Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/529

Rh put down all opposition, and intrenched himself in an impregnable position.

[A. D. 1877.] Previous to sallying forth from the capital to meet the troops of Iglesias, at Queretaro, Diaz named as second general-in-chief of the "constitutional" army, and Provisional President of the Republic, Senor Juan Mendez. Upon the return of Diaz from his northern expedition, his minion, Mendez, issued a call for a convocation for the election of president. The result was that General Porfirio Diaz was "unanimously" declared "constitutional President" of the Republic, on the second day of May, 1877.

The manner of his election cannot fail to bring to mind that Junta of Notables of the Church party, which appointed the Regency, which in turn confirmed in power the aforenamed Junta, which precipitated the French intervention.

The constant state of inquietude on the border, on both sides of the Rio Grande, excited in the minds of many Mexicans the fear that their neighbors of the United States meditated another invasion of their territory. But, notwithstanding the numerous outrages committed by lawless parties of both republics, and the necessity of sending our troops across the border to punish hostile Indians and cattle thieves, no serious complication resulted.

The last revolutionary chief who had vaulted into the presidential chair in Mexico was not at first recognized by the United States.

General Diaz at first experienced considerable difficulty in reorganizing his cabinet, and it was not until the admission of Matias Romero to the management of the affairs of the Hacienda—or public treasury—that anything like order was restored. The conservative party had not yet