Juarez, BENITO

Juarez, BENITO, president of Mexico, was born of Indian parents in Oaxaca in 1806, became an advocate, and as governor of his native state (1847-52) was distinguished both for his ability and his honesty. Exiled during the dictatorship of Santa-Anna, he returned when the republic was restored, and in 1857 was elected president of the Supreme Court (equivalent to vice-president of the nation). On the overthrow of the Liberal president by the clerical party in 1858 Juarez assumed the executive, but was compelled to retire to Vera Cruz, where his government was recognised by the United States in 1859, and whence he issued decrees abolishing religious orders and confiscating church property. In January 1861 he was able to enter the capital, and in March was elected president for four years. In December of the same year the allied forces of England, France, and Spain occupied Vera Cruz (see MEXICO); in April the British and Spanish withdrew, but the French remained, and declared war against Juarez, who retreated gradually to the northern frontier, and remained for nearly a year at El Paso del Norte. He entered Mexico city again in July 1867, Maximilian (q.v.) having been shot meanwhile by order of court-martial—an ungenerous but not impolitic or perhaps altogether unjustifiable act of reprisal. Juarez was again elected president for four years—years disturbed by repeated revolutionary attempts. In 1871 he was re-elected, and the risings became even fiercer and more frequent; but he faced all his foes with the dogged courage of his race, and was holding his position with unwearied energy when he died, somewhat suddenly, 18th July 1872. See the Life by Ulick R. Burke (1894).