Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/497

MEXICO 479 it was agreed that a portion of the customs receipts should be appropriated to their liqui- dation ; and in May the forces of both these powers were withdrawn from the country. The French army remained in the republic, thereby tacitly avowing their intention to over- throw the existing form of government in Mex- ico. This determination appears to have been solely prompted by Almonte and other agents of the church party sent to Europe for that purpose, and it was readily concurred in by Napoleon III. The French refused to treat with Juarez, and war was declared on April 1 6, 1862. Almonte, appointed president by the Vera Cruz authorities, who had revolted against Juarez (June 3), was deposed and his govern- ment dissolved on Oct. 2 by a decree of Gen. Forey, the French commander. Hostilities began with an attack on Puebla by the French, who were then defeated, but who, after a num- ber of subsequent engagements of varying suc- cess, occupied Mexico city on June 10, 1863, Juarez and his ministry having removed to San Luis Potosi. A regency was formed on the 24th ; on July 8 an assembly of notables was convened, with power to decide upon the form of the future government of Mexico ; and on the 10th it resolved, by 250 votes against 20, upon a hereditary monarchical government under a Roman Catholic emperor. The crown was accepted by the archduke Maximilian of Austria, with the title of Maximilian I., em- peror of Mexico. He arrived at the capital on June 12, 1864. The republican president, con- tinually pursued by the imperialists, arrived by successive retreats at El Paso in September, 1865, and remained there until the commence- ment of the following year. On March 25, 1866, the Juarist troops captured Chihuahua, and that victory was followed by a number of others. After repeated remonstrances from the United States government, the French troops, under Bazaine, were withdrawn from Mexico early in 1867, the last detachment em- barking at Vera Cruz on March 16. Maxi- milian, now left to his own resources, deemed it expedient to leave the capital and proceed northward. Toward the end of February he set out at the head of about 5,000 men, and reached Queretaro, which was at once besieged by Gen. Escobedo with an army of 20,000 Juarists ; Mexico, Puebla, and Vera Cruz being simultaneously invested by other divisions of the republican forces. The ill-fated emperor was captured (May 15), tried by court martial, condemned, and shot, together with his two generals, Miramon and Mejia, on June 19. Juarez reentered the capital on July 16, and was reflected president in the following October. During his flight before the imperial forces in the north his term of office had expired ; but he issued a decree prolonging his exercise of the presidential functions until it should be- come possible to summon the representatives for a new election. The work of reconstruc- tion was interrupted for a short time by an 552 VOL. XL 31 attempt on the part of Santa Anna to occupy some of the gulf ports and promote a con- spiracy against Juarez, who had rejected his offer to assist him in driving out the invaders. He was captured at Sisal on July 12, 1867, tried at the castle of San Juan de Ulua, and con- demned to banishment for eight years. The years 1868 and 1869 were marked by insurrec- tions, pronunciamientos, and revolutions, the most formidable of which was the pronuncia- miento of Angel Santa Anna, who was taken, after four months of depredations and blood- shed, and shot, in company with his followers. President Juarez was again elected in 1871, the opposing candidates having been Gen. Por- firio Diaz and Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada. Juarez is remarkable as having been the first president of Mexico who held power during his full term of office. He died on July 18, 1872, and was succeeded by Lerdo de Tejada. The republic is at present (1875) in a state of com- parative peace ; the laws are more faithfully observed, or at least less disregarded ; the mili- tary seem to be reconciled to the idea of endu- ring a civilian at the head of the government ; public education is in a prosperous condition ; internal improvements are in progress; brig- andage is gradually disappearing ; and mining is likely to be extended before long by the adoption of suitable machinery. See Solis, His- toria de la conquista de Mexico (Madrid, 1684; new ed., Paris, 1858; translated into English, 2 vols., London, 1V24) ; Boletin de la sociedad de geografia de Mexico (1854 et seq.) ; Pimentel, Cuadro descriptive y comparative de las lenguas indigenas de Mexico (2 vols., Mexico, 1862) ; Orozco y Berra, Geografia de las lenguas de Mexico (Mexico, 1864) ; Pay no, Historia de Mexico (Mexico, 1871) ; Clavigero, Storia antica del Messico (4 vols. 4to, Cesena, 1780-'83; translated into English, 2 vols. 4to, London, 1787; Spanish, London, 1824); Humboldt, Es- sais politiques sur la Nouvelle Espagne (revis- ed ed., 4 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1827) ; Lord Kings- borough, "Mexican Antiquities" (9 vols. fol., London, 1831-'48) ; Prescott, " History of the Conquest of Mexico " (1843 ; revised ed., 3 vols., Philadelphia, 1874) ; Brantz Mayer, "His- tory of the War between Mexico and the Uni- ted States" (New York, 1848), and "Mex- ico, Aztec, Spanish, and Republican" (1852); Mansfield, "The Mexican War" (New York, 1848) ; Kendall, " The War between the Uni- ted States and Mexico" (New York, 1851); Helps, " The Life of Hernando Cortes, and the Conquest of Mexico " (London, 1871). MEXICO, a state of the republic of the same name, bounded N. by Hidalgo, E. by Tlaxcala and Puebla, S. E. by Morelos, S. by Guerrero, and W. by Michoacan; area, 9,598 sq. m. ; pop. in 1869, 650,663. Two great mountain chains traverse the state, and, with their branches, divide it into three picturesque and fertile val- leys, the principal of which is that of Mexico, and the other two are Tlaxcala and Toluca. The highest summits are those of the south and