Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/409

Rh and sketches of the more prominent men with whom he had relations during his public life.

Juarez with his death bequeathed to his country the boon of peace. Opponents in arms laid them down, and placed themselves under the constitutional flag. He had ever an unfaltering faith in his mission. Old traditions he ignored; petty wrangles and temporizing policies he despised. Heeding only the dictates of duty, he opposed an iron will to the torrent of personal ambitions and party strife, to the wicked envy of a triumphant reaction, as well as of a foreign invasion. He saved the constitution of 1857 by taking into his hands the reins of government at the time that the allied clergy and army were endeavoring to destroy it. Without him the liberal party would have found itself without a leader, or even a cause to fight for. What would have been the fate of the republic, we might ask, if Juarez, the chief magistrate, without soldiers or resources, had faltered? Who would have taken up the struggle had he abandoned it? Indeed, in vain may we search history for a more wonderful example of human greatness and success — a poor, ignorant Indian boy, emerging from the wild mountains of Oajaca to link his name to some of the most radical reforms the American continent has ever witnessed.