
In or pass out. There are more soldiers as
you go into the courts, and at every corner
| you meet a guard. 1t was through these
| minister with its ivered coachmen took
| myself and Mr.. Butler, the secretary Of
our legation, yesterday afternoon, and it
was in one of tie largest of the courts that
| the carriage stopped and let us out at the
marble stairs, which lead up to the Offices
| OF the secretary of state and
| also to the audience rooms of
| the president of the republic. The
secretary of states rooms are furnished
| after the French style, with bright-colored
carpets, many pictures and some statuary.
| The anteroom to the presidents Office is
right next to the parlors of Macmillan.
and here We waited for moment amid
crowd of otiice-seekers much like those
who hang about the White House at the
| beginning of the congressional session,
| while We gave our cards to the gor geous
| aide-de-camp in charge. The fact that we
| came from the United States legation
| passed Us at once into a second waiting
room devoted only to the favored few, and
/ moment later the word came from Presi-
dent Diaz that he would see us at
once. Among those waiting for an audi
ence in this room were half dozen noted
| gensrals, one or two senator's, Mr.. Verger,
partner of the late Senator Hearst in his
| large Mexican investments, and the son of
| President Juarez. The room was well
| furnished. Paper of red satin covered the
| walls. The chairs and sofas were finely
upholstered and velvet rug was spread
| upon the floor. We had scarcely seated
| ourselves before the door opened and the
aide-de-camp motioned for US to enter.
HOW PRESIDENT DIAz LOOKS.
We stepped across the threshold and
| found ourselves in large, well lighted and
| plainly furnished room in which two men
were standing. One of these / recognized
as Senior Ignacio Mariscal, the secretary of
state, and the other was straight, digni-
fed man of medium height, dressed in
citizens clothes This was President
Diaz. He looks more like practical bust
ness man than the average Mexican,
| but his face and figure is a striking
one, and without ostentation or self
assumption, he impresses you at
once as man of great strength of charac-
| ter and of extraordinary ability. His
| looks do not belle him. He is, by all
| odds, the greatest man in Mexico today,
| and his work shows him to be one of the
| greatest statesmen and greatest execu-
| tives of the world. He took Mexico in
| state of revolution, and he has brought it
| into q state of peace. He grasped the
| country when il was in anarchy, and he
has brought order and good government
out of confusion. He has started the era
| of railroads and he has pushed manufac-
| turing and modern development to such
| an extent thatMexico has its feet nowfirmly
planted on the road of progress. He has
made the interior of the country as safe as
the interior of the United States, has
abolished brigandage, and has turned
| the banditti into soldiers. Every
| step he takes is in the march of
| progress and as the country is at present
| constituted, he is the best ruler that Mexi-
| co could have. He is very popular among
the people, and both the property holders
and the army love him. He knows Mexi-
co like book, and is eminently fitted by
birth and character for his position. He
is a son of the people. Born a poor boy
in the backwoods state of 0axaca, he fit
| ted himself for the law, but when the
| Mexican war broke out between Mexico
| and the United States he entered the army
and fought for his country. After the war
was over he remained in the army for some
time and studied military science. He
| then went back TO the law, but returned
| to the army in the revolution of 1855, and
| from that time on was mixed up in nearly
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ton as president in 1877.
| LIFE OF ROMANCE.
| His whole life reads like romance, and
he has had many narrow escapes. One
| time he was obliged to fee to New Orleans,
and in coming back, he took
| passage under an assumed name, and
| stayed in his room, pretending he was
seasick. There were number of Mexican
officers on board, and he thought that they
had discovered him. He knew that his
arrest meant death, and he jumped over
| board and tried to swim TO the shore.
which was about ten miles distant from
| the ship. He was seen and rescued, and
| the captain thought he was lunatic He
| handed him over to the purser, and this
man, though he knew he could make
| $50, 600 as reward by turning him over to
| the soldiers, refused to do so. He pro-
| tected him while on board and struggled
him ashore as a coal-heaver, from whence
he soon got to his native state and to his
army. Disz has proved himself an able
| general and no one can doubt his courage
| He IS now 90 years old, but he does not
| .ook to be over 40, and his black eyes are
as bright and his step as firm as when he
| did his first fighting in the Mexican war
| He impressed me by his ease in manner
| and by his gentlemanly bearing. He is,
| am told, refined and cultured, and he
understands how to put his visitors at
their ease. He has much Of the
| and / heard il said in Mexico that
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