MEXICO. 



523 



perplexed far more experienced financiers. But 

 the men whom Maximilian had called around 

 him, though possibly having the best intentions, 

 were unfitted, from the almost perpetual con- 

 tentions amidst which they had lived, as well 

 as from the frequent vicissitudes of political 

 fortune which they had experienced, to dis- 

 charge the functions of legislators. This was 

 imfficiently apparent from their method of con- 

 thicting business, the idea uppermost in their 

 uiinds seeming to be, that devotion to the em- 

 pire would enable them to manage state affairs, 

 and would make up for all deficiencies in knowl- 

 edge or capacity. So marked was the ineffi- 

 ciency of the committee, that the opponents of 

 the empire accused Maximilian of having se- 

 lected it for no other purpose than to afford a 

 pretext for assuming hereafter absolute rule, 

 on the ground that popular bodies could not 

 deal intelligently with great public questions. 

 Hence it was predicted that unless the several 

 commissions should speedily come to some prac- 

 tical conclusions, the emperor would shorten 

 their sessions, and boldly assume the responsi- 

 bility of deciding for them. After that, the 

 constitutional monarchy which the conservatives 

 professed to hail with so much pleasure would 

 soon degenerate into a despotism of the Austrian 

 type. These predictions have not yet, it is true, 

 been wholly fulfilled, but those who uttered 

 them profess to have full faith that popular gov- 

 ernment and the empire cannot exist together. 



The military commission alone, at the head 

 of which was Gen. Bazaine, proceeded, with 

 some degree of expedition, to put into proper 

 shape the matters committed to their charge. 

 This was in a great measure owing to the ex- 

 perience and business habits of their president, 

 who had much tact in all things connected with 

 his profession. A plan was elaborated for the 

 organization of a Mexican army of 100,000 men, 

 to which are to be added an auxiliary force of 

 15,000 European soldiers, comprising French, 

 Austrians, Belgians, Poles, and Germans, and 

 known as the " Foreign Legion." As early as 

 February, 1864, the first instalments of this 

 body began to arrive in Yera Cruz, and by the 

 close of the year nearly the whole complement 

 had been received. They relieved a correspond- 

 ing number of French troops who were sent 

 home from tune to time. 



The progress of military events up to July, 

 was on the whole favorable to the imperialists, 

 although the relative positions of the contend- 

 ing parties cannot be said to have materially 

 changed. Juarez still occupied Monterey ; Urupx 

 and Ortega held their forces in various parts 

 of Durango, Jalisco, and Michoacan ; and Diaz 

 and Alvarez had considerable strength in South- 

 ern Mexico. On the Pacific coast, the French 

 puccessively occupied during the year Acapulco, 

 Manzanilla, and Mazatlan, and established a 

 cordon of posts between Guadalajara and the 

 seaport, Tepic, thus connecting the Pacific with 

 the Gulf of Mexico. In April, Alvarez per- 

 emptorily declined to recognize the empire, but 



as the French were not then prepared to push 

 matters in the south, he and Diaz held the 

 country for some time longer without opposi- 

 tion. A severe blow to the republican cause 

 was the defection of Uraga in July, only a few- 

 weeks after he had announced his intention of 

 holding out for the national party to the last. 

 "To a soldier of the republic," he wrote on 

 June 13th, " mutilated in the cause of liberty, 

 bred from infancy in the doctrine of political 

 independence, there can be no other device 

 than this : "War to the death with the French ; 

 war to the death with those who, betraying the 

 sacred cause of their country, recognize or pro- 

 tect the foreign invader or the petty monarch 

 whom he pretends to enthrone on orvr soil. 

 This device I have adopted, and to this pledge 

 my country and the world shall see me devoted." 

 He made his escape to the capital, where he 

 subsequently was rewarded with high office for 

 his treachery, and the command of the army 

 which he had deserted wa-4 assumed by Gen. 

 Artoaga who issued a spirited address to re- 

 assure the troops. Though nothing perhaps 

 approaching in magnitude to a pitched battle 

 took place between March and July, lesser 

 engagements were frequent, and generally re- 

 sulted to the advantage of the imperialists. In 

 the south, the guerrilla bands of Palacios, Rojas, 

 and Romero, kept the latter constantly on the 

 alert, and sometimes gained signal though tem- 

 porary successes. 



In August, the Franco-Mexican columns 

 which had started from San Luis Potosi in the 

 early part of the year, found themselves at lost 

 in a condition to move northward with vigor, 

 and their approach was the signal for the re- 

 publican forces to draw oif to the northwest. 

 The column under Douai and Castagny which 

 had remained so long in Zacatecas, took the 

 direct road for Monterey, and passing through 

 Saltillo, reached the former place early in Sep- 

 tember. It had already been evacuated by 

 Juarez, who, with the archives and the few 

 remaining officials connected with the national 

 government, passed over the desert of San Car- 

 los to Chihuahua, where he was cordially re- 

 ceived on October 12th. An imperial force 

 also, after a sharp fight at Estanzuela, occupied 

 the city of Durango, in the State of that name, 

 during September. Another column under 

 Gen. Mejia meanwhile marched from San Luis 

 Potosi, northeast through the State of Tamau- 

 lipas to Matamoros, where, on September 26th, 

 the republican Governor Cortinas capitulated 

 with ah 1 his forces. Contemporary with this 

 movement the French fleet reappeared oft' the 

 Rio Grande, and occupied Bagdad near the 

 mouth of the river, which they fortified and 

 supplied with a garrison. It was while the 

 latter was successfully resisting an attack from 

 the troops of Cortinas that Mejia reached Mata- 

 moros, which fell without a shot. 



The surrender of Cortinas and his army, and 

 the fall of Matamoros, were the most severe 

 n verses that Juarez Wl experienced in the 



