Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/696

676 It is unnecessary here to speak at length of his services in the field and council, after the adoption of the plan of Ayutla; suffice it to say that the triumph of that measure was in a great measure due to him

The temporizing disposition of the new president did not blind, him to the necessity of upholding the measures of Alvarez, and of acting in accord with the spirit of the revolution. Two days after assuming the reins of government he appointed his cabinet, whose members gave assurance that a true spirit of liberty, order, and integrity would influence every act of the administration; that an enlightened democratic reform and the advancement of the country's general interests would result from their labors. The ministers were: Luis de la Rosa, of foreign relations; Ezequiel Montes, of justice and ecclesiastical affairs; Manuel Siliceo, of fomento; José María Lafragua, of interior relations; Manuel Payno, of the treasury; and José M. Yañez, of war and marine.

The chief points of the policy outlined by the ministers were: no dismemberment of the national territory; avoidance of civil war by prudent and conciliatory measures, appealing to physical force only in the last extreme; a constituent congress to be convoked at once to frame the constitution, and in the