with his intimate personal friends he was open and frank. He has been often accused of vindictiveness, but he could with more reason be charged with momentary exhibitions of passion. In private life he was irreproachable.
Pedraza's death, caused by pulmonary consumption, took place on the 14th of May, 1851. He was then 62 years of age. During his long illness he had priests near his bed, but having failed to confess before expiring, such was the intolerance of the clergy, though he had shown them favors in life, that his last wish to be interred in San Cosme was refused. That was of no consequence, however, as congress decreed that his remains belonged to the nation, and that a special mausoleum should be erected for them.
Vice-President Valentin Gomez Farías took possession of the government on the 1st of April, 1833, and a few days after appointed his cabinet, which was composed as follows: Cárlos García, minister of relations; Miguel Ramos Arizpe, of justice and ecclesiastical affairs; José María de Bocanegra, of the treasury; and José Joaquin de Herrera, of war and marine.[1]
Gomez Farías, the champion of reform and progress in Mexico, was born in Guadalajara[2] on the 14th of February, 1781. He completed his studies and graduated as a physician in his native city,[3] and in a short
- ↑ They held office only a few months, all of them being out before the end of the year. Méx., Mem. Hacienda, 1870, 1032; Bustamante, Voz de la Patria, MS., viii. 113, 122-5; Arrillaga, Recop., 1833, Ap.-May, '95, 201.
- ↑ His parents were of pure Castilian race; his father was named José Lugardo Gomez de la Vara, and his mother María Josefa Martinez y Farías. The names given the child at the baptismal font were José María Valentin, Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 172.
- ↑ It is recorded that he studied French under the greatest difficulties, and having at his examination expressed ideas which he must have drawn from modern French authors, his name was inscribed in the register of the inquisition. Id.
Tornel, Breve Reseña Hist., 36. Zavala says of him that he preferred solitude, and it was incomprehensible how he ever aspired to be president. He was noted for 'la regularidad de sus costumbres, sus modales mecánicos, una fisonomía anómala.' Revol. Méj., ii. 58.
