MEXICO. 



557 



In addition to these troops about twenty 

 thousand of the French expeditionary force still 

 remained in the country, which would give an 

 effective army of about sixty thousand men. 

 Marshal Bazaine, having under him Douai, Cas- 

 tagny, Neigre, and other French officers, was 

 still the commander-in-chief of the Franco- 

 Mexican army; and the Mexican army proper 

 was comanded hy Mejia, a pure Indian, like 

 Juarez, and a man of considerable ability. 



Aided by this systematic organization, and by 

 an army incomparably superior to any thing 

 the republicans could put into the field, the im- 

 perialists made steady progress northward dur- 

 ing the summer months ; and in the latter part 

 of August Juarez was compelled to remove to 

 El Paso, in the extreme northern part of the 

 State of Chihuahua, on the Rio Grande, which, 

 by an order issued early in September, was de- 

 clared to be the seat of Government. Here, at 

 the very limit of the country over which, but 

 four years previous, he had been the sole ac- 

 knowledged ruler, he upheld the republican 

 cause with a courage and constancy which won 

 the admiration even of his imperial enemies, 

 expressing his firm belief that the time was not 

 far distant when the French troops would bo 

 compelled to evacuate the country and leave its 

 people to govern themselves. It must not be 

 supposed, however, that every element of oppo- 

 sition was overpowered with the advance of the 

 imperialists. In Durango, in Michoacan, and 

 in Guerrero, were bodies of republican troops 

 under Patoni, Arteaga, and Alvarez; while 

 Ugalde, Figueroa, and other fierce partisan 

 chiefs carried terror through the central States 

 of the country. At the very moment when 

 Juarez had established his fugitive government 

 at El Paso, accounts from the city of Mexico 

 showed that the whole country was given up to 

 brigandage and anarchy, save where the pres- 

 ence of the imperial troops afforded a temporary 

 security. In the early part of September the 

 French took possession of Acapulco, driving 

 out Alvarez with a poorly-equipped but en- 

 thusiastic force of fifteen hundred men. The 

 veteran chief, accompanied in his retreat by the 

 greater part of the Mexican population of the 

 town, took refuge in the mountain fastnesses of 

 the interior of Guerrero, where he announced 

 his confidence of maintaining the cause of 

 Juarez. 



Believing that Juarez, when driven out of 

 Chihuahua, had taken refuge within the limits 

 of the United States, Maximilian, on October 

 2d, issued a proclamation officially announcing 

 the departure of the Eepublican President 

 from Mexican territory. " The issue," he said, 

 " which Don Benito Juarez has sustained with 

 so much valor and constancy, has at last suc- 

 cumbed, not only to the national will, but also 

 to the law which he invoked in support of his 

 title" (meaning that the term for which Juarez 

 had been elected president had expired), " and 

 even the brigandage of small parties into which 

 his cause had degenerated, must be abandoned 



by the departure of this chief from his native 

 territory." He added : 



Lawlessness and disorder are still kept up by mis- 

 guided leaders of demoralized troops and an un- 

 bridled soldiery, and, therefore, the struggle in future 

 will be between honest men and gangs of criminals 

 and bandits. The Government, strong in its power, 

 will be inflexible in its punishment of the latter crim- 

 inals, in order that the laws of civilization, humanity, 

 and morality may be upheld. 



This proclamation was confirmed by an im- 

 perial decree, dated- October 3d, in the fifteen 

 articles of which the most vigorous measures 

 were pronounced against parties in arms against 

 the Government, and those who should in any 

 manner aid them. All caught in violation of 

 these articles were to be instantly tried by 

 court-martial, and if convicted, to be sentenced 

 within twenty-four hours thereafter; All per- 

 sons harboring or supplying money, provisions, 

 or information to the guerrillas, were to be 

 summarily dealt with. The severity of the 

 punishment threatened against the opponents 

 of the empire, induced many republicans to lay 

 down their arms and make application for par- 

 don. In those who continued to hold out for 

 Juarez, it kindled a more deadly resentment 

 than ever against the Imperial Government, and 

 under the provocation which it offered brigand- 

 age for the time seemed respectable. A few 

 days after the promulgation of the decree the 

 republicans experienced their second great 

 military reverse of the year in the defeat and 

 dispersal of the Army of the Centre, commanded 

 by Arteaga in Michoacan, the best-disciplined 

 and appointed body of troops yet remaining in 

 the service. This force, divided into three 

 parts, was put Jiors de com bat within the period 

 of a few days. One division, under Palacio, 

 endeavored to surprise Morelia, the capital of 

 Michoacan, but was defeated by the foreign 

 troops garrisoning the place. Another party, 

 under Lepeda, inarched toward Reges, but was 

 cut to pieces by Col. Carrieclo ; while the re- 

 maining division of twelve hundred men, un- 

 der Arteaga himself, was on October 13th sur- 

 prised and dispersed at Santa Anna Amatlan. 

 Gens. Arteaga and Salazar, with a number of 

 inferior officers, were taken prisoners. In ac- 

 cordance with the decree above mentioned, Ar- 

 teaga and Salazar and several republican colo- 

 nels were a few days later summarily shot, not- 

 withstanding it is reasonable to suppose that 

 the Imperial Government must by that time 

 have been aware that its decree had been issued 

 under false reports of the abandonment of the 

 republican cause by Juarez, and that the prison- 

 ers were entitled to the treatment usually ac- 

 corded to prisoners of war. Arteaga was a 

 brave soldier, a true patriot, and a man of un- 

 blemished probity, and his loss was felt to be a 

 severe blow to the republican cause. The cir 

 cumstances attending the execution of himself 

 and his fellow-officers were made the subject 

 of diplomatic correspondence, as will be seen 

 further on. The remnants of the Army of the 

 Centre were subsequently collected by GCP- 



