“I hope, señores, that, when the passions which are inherent to all revolutions have been calmed, a more conscientious and justified study will bring out in the national mind a correct acknowledgment, which will allow me to die carrying engraved in my soul a just impression of the estimation of my life, which throughout I have devoted and will devote to my countrymen.
“With all respect,
“Porfirio Diaz.”
CHAPTER XXI
THE REVOLUTION OF 1910
The year 1910 marked the completion of one hundred years of Mexican independence. In September of that year this event was celebrated with all the pomp and pageantry customary in Latin countries. Nearly the whole month was given up to public functions in various parts of the republic, and especially in the City of Mexico, the national capital. Representatives of all the great nations of the world were sent there to assist in the ceremonies incident to the celebration. Dedications of public buildings, magnificent balls, public fêtes and exercises commemorative of independence and of the national heroes, who led the struggle against the Spaniards, were numerous. The 15th and the 16th of September were the great gala days of this centennial anniversary. The further fact that added lustre to the event was the eightieth anniversary of the birth of President Diaz, who had established a substantial government after the many years of strife through which the country had passed between the years 1810 and 1876. In all the speeches made by foreign representatives the great work of this man was extolled, as well as the progress that had been made by the nation itself.
The culmination of the centennial ceremonies was on the night of the 15th, just a little while before midnight. By half past ten o’clock the immense Plaza, which faces the National Palace, was filled with an immense crowd of Mexican dignitaries, distinguished foreigners and the population of the city. It was a mass of living, breathing, expectant humanity. The many coloured lights formed veritable rainbows of colour, and this added an additional attraction to the teeming, seething crowd. The door leading to the central balcony on the front of the National Palace opened, and President Diaz appeared. An intense stillness fell upon the crowd. In his right hand the President carried the national flag of Mexico, and immediately on his appearance the red, white and green lamps (the national colours) surrounding the old bell with which Hidalgo first sounded the call to liberty, and which has found a permanent resting place here, flashed into a radiant glow. As the strains of the national anthem floated out on the breeze, the President waved his flag, rang the bell and shouted “Viva Mexico!” The great crowd went wild with excitement. The cry of “Viva Mexico!” was taken up by the crowd near to the President, and then by those farther away, until the great shout might have been heard all over the capital. The bells of the grand old cathedral pealed forth their loudest tones, the factory whistles shrieked, sky-rockets were sent up in the air and every noise-making device was turned loose. Pandemonium reigned. “Viva Diaz!” and “Viva el Presidente!” were mingled with the cry of “Viva Mexico!”
In the light of later events this wonderful celebration seems to have been a sham, or at least only on the surface. At that time a political volcano was simmering all over the republic, and was just ready to break forth into violent eruption. Diaz had already been re-elected for the eighth term, but the inauguration was not to take place until the fifth of December. In November the first outbreaks against the civil authorities occurred. An abortive rising occurred in Puebla in which blood was shed. Armed bodies appeared in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora, in the northwestern part of the republic. These bodies attacked the outlying haciendas, robbed the owners of horses and foraged at will to secure supplies for themselves and their horses. The country in which these outbreaks occurred is ideal for the guerilla warfare that followed. Both of those states are mountainous and thinly settled, so that it was comparatively easy for even a small band of armed men to make a great deal of trouble and escape from a much larger force that might attempt to pursue them.
Government troops were promptly dispatched to the scene of trouble, but it was difficult to catch up with the marauders and engage them in battle. Their outbreaks would first be heard of in one neighbourhood, and a few days later reports of trouble would be received from sections quite remote. Additional armed bodies appeared in other sections, and it was not many weeks until the trouble began to present a serious aspect. Many of the government troops sent against the insurrectos were either cowardly or were in secret sympathy with those opposed to the government. Whenever actual engagements did occur the outcome was generally in favour of the Federal troops, but the defeated ones were always able to escape into the country, where it was difficult for them to be followed. The first battle of any note was fought at Mal Paso, when the Federals were routed, but a battle at Ojinaga a few days later was a decided defeat for the revolutionists. The failure of the government to stamp out the trouble promptly gave encouragement to all the disaffected ones, and the old spirit of lawlessness that once prevailed seemed about to break forth with all its animus and disregard of the rights of private property.