The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-08
POrnriO DiaZ.

IL may oO CiAhOa Gil
biography Of Porfrio Dias, the Maker OF
Modern Merico, has been written by an
Englishwoman, Mrs. ALEC TwEEDIE, and
IL published in a large and %attraotively
illustrated volume by the John Ian Com
pany. Many American as we'll as English
readers are likely to remember the authors
graphic and interesting book on Mexico
as | Saw It. which was published some
Ave years ago, and embodied the outcome
Of a ak months sojourn in our neighbor-
ing republic. 1t was OF the express
invitation Of the Mexican President hat
Mrs. Tweedie, near the close Of 1904, visited
the country for the seoond time and secured
first hand information concerning the life
Of Porf1rio Diaz, together with a mass
OF statistics relating to the material and
intellectual progress OF Mexico under his
rule. A work performed under, such
auspices Is, Of course, open to the suspicion
OF a certain amount Of bias on the authors
part; for her to maintain, indeed, a rigor-
ously Impartial attitude would be, to say the
least, ungraoious, in view OF the fact that
It was not as a Judge, but as a friend, that
she was invited to become the guest OF the
Mexican Chief Magistrate. 1T was not to
be expected, for example, that Mrs. Tweedie
would side with Diaz's enemies and rivals!
On the whole, however, the task has been
executed with as near an approach to
equity as was attainable under the cir
cumstances, and the book is likely to pro-
woke very little criticism on the score Of
Partially. From a biographical point OF view
it supplies many particulars which, so far
as we know. have hitherto been unpub-
lished, and the general effect Of the Diaz
regime on the development Of Mexico ID
not, nor could 1t well be, o~verestimated.
It Ia some OF these particulars that We
purpose here to bring together.
Porfirio Diaz 10 10 years young. AL
though he was born on September Is, 1880,
he appeared to have numbered many years
less when our author saw him for the first
time in 1900, and on her return to Mexico
in 1904 she found him looking even younger.
This OF itself is a notable phenomenon in a
land where youth is short. Diaz, like
Garibaldi and Abraham Lincoln, was Of
humble origin. His father kept q little
inn at OaKaca, the capital Of the State Of
the same name in southern Mexico. His
maternal grandmother was an Indian
woman Of the Mixteoo tribe, one Of the
finest aboriginal stocks. Three years after
the boys birth his father died Of cholera,
and his mother wal loft with seven children
and limited means to battle with the world.
Until he was 7 years old PorArio went to a
primary school, but later entered the free
school Of a Roman Catholic seminary, with
the inteusion OF entering the Church event.
ually. AZ the age Of 10 a scholarship in a
university was offered to him on condition
that he would take minor orders. The
offer was refused. and although his natural
prediction impelled him to a soldiers
life, he entered the legal profession in
order by his earnings to assist his widowed
mother and her family. He was enabled
to pay his fees at the law institute by taking
a few pupils, and he was indebted to Benito
Juarez, then Governor Of the State Of
Oaxaca, for a slender hut welcome adj
dition to the pay which he received as IL
brarian at the law school. In due time
be became professor Of law, and be was
occupying that post in the Oaxaca Institute
in january, 1854, when Santa Anna 3 perse-
cution Of the Liberals provoked an insur-
rection. Diaz took part in the uprising
which ultimately drove Santa Anna from
the country in August, 1855. During the
ensuing years Of turmoil Juarez, who had
become Minister Of Justice and OF Ecclesi-
aStlcal heIatlOns, ana WHO UeBdn Cne 6trug-
gle with the Church from which the Re-
public emerged victorious, intrusted Diaz
with the reorgan ization Of the National
Guard, which became the principal and
indeed the only ermed body devoted to
the support Of the Liberal party In the
Mexican State. 1t was about this time
that Diaz obtained a commission as Captain
in the Second Battalion Of the Grenadiers.
In the subsequent civil war between the
Clericals and the Liberals. Disz greatly
| distinguished himself, and, although In
oapacitated for q time by a severe wound,
| rose to be Governor and military COM
mander Of the District Of ~Dehuantepeo. In
| 1850, at the age Of 80, the poor son OF an
| Oaxaca innkeeper had become a Colonel.
/ After Juarez had beaten the Clericals de-
cisively, and was elected President by a
large majority (May, 1851, Diaz was chosen
one Of the Deputies from his native State
Of Osxaoa to the new Congress. Soon
afterward he was promoted to be Brigadier-
General for the important part taken by
him in the defeai OF the formidable re-
dictionary commander, Marques. the So
called Tiger Of Taoubayo.' Less than
two years later he attained the rank of
General Il piyision,sa rank which be