The constitution of Mexico is said to excel, in the way of freedom
and liberty to its subjects, that of the United States; but it is
only on paper. It is a republic only in name, being in reality the
worst monarchy in existence. Its subjects know nothing of the delights
of a presidential campaign; they are men of a voting age, but they
have never indulged in this manly pursuit, which even our women are
hankering after, No two candidates are nominated for the position, but
the organized ring allows one of its members--whoever has the most
power--to say who shall be president; they can vote, though they are
not known to do so; they think it saves trouble, time, and expense to
say at first, "this is the president," and not go to the trouble of
having a whole nation come forward and cast the votes, and keep the
people in drunken suspense for forty-eight hours, while the managers
miscount the ballots, and then issue bulletins stating that they have
put in their man; then the self-appointed president names all the
governors, and divides with them the naming of the senators; this is
the ballot in Mexico.
Senor Manuel Gonzales readily accepted Diaz's proposition and stepped
into the presidency. He had also been a loyal soldier, and was as
handsome as Diaz, though some years his senior. Gonzales is a brave
man, powerfully built, but was so unfortunate as to lose his right
arm in battle. He has, however, learned to write with his left in a
large, scrawling style. He has a legal wife, from whom, however, he
is separated. While he was filling the presidential chair she made a
trip through the United States, and gained some notoriety by being
put out of the Palmer House because she did not pay bills contracted
there on the strength of being the wife of the President of Mexico.
On her return to the land of the Aztecs, she found that the law could
not touch the Czar Gonzales, who was living like a king, nor could she
get a divorce, as Mexico does not sanction such luxuries. She started
a sewing establishment, but it is said that she is living in abject
poverty, and, like all Mexican women, with the door to the way of
gaining an honest livelihood barred against her because of her sex.
Their family consists of two sons, both captains in the army--Manuel,
twenty-seven years old, and Fernando, twenty-five--fine-looking and
well educated. The latter is said to be quite good to his mother. It is
reported that Manuel Gonzales and Miss Diaz, the only daughter of the
president, are to be married shortly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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