Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/476

 470 Cruz for Havana. During several years he resided in Cuba, St. Thomas, Nassau, and the United States, constantly intriguing for a return to power in Mexico. We have not yet taken a final farewell of this man, who for forty years formed so conspicuous a figure in Mexican politics. Alvarez and Comonfort took possession of the capital, and in October, 1855, the former was elected president. He held this office but a few months, when, owing to the infirmities of age, and seeing symptoms of disaffection in the Liberal party, he resigned in favor of Comonfort, his minister of war. Formidable rebellions soon broke out against this liberal government among the officers of the great army revived by Santa Anna, and one of them at the head of five thousand men took the city of Puebla. Hastily assembling an army of sixteen thousand, Comonfort met the rebels and routed them, in March, 1856, and again in October of the same year. During this time he was only provisional president, but in December, 1857, he was elected constitutional president by a large majority of votes.

[A. D. 1857.] The year 1857 ushered in a period of Mexican history most critical, when the life of the nation hung in a balance. To understand the condition of things at the beginning of this period, and the causes for subsequent actions during the next fifteen years, we must recall some of the leading events since the year 1810, when Hidalgo of Dolores raised the cry of independence.

The Mexican revolution as a whole, writes a learned investigator, "involved three great events or proceedings: I. The throwing off of the yoke of Spain, and the maintenance of an independent organic existence. II. The overthrow of the ecclesiastical system at home, which, like the pall of Egypt, overshadowed the whole land. III. The construction of a new government on principles in harmony