ful race, which forms, with the Mistécos, | thence he went to New-Orleans, in which the principal population of the state of city he resided till May, 1855. Oajáca, and occupies about the center of it. He was born in 1807, in a village near Istlan, the chief town of the department of the same name. His birthplace was afterwards given the name of Villa Juarez. Growing up in poor circumstances, he at an early age entered the service of a rich family of Oajáca, who took such an interest in the striving lad, that they paid for his education, and gave him the means to carry on his legal studies. In the practical exercise of his profession as a lawyer, he distinguished himself so greatly that he rose from the post of a magistrate, which he first held, to that of chief justice in Oajáca. As member of the legislative assembly of his native province, he at the same time found an opportunity to play an active part in politics, and from the outset he displayed liberal tendencies, and has remained unchangeably true to them-a praise which is difficult to gain in Mexico, and very rarely granted. In 1846 Juarez was elected a deputy to the congress of the republic, which assembled at Mexico. This was the period when the unfortunate war with the United States broke out. In order to collect the money required for the war expenses, a loan was forced from the extraordinarily wealthy clergy. Juarez took a prominent part in carrying this measure, which is known in Mexico by the name of manos muertas, or mortmain. From 1848 to 1852 he acted as governor of his native state, Oajáca, and during this period, as the intestine tranquillity was not disturbed to any great extent, he turned his attention to the introduction of important improvements. Thus, he formed new roads, increased the number of national schools, and repaired the financial injuries to such an extent that, on resigning his office, he left a considerable sum in the public treasury, although in 1849 there had been a deficit of 17,022 pesos in the budget of Oajáca. Santa Anna, who had just returned from exile at Cartagena, and was again invested with the dictatorship by the clerical party, however, regarded Juarez as his most dangerous opponent among the liberal party. He was, therefore, banished from the country in 1853, and proceeded, first to the Havana, where he remained for a short period; In the mean while the savage Indian general, Alvarez, who always contrived to secure an independent position for himself, had pronounced against Santa Anna, who was seeking to crush him. Alvarez was enabled to hold his own against the dictator and his troops, and continually extended his authority. Juarez, consequently, went to Acapulco, which city had been in Alvarez's power for a number of years past, joined that general, and accompanied him to Cuernavaca, to the south of Mexico. Here he represented the state of Oajáca in an assembly which was empowered by the insurgent provinces to elect a provisional president of the republic. Alvarez was appointed to this office, and Juarez became his minister of justice. While holding this post, he carried the measure abolishing the privileges of the clergy and the army, which was called after him "ley Juarez." When Alvarez retired from the presidency in December, 1855, and nominated Comonfort his representative, Juarez and all the other ministers resigned office. Comonfort appointed Juarez once again governor of Oajáca, which office he accepted, although the revolution which had broken out there rendered it extremely difficult for him to perform his duties. Still he succeeded not only in soon restoring peace to his province, but was enabled to send off troops to establish tranquillity in other parts of the land. After his temporary administration was put an end to by the introduction of the constitution of 1857, he was again confirmed in his post, until, in November of the same year, Comonfort appointed him secretary of state, and eventually president of the supreme court of justice. When Comonfort was deposed by Zuluaga early in 1858, Juarez became, by virtue of his office, and according to the constitution, legitimate president of the republic. Hence, on January 19th, he established the seat of his government at Guanajuato, attempted to assemble a congress, in which he failed, and then retired to Colima, in consequence of the disasters his party had suffered in the struggle with Zuluaga. After this he took ship at Acapulco, and went, viâ Panama, to Vera Cruz, where he arrived on May 4th. Thus, then, the republic had two govern ments and two capitals. While the reactionists occupied the center, the liberals held the west, the north, and the extreme south. The decrees of the former party emanated from Mexico; of the latter, from Vera Cruz. The former lived on the treasures of the clergy, on plunder, and forced loans; the latter, on the customs dues of the valuable port of Vera Cruz. The former enjoyed the blessings of the church, while the latter were supported by public opinion. It is true that the reactionists were the victors in most of the engagements, but the liberals were more abundantly supplied with means by which to cover their losses. Juarez's government, moreover, acquired a moral support through its recognition by the cabinet of Washington. The anti-president Miramon, the successor of Zuluaga, tried in vain to get possession of Vera Cruz. He not only failed in this, but was defeated by the opposition party, and was obliged to give up his cause and leave the country as a fugitive. This enabled Juarez to make his entry into Mexico in January, 1860, and to remove the seat of his government to the capital, where it was recognized by the foreign envoys. tion. Most of the bishops were banished, and with them the Papal nuncio and the Spanish envoy, Pacheco, because they had misused their position, and aided, as far as in them lay, to drag out the civil war. Civil marriage was introduced; the small property still left the Church was entirely taken from them, and the estates of the clerical communities let to farmers on a payment of twelve per cent. While Juarez thus strove to carry out with inexorable severity the consequences of the constitution of 1857, he at the same time rendered the breach with the powerful Church incurable, and most deeply insulted the Spanish pride. As if this were not enough, Juarez offended England and France by issuing the decree of June 17th, which suspended all state payments to its creditors for two years. In consequence of this decree, which created the greater anger because it was asserted that the gov ernment had just raised twenty millions of pesos on the Church property, the English and French ministers broke off diplomatic relations with the republic until the law was recalled. It will not surprise us to find that many of the men who had a voice in public affairs could not, or would not, follow the president in his impetuous career. His opponents in the congress, fiftyone in number, gave expression to their want of confidence in an address dated September 7th, 1861, which invited the president to resign office. But on the very day when Juarez received this summons, he also received a petition, signed by fiftytwo members of congress, begging him to retain office. A congress summoned by Juarez granted him the presidential dignity definitively, which had hitherto been only conceded provisionally to him as the substitute of Comonfort. On June 1st, 1861, he was established as the constitutional president of the republic. Still he succeeded as little as his predecessors in restoring energy to the state body, which was crippled in all its members and functions. He was compelled to expend his energies and It would have been the duty of the waste his means in negative activity, in government to dissolve by force of arms guarding against impending, and checking the guerilla bands still surviving from the present, dangers. Under such circum-civil wars; to restore the dried-up restances it was impossible for him to introduce any ameliorations. Through the incessant contests which desolated the republic, and in which only private interests of the most scandalous character were consulted, the patriot's temper became embittered, and he looked with contempt on the men whom yet he could not dispense with as the instruments to carry out his ends. In this way Juarez lost his equanimity, and passion and obstinacy took the place of self-conscious energy, leading him unfortunately in his actions beyond the bounds of wisdom and political cleverness. His very first measure after entering Mexico indicated this altera sources of the state; and to force the provinces into obedience to the chief. But time was not allowed for such internal changes, for only a few months after Juarez's entry into his capital, he was obliged to concentrate all the available resources of the republic, in order to oppose an invasion decided on by the European powers. The incessant civil wars, and the utter confusion of the finances which followed in their train, had rendered it impossible for the Mexican governments to carry out their obligations toward the creditors of the state. This circumstance, as well as the repeated attacks on the life and property of foreigners, continually offered the European governments an opportunity for interfering in the internal affairs of Mexico. It was principally owing to the North Americans that this interference had been hitherto restricted to diplomatic notes, but, with the outbreak of civil war in the Union, the time seemed to the European states remarkably favorable for making a decisive attack on the internal affairs of the Mexican republic. Hence England, France, and Spain signed, on October 31st, 1861, the convention of London, for united action against Mexico. Spain certainly did not do this without a desire for conquest, and rekindled reminiscences of her old colonial power. France, too, doubtless acted with a view of being able more easily to derive advantage from the confusion in the United States by an occupation of a portion of Mexico. England possibly connected herself with the two powers partly because she desired to recover something for her merchants who had speculated in Mexican bonds, and partly because, as a great naval power, she could hardly stand out. In this critical position Juarez did not lose his head, but took with bold decision those measures which appeared to him the most suitable. On December 15th, 1861, he was empowered by a special decree of congress to do every thing he thought proper to oppose the invasion of the foreigners. Many joined the legitimate government, to which, if they had not hitherto been hostile, they had regarded with indifference. The willingness for a union, if only of a temporary nature, was the greater with many because a fanatic hatred of all foreigners rendered them blind to other interests at stake. Early in November the formation of three corps d'armée was decreed, which were eventually christened the armies of the north, the reserve, and the east. On December 17th, 1861, the Spaniards, who, contrary to the agreement, had outstripped their allies, landed at Vera Cruz, which city the Mexicans had abandoned as untenable. On the 18th Juarez is sued a proclamation, in which he strove with dignified calmness to prove the groundlessness of the Spanish complaints, and warned his countrymen to forget their private hostilities, and with a spirit of sacrifice arm against the common danger, and defend their common fatherland with their last shilling and last drop of blood. In order to to collect the requisite resources, Juarez was compelled to,have recourse to forced loans, and voluntary ones contracted on the most unfavorable terms. That he behaved in the same arbitrary way as his opponents and many of his predecessors, was rather the necessary result of the traditional administration of the finances than his own fault. A cautious policy would have infallibly led to anarchy and the utter dissolution of the state. Naturally enough, Juarez sought to avoid any collision with the European troops. Hence he proposed, in January, 1862, that negotiations should be commenced at Orizaba, but that previously all the foreign troops go aboard ship, except two thousand men, who would accompany the plenipotentiaries of the allies, as a guard of honor, to the place for the conference. This condition, however, was rejected by the allies. How earnestly Juarez meant it with the defense of the republic was proved, in addition to his large preparations for war, by the decrees which he issued early in 1862. The penalty of death was the punishment for every crime against the independence of the nation. Among these crimes was reckoned an armed invasion by foreigners or Mexicans, or by the former alone, without a previous declaration of war by the nation to which they belonged; and the same penalty was incurred by any invitation offered by Mexicans or foreigners settled in the republic to the subjects of other nations to invade the national ter ritory with hostile purpose, or in order to alter the form of government. Those persons who did not surrender their arms would, if Mexicans, be punished with death, if foreigners, sentenced to hard labor in chains for ten years. All men between the sixteenth and sixtieth years were expected to take up arms in defense of their country, or would be declared traitors. Courts-martial were established in the place of the ordinary courts, a state of siege was declared in the capital, and the town commandant was empowered to dispose as he thought proper of the persons and property of all Mexicans residing in it and within a circuit of two leagues. The governors of provinces also received authority to confiscate private property on behalf of the state. By virtue of these laws the Mexican general Robles (whose private character is said to have been most honorable) was seized on the road to the French camp, and shot as a traitor without ceremony. Before any decided action could take place in the field President Juarez succeeded in getting rid of at least two of his enemies. His plenipotentiary, General Doblado, concluded with the allies, on February 19th, 1862, the preliminary convention of Soledad, which was to pave the way for further negotiations. The French government rejected the convention, and when the English and Spaniards retired from Mexico in consequence, resolved to carry on the expedition at its own risk and peril. The Spaniards, who had built their hopes on the clerical party, were deceived in their expectations, for they every where found, instead of attachment, the bitterest hatred. The English, who from the outset had never entertained any very extensive designs, refused to mix themselves up further in an affair whose cost would stand in no ratio to the advantages possibly to be derived. President Juarez then held out a prospect of the guarantee of the United States for the payment of the debts owing to the subjects of the three powers, and in fact the Washington cabinet had made such a proposition, which was, however, thrown out by congress through political considerations. In January, 1862, came up the idea, emanating from France, to abolish the republican form of government in Mexico, and place the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, brother of the Emperor of Austria, on the newly-established throne. To realize this prospect, however, there was required not only the assent of the not yet conquered Mexicans, but also that of the prince who was proposed as candidate for the throne. In the mean while, the reactionary party, not without the assistance of the French, set up an anti-president, with dictatorial authority, at Vera Cruz, in the person of General Almonte, but the election was only supported by one hundred and fifty votes. Like the Spaniards, the French had a decided predilection for the clerical and reäctionary party, and while, on the one hand, through their negotiations with Juarez, they recognized his government as representing de facto and de jure the republic, on the other, the French minister, Dubois de Saligny, was on the best possible terms with Almonte, Padre Miranda, Haro, Tamaris, and other Mexican reäctionists. The defeat which the French corps that started on May 5th, 1862, for Mexico, suffered from Juarez's forces, under Zaragoza, before the gates of Puebla, sufficiently proved that the president possessed both courage and means for resistance. The behavior of the Mexicans during the advance of the French, and the way in which they treated Almonte's tempting offers, also showed that the mass of the nation is not opposed to Juarez, but, on the contrary, disposed to support him. The president, at any rate, gained through his victory, which was unimportant in itself, a seasonable delay, as the French were compelled to fell back on Orizaba, and await reënforcements in a safe position. How the fate of Mexico may turn, and what part Juarez will play in it, can alone be decided by events. The result of the crisis in the United States will also have a material influence on the eventual destiny of Mexico. Still, it would be unjust were we to estimate President Juarez solely by his successes. If we wish to treat a Mexican president fairly, we must never forget how low the nation has sunk which he has to rule and render happy. That Juarez is one of the most remarkable men who has appeared in the history of Spanish America, can not be gainsaid, when we reflect that he has raised himself from a wretched Indian hut to the highest position in the state, not, like his predecessors, through military rank and military successes, but solely through the influence of his personal abilities. M. FLOURENS has added to the long list of books bearing his name one on Instinct and Intelligence,* in which he reviews with some care the opinions of all the great authors who have written on the subject, and supplements those opinions with suggestions and deductions of his own. We can not award M. Flourens any high praise, either for originality or profundity, but we would be content to gather from his pages any useful items of information, and thank him for obtruding upon our attention a most interesting subject, could we do so without suffering the vexation of seeing logic superseded by sophistry, and truth made the slave of human pride. But M. Flourens follows very faithfully the example set him by the authors he reviews. It is perhaps a hazardous proceeding to utter a general condemnation,but we fear it is but too true that the only honest writers on this subject are those who take the most ridiculous views of animal instinct and intelligence. For instance, Descartes, in his Discours sur la Méthode, denies animals the power of thought, on the ground that they do not possess the faculty of speech. He says: Although beasts do many things as well, and perhaps better than one of us, they infallibly fail in many others," by which, he says, it may be inferred that "they do not act from knowledge, but only by the disposition of their organs." "It is a remarkable thing," he says, " that there is no man so stupid, excepting only the insane, who is not capable of arranging together divers words and composing a discourse but, on the contrary, there is no other animal, however perfect, that can do the like, and this not only proves that beasts have less reason than man, but that they have none at all." INSTINCT? a consciousness of their actual existence, but not of their past existence; they have sensations, but no power to produce ideas. Upon these grounds Buffon denies that animals are capable of thought, reflection, and memory, yet he avoids the extreme view of Descartes, that they are merely vitalized automata. "Condillac is right," says M. Flourens (p. 41), "when he says if beasts invent less than we, if they perfect less, it is not that they fail entirely in intelligence, but that their intelligence is more limited. But he is wrong when he says that it is by a sort of invention, that is to say, because he compares, judges, and discovers, that the beaver builds his cabin, or the bird constructs his nest, and therefore all his theory upon the faculties of animals is vicious, because he confounds the things which are essentially distinct, namely instinct and intelligence. The most entertaining of all the disquisitions on this subject is undoubtedly that by Lord Brougham, in the Dialogues on Instinct, wherein he takes care to put down all the sage remarks to his own credit, and makes Lord Spencer responsible for statements most easily refuted. In this delightful book numerous examples of (so called) instinctive operations are described and analyzed; but in spite of the noble author's manifest desire to be liberal and just, it is but too evident he is influenced by what Smellie, in the fifth chapter of his Philosophy of Natural History, designates "mistaken notions concerning the dignity of -human nature.” To sum up this bibliographic note, without reference to many less distinctive opinions, we must notice two other attempts to solve the riddle of instinct, if only for the purpose of showing what opposite opinions may be entertained of the same subject. Father Bougeant, a learned Jesuit, in a tract called A Philosophical Amusement Concerning the Language of Birds and Beasts, affirms boldly that animals are capable of thought and reflection, and to escape all the difficulties arising out of "mistaken notions |