Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/374

368 The stormy debate in Congress on the subject of the English debt, immediately preceding his retirement, will never be forgotten; when Salvator Diaz y Miron—only twenty-six years old—turned the tide of politics in the National Assembly, and aroused the people to a sense of the wrong and injustice to which they were called to submit. The students from the various colleges who had never before taken a part in politics, gathered into the Theatre Iturbide, and, hearing his burning words of eloquence, were enthused with the same spirit and patriotic zeal. This inaugurated a new departure in the politics of the country, and henceforth the brave and gallant youths of the Mexican republic were to become a power in the land, and eventually prove her lasting regeneration and redemption.

On the first day of December, 1884, at eight o'clock in the morning, with severe republican simplicity, General Diaz was again installed—as chief executive. The treasury was empty, the national credit at its lowest ebb, and the whole country groaning under the burden of her difficulties. But President Diaz was fully equal to the requirements of the situation, and, with the full confidence of the people, he again set himself to the task of repairing the injured ship of state, and setting her afloat in smooth waters.

Although beset by so many obstacles, he has proved his superior judgment and intelligence, and his thorough knowledge of the wants of his country. In this second administration she has progressed slowly, but steadily, in all that constitutes a nation's prosperity. Public education has received a stimulus before unknown, the arts and sciences are nurtured, business enterprises encouraged, and peace reigns within the borders of the republic. Knowing the importance of cultivating international good-will, the President is doing all in his power to encourage American enterprise and to insure the safety of life and property.

General Diaz is a man of the highest appreciation of those who have in any way served him during his many perilous adventures. One of the most thrilling of these occurred after the disastrous battle of Incamole, in the State of Tamaulipas, in 1877, when the forces