Diaz’s first presidency (1870–1880) was marked by some unsuccessful attempts at revolution notably by Escobedo from Texas in 1878, and by a more serious conspiracy in 1879. Diplomatic relations were resumed with Spain, Germany, Italy and some South American states (1877), and France (1880). There were some frontier difficulties with the United States, and with Guatemala, which revived a claim dropped since 1858 to a portion of the state of Chiapas; and there was considerable internal progress, aided by a too liberal policy of subsidies to railways and even to lines of steamships. The boundary questions were settled under President Gonzalez (1880–1884); relations with Great Britain were renewed in 1884. The claims of the railways, however, necessitated retrenchment on official salaries, and the president’s plan for conversion of the debt roused unexpected and successful opposition in an ordinarily subservient Congress. At the end of 1884 Porfirio Diaz was again elected president, and was continually re-elected, the constitution being modified expressly to allow him to continue in office.
The history of Mexico from 1884 to 1910 was almost void of political strife. President Diaz’s policy was to keep down disorder with a strong hand; to enforce the law; to foster railway development and economic progress, to develop native manufactures by protective tariffs; to introduce new industries, e.g. the production of silk and Mexico under Diaz. wine, of coca and quinine; to promote forestry; to improve elementary and higher education—for all which purposes the Ministerio del Fomento is a potent engine; to encourage colonization; and, above all, to place the national credit on a sound basis. The first step in this process was a settlement of the British debt by direct arrangement with the bond-holders. In 1890 the Spanish bondholders’ claims Financial reorganiza-tion. were satisfactorily arranged also. In 1891 the tariff was made more protectionist. In 1893 the depreciation of silver necessitated stringent retrenchment; but the budget balanced for the first time during many years, the floating debt was converted, and a loan raised for the completion of the Tehuantepec Railway. After 1896 substantial annual surpluses were spent in reducing taxation and in the extinction of debt. In 1895 the 6% external debt was converted into a 5% debt, the bonds of which remained at a premium for 1902; in 1896 the alcabalas or interstate customs and municipal octrois were abolished, and replaced in part by direct taxation and increased stamp duties.
The institution by Diaz of the guardias rurales, a mounted gendarmerie composed of the class who in former days drifted into revolution and brigandage, was a. potent means of maintaining order, and the extension of railways and telegraphs enabled the government to cope atPacification of the Country. once with any disturbance. The old local revolutions practically disappeared. In 1886–1887 there were some disturbances in Coahuila, New Leon, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas; subsequently hardly anything was heard of such disorders except on the Texan frontier, where in 1890 Francisco Ruiz Sandoval and in 1891 Catarino Garza made incursions into Mexico. Occasionally the Church gave trouble—the presence of foreign priests was complained of; attempts to evade the law prohibiting conventual life were detected and foiled (1891, 1894); and there were Indian risings, repressed sometimes with great severity, among the Mayas of Yucatán, whose last stronghold was taken in 1891, and the Yaquis of Sonora (1899–1900). Under federal and democratic forms, Diaz exercised a strictly centralized and personal rule. He was invited to approve the candidates proposed for state governorships; in all law cases affecting the Government or political matters the judges asked his opinion; he drafted bills, and discussed their text with individual members and committees of congress. Similarly, the state legislatures, as well as the judges and municipal officers, were actually or virtually selected by the state governors, who were practically agents of the president. Now and then the old passions broke out: in September 1898 an absurd attempt to assassinate President Diaz was made by a countryman named Arroyo, but discontent with Diaz’s rule was apparently confined to a small minority.[1] In 1909 indeed there were some disquieting symptoms. Owing to Diaz’s age the vice-presidency had been revived in 1904, and Don Ramon Corral elected to it; but at the elections of 1909 a movement arose in favour of replacing him by General Bernardo Reyes, Governor of Nuevo Leon, but he was disposed of by an official commission to study the military systems of Europe. It was, therefore, regarded as certain that, should President Diaz die in office, Señor Corral would succeed him without serious difficulty.
In foreign affairs the rule of Diaz was uneventful. There were transient disputes with the United States (1886, 1888). In 1888–1890 and 1894–1895 a boundary dispute with Guatemala became serious. But Guatemala gave way at the threat of war (Jan. 1895) and a new treaty was made (April 1, 1895). Again in 1907 there was some Foreign Affairs. friction owing to the murder of a Guatemalan ex-president by a compatriot in Mexico: later in the year, however, the Mexican government was active in stopping a war between its Central American neighbours. In the difficulty between England and the United States over the Venezuelan boundary (Dec. 1895) Mexico expressed strong adherence to the Monroe doctrine in the abstract, and suggested that its maintenance should not be left wholly to the United States, but should be undertaken by all American Powers. The first Pan-American congress met in Mexico City in 1901, and the country was represented at the second, held in Rio Janeiro in 1906. Mexico also took part in establishing the permanent Central American Court of Arbitration, inaugurated on the 25th of May 1908 at Cartago, Costa Rica, under the Washington treaties of December 1907, and showed readiness to associate herself with the Government of her great northern neighbour in preserving peace among the Central American States. On the 17th of October 1909 President Taft and President Diaz exchanged visits at the frontier at El Paso, Texas.
In brief, under President Diaz’s rule the history of Mexico is mainly economic. In the six financial years 1893–1894 to 1899–1900 inclusive the yield of the import duties increased by upwards of 80%; the revenue from stamps over 60%, though the duties were reduced;Economic Progress. the postal revenue from 1895–1896 to 1899–1900 rose 60%; the telegraph revenue over 75%. Again, in 1898–1899 the total ordinary revenue of the state was £6,013,921; in 1906–1907 it had increased to £11,428,612, or by more than 90%, and though 1907–1908 was a year of depression its total revenue (£11,177,186) exceeded that of any year save its immediate predecessor. The great drainage scheme which completed the works of the 17th century by taking out the surplus waters of the southern lakes of the valley of Mexico was devised in 1856, begun under Maximilian, proceeded with intermittently till 1885, then taken up with improved plans, practically completed by 1896, and inaugurated in 1900;[2] the harbour of Vera Cruz was finished in 1902; the Tehuantepec railway, likely to prove a formidable rival to any interoceanic canal, was opened on the 24th of January 1906. All three were the work of an English firm of contractors, the head of which was Sir Weetman Pearson. American, and later Canadian, capital and enterprise have also been very largely concerned in the development of the country; and its progress was not permanently interfered with by the great earthquakes of April 1907 and July 1909 at Acapulco, and the floods in August 1909 at Monterey. In 1891 elementary education was reorganized, and made compulsory, secular and gratuitous. Great attention has been paid to higher education, and—at least in the hospitals—to modern sanitation and hygiene.
Authorities.—For English readers the standard work is H. H. Bancroft, Collected Works (Histories of the Pacific States, Central
America, &c., vols. x.–xiv. (Mexico, 1521–1887) with vols. xv., xvi.- ↑ Don Augustin Iturbide, grandson of the emperor, godson and (perhaps) at one time the destined heir of Maximilian, was turned out of the army and imprisoned in 1890 for abusing President Diaz.
- ↑ For a full account of the works see J. B. Body in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, cxliii. 286, sqq.
