MEXICO. 



S03 



to Mr. Hig,-low that the United States Govern- 

 'I and affected \\iili deep 



ru liy tin- announcement im\v nnulo for 

 -t time that the promised recall of OIK; 



..rin-iit of tlio l-'n-iu h troops lias U-.-n 



!-\ tin- emperor," and directed liiin 



to inform tho J-'ivneh (io\ vrmnert "that the 



. Iv liopi-s and exprcN that the 



:.ilion of Mexico will bo carried into ellcd 

 with >uch conformity to the existing agreement 

 :i< tin- inopportnno complication which calls for 

 tliis dispatch will allow.' 1 In reply to this dis- 

 patci . low sent the following message 



ard : 



In answer to a verbal communication, tho Minis- 



:u AC'uirs, M. Mmi.sticr, writes me to-day 



has not changed her resolution, but that 



upon military considerations she has deemed it cx- 



: it to substitute one comprehensive evacuation 



i evacuation in separate parts. AH of our 

 troops \\ill leave Mexico in the month of March. 



Although thi.s communication did not wholly 

 remove distrust in the United States, it was ad- 

 mitted that the emperor's military reasons were 

 sound. Such by this time had hecoine. the 



:h and spirit of the Republicans that tho 

 French troops were barely able to maintain 



present position. Hence, if one-third of 

 them should be withdrawn in November, the 



niii:,' two-thirds would be exposed to at- 



\\ Inch they could not withstand, and the 

 withdrawal of the second detachment would 

 simply surrender the third to destruction. 



In tho autumn of 1860 the United States 

 Government made preparations to send to 

 Mexico a special mission " accredited to the Re- 

 pnhliran (Jovermnent of which Mr. Juarez is 



i'.-nt," thus officially recognizing him Pres- 

 ident of Mexico as against the pretensions of 



;d Ortega to that office. The claims of 



;t tor to the presidency of Mexico have 

 been alluded to in previous volumes of this 

 work. After his protest against the decree of 

 November 9th, 18G5, by which Juarez deter- 

 mined to retain the presidency until a succes- 

 sor could be elected, Ortega remained for sev- 

 eral months in the United States, and there is 

 reason to believe that ho was busily occupied 

 during the spring and summer of I860 in form- 

 ing a powerful party in Mexico to sustain his 

 As the Imperialists were gradually 

 driven southward, this party increased in 



-th, xintil it seemed to its leader that the 

 moment had arrived to go in person to Mexico 

 and put himself at its head. On October 26th 

 he arrived in New Orleans from the North with 



d of his adherents, and publicly an- 

 nounced that ho M*as on the eve of departure 

 !' >r -Matamoras(the commanding officer of which, 

 t'anales, was known to be of his party), for tho 

 purpose of reestablishing a constitutional gov- 



it in Mexico. Before leaving New'or- 

 '.eans, he was officially served with a copy of tho 

 following communication from Major-Genavl 

 Sheridan, commanding the military division, of 

 the Cult; addressed to his subordinate, General 

 Badfwtek, at Brownsville, on the Rio Grande: 



D>rAETMEVT OF TUB 



NEW OUJUM, LA., October '.'3, liCO. 

 To Bretet Brig. -Gen, T. L. Stdfwicle, commanding 



rict of Rio Grande, Jirownttille, Texat ; 

 i HAL, I am satisfied that there i only one way 

 in which tlie state of affair* on the Hio Cifande cau 

 . and that is by giving the heartiest sup- 

 port to the only government in M 

 by our own the only one which is rcallv frii-:. 

 iii. You will, therefore, warn all adho: 

 party or pretended government in Mexico or Stat'<- 

 of Tamaulipas that they will not bo permitted to 

 violate the neutrality laws between the liberal gov- 

 ernment of Mexico and the United States; and also, 

 that they will not be allowed to remain in our tcrri- 

 tory ana receive the protection of our flag in order 

 to complete their machinations for the violation of 

 our neutrality laws. These instructions will be en- 

 forced against the adherents of the imperial bucca- 

 neers representing the so-called imperial government 

 of Mexico, and also against the Ortega, Santa Anna, 

 and other factions. President Juarez is the acknowl- 

 edged head of the liberal government of Mexico. 



I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient 

 servant, 



P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General commanding. 



In a communication to General Sheridan un- 

 der date of October 29th, ho expressed sur- 

 prise at the terms in which he had been de- 

 scribed by the former, and refused to admit 

 that they could apply to himself. " I deny," 

 he said, " that I have created or represent a 

 faction. I am the true and only representative 

 of tho constitutional law of Mexico, to which 

 nation belongs the right to decide its internal 

 questions." Undeterred by the warning em- 

 bodied in General Sheridan's letter, he departed 

 with his suite on the 80th for the Rio Grande, 

 and upon his arrival at Brazos Santiago, on 

 November 3d, was immediately arrested hy 

 Captain Paulson, the United States commander 

 of the post, in obedience to a special order from 

 General Sheridan. 



Ortega sent a long protest against his arrest to 

 Captain Paulson. lie was allowed to remain at 

 large at Brazos Santiago, his movement being 

 strictly watched, and was also informed that he 

 could return to New Orleans, whenever he de- 

 sired. In his dispatch to General Grant, inform- 

 ing him of what had been done, General Sheri- 

 dan observed : "My letter to General Sedgwick 

 and the arrest were opportune, as Canales in 

 Matamoras, and Negrcte and his adherents iu 

 Brownsville, were just awaiting his arrival to 

 assert his claims by an appeal to arms. lie 

 has no adherents in Mexico excepting French 

 and English merchants, who heretofore sup- 

 ported Maximilian. There is no trouble in all 

 Northern Mexico except in Matamoras and 

 Tampico, and these merchants are at the bot- 

 tom of it." In the following di>patch t 

 "tt'ar Department, General Sheridan sums up 

 the whole matter in a few words : 



IlEAJ>0,UARTER8, DlPABTMENT OF THE GutT, 



November 80, 1866. f 



On or about the 24{Ji day of June, 18G6, the city , f 

 Matamoras was surrendered by the Imperialist's to 

 tin- forces of the Liberal Government of Mexico, and 

 soon thereafter the city of Monterey, andnllofEaM* in 

 ami Northern Mexico. In process of time the Im 

 perial forces were driven to the valley of Mexico, and 

 in a line connecting Mexico and Ye"** Gnu, and i* 



