Government of Mexico

“ There are twenty states in Mexico; these we should have first to initiate as territories. The governors, the magistrates, the justices, would all have to be appointed by the Executive, as in our own territories, made up of our own people, or from the same foreign stock as ourselves. We have, in this first formation of a government to take care of them, and they are glad of it; but when they reach the age of twenty-one; when they come to years of maturity, they come in among us our equals, and in all respects the same. Not so with Mexico. ”

“ A strong central government, arbitrary, almost despotic, in its character, rules Mexico. It is not always the will of the multitude that is expressed, but sometimes the will of a few. The railroads, telegraphs, improved methods of communication, are they actual evidences of the regeneration of Mexico, and of her sincere desire for internal improvement and external communication; or rather, are they the out-growth of that central system of government, which encourages all means of connection with remote provinces, in order that it may the more easily quell any incipient revolution? ”

“ The republic of Mexico, for such she has claimed to be, amid all the phases and changes in her political condition, has never possessed a firm or stable government since 1821, when she ceased to be one of the dependencies of the Spanish crown, except during the first presidency under the federal constitution. Her prolonged struggle for independence was not viewed with indifference in the United States. The government of the latter was the first to recognize her separate existence, and her battle fields were crimsoned with the blood of many an American citizen. ”

“ With him, beneath the thin veil of imperial power, Mexico would have been likely to feel the protecting warmth of a wise and kind father's love, supplemented by the best counsel which modern science and wisdom can lend to government; as it is, under the title of a republic, she is become the battle-ground for a host of needy partisans, greedy for gain, ambitious for power, and openly parading the worst vices of a military despotism under the stolen name of liberty. ”

“ As the period of reconstruction progresses, Mexican affairs will again assume importance not only in American international policy but in that of all the great powers. There must be created within the republic a government that can establish order, that will respect individual rights, put the great resources of the nation again at the service of those living within its borders, and enable it to contribute its due share to the maintenance of the family of nations. To make that possible all true friends of Mexico and all true friends of the United States must strive. ”

“ Until the army and the clergy were shorn of those special privileges which enabled them to bid defiance to constitutional authority the republic would be a failure. What Mexico needed was "a government of the people for the people by the people." This thought was embodied in the famous law for the administration of justice now known by the name of its Indian author—"the law of Juarez." The key-note of progress was struck on the passage of this bill by the Mexican Congress in 1857, and millions of the long-enslaved people of Mexico joined in the shout of joy with which it was received. ”

“ As might be expected from the existing conditions, the Government of Mexico—both Federal and State—although nominally constitutional and democratic, is not, and from the very nature of things can not be, other than personal, and is often in the highest degree arbitrary and despotic ”

“ It is manifest to all who have observed the actual condition of the Mexican Government for some years past and at present that if these Provinces should be retained by her she could not long continue to hold and govern them. Mexico is too feeble a power to govern these Provinces, lying as they do at a distance of more than 1,000 miles from her capital, and if attempted to be retained by her they would constitute but for a short time even nominally a part of her dominions. ”

“ If there is shown a genuine desire on the part of the Mexican government and Mexican people to have the help of foreigners in the development of the republic and if other states make clear to their investing citizens that conditions will not be allowed to arise in which they will find themselves harassed by legislation that will practically confiscate rights worthy of protection, this help, like that to the government itself, will be forthcoming on favorable terms. Mexico will again have the possibility of becoming a strong American state. ”

“ To Mexico the Executive is disposed to pursue a course conciliatory in its character and at the same time to render her the most ample justice by conventions and stipulations not inconsistent with the rights and dignity of the Government. It is actuated by no spirit of unjust aggrandizement, but looks only to its own security. It has made known to Mexico at several periods its extreme anxiety to witness the termination of hostilities between that country and Texas. ”

“ It is not necessary to review the history of the various constitutions of Mexico to show that there the fundamental law has outlined an ideal standard of action and not a rule for everyday observance. A comparison of the norm set by the constitution of 1857 under which the republic lived through all the orderly period of its existence with the practice of the government in the same period will illustrate the degree to which even in time of peace the observance of the constitution has continued to be an unrealized ambition. ”

“ The republican government of Mexico, since the time of the European intervention and subsequent establishment over the country of a monarchy which was recognized by all the powers of that continent, had been permitted to hold diplomatic relations solely with the republics of America, all of which, during the nation's struggle to shake off the foreign incubus, manifested at every opportunity their sympathy and wishes for the success of the republic. ”

“ The present government reflects in form the progress of all nations, and in spirit the troubled past of Mexico. Its constitution is modelled upon that of the United States, and in its present form was adopted in 1857. All persons born within the republic are free, and, if slaves, become freemen by entering it. Personal liberty, with its full significance, is guaranteed, including liberty of the press, "with this reservation, that private rights and the public peace shall not be violated." ”

“ Mexico, to-day, is a confederated republic of twenty-seven states, one territory, and one federal district, with a form of government modeled after that of the United States. The press is free, and religious liberty is complete in theory, and no one is molested for his political opinions. Commerce and labor flow on unmolested in regular channels, and the internal and external obligations of the country are being paid with regularity. ”

“ But, be the explanation what it may, it is greatly to the credit of Mexico, and one of the brightest auguries for her future, that after years of war and social and political revolutions, in which the adherents both of liberty and absolutism have seemed to vie with each other in outraging humanity, the idea of a constitutional government based on the broadest republican principles has lived, and to as large an extent as has perhaps been possible under the circumstances practically asserted itself in a national administrative system. ”

“ The criticisms of the government in the opposition papers were often lurid. Mexican journalism is nothing if not colorful. But active repressive measures were unnecessary as a rule because there was no active opposition. Peace had come, a peace that, laying its strong hand upon the people, took away from them the right of self-government, which they had used only to abuse it. Peace had come to bring to the country the longed for economic development that might make Mexico one of the leading countries of the New World. ”

“ His principal purpose is plainly to modernize Mexico. The twelve years from 1876, when he became president, until 1889, when his third term commenced, has proved to be the progressive age of the republic. He is of native birth, and rose from the ranks of the masses. The only opposition to his government is that of the church party, led by the Archbishop of Mexico, and supported by that great army of non-producers, the useless priests, who fatten upon the poor and superstitious populace. ”

“ Much of this territory acquired in 1848, especially New Mexico and California, had long been settled by the Spaniards. But the acquisition of it by the United States at once put an end to the old Mexican government, and made it necessary for Congress to provide new governments. There must be American governors, American courts, American judges, customhouses, revenue laws; in a word, there must be a complete change from the Mexican way of governing to the American way. ”

“ A FEW NOTES ABOUT MEXICAN PRESIDENTS.
Very few people outside of the Republic of Mexico have the least conception of how government affairs are run there. The inhabitants of Mexico—at least it is so estimated—number 10,000,000 souls, 8,000,000 being Indians, uneducated and very poor. This large majority has no voice in any matter whatever, so the government is conducted by the smaller, but so-called better class. ”

“ It is our interest not to absorb Mexico, nor to cripple her, but to aid her in establishing an independent and stable government, and developing her almost incalculable resources. We have territory enough, and need not covet the fair fields of Mexico. ”

“ The fact that there could be aroused within them a spirit of revolt against the conditions under which they lived was an indication of the possibility of awakening new desires, which, properly guided, may prove one of the means through which the economic life of Mexico may be transformed and the foundation laid for a new system of government more nearly approaching the democratic standards to which Mexico aspires. ”

“ Mexico must be saved from herself. What Mexico really needs is to be saved from the insignificant portion of her half-breeds who are causing all the trouble. They should not form the government at all. And yet they are the very ones who insist on forming it, and they cannot be eliminated by those who should form it, namely, the twelve million peons and the nearly three million peaceably inclined half-breeds. ”

“ Mexicans have not had cooperation from outside the country in political affairs and have indicated their unwillingness to accept it. If Mexico is to work out her own political salvation, as all her friends hope she may, a great responsibility rests on that small class which, by its wealth, social position, and education, is free from the limitations that surround the electorate as a whole. Orderly government has heretofore meant one-man rule in Mexico. ”

“ Such a series of unparalleled revolutions and changes of administration could not but attract the attention of all the world. As early as April, 1861, Secretary Seward, of the United States government, wrote to Mr. Corwin, our minister at Mexico: "For a few years past the condition of Mexico has been so unsettled as to raise the question on both sides the Atlantic whether the time has not come when some foreign power ought, in the general interests of society, to intervene to establish a protectorate, or some other form of government in that country, and guarantee its continuance there." ”

“ As a republic, its federal government has been without a policy, its administrations without stability, its finances without an exchequer; its armies unable to conquer abroad, or contend with foreign invaders at home; it has no navy; it is almost destitute of all the essential elements that constitute a people. True, Mexico has had great vicissitudes of fortune, with changes, frequent changes, and for the most part violent overthrows, of the federal rulers. ”

“ Through experience in self-government in the towns there may be built gradually the foundation of a new Republic of Mexico, a republic of greater stability and strength than the one that rested on economic advance alone. Whether Mexico can build such a state from its present population may be doubted even by the friends of Mexico but there can be little doubt that if it can be built, the foundation stones must be laid in the municipalities. ”

“ No feature of Mexican public life shows more clearly the lack of real self-government in the republic than the condition of the cities and towns during the Diaz régime. It is almost axiomatic that where a vigorous local public life is found there is good soil for the growth of self-governing institutions, the foundation upon which a strong and effective public opinion and public authority may be raised. Mexico has never enjoyed that blessing. ”

“ Even though a state has not a people who have risen to conditions that may make a true popular government possible, it may have a constitutional government if the small governing class is organized for expressing its own divisions of sentiment and disposed to respect the provisions of the constitution by abiding by the decisions so expressed. Mexico has not arrived at that status. ”

“ It is necessary to know, among other elements, the racial endowment of the people, the character of the governments under which they have lived, the obligations the government has assumed toward other nations and their citizens, the social and economic organization of Mexican society, the character of internal and foreign commerce, the development of transportation facilities, the position of those of other than Mexican nationality who have made the republic their home, and the relations of Mexico with other states, particularly its neighbors.
No state in our day lives unto itself alone. ”