MEXICO. 



639 



of any pretext offered to him, was ready to ac- 

 cept the progress of the French arms as an in- 

 dication of the submission of the Mexicans to 

 his rule. As a matter of form, however, he 

 awaited at Miramar the return of the Mexican 

 deputation. 



The difficulty of taking a vote of the whole 

 people, in accordance with "the institutions 

 and local customs of the country," as required 

 by M. Drouyn de 1'Huys, is shown by M. Male- 

 spine in the pamphlet above referred to. " Shall 

 the poll be declared open," he asks, " only in 

 the localities occupied by the French troops, or 

 in all Mexico ? If in the former manner, the 

 vote would not be the largest manifestation of 

 the popular will, because the whole people 

 would not be consulted ; in the latter the appeal 

 could not be made known to them, and would 

 consequently fall to the ground." And he pro- 

 ceeds to show that the French occupation was 

 effective in only a comparatively small portion 

 of the Mexican territory, and that even this 

 was overrun by numerous bands of guerillas, 

 whence he concludes that an expression of 

 Mexican opinion at the time of the return of 

 the deputation from Europe was impossible, 

 stating as an additional reason the fact that 

 hostilities had recently been resumed. Of the 

 efficacy or sincerity of an election, which de- 

 pends upon the accession of territory by the 

 triumphant progress of an army, no opinion 

 need be expressed. 



But although a uniform and remarkable suc- 

 cess had attended the French arms during the 

 year, .and the question of the establishment of 

 the empire seemed practically settled, a series 

 of events took place in the city of Mexico, in 

 November and December, which indicated that 

 the " regeneration " of the country would prove 

 a less easy task than had been anticipated, even 

 should intervention succeed in tranquillizing it. 

 The clerical party, who had brought about in- 

 tervention, hoped, with some show of reason, 

 that when the French army should occupy the 

 city of Mexico, the Imperial Government would 

 annul the laws of reform issued by the Liberal 

 Government in 1860, and hasten to restore to 

 the clergy the property which had been taken 

 from them, nationalized and sold. Among the 

 largest purchasers of ecclesiastical property, 

 however, were a number of French subjects, 

 who vvoiild be seriously injured, if not ruined, 

 by its restitution ; and as the French Govern- 

 ment had intervened partly in favor of the 

 claims of this class of persons, it could not, 

 without stultifying itself before the world, ab- 

 rogate the reform laws of 1860, and still less 

 permit the regency to do so. Whether Napo- 

 leon at length appreciated the true means of 

 regenerating the country, and was preparing to 

 throw off his alliance with the Church party, 

 and, in imitation of Jtoarez and the liberals, to 

 destroy its power by distributing its wealth ; 

 or whether he was unscrupulously working out 

 a policy of his own, it is at present difficult to 

 say. The fact only remains, that at the close 



of the year, by the acts of their generals, the 

 French found themselves committed to that 

 policy of Juarez, which had induced the reac- 

 tionists to seek intervention, and at the same 

 time engaged in compassing the overthrow of 

 the liberals. 



On the 24th of October Gen. Bazaine caused 

 notices to be published in the official papers of 

 the city of Mexico, that the proceedings pend- 

 ing in the courts relative to the sale of ecclesi- 

 astical property, and involving the validity of 

 titles therein, should take their due course, 

 without regard to the events of the last few 

 months ; and on November 7th, certain judges 

 having abstained from taking cognizance of 

 these causes, he requested the Regency to ex- 

 pedite them by an official decree. At the re- 

 quest of the Archbishop of Mexico, one of the 

 regents, who had opposed the publication of 

 these notices, and who thought the subject was 

 too important to be hastily decided, further 

 time for consideration was granted; and on 

 the afternoon of the 8th he laid before Bazaine 

 various reasons, which, in his opinion, rendered 

 it expedient to postpone a decision in the mat- 

 ter until the arrival of the Archduke Maxi- 

 milian. Almonte, one of his colleagues, was 

 present, and sustained his views on several im- 

 portant points. Bazaine appearing unconvinced 

 by the representations of the archbishop, the 

 latter promised to send him the next day his 

 views in writing at length, and took his de- 

 parture. His surprise may be conceived, when, 

 having just completed an elaborate communi- 

 cation to Gen. Bazaine, he received a notice 

 from the under Secretary of State and of Jus- 

 tice (the latter being his own special depart- 

 ment) that the Regency had issued a decree, in 

 conformity with the request of Gen. Bazaine, 

 to expedite the ecclesiastical property suits. 

 This decree had been issued by two members 

 of the Regency only, Almonte and Salas, with- 

 out consulting him, and to add to his mortifi- 

 cation, he subsequently ascertained that it had 

 been signed and was in operation on November 

 8th, several hours before his interview with 

 Bazaine. The latter, inflexibly determined to 

 carry out his purpose, had detected from the 

 outset the temporizing policy of the arch- 

 bishop, and finding in the two other members 

 of the Regency ready instruments, determined 

 to dispense in this matter with the services of 

 their coadjutor. 



The archbishop, however, was not to be thus 

 silenced. On the 10th he sent to Almonte and 

 Salas, and to the president of the Supreme Tri- 

 bunal, protests against the decree of November 

 8th, which he declared to be null and of no 

 binding effect. On the 14th he declared that 

 he would not again meet at the sessions of the 

 Regency until the decree should be repealed, 

 and on the 17th he was notified by his colleagues 

 that, having arrayed himself in open opposition 

 to the Regency, he thenceforth ceased to form 

 part of it, General Bazaine concurring. To 

 this he replied, that, being a part of the Re- 





