Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/515

Rh After the counter-revolution of Gen. Salas in 1846, the state of Oajaca resumed its sovereignty, and a junta of the principal citizens put the executive power into the hands of a triumvirate, composed of Jose Maria Arteaga, Fernandez del Campo, and Juarez, which lasted till the restoration of the federal constitution of 1824. Arteaga was chosen governor, and Juarez sent as delegate to the constituent congress, where he supported with vigor the liberal policy of the acting president, Gomez- Farias, and helped to negotiate a loan on church property to defray the expenses of the war against the United States. When Santa- Anna dissolved the congress at the end of the year, Juarez returned to Oajaca, and, as Arteaga had resigned, he was elected in 1847 constitutional governor.

During the war with the United States he took energetic measures for the national defence, and after the destruction of the Oajaca division under Gen. Leon at Molino del Rey, raised new forces, and in a few days forwarded three battalions and a field-battery to the seat of war. After the occu- pation of Mexico by the U. S. forces Santa-Anna appeared with an escort at Tehuacan, intending to go to Oajaca : but Juarez, fearing his schemes, sent orders to Teotitlan to prevent his passage, and after a short time Santa- Anna abandoned the presi- dency. In 1849 Juarez was re-elected governor for three years, and soon Oajaca became under his administration the model state of the federation. He introduced many reforms and managed the finances so honestly and skilfully that he antici- pated all the contributions to the national govern- ment, liquidated the state debt of eighteen years' standing, and on retiring from office in August, 1852, l«ft in the treasury a casli surplus of $50,000. He was then elected director of the Institute for science and arts, and resumed the practice of law : but when, in consequence of the revolution of Jalisco, Santa-Anna returned to power in April, 1853, one of his first acts was to revenge himself on Juarez by ordering his arrest, imprisonment in the castle of Ulua, and final expatriation.

Juarez remained for two years in Xew Orleans, suffering great privations ; but when he learned of the favorable progress of the revolution of Ayutla against Santa-Anna, he joined Gen. Alvarez, the commander of the revolutionary forces in Acapulco, in July, 1855, and followed him to the capi- tal. When Alvarez was elected president on 4 Oct., he appointed Juarez minister of justice and religion, and the latter proposed and procured the passage of a bill for the abolition of the special clerical and military courts, under which the clergy and the army had practically enjoyed im- munity from the laws for a long time. When Comonfort succeeded Alvarez as president, 11 Dec, 1855, fearing Juarez's influence, he appointed him governor of Oajaca, in order to remove him from the cabinet. Here Juarez improved education and finances, sanctioned the civil and criminal code, and in September, 1857, was elected by an over- whelming majority constitutional governor. But at the same time he had been chosen at the general elections president of the supreme court of justice, which, according to the new constitution, is equiva- lent to the vice-presidency of the nation. In Oc- tober, Comonfort was forced by the voice of the Liberal press to appoint Juarez secretary of the in- terior, and his presence in the cabinet was almost the only support of the president, whose conservative inclinations had already begun to cause suspicion. When the latter finally joined the church party, and the revolt of Tacubaya began on 17 Dec., Juarez, who tried to preserve order, was imprisoned in the government palace. But the revolutionists did not recognize Comonfort's authority, and the latter tried too late to obtain the support of the Liberals by setting Juarez free on 11 Jan., 1858. After the occupation of Mexico by Miramon and Osollo, Comonfort retired to Vera Cruz and Juarez to Guanajuato, whence he issued a manifesto on 19 Jan., assuming the executive in virtue of his office as chief justice, and formed a cabinet, his government being recognized by the states. Un- able to oppose the reactionary forces, he had to transfer the seat of government first to Guada- lajara, then to Colima, and finally, by way of Pana- ma and New Orleans, to Vera Cruz, where he arrived, 4 May, 1858. Here, protected by the troops under the governor, Gutierrez Zamora, he installed his government, which was recognized by the United States in April, 1859, and on 12 and 13 July of that year he issued laws abolishing relig- ious orders and confiscating all church property for the benefit of the nation.

After the final defeat of Gen. Miramon, Juarez entered the capital on 11 Jan., 1861, and in the general elections of March was chosen constitu- tional president over Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. In consequence of the law that was sanctioned by congress, 17 July, 1861, ordering the suspension for two years of payments on account of the foreign debt and of the diplomatic conventions, the alli- ance of intervention was signed in London on 31 Oct. between England, France, and Spain, and on 8 Dec. the allied forces reached Vera Cruz. But Juarez sent Manuel Doblado to treat with the foreign plenipotentiaries in La Soledad, and by his promise to protect the interests of foreign debtors obtained the rupture of the tripartite convention at Orizaba. 9 April, 1862, and the British and Spanish forces evacuated the country, while France, under the pretext of protecting French residents, declared war against Juarez on 16 April. After the capture of Puebla by Gen. Forey, 17 May, 1863, the Republican government dissolved con- gress, and evacuated the capital on 31 May, and Juarez, on 10 June, established his government in San Luis Potosi. He was obliged to retire before the advancing French troops on 22 Dec. to Saltillo; but being informed that the governor of Coahuila and Leon, Santiago Vidaurri, was treating with the French, Juarez went to Monterey. He was not recognized by Vidaurri, who offered armed resist- ance ; but, not being sustained by the citizens of those states, the latter had to fly to Mexico, and Juarez established his government in Monterey. On 15 Aug. he had to retreat from that city before the imperialist forces under Gen. Quiroga. and after some detentions at Viezca, Mapimi, and Na- zas, to organize the rest of the Republican forces from the states of Zacatecas, Durango, and Chi- huahua, he arrived in the latter city on 12 Oct. He had at last to withdraw from Chihuahua, 5 Aug.. 1865, and on the 15th of that month, accom- panied by twenty-two of his most trusted friends, who were afterward called in Mexico the " immacu- lates," he established his government on the U. S. frontier in Paso del Norte.

Meanwhile, Juarez's term of office having ex- pired on 30 Nov., Gen. Gonzalez Ortega, as nominal president of the supreme court, which place he had practically abandoned long before, claimed the executive power; but Juarez, foreseeing the disastrous effects of a change of government under such circumstances, declared his term of office ex- tended until constitutional elections in time of peace could take place, and was sustained by the few Republican authorities that remained in the