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XXXV.

BENITO JUAREZ.

was restored, and with it revived commerce and industry; the coffers of government were full, thanks to the fifteen millions of pesos received from the United States to heal the wounds of war.

General Herrera took possession of the presidential chair, and Mexico, after twenty years of warfare, civil and foreign, took a respite of as many months.

Herrera became President on the 3d of June, 1848, and fulfilled the appointed time of office until January, 1851, when he handed over the control to his successor, when for the first time in the history of the Republic this change was effected without violence.

His administration was economical and moral, and so was that of his successor. General Arista, who continued the reform of the army, bringing order into the financial condition of the country. These two terms may be regarded as models of good government.

Before the close of Arista's term the Mexicans took up their old practice of pronouncing, and rather than create a disturbance, the President, finding himself unpopular, secretly retired from the capital.