MEXICO. 



499 



1 lUaynuu and Maratlan,' closely 



:nl liis Pinto Indians, 



ami 1 ' ' 



be redact'' ! t lie climato 



the niimbcr of men 

 ::umn of 1865. Tho 

 il milita: a on tbo (Julf coast 



:. 'lined in n few words. Tho Impe- 

 :iring before the floods and ma- 

 t' tho const, confined themselves to hold- 

 ing unmolested their line of communication 

 with Yvra Cruz nnd guarding tho approaches 

 I.'-land. "With these exceptions tho 

 whole coast from Matamoras to Yucatan seemed 

 MI by guerilla bands, the central provinces 

 alone enjoying a semblance of tranquillity. 



As the season advanced the Imperialists grew 

 gradually weaker in the north, and in a corre- 

 ing degree tho Republicans, emboldened 

 by the promising appearance which their causo 

 to assume, gained in numbers and enter- 

 . Early in July, Escobedo began to con- 

 ate his forces at Linares and other points 

 lor the purpose of a combined attack on Mon- 

 . This, however, proved to be unneces- 

 sary, for on the morning of the 26th the French 

 commander, General Jcaningros, quietly with- 

 froin the town with his forces and marched 

 south to SaltiUo, having previously spiked stich 

 guns as he was compelled to leave behind, and 

 yed a largo quantity of ammunition. On 

 oiling of the 27th a small force of Repub- 

 licans occupied the deserted fortifications, and, 

 ou tho 5th of August, Escobedo made his tri- 

 umphal entrance amidst enthusiastic dernon- 

 >ns of welcome. Almost simultaneously 

 with Monterey Saltillo was evacuated, and the 

 Imperialists, garrisoning the two places, fell back 

 upon San Luis Potosi. Close npon this success 

 ; he attack upon Tampico by the Republican 

 - under Onesta and Gomez, who, on August 

 4th, occupied the whole city with the exception 

 of two forts in which the French portion of tho 

 ^n (the Mexican Imperialists having pre- 

 ! y gone over to tho Republicans) had taken 

 . A few weeks later these also surren- 

 dered, and the whole State of Tamanlipaa was 

 free from Imperial troops. Some time previous 

 to th'H Chihuahua had been abandoned, and by 

 the beginning of September nearly all the north- 

 ~- rates were won back to the Republic. 

 Durango, in the State of that name, and Mazat- 

 lan, were almost the only places occupied by 

 Imperial garrisons. Taking advantage of this 

 lavorablo turn of affairs, Juarez, in August, 

 broke up his residence at El Paso, on the north- 

 ern confines of the country, and once more 

 -tablished the Republican seat of government 

 in Chihuahua, whence he prepared to move 

 southward to Monterey or Durango, whenever 

 it should appear that the recent signal suc< 

 of the Republicans rested on a substantial basis. 

 During these months of triumph in the north, 

 little beyond the usual routine of guerilla war- 

 fare occurred in the Southern States, but it be- 

 came apparent with every week that tho Repub- 



licans in that quarter were gaining in stangth 

 and audacity. Along tho Sierras to tho north 

 and east of the capital they became, in August, 

 Singly troublesome to tho scatt' r.-<l Im- 

 1" rial garrisons, capturing and plundering nu- 

 merous small towns, and almost paralyzing 

 merce. The city of Jalapa was so h 

 them as to be practically in a state of 

 and, in consequence of rumors of a threat 

 demonstration by Porfirio Diaz and Figueroa 

 against Puebla from the direction of Oajaca, 

 tho French were constrained to reinforce the 

 Imperial garrison of that place. Wherever the 

 Republicans risked a pitched battle iftho en- 

 gagements of the opposing forces could be con- 

 sidered worthy of the name they were very 

 generally beaten ; but their efficiency as partisan 

 troops remained unimpaired, and indeed, under 

 the influence of the favorable news from the 

 north, continued to increase. During the spring 

 and summer the Imperialists continued to con- 

 centrate at San Luis Potosi under the personal 

 direction of Marshal Bazaine, who, it was re- 

 ported, had only temporarily evacuated the 

 strong positions in Northern Mexico, and was 

 meditating a new aggressive campaign of for- 

 midable proportions in that direction. But as 

 week after week passed away without the de- 

 parture of a column toward either Monterey or 

 Tampico, the opinion began to gain ground that 

 the French were really about to evacuate a 

 country which had proved so easy to conquer, 

 but so difficult to hold, and that the demonstra- 

 tion at San Luis Potosi was merely for the pur- 

 pose of covering their retreat to the central 

 States. If Bazaine had ever entertained the 

 idea of reconquering the deserted northern 

 States, he was obliged to relinquish it in conse- 

 quence of the increasing boldness of the Repub- 

 licans around Jalapa and Puebla, and in fact 

 along many points of the line of communication 

 between Vera Cruz and Mexico. This it was 

 absolutely essential for the safety of the French 

 troops under his command that he should hold; 

 and to scatter his forces in campaigns in distant 

 provinces was to incur the loss of supplies from 

 Vera Cruz, without any real compensating ad- 

 vantage. Hence he remained at San Luis Po- 

 tosi, seeming rather to invite an attack from the 

 forces of Escobedo, daily increasing in numbers 

 and efficiency, than to wish to take the initiative 

 in a new campaign. 



'The year 1866 opened upon the empire of 

 Maximilian not very auspiciously in respect to 

 civil affairs. Its financial condition, in particu- 

 lar, was such as to create unfeigned alarm. In 

 our previous volume it was stated that M. Lan- 

 glais, a Frenchman of considerable experience 

 and ability, had been sent to Mexico by Napo- 

 leon III., at the request of Maximilian, to en- 

 deavor to place the finances of the country upon 

 a sound footing. The efforts of this gentleman, 

 which seem to have been prompted by a sincere 

 desire to reform flagrant abuses and to institute 

 a rigid system of retrenchment, were frustrated 

 by liis sudden death in February, before th 



