Year: 1865

adroitness.


The News from Mexico--Turbulent CondA-


tion OF tho Country-Whst Does fs


Meant


The news from Mexico has some Significance
in its political aspect Imperial victories are
announced, and are only important as indicat-
ing that the government still has enemies In
arms Guerillas are apparently very active,
and have considerable strength in several
States, but military operations proper appear
to be done with for the present The disturbed
condition Of the country is the important fact
in the news. Now that there is no longer any
army worthy Of the name TO oppose the empire.
is Mexico quiet under her new rulerf Far from
it. On the contrary, her turbulence Is described
by the letter writers as "frightfal." States and
cities that even received Macmillan with out
ward shows of respect now give vent to The
most unqualified expressions of hostility. Tho
people are "treacherous" to the imperial
power. Those powers find no one that they can
trust The military commandant has been COM
PEELED to supersede the Mexican civil magis
trate OF Tampico. All the civil officers of the
departments of Vera Cruz, Jalisco, Puebla aud
Tlascala have made themselves obnoxious, and
are to be superseded. So it seems to be every
where. There is an imperial government
ON one side and whole people on
the other. Every little tumult naturally
excites the authorities cognizant of the condi-
ton of the country. Every shout may be the
signal of insurrection, and 80 people must keep
quiet. There was disturbance near San Luis
Potosi. II appears to have been simply
drunken brawl Three hundred persons were
arrested, and thirty-ive were shot without the
formality of trial.


The supporters Of the imperial authorities
shut their eyes to the real significance ofall this
They declare that it is the normal state Of the
Mexican people; that years of war ana the iax
administration of all laws have unified that
people for any life but that Of the freebooter
and cutthroat, and that the state of the country
is the necessary result of the contact OF such
people with an attempt % establish order. That
sort Of explanation will do very well for Paris;
but here it is clear that the condition OF the coun
try has another import. What, then, does 1t means
II means that there is still real vitality and





hate this new government, and will not bow to
it; but will, in one way or another, fight it 10
the last 1t means that unless the imperial gov
ernment can maintain large military estab-
lishment, and rule by the bayonet, il cannot
rule at all. The people must be kept down In
order that the government may be kept up. The
only tranquility that the government can ever
expect from the Mexican people is the !ran-
quillity Of one who lies still while his neck
is pressed by conqueror's heel. Mexico
must be ruled and kept down by her Franco
German government just as Saxon England was
by her Norman conquerors, and cannot be tram
gull ip any other way. This is the secret Of all
the disturbances. Moreover, the government
knows this, and hence the alarm that it feels at
every little tumult; hence the cowardly haste
and cruelty with which it puts down those
tumults; hence its discovery that every one b
"treacherous," and that it cannot trust Mexi-
can in Office