A family connection of Santa Anna has written a life of him, in which fulsome justice is done to his good qualities. He says, and perhaps with reason, that had he died immediately after the loss of his leg in driving the French from Vera Cruz "this _benemerito mutilado_ had surely left not one single personal enemy." With great gifts of bravery and military skill, and with a love of his country it is but fair to allow him, probably not possessing the black characteristics ascribed to him by his enemies, he was at the best a turbulent, troublesome creature, an exponent in his own person of all the dangerous qualities of the Mexican character, which for so long a time have kept the country far away from the true path to prosperity. The character of Juarez, on the other hand, represents precisely the opposite qualities of the Mexican race, inherited from his Indian parentage,--endurance, patience, imperturbability. Calm in the midst of exciting elements, he knew how to stand and wait for his turn. These qualities, so useful to him in adversity were supplemented by executive ability, good sense, and prompt action, which, when he returned to power, enabled him to rule wisely without losing his balance on the giddy height of success, like many of his predecessors. His seat was not secure, and peace was not confirmed in emotional Mexico. The restless population, untrained to any permanent government, wearied of his rule, and early in his administration began to clamor that he had been President long enough. This people, scarcely yet freed from three hundred years of foreign control, found four years of one liberal leader enough to convert him in their eyes into a tyrant. As the period of election approached, in 1871, party lines became sharply divided, and the question of his return to power was warmly contested. A large body still advocated the re-election of Juarez, as of the greatest importance to the consolidation of the Constitution and reform, but the admirers of military glory claimed the honors of President for General Diaz, who had done so much, at the head of the army, to restore the Republic. A third party represented the interests of Lerdo, minister of Juarez all through the epoch of the intervention, a man of great strength of character and capacity for government. The argument of the _Lerdistas_ was that re-election was contrary to the principles of democratic government; of the _Porfiristas_ that their idol, Diaz, deserved the reward of the highest gift of his fellow-citizens; of the _Juaristas_, that things were very well as they were, and had better so remain.