Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/407

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HONORS TO THE DEAD PRESIDENT.
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body to the San Fernando cemetery, to be interred in the family tomb.[1] In an angle of the garden in the plazuela de San Fernando had been raised a monument in the style of the Greek parthenon. The coffin was laid on a large urn, covered with laurel leaves made of gold and evergreens; in the upper triangle were seen alpha and omega, symbolizing the beginning and end of things, and on the top of the small temple was a bust of Juarez.[2] The standard-bearer of the Batallon de Supremos Poderes, holding in his hand the national flag draped in mourning, took a position in front of the monument surrounded by a guard of honor. After the requisite ceremonies, the body was consigned to the tomb, and at a signal from the towers of San Fernando, the battery of the palace officially announced that the grave already enclosed the mortal remains of the great leader of reform and independence.[3] Honors to the memory of Juarez were afterward paid by several state and municipal governments, and in several foreign countries, in various ways.[4]

  1. The pall-bearers were Luis Velazquez, director of the law school, Gen. Alejandro García, comandante-general of Mexico, Manuel P. Izaguirre, the nation's treasurer, and Alfredo Chavero, representing the ayuntamiento of the capital. The late president's aides-de-camp and one infantry company with a band escorted the body. The presidential carriage, draped in black, followed, and after it went those of President Lerdo, secretaries of state, diplomatic corps, deputies, judiciary, and other distinguished persons and corporations. In the cortège were seen journalists, workingmen's associations, alumni of the preparatory, law, and medical schools, physicians, masonic lodges, the Santa Cecilia and Philharmonic societies, and the German club. The army was represented by a military band, the cadets of the military school, bodies from each of the arms, besides a battery of 12 pieces. The procession consisted of nearly 5,000 persons. An immense concourse of people filled the streets, windows, balconies, and house-tops, probably constituting three fourths of the population in the city.
  2. The mausoleum was surrounded with colossal tapers, and had inside two magnificent alabaster vases, from which rose the vapors of incense and myrrh.
  3. El Monitor Rep., July 20, 21, 24, 1872; Méx., Derecho Intern., 3d pt, 116-17; Baz, Vida de Juarez, 312-15; Chavero, Discurso, 1-20; Romero, Breve Oracion; El Federalista, 1-15.
  4. Querétaro declared him a benemérito, and gave his name to the plaza formerly called de la Cruz, also appropriating funds to make it worthy of its new name. Oajaca decreed to purchase the house where Juarez was born, and dedicate him a monument there. In Puebla it was enacted that his name should be inscribed in golden letters in the legislative chamber, and a monument should be raised. El Monitor Rep., Aug. 1, Nov. 14, 1872; El Federalista, May, 22, 1873; Diario Ofic., May 5, 1873. The medical college of Peru, early in 1872, had awarded him a gold medal. El Federalista, March 21, 1872.