No. 272.
Mr. Bliss
to Mr. Fish.
Mexico, December 3, 1872. (Received December 18.)
Sir: The great events of the past month have been the declaration of the election of Mr. Lerdo to the presidency, and his inauguration on the 1st instant, which form the subject of a separate dispatch. The unanimity with which Mr. Lerdo has been chosen is without a precedent in Mexican annals, and the nation now entertains the brightest hopes of the preservation of peace and the consequent immense development of the resources of the country.
General Porfirio Diaz arrived in this capital on the 17th ultimo, from Chihuahua. He is living in the closest retirement, and is indisposed to take any further part in politics.
Congress has issued a summons for the election of a chief justice and two associate justices of the supreme court, on the second and fourth [Page 636] Sundays of February next. The contest for the first-named post, which is virtually the vice-presidency of the republic, has already commenced, and will be severe. The candidates so far are Generals Miguel Anza and Vicente Riva Palacio, and Mr. José Maria Iglesias, all of whom are friends of Mr. Lerdo.
The railway project of General Rosecrans was on the 29th ultimo, after a long and exhausting debate of two months, submitted to President Lerdo, with power to negotiate with that gentleman, subject to the ratification of Congress.
I am, &c.,