It is not to be wondered at that the man who rules with a strong arm will make bitter enemies as well as warm partisans. Likewise such a policy will always have its defamers as well as its supporters. Opinion is still divided upon Napoleon, and whether his high-handed methods wrought more good than evil. Hence it is that some can see nothing in Diaz but a tyrant, an enslaver of his people, and a man unfit for even life itself. They forget that peonage was not originated by Diaz, but was inherited from the Spaniards and supported by the voters of the country. They do not look into the conditions faced by Diaz when he first became President, nor the bloody history of the republic before that time. I believe that Diaz would have been permitted to serve his term had it not been for his efforts to control the vice-presidency, and the fact that his choice fell upon a man who was very unpopular. Knowing that at his age the President’s span of life was uncertain, the politicians wanted to control this office because of the succession. For this reason discontent and jealousies had been growing for several years. Diaz had publicly declared his intention not to seek another term, so that those ambitious for that office took him at his word and began their wire-pulling. This was in February, 1908. Then, in the spring of 1910, he announced that yielding to importunity he would accept another term. This was the one great mistake in his political career. Had Diaz adhered to his previous declaration, he would have retired from the office of chief executive full of honours. As it is he resigned under pressure, and left the City of Mexico unannounced and accompanied only by his family and a few friends. He boarded a steamer in the harbour of Vera Cruz and sailed for Spain, where he has quietly resided since that time.