Second Mexican Empire

“ A new era is dawning in Mexico. The advent of railways is opening a wide field; her people are rousing from their slumber. The government is extending her protection over the poor as well as the rich classes, and rapid progress is witnessed on every side. The wealthy and powerful of the Mexican Republic owe it to themselves to let the spirit of freedom and independence find full growth in the bosoms of all, from the toiling peon on the hacienda to the wild, dark Indian in the fastnesses of his mountains. ”

“ He knew, of course, that the Mexican constitution made impossible demands upon the political capacity of the people. He was himself mainly of Indian blood and he believed that he understood the temperament and limitations of most Mexicans. Knowing how tenaciously they clung to political notions, he believed that it was safer and wiser to forego, at least for a time, real popular government and to concentrate power in the hands of a strong man who could maintain order. ”

“ The history of no civilized nation in modern times has presented within so brief a period so many wanton attacks upon the honor of its flag and upon the property and persons of its citizens as had at that time been borne by the United States from the Mexican authorities and people. But Mexico was a sister republic on the North American continent, occupying a territory contiguous to our own, and was in a feeble and distracted condition, and these considerations, it is presumed, induced Congress to forbear still longer. ”

“ If the Mexican people prefer a monarchy to a republic, it is our plain duty cheerfully to acquiesce in their decision and to evince a sincere and friendly interest in their prosperity. If, however, the Mexicans prefer maintaining their former institutions, we have no reason to apprehend any obstacle to the free exercise of their choice. The Emperor of the French has solemnly disclaimed any purpose to impose on Mexico a form of government not acceptable to the nation ”

“ Besides, there is danger, if our troops were withdrawn before a peace was concluded, that the Mexican people, wearied with successive revolutions and deprived of protection for their persons and property, might at length be inclined to yield to foreign influences and to cast themselves into the arms of some European monarch for protection from the anarchy and suffering which would ensue. This, for our own safety and in pursuance of our established policy, we should be compelled to resist. We could never consent that Mexico should be thus converted into a monarchy governed by a foreign prince. ”

“ It was not long that this quarrelsome people could live together without fighting amongst themselves, and ten or fifteen years after the founding of the city the two parties—the Mexicans and the Tlatelolcans—separated, the latter going to a still smaller island near the main one. The Mexicans, however, kept the god, and, though their neighbors were more progressive at first, were in the end triumphant. Though for a while each faction had a separate government and its king, the Mexican is the one that finally absorbed the other, and whose history we shall mainly follow. ”

“ In July of the following year the exiled emperor imprudently ventured to return to Mexico, but had hardly set foot on his native soil when he was arrested, hastily tried, and sentenced to be shot. Thus fell another martyr to Mexican independence, one who had done more than any other man towards the final severance from despotic Spain. Thus miserably perished the first Mexican emperor since the great Guatemotzin. ”

“ The treaty represents, indeed, its great misfortune, but does not involve perpetually ignominious stipulations, such as many another nation has submitted to at the will of a conqueror. The United States was in the wrong; all the world knows it, all honest American citizens acknowledge it. The Mexican republic lost a large portion of its territory, and with it many citizens, but retained its nationality and independence, with an immense extent of country, more than enough to render it happy and powerful in the future. ”

“ Ever fighting against the Mexicans, ever on the alert against surprise as they were, and successful in the defence of their homes, they had yet been unable to check Mexican progress, or to prevent themselves from being entirely surrounded and cut off from the sea. Hence, not strong enough to act more than on the defensive, they had been prohibited from trade with other nations, and had existed for many years without several articles that many people, term the necessaries of life. ”

“ The United States brought these things to Cuba and see the result, peace and prosperity without annexation and with complete autonomous independence for the Cuban people. Give the Mexican people the same chance, the same opportunity, a like period in which new institutions, new courts, new security, new sanitation come into being, and Mexico will show the same marvel of abounding progress. ”

“ The Gazette, a semi-official organ of the Austrian government, said, in August 1863, that in the autumn of 1861 both the chief and representative of the Mexican nonarchists, then in Paris, confidentially asked if, in the event of an initiative by France, with England's sanction, an Austrian archduke were invited to occupy the throne of Mexico, specially naming Ferdinand Maximilian, there would be good reason to apprehend a repulse. ”

“ The Mexican revolution,—like the revolutions of England, but unlike that of France,—was political rather than social. The great foundations of society were therefore undisturbed, and the priest and soldier took the ranks of the ancient privileged classes, whilst the mixed people and the native Indians remained what they had ever been—the subjects of government. ”

“ Up to the end of February—1885—no settlement had been reached, though Señor Romero Mexican minister at Washington, was confident of a pacific termination to the trouble. In the event of war there is little doubt that Mexico could concentrate 50,000 men [24] on the Guatemala frontier within a few days, and there could be but one ending to the embroglio, namely, the humiliation of the lesser republic, unless hostilities were averted by foreign intervention. [25]
Mexico assuredly contains within herself every element of prosperity ”

“ Subdued by the fierce assault of a handful of desperate adventurers, the history of Mexico, from the earliest period of its conquest, is one continuous record of oppression and cruelty on the one hand, of long and bitter suffering on the other. Deprived of its religious and customs, its priesthood and legitimate sovereigns mercilessly tortured and slain, its temples and institutions annihilated, its very history and traditions blotted out, Mexico, in the hands of the Spaniards, was rapidly transformed from a flourishing and independent empire into a huge province ”

“ To some extent it is true that the importance of the guild grew with the expansion of Mexican power, but it would be almost equally true to say that Mexican power grew with the extension of the merchants' sphere of operations. They acted in fact as the pioneers of Mexican political influence, they penetrated fearlessly into hostile countries either openly and armed, or disguised, and for this purpose learned the speech of foreign nations. ”

“ If Mexico had no other great charity than this, the fact of its existence, and that it has been allowed to carry on uninterrupted business through civil wars and changes of government, revolutions and counter revolutions, speaks volumes in favor of Mexican foresight and forbearance. ”

“ The internal dissensions that have heretofore distracted Mexico, and her failure to adopt the standard in progression as fixed by her neighboring republic, are some of the inevitables; and there is no remedy save time and perseverance on the part of reformers who are kindred spirits with the Mexican people. No foreign power need ever expect with ruthless hand to break down Mexican customs, laws, peculiarities and institutions. Such changes as are made must be made slowly. With the American idea of government in Mexico the worst evils would arise. ”

“ On the death of the second Emperor of Mexico, the republic again came into being; six presidents had controlled its destinies up to the assassination of Francisco Madero and the assumption of the executive power by Victoriano Huerta. Porfirio Diaz, who ruled from 1877 to 1911 gave Mexico a stability that it never possessed before or since.
More than 300 successful or abortive attempts at revolution are recorded during the stormy life of Mexican independence. A confusion 159of empires, republics, dictatorships and military usurpations have succeeded each other with bewildering rapidity. ”

“ Provoked by the anarchy which has so long existed in Mexico, American writers, and writers of other countries, have sometimes contrasted the condition of that nation with the order that prevailed there during the Spanish ascendency, and it is not uncommon to hear Americans say that the worst thing that ever happened to the Mexicans was the overthrow of that ascendency. They forget that the causes of Mexican anarchy were of Spanish creation, and that it must have exhibited itself, all the same, if Mexico had not achieved her independence. ”

“ Now Mexico has a standing army larger than that of the United States. They have a military school modelled after West Point. Their officers are educated and, no doubt, generally brave. The Mexican war of 1846-8 would be an impossibility in this generation.
The Mexicans have shown a patriotism which it would be well if we would imitate in part, but with more regard to truth. They celebrate the anniversaries of Chapultepec and Molino del Rey as of very great victories. The anniversaries are recognized as national holidays. ”

“ Priests and monks were now in love with Mexican independence. Church property had been confiscated in Spain, and there was good reason to fear that the vast estates, jewels, money and plate of the Church in Mexico would soon go the same way if the ties which held the two countries together were not sundered. Indeed, the Spanish Cortes had already commanded the Mexican prelates to disgorge their ill-gotten gains. It may well be supposed that Iturbide's response to the viceroy's orders aroused the slumbering hopes of every revolutionist in the land. ”

“ They took no part in the partisan revolutions which so constantly agitated the central portion of the Republic, but in 1832, jealous of the centralization of Mexican power as against the rights of States, rose in arms against the scattered Mexican garrisons. ”

“ Hence a lack of depth and earnestness which is revealed to the world in the inconsistencies of the government, with its additional traits of conceit, bombast, and irresolution — all tending toward those weak and half-way measures that have promoted anarchy. The Mexican — the mestizo being now dominant and representative — has remained in a state of adolescence, as indicated by his capricious, thoughtless, and even puerile traits. While tenderly susceptible, he can be ferociously cruel ”

“ Perhaps one revolution more or less in Mexico wouldn’t make much difference, but the United States is bound to protect its neutrality and not permit the various factions of Mexican banditti to carry on their operations or to enlist men on our soil. No actual or would-be Mexican leader has as yet displayed sufficient patriotism to subordinate his personal ambitions to the welfare of his country. ”

“ Santa Anna's army and the thieving guerillas, for over fifty days and nights. The Mexicans claimed to be a Republic Government, but it is no Government of any progress or advancement; its history is full of war and bloodshed, superstition and arrogance, revolution upon revolution, and anarchy holds sway. There is constant discord among the people, and are only happy when their land is drenched with human blood.
The city of Mexico is built in the great fertile valley of Mexico, and the regularity, breadth and cleanliness of the streets, and the extent of the squares and public buildings ”

“ Here in turn the warring factions of Mexico fight for the privilege of protecting and taxing the developing properties about Tampico. Here the new order meets the old. The native Mexican, more than two-thirds the population of the country, gladly accepts the extended helping hand. The Anglo-Saxon, the European and the American, are welcome throughout Mexico. "Gringo" is only a border term.
What, then, is the Mexican problem? It is the problem of one civilization and one order, one rule and procedure, in contact with another civilization, another order, procedure and morality. ”

“ Besides this, life, has not the same value to a Mexican as to an American warrior, for the objects and hopes of their lives are incapable of comparison. One lives for practical liberty and progress, the other's existence is a mere strife for bread under military despotism. A Mahomedan fatalism—derived, perhaps, from his Moorish kindred—tinges the nature of a Mexican, and the impulsive blood of a tropical climate subjects him almost exclusively to his instincts. Hence Spanish wars have been long and sanguinary butcheries, while their civil dissensions are the feted ferment of corruption. ”