cabinet secretaries, for foreign affairs, justice and public instruction, interior, treasury, and public credit, war and navy, and public works,[1] freely selected by the president, yet responsible for their acts. The first named embraces the premiership, with possession of the great seal, and attends to official publications and ceremonials. With the department of justice was generally connected ecclesiastic affairs, but since the separation of church and state the supervision is merely of a magisterial character. The interior ministry, known as gobernacion, divides with the public works department, a later creation known as fomento, the home affairs not designated by the titles of the other portfolios, the fomento secretary attending to matters connected directly with trade, industries and colonization, buildings, roads, lands, and scientific subjects.[2] Each minister must countersign orders connected with his department, and present an annual report to congress.[3]
The cabinet has been subject to even greater vicissitudes than the presidency, as may be understood from the long political turmoil. The chronic malady having been the lack of funds, the finance ministry
- ↑ The offices are called secretaría del despacho, secretariat for the despatch of foreign affairs. Their number has varied from two under Hidalgo, in 1811, to nine under Maximilian, embracing ministers for the imperial household, state, foreign affairs, and navy, interior, justice, public instruction and worship, war, public works, and treasury. Between these two there were usually four departments, interior and foreign, embracing public works, the other three being justice and public instruction, treasury, and war, yet all with several subdivisions, especially the first. The holders have mostly been lawyers, with military men for war affairs, and a sprinkling of merchants for finance.
- ↑ The secretary of the interior attends to the important branch of elections, to relations with the states to government of federal district, to tranquillity, national guard, police, amnesty, registration, festivals, health, benevolence, entertainments, the public press, and mails. The maritime mail service pertains to the treasury. When the national guard is in federal service, the war office takes control.
- ↑ The expenses of the different departments for the fiscal year 1883-4 were: the executive, $44,750, including president's salary of $30,000; the supreme court, $314,764, of which $188,981 was expended on the district courts; of gobernacion, $1,434,999, of which $418,100 was paid the rural police, $260,787 the urban police, and $404,249 on the mail service; justice and public instruction, $748,360; fomento, $5,243,753, $2,904,295 being spent in developing railroads; the treasury, $4,484,510; war and navy, $9,480,241. Mех., Меm. Нас., 1884, ххі.-ххііi.
