Page:Young Folks History Of Mexico.pdf/544

538 the minister of public works, proving altogether unsatisfactory, a signed document was presented to the House impeaching ex-president Gonzalez for malfeasance of office and misuse of public funds, when, "upon its reception, and in the midst of wild confusion the House adjourned," the resolution being finally transmitted by Congress to the grand jury section of the legislative body. The real trouble, however, arose over the question of the powers of the executive in regard to the organization of the army, the opposition contending that the responsibility, properly speaking, was vested in Congress itself. A resolution was also submitted, which, if carried, would have repudiated the English debt. It was defeated overwhelmingly.

The prophesied diversion in the transportation of freight from ocean route to overland railway was now an accepted fact, the customs revenues at El Paso on the frontier having more than doubled since the completion of the transcontinental lines. Valuable concessions continued to be made to all companies actively engaged in the carrying trade, and substantial subsidies were offered to the Mexican and Atlantic Steamship Company to establish a regular and direct line of carriers between Vera Cruz and Buenos Ayres. The Tehuantepec ship railroad was also encouraged by a land grant of 2,500,000 acres and a guaranty of one-third of the net revenues for the first fifteen years. The predictions of Humboldt, published one hundred years before, seemed about to be verified. "Mexico," he wrote, "from its geographical and intermarine position is the natural bridge of the commerce of the world, which, even in itself, under careful cultivation