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20 and the secretary were unceremoniously treated by the owner of the baths, as well as by a mob, for their pompous assumptions. He asserted that certain public officers, though knowing his diplomatic position, had refused to extend to him the proper recognition. Whereupon he called for the peremptory punishment of the officers and others concerned. The whole affair was ridiculous, and the Mexican government could not accede to the preposterous demands. The press ridiculed Cyprey's pretensions. He then picked a quarrel with one of the alcaldes of the capital, to whom he attributed the writings, and on being required to give satisfaction on the field of honor, which he had promised to do, found a pretext to back out of it. Finally, not obtaining what he had insisted on from the government, he demanded his passports, which were sent, and he left the country.

The secretary of the treasury could discover no way of obtaining the much needed resources, unless it was that of farming out the yield of the maritime customs at $400,000 monthly, and if this sum could not be got, then a forced loan every month must be resorted to. The merchants represented to the minister that his plan was not feasible, and therefore he must find some other means. The difficulties induced the permanent committee of congress, of which Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada was chairman, to call an extra session of the chamber, the ordinary one having been closed on the 31st of July. Congress met on the