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402 he could hold his own for life, and reduce all the factious elements in the Republic to order, if he had a treasury even moderately well supplied, so as to enable him to pay the army regularly, and keep the civil employes of the government beyond the reach of want and constant temptation.

But there is the great trouble. Señor Don Matias Romero, the Minister of Hacienda, (i. e. Secretary of the Treasury,) is probably more obnoxious to the violent opposition faction in Congress than any other man in the cabinet, and Congress, with a stupid blindness to the good of the country, obstinately persists in defeating all his iniciatives, utterly crippling the Government, and paving the way for endless disorder, misery, and confusion, by depriving the treasury of all its sources of supply. Whether any improvement in the condition of things would result from a change of ministry is doubtful. Romero seems to have done all that any man can do, to repair the finances, and bring order out of disorder.

Meantime, the Government has on its hands any amount of work in putting down brigandage, and suppressing the pronunciamentos, which though thus far detached and disconnected, are constantly breaking out in all parts of the Republic. No sooner is one put down than another—generally originating in local causes but none the less dangerous on that account—breaks out at some distant locality. So long as the troops are paid they will support the Government, faithfully, and they have certainly shown great efficiency, and accomplished much within the past two years. But when the point is reached—if it ever is reached—that the administration cannot provide means to pay the troops, then