principles smouldered throughout the land, bursting unbidden into flame, as, time after time, Diaz announced his intention of continuing in office for a further term. Various opposition movements and societies were inaugurated, the most notable and powerful being the Liberal Party, formed in 1900. Many prominent Mexicans were associated with one or other of these parties, and countless newspapers sprang up to support them.
Though unable utterly to crush all opposition, Diaz did everything in his power to suppress these Liberal tendencies, and in this he was seconded by the United States' agents, behind whom again we find the omnipotent dollars of the capitalists. Individuals associating themselves with progressive movements were thrown into prison, maltreated, tortured, or killed outright. There is a law in Mexico—the ley fuga, or law of flight—which permits the shooting of prisoners who have tried to escape. This very elastic measure was stretched to sanction the slaughter of anyone whom the authorities desired to be rid of. A widespread secret police system was of immense advantage to Diaz in the hunting down of political offenders, many of whom were never brought to trial at all, but fell victims to the knife of the assassin. If the fugitive crossed the border into the sister-republic, he was promptly flung back to the Mexican authorities, any frail pretext sufficing for this purpose.
Inevitably, under these circumstances, the democrats resorted to force of arms, and time and again Mexico was thrown into a state of chaos—the righteous if unorganised protest of a people against conditions well-nigh insupportable.
The utter inconsistency of Diaz's spoken sentiments with his actual policy may be judged from his announcement of 1908, declining (in his usual fashion) to enter upon an eighth term of office. He says: "I welcome an Opposition party in the Mexican Republic. If it appears, I will regard it as a blessing, not an evil. And if it can develop power, not to exploit, but to govern, I will stand by it, support it, advise it, and
