was celebrated throughout the country. Nearly every city and hamlet initiated commemorative public works. Thirty-one foreign nations participated in the celebrations in the capital during Sept. 1910. Numerous public buildings and monuments were begun, some of which were not completed. Mexico seemed at the height of power and prosperity. But the consequences of a long period of autocracy were about to appear. Accompany- ing the celebration was the national election for president and vice-president. It had been the .subject of much conjecture, particularly since 1908, when Diaz had declared in the Creelmaa interview that the Mexicans were ready for democracy, that he would permit political campaigning by those not supporting Government candidates, and would surrender the presidency to a legally elected successor. The declaration was taken seriously, especially by certain radicals, the most active of whom had long been agitating against Diaz from the security of American border cities. The Government had endeavoured to promote in turn the candidacies of Limantour and Ramon Corral, but these had failed. The failure of Gen. Reyes to enter the final race brought advantage to the anti-Reelectionists, who were led by Francisco I. Madero.
The Madero Revolution. In view of the probable return of Diaz to the presidency for the seventh time, there was a renewal of the agitation for political renovation. Madero's personal campaign, conducted throughout a great part of the republic, was reinforced by his book, La sucesidn presidential en 1910, which was issued first in 1908 and had reached three editions by the spring of 1910. It attacked the Diaz system in measured lan- guage; his propaganda was at first ignored by the Government, but when his influence became too great he was arrested for sedition at Monterey on June 7 1910, and confined in San Luis Potosi. Thence he escaped in Oct. to San Antonio, Tex., where he and his associates prepared the Plan de San Luis Potosi. This plan declared for effective suffrage, no reelection, refusal to recognize the Diaz Government elected on Sept. 27, the sub- division of rural agrarian property, and the provisional assump- tion of the presidency by Madero. At a meeting of the revolu- tionary junta in San Antonio on Nov. 6 it was agreed that out- breaks against Diaz should occur simultaneously in various places on Nov. 20. There were several premature disorders. In Chi- huahua Castulo Herrera, a trade unionist, and Pascual Orozco, a small commission merchant, began a movement against Gov. Terrazas. In Mexico City on Nov. 9 there were riots caused by a report that a Mexican citizen had been lynched in the United States. Similar disorders occurred in Guadalajara, Chihuahua and Piedras Negras. The first clear indication of the coming revolt was due to the discovery of plotting in Puebla by Dr. Aquiles Serdan, who was attacked and killed in his own house, which he had fortified. The Government then announced that a plot against it had been discovered, and a reign of terror began. The radical press was silenced, the jails were filled with political prisoners. The anti-Reelectionists fled from the capital. Chi- huahua was the scene of much fighting, in which the Govern- ment was successful, so that by the end of Dec. Madero was obliged to flee to the United States. The Government was then combating uprisings in a dozen states. Meantime Diaz at- tempted to appease the popular movement. He suspended personal guarantees, called for the resignation of his Cabinet, chose new ministers supposed to be more in sympathy with changed political thought, and attempted reform legislation. President Taft, who had kept forces along the Rio Grande to watch the border, now augmented them by 20,000, and sent warships to Mexican waters. When Diaz read his message to Congress on April i he promised to initiate a law prohibiting reelection of the president, vice-president, or the governors of states. But the results were unsatisfactory, and Diaz entered into negotiations with Madero. The latter demanded the resig- nation of the president and vice-president, and negotiations were broken off. Then Ciudad Juarez fell to the rebels, and Madero entered it on May 10. Having earlier assumed the title of pro- visional president, he here organized a civil government.
The ad-Interim Presidency. The success of the revolution at
Ciudad Juarez, coupled with similar victories at Pachuca and Cuernavaca, brought the Government to terms. It was agreed by representatives of Diaz that he and Vice-President Corral would resign before the end of May; that Madero should give up his claim to the provisional presidency in favour of Francisco de la Barra, who should issue a call for elections. In his Cabinet and in the state Governments de la Barra was to place certain officers of the revolution. The pact was signed May 21 1911. Many important cities throughout the country had fallen before the popular movement. After two days of mob activity in the capital the resignations of Diaz and Corral were offered and accepted on May 25. De la Barra assumed office, and Diaz left the country next day. The actual power was in the hands of Madero, who had offices in the capital. His triumphal entry on June 7 had followed a progress from Ciudad Juarez marked by demonstrations of national joy. The ad-interim Government was conspicuous for political jockeying, of which the chief example was the successful effort of Madero to dissociate from his candi- dacy that of Francisco Vazquez Gomez for the vice-presidency and to support Jose Maria Pino Suarez as candidate. At the elections Madero and Pino Suarez received the greatest number of votes that had ever been cast in Mexico. Inaugurated on Nov. 6, for the term ending Nov. 30 1916, Madero soon found himself the tool of the Cientifico group, lacking power and will to act for himself. He began to neglect his earlier supporters and to cater to various groups of the Opposition. Unwise manipula- tions soon emptied the treasury of a surplus of about 65,000,000 pesos which Diaz had left. Madero chose for the Cabinet his relatives and other Cientificos. This Cientifico group did little to redeem the promises of the Plan de San Luis Potosi. The army was retained at great expense, for fear of a counter-revolt. Ernesto Madero, Minister of Hacienda, played into the hands of the clericals, neglecting enforcement of the Laws of Reform, and finally denying that lands had been promised to the people. Madero, however, asked Congress to create a " National Savings Fund," which should provide a loan of 250,000,000 pesos with which to buy lands for distribution. The committee in charge was composed of the Madero family and other large landholders, and made little progress in its programme. Madero's recognition of the old Congress was a source of weakness. In other matters there was autocracy of the old type. The former revolutionary associates of Madero took the field against him to fight for the lands which they had been promised. Revolt began at the time of his inauguration, and soon became widespread. The national army was continually engaged with insurgents led by Zapata, Reyes and others. The old Diaz favourites resented the benefits showered upon the new group. The Cabinet began to break up, and the state of Oaxaca refused to recognize the Madero Govern- ment. Orozco, military governor of Chihuahua, turned against his chief in Feb. 1912, and there was much fighting, in which many foreigners were killed. Thousands of Mexicans fled the country. Conditions during the summer of 1912 were extremely bad. On March 14 President Taft prohibited shipments of arms to Madero's opponents. American residents of Mexico, warned to leave, were brought out in great numbers, the U.S. Congress appropriating $100,000 for their aid. Rebel successes in the north deprived Madero of Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa. Zapata had broken with the Government and his forces had almost reached the suburbs of the capital.
The Htierta Coup. On Oct. 12 1912 Felix Diaz, nephew of the ex-president, revolted in Vera Cruz, but was promptly captured and imprisoned in Mexico City, Madero reprieving him from execution, to which he had been sentenced. On Feb. 9 1913 the students of the military college of Tlalpam marched to the rescue of Diaz and Bernardo Reyes (the latter had been delivered to Mexico by the United States earlier), set them free and, under their leadership, joined some 5,000 disaffected troops which held the Ciudadela (the arsenal), defying the Madero Govern- ment. For several days the fire of those in revolt and that of the Government forces swept over the business part of the city between the Ciudadela and the National Palace, killing hundreds of people. Finally Gen. Victoriano Huerta, recently placed at
