When the term was over for which Diaz had thus elected himself, he retired temporarily to fulfil the law he had so strenuously advocated, Article 28 of the amended constitution. Next he set about paving the way to permanent success by placating all opposing factions. First, he forever laid any restless ghost of Lerdist sentiment that might arise and shake its gory locks in the future, by marrying in the very midst of the enemy’s camp. His young and beautiful wife is the daughter of Romero Rubio, who was President Lerdo’s most influential adviser, and his bosom friend and companion in exile. Señor Rubio has since been President of the Senate, and Minister of the Interior. No man since the Indian Juarez, who was the Abraham Lincoln of Mexican history, has achieved the popularity that Diaz enjoys, or has won the confidence of the people to so great a degree. The ballad-singers at Santa Anita, an Indian village in the suburbs of the capital, on the romantic canal that leads to the far-famed Floating Gardens, where the populace swarm on Sundays to drink _pulque_ and dance fandangoes, carol many a long-drawn refrain to twanging guitars in praise of Porfirio D-i-i-iaz, while the dedications of their myriad _pulquerias_ are about equally divided between Diaz, Montezuma, and the Mother of God. The old Capitol, or Palace, as it is called, which Cortez raised upon the ruins of the Aztec temple is still occupied as the seat of government, and shelters the Executive departments. Here, too, is the National Museum, with its collection of antiquities, and in its centre, near the Sacrificial Stone of the Aztecs, is the imperial coach in which the ill-fated Emperor rode. Public business is conducted very much as in the United States; the officials are usually accomplished linguists, and well read in political economy. The science of government is studied there more than with us, and public life is a profession, like law or engineering. There still exists, however, and many generations will come and go before it can be eradicated, a caste that divides the people into three classes--the peon, the aristocrat, and the middle class. The prejudice that separates them is usually overcome by military force. The peon, who like Diaz becomes a political and a social leader, must win the place by military skill, or wear a _sarepa_ forever. Among the upper classes of Mexico will be found as high a degree of social and intellectual refinement as exists in Paris, as quick a reception and as cordial a response to all the sentiments that elevate society, and a knowledge of the arts and literature that few people of the busy cities of the United States have acquired. [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO.]