MAXIMILIAN IN MEXICO

A WOMAN'S REMINISCENCES OF THE FRENCH INTERVENTION 1862-1867

SARA YORKE STEVENSON, Sc. D. 

NEW YORKcopyright 1897, 1898, 1899THE CENTURY CO. 

TO THE MEMORY OFSENOR DON MATIAS ROMEROMINISTER OF MEXICO TO WASHINGTON1882-1898. 

One of the latest survivors of the drama, some episodes of which areherein related. 

His approval of five articles on the French Intervention and the reignof Maximilian, which appeared in the "Century Magazine" in 1897, and hisearnest request that they "be published in a more permanent form, led tothe presentation of this volume to the public. 

With deepest appreciation of the important part played by this Mexicanpatriot in checking the aggressive policy of Europe upon this continent, the author here inscribes his name. 

CONTENTS

Part I. The Triple Alliance, 1861-62I. El Dorado . . . . . . . . . 1II. The New "Napoleonic Idea" . . . . 7III. M. De Saligny And M. Jecker . . . 17IV. The Allies In Mexico . . . . . . 24V. Rupture Between The Allies . . . . 36

Part II. The French: Intervention, 1862-64I. The Author Leaves Paris For Mexico . . 47II. Puebla And Mexico--General De Lorencez--General Zaragoza . 66III. The Siege of Puebla--General Forey--General Ortega . . 82IV. The French In The City Of Mexico--The Regency . . . 93

Part III. The Empire Of Maximilian I, 1864-65I. Marshal Bazaine . . . . . . . 117II. A Bed Of Roses In A Gold-Mine . . . . 125III. Thorns . . . . . . . . . 136

Part IV. The AwakeningI. "A Cloud No Bigger Than A Man's Hand" . . . 161II. La Debacle . . . . . . . 188III. Comedy And Tragedy . . . . 207IV. General Castelnau . . . . . 232V. The End Of The French Intervention . . . 256

Part V. The EndI. Queretaro, 1867 . . . . . . 269

AppendicesA. The Bando Negro (Black Decree) Proclamation Of Emperor Maximilian, October 3, 1865. . . . 309B. Treaty Of Miramar, Signed On April 10, 1864 . . 315

List Of IllustrationsFrontsview PageNapoleon III, Eugenie, And Duc De Morny . . 9Maximilian Gold Coin . . . . . . 19Agustin De Iturbide . . . . . . . 29Miguel Miramon . . . . . . 39President Benito Pablo Juarez . . . . . 49General Prim . . . . . . . . 59Porfirio Diaz . . . . . . . . . 69Matias Romero . . . . . . . . 79 From "Mexico and The United States, " by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons. Chapultepec, Maximilian's Palace . . . . 89Empress Charlotte . . . . . . . 99Colonel Van Der Smissen . . . . . . 109Marechal Bazaine And Madame La Marechale . 119Matthew Fontaine Maury . . . . 129 After a Photograph By D. H. Anderson. Comte De Thun De Hohenstein . . . . . 143 Photographed By Merille. Count Von Funfkirkchen . . . . . . . 153 From Photograph By Montes De Oca. Ex-Confederate Generals In Mexico . . . 171Dr. William M. Gwin . . . . . . . 183 From A Steel-Engraving By A. B. Walter For "The Democratic Review. "General Mejia . . . . 195Marquis De Gallifet . . . . . . . 211 After Photograph By Nadar. Colonel Tourre, Third Zouaves . . . . 227 After Photograph By Montes De Oca. Comte De Bombelles . . . . . . . 239 After Photograph By Aubert & Co. General Castelnau . . . . . . . 251Colonel Dupin . . . . . . . . . 263Surrender of Maximilian, May 15, 1867 . . . 275Don Pedro Rincon Gallardo . . . . 283 From A Photograph By Cruces y Campa. Guard And Sergeant Who Shot Maximilian . . 291Last Day Of Maximilian . . . . . . . 297The Calvary Of Queretaro, Showing Where Maximilian, Mejia, And Miramon Were Shot . . . 300The Last Moments Of Maximilian . . . . 301The Hack In Which Maximilian Was Taken To The Place Of Execution . . . . . 304Monuments Marking The Place of Execution . . 307

PRELUDE

In offering these pages to the public, my aim is not to write ahistorical sketch of the reign of Maximilian of Austria, nor is it togive a description of the political crisis through which Mexico passedduring that period. My only desire is to furnish the reader with a pointof view the value of which lies in the fact that it is that of aneyewitness who was somewhat more than an ordinary spectator of a seriesof occurrences which developed into one of the most dramatic episodes ofmodern times. 

Historians too often present their personages to the public and toposterity as actors upon a stage, --I was about to say as puppets in ashow, --whose acts are quite outside of themselves, and whose voicesexpress emotions not their own. They appear before the footlights of afulfilled destiny; and their doubts, their weaknesses, are concealed, along with their temptations, beneath the paint and stage drapery lentthem by the historian who, knowing beforehand the denouement towardwhich their efforts tended, unconsciously assumes a like knowledge ontheir part. They are thus often credited with deep-laid motives andplans which it may perhaps have been impossible for them to entertain atthe time. 

To those who lived with them when they were MAKING history, these actorsare all aglow with life. They are animated by its passions, itsimpulses. They are urged onward by personal ambition, or held back byselfish considerations. They are not characters in a drama; they are menof the world, whose official acts, like those of the men about usto-day, are influenced by their affections, their family complications, their prejudices, their rivalries, their avarice, their vanity. Thecircumstances of their private life temporarily excite or depress theirenergies, and often give them a new and unlooked-for direction; and thesuccess or failure of their undertakings may be recognized as havingbeen the result of their individual limitations, of their personalignorance of the special conditions with which they were called upon tocope, or of their short-sightedness. 

In this lies the importance of private recollections. The gossip of oneepoch forms part of the history of the next. It is therefore to bedeplored that those whose more or less obscure lives run their course inthe shadow of some public career are seldom sufficiently aware of thefact at the time to note accurately their observations and impressions. 

These thoughts occurred to me when, at the request of the editor of the"Century, " I one night took up my pen, and gathering about me oldletters, photographs, and small tokens faded and yellow with age, plunged deep into the recollections of my youthful days, and evoked theghosts of brilliant friends, many of whom have since passed away, leaving but names written in lines of blood upon a page of history. Asthey appeared across a chasm of thirty years, the well-remembered facesfamiliarly smiled, each flinging a memory. They formed a motley company:generals now dead, whose names are revered or execrated by theircountrymen; lieutenants and captains who have since made their way inthe world, or have died, broken-hearted heroes, before Metz or Sedan;women who seemed obscure, but whose names, in the general convulsion ofnations, have risen to newspaper notoriety or to lasting fame; soldierswho have become historians; guerrilleros now pompously called generals;adventurers who have grown into personages; personages who have sunkinto adventurers; sovereigns who have become martyrs. 

They had all been laid away in my mind, buried in the ashes of the pastalong with the old life. The drama in which each had played his part hadfor many years seemed as far off and dim as though read in a book a longtime ago; and yet now, how alive it all suddenly became--alive with alife that no pen can picture!

There were their photographs and their invitations, their old notes andbits of doggerel sent to accompany small courtesies--flowers, music, aHavana dog, or the loan of a horse. It was all vivid and real enoughnow. Those men were not to me mere historical figures of whom one reads. They fought historic battles, they founded a historic though ephemeralempire; their defeats, their triumphs, their "deals, " their blunders, were now matters of history: but for all that, they were of common fleshand blood, and the strange incidents of a strangely picturesque episodein the existence of this continent seemed natural enough if one onlyknew the men. 

Singly or in groups, the procession slowly passed, each one pausing fora brief space in the flood of light cast by an awakening memory. Manywore uniforms--French, Austrian, Belgian, Mexican. Some were dancinggaily, laughing and flirting as they went by. Others looked careworn andabsorbed by the preoccupations of a distracted state, and by the growingconsciousness of the thankless responsibility which the incapacity oftheir rulers at home, and the unprincipled deceit of a few officialimpostors, had placed upon them. But all, whether thoughtful orcareless, whether clairvoyant or blind, whether calmly yielding to fateor attempting to breast the storm, were driven along by the irresistiblecurrent of events, each drifting toward the darkness of an inevitabledoom which, we now know, was inexorably awaiting him as he passed fromthe ray of light into the gloom in his "dance to death. "

PART I. 

THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE

1861-62

MAXIMILIAN IN MEXICO

I. EL DORADO

During the winter of 1861-62, my last winter in France, one of theprincipal subjects of conversation in Parisian official circles was ourCivil War, and its possible bearing upon the commercial and colonialinterests of Europe, or rather the possible advantage that Europe, andespecially France, might hope to derive from it. 

A glance at M. De Lamartine's famous article written in January, 1864, and reprinted a year or two later in his "Entretiens Litteraires, " willhelp us to understand how far Frenchmen were from appreciating not onlyour point of view, but the true place assigned by fate to the UnitedStates in contemporary history. Nothing could so plainly reveal thefailure of the French to understand the natural drift of events on thisside of the Atlantic, and account for the extraordinary, thoughshortlived, success of Napoleon's wild Mexican scheme. In this article, written with a servile pen, the poet-statesman attacked the character ofthe people of the United States, and brought out Napoleon's motives inhis attempt to obtain, not for France alone, but for Europe at large, afoothold upon the American continent. With a vividness likely to impresshis readers with the greatness of the conception as a theory, he showedhow the establishment of a European monarchy in Mexico must insure toEuropean nations a share in the commerce of the New World. The newcontinent, America, is the property of Europe, he urged. The Old Worldshould not recognize the right of the United States to control itswealth and power. 

An article by Michel Chevalier, published with the same purpose in view, threatened Mexico with annexation by the United States unless theexisting government of the country underwent reorganization. 

Both authors were frequent visitors at my guardian's house in Paris, which accounts for the impression made upon my youthful mind by theirwritten utterances at that time. M. Chevalier was a distinguishedpolitical economist. He had visited Mexico, and knew the value of itsmining and agricultural wealth without sufficiently recognizing theactual conditions to be dealt with, and he fully indorsed the imperialconception. "The success of the expedition is infallible, " he said. Heexplained the resistance of the Mexicans by their hatred of theSpaniards, and demonstrated to his own satisfaction that the burden ofthe venture must fall upon France, who should reap the glory of itssuccess. 

Modern civilization, he urged, includes a distinct branch--the Latin--inwhich Catholicism shines. Of this France is the soul as well as the arm. "Without her, without her energy and her initiative the group of theLatin races must be reduced to a subordinate rank in the world, andwould have been eclipsed long ago. " In comparing upon a map of the worldthe space occupied by the Catholic nations two centuries ago with thepresent area under their control, "one is dismayed at all that they havelost and are losing" every day. "The Catholic nations seem threatened tobe swallowed up by an ever-rising flood. "*

* "Revue des Deux Mondes, " of April, 1862, p. 916. It is interestingto find him quoting Humboldt's prophecy that "the time will come, be ita century sooner or later, when the production of silver will have noother limit than that imposed upon it by its ever-increasingdepreciation as a value. " (April, 1862, p. 894). 

When the Mexican empire was planned our Civil War had been raging fornearly two years. From the standpoint of the French rulers, the momentseemed auspicious for France to interfere in American affairs. Theestablishment of a great Latin empire, founded under French protectionand developed in the interest of France, which must necessarily derivethe principal benefit of the stupendous wealth which Mexico held readyto pour into the lap of French capitalists, --of an empire which in theWest might put a limit to the supremacy of the United States, as well ascounterbalance the British supremacy in the East, thus opposing aformidable check to the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxon race in theinterest of the Latin nations, --such was Napoleon's plan, and I havebeen told by one who was close to the imperial family at that time thatthe Emperor himself fondly regarded it as "the conception of his reign. "

Napoleon III labored under the disadvantage of reigning beneath theshadow of a great personality which, consciously or unconsciously, heever strove to emulate. But however clever he may be, the man who, anxious to appear or even to be great, forces fate and createsimpossible situations that he may act a leading part before the world, is only a schemer. This is the key to the character of Napoleon III andto his failures. He looked far away and dreamed of universalachievements, when at home, at his very door, were the threateningissues he should have mastered. The story is told of him that oneevening, at the Tuileries, when the imperial party were playing games, chance brought to the Emperor the question, "What is your favoriteoccupation?" to which he answered: "To seek the solution of unsolvableproblems. " It is also related that in his younger days a favorite axiomof his was: "Follow the ideas of your time, they carry you along;struggle against them, they overcome you; precede them, they supportyou. " True enough; but only upon condition that you will not mistake theshrill chorus of a few interested courtiers and speculators for thevoice of your time, nor imagine that you precede your generation becauseyou stand alone. He dreamed of far-away glory, and his flatterers toldhim his dreams were prophetic. He saw across the seas the mirage of agreat Latin empire in the West, and beheld the Muse of historyinscribing his name beside that of his great kinsman as the restorer ofthe political and commercial equilibrium of the world, as well as thebenefactor who had thrown El Dorado open to civilization. With the faithof ignorance, he proposed to share with an Austrian archduke theseimaginary possessions, and to lay for him, as was popularly said in1862-63, "a bed of roses in a gold-mine. " Unmindful of warnings, hepushed onward for two years, apparently incapable of grasping the factthat the mirage was receding before him; and finally found his fool'serrand saved from ridicule only by the holocaust of many lives, andraised to dignity only by the tragedy of Queretaro. 

All this we now know, but in 1861-62 the Napoleonic star shonebrilliantly with the full luster cast upon it by the Crimean war and theresult of the Italian campaign. It is true that occasionally some strongdiscordant note issuing from the popular depths would strike the ear andfor the time mar the paeans of applause which always greet successfulpower. For instance, at the Odeon one night, during the war withAustria, I was present when the Empress Eugenie entered. The Odeon is inthe Latin Quarter, and medical and law students filled the upper tiersof the house. As the sovereign took her seat in a box a mighty chorussuddenly arose, and hundreds of voices sang, "Corbleu, madame, quefaites vous ici?" quoting the then popular song, "Le Sire de Franboisy. "

The incident, so insulting to the poor woman, gave rise to somedisturbance; and although the boys were quieted, the Empress soon leftthe theater, choking with mortification. M. Rochefort, who refers tothis incident in his memoirs, adds that as the imperial party came out, another insult of a still more shocking character was thrown at theEmpress. This, of course, I did not witness. 

Such occurrences were usually treated by the press and the governmentsympathizers as emanating from youthful hot-brains, or from the lowerranks of the people, and therefore as unworthy of attention. But thosehot-brains represented the coming thinkers of France, and the "common"people represented its strength. On the whole, however, in 1862 the morepowerful element had rallied to and upheld the government. The court andthe army were so loud in their admiration of the profound policy of theEmperor that those who heeded the croakings of the few clear-sighted mencomposing the opposition were in the background. 

It so happened that my lines had been cast among these, and it isinteresting now, in looking back upon the expressions of opinion ofthose who most strenuously opposed French interference in Americanaffairs, to see how little even these men, wise as they were in theirgeneration, appreciated the true conditions prevailing in Mexico. Noneseriously doubted the possibility of occupying the country and ofmaintaining a French protectorate. The only point discussed was, Was itworth while? And to this question Jules Favre, Thiers, Picard, Berryer, Glais-Bizoin, Pelletan, and a few others emphatically said, "No!"

II. THE NEW "NAPOLEONIC IDEA"

The "Napoleonic idea, " however, had not burst forth fully equipped inall its details from the Caesarean brain in 1862. It would be unfair notto allow it worthy antecedents and a place in the historic sequence. Asfar back as 1821, when the principle of constitutional monarchy wasaccepted by the Mexicans under the influence of General Iturbide, aconvention known as the "plan of Iguala" had been drawn by GeneralsIturbide and Santa Anna, and accepted by the new viceroy, O'Donoju, inwhich it was agreed that the crown of Mexico should be offered first toFerdinand VII, and, in case of his refusal, to the Archduke Charles ofAustria, or to the Infante of Spain, Don Carlos Luis, or to DonFrancisco Paulo. 

The Mexican embassy sent to Spain to offer the throne of Mexico toFerdinand was ill received. The king had no thought of purchasing acrown which he regarded as his own by the recognition of theconstitutional principle which he had so long fought; and the Cortesscorned to authorize any of the Spanish princes to accept the advancesof the Mexicans. The result of Spain's unbending policy was a rupturewhich involved the loss of its richest colony. 

In 1854 General Santa Anna, * then dictator or president for life, hadgiven full powers to Senor Gutierrez de Estrada to treat with the courtsof Paris, London, Vienna, and Madrid for the establishment of a monarchyin Mexico under the scepter of a European prince; and Senor de Estrada, with the consent of the French government, had offered the throne of hiscountry to the Duc de Montpensier, who wisely, as it proved, haddeclined it. 

* Santa Anna raised the flag of revolt against his benefactor in 1823. Iturbide abdicated, was given a pension of twenty-five thousand dollars, and, at his own suggestion, was escorted to the sea-coast, a voluntaryexile, by a guard of honor. From this time Santa Anna had a hand in allthe revolutions that followed. He himself subsequently fell before aninsurrection of the Liberal party led by the old Indian governor ofGuerrero, General Alvarez. 

The Crimean war and the downfall of General Santa Anna checked theprogress of these negotiations, which were resumed as soon as, peacehaving been restored, the European powers could turn their attention totheir commercial interests in America, which Senor de Estradarepresented to them as gravely compromised by the encroachments of theUnited States in Mexico, and to the grievances urged by their subjectsagainst the Mexican government. *

* Compare Abbe Domenech, "Histoire du Mexique, " vol. Ii, p. 360. 

In 1859 General Miramon* confirmed the powers given by General SantaAnna to the Mexican representative; and then it was that, for the firsttime, the Emperor commended to his attention the Archduke Maximilian. 

* General Miramon was barely twenty-six when he rose to the first rankin Mexican politics. Of Bearnese extraction, his father's family passedover to Spain in the eighteenth century. His grandfather had gone toMexico as aide de-camp to one of the viceroys. Miguel Miramon had servedin the war against the United States. He was a brilliant officer, bold, vigorous, original. During his term of office he had on his side theclergy, the army, the capital. 

It were also unfair not to admit that the varying success of theconflict between the two factions struggling for supremacy in Mexico waslikely to deceive the European powers, and made it easy for men whosepersonal interests were at stake to misrepresent the respective strengthof the contending parties and the condition of the country. But noleader of men has, in the eyes of history, a right to be deceived eitherby men or by appearances; and granting that Napoleon might at first havebeen misled, he had timely warning, and the opportunity to withdraw, asdid the Spaniards and the English, without shame, if without glory. 

After Mexico, led by the patriots Hidalgo and Morelos, had thrown offthe Spanish yoke, it became for forty years the scene of a series ofstruggles between contending factions which reduced the country to astate of anarchy. Once rid of their Spanish viceroys, the Mexicans foundthemselves little better off than they had been under their rule. Forcenturies the Mexican church had played upon the piety of the devout forthe furtherance of its own temporal interests, until one third of thewhole wealth of the nation had found its way into its hands. It wasagainst the clergy, and against the retrogressive policy for which itstood, that in 1856 a wide-spread revolutionary movement wassuccessfully organized, as a result of which, in 1857, a liberalconstitution was drawn up and accepted by the people. 

The clerical or reactionary party, although it counted among itsadherents many of the best old Spanish families composing Mexico'saristocracy, would probably soon have ceased to be a serious practicalobstacle in the way of reform had it not been for the wealth of acorrupt clergy, by means of which its armies were kept in the field. Bethis as it may, the reign of constitutional order represented byPresident Comonfort in 1856 was shortlived, General Comonfort abdicatedin 1858. Benito Juarez, by virtue of his rank of president of theSupreme Court, then became constitutional president ad interim. 

By a pronunciamiento General Zuloaga, with the help of the army, tookpossession of the government and of the capital, while Juarez maintainedhis rights at Queretaro. War raged between the two parties, with rapidlyvarying success. A letter dated November 19, 1860, written by my brother, a young American engineer who had gone to Mexico to take part in theconstruction of the first piece of railroad built between Vera Cruz andMexico, gives a concise and picturesque account of the situation:

Things look dark--so dark, in fact, that for the present I do not thinkit advisable to risk any more money here. There is a fair prospect ofthe decree of Juarez being annulled. If so, our bonds go overboard. There is a prospect of Juarez signing a treaty. If so, our bonds go up15 or 20. It is rouge et noire--a throw of the dice. The Liberals havebeen beaten at Queretaro, where Miramon took from them twenty-one piecesof artillery and many prisoners, among them an American officer ofartillery, whom he shot the next day, AS USUAL. Oajaca has fallen intothe hands of the clergy. The Liberals under Carbajal attackedTulancingo, and were disgracefully beaten by a lot of ragged Indians. They are losing ground everywhere; and if the United States does nottake hold of this unhappy country it will certainly go to the dogs. There is a possibility of compromise between Juarez and Miramon, theeffect of which is this: the constitution of '57 to be revised; the saleof clergy property to their profit; the revocation of Juarez's decree ofJuly about the confiscation of clergy property to the profit of thestate; religious liberty, civil marriage, etc. 

A gloomy picture, and true enough, save in one respect. The Liberalsmight be beaten everywhere, but they were not losing ground; on thecontrary, their cause rested upon too solid a foundation of right andprogress, and the last brilliant exploits of General Miramon wereinsufficient to galvanize the reactionary party into a living force. 

On December 22, 1860, Miramon was finally defeated at Calpulalpan byGeneral Ortega, and shortly after left the country. On December 28 thereforms prepared in Vera Cruz by Juarez, proclaiming the principles ofreligious toleration, and decreeing the confiscation of clergy property, the abolition of all 13 religious orders, and the institution of civilmarriage, etc. , were promulgated in the capital by General Ortega; andon January 11, 1861, Juarez* himself took possession of the city ofMexico. The Liberals were triumphant, and the civil war was virtually atan end. 

* Benito Pablo Juarez was of Indian birth, and as a boy began life as amozo, or servant, in a wealthy family. His ability was such as to drawupon him the attention of his employer, who had him educated. He soonrose to greatness as a lawyer, and then as a member of the NationalCongress, governor of Oajaca, secretary to the executive, and presidentof the republic. 

The defeated army, as was invariably the case in Mexico, dissolved anddisappeared, leaving only a residuum of small bands of guerrillas. Thesepreyed impartially upon the people and upon travelers of both parties. Leonardo Marquez almost alone remained in the field and seriouslycontinued the conflict. The principal leaders fled abroad, especially toParis, where they made friends, and planned a revenge upon thevictorious oppressors of the church, whose outrages upon God and manwere vividly colored by religious and party hatred. Among these were menof refinement and good address, scions of old Spanish families, who, like M. Gutierrez de Estrada, found ready sympathy among the Emperor'sentourage. As a rule, none but "hopelessly defeated parties seek thehelp of foreign invasion of their own land"; but the Empress Eugenie, who, a Spaniard herself, was a devout churchwoman, lent a willing ear tothe stories of the refugees, impressively told in her own native tongue. To reinstate the church, and to oppose the strong Catholicism of a Latinmonarchy to the Protestant influence of the Northern republic, seemed toher the most attractive aspect of the projected scheme. 

The struggle that had been carried on for so many years in Mexico withvarying vicissitudes was not purely one of partizan interest based upona different view of political government: it was the struggle of thespirit of the nineteenth century against the survival of Spanishmedievalism; it was the contest of American republicanism against theold order of things, religious and social as well as political; ofprogressive liberalism against conservatism and reaction. 

The French intervention as planned by Napoleon III was, therefore, aglaring paradox, and betrays his absolute ignorance of the conditionswith which he was undertaking to cope. As a matter of fact, the partyupon whose support he relied for the purpose of developing the naturalresources of Mexico, and of bringing that country into line withEuropean intellectual and industrial progress, was pledged by all itstraditions to moral and political retrogression. 

The enterprise, undertaken under these conditions, bore in itself suchelements of failure that nothing save the force of arms and a vastexpenditure of life and money could, even for a time, make it a success. Unless the French assumed direct and absolute control of Mexican affairsirrespective of party--and this contingency was specifically set asideby the most solemn declarations--they must sooner or later come intodirect antagonism with allies who were pledged to the most benightedform of clericalism, and into real, though perhaps unconscious, sympathywith their opponents who stood arrayed upon the side of progress. 

It was not long before the pretensions of the church and partycomplications caused a breach between the Corps Expeditionnaire and itsoriginal supporters, which placed the French in the unlooked-for, and bythem much deprecated, attitude of invaders and conquerors of the land, equally hated by ally and foe. And yet at the outset one aspect of thesituation was favorable to the success of the French undertaking. 

The sweeping reforms carried out by Juarez during his brief undisturbedoccupation of the country had greatly smoothed the way for the French intheir self-imposed task of Mexican regeneration. The new laws hadalready been enforced regulating the relations of church and state. Theconfiscation of clergy property, the breaking up of the powerfulreligious orders, and religious tolerance, all had been proclaimed, aswell as the freedom of the press. 

Spanish, influence, which in these struggles had been exercised stronglyagainst reform, had been abruptly brought to an end by the summarydismissal of Senor Pacheco, the Spanish minister, and the Archbishop ofMexico had been exiled. 

III. M. DE SALIGNY AND M. JECKER

One of the first problems, and quite the most important, to be faced byPresident Juarez, upon his establishment in the capital, had been theraising of funds with which to carry on the expense of the Liberalgovernment. As a measure the throwing upon the market of thenationalized church property recommended itself. There was, however, butlittle confidence, and still less ready money, in the country after manyyears of civil strife. So much real estate suddenly thrown upon themarket depreciated property. The easy terms of sale--a third cash, thebalance to be paid in pagares--tempted speculators and gave rise to manyfraudulent transactions, and the measure brought little relief to thegovernment. 

Although in March, 1861, President Juarez had signed a conventionadjusting anew the pecuniary claims of the French residents, on July 17Congress found itself compelled to suspend payment on all agreementshitherto entered into with foreign powers. The very next day therepresentatives of France and Great Britain entered a formal protest onbehalf of their governments. On July 25, having obtained nosatisfaction, they suspended all diplomatic relations with the Mexicangovernment. 

Feeling ran high between Mexicans and foreigners. The speculators inMexican bonds, as well as more innocent sufferers, were loud in theirdenunciations. The Swiss banker Jecker, * who had cleverly managed toenlist the interest of powerful supporters at the court of Napoleon III, and who had become naturalized in order to add weight to his claim toFrench support, spared no pains in exciting the resentment of the Frenchwith regard to this violation of its pledges by the Mexicangovernment. **

* The French claims against the Mexican government amounted to50, 000, 000 francs. Jecker's interests suffered most by the decree ofPresident Juarez of July 17, 1861. Under Miramon he had negotiated, onbehalf of the clerical party, the new issue of six-per-cent. Bonds of75, 000, 000 francs, destined to take up the old discredited governmentbonds, twenty-five per cent. Being paid in silver by the holders, andthe interest being guaranteed partly by the state, and partly by thehouse of Jecker. The latter was to receive a commission of five percent. Upon the transaction--3, 750, 000 francs. The profit to thegovernment should have been 15, 000, 000 francs, had not a clause beeninserted enabling Jecker to deduct his commission in advance, as well ashalf of the interest for five years, --11, 250, 000 francs, --which, as wehave seen, was guaranteed by the state; so that, as a matter of fact, the government received only 3, 570, 000 francs. When, in May, 1860, andwithout the slightest warning, the house of Jecker failed, the interestsof a large number of Frenchmen whose funds were intrusted to it werejeopardized; and as their only hope rested upon the profit to be derivedfrom the issue of the bonds referred to, the decree of January 1, 1861, annulling the contract under which they had been issued, not only ruinedthe house of Jecker beyond recovery, but deprived its creditors of allremaining hope. Jecker then went to France. There he skilfully managedto win over to his cause some personages influential at the court ofFrance. The Duc de Morny, whose speculative spirit was easily seduced bythe golden visions of large financial enterprises in a land the wealthof which was alluringly held up to his cupidity, took him under hispowerful protection. There is little doubt that this was an importantfactor in the Mexican imbroglio. It is interesting to know that a justNemesis overtook Jecker, whose unworthy intrigues had brought about suchincalculable mischief. He was shot by order of the Commune in 1871. SeePrince Bibesco, "Au Mexique: Combats et Retraite des Six Mille" (Paris, 1887), p. 42. 

** See "Revue des Deux Mondes, " January, 1862, p. 766: "L'interventiondes puissances avait pour avoue d'exiger une protection plus efficacepour les personnes et les proprietes de leurs sujets ainsi quel'execution des obligations contractees envers elles par la republiquedu Mexique. "

Had France been sincere, the expedition might have seized a Mexican portas a security for the payment of such obligations, instead of spendingten times the amount of its claims in attempting to interfere with thepolitical affairs of the country under the flimsy pretext of seeking toenforce payment thereof. 

M. De Gabriac had been replaced by M. De Saligny, a creature of the Ducde Morny, whose personal interest in the Jecker bonds was freelydiscussed. The new minister arrived in June, 1861. His orders were toenforce recognition of the validity of the Jecker bonds. Juarez and hisminister, Senor Lerdo de Tejada, peremptorily declined to "acknowledge acontract entered upon with an illegal government. " There was no redress, if redress there must be, save in assuming a belligerent attitude. M. DeSaligny avowedly did his utmost to aggravate the situation. Later, during the brief period of 1863-64, when the intervention seemed to holdout false promises of success, he boasted to a friend of mine that hisgreat merit "was to have understood the wishes of the Emperor, and tohave precipitated events so as to make the intervention a necessity. "

This he accomplished, thanks to an incident insignificant in itself, butwhich he duly magnified into an unbearable insult to the French nation. On the night of August 14, 1861, a torch-light procession to celebratethe news of a victory of the government troops under General Ortega overMarquez halted before the French legation, and some voices shouted:"Down with the French! Down with the French minister!" M. De Salignyadded that a shot had been fired at him from one of the neighboringazoteas, and he produced a flattened bullet in evidence. Although aninvestigation was immediately instituted, the result of which was toshow the lack of substance of the minister's charges, the Frenchgovernment, then anxiously hoping for such an opportunity, supported itsagent. The incident was magnified by the French papers into an "attaquea main armee contre Saligny, " and at the instigation of France a triplealliance was concluded with England and Spain. On October 31, 1861, aconvention was signed in London, whereby the contracting parties pledgedthemselves to enforce the execution of former treaties with Mexico, andto protect the interests of their citizens. * To this, as a pure matterof form, the United States was invited to subscribe. Our government, ofcourse, declined the invitation to take advantage of the disturbedcondition of the Mexican republic to enforce its claim. Mr. Seward wasnot then in a position to show more fully his disapproval of the actionof the allied powers. 

* For the correspondence upon the whole subject and the terms of theLondon convention, see Abbe Domenech's "Histoire du Mexique, " vol. Ii, p. 375 et seq. 

It soon became evident that, in entering upon this treaty, the threeallies had not the same end in view. As early as May 31, 1862, theFrench papers blamed the government for its lack of foresight inentering into a cooperation with powers whose ultimate objects so widelydiffered from its own. *

* See "Revue des Deux Mondes, " 1862, vol. Iii, p. 743. 

This mistake became apparent when, on January 9, 1862, the French, underAdmiral Jurien de la Graviere, and the English, under Admiral Milnes, arrived at Vera Cruz and found the Spanish division, under General Primand Admiral Tubalco, already landed. * The conduct of their joint missionmust now be determined. Already diplomacy had been brought into play byNapoleon III to induce his allies to acquiesce in his views and toconsider the elevation of Maximilian to the throne of Mexico. Spain hadwillingly listened to the idea of establishing a monarchy, but on thecondition that the monarch should belong or be closely allied to thehouse of Bourbon; and it stood firm upon this condition. 

* The haste of Spain was regarded as an attempt to take a selfishadvantage of the situation, and gave rise to some correspondence. SeeDomenech, loc. Cit. , pp. 384, 392. 

IV. THE ALLIES IN MEXICO

The sound common sense of John Bull, his clearer appreciation of foreignpossibilities, or perhaps the superior intelligence and honesty of hisagent in Mexico, shine out brilliantly in a letter of Lord John Russell, written to the representative of England at the court of Vienna, previous to the armed demonstration made by the triple alliance. * Theletter was in truth prophetic, and showed a statesmanlike grasp of thesituation. He pointed out that the project of placing the ArchdukeMaximilian upon the throne of Mexico had been conceived by Mexicanrefugees in Paris; that such people were notorious for overrating thestrength of their partizans in their native land, and for theextravagance of their hopes of success; that her Majesty's governmentwould grant no support to such a project; that a long time would benecessary to consolidate a throne in Mexico, as well as to make thesovereign independent of foreign support; and that, should this foreignsupport be withdrawn, the sovereign might easily be expelled by theMexican republicans. The Spanish general Prim, when later, upon thespot, he was able to appreciate the difficulties of the situation andhad decided to withdraw, wrote to the Emperor a strong letter in whichhis views to the same effect were powerfully expressed. **

* See "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, d'apres les DocumentsInedits de Ernest Louet, Payeur-en-Chef du Corps Expeditionnaire, "edited by Paul Gaulot. Part I, "Reve d'Empire" p. 37, 4th ed. (Paris, Ollendorff, 1890). 

** Ibid, p. 47. 

This letter was dated "Orizaba, March 17, 1862. " It is sufficientlyremarkable to be given here:

"Sire: Your Imperial Majesty has deigned to write me an autograph letterwhich, because of the kindly expressions it contains, will become atitle of honor for my posterity. . . . 

"On the ground of just claims there can be no differences between thecommissioners of the allied powers, and still less between the chiefs ofyour Majesty's forces and those of his Catholic Majesty. But the arrivalat Vera Cruz of General Almonte, of the former minister Haro, of FatherMiranda, and of other Mexican exiles who set forward the idea of amonarchy in favor of Prince Maximilian of Austria, --a project which, according to them, is to be backed and supported by the forces of yourImperial Majesty, -- tends to create a difficult situation for allconcerned, especially for the general-in-chief of the Spanish army, who, under instructions from his government based upon the convention ofLondon, and almost the same as those given by your Majesty's governmentto your worthy and noble Vice-Admiral La Graviere, would find himself inthe painful position of being unable to contribute to the realization ofthe views of your Imperial Majesty, should these look to raising athrone in this country for the purpose of placing upon it an Austrianarchduke. 

"Moreover, it is, sire, my profound conviction that in this countrymonarchical ideas find few supporters. This is logical, as this land hasnever known the monarchy in the persons of the Spanish sovereigns, butonly in those of viceroys who governed each according to his bad or goodjudgment and his own lights, and all following the customs and manner ofgoverning proper to a period which is already remote. 

"Then, also, monarchy has not left here the immense interests of anancient nobility, as was the case in Europe when, under the impulse ofrevolutionary storms, thrones at times were pulled down. Neither has itleft high moral interests behind it, nor, indeed, anything that mightinduce the present generation to wish for the reestablishment of aregime which it has not known and which no one has taught it to long foror revere. 

"The neighborhood of the United States, and the severe strictures ofthose republicans against monarchical institutions, have greatlycontributed to create here a positive hatred against these. Despitedisorder and constant agitation, the establishment of the republic, which took place more than forty years ago, has created habits, customs, and even a certain republican expression of thought which it cannot beeasy to destroy. 

"For these and other reasons which cannot escape your Imperial Majesty'shigh penetration, you will understand that the immense preponderance ofopinion in this country is not and cannot be monarchical. If logic werenot sufficient to demonstrate this, it would receive proof from the factthat, in the two months since the allied flags wave over Vera Cruz, andnow that we occupy the important points of Cordoba, Orizaba, andTohuacan, in which no other Mexican authority remains save that of themunicipality, neither the conservatives nor the partizans of monarchyhave made the slightest demonstration which might lead the allies to"believe" that such partisans exist. 

"Be it far from me, sire, to even suppose that the might of yourImperial Majesty is not sufficient to raise in Mexico a throne for thehouse of Austria, Your Majesty directs the destinies of a great nation, rich in brave and intelligent men, rich in resources, and ready tomanifest its enthusiasm whenever called upon to carry out your ImperialMajesty's views. It will be easy for your Majesty to conduct PrinceMaximilian to the capital and to have him crowned a king; but that kingwill meet in the country with no other support than that of theconservative leaders, who never thought of establishing a monarchy whenthey were in power, and only think of it now that they are defeated, dispersed, and in exile. A few rich men will also admit a foreignmonarch, if supported by your Majesty's soldiers; but that monarch willfind no one to support him should your help fail him, and he would fallfrom the throne raised by your Majesty, as other powerful men must fallon the day when your Majesty's imperial cloak will cease to cover andprotect them. I know that your Imperial Majesty, guided by your highsentiment of justice, will not force upon this nation so radical achange in its institutions if the nation does not demand it. But theleaders of the conservative party just landed at Vera Cruz say that itwill be sufficient to consult the upper classes, and this excitesapprehensions and inspires a dread lest violence may be done to thenational will. 

"The English contingent, which was to come to Orizaba, and had alreadyprepared its means of transportation, reembarked as soon as it wasknown that a number of French troops larger than that stipulated in thetreaty were coming. Your Majesty will appreciate the importance oftheir retreat. 

"I beg your Imperial Majesty one thousand times pardon for having daredto submit to your attention so long a letter. But I thought that thetruest way worthily to respond to the kindness of your Majesty toward mewas to tell the truth, and all the truth, as I see it, upon thepolitical conditions here. In so doing I feel that I not only fulfil aduty, but that I obey the great, noble, and respectful attachment whichI feel for the person of your Imperial Majesty. 

"Comte de Reus, "General Prim. "

Such warnings, however, were lost amid the glittering possibilities ofso glorious an achievement. Napoleon, following his own thought, hadalready approached the Austrian archduke and his imperial brother withregard to the former's candidacy, and had trusted to chance as to thecomplications that might arise with his allies. It was not long beforethese became clearly defined. 

The first meeting of the allies had taken place on January 10 at LaTejeria, a short distance from Vera Cruz. A proclamation to the Mexicanpeople was issued at the instigation of General Prim. In thisextraordinary document the representatives of the three great powers whohad sent a combined fleet and army to obtain satisfaction for outragescommitted against their flags and the life and property of theirsubjects, claimed to have come as friends to the support of the Mexicangovernment. *

* See the official correspondence published by Domenech, loc. Cit. , vol. Iii, p. 8, etc. 

On the 14th the fourth conference was held. The plenipotentiaries drewup a collective note in the same tone as that of the proclamation. Thiswas taken to the Mexican government by three commissioners. The answerto this communication was a demand for the withdrawal of the expedition. These steps had not been taken without arousing serious differences ofopinion among the representatives of the powers. Moreover, the financialclaims advanced by each were of such magnitude that their jointenforcement was impossible. 

M. De Saligny, faithful to his premeditated plan of forcing andprecipitating the catastrophe, had drawn up an ultimatum to be presentedto the Mexican government, so preposterous in its pretensions that theallies could not countenance it. It could no longer be doubted that theFrench and the Spaniards were each playing their own game. Only thegreat tact and dignity of the French Commander-in-chief, Admiral Juriende la Graviere, then prevented an open rupture. *

* Louet, loc. Cit. , vol. I, p. 41. 

The situation had already become strained. It was soon obvious thatGeneral Prim--whether, as was alleged by the French, from personalmotives, * or from a clearer insight into the true condition of thecountry--would side with Sir Charles Wyke, the English representative, and would help him to overrule the French leaders in their aggressivepolicy. He requested a conference with Senor Doblado, minister offoreign affairs, who with great shrewdness accepted the invitation. Byprolonging the negotiations, the Mexican government gave a chance to theunfavorable conditions under which the expedition labored to do theirvery worst. Every day lost was a gain to the Mexicans. The rainy seasonwas approaching, sickness was already decimating this army ofunacclimated foreigners, and the lack of harmony between the allies wasfast reaching the point of dissension. This situation was seriouslyaggravated by the landing in Vera Cruz (January 27) of a number of themost conspicuous among the exiles of the clerical party--GeneralMiramon, Father Miranda, etc. These, regardless of the seriouscomplications which their premature arrival must create for theirsupporters, placed themselves directly under the protection of theFrench. 

* General Prim's wife was a rich Mexican, niece of Juarez's minister offinance, and the French minister saw in this circumstance cause to doubtthe general's motives. He even accused him publicly of coveting forhimself the throne of Mexico. However this may be, it seems to be a factthat when in Havana, on his way to Vera Cruz, General Prim, upon beingapproached by the clerical leaders, had declined in no compromisingtones to recognize them, and had shown himself inclined to deal with theLiberals openly. See correspondence published by Domenech, loc. Cit. , vol. Ii, p. 407, etc. 

The force of circumstances in compelling the French to enter intonegotiations with a government which they refused to recognize hadalready placed them in a more than awkward position. By this newcomplication they found themselves in the ambiguous attitude of treatingwith this government while shielding with their flag the outlawedrepresentatives of a defeated rival party who had fought it asillegitimate. Not only did this exasperate the Liberals and arouse thebitterest antagonism in the country, but it gave rise to seriousdifficulties between the French and the English. Among the returnedexiles was General Miramon, who, disregarding the inviolability of theBritish legation, had, while president, unlawfully taken possession ofcertain moneys belonging to the British government. * Sir Charles Wykeimmediately requested his arrest. An angry discussion followed, theoutcome of which was that Miramon, instead of being arrested on landunder the shadow of the French flag, was prevented from landing and sentback to Havana. **

* This outrage was one of the main reasons for England's activecooperation in the attack upon Mexico. As far as I can ascertain thefacts, $600, 000 had been sent to the British legation to pay theinterest upon the English bonds. At this time the foreign agents inMexico were accused of taking advantage of their privilege to handlegold and silver without paying the circulation duty of two per cent. Andthe export duty of six per cent. , thus illegally realizing aconsiderable profit. The Mexican government was much incensed thereby, and an ugly feeling was aroused. President to Miramon, in need of funds, declared that the amount then deposited at the British legation was acommercial value liable to duties imposed by law. After some controversyupon the subject he ordered General Marquez to call upon the Britishgovernment and to demand the surrender of the $600, 000, to be used inthe defense of the capital, at the same time declaring his willingnessto recognize the debt. The minister refused. General Marquez seized thetreasure, and had it taken to the palace by his soldiers. The Britishenvoy there upon lowered his flag and retired Jalapa. 

** Bibesco, loc. Cit. , p. 64. 

On February 19 the preliminary treaty of La Soledad was signed by theallies and by Senor Doblado for the Mexican government, and on February23 it was ratified by President Juarez. By its terms the allies wereallowed, pending the negotiations having for object the adjustment oftheir claims, to take up their quarters beyond the limits of theunhealthful district, and to occupy the road of Mexico as far asTehuacan and Orizaba. On the other hand, "the allies pledged themselves, should the negotiations not result in a final understanding, to vacatethe territory occupied by them, and to return on the road to Vera Cruzto a point beyond the Chiquihuite, near Paso Ancho, "* i. E. , in thepestilential coast region. 

* Ibid. , p. 49. 

President Juarez only agreed to the terms, it is stated, upon the formaldeclaration on the part of the commissioners that "the allies had nointention to threaten the independence, the sovereignty, and theintegrity of the territory of the Mexican republic. "

The French contingent originally sent by Napoleon III numbered, alltold, only three thousand men. As soon as the Emperor was notified ofthe doubtful attitude of General Prim, reinforcements numbering someforty-five hundred men had been ordered, and on March 6, 1862, GeneralCount de Lorencez arrived at Vera Cruz to take command of the CorpsExpeditionnaire. *

* Ibid. , p. 36. The Spanish corps, under General Prim, numbered seventhousand. England, besides a contingent of one hundred men, furnished afleet under Commodore Dunlap, which was to support the joint expedition. 

This ended all prospect of concerted action on the part of the combinedforces. The landing of these troops, which brought the French contingentto a figure far exceeding that originally agreed upon, gave umbrage tothe allies* and proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that, notwithstanding the most explicit assurances given by the Frenchminister of foreign affairs to the British ambassador in Paris, ** it wasthe intention of the French government to carry out its policy at allhazards. Moreover, the new military commander did not possess the tactand wisdom of the French admiral, whose policy had not been approved inPrance, where his signing of the convention of La Soledad had beenreceived with dismay and disapproval. 

* Compare General Prim's letter to Napoleon III, foot-note to pp. 25-27. 

** "No government shall be imposed upon the Mexican people" (despatchof Lord Cowley to Lord Russell, May 2, 1862). See "L'EmpereurMaximilien, " etc. , par le Comte Emile de Keratry, p. 11 (Leipsic, 1867). Another time the minister, M. De Thouvenel, assured Lord Cowley thatnegotiations had been opened by the Mexicans alone, who had gone toVienna for the purpose (ibid. ). 

General de Lorencez came as the representative of the most aggressivepolicy, with orders to march without delay upon the capital; and thereis no doubt that a worse man could not have been chosen to take theleading part in an enterprise where cool judgment was the most importantrequisite. Hotheaded, brave to rashness, and, if one may judge by hisacts, wholly incapable of discrimination in his appreciation of theproblems involved, General de Lorencez, when he arrived on the field ofaction, allowed himself to be misled by M. De Saligny'smisrepresentations of fact. Only a bitter experience showed him hiserror--too late. Meantime he added to the difficulties in the way of theadmiral by feeding the illusions of the French government with sanguinedespatches in which he spoke in glowing terms of the "march of theFrench upon the capital, " and of the "acclamation of Maximilian assovereign of Mexico. "

The lack of knowledge of existing conditions that characterized theFrench leaders in the conduct of this wretched affair was conspicuousfrom the very beginning of the expedition. Prince Georges Bibesco, anaccomplished young Wallachian nobleman whom I knew well, and who wasthen on the staff of General de Lorencez's brigade, has, in his spiritedaccount of these early events, * furnished ample evidence of the mannerin which the general and his chief of staff, Colonel Valaze, weredeceived as to the strength of the Liberal party by the French minister, and how they were induced by him to misrepresent the caution andjudgment which the French admiral alone seems to have in some measurepossessed, as an evidence of weakness and of procrastination. 

* "Au Mexique, 1862: Combats et Retraite des Six Mille, par le PrinceGeorges Bibesco. Ouvrage couronne par l'Academie Francaise" (Paris, G. Plon, Nourrit et Cie. ). Prince Bibesco was intrusted with drawing up themonthly official reports sent by the Corps Expeditionnaire to the WarOffice in 1862, and is therefore a trustworthy guide for that period. 

In a letter addressed to the French minister of war, Marshal Randon, dated March 30, Colonel Valaze asserts his conviction that "an armedforce, however small it may be, could take possession of the capitalwithout any other difficulty than might be encountered by thecommissariat to supply the army on its way. " The admiral had writtenwith a truer appreciation of the situation, and for his pains had lostthe confidence of his sovereign. 

V. RUPTURE BETWEEN THE ALLIES

The situation was fast reaching a crisis. An explosion was imminent. Thearrival of General Almonte, * who was destined by Napoleon to be thechief executive during the regency, only hastened the rupture betweenthe allies and precipitated the final declaration of hostilities betweenFrance and Mexico. 

* March 1, 1862. 

The irritation of the Mexican government knew no bounds. A decreecondemning to death all traitors and reactionaries had been passed, andon March 23 it was officially communicated to the allies. On March 26General de Lorencez joined the admiral at Tehuacan, and the latterpushed on to Orizaba, where the allies were to hold a final conferenceon April 9. Here General Prim and Sir Charles Wyke insisted upon thedeparture of the exiles, urging that their presence placed theintervention of the powers in an absolutely false light before theworld. 

Their secret relation to the exiles imposed upon the French theresponsibility of their safety; the admiral flatly refused, at the sametime announcing his intention to carry out at once the provisions of theconvention of La Soledad, and to retreat with his contingent toward thecoast, thereby recovering his freedom of action and the right to marchupon Mexico without further delay. 

It was obvious that the Mexican government was only gaining time inorder to give the climate a chance to do its work. General de Lorencez, disapproving of the preliminary treaty which circumstances had forcedthe admiral to sign, was strongly inclined to break through itsprovisions and push on to the capital. He was overruled by the admiral'shigh sense of honor. 

Measures were immediately taken to execute the articles of theconvention by bringing back the French forces beyond the Chiquihuite, and on April 7 General Almonte, officially recognized by the French, endeavored to rally the scattered remnants of the clerical party byissuing a proclamation signed by ninety-two Mexican notables, in whichhe declared himself provisionally the supreme chief of the nation. Tothis President Juarez responded by a decree establishing martial law anddeclaring all cities occupied by the French in a state of siege. Warwith Mexico was declared. *

* "Where was the solemn assurance that there existed no intention tothreaten the independence, the sovereignty, and the integrity of theterritory of the Mexican republic? And yet, even after the repulse ofthe French at Puebla, Napoleon, in a letter to General Forey, dated July3, 1862, still kept up the flimsy farce. "The end to be attained, " hewrote, "is not to force upon the Mexicans a form of government whichwould be disagreeable to them, but to aid them in their efforts toestablish, according to their own wish, a government which may have somechance of stability and "which can insure to France redress for thewrongs of which she complains" (Memorial Diplomatique, March 12, 1865). Was this blindness or duplicity?

The rupture between the allies was final, though peaceable. On April 15Sir Charles Wyke and General Prim* concluded a separate treaty with thegovernment of Juarez, and, having thus skilfully extricated themselvesfrom a perilous situation, they prepared to leave the French to theirown destiny. 

* The instructions given to General Prim by the Spanish government wereas follows: (1) A public and solemnly given satisfaction for the violentexpulsion of her Majesty the Queen's ambassador (the terms of which wereprescribed minutely), in the absence of which hostilities must bedeclared. (2) The rigorous execution of the Mon-Almonte treaty, and thepayment of the Spanish claims unduly suspended by the Mexicangovernment, and the payment in specie of 10, 000, 000 reals, this beingthe amount of unpaid interest. (3) An indemnity to the Spaniardsentitled to damages in connection with the crimes committed at SanVicente, Chiconcuagua, and at the mine of San Dimas, and the punishmentof the culprits and of the authorities who had failed, to punish saidcrimes. (4) The payment of the cost of the three-masted schoonerConcepcion, captured by a ship of Juarez. 

The instructions close with the following: "Such are the conditions tobe presented by your Excellency, but never peace; and without theircomplete acceptance by the government of the republic, it will not bepossible to suspend hostilities. " Compare French text given by Domenech, loc. Cit. , p. 383. 

Meantime the rainy season was approaching, at which time thedifficulties, already so great, must become multiplied in a land whereroads were only so called by courtesy and were little more thanbeaten-down tracks. The return of the French army to the coast, wherethe vomito was now raging, meant death to many, and possible disaster tothe army. But the terms of the treaty were formal, and the admiral wasnot one to break his word. M. De Saligny and General de Lorencez wereless punctilious; they reluctantly obeyed the order of thecommander-in-chief, but watched for an opportunity to break through theimpalpable barrier raised--as they thought, by honor alone--between themand the Mexican capital. 

The opportunity soon presented itself, and General Zaragoza, commander-in-chief of the Liberal army, unwarily furnished General deLorencez with the excuse for which he so anxiously longed, by addressingto him a communication concerning four hundred soldiers disabled bysickness, who had been left behind in the hospital at Orizaba under theprotection of the treaty of La Soledad. In the wording of thiscommunication the French general saw, or chose to see, a threat to thelife of his soldiers. 

It is but fair to say, however, that the sanguinary decrees issued oneafter the other by the Mexican government, the feeling againstforeigners now rapidly growing among the people, the close proximity ofnumerous guerrillas standing ready to take advantage of the first momentof weakness or distress, the murder of French soldiers whenever theystrayed from the camp, --all these symptoms of a fast fermenting spiritin the invaded land seemed to warrant the apprehensions of the generalwith regard to the safety of his trust. 

At all events, he boldly assumed the whole responsibility of the step hewas taking. Leaving Cordoba with the army, he immediately pushed on toOrizaba (April 19), where he arrived (April 20) just as General Prim, with the Spanish contingent (and the newspaper staff which, gossiprelated, had traveled in his suite to herald his exploits--truly asinecure!), were leaving by the same garita on their way to the coast. General Zaragoza, with the Liberal army, retreated from the city by onegate as the French entered by the other, with all the bells of the cityringing in token of popular rejoicing--under compulsion. GeneralZaragoza fell back upon Puebla. Having secured Orizaba as a basis ofoperation, General de Lorencez, with some five thousand men, started inpursuit of the Mexican army (April 27). 

In the meantime a courier from France had brought the recall of AdmiralJurien de la Graviere, whose fall from the favor of his imperial masterwas kept no secret. The same courier that brought the admiral thedisapproval of his government brought General de Lorencez his promotionto the command of the army. Napoleon, deceived by his minister'sstatements, now corroborated by General de Lorencez, only later didtardy justice to the admiral, to whom he strove to make amends byattaching him to his imperial staff. 

Thus the clearing up of a situation already precarious was left to a manof narrow views and small capacity, who, according to the verdict of hisown officers, had little to recommend him save the soldierly qualitiesof bravery and energy. That General de Lorencez, under instructions fromhis government and relying upon the statements of its agent at Mexico, should have arrived imbued with erroneous ideas with regard to thepopularity of the intervention and the relative strength of the Liberaland clerical parties, seems natural. But enough had taken place sincehis arrival in Mexico to open the eyes of one less wilfully blind. Anymilitary chief of average capacity must have seen that the whole Mexicanpopulation was not rising to "greet the French army as liberators, " andthat the popular enthusiasm that was to open to them the doors of everytown, turning their progress to the capital into a triumphal marchmarked at every point by ovations, showers of flowers, and thespontaneous vivas of a hitherto oppressed and now grateful multitude, was but a fast disappearing mirage luring them on to destruction. 

Instead of the promised enthusiastic welcome a sullen acquiescence inthe inevitable everywhere greeted the foreign invaders. This, whenevercompatible with personal safety, turned into active enmity on the partof the nation, and often into open and revengeful cruelty. Instead ofthe great reactionary army, numbering at least ten thousand men, which, rallying under General Marquez, was to hurry to his support on his marchupon the capital, a few stray guerrillas had joined his forces, ill-armed, ill-fed, undisciplined bands, upon which small reliance couldbe placed, and whose presence under the French flag only helped toirritate the feelings of the people. And far from the Liberal partylosing its partizans upon the landing of the French, some of thereactionary leaders, --as, for instance, General Zuloaga, --forgettingtheir former feuds at the first sound of a foreign invasion of theirnative land, had rallied around the Mexican government, whose cause nowseemed linked with that of the national honor. 

When reverses and difficulties of all kinds assailed the army, it wasremembered that General de Lorencez's violation of the sacredness of atreaty had taken place on Good Friday at half-past three o'clock, and Iwas told that this coincidence had been looked upon by many among thesoldiers as a bad omen. 

The Mexican government, however, had made good use of the time gained bythe skilful negotiations of its representatives; it had earnestlyprepared for resistance, and now concentrated its whole strength uponthe defense of Puebla. 

Such was the condition of affairs when unforeseen circumstances broughtme to Mexico. 

PART II. 

THE FRENCH INTERVENTION

1862-1864

I. THE AUTHOR LEAVES PARIS FOR MEXICO

On March 4, 1862, one of my brothers, then on his way to the UnitedStates, and incidentally the bearer of despatches from Mr. ThomasCorwin, our minister to Mexico, was attacked and, after a sharp fight, murdered by a small band of highwaymen near Perote. I was then in Paris, where I had been left to finish my education under the care of old anddear friends. In consequence of this tragedy it was deemed advisablethat I should join my family. 

M. Achille Jubinal, my temporary guardian, was a distinguished antiquaryand scholar, the founder of a museum in his native town, and the authorof works upon ancient arms and tapestries, which are still authorities. He was an homme de lettres connected with a leading paper, and a deputyin the Corps Legislatif for the department of the Hautes-Pyrenees. Hewas a self-made man, and thoroughly well made was he--witty, kind, just, and learned in certain lines; and his warm Southern blood colored hispersonality with a shade of materialism which his refined tastes neverallowed to sink to the level of coarseness. 

He was to me the kindest of guardians and dearest of "chums, " and mademy Sundays and vacations real holidays. He often took mebric-a-brac-hunting to old shops unknown to all save the Parisiancuriosity-seeker, and happy hours were spent on the quays among the oldbook-stands in that fascinating occupation for which the French bookwormhas coined the word bouquiner. And then the charming evenings spent atthe theaters and ended at Tortoni's with this truest of "boulevardiers, "who knew every one and everything, and whose inexhaustible fund ofanecdote was enlivened by a spontaneous easy wit and verve that made hiscompanionship a delight. *

* Among my old papers I find the following invitation to go with him tothe Odeon to see a piece called "Les Pilules du Diable":"Je viens rappeler a SaraUne date encore lointaine, Et lui dire que ce seraLe jeudi de l'autre semaineQue la-bas a l'Odeon, Derriere les funambules, Sans etre M. Purgon, Je lui fais prendre 'Les Pilules. ' "A. J. "

His wife was the daughter of the Comte Rousselin de St. Albin, a man ofconsiderable influence during the reign of King Louis-Philippe, whoseclose personal friend he was. 

M. De St. Albin's house in the Rue Vieille du Temple, where his familylived when we first knew them, had originally formed part of the famousTemple, which in medieval times was the abode of the Templars. It was aninteresting place, full of historic memories. Within these legendarywalls he had accumulated countless relics of those among his earlyassociates who were then so fast becoming heroes in the French annals. Being an intimate friend and a connection of the Comte de Barras, thechief executive under the Directory, it was to him that the latter, bywill dated February 2, 1827, intrusted not only his secret memoirs, * butall his private and official papers. At the death of M. De St. Albin(1847) this important collection passed to the possession of hischildren. 

*See "Memoires de Barras, " vol. I, p. 20 (Paris, 1895-96). These memoirshave only recently been published by M. Georges Duruy, who married M. Jubinal's daughter, the granddaughter of Comte Rousselin de St. Albin. 

I well remember, as a little girl, being shown some of the choicestpieces in the series, among which were interesting original portraits. One paper especially made an indelible impression upon my childish mind, and I can now recall the feeling of awe with which I gazed upon theappeal to arms in the name of the Commune, drawn up by Robespierre andhis colleagues on the night of the 9th Thermidor, a document which hassince been published by M. Duruy in the "Memoires de Barras. "Robespierre had just written the first syllable of his name below thoseof his colleagues when the Convention was attacked. The blood-stainswhich spattered the sheet, and told of the final tragedy of the leader'slife, appealed to my youthful imagination, and are still vivid in mymemory. 

Notwithstanding her father's connections with the Orleanists, Hortensede St. Albin and her brother were closely connected with the new orderof things. She had entertained personal relations with the Empressbefore her elevation to the imperial throne, and the brother, ComteLouis-Philippe de St. Albin, was librarian to her Majesty. These closeaffiliations with the court did not prevent M. Jubinal, in his politicalcapacity, from gradually sliding into the ranks of the opposition. Laterhe occasionally was one of the few who voted against the measures of thegovernment in the legislative struggles brought about by theintervention of France in Mexican affairs. Whether this attitude waswholly due to his superior common sense, or whether behind his politicalconvictions there lingered a tinge of chagrin at a disappointed hope ofsenatorial honors once held out to his ambition by the French emperor, it is difficult to tell. It is probable that the latter motive formed, unknown to him, a foundation upon which his wisdom and politicalprinciples rested, and which lent them added solidity. 

Before I left France I was, at his house, the interested though silentlistener to many a violent discussion upon the stirring theme. Thecritics of the Napoleonic policy loudly denounced the fraudulenttransactions connected with the issue of the Jecker bonds. They morethan intimated that the great of the land were mixed up in thedisgraceful agiotage that had led to these serious difficulties, andthat all this brilliant dust of a civilizing expedition to a distant ElDorado was raised about the Emperor by his entourage to conceal from himwhat was going on nearer home. 

One of their strongest arguments was that the invasion of Mexico by theFrench army must necessarily give umbrage to the United States, withwhich traditions of friendship had long existed; and they urged that, whatever the crippled condition of the Union, such a course could notfail eventually to lead to dangerous complications. 

One day in March, 1862, before the news of the rupture between theFrench and their allies had reached Paris, M. Jubinal invited me toaccompany him to the Hotel des Ventes, Rue Drouot, where an importantcollection of tapestries and other objects of art was on view to besold. There were comparatively few amateurs in the rooms when weentered. My companion was pointing out to me the beauties of a piecewhich he particularly coveted when some one came behind us and calledhim by name. We both turned around and faced a middle-aged man whosedress, manner, and general bearing showed him to be a personage of someimportance. M. Jubinal, who evidently knew him well, addressed him as"M. Le Duc, " and his strong likeness to the Emperor, as well as a fewstray words, soon led me to guess, even before my guardian had gonethrough the form of an introduction, that he was no less a personagethan the Duc de Morny. 

The Duc de Morny's position during the period that elapsed between therevolution of 1848 and 1865 was one unique in France; and yet it isdoubtful whether his fame would have been as worldwide as it has becomehad it not been for the part he played in the Mexican imbroglio. 

Brought up as a child by a charming woman of graceful intellect andliterary pretensions, he had met early in life the Duc d'Orleans, whohad led him into the gay Parisian world of which he was the leader. After a brief military career in Africa, he resigned from the army, anddivided his interest between politics and speculation. He employed hisleisure moments in writing very indifferent plays, which, althoughpublished under a nom de guerre (St. Remy), he depended upon theservility of the Parisian press to carry through. He was not a deepthinker, nor was his intellectual horizon a broad one; but his viewswere liberal, his shallow mind was brilliant and versatile, and to thegraceful frivolity of a man of the world he united a taste for theserious financial and political problems of his time. He belonged tothat set of bright young politicians who, toward the end of the reign ofLouis-Philippe, passed, as was cleverly said, "from a jockey club to theChamber of Deputies, " declaring that France was a victim of old-fogyism, and flattering themselves with the thought that they would infuse thevigor of youth into politics. These would-be founders of a new eracalled themselves "progressive conservatives" (conservateursprogressistes). *

* Under this title he wrote an article published in the "Revue des DeuxMondes, " January, 1, 1848. 

Just before the revolution of July, which established the republic, hewas spoken of for a place in the cabinet as minister of commerce. Giftedwith great tact and worldly wisdom, satisfied to wield power withouttaking too large a place on the political stage, the Duc de Morny'spopularity and peculiar position enabled him to be the go-between in thecompromise that followed. As early as 1849 he was reported to have saidto a friend: "Quand je coup se fera je vous en previens, c'est moi quile ferai. "* Another of his mots has often been quoted** and is mostcharacteristic of the man: "S'il y a un coup de balai, je tacheraid'etre du cote du manche. "

* "Revue des Deux Mondes, " 1865, vol. Lvi, p. 501 et seq. 

** Henri Rochefort ("Les Aventures de ma Vie, " vol. I, p. 245) casts adoubt upon the originality of his wit. 

At the time when I met him he was president of the Corps Legislatif, where, without the slightest pretension to oratorical talent, he wieldedan immense influence. He was what we call a "leader" in every sense ofthe word--at court, on the Bourse, and in the political as well as inthe social world. 

On that morning he was with the duchess, bent upon the same errand asourselves, and seeing us, he had come to ask M. Jubinal to give them hisopinion upon the value of a possible purchase. After discussing thesubject, which was all-engrossing for the moment, the duchess turned tome and politely drew me into conversation. Her kindly manner set me atease, and she soon extracted from me the information that I was about tosail for Mexico. At this she became much excited, and exclaiming, "Oh, Imust tell M. De Morny!" she immediately moved to where he and M. Jubinalhad wandered, saying, "Just think, this young girl is going to Mexico onthe Louisiane alone, under the care of strangers. " A gleam of interestbrightened the great man's dull eye as for a moment it rested upon me. He asked me a few questions; but as the duchess rather commanded myattention, he soon turned to M. Jubinal, and I overheard my guardiantelling him of the tragic events which had caused my rather suddendeparture, at the same time expressing some anxiety with regard to myown safety. "Oh, " said the duke, "by the time she arrives there we willhave changed all that. Lorencez is there now; our army will then be inthe city of Mexico; the roads will be quite safe. Have no fear. "

A mild, half-playful argument followed in the course of which myguardian, I thought, was not quite as uncompromising in his criticism ashe was when surrounded by those who shared his own opinions. But theduke was very affable, and the duchess was in truth charming, with herNorthern beauty, her delicate high-bred features, and her wealth ofblond hair. No wonder if he could not be stern. 

It was the first time that I had met the man whose influence then ruledover the destinies of France and Mexico, and the incident naturallyimpressed itself upon my memory. Upon my arrival in Mexico, where Ifound men puzzling over the extraordinary lack of concert between theallied invaders, which baffled their understanding, I remembered thosewords of the Duc de Morny, uttered even before a suitable pretext hadbeen furnished General de Lorencez for breaking through the preliminarytreaty of La Soledad, and, of course, before the news of the finalrupture between France, England, and Spain could possibly have reachedEurope. M. De Lorencez, it is now known, had gone to Mexico with ORDERSto march without delay upon the capital. 

The Gare d'Orleans presented a scene of more than usual animation when, on the morning of the thirteenth day of April, 1862, our fiacre landedus at its entrance, en route for St. Nazaire. The CompagnieTransatlantique, formed by the house of Pereire, was giving a grandinaugural banquet to celebrate the opening of the new line of steamersthat was to carry passengers direct from France to Mexico. The Louisianewas to sail on her first trip on the following day. A special train wason the track awaiting the distinguished guests of the company, and it issafe to say that two thirds of the celebrities of the day in the worldof finance, of politics, and of journalism were gathering upon theplatform. 

M. Jubinal, himself an invited guest, had decided to take me with him, as he was anxious to see me safely on board. The presence of a younggirl at the station naturally excited some curiosity among the smallclusters of men who here and there stood by the carriage doors chattingwith one another, ready to take their places; and as we passed by, mycompanion was the object of inquiring looks from those with whom he wason familiar terms. But this curiosity invariably gave way to evidencesof more earnest interest when they were told that I was to sail for VeraCruz on the following day. 

Our companions in the railway-carriage were journalists whom M. Jubinalknew, and a deputy whose name now escapes my memory. Each one had muchadvice to bestow and many wise opinions to express, the remembrance ofwhich afforded me endless amusement after I had reached my destination, so far were they from meeting the requirements of the case. And all, whatever their personal views with regard to the intervention, confidently expressed the conviction that upon reaching the capital Ishould find the French flag flying over the citadel. 

During the ride down to St. Nazaire the conversation ran wholly upon thesubject of Mexico, and of the magnificent opportunities to Frenchcommerce and speculation opened up by the expedition. Of these ourpresent errand was an earnest. In listening to them, one might havethought that Napoleon had found Aladdin's lamp, and had deposited it forpermanent use at the Paris Bourse. Mining companies, colonizationcompanies, railroad companies, telegraph companies, etc. , --all theactivities that go to constitute the nineteenth-centurycivilization, --were in a few short years to develop the mining andagricultural resources of the country. A new outlet would open to Frenchindustry, and the glory of French arms would check the greed of theAnglo-Saxon, that arrogant merchant race who would monopolize the tradeof the world. The thought was brilliant, grand, generous, noble, worthyof a Napoleonic mind. There were millions in it!

Later, upon reaching Vera Cruz, I remembered that nothing had been saidof the yellow fever and the rainy season, or of the magnitude of thesparsely populated country which it was necessary to clear of predatorybands who then virtually held it, or of the expense in men and millionswhich must be incurred to maintain order while all these great schemeswere being carried out. My eloquent fellow-travelers unhesitatinglyasserted that Mexico yearned for all this prosperity; it was extendingits arms to France; the French army would receive one long ovation inits triumphant march to the capital amid vivas and showers of roses. Allwho KNEW said so. How lucky was mademoiselle to be going there at thisauspicious moment, to witness such great and stirring events!

M. Jubinal looked somewhat incredulous, but the atmosphere created justthen by the occasion was certainly against him. Here was a large companyof French capitalists, backed by one of the most substantial houses inFrance, opening direct communication between that country and Mexico, when hitherto most of the traffic had been conducted through an Englishmedium. To my youthful mind it DID seem then as though M. Jubinal hadthe worst of the argument. 

Upon leaving my brilliant companions to find my way to the steamer, however, the scene changed as suddenly as though a wizard's wand hadwrought its magic. The weather seemed threatening; a dull gray sky hunglow over the bay, and the chopping, white-capped waves reflected theleaden color of the clouds. 

There were only forty passengers on board, and, comparatively speaking, little of the animation that usually precedes the outgoing of an oceansteamer. I found without difficulty the French banker and his Mexicanwife who had kindly consented to chaperon me during my lonely journey;and I soon discovered that she and I were the only women passengers onboard. 

Our fellow-travelers were uninteresting--mostly commercial agents orsmall tradesmen representing the old-established petty commerce withMexico. The new order of things was suggested, somewhat ominously, onlyby the presence of two young surgeons on their way to increase theeffective force of the military hospital in Vera Cruz. 

Evidently the predicted exodus to El Dorado had not yet begun. Where wasthe advance-guard of the great army of emigrant capitalists now about tostart, and of which I had just heard so much?

This was the first serious disillusion of my life, and it left a deepand permanent impression upon my mind. What was the relation between thegreat banquet of Pereire & Co. , this train full of statesmen, literati, and other distinguished men, this blast of the press heralding a greatand joyful event in the commercial life of the French nation, --and thisold patched-up ship, with its scant load of commonplace and evidentlyold Franco-Mexican tradesmen, lying in lonely dullness against the graysky on that gloomy evening?

Those men were rejoicing over us while we lay here at anchor. They weredrinking to phantoms evoked by their own imagination, and their glowingspeeches would to-morrow stir the fancy of thousands of readers who, seeing through their eyes, would view the dark hulk of our old shipframed in a glittering golden cloud. Where I now stood, almost alone inthe gloom, the vivid imagination of those men yonder in the banquet-hallat that very hour perceived the mirage of the speculative fever crowdingthe decks of the Pereire steamers with imaginary colonists eager toconvert their savings into mining stocks and Mexican railroad bonds, andrushing to the land of Montezuma to sow and reap a rich harvest forPrance. 

How many wretches were induced to risk their money upon suchrepresentations?* Oh, the dreariness, the loneliness, of that firstnight at anchor in the Bay of Biscay! The misgivings that filled myheart! Who was right? What should I find over there? Surely thesestatesmen, capitalists, journalists, legislators, should know what theywere doing. 

* "L'Opinion Nationale, " August 30, 1866, stated that 300, 000bondholders invested in Mexican securities which in 1866 were worth nomore than the paper they were printed on. 

And yet, beyond the line of the western horizon, which only a few hoursbefore they had peopled with glittering visions, there slowly rose inthe darkness the phantom of an arrested coach, of panic-strickentravelers, of fierce murderers assaulting a young man, of a dead body onthe roadside; and this empty ship seemed more real at that moment thanall that I had yet heard or read. 

After stopping to coal at Fort-de-France, in the beautiful island ofMartinique, and a few days later stopping at Santiago de Cuba, wefinally, on May 2, caught sight of a dark, broadening line upon thehorizon, behind which soon loomed up in solitary dignity the snow-cappedpeak of Orizaba; and passing the Cangrejos and the island ofSacrificios, we anchored off the fort of San Juan de Ulloa, where weawaited a clean bill of health from the quarantine officers who came onboard. 

The first impression made upon the mind by Vera Cruz is depressing. InMay the heat is intense. The town is situated in a low, swampy district, and was then unprovided with the slightest artificial contrivance forthe betterment of its naturally unhygienic conditions. There was nosystematic drainage, and the entire refuse matter of an ignorant andindolent population might have been left to fester under the rays of atropical sun during the dry season, had it not been for the zopilotes, or turkey-buzzards, which, protected by law, had multiplied to such anextent as to form a tolerably efficient body of scavengers. The steeplesand flat roofs of the low town were literally black with them. Theirdense black swarms, resting like a pall upon it, in striking contrastwith its white walls, gave the city, as one approached it from the sea, an appearance of mourning. On our journey we had anchored at Santiago deCuba, where smallpox was raging, and now the health-officers hesitatedabout letting us enter this plague-stricken place. 

As time wore on, the excitement of our safe arrival gradually died out. We gazed across the water at the inhospitable gates to this promisedland, where so many strangers pausing like ourselves had recently founda grave. It seemed as though we were awaiting admittance to a funeral;and when the tolling of some church or convent bell, frightening thecarrion-eating birds, caused a general flutter, the sight was strangelysuggestive of the pestilential death ever lurking below, ready to feedupon the foreign visitor. One could scarcely help thinking of the deadand the dying, and wondering, with a shudder, what might not be theignoble cravings of the gruesome flock. 

II. PUEBLA AND MEXICO--GENERAL DE LORENCEZ--GENERAL ZARAGOZA

The health-officers who boarded the steamer at Vera Cruz gave usunexpected and startling news. The French army had been repulsed withserious loss before Puebla. The direct route, by which the trip fromVera Cruz to Mexico via Orizaba--one hundred and ten leagues--could bemade in four days, * was blocked by the contending armies. If we wishedto proceed on our journey, we must do so via Jalapa, a much longerroute. The discomforts of this road were, moreover, complicated by thefact that it was now infested by a large number of guerrillas, --onemight as well say highwaymen, --who made it difficult for travelers topass unmolested, unless through some special arrangement. This mycompanions were confident could easily be settled; but some days mightbe spent in negotiations, and the health-officers said that the yellowfever was raging as it had not raged for years. The presence of so manyforeigners had added to its violence, and the French garrison could bemaintained only by constant reinforcements. 

* It can now be made by rail in ten hours. 

Upon landing, our little party went directly to the house of Mr. Lelong, the hospitable French banker who in Vera Cruz represented the house ofLabadie & Co. Here we remained five days, enjoying every comfort, whilethe necessary preparations were being made for our somewhat perilousjourney to the capital. I then heard for the first time the details ofthe disaster brought upon the French by General de Lorencez's wilfulblindness. 

Confident in the elan of his picked troops, and, as one of his officersafterward told me, complacently holding up to himself the example ofCortez, who had conquered the land with as many hundreds as he hadthousands, the French general, unable with so small a force to undertakea siege, determined to attempt the assault of the Cerro de Guadalupe. This fort dominated the place, and its possession must, in his opinion, insure the fall of Puebla. 

The ill-advised attack was made on May 5, 1862, with twenty-five hundredmen. The place was topographically strong. It was defended by GeneralZaragoza with the very pick of the Mexican army under General Negrete, and was, moreover, supported by the well-manned battery of the Fort deLoretto. To attempt the assault of such a position without the supportof artillery seemed madness; and when the general ordered his troopsforward it was found that his field-battery, owing to the lay of theland, could not even be brought to bear upon the fort at sufficientlyclose range to reach it. One fifth of the corps of attack was thususelessly sacrificed. 

Some months after these events (September, 1862) I witnessed in the cityof Mexico the public obsequies of General Zaragoza, * whom this exploithad naturally placed high in the esteem of his countrymen. Upon theelevated catafalque, drawn by a long line of horses draped in blacktrappings, lay the stately coffin. Tossed at its feet was the Frenchflag; banners, hung everywhere, inscribed with devices recalling hissignal service to his country, proclaimed him "the conqueror ofconquerors" (el conquistador de los conquistadores). The French, it wasasserted, had measured themselves with and conquered all the nations ofthe world, and Zaragoza had conquered the French!

* Much of the credit for the achievement was due to General Negrete, whose command bore the weight of the assault upon the Cerro de Guadalupeand prevented its capture. 

This day is proudly recorded in the Mexican annals as the Cinco de Mayo. The historic importance of a battle is not always to be measured by thenumbers of the contending forces, and although its far-reachingsignificance was at the time scarcely understood, this check must everbe remembered by future historians as the first serious blow struck byfortune at Napoleon III and his fated empire. The honor of France wasnow involved and must be vindicated. There was no receding upon thedangerous path. No French sovereign could dare to withdraw withoutavenging the first check met with by the French army since Waterloo, andthus was the Emperor rushed on to fulfil his own destiny. To-day thefire from the fort of Guadalupe casts a flash of lurid light upon thebeginning of la debacle, and upon the last chapters written at Sedan. During the whole of that fatal day the doomed men marched, as they wereordered to march, upon the Mexican battery. They hopelessly fought, anddied heroically; and when night came they beat an orderly retreat, carrying away with them most of their wounded. 

General de Lorencez slowly fell back upon Orizaba, where he issued aproclamation* to the army, openly laying the responsibility of thedisaster upon the false statements made to him by the Frenchrepresentative. 

* See proclamation, published in Louet, "La Verite sur l'Expedition duMexique, " etc. "Reve d'Empire, " p. 72. 

The French army, which fell back upon Orizaba, was in a criticalposition. Its communications with the coast had been interrupted by theLiberal guerrillas, and it was completely cut off from the seaport andfrom France. The bridges were destroyed; the convoys of provisions wereattacked and burned; anxiety was felt by the commissariat with regard tosupplies. The garrisons left by the French on the way had been drivenback and hemmed in in the unhealthful region, where the French regimentswere fairly melting away, and no courier was permitted to bring newsfrom the seat of war to the French fleet and to the garrison of VeraCruz. 

The rainy season was near at hand when communication was restored by thearrival at Vera Cruz of General Felix Douay, who landed withreinforcements on May 16. 

The five days that we spent in Vera Cruz were anxious days for those whohad assumed the responsibility of our little party. Never was there aworse time to travel over a road which at best was unsafe, and yet wecould not remain where we were without danger. 

I was not allowed to move out of the house and all I saw of the town wasfrom the balcony whence, in the cool of the evening, I looked down uponthe dull street. Every now and then a passing stretcher supporting acovered human form would remind us that we were in a plague-strickencity, and make us eager to start upon our way. 

At last arrangements were completed, terms were made with a smallguerrilla band whose chief undertook to see us safely through to Mexico, and on May 27 we began our journey. 

The men of our escort, whom we met just out of the city, were aruffianly-looking set. The chief had received an ugly saber-cut acrosshis face, which added to the forbidding expression of a naturallyrepulsive physiognomy. They were well mounted, however, and seemedinclined to be civil. We were allowed only an arrota (twenty-fivepounds) of luggage, and were supposed to have no money with us; but onthe night before we left we sewed a few ounces of gold (sixteen-dollarpieces) in unlikely places of our underwear. Thus we left Vera Cruz a lagrace de Dieu. 

Well it was that we had made terms with this little guerrilla company, and we had ample opportunity of testing the truth of the saying, "Thereis honor among thieves. " All along the road we met armed bands, varyingin strength, until, at a village near Jalapa, we fell in with thewell-known chief Antonio Perez and his famous plateados, two hundredstrong, who had won their name and a somewhat doubtful distinction bytheir successful raids upon convoys of silver. Our escort fraternizedwith all, and they let us pass unmolested. 

I was told that at this period scarcely a stage reached the capitalwithout having been robbed. The passengers were often even despoiled oftheir clothing, so that newspapers were brought into requisition toserve as garments for the unfortunate victims. When such was the casethe doors of the hotel were closed upon the arrival of the coach in thecourtyard, and blankets or other coverings were brought down before thetravelers could alight with any show of propriety. 

To say nothing of our emotions, many and varied were our experiences onthat never-to-be-forgotten nine days' journey. Generally we slept incities or towns, where we were made more or less comfortable; but on oneoccasion, owing to an accident, we were belated and had to stopovernight at a miserable hamlet, where no accommodation could beprocured save such as a native adobe house could afford. This consistedof one large room approached by a shed. In this room the man, his wife, his children, his dogs, pigs, and small cattle lived. A team of mulesoutside put in their heads through an opening and breathed over ourcots. The English language cannot be made to describe the atmosphere andother horrors of that night. Cots had been improvised for Mrs. D---- andme, but there was no sleep for us, and we envied the men, who took theirchances of malaria and preferred sleeping outside to sharing ourshelter. 

At last we reached the crest of the mountain from which we looked downupon the valley of Mexico, a huge basin encircled by mountains; andthere at our feet lay the capital, with its two hundred thousand souls, its picturesque buildings, and the lakes of Chalco and Tezcuco, while toone side the huge snow-capped volcanoes, the Iztaccihuatl and thePopocatepetl, like two gigantic sentries, seemed to watch over thesacredness of this classical spot of Mexican history. 

The capital was quiet and peaceful. It seemed utterly shut out from allthe excitement created by the invasion, as though, really trusting inits remoteness, its barriers of mountains, its lakes and naturaldefenses, it defied the foreigner. Was it that Mexico was then soaccustomed to transfer its allegiance from one military ruler to theother that even foreign invasion left it indifferent? Or was it thechildlike faith in the unknown, the national Quien sabe? spirit, virtually carried out at this supreme crisis? However this may havebeen, very little of the outside conflict seemed as yet to havepenetrated the minds of the people. The diplomatic corps entertained ourlittle coterie, which included those Mexicans who were willing to mixwith the foreign element. 

Society danced and flirted, rode in the Paseo, and walked in theAlameda, just as though the Cinco de Mayo had been a decisive battle andGeneral de Lorencez's army had been driven back to its ships. 

The bull-fights once in a while gathered in the vast enceinte of thePlaza de Toros the society of the capital. During the winter of 1863 theyoung men of fashion of Mexico took the Plaza de Toros, and invitedMexican society to a performance. All who took part were amateurs, andit was a brilliant affair. The huge amphitheater, crowded with thewell-dressed audience, was in itself a memorable spectacle, and as thesun went down, casting great shadows and oblique rays of light upon thegay assemblage, intent upon the fierce games of the picturesqueperformers in the arena, one unconsciously dreamed of the Colosseum andof the bloody sports of semibarbarous Rome. 

Besides the ordinary bull-fight, there were many exercises ofhorsemanship and with the lasso that did credit to the skill of theyoung gentlemen. Moreover, as these men, who were all wealthy, rodetheir own spirited horses, the performance presented none of the mostrevolting features of the usual bull-fight, where the poor, miserablehacks, too jaded to obey the rein, are generally gored, and soon turnthe arena into a slaughter-house, the sight of which it is impossiblefor an Anglo-Saxon to endure. 

Our box was sent us by Don Jose Rincon Gallardo and his brother DonPedro, who belonged to the elite of Mexican society and were among theprime movers in the affair. When Mexico fell into the power of theenemy, these young men joined the Liberal army in defense of theirnative land, and later we will find the first at Queretaro earninghonorable distinction amid events the memory of which can never fadefrom the pages of history. 

It was a curious, easy life in the midst of what to us now would seemperilous conditions. No man, in those days, ventured out of an eveningto pay a call without being well armed, and our little anteroom assumed, after eight o'clock, the appearance of an arsenal. Nor were theseprecautions unwarranted. To give but one instance: The secretary of thePrussian legation, a nephew of the minister, Baron Wagner, havingexcited certain animosities, was more than once waylaid and attacked inthe street after dark. He was a fine specimen of the Teutonic race, atall, powerful man, and generally carried brass knuckles. After thefirst attack he made it a point at night to walk in the middle of thestreet, so as to avoid too close a proximity with corners and darkangles of doorways, regarding them as possible ambushes. As he was fullyprepared, he more than once escaped without harm. But one night, when, for some unknown reason, he carried a revolver, he was assaulted frombehind. Before he could cock his weapon and turn to face his would-beassassins, he had received several stabs in the back, and was left asdead upon the street. He lay for weeks between life and death. 

This had happened in the spring of 1862. A short time after my arrival, having just recovered, he called to take leave of my family beforereturning to Germany. His faith in the superiority of brass knucklesover the revolver, in case of sudden attack, was not to be shaken. 

Many and strange were the stories told me when I arrived in that landdestined by nature to be a paradise, but of which the inhabitants werethen making a Tartarus. To the horrors then perpetrated by robbers orhighwaymen, justice could be done only by the pen of a Poe. 

Kidnapping was not infrequent, and the cruel ingenuity displayed by thebandits to keep safely their victim pending the negotiations for aransom was often blood-curdling. I might fill a small volume with suchanecdotes, but the terrible fate of two hacendados, kidnapped in theinterior of the country, may suffice to give an idea of the tax whichliving in Mexico at that time might levy upon the emotions of a younggirl fresh from Paris. 

The two unfortunate men had been captured by one of those small bandswhich in war-times were called guerrillas, but which we shouldordinarily call banditti. They were dragged from place to place aboutthe country by their captors, who kept them under strict surveillance. One evening, as they were approaching a town, the prospect of a riotousnight spent over pulque and monte at some fonda excited the imaginationof the men, and, as no one would consent to be deprived of theanticipated pleasure for the sake of mounting guard over the prisoners, it was decided that the miserable victims should be, for safe-keeping, buried up to their necks in the earth. Surely they could not escape, andwould be there next morning awaiting the return of their captors. And sothey no doubt would have been, but for the coyotes, which, allured bythe easy prey delivered up to them by the devilish ingenuity of thosehuman fiends, came during the night and devoured the heads of thehelpless victims. Who can ever realize the mental and physical anguishin the midst of which those two wretched lives came to an end?

Sometimes there was a touch of weird humor in the manner in which suchoutrages were perpetrated. One night a wealthy family in Mexico drovehome in their carriage from a party. They stopped at theirporte-cochere, which was opened by their servant, and closed tightbehind them as they drove in. Two men, however, had fastened on to thecarriage behind. They overpowered the portero as he barred the door, while the noise of the carriage rolling on the flags of the patiosmothered the sound of the scuffle. They opened the door to theiraccomplices, and easily overcame family and servants, all of whom werebound hand and foot. Then the robbers ransacked the premises, and havingpacked all the valuables into the carriage, one of them took thecoachman's clothes, mounted on the box, and coolly drove off instyle--carriage, horses, and all. 

In a wild, sparsely populated country like Mexico in 1862, wherecommunication was difficult, where the police of even large cities, whennot in direct sympathy with the malefactors, were overawed by them, andwhere forty years of civil war had hardened men to the sight of blood, it is not to be wondered at if impunity had multiplied such occurrencesand destroyed all sensibility with regard to human suffering. 

Much excitement was created both in France and in the United States, during the French intervention, by the relentless spirit with which theconflict was conducted between the opposing parties, and by the wantondestruction of life and property which characterized the struggle. Butwhen one realizes that the Mexican armies at that time were on bothsides to a great extent made up of such predatory material, and thateven their officers were frequently little more than chiefs ofguerrillas, who rallied sometimes under one flag, sometimes under theother, but in either case were always ready for rapine, the brutalcharacter of the conflict can scarcely excite surprise. 

III. THE SIEGE OF PUEBLA--GENERAL FOREY--GENERAL ORTEGA

The news of the check sustained by the French at Puebla--a check towhich the precarious condition of the army lent all the proportions of aserious defeat--was made public in France by means of a despatch sentfrom New York on June 14. The army was at once raised to twenty-fivethousand men. The command-in-chief of this increased force was given toGeneral Forey. He entered upon his official duties on October 25, 1862. *

* General Forey commanded the Fourth Division at the battle of Alma, inthe Crimean war; at Sebastopol he commanded both the Third and theFourth, to which was intrusted the siege work. 

The new commander-in-chief, like those whom he was superseding, wasunder precise orders from the home government to be guided by M. DeSaligny. Notwithstanding the disastrous consequences of hismisrepresentations, the French minister, strangely enough, stillretained his hold upon the Emperor and his advisers. 

General Forey's instructions, given in a note from Napoleon dated July3, 1862, were to bring about, through General Almonte, the convocationof an assembly of notables to decide upon the "form of government andthe destinies of Mexico. " Should the Mexicans prefer a monarchy, "it wasin the interest of France to support them, and to indicate the ArchdukeMaximilian as the candidate of France. "*

* "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, d'apres les Documents Ineditsd'Ernest Louet, " etc. Edited by Paul Gaulot. Part I, "Reve d'Empire, " p. 91, 4th ed. (Paris). 

On February 18, 1863, after wasting four precious months, at an enormouscost of money and prestige, General Forey appeared before Puebla. * Theprocrastination of the French commander had given the Mexican governmenttime to elaborate the defense. General Zaragoza had died, in the fullblaze of his glory, in the month of September. His successor, GeneralJesus Gonzalez Ortega, had now under his command a fairly organized armyof twenty-two thousand men. The main trouble was the scarcity of arms. The guns were mostly old rejected muskets, and I was told that duringthe siege unarmed bodies of men waited to use the arms of the slain orwounded. But the place had been strongly fortified; this time it was tobe war in earnest. 

* General Forey explained his extraordinary procrastination bycomplaining that the minister of war had failed to supply him with asufficient amount of ammunition. See Colonel Loizillon, "Lettres surl'Expedition du Mexique, " p. 101. 

The town was built in blocks. Each block, fortified and defended by thebesieged, must be fought for and carried by assault, at terrible cost oflife on the part of the French, whose close ranks were fired upon withmurderous effect from the roofs and windows on both sides of thestreets. 

The episodes of the contest recall those of the siege of Saragossa, whenthe Spaniards so fiercely resisted the French forces; only at Puebla thecruel struggle lasted two whole months. * To quote a French officer, itwas "a noble defense, admirably organized. "

* From March 18 to May 10, 1863. See Colonel Loizillon, "Lettres surl'Expedition du Mexique, " Paris, 1890. 

The pulse of the capital now quickened under the influence of Puebla'ssacrifice to the national honor. Every now and then a thrill ofvindictive patriotism ran through the city and clamored for revenge. Already, before the celebration of the anniversary of the nationalindependence (September 16, 1862), wild rumors of a contemplatedwholesale slaughter of foreigners had run through the town, arousingamong us fears of an impending catastrophe. The news had one day beenbrought us that the 16th was the date fixed for these new SicilianVespers, and all were warned to be watchful. The day, however, passedwithout any further demonstration of ill will than a few shots, andcries of "Mueran los Franceses!"

Much of this excitement had, of course, been fostered by the stirringproclamations of the government, issued with a proper desire to arouseinto something like patriotic enthusiasm the apathy of a peopleaccustomed to submit to the inevitable. There was no telling, however, to what extremes might resort a populace composed of Indians andhalf-breeds, should it once become fully alive to the situation. To sucha people geographical discrimination seemed a nicety; the issue wasbetween them and the foreigners, and the words "French" and "foreigner"were at that time generally used as synonymous. 

This was not all. When the fort of San Xavier was taken, and when beganthe frightful hand-to-hand fight in Puebla, the result of which was aforegone conclusion, the government announced its intention to defendthe capital. The level of the lakes of Chalco and Tezcuco is above thatof the city, and the flooding of the valley was regarded as an effectivemeans of defense. This, of course, meant pestilence. The presidentresolutely declared that, should arms fail, the people must prolong thedefense of the capital with their "teeth and nails"; and although therewas no practical response among the people, a general and very genuineuneasiness pervaded the whole community. 

It was a Mexican custom on Good Friday to burn Judas in effigy on thePlaza Mayor. Judas was a manikin made in the shape of the person whohappened to be most unpopular at the time. It was quite admissible toburn Judas under different shapes, and sometimes these summary autos dafe were multiplied to suit the occasion and the temper of the people. Atthe same time, rattles were sold on the streets, and universally boughtalike by children and adults, by rich and poor, to grind the bones ofJudas, and the objectionable noise--second in hideousness only to thatof our own sending off of fire-crackers on the Fourth of July--wasreligiously kept up all day. In the year of our Lord 1863 Judas wasburned in Mexico on the Plaza Mayor under the shapes of General Forey, Napoleon III, and last, but not least, M. Dubois de Saligny, whoespecially was roasted with a will amid the wild execrations of thepopulace. 

President Juarez had bent his whole energy upon the raising of an armyof relief. He succeeded in getting together some ten thousand men, thecommand of whom he gave to General Comonfort. This had been no easytask. A general leva had been ordered, and all were mustered into thearmy who could be provided with arms. Of uniforms there was, of course, no mention. It was a supreme and desperate effort. 

A convoy of supplies for the relief of General Ortega was also prepared, which it was hoped General Comonfort might succeed in throwing into thebesieged city. He utterly failed, however; and his raw recruits havingbeen routed at San Lorenzo* by General Bazaine (May 8), furtherresistance became hopeless. Puebla was lost. General Ortega faced thesituation with a dignity worthy of his courageous defense of the town. He spiked his guns, blew up his magazines, disbanded the garrison, and, with his officers, surrendered on May 19. 

* San Lorenzo is a village and hacienda through which the main road toPuebla passes about sixty-six miles from Mexico. 

The news fell like a knell upon the capital. As far as we wereconcerned, there seemed to be just then only a choice of evils. Eitherthe government would await in Mexico the impending issue, and we must beexposed to all the unspeakable horrors of which Puebla had just been thescene, or the President and his administration would abandon the city, and an interval must follow during which we must be left exposed to moblaw, or, should Marquez first take possession of the city, perhaps topillage and bloodshed. 

Meanwhile Congress had indefinitely adjourned, after conferring full andextraordinary powers upon Juarez. The president issued a proclamationannouncing his firm resolve to continue the war. After this he preparedto leave the city and to retire to San Luis. 

That night, while sitting in our drawing-room, we heard the dull, steadytramp of men marching, otherwise noiselessly, down the Calle de SanFrancisco toward the plaza; and looking out of the window, we saw thedebris of the defeated Liberal army making its way through the city. Astrange, weird sight they presented in the moonlight--these men whosesole equipment consisted of a musket and a cartridge-box slung overtheir white shirts. Most of them wore only loose calzoneras, and many, according to the Mexican custom, were accompanied by their women. Apparently undrilled, or, at least, tramping on with scarcely an attemptat order, and seen in the half-shadow cast by the houses upon themoonlit street, their loose ranks reminded one more of the immigrationof some ancient barbaric horde than of the march of a modern army. 

I shall never forget the impressions of that night. The picturesquenessof the scene was not lessened by the element of personal interest thatattached to it. What did this portend--this ragged remnant of a defeatedarmy hurrying through the capital in the dead of night? Were the Frenchapproaching, driving it before them? Was it intended to garrison thecity, and here to make the last stand in defense of the republic and ofMexican liberty? Or, on the contrary, was it beating a retreat into theinterior of the country, making way for the advent of the foreigner andmonarchy and priest rule?

The next day (May 31, 1863) an unusual stir was noticeable in the city. The air was all aglow with excitement. Horsemen were galloping in thestreets leading pack-mules, and the sleepy town seemed full of bustleand animation. As we stood at our balcony, we saw many acquaintances, apparently equipped for a journey, speeding past, with a wave of thehand as a last farewell; and soon the attache of the American legationdropped in with a message from Mr. Corwin to the effect that PresidentJuarez and his government were leaving the city. 

The exodus of the previous night was thus explained. The remnants ofGeneral Comonfort's and General Ortega's armies had fallen back to serveas an escort for the government in its flight. The city was now withoutan administration, without a police, without an army. It was leftunprotected, at the mercy of the mob or of the invader, and the seriousquestion before us was how best to protect ourselves pending the arrivalof the French forces. 

The foreign representatives, fearing that the vanguard might be formedof the Mexican contingent under Marquez, and knowing the pitilessferocity of the "Leopard, " as the chieftain was called, * petitionedGeneral Forey to send one of his divisions to take immediate possessionof the capital. Meanwhile the foreign residents organized and formedthemselves into mounted patrols, and although only seven hundred strong, they managed to maintain fair order. 

* His name was Leonardo, from which came the sobriquet Leopardo. 

Here and there ominous incidents occurred to show the necessity of suchvigilance. A Frenchman was lassoed, and dragged through the streets by asmall mob; another was shot in the head in front of our house, and, bleeding, took refuge in our patio. Upon inquiry, I was told that he hadcried, "Vive la France!"

No one thought of retiring on that memorable night. From time to time astray shot, a few shouting drunkards, or some other unwonted noise inthe street, would excite our apprehension; then again, occasionally, some friend, passing with a patrol before our door, would step in andreport that so far all was quiet. 

Late that night, when at the window, listening in the stillness thenreigning over the city, a distant but strangely familiar sound fellfaintly upon my ear--very faintly; but never did the finest harmony bornof Wagner's genius so fill a human soul with ecstasy. There was nomistaking it: it was a French bugle. The French were entering Mexico. Wewere safe, and now might go to bed. 

IV. THE FRENCH IN THE CITY OF MEXICO--THE REGENCY

The next morning the town was swarming with red trousers, the wearerswhereof were seeking quarters. From our balcony we saw, standing at thecorner of the Calles de la Profesa and Espirito Santo, a little group ofofficers talking together in that half-earnest, half-distrait manner socharacteristic of men newly landed in a town, whose interest in everytrifle gets the better of the topic under immediate consideration. 

By their uniforms and demeanor we could judge that one was a general andthe others were officers of various rank. As we appeared at the balconythere was a perceptible flutter among them, and some of them began toogle us as only Frenchmen could whose eyes had not rested upon a whitewoman for several months. This incident, trifling as it seems, was tobecome the key-note of our future Mexican existence. The group ofofficers in quest of suitable quarters turned out to be General Bazaineand his staff, some of whom afterward became our warm friends. 

We now found another source of apprehension. The apartment we hadrented, at the corner of the Calle de San Francisco, opposite theIglesia de la Profesa, was larger than necessary for our small family, and a very spacious room looking upon Mexico's fashionable thoroughfarehad been left unfurnished and unoccupied by us. It was obvious that weshould be required to give it over for the use of some officer of theinvading army, and the matter was naturally not without interest. 

Early in the morning of June 5, a carriage drove up, and somemiddle-aged officers of the administration, in green-and-silveruniforms, applied for quarters. One of them was the paymaster-in-chiefof the army, M. Ernest Louet. He was a worthy man, who afterward becamea frequent visitor, although his general appearance and peculiar, peak-shaped skull, undisguised by any hirsute covering, were not likelyfavorably to impress frivolous feminine minds. *

* M. Louet, after the Franco-Prussian war, visited Marshal Bazaine inhis Spanish retreat, and obtained from him all the documents relating tothe intervention and the empire of Maximilian then in his possession. Itwas his intention to use them as the basis for an authentic history, which, however, he did not live to publish. The task thus begun by M. Louet was subsequently completed by M. Paul Gaulot, in 1889, under thetitle, "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, d'apres les DocumentsInedits d'Ernest Louet, Payeur-en-Chef du Corps Expeditionnaire, " anddivided into three parts: "Un Reve d'Empire, " "L'Empire de Maximilien, "and "Fin d'Empire. "

We drew a forlorn picture of the rooms, which, as a fact, were utterlyunsuited to his purpose. He left without even looking at them, and wehad a reprieve. 

The unfinished condition of the apartments, as well as an abundantexpenditure of tact and diplomacy on our part, saved us from otherapplicants, and we were beginning to flatter ourselves that we shouldescape this much-dreaded imposition when, late in the afternoon, twoyoung naval officers called, accompanied by orderlies and pack-mules. They presented billets de logement, requesting to be given possession. We tried to discourage them, assuring them that the rooms contained noconveniences of any kind, not even furniture: but the young men wereevidently easily satisfied; they politely but firmly insisted--theironly wish, they said, being to camp under cover. 

This annoyed us, and we showed them scant courtesy, not even attemptingto disguise the fact that they were most unwelcome. Fate was, however, kind to us when it sent us these men. They turned out to be perfectgentlemen, and completely won us over by their unvarying good breedingunder shabby treatment. Before long we were, and remained, the best offriends. As for their orderlies, they soon made love to our Indianmaidens, and there is every reason to believe that the interlopersobtained all necessary comforts, after all. So all went well enough inthe two menages. 

Indeed, an entente cordiale between the population of Mexico and theFrench army was rapidly established. In a few days the place assumed anunwonted aspect of cheerfulness and festivity. The French officers, whofor over a year past had led a life of hardship, were now bent uponpleasure. They fell gracefully into the Mexican mode of life, and tookkindly to the havanera, the bull-fights, the Paseo, and the style offlirtation preferred by the Mexican women. For this they soon coined aFrench word, noviotage, * and thus expressed the semi-Platoniclove-making of indefinite duration and undefined limits which with thenatives usually culminates in marriage, after a prolonged term of years, but which with foreigners seldom culminated at all, for lack of time. They "played the bear, "** and ogled their chosen one from the street orat the Alameda, or followed her carriage on horseback at the Paseo, according to the most approved Mexican methods; and in exchange forsmall favors received, they cast a glow of sparkling cheerfulness uponthe dull city of Montezuma. 

* Derived from novio, "betrothed lover. "

** The Mexicans call hacer l'oso the mode of courtship by which thelover, on horseback, passes under his chosen one's window, up and down, casting longing glances at her--the worse the weather the more ardentthe love. 

General Forey made his triumphant entrance on June 10. It was amagnificent sight, and one not easily forgotten. As the victoriousveteran troops, --many of whom had seen the Crimea, Syria, and Italy, --intheir battered though scrupulously neat uniforms, marched through theCalle de San Francisco, laden with their cumbersome campaign outfit, thewhole population turned out to see them, and the balconies and windowson the line of march were lined with eager and interested faces. 

This was no ordinary pageant. It was serious work, and full of thedeepest meaning. These survivors of an army of thirty thousand men hadarduously fought their way to this triumph for sixteen months. No onewill probably ever know how many of their comrades had dropped on theroadside; and the weather-beaten faces, bronzed by long exposure to thetropical sun, the patched clothes, the long line of ambulances followingin the rear, told a story in which little room was left for theimagination. The sight kindled genuine interest and aroused the sympathyof the crowd, and something very like spontaneous enthusiasm thrilledthrough the air on their passage. 

The keys of the city had been solemnly offered to General Forey byGeneral Salas, amid the acclamations of the people. The next day M. DeSaligny presented a list of thirty-five citizens destined to form ajunta. These were to select three men to act as regents pending thefinal decision of the people with regard to a permanent form ofgovernment. The junta was empowered to add to its numbers two hundredand fifteen citizens, supposed to be taken from all classes, who, withthe thirty-five appointed by the French, would compose the assembly ofnotables upon whom must devolve the carrying out of the farce which itwas intended must take the place of a popular expression of the will ofthe country. 

Don Theodosio Lares was elected its president. This junta, in a secretmeeting at which two hundred and thirty-one members were present, deliberated upon the form of government to be chosen for the Mexicannation and on July 10, at a public meeting, presented a report in whichthe republican system was denounced as the cause of the greatest evilswhich had of late years been the scourge of the country, and monarchywas advocated as the only remedy. 

Four articles were voted upon, with only two dissenting voices: (1) Thenation adopts as a form of government a constitutional monarchy, hereditary under a Catholic prince. (2) The sovereign will take thetitle of Emperor of Mexico. (3) The imperial crown of Mexico is offeredto his Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, for himself and his descendants. (4) In the case where, owing tounforeseen circumstances, the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian should nottake possession of the throne offered him, the Mexican government trustsin the good will of his Majesty Emperor Napoleon III to designateanother Catholic prince to whom the crown shall be offered. A regency, composed of General Almonte, General Salas, and Archbishop Labastida, was forthwith established, under the protection of the French. 

It was obvious to all that the performance was enacted for the "benefitof the gallery. " Gossip even told how the French had paid for the veryclothes worn by some of the so-called "notables" upon that occasion. Nevertheless, the monarchy, by the will of the people, was voted in, anda commission was appointed, consisting of the most distinguished amongthe reactionary leaders, to wait upon Maximilian of Austria, and tooffer him the throne on behalf of the Mexican nation. 

But although the part played by the French in this comedy was thinlydisguised, every one in the capital was now in a good humor. After thesevere strain of the past year, the onerous burdens which had beenimposed upon the people by the Liberal government in order to carry onthe war, --the forced loans raised from the wealthy, the leva by means ofwhich the poor were seized upon and pressed into the army, --a suddenreprieve had come. All responsibility now seemed lifted off the Mexicanpeople and assumed by the French; and the revival of trade under theimpulse given by the influx of pleasure-loving foreigners, who freelyspent their money, was regarded as an earnest of the prosperity to come. No one seemed disposed to be over-critical as to methods, if only peaceand plenty could be assured. 

It would seem, however, that Napoleon's instructions to General Foreyhad not been exactly carried out. According to these, and in order toretain full control of political operations, the general was himself toappoint the provisional government, with General Almonte at its head. After this, tranquillity having been established in the country, he wasto call for a popular vote to decide upon the form of government to beadopted and to constitute a national congress. *

*See official letters, November 1, December 17, 1862, February 14, 1863. 

The French government had repeatedly declared to England and to theworld that "no government would be imposed upon the Mexican people. " Hadit been honest when signing the provisions of the treaty of London, andlater those of the convention of La Soledad, the armed expedition hadnow reached its end. Indeed, quite enough had already happened to showthe French statesmen how illusory had been the promises of the Mexicanrefugees and the representations of Messrs. De Saligny and Jecker; andnow, once more and for the last time, the opportunity was offeredNapoleon gracefully to withdraw with the honors of war from the fool'serrand on which he had so recklessly embarked. 

The French army was now in Mexico. The commander-in-chief and the Frenchminister might dictate their terms to the enemy from his fallen capital, and then retrace their steps homeward. 

But this was not to be; unwilling to recognize his own error, NapoleonIII preferred attributing to the mismanagement of his agents thedifficulties that had sprung up on every side, and he resolved topersevere in his original intention. As for General Forey, whether hisdullness of perception failed to grasp the true drift of his master'smind, or whether he was unable to steer his way through the tortuouspolicy which he was called upon to further, he seemed to regard hismission as fulfilled. After he had established the native provisionalgovernment, he complacently rested in the enjoyment of his new title ofMarshal of France, apparently overlooking the fact that outside of thecapital the national party held the country as absolutely as ever. Heissued a decree confiscating the property of all Liberals who did notlay down their arms, and allowed the regency, which was composed ofthree clerical leaders, --General Almonte, of whom Marshal Bazaine waswont to say that he meant well, but il se prend trop au serieux, GeneralSalas, a conservative old fossil unearthed for the occasion, andArchbishop Labastida, --to foreshadow an era of reaction andretrogression. 

A decree (1863) intended to stop the exporting of gold, and anotherconfiscating the property of political adversaries, created so muchuneasiness that the French government was obliged to interfere andenforce their repeal. An ordinance compelling every one to kneel in thestreet upon the passage of the eucharist created loud dissatisfactionamong the liberal-minded; and ordinances forbidding work on Sundaywithout the permission of the parish priest, and suspending work in theerection of buildings upon land formerly belonging to the clergy, hadeventually to be repealed. 

Religious processions had been forbidden by the Liberal government. Oneof the first mistakes made by the commander-in-chief was to allow theclergy to celebrate in June the Fete-Dieu, that should have beencelebrated in May, but had been omitted, as Juarez was then inpossession of the city. Not only did General Forey consent to this, buthe and his officers attended the procession, an act which excited thesarcasm of the Liberals and gave substance to the fear that the Frenchprotectorate meant reaction. 

The priests and clericals fully believed that their turn to govern hadcome. They actually notified the tenants of former clergy property notto pay rent to their landlords, as the sales of such property had beenthe work of Satan, and were now to be annulled, and that if they paidtheir rent they must eventually be called upon to pay it over again tothe church, the rightful owner. 

Meanwhile Maximilian's faith had been shaken by the refusal of Englandto guarantee the empire. When, in the autumn of 1861, the negotiationssecretly carried on with regard to the establishment of a Mexicanmonarchy had at last assumed a tangible form, and serious propositionshad been made to the Archduke Maximilian by M. Gutierrez de Estrada (therepresentative of the reactionary party in Mexico, acting at theinstigation of Napoleon III), the archduke, with the approval of hisbrother Emperor Francis Joseph, had acquiesced under two principalconditions: "(1) The support, not only moral, but material andefficient, of the two great powers (France and England); (2) the clearlyexpressed wish of the Mexican people. "*

* See note drawn up under his supervision by his secretary, the Baron dePont, bearing date September 27, 1861, published in "La Verite surl'Expedition du Mexique, " loc. Cit. , pp. 8, 9, and compare M. DeKeratry, "L'Empereur Maximilien, " etc. , pp. 8, 9. It has been said thatthe project was submitted to Maximilian three years before the treaty ofMiramar was signed (see Charles d'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique, "p. 23), and I heard it asserted, while in Mexico, that the Mexicanempire was not wholly unconnected with the peace of Villafranca, afterwhich the archduke had retired to his castle on the Adriatic. Howeverthis may be, the above shows that official, though secret, negotiationswere opened with regard to Maximilian's future empire even before thetreaty of London was signed (October 31, 1861), and that, in enteringinto the triple alliance, England was being led by her wily ally furtherthan she meant to go. 

French diplomacy had failed in its efforts to secure Britishconcurrence. Maximilian now showed himself unwilling to regard theinvitation of the junta assembled in the capital as sufficient toconstitute a claim to the imperial crown. He insisted upon a similarexpression of feeling from the other large centers of population in thecountry, and stated his readiness to accept the trust "when the vastterritory should have been pacified. " This meant the conquest of thecountry, neither more nor less. 

Napoleon apparently did not hesitate. Trusting in the love of warlikeachievement so strong in the French people, he pushed ahead along hisdangerous path. That even now he clung to the practicability of hisoriginal plan is shown by the almost naive manner in which, on September12, 1863, he wrote to General Bazaine that "the PRINCIPAL object atpresent was to pacify and organize (!)" the country by calling upon allmen of good will to rally around the new order of things and bypreventing the enactment of reactionary measures. He then still hopedand believed that the return to France of the outlay caused by theexpedition could be guaranteed by means of a great loan raised inMexico--WHEN, organized and restored to prosperity. He constantly urgedupon his agents the organization of the finances of the country and ofthe Mexican army. 

Immediately upon the arrival of the French, Napoleon had sent afinancier, M. Budin, to put order into the country's resources. M. Budinwas a commonplace, middle-aged little man, of mediocre ability, whosepersonality was not calculated to impress one with an idea ofintellectual force. I was told, by those who were in a position to judgeof his ability as a specialist, that, although a first-classadministrative officer, he was lacking in initiative, and was in no wayqualified to extricate Mexico from financial difficulties. Hisattainments were those acquired in the daily routine of an upper clerk'swell-defined duties, and his mind was of narrow scope, ill fitted toadapt itself to the entirely new problems set before it. He had beenPaymaster of the French army during the Crimean and the Italian wars, and afterward receveur-general de la Savoie. He brought with him amining engineer and a staff of custom-house and revenue officers. 

He did not distinguish himself, one of his earliest acts being to urgethe promulgation of the above-mentioned decree sequestrating theproperty of all who were then opposed to the new order of things. Healso reinstated the old method of administering justice, which was adisappointment to the progressive element. To be sure, Maximilian, uponhis arrival, treated him coldly, and did not help him to make a successof his mission. His place was successively filled by M. De Maintenantand by M. Corta, who were not more successful in bringing the revenuesof the empire up to its requirements. M. De Bonnefons, a fourthfinancier, sent in 1865, fell ill and was compelled to return to France. The year following his arrival, he, in turn, was replaced by M. Langlais. 

On July 16, 1863, the Emperor had promoted General Forey to the rank ofmarshal, and had thus softened the recall of his incompetent, thoughfaithful, servant. 

The newly made marshal celebrated this promotion by a ball, at which atrifling incident occurred which made an impression upon me, and which, no doubt, General Forey remembered for some time. He was a very heavyman, of full habit, tall, with a short neck and red complexion, all themore ruddy by contrast with his gray hair and mustache. While waltzingpast the general, I saw the light chair upon which he sat suddenly giveway with a loud crash under his ponderous weight, and down came thecommander-in-chief hard upon the floor. Rumors of his probable downfallwere already reaching us, and the appositeness of the situation appealedto us. I jokingly whispered to my partner, a young officer on his staff:"Mon general, vous avez fait la culbute. " We both thoughtlessly laughed, and were caught in the act by his Excellency at the moment when, helpedto his feet, unhurt, by the bystanders, he was endeavoring to veil underan assumption of increased dignity his consciousness of the absurdity ofthe accident. He flushed up angrily, and, I was afterward told, neverquite forgave the young man for his share in our disrespectful mirth. 

He was most unpopular. His whole conduct, since his arrival in Mexico, had been characterized by weakness, indecision, and lack of judgment, and he had shown himself in every respect unequal to the difficult taskbefore him. Colonel Loizillon says that, on the way to Puebla, when thegenerals assembled in council of war differed, instead of deciding thequestion the commander-in-chief would adjourn, beseechingly saying: "MonDieu, tachez donc de vous entendre"* ("Gentlemen, DO try to come to anunderstanding"). He had allowed himself to be deceived by the Frenchminister to Mexico with the glaring facts before his eyes. As a militarychief, his procrastination had given the Mexicans the time they neededfully to organize their defense; and had it not been for GeneralBazaine's energy and military capacity in urging and successfullycarrying out the attack upon the fort of San Xavier, the siege ofPuebla, already prolonged far beyond the limits of all likelihood, mighthave cost the French a still greater expenditure of time and human life. Indeed, it was the openly expressed opinion of many French officers thatto famine was principally due the fall of Puebla. "Sans cela nous yserions encore, " they would say. 

* "Lettres sur l'Expedition du Mexique, " p. 101. 

General Forey's elevation had been due mainly to the fact that he wasone of the men who had served Napoleon in 1851 in the coup d'etat. Indeed, many of the Emperor's most glaring failures were due to the samecause, --i. E. , loyalty to individuals, --which led him to place inresponsible positions men of small merit and of less principle who hadstood by Caesar and his fortunes. 

In France the effect of the general's incapacity had been serious. Thedelay that had occurred in bringing about a result announced as easy ofaccomplishment had furnished sharp weapons to the opposition. It hadforced the government to ask the Chamber of Deputies for largeappropriations to conduct the war upon a serious scale. It was no longera military parade from Vera Cruz to Mexico to present the French flag tothe enthusiastic gratitude of the Mexicans: it was a fighting army ofthirty-five thousand men to be maintained across the seas at the expenseof France. 

The French leaders may be said to have displayed, in their Mexicanventure, the same lack of administrative efficiency and of militaryorganization, the same insufficient knowledge of and preparation for thetask to be performed, as so conspicuously appeared at the very outset ofthe Franco-Prussian War. It is impossible to read the accounts of thevarious campaigns since published without recognizing the presence, invictory over an unorganized enemy, of the elements of the later failurewhen the same men were arrayed against the strongly organized Germanforces. *

* It is interesting, in this connection, to find that the sameconditions existed in France at the time of the Crimean war. GeneralBosquet, one of the heroes of that expedition, in his letters constantlydenounced the administration for its lack of preparation. Under date ofJanuary 14, 1854, he says: "Imagine that they have not yet made anypreparation. The cavalry has neither horses nor men; neither has theartillery. No orders have been given about harness, or about any newmaterial. " And in another letter, written on the eve of his departurefor the seat of war, he repeats the same complaints. Marshal St. Arnaud, the commander-in-chief, wrote from Gallipoli to the Emperor that thearmy lacked the very necessaries of life: "One cannot make war, " he saidin a note dated May 27, "without bread, shoes, kettles, and water-cans. "

With characteristic patriotism, the Chamber voted the appropriationsnecessary to vindicate the honor of the French flag; but the governmentwas condemned to hear many unpleasant truths. 

As for M. De Saligny, he had turned the French legation into a businessoffice, in which the guaranty of France was traded upon to cover themost doubtful transactions. Napoleon had at last recognized his truecharacter, and now--too late, alas!--recalled him from his post. "De greou de force, quand memo il aurait donne sa demission, " he had written toGeneral Bazaine. *

* November 1, 1863. See Louet, loc. Cit. , "Un Reve d'Empire, " p. 208. 

But this unforeseen contingency greatly disturbed the French minister inhis operations. His accomplices, the clerical leaders and others, workedfor him, and moved heaven and earth to have his recall reconsidered. They failed; but to make up for his disappointment the Mexican NationalAssembly voted him a national reward of one hundred thousand dollars. Although Marshal Forey had not yet left the country, General Bazaineremonstrated with General Almonte, who, however, resented hisinterference. 

Both M. De Saligny and Marshal Forey enjoyed too much playing theleading role to depart willingly. They lingered on, much to theamusement of the onlookers, until General Bazaine grew impatient at theawkwardness of his own position. The ridiculous side of the complicationwas seized upon by the wags of the army; bets were taken, and a song therefrain of which was, "Partiront-ils, partiront-ils pas, " was popularlysung everywhere, the innumerable verses of which showed theinexhaustible interest taken in the subject. *

* Plus rapide que l'eclairUn bruit circule en ville;La joie, la gaiete sont dans l'air;On s'aborde, on babille;Soldats et pekinsSe serrent la mainEn disant, 'Quelle chance!'Tout bas on redit, Forey, SalignySont rappeles en France, " etc. 

PART III

THE EMPIRE OF MAXIMILIAN I 1864-65

I. MARSHAL BAZAINE

In October, 1863, the reins of power, so loosely held by General Forey, at last passed into firmer hands. General Bazaine took command ofaffairs. It was high time. The Juarists, profiting by the long respiteafforded them, were reorganizing in the interior, and were threatening. The daily stage was attacked on its way to the coast as often as not. Highwaymen tore up the rails of the Paso del Macho Railroad, attackedthe train, and killed passengers. Detachments of banditti, called bycourtesy guerrillas, everywhere infested the roads, even at the verygates of the capital. A picnic was given to us at this time, by someofficers of General Bazaine's staff, at a wild, beautiful spot, wherethe ruins of a graceful aqueduct, built by the Spaniards, formed theprincipal attraction. It was less than a twenty-mile ride, yet it wasdeemed unsafe to go without a strong escort, although we and theofficers who gave the affair formed, with their orderlies, a largecavalcade. 

General Forey's policy in letting the regency have its way, and incountenancing reactionary legislation of an aggressive character, haddiscouraged the honest partizans of order. The clergy now openlydeclared that Maximilian was pledged to the holy see for the restorationof the confiscated property of the clergy to its original owners. Thearchbishop, newly landed, did all that was in his power to encouragesuch a belief and to guide the regency to an uncompromising surrender tothe holy see. * As the security of immense transactions in clergyproperty was involved, serious uneasiness was felt. 

* Compare M. De Keratry, loc. Cit. , p. 31. 

General Bazaine handled all these complications with firmness and skill. He compelled the regency to repeal the decrees most objectionable to thethinking portion of the community. He enforced the maintaining of allbona-fide transactions in clergy property, but advocated the revision ofsuch contracts as might be proved fraudulent, and urged a concordatproposing that the state provide for the support of the clergy. Hisorders were to rally around him the Liberal chiefs, and he strove by awise, tactful policy to conciliate men of all shades of opinion. Hisvigorous military action soon established order in the territorysurrounding Mexico. With the concurrence of General Almonte, whoearnestly wished the welfare of his country, he reduced ArchbishopLabastida to terms, if not to silence. 

Having done this, he took the field, concentrated his army from thevarious distant points where the different corps had been ordered inview of the campaign which he was preparing, and within six weeksdefeated, by rapid and well-concerted blows, Generals Doblado, Negrete, Comonfort, and Uraga, who at that time, thanks to General Forey'sprocrastination, were holding the country with. The rallied forces ofthe Liberal party. 

From Morelia to San Luis, from Mexico to Guadalajara, the French flagwaved over every stronghold. The conquered cities received theconquerors coldly, but acknowledged the archduke (of whom, we were toldby the officers, many did not even know the name) just as resignedly asfor over forty years of civil war they had been wont to acknowledge thevictor's chosen presidential candidate. 

This campaign was little more than a race, and it was said that theFrench conquered the country with their legs far more than with theirbayonets. 

In February, 1864, the general, uneasy at the turn which politicalaffairs were taking in the capital, returned with an escort as suddenlyas he had departed. It was high time. In his absence, Mgr. Labastida, not giving due consideration to the change of leadership that had takenplace at the French headquarters, had so far forgotten himself as tofulminate, in the name of the church, against the French. But upon thereturn of the commander-in-chief he reconsidered his action, andpublicly "gave them his blessing. "*

* M. De Keratry, loc. Cit. , p. 33. 

General Bazaine was at this time the most popular man in the army. Hitherto eminently successful in all his military undertakings, he hadrisen from the ranks, having won his honors step by step upon thebattle-field, at first by his courage, later by his remarkable militaryability. 

He was a plain-looking man, short and thick-set, whose plebeian featuresone might search in vain for a spark of genius or a ray of imagination;and yet under the commonplace exterior dwelt a kindly spirit, anintelligence of no mean order, and, despite a certain coarseness ofthought and expression too common among Frenchmen, a soul upon which theromance of life had impressed its mark in lines of fire. 

The story went that, when a colonel, he had in Spain come across alittle girl of great beauty and personal attractions, who seemed to himout of place amid her surroundings. He picked up the little wild rose asit grew on the roadside, and conceived the notion of transplanting itinto good, rich soil, and of giving it its share of sunshine. He tookthe child to Paris, where he left her in a convent to be educated. 

The soldier continued his brilliant career in the Crimea, Italy, Syria, and Africa; and when, after some years, he returned to Paris, he foundthe little girl grown into a beautiful and attractive woman, whose heartwas full of warm gratitude for her benefactor. He fell in love with her, and, breaking through all rules of French matrimonial usage, marriedher. 

Her charm won for her many friends in the circle which his positionentitled her to enter; her attractions exposed her to temptations whichher early training had ill fitted her to meet; and her death, whichoccurred under peculiarly distressing circumstances soon after hispromotion to the command of the army in Mexico, was a cruel blow. Thenews of his loss reached the general while away from the capital on thebrilliant campaign which added the greater part of the country to theprojected empire (November, 1863). After a funeral mass, which he heardwith his officers, he retired to his tent, and, alone, fought thathardest of all battles, and conquered his own heart. In a few days hereturned to his duty, and no one ever knew what had passed in hisinnermost soul. 

Two years later a ball was given at the quartier-general. Bazaine, whohad lately been promoted to the rank of marshal (1864), had stopped fora moment to say a few words, when one of his guests, a young Mexicangirl who was waltzing by, suddenly stopped near us, having torn herdress. Pins were produced, the damaged ruffle was repaired, and the girlpassed on. "Who is this?" asked the marshal, evidently much struck withher appearance. "It is extraordinary, " he muttered, "how much shereminds me of my wife. " He looked distrait, and shortly after excusedhimself, and wandered off in the direction Mlle. De la Pena had taken. 

The courtship was a short one. Maximilian, in order to facilitate aunion which he deemed to be in the interest of his government, gave theyoung girl as a dowry the palace of San Cosme, * valued at one hundredthousand dollars; and thus was May united, to December. Two childrenwere born to the marshal, one of them in Mexico, ** and never was fatherprouder of his young wife and of her offspring than was the marshal. ***

* A suburb west of Mexico. 

** Maximilian was his godfather, *** When, after the Franco-Prussian war, the marshal, having been made asacrifice to France's wounded pride, was court-martialed, and, amid theimprecations of his countrymen, was imprisoned in the Fort de Ste. Marguerite, his young wife and her cousin contrived the perilous escapeof the old man. By means of a rope procured for him by them he loweredhimself from the walls of the fortress. Mme. Bazaine was awaiting him ina small boat, the oars of which were held by her cousin. A ship was nearby, ready to sail, on which they sought refuge in Spain. And so it wasthat a fallen marshal of France passed from a state prison into exile, where he ended a life in which fame and romance had an equal share. 

II. A BED OF ROSES IS A GOLD-MINE

The difficult task intrusted to General Bazaine had been triumphantlyperformed. 

The adhesion of the main part of Mexico to the empire was secured. Oajaca and Guerrero, in the south, still held out, under GeneralPorfirio Diaz, and in the north Chihuahua and Durango had not submitted;but enough of the Mexican territory was pacified to answer immediatepurposes. European criticism and the scruples of Maximilian must besatisfied by this appearance of a popular election and a quasi-universalsuffrage. For forty years Mexico had not been so quiet. The defeated anddemoralized Liberal forces were scattered, and the Juarez government, retreating toward the extreme northern frontier at Monterey, seemed tohave nothing left save its eternal rights. 

On May 28, 1864, Maximilian of Austria and the Archduchess Charlottereached Vera Cruz on the Austrian frigate Novara. They were escorted bythe French man-of war Themis, By some unfortunate contretemps, thedeputation that had left the capital with much pomp and flutter in orderto greet them was not there. They arrived as ordinary passengers, thepeople evincing little curiosity and less cordiality, as we have seen. Vera Cruz is in itself not calculated to cheer the newcomer, and theirfirst impression of their venture was a painful one. 

In due time, however, things righted themselves. General Almonte and hissuite appeared upon the scene, and all the necessary pageant was broughtinto play to soothe the wounded feelings of the new sovereigns. Theylanded on the following day at six o'clock in the morning. The earlyhour interfered with any effective popular demonstration, and theirreception, as they proceeded to Loma Alta, at that time the terminus ofthe railroad, was by no means a brilliant one. At this point they tookcarriages and drove on, escorted by a body of cavalry commanded byGeneral Galvez and Colonel Miguel Lopez. Near the Cerro del Chiquihuitethe imperial carriage broke down, and the young sovereigns had to acceptthat of General de Maussion. It was in the midst of a terrible tropicalstorm, which put out the torches with which their escort lighted theway, that the imperial cortege entered Cordoba. Here, however, they weremet by a crowd of torch-bearing Indians, whose enthusiasm made up forthe gloom and disappointments which had hitherto marked their arrival. 

The rest of the journey was a well-prepared ovation. The priests, noweager to come to the fore, had ordered out the Indian population. Theaction of Maximilian in going to Rome, and in piously securing the papalblessing before sailing to take possession of his new dominions, hadbeen received by the ultra-clerical party as a hopeful symptom ofreturning papal ascendancy under the coming reign. *

* On April 19, 1864, Maximilian and the archduchess had repaired to Romein order, said the official papers, to "implore the benediction of theaugust chief of the church, and to place their future effort under theaegis of his paternal intercession and of his powerful authority. " Thesermon preached by Pius IX in the Sistine Chapel on April 29, in whichthe Holy Father encouraged the new sovereigns to accomplish the designsof Providence in a mission which was but a part of a "grand scheme ofChristian propagandism, " linked the empire to the clerical party. 

At this time Napoleon III could no longer be unaware that therecognition of the liberty of religious worship, of toleration, and ofthe reform laws promulgated by Juarez, was a necessity of the situation, and that the church could not be reinstated as in the past. Hisrepresentatives in Mexico knew that the reactionary platform was notonly an unsafe one, but an impossible one for the empire to stand uponin Mexico; and they were endeavoring to extricate themselves from theconsequences of their faux pas with as much dignity and consistency ascircumstances would admit. The awkwardness of the situation was, therefore, only added to by this demonstration of piety and filialobedience on the part of the new Mexican rulers. Yet it had the effectof rallying the clergy for the time being, who did their best toincrease their claims by a public display of devotion to the empire. 

The new sovereigns might well imagine that they were the elect of thepeople when, followed by a multitude of Indians, they entered thecapital. 

It was under the scorching rays of a hot June sun that they made theirformal entry into the city of Montezuma. * Never had such a sight beenseen since the days of the Aztecs. The lavish ingenuity of theFrench--anxious, for obvious reasons, to make the occasion a tellingone--vied with the interested patriotism of the clerical party to excitethe enthusiasm of the people, and to produce an impression upon theAustrian travelers. Triumphal arches of verdure, draped with flags andpatriotic devices, were raised along the principal avenues leading tothe Plaza Mayor and to the palace. As far as the eye could reach, thefestively decked windows, the streets, and the flat roofs of the houseswere crowded with people eager to catch a glimpse of the new sovereigns. As they slowly approached in the official landau, the crowd was so denseas to be with difficulty held back. 

* June 12, 1864. The Archduchess Charlotte was born in Brussels on June7, 1840, and she was then twenty-four years old. The archduke was bornat Schonbrunn on July 6, 1832, and was therefore not quite thirty-twoyears of age. 

It was a singular spectacle. They seemed so tall and fair, these twoyoung people of another race, as they smilingly advanced through theswarthy multitude of their small, ragged subjects, bowing inacknowledgment of their acclamations! Involuntarily one thought ofvisiting angels, or, better still, of the fair god Quetzalcohuatl, whomthe Mexican legend of olden times brought from the East to rule over andto civilize the natives of this land by bringing them plenty. Theanalogy spontaneously occurred to every thoughtful onlooker, and spreadlike lightning throughout the city. 

Dramatic as it might be, the situation was not without its comictouches. Some one in the imperial entourage had the unfortunate idea ofimitating for the Emperor's body-guard the sky-blue-and-silver uniformof Napoleon's tall Cent-Gardes. It is hard to imagine anything moreamusing than the caricature thus produced of the French picked regiment, which saw the light for the first time on that occasion. 

It was at first difficult to establish among the republican Mexicans therigid etiquette of the Austrian court, and some unsuccessful attempts todo so were fruitful of heartache on both sides. For instance, whenSenora Salas, the wife of the regent, was first introduced to her youngsovereign, the poor little old lady amiably advanced, prepared to giveher the national abraso--a graceful greeting which closely simulates anembrace. In Mexico its significance in good society was very much thatof a shake of the hand with us. Much to her consternation, the tallEmpress stepped back and drew herself up to her full height at what sheregarded an undue liberty, while tears of indignation came into hereyes. Whereupon the poor senora was dissolved in tears, and the incidentcame near to disturbing the good feeling that every one hoped might atonce be established between the sovereigns and their Mexican court. 

For a brief space we all felt as though a new era were indeed about todawn upon this Western land. There is no doubt that at this time theempire seemed a fact, and that, with the exception of a certain numberof outlying districts, the country was fast rallying around its banner. It represented order and stability, while the Liberals occupied theposition of anarchists. *

* See Masseras, "Un Essai d'Empire au Mexique, " p. 9, where he quotes aletter addressed by Senor Zamacona to President Juarez, and bearing dateJune 16, 1864. 

General Bazaine did all in his power to inaugurate brilliantly theadvent of the empire. A splendid ball was given to the young sovereignsat the quartier-general--such a ball as is seldom seen outside the greatEuropean capitals. The general's aides-de-camp had been put in charge, and all that unlimited funds and a large experience of such matterscould accomplish was done to make the occasion the memorable feature ofa memorable historic event. 

The great patio of the palace of San Cosme was floored and roofed overto serve as a ball-room. At the back of the great arcade surrounding it, the arches and pillars of which were draped with French and Mexicanflags, was banked a profusion of plants and flowers, upon which was castthe light of myriads of candles and colored lanterns. In the middle ofthe huge improvised ball-room the great fountain played, and itssparkling waters were seen through masses of tropical vegetation. Hereand there enormous warlike trophies reminded the spectator that he wasthe guest of a great army. The artillery had supplied groups of heavycannon, stacked on end, and huge piles of cannon-balls, while atintervals trophies of flags and drums, of guns and bayonets, tastefullygrouped about the French and the Mexican coats of arms, broke withstriking effect the expanse of wall above the arcades. 

When the imperial cortege entered the crowded ball-room, the quadrilled'honneur was danced by their Majesties, the general-in-chief, and themore distinguished members of their respective suites, after which theEmperor and Empress were respectfully escorted by the general to theirthrone, set under a crimson-velvet canopy resting upon French cannon. 

They were so young and so handsome in their imperial pomp! By them stoodPrincess Zichy, tall and distinguished, in a simple white-tulle gown andnatural flowers, with a wealth of such diamonds as are seldom seen onone person--a homely woman, but interesting to us as the daughter of theMetternichs. Her husband, Prince Zichy, was the most striking figure inthe imperial party. He wore the full state costume of a HungarianMagyar; and his many orders, hanging around his neck and upon hisbreast, as well as the marvelous hilt, belt, and jeweled sheath of hisancestral sword, stood out finely upon his black-velvet costume, andmade him a conspicuous figure even in an assemblage where the ordinaryevening dress was almost unseen. 

The glitter of all this court life, the revival of trade, the abundanceof money so freely brought and spent in the country, dazzled the people, and a golden dust was thrown into the eyes of all, which for a briefperiod prevented them from seeing the true drift of political events. Indeed, the brilliancy of the scene was not entirely due to flash-light. The revenues derived from the customs of Tampico and Vera Cruz were atthis time materially increasing. An official report, read to the FrenchChamber in 1865, showed that the revenues from those ports, which forthree months in 1864 had been $96, 000 and $900, 000 respectively, had forthe same period in 1865 risen respectively to $431, 000 and $1, 645, 000. 

Large concessions for railroads had been asked for and granted undersolid guaranties--the line from Vera Cruz to Mexico to an Anglo-Frenchcompany, pledged to complete it in five years, and another concessionfor three lines, for the carrying out of which $4, 500, 000 had beensubscribed. Telegraph lines were being established; coal, petroleum, andgold- and silver-mines were being exploited, or were in a fair way tobe. 

The good management of the regency under General Almonte's frugaladministration had accumulated a balance of 15, 000, 000 francs in thetreasury--a small surplus which must have been encouraging to theEmperor upon his arrival. Moreover, the loan of 200, 000, 000 francs, soreadily taken up abroad, had given a substantial foundation for hopefulanticipation, and it seemed as though France might possibly get out ofher rash venture with honor and profit. 

The mirage that had lured Napoleon to these perilous shores now appearedmaterially nearer, and its outlines seemed more vivid and attractivethan ever before. 

But it was an easy matter to create an empire as the result of an armedinvasion of an unwilling land, it was quite another thing to organize itupon a permanent basis. As Prince Napoleon--familiarly known asPlon-Plon--very wittily remarked later, "One can do anything withbayonets, except sit upon them. " ("On peut tout faire avec desbaionnettes, excepte s'asseoir dessus. ") For over two years Napoleon IIIendeavored to make Maximilian perform the latter feat--with what resultwe all know only too well. 

III. THORNS

The details of Maximilian's court once settled, and the code ofetiquette to be used adopted, the new sovereign started forth upon atour of the provinces, to present himself to the loyalty of hissubjects. The Empress remained as regent, to govern under the guidanceof the Commander-in-chief. Ovations had everywhere been prepared, and asemblance of popularity, so dear to Maximilian's heart, was the result. But immense sums were expended, and more precious time was wasted. 

Upon his return, Mexican society turned out en masse to do him honor. Weall sallied forth in a monster cavalcade by the Paseo de la Vega to meethim some miles out of the city, and escort him back to the palace. Allthis was pleasant and exciting, but wise heads saw that this was no timefor idle pleasure, and some impatience was manifested at this pageantry. 

Then began a series of administrative experiments. Many projects weremapped out with a view to placing Mexico abreast of the most advancedcountries of the civilized world. 

Among other premature efforts made at this time, when the young Emperorgave fullest flight to his dreams, was a Department of the Navy. Nothingcould more clearly demonstrate how whimsical was the mind of theAustrian ex-admiral and how slight was his grasp of the situation. Long-postponed issues, involving vital questions of policy and ofadministration, were awaiting his decision, and he busied himself withfrivolities and with impossibilities. These early days gave the keynoteof his three years' reign. 

Captain Destroyat, a French naval officer, was made secretary of thenavy. As the Mexican government did not own a canoe, and as there was atthat time no serious likelihood of its ever owning a battle-ship, thissinecure caused no little merriment among us, and many were thepractical jokes of which the hapless cabinet officer was the victim. 

His quarters were situated one block below our house, in the Calle deEspiritu Santo. This street, owing to a depression in the level and tobad drainage, was usually flooded, during the rainy season, after everysevere aguacero. So impassable did it then become that even men werecompelled to engage the services of a cargador to carry them across"pickaback. " When came the first shower after his new dignity had beenconferred upon Captain Destroyat, his comrades, bent upon fun, purchaseda toy flotilla, which they floated, flying the Mexican flag, down thestreet. In mock dignity the tiny ships came to an anchor before hisdoor, much to every one's merriment, excepting, it was whispered, tothat of the powers that were, who found a sting in the harmless levity. *

* The new Navy Department, although substantial advances were made toit by the French treasury for the purpose of guarding the coast againstsmugglers, did little to justify its existence. Two years later, whenEmpress Charlotte arrived in Vera Cruz, about to sail for Europe on thatthe fruitless errand from which she was never to return, there was notone rowboat flying the Mexican flag ready to convey her to the steamerwhich was lying in port at anchor. A boat belonging to a Frenchman-of-war was placed at her disposal, but the unfortunate woman, thenembittered by the treatment received at the hands of the Frenchgovernment, flatly refused to be taken, even over so short a distance, under the French flag; and the incident gave rise to a painful scene. Asthe Empress was then on her way as a suppliant to the court of theTuileries, there is every reason to believe this illogical and almostchildish sensitiveness was one of the first symptoms of the cerebralderangement that was so soon to become evident. Other exhibitions of animpaired judgment were related which then seemed incomprehensible. 

Maximilian has been uniformly blamed by French writers for fritteringaway the first precious months of his reign in dreams, or in thesettlement of minor details, the triviality of which was in glaringcontrast with the gravity of the issues before him. True as thiscriticism may be in theory, it is perhaps to be regretted--if weconsider his Majesty's youth and inexperience, and his absoluteignorance of the conditions which he was called upon to face, as well asof the capabilities and personal history of the men with whom he was todeal--that he did not longer continue to allow others, who had painfullyearned a clearer knowledge of the situation, to rule in his name. TheFrench, after a long series of preliminary blunders, were just beginningto understand the country when the Emperor arrived and attemptedindependently to acquire the same lesson, at the expense of the nation, of his party, and of his allies. 

It soon became obvious that the young monarch was not equal to the taskwhich he had undertaken, and a feeling of disappointment prevailed. Unendowed with the force and clearness of mind necessary in anorganizer, he nevertheless insisted upon all administrative work passingthrough his own imperial bureau. At the head of this bureau he placed anobscure personal favorite, a Belgian named Eloin, who had risen to favorthrough his social accomplishments. This man did not speak one word ofSpanish, hated the French, despised the Mexicans, and was more ignorantthan his master himself of American questions in general, and of Mexicanaffairs in particular. 

While in office he used his power to repress much of the impulse givento enterprise by the French. His narrow views were responsible for ajealous policy which excluded all that he could not personallyappreciate and manage. He and the Emperor undertook to decide questionsupon which they were then hardly competent to give an intelligentopinion. The Mexican leaders were made to feel that they had noinfluence, the French that they had no rights. A chill was suddenly feltto pervade the official atmosphere. As a prominent member of the Belgianlegation once remarked:

"To eat priest for breakfast and Frenchman for dinner, when one has beencalled to the throne by the clergy, and must rely upon France for solesupport, may be regarded as a dangerous policy. " After doing muchmischief, M. Eloin was sent abroad upon a mysterious mission. It wasrumored that he had gone to watch over his master's personal interestsabroad. *

* On December 28, 1864, Maximilian entered a protest against the familycompact exacted from him by his brother, the Emperor Francis Joseph, onApril 9, a few days before his departure from Miramar and communicatedto the Reichsrath on November 16th. In this curious document he statedthat it was upon the suggestion of the Emperor of Austria that thethrone of Mexico had been offered to him; that after the negotiationswere closed, when his withdrawal must have brought about the mostserious European complications, the Emperor Francis Joseph, accompaniedby his most intimate councilors, had come hastily to Miramar to forcefrom him an absolute renunciation of his birthrights; that, having givenhis word to the Mexican delegation sent to offer him a throne, he hadsigned this unqualifiable compact, but that experienced diplomats andexpert jurists, after studying the question, were of the opinion that adocument exacted under such conditions was null and void; and that thediets, with the consent of the two interested emperors, were alonecompetent to decide upon such rights. In this case the diets had noteven been consulted. 

This protest, the text of which is published in M. Domenech's "Histoiredu Mexique" (vol. Iii, p. 204), excited the suspicion that Maximilianhad not relinquished his European ambitions, and that the role ofLiberal ruler which he played upon the Mexican stage was played partlyto an Austrian audience. 

A few months after this (May 3, 1865) M. Eloin was sent abroad, ostensibly to treat of a new loan; he was no financier, and it is likelythat his mission was a confidential one, the political nature of whichcomes out clearly in the intercepted letter, under date of September 27, 1866, which was published in the United States. (See p. 243. )

Indeed, the presence of the personal friends and countrymen of thesovereigns who had accompanied them in their voluntary exile caused anote of discord in the general harmony of the first days of the empire, indicative of the cacophony which was soon to follow. Prince andPrincess Zichy and Countess Collonitz soon returned home, but a numberof men remained to occupy lucrative and confidential positions about theperson of the monarch. 

It was natural that, so far away from their native land, these would-beMexican rulers, stranded among a people with whose customs and mode ofthought they had no sympathy, and of whose traditions they knew nothing, should cling to the little circle of trusted friends who had followedthem in their adventure. It was natural also that the Mexicans, seducedby the vision of a monarchy in which THEY hoped to be the ruling forceby virtue of their share in its inception and its establishment, shouldfeel a keen disappointment upon finding foreigners, whom they themselveshad been instrumental in placing at the head of affairs, not onlyovershadowing them, but usurping what they deemed their legitimateinfluence. It was likewise natural that the French, who had put up allthe stakes for the game, and who had sacrificed lives, millions, andprestige in the venture, should look to a preponderant weight in thecouncils of an empire which was entirely of their creating. All this wasthe inevitable consequence of such a combination as that attempted inMexico; but apparently it was one which had entered into no one'scalculations, and for which no provision had been made. The imperialdream of Napoleon III had been too shadowy to include such humanities. 

The original "king-makers" soon became a troublesome element inMaximilian's administration. His policy naturally led him to seeksupporters among the progressive Mexicans, and to devise the honorableretirement of his early allies from the active management of affairs. 

General Almonte from the first was set aside with empty honors. * In 1866he was appointed to replace Senor Hidalgo as representative of Mexico toFrance. General Miramon and General Marquez were likewise sent away inhonorable exile; and by degrees the more conspicuous among thereactionary leaders were put out of the way. 

* He was made great marshal of the court, minister of the imperialhousehold, and high chancellor of the imperial orders. 

In March, 1864, Maximilian, about to sail from Miramar, had addressed aletter to President Juarez. In this curious document he spoke of himselfas "the chosen of the people, " and invited him to attach himself to theempire. He even offered him a distinguished place in its administration. This, of course, was haughtily declined by the President. Butpersevering efforts were made to win over, by promises of preferment, the leading men of the Liberal party. Some declined in noble terms, butothers succumbed to the temptation, and for a while a decided tendencywas shown to rally around the new order of things. Yet these conditions, favorable as they were, added to the complications of the situation. Ina very short time, what with the difficulties arising from thenationalized clergy property, and with the personal disappointment ofmany of those who had made the empire, Maximilian found the men uponwhose invitation he had come to Mexico turning away from him. Moreover, the influence of M. Eloin's policy had inaugurated the long series ofmisunderstandings between the court and the French quartier-general, which ultimately led to complications at first by no means unavoidable. "Non es emperador, es empeorador, " was the pun popularly repeated byMexican wags. * Six months had not elapsed since the regent Almonte hadturned over to the young Emperor the quasi-consolidated empire conqueredby Marshal Bazaine, and thinking men already foresaw the end. Never didthe tide of success turn so rapidly. 

* "Ce n'est pas un empereur; c'est un empireur. " Compare Masaeras, "UnEssai d'Empire au Mexique, " p. 42 (Paris, 1879). 

In October, 1864, Comte de Thun de Hohenstein had been sent to Paris tonegotiate for the transportation of some four thousand Austrians for thearmy of Maximilian in Mexico. Belgians were also rapidly enlisting underColonel Van der Smissen; and shortly afterward Austro-Belgian auxiliarytroops, numbering, from first to last, some eight thousand men, weretransferred to Mexico. * These soon developed into an additional sourceof difficulty. 

* See Galignani, October 14, 1864. 

The officers of the Austrian contingent had not forgotten the yet recentencounters with the French army at Solferino and Magenta, and, no doubtat first unconsciously, an unconciliatory spirit was manifested in everydifference which arose between the French and their present allies. 

Comte de Thun, the commander of the Austrian corps, felt more thanrestless under Marshal Bazaine's authority. Eventually, in 1865, Maximilian, whose confidence he enjoyed, further complicated thesituation by establishing alongside of the War Department a militarycabinet, through which the Austro-Belgian contingents were independentlyadministered. This broke up all chance of uniform action in militarymatters. It placed the auxiliary troops beyond the jurisdiction of theFrench commander, who, under the terms of the treaty of Miramar, was tobe regarded as the commander-in-chief. 

The same lack of unity that existed between the imperial army and theFrench was also found to exist between the foreign mercenaries and theMexican troops. 

To the natives these foreigners, although countrymen of theirsovereigns, were interlopers and rivals. Their very presence defeatedthe object of their Emperor's futile attempt at a show of Mexicanpatriotism. The position of the French was a well-defined one. They werethere for a purpose, spent their money freely, fought their battlesvictoriously, and would some day go back to France. But the Mexicanshated these foreigners, and the confidential offices held by impecuniousBelgians and Austrians in the government and about the person of thechief executive added to the instinctive suspicion with which theirpermanent residence in the country was regarded. 

Under the then existing conditions, where so many irreconcilableinterests were in presence, it is not to be wondered at if littleharmony prevailed amid the various conflicting elements gatheredtogether by fate for the enactment of this fantastic scene. 

The attitude of the United States toward the empire had beenunmistakably emphasized on May 3, 1864, by the departure of ourminister, the Hon. Thomas Corwin, who left, ostensibly on leave ofabsence, as soon as the approach of the new sovereigns was heralded. 

His was an interesting personality. Tall, stout, and somewhat awkward inhis gait, his double chin was lost between the exaggerated points of thestiff white collar so characteristic of our American statesmen at thattime. His kindly smile and natural charm of voice and manner, however, soon attracted and held those who at first found him unengaging. Withall his attainments he had preserved unspoiled a certain naturalmodesty, which led him to attribute his advancement to accident or fate. He once told me that he owed all his success in life to the fact that, as a country boy in Ohio, while driving his father's cart downhill atdaybreak, he fell asleep and was jolted off his seat, breaking his leg. During the weeks of enforced seclusion that followed he taught himselfto read, and developed a studious turn of mind, which, his leg havingbeen permanently weakened by the accident, led him to seek a situationin a lawyer's office. From these humble beginnings he rose to the placehe then occupied as one of our foremost orators and, since 1861, asminister to Mexico, * so that, he merrily added, he owed his fortune to abroken leg. Such men, however, are in no need of accidents to rise; Mr. Corvin could not help doing so from the innate buoyancy of his brilliantpersonality. 

* He now left American affairs in the charge of his secretary oflegation, his son William Corwin. 

On April 4 the Senate and House of Representatives at Washington hadpassed a unanimous resolution in opposition to the recognition of amonarchy in Mexico, as an expression of the sentiment of the people ofthe United States. Secretary Seward, in forwarding a copy of theresolution to Mr. Dayton, our minister to France, had, however, instructed him to inform the French government that "the President doesnot at present contemplate any departure from the policy which thisgovernment has hitherto pursued in regard to the war which existsbetween France and Mexico. "*

* See "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1865, Part III, p. 357. 

Notwithstanding the small encouragement which such an attitude gave him, one of the earliest acts of Maximilian was to send Senor Arroyo to seekan interview with the head of the United States government, with a viewto the recognition of the empire. Senor Arroyo was not even granted anaudience. In July, 1865, another attempt was made by Maximilian with thesame object in view. 

Among the chamberlains of the Emperor at that time was a son of GeneralDegollado, a Liberal leader who had been killed at Las Cruces, whilefighting for the republic against General Marquez in 1861. YoungDegollado had lived in Washington, and there had married an Americanwoman. His attainments were mediocre and his personality was colorless, but his wife was ambitious and energetic. She was eager to see herhusband come to the front, and, setting aside family traditions, did herbest to encourage the imperial court in the idea that the United Statesgovernment, if properly approached, might be brought to consider therecognition of the empire. She was a good-looking, pleasant woman, whoreadily made friends, and the couple were put forward as likely to bringthe undertaking to a favorable conclusion. 

It had at first been suggested that an envoy extraordinary be sent infull official pomp to Washington. General Almonte had been spoken of forthe mission, and Mr. And Mrs. Degollado were to have accompanied him asmembers of the embassy. Senor Ramirez, the minister of state and amoderate Liberal of high standing and ability, realized, however, thatthe imperial government, in following such a course, must publiclyexpose itself to a slight. He therefore urged upon Maximilian amodification of the plan, and it was arranged that Mr. And Mrs. Degollado should go in a semi-official manner to prepare the ground andto feel the way. 

Mrs. Degollado was much excited over the prospect, and even seemedsanguine of success. It was hinted that Mr. Corwin, then in Washington, was lending himself to certain intrigues designed to facilitate thenegotiations. 

The Emperor's agents arrived in Washington on July 17, 1865. M. DeMontholon, who since 1864 had been minister of France to Mexico, endeavored to obtain an audience for "the chamberlain of Maximilian" asbearer of a letter from the Emperor of Mexico to the President. * But themission proved a failure, and only added one more to the many abortiveattempts made during those four years to "solve the unsolvableproblem. "**

* "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1865, Part III, p. 484. 

** According to Prince Salm-Salm, yet another attempt was planned inthe fall of 1866, in which he and his wife were intended to be theprincipal actors, and were to be sent to Washington armed with a fund of$2, 000, 000 in gold. He states that the news of the Empress's illness, and the consequent failure of her mission abroad, prevented the carryingout of the scheme. 

On January 1, 1865, President Juarez issued from Chihuahua aproclamation in which he confessed defeat, but in dignified tonesasserted the righteousness of the national cause, in which he put histrust, and appealed to the nobler ideals of his countrymen. 

At that moment, to the superficial observer, and in the capital, theempire seemed an accomplished fact. The country at large, although by nomeans pacified, was nominally under imperial rule. Almost alone, in thesouth, General Porfirio Diaz held his own at Oajaca, and remainedunsubdued. 

General Courtois d'Hurbal, who had been sent against him, had so farbeen unable to deal with him. The commander-in-chief resolved once moreto take the field in person. As a result, Oajaca shortly afterward wastaken, and General Diaz, at last forced to surrender, was made prisoner, and transferred to Puebla for safe-keeping. *

* He, however, boldly managed his escape a few months later, and againtook the field at the head of a band of fourteen men. These increased innumber, snowball fashion, as other guerrillas gradually rallied aroundthe distinguished chief; and, at the head of an army, he reappeared inOajaca. After defeating the Austrians, in whose keeping the state hadbeen left, he reentered the city in October, 1866. 

In the course of these and other vicissitudes General Diaz conductedhimself not only as a patriot, but as a soldier. It was generally to himthat the French turned when called upon by circumstances to trust to aleader's word or to his humanity. Yet General Forey, in the Senate, March 18, 1866, declared him a brigand in time whose summary executionwould be warranted, as indeed would that of all the Mexican generals. 

From Mexico to the coast the country was quiet, and things wereapparently beginning to thrive. But if to the residents of the capitalthe national government was a mere theoretical entity, in the interiorof the country, and especially in the north, the small numbers of theFrench scattered over so vast an expanse of territory were obviouslyinsufficient to hold it permanently. In order to please Maximilian, theytraveled from place to place, receiving the allegiance of the variouscenters of population;* their battalions multiplied their efforts, anddid the work of regiments. But the predatory bands now fighting underthe republican flag were, like birds of prey, ever hovering near, concealed in the sierras, ready to pounce upon the hamlet or the townwhich the French must perforce leave unprotected, and wreaking terriblevengeance upon the inhabitants. 

* As Colonel de Courcy cleverly remarked, some of these regiments"brought back eighteen hundred leagues of country on the soles of theirboots. "

At this time there were some fifteen thousand French residents in thecountry, and these naturally suffered most both in life and property, especially toward the last. *

* The wholesale hanging which took place at Hermosillo in the autumn of1866 was sufficient evidence of what those compromised by the empiremight have to face, and only those who were forced to do so byimperative business interests remained. 

Whether the small guerrillas fought under one flag or the other, theresult was much the same to the people, who had to submit to thealternate exactions of both parties. 

No wonder if the intervention grew in unpopularity. In certain parts ofthe country, as in Mazatlan, the French had to resort to force toconstitute an imperial administration. It was made a penal offense todecline an office, and the reluctant Mexicans were compelled to serveagainst their will. 

The war then waged was a cruel war, a war without mercy. Woe to thesmall detachment that allowed itself to be surprised and overpowered! Itwas sure death, death often embittered by refinements of cruelty andgenerally dispensed in the most summary manner, with little of theformality that obtains among civilized nations. To give but oneinstance: One of the most popular among the Austrian officers was CountKurtzroch, a man of ancient lineage and of unexceptionable breeding. Heand his friend Count von Funfkirchen were favorites in the small foreigncoterie, the center of which was at San Cosme, and they did not seem tobe involved in the national feuds. During the campaign of 1865 he, witha small corps of Austrians, was defending a town in the interior againstthe Plateados, a far superior force. Hard pressed, the Austriansretreated, fighting at every step until they reached the church, inwhich they intrenched themselves and prepared for a siege. They hopedthat relief might reach them, but the Mexicans set fire to the church, and the trapped men were forced to surrender. During the struggle CountKurtzroch had been wounded in the legs. Unable to walk, he was carriedout by his comrades on an improvised stretcher. As the defeated bandfiled before the victors, the leader, Antonio Perez, approaching thewounded man, asked his name, and, drawing his revolver, deliberatelyshot him dead as he lay helpless before him. This is but one of manysuch acts, and I mention it only because I knew and liked the man, andthe details of the story naturally impressed me when, upon my inquiringabout our friend, Count Nikolitz, a brother officer, after his returnfrom the campaign, gave me the above details of his death. 

At the beginning of the year 1865 martial law was proclaimed. By thismeasure Marshal Bazaine sought to check not only brigandage, but themilitary disorganization which the then prevailing state of things mustinevitably create. In this effort he found but little support on thepart of the imperial government. Indeed, Maximilian insisted upon allactions of the courts martial being submitted to him before beingcarried out. Much acrimony arose on both sides in consequence of thisinterference. 

I remember once hearing the marshal refer to a controversy that was thengoing on between himself and the Emperor with regard to prisoners takenby him at Oajaca, and who, he felt, should be exiled. Maximilian, unmindful of the prolonged effort which it had cost to subdue these men, insisted upon releasing them, and eventually did so. The marshalbitterly complained of his weakness, gave other instances of hisuntimely interference with the course of justice as administered by themilitary courts, and excitedly declared that he was tired of sacrificingFrench lives for the sole apparent use of giving an Austrian archdukethe opportunity "to play at clemency" (de faire de la clemence). Suchdifficulties steadily widened the breach between the court and theFrench military headquarters. 

In the autumn of 1865, the news having reached him that President Juarezhad passed the border and left the country, Maximilian, elated by theevent, and exaggerating its bearing upon the political and militarysituation, issued the famous decree of October 3, now known in Mexicanhistory as the Bando Negro ("black decree"). In this fatal enactment heassumed that the war was at an end, and, while doing homage to PresidentJuarez himself, attempted to brand all armed republicans as outlaws who, if taken in arms, must henceforth be summarily dealt with by the courtsmartial, or--when made prisoners in battle--by the military leader, andshot within twenty-four hours. *

* See Appendix A. 

This extraordinary decree was greeted with dismay in the United States. It outraged the Mexicans, and excited the vindictiveness of the Liberalparty. At the time such men as General Riva-Palacio and General Diazwere still in the field, and some of Mexico's most illustrious patriotswere thus placed under a ban by the foreign monarch. *

* General Diaz's record is well-known and requires no comment here. General Riva-Palacio was a patriot and a gentleman. He was a man ofparts, and had achieved some reputation as a poet and dramatic author. At the outbreak of the war he organized and equipped at his own expensea regiment, and was with General Zaragoza at Puebla. His division wasone of the finest in the Mexican service, and, throughout the war, heloyally conducted his military operations in strict accordance withrecognized usage. He cared for the wounded, exchanged prisoners, and, atthe last, even went so far as to extend his protection to smalldetachments of French troops making their way to the Atlantic coast fromthe shores of the Pacific. See note from Marshal Bazaine, quoted in aletter from Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, February 12, 1866 ("DiplomaticCorrespondence, " 1866, Part I, p. 281). 

It has been claimed that Marshal Bazaine entered an earnest protestagainst the measure, the harshness of which he regarded as impolitic;that he urged its inexpediency, and personally objected to it as likelyto weaken the authority of the military courts; that he, moreover, observed that it opened an avenue to private revenge, and delivered upthe prisoners of one faction into the hands of another, a course whichcould not fail to add renewed bitterness to the civil war now so nearlyat an end. * But although the famous decree certainly was the spontaneousact of the Emperor, and of his ministers who signed it, there can be nodoubt that it embodied the policy of repression urged by the marshal, and that, if he cannot be held responsible for its form, in substance it"was approved by him. ** "Whatever may have been its origin, when, shortly afterward (October 13, 1865), Generals Arteaga and Salazar, withothers*** who, at the head of small detachments, were holding thecountry in the north against General Mendez, were taken by the latter, and shot, under the decree of October 3, such a clamor of indignationwas raised at home and abroad as must have demonstrated his mistake tothe young Emperor. This mistake he was soon to expiate with his ownblood. 

* See M. De Keratry, loc. Cit. , p. 84 et seq. See also debate in Chamberof Deputies, "Moniteur Universel" (Paris), Jan. 28, 1866. 

** See Louet, "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, " etc. , Part ii, "L'Empire de Maximilien, " by P. Gaulot; also Prince Salm-Salm's "MyDiary in Mexico, " etc. , in which the author states that he was told byMaximilian that the decree was drafted and amended by Marshal Bazaine, who urged its enactment. In the memorandum drawn up for his lawyers, andpublished by Dr. Basch in "Erinnerungen aus Mexico, " Maximilian, says:"Bazaine dictated himself the details before witnesses. "

*** Colonels Villagomez, Diaz Paracho, and Pedro Mina were among thosewho were shot. General Mendez was one of the best and most brilliantofficers in the imperial army, and it may be said in extenuation of hispersonal share in the tragedy that the cruelty of the mode of warfarecarried on by Arteaga and his lieutenants seemed to warrant sterntreatment. It is stated that only a short time before Arteaga had causedthe father of Mendez to be shot, and that but six weeks prior to his owncapture, the commander of the garrison of Uruapan, Colonel Lemus, an oldman of sixty-eight, and the prefect, D. Paz Gutierrez, had been put todeath by his orders without judgment, or even time to write to theirfamilies (Domenech, loc. Cit. , vol. Iii, p. 335). 

PART IV. 

THE AWAKENING

I. "A CLOUD NO BIGGER THAN A MAN'S HAND"

On March 10, 1865, the Duc de Morny died. He had been the moving spiritin the Mexican imbroglio, and it would be difficult to believe that thewithdrawal of the prompter did not have a weakening effect upon theperformance. His death, by removing one of the strongest influences infavor of the intervention, not only in the Corps Legislatif and atcourt, but in the financial world, was certainly one of the manyuntoward circumstances which helped to hasten the end. 

In France, the elections of 1863 and 1864 had added strength to theopposition. It now insisted upon being heard. Not only had thediscussions of the budget in the Chamber of Deputies brought out withpainful clearness the weight of the burden assumed by France, butprivate letters written by intelligent officers were graduallyenlightening public opinion upon the true condition of affairs inMexico. Some of these letters had even found their way to the Tuileries. 

Public feeling was beginning to express in uncompromising tones theconviction that the government must relinquish an onerous task, theimpossibility of accomplishing which was becoming patent. It was evenopenly suggested that the Tuileries must combine with "Washington forthe purpose of establishing in Mexico a form of government acceptable tothe latter". *

* See "Revue des Deux Mondes, " 1865, vol. Lviii, p. 776; also vol. Lvii, pp. 768, 1018. 

The writer of M. De Moray's obituary notice in the "Revue des DeuxMondes"* boldly asked whether the duke, who was always fortunate, and towhom success had become a habit, had not died opportunely. He left thequestion for the future to decide. The answer was not long delayed. **

* Ibid. , 1865, vol. Lvi, p. 501. 

** And yet M. Rouher, in April, 1865, speaking for the French governmentin the Corps Legislatif, still affirmed that "France would continue toprotect Mexico until the full consolidation of its undertaking" (ibid, vol. Lvi, p. 1065). 

The inauguration of the Mexican empire had been officially announced tothe chambers by the government in the following terms: "The resultsobtained in 1862 and 1863 by our Corps Expeditionnaire in Mexico have, in 1864, received a solemn consecration under the protection of the flagof France. A regular government has been founded in that country, heretofore for more than fifty years delivered up to anarchy andintestine dissensions. In the beginning of the month of June the EmperorMaximilian took possession of the throne, and, sustained by our army, heinaugurated in all security an era of peace and prosperity for his newcountry. "

Jules Favre pertinently asked: "Since Maximilian is established; sinceMaximilian is the Messiah announced in all time past; since he is reallythe man both for the Indians and the Spaniards, who receive him withacclamation; since he meets on his passage only with bouquets from thesenoritas--let our soldiers return. What have they to do in Mexico! Theyare not needed, and can only be an obstacle in the way of that entireunanimity of feeling that exists between the prince and the nation. " Hestated that rumors were reaching France of fierce battles, of martiallaw, of prisoners of war shot, of villages burned, holding up as anexample San Sebastian, in Sinaloa, a town of four thousand souls, whichhad been entirely burned and destroyed by General Castagny during hiscampaign against Romero and in the name of Emperor Maximilian, * and thenhe proceeded to show the ghastly farce that had been enacted behindthese words, in the light cast upon it by the blaze of the ill-fatedtown; "Why this discrepancy between the official statements as to thepacification of Mexico, the unanimous consent to Maximilian's elevationto the throne, and the facts, i. E. , the country under martial law, andthe French army, marching, torch in hand, protecting one party andpunishing the other by the wholesale destruction of life and property?Why did such contradiction exist between the official statements as touniversal suffrage, the freedom of the press, the unanimity of sentimentin Mexico, and the fact that journalists were being brought, in the nameof the Emperor, before a council of war and condemned to variouspenalties for having expressed their criticism of such wholesaleexecutions?"

* "Mexicans! I have come in the name of the Emperor Maximilian into thestate of Sinaloa, to establish peace therein, to protect property, andto deliver you from the malefactors who oppress you under the mask ofliberty, " said General Castagny in his proclamation. 

He resumed by calling attention to the renewed postponement of theministry's promises with regard to the withdrawal of the army, and toits broken pledge that it would retire when Maximilian's throne wasestablished and a proper impetus had been given to the work ofregeneration. For the accomplishment of these ends, said the orator, asacrifice of forty thousand men and a yearly expenditure of four or fivemillions would be needed for ten years to come. 

In words which now sound prophetic he eloquently referred to Napoleon Iand to his Spanish campaign, likewise undertaken under the pretense ofregenerating a nation. "The mighty man who had conceived such projects, "he cried, "all know where they led him. On April 14, 1814, the sentenceof deposition thus expressed the motives of the Senate for deposing him:'WHEREAS, Napoleon Bonaparte has undertaken a series of wars inviolation of Article L of the Constitution of the 22d Frimaire, year 8, which provides that declarations of war must be proposed, discussed, andpromulgated like laws; WHEREAS, The liberty of the press, establishedand consecrated as one of the rights of nations, has been constantlysubject to the arbitrary 164 censorship of the police, '" etc. , and as heclosed his argument he said:

"After a thorough study of all the facts in the case, political, military, and financial, it is impossible for any one seriously tobelieve that the government of Maximilian can exist without our army. With our army, I acknowledge it, his throne would rest upon anagreement, it would last as long as our assistance should be extended toit, but if you withdraw this assistance it is evident that it will beoverthrown. If, therefore, you wish to establish it firmly, our armymust remain in Mexico: the Chamber should understand this thoroughly. "

Only thirteen members of the Chamber voted against the appropriation forthe maintenance of the Corps Expeditionnaire; but it has been pointedout, and it is only fair to believe, that many voted for it who, asFrenchmen, felt that the government, blameworthy as it might be, shouldnot be compelled suddenly to abandon an adventure in which the honor ofFrance was involved. French patience, however, was fast nearing itslimit, and when, in 1864, Maximilian accepted the crown, he must haverealized that French support could not be indefinitely counted upon. 

The millions raised through the Mexican loans had been carelesslyadministered and lavishly spent. What with the expenses of the court, extensive alterations in the imperial residences, especially inChapultepec, and the outlay incidental to the pageants and ovations ofthe Emperor's journeys in the provinces, the relief brought by the loanshad been brief. 

Confidence was waning. The incapacity of Maximilian was becominggenerally recognized, and the difficulties inherent in the situationwere everywhere growing clearer. 

Maximilian had alienated Borne, whose censure he had drawn upon himselfby his effort to conciliate the moderate party. He had aroused theresentment of the priests and brought upon himself the remonstrances ofthe bishops, and had set aside, or sent to foreign posts, the leaders ofthe party to whom he owed his crown. Yet he had not succeeded in winningover from the Liberal party any very important adhesions to hisgovernment. 

Cardinal Antonelli, in a letter dated December 27, 1864, after settingforth the grievances of the holy see, stated that the Holy Father hopedthat Maximilian in abandoning the course marked out in his letter to theminister, Senor Escudero, would "spare the holy see the necessity oftaking proper measures to set right in the eyes of the world theresponsibility of the august chief of the church--measures of which theleast, certainly, would not be the recall of the pontificalrepresentative in Mexico, in order that he may not remain there apowerless spectator of the spoliation of the church and of the violationof its most sacred rights. "*

* "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1865, Part III, p. 623. 

It is difficult to understand why Maximilian had not negotiated theterms of a concordat with the holy see when he went to Rome to receivethe Pope's blessing before leaving Europe for his new dominions. Theadjustment of existing differences between church and state formed themost urgent as well as the most vital issue to be met by the youngEmperor, as upon the settlement of the vexed question of ownership inclergy property must depend the restoration of business confidence andof prosperity in the empire. The pretensions advanced by the papalnuncio sent by the Vatican to arrange for a concordat now proved soexorbitant that Maximilian had been compelled to decline to considerthem, and he and the holy see had failed to come to terms. The final andofficial rupture with Monsignor Meglia took place in December, 1864. Itwas made public in a decree issued by Maximilian which proclaimed thatpapal bulls should not receive exequatur until approved by the chiefexecutive. 

The fact was that the party through which the French and Maximilian hadbeen called to Mexico was the unpopular retroactive party; that, inorder to exist, Maximilian had been obliged to recognize the measuresenacted against his own partizans by the national party; that in sodoing he had disappointed the priests; that in setting aside the leadersof the clerical party he had estranged his strongest adherents; and allthis without making any serious headway with his antagonists, who wouldhave no emperor, no monarchy, no foreigner. 

The success of the intervention was now clearly seen to depend upon awar systematically conducted against an enemy that represented anational sentiment. 

On January 23, 1865, the governments of Chili, Bolivia, Salvador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela formed a defensive alliance againstexterior aggression and for the guaranty of their respective autonomy. The treaty was signed in Lima by the representatives of the nationsinterested. 

But a far more serious danger was threatening the empire in the North. On April 9, 1865, General Lee surrendered to the Federal army. The CivilWar in the United States was at an end, and the French were beginning tounderstand that the Northern republic, whose unbroken unity stoodstrengthened, could no longer remain a passive spectator of the struggletaking place at its frontier. 

The scene of military interest suddenly shifted to the Rio Grande, andthe incidents happening on the border deserved more attention thanMaximilian seemed at first inclined to bestow. 

The interests of the national party were represented in Washington bySenor Romero, who, with consummate tact and ability, made the most ofevery opportunity. The service rendered by him to the cause ofrepublicanism and of Mexican independence was second to none inimportance. No detail seemed too trifling to be turned to account in hiseffort to strengthen the Mexican cause with our government. 

A rumor reached us that President Juarez had succeeded in raising a loanin the United States. The ranks of the Liberal army were receivingimportant reinforcements from the officers and men of General Banks'scommand, who passed the border in large numbers to take part in theattack of General Cortinas at Matamoros. Already, in January, 1865, theimpulse given to the Republican party in the North vibrated throughoutthe land. Soon resistance everywhere appeared in arms once more. BothGeneral Mejia and Admiral Cloue, then in command of the French GulfSquadron, complained that the United States army afforded protection tothe Juarists. 

Recruiting-offices had been opened in New York, which, although notcountenanced by the government, must have furnished valuable auxiliariesto the Liberals. Alarming rumors reached France and Mexico with regardto the extent of the movement. 

On the other hand, the negotiations then being carried on betweenNapoleon and Maximilian, with a view to securing the Mexican debt toFrance by a lien upon the mines of Sonora, were causing uneasiness inthe United States, and gave rise to considerable diplomaticcorrespondence. *

* See, in this connection, "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1865, Part III, pp. 357-363, 417, and letter of Secretary Seward addressed to Mr. Bigelow, February 17, 1865. 

It required no wizard to foretell the issue. After the surrender ofGeneral Lee, a Confederate army-corps, twenty-five thousand strong, acting through General Slaughter, had opened negotiations with MarshalBazaine, with a view to passing the border and settling in northernMexico, provided suitable terms were granted by the Mexican governmentto the new colonists. It was then becoming clear to many that thehalfway policy hitherto followed had led to nothing, and must result ina useless sacrifice of life and millions unless a larger force weremaintained by the French in Mexico, or some barrier set up against thenaturally dominant position taken by the United States with regard toMexican affairs. 

In June, 1865, Generals Kirby Smith, Magruder, Shelby, Slaughter, Walker, A. W. Terrell of Texas, Governor Price of Missouri, GeneralWilcox of Tennessee, Commodore Maury of Virginia, General Hindman ofArkansas, Governor Reynolds of Georgia, Judge Perkins, Colonel Denis, and Mr. Pierre Soule of Louisiana, Major Mordecai of North Carolina, andothers, had come to Mexico. With them had passed over the frontierhorses, artillery, everything that could be transported, including largeand small bands of Confederate soldiers, and some two thousand citizenswho left the United States with the intention of colonizing Sonora. 

Confederate officers now flocked to Mexico with a view to making newhomes for themselves. Many of them were interested in special schemes bywhich the agricultural wealth of the land might be made to yield itstreasure to the ruined but experienced Southern planters. 

My mother being a Southern woman, and knowing some of their leaders, ourhouse soon became a center where they gathered in the evening and freelydiscussed their hopes. Thus was added a new element to the alreadymotley assemblage which collected about us at that time. Truly a mostheterogeneous set! Confederate officers, members of the diplomaticcorps, newly fledged chamberlains and officials of the palace, themarshal's officers, --Frenchmen, Austrians, Belgians, and a fewMexicans, --would drop in, each group bringing its own interests, and, alas! its animosities. 

Laws against foreigners having been passed, no property could henceforthbe held by them unless they became naturalized. Some of the Confederaterefugees therefore became Mexican citizens, and took service under theMexican government. Governor Price, for instance, received authorizationto recruit the imperial army in the Confederacy. He and Governor Harrisof Tennessee and Judge Perkins of Louisiana were appointed agents ofcolonization, and immediately set to work upon the survey of the regionlying between Mexico and Vera Cruz, with a view to furthering thispurpose. General Magruder, the ex-commander-in-chief of the Confederateforces in Texas, having also become naturalized, was placed in charge ofthe survey of the lands set aside for colonization as chief of theColonization Land Office. The government sold such land to colonists forthe nominal consideration of one dollar an acre, and allowed every headof a family to purchase six hundred and forty acres upon a credit offive years. A single man was allowed three hundred and twenty acres. 

Not only the government, but large landowners, proposed such freegrants, and offered every inducement to settlers, if they would come anddevelop the agricultural resources of the country. The first Confederatesettlement was established near Cordoba in the autumn of 1865. 

Commodore Maury, now a naturalized Mexican citizen, had in Septemberbeen appointed imperial commissioner of immigration and councilor ofstate. He opened an office in the Calle San Juan de Lateran, and wasauthorized to establish agencies in the Southern States. * But theindecision and weakness of Maximilian prevented his taking fulladvantage of the opportunity then offered to strengthen the empire. Thedelay caused by a vacillating policy discouraged the would-be colonists, and before long the flood of immigration was checked. 

* See decrees signed by Maximilian and the minister of the interior, D. Luis Robles Pezuela, on September 24 and 27. 

General Charles P. Stone had come to Mexico with a colonization schemeof his own. He had, in 1859, made a survey of Sonora under the Jeckercontract. He now was on his way to look after some of the Jecker claimswhen accident threw him on board of the steamer with Dr. William M. Gwin, ex-senator for California. The two men at once came to anunderstanding and joined forces. 

In 1856 (December 19), two years after the filibustering expedition ofCount Raousset de Boulbon, the house of Jecker had obtained from theMexican government the right to survey the territories of Sonora andsouthern California. The conditions were that one third of the unclaimedland should become the property of the house of Jecker. 

In 1859 the Liberal government had rescinded the grant, and this hadadded one more grievance to those which the Swiss banker had brought upagainst the administration of Juarez. No sooner had Sonora sent in itsadhesion to the empire than Jecker proposed to the French government tomake over his rights against a payment of two million dollars. 

The plan was then to colonize Sonora and Lower California, establishing, on behalf of France, a right to exploit the mines. The climate washealthful, the land rich, the adventure tempting; but it had the greatdrawback of running foul of the most acute Mexican susceptibilities. Notonly did such pretensions at that time excite the suspicions of theMexicans with regard to the disinterestedness of the French alliance, but they were calculated to give umbrage to the United Statesgovernment. 

As early as 1863, Napoleon III had discussed the possibility ofestablishing in Sonora* a colony which should develop the mining andagricultural wealth of the state. In exchange for a grant of unclaimednational lands, these colonists were to pay a percentage of theirproceeds to France, as well as a tax to the Mexican government. 

* Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa eventually were also included in thescheme. 

A colony of armed Confederates, inimical to the Federal government ofthe United States, established between its dominions and the heart ofthe Mexican empire, and backed by France, Austria, and Belgium, mustform a formidable bulwark in case of trouble between Mexico and itsNorthern neighbor. There is small doubt that some such plan had formed apart of the original "deal" proposed by Jecker to the French leaders. 

In the spring of 1864 unauthorized attempts had been made by Californianimmigrants to land at Guaymas and settle upon certain lands granted themby President Juarez. The marshal had sent French troops to protect theprovince from such inroads, treating these intruders as squatters. Thishad furnished a reason for the military occupation of Sonora; thus wasthe first step taken in the realization of the project. 

Such was, in rough outline, the position of the Sonora colonizationquestion when Dr. Gwin entered upon the scene. Upon his arrival inMexico, he applied at headquarters for an audience. The marshal, although in full sympathy with the project, realized the danger of itsopen discussion at that time. Maximilian and his advisers were opposedto it. Much tact and secrecy seemed, therefore, necessary in the conductof negotiations having for their object the furtherance of so unpopulara scheme. Dr. Gwin was too conspicuous a figure to pass unnoticed theportals of the French headquarters. An informal interview was thereforearranged. 

We then lived at Tacubaya, a suburb of Mexico reached by the Paseo, where the marshal rode every day for exercise. Our house was built atthe foot of a long hill, at the top of which stood a large old mansion, the yellow coloring of which had won for it the name of the CasaAmarilla. It had been rented by Colonel Talcott of Virginia, who livedthere with his family. Dr. Gwin was their guest; and it was arrangedthat the marshal, when taking his usual afternoon ride with hisaide-de-camp, should call upon us one day, and leaving the horses in ourpatio with his orderlies, should join us in a walk up the hill, casuallydropping in en passant at the Casa Amarilla. 

The plan had the double advantage of being a simple one and of providingthe marshal, who did not speak English, with suitable interpreters. Theinterview was a long one. The marshal listened to what the American hadto say. Indeed, there was little to be said on his own side, as theMexican ministry was absolutely opposed to the project, and any changeof policy must depend upon a change in the imperial cabinet. 

His Excellency, however, seemed in high good humor. As we came out, hemerrily challenged us to run downhill, much to the astonishment of thefew leperos whom we happened to meet. The Mexican Indian is a sober, rather somber creature, not given to levity; his amusements are of adignified, almost sad nature. He may be sentimental, bigoted, vicious, cruel, but he is never vulgar, and is seldom foolish. Indeed, well mightthey stare at us then, for it was no common sight in the lanes ofTacubaya to see a commander-in-chief tearing downhill, amid peals oflaughter, with a party of young people, in utter disregard of age, corpulence, and cumbersome military accoutrements!

The personality of Dr. Gwin was a strong one. A tall, broad, squarelybuilt man, with rough features which seemed hewn out of a block with anax, ruddy skin, and a wealth of white hair brushed back from his brow, all combined to make him by far the most striking figure among the groupof Southern leaders then assembled in Mexico. 

His own faith in the almightiness of his will influenced others, and inthis case brought him very near to success. He talked willingly andfluently of his plans. Notwithstanding the decided opposition met withon the part of the Mexican government, he then confidently expected tobe installed in the new colony by the opening of the year, and invitedhis friends to eat their Christmas dinner with him there. He wasgenerous in sharing his prospects with them. We all were to be taken inand made wealthy: every dollar invested was to return thousands, everythousand, millions!

It was entertaining to hear him narrate his interviews at the Tuilerieswith Napoleon III and the other great men of the day. His tone was thatof a potentate treating with his peers. He spoke of "my policy, " "mycolony, " "my army, " etc. 

In 1865 Dr. Gwin again went to Prance to confer with its ruler. Upon hisreturn to Mexico, he was regarded as the unofficial agent of the Frenchgovernment. The Emperor had promised him every facility and assistance. All that was now needed to make his dreams a brilliant reality was thesignature of Maximilian. He was full of glowing anticipations. ButMaximilian, who at the time was none too friendly to his allies, stoodfirm. * However much the French might urge it, the national feeling wasalready strongly arrayed against any plan involving the possiblealienation of any part of the Mexican territory. Moreover, it wasbecoming obvious, from the various complications occurring upon the RioGrande, that the befriending of the Confederate refugees must henceforthseriously add to the difficulty of obtaining the recognition of theMexican empire by the United States--an end which Maximilian had greatlyat heart, and one which, strangely enough, he never lost the hope ofaccomplishing, so little did he, even after two years' residence inMexico, understand American conditions. 

* Later he laid stress upon his attitude with regard to this. In thememorandum written by him for the use of his lawyers at his trial invindication of his conduct, he urged as a claim to Mexican leniency hisfirm resistance to French pretensions concerning the disposal of Sonora, and his loyal effort to maintain the integrity of the Mexican territory, and declared that this drew upon him the hostility of the French. See S. Basch, "Erinnerungen aus Mexico. " (This interesting document is notgiven in the French edition. )

On June 26, 1865, Marshal Bazaine was married to Mlle. De la Pena. TheEmperor and Empress expressed a wish that the ceremony and weddingbreakfast should take place at the imperial palace. No effort was sparedby them to make the occasion a memorable one: Empress Charlotte bestowedupon the bride a set of diamonds; the Emperor gave her as a dowry thepalace of San Cosme, a noble residence, valued at one hundred thousanddollars, where the French had established their headquarters since thebeginning of the intervention. Every one was in good humor, many politeassurances of appreciation and good will were exchanged on both sides, and for a while it seemed as though harmony might be restored among theleaders. But this pleasant state of affairs was of short duration. Thedifficulties inherent in the situation were too conspicuous, and thecauses of ill feeling were too deeply laid, to be overcome by other thansuperior men. Notwithstanding a superficial improvement in Mexicanconditions, it was becoming patent in the summer of 1865 that nothingshort of a miracle could save all concerned from disaster andhumiliation. 

In those days, our social circle varied from year to year according tothe political and military conditions of the hour. Occasionally thearrival of some distinguished newcomer on a special mission from abroadwould create a stir among us. 

The advent, toward the close of the year 1865, of M. Langlais, the fifthfinancier sent by Napoleon III to organize the finances of the empire, caused considerable excitement and aroused the hopes of the court. Hisappointment to succeed M. De Bonnefons had been heralded by the Frenchofficial papers with much pomposity. 

He came ostensibly to act as minister of finance (without a portfolio), at an enormous salary, and was supposed, by those who sent him, to takethe full direction of Mexican financial affairs. 

He was a councilor of state, and was possessed large experience ofFrench politics. A ministerial official, methodical, precise, fresh fromthe well-appointed offices of the French government, he arrived at VeraCruz just as a guerrilla band, after taking up the rails of the onlyrailway then laid upon Mexican soil, had attacked a train and massacredits escort of French soldiers. 

The poor man's stereotyped ideas of existence were considerably shakenup by the occurrence; but he was a firm believer in his own capacity, and was disposed to attribute the failures of his predecessors to theirinferiority to himself. He won the confidence and personal regard of theyoung sovereigns, and unhesitatingly undertook to raise the publicrevenue, then of eighty-four millions of dollars, to one hundred andtwenty millions. How far he might have gone toward fulfilling hispromise it is impossible to tell, for he died suddenly on February 23, 1866. *

* M. Langlais is stated to have said that he was working to giveMaximilian the chance to abdicate honorably; but the favor in which hewas held at court makes such a statement doubtful. 

His death was a blow to the court, where he stood in high favor. TheEmpress Charlotte especially is said to have detected in it the fingerof a fate adverse to the empire. This calamity was soon followed byanother, well calculated to cast the gloom of a dark shadow across thepath of the young princess. 

Her father, King Leopold I, had died December 10, 1865. Upon hisaccession to the throne, her brother, King Leopold II, sent a specialembassy to the court of Mexico to make an official announcement of hisreign. The ambassador, General Foury, arrived with his suite on February14, 1866, and, having fulfilled his mission, departed on March 4. Duringtheir brief visit to the capital, the Belgian envoys had been freelyentertained by society. It was, therefore, with a thrill of horror that, on the day following their departure, the news came that their party hadbeen attacked and fired upon by highwaymen at Rio Frio, a few leaguesfrom the capital, and that Baron d'Huart, officier d'ordonnance of theCount of Flanders, had been shot in the head and killed. Four othermembers of the embassy were wounded. Consternation reigned at court. TheEmperor went to Rio Frio to see personally to the comfort of the woundedand to bring back the body of Baron d'Huart, whose solemn obsequies wereconducted in the most impressive manner. 

The news of this tragedy, when it reached Europe, must have cast a flashof lurid light upon the true condition of the Mexican empire. 

During the winter of 1866 Napoleon III sent Baron Saillard upon aspecial mission to prepare Maximilian for the gradual withdrawal of theFrench army, and to intimate to him that he must not depend upon acontinuance of present conditions. The envoy, however, failed to makeupon the prince the impression which it was intended that he shouldmake. Maximilian received him only twice, and rather resented hiswarnings. His visit only added to the coldness of the young Emperor'srelations with the French. 

Shortly afterward General Almonte was sent to France on a mission, theobject of which, was to influence Napoleon to continue his support. Theonly result of his errand was a communication addressed to Maximilian, dated May 31, 1866. In this Napoleon stated the situation with afrankness the brutality of which aroused the indignation of the court ofMexico. An onerous agreement was nevertheless arrived at, to whichnecessity compelled Maximilian to subscribe (July 30). By thisagreement, half of the revenue derived from the customs of Tampico andVera Cruz was to be assigned to the French in payment of the debt untilthe entire outlay made on behalf of the Mexican empire had been repaid. The French, in return, promised to continue their support until November1, 1867, and to withdraw their army in three detachments, the last ofwhich would embark on that date. The imperial government was therebydeprived of half of its reliable revenue at a time when, in order tomaintain its existence under the present stress, large additionalresources should have been at its command. *

* See Appendix B. 

The years 1865 and 1866 had been spent in administrative experiments. Atfirst French officers detached from the service were placed in thevarious departments of the government as undersecretaries, in the hopeof bringing about an honest and efficient organization without givingundue umbrage to the Mexicans. Members of the marshal's own householdserved thus in the War Department and in the Emperor's military office. 

But the efforts of the French to introduce regularity into the variousoffices of the administration were so hampered that, even had the taskbeen an easy one, it is not likely that much could have beenaccomplished. They had everything against them, even their allies andthe monarch whom they wished to serve. 

When, however, in 1866, the situation was found to be desperate, theEmperor, seriously alarmed, became more earnest and called the French tothe rescue. Colonel Loysel was made chief of the military office of theEmperor, and the full control of the departments of War and of Financewas given respectively to Colonel Osmont, the chief of staff of theCorps Expeditionnaire, and to M. Friant, the chief of its commissariat. 

But at this time there was not a dollar in the treasury; the sources ofimperial revenue were daily diminishing; and the expenses of thegovernment were now paid by the marshal out of the French treasury, under his own responsibility. The hour had been allowed to go by whenorganization was possible. 

The marshal felt--and this feeling was shared by others--that neitherColonel Osmont nor M. Friant should have accepted a position of trustimpossible to fill with credit at a time when France had resolved towithdraw its support from Maximilian. Their action was attributed topersonal motives. The marshal declined to cooperate with or to helpthem, and they became an additional source of trouble. Later on, when, the Liberal cabinet having withdrawn, Maximilian once more turned to thereactionary party and called to power the clericals, he retained theabove-mentioned Frenchmen in their departments. This affectation ofconfidence only added to the general ill feeling. 

Under the conditions of open hostility then existing between the Frenchand Mexican governments the interests of each were too wide apart forsuch a connection to continue without danger. A request from thecommander-in-chief to MM. Osmont and Friant that they choose betweentheir present ministerial functions and their respective positions inthe Corps Expeditionnaire gave rise to a correspondence between themarshal and the Emperor, in the course of which the aggressiveinsistence of the latter compelled the former to refer the matter to thehome government. 

M. Drouyn de Lhuys upheld the marshal. And well it was that he did, forjust then Mr. Seward, in a diplomatic note to M. De Montholon, underdate of August 16, 1866, * peremptorily called his attention to the factthat the presence of the two French officers in the imperial cabinet wascalculated to interfere with the good relations existing between Franceand the United States. 

* "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1866, Part I, p. 381 et seq. 

As a result of this communication, the marshal was censured by hisgovernment for not having at once prevented the above-mentioned officersfrom accepting their respective portfolios. The irritation on all sideswas painfully visible. 

II. LA DEBACLE

Matamoros had fallen in July, 1866. Now, while preparing for thedifficult task of withdrawing his troops in the presence of an advancingarmy, the marshal sought not only to obey the instructions of the homegovernment, but to serve the empire by concentrating its defense withinpossible limits and by placing between it and the northern frontier anatural barrier of wilderness in which "neither friend nor toe couldeasily subsist. "*

* Letter of Bazaine to Maximilian, Peotillos, August 12, 1866. 

The movement was not only planned in order to facilitate the country'sdefense against the Liberal forces, but also to guard against anypossible aggression on the part of its formidable Northern neighborafter the withdrawal of the French army. This eminently prudent strategywas, however, irritating to Maximilian, who complained of it in thebitterest terms. 

Article I of the preamble of the treaty of Miramar, signed in April, 1864, provided that "the French troops actually in Mexico shall, as soonas possible, be reduced to a corps of twenty-five thousand men, including the foreign legion. " This corps was temporarily to remain inorder to protect the interests in which the French intervention had beenundertaken, but under the following conditions:

ARTICLE II. The French troops shall gradually evacuate Mexico as H. M. The Emperor of Mexico shall be able to organize the troops necessary totake their place. 

ARTICLE III. The foreign legion in the service of France, composed ofeight thousand men, shall, however, remain for six years in Mexico afterall other French forces shall have been recalled under Article II. Fromthat date said legion shall pass into the service and pay of the Mexicangovernment, the Mexican government reserving unto itself the right toshorten the duration of the employment in Mexico of the foreign legion. 

Permission had been granted to French officers to take service in thislegion. Recruits were also expected from Europe, and twelve hundredAustrians, on the eve of embarking at St. Nazaire, were stopped only bythe peremptory interference of the United States. * Various army-corpshad been formed, officered by foreigners, among whom were some goodFrench and Austrian officers. Much interest had at first been shown inthe scheme; and the new army, its recruits, its uniforms and equipment, furnished society with a fruitful theme for conversation. For a time ithad seemed as though it might be possible to so strengthen the empire asto enable it to stand without French official assistance. In 1866, however, Napoleon formally instructed the marshal to advance no morefunds and to pay only the auxiliary troops. The Mexican army mightdissolve. The French, on withdrawing, would leave the Austro-Belgiancorps and the foreign legion, --i. E. , some fifteen thousand men, --uponwhich the empire must depend. Under the new arrangement theAustro-Belgian soldiers were to receive the same pay as theFrench, --that is, about one half the amount formerly paid them, --andwere once more placed under French control. **

* See "Diplomatic Correspondence, " May, 1866, Part I, p. 305 et seq. 

** Maximilian's proclamation to the auxiliary troops that they shouldhenceforth form one and the same division "with their companions inarms" was dated May 19, 1866. 

Dissatisfaction prevailed, and the very worst spirit was manifested onall sides. After continued ill feeling, in August, 1866, Comte de Thunsent in his resignation and returned to Europe, leaving ColonelKodolitch in command. 

The Belgian corps mutinied, and the ringleaders having been discharged, the disbanded men were incorporated into new mixed regiments. *

* Order given through General Neigre, July 8, 1866. The adjustment withthe Austrians was no easier. An effort was made to induce the French toadvance the pay for the auxiliary corps without proper accounts beingsubmitted. To this, of course, they could not consent; and it waswhispered that the affair resulted in the exposure of peculations on thepart of certain individuals, whose resignation from the service Generalde Thun forthwith required. The better element of the Austrian army feltdeeply humiliated by the incident, and it led to undisguised bitternesson all sides. 

Meantime the Liberals were everywhere assuming an aggressive attitude. Guadalajara had fallen into the hands of General Uraga. 

About this time an important convoy from Matamoros, under the escort ofColonel Olvera's Mexican force, sixteen hundred strong, and of anAustrian regiment, was attacked by Liberal forces. The officer in chargeof the Austrian forces was then in the capital. The escort wasoverwhelmed, routed, and almost annihilated, and the convoy fell intothe hands of the enemy. The Austrian officer had to bear the most severeand unsparing criticism from the French. The night after the news of thedisaster had reached the capital he appeared at an evening gathering atthe house of Countess de N--, the wife of an officer on the marshal'sstaff. As he entered, a perceptible shock was felt; electricity was inthe air; many turned away from him, and an officer remarked in audibletones, as I asked the reason of the flutter: "O, ce n'est rien; c'estseulement le colonel, . . . Qui aime mieux s'amuser a Mexico que de sebattre a Matamoros. "

It is more than likely that the officer, a man of proved courage, wasfully justified by circumstances known to himself and to his chiefs inhaving left his post, but the spirit of antagonism then prevailing wouldadmit of no excuse. The ill feeling existing between the Emperor and themarshal was fast spreading in every direction, and interfered even withthe pleasure of social intercourse; and yet all this time the Emperorwas writing to the marshal notes the tone of which was generally morethan courteous, and signed himself "votre tres affectionne. "

The fall of Matamoros marked the beginning of the end. 

While reviewing the peripetia of an episode in which ignoble intrigueand treachery have so large a share, it is restful for a moment to pausebefore the modest figure of General Mejia, whose loyalty was unflinchingto the bitter end. The brave Indian had for many months faithfullydefended this important post. As true to his flag as President Juarezwas to his, he himself had supplied the needs of his army, holding hisown and never murmuring until, almost forgotten by his government, hewas allowed to fall. 

In July, 1866, Tampico and Monterey were, like Matamoros, lost to theImperialists. The revenue derived from the port of Tampico therebyceased altogether, and went to strengthen the national party. This eventcaused a painful shock. 

To us in Mexico there was no concealing the fact that the knell of theMexican empire had struck. Maximilian must fall. How? was the onlyquestion. 

When, in the course of the winter, the treasury being empty, he hadappealed to the French for relief, he had threatened to resign thethrone unless they would advance to his administration the fundsnecessary for its support. The marshal had then, against the formalorders of his own government, supplied the millions necessary to tideover successive crises as they presented themselves; for it was clearthat unless funds were immediately forthcoming the empire must collapse. 

The French government, however, had censured the marshal's conduct. Hissituation was fast becoming an impossible one, and in order to obtainsecurity for the French outlay he ordered the seizure of thecustom-house of Vera Cruz. Maximilian was furious, and a rumor spreadthat he was seriously considering his abdication. The Empress, whostrongly opposed his taking this step, suggested going abroad herself tosee what could be done to save the crown. All confidence was at an endbetween the young monarchs and the marshal, whom they held responsiblefor Napoleon's altered attitude. It seemed to them idle to trust towritten appeals the force of which must be counteracted by hisrepresentations. A personal interview might, however, accomplish much. The situation was reaching an acute crisis. Much bitter recriminationhad followed upon the disasters to the imperial forces in the North. Nothing could be worse than the animus on both sides. Altogether, imperial Mexico had become a seething caldron, in which the scum stood afair chance of rising to the top. 

The imperial government, which during the first years of its existencehad shown so much jealousy of its own authority, now suddenly changedits policy and sought to throw the whole weight of its responsibilitiesupon the French. In August, 1866, Maximilian proposed to face theuprising of the republicans throughout the empire, as well as to guardagainst possible aggression on the part of the United States troops thenwatching events across the Rio Grande, by declaring a state of siegethroughout the empire and by placing the whole executive power of eachstate in the hands of a French officer. This he urged upon the marshal, who courteously but firmly declined. It was impossible to tell wheresuch a course, if adopted, would lead the French. It must necessarilycarry with it serious consequences, the most obvious of which was aprobable war with Mexico's Northern neighbor, and there is little doubtthat this possibility prompted the suggestion. 

Each side accused the other of duplicity with regard to the UnitedStates. The Imperialists openly charged the French with delivering upthe empire to the republicans, while the French suspected the existenceof snares and intrigues set afoot for the purpose of bringing about suchcomplications as might force the French to retain an interest in Mexicanaffairs. Moreover, attempts, not wholly unsuccessful, were made to sowdiscord among the French themselves by taking advantage of individualambitions and of petty jealousies to increase existing difficulties. 

The relations between General Douay, then in command of the seconddivision, and the quartier-general had never been cordial. On his way toFrance, on leave of absence, he passed through the city, and had aninterview with Maximilian. This gave rise to much gossip. It was saidthat General Douay favored a policy totally different from that latelypursued by France, and that he approved of calling upon the Frenchgovernment for reinforcements for the purpose of firmly maintaining theempire; that he and Maximilian had arranged to bring pressure to bearupon the Emperor Napoleon not only to continue but to increase hissupport, and that Maximilian wished to see General Douay assume commandof the French army in the marshal's place. 

All this came to nothing, but the relations of the Emperor with theFrench headquarters were becoming more and more strained, and havingbegun with political differences, the feud was assuming almost apersonal character. 

Had Maximilian's grasp of the situation been stronger, he must have seenthat by firmly taking his stand upon his original agreement with France, by refusing to consider the onerous terms substituted for those of thetreaty of Miramar by Napoleon in his communication of May 31, 1866, andby making then and there a public renunciation of his throne, based uponthe non-fulfilment of the terms of the convention, he must throw thefull responsibility of the denouement upon the Emperor of the French. *

* M. Rouher (July 10, 1866) announced to the Chamber of Deputies thatthe government had reluctantly determined upon the evacuation of Mexicoby the army, owing to the inability of the Mexican government to observethe conditions of the treaty of Miramar. See Domenech, "Histoire, " etc. , vol. Iii. , p. 349. 

He had then his one chance to retire with dignity and honor from thelamentable situation into which his youthful ambition and inexperiencehad led him, at the same time revenging himself upon his disloyal allyby exposing to the full light of day, and before the whole world, thewretched conditions under which the empire had been erected. 

By compromising and signing away half the revenues of his ports, * byretaining the scepter upon terms that made the empire impossible, thatforced him down to the level of a mere leader of faction, and placed himin contradiction to his own declared principles, he descended from hisimperial state, and forfeited, if not his crown, at least his right toit, if judged by his own standard. He, moreover, lost his one chance ofseriously embarrassing his allies. At that time the army was scatteredin small detachments over the Mexican territory; terms had not yet beenmade with the Liberal leaders; the sudden collapse of the empire musthave created dangers to the French, the existence of which would givehim a certain hold over them. 

* Convention of Mexico, signed July 30, 1866, by M. Dano and Don Luis deArroyo. 

But he was a weak man; the Empress clung to her crown; the great stateofficials were interested in retaining their offices; he was surroundedby evil or interested councilors; and instead of standing up firmly inhis false ally's path, he allowed him to brush past and to disregardhim. 

In ancient Mexico, when, fortune having deserted a warrior, he fell intothe hands of his enemies, a victim doomed to sacrifice, a chance was, under certain conditions, given him for his life. He was tied by onefoot, naked, to the gladiatorial stone, armed with a wooden sword, andsix warriors were, one after another, entered against him. Ifextraordinarily skilful, strong, and brave, he might hold his own andsave his life; at least he might destroy some of his foes, and, fallinglike a warrior, avoid being laid alive upon the sacrificial stone, wherehis heart, torn out of his breast, must be held up, a bleeding sacrificeto the fierce god of battles. 

Maximilian was not strong enough for the unequal struggle at thissupreme moment, and he was laid upon the sacrificial stone. 

Meanwhile the cloud "no bigger than a man's hand, " which wise men hadfrom the first anxiously watched as it loomed upon the northern horizon, had grown with alarming rapidity, and was now spreading black andthreatening over the whole sky. 

Secretary Seward was prepared to enter upon the scene. Nothing could befiner than the conduct of the American statesman throughout thesedifficult transactions. Alone among the foreign leaders who had a sharein them, he followed a consistent policy from beginning to end, and hisdiplomatic notes form a logical sequence. Quietly, steadily, he playedhis part, to the greater credit and higher dignity of the nation whoseinterests and honor were in his keeping. 

The burden of the Civil War had for several years weighed him down; butdespite every effort of European diplomacy, the ship of state, steeredby a firm hand, was kept upon its course, avoiding every shoal, whilesaving its strength for home defense. He never yielded a serious point, never wavered in his adherence to the traditional American policy, andstood by the legal republican government of Mexico even when, reduced tothe persons of the President and his minister, Lerdo de Tejada, it wascompelled to seek refuge at Paso del Norte. But when the surrender ofLee's army left the Federal government free to act, sixty thousand menwere massed upon the frontier, and the American statesman at once grewthreatening. *

* See peremptory note of Secretary Seward to Mr. Bigelow, November 23, 1866 ("Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1866, Part I, p. 366). See alsoletter to the Marquis de Montholon, April 25, 1866. 

In vain did Napoleon III plead for delay; in vain did he assure Mr. Bigelow that a date had been fixed for the final recall of the army. From Washington came the uncompromising words: No delay can betolerated; the intervention and the empire must come to an end at once. *

* On December 10, 1860, Mr. Seward officially expressed his opinion thatthe traditional friendship with France would be brought into "imminentjeopardy, unless France could deem it consistent with her interest andhonor to desist from the prosecution of armed intervention in Mexico"(letter of Seward to Bigelow, "Diplomatic Correspondence, " 1866, PartIII, p. 429); and he declined the condition made by the Emperor that theUnited States recognize the empire of Mexico as a de facto power. Seeproclamation of President Johnson, August 18, 1866, declaring theblockade of Matamoros issued by Maximilian null and void ("DiplomaticCorrespondence, " 1866, Part I, p. 339). 

Since accepting Napoleon's ultimatum, by the terms of which all Frenchassistance was to be withdrawn by November 1, 1867, Maximilian had madeno attempt to disguise his hostility to his allies. 

The French government having formally declined to do more than pay theauxiliary troops and the foreign legion, the distress was great, and theImperialists, on the verge of starvation, were frequently supplied inthe field by the French commissariat. Demoralization set in throughoutthe imperial army. Whole garrisons, receiving no pay, left their postsand turned highwaymen, even in the neighborhood of the capital. 

Indeed, the desertions were now so frequent that the Liberals were ableto form a "foreign legion" with the deserters of various nationalitieswho sought service under their flag. * Rats were leaving the sinkingship. 

* See "L'Ere Nouvelle" (Mexico), September 25, 1866. 

In January, 1866, the imperial army, including the Austro-Belgianlegion, numbered 43, 500 men. In October of the same year only 28, 000remained under arms. Many, of course, had fallen in the field, butdesertion was principally accountable for this shriveling of the Mexicanforces. 

Permission had originally been granted French officers to take serviceunder the imperial flag. Various army-corps had been formed, which wereofficered by Frenchmen as well as by Austrians and Belgians. Theoretically, a year and a half was time enough to organize the newforeign legion then well under way; but recruiting for the Mexican armywas now found to be, like all other experiments successively brought tobear upon the problem, virtually impossible. Under the circumstances itseemed folly for foreign officers to enlist in the newly organizedimperial regiments. 

The marshal took it upon himself to withdraw the permission given sometime before to French officers to pass into the Mexican service. He hasbeen blamed for this, and accused of having deliberately hindered theorganizing of Mexican forces, thus hastening the ruin of the empire. Butno one not on the spot toward the close of the year 1866 can wellrealize the atmosphere of general sauve qui peut that prevailed inMexico and affected all classes of society. The tide had turned. To allwho had anything to lose, the only course that seemed perfectly clearwas to get out of the country, leaving behind as little of theirbelongings as possible. Indeed, M. De Hoorickx, who remained as charged'affaires after the departure of the Belgian minister, M. De Blondel, told me that he also was doing all in his power to prevent hiscountrymen from embarking upon such stormy seas. 

Sober-minded Austrians, on their side, used their influence over theirmore adventurous comrades to prevent their remaining under the alteredconditions. 

And now the only hope of the empire rested upon the power of EmpressCharlotte to induce the courts of Austria, Belgium, Rome, and especiallythe court of France, to grant a reprieve to the tottering empire bylending it further support. 

To defray the expenses of her journey, thirty thousand dollars weretaken from an emergency fund held as sacred for the repairs of the dikeswhich defend Mexico against the ever-threatening floods from the lakes, the level of which is higher than that of the city. 

It soon was whispered among us that upon her arrival in Paris theEmpress had not spared the marshal, and that in her interview withNapoleon III she not only had denounced him, but had asked his recall. 

On September 16, 1866, the anniversary of the national independence wascelebrated with unusual state by the Emperor. The Te Deum was sung inthe cathedral, and a formal reception was held at the palace, where, forthe last time, a large crowd assembled. After this a meeting of thecouncil of state was held to discuss the situation. 

The Liberals and Moderates had failed to strengthen the empire. As alast resort, the Emperor turned once more to the reactionary party forhelp. The Liberal ministers withdrew, and a new cabinet, composed of theultra-clerical party, was formed. 

Thus, at the last hour, when, without funds and abandoned by his allies, all were falling away from him, Maximilian cast his lot with the menwhom, when rich in money, armies, and allies, and the future promisedsuccess, he had discarded as impossible to carry. In accepting theirhelp he was pledging himself to factional warfare, and was virtuallygoing back upon every declared principle which had formed the basis ofhis acceptance of the crown. 

But in fairness it may be said that the unfortunate prince was at thistime scarcely responsible for his actions. The situation was desperate. He had neither the strength nor the coolness of judgment to face theissue. His vacillating nature had been still further weakened byintermittent fever, as well as by the events of this year, so fatal tohis house. The climate of Mexico did not suit him. What with malarialfever and dysentery, as well as with distracting responsibilities andcares, he was a physical wreck. Not only had he month after month felthis hopes grow faint and his throne crumble under him; not only had heevery cause to lose faith in his star as well as in his own judgment:but the cannon of Lissa must have vibrated with painful distinctnessthrough the innermost fibers of the Austrian admiral's heart, and hispersonal interest in Austrian affairs must have caused him to dwell withpoignant regret upon his renunciation of his birthright, and his absencefrom the larger stage upon which, but for his wild errand, he might thenhave been playing a leading role. *

* See M. De Keratry, "L'Empereur Maximilien, " p. 220. 

The new clerical cabinet, as usual, promised to pacify the country, andto find the funds indispensable for the purpose. This was the last cardof the reactionary party. Of all those involved in the issue, theclerical leaders alone had everything to lose by the downfall of theempire. Their personal interest in its prolongation was clear. With themit was a matter, if not of life and death, at least of comparativedignity and prosperity at home, or of exile and beggary abroad. 

To place his fate in such hands was the last mistake of the Emperor. Such interested advisers must endeavor to cut off his retreat, when toremain must cost him his life. 

The mission of the Empress abroad had, if anything, aggravated thesituation. It is said that, no doubt, under the influence of thecerebral disturbance that soon afterward manifested itself, herrecriminations were so violent as to arouse a feeling of personalresentment which destroyed all sympathy in Napoleon's heart. Alreadyweary of an undertaking which from beginning to end must reflect uponhis statesmanship, and which was fast becoming a reproach to the Frenchnation, he was even then negotiating with the United States for theremoval of his troops, and for the restoration of the republic. 

Regardless of the onerous agreement which Maximilian only four monthsbefore had been compelled to sign, the new minister of foreign affairs, the Marquis de Moustier, on the occasion of his first reception to thediplomatic corps, on October 11, told Mr. Bigelow that the Emperor wouldrecall the army shortly. * The minister of war had already signed acontract with Pereire, the head of the Compagnie Transatlantique, forthe home passage of the last instalment of the army during the month ofMarch. 

* See letter of Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, October 12 ("DiplomaticCorrespondence, " 1866, Part I, p. 360). 

Of these fateful negotiations we, in Mexico, were then ignorant. We wereunder the impression that strict compliance with the terms of the recentagreement was the worst that could befall the empire. That these termswould be strictly adhered to even seemed incredible to many. There wereoptimists among us who thought that Napoleon's action was intended tocall forth docility on the part of Maximilian and of his Mexicancabinet, and to bring them to terms. Thus it was that, although thedebacle was in reality hard upon us, it yet seemed sufficiently far offnot materially to affect our daily life. We therefore lightly skippedover the thin ice of our present security, unmindful of what theimmediate future had in store for us. 

III. COMEDY AND TRAGEDY

In the spring of 1866 our small circle was pleasantly enlarged by thearrival of the Marquis de Massa. He was the younger son of thecelebrated Regnier, Duc de Massa, the able lawyer whose work upon theCode Napoleon had led him to a dukedom under Napoleon the Great. 

M. De Massa was endowed with more brilliancy than perseverance. He hadnot passed through St. Cyr to enter the army, and had devoted much ofhis youth to the systematic enjoyment of life. After some of hisillusions and most of his money had gone, he did as many Frenchmen ofgood family had done before him--he enlisted in a crack cavalry regimentof the Imperial Guard, where, after a while, thanks to mightyprotectors, he exchanged his worsted stripes for gold braid and thesingle epaulet. He had come to Mexico in search of an excuse for rapidpromotion. 

Similar cases were by no means infrequent then. Michel Ney, Ducd'Elchingen, the grandson of the great marshal, when I met him inMexico, was sergeant or corporal in a regiment of chasseurs d'Afrique, recognizable from his fellow-troopers only by his spotless linen. Shortly after this he was promoted to a sublieutenancy. His promotionwas then rapid, and he did good service in the north; for although hewas no reader of books and was somewhat heavy of understanding, he wasas brave as his famous ancestor. *

* An officer wrote me during the Franco-Prussian war that at Rezonville, in 1870, when brilliantly charging at the head of his men, Michel Ney, then a colonel of dragoons, received three sabre-cuts over his head andface, and after killing five Prussians rolled under his wounded horse. He eventually recovered. 

Count Clary, a cousin of Napoleon III, when I met him, had only recentlyemerged from his worsted chrysalis;** and Albert Bazaine, the marshal'sown nephew, was impatiently waiting to be raised from the depressingposition of a piou-piou, that he might enjoy the full social benefits ofhis relationship to the commander-in-chief. 

* He was promoted to the rank of captain before the return of the Frencharmy, and commanded a contre-guerilla known as the "Free Company ofMexican partizans" (see D'Hericault, loc. Cit. , p. 79), which did bravework in the state of Michoacan against the bands of General Regules andothers, and later in the neighborhood of Mexico, without ever excitingthe bitter hatred which the contreguerilla of Colonel Dupin, holding thestate of Vera Cruz, drew upon itself. (See "Queretaro, " by Haus, p. 56. )

The position of these gentlemen in a capital where the army was, so tospeak, under arms, and where no civilian's dress, therefore, was allowedto a soldier, was ambiguous and gave rise to amusing anomalies. Forinstance, they, of course, could not be admitted to official balls orentertainments where uniforms were de rigueur, as only officers wereinvited. They paid calls, however, and thus mixed on neutral ground withtheir officers; and so these nondescript military larvae managed toenjoy life until the day came when they might become officialbutterflies. 

As for the Marquis de Massa, the day had long gone by when, driving inhis own trap to the gate of the Paris barracks after a night spent outon leave through the leniency of General Floury, he set to work to curryhis own horse. His keen wit and happy repartee, his good-humoredsarcasm, and, above all, the magnetism of a personality that scorneddeceit and gave itself for no better or worse than it was, combined tomake him a favorite among the devotees of pleasure whom Napoleon III andEmpress Eugenie had gathered about them; and notwithstanding his emptypockets, his roofless chateau in Auvergne, and his sparsely braidedsleeve, he was an habitue of the Austrian embassy and of the best salonsin Paris, and made for himself a conspicuous place in the innermostcircle of the court of Compiegne and the Tuileries. He had written anumber of light plays for the amateur stage of Parisian society, and hisdramatic efforts had been interpreted by players whose high-soundingnames might be found on pages of history. 

His first attempt was the "Cascades de Mouchy, " on December 9, 1863. Therepresentation was given at the Chateau de Mouchy, to which "all Paris"traveled for the purpose. In the words of the "Figaro": "It was acomplete mobilization of Parisian society. " The Duc de Mouchy, a man ofthe old nobility, had recently married Princess Anna Murat; and theactors as well as the audience represented the wit, talent, wealth, andpower of the Second Empire. 

In collaboration with Prince de Metternich, then Austrian ambassador atthe court of the Tuileries, and an amateur musician of no mean order, hehad written the libretto of a ballet called "Le Roi d'Yvetot. " This wasgiven on the professional stage, but met with little success, ifexception is made of the "first night, " when again "all Paris" turnedout to see the prince lead the orchestra, and to applaud the brilliantyoung author after the curtain fell. 

In 1865 he wrote a revue, which was performed with great eclat beforethe court at Compiegne. In this really clever piece the principaloccurrences of the year were touched upon and reviewed. The literaryevent of 1865 in France had been the publication of Napoleon's work "LesCommentaires de Cesar, " and this the young courtier took as a title forhis play. Once again all the wit and beauty of the court of Eugenieunited to make the occasion a brilliant tribute to the imperialhistorian. The Comte and Comtesse de Pourtales, the Marquis and Marquisede Gallifet, the Duc and Duchesse de Mouchy, the Princesse de Sagan, theMarquis de Caux (who afterward married Adelina Patti), the Princesse deMetternich, --indeed, the elite of cosmopolis, --appeared upon the stage, and in clever verse and epigrammatic song amusingly dealt with thegossip of the day. 

M. De Massa's success was mainly due to the good-natured independence ofhis work. He told the truth to his audience, even though it might becomposed of the great of the land. He chaffed the women upon theirmanners, and sometimes their morals, and the men upon their idleness andtheir evil ways. He showed up the speculative fever which, like anepidemic, had swept over the higher ranks of Parisian society under theSecond Empire. * No weakness could be sure of escaping his satire. But indealing with all this the scalpel of the cynic was concealed under thegraceful touch of the man of the world. He did not assume the tone of amoralist or of a misanthrope. He was not even an observing spectator, but a good-natured enfant du siecle, a sinner among sinners, for whomlife was one long comedy. 

* For instance, one stanza sung by M. De St. Maurice:

 "Tout les terrains, les canaux, les carrieres, Depuis le fer jusqu'au moindre metal, Les champs, les eaux, les forets, les bruyeres-- Tout represente un certain capital. Vous le voyez la fievre est generale; Tout est matiere a speculations . . . Tout, en effet, excepte la morale Qu'on n'a pas mise en actions. "

After the return of the Corps Expeditionnaire in 1867, when the greatInternational Exposition was attracting to Paris the princes andcelebrities of the world, "Les Commentaires de Cesar" was, at theEmperor's request, repeated at the Tuileries before the crowned headsthere assembled as his guests. 

Notwithstanding the seething forces underlying the brilliant surface andthreatening the empire's very existence, the summer of 1867, assuperficially seen in Paris, must be regarded as the very apex ofNapoleon's career. 

The exposition was the last and most gorgeous set piece of the manyNapoleonic fireworks, the splendor of which flashed through history, andended in the dark smoke of Sedan. 

The performance at the Tuileries was one of the most selectentertainments arranged at this time. The troupe of aristocraticcomedians was greeted with enthusiastic applause, and the popular authorreceived an ovation from his audience of monarchs and princes such asfate never bestowed upon Beaumarchais, Marivaux, or even Moliere!

All aglow with the excitement of his social achievements, the Marquis deMassa came to Mexico in 1866 and immediately took his place in themilitary household of the commander-in-chief. 

As soon as he felt sufficiently posted as to the local conditions ofMexico, he went to work, and the result was a vaudeville entitled"Messieurs les Voyageurs pour Mexico, en Voiture!"

The marshal's household supplied the principal stars of the improviseddramatic company, the leader of the orchestra, a young Belgian officer, and the prima donna, an "American girl from Paris, " as the Mexicanpapers had it, being brought in only as necessary adjuncts. Anotherimportant female part was taken by Albert Bazaine, who was turned into asuperb soubrette. 

The play was little more than a skit, and the plot--if the thin, sketchyincident that stood in its place may be called one--served only as anexcuse for a continuous fusillade of local hits, often of a personalcharacter. These not only kept the audience in a fever of merriment, butlong afterward furnished Mexican official and social circles with topicsfor more or less friendly discussion. Some ill feeling and not a fewunpleasant comments were, of course, the result of the little venture;and most of those concerned paid for their fun in some way or other. 

The performance took place at San Cosme, at the house of the Vicomtessede Noue. Maximilian, whose curiosity had been aroused, expressed adesire to have it repeated at the imperial palace; but having heard ofcertain unmerciful sallies made upon his financial decrees and othermeasures of his government, he did not attempt to disguise hisdispleasure. Of course the performance was not repeated. 

No harm whatever was intended; but, looking back upon the incident, onecan see that the hits, if innocently meant, coming as they did from themarshal's household, were certainly lacking in discretion. Indeed, whenone considers the serious dissensions then existing between thequartier-general and the palace, it becomes clear that such jests musthave had upon the court the effect of the banderillas which, in abull-fight, by a refinement of cruelty, are stuck in the quivering fleshof the baited bull, doomed from the start, and teased to the bitter end. 

Among the verses of an interminable topical song, one contained areference to the newly organized regiment, the "Cazadores de Mejico, "the recruiting of which was then taxing to the utmost Maximilian'senergies:

 Parmi les corps que l'on vient d'etablir Les Cazadors sont de tous les plus braves; Mais, c'est egal, au moment de choisir J'aimerais miens m'engager dans les Zouaves!

These lines afterward assumed a strangely prophetic importance. Sixmonths later, during the siege of Queretaro, this same regiment ofCazadores, composed of Frenchmen, Germans, and Hungarians, with aboutone fourth of native Mexican soldiers, was placed, with fourtwelve-pounders, under the command of Prince Salm-Salm. They were, according to their colonel, a wild, brawling set, constantly fightingamong themselves, but ready enough to do their duty under fire. 

It would seem that, after a sortie during which they had speciallydistinguished themselves, the Emperor visited the lines, and paused topraise their bravery. Whether or not the sting contained in M. DeMassa's words had impressed them upon his mind, it is, of course, impossible to tell; but in a stirring proclamation Maximilian calledthem the "Zouaves of Mexico, " a compliment which was received by the menwith deafening shouts of enthusiasm. This account, as I read it afterthe final catastrophe, awoke a memory; and I found myself unconsciouslyhumming the bit of satire upon these brave fellows, most of whom werenow lying cold and stiff under the sky of Queretaro:

 "Mais, c'est egal, au moment de choisir J'aimerais mieux m'engager dans les Zouaves!"

Ah me, how closely the ridiculous here approached the sublime! Howrapidly tragedy had followed upon comedy!

The first colonel of the Cazadores, Paolino Lamadrid, was in theaudience that evening. He was a pleasant-looking man, noted for hisgreat skill in the national sports, especially with the lazo. He wasbrave, kindly, obliging, and one of the few Mexican officers who werehonestly friendly to the French. He entered into the spirit of thething, understood the joke, and took no offense. He had lent for theoccasion his Mexican dress, sombrero, chapareras, etc. , for thecharacter of a Mexicanized French colonist who, after a series ofMexican adventures, had returned to France and to his family laden withMexican millions. 

Colonel Paolino Lamadrid did not live to stand by his sovereign in thelast heroic hour of the empire. He was killed early in January, in anunimportant engagement at Cuernavaca, one of Maximilian's favoriteresidences, situated some fifty miles from Mexico, and which had alreadyfallen into the hands of the Juarists. 

Colonel Lamadrid was ordered to recapture the town. He fell into anambush, and after a brave struggle was shot down. His troops held theirground, and before retreating next day they recovered his body, whichhad been badly mutilated and was only identified by his fine and silkyblack beard, which formed one of his most striking features. * It is saidthat one of the early hallucinations of the unfortunate Empress, on herway to Rome, was that she saw Colonel Lamadrid lurking about, disguisedas an organ-grinder. 

* D'Hericault, pp. 82, 83. 

But to return to this now historic entertainment. The general situationwas summed up finally in a serio-comic manner in a song which, if itthen brought down the house, afterward drew severe criticism upon thethoughtless heads of author and performers:

 Oui, cette terre Hospitaliere Un jour sera, c'est moi qui vous le dis, Pour tout le monde L'arche feconde Des gens de coeur et des colons hardis. Que faut-il donc pour cesser nos alarmes? De bons soldats et de bons generaux, De bons prefets et surtout des gendarmes, Des financiers et des gardes ruraux. 

 Refrain: Allons courage, Vite a l'ouvrage; La France est la pour nous preter secours. Vieux incredules, Sots ridicules, De nos travaux n'entravez pas le cours. 

This song, pledging France to back up Mexican enterprise in everyventure, may serve to show how ignorant all were at this time of thesudden determination taken by the Tuileries to set aside the agreementof July 30, 1866, and to put an immediate end to the intervention. 

It was written by a member of the marshal's military household, and therefrain was sung by a chorus of the marshal's officers, in the presenceof the marshal himself, and of a large audience composed of French, Austrian, and Belgian officers, as well as of members of the imperialgovernment, on September 26, 1866, i. E. , just at the time when GeneralCastelnau, who landed at Vera Cruz on October 10, was starting on hismission, the object of which was to force the abdication of Maximilian, and to bring about the winding up of the empire and the immediate returnof the army. 

At this very time, it will be remembered, a contract was being enteredupon by the French government with the house of Pereire, which was tofurnish immediate home transportation for the French army. *

* Bigelow, letter to Seward, October 12, 1866. 

The song was not meant to be the cruel jest which it must have seemed tothose about the Mexican Emperor who were better informed with regard toNapoleon's negotiations with the government of the United States. Bythose whose all was at stake it must have been taken for a wantoninsult. 

Indeed, society in Mexico was not just then in the right frame of mindto appreciate M. De Massa's witticisms. Even among his own friends theyproved singularly infelicitous. 

The displeasure of Madame la Marechale, whose youth and beauty were thensuperior to her sense of humor, was aroused by a verse the timeworn witof which she seemed unable to appreciate, and in which she saw an insultto her people:

 Le roi Henri, qui detestait l'impot, Des Mexicains aurait bien fait l'affaire, Au lieu de poule, un zopilote an pot: Voila l'moyen de devenir populaire!

The zoplote, although protected by law as a scavenger, is held asunclean by the Mexicans, who would almost starve rather than eat it; andthe suggestion, taken seriously and indignantly resented by Mme. Bazaine, created quite a ripple of disturbance in the marshal's family. 

The following incident also swelled the ranks of M. De Massa's Frenchcritics:

Before the performance gossip had been busy with it, and its source hadpartly been traced to Colonel Petit, a good enough friend, but who atthe time happened to be chafing under the sting of a practical joke, recently played upon him by some of his comrades, in which M. De Massahad had a share. 

During the recent campaign made by the marshal in the interior, with aview to the concentration of the army preparatory to its retreat, Colonel Petit, with his regiment, arrived at a small town, theauthorities of which prepared to receive the French with due honor. Eager for fun, his comrades confidentially disclosed to the alcalde thefact that Colonel Petit was a great personage--indeed, no less than theson of the celebrated General Petit whom Napoleon, about to depart forElba, and taking leave of his veterans, had singled out and embraced asthe representative of the Grande Armee. 

I do not remember whether the mischievous wags suggested to the alcalde, a pure Indian wearing sombrero, shirt, and white calzoneras, arepetition of the solemn scene of Fontainebleau, or whether the worthyIndian evolved the notion unaided; but the result was that poor ColonelPetit, much against his will, found himself forced into playing a parodyof his father's part to the alcalde's Napoleon. In the presence of hismen, amid the jeers and cheers of his amused comrades, he had to submitto the speech and public accolade of the worthy magistrate. 

The perpetrators of this pleasantry did not soon allow him to forget it. It long remained a sore thing with him; and as he allowed his resentmentto appear, an extra verse was on the day of the performance added, forhis benefit, to the principal topical song:

 A Mexico les cancans vont leur train, On vous condamne avant de vous entendre, C'est bien "petit" d'ereinter son prochain, Bon entendeur saura bien nous comprendre. 

As this was sung the audience laughingly turned toward him--a fact whichdid not tend to make him more amiably disposed, although he bowedgracefully enough, and pretended to enjoy the fun. 

Altogether, the play, if more than a success as a performance, addednothing to the popularity of the quartier-general. It, however, createdfar more comment than its literary merit warranted--if this may be said, without detracting from the credit of the author, who himself, lookingback upon it later in his career, said that it read as though it hadbeen "written on a drum. "

Sadowa had been fought and lost; but it would have been difficult, tomake out from their attitude whether or not the sympathies of theofficers of the Corps Expeditionnaire were honestly with their Austrianallies. Strangely enough, the news had been received by them as thoughit involved no serious warning to France. The full significance of thenew mode of warfare, of the needle-gun and other new implements of war, was obscured in their eyes by their naive Jingoism. The French officersin those days underrated all other nations; and even the superiorarmament and discipline of the Germans, as exhibited in that shortcampaign, failed to impress them as they should. They sang:

 L'aiguille est un outil Dont je ne suis en peine Tant que j'aurai la mienne [the bayonet] Au bout de mon fusil. Vous qui ehantez victoire, Heros de Sadowa, Rappelez-vous l'histoire D'Auerstadt et d'Iena. 

Alas! the time was drawing near when the cannon of Reichshofen was tochange the merry tune of the French chanson into a dirge for many of thebrave, light-hearted fellows, then so unmindful of the storm slowlygathering in the east. 

The pomp and dignity of the court had vanished, and social life in thecapital no longer centered about the imperial palace. 

Even previous to the departure of the Empress, the Monday receptions hadbeen discontinued, without their loss being seriously felt. At best theyhad never been other than dull, formal affairs. The ball-room was alarge hall, always insufficiently lighted, and narrowed in the middle bythe platform where stood the imperial throne under a canopy of velvet. Here, after their new guests had been officially presented in anadjoining hall, the Emperor and Empress took their seat. Before supperthey made a solemn tour of the ball-room. The dancing then ceased, andthe crowd stood in chilled expectancy, and made way for them, each inturn receiving from them, as they passed, a smile, a nod, or somecommonplace word of greeting. 

Maximilian was happy in his remarks on such occasions. Naturally affableand kindly, like most princes trained to this sort of thing, his memoryfor names and faces was remarkable. We were presented at court on thefirst of the imperial fortnightly Mondays, and with us, of course, thelarger number of the guests present; and yet, some weeks later, whenmaking his tour of the ball-room, the Emperor stopped before us, andinquired about an absent member of the family, apparently placing usexactly. Many other instances of his memory and power of observation insuch small matters were related by others. 

He was tall, slight, and handsome, although the whole expression of hisface revealed weakness and indecision. He looked, and was, a gentleman. His dignity was without hauteur. His manner was attractive; he had thefaculty of making you feel at ease; and he possessed far more personalmagnetism than did the Empress. 

Hers was a strong, intelligent face, the lines of which were somewhathard at times; and her determined expression impressed one with thefeeling that she was the better equipped of the two to copeintelligently with the difficulties of practical life. It is probablethat, had she been alone, she might have made a better attempt atsolving the problems than did Maximilian; at least such was MarshalBazaine's opinion, as expressed before me on one occasion, during herbrief regency, when she had shown special firmness and clear judgment indealing with certain complicated state affairs. 

She, however, was reserved, somewhat lacking in tact and adaptability;and a certain haughtiness of manner, a dignity too conscious of itself, at first repelled many who were disposed to feel kindly toward her. Itis more than likely that under this proud mien she concealed a sufferingspirit, or, at least, the consciousness of a superiority that mustefface itself. Who will ever know the travail of her proud heart and theprolonged strain under which her mind finally succumbed! Fornotwithstanding the prudence and decided ability with which she hadconducted the difficult affairs of the realm during the Emperor'sabsence in 1864, it was hinted that on his return she was allowed littleweight in public affairs, and that her advice when given was seldomfollowed. After her departure even the semblance of a court disappeared. 

On the other hand, the quartier-general had lost much of its animationsince the marshal's second marriage. His first union had been childless, and his delight in the joys and cares of a tardy paternity absorbed allthe leisure left him by the military and other responsibilities of hisposition. 

Indeed, the growing ill feeling existing in political circles wasspreading rapidly, gradually destroying good fellowship. A tragicincident resulting in the death of a brave French officer, ColonelTourre (May, 1865), stirred French circles to their very depths. 

One night a house was on fire. A lieutenant and some Zouaves of theThird Regiment went in to save property. As the flames grew in intensitythe colonel arrived on the scene, and realizing the danger of his men, rushed in to help and direct them. Shortly after he entered, the flooron which he stood gave way, and the unfortunate man was plunged into afiery grave. The men managed to escape from the building, but thelieutenant and one Zouave were horribly burned, and died in a few hours. The impression made upon society was profound. Every one turned out forthe funeral. 

The marshal and his staff, on foot and bareheaded under the tropicalsun, followed the remains, and did them as much honor as though the deadhad been of the highest rank. It so happened, however, that the cortege, upon its passage, was insulted by some ruffians in the crowd, and theincident aroused more indignation and national feeling on both sidesthan the strictly limited nature of the incident warranted. One of theoffenders, a student, was apprehended, and the clemency of Maximilian, who forthwith pardoned him, was regarded as a deliberate insult atFrench headquarters. 

Another incident, equally limited in its origin, produced a still moreserious scandal among the allies, as it gave rise to a report that theAustrians and the French quartered at Puebla were actually coming toblows. One morning a party of Austrians, one of whom was Count de laSala, entered the Hotel de las Diligencias at Puebla. Some Frenchmenwere present. One of these, a sergeant, taking umbrage at the count'smanner, became surly, and called him ANIMAL, whereupon the youngAustrian slapped him in the face. Others interfered, and the Frenchmanleft the room. Presently, however, he returned, holding a revolver inhis hand, and walked threateningly toward the count, who, anticipatingthe attack, jumped upon him, and, seizing his arm, made the weaponuseless. The sergeant, bent upon avenging the blow received, then struckat the count with his free hand, on which he wore a set of brassknuckles, inflicting an ugly gash over the left eye. Things were gettingserious for the count. His companions were keeping watch at the door toprevent interference from the outside and to see fair play. Thebystanders had fled. Blood was streaming down his face, almost blindinghim. The sergeant struck at him a second time, when the count drew hissword and ran him through the body. There was now no suppressing theaffair, which caused a profound sensation. The first reports thatreached the capital magnified the occurrence into something very like ariot, and on both sides the real bitterness of the feeling so longsuppressed blazed forth for a time undisguised. 

Indeed, it is only recently that, meeting the count in Egypt, I heardfrom him how very limited the incident was. Count de la Sala, whoafterward entered the service of the Khedive and now lives in Cairo, still bears the mark of the Frenchman's brass knuckles upon hisforehead. In 1866 the irritation had reached such a point thatMaximilian, disregarding the feelings of his allies, gave a pension tothe widow of General Zaragoza, the hero of the "Cinco de Mayo. " This actof the monarch for whose cause the battle had been fought by them wasnot unnaturally regarded as a wanton insult by the French. 

Society now scarcely deserved the name, and the sociability of thecapital was confined to small groups of people who privately met forenjoyment in the most informal manner. 

A number of officers had invited their wives to join them in Mexico, andamong them were some charming and clever women, such as the Comtesse deCourcy, the Vicomtesse de Noue, and Mme. Magnan, who by throwing opentheir salons greatly contributed to the general enjoyment. 

Other women of various nationalities formed a background to these, andadded to the local interest. One of them afterward played a conspicuouspart in the closing scene of the empire. Prince Salm-Salm and hishandsome American wife came to Mexico in 1866. They found seriousdifficulty in gaining admittance into either the social or the officialcircles of the capital. The relations of Prussia with Austria wereanything but cordial at the time; and soon after their arrival the warbroke out which culminated at Sadowa. A Prussian subject, the prince wasnaturally looked upon with distrust by the Austrians, who showed himscant respect. He had brought letters from Baron Gerold, the Prussianminister at Washington; from Baron de Wydenbruck, the Austrian minister;and from the Marquis de Montholon: but these seemed unable to win forhim even a hearing from the Emperor. 

The French, on the other hand, had little sympathy with a German princewho, having hired his sword to the republic of the United States, hadnow come in search of a new allegiance, to offer his services toimperial Mexico's Austrian ruler. 

When, six months after his arrival in Mexico, the most unremittingefforts on his part at last obtained for him a commission, and he wasgiven (July, 1866) the rank of colonel in the auxiliary corps--underGeneral Neigre, he was treated with no special cordiality. He thenapplied to the minister of war for permission to pass into the Belgiancorps. From this time he and his attractive wife obscurely followed thefortunes of Colonel Van der Smissen, whose personal regard they had won, until the withdrawal of the French and the Austro-Belgian armies, byclearing the stage for the last scene, brought them in full relief, under the search-light of history, by the side of the imperial victim. 

At the time of which I now speak, the princess, as well as her husband, had donned the silver and gray of the Belgian regiment, and cheerfullyshared the fatigues and dangers of camp life in war time--like asoldadera, contemptuously said her proud sisters in society; for thismode of existence naturally drew upon her the criticism of the moreconventional of her sex in the Mexican colony. But for all that, she andher husband bravely stood by the Emperor to the bitter end, when olderand more valued, though less courageous, friends had dropped away, andhad left him, stripped of the imperial purple, to struggle forexistence, an adventurer among adventurers. 

IV. GENERAL CASTELNAU

The denouement was drawing near. On October 10 General Castelnau landedin Vera Cruz, on a special mission from Napoleon III. He was accompaniedby the Comte de St. Sauveur, his officier d'ordonnance, and by theMarquis de Gallifet. 

His arrival created considerable excitement and some anxiety, not onlyat the palace, where Maximilian was expecting news from France much as aman awaits his sentence, but also at the quartier-general. 

Information had come that the course taken by the marshal had not provedsatisfactory to Napoleon. It was whispered that he had not shownsufficient zeal in the task required of him under the new policy; thathis sovereign was seriously annoyed at what he conceived to be wilfulprocrastination in the withdrawal of the army; and that he was nowsending his own aide-de-camp to cut the Gordian knot in the tangledskein of Mexican politics. 

The marshal's popularity in his command was no longer what it had been. The intrigues carried on both in France and in Mexico, with the purposeof setting up General Douay in his place, had resulted in ill feelingthat had been turned to account by the Mexican Imperialists. 

There were those in the army who did not fear to impute unworthy motivesto the commander-in-chief's actions. His Mexican marriage had not addedto his prestige among the French. It was hinted that his lenientdealings with the empire and with Maximilian were due to the fact thatthe handsome property at San Cosme must be left behind in the event ofhis return to France; and even worse calumnies, too ill founded tomention, were circulated with regard to the selfishness of his policy. 

The fact that General Castelnau, who found himself intrusted withsuperior powers, extending, if necessary, even to the actual supersedingof the commander-in-chief, was, from the military standpoint, themarshal's subordinate, seemed likely to add considerably to the chanceof new difficulties. 

Meanwhile the general seemed in no hurry to enter upon his thanklessmission. Unmindful of the natural suspense of those who were awaitinghim, he and his little party traveled leisurely. A martyr to the gout, he lingered on his way, no doubt making good use of his time as he wentfor the study of the situation which he was called upon to clear up. Afortnight thus elapsed before he approached the capital. 

Serious events had taken place during his journey from the coast whichat first seemed somewhat to simplify the difficulties of his mission;and upon his arrival in the capital affairs had reached an acute crisiswhich men cleverer than himself and his colleagues, working in harmony, might perhaps have turned to favorable account for France. 

On October 18, three days before General Castelnau reached the capital, a telegram, sent from Miramar via New York by the Comte de Bombelles, brought to Chapultepec the news of the illness of Empress Charlotte. This last blow fell with crushing weight upon the suffering Emperor. This was about the time when the return of the Empress was expected, andhe had made his plans to travel toward the coast to meet her on herhomeward journey. Some days earlier Colonel Kodolitch and his Austrianhussars had been summoned to the capital to form his body-guard. Maximilian now at once resolved to leave Chapultepec, and to retire toOrizaba. 

As soon as this was known, an uneasy feeling spread over Mexico causedby a rumor that the empire was at an end, and that Maximilian wasleaving the city, never to return. The result was a panic. The newcabinet and other clerical loaders flocked to the castle to get someassurance as to the Emperor's intentions; but he was ill, and deniedhimself to all visitors, even to the Princess Iturbide, who, it issaid, * resented the slight in violent language. **

* See Basch, "Maximilien en Mexique, " p. 56. 

** In 1866, the imperial couple being childless, Maximilian bethoughthimself of establishing a dynasty. One of the Emperor Iturbide's sons, Angel, was married to an American woman, and his child, a mere infant, became the basis of a remarkable agreement which excited much comment. 

By the terms of this contract, and for certain important pecuniaryconsiderations, the uncles, aunt, and father of the boy agreed that theIturbide family, including the parents, should leave the country, andthat Maximilian should become the guardian of the child, the aunt, DonaJosefa Iturbide, the masterful mind of the family, remaining as hisgoverness. The consent of the mother was wrenched from her, and thecontract was duly signed. Its execution was not carried out withoutconsiderable resistance on the part of Princess Iturbide who, however, was finally sent out of the country. 

The ministers, terror-stricken at the thought of being left alone toface a revolution, tendered their resignation in a body; and Senor Laresdeclared that if the Emperor left the city there would no longer be agovernment. 

Looking back upon the event, it would now seem that by threatening theministers with summary measures if they did not reconsider theirdecision, Marshal Bazaine had lost his one opportunity to clear thetables for a new "deal, " and thus become master of the situation. But itis only fair to state that the conditions were bewildering. Theconcentration of the army had not been perfected, and scattereddetachments were still at considerable distances. Rumors of SicilianVespers once more floated in the air. The exasperation of the clericalparty against the French was now far more violent than that of theLiberals. Indeed, it seemed difficult to calculate the extent of theconflagration which a single spark might kindle. Moreover, no one thendoubted Maximilian's resolve to abdicate. To-day, however, it would seemthat by stemming the torrent at this time Marshal Bazaine defeated hisown end. This may fairly be inferred from the part played by the priestFischer in the transaction. 

Father Fischer was an obscure adventurer of low degree, and of more thanshady reputation, whose shrewdness and talent for intrigue had impressedthemselves upon the weakened mind of the Emperor in the latter days ofhis reign. Utterly unscrupulous, with everything to gain for himself andhis party, and with absolutely nothing to lose but a life which he tookgood care to save by avoiding danger, he insinuated himself into theconfidence of Maximilian, and became the Mephistopheles of the last actin the Mexican drama. Having but recently risen to the confidentialposition he now occupied near the person of the Emperor, the latter'sabdication was obviously against his interests. When the ministersthreatened to resign, he is stated to have represented to them thattheir action was likely to precipitate the catastrophe which they soughtto avoid; that by such a demonstration of their own helplessness theymust only confirm the Emperor's determination; and he persuaded themthat it the Emperor were not allowed temporarily to retire to Orizaba hemight without further delay return to Europe. 

It is claimed by Dr. Basch* that the priest's arguments had as much todo with bringing the ministers to resume their portfolios as themarshal's firmness. However this may be, the crisis was avoided. OnOctober 2, Maximilian, Senor Arroyo, Father Fischer, Dr. Basch, andCouncilor Hertzel, under the escort of Colonel Kodolitch and hisAustro-Hungarian regiment, started from Chapultepec at three o'clock inthe morning. There was no doubt in any one's mind that his departure forOrizaba was the first relay in the Emperor's journey to the coast. 

* See Basch, loc. Cit. , p. 61. 

There is something profoundly pathetic in this chapter of his life. Itforms a fitting introduction to that tragedy the threatening outline ofwhich even then faintly appeared upon the horizon as a dreadfulpossibility. 

The friends whose society had enlivened the earlier days of his reign inhis adopted land were now scattered like straws at the first approach ofthe cyclone. The Empress had gone upon her hopeless mission, never toreturn; and the faithful Comte de Bombelles was with her to advise andprotect. Court and political intrigues had loosened the bond that hadunited the Emperor to the great clerical leaders who had made theempire. 

Whatever his dreams may have been, the reality was pitiful. The gildingthinly spread over the Mexican crown had worn off; the glitter haddisappeared. The treasury was empty, courtiers were now few, and thesuccessor of the Montezumas, the descendant of the Hapsburgs, thepopular archduke, the Austrian admiral, was now reduced to the intimacyof a corrupt adventurer in priestly garb, who had stolen into hisconfidence upon the shortest acquaintance, and of his German physician, Dr. Basch, whom he had known only one month. These two, with his stillfaithful followers, the councilor Hertzel and the naturalist Bilimek, were his only confidential advisers during the terrible crisis upon theissue of which depended life and fame. 

It so happened that, a day or two after the Emperor's departure, as wewere passing Chapultepec on horseback, a friend invited us to enter thepalace to look at the costly improvements made in the last two years bythe Emperor. While there we were shown the private apartments. No onehad as yet straightened out the place. A certain disorder still reigned, as though the imperial inmate had just left. His clothes hung in openclosets, and the condition of the rooms betokened a hasty departure, andformed a dramatic mise en scene for the opening of the last act of hislife. 

A coincidence brought General Castelnau and his party to Ayotla, ontheir way to the capital, as the Emperor and his escort stopped therefor breakfast. Maximilian, however, refused to see the envoy. It is saidthat he even declined to see Captain Pierron, his own secretary, thentraveling with the general. 

At this time the unfortunate prince seemed utterly crushed under therepeated blows dealt him by fate. According to his physician, then hisdaily companion, his imagination shoved him his own conduct as a nobleeffort to regenerate the country by the establishment of an empireresting upon the will of the nation. This effort had been frustrated "bythe resistance of the Mexicans [!] and the vexations of the French. "

The journey was a dreary one. The Emperor most of the time remainedsilent. On the way he generally accepted the hospitality of priests. 

A certain apprehension was felt as to his safety, and the road was wellguarded, as it was feared that he might be kidnapped. That such fearswere not wholly unfounded was proved by an incident which took place atAculzingo. After a short halt, when the imperial party was about toproceed on its journey, it was discovered with dismay that the eightwhite mules forming the Emperor's team had been stolen. 

At Orizaba he received his last ovation; but these public demonstrationshad lost their charm. He withdrew to the house of Senor Bringas, aviolent reactionary, most inimical to the French. There he deniedhimself to every one. Of his military household he retained only twoMexican officers--Colonel Ormachea and Colonel Lamadrid. Later heretired to the hacienda of Jalapilla. While here even letters were notsure to reach him. His correspondence passed through interested hands, and was sifted under prying eyes, before being placed before him. No onewas allowed to see him without the knowledge of the priest, who wasrapidly obtaining over him an influence that was to lead him to hisdeath. Those who approached him at this time reported him as completelyunder the influence, almost in the custody, of Father Fischer. 

So complete was his mental collapse that it was said, and by somebelieved, that during their residence at Cuernavaca, prior to thedeparture of the Empress, a subtle poison known to the Indians of thatregion, and the action of which was through the brain, had beenadministered to the imperial couple. *

* An attempt is said to have been made upon his life in July, 1866. Theaffair was hushed up, but is said to have made a deep impression on hismind. See D'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique: Histoire des DerniersMois de l'Empire du Mexique, " pp. 29, 54. 

The condition of the Empress, the prolonged fits of depression to whichMaximilian was subject when he resolved to remove his residence toOrizaba, away from the presence of his hated allies, his extremelistlessness, which betrayed itself in the carelessness of his attireand in his lapses of etiquette and of memory, gave color to the report. But there was quite enough in the unfortunate prince's situation toaccount for the abnormal condition of his mind without having recourseto romantic fancies. 

All this time the Austrian frigate Elizabeth was at anchor off VeraCruz, awaiting his pleasure, ready to take him back to Trieste, and partof his baggage was already on board. 

His own countrymen looked upon the game as lost. The empire, which forsome time had been caving in at the center, was now everywhere crumblingat the edges. Only the most unblushing personal interest could advise, and the most inconsistent folly consider, the retaining of a crownwhich, under circumstances even less inauspicious, he had only a shorttime before wisely resolved to surrender. 

Unsuccessful in his attempt to govern with French financial and militarysupport, how could he contemplate reigning alone, without allies, money, or credit? The mere thought seemed madness. After insisting upon aplebiscite to sanction his reign, how could he honorably remain now thatthe country in arms was everywhere falling away from his standard?

On November 6 the rumor of his abdication was circulated in New York;and the London "Post" and "Star" published it as a fact. But intrigueand folly prevailed. 

It has been claimed that a communication from his former secretary, theBelgian Eloin, now his agent abroad, had a decisive effect upon hisfinal resolution. In this letter, since published by M. De Keratry, M. Eloin warned Maximilian against affording the French an easy way out oftheir difficulties by yielding to General Castelnau's wiles. He urgedupon the Emperor the maintaining of the empire after the departure ofthe foreigners, a free appeal to the Mexican nation for the materialmeans of sustaining himself, and, in case of failure, the return of thecrown to the people who gave it. Thus, and thus alone, in the opinion ofthe secretary, could the Emperor return with credit to Europe, with anuntarnished fame, and "play the part which belonged to him in everyrespect in the important events that could not fail to occur" inAustria. 

The hints at the general dissatisfaction with the present order ofthings at home, at the discouragement of Emperor Francis Joseph, at thepopularity of Maximilian both in his native country and in Venetia, showthat, in the mind of his secretary at least, the possibilities ofMaximilian's political career were by no means confined to thesovereignty of Mexico. In reading this remarkable letter, one's mindinvoluntarily turns to the family scene enacted at Miramar, whenMaximilian, compelled by his brother to renounce his rights to theAustrian throne, clung to them with a tenacity that seriously loosenedthe close bond that hitherto had united the two men. 

This letter also explains the insistence of Francis Joseph, through hisambassador Baron de Lago, when the possibility of his brother's returnwas discussed, that Maximilian, once upon Austrian soil, should drop theimperial title. * However this may be, from this time Maximilian's mindseemed made up. He determined to risk his all upon the promises of theclerical leaders. 

* Compare "L'Empire de Maximilien, " M. De Keratry, p. 220. Vol. Iii, p. 404) It has been stated by M. Domenech ("Histoire du Mexique, " thatMaximilian's mother also wrote an urgent letter, advising him not toreturn to Europe yet. 

General Castelnau and his party arrived in the capital on October21, 1866. A few days after their arrival, Mme. Magnan invited a number ofus to take supper at her house, after the opera, to meet the newcomers. 

The general was a tall, middle-aged man of prepossessing mien andsoldierly bearing. A charming talker, his manners were those of oneaccustomed to the best society. He readily fell into our easy life. 

He constantly invited us to his box at the opera, and at first arrangedpleasant parties; but later, when the gravity of the situation weighedupon him, and his health suffered under it, while he often placed thebox at our disposal, he came to it only when equal to the exertion. 

Notwithstanding many admirable qualities, the general was scarcelystrong enough for the part which he was called upon to play. Indeed, itis difficult to imagine how any representative of the Emperor of theFrench, at this stage, could have assumed control of events. Lookingback upon it now, it would seem as though, under existing conditions, arbitration alone could have stemmed the current of human passion thenhurrying all involved toward the final catastrophe. 

The knowledge that Napoleon III, who had set up his throne, was now inaccord with the United States government and with the Liberal leaders totear it from under him, stung Maximilian to the quick. He notunnaturally felt a strong desire to remain a stumbling-block in the wayof negotiations which to him seemed treacherous and infamous. WhenGeneral Castelnau arrived he was hesitating. The presence of Napoleon'saide-de-camp was not calculated to soothe his feelings. The return ofGeneral Miramon and General Marquez at this crisis again turned the tideof events. 

These men, formerly set aside through French influence, felt aresentment which added strength to their party feeling. The confidenceof the Emperor in their ability once more to rally the people about hisbanner, through the influence of the clergy, triumphed over hisindecision. Senor Lares had promised him the immediate control of fourmillion dollars and of an army ready to take the field. Now here wereold, experienced leaders to take command. 

He hesitated no longer. Breaking with all declared principles of policy, he threw himself into the arms of the clerical party, and pledginghimself to reinstate the clergy and to return to the church itsconfiscated property, prepared to play his last hand without the French. 

The marshal was anxiously awaiting the promised documents which were toannounce the final terms of abdication. Instead of these, ColonelKodolitch was sent by the Emperor to arrange the preliminary details forthe return of the Austro-Belgian troops. The letter announcing hisarrival (October 31) was, moreover, sufficiently ambiguous in itswording to leave Maximilian a loophole by which to escape from hisformer declared intention. The negotiations were now opened anew. Ameeting of the council of state was called at Jalapilla, to which themarshal was summoned, "to consider the establishment of a stablegovernment to protect the interests that might be compromised, " etc. TheFrench government had, however, already come to an understanding withthe United States, and the French agents in Mexico deemed it best thatthe marshal should not be present. 

After a three days' session, the meeting at Orizaba resulted in a planof action calculated to bring about a complete rupture betweenMaximilian and his former allies. 

On December 1 Maximilian issued his official manifesto, in which heannounced his intention to call together a national congress, and hisdetermination, upon the representations of his council and hisministers, to remain at the head of affairs. 

When Cortez, after landing upon the coast of Mexico, decided to burn hisships, he did not more thoroughly cut off his retreat than didMaximilian when, throwing himself into the hands of the reactionaries, he wrote his final letter to Marshal Bazaine, and published hismanifesto. All personal relations now virtually ceased between theEmperor and the marshal. Official communications were carried on throughthe president of the council of state. 

On the very day when the imperial proclamation was issued, GeneralSherman and Messrs. Lewis, Plumb, and Campbell arrived in the port ofVera Cruz, on board of the Susquehanna. The event caused genuinesurprise. 

A few days before their arrival, the marshal had received from theMarquis de Montholon a notice of their departure on a mission having forits object the reinstatement of the government of Juarez withoutconflict with the French, the abdication of Maximilian being thenregarded as a fact. 

General Magruder, who met the American envoys in Havana, reported tothem that at the date of his departure from Mexico, on November 1, Maximilian was on the eve of retiring; that he had been detained atOrizaba only by the arrival of Generals Miramon and Marquez; and thatthe common understanding was that the government had been handed over toMarshal Bazaine. 

The American consul, Mr. Otterburg, called upon the commander-in-chief, and told him that his government was acting in concert with theTuileries to restore the republic, and that General Porfirio Diaz wasthe leader into whose hands the care of the capital should betransferred in order to avoid possible bloodshed. He therefore urgedupon the marshal the expediency of inviting General Diaz to advance nearto the city. According to M. De Keratry, Mr. Otterburg even informed himthat arrangements had been made with the bankers of the capital toassure one month's pay to the troops of the Liberal leader. This episodeplainly illustrates the lack of concert and of mutual understanding socharacteristic of every attempt made at this time by the French leadersat home and abroad to steer out of the cruel position in which thenational honor had been placed. 

The unlooked-for result of his negotiations was a severe blow to GeneralCastelnau. He had not once been summoned to the Emperor's presence, andthe principal object of his mission had utterly failed. The gravity ofthe situation, as well as its annoyances, weighed upon him, and he wasill and depressed. 

A last attempt was made by the French representatives, on December 8, todemonstrate to Maximilian, in a joint note, the impossibility ofsustaining himself without the French army. General Castelnau announcedto him that the return of the troops would take place during the firstmonths of 1867. A few days later (December 13) the effect of thiscommunication was heightened by a despatch from Napoleon III, then atCompiegne, peremptorily ordering the return of the foreign legion. 

By the treaty of Miramar, the services of the legion were insured toMaximilian for six years; but what did Napoleon then care for treaties!

General Castelnau made one more personal effort to save the situation. Accompanied by M. Dano* and the Comte de St. Sauveur, he started onDecember 20 for Puebla, where Maximilian was the guest of the archbishopof the diocese. 

* A strong feeling existed against M. Dano, the French minister, who wasopenly accused of selfishness in his policy. He had married a youngMexican woman, whose rich dowry was derived from the mines of Real delMonte, and it was urged by the Imperialists that his weight was cast inthe scales on the side of the Juarists, with a view to safeguarding hisMexican interests. 

According to a note received by me from one of the travelers, they wereat first sanguine of success, so impossible did it seem that the Emperorwould seriously persevere in his resolve. But although they remainedseveral days, and did their utmost to win over the Emperor's Mexicanadvisers, nothing came of this supreme attempt. * They were reluctantlyadmitted to an audience by Maximilian. In the course of this interviewhe recognized the fact that he probably must leave Mexico, but declaredhimself the best judge of the proper time for him to lay down his crown, and claimed the right to turn over the reins of government to theadministration that must succeed the empire. 

* Father Fischer, it is said, was offered thirty thousand dollars tourge Maximilian to abdicate. (D'Hericault, p. 39). 

Little show of good feeling existed now between Napoleon's special envoyand the quartier-general. Indeed, the lack of harmony was spreading toofficers of lesser rank. Severe criticism was indulged in on both sides. Never was the cynical old French saying so fully borne out by fact:"Quand il n'y a pas de foin au ratelier, les chevaux se battent. " Therewas no success or even honorable failure possible; and the racked brainsof the leaders found relief in unjust blame of one another, and inmutual accusations, which served only to lower the plane to which thegreat impending disaster must fall in the eyes of posterity. 

The alluring mirage of a neo-Latin empire had completely vanished fromthe Western horizon. Where it had stood, the dissatisfied French army, under inharmonious leaders, now saw only a heavy bank of clouds andevery sign of the approaching storm. 

It will be remembered* that as a result of the new agreement withFrance, signed by Maximilian July 30, 1866, mixed regiments had beenformed with the debris of the disbanded auxiliary corps and withliberated French soldiers. It had originally been intended to form withthe Cazadores de Mejico an effective force of fifteen thousand men, towhich it was planned to add ten regiments of cavalry. The first of thesewas commanded by Colonel Lopez. In December, 1866, three companies ofgendarmes, numbering in all some twelve hundred men, were organizedunder Colonel Tindal. A regiment of red hussars, composed of the debrisof the disbanded Austrian hussars and uhlans, about seven hundred men, was placed under the command of Captain Khevenhuller;** and this, withthe Austrian regiment of Colonel Hammerstein, *** completed the neworganization. A large number of Frenchmen, the best of whom had beendetached from the military service with the official sanction of theirgovernment, had thus entered the imperial army and received from theMexican government their equipment and the advertised premium offered. They had formed the framework and backbone of the new regiments, for theequipment of which Maximilian had strained every nerve, going so far asto sacrifice even his own silver plate. 

* See above, "foreign legion. "** Now Prince Khevenhuller. 

*** Colonel Hammerstein was killed in the trenches during the siege ofMexico on May 25, 1867. He commanded the defense of the western approachto the city by Vallejo and San Lazaro, as well as Peralvillo to thenorth, facing Guadalupe, In his defense of the latter position he wassupported by General O'Horan, who was at a later date taken and put todeath by order of President Juarez. 

In the beginning of January, 1867, the marshal, under orders receivedfrom Paris, issued a circular withdrawing the consent of the Frenchgovernment to these enlistments, and offering to all such enlistedsoldiers and officers the means of returning to France. A few dayslater, on the 11th, this offer was extended to all French subjects, andeven to the Austro-Belgian auxiliaries should they wish to availthemselves of it. 

In his circular the marshal recalled the law which deprives anyFrenchman serving under a foreign flag of his rights as a Frenchcitizen. This placed in the position of deserters French soldiers andofficers who in good faith had accepted service in the new Mexican army. It practically forced them to break their oath of allegiance toMaximilian, and to despoil the treasury of the premium received andalready spent, or to become outlaws in the eyes of their own country. The false position in which these men were placed was, a few weekslater, cruelly emphasized when General Escobedo, after his victory overMiramon at San Jacinto, took advantage of the legal quibble thus offeredhim, and caused French prisoners to be shot as declared outlaws underMarshal Bazaine's circular. Notwithstanding all this, out of theremainder of the Cazadores a battalion was formed, and eventually placedunder the command of Prince Salm-Salm, and later under that of theAustrian commander Pitner. These did magnificent service at Queretaro. *

* See above, "Cazadores de Mejico. "

After the departure of the French army, an effective force of some fivehundred men was organized of French deserters and such Frenchmen as, forsome cause or other, had remained in Mexico. This formed acontre-guerilla, which, under the orders of Commandant Chenet, eventually did good service in the defense of Mexico. But the marshal'scircular, by removing the better element among the officers of the newlyenrolled corps, ruthlessly broke up the organization of the little armyof twenty thousand men so laboriously collected by Maximilian, andbecame the latter's bitterest and perhaps best-founded grievance againsthis former allies. 

Urged by General Castelnau, the marshal was steadily concentrating histroops. The foreign representatives were fast leaving the country. Unmistakable symptoms of a final collapse were everywhere visible, andall who had been in any way conspicuous in their sympathy with theintervention or the empire were anxiously preparing for the catastrophe. 

V. THE END OF THE FRENCH INTERVENTION

The cheerfulness of the imperial capital had faded away in the suspenseand anxiety of the moment. All wore grave, anxious faces. Those who weregoing first were busy and bustling. The Mexicans whom one met in thestreet looked sullen and often hateful. It did not seem safe freely toexpress one's opinions; but thoughtful people felt that the close of theintervention, if it did not carry with it that of the empire, opened uppossibilities that one shuddered to contemplate. Young and old, Mexicansand foreigners, realized that they were playing a part in the openingscene of the last act of a tragedy the denouement of which no one daredto guess. 

A serious personal problem was now before us. What were we to do?Closely connected as we had been with the invaders, we could expectlittle favor. Nor could we even depend upon the protection of the UnitedStates flag, as the Imperialists would for some time, at least, remainin possession of the capital. Yet to leave Mexico was a serious step forus to take; it meant abandoning considerable property, and at such atime this meant its loss. 

The matter was decided for us at military headquarters. Our friends wereclear that the future was too uncertain for any one to remain who had inany great degree been connected with the intervention. All earnestlyurged us to go; and the remembrance of our early experience in Mexicomade us dread renewed exposure to increased anxieties. 

Every one was preparing for the exodus. Remates, escorts, and otherdetails of travel were the common topics of conversation. One heard oflittle else than of the safest and most comfortable way of getting downto the coast. Bands of Liberals were said to be everywhere closing inupon the neighborhood; and although, of course, "diplomacy" had made theretreat of the French secure, some forethought must be exercised bytravelers in order to insure safety on the journey. 

January 2 was fixed upon as the most auspicious day for our departure. At this date the first detachment of the army was to be directed towardthe coast, and we were to follow in its wake. Moreover, all along theroad word had been sent to the military authorities to look after oursafety in their respective jurisdictions, and everything was done tosmooth our way. 

For some evenings before our departure there was a round of simplefestivities in the little colony. We were to leave first, but all mustscatter soon. To me these entertainments seemed as lugubrious as aprolonged "wake. " It was as though we were launching out in the night, and, like children in the dark, we sang aloud to keep up our courage. 

For several days our patio rang with the clanging of swords, as ournumerous military friends--I was about to say "comrades"--came to bid usGodspeed and to offer their services. 

On our last night in Mexico a friend gave us a midnight supper, fromwhich we were to step out at three o'clock in the morning to meet thestage which was ordered to stop and pick us up at the corner of thePaseo. This was intended to be a jolly send-off; only our nearestfriends were asked. But what a mockery of mirth!

For three mortal hours we strove to affect what Henri Murger so wittilydescribes as the "gaiete de croque-mort qui s'enterre lui-meme"; and itwas a relief when the moment came to make our last preparations. 

The small party escorted us to the place where we were to board thecoach. Oh, the gloom of that early start in the darkness of the morning!The dreariness of every one's attempt at cheerfulness! And then theapproaching noise of the mules, and the rumbling of the wheels, as thesomber mass neared the spot where we stood in weary expectancy. Exclamations of good will, kind wishes, a pressure of the hand, a lastkiss, a farewell, a lump in the throat, a scurry, and a plunge into thedark hole open to receive us. At last the start, and, looking back, somewhitish specks waving in the distance against the dark, receding groupof friends left behind; and five years of my life, all the youth I everknew, were turned down and closed forever! What was before me now?

We breakfasted at Rio Frio. Later in the day, at Buena Vista, betweenPuebla and the capital, we came upon a military encampment. It turnedout to be the last remnant of the Belgian corps, then awaiting orders toproceed to the coast. As our stage halted, we had a few words withColonel van der Smissen and other officers. There was in our party aBelgian captain who was on his way home. While chatting together, we sawat some distance, against a background formed by the Belgian camp, Princess Salm-Salm, in her gray-and-silver uniform, sitting her horselike a female centaur--truly a picturesque figure, with her whitecouvre-nuque glistening under the tropical sun. 

The colonel had just received the intelligence that Maximilian, with hisescort, would pass Buena Vista on the morrow, making his way to thecapital. 

Before we left Puebla, where General Douay was in command, we were toldthat the Emperor had started upon his journey to Mexico. He was escortedby a squadron of Austrian cavalry. A body of French Zouaves, which wasto be relieved of duty upon his reaching the capital, was protecting theroad. Besides the officers of his household, his physician, and hisconfessor, Father Pischer, Maximilian had with him General Marquez andhis staff. 

The prince was returning to the capital to prepare for the finalstruggle. He was determined to take his chances. These had beenpresented to him in as hopeful a light as the imagination of hisinterested councilors could place them. Now the time had come when hemust arouse himself to action. 

At Orizaba we learned that the Liberals were closing in at every pointupon the ever-narrowing empire. The French having seized upon the VeraCruz custom-house in payment of the war indemnity, the only source ofsupply was cut off, and the stress for money was terrible. The promiseof financial relief mysteriously held out by the new cabinet had turnedout to be delusive, and, it was soon found, was based upon the hope of alottery! When the time for action came, the promised millions meltedaway, and all that the unfortunate monarch could scrape together, on theeve of entering upon a campaign on which hung his life, was a paltryfifty thousand dollars!

The troops were moving down. A large number of transports was waiting, and a fleet under Admiral la Ronciere le Noury was in readiness toescort the marshal and the army on the homeward journey. 

Upon our arrival at Vera Cruz, we stopped at the Hotel de Diligencias toawait the departure of the next outgoing vessel to New Orleans. 

Here we were immediately called upon by Colonel Dupin, the commander ofthe region, who invited us to a breakfast to be given in our honor. Hestrongly impressed upon us the necessity of keeping indoors and avoidingexposure to the sun. This did not prevent our accepting an invitation tovisit the Magenta, the flagship of Admiral Cloue, then in the harbor, upon hearing of which the colonel called again to remonstrate with uswith regard to what he deemed an imprudence. Having been requested fromheadquarters to look after us, he regarded us as under his care, andevidently felt the burden of the responsibility. 

Colonel Dupin was a picturesque figure. He was already an old man when Imet him, and was regarded in the army as a brilliant officer ofundaunted courage, but of questionable methods and of almost savageharshness. 

He had taken part in the Chinese war, was present when the French andBritish allies entered Peking, and had a share in the sacking of theSummer Palace. He returned to France laden with a rich booty, includingprecious objects of artistic value, which he boldly exhibited for salein Paris. This was against all military traditions, and in consequenceColonel Dupin's connection with the army was severed. Time had elapsedsince this episode, however, and against Maximilian's expressed wisheshe had been sent to Mexico by Napoleon himself to take command of thecontre-guerilla formed for the defense of the coast region against thedepredations of the Mexican bands. It was a relentless warfare, in whichthe vindictiveness of the Mexicans met with cruel reprisals. The mostexaggerated stories were told of the brutality of the French commander, who, in order to intimidate the inhabitants, always in league with theguerrillas then infesting the region, treated them as accompliceswhenever outbreaks occurred causing loss of life and property. Thistreatment, if it insured the submission of the people, was not likely toengender loyalty. Moreover, it earned for Colonel Dupin the title of"Tigre, " of which, strange as it may appear, he seemed, I thought, rather proud. 

The French army, with the marshal, made its final exit in state from thecapital on February 5. At the last, and in order to insure their ownsafety, the French had surrendered the points held by them directly tothe Liberal leaders. 

Thanks to this prudent but unchivalrous policy, * the retreat of the armywas as uneventful as had been the movement of concentration. The Liberalforces offered no opposition, and their guerrillas did not even harassthe rear-guard of the retreating French. Several thousand men, mainlyfrom the foreign legion, however, deserted. It is said that the marshalclaimed them, but General Marquez replied that if he wanted them hemight come and fetch them. 

* Commandant Billaud was censured by his superior officers for having, in his retreat from Mexico to Puebla, beaten back a body of Liberaltroops who had taken possession of the town of Chalco. See D'Hericault, loc. Cit. , p. 41. 

On March 3 the marshal arrived in Vera Cruz with his last detachment, having lingered on the way, in the hope that the misguided Emperor mightreconsider his decision and still be induced to join him. Orizaba andCordoba were already in the hands of the Liberals, and all communicationwith the capital had virtually been cut off. The Commander-in-chief hadnot even heard of what had taken place since his departure. 

Letters from members of the marshal's staff, received after we sailedfrom Vera Cruz, convey a graphic impression of the last days of theintervention. 

From one under date of February 28, 1867, I quote the following passage:

Vera Cruz is overcrowded; many of the troops are on board theirtransports. The marshal is expected tomorrow. The Liberal army isalready in Tacubaya, and bands are at Tacuba and all around the valleyof Mexico ready to enter the capital. Every one thinks that the Emperormust leave very soon. Our orders are to hurry off our last detachments;perhaps we dread lest a cry for help should come from Mexico. Terribleconfusion prevails here. Lodgings have given out, and officers sleepanywhere in the streets. Last night Vicomte de Noue slept on thestaircase, having secured for his wife a room in which four beds weremade for her, her three children, her two maids, her two dogs, and herthree parrots! The price for such miserable accommodations is soexorbitant that everybody prefers going immediately on board. . . . 

Another letter, dated March 4, says:

The marshal is as unpopular as ever with the army. His methods arecensured by every one. The transports are here. With a better system ourmen might be shipped as soon as they arrive in this God-forsaken hole. Instead of this, however, unnecessary delay results in sickness amongthe rank and file. According to my orderly, who saw them, fifteen menwere picked up this morning whom the surgeons had declined to embark. . . . 

And the last, from another friend, under date of March 12, on board theCastiglione, says:

We sail to-day at eleven o'clock. For twenty-four hours out of Vera Cruzwe are to form an escort to the Souverain, on board of which are themarshal and his wife, in order that their Excellencies may sail out ofport in state. After this we will make straight for Toulon. All our menare at this moment on board their transports. The Mexican colors areflying over the citadel. The French intervention has come to a close, and is now a thing of the past. . . . 

PART V

THE END

I. QUERETARO, 1867

The end is known. On February 13 the Emperor, with Generals Marquez andVidaurri, at the head of a column of some two thousand men, salliedforth from Mexico to establish his base of operations at Queretaro. 

After his defeat at San Jacinto (January 27), General Miramon, with theremains of his army, had fallen back upon Queretaro, then held byGeneral Mejia with nine hundred men, and it was urged that Maximilianshould there join his faithful generals. This plan, evolved by SenorLares and the clerical leaders, had for its ostensible object to sparethe capital the horrors of a siege. But it was more than suspected thata certain distrust had arisen between the Emperor and his Mexicansupporters. They feared lest he also might make terms with the nationalparty; and they wished, by inducing him to leave the capital, to put itout of his power to sacrifice them or their cause. Had he not oncebefore, after accepting the crown at their hands, thrown himself intothe arms of their enemies by calling Liberal leaders to his councils?However worthy in the eyes of posterity may appear Maximilian's attemptto reconcile opposing elements in the interest of peace and order, sucha course was not calculated to inspire confidence in his personalloyalty to the once discarded extremists, now become his onlysupporters. Miramon and Marquez were not likely to forget that, in thehour of triumph of the monarchy erected by their hands, they had beensent, as wags then put it, one to study the art of fortification inPrussia, the other to watch the progress of civilization in Turkey. 

It is difficult to penetrate all the hidden causes that governed theextraordinary policy followed at this time; but there is little doubtthat individual interest and personal distrust played too large a partin its adoption. However this may be, it was at Queretaro that the lastscene of the tragedy was enacted. 

The auxiliary regiments, Maximilian's most trustworthy dependence in hisextremity, were, by the advice of Marquez, left behind. The Emperor, heurged, must now throw himself entirely upon the Mexican nation. ThusColonels Kodolitch, Khevenhuller, Hammerstein, and others, remained inMexico, and only a few of the Emperor's foreign supporters followed him. 

General Quiroga's division was withdrawn from San Luis and brought toQueretaro, while the veteran division of General Mendez, who hadvictoriously held Morelia and the Michoacan against the forces ofGenerals Regules and Corona, was likewise ordered, on February 13, toabandon that section of the country and to hasten to the Emperor'ssupport. These leaders, with Generals Miramon, Marquez, Mejia, andCastillo, and General Arellano, who commanded the artillery, were themost conspicuous among the Imperialist officers gathered aroundMaximilian at this time. *

* A. Haus, "Queretaro: Souvenirs d'un Officier de l'EmpereurMaximilien, " pp. 11, 17. 

During the cruel weeks of mingled hope and despair that had elapsedsince he had left Chapultepec, Maximilian had conquered self. Now theambitious Austrian prince, the weak tool of intriguing politicians, theupholder of religious and political retrogression, disappears; and wherehe had stood posterity will henceforth see only the noble son of theHapsburgs, the well-bred gentleman who, aware of his failure, was readyto stand by it and to pay the extreme penalty of his errors. 

Before the figure of Maximilian of Austria, from the time when he tookcommand of his little army and resolved to stand for better or worse bythose who had remained faithful to his fallen fortunes, all true-heartedmen must bow with respect. From this time forth his words and acts werenoble; and in his attitude at this supreme moment, his incapacity as achief executive, his moral and intellectual limitations as a man, areoverlooked. We forget that he was no leader when we see how well hecould die. 

It is noteworthy that, with the exception of General Miramon, those whohad most urged upon him the last sacrifice were not with him to shareit. Father Fischer disappeared from the stage of history almost asabruptly as he had entered it. Senior Lares and the cabinet, who wereresponsible for the last plan of action carried out by the Emperor, hadremained in Mexico at the head of affairs. General Marquez, when therepublican forces closed in upon the doomed empire, was sent fromQueretaro with General Vidaurri, under an escort of cavalry led byGeneral Quiroga, to raise supplies and reinforcements. He was vestedwith supreme authority as lieutenant of the empire, and had pledgedhimself to return with relief within twenty days. The Emperor wearilycounted the hours as time went by; but, like the raven sent out fromNoah's ark, General Marquez found enough to occupy him in thesatisfaction of his own greed, and was never again heard from by him whosent him. 

Overruling General Vidaurri, he deserted his imperial master in hisextremity. He used the extraordinary powers given him to establishhimself in the capital, where, for his own ends, he subjected thewretched inhabitants to the most cruel extortions. Routed at SanLorenzo* by General Diaz, who at once proceeded to besiege Mexico, heunduly prolonged the resistance of the city after the final downfall ofthe empire, exposing it to the unnecessary hardships of a four months'siege, the horrors of which were mitigated only by the generosity andforbearance of the Liberal commander. 

* In the difficult retreat which followed these defeats, General Marquezfled with a body of two hundred cavalry, leaving his beaten army, thenpursued by sixteen thousand men, to extricate itself as best it might. Colonel Kodolitch then assumed command, and fighting his way through theenemy, brought back the debris of the imperial forces, now reduced toone third, to the capital, where the general had preceded him. 

It is said that this extraordinary conduct on the part of their officialleader caused the indignant foreign officers no little concern withregard to the future. In order to guard against similar accidents, acouncil was held by the foreign leaders, Colonel Kodolitch, Captain vonWickemburg, Captain Hammerstein, Commanders Klickzing and Chenet, etc. , who resolved that, although it was deeply humiliating for them to serveunder a general who did not blush to desert his command under fire, astheir service was needed by the Emperor they would retain theirrespective commissions; but in the moment of danger they would regardthemselves as under the orders of Colonel Kodolitch. They furtherdecided, should the city surrender, not to share in the terms of aMexican capitulation, but to make their own terms, or, if necessary, tocut their way through to the sea. 

See Charles d'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique, " page 231 et seq. 

When at last the starving people rose in indignation, and would standhim no longer, he suddenly vanished. It is said that on the eve of beingdelivered into the hands of his enemies he managed his escape byconcealing himself in a freshly dug grave. Twenty-seven years elapsedbefore the Mexican "Leopard" dared show his face once more in his nativeland, now transformed by the triumph of the men and of the institutionsagainst which he had so desperately fought. 

General Marquez, who, strangely enough, seems to have enjoyed the fullconfidence of his sovereign, had opposed with all his influence GeneralMiramon's desire to conduct the war aggressively and to attack in detailthe enemy's forces before they could unite to invest Queretaro. *

* A. Haus, loc. Cit. , page 164. 

Gradually the republican divisions, arriving from all points of thecountry, were allowed to concentrate, until the imperial army wascompletely hemmed in. The heroic sorties with which the weary monotonyof those weeks of expectancy was broken could now only result in thegradual exhaustion of the besieged and of their supplies. GeneralMiramon, fretting under the restraint imposed upon him, saw the circlegrowing closer and stronger, until it was too late to make a winningfight. Only the energy of despair could contemplate a bare escape fromthe trap in which the Imperialists were now caught. 

After a siege of over two months (from March 4 to May 15), during whichhis army had been cruelly depleted by frequent sorties and by the typhusfever now raging in the town, having abandoned all hope of relief fromwithout, starvation staring him in the face, and ammunition beginning tofail, Maximilian and his still faithful generals resolved to cut theirway through the enemy's lines with the little army, then numbering aboutnine thousand men and thirty-nine guns. This course had been urged forsome time, but General Miramon, ever sanguine of ultimate success, hadopposed the idea. 

Three o'clock in the morning of May 14 was the time agreed upon for thesortie. Colonel Salm-Salm was to form a body-guard for the Emperor withthe Khevenhuller hussars, the cavalry under Major Malburg, and theregiment of the Empress, commanded by Colonel Lopez. * All was inreadiness. The gold and silver in the imperial treasury were divided forsafe-keeping among four or five trusted men, ** one of whom was ColonelLopez, military commander of La Cruz, who enjoyed the confidence ofMaximilian and had just received from him a decoration for valor. ***

* Dr. Basch. (loc. Cit. , p. 229) mentions fifty of the Khevenhullerhussars, eventually increased to one hundred by volunteers, and eightymen were commanded by Major Malburg. Count Pacuta was lieutenant-colonelof the cavalry regiment of the Empress, of which Colonel Lopez wascommander. These, led by Prince Salm-Salm, were to protect the Emperorduring the sortie. 

** Colonel Lopez, Colonel Pradillo, Colonel Campos, Colonel Salm-Salm, Dr. Basch, and the Emperor's secretary, Senor Blasio. See Basch, loc. Cit. , p. 233. 

*** Colonel Lopez was highly thought of by the French, who had conferredupon him the red ribbon of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed to acton the imperial escort when the monarch landed, at Vera Cruz, and madehimself agreeable to him. The dragoons of the Empress, of which he wasthe commander, were regarded as one of the best regiments in the army. 

The man's political past, however, did not bear investigation, and whenMaximilian, whose favorite he had become, thought of promoting him tothe rank of general, the best among the officers of the imperial armyrequested General Mendez to inform the Emperor of his record. It hasbeen stated that his disappointed hopes influenced his conduct in thedark transactions through which his name has been handed down to lastinginfamy. 

When the generals assembled in council at ten o'clock on the evening ofMay 13 to decide upon the final details of the projected sortie, GeneralMejia stated that his preparations were not quite perfected, and it wasdecided to postpone the venture until the following night. *

* Salm-Salm, loc. Cit. 

At ten o'clock on the evening of May 14 the generals once more assembledin council of war with a view to arranging for the coming conflict; butagain the execution of the project was postponed twenty-four hours. 

It was past eleven o'clock when Colonel Lopez left the Emperor's roomafter talking over with his sovereign certain details connected with theservice. Before he went out Maximilian asked him, should he be woundedin the sortie, to prevent his capture by blowing out his brains. *

* Basch, loc. Cit. , p. 233. 

The Imperialist leaders had returned to their respective quarters. TheEmperor, however, was ill with dysentery; the excitement of theapproaching conflict kept him awake, and he did not retire till oneo'clock. At 3 he was seized with violent pain, and sent for hisphysician. A profound stillness reigned over La Cruz as the doctorpassed through its corridors, and no sign of the impending catastropheattracted his attention. 

But the angel of death was even then hovering over the group of bravemen gathered within the walls of the old convent on that fateful night. The coming hours were pregnant with tragedy. At this very moment, destiny was at work ruthlessly clipping the threads of the web sopainfully woven by them, and upon which hung their lives. 

At 2 a. M. A young officer of artillery, Lieutenant Albert Haus, * towhose special care his superior officer had intrusted the handling oftwo pieces which, in the plan laid for the intended sortie, were todefend the entrance of the huerta, or garden, of La Cruz, was awakened, as previously arranged, by his old sergeant, as he slept, wrapped in hiszarape, by the side of his battery. 

* See "Queretaro: Souvenirs d'un Officier de l'Empereur Maximilien"(Paris, 1869). 

For a while he paced up and down the platform, trying to overcome hisdrowsiness, as he took up his watch, and finally he sat down on one ofthe guns, feverishly awaiting the signal to prepare for the comingstruggle; for he was unaware of any change in the orders given. 

Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps coming toward him, and Colonel Lopez, recognizable in the dark by his uniform embroidered in silver, stoodbefore him, followed at a short distance by a body of soldiers. Pointingto these, he said: "Here is a reinforcement of infantry. Arouse yourartillerymen; have this gun taken out of its embrasure and turnedobliquely to the left--quickly. "

Believing that the time for the sortie had come, the lieutenant promptlycalled his men, while Colonel Lopez stood by impatiently, upbraiding inforcible terms the old sergeant, who, just aroused from his first sleep, was slow to obey. After repeating his orders, he hastily withdrew. 

The lieutenant was surprised at the strange instructions given him, andalthough he reflected that the colonel must have good reasons for thecommand, --probably some cause to fear an attack on this point, --heinstinctively felt a misgiving. 

The platoon of infantry brought by Colonel Lopez had taken its standbehind the battery. After carrying out the colonel's orders, thelieutenant looked for his sword and his zarape, left by him on theground where he had lain. They were missing. Suspecting the newcomers, he called their officer's attention to the fact. Then for the first timehe noticed the strange demeanor of his new companions. The officer wasutterly unknown to him. He seemed uncommunicative. There was somethingparticularly unfamiliar in the men's appearance. Yet as a number ofcompanies in the imperial army had been formed with city recruits oreven with prisoners taken in the sorties during the siege, this alonewould not have warranted serious suspicion. But when one of hisartillerymen came up to him excitedly and complained that his musket hadbeen taken from him, and when this complaint was promptly followed byanother, he again went to the officer and inquired to what corps he andhis men belonged. Without a moment's hesitation the stranger answeredthat he formed part of General Mendez's brigade. 

Lieutenant Hans had long served in this brigade and knew all itsofficers. His doubts were at once aroused. The conviction gradually grewupon him that something unusual was taking place, and again he beggedthe officer to tell him the real cause of his presence at this post. Theman answered that news had come that one of the battalions of thegarrison of La Cruz had agreed to betray the place, but that fortunatelythe conspiracy had been discovered, and that all the posts were nowbeing changed. This story tallied with the haste and peculiar manner ofColonel Lopez, the commander of the place, as well as with the unusualstir now visible farther along the line toward the pantheon. Anxious, however, to get at the truth, the lieutenant resolved to join thecolonel, and asked the officer the direction which he had taken. Thestranger silently pointed toward the pantheon. 

As the lieutenant proceeded to descend from the terrace, a sentry, hitherto unnoticed, roughly stopped him, crying, "Halt, there!" The manevidently had his orders, and the lieutenant turned to the strangeofficer, requesting him to suspend them in his favor. The latter, however, evaded the question. This irritated him, and noticing just thena man holding one of the missing muskets, he attempted to tear it awayfrom him, whereupon the soldier attacked him with his bayonet, andthings might have gone hard with Lieutenant Haus had not the strangeofficer interfered. 

"But, " exclaimed the young man, "will you tell me what on earth is goingon here?" "Do not worry, " reiterated the strange officer. " The truth isthat we are part of General Quiroga's brigade. We have just returnedfrom Mexico with General Marquez to relieve the place. "

The palpable falsehood was enough to excite the young man's worst fears. General Quiroga, it was well known, had left his infantry at Queretaro. Moreover, it was quite impossible for troops to enter the closelybesieged place without being heard and recognized by the besiegers. Something like the truth flashed through his brain. And yet how was heto account for the presence and words of Colonel Lopez, whose interest, as well as every tie of duty and gratitude, must bind him to theEmperor? In his bewilderment he exclaimed: "Amid so many falsehoods, Isuspect treason. " After a moment's hesitation the strange officerreplied: "Have no fear, senor; you are in the hands of the regular army. We are not guerrilleros; we belong to the battalion of the supremospoderes of the republic. "

For a moment the lieutenant stood petrified. The whole truth, in all itshideousness, burst upon him. The enemy was in possession of the place. What horrors would come next? And yet, Colonel Lopez--was it ahallucination? Could he have mistaken his identity in the darkness ofthe night? He called the old sergeant and asked him if he had recognizedthe colonel. "Yes, " replied the sergeant, who, having been roughlyhandled by their superior officer, had good reason to remember. 

"But then, " cried the young man, beside himself, now that the terrors ofthe situation dawned upon his understanding, "he must be a traitor! Heis going to deliver up the Emperor!"

"Are you only now finding this out?" sadly queried the old soldier. 

Lieutenant Haus once more turned to the strange officer. "Then, " heasked, "it is Colonel Lopez who introduced you here?"

"Certainly, " he replied. And, smiling: "But, I repeat it, you need haveno fear. We are of the regular army. No harm will come to you. "

He looked toward La Cruz, the improvised stronghold where the Emperorhad his headquarters, hoping to see some sign of a struggle--the flashof a musket, the noise of resistance, a movement, a signal. But no. Thedark mass of the convent building detached itself with imposing grandeuragainst the night sky, and silence reigned everywhere. 

He was a prisoner. The Juarists were in Queretaro, and treason even thenwas stealthily completing its loathsome task of destruction without hisbeing able to give one word of warning to its victims. 

The mysterious officer, guessing his thoughts, said quietly: "The wholeconvent is already in our power. Your emperor must be taken even now. "

At this moment Captain Gontron, a Frenchman, appeared upon the scene, seemingly free, but in a towering rage. 

"I wish, " he said, "that you, who can speak Spanish better than I, wouldask these black devils who have just come to relieve me at the pantheonwhy my sarape and my sword have disappeared. I believe they have stolenthem. Anyhow, who are these filibusters that Colonel Lopez has broughthere? If my sword does not turn up in five minutes, I will smash in theface of their rascally commander, who is anything but civil. "

The captain spoke in French, fiercely twisting his mustache. At anyother time the humorous side of the situation must have struck thelieutenant, but just then he felt little inclination for mirth. Hethereupon explained to the captain that they were prisoners, and thatColonel Lopez had introduced the enemy into the place. 

The Frenchman for a while stood speechless; then recovering his speechwith his philosophy, he said: "After all, it had to come to an endSOMEHOW. "

As he spoke, a Juarist officer, with a detachment at his heels, rushedupon the terrace and ordered a gun turned upon the convent. His orderswere that the artillerymen be made to serve the battery. Should theydemur, they must be shot down. As for the captain and the lieutenant, they were to be conducted under escort before General Velez, who wasthen in the convent. They were made to start at once. 

Upon arriving near La Cruz, they saw a republican battalion entering theedifice. At every moment they expected to hear firing. But no one seemedaware of what was going on. Nothing broke the oppressive stillness savethe dull sound of the tread of the enemy's detachments as they quietlymarched along, and the quick orders whispered by the officers in thesilence of the night. 

Failing to find General Velez, the escort marched the prisoners back tothe garden. Day was dawning. Upon reaching the garden they met ColonelGuzman, who had just been made prisoner. 

The unusual incidents which had accompanied Colonel Lopez's betrayal hadnot remained wholly unobserved. It has been stated* that at 1:30 A. M. Colonel Tinajero, on watch at the convent heights, had come toheadquarters and reported an unusual stir in the enemy's camp. The samewriter adds that, later on, another officer had come to report that theJuarists seemed to be entering La Cruz. * He was laughed at for hispains. How could such a thing take place without a single shot beingfired!

* By M. Charles d'Hericault, loc. Cit, p. 252. 

Colonel Manuel Guzman, a member of the Emperor's staff, however, thoughtit wise personally to look into the matter. He went down into the courtof the convent, intending to visit the outposts. Here his progress wasbarred by the enemy. He was forthwith arrested and placed under the sameescort as Lieutenant Haus and Captain Gontron, who, in a few words, toldhim what had happened. The colonel's face grew ashy. "Impossible!" hesaid; "what you tell me is impossible. "*

* I here follow Lieutenant Haus's narrative, as it is based uponpersonal experience. Loc. Cit. , p. 284. 

The prisoners now stood again upon the terrace which three hours beforehad been guarded by the men of the command of Colonel Jablonski, thefriend and accomplice of Colonel Lopez. They were led across to theother side and made to pass down some hastily disposed steps of adobebricks, the recent origin of which was obvious. It was clearly at thispoint that the enemy had entered the place. A few moments more, and theywere out of Queretaro, marching between a double hedge of republicanbayonets, disposed as though expecting a long line of prisoners. 

At 5 A. M. Dr. Basch and Prince Salm-Salm were each abruptly startled outof a sound sleep, the first by Colonel Jablonski, the second by ColonelLopez. Having completed their preparations beyond the possibility offailure, the traitors now wished, if practicable, to conceal from theirvictims their contemptible share in the dastardly affair. 

Prince Salm-Salm dressed hastily, and after sending word by the doctorto Captain Furstenwarther to order out his hussars, he ran to theEmperor's apartments. No imperial troops were to be seen. It was evidentthat the garrison of the place had been removed. 

As Maximilian, his minister, General Castillo, and his secretary cameforth to inquire into what had happened, they found themselves face toface with the Liberal colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo, who, with hiscommand, was already in possession of the place. With him was ColonelLopez. The Liberal colonel recognized the fallen Emperor; but, perhapsforeseeing the terrible complications involved in his capture, hefeigned ignorance of his identity, and said to his men, "Let them pass, they are civilians" ("Que passen, son paisanos"), thus giving him achance for his life. 

Shortly afterward, having reached the street, Maximilian wasendeavoring, by issuing orders to his scattered officers, to collecthis remaining forces on the Cerro de las Campanas, where he hoped tomake a last stand, when he was joined by Colonel Lopez, whom, accordingto Prince Salm-Salm, no one as yet suspected of being the author of theinfamy. The colonel had come to persuade the prince to conceal himself;and as they talked, his horse was unexpectedly brought to him, readyfor flight. It would therefore seem that in betraying his master'scause the wretched man had not planned his personal destruction. 

As the betrayed men continued their progress through the streets, ontheir way to the cerro, they saw coming toward them a battalion of theenemy; and among the officers riding at their head again was ColonelLopez. Upon seeing the Emperor, they slackened their pace, and once morehe was allowed to pursue his way. 

Had he cared to avail himself of the opportunities afforded him then, itis possible that, like Generals Arellano, Gutierrez, and others, hemight have succeeded in escaping from Queretaro. But noblesse oblige: anadmiral does not desert his ship or its crew. Maximilian remained at hispost. 

At last the cerro was reached, and here the last disappointment awaitedhim. Instead of his army, only a battalion occupied the place, and, singly or in groups, the deserted leaders assembled, unable to rallytheir men. 

General Mendez had accepted the shelter of a friend's roof. The latter, acting, it is said, in concert with a member of his staff, sold him toGeneral Escobedo. *

* It was General Mendez who, in October, 1865, had carried out theprovisions of the Bando Negro in executing Generals Salazar and Arteagaand their companions. He could therefore expect no mercy from hisantagonists. He was condemned at once, and, as a traitor, was shot May19, with his back to the four soldiers who carried out the sentence. Struck with four bullets, but not killed, the general arose, and turningto the men, begged that he be despatched. A corporal then steppedforward and mercifully blew out his brains. General Mendez was acourageous soldier. Always victorious, he was beloved by his men and washighly spoken of by the French in Mexico. 

General Miramon, the man of action, always hopeful to the very last, wasstill attempting to muster what troops he might for a last effort, whenat the corner of a street he unexpectedly was faced by a detachment ofthe enemy's cavalry. The commanding officer drew a revolver and shothim, the bullet entering the right cheek and coming out near his ear. The wounded chief then sought refuge in the house of a friend--whodelivered him to his enemies that afternoon!

In the bright sunlight of the May morning there suddenly burst forthupon the air, already vibrating with the noise of the unequal conflict, a peal of bells from the convent of La Cruz. This was the signal of thesuccess of the conspiracy, agreed upon with the besiegers; and from thelines of the Liberal army the clarions rang in wild, exultant strains. Then the dense masses of the enemy's regiments marched forth; and asthey approached, the doomed leaders saw their own followers go over andjoin them. 

Hemmed in upon the cerro with a few faithful followers, every hopepassed away. No help came. It was now impossible, with so feeble aforce, to cut their way through the lines of the Liberals, and fromevery side the enemy poured fire upon the devoted band. 

A flag of truce was sent, and Colonel Echegaray, on behalf of theJuarists, came to receive the Emperor as prisoner. At the latter'srequest, he was taken forthwith to General Escobedo's presence. To himhe surrendered his sword. 

He was then turned over to General Riva-Palacio, who showed him everycourtesy, and had him incarcerated in his old quarters at the convent ofLa Cruz. Here he was visited by some Liberal officers, among others byColonel Jose Rincon Gallardo and his brother Don Pedro, the former ofwhom spoke to him in contemptuous terms of the treason of Colonel Lopez. "Such men are used, and then kicked, " he said. 

By ten o'clock all was over. The Mexican empire, inaugurated with somuch pomp and glitter exactly three years before, had wearily reached amiserable ending. The curtain then falling upon its closing scene was adeath-pall; and of the young sovereigns who only a short time before hadregarded themselves as the anointed of Heaven, sent by a higher power tostrengthen the church and to uphold the principles of monarchy, one hadgone mad, and the other now stood an expiatory victim about to beoffered up to republican resentment. 

It would seem that Maximilian had at first no thought that his life wasin peril. This is shown by his attempts to make terms with GeneralEscobedo on behalf of his foreign followers, requesting that they andhimself should be safely conducted to the coast and embarked; inexchange for which he pledged himself nevermore to interfere in Mexicanaffairs, and to issue orders for the disarmament and immediate surrenderof all strongholds now in the power of his followers. 

Soon, however, he was removed to the convent of the Capuchins, where hecould be more securely guarded; and the feeling began to grow that hemust pay with his life for his brief enjoyment of the Mexican crown. 

Brought up for trial on June 13 before a military tribunal composed ofsix captains and one lieutenant-colonel, which held its court on thestage of a public theater, he was ably defended by Mexico's foremostlawyers, Messrs. Mariano Riva-Palacio, Martinez de la Torre, EulalioOrtega, and Jesus-Maria Vazquez; but his doom was already sealed. OnJune 14, at eleven o'clock at night, he was sentenced to death. 

Every effort was made by his lawyers and by the foreign representativeswhom he had summoned to his side to obtain from the republicangovernment a mitigation of the sentence. The Queen of England, thegovernment of the United States, begged for mercy. Baron Magnus, BaronLago, and M. De Hoorickx, in the names of the European monarchs alliedto the prince by ties of relationship, moved heaven and earth toinfluence the president. Princess Salm-Salm cleverly used every means ina woman's power to accomplish the same end. In vain. 

President Juarez could well afford to be magnanimous; but under theexisting social conditions in Mexico, who, knowing all the facts, couldblame if stern justice was allowed to take its course?

When Maximilian remained to carry on the civil war on factional lines, after the French, recognizing their mistake, had retired from thecountry, he placed himself, if taken, within the reach of the law. Thepeople were then rising in arms, ready to drive out the empire. By hisown act he deprived himself of the only excuse which he could logicallyoffer for his presence in the country, namely, that in good faith he hadaccepted a crown offered him by what might be regarded as the suffrageof the nation, under conditions with the creating of which he hadnothing to do. He was now only the factional leader of a turbulent anddefeated minority. 

Moreover, only a few months before, when General Miramon's brilliantcoup de main of January 27, at Zacatecas, had come near to deliveringinto his hands the president of the republican government, Maximilian'sinstructions to his lieutenant, in anticipation of such a contingency, were to bring the republican leaders to trial, if caught, according tohis too famous decree, but to refer the execution of the sentence to hisimperial sanction. His official letter to this effect had fallen intothe hands of President Juarez after the defeat of General Miramon at SanJacinto, which so speedily followed. It is open to doubt whether, insuch an event, General Marquez, then all-powerful, would have allowedthe Emperor to display mercy. 

All hope of obtaining a commutation of the sentence now at an end, theenergies of his friends, were turned toward effecting his escape. Threeofficers were bribed by Prince Salm-Salm, and steps were taken toprovide the necessary disguise and conveyance for the party. The planwas to make for the Sierra Gorda, whence Tuzpan could be reached. Fromthis point the party could proceed to Vera Cruz, then still holding outagainst the Juarists. The Austrian frigate Elizabeth, under Captain vonGroeller, was at anchor in the port, awaiting the prince's pleasure. 

The project had been seriously complicated by the positive refusal onthe part of Maximilian to fly without Generals Miramon and Mejia. Alldetails, however, were at last satisfactorily settled, and the night ofJune 2 was fixed for the attempt. On this night the officers whose goodwill had been secured were to be on guard, and the plot seemed easy ofexecution. But once more the innate in decision of Maximilian'scharacter interfered. For some trivial cause he postponed the venture, and thus lost his last opportunity. Too many were in the secret for itto remain one. Some one made disclosures, which reached the ears of theauthorities, and led to the complete isolation of the prince from hisfollowers; and although another effort was afterward made, thesurveillance was now so close, and the conditions had grown sodifficult, that it also came to naught. 

On June 15 tidings of the Empress Charlotte's death reached Queretaro. General Mejia, who was the first to hear it, broke it to Maximilian. While it stirred the very depths of his nature, this false informationproved a help to him in his last moments. The bitterness of leaving hisunfortunate wife in her helpless condition was thus spared him. "One tieless to bind me to the world, " he said. 

The execution had been fixed for June 16. At eleven o'clock on that daysentence was read to the condemned, who were told that it would becarried into effect at three o'clock on the same afternoon. 

Maximilian received the intelligence calmly, and devoted the followinghours, which he deemed his last, to dictating letters to Dr. Basch andto his Mexican secretary, Senor Blasio. * He then confessed to PadreSoria and heard mass in General Miramon's chamber, where the condemnedmen received the last sacraments, after which he signed his letters andtook leave of those about him. In removing his wedding-ring and handingit to Dr. Basch, he said: "You will tell my mother that I did my duty asa soldier and died like a Christian. " After this he quietly awaiteddeath. 

* One of these letters, written to Senor Don Carlos Rubio, reads asfollows:

"Full of confidence, I come to you, being completely without money, toobtain the sum necessary for the carrying out of my last wishes. Itwill be returned to you by my European relatives, whom I haveconstituted my heirs. 

"I wish my body taken back to Europe near that of the Empress; I intrustthe details to my physician, Dr. Basch; you will supply him with fundsfor the embalming and transportation, and for the return of my servantsto Europe. The settlement of the loan will be made by my relativeseither through any European house that you may name or by drafts sent toMexico. The physician above alluded to will make all necessaryarrangements. 

"Thanking you in advance for any favor, I send you farewell greetings, and wishing you happiness, "I am yours, "Maximilian. ""Queretaro, 16 June, 1867. "

Compare S. Basch, "Maximilien au Mexique, " p. 296. 

The appointed hour passed, however, without being summoned to execution. After prolonged suspense, at four o'clock in the afternoon news arrivedthat a reprieve of three days had been granted by the president, inorder that the condemned might make their last dispositions. 

{illustration caption: THE CALVARY OF QUERETARO, SHOWING WHEREMAXIMILIAN, MEJIA, AND MIRAMON WERE SHOT. }

This unexpected delay* naturally aroused hopes among the friends of thedoomed men. These hopes, it is said by those closest to him at thattime, were not shared by Maximilian. He continued his preparations withthe calm dignity that had not once forsaken him; but he sent a telegramto the national government, asking that the lives of Generals Miramonand Mejia, "who had already undergone all the anguish of death, bespared, " and that he might be the only victim. The request was denied. **

*It is stated by Domenech that this reprieve was granted at the requestof Baron Magnus, who hoped that delay might bring some chance of life tothe condemned. 

** He also wrote to President Juarez, under date of June 19, as follows:

"M. Benito Juarez: About to die for having tried whether newinstitutions could put an end to the bloody war which has for so manyyears disturbed this unhappy land, I should gladly give my life if thesacrifice could contribute to the peace and prosperity of my adoptedcountry. Profoundly convinced that nothing durable can be produced froma soil drenched with blood and shaken by violence, I pray yousolemnly--with that sincerity peculiar to the hour at which I havearrived--I beg of you, let my blood be the last spilled, and pursue thenoble course which you have chosen with the perseverance (I recognizedit even when in prosperity) with which you defended the cause that nowat last triumphs through your efforts. Reconcile factions, establish adurable peace based upon solid principles. "

See Dr. Basch, "Maximilien au Mexique, " p. 303. 

After making this supreme effort on behalf of his generals, he employedhis remaining hours in dictating letters, and when night came he sleptsoundly. 

On the morning of his execution (June 19) he arose at three o'clock, anddressed carefully. At four o'clock Padre Soria came, and once more gavehim the last sacraments; an altar had been erected for this purpose in aniche formed by a passageway to his cell. 

This religious duty having been performed, he gave instructions to Dr. Basch, sending greetings and last tokens to friends. At a quarter beforesix he breakfasted; and when, on the stroke of six, the officer appearedwho was to lead him to execution, he was ready, and himself called hiscompanions in death. Three hacks had been provided for the condemned. The prince entered the first with the priest, and, escorted by thesoldiery, the mournful procession moved through a dense crowd to theplace of execution. 

On arriving at the Cerro de las Campanas, where a month before he hadmade his last stand, the fallen Emperor looked about him for a friendlyface, and finding only his servant, the Hungarian Tudos, he asked, "Isno one else here?" It is said, however, that Baron Magnus, the Prussianminister, and the Consul Bahnsen were present, although out of sight. 

{illustration caption: THE HACK IN WHICH MAXIMILIAN WAS TAKEN TO THEPLACE OF EXECUTION. }

The good priest weakened under the ordeal; he felt faint, and the princeheld his own smelling-bottle to his nose. 

Followed by Generals Miramon and Mejia, Maximilian walked toward theopen square, where an adobe wall had been erected, against which theywere expected to stand. About to take his position in the middle, Maximilian stopped, and turning to General Miramon, said: "A bravesoldier should be honored even in his last hour; permit me to give youthe place of honor"; and he made way for him. 

An officer and seven men had been detailed to do the deadly work. Theprince gave each of the soldiers a piece of gold, asking them to aimcarefully at his heart; and taking off his hat, he said: "Mexicans, maymy blood be the last to be spilled for the welfare of the country; andif it should be necessary that its sons should still shed theirs, may itflow for its good, but never by treason. Long live independence! Longlive Mexico!"*

* "Que me sangre sea la ultima que se derrame en sacrificio a la patria;y si fuese necessario algunos de sus hijos, sea para el bien de lanacion, y nunca en traicion de ella. " Other versions of his last wordshave been given, but that given above seems the most authentic, not onlyfrom intrinsic probability, but from the fact that it was given, shortlyafter the execution, by the Mexican Dr. Reyes, who was present, to Dr. Basch. Loc. Cit. , p. 308. 

He then laid his hands on his breast, and looked straight before him. Five shots fired at short range pierced his body; each of them wasmortal. He fell, and as he still moved, the officer in charge pointed tohis heart with his sword, and a soldier stepped, forward and fired alast shot. 

The physician who afterward examined the remains, preparatory toembalmment, could not find a single bullet; all had gone through thebody, and it was his opinion that death must have been almostinstantaneous, and that the movements observed were convulsive. *

* Dr. Basch says: "The head was free from wounds. Of the six shotsreceived in the body, three had struck the abdomen, and three the breastalmost in a straight line. The shots were fired at shortest range, andthe six bullets so perforated the body that not a single one was found. 

"The three wounds in the chest were mortal: one had reached the heart, the two ventricles; the second had cut the great arteries; the third hadgone through the right lung. From the nature of the wounds thedeath-struggle must have been very brief, and the poetic wordsattributed to the Emperor, giving anew the word of command to 'fire, 'could not have been pronounced. The motions of his hands must have beenthe convulsive motions which, according to physiological laws, accompanydeath caused by sudden hemorrhage. "

The bodies of the two generals were given to their families. That ofMaximilian, inclosed in a common coffin, was placed in the chapel of theconvent of the Capuchins, and delivered up to the doctor. 

As President Juarez insisted upon an official request, made in due formby the Austrian government, before delivering the remains, much delayoccurred in the carrying out of the unfortunate prince's wishes withregard to them. 

At last, on November 1, the coffin containing the body of FerdinandMaximilian Joseph, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Count of Hapsburg, Prince of Lorraine, Emperor of Mexico, was handedover to Admiral Tegetthoff, who had been sent on a special mission toreceive it, and left the capital with a cortege composed of his staffand an escort of one hundred cavalry. 

On November 26 the Novara, with all that remained of the Emperor, leftthe Mexican shore, where only three years before he had landed in allthe pride of power and the hopefulness of ambitious youth. The news ofhis execution sent a painful thrill through the civilized world. By oneof those r cruel ironies which fate seems to affect, it reached Franceon the day of the formal distribution of prizes at the InternationalExposition. Paris, in its splendor, was throwing open its gates to allthe nations of the earth; the crowned heads and leaders of Europe hadaccepted the hospitality of Napoleon III; and all outward appearancescombined to make this the most brilliant occasion of his reign. But theflash-light and noise of French fireworks were unable to drown in men'shearts the dull echo of those distant shots fired on the Cerro de lasCampanas. Nemesis was near, and only a short time after Queretaro, Sedan, Metz, and Chiselhurst were inscribed in gloomy sequence upon thepages of history. 

APPENDIX A

THE BANDO NEGRO (BLACK DECREE) PROCLAMATION OF EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN, OCTOBER 3, 1866

Mexicans: The cause sustained by D. Benito Juarez with so much valor andconstancy had already succumbed, not only before the national will, butbefore the very law invoked by him in support of his claims. To-day thiscause, having degenerated into a faction, is abandoned by the fact ofthe removal of its leaders from the country's territory. 

The national government has long been indulgent, and has lavished itsclemency in order that men led astray or ignorant of the true conditionof things might still unite with the majority of the nation and returnto the path of duty. The desired result has been obtained. Men of honorhave rallied around the flag and have accepted the just and liberalprinciples which guide its policy. Disorder is now only kept up by a fewleaders swayed by their unpatriotic passions, by demoralized individualsunable to rise to the height of political principle, and by an unrulysoldiery such as ever remains the last and sad vestige of civil wars. 

Henceforth the struggle must be between the honorable men of the nationand bands of brigands and evil-doers. The time for indulgence has goneby: it would only encourage the despotism of bands of incendiaries, ofthieves, of highwaymen, and of murderers of old men and defenselesswomen. 

The government, strong in its power, will henceforth be inflexible inmeting out punishment when the laws of civilization, humanity, ormorality demand it. 

Mexico, October 2, 1885. 

---------------

Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico: Our Council of Ministers and our Councilof State having been heard, we decree:

Article I. All individuals forming a part of armed bands or bodiesexisting without legal authority, whether or not proclaiming a politicalpretext, whatever the number of those forming such band, or itsorganization, character, and denomination, shall be judged militarily bythe courts martial. If found guilty, even though only of the fact ofbelonging to an armed band, they shall be condemned to capitalpunishment, and the sentence shall be executed within twenty-four hours. 

Article II. Those who, forming part of the bands mentioned in the abovearticle, shall have been taken prisoners in combat shall be judged bythe officer commanding the force into the power of which they havefallen. It shall become the duty of said officer within the twenty-fourhours following to institute an inquest, hearing the accused in his ownbehalf. Upon this inquest a report shall be drawn and sentence shall bepassed. The pain of death shall be pronounced against offenders even ifonly found guilty of belonging to an armed band. The chief shall havethe sentence carried into execution within twenty-four hours, --beingcareful to secure to the condemned spiritual aid, --after which he willaddress the report to the Minister of War. 

Article III. Sentence of death shall not be imposed upon those who, although forming part of a band, can prove that they were coerced intoits ranks, or upon those who, without belonging to a band, areaccidentally found there. 

Article IV. If from the inquest mentioned in Article II facts shouldappear calculated to induce the chief to believe that the accused hasbeen enrolled by force, or that, although forming part of the band, hewas there accidentally, he shall abstain from pronouncing a sentence, and will consign the prisoner, with the corresponding report, to thecourt martial, to be judged in accordance with Article I. 

Article V. There shall be judged and sentenced under the terms ofArticle I of the present law:

 I. All individuals who voluntarily have procured money or any other succor to guerrilleros. 

 II. Those who have given them advice, news, or counsel. 

 III. Those who voluntarily and with knowledge of the position of said guerrilleros have sold them or procured for them arms, horses, ammunition, provisions, or any other materials of war. 

Article VI. There shall be judged and sentenced in accordance withArticle I:

 I. Those who have entertained with guerrilleros relations constituting the fact of connivance. 

 II. Those who of their own free will and knowingly have given them shelter in their houses or on their estate. 

 III. Those who have spread orally or in writing false or alarming news calculated to disturb order, or who have made any demonstration against the public peace. 

 IV. The owners or agents of rural property who have not at once given notice to the nearest authority of the passage of a band upon their estate. 

The persons included in the first and second sections of this articleshall be liable to an imprisonment of from six months to two years, orfrom one to three years' hard labor, according to the gravity of theoffense. 

Those who, placed in the second category, are connected with theindividual concealed by them by ties of relationship, whether asparents, consorts, or brothers, shall not be liable to the penalty aboveprescribed, but they shall be subject to surveillance by the authoritiesduring such time as may be prescribed by the court martial. 

Those included in the third category shall be sentenced to a fine offrom twenty-five to one thousand piasters or to one year's imprisonment, according to the gravity of the offense. 

Article VII. When the authorities have not given notice to theirimmediate superior of the passage of an armed force in their locality, the superior authority shall inflict a fine of from two hundred to twothousand piasters or from three months' to two years' imprisonment. 

Article VIII. Every inhabitant who, having knowledge of the passage ofan armed band in a village or of its approach, has not notified theauthorities shall be liable to a fine of from five to five hundredpiasters. 

Article IX. All inhabitants between the ages of eighteen and fifty-fiveyears of age not physically incapacitated shall, when the localityinhabited by them is threatened by a band, take part in the defense ofthe place, under penalty of a fine of from five to two hundred piastersor of from fifteen days' to four months' imprisonment. If theauthorities deem it proper to punish the village for non-resistance, they may impose a fine of from two hundred to two thousand piasters, which shall be payable by all those who have not taken part in thedefense. 

Article X. The owners or agents of country property who, being able todefend themselves, have not kept guerrillas and other evil-doers awayfrom their estates or have not notified the nearest military authorityof their presence, or who have received the tired or wounded horses ofthe guerrillas without advising the said authority, shall be punished bysaid authority by a fine of from one hundred to two thousand piasters, according to the gravity of the offense. In cases of extreme gravitythey shall be arrested and brought before the court martial, to bejudged in conformity with the rules laid down by the present law. Thefine shall be paid to the principal administrator of the revenue of thedistrict where the estate is situated. The provisions of the first partof the present article are applicable to the populations. 

Article XI. All authorities, whether political, military, or municipal, who have not acted in accordance with the provisions of the present lawagainst those who are suspected of or recognized as being guilty of theoffenses with which it deals, shall be liable to a fine of from fifty toone thousand piasters; and when the omission implies acquaintance withthe guilty, the delinquent shall be brought before the court martial, who shall judge him and inflict a penalty in proportion to the offense. 

Article XII. Plagiarios* shall be judged and sentenced under theprovisions of Article I of the present law, without regard to thecircumstances under which the abduction shall have been committed. 

* Kidnappers. 

Article XIII. Sentence of death passed upon those guilty of the offensesenumerated by the present law shall be executed in the time fixed, andthe benefit of appeal for mercy shall be refused to the condemned. Whenthe accused has not been condemned to death, and is a stranger, thegovernment, after he shall have undergone punishment, may make use withregard to him of its right to expel from its territory perniciousstrangers. 

Article XIV. Amnesty is proclaimed in favor of all who, having belongedor still belonging to armed bands and having committed no other offense, shall present themselves to the authorities before the 10th of nextNovember. The authorities shall take possession of the arms of those sosurrendering themselves. 

Article XV. The government reserves unto itself the right to fix thetime when the provisions of the present law shall cease to be enforced. Each of our ministers is bound, as far as his department is concerned, to enforce the present law and to issue such orders as will secure itsstrict observance. 

Issued in the Palace of Mexico, October 3, 1865. Maximilian. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, intrusted with the Department of State, Jose F. Ramirez. 

The Minister of Commerce, Luis Robles Pezuela. 

The Minister of the Interior, Jose Maria Esteva. 

The Minister of War, Juan de Dios Peza. 

The Minister of Justice, Pedro Escudero y Echanove. 

The Minister of Public Instruction and of Cults, Manuel Siliceo. 

The Under-Secretary of the Treasury, Francisco de P. Cesar. 

APPENDIX B

TREATY OF MIRAMAR, SIGNED ON APRIL 10, 1864

Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will Emperor of theFrench, to all who will see the present letters, Greeting:

A convention, followed by secret additional articles, having beenconcluded on April 10, 1864, between France and Mexico, to settle theconditions of the sojourn of French troops in Mexico, the saidconvention and secret additional articles are as follows:

The government of H. M. The Emperor of the French and that of H. M. TheEmperor of Mexico, animated with. An equal desire to assure thereestablishment of order in Mexico and to consolidate the new empire, have resolved to settle through a convention the conditions of thesojourn of the French troops in that country, and have appointed to thateffect: H. M. The Emperor of the French, M. Charles Francois EdouardHerbet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the First Class, etc. , and H. M. TheEmperor of Mexico, M. Joaquin Velazquez de Leon, his Minister of Statewithout a portfolio, etc. , who, after communicating their full powers toone another, these having been found to be in good and due form, haveagreed upon the following articles:

Article I. The French troops actually in Mexico shall, as soon aspossible, be reduced to a corps of twenty-five thousand men, includingthe foreign legion. This corps, as a safeguard to the interests whichhave brought about the French intervention, shall temporarily remain inMexico under the conditions agreed upon in the following articles. 

Article II. The French troops shall gradually evacuate Mexico as H. M. The Emperor of Mexico shall be able to organize the troops necessary totake their place. 

Article III. The foreign legion in the service of France, composed ofeight thousand men, shall, however, remain for six years in Mexico afterall other French forces shall have been recalled under Article II. Fromthat date said legion shall pass into the service and pay of the Mexicangovernment, the Mexican government reserving unto itself the right toshorten the duration of the employment in Mexico of the foreign legion. 

Article IV. The points of the territory to be occupied by the Frenchtroops, as well as the military expeditions of said troops if necessary, shall be determined under direct agreement between H. M. The Emperor ofMexico and the Commander-in-chief of the French corps. 

Article V. Upon all points where a garrison shall not be exclusivelycomposed of Mexican troops, the military command shall devolve upon theFrench commander. In case of combined expeditions of French and Mexicantroops the superior command shall also belong to the French commander. 

Article VI. The French commanders shall not interfere with any branch ofthe Mexican administration. 

Article VII. So long as the needs of the French army-corps will requireevery two months a service of transports between France and the port ofVera Cruz, the expense of this service, fixed at the sum of four hundredthousand francs per journey, including return, shall be borne by theMexican government and paid in Mexico. 

Article VIII. The naval stations supported by France in the Antilles andin the Pacific Ocean shall frequently send ships to show the French flagin the Mexican ports. 

Article IX. The cost of the French expedition in Mexico, to bereimbursed by the Mexican government, is fixed at the sum of two hundredand seventy million francs from the time of the expedition to July 1, 1864. That sum shall bear interest at three per cent. A year. 

Article X. The indemnity to be paid to France by the Mexican governmentfor the pay and support of the army-corps from July 1, 1864, shall befixed at the rate of one thousand francs per man a year. 

Article XI. The Mexican government shall at once remit to the Frenchgovernment the sum of sixty-six millions in loan securities at par, i. E. , fifty-four millions to be deducted from the debt mentioned inArticle IX, and twelve millions as an instalment on the indemnities duethe French under Article XIV of the present agreement. 

Article XII. In payment of the balance of war expenses and of thecharges mentioned in Articles VII, X, and XIV, the Mexican governmentagrees to pay to France the annual sum of twenty-five million francs incash. That sum shall be credited, first, to the sums due under ArticlesVII and X, second, to the amount, interest and principal, of the sumfixed in Article IX; third, to the indemnities still due to Frenchsubjects under Article XIV and following. 

Article XIII. The Mexican government shall pay on the last day of everymonth, in Mexico, into the hands of the paymaster-general of the army, the amount necessary to cover the expense of the French troops remainingin Mexico, in conformity with Article X. 

Article XIV. The Mexican government agrees to indemnify French subjectsfor the grievances unduly suffered by them and which caused theexpedition. 

Article XV. A mixed commission composed of three Frenchmen and threeMexicans, appointed by their respective governments, shall meet inMexico within three months to examine into and settle these claims. 

Article XVI. A mission of revision composed of two Frenchmen and twoMexicans, appointed as above and sitting in Paris, shall proceed to thedefinite settlement of the claims already admitted by the commissionmentioned in the preceding article, and shall pass upon those thesettlement of which shall be reserved to them. 

Article XVII. The French government shall set free all Mexican prisonersof war as soon as H. M, the Emperor of Mexico shall have entered hisempire. 

Article XVIII. The present convention shall be ratified and theratification shall be exchanged as soon as possible. 

Done at the Castle of Miramar, on April 10, 1864. Herbet. Velazquez. 

Additional Secret Articles

[Here follow the ordinary preambles. ]

Article I. H. M. The Emperor of Mexico, approving the principles andpromises announced in General Forey's proclamation, dated June 12, 1863, as well as the measures taken by the regency and by the Frenchgeneral-in-chief in accordance with said declaration, has resolved toinform his people, by a manifesto, of his intentions in the matter. 

Article II. On his side, H. M. The Emperor of the French declares thatthe actual effective force of the French corps of thirty-eight thousandmen shall only be reduced gradually and from year to year, in such a waythat the French troops remaining in Mexico, including the foreignlegion, shall be of twenty-eight thousand men in 1865, of twenty-fivethousand in 1866, of twenty thousand in 1867. 

Article III. When the said foreign legion, under the terms of ArticleIII of the above convention, shall pass into the service and pay ofMexico, as it nevertheless shall continue to serve a cause in whichFrance is interested, its generals and officers shall preserve theirquality of Frenchmen and their claim to promotion in the French armyaccording to law. 

Done at the Castle of Miramar, on April 10, 1864. Herbet. Velazquez.