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566 would only open the door for wider encroachments, and refused even to listen to it.

Finding their suggestions unappreciated, and without means to carry out the task intrusted to them, the finance ministers entered office and resigned in rapid succession, and it became difficult to induce any prominent and able man to accept a position so troublesome and thankless. In the ministries of relations and justice there were only four changes during the two years and a half of Herrera's administration, Lacunza, well known as lawyer and writer, holding the former portfolio for nearly two years, while General Arista, of whom the president stood in awe, retained the war department during the whole period, and used its resources with great success and for his own advancement, as will be seen.

In the proposed reorganization, the military department received an attention corresponding to its economic and political importance. At the close of the late war a general outcry rose against the army for its inefficiency, so utterly out of proportion to its enormous cost, its pompous assumption, and its readiness to create local disturbances and revolutions. What a contrast to the body of well-trained soldiers and