MEXICO. 



517 



an Annual Conference. Bishop Thompson was 

 sent out to preside at the first meeting of the 

 Conference, which opened at Lucknow, Dec. 

 8, 1864. The statistics of the Conference were 

 reported to be as follows: Church members, 

 117; Probationers, 92; Local preachers, 9; 

 adults baptized, 62 ; children baptized, 53 ; 

 churches, 9 value of church property, $5,390 ; 

 parsonages, 19 ; value, $37,440 ; Sunday schools, 

 9 ; officers and teachers, 39 ; scholars, 397. 

 Several natives were admitted into the Con- 

 ference. 



MEXICO. The close of 1863 found the 

 French firmly established in the heart of Mex- 

 ico, having possession of the chief towns in the 

 most populous States, and preparing to extend 

 their conquests to the north and west. They 

 held the line between Vera Cruz and the capi- 

 tal, had pushed north as far as San Luis Po- 

 tosi, occupying Queretaro, Guanajuato, Guada- 

 lajara, and other intervening cities, and had re- 

 cently taken, after a hard contest, Morelia, the 

 capital of Michoacan, directly west of the City 

 of Mexico. The Juarists were still dominant in 

 Southern Mexico and along the Pacific coast, 

 though holding both by a somewhat uncertain 

 tenure, and their seat of government varied 

 with the movements of their main army in the 

 North, which under Juarez, Doblado, and Ne- 

 grete, was retiring before the invaders in the 

 direction of Monterey, then occupied by a na- 

 tional force under Vidaurri. The northern 

 States had never been entered by the expedi- 

 tionary army ; and so thinly were they popu- 

 lated, so great were the distances to be over- 

 come, and so extensive the lines of communica- 

 tions to be maintained by an invading force, 

 that the Mexicans believed here, at least, they 

 could make a final and successful stand. It 

 seems never to have occurred to them that the 

 vast mineral wealth of these States, undevel- 

 oped though it was, might prove a strong in- 

 centive to their opponents, and that "inter- 

 vention" was the thin disguise assumed by 

 men who were coveting possession of the rich 

 silver mines of Sonora and Sinaloa. The left 

 wing of the Northern Mexican Army, under 

 Doblado, was posted between the towns of 

 Durango and Zacatecas, watching an oppor- 

 tunity to assail the advancing Franco-Mexican 

 forces, commanded by Douai, Mejia, and Cas- 

 tagny, on the flank ; while the main body 

 moved on the road between San Luis Potosi 

 and Monterey. Another Mexican force, known 

 as the Army of the Centre, was distributed 

 through the States of Jalisco and Michoacan, to 

 the northwest and west of the capital. Uraga 

 held the chief command, and under him we're 

 Ortega, Arteaga, and other generals. The 

 Army of the South, under Porfirio Diaz, had 

 its headquarters in the State of Oajaca, with 

 outlying bodies in Chiapas and Tabasco ; and 

 in Guerrero old Juan Alvarez and his son 

 Diego, with the hardy Pinto Indians under 

 their command, stood firm for the republic. 

 Though in the aggregate these forces com- 



prised a considerable body of men, they lacked 

 consistency, discipline, and morale, were largely 

 made up of guerrillas and other irregular troops, 

 and were inadequately supplied with material 

 of war. Not above five or six thousand could 

 be collected for any pressing emergency, and 

 repeated defeats had rendered them very un- 

 stable when opposed to the well-trained and 

 armed French battalions. Their efficiency lay 

 rather in their ability, from a superior knowl- 

 edge of the country and their mobility, to har- 

 ass and disperse small expeditionary forces, to 

 assail supply trains, or to cut off isolated garri- 

 sons. Organized operations may be said to 

 have ceased after the fall of Puebla, and each 

 general marched and fought at his discretion. 

 No other course was possible. Brigandage 

 prevailed to a frightful extent along the bor- 

 ders of the territory occupied by the French, 

 and the guerrillas frequently showed a mingled 

 ferocity and audacity scarcely calculated to re- 

 assure those who looked for the speedy pacifi- 

 cation of the country. No convoy during the 

 early part of 1864 dared pass between Vera 

 Cruz and Mexico without a large armed escort. 

 In January a travelling party, accompanied by 

 a few soldiers, was attacked between Jalapa 

 and Perote, and massacred, it was said, with 

 the exception of one woman. Summary jus- 

 tice was dealt to the offenders, when caught, 

 and French military law seemed to be the only 

 code in force. Of the military events of the 

 year it is almost impossible to give an accurate 

 account, owing to the deliberate and systematic 

 falsification practised by both parties. Victo- 

 ries for the Juarists which had little or no 

 foundation in fact were frequently reported, 

 and on the other hand the French accounts of 

 their successes are exaggerated beyond the 

 power of belief. That the national forces were 

 gradually frittered away in frequent combats, 

 and by desertion or submission, until organized 

 resistance almost ceased, is the main fact in the 

 military history of the year. 



Early in January the French papers pub- 

 lished a long list of towns, including San Luis 

 Potosi and Guanajuato, which had given in 

 then: adhesion to the empire, and toward the 

 close of the month the expeditionary army 

 operating against Juarez marched north from 

 San Luis Potosi. On February 7th Zacatecas 

 was occupied by a column under Generals 

 Douai and Castagny, Doblado having previous- 

 ly retired toward Saltillo. Almost immediate- 

 ly, however, the advance of the French was 

 stopped from the necessity of watching the 

 movements of Ortega and Uraga, who were 

 reported between Zacatecas and Guadalajara, 

 threatening the latter city, then recently cap- 

 tured by General Bazaine, who had returned 

 to Mexico. On February 18th Ortega, accord- 

 ing to the French accounts, was routed by Cas- 

 tagny at Colotlan, in the State of Jalisco, and 

 obliged in his retreat to disband his troops ; 

 but this dissolution seems to have been only 

 temporary, as a few weeks later he appeared 



