No. 274.
Mr. Nelson to Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Mexico, December 4,
1871. (Received January 2.)
No. 482.]
Sir: On the 1st instant, President Juarez
entered upon his new presidential term. The inauguration took place in
the chamber of deputies, in the presence of a considerable majority of
the members of congress, the diplomatic corps, and a large concourse of
people. It was noticeable that the partisans of General Diaz in congress
were absent, while the friends of Mr. Lerdo answered the roll-call. The
President, upon entering, was enthusiastically received. After taking
the oath of office, he delivered an address, a printed translation of
which is inclosed, (A.) Don Alfredo Chavero, the president of congress,
responded on behalf of that body. A copy of his address is also
inclosed, (B.) These addresses, it will be perceived, are replete with
patriotic sentiments, and are hopeful and buoyant in tone. At the
conclusion of the ceremony, the bells of the cathedral were rung, and
one hundred guns were fired in the plaza in front of the palace, while
the national flag was raised upon all the public buildings. The flags of
the different legations and consulates in the city were also displayed.
At night the grand plaza and many public and private buildings were
illuminated. Contrary to the general expectation, nothing occurred to
mar the peace and harmony of the occasion.
In the afternoon, with the other members of the diplomatic corps, I
[Page 366]
called upon the President, and
congratulated him upon his re-inauguration, and expressed the earnest
desire of the Government of the United States for the speedy and
permanent establishment of peace, and the progress and prosperity of the
republic. The President returned his thanks, alluded to the cordial
relations existing between our respective governments, which would be
strengthened and continued during his administration, and expressed the
utmost confidence in the speedy restoration of peace throughout the
country.
I am, &c.,
[Inclosure A.]
Speeches of the President of the Republic and President of the
Mexican Congress, at the inauguration of the new presidential term,
December 1, 1871.
Citizen Deputies: On protesting before the
congress of the union the loyal and patriotic fulfillment of the
difficult trust conferred upon me, for a new constitutional period,
by the election of the people and their legitimate representatives,
I comprehend the immense responsibility that is about to weigh upon
my conscience. Even under circumstances less hazardous, this trust
is accompanied by a compromise of exceeding gravity, on account of
the struggle, which has to last for sometime, in our country against
the elements hostile to peace, order, and democratic institutions.
But when to these ordinary difficulties are added those which arise
from so threatening a rebellion as that which has just broken out,
the responsibility I now accept would completely overwhelm my spirit
if I did not, as I do, firmly believe that my most powerful support
will be the good sense of the nation, so anxious for peace, and the
dominion of the laws it has sanctioned.
Ever since the glorious conquest of our independence, our country
appears to be consuming itself in unfruitful struggles, which have,
notwithstanding, revealed at times the instinct of the people
contending to shake off ancient prejudices, in which were entailed
the interests of privileged classes. At last a complete victory was
gained over these interests, and the principles proclaimed by the
revolution of Ayutla and the laws of reform were established. At the
same time the constitution which now rules us was secured, and with
it the cardinal principle of all political organization, that of
legality—that of subjection to the will of the people expressed in
the only way founded by that people. It was in vain, therefore, that
the vanquished interests leagued together, and, in a struggle of
three years, endeavored to destroy the principle of legality
conquered in union with that of reform. In vain they prolonged a
fratricidal war; neither that desperate effort, nor the foreign
assistance to which they appealed, were sufficient to overthrow so
precious a conquest. In spite of the war from abroad, and of the
usurping administration to which it gave origin, the legal tradition
established since 1857 has been faithfully pursued.
This circumstance, more than any other, has constituted the moral
force of the government, before which all the aspirations and all
the political passions, in their highest effervescence, have fallen
to the ground. This has been the emblem of peace and of order in
midst of all the disturbances that have arisen; the anchor of
salvation in the storm that menaced the national independence. To
this it is owing that, at the present time, in the field of
international rights and discussion, we can sustain, without fear of
reply from friends or enemies, that the acts of the administration
founded by the invaders are void of obligation on the part of the
nation, because the existence of the lawful government was never
interrupted for one moment. And this conquest, the most important of
all, without which all the others, would be ephemeral, is that which
the concoctors of the rebellion now threatening us pretend to
sacrifice. Once again, with the greatest possible efforts, gathering
together all the elements of evil and private discontent, reuniting
all the force of disorder and crime fomenting in our society, the
militarism of former times raises its flag against the standard of
legality—the sacred standard that has saved the republic in its
greatest dangers. Their object is to demolish the work that has been
consolidated in fourteen years of immense sacrifices, and bring us
back to the period when a revolution only signified the change of
the individuals in power, leaving the field open to other aspirants
equally fortunate. Their promises are as flattering as those of all
the leaders of sedition, and, for the sake of ridicule, they invoke
the reigning constitution, confessing that they intend to
reconstruct it by arbitrary means.
Such is, citizen deputies, the seditious movement which has broken
the public peace;
[Page 367]
and such
will be in their principal tendencies, all those that, with
whatsoever pretext, may rely upon the force of arms, thereby
audaciously pretending to interpret the will of the people against
that which is laid down by its legal organs. No precedents, no
patriotic services can ever suffice to justify so sad an error; the
nation will always condemn it as a crime; because, if the good sense
of Mexicans has progressed in anything, after their long and painful
experience, it is in comprehending the preference of national
institutions and interests over the merits of those men who have
once served them.
To sacrifice order, and freely-adopted laws to the plans, more or
Jess illusive, of one man, meritorious as he may be supposed to be
would be to plunge us in an unlimited anarchy; to completely ruin
all the elements of prosperity in the country; to destroy, perhaps
forever, our reputation in the world, and hereafter compromise our
independence itself.
Now that we are threatened with these evils, the inevitable
consequence of new disorders, if they are not promptly repressed;
now that all that is most sacred to society is in danger, it is,
without doubt, the first and preferential duty of the executive with
all possible promptitude to re-establish peace and order wherever
they may be found to have been interrupted, preventing by every
means in its power that such interruption should spread over other
parts of the republic.
The solemn protest under which I have just bound myself before you,
citizen deputies, imposes upon me this duty above all others; and I
shall endeavor to fulfill it without sparing any effort, even
subordinating to it, for the moment, other necessities of the
executive, notwithstanding; and as far as the primary exigency of
pacification will permit, I shall take care that none of the
requirements of public service shall be neglected. My principal
ideas respecting its different branches are known; and indeed I had
the honor of declaring them to this present congress on the opening
of the sessions, alluding to various matters under discussion or to
be presented to the assembly. It would be useless to enter into new
details upon those matters undoubtedly of vast importance, but the
interest of which is subordinate to the re-establishment of peace
and the salvation of our institutions from the danger that threatens
them. The first thing is to attend to the removal of so immediate a
danger, and afterward, without loss of time, to occupy ourselves in
cementing certain advances laboriously attained in matters of
adminstration and in realizing several reforms that are
indispensable for the future.
In the arduous task I am about to undertake, commencing by repressing
a sedition which, if prolonged, would be of incalculable
consequences to the republic, I count, citizen deputies, on your
patriotic and enlightened co-operation. When the people see their
most precious interests in imminent danger, it appears to me
impossible that their representatives should fail to co-operate
efficiently in saving them—impossible that they should fail to
assist the executive in this endeavor, when it is bound to defend
order and the laws whenever they are seen to be abruptly menaced by
force.
All, and each of you, with the elevated character of representatives
of the people; all and every Mexican, no matter what may be your
opinions and antecedents, shall have the way free to assist the
administration in its difficult undertaking, and the services you
may render in behalf of the country will be received with sincere
gratitude, and with that spirit of fraternity that ought to prevail
among good citizens. Such will be the conduct of the executive, for
such is its unquestionable duty; and solely in this manner shall I
be enabled to fulfill the obligations “that I have now taken upon
myself, pledging my honor and conscience before the representatives
of my country.
[Inclosure B.—Translation.]
Reply of the president of the chamber, Alfredo
Chavero.
Citizen President: The solemn act of your
protest in the moments of the rebellion taking up arms against our
fundamental charter, attempting to destroy it with the saber, is the
most energetic manifestation that the country could make that the
time has passed when the destinies of the republic could be decided
on the field of battle. To-day the people, lovers of the
institutions that have cost them so much blood, resolve their future
in the field of the law.
It has been fortunate that, after so many years of disturbances and
tumults, which have always given a spurious origin to our
governments, we have separated from so bad a course, with the
constitution of 1857 as our guide. You, who had taken this as your
banner, on proclaiming reform against the retrocession of reaction,
and on sustaining the justice of our independence in the face of
traitors and the armed intervention, know better than others that
there now exists no other road to reach power than that of the legal
path. For this reason the republic rejoices to-day, because it sees
that you receive the power not from the law of force, but from the
force of the law.
When any one of those leaders has occupied the presidency, by opening
their road
[Page 368]
by the edge of
the sword, he has presented himself bestained with blood and
accompanied by the groans of his victims; but when that position is
reached by the solemn and pacific vote of the people, the one
elected carries with him the blessings of his fellow-citizens. The
first presents himself in the palace, as in an encampment; the
second, as in a temple.
Before this spectacle—before this solemn manifestation of the vote of
the republic—what are rebellions worth? How can they last, if the
breath of the national will dispels them as if they were the
fantastic creations of the mist?
Evil, which will always endure up to the last moment in opposition to
good, rises to-day in the form of rebellion—a rebellion which cannot
be called revolutionary, because it does not proclaim any ideas of
redemption, any emancipation, or any sacrifice; a rebellion that
only seeks the presidential chair, driving before it all that
hinders its road—congress, the supreme court, and the constitution
itself; a rebellion headed by a former chief, the more culpable the
higher the republic had elevated him in its esteem and glory.
In a situation so serious, Citizen President, you are about to
commence your new administration, and with reason you have said that
your first and most urgent care must be the re-establishment of
peace. Congress trusts that this benefit will soon be acquired.
Congress has witnessed the good sense of the whole nation, as, the
electoral struggle having concluded, all the States accept the
result with the exception of Nuevo Leon and Oaxaca, and they have
found no echo, unless it be among the apprehenders of the
“conductas,” (convoys of specie,) or those who attack the
railroads.
Congress, which has not failed to observe with inquietude this
revolt, is now authorizing the executive with the view that, being
sufficiently strengthened with faculties, it may terminate the
insurrection within a short time, and which, with reason, has been
called the last of our revolutions.
The conclusion of the war will arrive; you will have re-established
peace; and afterward you will still have to fulfill a more important
duty—to endow the republic with a solid and simple administration.
Congress, without a doubt, will take a very active part in so grand
a work, as peace will not be possible, nor will the happiness of the
country be so either, until the estimates of the revenue and
expenses shall have found their equilibrium, until our credit shall
be re-established, our territory traversed by railways, and all the
administrative branches shall be conducted without trammels, and
within the orbit of the law. To comply with this is the sacred
compromise that you have contracted, and congress has heard, with
great satisfaction, that you demand the co-operation of all
Mexicans, comprehending that you are not the head of a party, but
the President of the republic. You have consummated reform, and
thereby regenerated the moral part of the nation; you have sustained
the second war of independence, consigned our republican ideas to
triumph, and saving the honor of Mexico. Now crown your labor;
invigorate the body of the republic with the administrative measures
that may be requisite to give it strength, and then, by establishing
wise institutions for a basis, the nation will be enabled to
construct the temple of peace on a sure foundation.*
