Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/636

616 new cabinet. This was not an easy task in times so critical, for he objected to any decided change of policy, and sought rather a conciliatory middle course, in which few of the prominent men had any confidence. Finally, the war portfolio was accepted by General Blanco, a well-known conservative and Santanist; and those of relations and justice by J. A. de la Fuente and Lodron de Guevara, one a moderate liberal, the other bent on extraordinary powers for the executive, but both influenced by the former. J. M. Urdiqui took charge of the finance department.

After giving so strong a majority to the new president, the chambers could not wholly ignore his demand for aid. Nevertheless, it was not without pressure that they conceded to the executive extraordinary powers for a period of three months. The resignation of Arista was avowedly to promote a peaceful solution; and with this intent Ceballos had also been installed. He accordingly released the political prisoners, issued an amnesty for similar delinquents, and invited the governors to assist in obviating hostilities and arriving at an arrangement, to which end he countenanced for the time the tariff changes at the gulf ports. But these and other measures were stamped with a vagueness and irresolution that repelled confidence and gave strength to the revolution, which was rapidly spreading southward in Oajaca, and from Querétaro northward as far as Chihuahua. Indeed, the movement had assumed a force which temporizing or partial concessions could not bend.