Page:Mexico, California and Arizona - 1900.djvu/154



IT would seem that history in Mexico might be a somewhat confusing study; and so, in fact, it is. There have been fifty-four Presidents, one regency, and one Emperor, in fifty-six years, and a violent change of government with nearly every one.

Picking up the little volume by Manuel Payno, used in the schools, and opening it at random, I find— "Question.—What events followed?

"Answer.—Truly imagination is lost, and memory confounds itself, among so many plans and pronunciamientos; but we will follow the thread as best we can."

The period referred to is that of the revolt of Texas, which proceeded to constitute itself "The Lone Star Republic." Looking a little farther with interest to see how this is accounted for, we find:

"The settlers were North Americans, a portion, as we have said, colonized by Stephen Austin. They set up the pretext that they were not permitted to sell their lands, and, later, that the Federal Constitution had been violated; and they rose against the Government. The latter felt it necessary to put down the rebellion, and took measures to assail that remote and sterile State." These dispositions, as we know, ended in the defeat and capture of Santa Anna at San Jacinto. There is always a