BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

DIAZ HIMSELF
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to give me their hand had they seen me fall on the sidewalk,
today crawl like reptiles in my path, and would consider themselves
happy if the wheels of my carriage should pass over
their unclean bodies. The other night, while expectorating in the
aisle of the theatre, a general who was at my side interposed
his handkerchief, in order that the saliva, each precious pearl,
should not fall on the tile floor. If we had been alone, surely
the miserable creature would have converted his mouth into a
cuspidor. This is not the exquisite flattery of educated folk;
it is the brutal servility of the rabble in its animal and repulsive
form, in that of a slave. The p'ets, the minor poets and
the poetasters each martyr me after his own fashion; it is a
waterspout of ink fit to blacken the ocean itself. This calamity
irritates my nerves to such an extent that at times I have
attacks of hysteria. Horrible, isn't it, dear God-father? And
I say nothing to you of the paragraphs and articles published
by the press that Papa has hired. Those who do not call me
an angel say that I am a cherub; others raise me to the standard
of a goddess; others place me in the firmament as a star, and
still others put me down in botany, classifying me among the
lilies, the marguerites and the jasmin. At times I myself do not
know whether I am an angel, a cherub, a goddess ) a star, a lily,
a marguerite, a jasmin, or a woman. Dios! Whom am I that
I am deified and enveloped in this cloud of fetid incense? Ah,
my God-father, I am very unfortunate, and I hope that you will
not deny me your pardon and your advice.
"CARMEN."
Is Diaz patriotic? Has he the welfare of Mexico
at heart? The flatterers of Diaz swear by his patriotism,
but the facts demand a negative answer. Diaz
helped depose the foreign prince, but immediatel y afterwards
he plunged a peaceful country into war to feed
his own ambition. Perhaps it will be said that Diaz
imagined that he could order the destinies of Mexico
more for the benefit of Mexico than could an yone else.
Doubtless, but why has he not given his country progress?
Is it possible that he believes that autocracy is
better for a people than democracy? Is it possible that