Page:Mexico of the Mexicans.djvu/34

 18 Early in 1868 the feeling of insecurity assumed alarming proportions, robbery, kidnapping, and murder being of frequent occurrence. The year 1869 opened under more favourable auspices. liberal institutions were becoming more firmly rooted, the administration was reorganised, material improvements were pushed forward, and it was hoped that no further serious outbreaks would occur; but the hope was in vain. Revolutions broke out at Puebla and San Luis Potosi, and though both were suppressed, and the passing of "an amnesty law in October, 1870, tended for a time to restore order, the approach of the Presidential election again threw the country into a turmoil.

The choice lay between Juarez, Diaz, and Lerdo de Tejada as the principal contestants, and the votes were respectively and in the order mentioned 5,837, 3,555, and 5,874. It was provided, however, in the constitution that an absolute majority of the total vote must be given in favour of the successful candidate; and the Lerdists, siding with the Juarists, gave the election to the latter. The followers of Diaz protested against the legality of the choice, and threatened armed opposition; but their leader objected strongly to an appeal to arms, or even a display of force, directed against a former comrade and a patriot. Several of the States, however, took up the matter in earnest, and, as the chosen leader of the party, Diaz could no longer resist the movement. The banners of his supporters were unfurled in all directions, and once more there was civil war, in which many battles were fought, with varying success, among the victims being General Felix Diaz, brother of Porfirio, and a soldier who had already won repute during the campaigns against the French.

The seeming prosperity of Mexico before the late revolution was frequently quoted as a remarkable illustration of the possibilities accruing to a "beneficent tyranny." Since 1877, when President Porfirio Diaz was first entrusted with its destinies, the career of the Republic, both in its political and