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58 dashing tactics more than once threw them into confusion; and the French at Puebla, where Diaz won his reputation as a military leader, were shattered by Mexican élan on the glorious Fifth of May.

The Mexican Navy consists of 10 small vessels, including a steel training cruiser, 2 old unarmoured cruisers, 2 unarmoured gun-boats, and 5 small modern gun-boats, with a personnel of about 1,000 men. There are naval schools at Campeche and Mazatlan. Mexico has little need for a navy at present, and what she has may be described as a nucleus rather than a force.

The educational system of Mexico has been reorganised on modern lines. In the old days the schools were under ecclesiastical rule—by no means a desideratum. Colleges were founded so early as 1530, and in 1553 the University of Mexico came into being. This institution, however, never achieved a position compared to that of the greater South American Universities, but, this notwithstanding, education continued to flourish in Mexico; and when at last the Spaniards were expelled from the country, increased efforts were made to introduce educational reform. Matters were, however, still under the discipline of the Church, and it was found that for this reason but little could be achieved. The subjects taught in those earlier days were, for the most part, Latin rhetoric, grammar, and theology, which curriculum was supposed to furnish the student with a liberal education. In 1833 the usefulness of the University of Mexico became doubtful, its labours were suspended, and in 1865 it passed out of existence. After the overthrow of Maximilian, its place was taken by a number of individual colleges, institutions of law, medicine, and engineering being founded in 1865, and proving much more suitable to the modern requirements of the country. Good schools, too, began to spring up in the provinces; and in 1874 there were no fewer than 8,000 of these, with an attendance of 360,000 pupils.