arrived on the 11th, reaching Mexico that same night at 10 o'clock. He forthwith summoned his ministers to discuss the situation, and it was resolved that he should give up the presidency for a few days, during which interregnum the president of the supreme court, Ignacio Pavon, would act.[1]
Miramon insisted on a new choice of president, as Zuloaga could not hold the office for an indefinite period. The junta of departmental representatives created by Zuloaga's law having been installed with Teodosio Lares as president, and Manuel Larrainzar and Mariano Icaza as secretaries, they chose on the 14th of August Miramon, by a majority only, it having been so arranged to give the farce a little semblance of impartiality. After that there was much show of enthusiasm, and the usual formalities of taking possession of the presidential office were gone through.[2]
Pavon, during his tenure of only two days, did nothing except to publish the act of Miramon's election. He returned to his post in the supreme court, and held it till the political problem was solved. After that he retired to private life.
Miramon soon after his installation as president ad interim, on the 18th of August, appointed his cabinet.[3]
- ↑ He had been a public servant since 1822 or 1823, beginning his career in the judiciary and continuing it in the financial department. Between 1841 and 1851 he held high positions in the judiciary, and in the latter year he was retired on full pay, having served thirty years. At the beginning of the three years' war he was presiding over the national supreme court, and had been retained in that post.
- ↑ The vote of the junta was published by edict; there was the regular te deum, the archbishop receiving Miramon at the door of the cathedral. At the felicitations, Miramon said it was not becoming noble souls to be cast down by misfortune: 'Animo, señores, ya triunfará la causa santa que defendemos; ya se pondrá Méjico en canino de ocupar un lugar distinguido entre las naciones cultas'; and so she is certainly doing, but not by the road Miramon and his political coöperators were misleading her.
- ↑ Juan N. Almonte, then abroad, minister of relations and president of the cabinet; Teodosio Lares, Teófilo Marin, Isidro Diaz, Antonio Corona, and Gabriel Sagaceta, holding the other portfolios. Lares was also placed in
and a safe-conduct given them. Generals Cruz, Hernandez, and Pacheco were among the reactionary officers that perished in the battle. Gonzalez Ortega, Apunt. Biog., 41-3; Diario de Avisos, Aug. 13-20, Sept. 7, 12, 25, Oct. 4, 1860.
