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 •"^ximilian in Mexico- j 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020439893 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 IN MEXICO 
 
EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 IN MEXICO 
 
 A WOMAN'S REMINISCENCES OF THE 
 
 FRENCH INTERVENTION 
 
 1862-1867 
 
 BY 
 
 SARA YORKE STEVENSON, Sc. D. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1899 
 

 Copyright, 1897, 1898, 1899, by 
 Thk Centitbt Co. 
 
 THE DE VINNE PRESS. 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 SENOR DON MATIAS ROMERO 
 
 MINISTER OF MEXICO TO WASHINGTON 
 
 1882-1898. 
 
 One of the latest survivors of the drama, some episodes 
 of which are herein related. \ 
 
 His approval of five articles on the French Intervention 
 and the reign of Maximilian, vyhieh appeared in the " Century 
 Magazine" in 1897, and his earnest request that they be pub- 
 lished in a more permanent form, led to the presentation 
 of this volume to the public. 
 
 With deepest appreciation of the important part played 
 by this Mexican patriot in checking the aggressive policy 
 of Europe upon this continent, the author here inscribes his 
 name. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1861-62 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. El Dorado 1 
 
 n. The New "Napoleonic Idea" .... 7 
 
 m. M. DE Salignt and M. Jecker .... 17 
 
 IV. The Allies in Mexico 24 
 
 V. Rtiptube between the Allies .... 36 
 
 PART n. THE FRENCH INTERVENTION, 1862-64 
 I. The Attthoe Leaves Paeis foe Mexico . . 47 
 
 II. PCTEBLA AND MEXICO — GENEEAL DE LOEENCEZ — 
 
 Geneeal Zaraqoza 66 
 
 III. The Siege of Ptjebla — General Porey — General 
 
 Ortega 82 
 
 IV. The French in the City of Mexico— The Re- 
 
 gency 93 
 
 PART III. THE EMPIRE OF MAXIMILIAN I, 1864-65 
 
 I. Marshal Bazaine 117 
 
 II. A Bed of Roses m a Gold-Mine .... 125 
 
 III. Thorns 136 
 
 vii 
 
Contents 
 
 PAET rv. THE AWAKENING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. "A Cloud no Biggee than a Man's Hand" . 161 
 
 II. La DjfiBlcLE 188 
 
 III. Comedy and Teagedy 207 
 
 IV. GeJTEEAIj CASTEIiNAU 232 
 
 V. The End or the Feench Inteevention , . 256 
 
 PAET V. THE END 
 
 I. QuEE^TAEO, 1867 269 
 
 APPENDICES 
 
 A. The Bando Negeo (Black Deoeee) Pboct.ama- 
 
 TioN OF Empeeoe Maximillan, Octobee 3, 1865, 309 
 
 B. TeEATT OF MiEAMAE, SIGNED ON APEIL 10, 1864 . 315 
 
 Index 321 
 
 vui 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Empeeor Maximilian Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Napoleon III, EuGfoiE, and Duo de Morny . . 9 
 
 Maximilian Gold Com 19 
 
 Agustin de Iturbide 29 
 
 Miguel Miramon 39 
 
 President Benito Pablo Juarez 49 
 
 General Prim 59 
 
 PoRFiRio Diaz 69 
 
 Matias Eomero 79 
 
 From * ' Mexico and the United States, " by permission of G.P. Putnam's Sons. 
 
 Chapultepec, Maximilian's Palace .... 89 
 
 Empress Charlotte 99 
 
 Colonel Van dbr Smissen 109 
 
 Mar^chal Bazaine and Madame la Marechale . 119 
 Matthew Fontaine Maury 129 
 
 After a photograph by D. H. Anderson. 
 
 COMTE DB ThUN DE HOHENSTEIN 143 
 
 Photographed by Merille. 
 
 Count von Funpkirchen • 153 
 
 From photograph by Montes de Oca. 
 
 Ex-Confederate Generals in Mexico . . . 171 
 Dr. "William M. Gwm 183 
 
 From a steel-engraving by A. B. Walter for the '• Democratic Review." 
 
 General MejIa 195 
 
 Marquis de Gallifet 211 
 
 After photograph by Nadar. 
 
 ix 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PAOE 
 
 <!OLOKEL TOTTRRE, ThIED ZoUAVES .... 227 
 
 After photograph by Moutes de Oca. 
 
 COMTE DB BOMBELLES 239 
 
 After photograph by Aubert & Co. 
 
 Geneeal Castelnatj 251 
 
 Colonel Dupin 263 
 
 SUERENDER OF Maximillan, May 15, 1867 . . . 275 
 Don Pedeo Eincon Gallaedo 283 
 
 From a photograph by Cruces y Campa. 
 
 Guard and Seegeant who Shot Maximilian . . 291 
 
 Last Day op Maximilian 297 
 
 The Calvaet of QuERiTARO, Showing where Maximil- 
 ian, MejIa., and Mibamon were Shot . . . 300 
 The Last Moments op Maximilian .... 301 
 The Hack in which Maximilian was Taken to the 
 
 Place of Execution 304 
 
 Monuments Marking the Place op Execution . . 307 
 
PRELUDE 
 
 IN offering these pages to the public, my aim is 
 not to wi'ite a historical sketch of the reign of 
 Maximilian of Austria, nor is it to give a descrip- 
 tion of the political crisis through which Mexico 
 passed during that period. My only desire is to 
 furnish the reader with a point of view the value 
 of which lies in the fact that it is that of an eye- 
 witness who was somewhat more than an ordinary 
 spectator of a series of occurrences which devel- 
 oped into one of the most dramatic episodes of 
 modern times. 
 
 Historians too often present their personages to 
 the public and to posterity as actors upon a stage, 
 —I was about to say as puppets in a show,— whose 
 acts are quite outside of themselves, and whose 
 voices express emotions not their own. They ap- 
 pear before the footlights of a fulfilled destiny ; and 
 their doubts, their weaknesses, are concealed, along 
 with their temptations, beneath the paint and stage 
 drapery lent them by the historian who, knowing 
 beforehand the denouement toward which their 
 efforts tended, unconsciously assumes a like know- 
 ledge on their part. They are thus often credited 
 
 xi 
 
Prelude 
 
 with deep-laid motives and plans which it may per- 
 haps have been impossible for them to entertain at 
 the time. 
 
 To those who lived with them when they were 
 making history, these actors are all aglow with life. 
 They are animated by its passions, its impulses. 
 They are urged onward by personal ambition, or 
 held back by selfish considerations. They are not 
 characters in a drama ; they are men of the world, 
 whose official acts, like those of the men about 
 us to-day, are influenced by their affections, their 
 family complications, their prejudices, their rival- 
 ries, their avarice, their vanity. The circumstances 
 of their private life temporarily excite or depress 
 their energies, and often give them a new and un- 
 looked-for direction ; and the success or failure of 
 their undertakings may be recognized as having 
 been the result of their individual limitations, of 
 their personal ignorance of the special conditions 
 with which they were called upon to cope, or of 
 their short-sightedness. 
 
 In this lies the importance of private recollec- 
 tions. The gossip of one epoch forms part of the 
 history of the next. It is therefore to be deplored 
 that those whose more or less obscure lives run 
 their course in the shadow of some public career 
 are seldom sufficiently aware of the fact at the 
 time to note accurately their observations and 
 impressions. 
 
 These thoughts occurred to me when, at the re- 
 quest of the editor of the " Century," I one night 
 took up my pen, and gathering about me old letters, 
 
 xii 
 
Prelude 
 
 photograplis, and small tokens faded and yellow 
 with age, plunged deep into tlie recollections of my 
 youthful days, and evoked the ghosts of brilliant 
 friends, many of whom have since passed away, 
 leaving but names written in lines of blood upon a 
 page of history. As they appeared across a chasm 
 of thirty years, the well-remembered faces famil- 
 iarly smiled, each flinging a memory. They formed 
 a motley company: generals now dead, whose 
 names are revered or execrated by their country- 
 men ; lieutenants and captains who have since made 
 their way in the world, or have died, broken-hearted 
 heroes, before Metz or Sedan ; women who seemed 
 obscure, but whose names, in the general convul- 
 sion of nations, have risen to newspaper notoriety 
 or to lasting fame ; soldiers who have become his- 
 torians; guerrilleros now pompously called gen- 
 erals; adventurers who have grown into person- 
 ages ; personages who have sunk into adventurers ; 
 sovereigns who have become martyrs. 
 
 They had all been laid away in my mind, buried 
 in the ashes of the past along with the old life. 
 The drama in which each had played his part had 
 for many years seemed as far off and dim as though 
 read in a book a long time ago ; and yet now, how 
 alive it all suddenly became— alive with a life that 
 no pen can picture ! 
 
 There were their photographs and their invita- 
 tions, their old notes and bits of doggerel sent to 
 accompany small courtesies— flowers, music, a Ha- 
 vana dog, or the loan of a horse. It was all vivid 
 and real enough now. Those men were not to me 
 
 xiii 
 
Prelude 
 
 mere historical figures of whom one reads. They 
 fought historic battles, they founded a historic 
 though ephemeral empire ; their defeats, their tri- 
 umphs, their "deals," their blunders, were now 
 matters of history : but for all that, they were of 
 common flesh and blood, and the strange incidents 
 of a strangely picturesque episode in the existence 
 of this continent seemed natural enough if one only 
 knew the men. 
 
 Singly or in groups, the procession slowly passed, 
 each one pausing for a brief space in the flood of 
 hght cast by an awakening memory. Many wore 
 uniforms— French, Austrian, Belgian, Mexican. 
 Some were dancing gaily, laughing and flirting as 
 they went by. Others looked care-worn and ab- 
 sorbed by the preoccupations of a distracted state, 
 and by the growing consciousness of the thankless 
 responsibility which the incapacity of their rulers 
 at home, and the unprincipled deceit of a few offi- 
 cial impostors, had placed upon them. But all, 
 whether thoughtful or careless, whether clairvoyant 
 or blind, whether calmly yielding to fate or at- 
 tempting to breast the storm, were driven along 
 by the irresistible current of events, each drifting 
 toward the darkness of an inevitable doom which, 
 we now know, was inexorably awaiting him as he 
 passed from the ray of light into the gloom in his 
 " dance to death." 
 
 XIV 
 
PART I 
 
 THE TEIPLE ALLIANCE 
 1861-62 
 
MAXIMILIAN IN MEXICO 
 
 I 
 
 EL DOEADO 
 
 DUEINa the winter of 1861-62, my last win- 
 ter in France, one of the principal subjects of 
 conversation in Parisian offi.cial circles was our 
 Civil "War, and its possible bearing upon the com- 
 mercial and colonial interests of Europe, or rather 
 the possible advantage that Europe, and especially 
 France, might hope to derive from it. 
 
 A glance at M. de Lamartine's famous article 
 written in January, 1864, and reprinted a year or 
 two later in his " Entretiens Litteraires," will help 
 us to understand how far Frenchmen were from 
 appreciating not only our point of view, but the 
 true place assigned by fate to the United States in 
 contemporary history. Nothing could so plainly 
 reveal the failure of the French to understand the 
 natural drift of events on this side of the Atlantic, 
 and account for the extraordinary, though short- 
 lived, success of Napoleon's wild Mexican scheme. 
 In this article, written with a servile pen, the poet- 
 statesman attacked the character of the people of 
 
 1 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the United States, and brought out Napoleon's 
 motives in his attempt to obtain, not for France 
 alone, but for Europe at large, a foothold upon the 
 American continent. With a vividness likely to 
 impress his readers with the greatness of the con- 
 ception as a theory, he showed how the establish- 
 ment of a European monarchy in Mexico must 
 insure to European nations a share in the commerce 
 of the New World. The new continent, America, 
 is the property of Europe, he urged. The Old 
 World should not recognize the right of the United 
 States to control its wealth and power. 
 
 An article by Michel Chevalier, published with 
 the same purpose in view, threatened Mexico with 
 annexation by the United States unless the exist- 
 ing government of the country underwent reorgani- 
 zation. 
 
 Both authors were frequent visitors at my guar- 
 dian's house in Paris, which accoimts for the 
 impression made upon my youthful mind by their 
 written utterances at that time. M. Chevalier was 
 a distinguished political economist. He had visited 
 Mexico, and knew the value of its mining and 
 agricultural wealth without sufficiently recognizing 
 the actual conditions to be dealt with, and he fully 
 indorsed the imperial conception. " The success 
 of the expedition is infallible," he said. He ex- 
 plained the resistance of the Mexicans by their 
 hatred of the Spaniards, and demonstrated to his 
 own satisfaction that the burden of the venture 
 must fall upon France, who shoxdd reap the glory 
 of its success. 
 
El Dorado 
 
 Modern civilization, he urged, includes a distinct 
 branch— the Latin— in which Catholicism shines. 
 Of this France is the soul as well as the arm. 
 " Without her, without her energy and her initia- 
 tive, the group of the Latin races must be reduced 
 to a subordinate rank in the world, and would have 
 been eclipsed long ago." In comparing upon a 
 map of the world the space occupied by the Catho- 
 lic nations two centuries ago with the present 
 area under their control, " one is dismayed at all 
 that they have lost and are losing" every day. " The 
 Catholic nations seem threatened to be swallowed 
 up by an ever-rising flood." ^ 
 
 When the Mexican empire was planned our Civil 
 War had been raging for nearly two years. From 
 the standpoint of the French rulers, the moment 
 seemed auspicious for France to interfere in Ameri- 
 can affairs. The establishment of a great Latin 
 empire, founded under French protection and de- 
 veloped in the interest of France, which must 
 necessarily derive the principal benefit of the stu- 
 pendous wealth which Mexico held ready to pour 
 into the lap of French capitalists,— of an empire 
 which in the West might put a limit to the suprem- 
 acy of the United States, as well as counterbal- 
 ance the British supremacy in the East, thus op- 
 posing a formidable check to the encroachments 
 of the Anglo-Saxon race in the interest of the 
 
 1 "BevTie des Deux Mondes," or later, when the production of 
 
 April, 1862, p. 916. It is interest- silver will have no other limit 
 
 ing to find him quoting Hum- than that imposed upon it by its 
 
 boldt's prophecy that "the time ever-increasing depreciation as a 
 
 will come, be it a century sooner value " (April, 1862, p. 894). 
 
 3 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Latin nations,— such was Napoleon's plan, and I 
 have been told by one who was close to the impe- 
 rial family at that time that the Emperor himself 
 fondly regarded it as " the conception of his reign." 
 Napoleon III labored under the disadvantage of 
 reigning beneath the shadow of a great personality 
 which, consciously or unconsciously, he ever strove 
 to emulate. But however clever he may be, the 
 man who, anxious to appear or even to be great, 
 forces fate and creates impossible situations that 
 he may act a leading part before the world, is only 
 a schemer. This is the key to the character of 
 Napoleon III and to his failures. He looked far 
 away and dreamed of universal achievements, when 
 at home, at his very door, were the threatening 
 issues he should have mastered. The story is told 
 of him that one evening, at the Tuileries, when the 
 imperial party were playing games, chance brought 
 to the Emperor the question, " What is your favor- 
 ite occupation ? " to which he answered : " To seek 
 the solution of unsolvable problems." It is also 
 related that in his younger days a favorite axiom 
 of his was : " FoUow the ideas of your time, they 
 carry you along ; struggle against them, they over- 
 come you ; precede them, they support you." True 
 enough ; but only upon condition that you will not 
 mistake the shrill chorus of a few interested cour- 
 tiers and speculators for the voice of your time, 
 nor imagine that you precede your generation be- 
 cause you stand alone. He dreamed of far-away 
 glory, and his flatterers told him his dreams were 
 prophetic. He saw across the seas the mirage of 
 a great Latin empire in the West, and beheld the 
 
 4 
 
El Dorado 
 
 Muse of history inscribing his name beside that of 
 his great kinsman as the restorer of the political 
 and commercial equilibrium of the world, as well as 
 the benefactor who had thrown El Dorado open to 
 civilization. With the faith of ignorance, he pro- 
 posed to share with an Austrian archduke these 
 imaginary possessions, and to lay for him, as was 
 popularly said in 1862-63, "a bed of roses in a 
 gold-mine." Unmindful of warnings, he pushed 
 onward for two years, apparently incapable of 
 grasping the fact that the mirage was receding 
 before him; and finally found his fool's errand 
 saved from ridicule only by the holocaust of many 
 lives, and raised to dignity only by the tragedy of 
 Queretaro. 
 
 All this we now know, but in 1861-62 the Napo- 
 leonic star shone brilliantly with the full luster 
 east upon it by the Crimean war and the result of 
 the Italian campaign. It is true that occasionally 
 some strong discordant note issuing from the popu- 
 lar depths would strike the ear and for the time 
 mar the paeans of applause which always greet suc- 
 cessful power. For instance, at the Odeon one 
 night, during the war with Austria, I was present 
 when the Empress Eugenie entered. The Odeon is 
 in the Latin Quarter, and medical and law students 
 filled the upper tiers of the house. As the sover- 
 eign took her seat in a box a mighty chorus sud- 
 denly arose, and hundreds of voices sang, " Cor- 
 bleu, madame, que faites vous ici?" quoting the 
 then popular song, "Le Sire de Franboisy." 
 
 The incident, so insulting to the poor woman, 
 gave rise to some disturbance ; and although the 
 
 5 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 boys were quieted, the Empress soon left the thea- 
 ter, choking with mortification. M. Eochef ort, who 
 refers to this incident in his memoirs, adds that as 
 the imperial party came out, another insult of a 
 still more shocking character was thrown at the 
 Empress. This, of course, I did not witness. 
 
 Such occurrences were usually treated by the 
 press and the government sympathizers as emanat- 
 ing from youthful hot-brains, or from the lower 
 ranks of the people, and therefore as unworthy of 
 attention. But those hot-brains represented the 
 coming thinkers of France, and the "common" peo- 
 ple represented its strength. On the whole, how- 
 ever, in 1862 the more powerful element had rallied 
 to and upheld the government. The court and the 
 army were so loud in their admiration of the pro- 
 found policy of the Emperor that those who heeded 
 the croakings of the few clear-sighted men compos- 
 ing the opposition were in the background. 
 
 It so happened that my lines had been cast among 
 these, and it is interesting now, in looking back 
 upon the expressions of opinion of those who most 
 strenuously opposed French interference in Ameri- 
 can affairs, to see how little even these men, wise 
 as they were in their generation, appreciated the 
 true conditions prevailing in Mexico. None seri- 
 ously doubted the possibility of occupying the 
 country and of maintaining a French protectorate. 
 The only point discussed was. Was it worth while ? 
 And to this question Jules Favre, Thiers, Picard, 
 Berryer, Grlais-Bizoin, Pelletan, and a few others 
 emphatically said, " No ! " 
 
 6 
 
II 
 
 THE NEW "NAPOLEONIC IDEA" 
 
 THE " Napoleonic idea," however, had not burst 
 forth fully equipped in all its details from the 
 Csesarean brain in 1862. It would be unfair not to 
 aUow it worthy antecedents and a place in the his- 
 toric sequence. As far back as 1821, when the 
 principle of constitutional monarchy was accepted 
 by the Mexicans under the influence of General 
 Iturbide, a convention known as the "plan of 
 Iguala " had been drawn by Generals Itui'bide and 
 Santa Anna, and accepted by the new viceroy, 
 O'Donoju, in which it was agreed that the crown 
 of Mexico should be offered first to Ferdinand VII, 
 and, in case of his refusal, to the Archduke Charles 
 of Austria, or to the Infante of Spain, Don Carlos 
 Luis, or to Don Francisco Paulo. 
 
 The Mexican embassy sent to Spain to offer the 
 throne of Mexico to Ferdinand was ill received. 
 The king had no thought of purchasing a crown 
 which he regarded as his own by the recognition 
 of the constitutional principle which he had so long 
 fought ; and the Cortes scorned to authorize any of 
 the Spanish princes to accept the advances of the 
 
 7 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Mexicans. The result of Spain's unbending policy 
 was a rupture whicli involved the loss of its richest 
 colony. 
 
 In 1854 G-eneral Santa Anna/ then dictator or 
 president for life, had given full powers to Senor 
 Grutierrez de Estrada to treat with the courts of 
 Paris, London, Vienna, and Madrid for the estab- 
 lishment of a monarchy in Mexico under the scep- 
 ter of a European prince; and Senor de Estrada, 
 with the consent of the French government, had of- 
 fered the throne of his country to the Due de Mont- 
 pensier, who wisely, as it proved, had declined it. 
 
 The Crimean war and the downfall of General 
 Santa Anna checked the progress of these negotia- 
 tions, which were resumed as soon as, peace having 
 been restored, the European powers could turn 
 their attention to their commercial interests in 
 America, which Senor de Estrada represented to 
 them as gravely compromised by the encroach- 
 ments of the United States in Mexico, and to the 
 grievances urged by their subjects against the 
 Mexican government.^ 
 
 In 1859 Q-eneral Miramon ' confirmed the powers 
 given by General Santa Anna to the Mexican rep- 
 
 1 Santa Anna raised the flag of fore an insurrection of the Liberal 
 
 revolt against his benefactor in party led by the old Indian gover- 
 
 1823. Iturbide abdicated, was nor of Guerrero, General Alvarez, 
 
 given a pension of twenty-five ^ Compare Abb6 Domenech, 
 
 thousand dollars, and, at his own "Histoire du Mexique," vol. ii, 
 
 suggestion, was escorted to the p. 360. 
 
 sea-coast, a voluntary exile, by ' General Miramon was barely 
 
 a guard of honor. From this twenty-six when he rose to the 
 
 time Santa Anna had a hand in first rank in Mexican politics. Of 
 
 all the revolutions that followed. BSamese extraction, his father's 
 
 He himself subsequently fell be- family passed over to Spain in the 
 
 8 
 
The New ^'•Napoleonic Idea'''' 
 
 resentative; and then it was that, for the first 
 time, the Emperor commended to his attention 
 the Archduke Maximilian. 
 
 It were also unfair not to admit that the varying 
 success of the conflict between the two factions 
 struggling for supremacy in Mexico was likely to 
 deceive the European powers, and made it easy for 
 men whose personal interests were at stake to mis- 
 represent the respective strength of the contending 
 parties and the condition of the country. But no 
 leader of men has, in the eyes of history, a right to 
 be deceived either by men or by appearances ; and 
 granting that Napoleon might at first have been 
 misled, he had timely warning, and the opportunity 
 to withdraw, as did the Spaniards and the English, 
 without shame, if without glory. 
 
 After Mexico, led by the patriots Hidalgo and 
 Morelos, had thrown off the Spanish yoke, it became 
 for forty years the scene of a series of struggles 
 between contending factions which reduced the 
 country to a state of anarchy. Once rid of their 
 Spanish viceroys, the Mexicans found themselves 
 little better off than they had been under their 
 rule. For centuries the Mexican church had played 
 upon the piety of the devout for the furtherance of 
 its own temporal interests, until one third of the 
 whole wealth of the nation had found its way into 
 
 eighteenth century. His grand- He was a brilliant ofaeer, bold, 
 father had gone to Mexico as aide- vigorous, original. During his 
 de-camp to one of the viceroys, term of of&oe he had on his 
 Miguel Miramon had served in side the clergy, the army, the 
 the war against the United States, capital. 
 
 11 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 its hands. It was against the clergy, and against 
 the retrogressive policy for which it stood, that in 
 1856 a wide-spread revolutionary movement was 
 successfully organized, as a result of which, in 1857, 
 a liberal constitution was drawn up and accepted 
 by the people. 
 
 The clerical or reactionary party, although it 
 counted among its adherents many of the best old 
 Spanish families composing Mexico's aristocracy, 
 would probably soon have ceased to be a serious 
 practical obstacle in the way of reform had it not 
 been for the wealth of a corrupt clergy, by means 
 of which its armies were kept in the field. Be this 
 as it may, the reign of constitutional order repre- 
 sented by President Comonfort in 1856 was short- 
 lived. Greneral Comonfort abdicated in 1858. 
 Benito Juarez, by virtue of his rank of president 
 of the Supreme Court, then became constitutional 
 president ad interim. 
 
 By a pronunciamiento General Zuloaga, with the 
 help of the army, took possession of the govern- 
 ment and of the capital, while Juarez maintained 
 his rights at Queretaro. War raged between the 
 two parties, with rapidly varying success. A let- 
 ter dated November 19, 1860, written by my brother, 
 a young American engineer who had gone to Mexico 
 to take part in the construction of the first piece of 
 railroad built between Vera Cruz and Mexico, gives 
 a concise and picturesque account of the situation : 
 
 Things look dark— so dark, in fact, that for the pres- 
 ent I do not think it advisable to risk any more money 
 
 12 
 
The New ^''Napoleonic Idea^^ 
 
 here. There is a fair prospect of the decree of Juarez 
 being annulled. If so, our bonds go overboard. There 
 is a prospect of Juarez signing a treaty. If so, our bonds 
 go up 15 or 20. It is rouge et noire — a throw of the dice. 
 The Liberals have been beaten at Queretaro, where Mira- 
 mon took from them twenty-one pieces of artillery and 
 many prisoners, among them an American officer of artil- 
 lery, whom he shot the next day, as usual. Oajaca has 
 fallen into the hands of the clergy. The Liberals under 
 Carbajal attacked Tulancingo, and were disgracefully 
 beaten by a lot of ragged Indians. They are losing 
 ground everywhere ; and if the United States does not 
 take hold of this unhappy country it will certainly go to 
 the dogs. There is a possibility of compromise between 
 Juarez and Miramon, the effect of which is this : the con- 
 stitution of '57 to be revised ; the sale of clergy property 
 to their profit ; the revocation of Juarez's decree of July 
 about the confiscation of clergy property to the profit of 
 the state ; religious liberty, civil marriage, etc. 
 
 A gloomy picture, and true enough, save in one 
 respect. The Liberals might be beaten everywhere, 
 but they were not losing ground ; on the contrary, 
 their cause rested upon too solid a foundation of 
 right and progress, and the last brilliant exploits of 
 General Miramon were insufficient to galvanize the 
 reactionary party into a living force. 
 
 On December 22, 1860, Miramon was finally de- 
 feated at Calpulalpan by General Ortega, and shortly 
 after left the country. On December 28 the reforms 
 prepared in Vera Cruz by Juarez, proclaiming the 
 principles of religious toleration, and decreeing the 
 confiscation of clergy property, the abolition of all 
 
 13 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 religious orders, and the institution of civil mar- 
 riage, etc., were promulgated in the capital by Gen- 
 eral Ortega ; and on January 11, 1861, Juarez ^ him- 
 self took possession of the city of Mexico. The 
 Liberals were triumphant, and the civil war was 
 virtuaUy at an end. 
 
 The defeated army, as was invariably the case in 
 Mexico, dissolved and disappeared, leaving only a 
 residuum of small bands of guerrillas. These 
 preyed impartially upon the people and upon trav- 
 elers of both parties. Leonardo Marquez almost 
 alone remained in the field and seriously continued 
 the conflict. The principal leaders fled abroad, es- 
 pecially to Paris, where they made friends, and 
 planned a revenge upon the victorious oppressors 
 of the church, whose outrages upon God and man 
 were vividly colored by religious and party hatred. 
 Among these were men of refinement and good ad- 
 dress, scions of old Spanish families, who, like M. 
 Gutierrez de Estrada, found ready sympathy among 
 the Emperor's entourage. As a rule, none but 
 " hopelessly defeated parties seek the help of foreign 
 invasion of their own land"; but the Empress 
 Eugenie, who, a Spaniard herself, was a devout 
 churchwoman, lent a willing ear to the stories of 
 the refugees, impressively told in her own native 
 tongue. To reinstate the church, and to oppose 
 
 1 Benito PaWo Juarez was of had Mm educated. He soon rose 
 Indian birth, and as a boy began to greatness as a lawyer, and then 
 life as a mozo, or servant, in a as a member of the National Con- 
 wealthy family. His ability was gress, governor of Oajaca, secre- 
 sueh as to draw upon him the tary to the executive, and presi- 
 attention of his employer, who dent of the republic. 
 
 14 
 
TJie New ^'■Napoleonic Idea'''' 
 
 the strong Catliolicism of a Latin monarchy to the 
 Protestant influence of the Northern republic, 
 seemed to her the most attractive aspect of the 
 projected scheme. 
 
 The struggle that had been carried on for so 
 many years in Mexico with varying vicissitudes was 
 not purely one of partizan interest based upon a 
 different view of political government: it was the 
 struggle of the spirit of the nineteenth century 
 against the survival of Spanish medievalism; it 
 was the contest of American republicanism against 
 the old order of things, religious and social as well 
 as political ; of progressive liberalism against con- 
 servatism and reaction. 
 
 The French intervention as planned by Napoleon 
 III was, therefore, a glaring paradox, and betrays 
 his absolute ignorance of the conditions with which 
 he was undertaking to cope. As a matter of fact, 
 the party upon whose support he relied for the 
 purpose of developing the natural resources of 
 Mexico, and of bringing that country into line with 
 European intellectual and industrial progress, was 
 pledged by all its traditions to moral and political 
 retrogression. 
 
 The enterprise, undertaken under these condi- 
 tions, bore in itself such elements of failure that 
 nothing save the force of arms and a vast expendi- 
 ture of life and money could, even for a time, make 
 it a success. Unless the French assumed direct 
 and absolute control of Mexican affairs irrespective 
 of party— and this contingency was specifically set 
 aside by the most solemn declarations— they must 
 
 15 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 sooner or later come into direct antagonism with 
 allies who were pledged to the most benighted form 
 of clericalism, and into real, though perhaps uncon- 
 scious, sympathy with their opponents who stood 
 arrayed upon the side of progress. 
 
 It was not long before the pretensions of the 
 church and party complications caused a breach 
 between the Corps Expeditionnaire and its original 
 supporters, which placed the French in the un- 
 looked-for, and by them much deprecated, attitude 
 of invaders and conquerors of the land, equally 
 hated by ally and foe. And yet at the outset one 
 aspect of the situation was favorable to the success 
 of the French undertaking. 
 
 The sweeping reforms carried out by Juarez dur- 
 ing his brief undisturbed occupation of the country 
 had greatly smoothed the way for the French in 
 their self-imposed task of Mexican regeneration. 
 The new laws had already been enforced regulat- 
 ing the relations of church and state. The confis- 
 cation of clergy property, the breaking up of the 
 powerful religious orders, and religious tolerance, 
 all had been proclaimed, as well as the freedom of 
 the press. 
 
 Spanish influence, which in these struggles had 
 been exercised strongly against reform, had been 
 abruptly brought to an end by the summary dis- 
 missal of Senor Pacheco, the Spanish minister, 
 and the Archbishop of Mexico had been exiled. 
 
 16 
 
Ill 
 
 M. DE SALiaNY AND M. JECKER 
 
 ONE of the first problems, and quite the most 
 important, to be faced by President Juarez, 
 upon Ms establishment in the capital, had been the 
 raising of funds with which to carry on the expense 
 of the Liberal government. As a measure the throw- 
 ing upon the market of the nationalized church 
 property recommended itself. There was, however, 
 but little confidence, and still less ready money, in 
 the country after many years of civil strife. So 
 much real estate suddenly thrown upon the market 
 depreciated property. The easy terms of sale— a 
 third cash, the balance to be paid in pagares— 
 tempted speculators and gave rise to many frau- 
 dulent transactions, and the measure brought little 
 relief to the government. 
 
 Although in March, 1861, President Juarez had 
 signed a convention adjusting anew the pecuniary 
 claims of the French residents, on July 17 Congress 
 found itself compelled to suspend payment on all 
 agreements hitherto entered into with foreign 
 powers. The very next day the representatives of 
 France and Great Britain entered a formal protest 
 
 17 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 on behalf of their governments. On July 25, hav- 
 ing obtained no satisfaction, they suspended all 
 diplomatic relations with the Mexican govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Feeling ran high between Mexicans and for- 
 eigners. The speculators in Mexican bonds, as 
 well as more innocent sufferers, were loud in their 
 denunciations. The Swiss banker Jecker,^ who had 
 cleverly managed to enlist the interest of power- 
 ful supporters at the court of Napoleon III, and 
 who had become naturalized in order to add weight 
 to his claim to French support, spared no pains in 
 
 1 The French claims against the 
 Mexican government amounted to 
 50,000,000 francs. Jeoker's inter- 
 ests suffered most by the decree of 
 President Juarez of July 17, 1861. 
 Under Miramon he had negoti- 
 ated, on behalf of the clerical 
 party, the new issue of six-per- 
 cent, bonds of 75,000,000 francs, 
 destined to take up the old dis- 
 credited government bonds, 
 twenty-five per cent, being paid 
 in silver by the holders, and the 
 interest being guaranteed partly 
 by the state, and partly by the 
 house of Jeoker. The latter was 
 to receive a commission of five 
 per cent, upon the transaction— 
 3,750,000 francs. The profit to 
 the government should have been 
 15,000,000 francs, had nota clause 
 been inserted enabling Jecker to 
 deduct his commission in advance, 
 as well as half of the interest for 
 five years, — 11,250,000 francs,— 
 which, as we have seen, was guar- 
 anteed by the state ; so that, as a 
 
 matter of fact, the government 
 received only 3,570,000 francs. 
 When, in May, 1860, and without 
 the slightest warning, the house 
 of Jecker failed, the interests of 
 a large number of Frenchmen 
 whose funds were intrusted to 
 it were jeopardized ; and as their 
 only hope rested upon the profit 
 to be derived from the issue of 
 the bonds referred to, the decree 
 of January 1, 1861, annulling the 
 contract under which they had 
 been issued, not only ruined the 
 house of Jecker beyond recovery, 
 but deprived its creditors of all 
 remaining hope. Jecker then 
 went to France. There he skil- 
 fully managed to win over to his 
 cause some personages influential 
 at the court of France. The Due 
 de Morny, whose speeiilative 
 spirit was easily seduced by the 
 golden visions of large financial 
 enterprises in a land the wealth 
 of which was alluringly held up 
 to his cupidity, took him under his 
 
 18 
 
M. de Saligny and M. Jecher 
 
 exciting the resentment of the French with regard 
 to this violation of its pledges by the Mexican 
 government.^ 
 
 M. de Grabriac had been replaced by M. de Saligny, 
 a creature of the Due de Morny, whose personal 
 interest in the Jecker bonds was freely discussed. 
 The new minister arrived in June, 1861. His orders 
 were to enforce recognition of the validity of the 
 Jecker bonds. Juarez and his minister, Senor Lerdo 
 de Tejada, peremptorily declined to " acknowledge 
 a contract entered upon with an illegal government." 
 There was no redress, if redi-ess there must be, save 
 in assuming a belligerent attitude. M. de Saligny 
 avowedly did his utmost to aggravate the situation. 
 Later, during the brief period of 1863-64, when the 
 intervention seemed to hold out false promises of 
 success, he boasted to a friend of mine that his 
 great merit " was to have understood the wishes of 
 the Emperor, and to have precipitated events so as 
 to make the intervention a necessity." 
 
 powerful protection. There is protection plus efflcaoe pour les 
 
 little doubt that this was an im- personnes et les propri^t^s de 
 
 portant factor in the Mexican im- leurs sujets ainsi que l'ex6eu- 
 
 broglio. It is interesting to know tion des obligations contract^es 
 
 that a just Nemesis overtook envers elles par la r^publique du 
 
 Jecker, whose unworthy intrigues Mexique." 
 
 had brought about such inealcu- Had France been sincere, the 
 
 lable mischief. He was shot by expedition might have seized a 
 
 order of the Commune in 1871. Mexican port as a security for the 
 
 See Prince Bibesco, "Au Mex- payment of such obligations, in- 
 
 ique : Combats et Eetraite des Six stead of spending ten times the 
 
 Mille " (Paris, 1887), p. 42. amount of its claims in attempt- 
 
 1 See "Kevue des Deux ing to interfere with the political 
 
 Mondes," January, 1862, p. 766 : affairs of the country under the 
 
 " L'intervention des puissances flimsy pretext of seeking to en- 
 
 avait pour but avou6 d'exiger une force payment thereof. 
 
 2 21 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 This he accomplished, thanks to an incident in- 
 significant in itself, but which he duly magnified 
 into an unbearable insult to the French nation. 
 On the night of August 14, 1861, a torch-light pro- 
 cession to celebrate the news of a victory of the 
 government troops under General Ortega over 
 Marquez halted before the French legation, and 
 some voices shouted : " Down with the French ! 
 Down with the French minister ! " M. de Saligny 
 added that a shot had been fired at him from one 
 of the neighboring azoteas, and he produced a flat- 
 tened bullet in evidence. Although an investiga- 
 tion was immediately instituted, the result of which 
 was to show the lack of substance of the minister's 
 charges, the French government, then anxiously 
 hoping for such an opportunity, supported its agent. 
 The incident was magnified by the French papers 
 into an " attaque a main armee contre Saligny," 
 and at the instigation of France a triple alliance was 
 concluded with ^ngland and Spain. On October 
 31, 1861, a convention was signed in London, 
 whereby the contracting parties pledged themselves 
 to enforce the execution of former treaties with 
 Mexico, and to protect the interests of their citi- 
 zens.^ To this, as a pure matter of form, the United 
 States was invited to subscribe. Our government, 
 of course, declined the invitation to take advantage 
 of the disturbed condition of the Mexican republic 
 to enforce its claim. Mr. Seward was not then in 
 
 I For the correspondence upon tlie Abb6 Domenecli's "Histoire 
 the whole subject and the terms du Mexique," vol. ii, p. 375 et 
 of the London convention, see seq. 
 
 22 
 
M. de Saligny and M. Jecker 
 
 a position to show more fully his disapproval of 
 the action of the allied powers. 
 
 It soon became evident that, in entering upon 
 this treaty, the three allies had not the same end in 
 view. As early as May 31, 1862, the French papers 
 blamed the government for its lack of foresight in 
 entering into a cooperation with powers whose 
 ultimate objects so widely differed from its own.^ 
 
 This mistake became apparent when, on January 
 9, 1862, the French, under Admiral Jurien de la 
 Grraviere, and the English, under Admiral Milnes, 
 arrived at Vera Cruz and found the Spanish divi- 
 sion, under General Prim and Admiral Tubalco, 
 already landed.^ The conduct of their joint mis- 
 sion must now be determined. Already diplomacy 
 had been brought into play by Napoleon III to 
 induce his allies to acquiesce in his views and to 
 consider the elevation of Maximilian to the throne 
 of Mexico. Spain had willingly listened to the idea 
 of establishing a monarchy, but ^n the condition 
 that the monarch should belong or be closely allied 
 to the house of Bourbon; and it stood firm upon 
 this condition. 
 
 1 See " Eevue des Deux selfish advantage of the situation, 
 Mondes," 1862, vol. iii, p. 743. and gave rise to some correspon- 
 
 2 The haste of Spain was re- dence. See Domenech, loc. oit., 
 garded as an attempt to take a pp. 384, 392. 
 
 23 
 
IV 
 
 THE ALLIES IN MEXICO 
 
 rpHE sound common sense of John Bull, his 
 -*- clearer appreciation of foreign possibilities, or 
 perhaps the superior intelligence and honesty of 
 his agent in Mexico, shine out brilliantly in a letter 
 of Lord John Russell, written to the representative 
 of England at the court of Vienna, previous to the 
 armed demonstration made by the triple alliance.i 
 The letter was in truth prophetic, and showed a 
 statesmanlike grasp of the situation. He pointed 
 out that the project of placing the Archduke 
 Maximihan upon the throne of Mexico had been 
 conceived by Mexican refugees in Paris ; that such 
 people were notorious for overrating the strength 
 of theu" partizans in their native land, and for the 
 extravagance of their hopes of success; that her 
 Majesty's government would grant no support to 
 such a project; that a long time would be neces- 
 sary to consolidate a throne in Mexico, as well as 
 
 1 See "La V6rit6 sur l'Exp§di- tionnaire," edited by Paul Gau- 
 
 tion du Mexique, d'aprfes les Docu- lot. Part I, "Eeve d'Empire,"p. 
 
 ments In^dits de Ernest Louet, 37, 4:tli ed. (Paris, Ollendorff, 
 
 Payeur-en-Chef du Corps Exp6di- 1890). 
 
 24 
 
The Allies in Mexico 
 
 to make tlie sovereign independent of foreign sup- 
 port; and that, should this foreign support be 
 "withdrawn, the sovereign might easily be expelled 
 by the Mexican republicans. The Spanish general 
 Prim, when later, upon the spot, he was able to 
 appreciate the difficulties of the situation and had 
 decided to withdraw, wrote to the Emperor a strong 
 letter in which his views to the same effect were 
 powerfully expressed.^ 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 47. 
 
 This letter was dated " Orizaba, 
 March 17, 1862. " It is sufficiently 
 remarkable to be given here : 
 
 " Sire : Your Imperial Majesty 
 has deigned to write me an auto- 
 graph letter which, because of the 
 kindly expressions it contains, will 
 become a title of honor for my 
 posterity. . . . 
 
 " On the ground of just claims 
 there can be no differences be- 
 tween the commissioners of the 
 allied powers, and still less be- 
 tween the chiefs of your Majesty's 
 forces and those of his Catholic 
 Majesty. But the arrival at Vera 
 Cruz of General Almonte, of the 
 former minister Haro, of Father 
 ^Miranda, and of other Mexican 
 exiles who set forward the idea 
 of a monarchy in favor of Prince 
 Maximilian of Austria,— a project 
 which, according to them, is to 
 be backed and supported by the 
 forces of your Imperial Majesty, — 
 tends to create a difficult situation 
 for all concerned, especially for 
 the general-in-ehief of the Span- 
 ish army, who, imder instructions 
 from his government based upon 
 
 the convention of London, and al- 
 most the same as those given by 
 your Majesty's government to 
 your worthy and noble Viee-Ad- 
 miral La Gravi^re, would find him- 
 self in the painful position of 
 being unable to contribute to the 
 realization of the views of your 
 Imperial Majesty, should these 
 look to raising a throne in this 
 country for the purpose of pla- 
 cing upon it an Austrian arch- 
 duke. 
 
 " Moreover, it is, sire, my pro- 
 found conviction that in this 
 coxmtry monarchical ideas find 
 few supporters. This is logical, 
 as this land has never known the 
 monarchy in the persons of the 
 Spanish sovereigns, but only in 
 those of viceroys who governed 
 each according to his bad or good 
 judgment and his own lights, and 
 all following the customs and 
 manner of governing proper to a 
 period which is already remote. 
 
 " Then, also, monarchy has not 
 left here the immense interests 
 of an ancient nobility, as was the 
 case in Europe when, under the 
 impulse of revolutionary storms. 
 
 25 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Such warnings, however, were lost amid the 
 glittering possibilities of so glorious an achievement. 
 Napoleon, following his own thought, had already- 
 approached the Austrian archduke and his impe- 
 rial brother with regard to the former's candidacy, 
 and had trusted to chance as to the complications 
 that might arise with his allies. It was not long 
 before these became clearly defined. 
 
 thrones at times were pulled down, allied flags wave over Vera Cruz, 
 
 Neither has it left high moral and now that we occupy the im- 
 
 interests behind it, nor, indeed, portant points of C6rdoba, Ori- 
 
 anything that might induce the zaba, and Tehuacan, in which no 
 
 present generation to wish for the other Mexican authority remains 
 
 reestablishment of a regime save that of the mimlcipality, 
 
 which it has not known and neither the conservatives nor the 
 
 which no one has taught it to partizans of monarchy have made 
 
 long for or revere. the slightest demonstration which 
 
 "The neighborhood of the might lead the allies to believe 
 
 United States, and the severe that such partizans exist, 
 
 strictures of those republicans "Be it far from me, sire, to even 
 
 against monarchical institutions, suppose that the might of your 
 
 have greatly contributed to create Imperial Majesty is not suffi- 
 
 here a positive hatred against cient to raise in Mexico a throne 
 
 these. Despite disorder and con- for the house of Austria. Your 
 
 stant agitation, the establishment Majesty directs the destinies of a 
 
 of the republic, which took place great nation, rich in brave and 
 
 more than forty years ago, has intelligent men, rich in resources, 
 
 created habits, customs, and even and ready to manifest its enthu- 
 
 a certain republican expression siasm whenever called upon to 
 
 of thought which it cannot be carry out your Imperial Majesty's 
 
 easy to destroy. views. It will be easy for your 
 
 " For these and other reasons Majesty to conduct Prince Maxi- 
 
 which cannot escape your Impe- milian to the capital and to have 
 
 rial Majesty's high penetration, him crowned a king ; but that king 
 
 you will understand that the im- will meet in the country with no 
 
 menseprepouderanoeofopinionin other support than that of the 
 
 this country is not and cannot be conservative leaders, who never 
 
 monarchical. If logic were not thought of establishing a mon- 
 
 sufdcient to demonstrate this, it archy when they were in power, 
 
 would receive proof from the fact and only think of it now that 
 
 that, in the two months since the they are defeated, dispersed, and 
 
 26 
 
The Allies in Mexico 
 
 The first meeting of the allies had taken place on 
 January 10 at La Tejeria, a short distance from 
 A^era Gvaz. A proclamation to the Mexican people 
 was issued at the instigation of General Prim. In 
 this extraordinary document the representatives of 
 the three great powers who had sent a combined 
 fleet and army to obtain satisfaction for outrages 
 committed against their flags and the life and 
 property of their subjects, claimed to have come 
 as friends to the support of the Mexican govern- 
 ment.^ 
 
 On the 14th the fourth conference was held. The 
 
 in exile. A few rich men will 
 also adiait a foreign monaroii, if 
 supported by your Majesty's 
 soldiers ; but that monarch will 
 find no one to support him should 
 your help fail him, and he would 
 fall from the throne raised by 
 your Majesty, as other powerful 
 men must fall on the day when 
 your Majesty's imperial cloak will 
 cease to cover and protect them. 
 I know that your Imperial Maj- 
 esty, guided by your high senti- 
 ment of justice, will not force 
 upon this nation so radical a 
 change in its institutions if the 
 nation does not dem.and it. But 
 the leaders of the conservative 
 party just landed at Vera Cruz 
 say that it will be sufficient to 
 eonstilt the upper classes, and 
 this excites apprehensions and in- 
 spires a dread lest violence may 
 be done to the national will. 
 
 " The English contingent, which 
 was to come to Orizaba, and had 
 already prepared its means of 
 
 transportation, reembarked as 
 soon as it was known that a num- 
 ber of French troops larger than 
 that stipulated in the treaty were 
 coming. Your Majesty will ap- 
 preciate the importance of their 
 retreat. 
 
 "I beg your Imperial Majesty 
 one thousand timespardonf or hav- 
 ing dared to submit to your atten- 
 tion so long a letter. But I thought 
 that the truest way worthily to 
 respond to the kindness of your 
 Majesty toward me was to tell 
 the truth, and all the truth as I 
 see it, upon the political condi- 
 tions here. In so doing I feel that 
 I not only fulfil a duty, but that I 
 obey the great, noble, and re- 
 spectful attachment which I feel 
 for the person of your Imperial 
 Majesty. 
 
 " CoMTE DE Reus, 
 "General Peim." 
 
 1 See the official correspon- 
 dence published by Domenech, 
 loc. at., vol. iii, p. 8, etc. 
 
 27 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 plenipotentiaries drew up a collective note in the 
 same tone as that of the proclamation. This was 
 taken to the Mexican government by three commis- 
 sioners. The answer to this communication was a 
 demandf or the withdrawal of the expedition. These 
 steps had not been taken without arousing serious 
 differences of opinion among the representatives of 
 the powers. Moreover, the financial claims ad- 
 vanced by each were of such magnitude that their 
 joint enforcement was impossible. 
 
 M. de Saligny, faithful to his premeditated plan 
 of forcing and precipitating the catastrophe, had 
 drawn up an ultimatum to be presented to the 
 Mexican government, so preposterous in its pre- 
 tensions that the allies could not countenance it. 
 It could no longer be doubted that the French and 
 the Spaniards were each playing their own game. 
 Only the great tact and dignity of the French com- 
 mander-in-chief, Admiral Jurien de la Grraviere, 
 then prevented an open rupture.^ 
 
 The situation had already become strained. It 
 was soon obvious that General Prim— whether, as 
 was alleged by the French, from personal motives,^ 
 or from a clearer insight into the true condition of 
 
 1 LoTiet, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 41. be a fact that when in Havana, on 
 
 2 General Prim's wife was a his way to Vera Cruz, General 
 rich Mexican, niece of Juarez's Prim, upon being approached by 
 minister of finance, and the the clerical leaders, had declined 
 French minister saw in this oir- in no compromising tones to 
 eumstance cause to doubt the recognize them, and had shown 
 general's motives. He even ac- himself inclined to deal with the 
 cused him publicly of coveting Liberals openly. See correspon- 
 for himself the throne of Mexico, denee published by Domenech, loc. 
 However this may be, it seems to cit., vol. ii, p. 407, etc. 
 
 28 
 
.,, %, 
 
 AGUSTIX DE ITURBIDE. 
 A Mexican revolutionist, "bom iu ITSij ; emperor in 1S22. He ivas forced to resign 
 in 1823. and allowed to retire to Europe with a large pension, on condi- 
 tion that he should not return. In 1S24, in attempting to 
 enter Mexico, he was aiTested and shot. 
 
The Allies in Mexico 
 
 the country— would side with Sir Charles Wyke, 
 the English representative, and would help him to 
 overrule the French leaders in their aggressive 
 policy. He requested a conference with Senor 
 Doblado, minister of foreign affairs, who with great 
 shrewdness accepted the invitation. By prolong- 
 ing the negotiations, the Mexican government gave 
 a chance to the unfavorable conditions under which 
 the expedition labored to do their very worst. 
 Every day lost was a gain to the Mexicans. The 
 rainy season was approaching, sickness was al- 
 ready decimating this army of unacclimated for- 
 eigners, and the lack of harmony between the 
 allies was fast reaching the point of dissension. 
 This situation was seriously aggravated by the 
 landing in Vera Cruz (January 27) of a number of 
 the most conspicuous among the exiles of the cleri- 
 cal party — G-eneral Miramon, Father Miranda, etc. 
 These, regardless of the serious complications which 
 their premature arrival must create for their sup- 
 porters, placed themselves directly under the pro- 
 tection of the French. 
 
 The force of circumstances in compelling the 
 French to enter into negotiations with a govern- 
 ment which they refused to recognize had already 
 placed them in a more than awkward position. By 
 this new complication they found themselves in the 
 ambiguous attitude of treating with this govern- 
 ment while shielding with their flag the outlawed 
 representatives of a defeated rival party who had 
 fought it as illegitimate. Not only did this exas- 
 perate the Liberals and arouse the bitterest antag- 
 
 31 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 onism in the country, but it gave rise to serious 
 difficulties between the French and the English. 
 Among the returned exiles was General Miramon, 
 who, disregarding the inviolability of the British 
 legation, had, while president, unlawfully taken 
 possession of certain moneys belonging to the 
 British government.^ Sir Charles Wyke immedi- 
 ately requested his arrest. An angry discussion 
 followed, the outcome of which was that Miramon, 
 instead of being arrested on land under the shadow 
 of the French flag, was prevented from landing 
 and sent back to Havana.^ 
 
 On February 19 the preliminary treaty of La Sole- 
 dad was signed by the allies and by Senor Doblado 
 for the Mexican government, and on February 23 
 it was ratified by President Juarez. By its terms 
 the allies were allowed, pending the negotiations 
 having for object the adjustment of their claims, 
 
 1 This outrage was one of the elared that the amount then de- 
 main reasons for England's active posited at the British legation 
 cooperation in the attack upon was a commercial value liable to 
 Mexico. As far as I can ascertain the duties imposed by law. After 
 the facts, $600,000 had been sent some controversy upon the sub- 
 to the British legation to pay the ject he ordered General Marquez 
 interest upon the English bonds, to call upon the British govem- 
 At this time the foreign agents ment and to demand the surren- 
 in Mexico were accused of taking der of the $600,000, to be used in 
 advantage of their privilege to the defense of the capital, at the 
 handle gold and silver without same time declaring his willing- 
 paying the circulation duty of two ness to recognize the debt. The 
 per cent, and the export duty of minister refused. General Mar- 
 six per cent. , thus iUegaUy real- rj^uez seized the treasure, and had 
 izing a considerable profit. The it taken to the palace by his sol- 
 Mexican government was much diers. The British envoy there- 
 incensed thereby, and an ugly upon lowered his flag and retired 
 feeling was aroused. President to Jalapa. 
 Miramon, in need of funds, de- ^ Bibesco, loc. cit., p. 64. 
 
 32 
 
The Allies in Mexico 
 
 to take up their quarters beyond the limits of the 
 unhealthf ul district, and to occupy the road of Mex- 
 ico as far as Tehuacan and Orizaba. On the other 
 hand, "the allies pledged themselves, should the 
 negotiations not result in a final understanding, to 
 vacate the territory occupied by them, and to return 
 on the road to Vera Cruz to a point beyond the 
 Chiquihuite, near Paso Ancho," ^ i. e., in the pesti- 
 lential coast region. 
 
 President Juarez only agreed to the terms, it Is 
 stated, upon the formal declaration on the part of the 
 commissioners that " the allies had no intention to 
 threaten the independence, the sovereignty, and the 
 integrity of the territory of the Mexican republic." 
 
 The French contingent originally sent by Napo- 
 leon III numbered, all told, only three thousand 
 men. As soon as the Emperor was notified of the 
 doubtful attitude of Greneral Prim, reinforcements 
 numbering some forty-five hundred men had been 
 ordered, and on March 6, 1862, General Count de 
 Lorencez arrived at Vera Cruz to take command 
 of the Corps Expeditionnaire.^ 
 
 This ended all prospect of concerted action on 
 the part of the combined forces. The landing of 
 these troops, which brought the French contingent 
 to a figure far exceeding that originally agreed 
 upon, gave umbrage to the allies,'^ and proved, be- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 49. fleet under Commodore Dunlap, 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 36. The Span- wliich was to support the joint 
 ish corps, under General Prim, expedition. 
 
 numbered seven thousand. 3 Compare General Prim's let- 
 England, besides a contingent of ter to Napoleon III, foot-note to 
 one himdred men, furnished a pp. 25-27. 
 
 33 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 yond the possibility of a doubt, that, notwithstand- 
 ing the most explicit assurances given by the French 
 minister of foreign affairs to the British ambas- 
 sador in Paris,^ it was the intention of the French 
 government to carry out its policy at all hazards. 
 Moreover, the new militaiy commander did not 
 possess the tact and wisdom of the French admiral, 
 whose policy had not been approved in France, 
 where his signing of the convention of La Soledad 
 had been received with dismay and disapproval. 
 
 Greneral de Lorencez came as the representative 
 of the most aggressive policy, with orders to march 
 without delay upon the capital; and there is no 
 doubt that a worse man could not have been chosen 
 to take the leading part in an enterprise where cool 
 judgment was the most important requisite. Hot- 
 headed, brave to rashness, and, if one may judge by 
 his acts, wholly incapable of discrimination in his 
 appreciation of the problems involved, General de 
 Lorencez, when he arrived on the field of action, 
 allowed himself to be misled by M. de Saligny's 
 misrepresentations of fact. Only a bitter experi- 
 ence showed him his error — too late. Meantime 
 he added to the difficulties in the way of the ad- 
 miral by feeding the illusions of the French gov- 
 ernment with sanguine despatches in which he 
 spoke in glowing terms of the " march of the French 
 
 1 " No government shall be im- p. 11 (Leipsic, 1867). Another 
 
 posed upon the Mexican people " time the minister, M. de Thou- 
 
 (despatoh of Lord Cowley to venel, assured Lord Cowley that 
 
 Lord Russell, May 2, 1862). See negotiations had been opened by 
 
 "L'Empereur Maximilien," etc., the Mexicans alone, who had gone 
 
 par le Comte fimile de K4ratry, to Vienna for the purpose {ibid. ). 
 
 34 
 
The Allies in Mexico 
 
 Tipon the capital," and of the "acclamation of 
 Maximilian as sovereign of Mexico." 
 
 The lack of knowledge of existing conditions 
 that characterized the French leaders in the con- 
 duct of this wretched affair was conspicuous from 
 the very beginning of the expedition. Prince 
 Georges Bibesco, an accomplished young Walla- 
 chian nobleman whom I knew well, and who was 
 then on the staff of G-eneral de Lorencez's brigade, 
 has, in his spirited account of these early events,i 
 furnished ample evidence of the manner in which 
 the general and his chief of staff, Colonel Valaze, 
 were deceived as to the strength of the Liberal party 
 by the French minister, and how they were in- 
 duced by him to misrepresent the caution and 
 judgment which the French admiral alone seems 
 to have in some measure possessed, as an evidence 
 of weakness and of procrastination. 
 
 In a letter addressed to the French minister of 
 war, Marshal Eandon, dated March 30, Colonel 
 Valaze asserts his conviction that " an armed force, 
 however small it may be, could take possession of 
 the capital without any other difficulty than might 
 be encountered by the commissariat to supply the 
 army on its way." The admiral had written with 
 a truer appreciation of the situation, and for his 
 pains had lost the confidence of his sovereign. 
 
 1 " An Mexique, 1862 : Combats trusted with drawing up the 
 
 et Eetraite des Six Mille, par le monthly official reports sent by 
 
 Prince Georges Bibesco. Ouvrage the Corps Exp^ditionnaire to the 
 
 couronn6 par l'Aoad6mie Fran- War Office in 1862, and is there- 
 
 5aise " (Paris, Gr. Plon, Nourrit et fore a trustworthy guide for that 
 
 Cie.)- Prince Bibesco was in- period. 
 
 35 
 
y 
 
 RUPTUEE BETWEEN THE ALLIES 
 
 THE situation was fast reaching a crisis. An 
 explosion was imminent. The arrival of Gren- 
 eral Almonte/ who was destined by Napoleon to be 
 the chief executive during the regency, only has- 
 tened the rupture between the allies and precipi- 
 tated the final declaration of hostilities between 
 France and Mexico. 
 
 The irritation of the Mexican government knew 
 no bounds. A decree condemning to death all 
 traitors and reactionaries had been passed, and 
 on March 23 it was of&cially communicated to 
 the allies. On March 26 General de Lorencez 
 joined the admiral at Tehuacan, and the latter 
 pushed on to Orizaba, where the allies were to hold 
 a final conference on April 9. Here General Prim 
 and Sir Charles Wyke insisted upon the departure 
 of the exiles, urging that their presence placed the 
 intervention of the powers in an absolutely false 
 light before the world. 
 
 Their secret relation to the exiles imposed upon 
 the French the responsibility of their safety ; the 
 
 1 March 1, 1862. 
 36 
 
Rupture between fhe Allies 
 
 . admiral flatly refused, at the same time annotin- 
 eing Ms intention to carry out at once the pro- 
 visions of the convention of La Soledad, and to re- 
 treat with his contingent toward the coast, thereby 
 recovering his freedom of action and the right to 
 march upon Mexico without further delay. 
 
 It was obvious that the Mexican government 
 was only gaining time in order to give the climate 
 a chance to do its work. General de Lorencez, 
 disapproving of the preliminary treaty which cir- 
 cumstances had forced the admiral to sign, was 
 strongly inclined to break through its provisions 
 and push on to the capital. He was overruled by 
 the admiral's high sense of honor. 
 
 Measures were immediately taken to execute the 
 articles of the convention by bringing back the 
 French forces beyond the Chiquihuite, and on 
 April 7 Greneral Almonte, officially recognized by 
 the French, endeavored to rally the scattered rem- 
 nants of the clerical party by issuing a proclama- 
 tion signed by ninety-two Mexican notables, in 
 which he declared himself provisionally the su- 
 preme chief of the nation. To this President Juarez 
 responded by a decree establishing martial law and 
 declaring all cities occupied by the French in a 
 state of siege. War with Mexico was declared.^ 
 
 1 Where was the solemn as- French at Puebla, Napoleon, in a 
 surance that there existed no in- letter to General Porey, dated 
 tention to threaten the indepen- July 3, 1862, stiU kept up the 
 dence, the sovereignty, and the flimsy farce. " The end to be at- 
 integrity of the territory of the tained," he wrote, " is not to force 
 Mexican republic? And yet, upon the Mexicans a form of 
 even after the repulse of the government which would be dis- 
 
 37 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 The rupture between the allies was final, though 
 peaceable. On April 15 Sir Charles Wyke and 
 General Prim^ concluded a separate treaty with the 
 government of Juarez, and, having thus skilfully 
 extricated themselves from a perilous situation, 
 they prepared to leave the French to their own 
 destiny. 
 
 Meantime the rainy season was approaching, at 
 which time the difficulties, already so great, must 
 become multiplied in a land where roads were only 
 so called by courtesy and were little more than 
 beaten-down tracks. The return of the French 
 army to the coast, where the vomito was now 
 raging, meant death to many, and possible disaster 
 
 agreeable to them, but to aid 
 them in their efforts to establish, 
 according to their own wish, a 
 government which may have 
 some chance of stability and 
 which can insure to France re- 
 dress for the wrongs of which she 
 complains" (Memorial Diploma- 
 tique, March 12, 1865). Was this 
 blindness or duplicity? 
 
 ^ The instructions given to Gen- 
 eral Prim by the Spanish govern- 
 ment were as follows : (1) A 
 public and solemnly given satis- 
 faction for the violent expulsion 
 of her Majesty the Queen's am- 
 bassador (the terms of which were 
 prescribed minutely), in the ab- 
 sence of which hostilities must be 
 declared. (2) The rigorous exe- 
 cution of the Mon-Almonte treaty, 
 and the payment of the Spanish 
 claims unduly suspended by the 
 Mexican government, and the 
 
 payment in specie of 10,000,000 
 reals, this being the amount of 
 unpaid interest. (3) An indem- 
 nity to the Spaniards entitled to 
 damages in connection with the 
 crimes committed at San Vicente, 
 Chiconcuagua, and at the mine of 
 San Dimas, and the punishment 
 of the culprits and of the author- 
 ities who had failed to punish 
 said crimes. (4) The payment 
 of the cost of the three-masted 
 schooner Concepoion, captured by 
 a ship of Juarez. 
 
 The instructions close with the 
 following : " Such are the condi- 
 tions to be presented by your 
 Excellency, but never peace ; and 
 without their complete accept- 
 ance by the government of the 
 republic, it will not be possible 
 to suspend' hostilities." Compare 
 French text given by Domenech, 
 loc. cit., p. 383. 
 
 38 
 
MIGUEL MIRAMON. 
 
 A Mexican treneral, bom in 1832. He fought against Juarez, and after defeat 
 
 in 1860, fied from Mexico. Maximilian made him gi'and marshal, and 
 
 minister to Berlin. He returned to Mexico in l6lJ(i, and was 
 
 shot with Maximilian in 18G7. 
 
Rupture between the Allies 
 
 to the army. But the terms of the treaty were 
 formal, and the admiral was not one to break his 
 word. M. de Saligny and General de Loreneez 
 were less punctilious ; they reluctantly obeyed the 
 order of the commander-in-chief, but watched for 
 an opportunity to break through the impalpable 
 barrier raised— as they thought, by honor alone— 
 between them and the Mexican capital. 
 
 The opportunity soon presented itself, and Gen- 
 eral Zaragoza, commander-in-chief of the Liberal 
 army, unwarily furnished General de Loreneez with 
 the excuse for which he so anxiously longed, by 
 addressing to him a communication concerning 
 four hundred soldiers disabled by sickness, who 
 had been left behind in the hospital at Orizaba 
 under the protection of the treaty of La Soledad. 
 In the wording of this communication the French 
 general saw, or chose to see, a threat to the life of 
 his soldiers. 
 
 It is but fair to say, however, that the sangui- 
 nary decrees issued one after the other by the Mexi- 
 can government, the feeHng against foreigners 
 now rapidly growing among the people, the close 
 proximity of numerous guerrillas standing ready to 
 take advantage of the first moment of weakness or 
 distress, the murder of French soldiers whenever 
 they strayed from the camp,— all these symptoms 
 of a fast fermenting spirit in the invaded land 
 seemed to warrant the apprehensions of the gen- 
 eral with regard to the safety of his trust. 
 
 At all events, he boldly assumed the whole re- 
 sponsibility of the step he was taking. Leaving 
 3 41 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Cordoba with, the army, he immediately pushed on 
 to Orizaba (April 19), where he arrived (April 20) 
 just as Greneral Prim, with the Spanish contingent 
 (and the newspaper staff which, gossip related, had 
 traveled in his suite to herald his exploits— truly a 
 sinecure !), were leaving by the same garita on 
 their way to the coast. Greneral Zaragoza, with the 
 Liberal army, retreated from the city by one gate 
 as the French entered by the other, with all the 
 bells of the city ringing in token of popular rejoic- 
 ing — under compulsion. General Zaragoza feU 
 back upon Puebla. Having secured Orizaba as a 
 basis of operation, General de Lorencez, with some 
 five thousand men, started in pursuit of the Mexi- 
 can army (April 27). 
 
 In the meantime a courier from France had 
 brought the recall of Admiral Jurien de la Gra- 
 viere, whose fall from the favor of his imperial 
 master was kept no secret. The same courier that 
 brought the admiral the disapproval of his govern- 
 ment brought General de Lorencez his promotion 
 to the command of the army. Napoleon, deceived 
 by his minister's statements, now corroborated by 
 General de Lorencez, only later did tardy justice 
 to the admiral, to whom he strove to make amends 
 by attaching him to his imperial staff. 
 
 Thus the clearing up of a situation already pre- 
 carious was left to a man of narrow views and 
 small capacity, who, according to the verdict of his 
 own officers, had little to recommend him save the 
 soldierly qualities of bravery and energy. That 
 General de Lorencez, under instructions from his 
 
 42 
 
Rupture letween the Allies 
 
 government and relying upon the statements of its 
 agent at Mexico, should have arrived imbued 
 with erroneous ideas with regard to the popularity 
 of the intervention and the relative strength of 
 the Liberal and clerical parties, seems natural. 
 But enough had taken place since his arrival in 
 Mexico to open the eyes of one less wilfully blind. 
 Any military chief of average capacity must have 
 seen that the whole Mexican population was not 
 rising to "greet the French army as liberators," 
 and that the popular enthusiasm that was to open 
 to them the doors of every town, turning their prog- 
 ress to the capital into a triumphal march marked 
 at every point by ovations, showers of flowers, and 
 the spontaneous vivas of a hitherto oppressed and 
 now grateful multitude, was but a fast disappear- 
 ing mirage luring them on to destruction. 
 
 Instead of the promised enthusiastic welcome a 
 suUen acquiescence in the inevitable everywhere 
 greeted the foreign invaders. This, whenever com- 
 patible with personal safety, turned into active 
 enmity on the part of the nation, and often into 
 open and revengeful cruelty. Instead of the great 
 reactionary army, numbering at least ten thousand 
 men, which, rallying under General Marquez, was 
 to hurry to his support on his march upon the cap- 
 ital, a few stray guerrillas had joined his forces, ill- 
 armed, ill-fed, undisciplined bands, upon which 
 small reliance could be placed, and whose presence 
 under the French flag only helped to irritate the 
 feelings of the people. And far from the Liberal 
 party losing its partizans upon the landing of the 
 
 43 
 
MaximiUan in Mexico 
 
 French, some of the reactionary leaders,— as, for 
 instance. General Zuloaga,— forgetting their former 
 feuds at the first sound of a foreign invasion of 
 their native land, had rallied around the Mexican 
 government, whose cause now seemed linked with 
 that of the national honor. 
 
 When reverses and difiQ.culties of aU kinds as- 
 sailed the army, it was remembered that General 
 de Lorencez's violation of the sacredness of a treaty 
 had taken place on Good Friday at haK-past three 
 o'clock, and I was told that this coincidence had 
 been looked upon by many among the soldiers as a 
 bad omen. 
 
 The Mexican government, however, had made 
 good use of the time gained by the skilful negotia- 
 tions of its representatives ; it had earnestly pre- 
 pared for resistance, and now concentrated its 
 whole strength upon the defense of Puebla. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs when unfore- 
 seen circumstances brought me to Mexico. 
 
 44 
 
PART II 
 
 THE FEENCH INTERVENTION 
 
 1862-64 
 
THE AUTHOR LEAVES PARIS 
 FOR MEXICO 
 
 ON Marcli 4, 1862, one of my brothers, then on 
 his way to the United. States, and incidentally 
 the bearer of despatches from Mr. Thomas Corwin, 
 our minister to Mexico, was attacked and, after a 
 sharp fight, murdered by a small band of highway- 
 men near Perote. I was then in Paris, where I had 
 been left to finish my education under the care 
 of old and dear friends. In consequence of this 
 tragedy it was deemed advisable that I should join 
 my family. 
 
 M. Achille Jubinal, my temporary guardian, was 
 a distinguished antiquary and scholar, the founder 
 of a museum in his native town, and the author of 
 works upon ancient arms and tapestries, which are 
 still authorities. He was an homme de lettres con- 
 nected with a leading paper, and a deputy in the 
 Corps Legislatif for the department of the Hautes- 
 Pyrenees. He was a self-made man, and thoroughly 
 weU made was he — witty, kind, just, and learned in 
 certain lines ; and his warm Southern blood colored 
 his personality with a shade of materialism which 
 
 47 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 his refined tastes never allowed to sink to tlie level 
 of coarseness. 
 
 He was to me the kindest of guardians and 
 dearest of " chums," and made my Sundays and 
 vacations real holidays. He often took me bric-a- 
 brac-hunting to old shops unknown to all save the 
 Parisian curiosity-seeker, and happy hours were 
 spent on the quays among the old book-stands in 
 that fascinating occupation for which the French 
 bookworm has coined the word bouquiner. And 
 then the charming evenings spent at the theaters 
 and ended at Tortoni's with this truest of " boule- 
 vardiers," who knew every one and everything, 
 and whose inexhaustible fund of anecdote was 
 enlivened by a spontaneous easy wit and verve that 
 made his companionship a delight.-^ 
 
 His wife was the daughter of the Comte Eousselin 
 de St. Albin, a man of considerable influence dur- 
 ing the reign of King Louis-Philippe, whose close 
 personal friend he was. 
 
 M. de St. Albin's house in the Eue Vieille du 
 Temple, where his family lived when we first knew 
 them, had originally formed part of the famous 
 Temple, which in medieval times was the abode of 
 the Templars. It was an interesting place, full of 
 historic memories. Within these legendary walls 
 
 1 Among my old papers I find Et Ini dire que ce sera 
 
 the following invitation to go Le jeudi de I'autre semaine 
 
 with him to the Od^on to see a Que Isi-bas J, I'Od^on, 
 
 piece called " Les Pilules du Derri^re les funamhules, 
 
 Diable " : Sans Stre M. Purgon, 
 
 " Je viens rappeler a Sara Je luifais prendre ' Les Pilules.' 
 Une date encore lointaine, "A. J." 
 
 48 
 
PRESIDENT BENITO PABLO JUAREZ. 
 
 A ilexieaii liberal politician, of pure Indian "blood, born in 1806. He was 
 
 president several times. He captured and executed Maximilian, 
 
 and died in office in 1S72. 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 lie had accumulated countless relics of tliose among 
 his early associates who "were then so fast becoming 
 heroes in the French annals. Being an intimate 
 friend and a connection of the Comte de Barras, 
 the chief executive under the Directory, it was to 
 him that the latter, by will dated February 2, 1827, 
 intrusted not only his secret memoirs,^ but all his 
 private and ofl&cial papers. At the death of M. de 
 St. Albin (1847) this important collection passed 
 into the possession of his children. 
 
 I well remember, as a little girl, being shown 
 some of the choicest pieces in the series, among 
 which were interesting original portraits. One 
 paper especially made an indelible impression upon 
 my childish mind, and I can now recall the feeling 
 of awe with which I gazed upon the appeal to arms 
 in the name of the Commune, drawn up by Eobes- 
 pierre and his colleagues on the night of the 9th 
 Thermidor, a document which has since been pub- 
 lished by M. Duruy in the " Memoires de Barras." 
 Robespierre had just written the first syllable of 
 his name below those of his colleagues when the 
 Convention was attacked. The blood-stains which 
 bespattered the sheet, and told of the final tragedy 
 of the leader's life, appealed to my youthful imag- 
 ination, and are still vivid in my memory. 
 
 Notwithstanding her father's connections with 
 the Orleanists, Hortense de St. Albin and her 
 brother were closely connected with the new order 
 
 1 See "Memoires de Barras," Georges Duruy, who married M. 
 
 vol. i, p. 20 (Paris, 1895-96). Jubinal's daughter, the gi-and- 
 
 These memoirs have only daughter of Comte RousseUn de 
 
 recently been published by M. St. Albin. 
 
 51 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 of things. She had entertained personal relations 
 with the Empress before her elevation to the im- 
 perial throne, and the brother, Comte Louis-Phi- 
 lippe de St. Albin, was librarian to her Majesty. 
 These close affiliations with the court did not pre- 
 vent M. Jubinal, in his political capacity, from 
 gradually sliding into the ranks of the opposition. 
 Later he occasionally was one of the few who voted 
 against the measures of the government in the 
 legislative struggles brought about by the inter- 
 vention of France in Mexican affairs. Whether 
 this attitude was wholly due to his superior com- 
 mon sense, or whether behind his political convic- 
 tions there lingered a tinge of chagrin at a disap- 
 pointed hope of senatorial honors once held out to 
 his ambition by the French emperor, it is difficult 
 to tell. It is probable that the latter motive formed, 
 unknown to him, a foundation upon which his 
 wisdom and political principles rested, and which 
 lent them added solidity. 
 
 Before I left France I was, at his house, the in- 
 terested though silent listener to many a violent 
 discussion upon the stirring theme. The critics of 
 the Napoleonic policy loudly denounced the fraudu- 
 lent transactions connected with the issue of the 
 Jecker bonds. They more than intimated that the 
 great of the land were mixed up in the disgraceful 
 agiotage that had led to these serious difficulties, 
 and that aU this brilliant dust of a civilizing ex- 
 pedition to a distant El Dorado was raised about 
 the Emperor by his entourage to conceal from him 
 what was going on nearer home. 
 
 52 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 One of their strongest arguments was that the 
 invasion of Mexico by the French army must 
 necessarily give umbrage to the United States, 
 with which traditions of friendship had long ex- 
 isted ; and they urged that, whatever the crippled 
 condition of the Union, such a course could not 
 fail eventually to lead to dangerous complications. 
 
 One day in March, 1862, before the news of the 
 rupture between the French and their allies had 
 reached Paris, M. Jubinal invited me to accompany 
 him to the Hotel des Ventes, Eue Drouot, where an 
 important collection of tapestries and other objects 
 of art was on view to be sold. There were com- 
 paratively few amateurs in the rooms when we en- 
 tered. My companion was pointing out to me the 
 beauties of a piece which he particularly coveted 
 when some one came behind us and called him by 
 name. We both turned around and faced a mid- 
 dle-aged man whose dress, manner, and general 
 bearing showed him to be a personage of some im- 
 portance. M. Jubinal, who evidently knew him 
 well, addressed him as " M. le Due," and his strong 
 likeness to the Emperor, as well as a few stray words, 
 soon led me to guess, even before my guardian had 
 gone through the form of an introduction, that he 
 was no less a personage than the Due de Morny. 
 
 The Due de Morny's position during the period 
 that elapsed between the revolution of 1848 and 
 1865 was one unique in France; and yet it is 
 doubtful whether his fame would have been as 
 world-wide as it has become had it not been for the 
 part he played in the Mexican imbroglio. 
 
 53 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Brought up as a child by a charming woman of 
 graceful intellect and literary pretensions, he had 
 met early in life the Due d'Orleans, who had led 
 him into the gay Parisian world of which he was 
 the leader. After a brief military career in Africa, 
 he resigned from the army, and divided his inter- 
 est between politics and speculation. He employed 
 his leisure moments in writing very indifferent 
 plays, which, although published under a nom de 
 guerre (St. Remy), he depended upon the servility 
 of the Parisian press to carry through. He was 
 not a deep thinker, nor was his intellectual horizon 
 a broad one ; but his views were liberal, his shallow 
 mind was brilliant and versatile, and to the grace- 
 ful frivolity of a man of the world he united a taste 
 for the serious financial and political problems of 
 his time. He belonged to that set of bright young 
 politicians who, toward the end of the reign of 
 Louis-Philippe, passed, as was cleverly said, " from 
 a jockey club to the Chamber of Deputies," declar- 
 ing that France was a victim of old-fogyism, and 
 flattering themselves with the thought that they 
 would infuse the vigor of youth into politics. These 
 would-be founders of a new era called themselves 
 "progressive conservatives" {conservateurs progress- 
 istes)} 
 
 Just before the revolution of July, which estab- 
 lished the republic, he was spoken of for a place in 
 the cabinet as minister of commerce. Grifted with 
 great tact and worldly wisdom, satisfied to wield 
 
 1 Under this title he wrote an article published in the " Revue 
 des Deux Mondes," January, 1, 1848. 
 
 54 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 power "without taking too large a place on the po- 
 litical stage, the Due de Morny's popularity and 
 peculiar position enabled him to be the go-between 
 in the compromise that followed. As early as 1849 
 he was reported to have said to a friend : " Quand 
 le coup se fera je vous en previens, c'est moi qui 
 le ferai."^ Another of his mots has often been 
 quoted ^ and is most characteristic of the man : 
 " S'il y a un coup de balai, je tacherai d'etre du cote 
 du manche." 
 
 At the time when I met him he was president of 
 the Corps Legislatif, where, without the sHghtest 
 pretension to oratorical talent, he wielded an im- 
 mense influence. He was what we call a " leader " 
 in every sense of the word — at court, on the 
 Bourse, and in the political as well as in the social 
 world. 
 
 On that morning he was with the duchess, bent 
 upon the same errand as ourselves, and seeing us, 
 he had come to ask M. Jubinal to give them his 
 opinion upon the value of a possible purchase. 
 After discussing the subject, which was all-engross- 
 ing for the moment, the duchess turned to me and 
 politely drew me into conversation. Her kindly 
 manner set me at ease, and she soon extracted from 
 me the information that I was about to sail for 
 Mexico. At this she became much excited, and 
 exclaiming, " Oh, I must tell M. de Morny ! " she 
 immediately moved to where he and M. Jubinal had 
 
 1 " Eevue des Deux Mondes," tures de ma Vie," vol. i, p. 245) 
 1865, vol. Ivl, p. 501 et seq. oasts a doubt upon the originality 
 
 2 Henri Boehefort ("Les Aven- of his wit. 
 
 55 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 wandered, saying, " Just think ! this young girl is 
 going to Mexico on the Louisiane alone, under the 
 care of strangers." A gleam of interest brightened 
 the great man's dull eye as for a moment it rested 
 upon me. He asked me a few questions ; but as 
 the duchess rather commanded my attention, he 
 soon turned to M. Jubinal, and I overheard my 
 guardian teUing him of the tragic events which had 
 caused my rather sudden departure, at the same 
 time expressing some anxiety with regard to my 
 own safety. " Oh," said the duke, " by the time 
 she arrives there we will have changed all that. 
 Lorencez is there now; our army will then be in 
 the city of Mexico ; the roads will be quite safe. 
 Have no fear." 
 
 A mild, half-playful argument followed, in the 
 course of which my guardian, I thought, was not 
 quite as uncompromising in his criticism as he was 
 when surrounded by those who shared his own 
 opinions. But the duke was very affable, and the 
 duchess was in truth charming, with her Northern 
 beauty, her delicate, high-bred features, and her 
 wealth of blond hair. No wonder if he could not 
 be stern. 
 
 It was the first time that I had met the man 
 whose influence then ruled over the destinies of 
 France and Mexico, and the incident naturally im- 
 pressed itself upon my memory. Upon my arrival 
 in Mexico, where I found men puzzling over the 
 extraordinary lack of concert between the allied 
 invaders, which baffled their understanding, I re- 
 membered those words of the Due de Morny, 
 
 56 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 uttered even before a suitable pretext bad been fur- 
 nished General de Lorencez for breaking through 
 the preliminary treaty of La Soledad, and, of course, 
 before the news of the final rupture between France, 
 England, and Spain could possibly have reached 
 Europe. M. de Lorencez, it is now known, had gone 
 to Mexico with orders to march without delay upon 
 the capital. 
 
 The Gare d'OrMans presented a scene of more 
 than usual animation when, on the morning of the 
 thirteenth day of April, 1862, our fiacre landed us at 
 its entrance, en route for St. Nazaire. The Compa- 
 gnie Transatlantique, formed by the house of Pereire, 
 was giving a grand inaugural banquet to celebrate 
 the opening of the new line of steamers that was 
 to carry passengers direct from France to Mexico. 
 The Louisiane was to sail on her first trip on the 
 following day. A special train was on the track 
 awaiting the distinguished guests of the company, 
 and it is safe to say that two thirds of the celeb- 
 rities of the day in the world of finance, of poli- 
 tics, and of journalism were gathering upon the 
 platform. 
 
 M. Jubinal, himself an invited guest, had decided 
 to take me with him, as he was anxious to see me 
 safely on board. The presence of a young girl 
 at the station naturally excited some curiosity 
 among the small clusters of men who here and there 
 stood by the carriage doors chatting with one an- 
 other, ready to take their places ; and as we passed 
 by, my companion was the object of inquiring looks 
 from those with whom he was on familiar terms. 
 
 57 
 
MaximiUcm in Mexico 
 
 But this curiosity invariably gave way to evidences 
 of more earnest interest when they were told that I 
 was to sail for Vera Cruz on the following day. 
 
 Our companions in the railway-carriage were 
 journalists whom M. Jubinal knew, and a deputy 
 whose name now escapes my memory. Each one 
 had much advice to bestow and many wise opin- 
 ions to express, the remembrance of which afforded 
 me endless amusement after I had reached my 
 destination, so far were they from meeting the 
 requirements of the case. And aU, whatever their 
 personal views with regard to the intervention, 
 confidently expressed the conviction that upon 
 reaching the capital I should find the French flag 
 flying over the citadel. 
 
 During the ride down to St. Nazaire the conver- 
 sation ran whoUy upon the subject of Mexico, and 
 of the magnificent opportunities to French com- 
 merce and speculation opened up by the expedition. 
 Of these our present errand was an earnest. In 
 listening to them, one might have thought that 
 Napoleon had found Aladdin's lamp, and had de- 
 posited it for permanent use at the Paris Bourse. 
 Mining companies, colonization companies, railroad 
 companies, telegraph companies, etc.,— all the 
 activities that go to constitute the nineteenth-cen- 
 tury civilization, — were in a few short years to de- 
 velop the mining and agricultural resources of the 
 country. A new outlet would open to French indus- 
 try, and the glory of French arms would check the 
 greed of the Anglo-Saxon, that arrogant merchant 
 race who would monopolize the trade of the world. 
 
 58 
 
By permission of Lecadre & Co 
 
 GENERAL PRIM". 
 
 Spanish soldier and statesman, bom in 1814. He commanded the Spanish expedi 
 tionary army in Mexico. After his retiirn to Spain he was assassinated in 1870. 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 The thought was brilliant, grand, generous, noble, 
 worthy of a Napoleonic mind. There were millions 
 in it! 
 
 Later, upon reaching Vera Cruz, I remembered 
 that nothing had been said of the yellow fever and 
 the rainy season, or of the magnitude of the sparsely 
 populated country which it was necessary to clear 
 of predatory bands who then virtually held it, or of 
 the expense in men and millions which must be 
 incurred to maintain order while all these great 
 schemes were being carried out. My eloquent fel- 
 low-travelers unhesitatingly asserted that Mexico 
 yearned for all this prosperity; it was extending 
 its arms to France ; the French army would receive 
 one long ovation in its triumphant march to the 
 capital amid vivas and showers of roses. All who 
 hnew said so. How lucky was mademoiselle to be 
 going there at this auspicious moment, to witness 
 such great and stirring events ! 
 
 M. Jubinal looked somewhat incredulous, but the 
 atmosphere created just then by the occasion was 
 certainly against him. Here was a large company 
 of French capitalists, backed by one of the most 
 substantial houses in France, opening direct com- 
 munication between that country and Mexico, when 
 hitherto most of the traffic had been conducted 
 through an English medium. To my youthful 
 mind it did seem then as though M, Jubinal had 
 the worst of the argument. 
 
 Upon leaving my brilliant companions to find 
 my way to the steamer, however, the scene changed 
 as suddenly as though a wizard's wand had wrought 
 * 61 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 its magic. The weather seemed threatening; a 
 dull gray sky hung low over the bay, and the 
 chopping, white-capped waves reflected the leaden 
 color of the clouds. 
 
 There were only forty passengers on board, and, 
 comparatively speaking, little of the animation 
 that usually precedes the outgoing of an ocean 
 steamer. I found without difficulty the French 
 banker and his Mexican wife who had kindly con- 
 sented to chaperon me during my lonely journey; 
 and I soon discovered that she and I were the only 
 women passengers on board. 
 
 Our fellow-travelers were uninteresting — mostly 
 commercial agents or small tradesmen representing 
 the old-established petty commerce with Mexico. 
 The new order of things was suggested, somewhat 
 ominously, only by the presence of two young sur- 
 geons on their way to increase the effective force 
 of the military hospital in Vera Cruz. 
 
 Evidently the predicted exodus to El Dorado had 
 not yet begun. Where was the advance-guard of 
 the great army of emigrant capitalists now about 
 to start, and of which I had just heard so much ? 
 
 This was the first serious disillusion of my life, 
 and it left a deep and permanent impression upon 
 my mind. What was the relation between the 
 great banquet of Pereire & Co., this train full 
 of statesmen, literati, and other distinguished men, 
 this blast of the press heralding a great and joy- 
 ful event in the commercial life of the French nation, 
 —and this old patched-up ship, with its scant load 
 of commonplace and evidently old Franco-Mexican 
 
 62 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 tradesmen, lying in lonely dullness against the gray 
 sky on that gloomy evening ? 
 
 Those men were rejoicing over us while we lay 
 here at anchor. They were drinking to phantoms 
 evoked by their own imagination, and their glow- 
 ing speeches would to-morrow stir the fancy of 
 thousands of readers who, seeing through their 
 eyes, would view the dark hulk of our old ship 
 framed in a glittering golden cloud. Where I now 
 stood, almost alone in the gloom, the vivid imagi- 
 nation of those men yonder in the banquet-hall at 
 that very hour perceived the mirage of the specu- 
 lative fever crowding the decks of the Pereire 
 steamers with imaginary colonists eager to convert 
 their savings into mining stocks and Mexican rail- 
 road bonds, and rushing to the land of Montezuma 
 to sow and reap a rich harvest for France. 
 
 How many wretches were induced to risk their 
 money upon such representations?^ Oh, the 
 dreariness, the loneliness, of that first night at 
 anchor in the Bay of Biscay! The misgivings 
 that filled my heart! Who was right? What 
 should I find over there ? Surely these statesmen, 
 capitalists, journalists, legislators, should know 
 what they were doing. 
 
 And yet, beyond the line of the western horizon, 
 which only a few hours before they had peopled 
 with glittering visions, there slowly rose in the 
 darkness the phantom of an arrested coach, of 
 
 1 "I/Opinion Nationale," Au- securities whicli in 1866 were 
 gust 30, 1866, stated that 300,000 worth no more than the paper 
 bondholders invested in Mexican they were printed on. 
 
 63 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 panic-stricken travelers, of fierce murderers as- 
 saulting a young man, of a dead body on the road- 
 side ; and this empty ship seemed more real at that 
 moment than all that I had yet heard or read. 
 
 After stopping to coal at Fort-de-France, in the 
 beautiful island of Martinique, and a few days later 
 stopping at Santiago de Cuba, we finally, on May 
 2, caught sight of a dark, broadening line upon 
 the horizon, behind which soon loomed up in soli- 
 tary dignity the snow-capped peak of Orizaba ; and 
 passing the Cangrejos and the island of Sacriflcios, 
 we anchored off the fort of San Juan de Ulloa, 
 where we awaited a clean bUl of health from the 
 quarantine ofScers who came on board. 
 
 The first impression made upon the mind by 
 Vera Cruz is depressing. In May the heat is in- 
 tense. The town is situated in a low, swampy dis- 
 trict, and was then unprovided with the slightest 
 artificial contrivance for the betterment of its 
 naturally unhygienic conditions. There was no 
 systematic drainage, and the entire refuse matter 
 of an ignorant and indolent population might have 
 been left to fester under the rays of a tropical sun 
 during the dry season, had it not been for the 
 zopilotes, or turkey-buzzards, which, protected by 
 law, had multiplied to such an extent as to form a 
 tolerably efficient body of scavengers. The steeples 
 and fiat roofs of the low town were literally black 
 with them. Their dense black swarms, resting like 
 a pall upon it, in striking contrast with its white 
 walls, gave the city, as one approached it from the 
 sea, an appearance of mourning. On our journey 
 
 64 
 
From Paris to Mexico 
 
 we liad anchored at Santiago de Cuba, where small- 
 pox was raging, and now the health-officers hesi- 
 tated about letting us enter this plague-stricken 
 place. 
 
 As time wore on, the excitement of our safe 
 arrival gradually died out. We gazed across the 
 water at the inhospitable gates to this promised 
 land, where so many strangers pausing like our- 
 selves had recently found a grave. It seemed as 
 though we were awaiting admittance to a funeral ; 
 and when the tolling of some church or convent 
 bell, frightening the carrion-eating birds, caused a 
 general flutter, the sight was strangely suggestive 
 of the pestilential death ever lurking below, ready 
 to feed upon the foreign visitor. One could scarcely 
 help thinking of the dead and the dying, and won- 
 dering, with a shudder, what might not be the 
 ignoble cravings of the gruesome flock. 
 
 65 
 
n 
 
 PUEBLA AND MEXICO— dENEEAL DE 
 LORENCEZ— GENERAL ZARAGOZA 
 
 THE health-officers who boarded the steamer at 
 Vera Cruz gave us unexpected and startling 
 news. The French army had been repulsed with 
 serious loss before Puebla. The direct route, by 
 which the trip from Vera Cruz to Mexico via 
 Orizaba— one hundred and ten leagues— could be 
 made in four days,-^ was blocked by the contending 
 armies. If we wished to proceed on our journey, 
 we must do so via Jalapa, a much longer route. 
 The discomforts of this road were, moreover, com- 
 plicated by the fact that it was now infested by a 
 large number of guerrillas, — one might as weU say 
 highwaymen,— who made it difficult for travelers 
 to pass unmolested, unless through some special 
 arrangement. This my companions were confident 
 could easily be settled ; but some days might be 
 spent in negotiations, and the health-officers said 
 that the yellow fever was raging as it had not raged 
 for years. The presence of so many foreigners 
 had added to its violence, and the French garrison 
 
 1 It can now be made by rail ia ten hours. 
 66 
 
Pnebla and Mexico 
 
 could be maintained only by constant reinforce- 
 ments. 
 
 Upon landing, onr little party went directly to 
 the bouse of Mr. Lelong, tbe hospitable French 
 banker who in Vera Cruz represented the house of 
 Labadie & Co. Here we remained five days, en- 
 jo jTug every comfort, while the necessary prepa- 
 rations were being made for our somewhat perilous 
 journey to the capital. I then heard for the first 
 time the details of the disaster brought upon the 
 French by General de Lorencez's wilful bhndness. 
 
 Confident in the elan of his picked troops, and, 
 as one of his officers afterward told me, compla- 
 cently holding up to himself the example of Cortez, 
 who had conquered the land with as many hundreds 
 as he had thousands, the French general, unable 
 with so smaU a force to undertake a siege, deter- 
 mined to attempt the assault of the Cerro de Gua- 
 dalupe. This fort dominated the place, and its 
 possession must, in his opinion, insure the fall of 
 Puebla. 
 
 The iU-advised attack was made on May 5, 1862, 
 with twenty-five hundred men. The place was 
 topographically strong. It was defended by Gen- 
 eral Zaragoza with the very pick of the Mexican 
 army under General Negrete, and was, moreover, 
 supported by the well-manned battery of the Fort 
 de Loretto. To attempt the assault of such a 
 position without the support of artillery seemed 
 madness ; and when the general ordered his troops 
 forward it was found that his field-battery, owing 
 to the lay of the land, could not even be brought 
 
 67 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 to bear upon the fort at sufficiently close range to 
 reach it. One fifth of the corps of attack was thus 
 uselessly sacrificed. 
 
 Some months after these events (September, 
 1862) I witnessed in the city of Mexico the public 
 obsequies of G-eneral Zaragoza,^ whom this exploit 
 had naturally placed high in the esteem of his 
 countrymen. Upon the elevated catafalque, drawn 
 by a long line of horses draped in black trappings, 
 lay the stately coffin. Tossed at its feet was the 
 French flag ; banners, hung everywhere, inscribed 
 with devices recalling his signal service to his 
 country, proclaimed him "the conqueror of con- 
 querors" {el conquistador de los conquistador es). 
 The French, it was asserted, had measured them- 
 selves with and conquered all the nations of the 
 world, and Zaragoza had conquered the French ! 
 
 This day is proudly recorded in the Mexican 
 annals as the Cinco de Mayo. The historic impor- 
 tance of a battle is not always to be measured by 
 the numbers of the contending forces, and although 
 its far-reaching significance was at the time scarcely 
 understood, this check must ever be remembered 
 by future historians as the first serious blow struck 
 by fortune at Napoleon III and his fated empire. 
 The honor of France was now involved and must 
 be vindicated. There was no receding upon the 
 dangerous path. No French sovereign could dare 
 to withdraw without avenging the first check met 
 
 1 Much of the credit for the weight of the assault upon the 
 achievement was due to General Cerro de Guadalupe and pre- 
 Negrete, whose command bore the vented its capture. 
 
 68 
 
POKFIRIO DIAZ. 
 
 A Mexican general and statesman, born in 1830. He served in the war against tlie 
 United States in 1847, against Santa Anna in 18&4. During the French invasion 
 he was one of the leaders of the defense. He heeame president in 1877, and 
 except from IH><U to 1HS4 he has been president ever since, the consti- 
 tution having been amended so that he could succeed himself. 
 
Puehla and Mexico 
 
 with by the French army since "Waterloo, and thus 
 was the Emperor rushed on to fulfil his own des- 
 tiny. To-day the fire from the fort of Guadalupe 
 easts a flash of lurid light upon the beginning of 
 la debacle, and upon the last chapters written at 
 Sedan. During the whole of that fatal day the 
 doomed men marched, as they were ordered to 
 march, upon the Mexican battery. They hope- 
 lessly fought, and died heroically ; and when night 
 came they beat an orderly retreat, carrying away 
 with them most of their wounded. 
 
 General de Lorencez slowly fell back upon Ori- 
 zaba, where he issued a proclamation ^ to the army, 
 openly laying the responsibility of the disaster upon 
 the false statements made to him by the French 
 representative. 
 
 The French army, which fell back upon Orizaba, 
 was in a critical position. Its communications with 
 the coast had been interrupted by the Liberal 
 guerrillas, and it was completely cut off from the 
 seaport and from France. The bridges were de- 
 stroyed; the convoys of provisions were attacked 
 and burned ; anxiety was felt by the commissariat 
 with regard to supplies. The garrisons left by the 
 French on the way had been driven back and 
 hemmed in in the unhealthful region, where the 
 French regiments were fairly melting away, and no 
 courier was permitted to bring news from the seat 
 of war to the French fleet and to the garrison of 
 Vera Cruz. 
 
 1 See proclamation, published tion dn Mexique," etc. " Reve 
 in Louet, "LaV6rit6 surl'Exp^di- d'Empire," p. 72. 
 
 71 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 The rainy season was near at hand when com- 
 mnnieation was restored by the arrival at Vera 
 Cruz of Greneral Felix Donay, who landed with rein- 
 forcements on May 16. 
 
 The five days that we spent in Vera Cruz were 
 anxious days for those who had assumed the re- 
 sponsibility of our little party. Never was there a 
 worse time to travel over a road which at best was 
 unsafe, and yet we could not remain where we 
 were without danger. 
 
 I was not allowed to move out of the house, and 
 all I saw of the town was from the balcony, whence, 
 in the cool of the evening, I looked down upon the 
 dull street. Every now and then a passing stretcher 
 supporting a covered human form would remind us 
 that we were in a plague-stricken city, and make 
 us eager to start upon our way. 
 
 At last arrangements were completed, terms were 
 made with a small guerrilla band whose chief 
 undertook to see us safely through to Mexico, and 
 on May 27 we began our journey. 
 
 The men of our escort, whom we met just out of 
 the city, were a ruf&anly-looking set. The chief had 
 received an ugly saber-cut across his face, which 
 added to the forbidding expression of a naturally 
 repulsive physiognomy. They were well mounted, 
 however, and seemed inclined to be civil. "We 
 were allowed only an arroha (twenty-five pounds) 
 of luggage, and were supposed to have no money 
 with us ; but on the night before we left we sewed 
 a few ounces of gold (sixteen-doUar pieces) in un- 
 likely places of our underwear. Thus we left Vera 
 Cruz a la grace de Dieu. 
 
 72 
 
Puebla and Mexico 
 
 Well it was that we had made terms with this 
 little guerrilla company, and we had ample oppor- 
 tunity of testing the truth of the saying, " There is 
 honor among thieves." All along the road we met 
 armed bands, varying in strength, until, at a village 
 near Jalapa, we fell in with the well-known chief 
 Antonio Perez and his famous plateados, two hun- 
 dred strong, who had won their name and a some- 
 what doubtful distinction by their successful raids 
 upon convoys of silver. Our escort fraternized 
 with all, and they let us pass unmolested. 
 
 I was told that at this period scarcely a stage 
 reached the capital without having been robbed. 
 The passengers were often even despoiled of their 
 clothing, so that newspapers were brought into 
 requisition to serve as garments for the unfortu- 
 nate victims. When such was the case the doors 
 of the hotel were closed upon the arrival of the 
 coach in the courtyard, and blankets or other 
 coverings were brought down before the travelers 
 could alight with any show of propriety. 
 
 To say nothing of our emotions, many and 
 varied were our experiences on that never-to-be- 
 forgotten nine days' journey. Grenerally we slept 
 in cities or towns, where we were made more or less 
 comfortable; but on one occasion, owing to an 
 accident, we were belated and had to stop overnight 
 at a miserable hamlet, where no accommodation 
 could be procured save such as a native adobe 
 house could afford. This consisted of one large 
 room approached by a shed. In this room the 
 man, his wife, his children, his dogs, pigs, and small 
 cattle lived. A team of mules outside put in their 
 
 73 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 heads through an opening and breathed over our 
 cots. The English language cannot be made to 
 describe the atmosphere and other horrors of that 
 
 night. Cots had been improvised for Mrs. D 
 
 and me, but there was no sleep for us, and we 
 envied the men, who took their chances of mala- 
 ria and preferred sleeping outside to sharing our 
 shelter. 
 
 At last we reached the crest of the mountain from 
 which we looked down upon the valley of Mexico, 
 a huge basin encircled by mountains; and there 
 at our feet lay the capital, with its two hundred 
 thousand souls, its picturesque buildings, and the 
 lakes of Chalco and Tezcuco, while to one side the 
 huge snow-capped volcanoes, the Iztaccihuatl and 
 the Popocatepetl, like two gigantic sentries, seemed 
 to watch over the sacredness of this classical spot 
 of Mexican history. 
 
 The capital was quiet and peaceful. It seemed 
 utterly shut out from all the excitement created by 
 the invasion, as though, really trusting in its re- 
 moteness, its barriers of mountains, its lakes and 
 natural defenses, it defied the foreigner. Was it 
 that Mexico was then so accustomed to transfer its 
 allegiance from one military ruler to the other that 
 even foreign invasion left it indifferent? Or was 
 it the childlike faith in the unknown, the national 
 Quien sale f spirit, virtually carried out at this su- 
 preme crisis ? However this may have been, very 
 little of the outside conflict seemed as yet to have 
 penetrated the minds of the people. The diplo- 
 matic corps entertained our little coterie, which 
 
 74 
 
Puebla and Mexico 
 
 included those Mexicans who were willing to mix 
 with the foreign element. 
 
 Society danced and flirted, rode in the Paseo, and 
 walked in the Alameda, just as though the Cinco 
 de Mayo had been a decisive battle and General 
 de Lorencez's army had been driven back to its 
 ships. 
 
 The bull-fights once in a while gathered in the 
 vast enceinte of the Plaza de Toros the society of 
 the capital. During the winter of 1863 the young 
 men of fashion of Mexico took the Plaza de Toros, 
 and invited Mexican society to a performance. All 
 who took part were amateurs, and it was a brilliant 
 affair. The huge amphitheater, crowded with the 
 well-dressed audience, was in itself a memorable 
 spectacle, and as the sun went down, casting great 
 shadows and oblique rays of light upon the gay 
 assemblage, intent upon the fierce games of the 
 picturesque performers in the arena, one uncon- 
 sciously dreamed of the Colosseum and of the bloody 
 sports of semibarbarous Eome. 
 
 Besides the ordinary bull-fight, there were many 
 exercises of horsemanship and with the lasso that 
 did credit to the skill of the young gentlemen. 
 Moreover, as these men, who were aU wealthy, rode 
 their own spirited horses, the performance pre- 
 sented none of the most revolting features of the 
 usual buU-fight, where the poor, miserable hacks, 
 too jaded to obey the rein, are generally gored, and 
 soon turn the arena into a slaughter-house, the 
 sight of which it is impossible for an Anglo-Saxon 
 to endure. 
 
 75 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Our box was sent us by Don Jose Eincon G-al- 
 lardo and his brother Don Pedro, who belonged to 
 the elite of Mexican society and were among the 
 prime movers in the affair. When Mexico fell into 
 the power of the enemy, these young men joined 
 the Liberal army in defense of their native land, 
 and later we will find the first at Queretaro earn- 
 ing honorable distinction amid events the memory 
 of which can never fade from the pages of history. 
 
 It was a curious, easy life in the midst of what 
 to us now would seem perilous conditions. No 
 man, in those days, ventured out of an evening to 
 pay a call without being well armed, and our little 
 anteroom assumed, after eight o'clock, the appear- 
 ance of an arsenal. Nor were these precautions 
 unwarranted. To give but one instance : The sec- 
 retary of the Prussian legation, a nephew of the 
 minister. Baron Wagner, having excited certain 
 animosities, was more than once waylaid and at- 
 tacked in the street after dark. He was a fine 
 specimen of the Teutonic race, a tall, powerful 
 man, and generally carried brass knuckles. After 
 the first attack he made it a point at night to walk 
 in the middle of the street, so as to avoid too 
 close a proximity with corners and dark angles of 
 doorways, regarding them as possible ambushes. 
 As he was fully prepared, he more than once es- 
 caped without harm. But one night, when, for 
 some unknown reason, he carried a revolver, he 
 was assaulted from behind. Before he could cock 
 his weapon and turn to face his would-be assassins, 
 he had received several stabs in the back, and was 
 
 76 
 
Puebla and Mexico 
 
 left as dead upon the street. He lay for weeks 
 between life and death. 
 
 This had happened in the spring of 1862. A short 
 time after my arrival, having jnst recovered, he 
 called to take leave of my family before returning 
 to Germany. His faith in the superiority of brass 
 knuckles over the revolver, in case of sudden at- 
 tack, was not to be shaken. 
 
 Many and strange were the stories told me when 
 I arrived in that land destined by nature to be a 
 paradise, but of which the inhabitants were then 
 making a Tartarus. To the horrors then per- 
 petrated by robbers or highwaymen, justice could 
 be done only by the pen of a Poe. 
 
 Kidnapping was not infrequent, and the cruel 
 ingenuity displayed by the bandits to keep safely 
 their victim pending the negotiations for a ransom 
 was often blood-curdling. I might fill a small vol- 
 ume with such anecdotes, but the terrible fate of 
 two hacendados, kidnapped in the interior of the 
 country, may suffice to give an idea of the tax which 
 living in Mexico at that time might levy upon the 
 emotions of a young girl fresh from Paris. 
 
 The two unfortunate men had been captured by 
 one of those small bands which in war-times were 
 called guerrillas, but which we should ordinarily 
 call banditti. They were dragged from place to 
 place about the country by their captors, who 
 kept them under strict surveillance. One evening, 
 as they were approaching a town, the prospect of 
 a riotous night spent over pulque and monte at 
 some fonda excited the imagination of the men, 
 
 77 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 and, as no one would consent to be deprived of the 
 anticipated pleasure for the sake of mounting gnard 
 over the prisoners, it was decided that the miser- 
 able victims should be, for safe-keeping, buried up 
 to their necks in the earth. Surely they could not 
 escape, and would be there next morning awaiting 
 the return of their captors. And so they no doubt 
 would have been, but for the coyotes, which, allured 
 by the easy prey delivered up to them by the 
 devilish ingenuity of those human fiends, came 
 during the night and devoured the heads of the 
 helpless victims. Who can ever realize the mental 
 and physical anguish in the midst of which those 
 two wretched lives came to an end ! 
 
 Sometimes there was a touch of weird humor in 
 the manner in which such outrages were perpe- 
 trated. One night a wealthy family in Mexico drove 
 home in their carriage from a party. They stopped 
 at their porte-cochere, which was opened by their 
 servant, and closed tight behind them as they drove 
 in. Two men, however, had fastened on to the 
 carriage behind. They overpowered the portero as 
 he barred the door, while the noise of the carriage 
 rolling on the flags of the patio smothered the 
 sound of the scuflle. They opened the door to their 
 accomplices, and easily overcame family and ser- 
 vants, all of whom were bound hand and foot. 
 Then the robbers ransacked the premises, and 
 having packed all the valuables into the carriage, 
 one of them took the coachman's clothes, mounted 
 on the box, and coolly drove off in style — carriage, 
 horses, and all. 
 
 78 
 
MATIAS ROMERO. 
 
 A Mexican diplomat and statesman, born in ls37 
 
 Late minister to tlie United States. 
 
Puebla and Mexico 
 
 In a wild, sparsely populated country like Mexico 
 in 1862, where communication was difficult, where 
 the police of even large cities, when not in direct 
 sympathy with the malefactors, were overawed by 
 them, and where forty years of civil war had 
 hardened men to the sight of blood, it is not to be 
 wondered at if impunity had multiplied such oc- 
 currences and destroyed all sensibility with regard 
 to human suffering. 
 
 Much excitement was created both in France and 
 in the United States, during the French interven- 
 tion, by the relentless spirit with which the conflict 
 was conducted between the opposing parties, and 
 by the wanton destruction of life and property 
 which characterized the struggle. But when one 
 realizes that the Mexican armies at that time were 
 on both sides to a great extent made up of such 
 predatory material, and that even their officers were 
 frequently little more than chiefs of guerrillas, who 
 rallied sometimes under one flag, sometimes under 
 the other, but in either case were always ready for 
 rapine, the brutal character of the conflict can 
 scarcely excite surprise. 
 
 81 
 
Ill 
 
 THE SIEGE OF PUEBLA— GENERAL 
 EOREY— GENERAL ORTEGA 
 
 THE news of the check sustained by the French 
 at Puebla — a check to which the precarious 
 condition of the army lent all the proportions of 
 a serious defeat— was made public in France by 
 means of a despatch sent from New York on June 
 14. The army was at once raised to twenty-five 
 thousand men. The command-in-chief of this in- 
 creased force was given to General Forey. He 
 entered upon his official duties on October 25, 1862.^ 
 
 The new commander-in-chief, like those whom 
 he was superseding, was under precise orders 
 from the home government to be guided by M. de 
 Saligny. Notwithstanding the disastrous conse- 
 quences of his misrepresentations, the French min- 
 ister, strangely enough, still retained his hold upon 
 the Emperor and his advisers. 
 
 General Forey's instructions, given in a note 
 from Napoleon dated July 3, 1862, were to bring 
 
 1 General Forey commanded Sebastopol he commanded both 
 the Fourth Division at the battle the Third and the Fourth, to which 
 of Alma, in the Crimean war ; at was intrusted the siege work. 
 
 82 
 
The Siege of Puebla 
 
 about, throiigli General Almonte, the convocation 
 of an assembly of notables to decide upon tbe 
 " form of government and the destinies of Mexico." 
 Should the Mexicans prefer a monarchy, " it was 
 in the interest of France to support them, and to 
 indicate the Archduke Maximilian as the candidate 
 of France." 1 
 
 On February 18, 1863, after wasting four pre- 
 cious months, at an enormous cost of money and 
 prestige, General Forey appeared before Puebla.^ 
 The procrastination of the French commander had 
 given the Mexican government time to elaborate 
 the defense. General Zaragoza had died, in the 
 full blaze of his glory, in the month of September. 
 His successor, General Jesus Gonzalez Ortega, had 
 now under his command a fairly organized army of 
 twenty-two thousand men. The main trouble was 
 the scarcity of arms. The guns were mostly old 
 rejected muskets, and I was told that during the 
 siege unarmed bodies of men waited to use the 
 arms of the slain or wounded. But the place had 
 been strongly fortified ; this time it was to be war 
 in earnest. 
 
 The town was buUt in blocks. Each block, 
 fortified and defended by the besieged, must be 
 fought for and carried by assault, at terrible cost of 
 
 1 "La V6rit6 snr I'Exp^dition extraordinary procrastination by 
 dn Mexique, d'aprfes les Docu- complaining that the minister of 
 ments In^dits d'Emest Louet," war had failed to supply him with 
 etc. Edited by Paul Graulot. Part a sufficient amount of ammuni- 
 I, "Reved'Empire,"p. 91, 4thed. tion. See Colonel Loizillon, 
 (Paris). "Lettres sur I'Exp^dition du 
 
 ^ General Forey explained his Mexique," p. 101. 
 
 83 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 life on the part of the French, whose close ranks 
 were fired upon with murderous effect from the 
 roofs and windows on both sides of the streets. 
 
 The episodes of the contest recall those of the 
 siege of Saragossa, when the Spaniards so fiercely- 
 resisted the French forces ; only at Puebla the cruel 
 struggle lasted two whole months.^ To quote a 
 French officer, it was " a noble defense, admirably 
 organized." 
 
 The pulse of the capital now quickened under 
 the influence of Puebla's sacrifice to the national 
 honor. Every now and then a thriU of vindictive 
 patriotism ran through the city and clamored for 
 revenge. Already, before the celebration of the 
 anniversary of the national independence (Sep- 
 tember 16, 1862), wild rumors of a contempla- 
 ted wholesale slaughter of foreigners had run 
 through the town, arousing among us fears of 
 an impending catastrophe. The news had one day 
 been brought us that the 16th was the date fixed 
 for these new Sicilian Vespers, and all were warned 
 to be watchful. The day, however, passed without 
 any further demonstration of ill will than a few 
 shots, and cries of " Mueran los Franceses ! " 
 
 Much of this excitement had, of course, been 
 fostered by the stirring proclamations of the gov- 
 ernment, issued with a proper desire to arouse into 
 something like patriotic enthusiasm the apathy of 
 a people accustomed to submit to the inevitable. 
 There was no telling, however, to what extremes 
 
 1 From March 18 to May 10, "Lettres sur l'Exp6dition du 
 1863. See Colonel Loizillon, Mexique," Paris, 1890. 
 
 84 
 
The Siege of PueMa 
 
 might resort a populace composed of Indians and 
 half-breeds, should it once become fully alive to the 
 situation. To such a people geographical dis- 
 crimination seemed a nicety ; the issue was between 
 them and the foreigners, and the words " French " 
 and " foreigner " were at that time generally used 
 as synonymous. 
 
 This was not ah. When the fort of San Xavier 
 was taken, and when began the frightful hand-to- 
 hand fight in Puebla, the result of which was a fore- 
 gone conclusion, the government announced its 
 intention to defend the capital. The level of the 
 lakes of Chalco andTezcuco is above that of the city, 
 and the flooding of the valley was regarded as an 
 effective means of defense. This, of course, meant 
 pestilence. The president resolutely declared that, 
 should arms fail, the people must prolong the de- 
 fense of the capital with their " teeth and nails " ; 
 and although there was no practical response 
 among the people, a general and very genuine 
 uneasiness pervaded the whole community. 
 
 It was a Mexican custom on Grood Friday to 
 burn Judas in effigy on the Plaza Mayor. Judas 
 was a manikin made in the shape of the person 
 who happened to be most unpopular at the time. 
 It was quite admissible to burn Judas under differ- 
 ent shapes, and sometimes these summary autos 
 da fe were multiplied to suit the occasion and the 
 temper of the people. At the same time, rattles 
 were sold on the streets, and universally bought 
 alike by children and adults, by rich and poor, to 
 grind the bones of Judas ; and the objectionable 
 
 85 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 noise— second in hideonsness only to that of our 
 own sending off of fire-crackers on the Fourth of 
 July— was religiously kept up all day. In the 
 year of our Lord 1863 Judas was burned in Mexico 
 on the Plaza Mayor under the shapes of G-eneral 
 Forey, Napoleon III, and last, but not least, M. 
 Dubois de Saligny, who especially was roasted 
 with a will amid the wild execrations of the 
 populace. 
 
 President Juarez had bent his whole energy 
 upon the raising of an army of relief. He succeeded 
 in getting together some ten thousand men, the 
 command of whom he gave to General Comonfort. 
 This had been no easy task. A general leva had 
 been ordered, and all were mustered into the army 
 who could be provided with arms. Of uniforms 
 there was, of course, no mention. It was a su- 
 preme and desperate effort. 
 
 A convoy of supplies for the relief of General 
 Ortega was also prepared, which it was hoped Gen- 
 eral Comonfort might succeed in throwing into the 
 besieged city. He utterly failed, however ; and his 
 raw recruits having been routed at San Lorenzo ^ by 
 General Bazaine (May 8), further resistance became 
 hopeless. Puebla was lost. General Ortega faced 
 the situation with a dignity worthy of his coura- 
 geous defense of the town. He spiked his guns, 
 blew up his hiagazines, disbanded the garrison, 
 and, with his of&cers, surrendered on May 19. 
 
 The news fell like a knell upon the capital. As 
 
 1 San Lorenzo is a village and road to Puebla passes about 
 hacienda through which the main sixty-six nules from Mexico. 
 
 86 
 
The Siege of Puebla 
 
 far as "we were concerned, there seemed to be just 
 tlien only a choice of evils. Either the government 
 wotild await in Mexico the impending issue, and 
 we must be exposed to aU the unspeakable horrors 
 of which Puebla had just been the scene, or the 
 President and his administration would abandon 
 the city, and an interval must follow during which 
 we must be left exposed to mob law, or, should 
 Marquez first take possession of the city, perhaps 
 to pillage and bloodshed. 
 
 Meanwhile Congress had indefinitely adjourned, 
 after conferring f uU and extraordinary powers upon 
 Juarez. The president issued a proclamation an- 
 nouncing his firm resolve to continue the war. 
 After this he prepared to leave the city and to 
 retire to San Luis. 
 
 That night, while sitting in our drawing-room, 
 we heard the dull, steady tramp of men marching, 
 otherwise noiselessly, down the Calle de San Fran- 
 cisco toward the plaza; and looking out of the 
 window, we saw the debris of the defeated Liberal 
 army making its way through the city. A strange, 
 weird sight they presented in the moonlight— 
 these men whose sole equipment consisted of a 
 musket and a cartridge-box slung over their white 
 shirts. Most of them wore only loose cahoneras, 
 and many, according to the Mexican custom, were 
 accompanied by their women. Apparently un- 
 driUed, or, at least, tramping on with scarcely an 
 attempt at order, and seen in the half-shadow cast 
 by the houses upon the moonlit street, their loose 
 ranks reminded one more of the immigration of 
 
 87 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 some ancient barbaric horde than of the march of 
 a modern army. 
 
 I shall never forget the impressions of that night. 
 The picturesqueness of the scene was not lessened 
 by the element of personal interest that attached to 
 it. What did this portend— this ragged remnant 
 of a defeated army hurrying through the capital in 
 the dead of night ? Were the Trench approaching, 
 driving it before them ? Was it intended to gar- 
 rison the city, and here to make the last stand in 
 defense of the republic and of Mexican liberty? 
 Or, on the contrary, was it beating a retreat into 
 the interior of the country, making way for the 
 advent of the foreigner and monarchy and priest 
 rule I 
 
 The next day (May 31, 1863) an unusual stir was 
 noticeable in the city. The air was all aglow with 
 excitement. Horsemen were galloping in the 
 streets leading pack-mules, and the sleepy town 
 seemed full of bustle and animation. As we stood 
 at our balcony, we saw many acquaintances, ap- 
 parently equipped for a journey, speeding past, 
 with a wave of the hand as a last farewell; and 
 soon the attache of the American legation dropped 
 in with a message from Mr. Corwin to the efEect 
 that President Juarez and his government were 
 leaving the city. 
 
 The exodus of the previous night was thus ex- 
 plained. The remnants of General Comonfort's 
 and General Ortega's armies had fallen back to serve 
 as an escort for the government in its flight. The 
 city was now without an administration, without 
 
The Siege of Puehla 
 
 a police, without an army. It was left unprotected, 
 at the mercy of the mob or of the invader, and the 
 serious question before us was how best to protect 
 ourselves pending the arrival of the French forces. 
 
 The foreign representatives, fearing that the 
 vanguard might be formed of the Mexican contin- 
 gent under Marquez, and knowing the pitUess 
 ferocity of the "Leopard," as the chieftain was 
 called,^ petitioned General Forey to send one of his 
 divisions to take immediate possession of the capi- 
 tal. Meanwhile the foreign residents organized 
 and formed themselves into mounted patrols, and 
 although only seven hundred strong, they managed 
 to maintain fair order. 
 
 Here and there ominous incidents occurred to 
 show the necessity of such vigilance. A French- 
 man was lassoed, and dragged through the streets 
 by a small mob ; another was shot in the head in 
 front of our house, and, bleeding, took refuge in 
 our patio. Upon inquiry, I was told that he had 
 cried, " Vive la France ! " 
 
 No one thought of retiring on that memorable 
 night. From time to time a stray shot, a few 
 shouting drunkards, or some other unwonted noise 
 in the street, would excite our apprehension ; then 
 again, occasionally, some friend, passing with a 
 patrol before our door, would step in and report 
 that so far all was quiet. 
 
 Late that night, when at the window, listening in 
 the stillness then reigning over the city, a distant 
 but strangely familiar sound fell faintly upon my 
 
 1 His name was Leonardo, from which came the sobriquet Leopardo. 
 
 91 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ear— very faintly ; but never did the finest harmony 
 born of Wagner's genius so fill a human soul with 
 ecstasy. There was no mistaking it: it was a 
 French bugle. The French were entering Mexico. 
 We were safe, and now might go to bed. 
 
 92 
 
IV 
 
 THE FEENCH IN THE CITY OF 
 MEXICO-THE REaENCY 
 
 THE next morning the town was swarming with 
 red trousers, the wearers whereof were seeking 
 quarters. From our balcony we saw, standing at 
 the corner of the Calles de la Profesa and Espirito 
 Santo, a little group of officers talking together in 
 that half-earnest, half-distrait manner so charac- 
 teristic of men newly landed in a town, whose in- 
 terest in every trifle gets the better of the topic 
 under immediate consideration. 
 
 By their uniforms and demeanor we could judge 
 that one was a general and the others were officers 
 of various rank. As we appeared at the balcony 
 there was a perceptible flutter among them, and 
 some of them began to ogle us as only Frenchmen 
 could whose eyes had not rested upon a white 
 woman for several months. This incident, trifling 
 as it seems, was to become the key-note of our 
 future Mexican existence. The group of officers in 
 quest of suitable quarters turned out to be General 
 Bazaine and his staff, some of whom afterward be- 
 came our warm friends. 
 
 93 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 We now found another source of apprehension. 
 Tlie apartment we had rented, at the corner of the 
 Calle de San Francisco, opposite the Iglesia de la 
 Profesa, was larger than necessary for our small 
 family, and a very spacious room looking upon 
 Mexico's fashionable thoroughfare had been left un- 
 furnished and unoccupied by us. It was obvious 
 that we should be required to give it over for the 
 use of some oflELcer of the invading army, and the 
 matter was naturally not without interest. 
 
 Early in the morning of June 5, a carriage drove 
 up, and some middle-aged officers of the adminis- 
 tration, in green-and-silver uniforms, applied for 
 quarters. One of them was the paymaster-in-chief 
 of the army, M. Ernest Louet. He was a worthy 
 man, who afterward became a frequent visitor, 
 although his general appearance and peculiar, peak- 
 shaped skull, undisguised by any hirsute covering, 
 were not likely favorably to impress frivolous 
 feminine minds.i 
 
 We drew a forlorn picture of the rooms, which, as 
 a fact, were utterly unsuited to his purpose. He left 
 without even looking at them, and we had a reprieve. 
 
 1 M. Louet, after the Franco- begun by M. Louet was subse- 
 Prussian war, visited Marshal quently completed by M. Paul 
 Bazaine in his Spanish retreat, Gaulot, in 1889, under the title, 
 and obtained from him all the "La V6rit6 sur l'Exp6dition du 
 documents relating to the inter- Mexique, d'aprfes les Documents 
 vention and the empire of Maxi- In^dits d'Emest Louet, Payeur- 
 miUan then in his possession. en-Chef du Corps Expedition- 
 It was his intention to use them naire," and divided into three 
 as the basis for an authentic his- parts: "Un ESve d'Empire," 
 tory, which, however, he did not "L'Empire de Maximilien," and 
 live to publish. The task thus "Fin d'Empire." 
 
 94 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 The unfinished condition of the apartments, as 
 "well as an abundant expenditure of tact and diplo- 
 macy on our part, saved us from other applicants, 
 and we were beginning to flatter ourselves that we 
 should escape this much-dreaded imposition when, 
 late in the afternoon, two young naval officers 
 called, accompanied by orderlies and pack-mules. 
 They presented hillets de logetnent, requesting to be 
 given possession. We tried to discourage them, 
 assuring them that the rooms contained no con- 
 veniences of any kind, not even furniture : but the 
 young men were evidently easily satisfied; they 
 politely but firmly insisted— their only wish, they 
 said, being to camp under cover. 
 
 This annoyed us, and we showed them scant 
 courtesy, not even attempting to disguise the fact 
 that they were most unwelcome. Fate was, how- 
 ever, kind to us when it sent us these men. They 
 turned out to be perfect gentlemen, and completely 
 won us over by their unvarying good breeding 
 under shabby treatment. Before long we were, and 
 remained, the best of friends. As for their order- 
 lies, they soon made love to our Indian maidens, 
 and there is every reason to believe that the inter- 
 lopers obtained all necessary comforts, after all. 
 So aU went weU enough in the two menages. 
 
 Indeed, an entente cordiale between the popula- 
 tion of Mexico and the French army was rapidly 
 established. In a few days the place assumed an 
 unwonted aspect of cheerfulness and festivity. 
 The French officers, who for over a year past had 
 led a life of hardship, were now bent upon pleasure. 
 
 95 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 They fell gracefully into the Mexican mode of life, 
 and took kindly to the havanera, the bull- fights, the 
 Paseo, and the style of flirtation preferred by the 
 Mexican women. For this they soon coined a 
 French word, noviotage,^ and thus expressed the 
 semi-Platonic love-making of indefinite duration 
 and undefined limits which with the natives usu- 
 ally culminates in marriage, after a prolonged term 
 of years, but which with foreigners seldom cul- 
 minated at all, for lack of time. They "played 
 the bear,"^ and ogled their chosen one from the 
 street or at the Alameda, or followed her carriage 
 on horseback at the Paseo, according to the most 
 approved Mexican methods ; and in exchange for 
 small favors received, they cast a glow of sparkhng 
 cheerfulness upon the dull city of Montezuma. 
 
 G-eneral Forey made his triumphant entrance 
 on June 10. It was a magnificent sight, and one 
 not easily forgotten. As the victorious veteran 
 troops,— many of whom had seen the Crimea, Syria, 
 and Italy,— in their battered though scrupulously 
 neat uniforms, marched through the Calle de San 
 Francisco, laden with their cumbersome campaign 
 outfit, the whole population turned out to see them, 
 and the balconies and windows on the line of march 
 were lined with eager and interested faces. 
 
 This was no ordinary pageant. It was serious 
 work, and full of the deepest meaning. These sur- 
 
 1 Derived from novio, "be- under his chosen one's window, 
 trothed lover." up and down, casting longing 
 
 2 The Mexicans call hacer Voso glances at her— the worse the 
 the mode of courtship by which weather the more ardent the 
 the lover, on horseback, passes love. 
 
 96 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 vivors of an army of thirty thousand men had 
 arduously fought their way to this triumph for 
 sixteen months. No one will probably ever know 
 how many of their comrades had dropped on the 
 roadside ; and the weather-beaten faces, bronzed by 
 long exposure to the tropical sun, the patched 
 clothes, the long line of ambulances following in 
 the rear, told a story in which little room was left 
 for the imagination. The sight kindled genuine 
 interest and aroused the sympathy of the crowd, 
 and something very like spontaneous enthusiasm 
 thrilled through the air on their passage. 
 
 The keys of the city had been solemnly offered to 
 General Forey by General Salas, amid the accla- 
 mations of the people. The next day M. de Saligny 
 presented a list of thirty-five citizens destined to 
 form a junta. These were to select three men to 
 act as regents pending the final decision of the 
 people with regard to a permanent form of govern- 
 ment. The junta was empowered to add to its 
 numbers two hundred and fifteen citizens, supposed 
 to be taken from all classes, who, with the thirty- 
 five appointed by the French, would compose the 
 assembly of notables upon whom must devolve the 
 carrying out of the farce which it was intended 
 must take the place of a popular expression of the 
 will of the country. 
 
 Don Theodosio Lares was elected its president. 
 This junta, in a secret meeting at which two hun- 
 dred and thirty-one members were present, delib- 
 erated upon the form of government to be chosen 
 for the Mexican nation and on July 10, at a pub- 
 
 97 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 lie meeting, presented a report in wMch. the repub- 
 lican system was denounced as the cause of the 
 greatest evils which had of late years been the 
 scourge of the country, and monarchy was advo- 
 cated as the only remedy. 
 
 Four articles were voted upon, with only two 
 dissenting voices : (1) The nation adopts as a form 
 of government a constitutional monarchy, heredi- 
 tary under a Catholic prince. (2) The sovereign 
 will take the title of Emperor of Mexico. (3) The 
 imperial crown of Mexico is offered to his Eoyal 
 Highness Prince Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke 
 of Austria, for himself and his descendants. (4) In 
 the case where, owing to unforeseen circumstances, 
 the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian should not 
 take possession of the throne offered him, the Mexi- 
 can government trusts in the good will of his Maj- 
 esty Emperor Napoleon III to designate another 
 Catholic prince to whom the crown shall be offered. 
 A regency, composed of G-eneral Almonte, General 
 Salas, and Archbishop Labastida, was forthwith 
 established, under the protection of the French. 
 
 It was obvious to all that the performance was 
 enacted for the "benefit of the gallery." Q-ossip 
 even told how the French had paid for the very 
 clothes worn by some of the so-called " notables " 
 upon that occasion. Nevertheless, the monarchy, 
 by the will of the people, was voted in, and a com- 
 mission was appointed, consisting of the most dis- 
 tinguished among the reactionary leaders, to wait 
 upon Maximilian of Austria, and to offer him the 
 throne on behalf of the Mexican nation. 
 
 98 
 
V r.^ r'v ■■■'''x-r- .«-'v -'^j-'v 
 
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 ^, 
 
 1' 
 
 iy 
 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 jx 
 
 
 Iv 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 '/' 
 
 
 1^' 
 
 A ^ 
 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 But although the part played by the French in 
 this comedy was thinly disguised, every one in 
 the capital was now in a good humor. After the 
 severe strain of the past year, the onerous burdens 
 which had been imposed upon the people by the 
 Liberal government in order to carry on the war, 
 — the forced loans raised from the wealthy, the 
 leva by means of which the poor were seized upon 
 and pressed into the army,— a sudden reprieve had 
 come. All responsibility now seemed lifted off the 
 Mexican people and assumed by the French; and 
 the revival of trade under the impulse given by the 
 influx of pleasure-loving foreigners, who freely 
 spent their money, was regarded as an earnest of 
 the prosperity to come. No one seemed disposed 
 to be over- critical as to methods, if only peace and 
 plenty could be assured. 
 
 It would seem, however, that Napoleon's in- 
 structions to General Forey had not been exactly 
 carried out. According to these, and in order to 
 retain full control of political operations, the gen- 
 eral was himself to appoint the provisional gov- 
 ernment, with General Almonte at its head. After 
 this, tranquillity having been established in the 
 country, he was to call for a popular vote to decide 
 upon the form of government to be adopted and to 
 constitute a national congress.^ 
 
 The French government had repeatedly declared 
 to England and to the world that " no government 
 would be imposed upon the Mexican people." Had 
 
 1 See official letters, November 1, December 17, 1862, February 
 14, 1863. 
 
 6 101 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 it been honest when signing the provisions of the 
 treaty of London, and later those of the conven- 
 tion of La Soledad, the armed expedition had now 
 reached its end. Indeed, quite enough had ah-eady 
 happened to show the French statesmen how illu- 
 sory had been the promises of the Mexican refugees 
 and the representations of Messrs. de Saligny and 
 Jecker ; and now, once more and for the last time, 
 the opportunity was offered Napoleon gracefully to 
 withdraw with the honors of war from the fool's 
 errand on which he had so recklessly embarked. 
 
 The French army was now in Mexico. The com- 
 mander-in-chief and the French minister might 
 dictate their terms to the enemy from his fallen 
 capital, and then retrace their steps homeward. 
 
 But this was not to be ; unwilling to recognize 
 his own error. Napoleon III preferred attributing 
 to the mismanagement of his agents the difficulties 
 that had sprung up on every side, and he resolved 
 to persevere in his original intention. As for Gen- 
 eral Forey, whether his dullness of perception failed 
 to grasp the true drift of his master's mind, or 
 whether he was unable to steer his way through 
 the tortuous policy which he was called upon to 
 further, he seemed to regard his mission as fulfilled. 
 After he had established the native provisional 
 government, he complacently rested in the enjoy- 
 ment of his new title of Marshal of France, ap- 
 parently overlooking the fact that outside of the 
 capital the national party held the country as 
 absolutely as ever. He issued a decree confiscating 
 the property of aU Liberals who did not lay down 
 
 102 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 their arms, and allowed the regency, wliich was 
 composed of three clerical leaders,— General Al- 
 monte, of whom Marshal Bazaine was wont to say 
 that he meant well, but il se prend trop au serieux, 
 General Salas, a conservative old fossil unearthed 
 for the occasion, and Archbishop Labastida, — to 
 foreshadow an era of reaction and retrogression. 
 
 A decree (1863) intended to stop the exporting 
 of gold, and another confiscating the property of 
 political adversaries, created so much uneasiness 
 that the French government was obliged to inter- 
 fere and enforce their repeal. An ordinance com- 
 pelling every one to kneel in the street upon the 
 passage of the eucharist created loud dissatisfac- 
 tion among the liberal-minded ; and ordinances for- 
 bidding work on Sunday without the permission of 
 the parish priest, and suspending work in the 
 erection of buildings upon land formerly belonging 
 to the clergy, had eventually to be repealed. 
 
 Eeligious processions had been forbidden by the 
 Liberal government. One of the first mistakes 
 made by the commander-in-chief was to allow the 
 clergy to celebrate in June the Fete-Dieu, that 
 should have been celebrated in May, but had been 
 omitted, as Juarez was then in possession of the 
 city. Not only did General Forey consent to this, 
 but he and his officers attended the procession, an 
 act which excited the sarcasm of the Liberals and 
 gave substance to the fear that the French protec- 
 torate meant reaction. 
 
 The priests and clericals fully believed that their 
 turn to govern had come. They actually notified 
 
 103 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the tenants of former clergy property not to pay 
 rent to their landlords, as the sales of such property 
 had been the work of Satan, and were now to be 
 annulled, and that if they paid their rent they 
 must eventually be called upon to pay it over agaia 
 to the church, the rightful owner. 
 
 Meanwhile Maximilian's faith had been shaken 
 by the refusal of England to guarantee the empire, 
 When, in the autumn of 1861, the negotiations 
 secretly carried on with regard to the estabhshment 
 of a Mexican monarchy had at last assumed a tan- 
 gible form, and serious propositions had been made 
 to the Archduke Maximilian by M. Grutierrez de 
 Estrada (the representative of the reactionary party 
 in Mexico, acting at the instigation of Napoleon 
 III), the archduke, with the approval of his brother 
 Emperor Francis Joseph, had acquiesced under two 
 principal conditions : " (1) The support, not only 
 moral, but material and efficient, of the two great 
 powers (France and England) ; (2) the clearly ex- 
 pressed wish of the Mexican people." ^ 
 
 1 See note drawn up under his Mexican empire was not wholly 
 supervision by his secretary, the unconnected with the peace of 
 Baron de Pont, bearing date Villafranoa, after which the arch- 
 September 27, 1861, published in duke had retired to his castle on 
 "La V6rit6 sur I'ExpSdition du the Adriatic. However this may 
 Mexique," loc. cit., pp. 8, 9, and be, the above shows that official, 
 compare M. de K6ratry, "L'Em- though secret, negotiations were 
 pereur Maximilien,"etc., pp. 8, 9. opened with regard to Maximil- 
 It has been said that the project ian's future empire even before 
 was submitted to Maximilian the treaty of London was signed 
 three years before the treaty of (October 31, 1861), and that, in 
 Miramar was signed (see Charles entering into the triple alliance, 
 d'H^rieault, "Maximilien et le England was being led by her 
 Mexique," p. 23), and I heard it wily ally further than she meant 
 asserted, while in Mexico, that the to go. 
 
 104 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 Frencli diplomacy had failed in its efforts to 
 secure British concurrence. Maximilian now 
 showed himself unwilling to regard the invitation 
 of the junta assembled in the capital as sufficient 
 to constitute a claim to the imperial crown. He 
 insisted upon a similar expression of feeling from 
 the other large centers of population in the coun- 
 try, and stated his readiness to accept the trust 
 " when the vast territory should have been pacified." 
 This meant the conquest of the country, neither 
 more nor less. 
 
 Napoleon apparently did nothesitate. Trusting 
 in the love of warlike achievement so strong in the 
 French people, he pushed ahead along his dangerous 
 path. That even now he clung to the practicability 
 of his original plan is shown by the almost naive 
 manner in which, on September 12, 1863, he wrote 
 to General Bazaine that " the principal object at 
 present was to pacify and organize ( ! ) " the country 
 by calling upon all men of good will to rally around 
 the new order of things and by preventing the enact- 
 ment of reactionary measures. He then still hoped 
 and believed that the return to France of the out- 
 lay caused by the expedition could be guaranteed 
 by means of a great loan raised in MesiGo— when 
 organized and restored to prosperity. He con- 
 stantly urged upon his agents the organization of 
 the finances of the country and of the Mexican army. 
 
 Immediately upon the arrival of the French, 
 Napoleon had sent a financier, M. Budin, to put 
 order into the country's resources. M. Budin was 
 a commonplace, middle-aged little man, of medi- 
 
 105 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 oere ability, whose personality was not calculated 
 to impress one with an idea of intellectual force. I 
 was told, by those who were in a position to judge 
 of his ability as a specialist, that, although a first- 
 class administrative officer, he was lacking in initi- 
 ative, and was in no way qualified to extricate 
 Mexico from financial difficulties. His attain- 
 ments were those acquired in the daily routine of 
 an upper clerk's well-defined duties, and his mind 
 was of narrow scope, ill fitted to adapt itself to the 
 entirely new problems set before it. He had been 
 paymaster of the French army during the Crimean 
 and the Italian wars, and afterward recevew-gene- 
 ral de la Savoie. He brought with him a mining 
 engineer and a staff of custom-house and revenue 
 officers. 
 
 He did not distinguish himself, one of his earliest 
 acts being to urge the promulgation of the above- 
 mentioned decree sequestrating the property of all 
 who were then opposed to the new order of things. 
 He also reinstated the old method of administering 
 justice, which was a disappointment to the progres- 
 sive element. To be sure, Maximilian, upon his 
 arrival, treated him coldly, and did not help him to 
 make a success of his mission. His place was suc- 
 cessively filled by M. de Maintenant and by M. 
 Corta, who were not more successful in bringing 
 the revenues of the empire up to its requirements. 
 M. de Bonnefons, a fourth financier, sent in 1865, 
 fell ill and was compelled to return to France. The 
 year following his arrival, he, in turn, was replaced 
 by M. Langlais. 
 
 106 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 On July 16, 1863, the Emperor had promoted 
 General Forey to the rank of marshal, and had thus 
 softened the recall of his incompetent, though 
 faithful, servant. 
 
 The newly made marshal celebrated this promo- 
 tion by a baU, at which a trifling incident occurred 
 which made an impression upon me, and which, 
 no doubt. General Forey remembered for some 
 time. He was a very heavy man, of f uU habit, tall, 
 with a short neck and red complexion, aU the more 
 ruddy by contrast with his gray hair and mustache. 
 While waltzing past the general, I saw the light chair 
 upon which he sat suddenly give way with a loud 
 crash under his ponderous weight, and down came 
 the commander-in-chief hard upon the floor. Ru- 
 mors of his probable downfall were already reach- 
 ing us, and the appositeness of the situation ap- 
 pealed to us. I jokingly whispered to my partner, a 
 young officer on his staff : " Mon general, vous avez 
 fait la culbute." "We both thoughtlessly laughed, 
 and were caught in the act by his Excellency at 
 the moment when, helped to his feet, unhurt, by 
 the bystanders, he was endeavoring to veil under 
 an assumption of increased dignity his conscious- 
 ness of the absurdity of the accident. He flushed 
 up angrily, and, I was afterward told, never quite 
 forgave the young man for his share in our disre- 
 spectful mirth. 
 
 He was most unpopular. His whole conduct, 
 since his arrival in Mexico, had been characterized 
 by weakness, indecision, and lack of judgment, and 
 he had shown himself in every respect unequal to 
 
 107 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the difficult task before Mm. Colonel Loizillon 
 says that, on the way to Puebla, when the generals 
 assembled in council of war differed, instead of 
 deciding the question the commander-in-chief 
 would adjourn, beseechingly saying : " Mon Dieu, 
 tachez done de vous entendre"^ ("Gentlemen, do 
 try to come to an understanding "). He had allowed 
 himself to be deceived by the French minister to 
 Mexico with the glaring facts before his eyes. As 
 a military chief, his procrastination had given the 
 Mexicans the time they needed fully to organize 
 their defense; and had it not been for Greneral 
 Bazaine's energy and military capacity in urging 
 and successfully carrying out the attack upon the 
 fort of San Xavier, the siege of Puebla, already 
 prolonged far beyond the limits of all likelihood, 
 might have cost the French a still greater expen- 
 diture of time and human life. Indeed, it was the 
 openly expressed opinion of many French officers 
 that to famine was principally due the fall of 
 Puebla, " Sans cela nous y serious encore," they 
 would say. 
 
 Greneral Forey's elevation had been due mainly 
 to the fact that he was one of the men who had 
 served Napoleon in 1851 in the cowp d'etat. In- 
 deed, many of the Emperor's most glaring failures 
 were due to the same cause, — i. e., loyalty to indi- 
 viduals,— which led him to place in responsible 
 positions men of small merit and of less principle 
 who had stood by Csesar and his fortunes. 
 
 In France the effect of the general's incapacity 
 
 1 "Lettres sui I'Bxp^dition du Mexique," p. 101. 
 108 
 
:. ycgvar^: gg^'^;?n s^"^ym"^T6y y^ 
 
 ,-.^ 
 
 COLONEL VAX DER SJUSKEX. 
 Commander of the Belgian contingent. 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 had been serious. The delay that had occurred in 
 bringing about a result announced as easy of ac- 
 complishment had furnished sharp weapons to the 
 opposition. It had forced the government to ask 
 the Chamber of Deputies for large appropriations 
 to conduct the war upon a serious scale. It was no 
 longer a military parade from Vera Cruz to Mexico 
 to present the French flag to the enthusiastic grati- 
 tude of the Mexicans: it was a fighting army of 
 thirty- five thousand men to be maintained across 
 the seas at the expense of France. 
 
 The French leaders maybe said to have displayed, 
 in their Mexican venture, the same lack of admin- 
 istrative eflSciency and of military organization, the 
 same insufficient knowledge of and preparation 
 for the task to be performed, as so conspicuously 
 appeared at the very outset of the Franco-Prussian 
 war. It is impossible to read the accounts of the 
 various campaigns since published without recog- 
 nizing the presence, in victory over an unorganized 
 enemy, of the elements of the later failure when 
 the same men were arrayed against the strongly 
 organized German forces.^ 
 
 1 It is interesting, in tMs oon- horses nor men ; neither has the 
 nection, to find that the same oon- artillery. No orders have been 
 ditions existed in France at the given about harness, or about any 
 time of the Crimean -war. Gen- new material." And in another 
 eral Bosquet, one of the heroes of letter, written on the eve of his 
 that expedition, in his letters con- departure for the seat of war, he 
 stantly denounced the adminis- repeats the same complaints, 
 tration for its lack of preparation. Marshal St. Arnaud, the com- 
 Under date of January 14, 1854, mander-in-chief, wrote from Gal- 
 he says: "Imagine that they lipoli to the Emperor that the 
 have not yet made any prepara- army lacked the very necessaries 
 tion. The cavalry has neither of life: "One cannot make war," 
 
 111 
 
Maxtmilian in Mexico 
 
 With, characteristic patriotism, the Chamber 
 voted the appropriations necessary to vindicate the 
 honor of the French flag ; but the government was 
 condemned to hear many unpleasant truths. 
 
 As for M. de Saligny, he had turned the French 
 legation into a business of6.ce, in which the guaranty 
 of France was traded upon to cover the most doubt- 
 ful transactions. Napoleon had at last recognized 
 his true character, and now— too late, alas!— re- 
 called him from his post. " De gre ou de force 
 quand meme il aurait donne sa demission," he had 
 written to General Bazaine.^ 
 
 But this unforeseen contingency greatly dis- 
 turbed the French minister in his operations. His 
 accomplices, the clerical leaders and others, worked 
 for him, and moved heaven and earth to have his 
 recall reconsidered. They failed ; but to make up 
 for his disappointment the Mexican National As- 
 sembly voted him a national reward of one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars. Althougb Marshal Forey 
 had not yet left the country, General Bazaine re- 
 monstrated with General Almonte, who, however, 
 resented his interference. 
 
 Both M. de Saligny and Marshal Forey enjoyed 
 too much playing the leading role to depart will- 
 ingly. They lingered on, much to the amusement 
 of the onlookers, untU General Bazaine grew im- 
 patient at the awkwardness of his own position. 
 The ridiculous side of the complication was seized 
 
 he said in a note dated May 27, ' November 1, 1863. SeeLouet, 
 "■without bread, shoes, kettles, loc. cit., "Un E6ve d'Bmpire," 
 and water-cans." p. 208. 
 
 112 
 
The French in the City of Mexico 
 
 upon by the wags of the army ; bets were taken, and 
 a song the refrain of which, was, " Partiront-ils, 
 partiront-ils pas," was popularly sung everywhere, 
 the innumerable verses of which showed the inex- 
 haustible interest taken in the subject.^ 
 
 1 " Plus rapide que I'^olair Se serrent la main 
 
 Un brtiit circule enville; En disant, 'Quelle chance!' 
 
 La joie, la gaiety sont dans Tout 'bas on redit, 
 
 I'air; Forey, Saligny 
 
 I On s'aborde, on babiUe ; Sont rappel^s en France," 
 Soldats et p^kins etc. 
 
 113 
 
PAET in 
 
 THE EMPIRE OF MAXIMILIAN I 
 1864-65 
 
MARSHAL BAZAINE 
 
 IN October, 1863, the reins of power, so loosely 
 held by Greneral Forey, at last passed into firmer 
 hands. General Bazaine took command of affairs. 
 It was high time. The Juarists, profiting by the 
 long respite afforded them, were reorganizing in 
 the interior, and were threatening. The daily stage 
 was attacked on its way to the coast as often as 
 not. Highwaymen tore up the rails of the Paso 
 del Macho EaUroad, attacked the train, and killed 
 passengers. Detachments of banditti, called by 
 "fcourtesy guerrillas, everywhere infested the roads, 
 even at the very gates of the capital. A picnic 
 was given to us at this time, by some officers of 
 General Bazaine's staff, at a wild, beautiful spot, 
 where the ruins of a graceful aqueduct, buUt by 
 the Spaniards, formed the principal attraction. It 
 was less than a twenty-mile ride, yet it was deemed 
 unsafe to go without a strong escort, although we 
 and the officers who gave the affair formed, with 
 their orderlies, a large cavalcade. 
 
 General Forey's policy in letting the regency have 
 its way, and in countenancing reactionary legisla- 
 
 117 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 tion of an aggressive character, liad discouraged the 
 honest partizans of order. The clergy now openly- 
 declared that Maximilian was pledged to the holy 
 see for the restoration of the confiscated property of 
 the clergy to its original owners. The archbishop, 
 newly landed, did aU that was in his power to 
 encourage such a belief and to guide the regency 
 to an uncompromising surrender to the holy see.^ 
 As the security of immense transactions in clergy 
 property was involved, serious uneasiness was felt. 
 
 General Bazaine handled all these complications 
 with firmness and skill. He compelled the regency 
 to repeal the decrees most objectionable to the 
 thinking portion of the community. He enforced 
 the maintaining of all bona-fide transactions in 
 clergy property, but advocated the revision of such 
 contracts as might be proved fraudulent, and urged 
 a concordat proposing that the state provide for 
 the support of the clergy. His orders were to rally 
 around him the Liberal chiefs, and he strove by a 
 wise, tactful policy to conciliate men of all shades 
 of opinion. His vigorous military action soon es- 
 tablished order in the territory surrounding Mexico. 
 With the concurrence of Greneral Almonte, who 
 earnestly wished the welfare of his country, he 
 reduced Archbishop Labastida to terms, if not to 
 silence. 
 
 Having done this, he took the field, concentrated 
 his army from the various distant points where the 
 different corps had been ordered in view of the 
 campaign which he was preparing, and within six 
 
 1 Compare M. de K6ratry, loc. cit., p. 31. 
 118 
 
MAE^CHAL BAZAINE AND MADAME LA MARECHALE. 
 
Marshal Bazaine 
 
 weeks defeated, by rapid and well-concerted blows, 
 Generals Doblado, Negrete, Comonfort, and Uraga, 
 wbo at that time, thanks to General Forey's pro- 
 crastination, were holding the country with the 
 rallied forces of the Liberal party. 
 
 From Morelia to San Luis, from Mexico to Gua- 
 dalajara, the French flag waved over every strong- 
 hold. The conquered cities received the conquerors 
 coldly, but acknowledged the archduke (of whom, 
 we were told by the officers, many did not even 
 know the name) just as resignedly as for over 
 forty years of civil war they had been wont to 
 acknowledge the victor's chosen presidential can- 
 didate. 
 
 This campaign was little more than a race, and 
 it was said that the French conquered the country 
 with their legs far more than with their bayonets. 
 
 In February, 1864, the general, uneasy at the 
 turn which political affairs were taking in the capi- 
 tal, returned with an escort as suddenly as he had 
 departed. It was high time. In his absence, Mgr. 
 Labastida, not giving due consideration to the 
 change of leadership that had taken place at the 
 French headquarters, had so far forgotten himself 
 as to fulminate, in the name of the church, against 
 the French. But upon the return of the comman- 
 der-in-chief he reconsidered his action, and publicly 
 " gave them his blessing." ^ 
 
 General Bazaine was at this time the most popu- 
 lar man in the army. Hitherto eminently success- 
 ful in all his military undertakings, he had risen 
 
 1 M. de K^ratry, loc. cit., p. 33. 
 7 121 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 from the ranks, having won his honors step by step 
 upon the battle-field, at first by his courage, later 
 by his remarkable military ability. 
 
 He was a plain-looking man, short and thick-set, 
 whose plebeian features one might search in vain 
 for a spark of genius or a ray of imagination ; and 
 yet under the commonplace exterior dwelt a kindly 
 spirit, an intelligence of no mean order, and, de- 
 spite a certain coarseness of thought and expres- 
 sion too common among Frenchmen, a soul upon 
 which the romance of life had impressed its mark 
 in lines of fire. 
 
 The story went that, when a colonel, he had in 
 Spain come across a little girl of great beauty and 
 personal attractions, who seemed to him out of 
 place amid her surroundings. He picked up the 
 little wild rose as it grew on the roadside, and con- 
 ceived the notion of transplanting it into good, 
 rich soil, and of giving it its share of sunshine. 
 He took the child to Paris, where he left her in a 
 convent to be educated. 
 
 The soldier continued his brilliant career in the 
 Crimea, Italy, Syria, and Africa ; and when, after 
 some years, he returned to Paris, he found the lit- 
 tle girl grown into a beautiful and attractive woman, 
 whose heart was full of warm gratitude for her 
 benefactor. He fell in love with her, and, breaking 
 through all rules of French matrimonial usage, 
 married her. 
 
 Her charm won for her many friends in the circle 
 which his position entitled her to enter; her 
 attractions exposed her to temptations which her 
 
 122 
 
Marshal Bazaine 
 
 early training had ill fitted her to meet; and her 
 death, which occurred under peculiarly distressing 
 circumstances soon after his promotion to the com- 
 mand of the army in Mexico, was a cruel blow. 
 The news of his loss reached the general while 
 away from the capital on the brilliant campaign 
 which added the greater part of the country to the 
 projected empire (November, 1863). After a fu- 
 neral mass, which he heard with his officers, he re- 
 tired to his tent, and, alone, fought that hardest of 
 all battles, and conquered his own heart. In a few 
 days he retm-ned to his duty, and no one ever knew 
 what had passed in his innermost soul. 
 
 Two years later a ball was given at the quartier- 
 general. Bazaine, who had lately been promoted 
 to the rank of marshal (1864), had stopped for a 
 moment to say a few words, when one of his guests, 
 a young Mexican girl who was waltzing by, sud- 
 denly stopped near us, having torn her dress. Pins 
 were produced, the damaged ruffle was repaired, and 
 the girl passed on. " Who is this ? " asked the mar- 
 shal, evidently much struck with her appearance. 
 "It is extraordinary," he muttered, "how much 
 she reminds me of my wife." He looked distrait, 
 and shortly after excused himself, and wandered 
 off in the direction Mile, de la Pena had taken. 
 
 The courtship was a short one. Maximilian, in 
 order to facilitate a union which he deemed to be 
 in the interest of his government, gave the young 
 girl as a dowry the palace of San Cosme,^ valued 
 at one hundred thousand dollars ; and thus was May 
 
 1 A suburb west of Mexico. 
 123 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 united to December. Two children were born to 
 the marshal, one of them in Mexico,^ and never was 
 father prouder of his young wife and of her off- 
 spring than was the marshal.^ 
 
 1 Maximilian was his godfather, them he lowered himself from the 
 
 2 When, after the Franco-Prus- walls of the fortress. Mme. Ba- 
 sian war, the marshal, having zaine was awaiting him in a 
 been made a sacrifice to France's small boat, the oars of which 
 wounded pride, was conrt-mar- were held by her cousin. A ship 
 tialed, and, amid the impreca- was near by, ready to sail, on 
 tions of his countrymen, was im- which they sought refuge in Spain, 
 prisoned in the Fort de Ste. And so it was that a fallen 
 Marguerite, his young wife and marshal of France passed from 
 her cousin contrived the perilous a state prison into exile, where 
 escape of the old man. By means he ended a life in which fame 
 of a rope procured for him by and romance had an equal share. 
 
 124 
 
II 
 
 A BED OF ROSES IN A GOLD-MINE 
 
 THE difl&CTilt task intrusted to General Bazaine 
 had been triumphantly performed. 
 
 The adhesion of the main part of Mexico to the 
 empire was secured. Oajaca and Gruerrero, in the 
 south, still held out, under General Porfirio Diaz, 
 and in the north Chihuahua and Durango had not 
 submitted; but enough of the Mexican territory- 
 was pacified to answer immediate purposes. Eu- 
 ropean criticism and the scruples of Maximilian 
 must be satisfied by this appearance of a popular 
 election and a quasi-universal suffrage. For forty 
 years Mexico had not been so quiet. The defeated 
 and demoralized Liberal forces were scattered, and 
 the Juarez government, retreating toward the ex- 
 treme northern frontier at Monterey, seemed to 
 have nothing left save its eternal rights. 
 
 On May 28, 1864, Maximilian of Austria and the 
 Archduchess Charlotte reached Vera Cruz on the 
 Austrian frigate Novara. They were escorted by 
 the French man-of-war TJiemis. By some unfor- 
 tunate contretemps, the deputation that had left 
 the capital with much pomp and flutter in order to 
 
 125 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 greet them was not there. They arrived as ordi- 
 nary passengers, the people evincing little curiosity 
 and less cordiality, as we have seen. Vera Cruz is in 
 itself not calculated to cheer the newcomer, and their 
 first impression of their venture was a painful one. 
 
 In due time, however, things righted themselves. 
 G-eneral Almonte and his suite appeared upon the 
 scene, and all the necessary pageant was brought 
 into play to soothe the wounded feelings of the new 
 sovereigns. They landed on the following day at 
 six o'clock in the morning. The early hour inter- 
 fered with any effective popular demonstration, 
 and their reception, as they proceeded to Loma 
 Alta, at that time the terminus of the railroad, was 
 by no means a brilUant one. At this point they 
 took carriages and drove on, escorted by a body of 
 cavalry commanded by Greneral Gralvez and Colonel 
 Miguel Lopez. Near the Cerro del Chiquihuite the 
 imperial carriage broke down, and the young sover- 
 eigns had to accept that of General de Maussion. 
 It was in the midst of a terrible tropical storm, 
 which put out the torches with which their escort 
 lighted the way, that the imperial cortege entered 
 Cordoba. Here, however, they were met by a 
 crowd of torch-bearing Indians, whose enthusiasm 
 made up for the gloom and disappointments which 
 had hitherto marked their arrival. 
 
 The rest of the journey was a well-prepared ova- 
 tion. The priests, now eager to come to the fore, 
 had ordered out the Indian population. The action 
 of Maximilian in going to Eome, and in piously 
 securing the papal blessing before sailing to take 
 
 126 
 
A Bed of Roses in a Gold-Mine 
 
 possession of his new dominions, had been received 
 by the ultra-clerical party as a hopeful symptom of 
 returning papal ascendancy under the coming 
 reign .^ 
 
 The new sovereigns might well imagine that they 
 were the elect of the people when, followed by a 
 multitude of Indians, they entered the capital. 
 
 It was under the scorching rays of a hot June 
 sun that they made their formal entry into the city 
 of Montezuma.^ Never had such a sight been seen 
 since the days of the Aztecs. The lavish ingenu- 
 ity of the French— anxious, for obvious reasons, to 
 
 1 On April 19, 1864, Maximilian 
 and the archduchess had repaired 
 to Rome in order, said the official 
 papers, to "implore the benedic- 
 tion of the august chief of the 
 church, and to place their future 
 effort under the segis of his pa- 
 ternal intercession and of his 
 powerful authority." The sermon 
 preached by Pius IX in the Sis- 
 tine Chapel on April 29, in which 
 the Holy Father encouraged the 
 new sovereigns to accomplish the 
 designs of Providence in a mis- 
 sion which was but a part of a 
 " grand scheme of Christian prop- 
 agandism," linked the empire to 
 the clerical party. 
 
 At this time Napoleon III could 
 no longer be unaware that the 
 recognition of the liberty of reli- 
 gious worship, of toleration, and 
 of the reform laws promulgated 
 by Juarez, was a necessity of the 
 situation, and that the church 
 could not be reinstated as in the 
 past. His representatives in 
 
 Mexico knew that the reactionary 
 platform was not only an un- 
 safe one, but an impossible one 
 for the empire to stand upon in 
 Mexico ; and they were endeavor- 
 ing to extricate themselves from 
 the consequences of their /awaijjas 
 with as much dignity and con- 
 sistency as circumstances would 
 admit. The awkwardness of the 
 situation was, therefore, only 
 added to by this demonstration 
 of piety and filial obedience on 
 the part of the new Mexican 
 riders. Yet it had the effect of 
 rallying the clergy for the time 
 being, who did their best to in- 
 crease their claims by a public dis- 
 play of devotion to the empire. 
 
 2 June 12, 1864. The Arch- 
 duchess Charlotte was born in 
 Brussels on June 7, 1840, and she 
 was then twenty-four years old. 
 The archduke was born at Sohon- 
 brunn on July 6, 1832, and was 
 therefore not quite thirty-two 
 years of age. 
 
 127 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 make the occasion a telling one — vied with the 
 interested patriotism of the clerical party to excite 
 the enthusiasm of the people, and to produce an 
 impression upon the Austrian travelers. Trium- 
 phal arches of verdure, draped with flags and pa- 
 triotic devices, were raised along the principal 
 avenues leading to the Plaza Mayor and to the 
 palace. As far as the eye could reach, the festively 
 decked windows, the streets, and the flat roofs of 
 the houses were crowded with people eager to catch 
 a glimpse of the new sovereigns. As they slowly 
 approached in the official landau, the crowd was so 
 dense as to be with difficulty held back. 
 
 It was a singular spectacle. They seemed so tall 
 and fair, these two young pebple of another race, 
 as they smilingly advanced through the swarthy 
 multitude of their small, ragged subjects, bowing in 
 acknowledgment of their acclamations ! Involun- 
 tarily one thought of visiting angels, or, better 
 still, of the fair god Quetzalcohuatl, whom the 
 Mexican legend of olden times brought from the 
 East to rule over and to civilize the natives of this 
 land by bringing them plenty. The analogy spon- 
 taneously occurred to every thoughtful onlooker, 
 and spread like lightning throughout the city. 
 
 Dramatic as it might be, the situation was not 
 without its comic touches. Some one in the im- 
 perial entourage had the unfortunate idea of imi- 
 tating for the Emperor's body-guard the sky-blue- 
 and-silver uniform of Napoleon's tall Cent-Gardes. 
 It is hard to imagine anything more amusing than 
 the caricature thus produced of the French picked 
 
 128 
 
MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY. 
 
 An American hydrographer and naval officer, bom in 1806. At 
 the beginning of the Civil "War lie entered tlie Confederate 
 na^y. At its close lie went to Slexico and served under 
 Maximilian. He was the first to give a complete de- 
 scription of the Gulf Stream, and to mark specific 
 routes to he followed in crossing the Atlantic. 
 
A Bed of Roses in a Gold-Mine 
 
 regiment, whicli saw the light for the first time 
 on that occasion. 
 
 It was at first difficult to establish among the 
 republican Mexicans the rigid etiquette of the 
 Austrian court, and some unsuccessful attempts to 
 do so were fruitful of heartache on both sides. 
 For instance, when Senora Salas, the wife of the 
 regent, was first introduced to her young sover- 
 eign, the poor little old lady amiably advanced, pre- 
 pared to give her the national abrazo — a grace- 
 ful gi-eeting which closely simulates an embrace. 
 In Mexico its significance in good society was very 
 much that of a shake of the hand with us. Much 
 to her consternation, the tall Empress stepped back 
 and drew herself up to her full height at what she 
 regarded an undue liberty, while tears of indigna- 
 tion came into her eyes. Whereupon the poor 
 senora was dissolved in tears, and the incident 
 came near to disturbing the good feeling that every 
 one hoped might at once be established between 
 the sovereigns and their Mexican court. 
 
 For a brief space we all felt as though a new era 
 were indeed about to dawn upon this Western land. 
 There is no doubt that at this time the empire 
 seemed a fact, and that, with the exception of a 
 certain number of outlying districts, the country 
 was fast rallying around its banner. It represented 
 order and stability, while the Liberals occupied the 
 position of anarchists.^ 
 
 1 See Masseras, "Un Essai by Senor Zamacona to President 
 d'Empire au Mexique," p. 9, Juarez, and bearing date June 16, 
 where lie quotes a letter addressed 1864. 
 
 131 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 General Bazaine did all in his power to inaugu- 
 rate brilliantly the advent of the empire. A splen- 
 did baU was given to the young sovereigns at the 
 quartier-g6neral— such a ball as is seldom seen out- 
 side the great European capitals. The general's 
 aides-de-camp had been put in charge, and aU that 
 unlimited funds and a large experience of such 
 matters could accomplish was done to make the 
 occasion the memorable feature of a memorable 
 historic event. 
 
 The great patio of the palace of San Cosme was 
 floored and roofed over to serve as a ball-room. 
 At the back of the great arcade surrounding it, 
 the arches and pillars of which were draped with 
 French and Mexican flags, was banked a profusion 
 of plants and flowers, upon which was cast the 
 light of myriads of candles and colored lanterns. 
 In the middle of the huge improvised ball-room the 
 great fountain played, and its sparkling waters 
 were seen through masses of tropical vegetation. 
 Here and there enormous warlike trophies reminded 
 the spectator that he was the guest of a great army. 
 The artillery had supplied groups of heavy cannon, 
 stacked on end, and huge piles of cannon-baUs, 
 while at intervals trophies of flags and drums, of 
 guns and bayonets, tastefully grouped about the 
 French and the Mexican coats of arms, broke 
 with striking effect the expanse of wall above the 
 arcades. 
 
 When the imperial cortege entered the crowded 
 ball-room, the quadrille d'honneur was danced by 
 their Majesties, the general-in-chief, and the more 
 
 132 
 
A Bed of Roses in a Gold-Mine 
 
 distinguislied. members of their respective suites, 
 after which the Emperor and Empress were respect- 
 fully escorted by the general to their throne, set 
 under a crimson- velvet canopy resting upon French 
 cannon. 
 
 They were so young and so handsome in their 
 imperial pomp ! By them stood Princess Zichy, 
 taU and distinguished, in a simple white-tulle gown 
 and natural flowers, with a wealth of such dia- 
 monds as are seldom seen on one person— a homely 
 woman, but interesting to us as the daughter of 
 the Metternichs. Her husband. Prince Zichy, was 
 the most striking figure in the imperial party. He 
 wore the full state costume of a Hungarian Mag- 
 yar ; and his many orders, hanging around his neck 
 and upon his breast, as well as the marvelous hilt, 
 belt, and jeweled sheath of his ancestral sword, 
 stood out finely upon his black- velvet costume, and 
 made him a conspicuous figure even in an assem- 
 blage where the ordinary evening dress was almost 
 unseen. 
 
 The glitter of all this court life, the revival of 
 trade, the abundance of money so freely brought 
 and spent in the country, dazzled the people, and 
 a golden dust was thrown into the eyes of all, 
 which for a brief period prevented them from see- 
 ing the true drift of political events. Indeed, the 
 brilliancy of the scene was not entirely due to 
 flash-hght. The revenues derived from the cus- 
 toms of Tampico and Vera Cruz were at this time 
 materially increasing. An official report, read to 
 the French Chamber in 1865, showed that the rev- 
 
 133 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 enues from those ports, -whicli for three montlis in 
 1864 had been $96,000 and $900,000 respectively, 
 had for the same period in 1865 risen respectively 
 to $431,000 and $1,645,000. 
 
 Large concessions for railroads had been asked 
 for and granted under solid guaranties — the line 
 from Vera Cruz to Mexico to an Anglo-French 
 company, pledged to complete it in five years, and 
 another concession for three lines, for the carrying 
 out of which $4,500,000 had been subscribed. Tele- 
 graph lines were being established ; coal, petroleum, 
 and gold- and silver-mines were being exploited, or 
 were in a fair way to be. 
 
 The good management of the regency under Gen- 
 eral Almonte's frugal administration had accumu- 
 lated a balance of 15,000,000 francs in the treasury 
 —a small surplus which must have been encourag- 
 ing to the Emperor upon his arrival. Moreover, 
 the loan of 200,000,000 francs, so readily taken 
 up abroad, had given a substantial foundation 
 for hopeful anticipation, and it seemed as though 
 Trance might possibly get out of her rash venture 
 with honor and profit. 
 
 The mirage that had lured Napoleon to these 
 perilous shores now appeared materially nearer, 
 and its outlines seemed more vivid and attractive 
 than ever before. 
 
 But if it was an easy matter to create an empire 
 as the result of an armed invasion of an unwilling 
 land, it was quite another thing to organize it upon 
 a permanent basis. As Prince Napoleon— famil- 
 iarly known as Plon-Plon— very wittily remarked 
 
 134 
 
A Bed of Roses in a Gold-Mine 
 
 later, " One can do anything witli bayonets, except 
 sit upon them." (" On pent tout faire avec des 
 baionnettes, excepte s'asseoir dessus.") For over 
 two years Napoleon III endeavored to make Maxi- 
 milian perform the latter feat— with what result we 
 all know only too well. 
 
 135 
 
Ill 
 
 THORNS 
 
 THE details of Maximilian's court once settled, 
 and the code of etiquette to be used adopted, 
 the new sovereign started forth upon a tour of the 
 provinces, to present himself to the loyalty of his 
 subjects. The Empress remained as regent, to 
 govern under the guidance of the commander-in- 
 chief. Ovations had everywhere been prepared, and 
 a semblance of popularity, so dear to Maximilian's 
 heart, was the result. But immense sums were 
 expended, and more precious time was wasted. 
 
 Upon his return, Mexican society turned out en 
 masse to do him honor. We all sallied forth in a 
 monster cavalcade by the Paseo de la Vega to meet 
 him some miles out of the city, and escort him back 
 to the palace. All this was pleasant and exciting, 
 but wise heads saw that this was no time for idle 
 pleasure, and some impatience was manifested at 
 this pageantry. 
 
 Then began a series of administrative experi- 
 ments. Many projects were mapped out with a 
 view to placing Mexico abreast of the most ad- 
 vanced countries of the civilized world. 
 
 136 
 
Thorns 
 
 Among other premature efforts made at this time, 
 when the young Emperor gave fullest flight to his 
 dreams, was a Department of the Navy. Nothing 
 could more clearly demonstrate how whimsical was 
 the mind of the Austrian ex-admiral and how 
 shght was his grasp of the situation. Long-post- 
 poned issues, involving vital questions of policy 
 and of administration, were awaiting his decision, 
 and he busied himself with frivolities and with 
 impossibilities. These early days gave the key- 
 note of his three years' reign. 
 
 Captain Destroyat, a French naval officer, was 
 made secretary of the navy. As the Mexican 
 government did not own a canoe, and as there was 
 at that time no serious likelihood of its ever own- 
 ing a battle- ship, this sinecure caused no little 
 merriment among us, and many were the practical 
 jokes of which the hapless cabinet officer was the 
 victim. 
 
 His quarters were situated one block below our 
 house, in the Calle de Espiritu Santo. This street, 
 owing to a depression in the level and to bad 
 drainage, was usually flooded, during the rainy sea- 
 son, after every severe aguacero. So impassable 
 did it then become that even men were compelled 
 to engage the services of a cargador to carry 
 them across "pickaback." When came the first 
 shower after his new dignity had been conferred 
 upon Captain Destroyat, his comrades, bent upon 
 fun, purchased a toy flotilla, which they floated, 
 flying the Mexican flag, down the street. In mock 
 dignity the tiny ships came to an anchor before his 
 
 137 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 door, much to every one's merriment, excepting, it 
 was whispered, to that of the powers that were, 
 who found a sting in the harmless levity.^ 
 
 Maximilian has been uniformly blamed by 
 French wiiters for frittering away the first pre- 
 cious months of his reign in dreams, or in the set- 
 tlement of minor details, the triviality of which was 
 in glaring contrast with the gravity of the issues 
 before him. True as this criticism may be in the- 
 ory, it is perhaps to be regretted— if we consider his 
 Majesty's youth and inexperience, and his absolute 
 ignorance of the conditions which he was called 
 upon to face, as well as of the capabilities and 
 personal history of the men with whom he was to 
 deal — that he did not longer continue to allow 
 others, who had painfully earned a clearer know- 
 ledge of the situation, to rule in his name. The 
 French, after a long series of preliminary blunders, 
 
 1 The new Navy Department, bittered by the treatment re- 
 although substantial advances eeived at the hands of the French 
 were made to it by the French government, flatly refused to be 
 treasury for the purpose of taken, even over so short a dis- 
 guarding the coast against smug- tance, under the French flag ; and 
 glers, did little to justify its exis- the incident gave rise to a pain- 
 tence. Two years later, when ful scene. As the Empress was 
 Empress Charlotte arrived in Vera then on her way as a suppliant to 
 Cruz, about to sail for Europe on the court of the Tuileries, there 
 the fruitless errand from which is every reason to believe that 
 she was never to return, there this illogical and almost childish 
 was not one rowboat flying the sensitiveness was one of the first 
 Mexican flag ready to convey her symptoms of the cerebral derange- 
 to the steamer which was lying in ment that was so soon to become 
 port at anchor. A boat belong- evident. Other exhibitions of an 
 iug to a French man-of-war was impaired judgment were related 
 placed at her disposal ; but the which then seemed incomprehen- 
 unfortunate woman, then em- sible. 
 
 138 
 
Thorns 
 
 were just beginning to understand the country 
 when the Emperor arrived and attempted inde- 
 pendently to acquire the same lesson, at the ex- 
 pense of the nation, of his party, and of his allies. 
 
 It soon became obvious that the young monarch 
 was not equal to the task which he had under- 
 taken, and a feeling of disappointment prevailed. 
 Unendowed with the force and clearness of mind 
 necessary in an organizer, he nevertheless insisted 
 upon all administrative work passing through his 
 own imperial bureau. At the head of this bureau 
 he placed an obscure personal favorite, a Belgian 
 named Eloin, who had risen to favor through his 
 social accomplishments. This man did not speak 
 one word of Spanish, hated the French, despised 
 the Mexicans, and was more ignorant than his mas- 
 ter himself of American questions in general, and 
 of Mexican affairs in particular. 
 
 While in office he used his power to repress much 
 of the impulse given to enterprise by the French. 
 His narrow views were responsible for a jealous 
 policy which excluded all that he could not per- 
 sonally appreciate and manage. He and the Em- 
 peror undertook to decide questions upon which 
 they were then hardly competent to give an intelli- 
 gent opinion. The Mexican leaders were made to 
 feel that they had no influence, the French that 
 they had no rights. A chiU was suddenly felt to 
 pervade the official atmosphere. As a prominent 
 member of the Belgian legation once remarked: 
 "To eat priest for breakfast and Frenchman for 
 dinner, when one has been called to the throne by 
 8 139 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the clergy, and must rely upon France for sole 
 support, may be regarded as a dangerous policy." 
 After doing much mischief, M. Eloin was sent 
 abroad upon a mysterious mission. It was rumored 
 that he had gone to watch over his master's per- 
 sonal interests abroad.^ 
 
 Indeed, the presence of the personal friends and 
 countrymen of the sovereigns who had accom- 
 panied them in their voluntary exile caused a note 
 of discord in the general harmony of the first days 
 of the empire, indicative of the cacophony which 
 
 1 On December 28, 1864, Maxi- 
 milian entered a protest against 
 the family compact exacted from 
 him by his brother, the Emperor 
 Francis Joseph, on April 9, a few 
 days before his departure from 
 Miramar and communicated to the 
 Reichsrath on November 16th. In 
 this curious document he stated 
 that it was upon the suggestion 
 of the Emperor of Austria that the 
 throne of Mexico had been offered 
 to him ; that after the negotiations 
 were closed, when his withdrawal 
 must have brought about the 
 most serious European compli- 
 cations, the Emperor Francis Jo- 
 seph, accompanied by his most 
 intimate councilors, had come 
 hastily to Miramar to force from 
 him an absolute rentmciation of 
 his birthrights ; that, having 
 given his word to the Mexican 
 delegation sent to offer him a 
 throne, he had signed this un- 
 qualifiable compact, but that ex- 
 perienced diplomats and expert 
 jurists, after studying the ques- 
 tion, were of the opinion that 
 
 a document exacted under such 
 conditions was null and void ; and 
 that the diets, with the consent of 
 the two interested emperors, were 
 alone competent to decide upon 
 such rights. In this case the 
 diets had not even been con- 
 sidted. 
 
 This protest, the text of which 
 is published in M. Domenech's 
 " Histoire du Mexique '' (vol iii, 
 p. 204), excited the suspicion 
 that Maximilian had not relin- 
 quished his European ambitions, 
 and that the r61e of Liberal ruler 
 which he played upon the Mexi- 
 can stage was played partly to an 
 Austrian audience. 
 
 A few months after this (May 
 3, 1865) M. Eloin was sent abroad, 
 ostensibly to treat of a new loan ; 
 but he was no financier, and it is 
 likely that his mission was a con- 
 fidential one, the political nature 
 of which comes out clearly in the 
 intercepted letter, under date of 
 September 27, 1866, which was 
 published in the United States. 
 (See p. 243.) 
 
 140 
 
Thorns 
 
 was soon to follow. Prince and Princess Zichy 
 and Countess CoUonitz soon returned home, but a 
 number of men remained to occupy lucrative and 
 confidential positions about the person of the 
 monarcb. 
 
 It was natural that, so far away from their na- 
 tive land, these would-be Mexican rulers, stranded 
 among a people with whose customs and mode of 
 thought they had no sympathy, and of whose tra- 
 ditions they knew nothing, should cling to the lit- 
 tle circle of trusted friends who had followed them 
 in their adventure. It was natural also that the 
 Mexicans, seduced by the vision of a monarchy in 
 which they hoped to be the ruling force by virtue 
 of their share in its inception and its establishment, 
 should feel a keen disappointment upon finding 
 foreigners, whom they themselves had been in- 
 strumental in placing at the head of affairs, not 
 only overshadowing them, but usurping what they 
 deemed their legitimate influence. It was likewise 
 natural that the French, who had put up all the 
 stakes for the game, and who had sacrificed lives, 
 millions, and prestige in the venture, should look 
 to a preponderant weight in the councils of an em- 
 pire which was entirely of their creating. All this 
 was the inevitable consequence of such a combina- 
 tion as that attempted in Mexico; but apparently 
 it was one which had entered into no one's calcu- 
 lations, and for which no provision had been made. 
 The imperial dream of Napoleon III had been too 
 shadowy to include such humanities. 
 
 The original "king-makers" soon became a 
 
 141 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 troublesome element in Maximilian's administra- 
 tion. His policy naturally led him to seek sup- 
 porters among the progressive Mexicans, and to 
 devise the honorable retirement of his early allies 
 from the active management of affairs. 
 
 G-eneral Almonte from the first was set aside 
 with empty honors.^ In 1866 he was appointed to 
 replace Senor Hidalgo as representative of Mexico 
 to France. General Miramon and General Marquez 
 were likewise sent away in honorable exile; and 
 by degrees the more conspicuous among the reac- 
 tionary leaders were put out of the way. 
 
 In March, 1864, Maximilian, about to sail from 
 Miramar, had addressed a letter to President Juarez. 
 In this curious document he spoke of himself as 
 "the chosen of the people," and invited him to 
 attach himself to the empire. He even offered him 
 a distinguished place in its administration. This, 
 of course, was haughtily declined by the President. 
 But persevering efforts were made to win over, by 
 promises of preferment, the leading men of the Lib- 
 eral party. Some declined in noble terms, but others 
 succumbed to the temptation, and for a while a de- 
 cided tendency was shown to rally around the new 
 order of things. Yet these conditions, favorable as 
 they were, added to the complications of the situa- 
 tion. In a very short time, what with the difficulties 
 arising from the nationalized clergy property, and 
 with the personal disappointment of many of those 
 who had made the empire, Maximilian found the 
 
 1 He was made great marshal perial household, and high chan- 
 of the court, miuister of the im- cellor of the imperial orders. 
 
 142 
 
/f^/f„. 
 
 \ 
 
 COMTE DE THUN DE HOHENSTEIN. 
 Commander of the Austro-Belgian forces 
 
Thorns 
 
 men upon whose invitation lie had come to Mexico 
 turning away from him. Moreover, the influence 
 of M. Eloin's policy had inaugurated the long 
 series of misunderstandings between the court and 
 the French quartier-general, which ultimately led 
 to complications at first by no means unavoidable. 
 " Non es emperador, es empeorador," was the pun 
 popularly repeated by Mexican wags.^ Six months 
 had not elapsed since the regent Almonte had 
 turned over to the young Emperor the quasi-con- 
 solidated empire conquered by Marshal Bazaine, 
 and thinking men already foresaw the end. Never 
 did the tide of success turn so rapidly. 
 
 In October, 1864, Comte de Thun de Hohenstein 
 had been sent to Paris to negotiate for the trans- 
 portation of some four thousand Austrians for the 
 army of Maximilian in Mexico. Belgians were also 
 rapidly enlisting under Colonel Van der Smissen ; 
 and shortly afterward Austro-Belgian auxiliary 
 troops, numbering, from first to last, some eight 
 thousand men, were transferred to Mexico.^ These 
 soon developed into an additional source of diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 The officers of the Austrian contingent had not 
 forgotten the yet recent encounters with the French 
 army at SoKerino and Magenta, and, no doubt at 
 first unconsciously, an unconciliatory spirit was 
 manifested in every difference which arose between 
 the French and their present allies. 
 
 1 "Ce n'est pas un empereur; au Mexique," p. 42 (Paris, 1879). 
 o'est Tin empireur." Compare ^ gge Gralignani, October 14, 
 Masseras, "Un Essai d'Empire 1864. 
 
 145 
 
1 Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Comte de Thun, the commander of the Austrian 
 corps, felt more than restless under Marshal Ba- 
 zaine's authority. Eventually, in 1865, Maximilian, 
 whose confidence he enjoyed, further complicated 
 the situation by establishing alongside of the War 
 Department a military cabinet, through which the 
 Austro-Belgian contingents were independently ad- 
 ministered. This broke up all chance of uniform 
 action in military matters. It placed the auxiliary 
 troops beyond the jurisdiction of the French com- 
 mander, who, under the terms of the treaty of 
 Miramar, was to be regarded as the commander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 The same lack of unity that existed between the 
 imperial army and the French was also found to 
 exist between the foreign mercenaries and the 
 Mexican troops. 
 
 To the natives these foreigners, although coun- 
 trymen of their sovereigns, were interlopers and 
 rivals. Their very presence defeated the object of 
 their Emperor's futile attempt at a show of Mexi- 
 can patriotism. The position of the French was a 
 well-defined one. They were there for a purpose, 
 spent their money freely, fought their battles vic- 
 toriously, and would some day go back to France. 
 But the Mexicans hated these foreigners, and the 
 confidential ofl&ces held by impecunious Belgians 
 and Austrians in the government and about the 
 person of the chief executive added to the instinc- 
 tive suspicion with which their permanent residence 
 in the country was regarded. 
 
 Under the then existing conditions, where so 
 146 
 
Thorns 
 
 many irreconcilable interests were in presence, it 
 is not to be wondered at if little harmony prevailed 
 amid the various conflicting elements gathered 
 together by fate for the enactment of this fantastic 
 scene. 
 
 The attitude of the United States toward the 
 empire had been unmistakably emphasized on 
 May 3, 1864, by the departure of our minister, the 
 Hon. Thomas Corwin, who left, ostensibly on leave 
 of absence, as soon as the approach of the new sov- 
 ereigns was heralded. 
 
 His was an interesting personality. Tall, stout, 
 and somewhat awkward in his gait, his double chin 
 was ' lost between the exaggerated points of the 
 stiff white collar so characteristic of our American 
 statesmen at that time. His kindly smile and 
 natural charm of voice and manner, however, soon 
 attracted and held those who at first found him 
 un engaging. With all his attainments he had pre- 
 served unspoiled a certain natural modesty, which 
 led him to attribute his advancement to accident or 
 fate. He once told me that he owed all his success 
 in life to the fact that, as a country boy in Ohio, 
 while driving his father's cart downhill at day- 
 break, he fell asleep and was jolted off his seat, 
 breaking his leg. During the weeks of enforced 
 seclusion that followed he taught himself to read, 
 and developed a studious turn of mind, which, his 
 leg having been permanently weakened by the acci- 
 dent, led him to seek a situation in a lawyer's office. 
 From these humble beginnings he rose to the place 
 he then occupied as one of our foremost orators and, 
 
 147 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 since 1861, as minister to Mexico,^ so that, he merrily- 
 added, he owed his fortune to a broken leg. Such 
 men, however, are in no need of accidents to rise ; 
 Mr. Corwin could not help doing so from the innate 
 buoyancy of his brilliant personality. 
 
 On April 4 the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives at Washington had passed a unani- 
 mous resolution in opposition to the recognition of 
 a monarchy in Mexico, as an expression of the 
 sentiment of the people of the United States. 
 Secretary Seward, in forwarding a copy of the 
 resolution to Mr. Dayton, our minister to Prance, 
 had, however, instructed him to inform the French 
 government that " the President does not at present 
 contemplate any departure from the policy which 
 this government has hitherto pursued in regard to 
 the war which exists between France and Mexico." ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding the smaU encouragement which 
 such an attitude gave him, one of the earliest acts 
 of Maximilian was to send Senor Arroyo to seek an 
 interview with the head of the United States gov- 
 ernment, with a view to the recognition of the 
 empire. Senor Arroyo was not even granted an 
 audience. In July, 1865, another attempt was 
 made by Maximilian with the same object in view. 
 
 Among the chamberlains of the Emperor at that 
 time was a son of General DegoUado, a Liberal 
 leader who had been killed at Las Cruces, while 
 fighting for the republic, against General Marquez 
 
 1 He now left American affairs ^ gge " Diplomatic Corre- 
 in the charge of his secretary of spondence," 1865, Part III, p. 
 legation, his son William Corwin. 357. 
 
 148 
 
Thorns 
 
 in 1861. Young Degollado had lived in "Washing- 
 ton, and there had married an American woman. 
 His attainments were mediocre and his personality 
 was colorless, but his wife was ambitious and ener- 
 getic. She was eager to see her husband come to 
 the front, and, setting aside family traditions, did 
 her best to encourage the imperial court in the 
 idea that the United States government, if prop- 
 erly approached, might be brought to consider the 
 recognition of the empire. She was a good-look- 
 ing, pleasant woman, who readily made friends, 
 and the couple were put forward as likely to bring 
 the undertaking to a favorable conclusion. 
 
 It had at first been suggested that an envoy ex- 
 traordinary be sent in full official pomp to Wash- 
 ington. General Almonte had been spoken of for 
 the mission, and Mr. and Mrs. Degollado were to 
 have accompanied him as members of the embassy. 
 Senor Eamirez, the minister of state and a moder- 
 ate Liberal of high standing and ability, realized, 
 however, that the imperial government, in follow- 
 ing such a course, must publicly expose itself to 
 a slight. He therefore urged upon Maximilian a 
 modification of the plan, and it was arranged that 
 Mr. and Mrs. Degollado should go in a semi-official 
 manner to prepare the ground and to feel the 
 way. 
 
 Mrs. Degollado was much excited over the pros- 
 pect, and even seemed sanguine of success. It was 
 hinted that Mr. Corwin, then in Washington, was 
 lending himself to certain intrigues designed to 
 facilitate the negotiations. 
 
 149 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 The Emperor's agents arrived in "Washington on 
 July 17, 1865. M. de Montholon, who since 1864 had 
 been minister of France to Mexico, endeavored to 
 obtain an audience for " the chamberlain of Maxi- 
 milian " as bearer of a letter from the Emperor of 
 Mexico to the President.^ But the mission proved 
 a failure, and only added one more to the many 
 abortive attempts made during those four years to 
 " solve the unsolvable problem." ^ 
 
 On January 1, 1865, President Juarez issued from 
 Chihuahua a proclamation in which he confessed 
 defeat, but in dignified tones asserted the right- 
 eousness of the national cause, in which he put his 
 trust, and appealed to the nobler ideals of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 At that moment, to the superficial observer, and 
 in the capital, the empire seemed an accomplished 
 fact. The country at large, although by no means 
 pacified, was nominally under imperial rule. Al- 
 most alone, in the south. General Porfirio Diaz held 
 his own at Oajaca, and remained unsubdued. 
 
 General Courtois d'Hurbal, who had been sent 
 against him, had so far been unable to deal with 
 him. The commander-in-chief resolved once more 
 to take the field in person. As a result, Oajaca 
 shortly afterward was taken, and General Diaz, at 
 
 1 "Diplomatic Correspon- and were to tie sent to Washing- 
 dence," 1865, Part III, p. 484. ton armed with a fund of $2,000, - 
 
 2 According to Prince Salm- 000 in gold. He states that the 
 Salm, yet another attempt was news of the Empress's iUness, and 
 planned in the fall of 1866, in the consequent failure of her mis- 
 whieh he and his wife were in- sion abroad, prevented the carry- 
 tended to be the principal actors, ing out of the scheme. 
 
 150 
 
Thorns 
 
 last forced to surrender, was made prisoner, and 
 transferred to Puebla for safe-keeping.i 
 
 From Mexico to tlie coast the country was quiet, 
 and tilings were apparently beginning to thrive. 
 Biit if to the residents of the capital the national 
 government was a mere theoretical entity, in the 
 interior of the country, and especially in the north, 
 the small numbers of the French scattered over so 
 vast an expanse of territory were obviously insuffi- 
 cient to hold it permanently. In order to please 
 Maximilian, they traveled from place to place,, 
 receiving the allegiance of the various centers of 
 population f their battalions multiplied their efforts, 
 and did the work of regiments. But the predatory 
 bands now fighting under the republican flag were, 
 hke birds of prey, ever hovering near, concealed 
 in the sierras, ready to pounce upon the hamlet or 
 the town which the French must perforce leave 
 unprotected, and wreaking terrible vengeance upon 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 1 He, however, boldly man- ducted himself not only as a pa- 
 aged his escape a few months triot, but as a soldier. It was 
 later, and again took the field at generally to him that the French 
 the head of a band of fourteen turned when called upon by cir- 
 men. These increased in num- cumstanees to trust to a leader's 
 ber, snowball fashion, as other word or to his humanity. Yet Gen- 
 guerrillas gradually rallied around eral Porey, in the Senate, March 
 the distinguished chief; and, at 18, 1866, declared him a brigand 
 the head of an army, he in time whose summary execution would 
 reappeared in Oajaca. After de- be warranted, as indeed would 
 feating the Austrians, in whose that of all the Mexican generals, 
 keeping the state had been left, 2 _^g Colonel de Courcy cleverly 
 he reentered the city in October, remarked, some of these regi- 
 1866. ments "brought back eighteen 
 
 In the course of these and other hundred leagues of country on 
 
 vicissitudes General Diaz con- the soles of their boots." 
 
 151 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 At this time there were some fifteen thousand 
 French residents in the country, and these naturally- 
 suffered most both in life and property, especially 
 toward the last.^ 
 
 Whether the small guerrillas fought under one 
 flag or the other, the result was much the same to 
 the people, who had to submit to the alternate ex- 
 actions of both parties. 
 
 No wonder if the intervention grew in un- 
 popularity. In certain parts of the country, as in 
 Mazatlan, the French had to resort to force to con- 
 stitute an imperial administration. It was made a 
 penal offense to decline an office, and the reluctant 
 Mexicans were compelled to serve against their will. 
 
 The war then waged was a cruel war, a war without 
 mercy. Woe to the small detachment that allowed 
 itself to be surprised and overpowered! It was 
 sure death, death often embittered by refinements 
 of cruelty and generally dispensed in the most 
 summary manner, with little of the formality that 
 obtains among civilized nations. To give but 
 one instance : One of the most popular among the 
 Austrian officers was Count Kurtzroch, a man of an- 
 cient lineage and of unexceptionable breeding. He 
 and his friend Count von Fiinfkirchen were favorites 
 in the small foreign coterie, the center of which was 
 at San Cosme, and they did not seem to be involved 
 in the national feuds. During the campaign of 1865 
 
 1 The wholesale hanging which mised by the empire might have 
 took place at Hermosillo in the to face, and only those who were 
 autumn of 1866 was sufficient forced to do so by imperative 
 evidence of what those compro- business interests remained. 
 
 152 
 
COUNT VON FUNFKIRCHEN. 
 Captain Austrian cavalry, Imperial G-uard. 
 
Thorns 
 
 he, with a small corps of Austrians, was defending a 
 town in the interior against the Plateados, a far supe- 
 rior force. Hard pressed, the Austrians retreated, 
 fighting at every step until they reached the church, 
 in which they intrenched themselves and prepared 
 for a siege. They hoped that relief might reach 
 them, but the Mexicans set fire to the church, and 
 the trapped men were forced to surrender. During 
 the struggle Count Kurtzroeh had been wounded in 
 the legs. Unable to walk, he was carried out by his 
 comrades on an improvised stretcher. As the de- 
 feated band filed before the victors, the leader, An- 
 tonio Perez, approaching the wounded man, asked 
 his name, and, drawing his revolver, deliberately 
 shot him dead as he lay helpless before him. This 
 is but one of many such acts, and I mention it only 
 because I knew and liked the man, and the details 
 of the story naturally impressed me when, upon 
 my inquiring about our friend. Count Nikolitz, 
 a brother officer, after his return from the cam- 
 paign, gave me the above details of his death. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1865 martial law was 
 proclaimed. By this measure Marshal Bazaine 
 sought to check not only brigandage, but the mili- 
 tary disorganization which the then prevailing 
 state of things must inevitably create. In this 
 effort he found but little support on the part of the 
 imperial government. Indeed, Maximilian insisted 
 upon all actions of the courts martial being sub- 
 mitted to him before being carried out. Much 
 acrimony arose on both sides in consequence of 
 this interference. 
 
 155 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 I remember once hearing the marshal refer to a 
 controversy that was then going on between him- 
 self and the Emperor with regard to prisoners 
 taken by him at Oajaca, and who, he felt, should 
 be exUed. Maximilian, unmindful of the prolonged 
 effort which it had cost to subdue these men, in- 
 sisted upon releasing them, and eventually did so. 
 The marshal bitterly complained of his weakness, 
 gave other instances of his untimely interference 
 with the course of justice as administered by the 
 military courts, and excitedly declared that he was 
 tired of sacrificing French lives for the sole appa- 
 rent use of giving an Austrian archduke the op- 
 portunity " to play at clemency " {de faire de la 
 cUmence). Such difficulties steadily widened the 
 breach between the court and the French military 
 headquarters. 
 
 In the autumn of 1865, the news having reached 
 him that President Juarez had passed the border 
 and left the country, Maximilian, elated by the 
 event, and exaggerating its bearing upon the politi- 
 cal and military situation, issued the famous decree 
 of October 3, now known in Mexican history as the 
 -BawdoiVe^ro ("black decree"). In this fatal enact- 
 ment he assumed that the war was at an end, and, 
 while doing homage to President Juarez himself, 
 attempted to brand all armed republicans as out- 
 laws who, if taken in arms, must henceforth be 
 summarily dealt with by the courts martial, or— 
 when made prisoners in battle — by the military 
 leader, and shot within twenty-four hours.^ 
 
 1 See Appendix A. 
 156 
 
Thorns 
 
 This extraordinary decree was greeted with dis- 
 may in the United States. It outraged the Mexi- 
 cans, and excited the vindictiveness of the Liberal 
 party. At the time such men as General Riva- 
 Palacio and General Diaz were still in the field, 
 and some of Mexico's most illustrious patriots were 
 thus placed under a ban by the foreign monarch.^ 
 
 It has been claimed that Marshal Bazaine entered 
 an earnest protest against the measure, the harsh- 
 ness of which he regarded as impolitic; that he 
 urged its inexpediency, and personally objected to 
 it as likely to weaken the authority of the military 
 courts ; that he, moreover, observed that it opened 
 an avenue to private revenge, and delivered up the 
 prisoners of one faction into the hands of another, 
 a course which could not fail to add renewed bit- 
 terness to the civil war now so nearly at an end.^ 
 But although the famous decree certainly was the 
 spontaneous act of the Emperor, and of his minis- 
 ters who signed it, there can be no doubt that it 
 
 1 General Diaz's record is well the wounded, exchanged prison- 
 known and requires no comment ers, and, at the last, even went 
 here. General Riva-Palaoio was so far as to extend his protection 
 a patriot and a gentleman. He was to small detachments of French 
 a man of parts, and had achieved troops making their way to the 
 some reputation as a poet and dra- Atlantic coast from the shores of 
 matic author. At the outbreak of the Pacific. See note from Mar- 
 the war he organized and equipped shal Bazaine, quoted in a letter 
 at his own expense a regiment, and from Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, 
 was with General Zaragoza at February 12, 1866 ("Diplomatic 
 Puebla. His division was one of Correspondence," 1866, Part I, p. 
 the finest in the Mexican service, 281). 
 
 and, throughout the war, he ley- 2 ggg M. de K6ratry, loc. cit, 
 ally conducted his military opera- p. 84 et seq. See also debate in 
 tions in strict accordance with Chamber of Deputies, " Moniteur 
 recognized usage. He cared for Universel" (Paris), Jan. 28, 1866. 
 
 157 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 embodied the policy of repression urged by the 
 marshal, and that, if he cannot be held responsible 
 for its form, in substance it was approved by him.^ 
 Whatever may have been its origin, when, shortly 
 afterward (October 13, 1865), G-enerals Arteaga 
 and Salazar, with others ^ who, at the head of small 
 detachments, were holding the country in the 
 north against G-eneral Mendez, were taken by the 
 latter, and shot, under the decree of October 3, such 
 a clamor of indignation was raised at home and 
 abroad as must have demonstrated his mistake to 
 the young Emperor. This mistake he was soon to 
 expiate with his own blood. 
 
 1 SeeLouet,"LaV6rit6surl'Ex- best and most brilliant officers in 
 p6dition du Mexique," etc., Part the imperial army, and it may be 
 II, "L'Empire de Maximilien," said in extenuation of his personal 
 by P. Graulot ; also Prince Salm- share in the tragedy that the cru- 
 Salm's "My Diary in Mexico," elty of the mode of warfare car- 
 etc, in which the author states ried on by Arteaga and his lieu- 
 that he was told by Maximilian tenants seemed to warrant stern 
 that the decree was drafted and treatment. It is stated that only 
 amended by Marshal Bazaine, a short time before Arteaga had 
 who urged its enactment. In the caused the father of Mendez to 
 memorandum drawn up for his be shot, and that but six weeks 
 lawyers, and published by Dr. prior to his own capture, thee om- 
 Baschin "ErinnerungenausMex- mander of the garrison of Urua- 
 ico," Maximilian says: "Bazaine pan, Colonel Lemus, an old man 
 dictated himself the details be- of sixty-eight, and the prefect, 
 fore witnesses." D. Paz Grutierrez, had been put to 
 
 2 Colonels ViUagomez, Diaz death by his orders without judg- 
 Paraeho, and Pedro Mina were ment, or even time to write to 
 among those who were shot, their families (Domenech, loc. 
 General Mendez was one of the cit., vol. iii, p. 335). 
 
 158 
 
PAET IV 
 
 THE AWAKENma 
 
"A CLOUD NO BIGGER THAN A 
 MAN'S HAND" 
 
 ON March 10, 1865, the Due de Morny died. He 
 had been the moving spirit in the Mexican im- 
 broglio, and it would be difficult to believe that the 
 withdrawal of the prompter did not have a weak- 
 ening effect upon the performance. His death, by 
 removing one of the strongest influences in favor 
 of the intervention, not only in the Corps Legis- 
 latif and at court, but in the financial world, was 
 certainly one of the many untoward circumstances 
 which helped to hasten the end. 
 
 In France, the elections of 1863 and 1864 had 
 added strength to the opposition. It now insisted 
 upon being heard. Not only had the discussions 
 of the budget in the Chamber of Deputies brought 
 out with painful clearness the weight of the bur- 
 den assumed by France, but private letters written 
 by intelligent officers were gradually enlightening 
 public opinion upon the true condition of affairs in 
 Mexico. Some of these letters had even found 
 their way to the Tuileries. 
 
 Public feeling was beginning to express in un- 
 
 161 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 compromising tones tlie conviction that the gov- 
 ernment must relinquish an onerous task, the 
 impossibility of accomplishing which was becoming 
 patent. It was even openly suggested that the 
 Tuileries must combine with "Washington for the 
 purpose of establishing in Mexico a form of gov- 
 ernment acceptable to the latter.^ 
 
 The writer of M. de Morny's obituary notice in 
 the "Revue des Deux Mondes"^ boldly asked 
 whether the duke, who was always fortunate, and 
 to whom success had become a habit, had not died 
 opportunely. He left the question for the future 
 to decide. The answer was not long delayed.* 
 
 The inauguration of the Mexican empire had 
 been officially announced to the chambers by the 
 government in the following terms : " The results 
 obtained in 1862 and 1863 by our Corps Expedi- 
 tionnaire in Mexico have, in 1864, received a solemn 
 consecration under the protection of the flag of 
 France. A regular government has been founded 
 in that country, heretofore for more than fifty 
 years delivered up to anarchy and intestine dis- 
 sensions. In the beginning of the month of June 
 the Emperor Maximilian took possession of the 
 throne, and, sustained by our army, he inaugurated 
 in all security an era of peace and prosperity for 
 his new country." 
 
 1 See "Eevue des Deux govemment in tke Corps L6gis- 
 Mondes," 1865, vol. Iviiij p. 776; latif, stiU afttrmed that "Prance 
 also vol. Ivii, pp. 768, 1018. would continue to protect Mexico 
 
 2 IMd., 1865, vol. Ivi, p. 501. until the full consolidation of its 
 ' Ajid yet M. Eouher, in April, undertaking" (iJ)id., vol. Ivi, p. 
 
 1865, speaking for the French 1065). 
 
 162 
 
A Cloud 
 
 Jules Favre pertinently asked : " Since Maximil- 
 ian is established ; since Maximilian is the Messiah 
 announced in all time past ; since he is really the 
 man both for the Indians and the Spaniards, who 
 receive him with acclamation ; since he meets on 
 his passage only with bouquets from the senoritas 
 —let our soldiers return. What have they to do in 
 Mexico ? They are not needed, and can only be an 
 obstacle in the way of that entire unanimity of 
 feeling that exists between the prince and the na- 
 tion." He stated that rumors were reaching France 
 of fierce battles, of martial law, of prisoners of war 
 shot, of villages burned, holding up as an example 
 San Sebastian, in Sinaloa, a town of four thousand 
 souls, which had been entirely burned and destroyed 
 by General Castagny during his campaign against 
 Eomero and in the name of Emperor Maximilian,i 
 and then he proceeded to show the ghastly farce 
 that had been enacted behind these words, in the 
 light cast upon it by the blaze of the ill-fated town : 
 
 " Why this discrepancy between the official state- 
 ments as to the pacification of Mexico, the unani- 
 mous consent to Maximilian's elevation to the 
 throne, and the facts, i.e., the country under mar- 
 tial law, and the French army, marching, torch in 
 hand, protecting one party and punishing the other 
 by the wholesale destruction of life and property? 
 Why did such contradiction exist between the 
 
 1 "Mexicans Hhaveoomein the erty, and to deliver you from the 
 name of the Emperor Maximilian malefaotorswhooppressyou under 
 into the state of Sinaloa, to estab- the mask of liberty," said Greneral 
 lish peace therein, to protect prop- Castagny in his proclamation. 
 
 163 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 official statements as to universal suffrage, the free- 
 dom of the press, the unanimity of sentiment in 
 Mexico, and the fact that journalists were being 
 brought, in the name of the Emperor, before a 
 council of war and condemned to various penalties 
 for having expressed their criticism of such whole- 
 sale executions ? " 
 
 He resumed by calling attention to the renewed 
 postponement of the ministry's promises with re- 
 gard to the withdrawal of the army, and to its 
 broken pledge that it would retire when Maxi- 
 milian's throne was established and a proper im- 
 petus had been given to the work of regeneration. 
 For the accomplishment of these ends, said the 
 orator, a sacrifice of forty thousand men and a 
 yearly expenditure of four or five millions would be 
 needed for ten years to come. 
 
 In words which now sound prophetic he elo- 
 quently referred to Napoleon I and to his Spanish 
 campaign, likewise undertaken under the pretense 
 of regenerating a nation. " The mighty man who 
 had conceived such projects," he cried, " all know 
 where they led him. On April 14, 1814, the sentence 
 of deposition thus expressed the motives of the 
 Senate for deposing him: 'Whereas, Napoleon 
 Bonaparte has undertaken a series of wars in vio- 
 lation of Article L of the Constitution of the 22d 
 Frimaire, year 8, which provides that declarations of 
 war must be proposed, discussed, and promulgated 
 like laws; Whereas, The liberty of the press, es- 
 tablished and consecrated as one of the rights of 
 nations, has been constantly subject to the arbitrary 
 
 164 
 
A Cloud 
 
 censorsMp of the police,' " etc., and as he closed his 
 argument he said : 
 
 " After a thorough study of all the facts in the 
 case, political, military, and financial, it is impossi- 
 ble for any one seriously to believe that the govern- 
 ment of Maximilian can exist without our army. 
 With our army, I acknowledge it, his throne 
 would rest upon an agreement, it would last as 
 long as our assistance should be extended to it, 
 but if you withdraw this assistance it is evident 
 that it will be overthrown. If, therefore, you wish 
 to establish it firmly, our army must remain in 
 Mexico: the Chamber should understand this 
 thoroughly." 
 
 Only thirteen members of the Chamber voted 
 against the appropriation for the maintenance of 
 the Corps Expeditionnaire ; but it has been pointed 
 out, and it is only fair to believe, that many voted 
 for it who, as Frenchmen, felt that the government, 
 blameworthy as it might be, should not be com- 
 pelled suddenly to abandon an adventure in which 
 the honor of France was involved. French pa- 
 tience, however, was fast nearing its limit, and 
 when, in 1864, Maximilian accepted the crown, he 
 must have realized that French support could not 
 be indefinitely counted upon. 
 
 The millions raised through the Mexican loans 
 had been carelessly administered and lavishly spent. 
 What with the expenses of the court, extensive 
 alterations in the imperial residences, especially in 
 Chapultepec, and the outlay incidental to the pa- 
 geants and ovations of the Emperor's journeys in 
 
 165 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the provinces, the relief brought by the loans had 
 been brief. 
 
 Confidence was waning. The incapacity of Maxi- 
 milian was becoming generally recognized, and the 
 difficulties inherent in the situation were every- 
 where growing clearer. 
 
 Maximilian had alienated Rome, whose censure 
 he had drawn upon himself by his effort to concili- 
 ate the moderate party. He had aroused the re- 
 sentment of the priests and brought upon himself 
 the remonstrances of the bishops, and had set aside, 
 or sent to foreign posts, the leaders of the party to 
 whom he owed his crown. Yet he had not succeeded 
 in winning over from the Liberal party any very 
 important adhesions to his government. 
 
 Cardinal Antonelli, in a letter dated December 27, 
 1864, after setting" forth the grievances of the holy 
 see, stated that the Holy Father hoped that Maxi- 
 milian in abandoning the course marked out in his 
 letter to the minister, Senor Escudero, would "spare 
 the holy see the necessity of taking proper mea- 
 sures to set right in the eyes of the world the re- 
 sponsibility of the august chief of the chui'ch— 
 measures of which the least, certainly, would not 
 be the recall of the pontifical representative in 
 Mexico, in order that he may not remain there a 
 powerless spectator of the spoliation of the church 
 and of the violation of its most sacred rights."' 
 
 It is difficult to understand why Maximilian had 
 not negotiated the terms of a concordat with the 
 holy see when he went to Eome to receive the 
 
 1 "Diplomatic Correspondence," 1865, Part EH, p. 623. 
 166 
 
A Cloud 
 
 Pope's blessing before leaving Europe for his new 
 dominions. The adjustment of existing diflferences 
 between church and state formed the most urgent 
 as well as the most vital issue to be met by the 
 young Emperor, as upon the settlement of the vexed 
 question of ownership in clergy property must 
 depend the restoration of business confidence and 
 of prosperity in the empire. The pretensions ad- 
 vanced by the papal nuncio sent by the Vatican to 
 arrange for a concordat now proved so exorbitant 
 that Maximilian had been compelled to decline to 
 consider them, and he and the holy see had failed 
 to come to terms. The final and official rupture 
 with Monsignor Meglia took place in December, 
 1864. It was made public in a decree issued by 
 Maximilian which proclaimed that papal bulls 
 should not receive exequatur until approved by 
 the chief executive. 
 
 The fact was that the party through which the 
 French and Maximilian had been called to Mexico 
 was the unpopular retroactive party ; that, in order 
 to exist, Maximilian had been obliged to recognize 
 the measures enacted against his own partizans by 
 the national party ; that in so doing he had disap- 
 pointed the priests ; that in setting aside the lead- 
 ers of the clerical party he had estranged his 
 strongest adherents; and all this without making 
 any serious headway with his antagonists, who 
 would have no emperor, no monarchy, no for- 
 eigner. 
 
 The success of the intervention was now clearly 
 seen to depend upon a war systematically con- 
 
 167 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ducted against an enemy that represented a na- 
 tional sentiment. 
 
 On January 23, 1865, the governments of Chili, 
 Bolivia, Salvador, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela 
 formed a defensive alliance against exterior aggres- 
 sion and for the guaranty of their respective au- 
 tonomy. The treaty was signed in Lima by the 
 representatives of the nations interested. 
 
 But a far more serious danger was threatening 
 the empire in the North. On April 9, 1865, Gren- 
 eral Lee surrendered to the Federal army. The 
 Civil War in the United States was at an end, and 
 the French were beginning to understand that the 
 Northern republic, whose unbroken unity stood 
 strengthened, could no longer remain a passive 
 spectator of the struggle taking place at its frontier. 
 
 The scene of military interest suddenly shifted to 
 the Rio Grrande, and the incidents happening on the 
 border deserved more attention than Maximilian 
 seemed at first inclined to bestow. 
 
 The interests of the national party were repre- 
 sented in Washington by Senor Romero, who, with 
 consummate tact and ability, made the most of 
 every opportunity. The service rendered by him 
 to the cause of republicanism and of Mexican in- 
 dependence was second to none in importance. No 
 detail seemed too trifling to be turned to account 
 in his effort to strengthen the Mexican cause with 
 our government. 
 
 A rumor reached us that President Juarez had 
 succeeded in raising a loan in the United States. 
 The ranks of the Liberal army were receiving im- 
 
 168 
 
A Cloud 
 
 portant reinforcements from the officers and men 
 of General Banks's command, who passed the bor- 
 der in large numbers to take part in the attack of 
 General Cortinas at Matamoros. Already, in Janu- 
 ary, 1865, the impulse given to the Republican party 
 in the North vibrated throughout the land. Soon 
 resistance everywhere appeared in arms once more. 
 Both General Mejla and Admiral Clone, then in 
 command of the French Gulf Squadron, complained 
 that the United States army afforded protection to 
 the Juarists. 
 
 Recruiting-offices had been opened in New York, 
 which, although not countenanced by the govern- 
 ment, must have furnished valuable auxiliaries to 
 the Liberals. Alarming rumors reached France and 
 Mexico with regard to the extent of the movement. 
 
 On the other hand, the negotiations then being 
 carried on between Napoleon and Maximilian, with 
 a view to securing the Mexican debt to France by 
 a lien upon the mines of Sonora, were causing un- 
 easiness in the United States, and gave rise to con- 
 siderable diplomatic correspondence.^ 
 
 It required no wizard to foretell the issue. After 
 the surrender of General Lee, a Confederate army- 
 corps, twenty-five thousand strong, acting through 
 General Slaughter, had opened negotiations with 
 Marshal Bazaine, with a view to passing the border 
 and settling in northern Mexico, provided suitable 
 terms were granted by the Mexican government to 
 
 1 See, in tHs connection, " Dip- letter of Secretary Seward ad- 
 lomatio Correspondence," 1865, dressed to Mr. Bigelow, Febru- 
 Part in, pp. 357-363, 417, and ary 17, 1865. 
 
 169 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the new colonists. It was then becoming clear to 
 many that the half-way policy hitherto followed 
 had led to nothing, and must result in a useless 
 sacrifice of life and millions unless a larger force 
 were maintained by the French in Mexico, or some 
 barrier set up against the naturally dominant posi- 
 tion taken by the United States with regard to 
 Mexican affairs. 
 
 In June, 1865, Generals Kirby Smith, Magruder, 
 Shelby, Slaughter, Walker, A. W. Terrell of Texas, 
 Governor Price of Missouri, General Wilcox of 
 Tennessee, Commodore Maury of Virginia, General 
 Hindman of Arkansas, Governor Eeynolds of Geor- 
 gia, Judge Perkins, Colonel Denis, and Mr. Pierre 
 Soule of Louisiana, Major Mordecai of North Caro- 
 lina, and others, had come to Mexico. With them 
 had passed over the frontier horses, artillery, every- 
 thing that could be transported, including large 
 and small bands of Confederate soldiers, and some 
 two thousand citizens who left the United States 
 with the intention of colonizing Sonora. 
 
 Confederate officers now flocked to Mexico with 
 a view to making new homes for themselves. Many 
 of them were interested in special schemes by which 
 the agricultural wealth of the land might be made 
 to yield its treasure to the ruined but experienced 
 Southern planters. 
 
 My mother being a Southern woman, and know- 
 ing some of their leaders, our house soon became 
 a center where they gathered in the evening and 
 freely discussed their hopes. Thus was added a 
 new element to the already motley assemblage 
 
 170 
 
A Cloud 
 
 wMeh collected about us at that time. Truly a 
 most heterogeneous set ! Confederate ofl&eers, 
 members of the diplomatic corps, newly fledged 
 chamberlains and officials of the palace, the mar- 
 shal's officers, — Frenchmen, Austrians, Belgians, 
 and a few Mexicans,— would drop in, each group 
 bringing its own interests, and, alas ! its animosi- 
 ties. 
 
 Laws against foreigners having been passed, no 
 property could henceforth be held by them unless 
 they became naturalized. Some of the Confeder- 
 ate refugees therefore became Mexican citizens, 
 and took service under the Mexican government. 
 Governor Price, for instance, received authoriza- 
 tion to recruit the imperial army in the Confeder- 
 acy. He and Governor Harris of Tennessee and 
 Judge Perkins of Louisiana were appointed agents 
 of colonization, and immediately set to work upon 
 the survey of the region lying between Mexico and 
 Vera Cruz, with a view to furthering this purpose. 
 General Magruder, the ex-commander-in-chief of 
 the Confederate forces in Texas, having also be- 
 come naturalized, was placed in charge of the sur- 
 vey of the lands set aside for colonization as chief 
 of the Colonization Land Office. The government 
 sold such land to colonists for the nominal consid- 
 eration of one doUar an acre, and allowed every 
 head of a family to purchase six hundred and forty 
 acres upon a credit of five years. A single man 
 was allowed three hundred and twenty acres. 
 
 Not only the government, but large landowners, 
 proposed such free grants, and offered every in- 
 
 173 
 
Maximilicm in Mexico 
 
 ducement to settlers, if they ■would come and de- 
 velop the agricultural resources of the country. 
 The first Confederate settlement was established 
 near Cordoba in the autumn of 1865. 
 
 Commodore Maury, now a naturalized Mexican 
 citizen, had in September been appointed impe- 
 rial commissioner of immigration and councilor of 
 state. He opened an office in the Calle San Juan 
 deLateran, and was authorized to establish agencies 
 in the Southern States.^ But the indecision and 
 weakness of Maximilian prevented his taking fuU 
 advantage of the opportunity then offered to 
 strengthen the empire. The delay caused by a 
 vacillating policy discouraged the would-be colo- 
 nists, and before long the flood of immigration was 
 checked. 
 
 General Charles P. Stone had come to Mexico 
 with a colonization scheme of his own. He had, in 
 1859, made a survey of Sonora under the Jecker 
 contract. He now was on his way to look after 
 some of the Jecker claims when accident threw 
 him on board of the steamer with Dr. William M. 
 Grwin, ex-senator for California. The two men at 
 once came to an understanding and joined forces. 
 
 In 1856 (December 19), two years after the fili- 
 bustering expedition of Count Raousset de Boul- 
 bon, the house of Jecker had obtained from the 
 Mexican government the right to survey the terri- 
 tories of Sonora and southern California. The 
 conditions were that one third of the unclaimed 
 
 See decrees signed by Maxi- interior, D. Luis Eobles Pezuela, 
 milian and the minister of the on September 24 and 27. 
 
 174 
 
A Cloud 
 
 land should become the property of the house of 
 Jecker. 
 
 In 1859 the Liberal government had rescinded 
 the grant, and this had added one more grievance 
 to those which the Swiss banker had brought up 
 against the administration of Juarez. No sooner 
 had Sonora sent in its adhesion to the empire than 
 Jecker proposed to the French government to make 
 over his rights against a payment of two million 
 dollars. 
 
 The plan was then to colonize Sonora and Lower 
 California, establishing, on behalf of France, a right 
 to exploit the mines. The climate was healthful, 
 the land rich, the adventure tempting ; but it had 
 the great drawback of running foul of the most 
 acute Mexican susceptibilities. Not only did such 
 pretensions at that time excite the suspicions of 
 the Mexicans with regard to the disinterestedness 
 of the French alliance, but they were calculated to 
 give umbrage to the United States government. 
 
 As early as 1863, Napoleon III had discussed 
 the possibility of establishing in Sonora ^ a colony 
 which should develop the mining and agricultural 
 wealth of the state. In exchange for a grant of 
 unclaimed national lands, these colonists were to 
 pay a percentage of their proceeds to France, as 
 well as a tax to the Mexican government. 
 
 A colony of armed Confederates, inimical to the 
 Federal government of the United States, estab- 
 lished between its dominions and the heart of the 
 
 1 Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa eventually were also included 
 in the scheme. 
 
 175 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Mexican empire, and backed by France, Austria, 
 and Belgium, must form a formidable bulwark in 
 case of trouble between Mexico and its Northern 
 neigbbor. There is small doubt that some such 
 plan had formed a part of the original " deal " pro- 
 posed by Jecker to the French leaders. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 unauthorized attempts had 
 been made by Californian immigrants to land at 
 Gruaymas and settle upon certain, lands granted 
 them by President Juarez. The marshal had sent 
 French troops to protect the province from such 
 inroads, treating these intruders as squatters. This 
 had furnished a reason for the military occupation 
 of Sonora; thus was the first step taken in the 
 realization of the project. 
 
 Such was, in rough outline, the position of the 
 Sonora colonization question when Dr. Gwin en- 
 tered upon the scene. Upon his arrival in Mexico, 
 he applied at headquarters for an audience. The 
 marshal, although in full sympathy with the pro- 
 ject, realized the danger of its open discussion at 
 that time. Maximilian and his advisers were op- 
 posed to it. Much tact and secrecy seemed, there- 
 fore, necessary in the conduct of negotiations having 
 for their object the furtherance of so unpopular a 
 scheme. Dr. Grwin was too conspicuous a figure to 
 pass unnoticed the portals of the French head- 
 quarters. An informal interview was therefore 
 arranged. 
 
 "We then lived at Tacubaya, a suburb of Mexico 
 reached by the Paseo, where the marshal rode every 
 day for exercise. Our house was built at the foot 
 
 176 
 
A Cloud 
 
 of a long hill, at the top of which stood a large old 
 mansion, the yellow coloring of which had won for 
 it the name of the Casa Amarilla. It had been 
 rented by Colonel Talcott of Virginia, who lived 
 there with his family. Dr. Grwin was their guest ; 
 and it was arranged that the marshal, when taking 
 his usual afternoon ride with his aide-de-camp, 
 should caU upon us one day, and leaving the horses 
 in our patio with his orderlies, should join us in a 
 walk up the hill, casually dropping in en passant at 
 the Casa AmariHa. 
 
 The plan had the double advantage of being a 
 simple one and of providing the marshal, who did 
 not speak English, with suitable interpreters. The 
 interview was a long one. The marshal listened to 
 what the American had to say. Indeed, there was 
 little to be said on his own side, as the Mexican 
 ministry was absolutely opposed to the project, and 
 any change of policy must depend upon a change 
 in the imperial cabinet. 
 
 His Excellency, however, seemed in high good 
 humor. As we came out, he merrily challenged 
 us to run downhill, much to the astonishment of 
 the few leperos whom we happened to meet. The 
 Mexican Indian is a sober, rather somber creature, 
 not given to levity; his amusements are of a dig- 
 nified, almost sad nature. He may be sentimental, 
 bigoted, vicious, cruel, but he is never vulgar, and 
 is seldom foolish. Indeed, well might they stare 
 at us then, for it was no common sight in the lanes 
 of Tacubaya to see a commander-in-chief tearing 
 downhill, amid peals of laughter, with a party of 
 10 177 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 young people, in utter disregard of age, corpulence, 
 and cumbersome military accoutrements ! 
 
 The personality of Dr. Grwin was a strong one, 
 A taU, broad, squarely buUt man, witb rough fea- 
 tures which seemed hewn out of a block with an 
 ax, ruddy skin, and a wealth of white hair brushed 
 back from his brow, all combined to make him by 
 far the most striking figure among the group of 
 Southern leaders then assembled in Mexico. 
 
 His own faith in the almightiness of his will in- 
 fluenced others, and in this case brought him very 
 near to success. He talked willingly and fluently 
 of his plans. Notwithstanding the decided oppo- 
 sition met with on the part of the Mexican govern- 
 ment, he then confidently expected to be installed 
 in the new colony by the opening of the year, and 
 invited his friends to eat theu' Christmas dinner 
 with him there. He was generous in sharing his 
 prospects with them. We all were to be taken in 
 and made wealthy: every dollar invested was to 
 return thousands ; every thousand, millions ! 
 
 It was entertaining to hear him narrate his in- 
 terviews at the Tuileries with Napoleon III and the 
 other great men of the day. His tone was that of 
 a potentate treating with Ms peers. He spoke of 
 " my policy," " my colony," " my army," etc. 
 
 In 1865 Dr. Grwin again went to France to confer 
 with its ruler. Upon his return to Mexico, he was 
 regarded as the unofficial agent of the French gov- 
 ernment. The Emperor had promised him every 
 facility and assistance. All that was now needed 
 to make his dreams a brilliant reality was the sig- 
 
 178 
 
A Cloud 
 
 nature of Maximilian. He was full of glowing 
 anticipations. But Maximilian, who at the time was 
 none too friendly to his allies, stood flrm.^ However 
 much the French might urge it, the national feel- 
 ing was already strongly arrayed against any plan 
 involving the possible alienation of any part of 
 the Mexican territory. Moreover, it was becoming 
 obvious, from the various complications occurring 
 upon the Eio Grande, that the befriending of the 
 Confederate refugees must henceforth seriously 
 add to the difficulty of obtaining the recognition of 
 the Mexican empire by the United States— an end 
 which Maximilian had greatly at heart, and one 
 which, strangely enough, he never lost the hope of 
 accomplishing, so little did he, even after two years' 
 residence in Mexico, understand American condi- 
 tions. 
 
 On June 26, 1865, Marshal Bazaine was married 
 to Mile, de la Pena. The Emperor and Empress 
 expressed a wish that the ceremony and wedding 
 breakfast should take place at the imperial palace. 
 No effort was spared by them to make the occasion 
 a memorable one: Empress Charlotte bestowed 
 upon the bride a set of diamonds; the Emperor 
 gave her as a dowry the palace of San Cosme, a 
 noble residence, valued at one hundred thousand 
 
 1 Later lie laid stress upon his the disposal of Sonera, and his 
 
 attitude ■with regard to this. In loyal effort to maintain the integ- 
 
 the memorandum written by him rity of the Mexican territory, and 
 
 for the use of his lawyers at his declared that this drew upon him 
 
 trial in vindication of his conduct, the hostility of the French. See S. 
 
 he urged as a claim to Mexican Basoh, " Erinnerungen aus Mex- 
 
 leniency his firm resistance to ico." (This interesting document 
 
 French pretensions concerning is not given in the French edition.) 
 
 179 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 dollars, where the French had established their 
 headquarters since the beginning of the interven- 
 tion. Every one was in good humor, many polite 
 assurances of appreciation and good wiU were ex- 
 changed on both sides, and for a while it seemed 
 as though harmony might be restored among the 
 leaders. But this pleasant state of affairs was of 
 short duration. The difficulties inherent in the 
 situation were too conspicuous, and the causes of 
 ill feeling were too deeply laid, to be overcome 
 by other than superior men. Notwithstanding a 
 superficial improvement in Mexican conditions, it 
 was becoming patent in the summer of 1865 that 
 nothing short of a miracle could save aU concerned 
 from disaster and humiliation. 
 
 In those days, our social circle varied from year 
 to year according to the political and military con- 
 ditions of the hour. Occasionally the arrival of 
 some distinguished newcomer on a special mission 
 from abroad would create a stir among us. 
 
 The advent, toward the close of the year 1865, 
 of M. Langlais, the fifth financier sent by Napo- 
 leon III to organize the finances of the empire, 
 caused considerable excitement and aroused the 
 hopes of the court. His appointment to succeed 
 M. de Bonnefons had been heralded by the French 
 official papers with much pomposity. 
 
 He came ostensibly to act as minister of finance 
 (without a portfolio), at an enormous salary, and 
 was supposed, by those who sent him, to take the 
 full direction of Mexican financial affairs. 
 
 He was a councilor of state, and was possessed 
 
 180 
 
A Cloud 
 
 of large experience of French politics. A minis- 
 terial official, methodical, precise, fresh from the 
 well-appointed offices of the French government, he 
 arrived'at Vera Cruz just as a guerrilla band, after 
 taking up the rails of the only railway then laid 
 upon Mexican soil, had attacked a train and mas- 
 sacred its escort of French soldiers. 
 
 The poor man's stereotyped ideas of existence 
 were considerably shaken up by the occurrence; 
 but he was a firm believer in his own capacity, and 
 was disposed to attribute the failures of his prede- 
 cessors to their inferiority to himself. He won the 
 confidence and personal regard of the young sov- 
 ereigns, and unhesitatingly undertook to raise the 
 public revenue, then of eighty-four millions of dol- 
 lars, to one hundred and twenty millions. How far 
 he might have gone toward fulfilling his promise 
 it is impossible to teU, for he died suddenly on Feb- 
 ruary 23, 1866.1 
 
 His death was a blow to the court, where he stood 
 in high favor. The Empress Charlotte especially is 
 said to have detected in it the finger of a fate ad- 
 verse to the empire. This calamity was soon followed 
 by another, weU calculated to cast the gloom of a 
 dark shadow across the path of the young princess. 
 
 Her father. King Leopold I, had died December 
 10, 1865. Upon his accession to the throne, her 
 brother. King Leopold II, sent a special embassy to 
 the court of Mexico to make an official announce- 
 
 1 M. Langlais is stated to have honorably ; but the favor in which 
 said that he was working to give he was held at court makes such 
 MaximiUan the chance to abdicate a statement doubtf ill. 
 
 181 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ment of his reign. The ambassador, Greneral 
 Foury, arrived with his suite on February 14, 
 1866, and, having fulfilled his mission, departed on 
 March 4. During their brief visit to the capital, 
 the Belgian envoys had been freely entertained by 
 society. It was, therefore, with a thrill of horror 
 that, on the day following their departure, the news 
 came that their party had been attacked and fired 
 upon by highwaymen at Eio Frio, a few leagues 
 from the capital, and that Baron d'Huart, officier 
 (Pordonnance of the Count of Flanders, had been 
 shot in the head and killed. Four other members 
 of the embassy were wounded. Consternation 
 reigned at court. The Emperor went to Eio Frio 
 to see personally to the comfort of the wounded 
 and to bring back the body of Baron d'Huart, whose 
 solemn obsequies were conducted in the most im- 
 pressive manner. 
 
 The news of this tragedy, when it reached Europe, 
 must have cast a fiash of lurid light upon the true 
 condition of the Mexican empire. 
 
 During the winter of 1866 Napoleon III sent 
 Baron SaiUard upon a special mission to prepare 
 Maximilian for the gradual withdrawal of the 
 French army, and to intimate to him that he must 
 not depend upon a continuance of present condi- 
 tions. The envoy, however, failed to make upon 
 the prince the impression which it was intended 
 that he should make. Maximilian received him 
 only twice, and rather resented his warnings. His 
 visit only added to the coldness of the young Em- 
 peror's relations with the French. 
 
 182 
 
DR. WILLIAM JI. UWIN. 
 
A Cloud 
 
 Shortly afterward General Almonte was sent to 
 France on a mission, the object of which was to 
 influence Napoleon to continue his support. The 
 only result of his errand was a communication ad- 
 dressed to Maximilian, dated May 31, 1866. In this 
 Napoleon stated the situation with a frankness the 
 brutality of which aroused the indignation of the 
 court of Mexico. An onerous agreement was never- 
 theless arrived at, to which necessity compelled 
 Maximilian to subscribe (July 30). By this agree- 
 ment, haK of the revenue derived from the customs 
 of Tampico and Vera Cruz was to be assigned to the 
 French in payment of the debt until the entire out- 
 lay made on behalf of the Mexican empire had been 
 repaid. The French, in return, promised to con- 
 tinue their support until November 1, 1867, and to 
 withdraw their army in three detachments, the last 
 of which would embark on that date. The imperial 
 government was thereby deprived of half of its reli- 
 able revenue at a time when, in order to maintain 
 its existence under the present stress, large addi- 
 tional resources should have been at its command.^ 
 
 The years 1865 and 1866 had been spent in ad- 
 ministrative experiments. At first French offi- 
 cers detached from the service were placed in the 
 various departments of the government as under- 
 secretaries, in the hope of bringing about an hon- 
 est and efficient organization without giving undue 
 umbrage to the Mexicans, Members of the mar- 
 shal's own household served thus in the War De- 
 partment and in the Emperor's military office. 
 
 1 See Appendix B. 
 185 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 But the efforts of the French to introduce regu- 
 larity into the various offices of the administration 
 were so hampered that, even had the task been an 
 easy one, it is not likely that much could have been 
 accomplished. They had everything against them, 
 even their allies and the monarch whom they 
 wished to serve. 
 
 When, however, in 1866, the situation was found 
 to be desperate, the Emperor, seriously alarmed, 
 became more earnest and called the French to the 
 rescue. Colonel Loysel was made chief of the mili- 
 tary office of the Emperor, and the full control of 
 the departments of War and of Finance was given 
 respectively to Colonel Osmont, the chief of staff 
 of the Corps Expeditionnaire, and to M. Friant, 
 the chief of its commissariat. 
 
 But at this time there was not a dollar in the 
 treasury; the sources of imperial revenue were 
 daily diminishing ; and the expenses of the govern- 
 ment were now paid by the marshal out of the 
 French treasury, under his own responsibility. 
 The hour had been allowed to go by when organi- 
 zation was possible. 
 
 The marshal felt— and this feeling was shared 
 by others— that neither Colonel Osmont nor M. 
 Friant should have accepted a position of trust 
 impossible to fill with credit at a time when France 
 had resolved to withdraw its support from Maxi- 
 milian. Their action was attributed to personal 
 motives. The marshal declined to cooperate with 
 or to help them, and they became an additional 
 source of trouble. Later on, when, the Liberal 
 
 186 
 
A Cloud 
 
 cabinet haviBg withdrawn, Maximilian once more 
 turned to the reactionary party and called to power 
 the clericals, he retained the above-mentioned 
 Frenchmen in their departments. This affecta- 
 tion of confidence only added to the general ill 
 feeling. 
 
 Under the conditions of open hostility then ex- 
 isting between the French and Mexican govern- 
 ments the interests of each were too wide apart for 
 such a connection to continue without danger. A 
 request from the commander-in-chief to M]\i. Osmont 
 and Friant that they choose between their present 
 ministerial functions and their respective positions 
 in the Corps Expeditionnaire gave rise to a corre- 
 spondence between the marshal and the Emperor, 
 in the course of which the aggressive insistence of 
 the latter compelled the former to refer the matter 
 to the home government. 
 
 M. Drouyn de Lhuys upheld the marshal. And 
 well it was that he did, for just then Mr. Seward, in 
 a diplomatic note to M. de Montholon, under date 
 of August 16, 1866,^ peremptorily called his atten- 
 tion to the fact that the presence of the two French 
 officers in the imperial cabinet was calculated to 
 interfere with the good relations existing between 
 France and the United States. 
 
 As a result of this communication, the marshal 
 was censured by his government for not having at 
 once prevented the above-mentioned officers from 
 accepting their respective portfolios. The irrita- 
 tion on all sides was painfully visible. 
 
 1 "Diplomatic Correspondence," 1866, Part I, p. 381 et seq. 
 187 
 
II 
 
 LA DEBlCLE 
 
 MATAMOEOS had faUen in July, 1866. Now, 
 while preparing for the difacnlt task of with- 
 drawing his troops in the presence of an advancing 
 army, the marshal sought not only to obey the in- 
 structions of the home government, but to serve the 
 empire by concentrating its defense within possible 
 limits and by placing between it and the northern 
 frontier a natural barrier of wilderness in which 
 "neither friend nor foe could easily subsist." ^ 
 
 The movement was not only planned in order to 
 facilitate the country's defense against the Liberal 
 forces, but also to guard against any possible 
 aggression on the part of its formidable Northern 
 neighbor after the withdrawal of the French army. 
 This eminently prudent strategy was, however, 
 irritating to Maximilian, who complained of it in 
 the bitterest terms. 
 
 Article I of the preamble of the treaty of Mira- 
 mar, signed in April, 1864, provided that" the French 
 troops actually in Mexico shall, as soon as possible, 
 be reduced to a corps of twenty-five thousand 
 
 1 Letter of Bazaine to Maximilian, Peotillos, August 12, 1866. 
 
 188 
 
La Bebdcle 
 
 men, including the foreign legion." This corps was 
 temporarily to remain in order to protect the inter- 
 ests in which the French intervention had been 
 undertaken, but under the following conditions : 
 
 Article II. The French troops shall gradually evacu- 
 ate Mexico as H. M. the Emperor of Mexico shall be 
 able to organize the troops necessary to take their place. 
 
 Article III. The foreign legion in the service of 
 France, composed of eight thousand men, shall, however, 
 remain for six years in Mexico after all other French 
 forces shall have been recalled under Article II. From 
 that date said legion shall pass into the service and pay 
 of the Mexican government, the Mexican government re- 
 serving unto itself the right to shorten the duration of 
 the employment in Mexico of the foreign legion. 
 
 Permission had been granted to French officers 
 to take service in this legion. Eecruits were also 
 expected from Europe, and twelve hundred Aus- 
 trians, on the eve of embarking at St. Nazaire, were 
 stopped only by the peremptory interference of 
 the United States.^ Various army-corps had been 
 formed, officered by foreigners, among whom were 
 some good French and Austrian officers. Much 
 interest had at first been shown in the scheme ; and 
 the new army, its recruits, its uniforms and equip- 
 ment, furnished society with a fruitful theme for 
 conversation. For a time it had seemed as though 
 it might be possible to so strengthen the empire as 
 to enable it to stand without French official assis- 
 
 1 See "Diplomatic Correspondence," May, 1866, Part I, 
 p. 305 et seq. 
 
 189 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 tance. In 1866, however, Napoleon formally in- 
 structed the marshal to advance no more funds and 
 to pay only the auxiliary troops. The Mexican 
 army might dissolve. The French, on withdraw- 
 ing, would leave the Austro-Belgian corps and the 
 foreign legion,— i. e., some fifteen thousand men,— 
 upon which the empire must depend. Under the 
 new arrangement the Austro-Belgian soldiers were 
 to receive the same pay as the French, — that is, 
 about one half the amount formerly paid them, — 
 and were once more placed under French control.-'^ 
 
 Dissatisfaction prevailed, and the very worst 
 spirit was manifested on all sides. After continued 
 iU feeling, in August, 1866, Comte de Thun sent 
 in his resignation and returned to Europe, leaving 
 Colonel Kodolitch in command. 
 
 The Belgian corps mutinied, and the ringleaders 
 having been discharged, the disbanded men were 
 incorporated into new mixed regiments.^ 
 
 Meantime the Liberals were everywhere assum- 
 ing an aggressive attitude. Guadalajara had fallen 
 into the hands of General Uraga. 
 
 About this time an important convoy from Mata- 
 
 1 Maximilian's proclamation to proper accounts being submitted, 
 the auxiliary troops that they To this, of course, they could not 
 should henceforth form one and consent ; and it was whispered 
 the same division " with their that the affair resulted in the ex- 
 companions in arms " was dated posure of peculations on the part 
 May 19, 1866. of certain individuals, whose resig- 
 
 2 Order given through General nation from the service General 
 Neigi-e, July 8, 1866. The ad- de Thun forthwith required. The 
 justment with the Austrians was better element of the Austrian 
 no easier. An effort was made to army felt deeply humiliated by 
 induce the French to advance the the incident, and it led to undis- 
 pay for the auxiliary corps without guised bitterness on all sides. 
 
 190 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 inoros, under the escort of Colonel Olvera's Mexican 
 force, sixteen hundred strong, and of an Austrian 
 regiment, was attacked by Liberal forces. The offi- 
 cer in charge of the Austrian forces was then in 
 the capital. The escort was overwhelmed, routed, 
 and almost annihilated, and the convoy fell into the 
 hands of the enemy. The Austrian officer had to 
 bear the most severe and unsparing criticism from 
 the French. The night after the news of the dis- 
 aster had reached the capital he appeared at an 
 evening gathering at the house of Countess de 
 
 N , the wife of an officer on the marshal's staff. 
 
 As he entered, a perceptible shock was felt; elec- 
 tricity was in the air ; many turned away from him, 
 and an officer remarked in audible tones, as I asked 
 the reason of the flutter : " O, ce n'est rien ; c'est 
 seulement le colonel, . . . qui aime mieux s'amuser 
 a Mexico que de se battre a Matamoros." It is 
 more than likely that the officer, a man of proved 
 courage, was fully justified by circumstances known 
 to himself and to his chiefs in having left his 
 post, but the spirit of antagonism then prevail- 
 ing would admit of no excuse. The ill feeling 
 existing between the Emperor and the marshal 
 was fast spreading in every direction, and inter- 
 fered even with the pleasure of social intercourse ; 
 and yet all this time the Emperor was writing to 
 the marshal notes the tone of which was generally 
 more than courteous, and signed himself "votre 
 tr^s affectionne." 
 
 The fall of Matamoros marked the beginning of 
 the end. 
 
 191 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Wliile reviewing the peripetia of an episode in 
 which, ignoble intrigue and treachery have so large 
 a share, it is restful for a moment to pause before 
 the modest figure of General Mejia, whose loyalty- 
 was unflinching to the bitter end. The brave 
 Indian had for many months faithfully defended 
 this important post. As true to his flag as Presi- 
 dent Juarez was to his, he himself had supplied the 
 needs of his army, holding his own and never 
 murmuring until, almost forgotten by his govern- 
 ment, he was allowed to fall. 
 
 In July, 1866, Tampico and Monterey were, like 
 Matamoros, lost to the Imperialists. The revenue, 
 derived from the port of Tampico thereby ceased 
 altogether, and went to strengthen the national 
 party. This event caused a painful shock. 
 
 To us in Mexico there was no concealing the fact 
 that the knell of the Mexican empire had struck. 
 Maximilian must faU. How? was the only ques- 
 tion. 
 
 When, in the course of the winter, the treasury 
 being empty, he had appealed to the French for 
 relief, he had threatened to resign the throne unless 
 they would advance to his administration the funds 
 necessary for its support. The marshal had then, 
 against the formal orders of his own government, 
 supplied the millions necessary to tide over succes- 
 sive crises as they presented themselves ; for it was 
 clear that unless funds were immediately forth- 
 coming the empire must collapse. 
 
 The French government, however, had censured 
 the marshal's conduct. His situation was fast be- 
 
 192 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 coming an impossible one, and in order to obtain 
 security for the French outlay he ordered the seiz- 
 ure of the custom-house of Vera Cruz. Maximilian 
 was furious, and a rumor spread that he "was seri- 
 ously considering his abdication. The Empress, 
 who strongly opposed his taking this step, sug- 
 gested going abroad herself to see what could be 
 done to save the crown. All confidence was at an 
 end between the young monarchs and the mar- 
 shal, whom they held responsible for Napoleon's 
 altered attitude. It seemed to them idle to trust to 
 written appeals the force of which must be coun- 
 teracted by his representations. A personal inter- 
 view might, however, accomplish much. The situa- 
 tion was reaching an acute crisis. Much bitter 
 recrimination had followed upon the disasters to 
 the imperial forces in the North. Nothing could 
 be worse than the animus on both sides. Alto- 
 gether, imperial Mexico had become a seething 
 caldron, in which the scum stood a fair chance of 
 rising to the top. 
 
 The imperial government, which during the first 
 years of its existence had shown so much jealousy 
 of its own authority, now suddenly changed its 
 policy and sought to throw the whole weight of its 
 responsibilities upon the French. In August, 1866, 
 Maximilian proposed to face the uprising of the re- 
 publicans throughout the empire, as well as to guard 
 against possible aggression on the part of the United 
 States troops then watching events across the Rio 
 Grande, by declaring a state of siege through- 
 out the empire and by placing the whole executive 
 
 193 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 power of eacli state in the hands of a French officer. 
 This he urged upon the marshal, who courteously 
 but firmly declined. It was impossible to tell where 
 such a course, if adopted, would lead the French. 
 It must necessarily carry with it serious conse- 
 quences, the most obvious of which was a probable 
 war with Mexico's Northern neighbor, and there is 
 little doubt that this possibility prompted the sug- 
 gestion. 
 
 Each side accused the other of duplicity with 
 regard to the United States. The ImperiaUsts 
 openly charged the French with delivering up the 
 empire to the repubhcans, while the French sus- 
 pected the existence of snares and intrigues set 
 afoot for the purpose of bringing about such com- 
 plications as might force the French to retain an 
 interest in Mexican affairs. Moreover, attempts, 
 not wholly unsuccessful, were made to sow discord 
 among the French themselves by taking advantage 
 of individual ambitions and of petty jealousies to 
 increase existing difficulties. 
 
 The relations between General Douay, then in 
 command of the second division, and the quartier- 
 general had never been cordial. On his way to 
 France, on leave of absence, he passed through the 
 city, and had an interview with Maximilian. This 
 gave rise to much gossip. It was said that G-eneral 
 Douay favored a policy totally different from that 
 lately pursued by France, and that he approved of 
 calling upon the French government for reinforce- 
 ments for the purpose of firmly maintaining the 
 empire ; that he and Maximilian had arranged to 
 
 194 
 
GENERAL MEjfA. 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 bring pressure to bear iipon the Emperor Napo- 
 leon not only to continue but to increase bis sup- 
 port, and that Maximilian wished to see General 
 Douay assume command of the French army in 
 the marshal's place. 
 
 All this came to nothing, but the relations of the 
 Emperor with the French headquarters were be- 
 coming more and more strained, and having begun 
 with political differences, the feud was assuming 
 almost a personal character. 
 
 Had Maximilian's grasp of the situation been 
 stronger, he must have seen that by firmly taking 
 his stand upon his original agreement with France, 
 by refusing to consider the onerous terms substi- 
 tuted for those of the treaty of Miramar by Napo- 
 leon in his communication of May 31, 1866, and by 
 making then and there a public renunciation of his 
 throne, based upon the non-fulfllment of the terms 
 of the convention, he must throw the full respon- 
 sibility of the denouement upon the Emperor of 
 the French.^ 
 
 He had then his one chance to retire with dignity 
 and honor from the lamentable situation into which 
 his youthful ambition and inexperience had led him, 
 at the same time revenging himself upon his dis- 
 loyal ally by exposing to the full light of day, and 
 before the whole world, the wretched conditions 
 under which the empire had been erected. 
 
 1 M. Eoiiier (July 10, 1866) owing to the inability of the Mex- 
 announeed to the Chamber of ican government to observe the 
 Deputies that the government had conditions of the treaty of Mira- 
 reluctantly determined upon the mar. SeeDomenech, "Histoire," 
 evacuation of Mexico bythearmy, etc., vol. iii., p. 349. 
 
 11 197 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 By compromising and signing away half the 
 revenues of his ports/ by retaining the scepter 
 upon terms that made the empire impossible, that 
 forced him down to the level of a mere leader of 
 faction, and placed him in contradiction to his own 
 declared principles, he descended from his imperial 
 state, and forfeited, if not his crown, at least his 
 right to it, if judged by his own standard. He, 
 moreover, lost his one chance of seriously embar- 
 rassing his allies. At that time the army was 
 scattered in small detachments over the Mexican 
 territory ; terms had not yet been made with the 
 Liberal leaders ; the sudden collapse of the empire 
 must have created dangers to the French, the exis- 
 tence of which would give him a certain hold over 
 them. 
 
 But he was a weak man; the Empress clung to 
 her crown ; the great state officials were interested 
 in retaining their offices ; he was surrounded by evil 
 or interested councilors ; and instead of standing 
 up firmly in his false ally's path, he allowed him to 
 brush past and to disregard him. 
 
 In ancient Mexico, when, fortune having deserted 
 a warrior, he fell into the hands of his enemies, a 
 victim doomed to sacrifice, a chance was, under 
 certain conditions, given him for his life. He was 
 tied by one foot, naked, to the gladiatorial stone, 
 armed with a wooden sword, and six warriors were, 
 one after another, entered against him. If extraor- 
 dinarily skilful, strong, and brave, he might hold 
 
 1 Convention of Mexico, signed July 30, 1866, ty M. Dano and 
 Don Luis de Arroyo. 
 
 198 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 his own and save his life ; at least he might destroy 
 some of his foes, and, falling like a warrior, avoid 
 being laid alive upon the sacrificial stone, where 
 his heart, torn ont of his breast, must be held up, 
 a bleeding sacrifice to the fierce god of battles. 
 
 MaximiUan was not strong enough for the un- 
 equal struggle at this supreme moment, and he was 
 laid upon the sacrificial stone. 
 
 Meanwhile the cloud "no bigger than a man's 
 hand," which wise men had from the first anxiously 
 watched as it loomed upon the northern horizon, 
 had grown with alarming rapidity, and was now 
 spreading black and threatening over the whole 
 sky. 
 
 Secretary Seward was prepared to enter upon 
 the scene. Nothing could be finer than the con- 
 duct of the American statesman throughout these 
 difficult transactions. Alone among the foreign 
 leaders who had a share in them, he followed a 
 consistent policy from beginning to end, and his 
 diplomatic notes form a logical sequence. Quietly, 
 steadily, he played his part, to the greater credit 
 and higher dignity of the nation whose interests 
 and honor were in his keeping. 
 
 The burden of the Civil War had for several 
 years weighed him down ; but despite every effort 
 of European diplomacy, the ship of state, steered 
 by a firm hand, was kept upon its course, avoiding 
 every shoal, while saving its strength for home 
 defense. He never yielded a serious point, never 
 wavered in his adherence to the traditional Amer- 
 ican pohcy, and stood by the legal republican gov- 
 
 199 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ernment of Mexico even when, reduced to the per- 
 sons of the President and his minister, Lerdo de 
 Tejada, it was compelled to seek refuge at Paso del 
 Norte. But when the surrender of Lee's army left 
 the Federal government free to act, sixty thousand 
 men were massed upon the frontier, and the Amer- 
 ican statesman at once grew threatening.^ 
 
 In vain did Napoleon III plead for delay ; in vain 
 did he assure Mr. Bigelow that a date had been 
 fixed for the final recall of the army. From Wash- 
 ington came the uncompromising words : No delay 
 can be tolerated ; the intervention and the empire 
 must come to an end at once? 
 
 Since accepting Napoleon's ultimatum, by the 
 terms of which all French assistance was to be with- 
 drawn by November 1, 1867, Maximilian had made 
 no attempt to disguise his hostility to his allies. 
 
 The French government having formally declined 
 to do more than pay the auxiliary troops and the 
 foreign legion, the distress was great, and the Im- 
 perialists, on the verge of starvation, were fre- 
 
 1 See peremptory note of Sec- armed intervention in Mexico " 
 retary Seward to Mr. Bigelow, (letter of Seward to Bigelow, 
 November 23, 1866 ("Diplomatic "Diplomatic Correspondence," 
 Correspondence," 1866, Parti, p. 1866, Part III, p. 429); and lie 
 366). See also letter to the Mar- declined the condition made by 
 quis de Montholon, April 25, 1866. the Emperor that the United 
 
 2 On December 16, 1866, Mr. States recognize the empire of 
 Seward officially expressed Ms Mexico as a de facto power. See 
 opinion that the traditional proclamation of President John- 
 friendship with France would be son, August 18, 1866, declaring 
 broughtinto "imminent jeopardy, the blockade of Matamoros issued 
 unless France could deem it con- by Maximilian null and void 
 sistentwithherinterestandhonor ("Diplomatic Correspondence," 
 to desist from the prosecution of 1866, Part I, p. 339). 
 
 200 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 quently supplied in the field by the French 
 commissariat. Demoralization set in throughout 
 the imperial army. Whole garrisons, receiving no 
 pay, left their posts and turned highwaymen, even 
 in the neighborhood of the capital. 
 
 Indeed, the desertions were now so frequent that 
 the Liberals were able to form a " foreign legion " 
 with the deserters of various nationalities who 
 sought service under their flag.^ Eats were leav- 
 ing the sinking ship. 
 
 In January, 1866, the imperial army, including 
 the Austro-Belgian legion, numbered 43,500 men. 
 In October of the same year only 28,000 remained 
 under arms. Many, of course, had fallen in the 
 field, but desertion was principally accountable for 
 this shriveling of the Mexican forces. 
 
 Permission had originally been granted French 
 officers to take service under the imperial flag. 
 Various army-corps had been formed, which were 
 officered by Frenchmen as well as by Austrians 
 and Belgians. Theoretically, a year and a half was 
 time enough to organize the new foreign legion then 
 well under way; but recruiting for the Mexican 
 army was now found to be, like all other experi- 
 ments successively brought to bear upon the prob- 
 lem, virtually impossible. Under the circumstances 
 it seemed folly for foreign officers to enlist in the 
 newly organized imperial regiments. 
 
 The marshal took it upon himself to withdraw 
 the permission given some time before to French 
 officers to pass into the Mexican service. He has 
 
 1 See "L'fire NouveUe" (Mexico), September 25, 1866. 
 201 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 been blamed for this, and accused of having delib- 
 erately hindered the organizing of Mexican forces, 
 thus hastening the ruin of the empire. But no 
 one not on the spot toward the close of the year 
 1866 can well realize the atmosphere of general 
 sauve qui peut that prevailed in Mexico and affected 
 all classes of society. The tide had turned. To all 
 who had anything to lose, the only course that 
 seemed perfectly clear was to get out of the coun- 
 try, leaving behind as little of their belongings as 
 possible. Indeed, M. de Hooriekx, who remained 
 as charge d'affaires after the departure of the Bel- 
 gian minister, M. de Blondel, told me that he also 
 was doing aU in his power to prevent his country- 
 men from embarking upon such stormy seas. 
 
 Sober-minded Austrians, on their side, used their 
 influence over their more adventurous comrades to 
 prevent their remaining under the altered condi- 
 tions. 
 
 And now the only hope of the empire rested 
 upon the power of Empress Charlotte to induce 
 the courts of Austria, Belgium, Rome, and espe- 
 cially the court of France, to grant a reprieve to the 
 tottering empire by lending it further support. 
 
 To defray the expenses of her journey, thirty 
 thousand dollars were taken from an emergency 
 fund held as sacred for the repairs of the dikes 
 which defend Mexico against the ever-threatening 
 floods from the lakes, the level of which is higher 
 than that of the city. 
 
 It soon was whispered among us that upon her 
 arrival in Paris the Empress had not spared the 
 
 202 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 marshal, and that in her interview with Napoleon 
 III she not only had denounced him, but had asked 
 his recall. 
 
 On September 16, 1866, the anniversary of the 
 national independence was celebrated with unusual 
 state by the Emperor. The le Deum was sung in 
 the cathedral, and a formal reception was held at 
 the palace, where, for the last time, a large crowd 
 assembled. After this a meeting of the council of 
 state was held to discuss the situation. 
 
 The Liberals and Moderates had failed to 
 strengthen the empire. As a last resort, the Em- 
 peror turned once more to the reactionary party 
 for help. The Liberal ministers withdrew, and a 
 new cabinet, composed of the ultra-clerical party, 
 was formed. 
 
 Thus, at the last hour, when, without funds and 
 abandoned by his allies, all were falling away from 
 him, Maximilian cast his lot with the men whom, 
 when rich in money, armies, and allies, and the 
 future promised success, he had discarded as im- 
 possible to carry. In accepting their help he was 
 pledging himself to factional warfare, and was vir- 
 tually going back upon every declared principle 
 which had formed the basis of his acceptance of 
 the crown. 
 
 But in fairness it may be said that the unfortu- 
 nate prince was at this time scarcely responsible for 
 his actions. The situation was desperate. He had 
 neither the strength nor the coolness of judgment 
 to face the issue. His vacillating nature had been 
 still further weakened by intermittent fever, as well 
 
 203 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 as by tlie events of this year, so fatal to his house. 
 The climate of Mexico did not suit him. What 
 with malarial fever and dysentery, as well as with 
 distracting responsibilities and cares, he was a phys- 
 ical wreck. Not only had he month after month 
 felt his hopes grow faint and his throne crumble 
 under him; not only had he every cause to lose 
 faith in his star as well as in his own judgment: 
 but the cannon of Lissa must have vibrated with 
 painful distinctness through the innermost fibers 
 of the Austrian admiral's heart, and his personal 
 interest in Austrian affairs must have caused him 
 to dwell with poignant regret upon his renuncia- 
 tion of his birthright, and his absence from the 
 larger stage upon which, but for his wild errand, 
 he might then have been playing a leading role.^ 
 
 The new clerical cabinet, as usual, promised to 
 pacify the country, and to find the funds indis- 
 pensable for the purpose. This was the last card 
 of the reactionary party. Of all those involved in 
 the issue, the clerical leaders alone had everything 
 to lose by the downfall of the empire. Their personal 
 interest in its prolongation was clear. With them 
 it was a matter, if not of life and death, at least of 
 comparative dignity and prosperity at home, or of 
 exile and beggary abroad. 
 
 To place his fate in such hands was the last mis- 
 take of the Emperor. Such interested advisers 
 must endeavor to cut off his retreat, when to re- 
 main must cost him his life. 
 
 The mission of the Empress abroad had, if any- 
 
 1 See M. de K^ratry, "L'Empereur Maximilien," p. 220. 
 204 
 
La Debdcle 
 
 thing, aggravated the situation. It is said that, no 
 doubt, under the influence of the cerebral disturb- 
 ance that soon afterward manifested itself, her re- 
 criminations were so violent as to arouse a feeling 
 of personal resentment which destroyed all sym- 
 pathy in Napoleon's heart. Already weary of an 
 undertaking which from beginning to end must 
 reflect upon his statesmanship, and which was fast 
 becoming a reproach to the French nation, he was 
 even then negotiating with the United States for 
 the removal of his troops, and for the restoration 
 of the republic. 
 
 Regardless of the onerous agreement which 
 Maximilian only four months before had been 
 compelled to sign, the new minister of foreign 
 affairs, the Marquis de Moustier, on the occasion of 
 his first reception to the diplomatic corps, on 
 October 11, told Mr. Bigelow that the Emperor 
 would recall the army shortly .■' The minister of 
 war had already signed a contract with Pereire, the 
 head of the Compagnie Transatlantique, for the 
 home passage of the last instalment of the army 
 during the month of March. 
 
 Of these fateful negotiations we, in Mexico, were 
 then ignorant. We were under the impression that 
 strict compliance with the terms of the recent 
 agreement was the worst that could befaU the 
 empire. That these terms would be strictly ad- 
 hered to even seemed incredible to many. There 
 were optimists among us who thought that Napo- 
 
 1 See letter of Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward, October 12 ("Diplomatie 
 Correspondence," 1866, Part I, p. 360). 
 
 205 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 leon's action was intended to call forth docility on 
 the part of Maximilian and of his Mexican cabinet, 
 and to bring them to terms. Thus it was that, al- 
 though the debacle was in reality hard upon us, it 
 yet seemed sufSciently far off not materially to 
 affect our daily life. We therefore lightly skipped 
 over the thin ice of our present security, unmind- 
 ful of what the immediate future had in store for us. 
 
 206 
 
Ill 
 
 COMEDY AND TRAGEDY 
 
 IN the spring of 1866 our small circle was pleas- 
 antly enlarged by tlie arrival of the Marquis 
 de Massa. He was the younger son of the cele- 
 brated Regnier, Due de Massa, the able lawyer 
 whose work upon the Code Napoleon had led him 
 to a dukedom under Napoleon the G-reat. 
 
 M. de Massa was endowed with more brilhancy 
 than perseverance. He had not passed through 
 St. Cyr to enter the army, and had devoted much 
 of his youth to the systematic enjoyment of life. 
 After some of his illusions and most of his money 
 had gone, he did as many Frenchmen of good family 
 had done before him— he enlisted in a crack cav- 
 alry regiment of the Imperial Gruard, where, after 
 a while, thanks to mighty protectors, he exchanged 
 his worsted stripes for gold braid and the single 
 epaulet. He had come to Mexico in search of an 
 excuse for rapid promotion. 
 
 Similar cases were by no means infrequent then. 
 Michel Ney, Due d'Elchingen, the grandson of the 
 great marshal, when I met him in Mexico, was ser- 
 geant or corporal in a regiment of chassev/rs 
 
 207 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 d^Afnque, recognizable from his fellow-troopers 
 only by Ms spotless linen. Shortly after this he 
 was promoted to a sublieutenancy. His promotion 
 was then rapid, and he did good service in the 
 north ; for although he was no reader of books and 
 was somewhat heavy of understanding, he was as 
 brave as his famous ancestor.^ 
 
 Count Clary, a cousin of Napoleon III, when I 
 met him, had only recently emerged from his 
 worsted chrysalis;^ and Albert Bazaine, the mar- 
 shal's own nephew, was impatiently waiting to be 
 raised from the depressing position of & piou-piou, 
 that he might enjoy the full social benefits of his 
 relationship to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 The position of these gentlemen in a capital 
 where the army was, so to speak, under arms, and 
 where no civilian's dress, therefore, was allowed to 
 a soldier, was ambiguous and gave rise to amusing 
 anomalies. For instance, they, of course, could not 
 be admitted to ofificial balls or entertainments where 
 uniforms were de rigueur, as only of&cers were in- 
 vited. They paid calls, however, and thus mixed 
 
 1 An oflfieer wrote me during a contre-guerilla known as the 
 tlie Franco-Prussian war that at "PreeCompany of Mexican parti- 
 Eezonville, in 1870, when bril- zans" (see D'H^rieault, loc. cit., 
 liantly charging at the head of his p. 79), which did "brave work in the 
 men, Michel Ney, then a colonel state of Michoaean against the 
 of dragoons, received three sahre- bands of General Eegules and 
 cuts over his head and face, and others, and later in the neighbor- 
 after killing five Prussians roUed hood of Mexico, without ever ex- 
 under his wounded horse. He citing the bitter hatred which the 
 eventually recovered. contre-gu6rilla of Colonel Dupin, 
 
 2 He was promoted to the rank holding the state of Vera Cruz, 
 of captain before the return of the drew upon itself. (See " Quer6- 
 French army, and commanded taro," by Haus, p. 56.) 
 
 208 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 on neutral ground witli their officers ; and so these 
 nondescript military larvae managed to enjoy life 
 until the day came when they might become offi- 
 cial butterflies. 
 
 As for the Marquis de Massa, the day had long 
 gone by when, driving in his own trap to the gate 
 of the Paris barracks after a night spent out on 
 leave through the leniency of General Fleury, he 
 set to work to curry his own horse. His keen wit 
 and happy repartee, his good-humored sarcasm, 
 and, above all, the magnetism of a personaUty that 
 scorned deceit and gave itself for no better or worse 
 than it was, combined to make him a favorite 
 among the devotees of pleasure whom Napoleon 
 III and Empress Eugenie had gathered about them ; 
 and notwithstanding his empty pockets, his roofless 
 chateau in Auvergne,and his sparsely braided sleeve, 
 he was an habitue of the Austrian embassy and of 
 the best salons in Paris, and made for himself a 
 conspicuous place in the innermost circle of the 
 court of Compiegne and the Tuileries. He had 
 written a number of light plays for the amateur 
 stage of Parisian society, and his dramatic efforts 
 had been interpreted by players whose high-sound- 
 ing names might be found on pages of history. 
 
 His first attempt was the " Cascades de Mouchy," 
 on December 9, 1863. The representation was 
 given at the Chateau de Mouchy, to which "all 
 Paris " traveled for the purpose. In the words of 
 the " Figaro " : " It was a complete mobilization of 
 Parisian society." The Due de Mouchy, a man 
 of the old nobility, had recently married Princess 
 
 209 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Anna Murat ; and tlie actors as ■well as tlie audience 
 represented the wit, talent, wealtli, and power of 
 tlie Second Empire. 
 
 In collaboration with. Prince de Metternich, then 
 Austrian ambassador at the court of the Tuileries, 
 and an amateur musician of no mean order, he had 
 written the libretto of a ballet called "Le Eoi 
 d'Tvetot." This was given on the professional 
 stage, but met with little success, if exception is 
 made of the " first night," when again " all Paris " 
 turned out to see the prince lead the orchestra, and 
 to applaud the brilliant young author after the 
 curtain fell. 
 
 In 1865 he wrote a revue, which was performed 
 with great eclat before the court at Compiegne. In 
 this really clever piece the principal occurrences of 
 the year were touched upon and reviewed. The 
 literary event of 1865 in France had been the pub- 
 lication of Napoleon's work " Les Commentaires de 
 Cesar," and this the young courtier took as a title 
 for his play. Once again all the wit and beauty of 
 the court of Eugenie united to make the occasion 
 a brilliant tribute to the imperial historian. The 
 Comte and Comtesse de Pourtales, the Marquis 
 and Marquise de Gallif et, the Due and Duchesse de 
 Mouchy, the Princesse de Sagan, the Marquis de 
 Caux (who afterward married Adelina Patti), the 
 Princesse de Metternich,— indeed, the elite of cos- 
 mopolis,— appeared upon the stage, and in clever 
 verse and epigrammatic song amusingly dealt with 
 the gossip of the day. 
 
 M. de Massa's success was mainly due to the 
 210 
 
MARQUIS DE GALLIFET. 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 good-natured independence of his work. He told 
 the truth to his audience, even though it might be 
 composed of the great of the land. He chaffed 
 the women upon their manners, and sometimes 
 their morals, and the men upon their idleness and 
 their evil ways. He showed up the speculative 
 fever which, like an epidemic, had swept over the 
 higher ranks of Parisian society under the Second 
 Empire.^ No weakness could be sure of escaping 
 his satire. But in dealing with all this the scalpel 
 of the cynic was concealed under the graceful touch 
 of the man of the world. He did not assume the 
 tone of a moralist or of a misanthrope. He was 
 not even an observing spectator, but a good-natured 
 enfant du Steele, a sinner among sinners, for whom 
 life was one long comedy. 
 
 After the return of the Corps Exp^ditionnaire in 
 1867, when the great International Exposition was 
 attracting to Paris the princes and celebrities of 
 the world, " Les Commentaires de Cesar " was, at 
 the Emperor's request, repeated at the Tuileries 
 before the crowned heads there assembled as his 
 guests. 
 
 Notwithstanding the seething forces underlying 
 
 1 For inBtance, one stanza sung by M. de St. Maurice : 
 
 " Tout les terrains, les canaux, les earri&res, 
 Depuis le f er jusqu'au moindre m^tal, 
 Les champs, les eaui, les forets, les bruyferes — 
 Tout repr^sente un certain capital. 
 Vous le voyez la fiSvre est gfo^rale ; 
 Tout est matifere h, speciilations . . . 
 Tout, en effet, excepts la morale 
 Qu'on n'a pas mise en actions." 
 
 213 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the brilliant surface and threatening the empire's 
 very existence, the summer of 1867, as superficially- 
 seen in Paris, must be regarded as the very apex of 
 Napoleon's career. 
 
 The exposition was the last and most gorgeous 
 set piece of the many Napoleonic fireworks, the 
 splendor of which flashed through history, and 
 ended in the dark smoke of Sedan. 
 
 The performance at the Tuileries was one of the 
 most select entertainments arranged at this time. 
 The troupe of aristocratic comedians wa,s greeted 
 with enthusiastic applause, and the popular author 
 received an ovation from his audience of monarchs 
 and princes such as fate never bestowed upon 
 Beaumarchais, Marivaux, or even Moliere ! 
 
 All aglow with the excitement of his social 
 achievements, the Marquis de Massa came to 
 Mexico in 1866 and immediately took his place in 
 the military household of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 As soon as he felt sufficiently posted as to the 
 local conditions of Mexico, he went to work, and 
 the result was a vaudeville entitled " Messieurs les 
 Voyageurs pour Mexico, en Voiture ! " 
 
 The marshal's household supplied the principal 
 stars of the improvised dramatic company, the 
 leader of the orchestra, a young Belgian officer, and 
 the prima donna, an " American girl from Paris," 
 as the Mexican papers had it, being brought in 
 only as necessary adjuncts. Another important 
 female part was taken by Albert Bazaine, who was 
 turned into a superb soubrette. 
 
 The play was little more than a skit, and the 
 214 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 plot— if the thin, sketchy incident that stood in its 
 place may be called one— served only as an excuse 
 for a continuous fusillade of local hits, often of a 
 personal character. These not only kept the audi- 
 ence in a fever of merriment, but long afterward 
 furnished Mexican official and social circles with 
 topics for more or less friendly discussion. Some 
 ill feeling and not a few unpleasant comments were, 
 of course, the result of the little venture ; and most 
 of those concerned paid for their fun in some way 
 or other. 
 
 The performance took place at San Cosme, at the 
 house of the Vicomtesse de Noue. Maximilian, 
 whose curiosity had been aroused, expressed a de- 
 sire to have it repeated at the imperial palace ; but 
 having heard of certain unmerciful sallies made 
 upon his financial decrees and other measures of 
 his government, he did not attempt to disguise his 
 displeasure. Of course the performance was not 
 repeated. 
 
 No harm whatever was intended; but, looking 
 back upon the incident, one can see that the hits, 
 if innocently meant, coming as they did from the 
 marshal's household, were certainly lacking in dis- 
 cretion. Indeed, when one considers the serious dis- 
 sensions then existing between the quartier-general 
 and the palace, it becomes clear that such jests 
 must have had upon the court the effect of the 
 banderiUas which, in a bull-fight, by a refinement 
 of cruelty, are stuck in the quivering flesh of the 
 baited bull, doomed from the start, and teased to 
 the bitter end. 
 
 12 215 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Among the verses of an interminable topical 
 song, one contained a reference to the newly or- 
 ganized regiment, the " Cazadores de Mejico," the 
 recruiting of which was then taxing to the utmost 
 Maximilian's energies: 
 
 Parmi les corps que I'on vient d'^tablir 
 Les Cazadors sont de tons les plus braves ; 
 
 Mais, c'est egal, au moment de choisir 
 
 J'aimerais mieux m'engager dans les Zouaves ! 
 
 These lines afterward assumed a strangely pro- 
 phetic importance. Six months later, during the 
 siege of Queretaro, this same regiment of Caza- 
 dores, composed of Frenchmen, Germans, and 
 Hungarians, with about one fourth of native Mexi- 
 can soldiers, was placed, with four twelve-pounders, 
 under the command of Prince Salm-Salm. They 
 were, according to their colonel, a wild, brawling 
 set, constantly fighting among themselves, but 
 ready enough to do their duty under fire. 
 
 It would seem that, after a sortie during which 
 they had specially distinguished themselves, the 
 Emperor visited the lines, and paused to praise 
 their bravery. Whether or not the sting contained 
 in M. de Massa's words had impressed them upon 
 his mind, it is, of course, impossible to tell ; but in 
 a stirring proclamation Maximilian called them the 
 " Zouaves of Mexico," a compliment which was re- 
 ceived by the men with deafening shouts of en- 
 thusiasm. This account, as I read it after the final 
 catastrophe, awoke a memory ; and I found myself 
 unconsciously humming the bit of satire upon these 
 
 216 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 brave fellows, most of whom were now lying cold 
 and stiff under the sky of Queretaro : 
 
 " Mais, c'est ^gaJ, au moment de choisir 
 J'aimerais mieux m'engager dans les Zouaves ! " 
 
 All me, how closely the ridiculous here approached 
 the sublime ! How rapidly tragedy had followed 
 upon comedy ! 
 
 The first colonel of the Cazadores, PaoHno Lama- 
 drid, was in the audience that evening. He was a 
 pleasant-looking man, noted for his great skill in 
 the national sports, especially with the lazo. He 
 was brave, kindly, obliging, and one of the few 
 Mexican officers who were honestly friendly to the 
 French. He entered into the spirit of the thing, 
 understood the joke, and took no offense. He had 
 lent for the occasion his Mexican dress, sombrero, 
 chapareras, etc., for the character of a Mexicanized 
 French colonist who, after a series of Mexican ad- 
 ventures, had returned to France and to his family 
 laden with Mexican millions. 
 
 Colonel Paolino Lamadrid did not live to stand 
 by his sovereign in the last heroic hour of the 
 empire. He was kUled early in January, in an un- 
 important engagement at Cuernavaca, one of Maxi- 
 milian's favorite residences, situated some fifty 
 miles from Mexico, and which had already fallen 
 into the hands of the Juarists. 
 
 Colonel Lamadrid was ordered to recapture the 
 town. He fell into an ambush, and after a brave 
 struggle was shot down. His troops held their 
 ground, and before retreating next day they recov- 
 
 217 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ered his body, which had been badly mutilated and 
 was only identified by his fine and silky black beard, 
 which formed one of his most striking features/ 
 It is said that one of the early hallucinations of 
 the unfortunate Empress, on her way to Eome, was 
 that she saw Colonel Lamadrid lurking about, dis- 
 guised as an organ-grinder. 
 
 But to return to this now historic entertainment. 
 The general situation was summed up finally in a 
 serio-comic manner in a song which, if it then brought 
 down the house, afterward drew severe criticism 
 upon the thoughtless heads of author andperf ormers : 
 
 Oui, cette terre 
 
 Hospitali^re 
 
 Un joTir sera, c'est moi qui vous le dis, 
 
 Pour tout le monde 
 
 L'arche f^conde 
 
 Des gens de coeur et des colons hardis. 
 
 Que f aut-il done pour cesser nos alarmes ? 
 De bons soldats et de bons generaux, 
 
 ■ De bons pr6fets et surtout des gendarmes, 
 Des financiers et des gardes ruraux. 
 
 Refrain : 
 
 AJlons courage, 
 Vite k Touvrage ; 
 
 La France est Ik pour nous prater secours. 
 Vieux incr^dules, 
 Sots ridicules, 
 
 De nos travaux n'entravez pas le cours. 
 
 This song, pledging France to back up Mexican 
 enterprise in every venture, may serve to show 
 
 1 D'Herieaidt, pp. 82, 83. 
 218 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 how ignorant all were at this time of the sudden 
 determination taken by the TuUeries to set aside 
 the agreement of July 30, 1866, and to put an 
 immediate end to the intervention. 
 
 It was written by a member of the marshal's 
 military household, and the refrain was sung by a 
 chorus of the marshal's officers, in the presence of 
 the marshal himself, and of a large audience com- 
 posed of French, Austrian, and Belgian officers, as 
 well as of members of the imperial government, on 
 September 26, 1866, i. e., just at the time when 
 General Castelnau, who landed at Vera Cruz on 
 October 10, was starting on his mission, the object 
 of which was to force the abdication of Maximilian, 
 and to bring about the winding up of the empire 
 and the immediate return of the army. 
 
 At this very time, it wiU be remembered, a con- 
 tract was being entered upon by the French gov- 
 ernment with the house of Pereire, which was to 
 furnish immediate home transportation for the 
 French army.^ 
 
 The song was not meant to be the cruel jest 
 which it must have seemed to those about the 
 Mexican Emperor who were better informed with 
 regard to Napoleon's negotiations with the govern- 
 ment of the United States. By those whose all was 
 at stake it must have been taken for a wanton insult. 
 
 Indeed, society in Mexico was not just then in 
 the right frame of mind to appreciate M. de Massa's 
 witticisms. Even among his own friends they 
 proved singularly infelicitous. 
 
 1 Bigelow, letter to Seward, October 12, 1866. 
 219 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 The displeasure of Madame la Marechale, whose 
 youth and beauty were then superior to her sense 
 of humor, was aroused by a verse the time-worn 
 wit of which she seemed unable to appreciate, and 
 in which she saw an insult to her people : 
 
 Le roi Henri, qui detestait l'imp6t, 
 Des Mexicains aurait bien fait I'affaire, 
 Au lieu de poule, un zopilote au pot : 
 VoUk I'moyen de devenir populaire ! 
 
 The zopilote, although protected by law as a 
 scavenger, is held as unclean by the Mexicans, who 
 would almost starve rather than eat it ; and the sug- 
 gestion, taken seriously and indignantly resented 
 by Mme. Bazaine, created quite a ripple of dis- 
 turbance in the marshal's family. 
 
 The following incident also swelled the ranks of 
 M. de Massa's French critics : 
 
 Before the performance gossip had been busy 
 with it, and its source had partly been traced to 
 Colonel Petit, a good enough friend, but who at 
 the time happened to be chafing under the sting of 
 a practical joke, recently played upon him by some 
 of his comrades, in which M. de Massa had had 
 a share. 
 
 During the recent campaign made by the mar- 
 shal in the interior, with a view to the concentra- 
 tion of the army preparatory to its retreat, Colonel 
 Petit, with his regiment, arrived at a small town, 
 the authorities of which prepared to receive the 
 French with due honor. Eager for fun, his com- 
 rades confidentially disclosed to the alcalde the fact 
 
 220 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 that Colonel Petit was a great personage— indeed, 
 no less than the son of the celebrated General Petit 
 whom Napoleon, about to depart for Elba, and 
 taking leave of his veterans, had singled out and 
 embraced as the representative of the Grande 
 Armee. 
 
 I do not remember whether the mischievous 
 wags suggested to the alcalde, a pure Indian wear- 
 ing sombrero, shirt, and white calzoneras, a repe- 
 tition of the solemn scene of Fontainebleau, or 
 whether the worthy Indian evolved the notion 
 unaided; but the result was that poor Colonel 
 Petit, much against his will, found himseK forced 
 into playing a parody of his father's part to the 
 alcalde's Napoleon. In the presence of his men, 
 amid the jeers and cheers of his amused comrades, 
 he had to submit to the speech and public accolade 
 of the worthy magistrate. 
 
 The perpetrators of this pleasantry did not soon 
 allow him to forget it. It long remained a sore 
 thing with him ; and as he allowed his resentment 
 to appear, an extra verse was on the day of the 
 performance added, for his benefit, to the principal 
 topical song : 
 
 A Mexico les cancans vont lenr train, 
 
 On vous condamne avant de vous entendre, 
 
 C'est bien " petit " d'ereinter son prochain, 
 Bon entendeur saura bien nous comprendre. 
 
 As this was sung the audience laughingly turned 
 toward him— a fact which did not tend to make 
 him more amiably disposed, although he bowed 
 
 221 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 gracefully enough, and pretended to enjoy the 
 fun. 
 
 Altogether, the play, if more than a success as 
 a performance, added nothing to the popularity 
 of the quartier-general. It, however, created far 
 more comment than its literary merit warranted — 
 if this may be said, without detracting from the 
 credit of the author, who himself, looking back upon 
 it later in his career, said that it read as though it 
 had been " written on a drum." 
 
 Sadowa had been fought and lost ; but it would 
 have been difficult, to make out from their attitude 
 whether or not the sympathies of the officers of 
 the Corps Expeditionnaire were honestly with their 
 Austrian allies. Strangely enough, the news had 
 been received by them as though it involved no 
 serious warning to France. The full significance 
 of the new mode of warfare, of the needle-gun and 
 other new implements of war, was obscured in their 
 eyes by their naive Jingoism. The French officers 
 in those days underrated all other nations; and 
 even the superior armament and discipline of the 
 Germans, as exhibited in that short campaign, 
 failed to impress them as they should. They sang : 
 
 L'aiguille est un outil 
 
 Dont je ne suis en peine 
 
 Tant que j'aurai la mienne [the bayonet] 
 An bout de mon fusU. 
 
 Vous qui chantez victoire, 
 Heros de Sadowa, 
 
 Rappelez-vous I'histoire 
 DAuerstadt et d'I6na. 
 222 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 Alas ! the time was drawing near wlien the can- 
 non of Reichshofen was to change the merry tune 
 of the French chanson into a dirge for many of 
 the brave, light-hearted feUows, then so unmindful 
 of the storm slowly gathering in the east. 
 
 The pomp and dignity of the court had vanished, 
 and social life in the capital no longer centered 
 about the imperial palace. 
 
 Even previous to the departure of the Empress, 
 the Monday receptions had been discontinued, 
 without their loss being seriously felt. At best they 
 had never been other than duU, formal affairs. The 
 ball-room was a large hall, always insufficiently 
 lighted, and narrowed in the middle by the plat- 
 form where stood the imperial throne under a 
 canopy of velvet. Here, after their new guests had 
 been officially presented in an adjoining hall, the 
 Emperor and Empress took their seat. Before 
 supper they made a solemn tour of the baU-room. 
 The dancing then ceased, and the crowd stood in 
 chilled expectancy, and made way for them, each 
 in turn receiving from them, as they passed, a 
 smile, a nod, or some commonplace word of 
 greeting. 
 
 Maximilian was happy in his remarks on such 
 occasions. Naturally affable and kindly, like most 
 princes trained to this sort of thing, his memory 
 for names and faces was remarkable. We were 
 presented at court on the first of the imperial fort- 
 nightly Mondays, and with us, of course, the larger 
 number of the guests present ; and yet, some weeks 
 later, when making his tour of the ball-room, the 
 
 223 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Emperor stopped before us, and inquired about an 
 absent member of the family, apparently placing 
 us exactly. Many other instances of his memory 
 and power of observation in such smaU matters 
 were related by others. 
 
 He was tall, slight, and handsome, although the 
 whole expression of his face revealed weakness and 
 indecision. He looked, and was, a gentleman. 
 His dignity was without hauteur. His manner was 
 attractive ; he had the faculty of making you feel 
 at ease ; and he possessed far more personal mag- 
 netism than did the Empress. 
 
 Hers was a strong, intelligent face, the lines of 
 which were somewhat hard at times; and her de- 
 termined expression impressed one with the feeling 
 that she was the better equipped of the two to cope 
 intelligently with the difficulties of practical life. 
 It is probable that, had she been alone, she might 
 have made a better attempt at solving the prob- 
 lems than did Maximilian ; at least such was Mar- 
 shal Bazaine's opinion, as expressed before me on 
 one occasion, during her brief regency, when she 
 had shown special firmness and clear judgment in 
 dealing with certain complicated state affairs. 
 
 She, however, was reserved, somewhat lacking 
 in tact and adaptability ; and a certain haughtiness 
 of manner, a dignity too conscious of itself, at first 
 repelled many who were disposed to feel kindly 
 toward her. It is more than likely that under this 
 proud mien she concealed a suffering spirit, or, at 
 least, the consciousness of a superiority that must 
 efface itself. Who will ever know the travail of 
 
 224 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 her proud heart and the prolonged strain under 
 which her mind finally succumbed ? For notwith- 
 standing the prudence and decided ability with 
 which she had conducted the difficult affairs of the 
 realm during the Emperor's absence in 1864, it was 
 hinted that on his return she was allowed little 
 weight in public affairs, and that her advice when 
 given was seldom followed. After her departure 
 even the semblance of a court disappeared. 
 
 On the other hand, the quartier-general had lost 
 much of its animation since the marshal's second 
 marriage. His first union had been childless, and 
 his delight in the joys and cares of a tardy paternity 
 absorbed all the leisure left him by the military 
 and other responsibilities of his position. 
 
 Indeed, the growing ill feeling existing in po- 
 litical circles was spreading rapidly, gradually 
 destroying good fellowship. A tragic incident 
 resulting in the death of a brave French officer, 
 Colonel Tourre (May, 1865), stirred French circles 
 to their very depths. 
 
 One night a house was on fire. A lieutenant 
 and some Zouaves of the Third Eegiment went in 
 to save property. As the flames grew in intensity 
 the colonel arrived on the scene, and realizing the 
 danger of his men, rushed in to help and direct 
 them. Shortly after he entered, the floor on which 
 he stood gave way, and the unfortunate man was 
 plunged into a fiery grave. The men managed to 
 escape from the building, but the lieutenant and 
 one Zouave were horribly burned, and died in a few 
 hours. The impression made upon society was 
 
 225 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 profound. Every one turned out for the funeral. 
 The marshal and his staff, on foot and bareheaded 
 under the tropical sun, followed the remains, and 
 did them as much honor as though the dead had 
 been of the highest rank. It so happened, how- 
 ever, that the cortege, upon its passage, was insulted 
 by some ruffians in the crowd, and the incident 
 aroused more indignation and national feeling on 
 both sides than the strictly limited nature of the 
 incident warranted. One of the offenders, a stu- 
 dent, was apprehended, and the clemency of Maxi- 
 milian, who forthwith pardoned him, was regarded 
 as a deliberate insult at French headquarters. 
 
 Another incident, equally limited in its origin, 
 produced a still more serious scandal among the 
 allies, as it gave rise to a report that the Austrians 
 and the French quartered at Puebla were actually 
 coming to blows. One morning a party of Aus- 
 trians, one of whom was Count de la Sala, entered 
 the Hotel de las Diligencias at Puebla. Some 
 Frenchmen were present. One of these, a sergeant, 
 taking umbrage at the count's manner, became 
 surly, and called him animal, whereupon the 
 young Austrian slapped him in the face. Others 
 interfered, and the Frenchman left the room. 
 Presently, however, he returned, holding a revolver 
 in his hand, and walked threateningly toward the 
 count, who, anticipating the attack, jumped upon 
 him, and, seizing his arm, made the weapon useless. 
 The sergeant, bent upon avenging the blow received, 
 then struck at the count with his free hand, on 
 which he wore a set of brass knuckles, inflicting 
 
 226 
 
COLONEL TOURRE, THIRD ZOUAVES. 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 an ugly gash over the left eye. Things were get- 
 ting serious for the count. His companions were 
 keeping watch at the door to prevent interference 
 from the outside and to see fair play. The by- 
 standers had fled. Blood was streaming down his 
 face, almost blinding him. The sergeant struck at 
 him a second time, when the count drew his sword 
 and ran him through the body. There was now no 
 suppressing the affair, which caused a profound 
 sensation. The first reports that reached the capi- 
 tal magnified the occurrence into something very 
 like a riot, and on both sides the real bitterness of 
 the feeling so long suppressed blazed forth for a 
 time undisguised. 
 
 Indeed, it is only recently that, meeting the 
 count in Egypt, I heard from him how very limited 
 the incident was. Count de la Sala, who after- 
 ward entered the service of the Khedive and now 
 lives in Cairo, still bears the mark of the French- 
 man's brass knuckles upon his forehead. In 1866 
 the irritation had reached such a point that Maxi- 
 milian, disregarding the feelings of his allies, gave 
 a pension to the widow of Greneral Zaragoza, the 
 hero of the " Cinco de Mayo." This act of the 
 monarch for whose cause the battle had been fought 
 by them was not unnaturally regarded as a wanton 
 insult by the French. 
 
 Society now scarcely deserved the name, and the 
 sociability of the capital was confined to small 
 groups of people who privately met for enjoyment 
 in the most informal manner. 
 
 A number of officers had invited their wives to 
 
 229 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 join them in Mexico, and among tliem were some 
 charming and clever women, such as the Comtesse 
 de Courcy, the Vicomtesse de None, and Mme. 
 Magnan, who by throwing open their salons greatly 
 contributed to the general enjoyment. 
 
 Other women of various nationalities formed a 
 background to these, and added to the local inter- 
 est. One of them afterward played a conspicuous 
 part in the closing scene of the empire. Prince 
 Salm-Salm and his handsome American wife came 
 to Mexico in 1866. They found serious difficulty 
 in gaining admittance into either the social or the 
 official circles of the capital. The relations of 
 Prussia with Austria were anything but cordial at 
 the time; and soon after their arrival the war 
 broke out which culminated at Sadowa. A Prus- 
 sian subject, the prince was naturally looked upon 
 with distrust by the Austrians, who showed him 
 scant respect. He had brought letters from Baron 
 Gerold, the Prussian minister at Washington ; from 
 Baron de Wydenbruck, the Austrian minister ; and 
 from the Marquis de Montholon : but these seemed 
 unable to win for him even a hearing from the 
 Emperor. 
 
 The French, on the other hand, had little sym- 
 pathy with a German prince who, having hired his 
 sword to the republic of the United States, had 
 now come in search of a new allegiance, to offer his 
 services to imperial Mexico's Austrian ruler. 
 
 When, six months after his arrival in Mexico, 
 the most unremitting efforts on his part at last 
 obtained for him a commission, and he was given 
 
 230 
 
Comedy and Tragedy 
 
 (July, 1866) the rank of colonel in the auxiliary 
 corps under General Neigre, he was treated with 
 no special cordiality. He then applied to the min- 
 ister of war for permission to pass into the Belgian 
 corps. From this time he and his attractive wife 
 obscurely followed the fortunes of Colonel Van der 
 Smissen, whose personal regard they had won, until 
 the withdrawal of the French and the Austro- Bel- 
 gian armies, by clearing the stage for the last scene, 
 brought them in full relief, under the search-Ught 
 of history, by the side of the imperial victim. 
 
 At the time of which I now speak, the princess, 
 as well as her husband, had donned the silver and 
 gray of the Belgian regiment, and cheerfully shared 
 the fatigues and dangers of camp life in war time 
 — like a soldadera, contemptuously said her proud 
 sisters in society; for this mode of existence nat- 
 urally drew upon her the criticism of the more 
 conventional of her sex in the Mexican colony. 
 But for all that, she and her husband bravely stood 
 by the Emperor to the bitter end, when older and 
 more valued, though less courageous, friends had 
 dropped away, and had left him, stripped of the 
 imperial purple, to struggle for existence, an ad- 
 venturer among adventurers. 
 
 231 
 
rv 
 
 GENEEAL CASTELNAU 
 
 THE denouement was drawing near. On Octo- 
 ber 10 Greneral Castelnau landed in Vera Cruz, 
 on a special mission from Napoleon III. He was ac- 
 companied by the Comte de St. Sauveur, his officier 
 (Pordonnance, and by the Marquis de GaUifet. 
 
 His arrival created considerable excitement and 
 some anxiety, not only at the palace, where Maxi- 
 milian was expecting news from France much as a 
 man awaits his sentence, but also at the quartier- 
 general. 
 
 Information had come that the course taken by 
 the marshal had not proved satisfactory to Napo- 
 leon. It was whispered that he had not shown 
 sufficient zeal in the task required of him under the 
 new 'policy ; that his sovereign was seriously an- 
 noyed at what he conceived to be wilful procras- 
 tination in the withdrawal of the army; and that 
 he was now sending his own aide-de-camp to cut 
 the Gordian knot in the tangled skein of Mexican 
 politics. 
 
 The marshal's popularity in his command was no 
 longer what it had been. The intrigues carried on 
 
 232 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 both in France and in Mexico, with the purpose of 
 setting up General Douay in his place, had resulted 
 in ill feeling that had been turned to account by 
 the Mexican Imperialists. 
 
 There were those in the army who did not fear 
 to impute unworthy motives to the commander-in- 
 chief's actions. His Mexican marriage had not 
 added to his prestige among the French. It was 
 hinted that his lenient dealings with the empire 
 and with Maximilian were due to the fact that the 
 handsome property at San Cosme must be left be- 
 hind in the event of his return to France ; and even 
 worse calumnies, too ill founded to mention, were 
 circulated with regard to the selfishness of his 
 policy. 
 
 The fact that Greneral Castelnau, who found 
 himself intrusted with superior powers, extending, 
 if necessary, even to the actual superseding of the 
 commander-in-chief, was, from the military stand- 
 point, the marshal's subordinate, seemed likely to 
 add considerably to the chance of new difficulties. 
 
 Meanwhile the general seemed in no hurry to 
 enter upon his thankless mission. Unmindful of 
 the natural suspense of those who were awaiting 
 him, he and his little party traveled leisurely. A 
 martyr to the gout, he lingered on his way, no 
 doubt making good use of his time as he went for 
 the study of the situation which he was called upon 
 to clear up. A fortnight thus elapsed before he 
 approached the capital. 
 
 Serious events had taken place during his jour- 
 ney from the coast which at first seemed somewhat 
 13 233 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 to simplify the difficulties of his mission ; and upon 
 his arrival in the capital affairs had reached an 
 acute crisis which men cleverer than himself and 
 his colleagues, working in harmony, might perhaps 
 have turned to favorable account for France. 
 
 On October 18, three days before Greneral Cas- 
 telnau reached the capital, a telegram, sent from 
 Miramar via New York by the Comte de BombeUes, 
 brought to Chapultepec the news of the illness of 
 Empress Charlotte. This last blow fell with crush- 
 ing weight upon the suffering Emperor. This was 
 about the time when the return of the Empress 
 was expected, and he had made his plans to travel 
 toward the coast to meet her on her homeward jour- 
 ney. Some days earlier Colonel Kodolitch and his 
 Austrian hussars had been summoned to the capital 
 to form his body-guard. Maximilian now at once 
 resolved to leave Chapultepec, and to retire to Ori- 
 zaba. 
 
 As soon as this was known, an uneasy feeling 
 spread over Mexico caused by a rumor that the 
 empire was at an end, and that Maximilian was 
 leaving the city, never to return. The result was 
 a panic. The new cabinet and other clerical leaders 
 flocked to the castle to get some assurance as to the 
 Emperor's intentions ; but he was ill, and denied him- 
 self to all visitors, even to the Princess Iturbide, who, 
 it is said,^ resented the slight in violent language.^ 
 
 1 See Baseh, " Maximilien au thought himself of establisliuig a 
 Mexique," p. 56. dynasty. One of the Emperor Itur- 
 
 2 In 1866, the imperial couple bide's sons, Angel, was married 
 being childless, Maximilian be- to an American woman, and his 
 
 234 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 The ministers, terror-stricken at the thought of 
 being left alone to face a revolution, tendered their 
 resignation in a body; and Senor Lares declared 
 that if the Emperor left the city there would no 
 longer be a government. 
 
 Looking back upon the event, it would now seem 
 that by threatening the ministers with summary 
 measures if they did not reconsider their decision. 
 Marshal Bazaine had lost his one opportunity to 
 clear the tables for a new " deal," and thus become 
 master of the situation. But it is only fair to state 
 that the conditions were bewildering. The concen- 
 tration of the army had not been perfected, and 
 scattered detachments were still at considerable 
 distances. Rumors of Sicilian Vespers once more 
 floated in the air. The exasperation of the clerical 
 party against the French was now far more violent 
 than that of the Liberals. Indeed, it seemed diffi- 
 cult to calculate the extent of the conflagration 
 which a single spark might kindle. Moreover, no 
 one then doubted Maximilian's resolve to abdicate. 
 To-day, however, it would seem that by stemming 
 the torrent at this time Marshal Bazaine defeated 
 
 child, a mere infant, became the the child, the aiuit. Bona Josefa 
 
 basis of a remarkable agreement Iturbide, the masterful mind of 
 
 which excited much comment. the family, remaining as his gov- 
 
 By the terms of this contract, erness. The consent of the 
 
 and for certain important pecu- mother was wrenched from her, 
 
 niary considerations, the uncles, and the contract was duly signed, 
 
 aunt, and father of the boy agreed Its execution was not carried out 
 
 that the Iturbide family, inelud- without considerable resistance 
 
 ing the parents, should leave the on the part of Princess Iturbide 
 
 country, and that Maximilian who, however, was finally sent out 
 
 should become the guardian of of the country. 
 
 235 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 his own end. This may fairly be inferred from the 
 part played by the priest Fischer in the transaction. 
 
 Father Fischer was an obscure adventurer of 
 low degree, and of more than shady reputation, 
 whose shrewdness and talent for intrigue had im- 
 pressed themselves upon the weakened mind of the 
 Emperor in the latter days of his reign. Utterly un- 
 scrupulous, with everything to gain for himself and 
 his party, and with absolutely nothing to lose but 
 a life which he took good care to save by avoiding 
 danger, he insinuated himself into the confidence 
 of MaximiHan, and became the Mephistopheles of 
 the last act in the Mexican drama. Having but 
 recently risen to the confidential position he now 
 occupied near the person of the Emperor, the lat- 
 ter's abdication was obviously against his interests. 
 When the ministers threatened to resign, he is 
 stated to have represented to them that their action 
 was likely to precipitate the catastrophe which they 
 sought to avoid ; that by such a demonstration of 
 their own helplessness they must only confirm the 
 Emperor's determination; and he persuaded them 
 that if the Emperor were not allowed temporarily 
 to retire to Orizaba he might without further delay 
 return to Europe. 
 
 It is claimed by Dr. Basch^ that the priest's 
 arguments had as much to do with bringing the 
 ministers to resume their portfolios as the marshal's 
 firmness. However this may be, the crisis was 
 avoided. On October 2, Maximilian, Senor Ar- 
 royo, Father Fischer, Dr. Baseh, and Councilor 
 
 1 See Basch, loc. oit., p. 64. 
 236 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 Hertzel, under the escort of Colonel Kodolitcli 
 and his Austro-Hungarian regiment, started from 
 Chapnltepec at three o'clock in the morning. 
 There was no doubt in any one's mind that his 
 departure for Orizaba was the first relay in the 
 Emperor's journey to the coast. 
 
 There is something profoundly pathetic in this 
 
 ' chapter of his life. It forms a fitting introduction 
 
 to that tragedy the threatening outline of which 
 
 even then faintly appeared upon the horizon as a 
 
 dreadful possibility. 
 
 The friends whose society had enlivened the 
 earlier days of his reign in his adopted land were 
 now scattered like straws at the first approach of 
 the cyclone. The Empress had gone upon her 
 hopeless mission, never to return ; and the faithful 
 Comte de BombeUes was with her to advise and 
 protect. Court and political intrigues had loosened 
 the bond that had united the Emperor to the great 
 clerical leaders who had made the empire. 
 
 "Whatever his dreams may have been, the reality 
 was pitiful. The gilding thinly spread over the 
 Mexican crown had worn off; the glitter had dis- 
 appeared. The treasury was empty, courtiers were 
 now few, and the successor of the Montezumas, the 
 descendant of the Hapsburgs, the popular archduke, 
 the Austrian admiral, was now reduced to the in- 
 timacy of a corrupt adventurer in priestly garb, 
 who had stolen into his confidence upon the 
 shortest acquaintance, and of his G-erman physician. 
 Dr. Baseh, whom he had known only one month. 
 These two, with his still faithful followers, the coun- 
 
 237 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 cilor Hertzel and the naturalist Bilimek, were his 
 only confidential advisers during the terrible crisis 
 upon the issue of which depended Ufe and fame. 
 
 It so happened that, a day or two after the Em- 
 peror's departure, as we were passing Chapultepec 
 on horseback, a friend invited us to enter the palace 
 to look at the costly improvements made in the 
 last two years by the Emperor. While there we 
 were shown the private apartments. No one had 
 as yet straightened out the place. A certain dis- 
 order still reigned, as though the imperial inmate 
 had just left. His clothes hung in open closets, 
 and the condition of the rooms betokened a hasty 
 departure, and formed a dramatic mise en scene for 
 the opening of the last act of his life. 
 
 A coincidence brought Greneral Castelnau and 
 his party to Ayotla, on their way to the capital, as 
 "the Emperor and his escort stopped there for 
 breakfast. Maximilian, however, refused to see the 
 envoy. It is said that he even declined to see 
 Captain Pierron, his own secretary, then traveling 
 with the general. 
 
 At this time the unfortunate prince seenied 
 utterly crushed under the repeated blows dealt him 
 by fate. According to his physician, then his daily 
 companion, his imagination showed him his own 
 conduct as a noble effort to regenerate the country 
 by the establishment of an empire resting upon the 
 will of the nation. This effort had been frustrated 
 " by the resistance of the Mexicans [ ! ] and the 
 vexations of the French." 
 
 The journey was a dreary one. The Emperor 
 238 
 
C'OMTE DE BOMBELLES. 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 most of the time remained silent. On the way he 
 generally accepted the hospitality of priests. 
 
 A certain apprehension was felt as to his safety, 
 and the road was well guarded, as it was feared 
 that he might be kidnapped. That snch fears were 
 not wholly unfounded was proved by an incident 
 which took place at Aculzingo. After a short halt, 
 when the imperial party was about to proceed on 
 its joiirney, it was discovered with dismay that the 
 eight white mules forming the Emperor's team had 
 been stolen. 
 
 At Orizaba he received his last ovation; but 
 these public demonstrations had lost their charm. 
 He withdrew to the house of Senor Bringas, a vio- 
 lent reactionary, most inimical to the French. 
 There he denied himself to every one. Of his mili- 
 tary household he retained only two Mexican offi- 
 cers — Colonel Ormachea and Colonel Lamadrid. 
 Later he retired to the hacienda of Jalapilla. 
 While here even letters were not sure to reach him. 
 His correspondence passed through interested 
 hands, and was sifted under prying eyes, before 
 being placed before him. No one was allowed to 
 see him without the knowledge of the priest, who 
 was rapidly obtaining over him an influence that 
 was to lead him to his death. Those who approached 
 him at this time reported him as completely under 
 the influence, almost in the custody, of Father 
 Fischer. 
 
 So complete was his mental collapse that it was 
 said, and by some believed, that during their resi- 
 dence at Cuernavaca, prior to the departure of the 
 
 241 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Empress, a subtle poison known to the Indians of 
 that region, and the action of which was through the 
 brain, had been administered to the imperial couple/ 
 
 The condition of the Empress, the prolonged fits 
 of depression to which Maximilian was subject 
 when he resolved to remove his residence to Ori- 
 zaba, away from the presence of his hated allies, 
 his extreme listlessness, which betrayed itself in 
 the carelessness of his attire and in his lapses of 
 etiquette and of memory, gave color to the report. 
 But there was quite enough in the unfortunate 
 prince's situation to account for the abnormal con- 
 dition of his mind without having recourse to ro- 
 mantic fancies. 
 
 All this time the Austrian frigate Elizabeth was 
 at anchor off Vera Cruz, awaiting his pleasure, ready 
 to take him back to Trieste, and part of his bag- 
 gage was already on board. 
 
 His own countrymen looked upon the game as 
 lost. The empire, which for some time had been 
 caving in at the center, was now everywhere 
 crumbling at the edges. Only the most unblush- 
 ing personal interest could advise, and the most 
 inconsistent f oUy consider, the retaining of a crown 
 which, under circumstances even less inauspicious, 
 he had only a short time before wisely resolved to 
 surrender. 
 
 Unsuccessful in his attempt to govern with 
 
 1 An attempt is said to have pression on liis mind. SeeD'H^ri- 
 
 been made upon his life in July, eault, " Maximilien et le Mexique : 
 
 1866. The affair was hushed up, Histoire des Demiers Mois de 
 
 but is said to have made a deep im- I'Empire du Mexique," pp. 29, 54. 
 
 242 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 French financial and military support, how could he 
 contemplate reigning alone, without allies, money, 
 or credit? The mere thought seemed madness. 
 After insisting upon a plebiscite to sanction his 
 reign, how could he honorably remain now that the 
 country in arms was everywhere falling away from 
 his standard? 
 
 On November 6 the rumor of his abdication was 
 circulated in New York ; and the London " Post " 
 and " Star " published it as a fact. But intrigue 
 and foUy prevailed. 
 
 It has been claimed that a communication from 
 his former secretary, the Belgian Eloin, now his 
 agent abroad, had a decisive effect upon his final 
 resolution. In this letter, since published by M. de 
 Keratry, M. Eloin warned Maximilian against 
 affording the French an easy way out of their 
 difficulties by yielding to General Castelnau's wiles. 
 He urged upon the Emperor the maintaining of 
 the empire after the departure of the foreigners, a 
 free appeal to the Mexican nation for the material 
 means of sustaining himself, and, in ease of failure, 
 the return of the crown to the people who gave it. 
 Thus, and thus alone, in the opinion of the secre- 
 tary, could the Emperor return with credit to 
 Europe, with an untarnished fame, and "play the 
 part which belonged to him in every respect in the 
 important events that could not fail to occur" in 
 Austria. 
 
 The hints at the general dissatisfaction with the 
 present order of things at home, at the discourage- 
 ment of Emperor Francis Joseph, at the popularity 
 
 243 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 of Maximilian both in his native country and in 
 Venetia, show that, in the mind of his secretary 
 at least, the possibilities of Maximilian's political 
 career were by no means confined to the sover- 
 eignty of Mexico. In reading this remarkable let- 
 ter, one's mind involuntarily turns to the family 
 scene enacted at Miramar, when Maximilian, com- 
 pelled by his brother to renounce his rights to the 
 Austrian throne, clung to them with a tenacity that 
 seriously loosened the close bond that hitherto had 
 united the two men. 
 
 This letter also explains the insistence of Francis 
 Joseph, through his ambassador Baron de Lago, 
 when the possibility of his brother's return was 
 discussed, that Maximihan, once upon Austrian 
 soil, should drop the imperial title.^ However this 
 may be, from this time Maximilian's mind seemed 
 made up. He determined to risk his aU upon the 
 promises of the clerical leaders. 
 
 General Castelnau and his party arrived in the 
 capital on October 21, 1866. A few days after their 
 arrival, Mme. Magnan invited a number of us to 
 take supper at her house, after the opera, to meet 
 the newcomers. 
 
 The general was a tall, middle-aged man of pre- 
 possessing mien and soldierly bearing. A charming 
 talker, his manners were those of one accustomed 
 to the best society. He readily fell into our easy life. 
 
 1 Compare "L'Empire de Maxi- vol. iii, p. 404) that Maximilian's 
 milieu," M. de K6ratry, p. 220. mother also wrote an urgent let- 
 It has been stated by M. Dome- ter, advising him not to return to 
 nech ("Histoire du Mexique," Europe yet. 
 
 244 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 He constantly invited ns to his box at the opera, 
 and at first arranged pleasant parties ; but later, 
 when the gravity of the situation weighed upon 
 him, and his health suffered under it, while he often 
 placed the box at our disposal, he came to it only 
 when equal to the exertion. 
 
 Notwithstanding many admirable qualities, the 
 general was scarcely strong enough for the part 
 which he was called upon to play. Indeed, it is 
 difficult to imagine how any representative of the 
 Emperor of the French, at this stage, could have 
 assumed control of events. Looking back upon it 
 now, it would seem as though, under existing con- 
 ditions, arbitration alone could have stemmed the 
 current of human passion then hurrying all involved 
 toward the final catastrophe. 
 
 The knowledge that Napoleon III, who had set 
 up his throne, was now in accord with the United 
 States government and with the Liberal leaders to 
 tear it from under him, stung Maximilian to the 
 quick. He not unnaturally felt a strong desire to 
 remain a stumbling-block in the way of negotia- 
 tions which to him seemed treacherous and infa- 
 mous. When General Castelnau arrived he was 
 hesitating. The presence of Napoleon's aide-de- 
 camp was not calculated to soothe his feelings. 
 The return of Greneral Miramon and General Mar- 
 quez at this crisis again turned the tide of events. 
 
 These men, formerly set aside through French 
 infiuence, felt a resentment which added strength 
 to their party feeling. The confidence of the Em- 
 peror in their ability once more to rally the people 
 
 245 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 about his banner, tbrougb the influence of the 
 clergy, triumphed over his indecision. Senor Lares 
 had promised him the immediate control of four 
 million dollars and of an army ready to take the 
 field. Now here were old, experienced leaders to 
 take command. 
 
 He hesitated no longer. Breaking with all de- 
 clared principles of policy, he threw himself into 
 the arms of the clerical party, and pledging himself 
 to reinstate the clergy and to return to the church 
 its confiscated property, prepared to play his last 
 hand without the French. 
 
 The marshal was anxiously awaiting the prom- 
 ised documents which were to announce the final 
 terms of abdication. Instead of these. Colonel 
 Kodolitch was sent by the Emperor to arrange the 
 preliminary details for the return of the Austro- 
 Belgian troops. The letter announcing his arrival 
 (October 31) was, moreover, sufficiently ambiguous 
 in its wording to leave Maximilian a loophole by 
 which to escape from his former declared intention. 
 The negotiations were now opened anew. A 
 meeting of the council of state was called at Jala- 
 pilla, to which the marshal was summoned, "to 
 consider the establishment of a stable government 
 to protect the interests that might be compromised," 
 etc. The French government had, however, already 
 come to an understanding with the United States, 
 and the French agents in Mexico deemed it best 
 that the marshal should not be present. 
 
 After a three days' session, the meeting at Ori- 
 zaba resulted in a plan of action calculated to bring 
 
 246 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 about a complete rupture between Maximilian and 
 his former allies. 
 
 On December 1 Maximilian issued bis official 
 manifesto, in wbicb be announced bis intention 
 to call together a national congress, and bis de- 
 termination, upon tbe representations of bis coun- 
 cil and bis ministers, to remain at tbe bead of 
 affairs. 
 
 Wben Cortez, after landing upon tbe coast of 
 Mexico, decided to burn bis sbips, be did not more 
 tborougbly cut off bis retreat tban did Maximilian 
 wben, throwing himself into the bands of tbe re- 
 actionaries, he wrote bis final letter to Marshal 
 Bazaine, and published bis manifesto. AU personal 
 relations now virtually ceased between tbe Em- 
 peror and the marshal. Official communications 
 were carried on through the president of the coun- 
 cil of state. 
 
 On the very day wben tbe imperial proclamation 
 was issued, G-eneral Sherman and Messrs. Lewis, 
 Plumb, and Campbell arrived in tbe port of Vera 
 Cruz, on board of the Susquehanna. The event 
 caused genuine surprise. 
 
 A few days before their arrival, tbe marshal had 
 received from the Marquis de Montholon a notice 
 of their departure on a mission having for its ob- 
 ject the reinstatement of tbe government of Juarez 
 without conflict with the French, the abdication of 
 Maximilian being then regarded as a fact. 
 
 G-eneral Magruder, who met tbe American en- 
 voys in Havana, reported to them that at the date 
 of his departure from Mexico, on November 1, 
 
 247 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Maximilian was on the eve of retiring ; that he had 
 been detained at Orizaba only by the arrival of 
 Grenerals Miramon and Marquez ; and that the com- 
 mon understanding was that the government had 
 been handed over to Marshal Bazaine. 
 
 The American consul, Mr. Otterburg, called upon 
 the commander-in-chief, and told him that his 
 government was acting in concert with the Tuileries 
 to restore the republic, and that Greneral Porfirio 
 Diaz was the leader into whose hands the care of 
 the capital should be transferred in order to avoid 
 possible bloodshed. He therefore urged upon the 
 marshal the expediency of inviting General Diaz 
 to advance near to the city. According to M. de 
 Keratry, Mr. Otterburg even informed him that 
 arrangements had been made with the bankers of 
 the capital to assure one month's pay to the troops 
 of the Liberal leader. This episode plainly illus- 
 trates the lack of concert and of mutual understand- 
 ing so characteristic of every attempt made at this 
 time by the French leaders at home and abroad to 
 steer out of the cruel position in which the national 
 honor had been placed. 
 
 The unlooked-for result of his negotiations was 
 a severe blow to General Castelnau. He had not 
 once been summoned to the Emperor's presence, 
 and the principal object of his mission had utterly 
 failed. The gravity of the situation, as well as its 
 annoyances, weighed upon him, and he was ill and 
 depressed. 
 
 A last attempt was made by the French repre- 
 sentatives, on December 8, to demonstrate to 
 
 248 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 Maximilian, in a joint note, the impossibility of 
 sustaining himself without the French army. 
 General ©astelnau announced to him that the re- 
 turn of the troops would take place during the first 
 months of 1867. A few days later (December 13) 
 the effect of this communication was heightened by 
 a despatch from Napoleon III, then at Compi^gne, 
 peremptorily ordering the return of the foreign 
 legion. 
 
 By the treaty of Miramar, the services of the 
 legion were insured to Maximilian for six years; 
 but what did Napoleon then care for treaties ! 
 
 Greneral Castelnau made one more personal effort 
 to save the situation. Accompanied by M. Dano ^ 
 and the Comte de St. Sauveur, he started on De- 
 cember 20 for Puebla, where Maximilian was the 
 guest of the archbishop of the diocese. 
 
 According to a note received by me from one of 
 the travelers, they were at first sanguine of success, 
 so impossible did it seem that the Emperor would 
 seriously persevere in his resolve. But although 
 they remained several days, and did their utmost 
 to win over the Emperor's Mexican advisers, nothing 
 came of this supreme attempt.'- They were reluc- 
 tantly admitted to an audience by Maximilian. In 
 
 1 A strong feeling existed his weight was east in the scales 
 
 against M. Dano, the French min- on the side of the Juarists, with 
 
 ister, who was openly accused of a view to safeguarding his Mexi- 
 
 selflshness in his policy. He had can interests, 
 married a young Mexican woman, ^ Father Fischer, it is said, was 
 
 whosejiehdowrywasderivedfrom offered thirty thousand dollars 
 
 the mines of Real del Monte, and it to urge Maximilian to abdicate 
 
 was urged by the Imperialists that (D'H6ricault, p. 39). 
 
 249 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 the course of this interview he recognized the fact 
 that he probably must leave Mexico, but declared 
 himself the best judge of the proper time for him 
 to lay down his crown, and claimed the right to 
 turn over the reins of government to the adminis- 
 tration that must succeed the empire. 
 
 Little show of good feeling existed now between 
 Napoleon's special envoy and the quartier-general. 
 Indeed, the lack of harmony was spreading to offi- 
 cers of lesser rank. Severe criticism was indulged 
 in on both sides. Never was the cynical old French 
 saying so fully borne out by fact : " Quand il n'y 
 a pas de foin au ratelier, les chevaux se battent." 
 There was no success or even honorable failure 
 possible; and the racked brains of the leaders 
 found relief in unjust blame of one another, and in 
 mutual accusations, which served only to lower the 
 plane to which the great impending disaster must 
 fall in the eyes of posterity. 
 
 The alluring mirage of a neo-Latin empire had 
 completely vanished from the Western horizon. 
 Where it had stood, the dissatisfied French army, 
 under inharmonious leaders, now saw only a heavy 
 bank of clouds and every sign of the approaching 
 storm. 
 
 It will be remembered^ that as a result of the new 
 agreement with France, signed by Maximilian July 
 30, 1866, mixed regiments had been formed with the 
 debris of the disbanded auxiliary corps and with 
 liberated French soldiers. It had originally been 
 intended to form with the Cazadores de Mejico an 
 
 See above, p. 201. 
 250 
 
GENERAL CASTELNAU. 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 effective force of fifteen thousand men, to which it 
 was planned to add ten regiments of cavalry. The 
 first of these was commanded by Colonel Lopez. 
 In December, 1866, three companies of gendarmes, 
 numbering in all some twelve hundred men, were 
 organized under Colonel Tindal. A regiment of 
 red hussars, composed of the debris of the dis- 
 banded Austrian hussars and uhlans, about seven 
 hundred men, was placed under the command of 
 Captain Khevenhiiller;^ and this, with the Aus- 
 trian regiment of Colonel Hammerstein,^ completed 
 the new organization. A large number of French- 
 men, the best of whom had been detached from the 
 military service with the official sanction of their 
 government, had thus entered the imperial army 
 and received from the Mexican government their 
 equipment and the advertised premium offered. 
 They had formed the framework and backbone of 
 the new regiments, for the equipment of which 
 Maximilian had strained every nerve, going so far 
 as to sacrifice even his own silver plate. 
 
 In the beginning of January, 1867, the marshal, 
 under orders received from Paris, issued a circular 
 withdrawing the consent of the French govern- 
 ment to these enlistments, and offering to all such 
 enlisted soldiers and officers the means of return- 
 
 1 Now Prince Kheveniiiller. as Peralvillo to the north, facing 
 
 2 Colonel Hammerstein was Guadalupe. In his defense of 
 killed in the trenches during the the latter position he was sup- 
 siege of Mexico on May 25, i867. ported by General O'Horan, who 
 He commanded the defense of the was at a later date taken and put 
 western approach to the city by to death by order of President 
 Vallejo and San Lazaro, as well Juarez. 
 
 " 2§3 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ing to France. A few days later, on the 11th, this 
 offer was extended to all French subjects, and even 
 to the Austro-Belgian auxiliaries should they wish 
 to avail themselves of it. 
 
 In his circular the marshal recalled the law 
 which deprives any Frenchman serving under a 
 foreign flag of his rights as a French citizen. This 
 placed in the position of deserters French soldiers 
 and officers who in good faith had accepted service 
 in the new Mexican army. It practically forced 
 them to break their oath of allegiance to Maxi- 
 milian, and to despoil the treasury of the premium 
 received and already spent, or to become outlaws 
 in the eyes of their own country. The false posi- 
 tion in which these men were placed was, a few 
 weeks later, cruelly emphasized when Greneral 
 Escobedo, after his victory over Miramon at San 
 Jacinto, took advantage of the legal quibble thus 
 offered him, and caused French prisoners to be shot 
 as declared outlaws under Marshal Bazaine's cir- 
 cular. Notwithstanding all this, outof the remainder 
 of the Cazadores a battalion was formed, and even- 
 tually placed under the command of Prince Salm- 
 Salm, and later under that of the Austrian com- 
 mander Pitner. These did magnificent service at 
 Queretaro.^ 
 
 After the departure of the French army, an 
 effective force of some five hundred men was or- 
 ganized of French deserters and such Frenchmen 
 as, for some cause or other, had remained in 
 Mexico. This formed a contre-gueriUa, which, 
 
 1 See below, p. 216. 
 254 
 
General Castelnau 
 
 under the orders of Cominaiidant Chenet, eventually 
 did good service in the defense of Mexico. But 
 the marshal's circular, by removing the better ele- 
 ment among the officers of the newly enrolled corps, 
 ruthlessly broke up the organization of the little 
 army of twenty thousand men so laboriously col- 
 lected by Maximilian, and became the latter's bit- 
 terest and perhaps best-founded grievance against 
 his former allies. 
 
 Urged by General Castelnau, the marshal was 
 steadily concentrating his troops. The foreign 
 representatives were fast leaving the country. 
 Unmistakable symptoms of a final collapse were 
 everywhere visible, and all who had been in any 
 way conspicuous in their sympathy with the inter- 
 vention or the empire were anxiously preparing 
 for the catastrophe. 
 
 255 
 
THE END OF THE FRENCH INTER- 
 VENTION 
 
 THE cheerfulness of the imperial capital had 
 faded away in the suspense and anxiety of the 
 moment. All wore grave, anxious faces. Those 
 who were going first were busy and bustling. The 
 Mexicans whom one met in the street looked suUen 
 and often hateful. It did not seem safe freely to 
 express one's opinions ; but thoughtful people felt 
 that the close of the intervention, if it did not carry 
 with it that of the empire, opened up possibilities 
 that one shuddered to contemplate. Young and old, 
 Mexicans and foreigners, realized that they were 
 playing a part in the opening scene of the last act 
 of a tragedy the denouement of which no one dared 
 to guess. 
 
 A serious personal problem was now before us. 
 What were we to do ? Closely connected as we had 
 been with the invaders, we could expect little favor. 
 Nor could we even depend upon the protection of 
 the United States flag, as the Imperialists would 
 for some time, at least, remain in possession of the 
 capital. Yet to leave Mexico was a serious step 
 
 256 
 
The End of the French Intervention 
 
 for us to take ; it meant abandoning considerable 
 property, and at sncb a time this meant its loss. 
 
 The matter was decided for ns at military head- 
 quarters. Our friends were clear that the future 
 was too uncertain for any one to remain who had 
 in any great degree been connected with the in- 
 tervention. AH earnestly urged us to go ; and the 
 remembrance of our early experience in Mexico 
 made us dread renewed exposure to increased 
 anxieties. 
 
 Every one was preparing for the exodus. Re- 
 mates, escorts, and other details of travel were the 
 common topics of conversation. One heard of lit- 
 tle else than of the safest and most comfortable 
 way of getting down to the coast. Bands of Lib- 
 erals were said to be everywhere closing in upon 
 the neighborhood ; and although, of course, " di- 
 plomacy" had made the retreat of the French 
 secure, some forethought must be exercised by 
 travelers in order to insure safety on the journey. 
 
 January 2 was fixed upon as the most auspicious 
 day for our departure. At this date the first de- 
 tachment of the army was to be directed toward 
 the coast, and we were to follow in its wake. 
 Moreover, all along the road word had been sent 
 to the military authorities to look after our safety 
 in their respective jurisdictions, and everything was 
 done to smooth our way. 
 
 For some evenings before our departure there was 
 a round of simple festivities in the little, colony. 
 We were to leave first, but all must scatter soon. 
 To me these entertainments seemed as lugubrious 
 
 257 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 as a prolonged " wake." It was as thougli we were 
 launching out in ttie night, and, like children in the 
 dark, we sang aloud to keep up our courage. 
 
 For several days our patio rang with the clang- 
 ing of swords, as our numerous military friends— I 
 was about to say " comrades "—came to bid us God- 
 speed and to offer their services. 
 
 On our last night in Mexico a friend gave us a 
 midnight supper, from which we were to step out 
 at three o'clock in the morning to meet the stage 
 which was ordered to stop and pick us up at the 
 corner of the Paseo. This was intended to be a 
 jolly send-off ; only our nearest friends were asked. 
 But what a mockery of mirth ! 
 
 For three mortal hours we strove to affect what 
 Henri Murger so wittily describes as the "gaiete 
 de croque-mort qui s'enterre lui-meme " ; and it was 
 a relief when the moment came to make our last 
 preparations. 
 
 The smaU party escorted us to the place where 
 we were to board the coach. Oh, the gloom of that 
 early start in the darkness of the morning ! The 
 dreariness of every one's attempt at cheerfulness ! 
 And then the approaching noise of the mules, and 
 the rumbling of the wheels, as the somber mass 
 n eared the spot where we stood in weary expec- 
 tancy. Exclamations of good will, kind wishes, a 
 pressure of the hand, a last kiss, a farewell, a lump 
 in the throat, a scurry, and a plunge into the dark 
 hole open to receive us. At last the start, and, 
 looking back, some whitish specks waving in the 
 distance against the dark, receding group of friends 
 
 258 
 
The End of the French Intervention 
 
 left behind ; and five years of my life, all the youth 
 I ever knew, were turned down and closed forever ! 
 What was before me now ? 
 
 We breakfasted at Rio Frio. Later in the day, 
 at Buena Vista, between Puebla and the capital, 
 we came upon a military encampment. It turned 
 out to be the last remnant of the Belgian corps, 
 then awaiting orders to proceed to the coast. As 
 our stage halted, we had a few words with Colonel 
 van der Smissen and other officers. There was in 
 our party a Belgian captain who was on his way 
 home. While chatting together, we saw at some 
 distance, against a background formed by the Bel- 
 gian camp, Princess Salm-Salm, in her gray-and- 
 silver uniform, sitting her horse like a female 
 centaur— truly a picturesque figure, with her white 
 couvre-nuque glistening under the tropical sun. 
 
 The colonel had just received the intelligence 
 that Maximilian, with his escort, would pass Buena 
 Vista on the morrow, making his way to the 
 capital. 
 
 Before we left Puebla, where General Douay was 
 in command, we were told that the Emperor had 
 started upon his journey to Mexico. He was es- 
 corted by a squadron of Austrian cavalry. A 
 body of French Zouaves, which was to be relieved 
 of duty upon his reaching the capital, was pro- 
 tecting the road. Besides the officers of his house- 
 hold, his physician, and his confessor, Father 
 Fischer, Maximilian had with him General Marquez 
 and his staff. 
 
 The prince was returning to the capital to pre- 
 259 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 pare for the final struggle. He was determined to 
 take his chances. These had been presented to him 
 in as hopeful a light as the imagination of his in- 
 terested councilors could place them. Now the 
 time had come when he must arouse himself to 
 action. 
 
 At Orizaba we learned that the Liberals were 
 closing in at every point upon the ever-narrowing 
 empire. The French havijig seized upon the Vera 
 Cruz custom-house in payment of the war indem- 
 nity, the only source of supply was cut off, and the 
 stress for money was terrible. The promise of fi- 
 nancial relief mysteriously held out by the new 
 cabinet had turned out to be delusive, and, it was 
 soon found, was based upon the hope of a lottery ! 
 When the time for action came, the promised mil- 
 lions melted away, and aU that the unfortunate 
 monarch could scrape together, on the eve of enter- 
 ing upon a campaign on which hung his life, was a 
 paltry fifty thousand dollars ! 
 
 The troops were moving down. A large number 
 of transports was waiting, and a fleet under Ad- 
 miral la Ronciere le Noury was in readiness to es- 
 cort the marshal and the army on the homeward 
 journey. 
 
 Upon our arrival at Vera Cruz, we stopped at 
 the Hotel de Diligencias to await the departure of 
 the next outgoing vessel to New Orleans. 
 
 Here we were immediately called upon by Colo- 
 nel Dupin, the commander of the region, who in- 
 vited us to a breakfast to be given in our honor. 
 He strongly impressed upon us the necessity of 
 
 260 
 
The End of the French Intervention 
 
 keeping indoors and avoiding exposure to the sun. 
 This did not prevent our accepting an invitation to 
 visit the Magenta, the flagship of Admiral Cloue, 
 then in the harbor; upon hearing of which the 
 colonel called again to remonstrate with us with 
 regard to what he deemed an imprudence. Having 
 been requested from headquarters to look after us, 
 he regarded us as under his care, and evidently felt 
 the burden of the responsibility. 
 
 Colonel Dupin was a picturesque figure. He was 
 already an old man when I met him, and was re- 
 garded in the army as a brilliant oflBeer of un- 
 daunted courage, but of questionable methods and 
 of almost savage harshness. 
 
 He had taken part in the Chinese war, was pres- 
 ent when the French and British allies entered 
 Peking, and had a share in the sacking of the 
 Summer Palace. He returned to France laden 
 with a rich booty, including precious objects of 
 artistic value, which he boldly exhibited for sale in 
 Paris. This was against all military traditions, 
 and in consequence Colonel Dupin's connection 
 with the army was severed. Time had elapsed 
 since this episode, however, and against Maxi- 
 milian's expressed wishes he had been sent to 
 Mexico by Napoleon himself to take command of 
 the contre-guerUla formed for the defense of the 
 coast region against the depredations of the Mexi- 
 can bands. It was a relentless warfare, in which 
 the vindictiveness of the Mexicans met with cruel 
 reprisals. The most exaggerated stories were told 
 of the brutality of the French commander, who, in 
 
 261 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 order to intimidate the inhabitants, always in 
 league with the guerrillas then infesting the region, 
 treated them as accomplices whenever outbreaks 
 occurred causing loss of life and property. This 
 treatment, if it insured the submission of the peo- 
 ple, was not likely to engender loyalty. Moreover, 
 it earned for Colonel Dupin the title of " Tigre," of 
 which, strange as it may appear, he seemed, I 
 thought, rather proud. 
 
 The French army, with the marshal, made its 
 final exit in state from the capital on February 5. 
 At the last, and in order to insure their own safety, 
 the French had surrendered the points held by 
 them directly to the Liberal leaders. 
 
 Thanks to this prudent but unchivalrous policy,^ 
 the retreat of the army was as uneventful as had 
 been the movement of concentration. The Liberal 
 forces offered no opposition, and their guerrillas 
 did not even harass the rear-guard of the retreat- 
 ing French. Several thousand men, mainly from 
 the foreign legion, however, deserted. It is said 
 that the marshal claimed them, but Greneral Mar- 
 quez replied that if he wanted them he might come 
 and fetch them. 
 
 On March 3 the marshal arrived in Vera Cruz 
 with his last detachment, having lingered on the 
 way, in the hope that the misguided Emperor 
 might reconsider his decision and still be induced 
 
 1 CommaiidaiLt Billaud was body of Liberal troops who had 
 
 censured by his superior officers taken possession of the town of 
 
 for having, in his retreat from Chalco. See D'H6ricault, Joe. c»t, 
 
 Mexico to Puebla, beaten back a p. 41. 
 
 262 
 

 COLONEL DUPIX. 
 Commander of the " Contre-CTuei-illa," District of Vera Cruz. 
 
The End of the French Intervention 
 
 to join him. Orizaba and Cordoba were already in 
 the hands of the Liberals, and all commiinication 
 with the capital had virtually been cut off. The 
 commander-in-chief, had not even heard of what 
 had taken place since his departure. 
 
 Letters from members of the marshal's staff, re- 
 ceived after we sailed from Vera Cruz, convey a 
 graphic impression of the last days of the inter- 
 vention. 
 
 From one under date of February 28, 1867, I 
 quote the following passage : 
 
 Vera Cruz is overcrowded ; many of the troops are on 
 board their transports. The marshal is expected to- 
 morrow. The Liberal army is already in Tacubaya, and 
 bands are at Tacuba and all around the valley of Mexico 
 ready to enter the capital. Every one thinks that the 
 Emperor must leave very soon. Our orders are to hurry 
 off our last detachments ; perhaps we dread lest a cry for 
 help should come from Mexico. Terrible confusion pre- 
 vails here. Lodgings have given out, and officers sleep 
 anywhere in the streets. Last night Vicomte de None 
 slept on the staircase, having secured for his wife a room 
 in which four beds were made for her, her three children, 
 her two maids, her two dogs, and her three parrots ! The 
 price for such miserable accommodations is so exorbitant 
 that everybody prefers going immediately on board. . . . 
 
 Another letter, dated March 4, says : 
 
 The marshal is as unpopular as ever with the army. 
 His methods are censured by every one. The transports 
 are here. With a better system our men might be shipped 
 as soon as they arrive in this God-forsaken hole. Instead 
 
 265 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 of tliis, however, unnecessary delay results in sickness 
 among the rank and file. According to my orderly, who 
 saw them, fifteen men were picked up this morning whom 
 the surgeons had declined to embark. . . . 
 
 And the last, from another friend, under date of 
 March 12, on board the Castiglione, says : 
 
 We sail to-day at eleven o'clock. For twenty-four 
 hours out of Vera Cruz we are to form an escort to the 
 Souverain, on board of which are the marshal and his wife, 
 in order that their Excellencies may sail out of port in 
 state. After this we will make straight for Toulon. All 
 our men are at this moment on board their transports. 
 The Mexican colors are flying over the citadel. The 
 French intervention has come to a close, and is now a 
 thing of the past. . . . 
 
 266 
 
PAET Y 
 THE END 
 
QUERETARO, 1867 
 
 THE end is known. On February 13 the Em- 
 peror, with Generals Marquez and Vidaurri, at 
 the head of a column of some two thousand men, 
 sallied forth from Mexico to establish his base of 
 operations at Quer6taro. 
 
 After his defeat at San Jacinto (January 27), Gen- 
 eral Miramon, with the remains of his army, had 
 fallen back upon Queretaro, then held by General 
 Mejla with nine hundred men, and it was urged 
 that Maximilian should there join his faithful gen- 
 erals. This plan, evolved by Senor Lares and the 
 clerical leaders, had for its ostensible object to 
 spare the capital the horrors of a siege. But it was 
 more than suspected that a certain distrust had 
 arisen between the Emperor and his Mexican sup- 
 porters. They feared lest he also might make terms 
 with the national party; and they wished, by in- 
 ducing him to leave the capital, to put it out of his 
 power to sacrifice them or their cause. Had he not 
 once before, after accepting the crown at their 
 hands, thrown himself into the arms of their ene- 
 mies by calling Liberal leaders to his councils? 
 
 269 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 However worthy in the eyes of posterity may ap- 
 pear Maximilian's attempt to reconcile opposing 
 elements in the interest of peace and order, such a 
 course was not calculated to inspire confidence in 
 his personal loyalty to the once discarded extrem- 
 ists, now become his only supporters. Miramon 
 and Marquez were not likely to forget that, in the 
 hour of triumph of the monarchy erected by their 
 hands, they had been sent, as wags then put it, one 
 to study the art of fortification in Prussia, the other 
 to watch the progress of civilization in Turkey. 
 
 It is difficult to penetrate all the hidden causes 
 that governed the extraordinary policy followed at 
 this time ; but there is little doubt that individual 
 interest and personal distrust played too large a 
 part in its adoption. However this may be, it was 
 at Queretaro that the last scene of the tragedy was 
 enacted. 
 
 The auxiliary regiments, Maximilian's most 
 trustworthy dependence in his extremity, were, by 
 the advice of Marquez, left behind. The Emperor, 
 he urged, must now throw himself entirely upon 
 the Mexican nation. Thus Colonels Kodolitch, 
 Khevenhiiller, Hammerstein, and others, remained 
 in Mexico, and only a few of the Emperor's foreign 
 supporters followed him. 
 
 General Quiroga's division was withdrawn from 
 San Luis and brought to Queretaro, while the 
 veteran division of General Mendez, who had vic- 
 toriously held Morelia and the Michoacan against 
 the forces of Generals Eegules and Corona, was 
 likewise ordered, on February 13, to abandon that 
 
 270 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 section of the country and to hasten to the Em- 
 peror's support. These leaders, with Q-enerals Mira- 
 mon, Marquez, Mejia, and Castillo, and General 
 Arellano, who commanded the artillery, were the 
 most conspicuous among the Imperialist officers 
 gathered around Maximilian at this time.^ 
 
 During the cruel weeks of mingled hope and 
 despair that had elapsed since he had left Cha- 
 pultepec, Maximilian had conquered self. Now 
 the ambitious Austrian prince, the weak tool of 
 intriguing politicians, the upholder of religious 
 and political retrogression, disappears ; and where 
 he had stood posterity will henceforth see only the 
 noble son of the Hapsburgs, the well-bred gentle- 
 man who, aware of his failure, was ready to stand 
 by it and to pay the extreme penalty of his errors. 
 
 Before the figure of Maximilian of Austria, from 
 the time when he took command of his little army 
 and resolved to stand for better or worse by those 
 who had remained faithful to his fallen fortunes, 
 all true-hearted men must bow with respect. From 
 this time forth his words and acts were noble ; and 
 in his attitude at this supreme moment, his inca- 
 pacity as a chief executive, his moral and intellec- 
 tual limitations as a man, are overlooked. We 
 forget that he was no leader when we see how well 
 he could die. 
 
 It is noteworthy that, with the exception of Gen- 
 eral Miramon, those who had most urged upon him 
 the last sacrifice were not with him to share it. 
 
 ' A. Haus, "QuerStaro: Souvenirs d'lm Officier de I'Empereur 
 Maximilien," pp. 11, 17. 
 
 15 271 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Father Fischer disappeared from the stage of his- 
 tory ahnost as abruptly as he had entered it. 
 Sefior Lares and the cabinet, who were responsible 
 for the last plan of action carried out by the Em- 
 peror, had remained in Mexico at the head of 
 affairs. General Marquez, when the republican 
 forces closed in upon the doomed empire, was sent 
 from Queretaro with General Vidaurri, under an 
 escort of cavalry led by General Quiroga, to raise 
 supplies and reinforcements. He was vested with 
 supreme authority as lieutenant of the empire, and 
 had pledged himself to return with relief within 
 twenty days. The Emperor wearily counted the 
 hours as time went by ; but, like the raven sent out 
 from Noah's ark, General Marquez found enough to 
 occupy him in the satisfaction of his own greed, 
 and was never again heard from by him who sent 
 him. 
 
 Overruling General Vidaurri, he deserted his 
 imperial master in his extremity. He used the 
 extraordinary powers given him to establish him- 
 self in the capital, where, for his own ends, he sub- 
 jected the wretched inhabitants to the most cruel 
 extortions. Routed at San Lorenzo^ by General 
 
 1 In the difflotilt retreat whicli the debris of the imperial forces, 
 followed these defeats, General now reduced to one third, to the 
 Marquez fled with a body of two capital, where the general had 
 hundred cavalry, leaving his preceded him. 
 beaten army, then pursued by It is said that this extraordi- 
 sixteen thousand men, to extri- nary conduct on the part of their 
 oate itself as best it might. Col- official leader caused the indig- 
 onel KodoUteh then assumed nant foreign officers no little con- 
 command, and fighting his way cern with regard to the future, 
 through the enemy, brought back In order to guard against shnilar 
 
 272 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 Diaz, who at once proceeded to besiege Mexico, he 
 unduly prolonged the resistance of the city after 
 the final downfall of the empire, exposing it to the 
 unnecessary hardships of a four months' siege, the 
 horrors of which were mitigated only by the gener- 
 osity and forbearance of the Liberal commander. 
 
 When at last the starving people rose in indig- 
 nation, and would stand him no longer, he sud- 
 denly vanished. It is said that on the eve of being 
 delivered into the hands of his enemies he managed 
 his escape by concealing himself in a freshly dug 
 grave. Twenty-seven years elapsed before the 
 Mexican "Leopard" dared show his face once 
 more in his native land, now transformed by the 
 triumph of the men and of the institutions against 
 which he had so desperately fought. 
 
 General Marquez, who, strangely enough, seems 
 to have enjoyed the full confidence of his sovereign, 
 had opposed with all his influence General Mira- 
 mon's desire to conduct the war aggressively and 
 to attack in detail the enemy's forces before they 
 could unite to invest Queretaro.^ 
 
 accidents, a coimcil was held by ment of danger they would re- 
 
 the foreign leaders, Colonel Kodo- gard themselves as under the 
 
 litch, Captain von Wiokemburg, orders of Colonel Kodolitch. 
 
 Captain Hammerstein, Com- They further decided, should the 
 
 manders Elickzing and Chenet, city surrender, not to share in 
 
 etc., who resolved that, although the terms of a Mexican eapitula- 
 
 it was deeply humiliating for them tion, but to make their own terms, 
 
 to serve under a general who did or, if necessary, to out their way 
 
 not blush to desert his command through to the sea. 
 
 under fire, as their service was See Charles d'HSricault, " Maxi- 
 
 needed by the Emperor they miHen et le Mexique," page 231 
 
 would retain their respective et seq. 
 
 commissions; but in the mo- ^ A. Haus, loc. cii., page 164. 
 
 273 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Gradually the republican divisions, arriving from 
 all points of the country, were allowed to concen- 
 trate, until the imperial army was completely 
 hemmed in. The heroic sorties with which the 
 weary monotony of those weeks of expectancy was 
 broken could now only result in the gradual ex- 
 haustion of the besieged and of their supplies. 
 Greneral Miramon, fretting under the restraint im- 
 posed upon him, saw the circle growing closer and 
 stronger, until it was too late to make a win- 
 ning fight. Only the energy of despair could con- 
 template a bare escape from the trap in which the 
 Imperialists were now caught. 
 
 After a siege of over two months (from March 4 
 to May 15), during which his army had been cruelly 
 depleted by frequent sorties and by the typhus 
 fever now raging in the town, having abandoned 
 all hope of relief from without, starvation staring 
 him in the face, and ammunition beginning to fail, 
 Maximilian and his still faithful generals resolved 
 to cut their way through the enemy's lines with the 
 little army, then numbering about nine thousand 
 men and thirty-nine guns. This course had been 
 urged for some time, but General Miramon, ever 
 sanguine of ultimate success, had opposed the 
 idea. 
 
 Three o'clock in the morning of May 14 was the 
 time agreed upon for the sortie. Colonel Salm-Salm 
 was to form a body-guard for the Emperor with 
 the KhevenhiiUer hussars, the cavalry under Major 
 Malburg, and the regiment of the Empress, com- 
 
 274 
 
Queretaro^ 1867 
 
 manded by Colonel Lopez.^ All was in readiness. 
 The gold and silver in the imperial treasury were 
 divided for safe-keeping among four or five trusted 
 men,^ one of whom was Colonel Lopez, military 
 commander of La Cruz, who enjoyed the confi- 
 dence of Maximilian and had just received from 
 him a decoration for valor.^ 
 
 When the generals assembled in council at ten 
 o'clock on the evening of May 13 to decide upon 
 the final details of the projected sortie. General 
 Mejia stated that his preparations were not quite 
 perfected, and it was decided to postpone the ven- 
 ture until the following night.* 
 
 At ten o'clock on the evening of May 14 the 
 generals once more assembled in council of war 
 
 1 Dr. Basch. Qoc. cit., p. 229) imperial escort •when the monarch 
 mentions fifty of the Khevenhiil- landed at Vera Cruz, and made 
 ler hussars, eventually increased himself agreeable to him. The 
 to one hundred by volunteers, and dragoons of the Empress, of which 
 eighty men were commanded by he was the commander, were re- 
 Major Malburg. Count Pachta garded as one of the best regi- 
 was lieutenant-colonel of the ments in the army. 
 
 cavalry regiment of the Empress, The man's political past, how- 
 
 of which Colonel Lopez was com- ever, did not bear investigation, 
 
 mander. These, led by Prince and when Maximilian, whose fa- 
 
 Salm-Salm, were to protect the vorite he had become, thought 
 
 Emperor during the sortie. of promoting him to the rank of 
 
 2 Colonel Lopez, Colonel Pra- general, the best among the offi- 
 dillo. Colonel Campos, Colonel cers of the imperial army re- 
 Salm-Salm, Dr. Basch, and the quested General Mendez to inform 
 Emperor's secretary, Senor Bla- the Emperor of his record. It has 
 sio. See Basch, loc. cit., p. 233. been stated that his disappointed 
 
 3 Colonel Lopez was highly hopes influenced his conduct in 
 thought of by the French, who the dark transactions through 
 had conferred upon him the red which his name has been handed 
 ribbon of the Legion of Honor, down to lasting infamy. 
 
 He was appointed to act on the * Salm-Salm, loc. cit. 
 
 277 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 "with, a view to arranging for the coining conflict; 
 but again the execution of the project was post- 
 poned twenty-four hours. 
 
 It was past eleven o'clock when Colonel Lopez 
 left the Emperor's room after talking over with his 
 sovereign certain details connected with the ser- 
 vice. Before he went out MaximUian asked him, 
 should he be wounded in the sortie, to prevent his 
 capture by blowing out his brains.^ 
 
 The Imperialist leaders had returned to their 
 respective quarters. The Emperor, however, was 
 ill with dysentery ; the excitement of the approach- 
 ing conflict kept him awake, and he did not retire 
 tiU one o'clock. At 3 he was seized with violent 
 pain, and sent for his physician. A profound 
 stillness reigned over La Cruz as the doctor passed 
 through its corridors, and no sign of the impend- 
 ing catastrophe attracted his attention. 
 
 But the angel of death was even then hovering 
 over the group of brave men gathered within the 
 walls of the old convent on that fateful night. 
 The coming hours were pregnant with tragedy. At 
 this very moment, destiny was at work ruthlessly 
 clipping the threads of the web so painfully woven 
 by them, and upon which hung their lives. 
 
 At 2 A. M. a young officer of artillery. Lieuten- 
 ant Albert Haus,^ to whose special care his supe- 
 rior officer had intrusted the handling of two pieces 
 which, in the plan laid for the intended sortie, were 
 to defend the entrance of the huerta, or garden, of 
 
 1 Basoh, loc. cit., p. 233. d'ua Oflicier de TEmpereur Masi- 
 
 '' See "Quer6taro: Souvenirs milieu" (Paris, 1869). 
 
 278 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 La Cruz, was awakened, as previously arranged, 
 by liis old sergeant, as lie slept, wrapped in his 
 zarape, by tbe side of his battery. 
 
 For a while he paced np and down the platform, 
 trying to overcome his drowsiness, as he took up 
 his watch, and finally he sat down on one of the 
 guns, feverishly awaiting the signal to prepare for 
 the coming struggle; for he was unaware of any 
 change in the orders given. 
 
 Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps coming to- 
 ward him, and Colonel Lopez, recognizable in the 
 dark by his uniform embroidered in silver, stood 
 before him, followed at a short distance by a body 
 of soldiers. Pointing to these, he said : " Here is 
 a reinforcement of infantry. Arouse your artillery- 
 men ; have this gun taken out of its embrasure and 
 turned obliquely to the left— quickly." 
 
 Believing that the time for the sortie had come, 
 the lieutenant promptly called his men, while 
 Colonel Lopez stood by impatiently, upbraiding in 
 forcible terms the old sergeant, who, just aroused 
 from his first sleep, was slow to obey. After 
 repeating his orders, he hastily withdrew. 
 
 The lieutenant was surprised at the strange in- 
 structions given him, and although he reflected 
 that the colonel must have good reasons for the 
 command, — probably some cause to fear an attack 
 on this point,— he instinctively felt a misgiving. 
 
 The platoon of infantry brought by Colonel 
 Lopez had taken its stand behind the battery. 
 After carrying out the colonel's orders, the lieu- 
 tenant looked for his sword and his zarape, left by 
 
 279 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 him on the ground where he had lain. They were 
 missing. Suspecting the newcomers, he called 
 their officer's attention to the fact. Then for the 
 first time he noticed the strange demeanor of his 
 new companions. The officer was utterly unknown 
 to him. He seemed uncommunicative. There was 
 something particularly unfamiliar in the men's 
 appearance. Yet as a number of companies in the 
 imperial army had been formed with city recruits 
 or even with prisoners taken in the sorties during 
 the siege, this alone would not have warranted 
 serious suspicion. But when one of his artillery- 
 men came up to him excitedly and complained that 
 his musket had been taken from him, and when 
 this complaint was promptly followed by another, 
 he again went to the officer and inquired to what 
 corps he and his men belonged. Without a mo- 
 ment's hesitation the stranger answered that he 
 formed part of General Mendez's brigade. 
 
 Lieutenant Haus had long served in this brigade 
 and knew all its officers. His doubts were at once 
 aroused. The conviction gradually grew upon him 
 that something unusual was taking place, and again 
 he begged the officer to tell him the real cause of 
 his presence at this post. The man answered that 
 news had come that one of the battalions of the 
 garrison of La Cruz had agreed to betray the place, 
 but that fortunately the conspiracy had been dis- 
 covered, and that all the posts were now being 
 changed. This story tallied with the haste and 
 peculiar manner of Colonel Lopez, the comman- 
 der of the place, as well as with the unusual 
 
 280 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 stir now visible farther along the line toward the 
 pantheon. Anxious, however, to get at the truth, 
 the lieutenant resolved to join the colonel, and 
 asked the of&cer the direction which he had taken. 
 The stranger silently pointed toward the pantheon. 
 
 As the lieutenant proceeded to descend from the 
 terrace, a sentry, hitherto unnoticed, roughly 
 stopped him, crying, " Halt, there ! " The man 
 evidently had his orders, and the lieutenant turned 
 to the strange officer, requesting him to suspend 
 them in his favor. The latter, however, evaded the 
 question. This irritated him, and noticing just 
 then a man holding one of the missing muskets, he 
 attempted to tear it away from him, whereupon 
 the soldier attacked him with his bayonet, and 
 things might have gone hard with Lieutenant Haus 
 had not the strange officer interfered. 
 
 " But," exclaimed the young man, " will you tell 
 me what on earth is going on here?" "Do not 
 worry," reiterated the strange officer. " The truth 
 is that we are part of G-eneral Quiroga's brigade. 
 We have just returned from Mexico with Greneral 
 Marquez to relieve the place." 
 
 The palpable falsehood was enough to excite the 
 young man's worst fears. Greneral Quiroga, it was 
 well known, had left his infantry at Queretaro. 
 Moreover, it was quite impossible for troops to 
 enter the closely besieged place without being heard 
 and recognized by the besiegers. Something like 
 the truth flashed through his brain. And yet how 
 was he to account for the presence and words of 
 Colonel Lopez, whose interest, as well as every tie 
 
 281 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 of duty and gratitude, must bind him to the Em- 
 peror ? In Ms bewilderment he exclaimed : " Amid 
 so many falsehoods, I suspect treason." After a 
 moment's hesitation the strange officer replied: 
 "Have no fear, senor; you are in the hands of 
 the regular army. We are not guerrilleros ; we 
 belong to the battalion of the supremos poderes of 
 the republic." 
 
 For a moment the lieutenant stood petrified. 
 The whole truth, in all its hideousness, burst upon 
 him. The enemy was in possession of the place. 
 "What horrors would come next ? And yet, Colonel 
 Lopez— was it a hallucination? Could he have 
 mistaken his identity in the darkness of the night ? 
 He called the old sergeant and asked him if he had 
 recognized the colonel. "Yes," replied the ser- 
 geant, who, having been roughly handled by their 
 superior officer, had good reason to remember. 
 
 " But then," cried the young man, beside himself, 
 now that the terrors of the situation dawned upon 
 his understanding, " he must be a traitor ! He is 
 going to deliver up the Emperor ! " 
 
 "Are you only now finding this out?" sadly 
 queried the old soldier. 
 
 Lieutenant Haus once more turned to the strange 
 officer. "Then," he asked, "it is Colonel Lopez 
 who introduced you here ? " 
 
 " Certainly," he replied. And, smiling : " But, I 
 repeat it, you need have no fear. We are of the 
 regular army. No harm will c'ome to you." 
 
 He looked toward La Cruz, the improvised 
 stronghold where the Emperor had his headquar- 
 
 282 
 
BON PEDRO RINGON GALLARDO. 
 A commander in the Liberal army. 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 ters, hoping to see some sign of a struggle— the 
 flash, of a musket, the noise of resistance, a move- 
 ment, a signal. But no. The dark mass of the 
 convent building detached itself with imposing 
 grandeur against the night sky, and silence reigned 
 everywhere. 
 
 He was a prisoner. The Juarists were in Que- 
 retaro, and treason even then was stealthily com- 
 pleting its loathsome task of destruction without 
 his being able to give one word of warning to its 
 victims. 
 
 The mysterious officer, guessing his thoughts, 
 said quietly: "The whole convent is already in 
 our power. Tour emperor must be taken even 
 now." 
 
 At this moment Captain Gontron, a Frenchman, 
 appeared upon the scene, seemingly free, but in a 
 towering rage. 
 
 " I wish," he said, " that you, ;,who can speak 
 Spanish better than I, would ask these black devils 
 who have just come to relieve me at the pantheon 
 why my zarape and my sword have disappeared. 
 I believe they have stolen them. Anyhow, who are 
 these filibusters that Colonel Lopez has brought 
 here ? If my sword does not turn up in five min- 
 utes, I wiU smash in the face of their rascally com- 
 mander, who is anything but civil." 
 
 The captain spoke in French, fiercely twisting 
 his mustache. At any other time the humorous 
 side of the situation must have struck the lieuten- 
 ant, but just then he felt little inclination for mirth. 
 He thereupon explained to the captain that they 
 
 285 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 were prisoners, and that Colonel Lopez had intro- 
 duced the enemy into the place. 
 
 The Frenchman for a while stood speechless ; then 
 recovering his speech with his philosophy, he said : 
 " After all, it had to come to an end somehow^ 
 
 As he spoke, a Juarist officer, with a detachment 
 at his heels, rushed upon the terrace and ordered a 
 gun turned upon the convent. His orders were 
 that the artillerymen be made to serve the battery. 
 Should they demur, they must be shot down. As 
 for the captain and the lieutenant, they were to be 
 conducted under escort before Greneral Velez, who 
 was then in the convent. They were made to start 
 at once. 
 
 Upon arriving near La Cruz, they saw a repub- 
 lican battalion entering the edifice. At every mo- 
 ment they expected to hear firing. But no one 
 seemed aware of what was going on. Nothing 
 broke the oppressive stillness save the duU sound 
 of the tread of the enemy's detachments as they 
 quietly marched along, and the quick orders whis- 
 pered by the officers in the silence of the night. 
 
 Failing to find General Velez, the escort marched 
 the prisoners back to the garden. Day was dawning. 
 Upon reaching the garden they met Colonel Gruz- 
 man, who had just been made prisoner. 
 
 The unusual incidents which had accompanied 
 Colonel Lopez's betrayal had not remained wholly 
 unobserved. It has been stated ^ that at 1 : 30 a. m. 
 Colonel Tinajero, on watch at the convent heights, 
 had come to headquarters and reported an unusual 
 
 1 By M. Charles d'H6ricault, loc. cit., p. 252. 
 286 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 stir in the enemy's camp. The same writer adds 
 that, later on, another officer had come to report 
 that the Juarists seemed to be entering La Cruz. 
 He was laughed at for his pains. How could such 
 a thing take place without a single shot being fired ? 
 
 Colonel Manuel Guzman, a member of the Em- 
 peror's staff, however, thought it wise personally 
 to look into the matter. He went down into the 
 court of the convent, intending to visit the out- 
 posts. Here his progress was barred by the enemy. 
 He was forthwith arrested and placed under the 
 same escort as Lieutenant Haus and Captain Gon- 
 tron, who, in a few words, told him what had hap- 
 pened. The colonel's face grew ashy. "Impossi- 
 ble ! " he said ; " what you tell me is impossible." ^ 
 
 The prisoners now stood again upon the terrace 
 which three hours before had been guarded by the 
 men of the command of Colonel Jablonski, the 
 friend and accomplice of Colonel Lopez. They 
 were led across to the other side and made to pass 
 down some hastily disposed steps of adobe bricks, 
 the recent origin of which was obvious. It was 
 clearly at this point that the enemy had entered 
 the place. A few moments more, and they were 
 out of Queretaro, marching between a double hedge 
 of republican bayonets, disposed as though expect- 
 ing a long line of prisoners. 
 
 At 5 A. M. Dr. Basch and Prince Salm-Salm were 
 each abruptly startled out of a sound sleep, the 
 first by Colonel Jablonski, the second by Colo- 
 
 i I here follow Lieutenant Haus's narrative, as it is based upon 
 personal experience. Loc. cit., p. 284. 
 
 287 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 nel Lopez. Having completed their preparations 
 beyond the possibility of failure, the traitors now 
 wished, if practicable, to conceal from their victims 
 their contemptible share in the dastardly affair. 
 
 Prince Salm-Salm dressed hastily, and after 
 sending word by the doctor to Captain Fiirsten- 
 warther to order out his hussars, he ran to the Em- 
 peror's apartments. No imperial troops were to be 
 seen. It was evident that the garrison of the place 
 had been removed. 
 
 As Maximilian, his minister, Greneral CastOlo, 
 and his secretary came forth to inquire into what 
 had happened, they found themselves face to face 
 with the Liberal colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo, 
 who, with his command, was already in possession 
 of the place. With him was Colonel Lopez. The 
 Liberal colonel recognized the fallen Emperor ; but, 
 perhaps foreseeing the terrible complications in- 
 volved in his capture, he feigned ignorance of his 
 identity, and said to his men, " Let them pass, they 
 are civilians " (" Que passen, son paisanos "), thus 
 giving him a chance for his life. 
 
 Shortly afterward, having reached the street, 
 Maximilian was endeavoring, by issuing orders 
 to his scattered officers, to coUect his remaining 
 forces on the Cerro de las Campanas, where he 
 hoped to make a last stand, when he was joined by 
 Colonel Lopez, whom, according to Prince Salm- 
 Salm, no one as yet suspected of being the author 
 of the infamy. The colonel had come to persuade 
 the prince to conceal himself ; and as they talked, 
 his horse was unexpectedly brought to him, ready 
 
 288 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 for flight. It would therefore seem that in betray- 
 ing his master's cause the wretched man had not 
 planned his personal destruction. 
 
 As the betrayed men continued their progress 
 through the streets, on their way to the cerro, they 
 saw coming toward them a battalion of the enemy ; 
 and among the officers riding at their head again 
 was Colonel Lopez. Upon seeing the Emperor, they 
 slackened their pace, and once more he was allowed 
 to pursue his way. 
 
 Had he cared to avail himself of the opportu- 
 nities afforded him then, it is possible that, like 
 Generals Arellano, Gutierrez, and others, he might 
 have succeeded in escaping from Queretaro. But 
 noblesse oblige: an admiral does not desert his 
 ship or its crew. Maximilian remained at his 
 post. 
 
 At last the cerro was reached, and here the last 
 disappointment awaited him. Instead of his army, 
 only a battalion occupied the place, and, singly or 
 in groups, the deserted leaders assembled, unable to 
 rally their men. 
 
 General Mendez had accepted the shelter of a 
 friend's roof. The latter, acting, it is said, in con- 
 cert with a member of his staff, sold him to General 
 Escobedo.^ 
 
 1 It was Greneral Mendez who, in nists. He was condemned at 
 
 October, 1865, had carried out the once, and, as a traitor, was shot 
 
 provisions of the Bando Negro May 19, with his back to the four 
 
 in executing Generals Salazar soldiers who carried out the sen- 
 
 and Arteaga and their com- tence. Struck with four bullets, 
 
 panions. He could therefore but not killed, the general arose, 
 
 expect no mercy from bis antago- and turning to the men, begged 
 
 289 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 Q-eneral Miramon, the man of action, always 
 hopeful to the very last, was still attempting to 
 muster what troops he might for a last effort, when 
 at the corner of a street he unexpectedly was faced 
 by a detachment of the enemy's cavalry. The com- 
 manding officer drew a revolver and shot him, the 
 bullet entering the right cheek and coming out near 
 his ear. The wounded chief then sought refuge in 
 the house of a friend— who delivered him to his 
 enemies that afternoon ! 
 
 In the bright sunlight of the May morning there 
 suddenly burst forth upon the air, already vibrating 
 with the noise of the unequal conflict, a peal of 
 beUs from the convent of La Cruz. This was the 
 signal of the success of the conspiracy, agreed upon 
 with the besiegers ; and from the lines of the Lib- 
 eral army the clarions rang in wild, exultant strains. 
 Then the dense masses of the enemy's regiments 
 marched forth ; and as they approached, the doomed 
 leaders saw their own followers go over and join 
 them. 
 
 Hemmed in upon the cerro with a few faithful 
 followers, every hope passed away. No help came. 
 It was now impossible, with so feeble a force, to 
 cut their way through the lines of the Liberals, and 
 from every side the enemy poured fire upon the 
 devoted band. 
 
 A flag of truce was sent, and Colonel Echegaray, 
 on behalf of the Juarists, came to receive the Em- 
 
 that he be despatohed. A cor- soldier. Always victorious, he 
 poral then stepped forward and was beloved by his men and was 
 mercifully blew out his brains, highly spoken of by the French 
 General Mendez was a courageous in Mexico. 
 
 290 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 peror as prisoner. At the latter's request, he was 
 taken forthwith to General Escobedo's presence. 
 To him he surrendered his sword. 
 
 He was then turned over to General Eiva-Palacio, 
 who showed him every courtesy, and had him in- 
 carcerated in his old quarters at the convent of La 
 Cruz. Here he was visited by some Liberal officers, 
 among others by Colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo and 
 his brother Don Pedro, the former of whom spoke 
 to him in contemptuous terms of the treason of 
 Colonel Lopez. "Such men are used, and then 
 kicked," he said. 
 
 By ten o'clock all was over. The Mexican 
 empire, inaugurated with so much pomp and glit- 
 ter exactly three years before, had wearily reached 
 a miserable ending. The curtain then falling upon 
 its closing scene was a death-pall ; and of the young 
 sovereigns who only a short time before had re- 
 garded themselves as the anointed of Heaven, sent 
 by a higher power to strengthen the church and 
 to uphold the principles of monarchy, one had 
 gone mad, and the other now stood an expiatory 
 victim about to be offered up to republican resent- 
 ment. 
 
 It would seem that Maximilian had at first no 
 thought that his life was in peril. This is shown 
 by his attempts to make terms with General Esco- 
 bedo on behaK of his foreign followers, requesting 
 that they and himself should be safely conducted 
 to the coast and embarked ; in exchange for which 
 he pledged himself nevermore to interfere in Mexi- 
 can affairs, and to issue orders for the disarma- 
 " 293 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 ment and immediate surrender of all strongholds 
 now in tlie power of Ms followers. 
 
 Soon, however, he was removed to the convent 
 of the Capuchins, where he could be more securely 
 guarded ; and the feeling began to grow that he 
 must pay with his life for his brief enjoyment of 
 the Mexican crown. 
 
 Brought up for trial on June 13 before a military 
 tribunal composed of six captains and one lieuten- 
 ant-colonel, which held its court on the stage of a 
 public theater, he was ably defended by Mexico's 
 foremost lawyers, Messrs. Mariano Riva-Palacio, 
 Martinez de la Torre, Eulalio Ortega, and Jesus- 
 Maria Vazquez ; but his doom was already sealed. 
 On June 14, at eleven o'clock at night, he was sen- 
 tenced to death. 
 
 Every effort was made by his lawyers and by the 
 foreign representatives whom he had summoned to 
 his side to obtain from the republican government 
 a mitigation of the sentence. The Queen of Eng- 
 land, the government of the United States, begged 
 for mercy. Baron Magnus, Baron Lago, and M. 
 de Hoorickx, in the names of the European mon- 
 archs allied to the prince by ties of relationship, 
 moved heaven and earth to influence the president. 
 Princess Salm-Salm cleverly used every means in 
 a woman's power to accomplish the same end. In 
 vain. 
 
 President Juarez could well afford to be mag- 
 nanimous ; but under the existing social conditions 
 in Mexico, who, knowing all the facts, could blame 
 if stern justice was allowed to take its course! 
 
 294 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 When Maximilian remained to carry on the civil 
 war on factional lines, after the French, recognizing 
 their mistake, had retired from the country, he 
 placed himself, if taken, within the reach of the law. 
 The people were then rising in arms, ready to drive 
 out the empire. By his own act he deprived him- 
 self of the only excuse which he could logically 
 offer for his presence in the country, namely, that 
 in good faith he had accepted a crown offered him 
 by what might be regarded as the suffrage of the 
 nation, under conditions with the creating of which 
 he had nothing to do. He was now only the fac- 
 tional leader of a turbulent and defeated minority. 
 
 Moreover, only a few months before, when Gen- 
 eral Miramon's briUiant coup de main of January 27, 
 at Zacatecas, had come near to delivering into his 
 hands the president of the republican government, 
 Maximilian's instructions to his lieutenant, in an- 
 ticipation of such a contingency, were to bring the 
 republican leaders to trial, if caught, according to 
 his too famous decree, but to refer the execution of 
 the sentence to his imperial sanction. His official 
 letter to this effect had fallen into the hands of 
 President Juarez after the defeat of General Mira- 
 mon at San Jacinto, which so speedily followed. It 
 is open to doubt whether, in such an event. General 
 Marquez, then aU-powerful, would have allowed 
 the Emperor to display mercy. 
 
 All hope of obtaining a commutation of the sen- 
 tence now at an end, the energies of his friends 
 were turned toward effecting his escape. Three 
 officers were bribed by Prince Salm-Salm, and 
 
 295 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 steps were taken to provide the necessary disguise 
 and conveyance for the party. The plan was to 
 make for the Sierra Gorda, whence Tuzpan could 
 be reached. From this point the party could pro- 
 ceed to Vera Cruz, then still holding out against 
 the Juarists. The Austrian frigate Elizabeth, under 
 Captain von Groeller, was at anchor in the port, 
 awaiting the prince's pleasure. 
 
 The project had been seriously complicated by 
 the positive refusal on the part of Maximilian to 
 fly without Generals Miramon and Mejia. All 
 details, however, were at last satisfactorily settled, 
 and the night of June 2 was fixed for the attempt. 
 On this night the officers whose good will had been 
 secured were to be on guard, and the plot seemed 
 easy of execution. But once more the innate in- 
 decision of Maximilian's character interfered. For 
 some trivial cause he postponed the venture, and 
 thus lost his last opportunity. Too many were in 
 the secret for it to remain one. Some one made 
 disclosures, which reached the ears of the authori- 
 ties, and led to the complete isolation of the prince 
 from his followers ; and although another effort was 
 afterward made, the surveillance was now so close, 
 and the conditions had grown so difficult, that it 
 also came to naught. 
 
 On June 15 tidings of the Empress Charlotte's 
 death reached Queretaro. General Mejla, who was 
 the first to hear it, broke it to Maximilian. While 
 it stirred the very depths of his nature, this false 
 information proved a help to him in his last mo- 
 ments. The bitterness of leaving his unfortunate 
 
 296 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 wife in her helpless condition was thus spared 
 him. "One tie less to bind me to the world," 
 he said. 
 
 The execution had been fixed for June 16. At 
 eleven o'clock on that day sentence was read to the 
 condemned, who were told that it would be carried 
 into effect at three o'clock on the same afternoon. 
 
 Maximilian received the intelligence calmly, and 
 devoted the following hours, which he deemed his 
 last, to dictating letters to Dr. Basch and to his 
 Mexican secretary, Senor Blasio.^ He then con- 
 fessed to Padre Soria and heard mass in General 
 Miramon's chamber, where the condemned men re- 
 ceived the last sacraments, after which he signed 
 his letters and took leave of those about him. In 
 removing his wedding-ring and handing it to Dr. 
 Basch, he said: "Tou will tell my mother that I 
 did my duty as a soldier and died like a Christian." 
 After this he quietly awaited death. 
 
 1 One of these letters, written return of my servants to Europe, 
 to Senor Don Carlos Eubio, reads The settlement of the loan will 
 as follows : be made by my relatives either 
 
 through any European house that 
 
 "FuU of confidence, I come to yo„ m^y name or by drafts sent 
 you, being completely without to Mexico. The physician above 
 money, to obtain the sum neces- alluded to will make all necessary 
 sary for the carrying out of my arrangements, 
 last wishes. It will be returned " Thanking you in advance for 
 to you by my European relatives, this favor, I send you farewell 
 whom I have constituted my greetings, and wishing you happi- 
 heiis. ness, 
 
 " I wish my body taken back to " I am yours, 
 
 Europe near that of the Empress ; "Maximilian. 
 
 I intrust the details to my physi- "QuEEfiTAEO, 16 June, 1867." 
 cian. Dr. Basch ; you will supply 
 
 him with funds for the embalming Compare S. Basch, " Maxi- 
 and transportation, and for the milien au Mexique," p. 296. 
 
 299 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 The appointed hour passed, however, without his 
 being summoned to execution. After prolonged 
 suspense, at four o'clock in the afternoon news 
 arrived that a reprieve of three days had been 
 granted by the president, in order that the con- 
 demned might make their last dispositions. 
 
 This unexpected delay ^ naturally aroused hopes 
 
 THE CALVAEY OP QUEE^TABO, SHOWING WHERE MAXIMILIAN, 
 MEjfA, AND MIRAMON WERE SHOT. 
 
 among the friends of the doomed men. These 
 hopes, it is said by those closest to him at that 
 time, were not shared by Maximilian. He con- 
 tinued his preparations with the calm dignity 
 that had not once forsaken him ; but he sent a tele- 
 gram to the national government, asking that the 
 lives of Q-enerals Miramon and Mejia, "who had 
 already undergone aU the anguish of death, be 
 spared," and that he might be the only victim. The 
 request was denied.^ 
 
 1 It is stated by Domenecli tkat that delay might bring some 
 this reprieve was granted at the re- chance of life to the condemned, 
 questof Baron Magnus, who hoped ^ gg also wrote to President 
 
 300 
 

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 ai *iii« 
 
 
QuerStaro, 1867 
 
 After making this supreme effort on behalf of 
 his generals, he employed his remaining hours in 
 dictating letters, and when night came he slept 
 soundly. 
 
 On the morning of his execution (June 19) he arose 
 at three o'clock, and dressed carefully. At four 
 o'clock Padre Soria came, and once more gave him 
 the last sacraments ; an altar had been erected for 
 this purpose in a niche formed by a passageway to 
 his cell. 
 
 This religious duty having been performed, he 
 gave instructions to Dr. Basch, sending greetings 
 and last tokens to friends. At a quarter before 
 six he breakfasted ; and when, on the stroke of six, 
 the ofl&cer appeared who was to lead him to exe- 
 cution, he was ready, and himself called his com- 
 panions in death. Three hacks had been provided 
 for the condemned. The prince entered the first 
 with the priest, and, escorted by the soldiery, the 
 mournfid procession moved through a dense crowd 
 to the place of execution. 
 
 Juarez, under date of June 19, solemnly— witli that sincerity pe- 
 as follows : euliar to the hour at which I have 
 " M. Benito Juarez : About to arrived— I beg of you, let my 
 die for having tried whether new blood be the last spilled, and pur- 
 institutions could put an end to sue the noble course which you 
 the bloody war which has for so have chosen with the perseverance 
 many years disturbed this un- (I recognized it even when in pros- 
 happy land, I should gladly give perity) with which you defended 
 my life if the sacrifice could con- the cause that now at last tri- 
 tribute to the peace and pros- umphs through your efforts, 
 perity of my adopted country. Reconcile factions, establish a 
 Profoimdly convinced that no- durable peace based upon solid 
 thing durable can be produced principles." 
 from a soil drenched with blood See Dr. Basch, " Maximilien au 
 and shaken by violence, I pray you Mexique," p. 303. 
 
 303 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 On arriving at the Cerro de las Campanas, wliere 
 a month before he had made his last stand, the 
 fallen Emperor looked about him for a friendly 
 face, and finding only his servant, the Hungarian 
 Tudos, he asked, " Is no one else here ? " It is said, 
 however, that Baron Magnus, the Prussian minis- 
 ter, and the Consul Bahnsen were present, although 
 out of sight. 
 
 THE HACK IN WHICH MAXIMILIAN WAS TAKEN TO THE PLACE OF 
 EXECUTION. 
 
 The good priest weakened under the ordeal ; he 
 felt faint, and the prince held his own smeUing- 
 bottle to his nose. 
 
 Followed by Generals Miramon and Mejia, Maxi- 
 milian walked toward the open square, where an 
 adobe wall had been erected, against which they 
 were expected to stand. About to take his position 
 in the middle, Maximilian stopped, and turning to 
 General Miramon, said : " A brave soldier should 
 be honored even in his last hour ; permit me to give 
 you the place of honor"; and he made way for 
 him. 
 
 An officer and seven men had been detailed to 
 304 
 
Qtieretaro, 1867 
 
 do the deadly work. The prince gave each of the 
 soldiers a piece of gold, asking them to aim care- 
 fully at his heart ; and taking off his hat, he said : 
 " Mexicans, may my blood be the last to be spilled 
 for the "welfare of the country ; and if it should be 
 necessary that its sons should still shed theirs, may 
 it flow for its good, but never by treason. Long 
 live independence ! Long live Mexico ! " ^ 
 
 He then laid his hands on his breast, and looked 
 straight before him. Five shots fired at short range 
 pierced his body; each of them was mortal. He 
 fell, and as he still moved, the officer in charge 
 pointed to his heart with his sword, and a soldier 
 stepped forward and fired a last shot. 
 
 The physician who afterward examined the re- 
 mains, preparatory to embalmment, could not find 
 a single buUet ; all had gone through the body, and 
 it was his opinion that death must have been al- 
 most instantaneous, and that the movements ob- 
 served were convulsive.^ 
 
 The bodies of the two generals were given to 
 their families. That of Maximilian, inclosed in a 
 common coffin, was placed in the chapel of the con- 
 
 1 " Que me sangre sea la liltima Reyes, who was present, to Dr. 
 
 que se derrame en sacrificio &, la Basch. Loc. cit., p. 308. 
 
 patria; y si fuese neoessario al- 2 Dj.. Basch says: "The head 
 
 gunos de sus hijos, sea para el was free from wounds. Of the 
 
 bien de la naeion, y nunca en six shots received in the body, 
 
 traicion de ella." Other versions three had struck the abdomen, 
 
 of his last words have been given, and three the breast almost in a 
 
 but that given above seems the straight line. The shots were 
 
 most authentic, not only from in- fired at shortest range, and the 
 
 trinsic probability, but from the six bullets so perforated the body 
 
 fact that it was given, shortly after that not a single one was found, 
 
 the execution, by the Mexican Dr. " The three wounds in the chest 
 
 305 
 
Maximilian in Mexico 
 
 vent of the Capuchins, and delivered up to the 
 doctor. 
 
 As President Juarez insisted upon an official 
 request, made in due form by the Austrian govern- 
 ment, before delivering the remains, much delay 
 occurred in the carrying out of the unfortunate 
 prince's wishes with regard to them. 
 
 At last, on November 1, the coffin containing the 
 body of Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, Archduke 
 of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, Count 
 of Hapsburg, Prince of Lorraine, Emperor of 
 Mexico, was handed over to Admiral Tegetthoff, 
 who had been sent on a special mission to receive 
 it, and left the capital with a cortege composed of 
 his staff and an escort of one hundred cavalry. 
 
 On November 26 the Novara, with all that re- 
 mained of the Emperor, left the Mexican shore, 
 where only three years before he had landed in all 
 the pride of power and the hopefulness of ambitious 
 youth. The news of his execution sent a painful 
 thrill through the civilized world. By one of those 
 cruel ironies which fate seems to affect, it reached 
 France on the day of the formal distribution of prizes 
 at the International Exposition. Paris, in its splen- 
 dor, was throwing open its gates to all the nations 
 of the earth; the crowned heads and leaders of 
 
 were mortal : one had reached the Emperor, giving anew the word 
 
 heart, the two ventricles; the of command to 'fire,' could not 
 
 second had cut the great arteries ; have been pronounced. The mo- 
 
 the third had gone through the tions of his hands must have been 
 
 right lung. From the nature of the convulsive motions which, 
 
 the wounds the death-struggle according to physiological laws, 
 
 must have been very brief, and the accompany death caused by sud- 
 
 poetic words attributed to the den hemorrhage." 
 
 306 
 
Queretaro, 1867 
 
 Europe had accepted the hospitality of Napoleon 
 III; and all outward appearances combined to 
 make this the most brilliant occasion of his reign. 
 But the flash-light and noise of French fireworks 
 were unable to drown in men's hearts the dull echo 
 of those distant shots fired on the Cerro de las 
 Campanas. Nemesis was near, and only a short 
 time after Queretaro, Sedan, Metz, and Chiselhurst 
 were inscribed in gloomy sequence upon the pages 
 of history. 
 
 >:SS^.. 
 
 MONUMENTS MARKING THE PLACE OP EXECUTION. 
 
 307 
 
APPENDIX A 
 
 THE BANDO NEGRO (BLACK DECREE) PROCLAMATION 
 OP EMPEROR MAXDVULIAN, OCTOBER 3, 1865 
 
 Mexicans: The cause sustained by D. Benito Juarez 
 with so much valor and constancy had already succumbed, 
 not only before the national will, but before the very law 
 invoked by him in support of his claims. To-day this 
 cause, having degenerated into a faction, is abandoned by 
 the fact of the removal of its leaders from the country's 
 territory. 
 
 The national government has long been indulgent, and 
 has lavished its clemency in order that men led astray or 
 ignorant of the true condition of things might still unite 
 with the majority of the nation and return to the path of 
 duty. The desired result has been obtained. Men of 
 honor have rallied around the flag and have accepted the 
 just and liberal principles which guide its policy. Dis- 
 order is now only kept up by a few leaders swayed by 
 their unpatriotic passions, by demoralized individuals 
 unable to rise to the height of political principle, and bj' 
 an unruly soldiery such as ever remains the last and sad 
 vestige of civil wars. 
 
 Henceforth the struggle must be between the honorable 
 men of the nation and bands of brigands and evil-doers. 
 The time for indulgence has gone by : it would only en- 
 courage the despotism of bands of incendiaries, of thieves, 
 of highwaymen, and of murderers of old men and defense- 
 less women. 
 
 309 
 
Appendix A 
 
 The government, strong in its power, wDl henceforth 
 be inflexible in meting out punishment when the laws of 
 civilization, humanity, or morality demand it. 
 
 Mexico, October 2, 1865. 
 
 Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico : Our Council of Min- 
 isters and our Council of State having been heard, we 
 decree : 
 
 Article I. All individuals forming a part of armed 
 bands or bodies existing without legal authority, whether 
 or not proclaiming a political pretext, whatever the number 
 of those forming such band, or its organization, character, 
 and denomination, shall be judged militarily by the 
 courts martial. If found guilty, even though only of the 
 fact of belonging to an armed band, they shall be con- 
 demned to capital punishment, and the sentence shall be 
 executed within twenty-four hours. 
 
 Article II. Those who, forming part of the bands 
 mentioned in the above article, shall have been taken 
 prisoners in combat shall be judged by the of&cer com- 
 manding the force into the power of which they have fallen. 
 It shall become the duty of said oflcer within the twenty- 
 four hours following to institute an inquest, hearing the 
 accused in his own behalf. Upon this inquest a report 
 shall be drawn and sentence shall be passed. The pain of 
 death shall be pronounced against offenders even if only 
 found guilty of belonging to an armed band. The chief 
 shall have the sentence carried into execution within 
 twenty-four hours, — being careful to secure to the con- 
 demned spiritual aid,— after which he will address the 
 report to the Minister of "War. 
 
 Article III. Sentence of death shall not be imposed 
 upon those who, although forming part of a band, can 
 prove that they were coerced into its ranks, or upon those 
 
 310 
 
Appendix A 
 
 who, without belonging to a band, are accidentally found 
 there. 
 
 Abticle IV. If from the inquest mentioned in Article 
 II facts should appear calculated to induce the chief to 
 believe that the accused has been enrolled by force, or that, 
 although forming part of the band, he was there acciden- 
 tally, he shall abstain from pronouncing a sentence, and 
 will consign the prisoner, with the corresponding report, 
 to the court martial, to be judged in accordance with 
 Article I. 
 
 AuTiCLE V. There shall be judged and sentenced under 
 the terms of Article I of the present law : 
 
 I. All individuals who voluntarily have procured 
 money or any other succor to guerrilleros. 
 
 II. Those who have given them advice, news, or 
 counsel. 
 
 III. Those who voluntarily and with knowledge of the 
 position of said guerrilleros have sold them or procured 
 for them arms, horses, ammunition, provisions, or any 
 other materials of war. 
 
 Abticle VI. There shall be judged and sentenced in 
 accordance with Article I : 
 
 I. Those who have entertained with guerrilleros rela- 
 tions constituting the fact of connivance. 
 
 II. Those who of their own free wiU and knowingly 
 have given them shelter in their houses or on their estate. 
 
 III. Those who have spread orally or in writing false 
 or alarming news calculated to disturb order, or who have 
 made any demonstration against the public peace. 
 
 IV. The owners or agents of rural property who have 
 not at once given notice to the nearest authority of the 
 passage of a band upon their estate. 
 
 The persons included in the first and second sections of 
 this article shall be liable to an imprisonment of from six 
 
 311 
 
Appendix A 
 
 months to two years, or from one to three years' hard 
 labor, according to the gravity of the offense. 
 
 Those who, placed in the second category, are connected 
 with the individual concealed by them by ties of relation- 
 ship, whether as parents, consorts, or brothers, shall not 
 be liable to the penalty above prescribed, but they shall 
 be subject to surveillance by the authorities during such 
 time as may be prescribed by the court martial. 
 
 Those included in the third category shall be sentenced 
 to a fine of from twenty-five to one thousand piasters or 
 to one year's imprisonment, according to the gravity of 
 the offense. 
 
 Abticle VII. When the authorities have not given 
 notice to their immediate superior of the passage of an 
 armed force in their locality, the superior authority shall 
 inflict a fine of from two hundred to two thousand piasters 
 or from three months' to two years' imprisonment. 
 
 AETiciiE VIII. Every inhabitant who, having know- 
 ledge of the passage of an armed band in a village or of its 
 approach, has not notified the authorities shall be liable to 
 a fine of from five to five hundred piasters. 
 
 Article IX. All inhabitants between the ages of eigh- 
 teen and fifty-five years of age not physically incapacitated 
 shall, when the locality inhabited by them is threatened 
 by a band, take part in the defense of the place, under 
 penalty of a fine of from five to two hundred piasters or of 
 from fifteen days' to four months' imprisonment. If the 
 authorities deem it proper to punish the village for non- 
 resistance, they may impose a fine of from two hundred to 
 two thousand piasters, which shall be payable by all those 
 who have not taken part in the defense. 
 
 Article X. The owners or agents of country property 
 who, being able to defend themselves, have not kept guer- 
 rillas and other evil-doers away from their estates or have 
 
 312 
 
Appendix A 
 
 not notified the neaa-est militaoy authority of their pres- 
 ence, or who have received the tired or woimded horses 
 of the guerrillas without advising the said authority, shall 
 be punished by said authority by a fine of from one hun- 
 dred to two thousand piasters, according to the gravity 
 of the offense. In cases of extreme gravity they shall be 
 arrested and brought before the court martial, to be judged 
 in conformity with the rules laid down by the present law. 
 The fine shall be paid to the principal administrator of 
 the revenue of the district where the estate is situated. 
 The provisions of the first part of the present article are 
 applicable to the populations. 
 
 Aeticlb XI. All authorities, whether political, mili- 
 tary, or municipal, who have not acted in accordance with 
 the provisions of the present law against those who are 
 suspected of or recognized as being guilty of the offenses 
 with which it deals, shall be liable to a fine of from fifty 
 to one thousand piasters ; and when the omission implies 
 acquaintance with the guilty, the delinquent shall be 
 brought before the court martial, who shall judge him and 
 inflict a penalty in proportion to the offense. 
 
 Article XII. Plagiarios^ shall be judged and sen- 
 tenced under the provisions of Article I of the present 
 law, without regard to the circumstances under which the 
 abduction shall have been committed. 
 
 Article XIII. Sentence of death passed upon those 
 guilty of the offenses enumerated by the present law shall 
 be executed in the time fixed, and the benefit of appeal for 
 mercy shall be refused to the condemned. When the 
 accused has not been condemned to death, and is a 
 stranger, the government, after he shall have undergone 
 punishment, may make use with regard to him of its right 
 to expel from its territory pernicious strangers. 
 1 Kidnappers. 
 17 313 
 
Appendix A 
 
 Article XIV. Amnesty is proclaimed in favor of all 
 who, having belonged or still belonging to armed bands 
 and having committed no other offense, shaU present them- 
 selves to the authorities before the 15th of next Novem- 
 ber. The authorities shall take possession of the arms of 
 those so surrendering themselves. 
 
 Abticle XV. The government reserves unto itself the 
 right to fix the time when the provisions of the present 
 law shall cease to be enforced. Each of our ministers is 
 bound, as far as his department is concerned, to enforce 
 the present law and to issue such orders as will secure its 
 strict observance. 
 
 Issued in the Palace of Mexico, October 3, 1865. 
 
 Maximilian. 
 
 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, intrusted with the Department 
 
 of State, Josi: F. Eamieez. 
 The Minister of Commerce, Luis Eobles Pezuela. 
 The Minister of the Interior, Josfi Maria Esteva. 
 The Minister of War, Juan de Dios Peza. 
 The Minister of Justice, Pedeo Esoudeeo y Bchanove. 
 The Minister of Public Instruction and of Cults, Manuel 
 
 SiLICEO. 
 
 The Under-Secretary of the Treasury, Fbancisco de P. Cesak. 
 
 314 
 
APPENDIX B 
 
 TREATY OF MIRAMAB, SIGNED ON APRIL 10, 1864 
 
 Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will 
 
 Emperor of the French, to all -(v^ho will see the present 
 
 letters. Greeting: 
 
 A convention, followed by secret additional articles, 
 having been concluded on April 10, 1864, between France 
 and Mexico, to settle the conditions of the sojourn of 
 French troops in Mexico, the said convention and secret 
 additional articles are as follows : 
 
 The government of H. M. the Emperor of the French 
 and that of H. M. the Emperor of Mexico, animated with 
 an equal desire to assure the reestablishment of order in 
 Mexico and to consolidate the new empire, have resolved 
 to settle through a convention the conditions of the so- 
 journ of the French troops in that country, and have ap- 
 pointed to that effect : H. M. the Emperor of the French, 
 M. Charles Frangois Edouard Herbet, Minister Plenipo- 
 tentiary of the First Class, etc., and H. M. the Emperor of 
 Mexico, M. Joaquin Velazquez de Leon, his Minister of 
 State without a portfolio, etc., who, after communicating 
 their f uU powers to one another, these having been found 
 to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the follow- 
 ing articles : 
 
 Articjlb I. The French troops actually in Mexico shall, 
 as soon as possible, be reduced to a corps of twenty-five 
 thousand men, including the foreign legion. This corps, 
 as a safeguard to the interests which have brought about 
 
 315 
 
Appendix B 
 
 the French intervention, shall temporarily remain in 
 Mexico under the conditions agreed upon in the following 
 articles. 
 
 Article II. The French troops shall gradually evacu- 
 ate Mexico as H. M. the Emperor of Mexico shall be 
 able to organize the troops necessary to take their place. 
 
 Article III. The foreign legion in the service of 
 France, composed of eight thousand men, shall, however, 
 remain for six years in Mexico after all other French 
 forces shall have been recalled under Article II. From 
 that date said legion shall pass into the service and pay 
 of the Mexican government, the Mexican government re- 
 serving unto itseK the right to shorten the duration of 
 the employment in Mexico of the foreign legion. 
 
 Article IV. The points of the territory to be occupied 
 by the French troops, as well as the miKtary expeditions of 
 said troops if necessary, shall be determined under direct 
 agreement between H. M. the Emperor of Mexico and 
 the commander-in-chief of the French corps. 
 
 Article V. Upon all points where a garrison shall 
 not be exclusively composed of Mexican troops, the miU- 
 tary command shall devolve upon the French commander. 
 In case of combined expeditions of French and Mexican 
 troops the superior command shall also belong to the 
 French commander. 
 
 Article VI. The French commanders shall not inter- 
 fere with any branch of the Mexican administration. 
 
 Article VII. So long as the needs of the French army- 
 corps will require every two months a service of transports 
 between France and the port of Vera Cruz, the expense of 
 this service, fixed at the sum of four hundred thousand 
 francs per journey, including return, shall be borne by the 
 Mexican government and paid in Mexico. 
 
 Article VIII. The naval stations supported by France 
 
 316 
 
Appendix B 
 
 in the Antilles and in the Pacific Ocean shall frequently 
 send ships to show the French flag in the Mexican ports. 
 
 Article IX. The cost of the French expedition in 
 Mexico, to be reimbursed by the Mexican government, is 
 fixed at the sum of two hundi-ed and seventy million 
 francs from the time of the expedition to July 1, 1864. 
 That sum shall bear interest at three per cent, a year. 
 
 Article X. The indemnity to be paid to France by the 
 Mexican government for the pay and support of the army- 
 corps from July 1, 1864, shall be fixed at the rate of one 
 thousand francs per man a year. 
 
 Article XI. The Mexican government shaU at once 
 remit to the French government the sum of sixty-six 
 milhons in loan securities at par, i.e., fifty-four millions 
 to be deducted from the debt mentioned in Article IX, and 
 twelve millions as an instalment on the indemnities due 
 the French under Article XIV of the present agreement. 
 
 Article XII. In payment of the balance of war ex- 
 penses and of the charges mentioned in Articles VII, X 
 and XIV, the Mexican government agrees to pay to 
 France the annual sum of twenty-five million francs in 
 cash. That sum shaU be credited, first, to the sums due 
 under Articles VII and X ; second, to the amount, inter- 
 est and principal, of the sum fixed in Article IX ; third, to 
 the indemnities still due to French subjects under Article 
 XTV and following. 
 
 Article XIII. The Mexican government shaU pay on 
 the last day of every month, in Mexico, into the hands of 
 the paymaster-general of the army, the amount necessary 
 to cover the expense of the French troops remaining in 
 Mexico, in conformity with Article X. 
 
 Article XIV. The Mexican government agrees to 
 indemnify French subjects for the grievances unduly 
 suffered by them and which caused the expedition. 
 
 317 
 
Appendix B 
 
 Article XV. A mixed eominission composed of three 
 Frenchmen and three Mexicans, appointed by their 
 respective governments, shall meet in Mexico "within three 
 months to examine into and settle these claims. 
 
 Aeticle XVI. A mission of revision composed of two 
 Frenchmen and two Mexicans, appointed as above and 
 sitting in Paris, shall proceed to the definite settlement of 
 the claims already admitted by the commission mentioned 
 in the preceding article, and shall pass upon those the 
 settlement of which shall be reserved to them. 
 
 Article XVII. The French government shall set free 
 all Mexican prisoners of war as soon as H. M. the Emperor 
 of Mexico shall have entered his empire. 
 
 Article XVIII. The present convention shall be rati- 
 fied and the ratification shall be exchanged as soon as 
 possible. 
 
 Done at the Castle of Miramar, on April 10, 1864. 
 
 Herbet. 
 Velazquez. 
 
 Additional Secret Articles 
 
 [Here follow the ordinary preambles.] 
 
 Article I. H. M. the Emperor of Mexico, approving 
 the principles and promises announced in G-eneral Forey's 
 proclamation, dated June 12, 1863, as well as the measures 
 taken by the regency and by the French general-in-chief 
 in accordance with said declaration, has resolved to inform 
 his people, by a manifesto, of his intentions in the matter. 
 
 Article II. On his side, H. M. the Emperor of the 
 French declares that the actual effective force of the 
 French corps of thirty-eight thousand men shall only be 
 reduced gradually and from year to year, in such a way 
 that the French troops remaining in Mexico, including 
 
 318 
 
Appendix B 
 
 the foreign legion, shall be of twenty-eight thousand men 
 in 1865, of twenty-five thousand in 1866, of twenty thou- 
 sand in 1867. 
 
 Article III. When the said foreign legion, under the 
 terms of Article III of the above convention, shall pass 
 into the service and pay of Mexico, as it nevertheless shall 
 continue to serve a cause in which France is interested, its 
 generals and ofilcers shall preserve their quality of French- 
 men and their claim to promotion in the French army 
 according to law. 
 
 Done at the Castle of Miramar, April 10, 1864. 
 
 Herbet. 
 
 VeLiAZQUEZ. 
 
 319 
 
INDEX 
 
 Almonte, General, arrives at Vera 
 
 Cruz to take charge of tlie regency, 
 
 36, 101 ; issues a manifesto, 37 ; 
 
 elected regent, 98; befriends Sar 
 
 ligny, 112 ; helps to control the 
 
 archbishop, 118 ; meets MaximUian 
 
 at Vera Cruz, 126 ; liis good admin- 
 istration, 134 ; set aside with empty 
 
 honors, 142 ; replaces Senor Hidal- 
 go as ambassador to France, 142, 
 
 185. 
 Antonelli, Cardinal, 166. 
 Arellano, General, 271 ; escapes from 
 
 Quer^taro, 289. 
 Arroyo, Senor, refused an audience 
 
 by the President of the United 
 
 States, 148; signs convention of 
 
 Mexico, 198, 236. 
 Arteaga, General, shot under the 
 
 " black decree," 168. 
 
 Bahnsen, Consul, 304. 
 
 Bando Negro ("black decree"), 166, 
 167, 158 ; text of the decree. Appen- 
 dix A. 
 
 Banks, General, some of his men pass Bigelow, Mr., minister of the United 
 into the service of Juarez, 169. States to France, 200 ; is assured of 
 
 Basch, Dr., quoted, 179, 234, 236,277, the return of the army, 205,219. 
 278, 299; aroused on morning of Bilimek, M., 238. 
 May 15, 287 ; MaximlUan intrusts BiUaud, Commandant, 262. 
 
 ico, 121; his popularity, 121; his 
 Ufe-story, 122, 123, 124; pacifies 
 most of the Mexican territory, 125; 
 gives an inaugural ball, 132 ; tries 
 to check brigandage, 166; difficul- 
 ties with Maximilian, 155, 166 ; bis 
 share in the promulgation of the 
 " black decree," 167 ; Interview with 
 ex-Senator Gwin, 176, 177; his sec- 
 ond marriage, 123, 179; difficulties 
 with regard to Colonel Osmont and 
 M. Friant, 187; advances funds to 
 the Mexican government onhis own 
 responsibility, 192; withdraws per- 
 mission to French officers to enlist 
 in the Mexican army, 201, 263 ; pre- 
 vents the Emperor from leaving 
 the country, 235 ; begins his retreat, 
 188, 266; surrenders towns to the 
 republicans, 262; makes his final 
 exit, 262 ; sails with the last of the 
 army, 266. 
 
 Berry er, M., 6. 
 
 Blbesco, Prince Georges, quoted, 21, 
 32, 33, 35. 
 
 his remains to his care, 299; re- 
 ceives instructions, 303; his ac- 
 count of Maximilian's execution, 
 306 et seq. 
 
 Blasio, Senor, 299. 
 Blondel, M. de, Belgian minister, 202. 
 Bonnefons, M. de, succeeds M. Corta 
 as French financial agent, 106. 
 
 Bazalne, Albert, 208 ; plays a part of Bringas, Senor, 241. 
 
 soubrette, 214. Budin, M., French financial agent, 
 
 Bazaine, General, surprises Comon- 105. 
 
 fort at San Lorenzo, 86 ; arrives in 
 
 Mexico, 93; grows impatient, 112; Campbell, Mr., 247. 
 
 takes command of the army, 117 ; Carbajal, General, beaten at Tulan- 
 
 his firmness, 118 ; his campaign in cingo, 13. 
 
 the interior, 121; returns to Mex- Castelnau, General, 219; arrives with 
 
 321 
 
Index 
 
 M. de St. Sauveur and M. de GaUi- 
 fet, 232, 244; sends joint note to 
 Maximilian, 248, 249; goes to Pueb- 
 la, 249. 
 
 Castillo, General, 271, 288. 
 
 Charlotte, Empress, acts as regent, 
 
 ed, 148, IBO, 167, 166, 169, 187, 189, 200, 
 206, 219. 
 DoWado, Sell or, minister of foreign 
 affairs under Juarez, 31; signs tlie 
 convention of La Soledad, 32 ; de- 
 feated by Bazalne, 121. 
 
 136 ; presents a set of diamonds to Domenech, Abb^, quoted, 22, 23, 28, 
 MUe. de la Pena, 179; opposes abdi- 38, 168, 197, 244, 800. 
 
 cation, 193; starts for Europe, 202; 
 
 denounces the marshal, 203; her 
 
 Mondays, 223 ; description of, 224 ; 
 
 lier illness, 234. 
 Cbenet, Commandant, 265, 273. 
 CheyaUer, Michel, CLUoted, 2 et seq. 
 Cinco de Mayo, 68. 
 Clary, Count, 208. 
 Cloufe, Admiral, complains that the Dupin, Colonel, 260, 261, 263, 
 
 United States army afforded pro- 
 tection to the Juarists, 169. Echegaray, Colonel, receives the Em- 
 Collonitz, Countess, accompanies the peror prisoner, 290. 
 
 Empress and returns to Europe, Eloin, M., appointed at the head of 
 
 Douay, General P61ix, lands at Vera 
 Cruz Tvith reinforcements, 72; in- 
 terview with Maximilian, 194 ; dif- 
 fers with the marshal with regard 
 to policy, 194, 197; commands the 
 garrison at Puebla, 269. 
 
 Dunlap, Commodore, commander of 
 the British fleet, 33. 
 
 141. 
 Comonfort, General, president, ab- 
 dicate.'!, 12 ; commands the army of 
 
 relief, 86; beaten at San Lorenzo, 
 
 86; falls back upon Mexico, 88; 
 
 defeated by Bazaine in the interior, 
 
 121. 
 Confederates, in Mexico, 169, 173, 174, 
 
 et seq. 
 Corona, General, 270. 
 Corta, M., succeeds M. de Maintenant 
 
 as financial agent, 106. 
 Cortinas, General, attacks Matamo- 
 
 ros, 169. 
 Corwin, Thomas, minister of the 
 
 United States to Mexico, 47 ; leaves Eugfenie, Empress, 6, 6 
 
 Mexico, 147 ; is said to have helped 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Degollado In Wash- 
 ington, 149. 
 Crimean war, 5, 8. 
 
 the Imperial bureau, 139; his lim- 
 itations, 139; sent abroad on a 
 secret mission, 140; his letter to 
 Maximilian, 243. 
 
 Escobedo, General, 289; Maximilian 
 surrenders his sword to, 293. 
 
 Estrada, Seiior Gutierrez de, receives 
 from President Santa Anna powers 
 to treat with European courts for 
 the establishment of a Mexican 
 monarchy, 8 ; powers confirmed by 
 President Miramon, 8; offers the 
 throne to the Due de Montpensier, 
 8 ; first serious proposition made to 
 Maximilian by, 104. 
 
 Favre, Jules, 6; his speech in the 
 Chamber of Deputies in 1864, 163. 
 
 Ferdinand VII, offered the throne of 
 Mexico, 7. 
 Dano, M., minister of France, signs Fischer, Father, 236, 269; disappears 
 
 convention of Mexico, 198; feeling 
 against, 249 ; goes to Orizaba, 249. 
 
 Degollado, M. and Mme., sent on a 
 mission to Washington, 149 ; faU in 
 their mission, 150. 
 
 Destroyat, Captain, appointed secre- 
 tary of the navy, 137. 
 
 Diaz, General Porflrio, holds the 
 state of Oajaca, 160 ; surrenders and 
 is made prisoner, 161; escapes, and 
 reenters Oajaca, 161 ; his character, 
 151, 167; defeats General Marquez 
 at San Lorenzo, 273. 
 
 " Diplomatic Correspondence," quot- 
 
 322 
 
 from the scene, 272, 
 Porey, General, his arrival with rein- 
 forcements, 82; under instructions 
 to be guided by M. de Saligny, 82 ; 
 procrastination, 8C; appears before 
 Puebla, 83; burned in efflgy, 86; 
 petitioned by foreign consuls to 
 take possession of the capital, 91 ; 
 his triumphant entrance into Mexi- 
 co, 96 ; receives the keys of the city, 
 97 ; his instructions with regard to 
 the establishment of a provisional 
 government, 101 ; promoted to the 
 rank of Marshal of France, 102 ; his 
 
Index 
 
 Incapacity, 102, 108; takea part In 
 the procession of the F6te-Dleu, 
 108; gives a ball to celebrate his 
 promotion, 107 ; his unpopularity, 
 107,108; lingers after his recall, 113 ; 
 declares General Diaz a brigand, 
 151. 
 
 Foury, General, ambassador from 
 Leopold II, 182. 
 
 Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, 
 243 ; insists upon Maximilian drop- 
 ping the title of Emperor if he re- 
 turns to Europe, 244. 
 
 Friant, chief of French commissa- 
 riat, put in charge of the Depart- 
 ment of Finance, 186. 
 
 FiinfMrchen, Count von, 152. 
 
 Gabriac, M. de, minister of France to 
 Mexico, 21. 
 
 Galvez, General, commands the cav- 
 alry which escorts Maximilian 
 from Vera Cruz to Mexico, 126. 
 
 Gontron, Captain, 287. 
 
 Gravifere, Jurien de la, French admi- 
 ral, commander of the French con- 
 tingent, 23; his tact and dignity, 
 28; his recall, 42. 
 
 Guzman, Colonel Manuel, 287. 
 
 Gwin, ex-Senator, his Sonora 
 schemes, 174 et seq. 
 
 Hammerstetn, Colonel, 263; remains 
 in Mexico, 270, 273. 
 
 Harris, Governor, appointed by Max- 
 imilian agent of colonization, 173. 
 
 Haus, Albert, quoted, 208, 271,273, 278, 
 279, 280, 281, 287. 
 
 Htocault, Charles d', quoted, 104, 218, 
 242, 249, 262, 286. 
 
 Hertzel, Councilor, 238. 
 
 Hidalgo, Mexican patriot general, 11. 
 
 Hidalgo, Seiior, representative of 
 Mexico at the court of France, re- 
 placed by General Almonte, 142. 
 
 Hoorickx, M. de, Belgian charge d'af- 
 faires, 202, 294. 
 
 Huart, Baron d', officer of Count of 
 Flanders, attacked and killed, 182. 
 
 Hurbal, General Courtois d', attacks 
 Oajaca, 160. 
 
 Iturbide, General, plan of Iguala 
 
 drawn by, 7. 
 Iturbide, Josefa, Princess, 234. 
 
 Jablonskl, Colonel, 287. 
 
 Jecker, Swiss banker, a natviralized 
 
 Frenchman : his share in Mexican 
 complications, 18; his death under 
 the Commune, 21 ; his Interest in 
 Sonora, 174 et seq. 
 
 Juarez, Benito, constitutional presi- 
 dent, 12 ; his decrees, 13; enters city 
 of Mexico, 14; his career, 14; the 
 financial difficulties of his adminis- 
 tration, 17; suspends payments on 
 all agreements, 17; foreign repre- 
 sentatives protest, and diplomatic 
 relations with Mexico are suspend- 
 ed, 18; agrees to the preliminary 
 treaty of La Soledad, 33; estab- 
 lishes martial law, 37; raises an 
 army of relief for Puebla, 86 ; ex- 
 traordinary powers conferred upon, 
 87; leaves the capital, 88; Maxi- 
 milian's letters to him, 142 ; issues 
 a proclamation, 160; said to have 
 left the country, 166; rumors of a 
 loan raised by him in the United 
 States, 168 ; grants immigrants the 
 right to settle in certain localities 
 of northern Mexico, 176 ; refuses to 
 commute the sentence passed on 
 Maximilian, 294; insists upon an 
 official request from the Austrian 
 government for the Emperor's re- 
 mains, 306. 
 
 Jubinal, Aohille, deputy in the Corps 
 Lfigislatlf, author, antiquary, 47 ; 
 his views with regard to the Mexi- 
 can expedition, 62 ; he accompanies 
 the author to St. Nazaire 67, 68, 69. 
 
 K^ratry, Comte £mile de, quoted, 34, 
 
 104, 118, 121, 167, 204, 243, 244, 248. 
 Khevenhiiller, Colonel, 253, 270, 274, 
 
 277. 
 Klickztng, Commander, 273. 
 Eodolitoh, Colonel, in command of 
 
 the Austrian legion, 190, 234; sent 
 
 to arrange for their re turn, 246 ; left 
 
 behind in Mexico, 270, 273. 
 Kurtzroch, Count, killed, 162, 153. 
 
 Labastida, Archbishop, exiled by Jua- 
 rez, 16 ; elected regent, 98 ; con- 
 trolled by Bazaine, 118. 
 
 Lago, Baron, 294. 
 
 Lamadrid, Colonel Paollno, 217, 241. 
 
 Lamartine, M. de, on American pol- 
 icy, 1. 
 
 Langlais, M., succeeds M. de Bonne- 
 f ons as French financial agent, 106 ; 
 his arrival, 180. 
 
 323 
 
Index 
 
 Lare8, Don Tlieodoslo, elected presi- 
 dent of the Junta, 97 ; bis promises, 
 246 ; suggests that a stand be made 
 at Quer^taro, 269. 
 
 La Eoncifere le Noury, Admiral, 260. 
 
 Lelong, Mr., Frencli banker in Vera 
 Cruz, 67. 
 
 Leopold 1, Ills death, 181. 
 
 Leopold II, sends an embassy, 181. 
 
 Lewis, Mr., 247. 
 
 Lhuys, Drouyn de, 187. 
 
 LolzUlon, Colonel, quoted, 84, 108. 
 
 Lopez, Colonel Miguel, forms part of 
 the escort of Maximilian on the 
 journey to Mexico, 126, 263; com- 
 mands a regiment of cavalry, 263 ; 
 trusted by Maximilian, 277; last 
 with Maximilian on night of May 
 14, 278 ; his treason, 279 et seq. ; 
 endeavors to induce the Emperor 
 to escape, 288, 289. 
 
 Lorencez, General Comte de, arrives 
 at Vera Cmz with reinforcements 
 to take command, 33; his aggres- 
 sive poUcy, 34; his delusions, 34; 
 joins the French admiral at Tehua- 
 can, 36 ; Inclines to break through 
 the convention of La Soledad, 37; 
 General Zaragoza gives him an op- 
 portunity, 41, 42 ; is appointed com- 
 mander -in-chief, 42; attacks the 
 Cerro de Guadalupe, 67 ; is repulsed 
 and falls back upon Orizaba, 71. 
 
 Louet, Ernest, paymaster-in-chief of 
 the French army, applies for quar- 
 ters, 94 ; quoted, 24, 26, 27, 28, 71, 83, 
 104, 11!?, 168. 
 
 Loysel, Colonel, chief of the imperial 
 military bureau, 186. 
 
 Luis, Don Carlos, 7. 
 
 Magnan, Mme., 230. 
 
 Magnus, Baron, 294, 304. 
 
 Magruder, General, appointed chief 
 of the Colonization Land OflBce, 173 ; 
 meets American commissioners in 
 Havana, 247. 
 
 Maintenant, M. de, succeeds M. Bu- 
 din as financial agent, 106. 
 
 Malburg, Major, 274, 275. 
 
 Marquez, General, upholds the reac- 
 tionary party in the field after the 
 defeat of General Miramon in 1861, 
 14; nicknamed the "Leopard," 91; 
 sent abroad, 142 ; returns, 246, 248 ; 
 accompanies the Emperor to Mex- 
 ico, 259 ; and to Qaer6taro, 269 ; ad- 
 
 324 
 
 vises to leave behind the* foreign 
 auxiliar.v troops, 270 ; is sent for suc- 
 cor and abandons the Emperor, 272, 
 273. 
 
 Massa, Marquis de, 207 et seq. ; writes 
 a "Kevue" on Napoleon's "Les 
 Commentaires de C6sar," 213. 
 
 Masseras, M., quoted, 131, 145. 
 
 Maury, Commodore, appointed impe- 
 rial commissioner of immigration 
 and councilor of state, 174. 
 
 Mausslon, General de, lends his car- 
 riage to the Emperor, 126. 
 
 MaxlmlUan, Archduke of Austria, 
 suggested by Napoleon in as Em- 
 peror of Mexico, 11 ; the junta re- 
 solves that the throne of Mexico 
 shall be offered to him, 98 ; delega- 
 tion appointed to offer him the 
 crown, 98; hesitates, and asks for 
 the popular vote of the country, 
 104; acknowledged in the interior 
 as a result of Bazaine's campaign, 
 121 ; gives Mile, de la Pena the pal- 
 ace of San Cosme as a dowry, 123, 
 179; arrives at Vera Cruz, 126; 
 reception by the Indians at Cor- 
 doba, 126 ; his entrance into the 
 capital, 127 ; starts upon a tour of 
 the provinces, 136; his inexperi- 
 ence, 138; his letter to President 
 Juarez, 144 ; tries to win over repub- 
 lican leaders, 144 ; general dissatis- 
 faction, 146; establishes a military 
 cabinet to administer the Austro- 
 Belgian contingent, 146 ; issues the 
 Bando Negro (" black decree "), 156 ; 
 his incapacity recognized, 166 ; his 
 complications with Eome, 166; 
 breaks with the Vatican, 167 ; resists 
 Napoleon's efforts to obtain a lien 
 upon the mines of Sonora, and re- 
 fuses to agree to Dr. Gwin's colo- 
 nizing schemes, 179; subscribes to 
 onerous agreement of May 31, 1866,. 
 185 ; complains of the withdrawal of 
 the French garrison from the north, 
 188 ; urges the declaration of a state 
 of siege and the placing of all pow- 
 er in the hands of French oiBeers, 
 193; hie weakness, 198; his hostility 
 to his allies, 200; recaUs the cleri- 
 cals to power, 203; fails in mind 
 and health, 203, 204 ; annoyed at a 
 satire on his government, 216 ; Mon- 
 day receptions discontinued, 223; in- 
 sults the French, 226, 229; resolves to 
 
Index 
 
 leaTethecapital,234;leavestlieoapl- Miranda, Father, returns from exile, 
 
 tal, 236 ; refuses to see General Cas- 81. 
 
 telnau, 238 ; Jovimey to Orizaba, 237, Montholon, Marquis de, 160. 
 
 241 ; issues his manifesto, 247 ; de- Montpensier, Duo de, offered the 
 
 olines to abdicate, 249 ; sacriflces Mexican throne by Sefior Gutierrez 
 
 his silver plate, 263 ; returns to de Estrada, 8. 
 
 Mexico, 269 ; leaves for Quer^taro, Morelos, priest and patriot, 11. 
 
 269, 270 ; his attitude, 271 ; resolves Moray, Due de, supporter of Jecker 
 
 and M. de Saligny, 18; meeting 
 with, 63 ; his position in France in 
 1862, 53, 64; his death, 161, 162. 
 
 upon a sortie, 274; preparations; 
 274, 277, 278 ; betrayed, 288 et seq. ; 
 will not escape, 289 ; taken prison- 
 er, 290, 293; attempts to make terms Morny, Duohesse de, 65, 66 
 with General Escobedo, 293 ; Moustier, Marquis de, 205. 
 brought up for trial and sentenced 
 to death, 294 ; efforts made on his Napoleon m, his character, 4 ; his 
 
 behalf, 294; hears a rumor of Em- 
 press Charlotte's death, 296; re- 
 prieved, 300; asks Juarez to spare 
 the lives of Generals Miramon and 
 Megia, 300; executed, 304; his au- 
 topsy, 305 et seq.; his remains re- 
 turned to Austria, 306. 
 
 Mcgia, General Tomas, complains that 
 the United States army afforded 
 protection to the Juarists, 169 ; de- 
 fends Matamoros, 192 ; defends Que- 
 r€taro, 269, 271, 277 ; prisoner, 296 ; 
 executed, 304. 
 
 Mendez, General, causes Generals Ar- 
 teaga and Salazar to be shot, 168; 
 holds the state of Michoacan, 270 ; 
 tells the Emperor of Colonel Lopez's 
 record, 277; betrayed and shot, 
 289. 
 
 Mexico, convention of, 185, 198, 250. 
 
 Milnes, Admiral, commanding Eng- 
 lish contingent, 23. 
 
 Mlramar, Francis Joseph's visit to, 
 244. 
 
 Miramar, treaty signed, 188; Article 
 
 ' I, 188 ; Articles II and lU, 189 ; 
 
 policy with regard to Mexico, 4 ; his 
 ignorance of Mexican conditions, 
 16, 16; burned in efflgy, 86; the 
 junta resolves that, should Maxi- 
 milian decUne the crown. Napoleon 
 shall be asked to designate another 
 Catholic prince, 98 ; attributes diffi- 
 culties encountered to the misman- 
 agement of his agents, 102 ; orders 
 Bazaine to pacify and organize the 
 country, 105; negotiates to secure 
 the Mexican debt to France by a 
 lien on the mines of Sonora, 169; 
 sends Baron Saillard to prepare 
 Maximilian for the return of the 
 French army, 182; instructs the 
 marshal to advance no more funds, 
 190; negotiates with the United 
 States, 219, 246 ; orders return of 
 the foreign legion, 249; entertains 
 the crowned heads of Europe, 213, 
 307. 
 
 Napoleon, Prince, his witticism, 134. 
 
 Negrete, General, defends the Cerro 
 de Guadalupe, 67 ; defeated by Ba^ 
 zalne, 121. 
 
 broken by France, 197, 198, 249 j text Ney, Michel, Due d'Elchingen,207, 208. 
 of the treaty. Appendix B. 
 
 Miramon, General, president of the O'Donoju, Viceroy, 7. 
 
 Mexican republic, 8 ; confirms Olvera, Colonel, in charge of convoy 
 
 powers of Senor Gutierrez de Estra- from Matamoros, 191. 
 
 da, 8 ; defeated by Ortega at Calpu- 
 lalpan, and leaves the country, 13 ; 
 returns, 31 ; is sent back to Havana 
 at the request of the English minis- 
 ter, 32 ; sent on a diplomatic mission 
 abroad, 142; returns, 245, 248; de- 
 feated at San Jacinto, 254, 269, 296 ; 
 
 Ormachea, Colonel, 241. 
 
 Ortega, Liberal general, defeats Mir- 
 amon at Calpulalpan, 13 ; defeats 
 General Marquez, 22; succeeds 
 General Zaragoza as commander- 
 in-chief at Puebla, 83 ; makes a fine 
 resistance and surrenders, 86. 
 
 falls back upon Quer^taro, 269, 271 ; Ortega, Eulalio, Senor, 294. 
 
 opposed by General Marquez, 273, Osmont, Colonel, put in chargeof the 
 274; wounded and betrayed, 290; War Department, 186. 
 
 executed, 304. Otterburg, Consul, 248. 
 
 325 
 
Index 
 
 Pacheoo, SeSor, Spanlsli mlnleter, 
 dismissed by Juarez, 16. 
 
 Paohta, Count, 277. 
 
 Paulo, Don Francisco, 7. 
 
 Pelletan, M., 6. 
 
 Pfereire & Co., gire a banquet to inau- 
 gurate the transatlantic line of 
 steamers, 57, 62. 
 
 Perez, Antonio, chief of the platea- 
 dos, 73 ; Mils Count Kurtzroch, 166. 
 
 ties, 162; announces the return of 
 the army, 197. 
 
 Euhlo, Senor Don Carlos, Maximilian 
 writes to, 299. 
 
 Eussell, Lord John, letter to the Eng- 
 lish representative at the court of 
 Vienna, 24. 
 
 Saillard, Baron, sent on special mis- 
 sion, 182. 
 
 PerMne, Judge, appointed agent of St. Albin, Comte EousseUn de, 48 ; 
 
 ^^ Comte de Barras Intrusts him 
 
 with his memoirs, 61. 
 St. Albin, Comte Louis Philippe de, 
 
 librarian to the Empress, 62. 
 Sala, Count de la, 229. 
 Salas, General, offers the ieys of the 
 
 city to General Forey, 97. 
 Salas, Senora, gives the Empress an 
 
 abrazo, 131. 
 Salazar, General, shot with General 
 
 Arteaga, 158. 
 
 colonization, 173 
 
 Petit, Colonel, amusing episode, 220, 
 221. 
 
 Plcard, M., 6. 
 
 Pierron, Captain, 238. 
 
 Pltner, Commander, 264. 
 
 Plumb, Mr., 247. 
 
 Pradillo, Colonel, 277. 
 
 Prim, General, Count de Eeus, com- 
 manding the Spanish contingent, 
 23 ; his letter to Napoleon III, 26 ; 
 
 proclamation to the Mexican peo- Sallgny, M. Dubois de, succeeds M. 
 
 pie, 27; plays his own game, 28; 
 his wife a Mexican, 28; doubtful 
 attitude, 33; insists upon the de- 
 parture of the returned Mexican 
 exiles, 36; with Sir Charles Wyke 
 he concludes a separate treaty with 
 the Mexican government, 38; his 
 original instructions from his gov- 
 ernment, 38 ; he falls back upon 
 the coast, 42. 
 
 Querfetaro, 269 et seq. 
 Qutroga, General, 270. 
 
 Eandon, Marshal, French minister of 
 war, 35. 
 
 Eegency, inaugurated, 98 ; Its reac- 
 tionary tendencies, 103. 
 
 Eegules, General, 270. 
 
 Eeyes, Dr., 305. 
 
 de Gabriac as minister of France to 
 Mexico, 21; boasts of having pre- 
 cipitated events, 21 ; alleged attack 
 upon him, 22 ; prepares an ultima- 
 tum, 28; watches his chance to 
 break the treaty of La Soledad, 41 ; 
 burnt In effigy, 86 ; prepares a list 
 of thirty-five notables destined to 
 form a junta, 97 ; his doubtful meth- 
 ods and his final recall, 112; the 
 clerical leaders vote him a national 
 gift, 112. 
 Salm-Salm, Prince, commands the 
 Cazadores de Mejico at Quer^taro, 
 216, 254 ; bis connection with the 
 empire, 280; colonel of the Emper- 
 or's body-guard, 274; aroused by 
 Lopez on May 15, 287, 288 ; bribes of- 
 ficers in an effort to save the Em- 
 peror, 295, 296 ; quoted, 160. 
 Elncon GaUardo, Colonel Jose, takes Salm-Salm, Princess, 230, ,231 ; at Eio 
 
 part in an amateur bull-fight, 76 ; Frio, 259 ; at Quer^taro, 294. 
 
 the first to enter La Cruz, 288 ; calls Santa Anna, planoflgualadrawnby. 
 
 on Maximilian, 293. 
 
 Elncon GaUardo, Don Pedro, 293. 
 
 Eiva-Palacio, General, 157; Maximil- 
 ian Is placed under his charge, 293. 
 
 Eiva-Palacio, Mariano, 294. 
 
 Eochefort, M., 6. 
 
 Eomero, Senor, minister of Mexico to 
 Washington, his services, 168. 
 
 Eouher, M., minister of state, an- 
 nounces the inauguration of the 
 empire to the Chamber of Depu- 
 
 326 
 
 7 ; gives power to Seiior Gutierrez 
 de Estrada to treat with European 
 courts for establishment of Mexi- 
 can monarchy, 8 ; downfall of, 8. 
 Seward, Secretary of State, declines 
 for the United States to be a party 
 to the Anglo-French and Spanish 
 alliance against Mexico, 22 ; tempo- 
 rizes, 148 ; objects to appointments 
 of French officers to Mexican cabi- 
 net offices in Mexico, 187 ; prepares 
 
Index 
 
 to take an active part, 199 ; peremi)- 
 tory language, 200. 
 
 Sherman, General, 247. 
 
 Slaughter, General, enters into nego- 
 tiations with Marshal Bazaine with 
 a view to settling in northern Mex- 
 ico, 169. 
 
 Smiasen, Van der. Colonel, command- 
 ing the Belgian legion, U5 ; meet- 
 ing at Bio Frio, 259. 
 
 Soledad, convention of La, 32. 
 
 Soria, Padre, 299, 303, 304. 
 
 Stone, General Charles P., 174. 
 
 Taloott, Colonel, 177. 
 
 Tegettho^ Admiral, 306. 
 
 Thiers, M., 6. 
 
 Thun, Comte de, general command- 
 ing the Austrian legion, 145; is 
 restless vmder General Bazame's 
 authority, and obtains independent 
 authority, 146 ; resigns, 190. 
 
 Tindal, colonel of gendarmes, 253. 
 
 Torre, Martinez de la, Senor, 294. 
 
 Tourre, Colonel, 225 ; his funeral, 226. 
 
 Tuhaico, Admiral, commanding Span- 
 ish fleet, 23. 
 
 Tudos, Maximilian's servant, 304. 
 
 United States, declines to enter into 
 the alliance against Mexico, 22 ; end 
 of the Civil War, 16»; negotiations 
 with France to hring the interven- 
 tion to a close, 219 ; understanding 
 with France. 246 ; makes an effort to 
 save Maximilian, 294. 
 
 Uraga, General, defeated by Bazaine, 
 121 ; captures Guadalajara, 190. 
 
 Valaz4, Colonel, chief of General de 
 Lorencez's staff, deceived as to the 
 strength of the Liberal party, 35. 
 
 Vazquez, Jesus-Maria, 294. 
 
 Vidaurri, General, 269. 
 
 Wagner, Baron, minister of Prussia, 
 76. 
 
 Wagner, secretary of the Prussian 
 legation, nephew of the minister, 
 is stabbed, 76. 
 
 Wyke, Sir Charles, sides with Gener- 
 al Prim against the French, 31 ; re- 
 quests the arrest of General Mira- 
 mon, 32 ; insists, with General 
 Prim, upon the departure of the re- 
 turned exiles, 36 ; he and General 
 Prim conclude a separate treaty 
 with the Mexican government, 
 38. 
 
 Zaragoza, General, commander-in- 
 chief of the Liberal army, ad- 
 dresses a communication to Gener- 
 al de Lorencez on the subject of 
 four hundred French soldiers in 
 the Orizaba hospital, 41 ; falls back 
 upon Puebla, followed by the 
 French, 42; defends Puebla, 67 ; his 
 obsequies, 68. 
 
 Zichy, Prince and Princess, accom- 
 pany Maximilian and Empress 
 Charlotte, 133 ; they return to Eu- 
 rope, 141. 
 
 Zuloaga, General, reactionary leader, 
 takes possession of Mexico, 12 ; ral- 
 lies to the national party, 44. 
 
 327