Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/453

* MEXICO. 415 MEXICO. America, and death to bad goTernment," marked tlif bcgiiiniug of the struggle lor Mexican inde- peiidencc. Hidalgo, after a series of successful tights with scattered Royalist forces, was defeat- ed, driven north, and finally eau*ht and shot at Chihuahua, on July 30, ISll. His pupil, ilorclos (q.v. ), took up the leadership, became known as the 'hero of a hundred Ijattles,' and was iu turn defeated by the Royalist army under Iturbide (q.v.), betrayed by one of liis follow- ers, and shot in December, 181.5. In 1817 Javier Jlina invaded ile.xico from Tamaulipas and maintained the fight for independence with the usual temporary success, until defeated, cap- tured, and shotj November 11th. Meanwhile, Vicente Guerrero (q.v.) had gradually been es- tablishing his claim to be the natural and most able leader of the Independents iu the field, while among all classes in Mexico the feeling was growing more and more strong that the Spanish power must be done awav with. Iturbide determined to unite the two parties, and by the Pluit of lijudhi. February 24. 1821, in which Guerrero and the S])anish Viceroy, O'Donaju, joined, proposed an independent monarchy with a ruler from the Spanish royal family. The plan failed; no ruler could be secured from Europe, but independence had been practically and peace- fully assured. Iturbide arranged a popular dem- onstration, and the Congress ratified his choice of himself as Emperor, May 19, 1822. The older Independents soon refused to acknowledge his empire, and on March 20, 1823, the opposition forced his resignation. An executive council of four revolutionary leaders, Nicolas Bravo, C4uada- lupe Victoria, Xegrete, and Vicente Guerrero, managed afTairs during the next year, calling for the election of a congress, which, on October 4. 1824, proclaimed the first Constitution of the Kepnblic of Jlexico. Guadalupe Victoria became the first President and succeeded in retaining office for the full term. In 1828 the election was bitterly contested by rival factions of Free- masons, and the successful party was almost immediately overpowered by its opponents, under Santa Anna, who forced Congress to depose the duly elected President. Gomez Pedraza, and install Guerrero. His Vice-President, Bustamente, forced him to take refuge in the South, before the end of 1829, and had himself inaugurated as President. The course of local politics during the next twenty years is sufficiently detailed luuler Sant. Anna, who had a hand in whatever oc- curred. In 1836 the Texans made good their separation from ilexico, and ten years later the t'nited States forces invaded ilexico. the task of its generals being rendered relatively easy by the repeated internal dissensions which absorbed most of the attention of the Mexican commanders. There were twelve changes in the chief executive during the two years of the war. a fact which sulficicntly exjdains the inability of the Mexi- cans, in spite of their admirable fighting quali- ties, to prevent the advance of the United States troops. In the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (q.v.) Mexico suffered heavy loss of territory. Santa Anna was the leading factor in affairs until August. 18.5.5. General Comonfort (q.v.) was installed as President in December, and in June. 1850. issued the decree ordering the sale of all unimproved Church lands, which precipitated the struggle between Church and State. On February 5, 1857, a new constitution, which is still in force, was adopted by Congress. In Jauuar}', 18.58, Comonfort, who had tried to set aside the Constitution, departed suddenly for the United States, and Cieneral Zuloaga and after him Juarez (q.v.) took the lead in affairs. 'La Refornia,' the war for reform of the Church, broke out with all the fury of religious warfare. Juarez, on July 12, 1850, issued his decree na- tionalizing all Church property. The battle of Calpulal|iam, iu December, 1800, with the de- feat of Miramon (q.v.) by the Juarez forces un- der General Ortega, marked the end of the old order of things. In addition to the difficulties of internal administration, Juarez brought foreign war on the country by decreeing the suspension for two years of the payments on the foreign loan. The act, wise and perhaps necessary in itself, was not managed with diplomacy, and on October 31, 1801, the Convention of London was entered into by England. France, and Spain, in xhich these Powers agreed upon connnon action for the protection of their interests in Mexico. Fleets were at once dispatched across the ocean, and in December a Spanish force occupied Vera Cruz. In February, 1802, England and Spain withdrew their forces, upon becoming aware that Xapoleon III. was scheming to establish an empire, supported by France, in America. On the departure of the English and Spanish troops the French came out openly against the Mexican Ciovernment and were joined by the Reactionists and Monarchists, who were natu- rally hostile to Juarez. On May 5, 1862. a French army of 0000 men under General Lorencez was defeated before Puebla (the famous Cineo de Mayo), and was compelled to retreat to Orizaba. In September the arrival of reenforcements raised the French strength to 12.000 men. In May, 1803, a combined force of French and Jlexicans captured Puebla, and marched upon the capital, which fell into their hands on .June 10th after Juarez and his Cabinet had fled. A council of thirty members was appointed by the French commander, Forey, and this council in turn elected a committee of three men to whom was intrusted the supreme executive authority. The most prominent of those who made up this Su- preme Coimcil of the Regency was General .Juan Xepomuceno Almonte (q.v.). On July 10th an Assembly of Notables at Mexico proclaimed Mex- ico an empire and tendered the crown to Maxi- milian, Archdidce of Austria, brother of the Emperor Francis .Joseph. (See Maximili., Febdinand Joseph.) ilaximilian accepted the crown on condition that the action of the Assem- bly of Notables be ratified by a vote of the Mexi- can people. As a French army of 35.000 was present in the country, there was little dilliculty in obtaining this. On May 29, 18(i4, Maximilian and his wife landed at Vera Cruz and on .June 12th the sovereigns entered the capital, taking up their residence at Chapultepec, where they estab- lished a court with all the regalia and forms of a European dynasty. In the field the French troops under Bazaine. who had assumed com- mand in October, 1863, gained a number of suc- cesses over the patriot forces, and drove .Juarez from place to place until he finally established his capital at El Paso del Norte on the United States border. In the desperate guerrilla war- fare which the Nationalist forces waged against the invaders a large part of the country was