LERDO DE TEJADA, SEBASTIAN ( 182.5-S9) . President of Mexico. He was born at Jalapa in the Province of Vera Cruz, was educated in the Seminary of Puebla, and afterwards studied law in the City of Mexico. He was admitted to the bar in 1851, became a judge of the Supreme Court in 1855, and two years later was made Minister of Foreign Affairs. Elected to Congress in Mil, he was chosen president of that body. In 1863 he was the first Minister of Justice, and then Minister of Foreign Affairs, always allied with the Liberal Party. He was one of the most prominent leaders in opposition to the French intervention in Mexico, served the Pro visional Government of .Tuarez faithfully while he was a fugitive and exile, and preserved a con sistent attitude of antagonism to the Emperor Alaximilian, whose death may be eh, rged justly to Lerdo de Tejada and Juarez. M the return of the Republican Government to the capital in 1867, after the withdrawal of the French. Juarez was reideeted President, and Lerdo became Chief Justice of the Supremo Court with a :eat in the Cabinet, and on the death of Juarez. in 1872, he succeeded him as President by virtue of his office. In October of that year be was elected President for four years. His administration was marked by considerable progress in economic and con stitutional development, and the country enjoyed a comparatively long period of peace. In 1875, however, the elements opposed to a strong cen tral government made common cause with the clerical reactionists. and a revolution broke out in several Mexican States simultaneously. ln the Presidential election of 1876 Lerdo was a candi date for rei.ilection and was opposed by Gen. Por firio Diaz: Lerdo was declared successful, but Isis opponents asserted that official influence had been brought to bear on the voters. and that the election was fraudulent. Diaz at the head of an army marched against the capital. and on No vember 26. 18767 President Lerdo escaped to
Acapulco. He went to the United States early in 1877, and subsequently resided in New York, where he died.
LERICI, 15'r6-che. A city in the Province of Genoa, ]taly, four miles southwest of Sar zana, which is 65 miles by rail southeast of Genoa (Map: Italy. D 3). It has a small har bor, and an ancient castle, and in the "Middle .1ges was the principal city on the Gulf of Spezia. On the hay of Pertusola are silver and lead works. Population (commune), in 1881, 6071; in 1901, 9026.
LERIDA, 15W-D.i. The capital of the Span ish province of the same name, situated on the river Segre, a tributary of the Ebro, about SO miles west of Barcelona, and on the railroad be tween that city and Saragossa (Map: Spain, F 2). It is built partly on a plain and partly on an eminence on the top of which stands an an cient castle. The town, which is important in a military point of view, is surrounded by walls and a moat and commanded by the citadel. It is a gloomy labyrinth of narrow and crooked street:, but contains a number of interesting old build ings, the most prominent being an old cathedral built in the thirteenth century in a strange mix ture of Byzantine, Gothic, and Moorish archi tecture and now used as barracks; the Church of San Juan, an interesting Byzantine monument of the twelfth century; several old convents, and a palace of the kings of Aragon. The town has a bishop's palace, a new cathedral in Corinthian style, a normal school, a theological seminary, and several academies, literary and scientific societies. Lerida has manufactures of wool, cot ton, silk, leather, and glass. Population, in 1887, 21,880; in 1900, 21,352. Lerida is the Celtiberian Ilcrda, noted for its heroic resistance to the Romans. It became an episcopal sec in the sixth century, and a council was held there in 564.