Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/438

Rh

393. Thompson, Recolls., 20-4, 147-52. London Times, Jan. 8, 1846. 13Ward, no. 58, confid., April 18, 1827. 13Pakenham, nos. 39, May 27 1836; 5, Jan. 25, 1841. 13Bankhead, no. 54, May 30, 1845. 13O'Gorman to Pakenham, Jan. 19, 1835. Pakenham, Nov. 23, 1834, separate 5 no. 8, March 8, 1835. 56W. S. Parrott, Oct. 11, 1845. 52Jones, June 1, 1837; nos. 168, Oct. 30, 1838; 252, May 5, 1839. Leclere in Revue des Deux Mondes, March 1, 1840, p. 638. 11French vice-consul, Mex., Aug. 19, 1829; Feb. 3, 1830. Tornel, Reseña, 288. Consideraciones, 6, 7, 12-4, 43,48. Memorias de. . . Relaciones, Jan., 1825; Feb., 1828; Jan., 1831; May, 1833; Dec., 1846. Memorias, min. of justice, 1833, 1835, 1845. Ward, Mexico, i, 337. 52Poinsett, no. 166. Constit. Cong. of Mex. Address. Liberal Moderado, Aug. 4, 1846. Mora, Obras, i, pp. clxxxviii. excvii. Löwenstern, Le Mexique, 109-16. Lavalles, Etudes, 31-3. Villar, Proyecto. Calderón, Life, i, 195, 340-2. Esparza, Informe. Memorías, min. of treas. . May, 1833; July, 1845. Memorias, min. of pub. instr., Jan., 1844; July, 1844; March, 1845. Macgregor, Progress, i, 637.

For a long time after 1821 only one slight attempt was made to improve the old judicial methods, and that was a failure. 11Vice-consul of France, Aug. 19, 1829: "Justice is so venal, that with money one could have the victim arrested and the criminal rewarded." In 1836 the British minister reported the opinion of an able Mexican lawyer that certain important court proceedings were nothing but "a conspiracy authorized and supported by judicial formulas, one more illegal than another." Mexican minister of justice, 1835: 'On all sides is heard a unanimous outcry against the bad administration of justice" (Memoria). At a public meeting, Aug. 13, 1846, Pedro Zubieta said: "What have been thus far the judiciary and the magistracy? A shameful market, in which those august names have put Justice up at auction" (Diario, Sept. 19). The gov. of Michoacán 76wrote, Nov. 28, 1845: I am unable to prevent some judges from favoring criminals. Alamán reported secretly to Congress in 1830: The tribunals ensure impunity to criminals (Pakenham, no. 25, Mar. 25, 1830). Ramírez, México, 225: Our magistrates are usually insignificant (hombrecitos), "vigorous to persecute, feeble to command, and incapable of serving as models of a just and severe impartiality." The reports of the American ministers and consuls were full of similar complaints. Once when our consul reminded the minister of foreign affairs that it was the constitutional duty of the Executive to have the laws faithfully administered, the latter replied, '"Yes, but it is impossible.' In 1838 France took strong ground against the miscarriages of justice in the Mexican courts.

The Lancastrian system of pupil helpers was tried in the schools; but it failed, for nobody understood it practically. The educational authorities gave ear to bright young men who had merely picked up a few ideas on the boulevards of Europe, and wasted their time in theorizing and making projects. We have become, said a thoughtful writer in March, 1848, the most persistent of charlatans, glad to talk on any subject without understanding it, and ready to try all sorts of theories, which vanish like smoke as soon as put into practice.

7. ''Industries, trade, means of communication. Revista Económica,'' Dec. 14, 31, 1843. Macgregor, Progress, i, 308, 670, 674. Ward, Mexico, ii, 3-170. México á través, iii, 18. London Times, Aug. 6; Nov. 11; Dec. 6, 1845. 52Thompson, no. 4, July 30, 1842. 13Ward, nos. 45, 99