Untitled article | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, October 15, 1867

FromThe Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, Vol. XXX, No. 18

Mexico.

For the first time in fifty years Mexico is at peace. Since Iturbide, in 1821, declared the country independent, and made good the claim, its history is one of uninterrupted civil war. President succeeded President, Dictator followed Dictator; the success of any chieftain created a dozen rivals, and the Government was no sooner set up by one faction than it was pulled down by another. The victor banished or executed the conquered, only to find himself in a short time the victim of his own revengeful policy. No administration was safe from revolt; no leader dare trust his comrades; the army was now the instrument of Guerrero, now of Santa Anna, now of Bustamante. Quiet there was none for the country; it was either at war, or preparing for war, and the only periods during which internal strife was suspended were those of the Spanish invasion, and the aggression of the United States. The condition of the nation was indeed desperate when it could only be saved from ruining itself by the necessity of repelling its foes, and when the advance of a foreign army was the only hope of union and peace at home. The causes of this perpetual strife are evident. Mexico had never succeeded in reconciling her different races; the people were unfitted for self-government, and assumed all the dangers of a Republic without the ability to secure its blessings. The country was burdened with an ambitious clergy, owning, it has been calculated, one-half of its real estate; and if the soldier did not begin a revolution, his neglect was remedied by the priest. Nature, too, had done her share in fitting the country for continual war; in that superb climate armies were easily sustained, and if money was needed the inexhaustible silver mines supplied it. Thus wars which would have ruined greater nations were borne by the Mexicans with comparative ease, and their evil was not so much the exhaustion of the country as the paralysis of its enterprise, and the absolute suspension of its progress. The condition of Mexico could hardly have been worse in 1861, when, while the administration of Juarez was struggling to maintain itself, the European alliance was consummated, and that long war began with France which has ended in the triumph of the Republic. Mexico had rough training in this perpetual war, and probably the French invasion will mark the beginning of a new and brighter era. The Mexicans owed the usurpation of Maximilian to their own quarrels, and may profit by the bloody lesson. A people who fought as the Liberals fought, and who prized so dearly their independence, and sacrificed so much to maintain it, cannot be incapable of self-government. Radical as their faults may be, their virtues are no longer to be questioned. The execution of Maximilian was a proof of weakness, yet it must be admitted that there was cause for retaliation. It was a cruel ending to a cruel war. But with the late Emperor died all the hopes the Powers of Europe may have had of establishing their rule upon American soil; the Austrian fleet which will carry back to his own land the body of Maximilian will bear with it another corpse, and in the vaults of St. Stephen the vast ambition of Napoleon, side by side with its victim, will share the darkness of its sleep. Mexico, by the proof she has given of her strength, has secured long peace with her alien foes; her leaders have but to unite in repressing domestic factions to make their Republic only second to our own; it is in their power to renew the ruinous struggles of the past, or to build enduring peace in the future. The task is hard: the character of a nation is not changed by war; but it must not be forgotten that this war has swept away many evils, and that, as we rid ourselves of Slavery, Mexico has annihilated the political power of the Church.

Difficult as it is to understand the Mexican situation, and impossible to discern the intentions of the leading Generals, it is clear, we think, that the war has united certain factions, and inspired the nation with a higher patriotism. With the death of Maximilian the passion for revenge seems appeased. The trials at Queretaro have not ended in the execution of the prisoners; Escobedo, Casanova, Salm-Salm, and the rest, have been sentenced to imprisonment. Gen. Castillo, who had been condemned to death, has been pardoned. It is probable that the executions of the Imperialists are ended. In this moderation we rejoice, and it is equally encouraging to find that many of the reports of Mexican enmity to the United States had no better foundation than the invention of the foes of the Republic. Escobedo has formally denied the calumny that he was in favor of the exclusion of foreigners from the country, and we take this letter as proof that no influential party in Mexico aims to prevent peaceful immigration and friendly relations with other States. Gen. Diaz, it is said, has united with Juarez in the effort to unite the country. It is true there still are divisions of the Liberals, and the elements that threaten new troubles, but if Diaz honestly sustains Juarez, the party of Union must succeed in the end. Since that letter was written the telegraph has brought the tidings of the flight of Marquez. Thus one danger is averted. It is conceded that while the popularity of the other Liberal chieftains is limited to their own districts, that of Juarez is universal. It is to him that Mexico must look for deliverance, and he has shown the qualities of a deliverer. But whatever may be the fate of his efforts they must command our sympathy. The people of the United States are not concerned in the civil affairs of Mexico, or in the downfall or elevation of any of her leaders; but in the pacification of the country and the permanence of the Republic, they have an interest which will deepen with time, which no event can destroy.—New York Tribune.