CHAPTER XXIV.
HIS MOST SERENE HIGHNESS, THE DICTATOR
1853
Ceballos is Confirmed as President — Inefficient Measures — Suppression of the Congress — Plan of Arroyozarco — Resignation of Ceballos — Lombardini Succeeds — Nepotism and Corruption — Electoral Campaign — Victory of Santanists and Conservatives — Return of Santa Anna — His Ministry and Policy — A Centralized Administration Reconstruction of the Army and its Object — Favoritism, Espionage, and Persecution — A Few Redeeming Efforts — Death of Alaman, the Great Conservative Leader — Pomp and Arrogance of the Dictator — Orders and Titles — Visions of Empire.
The political situation was by no means improved by the resignation of Arista; for the troops gave signs of uneasiness, and no one knew what course they might take. Fortunately the commanding officers succeeded in controlling them. The chambers were summoned to signify their choice of a new ruler, and thought it prudent to introduce the least change possible, by sustaining as president ad interim Judge Ceballos, whose opposition to the late decree restricting the press had added to the laurels formerly gained by him as governor of Michoacan.[1] He took the oath the same day, January 6, 1853, and proceeded to form a
- ↑ His adopted state, for he belonged originally to Durango, where he was born in 1811. His creditable service in congress won for him in May 1852 the presidency of the supreme court, and consequently the nearest claim to the chief magistracy. Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 407, with portrait and auto graph. The representatives of 16 states gave him their vote, including Vera Cruz and the federal district. Riva Palacio obtained half the vote of Mexico, and that of Tamaulipas. Oajaca gave her favorite Almonte half the vote, and so did Puebla to Gov. Múgica, while Guerrero declared for its chieftain Álvarez. Méx., Legisl., Mej., 1853, 3, 5.
