CHAPTER X
CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT
The present government reflects in form the progress of all nations, and in spirit the troubled past of Mexico. Its constitution is modelled upon that of the United States, and in its present form was adopted in 1857. All persons born within the republic are free, and, if slaves, become freemen by entering it. Personal liberty, with its full significance, is guaranteed, including liberty of the press, "with this reservation, that private rights and the public peace shall not be violated."[1] The press law, many of whose provisions are admirable, has been administered in a manner to discourage enterprise. There are, we are told, fifteen daily papers in the capital. Only two of them printed news, as we understand the word; but an association was being formed to effect a connection with our press associations
- ↑ Janvier.
