ened that Diaz was the only hope of the country. Part of the time of the Gonzales administration he was Minister of Affairs under Gonzales, and part of the time he was Governor of Oaxaca and magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice. His popularity was immensely increased by his marriage in the spring of 1883, to Carmen, daughter of Don Manuel Romero Rubio, for all Mexico "loves a lover," and the marriage of General Diaz and la Señorita Romero Rubio was ideal. The visit the newly wedded couple made in the United States, where public men began to know Diaz and to appreciate what he was capable of doing for Mexico, tended to interest Americans in Mexican affairs. While the people of the United States were becoming acquainted with Diaz, he was learning something about American institutions and what was best for Mexico. At this time American and English capital was being invested in Mexico and Americans were anxious to see Diaz again in the Presidential chair. Consequently when he went back to the Presidency in 1884, though it would be folly to assert that it was by popular vote, it was without opposition, it being taken for granted that there was no one else in the country capable of maintaining the government and of carrying out the programme of reform which he had faintly indicated in the years 1876-80. And it was not long after he had taken the chair in 1884 before men everywhere observed that he was far removed from the category of self-aggrandizing rulers and military oligarchs. He made his government a benevolent paternalism. He has been as absolute perhaps as Santa Anna, but he has made his government strong while it has served the welfare of the citizens. He was elected in 1888 for another term and again in 1892. And in 1904 the constitution was amended to provide for the election of a Vice-President and to extend the presidential term to six years. It would be a difficult matter to indicate within the limits of this paper the character of the reforms accomplished by President Diaz since 1884. And when these reforms are mentioned briefly they seem to the reader far less important than they really are. And especially to the reader who does not know the condition of the country previous to 1876 and at the close of the Gonzales administration. In 1884 Diaz found the treasury liter ally empty and the nation apparently hopelessly bankrupt. In 1888 he funded the national debt at four and one-half per cent and made such arrangements for paying the same in gold, that the credit of the nation was restored and the bonds sold above par. He has fostered the development of the resources of Mexico, more particularly of the industrial enterprises, so that Mexico has become self-reliant and has built up vast manufacturing interests. He has maintained the peace of the country and caused the day of the revolution to pass. It was a stroke of statesmanship on his part to convert the brigands of former days into rurales or military constabulary, thus making Mexico the safest country in the whole world to live in or to travel in. He has fostered education. "The instruction of the people is so essential to democratic life that its progress and perfection, which monarchical governments regard as charity, is with us one of our greatest duties," he wrote in one of his messages to Congress; and he has made the common schools of Mexico second to none in the world. Railway building which began during his first term was greatly developed during his latter terms of office, so that Mexico is better supplied with railways than any other nation of its size. He has successfully grappled with the engineering problems involved in the draining of the Valley of Mexico. He has given his attention to public improvements in the way of harbors and to the public buildings of Mexico. greatly improved every branch of government service. created a wholesome public opinion interested in public affairs, in place of the stolid indifference of former years as to who might be president or what he might be doing. He has purified the atmosphere of official life, and has taught Mexicans the important lesson of self-government. In a word, he is the maker of modern Mexico; and modern Mexico is a very different thing from the Mexico that existed between 1810 and 1876. It is a nation holding a very respectable place among the great nations of the world. The University of the South. He has ARTHUR HOWARD NOLL. SENATOR DOOLITTLE AND RECONSTRUCTION. Perhaps there was no Northern member of Congress, during the period immediately succeeding the Civil War, who more fully and completely possessed the confidence and good will of his stricken brethren of the South than did Senator James Rood Doolittle, the then senior senator from Wisconsin. This view is amply sustained by the letters of Messrs. Mason, Bryan, Wells, Cutler, Tutt, Marvin, and Cooper, which follow. But there is much other corroborating evidence in the possession of the writer belonging to the private correspondence of the late Judge Doolittle. The confidence in, and respect for, this statesman, who was greatly misunderestood and maligned at home, in the North, is made manifest in this correspondence. If there would seem to be any doubt as to our main contention, that Senator Doolittle was one of the few Northern leaders in Southern soil during our reconstruction period, that doubt ought to be dispelled by the intelligent and temperate estimate of Judge Doolittle found in the following letter of President Samson, of Rutgers Female College, New York. The letter has never before been published; and it is given to the public now that tardy justice may be done to the memory of a good man and worthy public servant. New York, April 23d, 1889. It is from a deep sense of justice to one of the ablest statesmen, the wisest of counsellors, the most balanced of political leaders, as well as in attestation that the same Divine wisdom and love permits crises and fits great men for their mission, that I make this statement. Hon. Henry Dodge, first Senator from Wisconsin, was for years one of my appreciative friends & hearers. His successor, Hon. J. R. Doolittle, brought to fill his place when age & entirely new issues demanded rare powers, was not only equally an appreciative friend and hearer, but became an intimate of my family in the rooms occupied by Hon. Chas. Sumner during his special trial. Coleridge has said: "True greatness is to carry the spirit of childhood into riper years;" & Jesus taught that only those ruled by the faith, hope & love of a little child could be great in the higher kingdom of heaven. Among many men in the history of other lands & ages, & a few personally known in a life of thirty years in Washington, no one more fully met these rare combinations, thus indicated, than Senator Doolittle. When family relations were broken on removal to College Hill in 1859, the ties of the truest & purest friendship made him in his frequent morning rides the delight of learned Professors & of prattling children; & from his lips many learned of mutual conferences with Pres. Lincoln on missions of peace amid wars, & of counsels that guided more than the thousands about Washington imagined, & that inspired & ruled Pres. Lincoln in his Cabinet meetings. To such moral influence rare physical energies were absolutely essential in reaching the people as well as rulers. In the Senate Judge Doolittle's voice was a charm in its natural & unaffected modulations; & as he warmed with his theme it riveted everyone of his associates. As to his power over a popular audience & the unequalled volume of voice adapted to outdoor address, the fame of his Wisconsin eloquence had preceded him. The perfectly unrivalled test came at Pres. Lincoln's Inauguration. No speaker ever approached in that city the powers displayed, when, standing in front of the City Hall, he was heard for nearly one quarter of a mile in front, & distinctly for an eighth of a mile around. The rare excellence of the address was that it was neither rant nor rhetoric, but solid, statesmanlike, logically stated fact & principal, fused and welded by the true heat of patriote ardor. G. W. SAMSON. These letters of Southern men which follow point to the real condition of affairs in the South immediately after the war. They are valuable to the student of the reconstruction period of our national life as showing something of the public temper of the time as well as some of the complicated questions growing out of that momentous and unfortunate period of our exist All of the letters are written by persons of comparatively slight prominence in the localities where they reside. Certainly, none can be dignified with national importance. In none of them, however, can it be truthfully said that there is an absence of a worthy patriotism. Colonel Mason's letter, for example, is especially strong in its frank avowal of the acceptance of the re sults of the war and the promise of support of a re-united country under one general government at Washington. It appears that Mr. Wells was a govenment officer, and his criticisms seem to be given as a result of his own feelings, rather than for any absolutely valid and just reasons. His use of English, too, indicates that his early education may have been neglected. It is quite possible that Mr. Tutt was a lawyer. The nature of his inquiry indicates that he may have been. Mr. Bryan's letter is written on a Milwaukee, Wis., hotel letter-head, and he may have been a travelling man. It is quite clear, however, that his home was in the Lone Star State, as he was anxious to have it understood that his native State disclaimed fellowship with what is known as the notorious Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Cutler seems to have been the Senator-elect from Louisiana who was knocking for admission to his seat with that of his colleague. He presents an interesting subject for the consideration of the Senator from Wisconsin. Mr. Marvin is, presumably, a Senator-elect from Florida, and, in spite of the pacific policy of some of the Northern members of Congress, the South, as late as 1868, seems to have had great difficulty to get into the great law-making body of the nation. He, too, offers his senatorial friend from the North an interesting legal question. Lieutenant-Governor Cooper, of Virginia, discusses interesting public questions of the hour touching, evidently, upon some which have been considered by Judge Doolittle in a speech on the floor of the Senate. All of these letters, it is believed, outline the honest sentiments of the authors of them. Have we not a right to assume that this is so? For it is evident that they are written very much in confidence to an intelligent friend. The student of American history will discover in these letters historical material, material not always so carefully preserved as it should be; and it would be a source of satisfaction to know if the writers of these letters are still living. Senator Doolittle was one of the cleanest, ablest, and most conscientious public men who ever graced the halls of our National Legislature, and was one of the truest friends of the Union and of the South that ever held public office. Yet he was often maligned and libelled. This was sometimes done by his political |