MEXICO. 



583 



been 1,137. besides 1,059 on trial. In the mis- 

 sion districts there has been an increase of 

 5,455, the largest being in Fiji, and the small- 

 est in Zealand, where the relations of the Maori 

 and European populations are still in an un- 

 settled state. 



MEXICO, a North American Republic. 

 Area, 833,028 square miles. Population in 

 1858, 8,283,088. President, Benito Juarez. 



The Annual Cyclopedia for 1861, in its ac- 

 count of Mexico, closes with the military oc- 

 cupation by the allied English, French and 

 'Spanish forces, of Vera Cruz and the fortress 

 of San Juan d'Ulloa, which had been yielded 

 to them by the Mexicans without a conflict, the 

 latter retiring a short distance into the interior 

 and cutting off their supplies. Vera Cruz and 

 the low lands in its vicinity have a deadly 

 climate, especially for unacclimated foreigners ; 

 and between that city and the Mexican capital 

 rises an elevated country, difficult of passage 

 and void of water, food, or forage for the 

 enemy. To traverse this route with a small 

 force (the united forces of the allies did not 

 exceed 25,000 men, more than half of whom 

 were sailors), surrounded at every step of the 

 route, was impracticable. To remain at Vera 

 Cruz, which had been thejr previously declared 

 policy, was to expose themselves to almost 

 certain death from the terrible vomito or yel- 

 low fever always prevalent there during the 

 hot season, and which threatened to be unusu- 

 ally virulent the ensuing season. At the be- 

 ginning of the year the Mexican President, 

 Juarez, had appealed to the Mexicans of all 

 parties, forgetting their party differences for 

 the time, to unite in expelling the hated 

 invader from their soil, and his appeal had 

 been listened to with favor. All classes, even 

 the most strenuous of the Moderados, or cleri- 

 cal party, united with the most advanced of 

 the progressistas or liberals, in defence of the 

 republic, and despite the poverty of the coun- 

 try from years of anarchy and revolution, they 

 were capable of offering a formidable resist- 

 ance to the invaders. To add to the difficul- 

 ties of the allied forces, they - >on began to 

 quarrel with each other. General Prim, the 

 commander of the Spanish forces, finding that 

 the proposition of Spain to have a Bourbon 

 placed upon the throne of Mexico when con- 

 quered, was received with disfavor by the 

 French, who wished for an Austrian prince, 

 became convinced that the claims of Spain 

 could be settled by negotiation. President 

 Juarez had at the commencement of the year 

 demanded that the allies should reembark the 

 bulk of their forces at Vera Cruz, and retain- 

 ing only a body guard of 2,000 men, should 

 meet him with a similar guard at Orizaba, a 

 few leagues in the interior, for a negotiation ; 

 and this proposition being declined, he had 

 sent a skilful diplomatist, Senor Zamacona, to 

 Vera Cruz to ascertain what was the prospect 

 for an arrangement with the allies. This 

 statesman soon comprehended the position of 



affairs between the Spanish General and the 

 French Admiral, and arranged for an interview 

 between General Prim and the Mexican Minis- 

 ter of Foreign Affairs, Senor Doblado. This 

 interview took place on the 15th of February, 

 at the little village of Soledad, upon the road 

 between Cordova and Orizaba, and resulted in 

 the arrangement known as the Convention of 

 Soledad. This convention evinced the high 

 diplomatic ability of the Mexican minister. It 

 allowed the allies to occupy healthy positions 

 in Tierras Templadas, or more elevated regions 

 at some distance from the coast ; but at the 

 same time it postponed the period for com- 

 mencing negotiations to the 15th of April, and 

 thus indirectly recognized, which the allied 

 powers had before refused to do, the govern- 

 ment of Juarez, as the de facto Mexican govern- 

 ment, gave him time to collect his forces, and 

 delayed the action of the allies to a period 

 when the vomito would prove his powerful ally, 

 while it afforded the means of promoting the 

 discord already existing between the leader 

 of the allied forces. General Prim signed this 

 convention in behalf of Spain, and presented it 

 to the other leaders, for their acceptance. The 

 English minister, Sir Charles "Wyke, who was 

 with the English forces, inclined to accept the 

 convention, as a preliminary to separate nego- 

 tiations for England alone, though not alto- 

 gether satisfied that Gen. Prim should have 

 negotiated it alone, but the French Admiral 

 opposed it, and though provisionally accepting 

 it so far as to lead his troops into the interior 

 referred it to the French government, which 

 wholly disapproved it, and refused to be bound 

 by it. One object, at least, of the astute Mexi- 

 can statesman was accomplished by it, the feud 

 between the allies became every day more 

 open, and presently they separated, the Eng- 

 lish occupying Cordova, the French Tehuacon, 

 and the Spaniards Orizaba, and their action 

 and intercourse with the Mexicans gradually 

 became entirely independent of each other. 

 Sir Charles Wyke made an arrangement for the 

 payment of the English claims, which were 

 much larger than either of the others (see An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia, 1861), by receiving a portion 

 of the customs, and Gen. Prim made some 

 composition of the Spanish claim. 



Juarez, meantime, understanding their differ- 

 ences, and foreseeing that he should have only 

 the French to fight, took a more decided posi- 

 tion, increased his forces, proclaimed that those 

 Mexicans who took sides against the govern- 

 ment should be regarded as traitors and pun- 

 ished as' such, and his commanding general 

 Zaragoza, having taken General Robles, a 

 Mexican officer, who had adhered to Miramon, 

 and had endeavored to overthrow the govern- 

 ment of Juarez, a prisoner, tried him by mar- 

 tial law, and executed him at once, almost 

 within sight of the French camp. During the 

 first days of March, Gen. Almonte, another 

 Mexican officer, formerly a president of the re- 

 public, but who had been a bitter opponent of 



