Liberty in Mexico: Writings on Liberalism from the Early Republican Period to the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

2. Bulletin of El Monitor, August 27, 1878

415 We have received the following letter that we are publishing , acceding to the wishes of its illustrious author. Mexico, August 22, 1878.—Mr. José María Vigil, editor of the El Monitor Republicano.—My very dear sir: Whereas for some time I have had the pain of maintaining in the press the opposite of what you defend, the great satisfaction falls to me today of congratulating you for your brilliant article of today, with which I agree completely because it contains the ideas I have professed since I have been able to concern myself with politics, which I have maintained and practiced to the extent it has been possible for me and which you explain with every elegance, with every lucidity and a lovely style that corresponds to your well-established literary reputation. I believe that you will not scorn, because they emanate from me, these expressions of applause and interest, and that you will be kind enough to publish them, because although the voice of approval is humble, it is very much meritorious and very sincere.—Eduardo F. Arteaga. The preceding letter has given us genuine satisfaction, for if once we have disagreed with the opinions of Mr. Licenciado de Arteaga, we have always recognized in our worthy adversary the capable jurist and sincere republican who seeks in observance of the Constitution the natural means for strengthening the peace and liberty of the citizens. Accept then, Mr. de Arteaga, in the present lines, the frank expression of our gratitude for such a spontaneous demonstration that lends valuable sup2 Bulletin of El Monitor, August 27, 1878 Original title: “Boletín del Monitor,” 27 de agosto de 1878. Source: El Monitor Republicano , August 27, 1878. 416 : joSé maría viGil port to the opinions expressed by us in our Bulletin of Thursday, the twenty-second of this month. We are now going to take on the observations that our worthy colleague , La Libertad, has directed to us with respect to the same Bulletin. Of course, we must confess that we do not know what that old liberal school is that has passed its time, and to which our colleague said, with a certain tone of sorrow, that we belong. If seeking social liberty in securing individual rights, if striving for those rights to be protected from the attacks of the authority by means of respect for the fundamental law of the Republic, is an old liberal school, we declare that we belong to it body and soul, and that far from being ashamed, we have pride in professing its principles and dedicating our weak intelligence to rooting it in the country with faith that it might inspire an irrevocable conviction. It matters very little to us whether these doctrines are old or new; what is relevant to our intention is that they be genuine and beneficial , and as, until now, we have had no reason to believe the contrary, it follows naturally that we are not greatly concerned with counting the years. The label of new development is not sufficient in our eyes to lend prestige to a school and to persuade us of its intrinsic excellence, and we believe, on the contrary, that there are many new things eminently bizarre and ridiculous. We have said, and it is true, that all our authorities, with rare exceptions , have tyrannical instincts; and our colleague asks us, “Do these authorities fall to us from the clouds?” answering immediately, “No; they rise up from society and are genuine products of our defective Constitution; they are the scrofula that reveals the destructive poverty of our temperament .” As to whether these authorities are genuine products of our defective Constitution, we deny it categorically, because if such a thing were to happen they would not be tyrannical, because they would proceed from the law and adjust their behavior to it. With respect to the epithet defective applied to our fundamental law, we will observe in passing that, without believing that it is a perfect work in every way, it seems to us that it is sufficient to bring about the prosperity of the Mexican people if it is observed faithfully, subject to correcting, by the means it itself indicates, the defects to which experience is pointing. But it is not observed! And from this La Libertad seems to deduce that, far from opinion bending in the sense of keeping the law, far from bulletin...