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 to our independence; he who never despaired of the Mexican people, believing that alone and without foreign help they would reconquer their liberty and institutions, was the President of the Republic; and thanks to his tenacious and obstinate resistance at that time, we owe the failure of any international treaty between government and government, and of any contract with private parties for the purpose of bringing foreign forces to the Republic to follow the Constitutional banners. In the same manner he was opposed to the idea of loans if, in the contract to obtain them, there was to be any stipulation which would bring with them great international obligations.

«What we have just stated is proved by well known facts, and it is authentic and incontrovertible. Juarez was then blamed as obstinate and pertinacious by many of his friends, a charge that was repeated later on when, with the same tenacity, he refused to accept a reconciliation with the Church party and the mediation of foreign powers in the settlement of our internal questions. Two capital ideas were in the mind of the President: a scrupulous zeal for independence, for the nationality of his country and for the integrity of its territory, together with an unlimited confidence in the triumph of public opinion, and in the people, believing that of themselves they would recover their rights without the disgrace of foreign aid.

«We asserted that the President almost alone rejected the opinions which were then entertained by many members of the liberal party, and in saying so we give to each one his due. Many military chiefs declared that it was necessary to enrol foreign volunteers. Some others wished not only soldiers but also officers. Miguel Lerdo de Tejada and Governor Zamora participated in these ideas, which, we frankly confess, since we do not fear the responsabilityresponsibility [sic] for our opinions, were our own under those sad circumstances. In vain the President was entreated; in vain were proposed the most studied precautions to avoid any circumstances which might injure or impair the