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Rh support of his former enemies, the Juaristas, and consequently failed to surround himself with devoted partisans.

On the 1st of April the president delivered his address on the opening of congress, speaking in most flattering terms of the prospects of the country. The principal topics of his discourse were the relations with the United States with regard to the settlement of mutual claims, the reduction of railroad tariffs, the development of telegraphs, and the question about the district of Tepic. As early as 1867, Juarez had, on the submission of the insurgent leader Manuel Rivas, formed a military canton out of that portion of Jalisco subject to the federal government; and in 1869 it was proposed to the legislature of Jalisco that Tepic should be raised to the position of an independent state. This proposal met with decided opposition, and Tepic continued to remain in its abnormal position, although certain deputies in congress, from time to time, demanded its restoration to the state of Jalisco. In March 1873 the government of Jalisco inquired of the federal government if it could organize the ayuntamientos and appoint officials in the district. The reply was, that Tepic was a military federal district, and would remain such until the congress decided otherwise. Lerdo, in his discourse, adhered to this decision, and during April the question was warmly discussed in the house, and the action of the government severely commented on. At that time the subjection of Tepic had been all but accomplished; and the government's refusal to restore the district to Jalisco laid it open to the charge of evasion, and of temporizing on a matter of vital importance, namely, the integrity of the states. The segregation of Tepic and its permanent conversion into a military district would be unconstitutional; nevertheless, this appeared to be the object of the government.