fragua, the accredited Mexican plenipotentiary, and exhibited a disposition to intervene with other European powers in the affairs of Mexico. Hence the idea that a war was imminent, and the general alacrity to be enrolled in the national guard.[1] The conservatives did not fail to make political capital out of this state of affairs, tendering their services, in the event of war, as citizens and soldiers.
The treasury was exhausted, and pecuniary means being required to keep troops in the field, the president resolved to take them where he could find them. This declaration appeared in the semi-official organ El Estandarte Nacional, causing great sensation, as it was construed to mean the seizure of mortmain property, or the adoption of some other extraordinary scheme. The military, and a part of the press, assumed then a threatening attitude, which angered Comonfort, and drew from him severe measures.[2] In August he transferred his residence to Tacubaya, and rumors began at once to circulate of his intention to proclaim the bases orgánicas, or something of the kind, with himself at the head of affairs. The names of men well known for their dislike of the late reforms were mentioned as already chosen for the highest places in the forthcoming régime. The conservative press kept up the agitation of a coup d'état, and a portion of the liberal journals counselled illegal and revolutionary acts, and that the first constitutional congress should assume the role of reformer and amend the code of 1857. Meanwhile, the dictatorial powers of the executive should continue, and the state governments be restricted in theirs. The reaccionarios, encouraged at the aspect of affairs, left their hiding-places and appeared at armed meetings. Many liberals then adduced this as the strongest evidence that a dictatorship was indispensable, inasmuch as
