Arista entered office under unfavorable circumstances, when demoralization had already taken root, fostered by an exaggerated idea of liberty, and a lack of energetic measures and good management. He had to bear the accumulated ills of the preceding administration, and suffer from the reaction following his manceuvred election, manifested also in congressional hostility. Whatever his defects as statesman, he had evidently resolved, after gaining the supreme object of ambition, the presidency, to be loyal to his trust; but the change of heart came late, for the consequent leniency and self-restraint were classed as weakness, and served to encourage his many enemies, who could be controlled only by force and intrigue. The change also indicates a character not equal to the responsible position of ruler over a people so difficult to manage. He shone best as minister under Herrera, in reforming the army and sustaining the union. A later federal government recognized his laudable adhesion to the constitution, and respect for national representation, by crowning his memory with the much-coveted title of benemérito.[1] a soldier and
- ↑ 54 By decree of Sept. 25, 1856, which also admitted his remains into the Metropolitan church. Comonfort believed his government would have proved a blessing with due coöperation from the states and congress. Méx., Legisl. Mej., 1853, 402-5. His resignation has been hastily commended as voluntary, 'para no servir ni aun de pretexto á una revolucion;' but press restriction, arrest of prominent men on mere suspicion, and the despatch of an army against Jalisco show no purely unselfish attitude. The army proved unreliable. Rivera also defends him: La Nacion toda. . . . . .olvida las muchas debilidades del hombre para admirar las grandes virtudes del ilustre ciudadano.' Gob. de Méx., ii. 406; and Zamacois blames the congress for his failures. Both Santa Anna and Suarez y Navarro raved against him as a criminal worthy of the gibbet, but dared only to exile him. See letters in Domenech, Hist. du Mex., ii. 250. The conservative share in his overthrow is considered in Méx., Partido Conserv., 6-7.
troubled by the hallucination that Santa Anna's agents were seeking to assassinate him, 'habia perdido el juicio.' Arrangoiz, Méj., ii. ap. 21. The body was deposited in the legation tomb at Lisbon, the heart being taken by F. Ramirez to Mexico, whither Comonfort also ordered in 1856 that his remains should follow. He was a tall, imposing personage, with an English stamp. Official correspondence regarding his remains in Méx., Corresp. Diplom., ii. 643-722.
