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Rh in 1874 and 1875 afforded an opportunity to devote its attention to the duties of administration, and various constitutional changes were effected. Besides the passage of the reform laws already mentioned, a bill for the establishment of the chamber of senators was brought before the house, and passed November 6, 1874, to take effect September 16, 1875. On December 1, 1874, a stamp-act was passed, substituting the use of stamps for the 'papel sellado,' the rates of which, while they increased the revenue, were burdensome to the people. This act was amended, with some relief to the public, in March 1876.

In 1874, also, diplomatic relations were renewed with European powers, and ambassadors were sent to Paris and to the courts at Madrid and Berlin. Friendly relations with Great Britain were still interrupted, previous differences being further aggravated by the belief that the inroads of Indians into Yucatan, if not instigated by the authorities at Belize, were to a great extent owing to the unfriendly attitude of the British colony. During the commencement of this year a treaty was entered into with Italy for the extradition of criminals.

Owing to the religious uprising in Michoacan and the disturbed state of Querétaro, Guanajuato, and Jalisco, the president, in April 1875, asked congress to invest him with extraordinary powers in matters