» Uliek R.Burke ir.i. Olnrnell IttioerBita ffiihtarg Utijata, Ntm ^atk BOUGHT WITH THE [NCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF HENRY W. SAGE 1891 Cornell University Library F 1233.J91B95 constitutional A life of Benito Juarez, 3 1924 020 429 696 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020429696 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ, .'V C, BENITO JURREZ, ^ien n\2rece figurar, al lado de los primeros heroes de la indepen- denria, el que coq indonable consiancia, valor civil sobre todo clogio, abnegacion y sufrimiealos de lode genero, salvo la misma independeacia A LIFE BENITO JUAREZ Constitutional President of Mexico. ULICK RALPH BURKE, M.A., Author of " A Life of Gonsalvo de Cordova," " Sancko Panza's Proverbs," Etc. REMINGTON AND COMPANY, LIMITED, LONDON AND SYDNEY. 1894. All Rights Reserved, PREFATORY NOTE. The following publications, constantly consulted by me in the course of my work, will be referred to as a rule under the abbreviated titles as here- after noted. I. —Le Comte Emil de Keratry. " L'Empereur Maximilien: son elevation et sa chute," i vol., Leipzig, 1867. [Keratry.] 2.—Le Comte Emil de Keratry. " La Cr6ance Jecker," i vol., Paris, 1868. IKeratry—Jecker.] 3. —Gustavo Baz. "Vida de Benito Juarez," i vol., Mexico, 1874. [^Baz-I 4.—Arrangoiz : "Historia de Mexico, desde 1808 hasta 1867," 4 volumes, Madrid, 1871. [Arrangoiz.] VI PREFATORY NOTE. 5. —Le Capitaine Niox. " L'Expedition du Mexique," i vol., Paris, 1874. [Niox.^ 6.—Paul Gaulot. " Reve d'Empire," i volume, Paris, 1889. [Gaulot—Reve.'] " ,, L'Empire de Maximilien," i vol. Paris, 1890. \_Gaulot—Maximilien.'] ,, "Fin d'Empire," i vol., Paris, 1891. [Gaulot—Fin.] 7.— " Correspondance de Juarez et de Montluc," I vol., Paris, 1885. [Montluc] 8.—E. Masseras. "Essai d' Empire au Mexique," I vol., Paris, 1879. [Masseras.] 9.—Prince Felix Salm-Salm. " My Diary in Mexico," 2 volumes, Bentley, 1868. [Salm-Salm.] [Note.—Volume II. contains the Diary of the Printess.J 10.—Emmanuel Domenech. "Histoiredu Mexique: Juarez et Maximilien : Correspondances in- edites, etc., etc.," Paris, 1868, 3 vols. [Domenech—Hist.] PREFATORY NOTE. VU II. —D. Vicente Riva Palacio, and D. Jose M. Vigil. " Mexico a Traves de los Siglos," 5 vols., Mexico and Barcelona, 1889. [Afmco.] 12.— " Directorio Estadistico de la Republica Mexicana." F. Navarro y Ca., Mexico., i vol., 1890. [Directorio.'] — — — TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. I. Introductory. 1810-1852 i II. Birth and Early Years of Juarez. 1806-1847 ... ... ... ... 46 III. Dismembered Mexico. 1847-1857... 61 IV. Usurpation. 1858-1859 ... ... 76 V. Restoration. 1859-1861 93 VI. Finance 122 VII. Agitation. June, 1861 January, 1862 141 VIII. Intervention. January, 1862 April, 1862 164 IX. War. April, 1862 October, 1863 i85 X. Maximilian of Hapsburg ... ... 215 XL A Sham Empire. May, 1864 August, 1865 234 — X TABLE OF CONTENTS. Chapter. Page- XII. Playing with Fire. August, 1865 —October, 1865 253 XIII. Paso del Norte. November, 1865 —July, 1866 270 XIV. Reconquista. 1866 282 XV. PoRFiRio Diaz 303 XVI. Justice 318 XVII. Judgment ... 335 XVIII. Conclusion. July, 1867 ^July, 1872 346 Index ... ... ... ... ... 361 Portrait of Benito Juarez ... Frontispiece. Map OF Mexico To face page 2i6o A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. CHAPTER I. Introductory.— 1810— 1852. For full fifty years of. this Nineteenth Century the name of Mexico was almost synonymous with disorder and disgrace. The home of sordid and never-ending revolutions, the prey of the most despicable adventurers, the cockpit of transatlantic swashbucklers, the country attained, even among other Spanish- American Republics, a pre-eminence of national abasement. Amid the struggles of military bravos for the 2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. control during a few days of an empty exchequer, and the plunder of a well-nigh bankrupt community, there was ever a recklessness in the conduct of those who found themselves in positions of national responsibility, unexampled in the history of civilised nations.''' A Mexican Bond was the type of financial worth- lessness, a Mexican General was the type of military dishonour, a Mexican Statesman suggested recklessness, instability and fraud. One of the master strokes of Enghsh policy in the earliest days of the existence of the new Republic (1823-5)' "^^^ the establishment of diplomatic relations with the infant nation ; and the dispatch of an accredited envoy from the Court of St. James to the Court of Mexico was hailed with acclamations on both sides of the Atlantic; Yet in future years diplomatic relations were fruitless, if not actually impossible ; not so much in that the Government of the Republic was faithless and shameless in its dealings ; but in that there was no Government with which it was possible to deal. An agreement concluded by the Minister of Mon- day was repudiated by the Minister of Wednesday, * Brantz Mayer " Mexico," II, i46-i_';o. From 1821 to 1868 there are said to have been three hundred pronunciamienlfos. A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. J after a sanguinary and apparently unmeaning revolution on the intervening Tuesday.* Under such circumstances international comity was impossible. But all this is now a matter of ancient history. When we say that things are made to move faster on the other side of the Atlantic than in the old home in Europe, we think, if we do not speak, of the United States of North America. But the change that has taken place in Mexico and its institutions within the last quarter of a century, is one of the most rapid as well as one of the most remarkable that is to be found in the history of nations, in the ancient or the modern world. For of all the revolutions that have taken place in Mexico, the most astounding by far is that which has been accomplished during the last fifteen years,, and is still in process of silent and hardly noticed development. Mexico now t enjoys a well settled Government, * From 1821 to 1853, Domenech ("L'Empire au Mexique" Paris, Dentu, 1862) gives a list of no less than 48 different forms of Government, which succeeded one another in the 32 years. The names of the various Presidents, Dictators, and other Chiefs, including one Emperor, are given, with the dates of their acquisition of and rejection from power. t A fair account of the social and economic condition of Mexico in the year 1893, will be found in the Revue de Deuit Mondes for 15th July, 1893, vol. cxviii., p. 305, in an article by Mr. Claudio Jannet. .4; A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. respected not only at home but abroad. Her envoys are to be found residing in all civilised countries. Her public obligations are punctually met. Her foreign and domestic credit is excellent. Nearly seven thousand miles of railway traverse her rich and fertile country. Her commerce is daily increasing. The worthy, the wise, and the industrious of all nations are welcomed and pro- tected by her rulers, as they help her to develop her vast and varied resources.* Religion is absolutely free. Education is encouraged and endowed. The army is kept in honourable subjection. Law reigns supreme throughout the country. This marvellous, this magnificent change could hardly be the work of So large a proportion of the French residents in Mexico have come from the valleys on the South Eastern Frontier of France, that the term Barcelonettes is commonly applied to them all. An article by Sefior Emilio Velasco upon the "Condition des Etranger au Mexique," printed in the Bulletin de la Societe de Legislation Comparee, for 1892, is also of great interest. * It could hardly be expected that public opinion in Europe should keep pace with the actual condition of things on the other side of the Atlantic. In a play that I saw this year at the Garrick, the villain of the piece, a fraudulent trustee and bankrupt speculator, has a good postinMexico awaitingthe moment when he judges it fit to decamp, quite as a matter of course. Posts in Mexico are not very commonly heard of in England now, and would, as a matter of fact, be no doubt eagerly sought by first-rate men of business in London, who were capable of performing the •duties attached to the position. A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 5'. one man. But one man contributed more than any- other to bring about this happy result.'-^' At the moment when things were at their worsts Benito Juarez, an obscure lawyer in a country town, the only man of pure Indian blood who has ever achieved for himself a reputation among the great leaders of the modern world, stood forth and shewed that one righteous man was yet to be found in Mexico. A diligent student, a trustworthy official, a just judge, a heaven-born administrator, he passed the first forty years of his life almost unknown in his native State, incorruptible, indefatigable, single- minded, seeking first, and above all things, to dO' his duty. * The great decline in market value of Mexican securities. of every kind in the Autumn of this year—1893—is due, not to any want of confidence in the stability or good faith of the Government, but tojhe fall in the price of silver, all the world over, and the possible effects of further complications upon a. country whose total exports consist in round figures of Silver—valued at.. .. .. .. .. $45,000,000 All other commodities . $3o,ooo,ooo. Total, say . $75,000,000- The honesty and vigour with which President Diaz has- faced the situation is worthy of all praise, and commands universal respect, and may be fairly appreciated by a perusal of his Presidential Speech on the opening of the Chambers, September i6th, 1893.