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106 —Diaz Miron—ventured to oppose a scandalous proposition of the then President, Gonzales, for the readjustment of the claims of the English holders of the national bonds, he felt it necessary to preface his speech on the floor of the House of Representatives with words to the effect that he fully recognized that, in opposing the Administration, he probably forfeited all chance for future political preferment, even if he did not at once endanger his personal freedom. And such, probably, would have been to him the result, had not the students of the city of Mexico made the cause of Miron their own, and, by organizing and assuming the aggressive, forced the Government to quietly abandon its position.

The yielding of the Government was, however, but temporary; for, in the elections for a new Congress during the present year (1886), it has so ordered matters as to effectually prevent all antagonism to its measures—the Opposition of the last Congress, led by Miron and his associates, and which was regarded by many as so promising for a larger measure of independence and intelligence in Mexican legislation and politics, not having been able, it is understood, to elect a single member.

The present Constitution of Mexico dates back to 1857, with modifications down to 1883. The Mexican States are Independent, in the same