Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/613

Rh this availed little, however, for he secured the election.

So ended the rule of Herrera. He was eminently a man of peace, with aims suited for the period of reaction following the excitement and calamities of 1846 -7, during which the people at large, sadder and for a time wiser, became intent mainly on rest and recuperation. The result was a gratifying revival of prosperity. Abundant harvests were reported from every quarter; the yield of the mines increased rapidly, and also the export lists, giving impulse to manufactures and traffic. A step was taken toward railway and telegraph construction, the first wires under such auspices making connection between Mexico and Puebla in 1851. Buildings rose, home comforts spread, and art, science, and literature began to flourish in a degree hitherto unparalleled, under the leadership of poets, dramatists, and thinkers like Carpio, Pesado, Galvan, the Lacunzas, Prieto, and Payno. This evidence of growing prosperity received an appropriate display in the first industrial exhibition held in the country, in imitation of European efforts. It was opened November 1, 1849, under the auspices of the municipal authorities at Mexico; and although limited for this occasion to horticultural products, including flowers, fruit, and vegetables, sweetmeats, and certain classes of plastic art, it proved highly successful, and beneficial in its effect. Unfortunately civil war and other troubles