Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-17
Miseellaneous &sadins.
REVOLUTIONS IN MEXICO.
Present Uprisinss Recall Romance and
Tragedy of Other Days.

Tragedy Of Other Days.
Mexico Is having another revolt.
The purport Of this statement may not
be at once apparent unless one recol-
lects that this mercuric nation one day
wore the undisputed title to the moth
erhood of uprisings and revolutions
Nowadays one Is in the habit Of asso-
ciating bananas with these out
breaks. The public mind conceives of
revolt as the peculiar institution OF
those nations which bask far south
under the tropical sun, changing pres
idents with moon phases, and govern
ments with the seasons.
Seldom, unless one is pretty CONVEX
SAINT with history. does one associate
Mexico with the thought of this sort of
thing, yet, in its day, the nation of
Cortez was hotter than all modern
imitators. Probably this change is
partly due to the iron hand of that
stern whtebeard, Diaz, who-when the
truth is known--appears to have had
sufficient trouble himself He himself
stepped to the presidential chair
through the smoke Of revolution. Be-
fore his time every season had its up
rising. Men rose and fell between the
dark of the moon and the dusk Of the
sun. And II was not all comedy. One
looks upon the bloodless battles and
opera -bouffe tactics of today and is
wont to laugh. But there was a diff
ferent past-glorious and CORY, roman
tic and tragic.-written more or less
delibly in times archives under the
caption "Revolts and Revolutions of
Mexico"
Iturbide, Santa Anna, JuareZ, one
remembers them but vaguely, yet in
their time no figures eclipsed them in
fascination. Macmillan and Carlotta-
to the average man their names are
vague whispers of dead ghosts, but
their story is Of the most romantic
tragic fabric of history. For a little
brief moment they stood at the crest
of wave of ambition that carried
them where the destinies Of a cOnti-
nent lay with their rise or fall. And
then the wave broke itself on the reefs,
down to madness and to death.
Though he can hardly be called the
first of Mexican revolutionists, Iturbide
was surely the earliest great leader Of
In hn
the forces that crowded Spain out Of
the country she had so ruthlessly TAX
en- from Monte2uma. In the turmoil
that followed he made himself emper-
or and remained supreme in the trou-
bled state of his nation for eighteen
months. Then he found himself de-
serted by those who so shortly before
had been his best lieutenants-Santa
Anna, Guerrero and Bravo. the next
generation of northumberland yield
ed the throne retiring from Mexico on
a pension of $25.000.
Iturbide lived abroad for couple OF
years, only to return to Mexico in
1924, ignorant that he had been out
lawed by the republican government.
He was arrested on landing. tried and
shot to death.
Santa Anna, :7ho began the revolu-
ton against Iturbide. probably may be
set down as the most insistent revolu-
ZIONIST of all time, 50 far as Mexico Is
concerned. After overthrowing Itur-
bide in 1922 he was little heard Of un-
til 1928, when he again took the field
for his former brother in revolt, Guer-
zero, with the result that the latter
displaced Pedraza as president. The
following year he was the chief factor
in the final expulsion from Mexico OF
Spanish forces.
I'm rapid succession he rose against
his twice confederate, Guerrero, and
against that worthy's successor, Bus
tamante. whose place Santa Anna
handed over to PedraZa, whom he had
once pushed from the presidency. The
next year Santa Anna got the presi-
dency for himself partly by force Of
arms and left his vice president to ad-
minister the affairs of state while he
retired to the ease of his hacienda. In
1885 he suppressed a revolt against his
power. The next year he led the army
which fought the revolutionists in
Texas and took the Alamo. but he was
in turn defeated and taken prisoner at
San Jacinto by Sam Houston. and sent
to the United States after he had
pledged himself to secure the inde-
pendence of Texas.
In 1887 he returned to Mexico, which
had removed him from the presidency
in his absence, hut in 1888 he was
again at the head Of the army and de-
Tended Vera Cruz against a French
fleet, losing leg in the combat. This
exploit won him immense popularity,
but it took two years of plotting be-
fore he succeeded in having himself
made president, with dictatorial pow
ers, in 1S41. In 1914. however. he was
oyerthrown i'm a revolution led by Pa
redes
After desultory fighting in an at
tempt To regain the reins of power he
was taken prisoner in lS45 and ban
ished. The following year, however, ne
was recalled to defend the country
against the United States. He lost and
was again banished, only to he again
recalled. In 1853 he made himself
president for life with the title Serene
Highness." The dream lasted a year,
when another revolution sent him to
Cuba, but not until after II months
fighting.
In 1864 Marshal Bazaine. command
ing the invading French, had to drive
him out again. Still unsated. he re-
turned in 1867 and was once more de-
featrd and exiled. Finally in 1876 ne
went hack for the last time. but MS
star had run it's course and set. He
died, poor and deserted.
OF JuareZ one needs few details He
began his career in the little state ot
OaXaca. where he figured IN reVo-