\
A
OF THE
(UNIVERSITY^
\^ C
C, BENITO JUfiREZ,
n\erece figurar, al lado de los primeros heroes de la ir
ia, el que coi\ indonable constanda, valor civil sobre todo
:gacion y sufrimientos de lodo genero, salvo la misma indepeh
A
•LIFE
OF
BENITO JUAREZ
CONSTITUTIONAL PRESIDENT OF MEXICO.
BY
UL1CK RALPH BURKE, M.A.,
Author of "A Life of Gonsalvo de Cordova,"
" Sancho Panza's Proverbs," Etc.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
REMINGTON AND COMPANY, LIMITED,
LONDON AND SYDNEY.
1894.
All Rights Reserved.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
PREFATORY NOTE.
The following publications, constantly consulted
by me in the course of my work, will be referred
to as a rule under the abbreviated titles as he^
after noted.
i. — Le Comte Emil de Keratry. " L'Empereur
Maximilien: son elevation et sa chute," i vol.,
Leipzig, 1867. [Keratry. ~\
2. — Le Comte Emil de Keratry. " La Creance
Jecker," i vol., Paris, 1868. [Keratry — Jeckcr.~\
3. — Gustavo Baz. "Vida de Benito Juarez/' i vol.,
Mexico, 1874. [Baz.'}
4. — Arrangoiz: "Historia de Mexico, desde 1808
hasta 1867," 4 volumes, Madrid, 1871.
[Arrangoiz.]
VI PREFATORY NOTE.
5. — Le Capitaine Niox. " L'Expedition du
Mexique," i vol., Paris, 1874. [Niox.~\
6. — Paul Gaulot. " Reve d'Empire," i volume,
Paris, 1889. [Gaulot— Reve. ~\
„ " L'Empire de Maximilien," i vol. Paris, 1890.
[ G aulo t — Maximilien . ]
,, " Fin d'Empire," i vol., Paris, 1891.
[Gaulot — Fin.']
7. — " Correspondance de Juarez et de Montluc,"
i vol., Paris, 1885. [Montluc. ~]
8. — E. Masseras. "Essai d' Empire au Mexique,"
i vol., Paris, 1879. [Masseras j\
9. — Prince Felix Salm-Salm. " My Diary in
Mexico," 2 volumes, Bentley, 1868.
[Salm-Salm.']
[Note. — Volume II. contains the Diary of the
Princess.]
10. — Emmanuel Domenech. "Histoiredu Mexique:
Juarez et Maximilien : Correspondances in-
edites, etc., etc.," Paris, 1868, 3 vols.
[Domenech — Hist. ]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Chapter. Page.
I. INTRODUCTORY. 181,0-1852 ... ... i
II.1 BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF JUAREZ.
1806-1847 ... ... ... .... 46
III. DISMEMBERED MEXICO. 1847-1857... 61
IV. USURPATION. 1858-1859 76
V. RESTORATION. 1859-1861 93
VI. FINANCE 122
VII. AGITATION. JUNE, 18617— JANUARY,
1862 ... 141
VIII. INTERVENTION. JANUARY, 1862 —
APRIL, 1862 ... ... ... 164
IX. WAR. APRIL, 1862 — OCTOBER, 1863 186
X. MAXIMILIAN OF HAPSBURG ... ... 215
XI. A SHAM EMPIRE. MAY, 1864—
AUGUST, 1865 ... ... ... 234
X TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Chapter. Page.
XII. PLAYING WITH FIRE. AUGUST, 1865
— OCTOBER, 1865 ... ... ... 253
XIII. PASO DEL NORTE. NOVEMBER, 1865
—JULY, 1866 270
XIV. RECONQUISTA. 1866 282
XV. PORFIRIO DIAZ ... ' ... ... 303
XVI. JUSTICE 318
XVII. JUDGMENT 335
XVIII. CONCLUSION. JULY, 1867 — JULY, 1872 346
INDEX ... ... ... ... ... 361
PORTRAIT OF BENITO JUAREZ ... Frontispiece.
MAP OF MEXICO ... ... ... To face page 360
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY. — 1810 — 1852.
For full fifty years of this Nineteenth Century
the name of Mexico was almost synonymous with
disorder and disgrace.
The home of sordid and never-ending revolutions,
the prey of the most despicable adventurers,
the cockpit of transatlantic swashbucklers, the
country attained, even among other Spanish-
American Republics, a pre-eminence of national
abasement.
Amid the struggles of military bravos for the
2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
control during a few days of an empty exchequer,
and the plunder of a well-nigh bankrupt community,
there was ever a recklessness in the conduct of
/ those who found themselves in positions of national
responsibility, unexampled in the history of
civilised nations."
A Mexican Bond was the type of financial worth-
lessness, a Mexican General was the type of
military dishonour, a Mexican Statesman suggested
recklessness, instability and fraud.
One of the master strokes of English policy in
the earliest days of the existence of the new
Republic (1823-5) was tne establishment of
diplomatic relations with the infant nation ; and
the dispatch of an accredited envoy from the Court
of St. James to the Court of Mexico was hailed
with acclamations on both sides of the Atlantic.
Yet in future years diplomatic relations were
fruitless, if not actually impossible ; not so much in
that the Government of the Republic was faithless
and shameless in its dealings ; but in that there
was no Government with which it was possible to
deal.
An agreement concluded by the Minister of Mon-
day was repudiated by the Minister of Wednesday,
* Brantz Mayer " Mexico," II, 146-150.
From 1821 to 1868 there are said to have been three hundred
pronunciamientos.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 3
after a sanguinary and apparently unmeaning
revolution on the intervening Tuesday. *
Under such circumstances international comity
was impossible.
But all this is now a matter of ancient history.
When we say that things are made to move
faster on the other side of the Atlantic than
in the old home in Europe, we think, if we
do not speak, of the United States of North
America. But the change that has taken place
in Mexico and its institutions within the
last quarter of a century, is one of the most
rapid as well as one of the most remarkable
that is to be found in the history of nations, in the
ancient or the modern world.
For of all the revolutions that have taken place
in Mexico, the most astounding by far is that which
has been accomplished during the last fifteen years,,
and is still in process of silent and hardly noticed
development.
Mexico nowf enjoys a well settled Government,
* From 1821 to 1853, Domenech ("L'Empire au Mexique"
Paris, Dentu, 1862) gives a list of no less than 48 different j.
forms of Government, which succeeded one another in the 32
years. The names of the various Presidents, Dictators, and
other Chiefs, including one Emperor, are given, with the
dates of their acquisition of and rejection from power.
f A fair account of the social and economic condition of
Mexico in the year 1893, will be found in the Revue de Deux
Mondes for i5th July, 1893, vol. cxviii., p. 305, in an article
by Mr. Claudio Jannet.
"
OF THE
1SITY,
4 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
respected not only at home but abroad. Her
envoys are to be found residing in all civilised
countries. Her public obligations are punctually
met. Her foreign and domestic credit is excellent.
Nearly seven thousand miles of railway traverse
her rich and fertile country. Her commerce is
daily increasing. The worthy, the wise, and the
industrious of all nations are welcomed and pro-
tected by her rulers, as they help her to develop her
vast and varied resources."
Religion is absolutely free. Education is
encouraged and endowed. The army is kept in
honourable subjection. Law reigns supreme
throughout the country. This marvellous, this
magnificent change could hardly be the work of
So large a proportion of the French residents in Mexico
have come from the valleys on the South Eastern Frontier
of France, that the term Barcelonettes is commonly applied
to them all.
An article by Senor Emilio Velasco upon the " Condition
des Etranger au Mexique," printed in the Bulletin de la Societe
de Legislation Comparee, for 1892, is also of great interest.
* It could hardly be expected that public opinion in
Europe should keep pace with the actual condition of things
on the other side of the Atlantic.
In a play that I saw this year at the Garrick, the villain of
the piece, a fraudulent trustee and bankrupt speculator, has a
good post in Mexico awaiting the moment when he judges it fit to
decamp, quite as a matter of course. Posts in Mexico are
not very commonly heard of in England now, and would, as a
matter of fact, be no doubt eagerly sought by first-rate men
of business in London, who were capable of performing the
duties attached to the position.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 5
one man. / But one man contributed more than any
other to bring about this happy result. *
At the moment when things were at their worst,.
Benito Juarez, an obscure lawyer in a country town,
the only man of pure Indian blood who has ever
achieved for himself a reputation among the great
leaders of the modern world, stood forth and shewed
that one righteous man was yet to be found in-
Mexico.
A diligent student, a trustworthy official, a just
judge, a heaven-born administrator, he passed the
first forty years of his life almost unknown in his (
native State, incorruptible, indefatigable, single- S
minded, seeking first, and above all things, to do>
his dutyi\ ^
* The great decline in market value of Mexican securities
of every kind in the Autumn of this year — 1893 — is due, not
to any want of confidence in the stability or good faith of the
Government, but to the fall in the price of silver, all the world
over, and the possible effects of further complications upon a
country whose .total exports consist in round figures
of
Silver — valued at.. .. .. .. .. $45,000,000
All other commodities . . . . . . . . $30,000,000'
Total, say . . . . . . . . . . . . $75,000,000
The honesty and vigour with which President Diaz has
faced the situation is worthy of all praise, and commands
universal respect, and may be fairly appreciated by a perusal
of his Presidential Speech on the opening of the Chambers,
September i6th, 1893. See also Report of Mr. Lionel Garden,
H.B.M. Consul at Mexico, and an article thereupon of great
interest as regards the financial future of Mexico in The Times
of October 2ist, 1893, P- 9-
<) A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
For hard upon thirty years more he was found at
all times when honour called him, where danger
surrounded him ; neither puffed up by success, nor
cast down by failure, striving with a noble simplicity
to free his country from the foreigner, and to make
her people worthy of independent life,
f He was no soldier. He was no orator. He
had none of the dazzling qualities that make a
revolutionary hero or a popular idol, but he was
essentially an honest man.
That his influence in Mexico should have
been what it was, is a fact supremely encouraging
to those who may be tempted to fear that in these
days the clever sham is more potent than the honest
reality ; the profusion of gilt pieces more effective
than the sterling coin.
The first name on the long list of Mexican
revolutionists is that of Miguel Hidalgo, * the
Parish Priest of a little town near Guanajuato, in
•Central Mexico.
And on the i6th of September, 1810, after early
mass in the parish church, the inhabitants of
Dolores, docile in all things, but as yet unprepared
for rebellion, were invited to range themselves by
the side of their good priest and his military
* Domenech likens Hidalgo to Peter the Hermit. Hist.
•du Mexique : II., p. 3
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. J
associate," Captain Allende of the Dragoons, under
the banner and protection of the Most Holy Virgin
of Guadalupe. I
Thus was the torch of revolution first lighted in
Mexico A
The exact object of Hidalgo's rising is not quite
apparent. It is, perhaps, sufficiently explained by
the fact that revolution was in the air, and that
the Mexicans were weary of the stupid if not very
violent oppression of the Spanish Government.
But his war-cry or Grito, known as the Grito de
Dolores, was certainly unlike anything that had ever
been formulated by contemporary revolutionists in
Europe. It was : " May true Religion flourish and
may false Governments be destroyed ! "
* A lawyer of the name of Aldama was also associated
with them in the rising, as well as Morelos, of whom more
hereafter. Hidalgo was at this time no less than 58 years of
age.
f The Most Holy Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron Saint
of Mexico, and her cult dates from December, 1531.
A full account of the legend and of various miracles which
bear witness to its authenticity will be found in Mayer's
41 Mexico as it was and as it is," p. 63. The Spaniards nick-
named the Mexicans Guadalupes ; the Mexicans retorted by
calling the Spaniards Gaehupines.
A fierce rivalry, according to Mr. Tylor, (" Anahuac," p.
123) existed between Our Lady of Guadalupe and a Vir-
gin of Spanish origin, Our Lady de los Remedios.
It appears that the Aztecs, long before the arrival of the
Spaniards, had been in the habit of worshipping in this very
place a goddess known as Teotenantzin — the mother god.
There are many valuable notes on Aztec remains, customs,
and names in Mr. Tylor's book.
8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The maintenance of Spanish Catholicism was a
strange watchword for a modern Liberator. But
even as three hundred years before in Old Castile,
the Comuneros of 1520 had cried " Long live the
King and down with his evil councillors," when they
took up arms against Charles V., so the Mexican
revolutionists of 1810 appear to have concerned
themselves very little with religion in any form,
even though they marched under the banner of the
Blessed Virgin, held aloft by the sacred hands of a
consecrated priest.
Hidalgo, indeed, was promptly excommunicated
by the Bishops. His works and ways were
denounced from every altar. He had incurred the
censure of the Inquisition in the year 1800, and he
was now adjudged not only a present rebel, but an
ex post facto heretic. His true religion, whatever it
was, was anathema.
But Hidalgo was at once an enthusiast and a
man of action. The people were dissatisfied and
impressionable ; and in less than a week fifty
thousand armed Mexicans were marching upon the
rich and important town of Guanajuato.
/The era of revolution had begun in earnest.
^ For nearly three hundred years Mexico had been
untouched by political troubles. Viceroys, good
and bad, had come and gone — fifty-nine of them —
from Antonio de Mendoza, Count of Tendilla, who
x
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 9
was sent by Charles V. in 1535, to his Excellency
Don Francisco de Venegas, who was commissioned
by the Spanish Council of Regency at Seville in
1810.* But the good and the bad deeds of these
Spanish Pro-consuls are alike unrecorded in the
history of the world, and are long buried and
forgotten in the limbo of a dead past:\
Of the vast extent of territory which was
included in their Government, it is well
that we should take some pains to remind
ourselves.
At the beginning of the present century,! the
Viceroy of his Most Catholic Majesty residing
* VICEROYS OF MEXICO DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY.
No.
54 Don Miguel Jose de Azanza . . . . 1798-1800
55 Don Felix Berenguer De Marquina . . 1800-1802
56 Don Jose Iturrigaray .. .. .. .. 1803-1808
57 Field Marshal Don Pedro Garibay. . . . 1808
58 The Archbishop Francisco Xavier De Lianza 1809-1810
59 Lieutenant General Don Francisco Xavier
Venegas .. .. .. .. .. 1810-1813
" A traitor who, by his conduct in the army destined to co-operate
with Lord Wellington, rendered the victory of Talavera worse than a
defeat." "Encyclopaedia Bntaiinica " -- Supplement, 1824 — Sub Tit :
Mexico, p. 395.
60 Don Felix Maria Callej a .. .. .. 1813-1816
61 Don Juan Ruiz De Apodaca, Conde Del
Venadito .. .. .. .. .. 1816-1821
62 Don Juan O'Donoju .. .. .. -.. 1821-1824
f The area of the Vice-royalty of Mexico or Nueva
Espana at the time of its greatest extent under the Spanish
monarchy (1763-1800) was about 2,850,000 square miles, or
about the same area as that of the entire U.S. of N. America.
IO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
at Mexico, ruled supreme over a great part of the
entire continent of North America, from Guatemala
to Vancouver's Island and from Florida to San
Francisco.
His dominions included the whole of the modern
Republic of Mexico, with the territory now
comprised in the States of Louisiana, Arkansas^
Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota,
North and South Dacota, Wyoming, Montana,
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Florida and
^ California. It was indeed a noble Pro-consulate.*
But Spain was unworthy of these vast
possessions. Charles IV. wras reckless of these
noble opportunities. And the Bourbon basely and
at the present time, Of this immense territory no less than
2,100,000 square miles have since been acquired by treaty, by
conquest, or by purchase, by the United States ; leaving
Mexico at the present day with about 750,000 square miles.
For a detailed account of these transfers see post p. 43.
* By the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Spain gave up the
Floridas to England, but obtained what was called Louisiana
from France. Mexico, or New Spain, thus extended to the
Mississippi and the Upper Missouri.
In October 1800, by the Secret Treaty of San Ildefonso, the
whole of Louisiana, including the territory mentioned in the
text, was ceded by Charles IV. to Napoleon ; and by the
Treaty of Paris, April 3oth, 1803, the whole was handed over
by France to the United States.
And the United States gave up at the same time all claim to
Texas, which remained, as it had ever been, a part of New
Spain.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I I
ignorantly abandoned the greater part of
his transatlantic Empire to his masterful neighbour
in Europe, not as the spoil of open war, but as the
price of a secret and a dishonourable peace.
Within three years Napoleon had sold his plunder
— known by the general name of " Louisiana," for
a pitiful sum, to the United States of North
America (in 1803) without even consulting his
wretched ally.
Sixteen years later (in 1819) Ferdinand VII. —
unworthy son of an unworthy father — sold the
Peninsula of Florida* and the adjacent districts
which were still in the power of Spain, to the same
willing purchasers ; to whom also he abandoned
all his Imperial rights over the Spanish
possessions in the North West, an immense
tract of country now included in the States of
Oregon, Idaho, and Washington Territory, as far
north as Vancouver's Island, and the borders of
British Columbia, washed by the noble estuary
that still bears its old Spanish name of San Juan
de Fuca.
So much for royal abandonment.*
* It was in 1819 that Ferdinand VII. sold the Floridas, i.e.,
Florida, and part of Alabama and Georgia, to the United
States for $5,000,000, renouncing at the same time all claims
to Spanish territory in the North West to the South of the
42nd parallel, i.e., Oregon and Washington.
Texas declared its independence in 1836. New Mexico,
12 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
How closely the new Republic was clipped of the
fair lands which she still possessed on her entrance
into separate national life, in 1822, will be told
in due season. But for hard upon three hundred
years, the great Colony, of dimensions so vast that
the loss or gain of a fewr hundred thousands of
square miles was hardly counted either at Mexico
or Madrid, was governed by Spain for the
sole and simple advantage of the governors, Royal,
Vice regal, and Spanish.
That the Civil Power was arbitrary, that the
Ecclesiastical Power was uncompromising — so
much was simply a matter of course. But
beyond this, it was taken as the basis and rule of
the entire government and administration of the
country, that Mexico and the Mexicans alike existed
only for the benefit of Old Spain. * Nothing that
Arizona, California, with part of Nevada, and Dakota were
wrested from conquered Mexico by the Northern invaders,
under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
* The income of New Spain in the year 1809 (according
to Brantz Mayer " Mexico," 1852, vol. II., pp. g^et seq) was
$15,700,000, of which cock-fights produced $38,332 and bulls,
not sporting but Papal, $271,888. Of this fifteen millions
and threequarters of Dollars, say, ^3,150,000, eight and a
quarter millions, or, say, £i, 250,000, was the balance trans-
mitted to Spain.
The exports in the same year were :
Silver . . . . . . $14,000,000
Indigo . . . . . . . . ~.. . . . $2,700,000
Cochineal.. .. .. .. .. .. $1,715,000
Sugar .. .. .. .. .. .. $1,500,000
Flour . . . . . . . . . . . . $500,000
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 3
could be produced in the mother country was suffered
even to grow in the Colony. Even game cocks
were heavily taxed. * The cultivation of the grape
and of the olive, for which the climate of many
districts was peculiarly favourable, was altogether
forbidden, lest the export of oil and wine should
be diminished from Cadiz and Corunna. And
as with the fruits of the earth,! so with the
No other article of export reached the value of $100,000.
A reviewer in The Quarterly Review, CXV., p. 362, gives the
income in 1810 in round figures at ^4,000,000, of which
£2., 000,000 was remitted to Spain. Under Maximilian the
revenue fell to about £3, 000,000, and in 1869, the worst year
under Republican Government, to $13,600,000, or about
^2,500,000.
The revenue in 1892 amounted to about ^8,000,000.
* Cock-fighting is a national amusement of great antiquity,
and one that has been taken by the Spaniards with them into
every one of their colonies, and it is still a cherished sport in
Spain, in the Philippines, and in every part of Spanish
South America.
The curious in such matters will find a full account of the
rules and regulations of the sport, the mode of rearing and
training the cocks, and much out-of-the-way information,
set down with much authority in a little book published
in the Philippine Islands — Manual nang Sasabungin, en Cas-
tellano y en Tagolog, libvo de Suma utilidad & toda el que
tenga y cuide gallos de pelea, by V. M. de Abella,
Manila, 1878, pp, 48. In Mexico, as we see, it was a source
of public revenue. I do not know if this was the case in any
other country. Bull fights in Spain at the present day con-
tribute largely to the endowment of the hospitals. I am not
aware that cock-fights minister to any charity.
f Just before the rising of Hidalgo in 1810, the vines and the
mulberry trees that he had cultivated near Dolores were cut
down by order of the Spanish authorities, as ivine and silk were
both prohibited productions in Mexico. — Domenech :
Hist, du Mexique II., 13. Cf. Gen. Grant's Memoirs. I. 65.
14 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
children of the soil. No office was at the disposal
of any man who was not a native of Spain. Not
only every Mexican but every man born in the
Colony, albeit of the purest Spanish blood, was
ineligible for employment of any kind in the Colonial
Service of his country. And thus when, in the early
days of national independence, wre may marvel at
the astounding incapacity for government, for ad-
ministration, and for ordinary self-control, displayed
alike by leaders and followers through dreary cycles
of aimless revolution, it is well to remember the
national education of the preceding three hundred
years.
Only two ports were open for foreign commerce,
Vera Cruz on the east, and Acapulco on the Pacific
coast.
No stranger was allowed to enter the country
without the special license of the Government
at Madrid. Few Mexicans were permitted to travel
abroad, or even to visit Spain." Education was
discouraged. No book could be introduced into the
country without the sanction of the Inquisition.
* The members of the Audiencia, or Spanish Council of
State, in Mexico, were not even allowed to marry in the
Colony.
A Creole (Criollo) does not, as is sometimes supposed,
signify a man or woman of mixed blood, but merely one born
in the colony.
The issue of a Spaniard and a Mexican was called Mestizo,
or half caste. The derivation of Creole is uncertain.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I 5
The best that can be said for such a state of things
is, that it was pacific.
The State was convulsed by no wars. The
Church was vexed by no opposition. The
Inquisition/" indeed, existed ; but it had no need to
put forth its giant strength. The Commonwealth
was troubled by neither political nor religious
freethinkers. No preparation could possibly have
been worse for the sudden leap into independent
life that was taken in the Nineteenth Century.
The Viceroys kept things quiet in the Colony,
and they remitted silver to Madrid. No more was
asked of them. t The people were, of course, kept
down ; but they had no desire to rise.
* The Inquisition, indeed, was established in 1571. And
we are told that at the first Auto da Fe in 1574 " twenty-one
pestilent Lutherans were committed to the flames." But the
Indians were exempted from the sphere of its operations, and
there were not many European heretics for the Quemadero
during the i7th and i8th Centuries.
Don Pedro de Contreras was appointed Inquisitor General
in 1570, with headquarters in the City of Mexico.
The Quemadero, or burning-place, in the City of Mexico,
on a spot now included in the Alameda, was a square platform
in a large open space, where the spectacle could be witnessed
by the entire population of the city.
f There seems to be no doubt that the Spaniards, both lay
and ecclesiastical, were somewhat more reasonable in
Mexico than the savage adventurers who plundered and
destroyed millions of peaceful subjects in the West India
Islands and in Peru. It is, perhaps, somewhat to the credit
of the sixty-four Viceroys who bore rule in the city of Monte-
zuma that we know so little about them.
The native races of Mexico, too, were doubtless hardier
and more vigorous than their gentle congeners in South
1 6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Yet the wave of revolution that was passing over
Europe at the end of the Eighteenth Century, at
length made itself felt in Mexico. The great
upheaval in France had been followed by a
violent change of government in Spain. Fer-
dinand, Prince of Asturias, betraying his father to
the French, was in his turn betrayed by Napoleon ;
and a Bonaparte was raised to the throne of
the Spanish Bourbons. Thus, in absolutist Spain,
resistance to authority came suddenly to be
counted as a virtue. No revolution could have
been more strange ; no revulsion more complete.
And in the year of Grace 1810, a Junta, at once
patriotic and disloyal, at once constitutional and
revolutionary, had been summoned to meet at
Seville, upon the very day on which the band of
transatlantic insurgents, under the leadership of a
country priest, were marching upon the astonished
city of Guanajuato.
For some weeks the cause of Hidalgo prevailed
in Mexico. The war cry of Dolores had rallied
fifty thousand fighting men to the standards of
insurrection.
America. See Chapter II. and authorities there cited,
especially H. H.Bancroft's "Native Races of the Pacific
States."
But as to the cruelty of the Spaniards in Mexico, I have
seen a very curious book entitled Horribles Crueldades de los
Conquistadores de Mexico por Fernando Alva de Ixtlilxuchixl.
Edited by Bustamente (Mexico, 1829), i vol. 4to.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I/
Guanajuato was taken. Guadalajara was
threatened. The Spanish authorities were for a
time unable to make any head against the formid-
able and unprecedented outbreak. But the delay
that ever dogs the path of military incompetence,
proved fatal to the ill-disciplined hosts ; and Hidalgo
and his friends having been beaten at Calderon,
near Guadalajara, on the i6th of January, i8n,fled \
northwards, hoping to make their escape into the
United States. They were captured," however,
near the Rio Grande, and promptly executed,
just six months after their first success at
Guanajuato.
The rebellion had, indeed, been suppressed.
But the rapidity with which a large body of
insurgents could be collected in a country which
had so long slumbered in undisturbed peace, if not
in contentment, was a disquieting feature in the
situation,! even after the rebel armies had been
satisfactorily dispersed or destroyed.
* Hidalgo was betrayed by a friend of his, one Elizondo.
He was formally degraded and unfrocked by an Ecclesiastical
Commissary, previous to being handed over to the Civil
Power and shot.
Allende, Aldama, and Jimenez were shot at Chihuahua, in
January, and Hidalgo on the 3ist of July. The four heads
were carried to Guanajuato and nailed upon the four corners
of the Alhandega de las Granaditos.
t Hidalgo is said by the author of the remarkable article
on Mexico — the supplement to the "Encyclopaedia
Britannica," published 1824, to have been a follower of
Luther.
1 8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The Grito de Dolores is of interest, rather as
being the first of so long a series of Cries, Plans,
and pronunciamientos in a country unrivalled among
modern States for the number and variety of its
revolutions, than on account of any constitutional,
or social, or military importance of its own. But
before the blood of these protomartyrs of
Mexican independence had been washed away by
the northern rains, a new war cry had been raised
by a new patriot in the south.
Jose Maria Morelos had been known in
his youth and early manhood as an honest and
hard working muleteer. Ambitious, intelligent,
patriotic, he had, somewhat late in life, been
admitted to Holy Orders, * had served under
his fellow priest, Hidalgo, in the first days of his
rising ; and had been despatched by him, some time
before his defeat, to seek reinforcements on the
Pacific coast.
More skilled in strategy than his old leader, he
held his own against the Spanish troops for nearly
three years, | until at length, in August, 1813, he
When at the height of his power at Zacatecas he cause^
money to be coined with the effigy of Ferdinand VII. — Ibid.
I have not seen any of the pieces.
* Morelos had actually studied at the Ecclesiastical
College ot San Nicolas with Hidalgo.
f Amongst the associates of Morelos was Father
Matamoros, another priest, and a full-blooded Indian, whose
name is honourably remembered in Mexico.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 9-
gained possession of Acapulco, the most important
seaport on the western shores of Mexico, and the
finest harbour on the entire Pacific coast from
Vancouver to Cape Horn. And one month later,
on the i4th of September, 1813, the first
popular assembly in Mexico, met at Chilpancingo,.
with the title of The Junta of Anahuac.*
But the deliberation of this convention was far
from harmonious : the military councils were no
less divided : and the army of Morelos was com-
pletely routed t near Valladolid J by the regular
troops, under a young commander of the name of
Agustin de Yturbide,§ on Christmas Eve, 1813.
But Morelos himself escaped, and it was not
until nearly two years later (November 5th, 1815),
after he had proclaimed the first Mexican
constitution, that he was betrayed by an officer wha
* The old Mexican name for the entire tableland of
Mexico.
f At Texuralaca.
} Now called (i.e., since 1828) in his honour, Morelia, the
capital of the State of Michoacan, a town about 150 miles
south west of the City of Mexico. A little province
(1,650 square miles) immediately to the south of the capital
has also been constituted and named after him, Morelos. The
capital of this state is Cuernavaca.
§ Yturbide, though actually born in Mexico, was of a
good old Navarrese family. Of his wife and family we shall
have more to say in connection with his unhappy successor
on the Imperial throne, Maximilian of Hapsburg. His
daughter, Princess Josefa, was still alive and residing in
Mexico in 1892.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
2O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
had formerly served under his command, and taken
prisoner to Mexico.
Here, as a priest, he was handed over to the
Inquisition, by whose orders he was put to the
torture ; and having been adjudged guilty on
various counts, he was finally handed over to the
secular arm, and shot at San Cristobal Ecatepec,
near the City of Mexico, on the 22nd of December,
1815.
Meanwhile, the French had been driven out of
Old Spain. Ferdinand VII. had been restored
to his crown by the success of the English arms ;
.and having made his public entry into Madrid on
March 2oth, 1814, he proceeded at once to re-
establish the Inquisition," and to declare null and
void all the acts of the National Assembly that had
governed Spain from the time of his flight and abdi-
cation, just six years before. A comprehensive
Edict of Proscription was issued on May 3oth,
1814. The liberty of the Press was abolished in
April, 1815. The Jesuits were brought back in
the following May. Arbitrary arrests, military
executions, savage decrees, succeeded each other
with pitiful regularity. Nothing was left undone
* The Inquisition \vas also re-established in Mexico on
the restoration of Ferdinand VII. — Cf. Alaman, "Historia
de Mexico," lib. vi.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 21
to alienate the loyal Spanish people from their
wretched Sovereign.
In New Spain, as in Old Spain, from 1815 to 1820,
revolution rather smouldered than slumbered.
General Calleja, who had succeeded Venegas as
Viceroy in March, i8i3/;: returned to Europe four
years later, having fairly earned his title as Count
of Calderon, | and was himself succeeded by the
more amiable Apodaca, a naval officer of some
distinction, who was sent out from Cadiz.
But amiability was powerless to stem the rising
tide of disaffection in Mexico.
The arbitrary and odious Government of
Ferdinand VII. resulted, after six years endurance,
in revolution, not only in the Peninsula, but in
every part of Spanish- America. And while George
Canning, in England, was preparing to " call a
new world into existence to redress the balance in
the old," in Mexico the crisis was precipitated in
a somewhat remarkable way.
A rising of the usual type having taken place in
the Southern Provinces, under a local patriot of the
name of Guerrero, J General Yturbide, the conqueror
Venegas had resigned the Viceroyalty to Calleja on
4th March, 1813,
f The scene of his victory over Hidalgo.
} Guerrero was afterwards the third President of Mexico,
and was shot, after a very brief term of office.
22 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of Morelos, and one of the most trusted officers of
the royal army, was despatched to quell this new
insurrection.
But the overthrow of absolute government in
Spain in 1820, not yet restored by French interven-
tion in 1823, had powerfully affected the minds of
men in Mexico. Yturbide, like many others, had
dreamed of an Administration, not only liberal, but
independent. And thus, instead of attacking the
rebels whom he had been sent to destroy, he
entered into friendly negotiations with their leader
Guerrero ; and he persuaded both his own troops
and those of the enemy to acknowledge him as the
leader of a new combined insurrection, and to
.adopt a scheme or plan of Mexican Independence,
which became known as the Plan de Iguala.*
Three essential articles made up this programme,
i. — The preservation of the Roman Catholic
Church, with the exclusion of other forms of
religion. 2. — The absolute independence of Mexico
under the government of a moderate monarchy,
with some member of the reigning house of Spain
upon the throne. 3. — The amiable union of
Spaniards and Mexicans. These three clauses
were called the " three guarantees ; " and when the
* This Plan or Charter, in twenty-four articles, and dated
February 24th, 1821, is given in full in Domenech: Hist.
>du Mexique II. 36 — 38.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 23
national Mexican flag was devised about the
same time, its colours represented these three
articles of the national faith : White, for religious
purity, Green for union, and Red for independence.
The army of Yturbide, known as the army of three
guarantees, marched boldly upon Mexico/1'
The Viceroy, taken completely by surprise,
made such preparations as he could to check the
insurrection. But the country was fairly roused.
The Government troops could make no stand
against the patriots. Apodaca was arrested in his
own palace at Mexico, and ordered to return to
Spain. In the meanwhile, a new Viceroy, whose
name tells truly of his Irish origin, had been sent
out to the great Colony from Madrid.
And Don Juan O'Donoju, having landed at Vera
Cruz as Viceroy of King Ferdinand VII., and
having taken the oath of office to uphold the dignity
of that Sovereign, hastened, after brief negotiations
with Yturbide, to recognise the new constitution-
A Junta of thirty-eight members was speedily
convoked, with a supreme Council of five
Ministers, of whom the sixty-fourth and last
Viceroy, Mr. O'Donoghue, was an important mem-
ber, under the presidency of that most persuasive
of rebels, Senor Don Agustin de Yturbide. t
* See Hale, " Mexico," p. 26.
f An Embassy was sent from Mexico in the Winter of 1821
24 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But harmony was not found in the councils of
the new Government.
The more respectable of the Mexican patriots
were soon disgusted with the extravagances of the
Administration ; while Yturbide, supported by the
Clergy and the Army, was on the i8th of May,
1822, elected Emperor of Mexico under the title of
Agustin I. The most elaborate provisions were
made by the obedient Junta for the style and
dignities to be accorded to the new Emperor ; for
the succession to the throne ; and for the titles,
precedence, and allowances of the several members
of the Imperial Family.
On the 2ist July, 1822, the Emperor and Empress
were solemnly crowned, anointed, and blessed in
the great Cathedral of Mexico ; and on the 6th
of the following December, a Republic was pro-
claimed at Vera Cruz, and Senor Yturbide, with
his wife and family, were politely requested to
leave the country.
The hero of this new political development was
a man whose name is known in every quarter of
the world as the very flower and cream of
revolutionary leaders, the incarnation of all that
goes to make up the ideal of a modern Spanish-
to offer the Crown to Ferdinand of Spain ; but both he and
his brother, Don Carlos, had too much prudence or too little
pluck to accept it.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 25
American adventurer. And it is to the reckless
and venal ambition, the attractive daring, the
shameless tergiversation, and the pertinacious
incompetence of Antonio Lopez de Santa A^ina
that is largely attributable the immense load of
loss and disaster which weighed upon Mexico
during the greater portion of his long life."
Born at Jalapa in 1795 or 1796, he entered the
Spanish army as a cadet in 1810, served under
Calleja against Hidalgo and Morelos, and took an
active part in the operations at Vera Cruz in 1821,
which contributed to the success of Yturbide, by
whom he was appointed a Brigadier-General.
The first use that the young adventurer made of
his new command was to conspire against his
patron, and to procure his deposition, his banish-
ment, and his condemnation to death should he
at any time return to Mexico.
Yturbide sailed away to Europe in January,
1823, and on the I4th of July, 1824, he reappeared
on the coast of Tamaulipas, and landed at Sota de
la Marina, a small port to the north of Tampico.
He was arrested within a few hours of his landing.
* Certainly from January, 1823, to 1848. Nor can his
maleficent influence be said to have entirely died out until his
death in 1872. From 1848 to 1872, indeed, he continued to
organise revolution — but his plots were uniformly unsuccess-
ful.
26 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
and promptly shot * as a conspirator, by virtue of
the decree that had been promulgated some months
before, at the suggestion of his friend Santa Anna,
and of which, it is said, the ex-Emperor was
entirely ignorant.
But those who play at bowls must proverbially
look out for rubbers.
Yturbide, in the space of three years, had been a
traitor to King Ferdinand and to his Viceroy
Apodaca, to the Plan of Iguala, to the Treaty of
Cordova, and to the National Junta of Mexico :
and his hasty execution is chiefly to be regretted
on the grounds that, had he been permitted to
continue at large, he would in all probability have
found some means of hoisting that versatile
engineer, Santa Anna, with the petard that he
had prepared for his patron. Meanwhile, a
Constitution, truly admirable on paper, had been
drawn up and accepted by a National Assembly
convoked for that purpose; and Mexico became, on
the 4th of October, 1824, a Federal Republic,!
* Had Santa Anna himself met a similar fate on any one
of the many occasions of his own unexpected returns from
banishment, it would undoubtedly have been far better for his
country.
f A fair account of the Federal Constitution of 1824 will
be found in Brantz Mayer: "Mexico," vol. II. pp. 146-
149.
The Constitution was revised by the A eta de reforma in 1847.
given by Mayer, p. 144.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2*J
under the Presidency of a successful General, Don
Felix Fernandez Victoria, a man not unfriendly to
Santa Anna. For Santa Anna, having sought and
failed to obtain for himself the supreme power in the
State, found it convenient to support a submissive
President from his boasted retirement on his farm
near Jalapa.*
/(From 1824 to 1828 there was comparative peace J
inv^Iexico ; but the Presidential election of 1828 led
to the direst confusion, which continued unchecked
for many years. Guerrero, the Liberal candidate,
was shot at Acapulco ; Pedraza, the Conservative
candidate, fled to New Orleans. The capital was
The present Constitution of Mexico is said to have been
proclaimed on the i6th September, 1810, y consnmada el 27 de
Setiembre de 1821 . It consists of 128 articles.
* The Province of Guatemala had revolted and declared
itself independent of Mexico (September i5th, 1821). Its in-
dependence was recognised, after much fighting, by the
Mexican Congress on December ist, 1823, an independence
maintained to this day. — See "Guatemala," by W. J.
Brigham (1887).
f The first Treaty of Commerce between Great Britain
and the United States of Mexico was signed at London on the
26th of December, 1826. It is printed in Vol. XXVII. of
the Parliamentary State Papers, 1828, pp. i — 15. Cf. Dome-
nech : Hist. II, cap. 2.
I On the first of January, 1825, the first Charge d' Affaires
accredited to the new Republic was sent by George Canning,
from England. Alison's "History of Europe," Vol. II., 718,
and Vol. III., 733.
And the Presidential message to the first Constituent
Assembly was read in April, 1826. — See " Annual Register,"
1826, and Domenech : " Histoire du Mexique," Vol II., p.
71-
28 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
sacked."' No man, as each day dawned, knew under
what form of government the sun would go down
in Mexico. He knew only that his life and his
property were at the mercy of the strongest.
Nothing could have been more unfortunate for
the early political discipline of the nation than that
the first lawrful election of a President, after the
proclamation of the constitution of 1824, when
Pedraza wras duly elected by the constituencies,
should have been upset by a military revolution
when the Yorkinos,\ as they were called, placed
General Guerrero by force in the place of the
constituted Chief of the State. ~'f
Santa Anna, as might have been supposed, was the
leader and instigator of this constitutional outrage
for he appears to have taken up arms at one time
or another against every Government, or every
Governor, that was established in Mexico, from the
* December, 1828.
f These Yorhinos, or New Yorkers, were a lodge, a branch of
the Mexican Freemasons, introduced into Mexico for the first
time in 1822, by Mr. Poinsett, the first accredited diplomatic
agent of the United States in Mexico. Two years before, a
number of lodges of the sect or order known as the Escoces,
or Scotch, had become powerful instruments of party organisa-
tion The names are perpetually cropping up in the history
of the country from 1820 to 1850. — See Domenech : Hist,
du Mexique II., 44 — 46, 73 — 74, etc.
I It was on the i5th of September, 1829, that slavery was
decreed to be non-existent and abolished throughout Mexico.
The decree is signed by Guerrero. Cf. Baz. " Vidade Juarez,"
3L 32.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2Q
sallying forth of Hidalgo from Dolores in 1810
to the return of Juarez to Mexico in 1867 ; a fifty
years' record of revolution?) In August, 1829, he had
succeeded, in a spare moment of party neutrality,
in expelling an army which had been tardily
sent out from the Peninusla, under General
Barradas, to bring the old Colony once more under
subjection to Spain :* and at length, after five years'
enjoyment in what may be called fighting at large,
he accepted the post of President of the Republic
in January 1833,! and relieved the monotony of
office by proclaiming himself Dictator less than six
months afterwards. J V*_K^-«/*
The Federal system was abolished ; and the
Governors of the States, now converted into
Provinces, were made directly dependent upon the
* The Spanish fleet remained in Mexican waters for some
time after the declaration of the independence of the Old
Colony, and it was not until May ist, 1825, that the ships of
war lying off Vera Cruz were handed over by their crews to
the Mexican Government.
The Fort of San Juan de Ulloa, in the Bay of Vera Cruz,
which had held out as long as the fleet remained loyal to
Ferdinand VII., was forced to surrender on the 2ist of
December, 1825, and thus the last remnant of Spanish rule in
Njieva Espana was cut off.
f Alaman, minister of President Bustamente, dispossessed
by Santa Anna in 1833, was one of the best and most states^
manlike of all the ministers or Presidents of Mexico before
the days of Juarez. — See Domenech: " Histoire du Mexique,"
II., pp. 90-96.
{ Domenech : Hist., II., 96-126.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY,
3O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
central Government and absolutely under the
control of the Autocrat at the Capital.
In no part of the Mexican dominions was this
change more actively resented than in that vast
territory to the north east of the Rio Grande
which is comprised in the modern State of Texas ;
and from 1824 to 1836 was included in the old
Mexican Province of Cohahuila.
Dissatisfied at once with the dictatorship of
Santa Anna and with the Provincial Government at
Saltillo, the inhabitants of this north-eastern
Province, who were to a very large extent settlers
and adventurers of Anglo-Saxon blood, wrho had
found their way across the frontier from the
United States by permission of the Government of
Mexico, determined to assert their independence.
A constitution was accordingly drawn up, somewhat
after the Mexican fashion, by Colonel Austin," a
leading citizen, and maker of cities ; and early
in March, 1836, a Convention of Delegates
from Texas assembled at Washington, where the
absolute independence of the country was formally
proclaimed, with the approbation of President
Jackson.
The Mexican Dictator at once marched — rash
and incompetent — into the rebellious Province, at
* After whom, Austin City, the capital of the State of
Texas is appropriately named.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 3!
the head of a large army, and was not only defeated
but taken prisoner at San Jacinto. Texas was
immediately recognised as an independent Com-
monwealth by England and France, as well as
by the United States of North America.
Santa Anna was detained as a prisoner of war
from April 1836 to February 183 7, when he returned
to Mexico, and having been worsted in an attempt
once more to obtain the Presidency of the Repub-
lic, he professed himself disgusted with public
affairs, and retired into private life at Jalapa.*
From 1837 to 1845 the history of Mexico is at
once confused and uninteresting.
Humbled as she was in 1836 by the defeat of her
troops and the captivity of her President, the new
Republic was exposed to the attacks of all comers ;
and the Orleanist Government of France took
advantage of the opportunity to seek some cheap
glory, by making an extravagant demand for com-
pensation on account of some imaginary injury to
French subjects ; and a squadron under the Prince
de Joinville and Admiral Baudin was despatched
to Vera Cruz at the close of the year 1837, to
enforce the demands which the Mexican Govern-
ment pronounced entirely without foundation.
* He only received two votes out of 69 ! That he should
have been allowed to depart in peace, or rather, to remain
unmolested in Mexico, says a good deal for the long-suffering
of his rivals.
32 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
One of the gravamina alleged was the destruction
of the stock-in-trade of a French pastry cook,
during some one of the hundred revolutions from
1810 to 1837.
For nearly a year the French fleet blockaded the
gulf of Mexico, to the serious injury of foreign
commerce ; and at length on the 27th of November,
1838, the Fort of San Juan de Ulloa was
bombarded, and de Joinville landed some troops
near Vera Cruz. Santa Anna, glad of the opportu-
nity of some patriotic display of fighting, attacked
the invaders on his own account, and received a
wound in the leg, which rendered him lame for
life.
But the French were, of course, successful -in
their warlike operations ; and the pastry cook
received sixty thousand dollars for his tarts."
To follow the chameleon-like changes of
* Ref. — Alison: "History of Europe," Vol. VI. , pp.
28-29.
The French claims were known in Mexico as the Reclama-
tion de los pasteles. The Convention, or Treaty of Peace after
their Act of War — was drawn up by the intervention of Mr.
Pakenham, British Minister at Mexico, and signed on the gth
of March, 1839, when the French withdrew their fleet, having
obtained 3,000,000 francs in cash, as a satisfaction on all
accounts !
Of the vigorous and repeated remonstrances of the English
merchants ; of the loss and suffering occasioned by the action
of the French ; of Lord Palmerston's apathy ; and of many
cognate matters, a very full account will be found in the Parlia-
mentary Blue Book ; Accounts and Papers, May, 1838 to
March, 1839 (2) 399 and (18) 573.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 33
Government in Mexico itself is a task alike unin-
viting and uninstructive. For many years scarce
a day passed without a grito, scarce a week with-
out a plan, scarce a month without a pvoniincia-
miento, not a year without a revolution.* l^But
everywhere and at _all times was found the
ine^^table Santa Anna, j
T h enr st~ stage" of fne long struggle for inde- \
]/ pendence in Mexico may be taken to extend from I
the Grito, or war cry, of Dolores (i6th September, 1
1810) to the Coronation of the Emperor Yturbide J
(July 2ist, 1822).
The second period t dates from the appearance of
Santa Anna at Vera Cruz (December 6th, 1822) to
/ the dismemberment of the State by the Treaty of
4 Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2nd, 1848). For
the most deadly blow that was struck at the new
Republic of Mexico came not from Royal Spain
nor from Imperial France, but from the sister
Republic of the United States of North America.
And one of the greatest and least justifiable acts
of national plunder that is recorded in the history
* "Cada ano un gobernante ; Cada vies un motin," are the
words of Senor Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan, quoted by Baz in
his " Vida de Juarez," cap. I.
f A very full and detailed " Treaty between Her Majesty,
(the Queen of England) and the Mexican Republick for the
abolition of the traffick in slaves," was signed at Mexico on the
24th of February, 1841, and is printed in the Accounts and
Papers, Parliamentary Blue Book, 1842, pp. 103-125.
34 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of civilised nations was not the work of Kings or
Emperors, legitimate or revolutionary, nor of
semi-independent adventurers or buccaneers, but
of the virtuous, the constitutional, and the exem-
plary Government of a neighbouring and a friendly
Republic.
From 1837 to 1845 Texas, detached as we have
seen from the Commonwealth of Mexico, had
existed as an independent state. *
The inhabitants were chiefly of Anglo-Saxon
blood. Eight years of home rule had only served
to convince them of the value of union. And in
1844 wThen they, not unnaturally, sought to obtain
admission into the North American Common-
wealth, the Mexican Government, no less naturally,
though perhaps not very wisely, protested. But
the protest was utterly disregarded at Washington,
where political combinations suggested a policy of
annexation.
* By the Constitution of 1824, Mexico was divided into 19
States, of which Cohahuila was one of the largest. The
present State of Cohahuila, from which Texas has been taken
away, is only about 40,000 square miles. The capital is, as
before the division, Saltillo, in the south of the State. The
area of the present State of Texas is about 257,000 square
miles. For an account of the areas of the United States which
at one time were included in the Viceroyalty of New Spain,
seefl^p. 10, and post pp. 41-3.
The total area of undivided Mexico, on the declaration of
independence in 1824, is given on the authority of Fullarton's
Gazetteer (1858) at 1,600,000 square miles.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 35
Slavery, which was unlawful in New Spain, had
flourished in independent Texas, and the addition
of a new slave State to the American Union
was favoured by a powerful party in North
America.
Mr. Polk, an active and unscrupulous politician,,
on becoming President (March, 1845) took upon
himself, in the Spring of the year, to order General
Zachary Taylor with a small army to cross the
Nueces River — the boundary between Texas and
Mexico — and to occupy the western bank with his
troops.*
Yet, during the greater part of the year 1845,
negotiations were carried on between the Cabinet
of Washington and President Herrera, which were
as fruitless as it was intended that they should be.
On the first of December, 1845, Texas was
formally admitted as a State of the American
Union, and on the 3oth of the same month a
revolution at Mexico drove President Herrera from
power, and replaced him by the more vigorous and
ambitious General Paredes.
Negotiations were now no longer continued, and
an army was dispatched from Mexico by the new
President, for the defence of his northern
frontier.
* The Mexicans maintained that the river boundary was
the Rio Grande del Norte, to the S.W. of the Nueces.
D — 2
36 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
General Taylor was already in position. But
political rather than strategic necessities compelled
him to await an attack by the Mexican troops.
" We were sent," says General Grant (Memoirs :
vol. I., p. 68), " to provoke a fight, but it was
essential that Mexico should commence it," in
order that the war of spoliation, which had already
been determined upon at Washington, should be
proclaimed as a war of defence/1' General Taylor's
manoeuvres were successful. A detachment of
Arista's forces actually struck the first blow, and
war was instantly declared. " Mexico " said the
President in his Message, May nth, 1846, " has
passed the boundary of the United States, and shed
American blood upon American soil ; war exists and
exists by the act of Mexico herself."
The war was popular in the United States. Volun-
teers came forward in great numbers. A skirmish
at Palo Alto, near the Rio Grande (May 8th, 1846),
which was dignified with the name of a battle, was
favourable to the Northern troops.
* Ulysses Grant served in this buccaneering expedition as
a Lieutenant in the United States Army, and he has left in his
Memoirs a vivid account of the attempts that were made to
induce the Mexican troops to assume the offensive.
"I was bitterly opposed," says General Grant, "to the
Policy of the annexation, and to this day regard the war which
resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger
.against a weaker nation Even if the annexation itself
(of Texas only) could be justified, the manner in which the
subsequent war was forced upon Mexico can not." — General
Grant : Memoirs, Vol. I., p. 55.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 37
And in the early Autumn a more serious victory
was proclaimed on the taking of the fortified town
of Monterey, in California (September 23rd, 1846),
which led to the occupation of the Northern
Provinces of Mexico by troops from \Vashington,
Mexico, far from seeking — if she ever sought — to
recover Texas, was hard pressed to keep an army
in the field.
But the Northern Republic was not satisfied.
The exigencies of party strife, and the greed of
further conquest, at once impelled the Government
of the United States to send a fleet to blockade the
undefended coasts of Mexico, and to order a
prominent politician to march an invading army
into Southern Mexico, that he might quarter
his victorious troops in the ancient capital /
of Montezuma.
If General Win^field Scott or his friends at the
Capitol supposed that the expedition would be a
mere promenade miliiaire, they were certainly
mistaken. Yet, by way of effectually smoothing
the way for the success of their arms, they were
politic enough at this critical juncture to procure
that Mexico should once more seek guidance
and government at the hands of Santa Anna.*
* Santa Anna, who had, on I5th January, 1845, been im-
peached and arrested, remained imprisoned in Mexico till May,
1845, when he fled to Cuba, where he lived until his recall in
August, 1846.
38 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
On the last day of July this hardy exile was per-
mitted by the blockading forces to land at Vera
•Cruz. The necessary Revolution awaited his
arrival. The Government of Paredes was over-
thrown, not by the Invader but by the Intriguer,
and on the i5th of September, Santa Anna, as Pre-
sident of the Republic, made his triumphal entry
into Mexico.*
On the occupation of the City of Mexico by United States
troops in 1847-48, he resigned his Presidency, and
begged leave of Juarez, then Governor of Oaxaca, for permis-
sion to reside at Tehuacan. This was refused, and he fled
to Jamaica. He was recalled in April, 1853, and ran away again
on the Qth August, 1854 (after Ayutla).
There is a very clear sketch of the character of Santa
Anna in an article by L. in Frazev's Magazine for December,
1861.
" Like the limb which he lost in the defence of San Juan de
Ulloa against the French, and which was placed first under the
altar of the Cathedral at Puebla, and afterwards thrown out
upon a dunghill, Santa Anna has been alternately idolised and
vilified.
" Invariably unsuccessful in the field, he is considered as no
contemptible General, for it was invariably his practice never
to acknowledge a defeat, and to insist upon receiving an ovation
on his return to the capital after the most disastrous expedi-
tions !
" His chief source of strength," concludes the writer, "has
.always been the thorough knowledge he possessed of his
•countrymen."
The Mexicans of his day seem to have been as prone as
many other people to accept words for things.
A due and appropriate supply of words is indeed the chief
function of modern Party Governments.
* In July, 1846, the arrison of Vera Cruz, blockaded by a
North American Squadron, threw oft their allegiance to the
Government at Mexico, and summoned Santa Anna from his
retirement at the Havannah. Such summonses were well
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 39
If the military preparations at the capital were
scandalously deficient, it was scarcely to be
supposed that any provision whatever should have
been made for the defence of the distant Pacific
ports, and of the great north-western territories of
Mexico.
The immense districts of California, of Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona, were already occupied
by the invaders.
Of military capacity Santa Anna had absolutely
none. His army was without organisation, with-
out supplies, almost without arms.
The force that was maintained by the Govern-
ment of Washington, was well armed, well led, and
well provisioned.
On the 1 8th of February, 1847, General Scott
landed at Sacrificios, some three miles to the
south of Vera Cruz. And a few days later Santa
Anna was handsomely beaten by the grateful
Americans at Angostura.
Vera Cruz and St. ]uan de Ulloa surrendered on
the 28th of March. Santa Anna was once more
understood in Mexico, and proceeded, as a rule, from the
person summoned !
Santa Anna, writing to a friend on October nth, 1831,
says, "My fixed system is to be called (ser llamado) like a
modest damsel, who rather expects to be desired, than to
show herself as desiring." — Mayer : " Mexico" I., 319,
The system of Santa Anna, and the modesty of the damsel
are equally whimsical.
$)>>.
OF THE
(UNIVERSITY/'
4O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
beaten near Jalapa. But failure seemed ever to
render this fantastic personage more powerful
and more popular than before ; and, invested once
again with the functions of a Dictator, he was
charged with the fortification and defence of the
capital. But General Scott was rapidly approach-
ing.
Puebla was occupied without striking a blow,
and on the I5th of August, Mexico itself was
formerly invested by the American Army."
First at Churubusco and afterwards at Chapul-
tepec, the Mexicans fought long and bravely. But
they were defeated by the superior discipline and
the superior armament of the invaders. For they
fought as a mob, and not as an army.
Of their courage and of their incompetence, of
their devotion and of their want of discipline, a
distinguished general has spoken with the authority
of an eye witness, and with the just appreciation of
special experience.!
* The invaders, it must be owned, were a long way from
Texas on the i5th of August.
f " The Mexican army of that day," says General Grant
(Mem., I. 68), "was hardly an organisation. The private
soldier was picked up from the lowest class of the inhabi-
tants when wanted ; his consent was not asked. He was
poorly clothed, worse fed, and seldom paid, and well nigh
uninstructed in the use of the inefficient weapon with which
he was supplied. He was turned adrift when no longer
wanted. The officers of the lower grades were but little
superior to the men." But General Grant speaks also in the
highest terms of the bravery of these Mexican troops.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 41
It is usually asserted that Santa Anna sold the
position.
In any case, he was allowed to escape — when his
presence was of no special advantage to the invader-
unmolested and rich to the Havannah.* And when
the foreign army had taken possession of the City
of Mexico, it was found that the Dictator had
already adopted his familiar policy of flight.
[September 1847.] t
If the war with North America had been
disastrous, the peace was more disastrous still.
The country lay prostrate at the feet of the
invader. And the price of victory was fixed at
one half the territory of the vanquished. The
whole of the Spanish Republic to the north of the
Rio Grande, some of the fairest regions of the
New World, was transferred to the United States.
* See " Apuntes para La Historia de la Guerra entre
Mexico y los Estados Unidos ; " Mexico, 1848, published by
Manuel Payno ; i vol., with maps and plans ; p. 104.
f Between 1832 and 1853 Santa Anna acquired the supreme
power and ran away from the country no less than six
times.
He deposed Bustamante, November, 1832.
He deposed Gomez Farias, January, 1835.
He deposed Bustamante again, February, 1839.
He deposed Bustamante once more, October, 1841.
He deposed Paredes, August, 1846.
He deposed Arista, April, 1853.
And he finally ran away gth August, 1855. He was de-
ported by Bazaine, March, 1864. He landed again at Vera
Cruz, and was deported by Juarez in 1867.
/ /" xi
) tern
42 A LIFE OF BENITC JUAREZ.
What remained was abandoned to the Government
of Mexico.
It was as if Bismarck had drawn a line from
Havre to Marseilles, and stipulated that, while the
country to the wrest of the new frontier should
thenceforth be known as France, the eastern
districts should follow the fortunes of Alsace and
Lorraine.
The Treaty of Peace and Partition was signed at
Guadalupe Hidalgo, a village near Mexico, on the
of February, 1848.
The United States, by way of indemnity for the
territories acquired by them, agreed to pay a sum of
fifteen million dollars ; but a counter claim, on
account of compensation to American citizens, was
put forward after the signature of the Treaty, and
the sum actually paid for the broad lands extending
from South Eastern Texas to North Western
California, was something over two millions ster-
ling.*
The area of the Viceroyalty of Mexico, on the
ist of January, 1800, had been about 2,850,000
square miles. The amount abandoned by Charles
IV. in that year was about 850,000 square miles.
* The counter-claim was finally settled at $3, 250,000,
which, deducted from the promised $15,000,000, leaves
$11,750,000 or ^2,300,000, — See Domenech : Hist. II.,
229-230.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 43
The territories that were sold by his son
Ferdinand, in 1819, included about 300,000 square
miles.
But the Provinces annexed by the United States
in 1848, amounted to close upon 1,000,000 square
miles, * leaving the Mexicans with an area of not
more than 750,000 square miles, or less than one
third of the extent of the great Spanish Province
but fifty years before.
California, indeed, as well as Texas, was in
1848 but sparsely populated. But within a year
after the transfer to the United States, California
became the El Dorado of the modern world, and the
rush to the gold-fields made the old Mexican
•Province the most attractive State of the
Union, f
And now that the pursuit of gold has given
place to a more general development of the vast
resources of the Pacific States of North America,
* Just 955,000 square miles passed under the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A rectification of frontier was negotiated
in 1853 between Mr. Gadsden and Senor Almonte, on behalf
of Santa Anna ; when a further 45,000 square miles of terri-
tory, known as the Mesilla, to the north of Sonora, was ceded
for a further $10,000,000.
f California was admitted to full State rights in 1850.
From 1800 to 1848 the population of Mexican California, in-
cluding Utah, is said to have been about 16,000 souls. The
census of 1850 gave 180,000 ; and that of 1853, 308,000. The
census of 1892 gives to California alone a population of
1,210,000.
44 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Mart**-****
the city-et^the Sacramento river, still known by its
Spanish name of San Francisco, has taken its
place among the greatest commercial cities of the
world, and ranks as an American seaport second
only to New York itself."
After the disastrous war and foreign occupation
of 1847 and 1848, a Moderate Liberal Administra-
tion remained in power in Mexico. Santa Anna,
shameless as he was, dared not return to the
capital. The army was reduced and reorganised.!
Herrera, who became President on the 3rd of
June, 1848, was not only allowed to complete his
four years of office ; but his successor, Arista,
was constitutionally elected early in 1851. For
sakj.
* In an admirable notice of Mexico in the supplement to
the fourth, fifth and sixth editions of the " Encyclopaedia
Britannica" (six volumes) Edinburgh, 1824, San Francisco is
id to have been also known as Port Sir Francis Drake.
he Saint has prevailed over the Knight in the now
commonly accepted name !
f The Mexican army as reorganised in 1849 seems to have
consisted of 5,200 men, with no less than 56 general officers to
command them in chief, and a medical staff of 180 surgeons
to attend to their wounds. — Mayer : ubi supra II., 127.
This strange disproportion between superior officers and
fighting men has been remarkable at many other times in
the Mexican army ; but it may be partly accounted for in
1849 by the fact that the Constitutional Government, wisely
determining to reduce the army, found it easier to disband
the common soldiers, who might possibly go back to labour
in the fields, than to dismiss gentlemen with lofty titles, whose
enforced idleness might be dangerous to order and good
government.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 45
nearly five years the country enjoyed the blessings
of peace. *
And men began to speak of a young Indian
lawyer, who, as Governor of his native State of
Oaxaca, attracted the attention of all those who
were interested in the peaceful and prosperous
development of independent Mexico.
* A great number of the most eminent American writers
who have written upon the subject profess themselves
heartily ashamed of this war of plunder.
See for instance —
1 Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
2 Ramona : Helen Jackson (1884).
3 A Study of Mexico : David Wells (1887), ^ *~
4 Popular History of the Mexican People, by H. J?J. j
Bancroft (1888).
5 Face to Face with the Mexicans, by Fanny Chambers
Gooch, (1888).
6 Mexico. By Susan Hale (1891).
7 The Formation of the Union : A. B. Hart (1892).
8 Division and Reunion (of the United States) : W.
Wilson (1893).
There is a good description, with interesting statistics, of
California and New Mexico immediately after annexation to
the United States (in 1850) in Mayer's Mexico (Harvard, 1852),
vol. II., book vi.
After this Note had been not only written but put into type,
Mr. Goldwin Smith's new work, "The United States, "came
into my hands, and I am well pleased to find that my own
views upon the invasion of Mexico by the United States are
honoured by his approval.
" The quarrel," he says, " formed as striking an illustration
as History can furnish of the quarrel between the wolf and the
lamb, and is one which no American historian of character
mentions without pain." (p. 211.)
He speaks also of the " hypocritical fiction of the ' Act of
War ' on the part of Mexico," and he bears testimony to the
bravery of the " poorly armed Mexican troops." But Mexico,
as he explains, " was avenged on her spoiler." (pp. 209 — 214.)
See also The Academy, No, 1119, Review by Mr. Seymour
Long.
46
CHAPTER II.
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS OF JUAREZ : 1806-1847.
The lofty Cordillera which traverses the
American Continent from Alaska to Cape Horn ;
the far-famed Andes of the South, and the more
familiar Rocky Mountains of the north ; is known in
Mexico by the name of the Sierra Madre.
To the south of the capital the range divides
itself into two branches, skirting the Atlantic and
the Pacific Coasts respectively ; and enclosing in
their giant embrace, ere they unite once more near
Tehuantepec, the district that is known as the
modern State of (Oaxaca\
V"" W
The country is wild. /The soil is fertile. Well-
cultivated valleys nestle amid lofty sierras. On the
western slopes the vegetation is tropical ; on the
heights and table lands of the interior it is that of
the temperate zone.
The streams that take their rise in the higher
regions ; the long canadas ; * the luxuriant vegetation
* Gorges
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 47
of the green slopes, the mineral wealth of the moun-
tains ; the/varied charm of the landscape in every
direction ;(^all combine to make this southern
State one of the richest and most picturesque in the
rich and picturesque country of Mexico] And in
those distant and secluded valleys, fragrant with
the odour of pine trees, there dwelt at the opening
of the present century, the remnant of a great
historic nation : still maintaining, amid their
unconquered mountains, many of the old traditions,
together with the ancient language of their
race.
Long ages before the first Aztec set his foot on
the soil of Mexico, before England became a
nation on the breaking up of the Heptarchy ;
further back in the dim and distant ages, when
men dream that Atlantis may have bridged over
the great chasm between the Straits of Gibraltar
and the Carribean Sea, the powerful and ancient
nation of the Zapotecs were lords of Central
and Southern Mexico. *
Their immediate successors are said to have
* See Hubert Howe Bancroft : "Native races of the Pacific
States of North America." London 1875. 6 vols., 8vo. — See
especially I. 644-83.
But the entire work is full of most interesting details of this
Zapotec Race, at all times one of the most remarkable among
the early American Tribes or Nations.
Gentleness, affection, and frugality, according to the author,
specially characterise the Zapotecs.
48 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
been the Toltecs, who are supposed to have,
descended upon Mexico from the ruder north, some
six hundred years after the dawn of the Christian
era.*
For unknown ages these Toltecs ruled in the
land, until the country was overrun, invaded and
conquered by the Chichimecs — who, in their turn,
were subdued by an Aztec invasion — not more
than three hundred years before the landing of
Cortez and the Spaniards.
But, under the Toltec, under the Chichimec,
under the Aztec, and even under the Spaniard, the
Zapotec remained, defeated but never enslaved,
supplanted but never exterminated — the boldest
and the most vigorous of all the native races of
Central America ; while the monumental relics of
their bygone days still speak of an ancient and
admirable civilisation that has been lost in the
stress of ages.f
/The most ancient historical records tell of the
men of the Zapotec J race as strong and well built,
* All these invaders are traditionally supposed to have
come from the north.
f See "Prehistoric America ;" by the Marquis de Nadaillac
translated by N. d'Anvers, and edited by W. H. Dall,
(Murray, 1885.) cap. VI.
} The name of the Zapotecs is said (Nature, 25th
December, 1880) to be derived from Tsapotl a " well-known
fruit." Nadaillac, ubi supra\ 362-3.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 49
brave and often ferocious, with powerful frames
and rugged looks ; and of their women as virtuous
and weH favoured, with delicate and finely cut
features.*)
The religious rites which the tribesmen still
maintained at the time of the Spanish invasion,
seem to have resembled those of the Aztecs, including
the usual human sacrifices, and sanguinary rites
and ceremonies for the propitiation of terrible and
remorseless deities.
Their ruler was a semi-religious chief, a tyrant
of remarkable sanctity and unquestioned power.
Their architecture and such manufactures as we
know of, were of very high artistic and technical
excellence.
" The monuments of the golden age of Greece
and of Rome," says M. Violet-le-duc, " alone
equal the beauty of the Zapotec Palace at
Mitla."t
* There is an admirable Grammar of the Zapotec lan-
guage published by the Government of Mexico in two volumes
large 4to, 1886 and 1889, with a very complete bibliography
of the whole subject of Mexican antiquities and ancient lan-
guages, especially those of the Zapotecs. The copy at the
British Museum Library is classed 12,910 K. n and 12.
f An account of this wonderful building, with plans and
sketches, will be found in Nadaillac, iibi supra, p. 364-369.
Some jewellery which was dug up in 1875 at Tehuantepec,
supposed to be of Zapotec workmanship, is figured at p. 369-
371, cf. Nature, June i4th, 1879, and a number of works
cited by Nadaillac. — See also Kirk'Munroe, " The White Con-
querors of Mexico." 1893.
5O A LIFE OF BENITO JUARF.Z.
\The glory of the Zapotecs has, indeed, long de-
parted. Neither arts nor architecture are known to
their modern descendants. But their virtue has at
least been inherited ; and their name and their nation
has lived and still lives, honoured even in modern
Mexico, as a tribe of bold honest mountaineers.;'
Owing to some extent, no doubt, to the retired
nature of the country, and to its physical configura-
tion, modern civilization at the opening of the century
had hardly made itself felt in their quiet valleys ;
and the passing trader was the only link between
the simple inhabitants, and the great world beyond
the mountains. And thanks also to the independence
of their secluded home, the Zapotecs of Oaxaca had
never sunk, even under the masterful dominion of
the Spaniards, to the level of many of the other
Indian tribes, but had maintained, in spite of three
hundred years of subjection to Church and State, a
species of local independence, t
* The great work " The Antiquities of Mexico," edited by
A. Aglio, and dedicated to Lord Kingsborough, by whose
name the edition is always known, (1830), will of course be con-'
suited. For San Pablo Mitlan in Oaxaca see vol. V., p. 253
et seq.
Vocabularies of the Zapotec language have been published
by Antonio de Pozzo, J. de Cordova, and Chr. Aguano.
See also La Rousse : " Diet, du XIX. Siecle," sub. tit.
Zapotecqiies ; and A. von Humboldt : " Antiquities of Mexico."
f " The Zapotecs are still found (1874) in the cordill-
eras of Oaxaca ; where they maintain a position far more
independent than that of any other Indian tribe. In the war
of the Intervention, the regiments of Oaxaca were the terror
of the Imperial army." — E. Johnson: Mexico, etc., 1875.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 5 I
The city of Oaxaca, chief town of the State of
the same name, dominates a little valley on the
slopes of Mount San Felipe ; and some thirty miles
to the N.E. of the capital, beyond the town ory
pueblo of Ixtlan, and still further secluded in the \y
recesses of the mountain, lies San Pablo Guelataoi
a picturesque village of perhaps two hundren
inhabitants, built upon the edge of a mountain
lake, which, from the marvellous transparency of
its Waters, is known as the Laguna Encantada.
A few huts of sun-dried bricks, thatched for the
most part with straw or reeds, a tiny church, and
the ruins of a more splendid cemple, erected long
years before the coming of Cortez and the Cross,
constituted the modest settlement. Fruit trees in
profusion among the houses, and cultivated land in
the valley beyond, attested at once the industry of
the inhabitants and the fertility of the upland soil.
And at San Pablo Guelatao, on the 2ist of March,
1806, was born to Marcelino Juarez and Brigida
Garcia, his wife — Indians both of the pure blood
of the Zapotecs — a man child, who received at
the village church the Christian names of Benito
Pablo.'1'
Marcelino and Brigida were small cultivators,
tilling their little fields. The childhood of their
* The extrait de naissance is given in full in Baz : Vidar
pp. 22-23.
E — 2
52 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
son Benito was that of an Indian peasant. At the
age of three, indeed, he was deprived of both his
parents ; and brought up partly by a grandmother
and partly by an uncle, he was at the age of
twelve years not only entirely ignorant of letters,
but even of the Spanish language.
It appears that these children of the mountain
enjoyed in the city of Oaxaca a reputation for
honesty and hard work, something similar to that
possessed by_the>ined£rji gL£llegQsJnJ&adrid or the
Auvergnats in Paris ;andjn ^ 1 8 1 8 little Benito,
sturdy and resourceful after twelve years of life and
work among his native hills, made his wray, alone
and unassisted, from San Pablo to the capital, to
seek some humble employment in the household of
one of the citizens.)
His elder sister nad, it seems, already obtained
some domestic service, and it is possible he may
have intended to share her labours ; but he more
fortunately found a home in the house of an honest
bookbinder, one Antonio Salanueva, who had
received the minor orders, and was attached to a
confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis at
Oaxaca. The man and boy were mutually
pleased with each other, and the young Indian,
under the care of his good Christian master,
promptly acquired the Castilian language, and
gave proofs of an uncommon intelligence, as well
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 53
as of uncommon industry. I Benito, indeed, was
no ordinary scholar ; but Fray Antonio was no
common Franciscan, and under his sympathetic •
care the orphan child of the mountains forgot none
of the best traditions of his race and nation,
and grew up from an honest servitor to be an
honest student.
Education in Mexico at tha,t time was still
entirely in the hands of the clergy).
Mediaeval Latin, Canon Law, Dogmatic Theo-
logy, and Philosophy, more or less according to
Aristotle, comprised the utmost range of study
that could be expected by, or permitted to, any
student or scholar.
A strict censorship of the Press enabled the
Bishops to exclude any modern works, not only
from the schools, but even from, the country.
Books indeed of any kind were rare, and were
regarded with considerable suspicion. Knowledge
wras considered superfluous, if not absolutely un-
becoming, in the laity.
The only career that was open to talent in Mexico,.
inHhe year of our Lord, 1820, was that which was
afforded by the Church. A few Indians were
annually permitted to enter the priesthood ; and to>
these aspirants, the door of the seminary was open.
And it was but natural that Salanueva should have
destined his promising pupil for Holy Orders, and
or THE
Q Ci T T* "V
54 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
that as )soon as he had passed through the
primary school, and had profited by such supple-
mental instruction as the bookbinder was qualified to
give him, he should have been entered as an exterior
student at the ecclesiastical seminary of Oaxaca.
In the Spring of the year 1821, he commenced his
new studies, and he followed the various courses
with diligence and success for six years. But while
Juarez was studying theology in Oaxaca, revolu-
tions, good and bad, were rife in Mexico ; and one
of the immediate results of the new Constitution of
1824, notwithstanding the disturbances from which
the country was suffering, was a strong impulse to
education of every kind : and in 1826 an Institute
of Arts and Sciences was founded by the local
legislature of Oaxaca.
Juarez, aroused to new interests, and awakened to
a new intellectual life, decided to transfer his studies
from the old seminary to the new institute (1827).
Two years afterwards he was appointed Professor
of Experimental Physics in the Government College,
and he continued reading, working, thinking,
making ready, when the time arrived — to act.
Pursuing his studies in various directions, even as
he directed the studies of others, he obtained the
degree of Bachelor of Law in 1832, and was
.admitted an advocate of the Supreme Court of the
Republic on the i8th of January, 1834.
A LIFE OF BFNITO JUAREZ. 55
But political advancement had preceded these
academic distinctions.
No thoughtful man in Mexico at that time could
fail to take the keenest interest m^political affairs ;
no honest man could fail to assist, to the utmost
of his capacity, in the peaceful development of his
country.
In the early part of 1831, Juarez accepted the
modest but onerous post of Regidor del aynntamiento,
or Judicial Secretary to the Municipal Council of
Oaxaca.
In the next year he was elected by his native
State to be their Deputy to the National Congress
at Mexico, which met in August, 1832. The Con-
gress was dissolved in December ; when Santa Anna,
after a brief campaign, once more made himself
absolute ruler of the country. And Juarez, who
hated intrigue and bloodshed, and loved hard work
and peaceful study, both legal and scientific, with-
drew himself cheerfully from the arena of political ^
strife, and led, for the next ten years, the
simple and uneventful life of a provincial
lawyer.
But the interests of Mexico were not forgotten
even in .this quiet and happy retirement. And in
1836 he judged it to be his duty, as a provincial
official, to protest against the coup d'etat by which
Santa Anna deprived Oaxa(/£, as well as the other
56 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
federated provinces, of their independence and their
old State rights, an outrage which led, as we have
seen, directly to the secession of Texas, and
indirectly, to the disastrous war with the United
States.
For this protest, bolder than was looked for
from a local governor, Juarez was arrested and
imprisoned by the Dictator, or rather by Vice-
President Barradas, one of those numerous
lieutenants whom Santa Anna was able to engage
at various times to do his bidding. But after a
brief term of captivity, the undismayed remonstrant
was suffered to return to the practice of his
profession in his native State.
From 1842 to 1846 Juarez performed the duties
of Civil and Revenue Judge at Oaxaca, being-
summoned only to the capital for a few months in
1844, when General Leon needed a man of
uncommon parts to fill the office of Secretary to his
Government.
In 1843 he had the good fortune to make the
acquaintance of the beautiful, Dona Margarita
Maza, to whom, on the 3ist of June of that year,
& ,1 he was happily married ; and who, by the simplicity
of her life and manners, by her virtue and her
understanding, and by her most uncommon
culture, was a worthy, as she was ever a
faithful, consort ; constant in adversity, modest in
* r v\^
§ \>
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 5/
prosperity, at all times a true and devoted
wife.
For ten years after the protest of Juarez in
1836, Oaxaca, like the other provinces of the
Republic, remained at the mercy of the political
adventurers at the capital ; but after the revolu-
tion in August, 1846,* when General Salas took the
place of President Paredes, before he himself was
superseded by Santa Anna, the old independent
State rights were at length restored ; and a Junta
of the principal citizens confided the executive
government of Oaxaca to a triumvirate consisting
qf Juarez and his friends Arteaga and Del
Campo. Sent up to Congress in December, 1846,
as representative of Oaxaca in the new Assembly,
and finding Santa Anna once more in power at the
capital, Juarez maintained his accustomed inde-
pendence, supported Gomez Farias, the Liberal
Vice- President ; voted for the law of the nth of
January, 1847, expropriating Church property to
the extent of $15,000,000, to provide for the
expenses of the war with America ; and sought at
least to make the best of a disastrous situation.
* General Salas overthrew President Paredes, August 4th,
1846.
Santa Anna overthrew Salas, August 2oth.
On the 23rd December, 1846, Santa Anna, who had exercised
the supreme power since the 2Oth of August, was formally
elected President, with Gomez Farias as his Vice-President.
58 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But the Bishops were too strong for the lawyers.
The Clergy refused to part with their property.
The House of Representatives was dissolved.
The Vice-Presidency of the Republic was sup-
pressed. :;: Santa Anna was invited — in the usual
way — to re-assume the Dictatorship. Juarez,
powerless at the capital, returned once more to
Oaxaca, and, having been immediately elected
Constitutional Governor of the State, he assumed
office on the 2jth of November, 1847.!
One of his first duties was to repress a pvonuncia-
miento that had been organised in favour of Santa
Anna, who was once more fleeing at the
approach of danger ; and to prohibit that ex-
pectant adventurer from entering, and vexing
'axaca.
Santa Anna, thus foiled and disappointed,
retired to his old quarters at the Havannah,
whence he ceased not to assail Juarez writh
vituperation and calumny of every kind —
the reward of honesty and success. But the
determination, as well as the independence, of
Juarez were sorely needed in his new Administra-
tion. In Oaxaca, as throughout the Republic
in 1848, there reigned the utmost disorder and
confusion in the body politic. The administration
* February, 1847.
f Which he occupied until i2th August, 1852.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 59
of justice, the police, the finances, everything was
in a state of inextricable confusion. The old
order, such as it was, had passed away, and
nothing had yet been found to supply its place. The
local treasury was empty, the local forces were
mutinous, the local administration was hopelessly
corrupt.*
The first work of Juarez on entering upon his
office was to re-establish the Institute of Arts and
Sciences, which had been broken up by Santa
Anna ; the second was the preparation and pro-
mulgation of a Civil and a Penal Code — the first t
codes of law ever published in Mexico.
But the restoration and preservation of order
were at all times his peculiar care. For Juarez,
lawyer, student, purist, was essentially a man of
action, setting even the noblest programme a long
way below the most modest reality. In the course
of his five years of office he made few speeches,
but he made a great many roads ; he made few
laws, but he paid off the State debt, which had been
increasing at the rate of $17,000 a-year; and he
accumulated a handsome surplus of over $50,000
in the exchequer. In a short time, the soldiers
were restored to discipline, and their officers to
* There is a copy of the Presidential speech of Juarez on
the opening of the Cortes of Oaxacaon the 2nd of July, 1848,
in the British Museum, with the book-plate and arms of
Maximilian, to whom the copy belonged.
6O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
obedience. The taxes were paid. Education
was enormously developed. Justice was done
to all.
With no violence, and with the least possible
show of force, the State wras efficiently
governed.
The shootings and imprisonments, the confisca-
tions and banishments, of former days, were
absolutely unknown. The Commonwealth was
not harassed. The State was governed by an
indomitable will, ever averse from bloodshed or
violence. Merciful at once by disposition and by
policy, Juarez was able to display that gentleness
which is the privilege of the strongest natures, and
which was not inconsistent with the utmost vigour
in emergencies and the most untiring watchfulness
in daily administration.
Oaxaca, under this rule, became the model
Province of the Republic, and its prosperity, its
tranquillity, and its loyalty were admitted by the
friends and the foes of the Indian Governor, whose
name became gradually known throughout the
length and breadth of Mexico, not so much as
that of a brilliant administrator, but as that of an
honest man.
6i
CHAPTER III.
^-. DISMEMBERED MEXICO. — 1847-1857.
From November, 1847, to November, 1852,
Jtiarez governed Oaxaca wisely and well. And for
these five years, by a happy coincidence, the whole
of Mexico enjoyed an amount of peace and
prosperity that she had not known for more than a
generation. But such halcyon days were not
suffered to endure. At the end of 1852 the officers
of the disbanded army, together with the leading
bishops and the clergy, dreading the growth of
liberal institutions, summoned the ever-ready
Santa Anna to their assistance ; and the Govern-
ment was overthrown on his arrival from the West
Indies, in April, 1853. Arista was driven out, and
Santa Anna was proclaimed Dictator, with
the title of Most Serene Highness. *
One of his first administrative acts was to
* This title is cited by a writer in the Quarterly Review
(Vol. CXV.) as late as July, 1864, as a manifestation of the
monarchical predilections of the Mexican people ; and pro
tanto a justification of Maximilian's assumption of Imperial
authority !
62 A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
order the arrest of Juarez, (May 3oth, 1853)
who, without trial and even without accusation,
was hurried off to the castle of San Juan de Ulloa,
in the harbour of Vera Cruz ; and imprisoned in a
submarine dungeon of that fortress. One of
the next acts of the Dictator was to provide
himself with ready cash by the sale" of some 45,000
square miles of Mexican territory, known as the
Mesilla, on the frontier of Sonora, to the United
States, for $10,000,000; and the Jesuits! were
restored by a Dictatorial degree before Santa Anna
had been a month in power. |
From his dreadful captivity in the Mexican
Chateau d'lf, Juarez was fortunate enough to make
* (aoth June, 1854). Through the instrumentality of
Almonte, his agent at Washington, of whom we shall have
more to say later on. A considerable portion of this cash was,
according to M. Leon de Montluc [" Correspondance de
Juarez," p. 10] , divided between Sefior Almonte, the agent,
the bankers Lizardi, and one Arrangoiz, Mexican Consul at
Washington, well known in later years as the Minister
Resident of Maximilian in London, and the author of a
work on the Mexican Empire, which will be quoted in a
subsequent chapter. — See Domenech : Hist. II., 263 — 266.
f By Santa Anna, May ist, 1853 (cf. Arrangoiz : " Mejico
desde 1808 hasta 1867," tome II., p. 320). They were again
suppressed by Comonfort in February, 1856.
I " During 1853 and 1855 Santa Anna," says the admiring
Domenech (" Histoire du Mexique," etc., etc., Vol. II.
pp. 253 — 4), " was Emperor of Mexico in all but the name."
" Sa Cour aussi fastueuse que celle des plus grand Souverains de
r Europe, rappelait le luxe deploye dans certaines occasions solennelles
a Rome, aux Tuileries et dans bien d'autre capitales."
Santa Anna, Domenech, and Maximilian seem to have
shared somewhat strange ideas of the attributes of Empire !
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 63
his escape, before the end of the Summer, on board
an English sh p bound for the Havannah, whence he
passed, almost penniless, to New Orleans ; and there
he devoted himself for nearly two years of exile, not
to intrigue or lamentation, but to the study of
English and Constitutional Law. At length, in
February, 1855, the country had once more had
enough of Santa Anna.* General Alvarez raised
the standard of revolt in the Southern Provinces ;
and a plan, or proposed Constitution, of a liberal
character, was promulgated at Ayutla, on the nth
of March, 1855, which obtained the support of all
moderate men in Mexico.
Juarez hastened from New Orleans to take his
share in the enfranchisement of his country, and
landed at Acapulco in the early Summer of 1855,
when General Carrera, a moderate politician, was
elected ad interim President, and Ignacio Comon-
fort, a retired Colonel of Militia, was appointed
Commander-in- Chief. Within a month (August
9th, 18-55), Santa Anna, out-generalled and
defeated in an engagement near Acapulco, fled
according to precedent to Vera Cruz, where he
embarked as usual for the Havannah. f The country
* Gutierrez de Estrada was sent to Europe by Santa Anna
in July, 1854, according to Montluc, op. tit, page 10, to
negotiate the sale of the sovereignty of Mexico, which he
already found to be slipping from his grasp.
f August 1 6th, 1855. There is a strange regularity
the phases of M ex i can H i sofrl ftr""""*
64 A LIFE OF BFNITO JUAREZ.
having been once more freed from his presence and
his intrigues, the States General were convoked, in
accordance with the plan of Ayutla, to meet at
Cuernavaca ; and on the ist of October, the
veteran Alvarez was duly elected President of the
Republic, and was recognised by the Foreign
Ministers within a few days after his nomination,
(October 4th, 1855). Juarez, who had acted as
Secretary or Registrar of the House of Assembly,
was marked for high office under the new Govern-
ment, and took his place in the Liberal Cabinet
as Minister of Justice and Religion. The first
measure for which he was responsible in this
important position was one of extreme boldness,
which at once drew down upon him the ill-will of
the two most powerful classes in the country.
From the day of the Spanish conquest to the
election of Alvarez, no clerk in Mexico was amenable
to the civil tribunals, even for the crimes of murder
or treason, but his offence was cognisable only by
the ecclesiastical tribunals.'-' No military officer
was punishable by the civil magistrate, but claimed
exceptional consideration by a court-martial.
* The Mexican clergy were very irregular in their domestic
habits, as the Abbe Domenech is forced to admit (p. 12), and
it appears that the ladies who kept house for the priests were
accustomed boldly to claim a similar immunity, and when
they were unable or unwilling to pay their drapers and
dressmakers, declined the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts. —
See Lefevre : " Documens Officiels," etc., tome I., p. 17 — 18.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 65
As more than half the crimes committed in
Mexico were the work of men calling themselves
soldiers, and as more than a quarter of the landed
property was in the hands of men calling themselves
clerks, it is obvious that the administration of the
ordinary law throughout the country was little
better than a farce. Juarez, disregarding both the
Bishops and the Colonels, abolished, by a stroke
of the pen, the exclusive jurisdiction of both
Ecclesiastical and Military Courts, and brought
priests and soldiers under the general cognizance
of the civil magistrates.
And one law for all men in Mexico was included
among the franchises of the Republic."
On the 1 2th of December, Alvarez resigned the
supreme power to Comonfort, who was supposed to
be somewhat less obnoxious to the clerical party.
The Cabinet was reconstructed ; Juarez was
deprived of his portfolio, and sent back to his native
State as Governor of Oaxaca.
A pronunciamiento heralded his arrival. But the
rash promoters little knew the man with whom
they had to deal ; and in a few days the inevitable
Colonel — on this occasion a certain Serior Villareal
— soon found himself deserted by his troops,
ridiculed by his supporters, and glad, after a few
* This law, known as the Juarez Law, was promulgated on
the 22nd of November, 1855.
OF THE
RSITY,
66 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 4
days of painful suspense, to crave pardon and life
at the hands of the civil Governor (2nd of January,
The year 1856 was spent by Juarez in his
peaceful retirement at Oaxaca, though he was in
almost daily correspondence with his friends at the
capital, where his influence was already consider-
able, and where his friend and trusted companion,
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, succeeded in passing, by
a majority of 71 to 13, in a sympathetic Chamber,
the first law relating to ecclesiastical property in
Mexico, which, though usually known as the Lerdo
Act, was at least as much the wrork of Benito
Juarez.
By the terms of the decree which was
promulgated after the passing of this law, on the
25th of June, 1856, the whole of the immovable or
landed property of the Church in Mexico, with the
exception otthe buildings devoted to public worship,
was to be sold within a specified time by public
auction, and the purchase money handed over to the
ecclesiastical owners. The scope and policy of The
Reform, as it was specifically called, was in no sense
confiscation. It was not even disendowment."
* The sales during the first three months after the issue
of the decree were to be absolutely free of any tax or fee ; at the
expiry of this period a Transfer Fee or Stamp Duty on
sales of 6 per cent, ad valorem was to be chargeable. —
Domenech : " Histoire du Mexique," II. 292.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ, 6/
Neither the State nor any individual received a
dollar of Church property. It was only a Law of
Mortmain, the immensity of whose operations was
due merely to the immensity of the territorial
acquisitions of the Mexican Churchy-"
Indirectly, and in the future, no doubt the State/6
would benefit, inasmuch as the vast estates of the
clergy had been subject to no succession duties nor
Alcabalas, which were, of course, to be payable on
future transfers on death or sale, in the case of the
new proprietors. But the change was impersonal,
remote, and eminently reasonable. That the
Mexican clergy, rich and independent, conformed
but distantly to the apostolic ideal ; that the Bishops
more especially, as great landowners, were of
necessity too much concerned with their occupations
of husbandry to have leisure for the performance
of their religious duties ; this was admitted
and deplored by every devout Catholic in
Mexico.!
But the Bishops, as was only natural, did not
* Au fond des mille et un pronunciamientos dont se
compose 1'histoire mexicaine depuis undemi siecle, il n'y a pas
eu autre chose en realite que la lutte toujours renaissante du
parti liberal, cherchant a briser la preponderance
ecclesiastique, et du parti theocratique defendant a outrance
ses prerogatives et son influence seculaire. — Masseras :
" Essai d'Empire," p. 17.
f Even by so devoted a daughter of the Church as the
Empress Charlotte.
F — 2
'68 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
wish to part with their estates. A forced sale is
never agreeable, and very rarely profitable.
The position of an ecclesiastical capitalist is far less
dignified than that of a great territorial magnate.
And their Reverences, instead of displaying their
title deeds, and making haste to avoid the six per
cent, transfer duty that was imposed upon
tardy transfers, * set to work to overthrow the
Government.
[The policy was sanctified by ancient and
unchanging custom, and recommended by constant
success. Yet the moment wras not propitious for a
new pronunciamiento, whether ecclesiastical or
military. And the Bishops wisely awaited a more
favourable opportunity for employing their strength
and their activity. t
Meanwhile Comonfort, embarrassed as usual by
•civil war in the Provinces,:]: and by the extravagant
* i.e., after the prescribed period of three months: not
long in a dilatory country !
f The Mexican clergy, as a matter of principle, refused to
accept the confession of any purchaser of ecclesiastical
property, or even to grant him absolution in articulo mortis.
How long this attitude was maintained, I do not know ; cer-
tainly until the end of the Imperial epoch. Upon the whole
subject see Lefevre, with his usual completeness of detail —
vol. I., pp. 13-22. As to V absolution conditionelle, granted as a
compromise in certain cases ; and upon the general question
see Gaulot, Max., 101, 104.
J It is idle to seek to follow the military operations of the
time. Comonfort's greatest success was the taking of Puebla
on the 25th of March, 1856. Miramon was taken prisoner in*
the following month, but soon slipped away.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 69
pretensions of foreigners in the capital, was devot-
ing his energies, heedless of the coming storm, to
a revision of the Constitution,'" a work which
engaged the attention of the Chambers during the
greater part of the year 1856 ; and no man in
Mexico contributed more largely to the elaboration'
of this organic statute, at once by his legal and
constitutional learning, his political moderation,
and his practical experience of affairs, than the
Governor of Oaxaca ; and no man had greater
cause for pride and satisfaction than Benito Juarez
when, after hard upon a year of parliamentary
debate and discussion, the new Constitution was
promulgated, as it was, by presidential decree on
the 5th of February, 1857.
A free press ; freedom of meeting; equal civil
rights ; complete religious toleration ; the abolition
of special tribunals, of hereditary honours, of
monopolies, of all unjust privileges ; these were
i the leading features of the Constitution of
The legislative power was vested in a National
Assembly, to be chosen every two years by an
electoral college, in the proportion of one deputy to
every forty thousand inhabitants. The President
was to be elected for four years. The Chief Justice of
* Article 79. A copy of the Constitution will be found
in the Directorio Estadistico, already referred to.
JO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the Supreme Court, titular Vice-President of the
Republic, was to succeed, as of right, to
the supreme power, on the death or incapacity
of the President.
A decree expelling the Jesuits, also suggested by
Juarez, was promulgated about the same time
(June, 1856), and did not tend to make the Govern-
ment more popular with the clergy)
The foreigners became more aggressive than ever,
and on the 2nd of September, Mr. Lettsom, the
English Charge d'Affaires, closed the Legation, and
broke off diplomatic relations with the Govern-
ment, on account of some dispute regarding a
British Consul, Mr. Barrow. To bully the
Mexican Government was at this time considered
the correct thing at the British and French
Legations."
The new Constitution was to come into force on
the 26th of September, 1857. The new President
was to take the oath of office on the ist of
December. But before the Summer of 1857 was
far advanced, it had become evident that the
presence of Governor Juarez at the capital of the
Republic was well-nigh a necessity to the
'Commonwealth. And neither the jealousy of I
Comonfort, nor the fears of less liberal politicians, '
* See, on this question generally, an article in Fraser's
Magazine, December, 1861.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. Jl
nor even the entreaties of the citizens of Oaxaca,
who implored him to remain at the local Govern-
ment House, availed to keep Juarez away from his
place in the Council Chamber at Mexico.
The new Congress met on the 8th of October ;
and it soon became apparent that the episcopal
intrigues had already begun to bear fruit in Mexico.
In the city, the Chamber was rent asunder by
faction. In the provinces, a dashing young General
of five and twenty, Don Miguel Miramon, who
had been taken prisoner by Comonfort after his
victory at Puebla, and had contrived to escape,
was once more abroad, at the head of a revolu-
tionary force ; while the more capable Mejia was
supporting the cause of absolutism with equal
vigour and success in his native mountains. Thus
encouraged and supported from without, the
Opposition in Parliament became more aggressive ;
and on the 2oth of October the Ministry resigned.
A strong hand was needed in the National
Palace, and Juarez was called upon to accept, in
a new Cabinet, the portfolio of Home Affairs
(Gobernacwn) with the position of Chairman of the
Council of Ministers. And when, just one month
afterwards (November 18), Comonfort* was con-
* Comonfort, as the representative of the Moderate Party
was elected by a large majority over Lerdo de Tejada, the
candidate favoured by the extreme Radicals and the Clubs.
Juarez was elected Vice-President by an almost unanimous vote.
72 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
firmed in his office as President, Juarez was
nominated Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
and Vice-President of the United States of
Mexico."
But the reign of Comonfort was destined to be
of short duration. Honest bat vacillating, a
successful revolutionary leader, a weak and un-
certain Chief of the State, he was ill-qualified to
withstand the varied influences, to master the
infinite difficulties of his new position.! The
appearance of the notorious Padre Miranda
promptly brought matters to a crisis, and before
the new Ministry had been a month in office,
Comonfort was constrained to call upon Juarez;
to join him in a " change of policy." The Vice-
President refused. The President persisted.^
The country was once more threatened with
(revolution. Comonfort, dreading the extreme
^Radicals, yet seeking for the moment only to
Dlease the Ecclesiastical Absolutists, announced
Dn the yth of December that the new Constitution
* Mr. Lettsom, the British Charge d'Affaires protested
against the election. I have not been able to discover why.
— Sea " Mexico a Traves de los Siglos," tome V., p. 262, 4.
f " Correspondance de Montluc," p. 21.
J Whom, as his Vice-President and legal successor, it was
peculiarly necessary to secure.
§ Juarez, according to Senor Payno, was the only man in
Nov. 1857 that Comonfort did not dare to warn of his proposed
coup d'etat.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 73
was to be reformed. But the victorious Bishops
were not yet satisfied ; and on the lyth one
Zuloaga, who had been a croupier at a public
gambling saloon, but who had assumed the title
and rank of General in the army, issued a procla-
mation setting forth what was known as the Plan
of Tacubaya, and marched at the head of his
division upon the capital.
Comonfort, overawed by this display of eccle-
siastical militarism, announced his adhesion to the
new Plan (December 23rd, 1857) just three weeks
after he had solemnly sworn allegiance to the new
Constitution; and by way of showing his sincerity
and zeal in the new cause, he gave orders for the
arrest of Juarez.
This contemptible coup d'etat was as futile as it
was profligate. A counter revolution broke out at
Vera Cruz. Comonfort again changed his mind,
and Juarez and his companions were set at large
after a few days' captivity. * But the Government
was already broken up. The croupier and his
employers were completely masters of the situation.
Comonfort, who had pleased no one by his rapid
changes of front, fled from the capital and from the
country, and in less than a fortnight the victorious
Zuloaga had been chosen and appointed Chief of
* January nth, 1858.
74 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the State by a new and so-called National Assembly,
appointed and chosen by himself. The laws of
June, 1856, were at cnce declared null and void.
The ecclesiastical estates, the ecclesiastical courts,
the ecclesiastical and military privileges, were
declared to be fully restored." With the entire
wealth and influence of the Church to sustain him?
with the entire army of Mexico at his command,
Zuloaga, actively supported by the pious M. de
Gabriac,! and promptly recognized by his sub-
* Le lendemain des son installation. Lefevre, I., 26,
f That M. de Gabriac should have used his diplomatic
influence to assist in the overthrow of the new Constitution
and promote the success of this Ecclesiastical Revolution is,
perhaps, not surprising.
A letter in his own hand to Lazaro, Archbishop of Mexico,
sufficiently shews the extent of his services. This letter was
left by the Archbishop in his palace at Tacubaya when
Degollado took possession of the place in 1859 ; and found its
way ultimately into the handsofM. Lefevre, who has published
it in his work, torn. I., pp. 35-36. It is dated 2yth of February,
1858, and in it the writer seeks to obtain due credit for the
success of his exertions in the recent revolution, The
minister seems to have found something more solid than
thanks by his diplomatic services in such respects, for in the
course of his five years career in Mexico, he contrived to
save and send back to France at least half-a-million
of francs ; as is clearly proved by the punctilious Lefevre :
op. cit. pp. 37-41.
But that the English Charge de' Affairs should have suffered
himself, even ignorantly, to have been led into an alliance
with adventurers, lay or ecclesiastical, in overthrowing the
Constitution, scarce twelve months old, is an unfortunate
feature, which may be regretted, but should certainly not
be concealed. That Juarez should make head against such
a combination of forces seemed, no doubt, to all men
impossible. They little knew the patient power of the Indian
President.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 75
servient colleague, Mr. Lettsom, assumed the title
and authority of President of Mexico. Yet,
however supported, and however recognized, the
election of the croupier had been a nullity and a
farce ; for by a special provision of the new Con-
stitution of 1857, on the abdication of President
Comonfort, Vice-President Juarez had legally and
ipso facto succeeded to his office. And Juarez was
not a man to shrink from responsibility or danger.
In a subordinate position he had been ever loyal,
zealous, devoted. Called suddenly to the supreme
power in the State, when supreme power meant
little but supreme peril, he set to work calmly and
resolutely to accomplish the great work that it had
been given him to do in Mexico." And on the igth
of January, 1858, he assembled his Cabinet at
Guanajuato, and announced his intention
of defending the Constitution by force of
arms.
* The States of Tampico, Cinaloa, Durango, Jalisco,
Tabasco, San Luisde Potosi, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, and Vera
Cruz remained faithful to the Constitutional Government.
Montluc : Correspondance, p. 23.
76
CHAPTER IV.
USURPATION. — 1858-1859.
The position of President Juarez, legitimate as
it was, and unassailable on any legal grounds, was
made light of by Zuloaga and his friends at the
capital, where the Bishops and Absolutists were
celebrating the New Year 1858, with rejoicings over
the prompt success of their Revolution.
And young Miramon was in due time dispatched
at the head of a numerous army, supported by the
more experienced Commanders, Osollo and Mejia,
to destroy the remnant of Constitutional Govern-
ment in the Provinces.
But neither the Bishops nor the Generals,
neither the Foreign Ministers nor the Mexican
Absolutists, knew the power and determination of
the man with whom they had now to deal.
Juarez, so far, had been .spoken of only as an
accomplished Jurisconsult, an industrious lawyer, a
successful Provincial Governor.
The de Gabriacs and the Miramons little recked
that they had entered upon a struggle, not with a
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 77
timeserver like Comonfort, or even a swash-buckler
like Santa Anna, but with the most patient, the
most resolute, and the most capable man in
Mexico.
Yet they may be excused for supposing that his
position was desperate. To a man of even
moderate ability it would have been absolutely
hopeless.
The Regular Army was, of course, on the side
of Absolute Power.
The forces at the disposal of Juarez were few in
number, hastily recruited, without discipline, and
well nigh without arms. And at the first encounter,
which took place at Salamanca, between Guana-
juato and Guadalajara, on the loth of March, 1858,
these raw levies, under the command of General
Doblado, were completely defeated by the army of
Miramon and Mejia ; and on the same day Jalapa
was occupied by their colleague, General Echea-
garray. Vera Cruz, however, still held for the
Constitutional Party ; and an expedition sent to
reduce that important seaport was repulsed with
some loss by the townspeople ; while Juarez was
able for the moment to maintain his position at
Guadalajara, whither he had retreated after the
defeat at Salamanca (ist March, 1858). And it was
at Guadalajara that he was the victim of an out-
rage which was like to have changed the fortunes
78 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of Mexico. The Colonel commanding the little
garrison that held for Juarez was one Landa, a
soldier of the worst Mexican type, who, after
renewed and particular assurances of his loyalty
to the Constitutional Government, had been en-
trusted with the special defence of the Palace ; and
justified the confidence that had been reposed in
him, by announcing one morning [March i4th,
1858] to Juarez and his Cabinet, Ocampo, Ruiz,
Guzman, and Prieto, that they were his prisoners.
A condemned murderer, reprieved but a short time
before by Juarez himself, mounted guard upon the
captive Ministers, while Landa and his associates in
an adjoining apartment deliberated upon the fate
of the men whom they had betrayed. Embarrassed
by the very magnitude of their success, the paltry
traitors offered the President his liberty, if he
would send orders to his supporters in the city to
surrender their positions and abandon Guadala-
jara to the rebels. The proposition was rejected
with becoming scorn ; and Landa, foiled in his
design, marched a file of soldiers into the room,
and gave orders for the immediate despatch
of his prisoners. Juarez, who just before the
arrival of the soldiers had withdrawn himself to
the other end of the room, moved forward as the
men were formed into line ; and turned his
bright black eyes full upon the levelled muskets,
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 79
as the word was given to fire. The soldiers
hesitated for a moment, * and then grounded their
arms. Landa did not venture to repeat his
orders ; and a small body of troops under a
loyal commander, Miguel Cruz de Aedo, having
at the moment forced their way into the court-
yard, he gladly consented to negotiate. Negotia-
tion with a man of his stamp had but one meaning,
Una fuertifrantidad f — a good round sum, hastily
collected by the loyal citizens, we are told, sufficed
to satisfy his political aspirations ; and he was
permitted to march off next morning at the head
of such troops as admired or followed him.
But Juarez with the slender forces at his disposal
wras unable long to maintain his position at Guada-
lajara, while his presence was most urgently
needed at the important and loyal city of Vera
Cruz.
In the beginning of April, accordingly, he made
his way to the coast at Manzanillo, where he
embarked with his entire Cabinet \ on board an
* Encouraged by General Prieto, a soldier born and
bred. Baz. 138.
f $8,000 was the amount ; that being the utmost that
could be raised in a few hours at Guadalajara. One Guillaume
Augsburg, the French Vice-Consul, apparently an honest
Alsatian, was of the utmost service in bringing these negotia-
tions to a happy issue. "Mexico a traves de los siglos,"
tome V., pp. 290-296.
\ Juarez signed himself, Presidente interino Constitutional de
hi Rcpublica. He had named Degollado his Commander-in-
>E LlB^y^ySs^
r OF THE
UNIVERSITY/
8O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
American vessel bound for Panama ; and continu-
ing his journey without molestation, by way of
Aspinw,all and New Orleans, he arrived on the
4th of May at Vera Cruz, where he was received
with the utmost enthusiasm by the entire popu-
lation, and where he wras soon after joined by his
ever-devoted consort.
Meanwhile, the Absolutists were holding high
holiday at the capital. The amiable Zuloaga had
received at the hands of the Archbishop of Mexico
the formal and specially-transmitted Benediction of
Pope Pius IX ; Juarez had been as solemnly ex-
communicated/'' and the Bishops and Generals were
organising processions, negotiating loans, plunder-
ing foreign merchants, shooting domestic opponents,
and generally making the most of their new
opportunities in the distracted city of Mexico.
Santa Anna, rejoicing at the prospect of further
trouble, had expressed his willingness to be
summoned for the salvation of the State, and had
even organised a descent on his own account upon
the undefended coast of Yucatan, i
But, if the rebel Government was in the utmost
Chief, February 24th. General Parrodi had been taken
prisoner at Guadalajara. — See Baz. Vida, p. 140.
*Baz., Vida, p. 145.
f Avec la garantie pfcuniaire de Monseigneur La Bastida,
afterwards Archbishop of Mexico. Montluc : Corr., p. 24.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 8 1
disorder, the Constitutional Government was in
the utmost distress. The slender resources of
Juarez were rapidly disappearing. M. de Gabriac
and Mr. Lettsom had refused to recognise either
him or his Government or his presidential rights,
while Zuloaga and Miramon were playing at sove-
reignty in the capital. Yet, by a refinement of in-
justice, Admiral Penaud and Captain Aldham,
commanding the French and English ships of war
in the Gulf of Mexico, were now calling upon the
defenders of Vera Cruz, not only to make good the
amount of a loan that had been forced upon
certain foreign merchants at Tampico by the
inconsiderate zeal of General Garza," but to hand
over a substantial portion of the Customs' dues
of Tampico and Vera Cruz to the creditors of their
respective nations.!
A spirit of chicanery or a spirit of malice would
equally have led the unrecognised President to
refer the foreigners to their friends at the capital.
But Juarez was too proud a man to resort to sub-
terfuges. He was President of Mexico, whether
* On the occasion of his re-entry into Tampico after the
flight of the Absolutists in August, 1858.
f The English Commander, Captain Aldham, R.N.,
shewed himself upon this, as upon all occasions, as friendly
and as sympathetic to the Constitutional Government as was
possible in accordance with his instructions. This dis-
tinguished officer afterwards died at Assiout, in Upper Egypt,
2yth of February, 1878.
82 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
he was recognised or not. The foreigners should
have justice, as far as in him lay. The demands of
the French and English captains were held to be
reasonable, and were accepted at Vera Cruz, even
while the city was preparing to resist the attacks of
the recognised usurpers from the capital.
And in spite of all difficulties, foreign and
domestic, Vera Cruz remained loyal to the legitimate
President of the Republic ; while at the city of
Mexico, as the year drew to a close, the usurping
President had long lost the consideration even of
those who had set him up,* and had become a mere
puppet in the hands of his Commander-in-Chief ;
until at length, on Christmas Eve, 1858, Miramon,
flushed with his victories over Degollado and the
Liberal forces at Atequiza and San Joaquin,
quietly deposed the obliging Zuloaga and assumed
the Presidency in his stead, f
* In July, 1858, Mr. Forsyth, the United States Minister,
was ordered to break off diplomatic relations with the Govern-
ment of Zuloaga.
Mr. Ottway, who had followed the lead of the French
Knvoy too closely for either British or Mexican advantage, was
soon afterwards recalled by the British Government, and the
abler and more sympathetic Mr. Mathew took his place at the
capital. See Lempriere: "Notes on Mexico," (1862) p. 43,
and F. O. List. (1860).
f November, 1858. On' the 24th of January, 1859, after a
reign of one month, Miramon once more gave place to Zuloaga,
who after a week's government was again summarily ejected
by his younger and more impatient rival Sans
effusion de sang ! — Domenech: "Hist, du Mexique," Vol.11.,
pp. 308-9.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 8j
Thus, self-advanced to the supreme power, and
recognised by the foreign ministers with the same
goodwill that they had formerly shewn to his defeated
rival, Miramon bethought him that it would be well,,
having overthrown his friend Zuloaga, to take some
steps to overthrow his enemy Juarez, who was
engaged in the honourable, but somewhat ungrate-
ful, task of paying the foreign creditors — magnifi-
cently ignored at the capital — in his refuge by the
sea coast.
Collecting, therefore, an army of some 7,000 men,
with forty pieces of artillery, he marched out of
Mexico, confident of easy victory, to reduce and
occupy Vera Cruz.* But Vera Cruz was prepared
to receive him.
On the 29th of December, 1858, Juarez, in a
stirring proclamation,! had called upon the inhabi-
tants of the city to prepare themselves to resist the
attack ; not only by collecting arms and provisions,,
by organization and work at the fortifications, but
by the maintenance of strict and severe military
discipline. Senor Zamora, appointed Governor of
the city, ably and loyally carried out the President's
wishes, and the utmost order prevailed at all times
at the head-quarters of Constitutional Govern-
ment, a noble and striking contrast to the
* Daran : " Vie de Miramon," p. 69.
f It is given in Baz, page 146.
G — 2
#4 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
universal license and daily plunder at the City of
Mexico.
Upon purely military matters, Juarez was ever
inclined to confide in his military advisers, but in
matters of more general policy he shrank from no
responsibility. Upon one point in particular he
was now immovable. He would have none but
Mexican subjects in the army that was to defend
the constitutional rights of Mexico. Most of the
military chiefs declared that it was necessary to
enroll foreign volunteers. Officers as well as
soldiers were ready and willing to serve ; adven-
turers of all nations, but chiefly fighting men from
the neighbouring United States. Miguel Lerdo de
Tejada, his faithful minister ; Zamora, the trusted
Governor of Vera Cruz ; Francisco Zarco,* the
ablest of his supporters in the Mexican press,
* Editor of El Siglo XIX. (The Nineteenth Century). "In
vain the President was entreated ; in vain were proposed
the most studied precautions to avoid any circumstances
which might injure or impair the independence or the dignity of
the Republic ; in vain the idea was combined with some other
projects, joining it with the absolute necessity of colonisa-
tion, of making religious liberty effective, of maintaining after
the victory an element of material force that would complete
the pacification of the country. Juarez rejected all these
ideas ; he had disagreements even with many of his friends.
In his correspondence he always opposed the project, and,
persevering in the struggle, events have shown that he was
right. Thanks to him, the Republic overcame its oppressors
without any other aid than that of her own resources and the
intrepid efforts of her own sons. There exist a good many
letters written by Juarez to prove our asse'rtions." — " Juarez
and Cesar Cantu," etc., (Mexico, 1885,) pages 16-17.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 85
urged upon him the necessity of compliance.
Juarez stood firm, and his firmness was severely
blamed by his friends. But when, on the nth of
January, 1861, he was welcomed by the citizens, to
the Presidential Palace at Mexico, he could say
that his restoration was due exclusively to Mexican
bravery and to Mexican devotion, and that in the
heat and stress of three years of civil «war, no
drop of Mexican blood had been shed under his
banner by a foreign hand.
Early in March, Miramon and his army took up
their position before Vera Cruz. But the position
was not long maintained. His guns failed to
batter the walls, scarce worthy of the name of
fortifications. * His troops failed to intimidate the
defenders, exalted rather by devotion than by expe-
rience to the rank of a garrison. Juarez had never
laid any claim to generalship. He was always the
" President in a black coat." But he was in truth
one of the best of commanders. Infinitely patient,
yet absolutely determined, infinitely merciful,
yet absolutely just, full of energy, full of resource,
full of hope, he was ever the organiser of victory.
No great deeds of active heroism, no bold and
dazzling strokes of policy, were done or to be done
* " La ville de Vera Cruz." writes M. Domenech, in 1867,
in " Le Mexique tel Qu'il Est," p. 27, " is surrounded by low
walls useless for 'defensive purposes, and too weak to resist
the smallest bullet."
•86 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
by him. But few soldiers and few Statesmen in
modern times have more nobly stood their ground
than the Indian lawyer, patiently and constantly
striving to do his duty, unmindful of calumny and
insult, undismayed by disaster, unchecked by
•disappointment, ever hopeful of brighter and
better days, in the hour of his deepest distress.
Of all his Mexican rivals none stood more
prominently forward than Miguel Miramon, a man
who owes it to the happy accident of his death in the
honourable company of his betters, rather than to
.any one action of his restless and profligate
life, that his name is remembered beyond that of
O'Horan or of Cobos, of Mendez, of Vidaurri, or
•of Robles — beyond even that of his brave, if mis-
guided, companion Mejia.
Of Spanish parentage, but of French ancestry,
claiming descent from a certain Marquis de
Miramon, who is said to have fallen at the side of
Francis I. at Pavia, Miguel Miramon was born in
the city of Mexico on the.2ist of November, 1831,
.and was thus barely six and twenty when he was
called to the supreme command of the Absolutist
.army in the early days of the supremacy of Zuloaga.
Ambitious, rapacious, bloodthirsty, licentious, he
shares with the atrocious Marquez the unenviable
• distinction of being the most impudent and the
most unprincipled public man in Mexico. And the
A LIFE OF BENITO JUARFZ. 8/
contrast that is offered by his life and character to
that of his Indian rival is one of the most striking
features in the contemporary history of their
country.
The conduct by the young commander of his
attack upon Vera Cruz was neither more intelli-
gent nor more successful than his usual opera-
tions of war ; and after six weeks consumed
in fruitless endeavours to reduce the town, he was
glad to raise the siege, and retire to the more
sympathetic society of Padre Miranda and General
Marquez at the capital.
Meanwhile, in the Provinces, the Liberal army
had not been idle. In February and March
General Degollado had occupied and garrisoned
the important towns of Leon, Aguascalientes,
Guanajuato, and Queretaro ; and, at length, finding
himself strong enough to march upon Mexico, he
had actually occupied the suburbs of Tacubaya
and Chapultepec on the 2ist of March, 1859.
But precious time was wasted in demonstra-
tions and consultations. Degollado was ever a
poor soldier. The more vigorous Marquez
was suffered to reorganise his shattered forces ;
and on the nth of April the Liberal troops were
defeated at Tacubaya, with the loss of all
their artillery and munitions of war. Miramon,
arriving on the ground fresh from his failure at
88 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Vera Cruz, celebrated the victory by one of those
acts of savagery so characteristic of his temper
and of his policy.
The entire body of officers of the Constitutional
army, wrho had surrendered themselves as
prisoners of war, including seven surgeons, who
were actually engaged in attending to the wounded, .
one General, three Colonels, three Captains, and a
number of subaltern officers and civilians, were
shot without further ceremony at Tacubaya, by
the written orders of Miramon himself. * This act
of assassination was approved of at the time by
the military and clerical partisans of the Absolutist
Government in Mexico, who welcomed the victors
with shouts of " Viva la Religion ! " But when, in
later times and in foreign countries, the outrage
acquired a somewhat remarkable notoriety,
Miramon sought to throw the blame entirely upon
Marquez. To distribute the blame between two
such personages would be a difficult and a useless
task ; yet I have seen a copy of the actual warrant
signed by Miramon alone, with the motto "Dios
y Ley I " added to the official attestation of his
signature, t
* A simple monument to the Martires de Tacubaya has been
erected in that charming suburb of the city of Mexico.
f Daran, the biographer of Miramon (Miguel Miranda,
Rome, 1886), is at great pains to point out (pp 73-77) that the
prisoners were shot by Marquez before the arrival of Miramon,
that Miramon accordingly never could have ordered the
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 89
But if Miramon and Marquez had been
successful after their kind, in the city of Mexico,
the victors of Tacubaya did not venture to direct
their steps against the quiet Indian lawyer at Vera
Cruz : for the strength of these so-called Generals
lay rather in assassination than in tactics, in
plunder rather than in strategy ;* and that
important seaport remained untaken and unmo-
lested. The surrender of the town and harbour of
Mazatlan, on the Pacific coast, the taking of
Colima, and various minor successes throughout
the country, were counted, as the year advanced,
as so many steps in the steady progress of Juarez.
But none were so important, none surely
so highly appreciated, as the great diplomatic
victory implied in the recognition by the United
States of his position as Constitutional President of
Mexico, and by his public reception in his Presiden-
tial Palace at Vera Cruz, of Mr. M'Lane, the Envoy
from Washington to the Court of Mexico (April
9th, 1859.)
The recognition of the Government of Juarez by
that of the United States was, indeed, the severest
execution, and that the letter to Marquez was extorted by
that beau Compagnon, .... ex post facto! an explanation as
inherently probable as it is honourable to all parties concerned.
* The Absolutists in Mexico, who, flourishing aloft the
sword of honour and the Cross of Christianity, employed
more commonly in their active warfare, the pistol of the high-
wayman and the dagger of the assassin.
9O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
blow to the fortunes of the Absolutist party that
they had yet suffered. And the extravagance of
the misrepresentations that have surrounded the
story is a fair measure of the chagrin that was
felt by their supporters. Juarez, it was said, had
sold an entire province, two provinces, the whole of
Northern Mexico, the whole of Southern Mexico*
to the United States. For this he had received
nothing but a barren recognition. He had received
four millions of dollars. He had received eight
millions. He was to receive eighty millions. In
any case his conduct had been base, wicked,
foolish, unpatriotic, and entirely detestablei
a striking and odious contrast to the simple
dignity of Messrs. Zuloaga and Miramon
at the capital. Thus the story was repeated and
has ever been recorded with appropriate varia-
tions. The facts of the case would appear to be
very simple.
As Icng before as 1846, Prince Louis Napoleon
had published his pamphlet * upon the political and
commercial advantages of cutting a canal through
the narrow neck of Central America ; and the
Government of the United States, anxious to be
beforehand in any scheme of inter-oceanic com-
* " Le Canal de Nicaragua," 1846. See also E. G. Squier :
" Nicaragua," New York, 1850, and " Central America," Lon-
don, 1856, as to the canal, and American views thereon.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 9 1
munication by land or by water, had entered
into a treaty with the actual Government of
Mexico, reserving the right of transit from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, in certain
eventualities, for American goods and American
citizens. And as a result of this convention, Mr.
Webster * had obtained his exequatur as United States
Consul at Tehuantepec and Huatulco. But nothing
further was done at the moment. As soon
.as Juarez was fairly established at Vera Cruz in
1858, he had dispatched an Envoy to Washington,
Senor Mata, to demand his recognition as Constitu-
tional President of Mexico, and, if possible, to
negotiate a loan in the United States. A Tehuan-
tepec Company having meanwhile been formed
by some northern speculator, it was but natural
that the Government at Washington should seek
to obtain from Juarez a formal, confirmation of
the treaty of 1850, and equally natural that the
Mexican President should consent to do so, for
good and valuable consideration. A loan of
$4,000,000 was also fairly provided for, and
might have been fairly granted, had it not been
that the entire treaty failed to obtain the appro-
bation of the United States Senate, and so
* Domenech : Hist. II., 231-2.
92 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
became a dead letter. * Thus, beyond the fact of
his recognition by his powerful neighbours, Juarez
neither gave nor took anything whatever. The
loan remained a project. The rights of transit at
Tehuantepec existed only as they were granted in
1850.
This, and no more, was the " M'Lane Surrender
of 1859." But the recognition of President Juarez
by the United States Government had, upon at least
one occasion, a most important practical influence
upon his fortunes. Towards the end of 1859
Miramon contrived to fit out and dispatch from the
Havannah two gun-boats, the Miramon and the
Mavquez, to assist him from the sea board in his
new attack upon Vera Cruz. But the American
Commodore in the Gulf refused to recognize the
cruisers as belligerents, and carried them off
as pirates, to be judged by a prize court at New
Orleans !
* Arrangoiz: II., 359-61 The convention between Juarez and
Mr. McLane (1859), acting on behalf of the United States, for
a loan of $8,000,000 (Domenech says $4,000,000), in return for
certain rights as regards the carriage of United States goods
across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, was not approved by the
United States Senate.
93
CHAPTER V.
RESTORATION : — 1859-1861.
In the Summer of /i859, Juarez at length felt
himself strong enough to legislate as well as to
fight for the good of his country.
On the/yth of July he issued a long and elaborate
proclamation, setting forth what may be called (his
political programme,* or plan of operations for the
future^ arid this most interesting State Paper should
be read by everyone who would appreciate the
statesmanlike qualities, the political knowledge,
and the keen appreciation of the actual wants of
his own country that ever distinguished the Indian
President.
The mere preparation, indeed, of so far-reaching
and so eminently practical a programme, at the
time when he himself was shut up in a provincial
fortress, and his capital had been long occupied by
rebels, bears witness to the patient hopefulness of
his disposition.
See Baz : " Vida de Juarez," pp. 156-171.
The Presidential Address occupies fifteen of the large 4to
pages of this valuable book.
94 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Presidential Address treated of — i, The dis-
establishment and disendowment of the Roman
Catholic Church. 2, The simplification of legal
procedure, and the greater independence of the
judicial power. 3, The extension and cheapening
of education. 4, The systematic making of roads.
5, A general reform of the Finances, including the
immediate abolition of the oppressive and old-
fashioned Spanish Alcabala. 6, The encouragement
of foreign commerce, by revision of duties and other
measures. 7, The abolition of excessive pensions.
8, The establishment of a National Guard. 9, The
sub-division of great estates, with a view to
encouraging agriculture and establishing a peasant
proprietary in the place of the existing population
of labourers who were practically serfs. 10, The
encouragement of the immigration of useful colonists.
And, finally, u, The establishment and subvention
of railways."
A few days after the appearance of this procla-
mation, on the 1 2th of July, 1859, three laws or
decrees, known as" the New Reform Laws, were
promulgated by the President at Vera Cruz.
By the first, the Church was completely disestab-
lished and disendowed.
* The worst thing that could be said of the programme
was that it was too complete.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 95
By the second, marriage was declared to be a
purely Civil contract.
By the third, the important duty of the Registra-
tion of Births, Deaths, and Marriages was taken
away from the Clergy, and devolved upon Civil
officers of the State, appointed for that purpose.
The Church was thus absolutely separated from
the State in Mexico, and the ecclesiastical revenues
finally appropriated by the Civil power. It was a
bold step for a fugitive President.
It was the promulgation of the Lerdo^Law that
had induced the clergy to overthrow the Constitu-
tional Government less than two years before.
But they had taken very little by their success.
For the scheme of Lerdo wras Conservative in com-
parison with the sweeping decree of the man whom
they had driven into exile.
The law of 1856 only^Jpjbaj^Jii^-^c^l^siastics
to rem^ii^rjmrjnetors. The decree of 1859 did not
even suffer them to remain capitalists.]
If Lerdo had chastised them with whips, Juarez
was chastising them with scorpions.
Yet the mind of the Indian statesman was bent
not on chastisement but on reform.
The new decrees were far-reaching in their
scope. Monasteries, confraternities, and religious
establishments of all kinds were suppressed or
dissolved.
96 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Nunneries were forbidden to receive any further
novices, although all nuns actually professed
were permitted to retain their property for their
lives.
Compensation was to be granted to all existing
holders of church property of every description.
Nor was any building, actually used for the per-
formance of public worship, included within the
scope of the decrees.
But in spite of these saving clauses, the Bishops
must have been heartily disgusted with their folly
in refusing to conform to the moderate laws of June,
1856. It was hardly to be expected that Juarez,
with his back to the wall at Vera Cruz, should be
more indulgent than Comonfort, in his good
quarters at the Presidential Palace at Mexico.
Of the actual value of the Church property at
the time of the promulgation of the decrees of 1859
it is supremely difficult to arrive at any certain
conclusion ; and the estimates range from ten
million to one hundred million pounds sterling/''
* The number of Conventual establishments and religious
houses in Mexico in 1844 is stated to have been 150, with a
Monastic population of some 2,000 nuns and 1,700 monks.
But the secular or parochial clergy did not exceed 3,200
priests — " a small number," says Mr. Mayer, " to minister
to the spiritual wants of a population of more than seven and
a half millions — or 3,383 individuals assigned to the ecclesi-
astical charge of each priest, monk or curate. And yet
among these men, the entire revenue of probably more than
$90,000,000 of property was annually distributed or consoli-
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 97
I am myself inclined to estimate the actual worth
of the property, both real and personal, even in a
fair market, at a good deal less than is usually com-
puted, while the actual selling value, in disturbed
times, and with a very uncertain title for pur-
chasers, would clearly have been something more
moderate still. *
dated in a country from which they are constantly asking
alms instead of bestowing them.
"The value of their churches, the extent of their city
property, the power they possess as lenders and mortgagees
in Mexico, where there are no banks, and the enormous
masses of Church plate, golden ornaments and jewels, will
swell the above statements and estimates of the Church's
wealth to nearer one hundred millions than ninety millions,
as computed by Senor Otero." — Mayer: Mexico, II., 133.
" Yet in order to bring up this ninety to the two hundred
millions of dollars — or the milliard of francs — which Juarez is
accused by French critics with having squandered by malad-
ministration, another hundred million of dollars (1,000,000,000
francs is equivalent to $200,000,000) has to be added as the
estimated capital value of the contributions and other imposts
which were laid upon the property of the country for the
benefit of the clergy."
* According to M. Gaulot, the entire immoveable or real
property of Mexico amounted in 1849 to $850,000,000, of
which the Church possessed one third, or say $270,000,000.
The rnoveable or personal property of the clergy alone is
further valued by the same author (as in 1860) at $150,000,000.
M. Gaulot certainly gives no authority for the former of
these valuations, and a very doubtful one for the latter. Yet
that a writer of his position should, in his carefully reasoned
work, venture seriously to estimate the Church property in
Mexico in 1859-1860 at $520,00,000, or over ^100,000,000,
rather shakes my faith in my own modest calculations. Of this,
at least, we may rest assured, that the amount of property held
in Mortmain was of very great extent, and that whether in rela-
tion to the legitimate needs of the Clergy, or to the amount
of free land in the hands of the laity, it was excessive. Gaulot:
Max : pp., 103-5.
/
' ^
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
/But, great or small, apprized at hundreds of
millions," or saleable at hundreds of thousands, the
ecclesiastical estates and revenues w^ere added at
once and for ever to the national property of
Mexico.
The reform may have been necessary. It may
have been just. It was certainly a shrewd retort
upon the rebel clergy. But the decree was not
happily timed. For the denunciation and sale of
the ecclesiastical property under a Government as
uncertain in its operations and as restricted in its
powers as that of Juarez, led to the infliction of the
greatest possible amount of suffering upon the
ecclesiastics,! whom it would have been wise to
conciliate, and upon their devout followers, whom
it would have been reasonable to consider ; while it
was productive of substantial advantages to the
State, under the Government of Juarez himself, so
scandalously out of proportion to the injury inflicted,
* The author of the remarkable article on Mexico in the
supplement to the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," published in
1824 (page 373), says that at that time, the money capital, as
distinguished from the real property, of the Church bodies
in Mexico, amounted to ^"10,000,000, and that the money was
lent out in small sums at a high rate of interest to landed
proprietors ; and that the Spanish Government had tried in
vain to possess themselves of this tempting hoard.
^10,000,000 is, say, $50,000,000 : and between 1824 and 1859
the capital must have very largely increased.
f The future remuneration of priests was to be a matter
of free arrangement between minister and people, without the
interference of the civil power.
A LIFE OF BEMTO JUAREZ. 99'
that within less than two years after the nationalisa-
tion of property valued at hundreds of millions of
dollars, the Public Treasury was absolutely empty.
That the promulgation of this truly Radical
decree should have nerved the Bishops and Clergy
to renewed exertion on behalf of the Tacubayistas
at the capital, was only what could have been
expected under the circumstances. Yet as the year
1859 drew to a close, it became manifest that the
Puros, as the Constitutional Liberals came to be
called, were gaining ground — slowly, no doubt, but
surely — over the partizans of the Bishops and the
Bravos ; and the leaders of the declining faction
determined to seek assistance from beyond the
sea.
The Government of Juarez had been recognised,
as we have seen, by the Cabinet at Washington.
But the Government of Miramon, which was
established in the capital, and had possession of the
national archives, was treated by all the European
Powers as the defacio Government of the country..
The Bishops, moreover, had established friendly
relations not only at the Vatican but at the Tuileries. ]
And Don Juan Almonte, the honest broker in the
Mesilla sale, a personage of whom we shall
hear more in due time, in connection with the
French expedition, was dispatched by the
Tacubayista leaders to negotiate a treaty with
H — 2
IOO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Spain. The negotiations were not long pro-
tracted ; for Almonte's instructions were to agree
to whatever conditions might be proposed ; and on
the 26th of September, 1859, a Convention was
signed in Paris between the Mexican envoy and
Sefior Mon, on behalf of her most Catholic Majesty
Isabella II.
The main feature of this Treaty was the recog-
nition by the representative of Miramon of the
claims of certain Spanish subjects, who had pur-
chased Mexican bonds of the Internal Debt at some-
thing like ten per cent, of their nominal value, to
have payment made to them at par, as if the
depreciated paper, in which they had so rashly
"speculated, formed a part of the Spanish Convention
Debt. The claim was preposterous. It had
already been categorically rejected by Comonfort ;
and the Spanish minister had thereupon retired
from Mexico.
Miramon, however, made no difficulties in the
way of accepting the Spanish demands, as the
price of Spanish support in Europe."
And in virtue of this new Convention, Sefior
Pacheco, Envoy .and Minister resident from Queen
Isabella to the Court of Miramon, set sail from
* The bonds of the Internal Debt in the hands of these
Spanish speculators had cost them about 12 per cent, and
were by the terms of the treaty to be paid off at 100.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. IOI
Cadiz, and arrived off Vera Cruz on the 23rd of
May, 1860.
The city had not only been besieged a second
time, but had even been bombarded by Miramon in
the preceding March ; but the citizens had stood
firm, the well-disciplined troops of Juarez had
driven away the brilliant besiegers. Vera Cruz
remained untaken, confident, and free.
Somewhat surprised to find that the President to
whom he was accredited was not recognised at the
chief seaport of the country, Pacheco asked permis-
sion of Juarez to land and proceed to the capital, a
permission which was at once most courteously
accorded. (June ist, 1860.)
On reaching the City of Mexico, another surprise
awaited the envoy, who was received, not by
President substitute Miramon - - these gentlemen
were always very punctilious about their titles — but
by President ad interim Zuloaga, who had on the gth
of May, 1860, re-assumed, by his own decree, the
functions of President of the Republic, vice
Miramon, appointed to the office of Commander-in-
Chief, by the same unexceptional authority.
But the Substitute with the army in the provinces,,
was stronger than the Interim with the Bishops in
the capital ; and on the 3rd of August the President
Interim disappeared, and became a President Fugi-
tive, to the great embarrassment of his particular
1O2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
friends; and in less than a fortnight afterwards
(August i4th) the vivacious Miramon, installed once
more in the Palace at Mexico, received the envoy
Pacheco with the utmost pomp and ceremony at his
Court.
The Foreign Ministers, M. de Gabriac and Mr.
Otway, ever complaisant, were as ready to recognise
Miramon as they had been to recognise Zuloaga ;
and they must have had hard work to keep pace
with their changes of title. *
But Juarez remained President of Mexico.
Yet as the year 1860 drew to a close, and as it
became apparent that the end of the struggle was
rapidly approaching, the Liberal cause received a
blow at the hands of its own supporters, which was
more fatal in its results than any which it had
suffered from the attacks of the most ferocious Abso-
lutist. For it tended to impress upon European
statesmen the necessity for intervention in the
affairs of a country so regardless of all usages and
traditions of public honesty and diplomatic conven-
tion. |
* Mr. Otway, indeed, who was supposed to have been too
complaisant, was recalled in August, 1859 ; and was succeeded
by Mr. Mathew, who maintained his position with dignity and
credit for nearly two years, until May 25th, 1861.
f On the 24th of August, 1860, Lord John Russell
had instructed Mr. Mathew, the British Envoy, to withdraw
from the Court of Miramon, the " patron of outrage, spoliation,
.and atrocities " of every kind. But as Lord John would not
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 03
Up to that time the Government of President
Juarez had shewed in honourable contrast with that
of the robbers and cut-throats at the capital. No
innocent blood had been shed. No private property
had been appropriated. No plighted word had been
violated. And now the days of their long struggle
were almost accomplished. The hour of their
triumph was at hand. Within four months Juarez
was to make his public entry into the capital of
enfranchised Mexico ; and it was at this supreme
moment that General Degollado — "the respectable
Degollado,"* as he wras described, even after the
event, by a judicious foreigner, saw fit to sully the
fair fame of his President and of his Party, by
an act of plunder worthy only of Miramon and
Marquez. |
In the early part of September, 1860,
a Conducta, or mule train, carrying specie of
the value of some million and a quarter of dollars,
take upon himself to order Mr. Mathew to proceed at once to
Vera Cruz, the Envoy retired in the non-official capacity
of a diplomatic waiter on Providence, to Jalapa.
* Mr. Mathew to Lord John Russell, December 25th,
1860.
f In September, 1859, Marquez took forcible possession
of some f 600,000 at Guadalajara, " partede unaremesa de fondos
del comer do a los puertos del Pacifico.' ' Arrangoiz, : II. 361 . This is
spoken of by Mr. Mathew to Lord John Russell, September
28th, 1860, (Accounts and Papers, etc.,) as " An act of common
or uncommon highway robbery!" See also Domenech:
Hist. : torn. II. p. 319.
IO4 A LIFE OF BEMTO JUAREZ.
for the most part the property of foreign merchants,
was on its way from Queretaro to Tampico, under
a guard or escort of the Constitutional forces of the
country. The money was being forwarded by the
owners for shipment to Europe, and Degollado,
jealous, no doubt, of the exploits of Marquez in a
similar direction some months before, took upon
himself to appropriate the dollars that were
entrusted to his care, at the village of Laguna Seca
(September gth, 1860). Doblado and Echeagarray
signified their hearty approval, and many noble sen-
timents were expressed by these various worthies as
to the duties of patriots, the honour of Mexico, the
heroic self-sacrifice of gentlemen who preferred
even to be falsely accused of misconduct, to the
crime of allowing dollars to slip through their
fingers, when dollars were needed by their
country.
The appropriation of the bags of money, more-
over, was spoken of by the Generals and their
friends not as plunder, but an " occupation."
But Juarez was not a man to be misled by fine
words. And the moment the news of this
impudent and still more foolish robbery was con-
veyed to him, he sent orders for the prompt
restitution of the stolen property to the
owners.
But bags of dollars do not as a rule remain
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. IO5
intact in the hands of those who patriotically
occupy them ; and a great part of the cash had
been already dispersed beyond recall or recovery,
when the instructions from Juarez were received.
Four hundred thousand dollars, however, the
property of certain English merchants, were
recovered by the superior diligence of the English
Minister ; * and were by the good will of the some-
what repentant Degollado duly sent forward for
shipment to Tampico.
But at the port of Tampico the Government of
Juarez was as ill-served as it had been in the camp
at Laguna Seca.
The English specie, though protected by the
marks or seals of the British Legation, was seized
before it could be sent on board the vessels in the
harbour, by order of General Garza, at the instance
of the French Consul, M. de St. Charles. An
inquiry was then solemnly held as to the disposal
of this re-stolen property, and the remaining dollars
were at length handed over to certain merchants at
Tampico for distribution, according to the order of a
local judge. In fine, after the payment or retention
of some very considerable fees for the officials con-
cerned in this new conversion, about one-twelfth of
the amount originally occupied, or about one-third
* Mr. Mathew was ably assisted by the British Consul,
Mr. Glennie.
IO6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of that restored by Degollado to the English
Consul, seems to have found its way into the
pockets or ships of the rightful owners.'"
In all this Juarez was not only blameless,
but he behaved with his usual probity and
judgment.
He gave immediate orders for the restitution of
all the money that could be recovered, as soon as
he heard of the outrage.
Two months later he issued a Presidential decree
providing special funds for the liquidation of the
unsatisfied claims.]
And lastly, within a month of his restoration to
supreme power at the capital, he instructed Serior
Zarco, his new Minister of Foreign Affairs, to con-
clude a final arrangement with the British
Plenipotentiary, wrhich Mr. Mathew himself
characterized as fair and equitable.];
But the impression conveyed in Europe was
entirely unfavourable. And although the British
Minister conducted his correspondence with the
Mexican Government with great moderation and
* Capt. Aldham, R.N., to Mr. Mathew, December yth, 1860.
11 Accounts and Papers," etc.
f On December lyth, 1860, he signed a Presidential
Decree specially assigning certain property and revenue to
the repayment of this sum of money eo nomine. The decree is
printed in "Accounts and Papers," 1861, xv., p. 55. The re-
stitution is said to be preferable atout antrc paiement.
\ Mr. Mathew to Lord John Russell, February 25th, 1861.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. IO/
good temper, his remonstrances, vigorous and
abundantly justified, were read in England with
ignorant but not unnatural indignation. It is
indeed scarcely a matter for surprise that foreign
creditors six thousand miles away should be
unwilling or unable to distinguish between the Con-
stitutional responsibility of Juarez, the trickery of
Garza, the backsliding of Degollado and Doblado,
or the insolent and open plunder of Marquez and
Miramon.
Mexico, at least, was called upon to suffer for
them all. For if, thanks to the criminal folly of
Degollado, the Constitutional Government of Juarez
had been sullied by one single act of public plunder,
the dying Government of Miramon surpassed all
previous experience of administrative misfea-
sance, by the most notable outrage upon the comity
of nations that is to be found even in the annals
of revolutionary Mexico.
Finding himself, after three years of plunder,
absolutely without resources either for the defence
of the capital, or the usual provision for his own
flight ; with the Liberal troops at his gate, with his
friend Jecker a bankrupt ; * and with no solvent or
insolvent banker willing to lend him money even at
the old rate of eighteen hundred per cent, Miramon,
* As to the issue of the Jecker bonds earlier in the year.
See post Chapter VI.
IO8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
upon the lyth of November, 1860, improving con-
siderably upon the procedure of the " respectable
Degollado," dispatched General Marquez with
three blacksmiths and a file of soldiers to the house
of the British Legation," where they broke into the
strong room, and stole therefrom some three-quarters
of a million of dollars,! in specie, the property of the
English bondholders, which had been collected by
Juarez, and deposited for safe keeping with the
British Minister, in boxes sealed with his official
seal. J
The Spanish Minister, Pacheco, specially
accredited, as we have seen, to the Government of
Miramon, used his utmost endeavours to prevent
* The news had just been received of the fall of Guadala-
ja ra, and the advance of the Liberal troops.
Mr. Mathew, when he had quitted the capital, and retired to '
await the development of events at Jalapa (see ante, note
p. 103.) had left the Legation shut up : the strong room locked
and sealed ; the specie in boxes, marked and stamped with
his official seal.
f It must be remembered that these $660,000 stolen by
Miramon, from the British Legation had actually been pro-
vided by the Constitutional, but unrecognized Government of
Juarez. Lefevre. I., 52.
There was a certain grim humour, in requiring him, before he
had been a month restored to power, to pay it back !
I $660,000 was the exact amount of the plunder. The
coins were packed in boxes marked with the mark of the
British Legation and stored in a storehouse locked and sealed
up with the seal of the British Envoy. There is a very full
and detailed account, with copies of all letters and other
documents relating to these robberies, both by Miramon and
by Degollado, in the "Accounts and Papers," Parliamentary
Blue Book, 1861, Ixv. pp. 1-56'
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
this astounding violation of all international
decency, or even of common honesty ; and he pro-
tested in the strongest language against the outrage
— but in vain. The money was carried off; and
was no doubt found useful by General Miramon
in his subsequent retirement from Mexico. The
Occupation, though certainly more impudent, was
by no means as foolish as that of Degollado.
Upon the 6th of November., 1860, Juarez
issued a Decree, under the Electoral Law of 1857,
fixing the date of the election of a President and
Vice- President for the following January, when
the new Congress would also be chosen, to assemble,
according to law, on the igth of February.
The possible candidates, besides Juarez himself,
were Comonfort, Degollado, Ortega, and Miguel
Lerdo de Tejada.*
There was a fine boldness, no doubt, in this dis-
regard of the present adversity, in the punctual
fulfilment of constitutional obligations.!
But the reign of Miramon was drawing to a
close. | And no acts of violence or recklessness
availed to arrest the onward march of his oppo-
* Mathew to Lord John Russell, Dec. soth, 1860.
f Suggestive of the old Roman spirit that prompted the
purchase at a good price of the land actually occupied by
Hannibal.
J M. Dubois de Saligny, the new French Minister, arrived
in the city of Mexico on the i2th of Dec., 1860.
IIO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
nents. The crowning victory of Calpulalpam, and
the fall of Guadalajara, on the 2oth of December,
1860, left the road to Mexico open to the Liberal
army ; and on Christmas Day, the vanguard, under
General Ortega, entered the city without striking
a blow. Miramon, Marquez,and their disorganised
supporters indeed had already fled, and the restora-
tion of Constitutional Government was celebrated
by an enthusiastic demonstration of public satis-
faction and joy, on the first day of the New Year,
1861. Nor were these popular rejoicings sullied by
any manifestations of military insubordination or
civil disorder.1"
It was on the nth of January, 1858, that Felix
Zuloaga had raised the standard of revolution in
the city of Mexico ; and upon the nth of January,
1 86 1, Benito Juarez, on his arrival from Vera Cruz,
made his triumphal entry into the capital of the
grateful Republic.
For three years he had struggled valiantly, he
had suffered silently, he had acted with infinite self-
restraint. And in the hour of victory he would have
entered his capital like a simple citizen, without
pomp, or glory, or display.!
* Mr. Mathew to Lord John Russell particularly insists
upon this. It was indeed a noteworthy fact.
f "President Juarez," writes Mr. Mathew at this time,
"is an upright and well-intentioned man, excellent in all
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I I I
How much there yet remained to be done before
Mexico could take her place among the nations, no
man knew better than he. The men of Tacubaya,
indeed, were vanquished ; but the community was
yet divided. The State was bankrupt. The Com-
monwealth was disorganised. For the man who
was to make Mexico into a nation, the task had
scarcely yet begun.
Yet some public display or triumph was no
doubt both prudent and politic ; and Juarez, who
had steered the ship of State in her three years*
voyage, through storm and tempest, through battle
and breaker, was received with well-merited
acclamation as he made his entry into the long-
looked-for port.
But the vessel was battered almost beyond
repair ; and the pilot, who had so steadfastly kept
her afloat, was called upon without a moment's
delay to convert the shattered hull into a staunch
and seaworthy ship.
The best captain is not always the best ship-
wright, but it was the hand of Juarez upon the tiller
that had guided the vessel through the storm ; and it
was the hand of Juarez in the workshop that alone
the private relations of life ; but the fact of his being an
Indian exposes him to the hostility and sneers of the dregs
of Spanish society, and even of those of mixed blood! " —
May i2th, 1861. — Mathew to Lord John Russell.
112 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
was capable of fitting her for the new voyages that
awaited her.
The Indian was not the man to shrink from the
task. But the task was rather rebuilding than
repair. A Government so demoralised, an Admi-
nistration so disorganised, a Society so shattered,
a Commonwealth so impoverished, needed rather
reconstruction than reform.
And as we may see from day to day in older
and more peaceful countries than Mexico ; to
reform is often within the power of a common-
place enthusiast ; to reconstruct is reserved only
for the greatest efforts of the most fortunate States-
men.
But the impatient critics of the new Adminjstra-
tion, and moie especially the disappointed friends
of the fallen usurpers, were not disposed to make
any allowance for the inherent difficulties of the
position. And from the very day of the return of
Juarez, and before the country had, or could have,
recovered from three years of demoralisation and
disorder, while the Absolutists remained conquered,
yet by no means suppressed, in every part of the
country ; the foreign residents were loudly demand-
ing peace and protection from an Administration
which was hard pressed to maintain its own
existence ; and the foreign creditors were still more
loudly insisting upon the punctual payment of
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 113
millions of doubtful dollars out of an absolutely
empty Treasury.
The Presidential Elections were duly held in the
month of January. The writs had been issued
from Vera Cruz. The return was made at the
capital of Mexico. Juarez, as may be supposed,
was elected President by a large majority over his
only rival, General Ortega, who was subsequently
appointed Vice-President of the Supreme Court.
(July 2nd, 1861.)*
The first work that had to be done in Mexico in
that eventful January, 1 86 i,t was to inspire citizens
and strangers with confidence in the honesty, as
well as the stability, of the Government. And yet
the most honest of men is unable to make punctual
payments when he himself is absolutely penniless.
" The Mexican Government," says Mr. Mathew,
" has been accused, not without reason, of having
frittered away the Church property, recently
nationalised ; but it must be remembered that
* Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, at one time a candidate for
the Presidency, had died in March, 1861. His brother
Sebastian is a leading figure in the subsequent history of
Mexico.
f The Chambers did not actually meet until May, nor was
it till June nth that the new President and Vice-President
were formally installed.
Ortega soon after gave proofs of his loyalty, if not of his
judicial competence, by a victory over the rebels at Jalatlaco
(August i4th, 1861).
or THE
I
- ^S
114 A LLFK OF BENITO JUARKZ.
while forced contributions, plunder, and immense
supplies from the Church and its supporters have
enabled Zuloaga and Miramon to sustain the
civil war for three years ; * the Constitutional
Government abstained from such acts, and have
the sole robbery of the Conducta at Laguna Seen,
which cannot be said to have benentted them even
from a pecuniary point of view, to answer for."
* " Their resources during this lengthened period were
drawn from advances by individuals on Bonds for far greater
sums, payable at the close of the war ; and from the actual
sale of a great part of the Church property at 25, 20, and
even 15 per cent, of its value." — Mathew to Lord John Russell,
May I2th, 1861. " Accounts and Papers," ubi supra.
The mode of payment for their ecclesiastical estates by
the new purchasers was most unsatisfactory. " Les bien-
fonds," says M. Gaulot (Max., p. 109), " pouvaient tire paycs
2-5 en bons dc hi dettc intcrleiire qui ne valaient qite dc 6 pour
cent a 8 POMY cent, dc lew valcur nominate, ct J-,7 en Pagares oil
traites a 60 jours d' echcancc. Un agiotage inormc s'etablit sur ccs
ventes, ct la confusion la plus compli-tc s'ensiiirit."
" Since the Declaration of Independence, according to a
Decree issued by them some time ago, anybody denouncing
Church property has the right to purchase it on the
following terms, — 60 per cent, of the value of such houses or
lands are to be paid in bonds of internal debt (which bonds
are in reality only worth 6 per cent.), and the remaining 40 per
cent., in " pagares " or promises to pay hard cash, at sixty, and
even eighty month's sight. These "pagares" of course, were
subsequently discounted at an enormous sacrifice, as the
Government was pressed for money, and willing to pay any
nominal value to obtain it without delay. In this way $27,000,000
worth of Church property has been squandered in this city
alone, and the Government, now without a sixpence, is
endeavouring to raise a loan of a million dollars to pay the
current expenses." Sir Charles Wyke to Lord John Russell,
" Accounts and Papers, 1862," LXIV.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I 15
But such distinctions were very far from being
known or regarded in England, or in any part of the
Continent of Europe. The plundering of the
Legation by Miramon was spoken of only as a
Mexican outrage ; the atrocities of Marquez in-
flamed men, not against his Party, but against the
Government which he was seeking to overthrow ;.
and the foreign creditors, set at nought by the
Government of Zuloaga, neither knew nor cared
to know that Juarez at least had never converted to
his own use a dollar that did not belong to him,
that his habits were simple, and his mode of life
unostentatious, when they saw that money slipped
through his fingers like water, and that the most
tremendous confiscations led only to an empty
Exchequer.
That Juarez himself was honest, not even his
Mexican enemies ventured to question. That he
had almost every qualification for a good governor,
is now at least universally recognised : but he had
no genius for finance, nor were any of his colleagues
or subordinates apparently more skilful in the
administration of this important department of
state. The Nation, it was remembered, was
not yet forty years old. A Minister of Finance
is one of the maturest products of modern civilisa-
tion.
The immense estates of the Church, which
i — 2
Il6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
should have sufficed to provide for all the exigencies
of the State, had been rashly and unprofitably
dissipated. The Treasury of Mexico was as empty
as the Treasury at Vera Cruz.
But whatever may have been the merits or de-
merits of Juarez as a financier, in one respect at
least he stood immeasurably above every other man
of his age and nation. Vengeance was foreign to
his nature. Bloodshed had no part in his policy.
His vanquished opponents were Mexicans. Mexico
demanded, not their lives, but their labours in her
service.
Fugitive at Colima, pent up in Vera Cruz, victor-
ious at Guadalajara, supreme at Mexico, his policy
had been always the same.
No man had been slain in cold blood by his
orders during his three years' struggle for existence.
The constant cruelty, the reckless military execu-
tions of his savage opponents, had provoked him
to no reprisals.
It is the coward and the doubter who is most
prone to cruelty. Juarez was ever brave and ever
confident. Amid the merciless he was ever mer-
ciful. In an age of bloodshed he was ever ready
to spare the lives of his enemies. And in this, at
least, he imposed his own will upon all his
followers.
"There has not," says the British Envoy, writing
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I I/
to Lord John Russell in January, 1861, " been a
single act of bloodshed or popular vengeance on
the part of the successful party."
It is not surprising, therefore, that a Decree of
general amnesty should have been one of the
first that was published on the return of Juarez to
the President's Palace at Mexico. Marquez and
Miramon, indeed, noted and shameless criminals,
were most justly proscribed and outlawed. A few
individuals, bitter and powerful enemies of the
Constitutional Government, among whom werer
unfortunately, no doubt, Senor Pacheco, the
Spanish Envoy; the Papal Nuncio, titular Bishop
of Damascus,! with one or two of the more violent
* "Accounts and Papers," 1 86 1.
f ". The publication of the various Laws of Reform in the
capital," writes Mr. Mathew under date, January 3oth, 1861,
" has been attended by the most violent opposition on the part
of the higher clergy. . . . The most inflammatory appeals
have been made by the Archbishop in the Cathedral. . . .
Upon the promulgation of the Civil Marriage Act the Arch-
bishop issued a Decree [copy enclosed of Decree and Mani-
festo] in direct opposition to the law, and refusing to withdraw
it, he and some of the other Bishops have received orders to
leave the country."
"Accounts and Papers," 1861, LIV., p. 56.
I have seen no less than five Pastorals of Archbishop
Garza y Ballesteros ; all directed against Juarez eo nomine and
denouncing him and his Decrees. They are dated respectively:
July agth, 1859.
August 5th, 1859.
,, 12th, 1859.
i9th, 1859.
September yth, 1859.
Il8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
opponents of Liberal institutions, including Joaquin
de Madrid, Bishop of Tenagra ; Clemente Munguia,
Bishop of Michoacan ; and Pedro Barajas, Bishop
of Potosi ; were requested to leave the country, and
were furnished at their own convenience with a
suitable escort to the coast. It was not thus
that the assassins of Tacubaya were wont to
deal with their enemies in the day of victory. *
This magnificent lenity provoked the remonstr-
ance of many hotheaded partizans ; and there were
grave differences of opinion among the members of
the new Cabinet, within a few days of the restora-
tion, upon the question of an immediate return to
Constitutional methods of Government.
The majority were in favour of a modified dicta-
torship. The President would accept only the
functions of a Constitutional Ruler. Some of his
Ministers saw fit to resign, but Juarez stood firm.
The Cabinet was reconstituted. The Constitution
remained inviolate. All the acts of the Assembly
The copy that I used came from the Library of Maximilian
(sold to the British Museum by the Abbe Fischer.) The
Imperial book plate is still in the volume, and is artistically
strange to say a very poor production.
* The Archbishop of Mexico (Garza y Ballesteros), and
one or two of his suffragans were banished only after the
publication of a Pastoral calling upon the parochial clergy of
the diocese directly to defy the law, as to religious toleration
and liberty, civil marriage, etc., in January, 1861. The Arch-
bishop died in Europe, and an intriguer of the name of La
Bastida \vas, as we shall see, appointed to take his place.
A LIFE OF BFNITO JUARFZ. lip
at Vera Cruz were adopted or confirmed. Those
of the Revolutionary Government at Mexico were
formally repudiated."'
The Foreign Ministers returned to the capital,
and were admitted to audience of the President.
Mr. Weller, the Envoy of the United States, on
January 3oth, Baron Wagner, the Prussian
Charge d'Affaires, on February 3rd, and Mr.
Mathew, the English Minister, on February 26th,
were warm in their assurances of respect and good-
will.
The delay in the demand of audience by Mr.
Mathew arose from a protracted correspondence
as to the national duty of restoring the money
stolen by Miramon from the Treasury of the
British Legation, and the admission of liability in
respect thereof, which had been insisted upon by
Lord John Russell, as a condition precedent to any
recognition of the new Government. Juarez, how-
ever, not only undertook to pay the amount, but
offered a handsome apology ; and on the day of the
return of the English Minister and his suite to
the violated Legation, the national flag was dis-
* Reams of constitutional disquisition have been written,
and might be cited upon the legal aspects of the position. It
may suffice at present to point out that there is a good deal to
be said upon the subject. As far as purely domestic questions
are concerned, the right of the new and Constitutional Parlia-
ment was undoubted. As regards the rights of foreigners,
each individual case must be argued upon the merits.
I2O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
played throughout the city, as a mark of special
honour and welcome."
M. de Saligny, who had succeeded M. de
Gabriac, in Nov., 1860, as French Minister, alone
was disposed to place difficulties in the way of
the Administration, I while he connived at the
escape of Miramon, disguised as a French naval
officer, on board the frigate Mercure, off Vera Cruz.
But nothing as yet seemed to indicate that the
Constitutional Government, at length restored to
power, would be hindered by any foreign nation
from bringing back peace and prosperity to Mexico.
And Juarez, heedless of the little cloud rising
upon the eastern horizon, addressed himself man-
fully to the work of the regeneration of his
country.
* The whole story is very fully told in the Blue Book
"Accounts and Papers (Mexico)" 1861, vol. LXV., ubi supra.
f M. de Saligny showed himself from the first — he had
been appointed in succession to M. Gabriac at the end of
1860, and had arrived at Mexico on the i2th of December —
a partizan of the Absolutist Government ; and one of his first
acts after the return of Juarez to the capital was an attempt
to place some Mexican nuns under French protection, so
as to enable them to evade the orders of the Mexican
Government.
As to M. de Saligny 's hectoring conduct as regards the
Sisters of Charity, in one of whose houses a sum of $42,000,
abstracted from the National Treasury, had been fraudulently
hidden, even before he had presented his credentials to the
Government of Juarez, see Lefevre, I., 41-47. M. Lefevre
was an eye-witness of at least a part of the transaction.
As to the shelter accorded by him to Robles in the French
Legation, from January to April, 1861, ibid pp. 50-51.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ, 121
A list of the French and English Ministers Resident,
or Charges d' Affaires in Mexico, about this time, may be of
interest.
ENGLISH.
Percy Doyle, to May, 1855.
William Lettsom (Charge d' Affaires,) to May, 1858.
Loftus Otway, to August 1859.
George Mathew, to May, 1862.
Sir Charles Wyke, to November, 1864.
Hon. Peter Campbell Scarlett, to October, 1867.
Robert Middleton (Charge d' Affaires) to December 2ist, 1867,
when diplomatic relations were finally broken off.
FRENCH.
Monsieur de Gabriac, August. 1855 to December, 1860.
Viscomte Dubois de Saligny, to November, 1864.
Marquis de Montholon. to June, 1866.
Monsieur Alfonse Dano, to August, 1867.
122
t
\
CHAPTER VI.
r FINANCE.
Before anything could be done by Juarez or his
n&w Cabinet to re-organise the battered framework
of Government in Mexico : to reform the great
departments of State, or to re-organize the collec-
tion of the taxes in the interior : Zuloaga took up
arms at Iguala, and Mejia on the Rio Verde.
The storm was not yet spent, new troubles were
•at hand.^
In the month of March, the Liberal Party was
deprived by sudden death of two of its most loyal
supporters, Zamora, the Governor of Vera Cruz ;
and Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, one of the most con-
spicuous and honoured members of the Cabinet of
Juarez. I Ocampo, another of his ablest lieutenants,
* In spite of the hostility, not only of M. de Gabriac, but'
of M. de Saligny, Juarez, on his restoration to supreme power —
pour fairc prcitve de bonne volonte a regard de la France, chose M.
de Montluc, a French citizen, to act as Consul General for
Mexico in Paris. — " Correspondance de Montluc," p. 57.
f He was at the time of his death a candidate for the
Presidency, second only in popularity to Juarez himself, with
whom he remained to the last on terms of close friendship.
Baz, Vida, 209.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 123
was carried away from his owrn home by some sup-
porters of Zuloaga, and murdered in cold blood by
the orders of Marquez, on the lyth'of June, 1861.
General Valle soon afterwards fell a victim to the
same ruffianism ; and General Degollado having
been entrusted with a small force to seek and punish
the assassins, was himself surprised and murdered.
A price was put upon the head of Marquez,
whose name was a terror to all honest men
in Mexico, but he remained at large in the
Provinces.
Yet the Government was never for a moment in
real danger from any of these bandits and bravos.
Zuloaga lost no time in following the example of
his friend Miramon, and seeking safety in flight to
the Havannah. Marquez, though a bold robber,
and an undaunted assassin, was no soldier ; he was
not even a Party leader. * Mejia alone remained to
fight the battle of the fugitives.
/But the greatest of all the difficulties that im-
mediately beset the Government, was the impossi-
bility of obtaining money. Not only was the
Treasury empty, but the entire fiscal system was
* It was on the 4th of June, 1861, inconsequence of the
murder of Ocampo, that General Tomas Mejia was formally
declared by the Assembly an outlaw, together with Zuloaga,
Marquez and two or three others.
This must be remembered when considering the proceedings
in June, 1867. Active association with Marquez was itself
something in the nature of a crime.
124 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
disorganised. Public credit had ceased to exist.
Reconstruction cannot be undertaken without funds.
Seventy-seven per cent, of the Customs dues atVera
Cruz had been hypothecated to foreign creditors ;
and of the twenty-three per cent, that remained,
very little found its way to the Treasury at
Mexico."
On the 27th of March, 1861, Senor Zarco, on
behalf of President Juarez, made certain proposals
with regard to the English claims, which were pro-
nounced reasonable by the British Minister.!
But cash was scarce, the country was still
unsettled; and on the 3oth of April, 1 86 1, Senor
La Fuente was sent as a special Envoy to the
Courts of Paris and London, to endeavour to obtain
some reduction of the capital amount of the Public
* By far the greater part of the revenues of the country was
derived from the import duties at the ports of Vera Cruz and
Tampico, and of these no less than 77 per cent was already
hypothecated at the time of the restoration of the Consti-
tutional Government under Juarez in 1861.
27 per cent, to London Bondholders.
24 per cent. " British Convention."
10 per cent to replace arrears.
10 per cent to replace money at mint of Guanajuato.
8 per cent. French Convention.
Mathew to Lord John Russell, May i2th, 1861.
f The Government further undertook, or rather proposed, to
guarantee to the British subjects the fullest liberty of public
worship in Mexico, an undertaking which was afterwards fully
and loyally carried out.
Senor Zarco's proposals are given in full in the Blue
Book ; Mexico, 1862, Ixiv., p.p. 4-11.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 125
Debt, or some delay in the payment of the
interest. *
Very similar reductions or conversions have since
been undertaken by many sovereign States, both in
Europe and America ; yet the suggestion that
Mexico should compound in any way with her
creditors, was treated in England, at least, with
suspicion, in France with the utmost hostility.
The fact is that while most people in Europe
were quite unable and others were quite unwilling
to distinguish between the relative merits of the
contending parties in Mexico, the Emperor of the
French had already made up his mind to intervene
in her affairs, and to impose a foreign Govern-
ment upon the country.
And while Miramon, Almonte and the exiled
Bishops were able to rouse the pious indignation
of Roman Catholic Europe against Juarez and his
friends, and to enlist the sympathy of exalted per-
sonages with a Restoration of clerical and
absolute Government in Mexico, the Emperor
Napoleon was able to induce the unsuspecting
* The utmost pains were taken by the representatives of
the Absolutist Party in Europe to represent Juarez as an
Indian savage, less civilized than Theodore of Abyssinia.
On the 1 4th of August, 1862 — for instance — the Duke of
Tetuan read aloud in the Spanish Cortes a letter which he
had lately received from Zuloaga, stating that it was the
intention of Juarez " to exterminate the entire white popula-
tion of Mexico ! " — " Cesar Cantu and Juarez," p. 8.
126 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Statesmen of England and Spain to assist him in
his ambitious designs of French aggrandisement in
the New World."
Yet it was absolutely necessary, in the interest of
Mexico as well as that of her creditors, that some
prompt arrangement should be made of the various
debts and demands, that had now for so long, and
for so many reasons, remained unsatisfied. t
But claims arising out of the robbery by General
Miramon at Mexico, and the robbery by General
Degollado at Laguna Seca, together with miscel-
laneous claims of British subjects, independent of
arrears of interest due to bondholders, to say
nothing of the various conversions of the various
recognised debts, had so complicated what may be
called the International financial situation that it
was absolutely necessary that some special Conven-
tion should be negotiated between the Government
* The fact was concealed from the public in Europe that
the greater part of the excesses charged against the Mexicans,
more especially the breaking of the seals of the British
Legation, had been committed by the very party that now
solicited French aid to impose their despotic rule upon an
unwilling people.
Cc qiCil y a de remarqnabh est qit'en France Ics unpei'ialistes
ont reproche au government de Juarez les atrocites commises
precisement par ses adrersaires, Ics insurges retrogades. — Montluc :
Correspondence, p. 62.
f The last arrangement was one that had been made with the
Government of Juarez, by Captain Dunlop, of the English
navy, in 1859, by which 25 per cent, of the Custom duties at
Vera Cruz and Tampico were set aside for the English
bondholders.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 2J
of Juarez and the Court of St. James's ; and a
Minister Plenipotentiary, Sir Charles Wyke, was
accordingly commissioned on the 3oth of March,
1 86 1, to proceed to Mexico for that purpose.* The
instructions that were given by Lord John Russell
to the new Envoy were to regulate, if possible, the
financial situation, but above all things to assert that
the policy of the English Government as regards
Mexico was " a policy of non-intervention : " that
" England desired to see Mexico free and indepen-
dent, " and that, "notwithstanding the grievous
wrongs which British subjects might have sus-
tained at the hands of former Governments, the
friendly feelings of Her Majesty's Government
towards Mexico had undergone no change."!
* His instructions will be found in the Blue Book, 1862,
Ixiv. pp. 161 et seq.
f That the foreign merchants and residents who formulated
all these claims, were themselves innocent and even exemplary in
their treatment of the native Mexicans is a justification of a
good deal of national indignation which will hardly be
accepted by the readers of an article published in Frazer's
Magazine, Dec. 1861, by an acute and very well informed
Englishman. Of the foreign diplomatists — who conducted
themselves as Viceroys, of the foreign officers — who con-
ducted themselves as smugglers, of the foreign mer-
chants— who organized lucrative pronunciamientos and shared
the spoil of a despoiled Custom House with complaisant
Governors, we may read with advantage in these impartial
pages, and learn that even " the outrage committed by Degol-
lado was not so entirely unprovoked as persons in this country
may be apt to imagine," and that the Mexicans who were
guilty of such and similar enterprises " were probably actuated
rather by a rude theory of their own on the subject of justi-
128 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ,
On the 27th of May, Sir Charles Wyke, a some-
what less sympathetic negotiator than Mr. Mathew,
had a long interview with Senor Guzman, who had
succeeded Senor Zarco as Minister for Foreign
Affairs. And that statesman sought rather to
demonstrate the absolute impossibility of his
Government paying away sums of money which
they did not possess, than to suggest any reasonable
settlement of so burning a question.
The English Envoy, astounded as he was at the
disastrous and demoralized condition of the country,
was rendered rather suspicious than sympathetic
by the attitude of Sefior Guzman ; and their
negotiations were further embarrassed by the
publication, on the 3rd of June, of a Presidential
Decree, issued under the authority of the Assembly,
which was then in full session, postponing all
payments to creditors of the National Treasury for
fiable reprisals than by mere senseless hostility to foreigners,
or rapacious desire for plunder."
It is also somewhat remarkable that among the Germans,
represented by a not inconsiderable number of merchant
traders, neither claims nor complaints were found.
See on this same subject Domenech : Hist. II. 341-344.
" Dans mes dossiers j'ai des extraits des journaux de Mexico,
revelant 1'entree en franchise pour le compte d'un
ministre etranger que je nommerai — s'il le faut, de plus de
deux cents caisses et/ ballots de marchandikes, destinees a
un negotiant de la capitale."
The export of bullion was subjected to a tax of 8 per
cent — "Pour frustrer le tresor," saystheAbbe, " les Anglais,
possesseurs de la plupart des mines du Mexique, envoient
cet argent a leur consuls pour 1' exporter en franchise."
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 2Q
one year. The restoration of the bullion stolen
from the British Legation was also postponed, and
the letters of Sir Charles Wyke, in his correspon-
dence with the Mexican Foreign Minister, began to
assume a tone of severity and reproach, not un-
natural under the impression that in this sequence
of negotiations and decrees he had been falsely
borne in hand.
It may, perhaps, be useful to give a brief summary
of the Foreign debt * of Mexico at this crisis, and of
the various means that had from time to time been
devised for its repayment up to the iyth of June,
1 86 1, the date of promulgation of the Decree by
which the suspension of cash payments by the
Government of Mexico was ordained.
The entire Foreign debt of Mexico stood on
January, ist, 1861, somewhat thus —
1. English bondholders (being the
entire Funded debt of the ...
country) ... ... ... $60,000,000
2. Spanish Convention, an Un-
funded debt (with arrears of
interest) and " Padre Moran "
debt ... ... ... 9,000,000
* The history of the Convention debt of Mexico, with the
text of the Conventions themselves, and the various modifica-
tions agreed to down to August 26th, 1861, will be found in
the Blue Book, Mexico, 1861, Ixiv. pp. 72-93.
130
A LIFE OF BFNITO JUARKZ.
3. English Convention...
4. French Convention (not includ-
ing claims for penal interest
at 12 per cent.), estimated
by Lefevre [I. 64-65] at ...
"-Various claims (amounting, as
will be seen, to more than the
entire sum of the Funded
and Unfunded debt !) say...
5,000,000
190,850
74,190,850
75,310,000
$149,500,850
The British claims sent in to H. B. M. Consulate
up to April 28th, 1861, amounted in round figures
to §20,000,000, of which $16,500,000 was claimed
by one house, Messrs. Manning and Mackintosh ; the
remainder, $3, 500,000, by a great number of persons,
claiming compensation for a variety of grievances.
* See Fenji on the Funds, 1860-63, p. 280. But I cannot
admit claims of any kind, however just, nor yet the Jecker
Bonds, of which a full account will be given later on, as part
of a foreign debt, funded or unfunded,
I have set down all these sums in round figures. The
interest and payment on account are calculated so differently
by different authorities, that among all those whom I have
consulted, and I regret to say they are many, no two agree
with regard to any one sum.
I have to thank my kind friend, Mr. W. H. Bishop, for
looking over these pages in M.S., a favour spontaneously
offered, and much appreciated.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 13!
The item " Plunder " is of constant occurrence,
" Contributions," " Forced Loans," " Breach of
Contract," " Robbery," " Assassination of husband"
" Murder of Father," are among the most
characteristic.
It is important in the first instance to distinguish
between the Funded and Unfunded debt of the
Republic.* The former consisted of :
The 5 per cent. English loan of 1823,
contracted at 55, and issued by
Messrs. Goldsmidt, at 58 per cent. ^"3, 200,000
The 6 per cent. English loan of 1825,
issued by Messrs. Barclay, at 86-f
per cent. ... ... ... ... 3,200,000
Arrears of interest ... ... 3,600,000
say ^10,000,000
or $60,000,000
No dividends were remitted to Europe on these
loans between October, 1827, and April, 1831. In
1831, when the arrears on the 5 per cents
amounted to £iS 155. per cent., and on the 6 per
cents to/~22 IDS. per cent., the coupons for these
arrears were capitalized and exchanged for
deferred bonds, to bear interest from April ist,
* See Lefevre I., pp. 59-70; and Kozhevar, "Report on
the Republic of Mexico," 1866, pp. 77-^0.
K — 2
132
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
1836. The 6 per cent, deferred stock was issued at
75 per cent, and the 5 per cent, at 62^- per cent.
An acknowledgment was given at the same time
for half the coupons due from ist April, 1831, to
ist April, 1836, and it was provided that bonds
bearing interest from that date should be exchanged
for the same on the same terms as the previous
bonds. This arrangement, however, was not
fulfilled, so that the actual state of the debt on the
ist of October, 1837, was as follows :
5 per cent, loan of 1823, principal,
funded coupons, etc. ... ... ^,444,000
6 per cent, loan of 1825, do. ... 5,803,000
To be divided into
Active Bonds
Deferred Bonds
^"9,247,000
4,623,500
4,623,500
^"9,247,000
There was, as may be supposed, some delay in
•carrying this arrangement into effect, and Messrs.
Lizardi, who were charged with the conversion,
caused further confusion by issuing over ^"750,000
of deferred bonds in excess of the authorised amount,
on account of their claim for commission.*
* Kozhevar, pp. 84-86.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I3J
In 1846 the debt, once more converted, was
recognised as amounting to £~L 1,204,000.
Upon the outbreak of war between Mexico and
the United States, in 1846, the Northern forces
occupied Vera Cruz and Tampico ; and the pay-
ment of dividends upon the debt was once more
suspended. In 1848 the war was terminated, as
we have seen, on the conditions that Mexico should
cede a large portion of her territory to the United
States, and receive $15,000,000 (^"3, 000,000) as an
indemnity. Upon this, the sterling bondholders
agreed to accept a reduced rate of interest — 3^- per
cent, instead of 5 per cent. — on condition that a sum
of $4,000,000 (^"800,000) out of the American
indemnity money, should be handed over to their
representative in Mexico. There was a provision
in the agreement securing original rights to the
bondholders in case of non-fulfilment of the
conditions stipulated. *
In 1850, a Mexican decree was promulgated
reducing the interest upon the debt to 3 per cent. :
while $2,500,000 (^500,000) of the American indem-
nity which actually, as we have seen, amounted
to less than $11,000,000, was appropriated to the
settlement of the overdue interest on the 5 per cent,
debt. Under this decree of October 4th, 1850, the
amount of the debt was ascertained as ^"10,241, 650.
* See Introductory Chapter, page^ 42.
UNIVERSITY!
134 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But beyond and entirely distinct from this Funded
or Bond debt, both as regards origin, security, and
mode of payment, was the Unfunded or Convention
debt of England, Spain and France.
The Spanish Convention debt represented the
amount of the public indebtedness of the Spanish
Viceroys down to the i7th of September, 1-810, fixed
and recognised by the Treaty of the iyth of July,
1847, at $6,633,000.
The French Convention represented a capital sum
of $1,500,000 recognised as due to certain
French subjects in Mexico, and secured, by an
agreement made in 1853, upon the Customs dues at
the ports of entry.
The English Convention, or subsidiary debt had
its origin in a loan of $200,000 made to the Govern-
ment in 1840, by Messrs. Montgomery, Nicol and
Co., in connection with a contract for the farming
^)f the Tobacco Revenue to Don Benito Maceca,
in 1839, and a claim of $50,000 by a Mr.
Jamieson * " for advice rendered to the Minister of
Finance ; " and on the i5th of October, 1842, Mr.
Pakenham, British Minister at the Court of Mexico,
signed a convention with the Mexican Government,
under which these claims — recognised as amounting
* Kozhevar: " Report on the Republic of Mexico," 1886,
p. 1 1 6. I hope Mr. Jamieson's advice was worth the fee !
A LIFE OF BENITO JUARFZ. 135
to $250,000 — were to be consolidated and paid off,
principal and interest, by a percentage on the
import dues at the Maritime Customs Houses of
Vera Cruz and Tampico.
This convention, owing to the constant political
disturbances, was never carried out. But fresh
loans were made and never repaid. At length, in
the more peaceful days of Aristas' Government, a
new conversion was arranged and decreed.
In November and December of the year 1851,
the British creditors met at the National Treasury,
and it was agreed that the various claims, which
had increased on all accounts to $4,984,910, should
be treated as a consolidated debt, bearing interest
at 3 per cent, for five years, and afterwards at 4 per
cent., with a sinking fund of 5 per cent., which was
afterwards increased to 6 per cent.
To provide for this, 12 per cent, per annum of the
entire Customs Revenue, increased in December*
1852, to 15 per cent., and ultimately to 29 per cent.,
was assigned to the representatives of the bond-
holders.
This Convention, known as the Doyle Conven-
tion, wras signed by the British Minister, Mr. Doyle,
on December 4th, 1851 ; and a subsequent arrange-
ment by which the 4 per cent, interest was increased
to 6 per cent., was signed on August loth, 1858,
by Mr. Otway, who had succeeded Mr. Doyle as
136 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
British Minister Resident, in the month of
February of that year.
So far, it was the English creditors only who had
taken action as regards consolidation and conversion;
but within two days of the signing of the Doyle Con-
vention (December 6th, 1851), the agreement known
as the Padre Moran Convention * was signed on
behalf of the Spanish creditors, whose claims
amounted to only $983,000, by Senor Sayas, the
Spanish Minister ; the securities and guarantees for
payment being identical with those granted to the
English bondholders. And out of every assignment
received from year to year, one sixth part was
regularly handed over by the British to the Spanish
agents.!
Between 1852 and 1861, the full amount of
interest, as stipulated, was paid upon the Consoli-
dated Fund of the British and the Padre Moran
Conventions.
* An account of the Padre Moran Convention and the
Spanish Convention is given in the same chapter of Mr.
Kozhevar's very interesting work.
f The payments on account of the sinking fund only were
allowed to fall in arrear, and a vast number of claims for loss,
damage to property, murder of relatives, and other misfor-
tunes incident to the disturbed condition of the country were
more or less honestly made upon the Government by indi-
vidual foreigners, — claims which were rather postponed than
rejected ; but never under any circumstances paid. There is
a list of " British claims of the small and most distressing
class remaining undischarged in the Summer of 1861 " in the
Blue Book, so often referred to, — LXIV, p. 23, "Accounts
and Papers," June 27, 1861.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 137
Yet, during the greater part of this time, not a
shilling of interest was paid on the Bonded or
Funded debt.* The distinctions must be carefully
kept in view.
We have thus (dividing the liabilities of Mexico
in another way) :
I. — ENGLISH.
$
1. Entire Funded Debt ... ... 60,000,000
2. Convention Debt ... ... 5,000,000
3. Claims for Compensation ... 20,000,000
$85,000,000
II. — SPANISH.
$
1. Convention Debt ... ... 8,000,000
2. Padre Moran Debt ... ... 1,000,000
3. Claims ... ... ... ... 8,000,000
$17,000,000
* See for Dunlop Convention, Lefevre : Documents, etc. p. 96.
Sketch of general debt . . . . . . pp. 97-105
Jecker Bonds . . . . . . . . pp. 106-132
The Convention of February, 1859, was replaced by a new
arrangement in July, and this again was superseded by
the so-called definitive arrangement contained in Decree of
29th of October, 1859.
The new bonds were to bear interest at 6 per cent, and
were accepted as 20 per cent, of their face value on account of
taxes, duties, etc., and as regards payments to the clergy as
10 per cent. — This Decree is dated 3oth of January, 1860.
138 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
III. — FRENCH.
$
1. Convention Debt ... ... 300,000
2. Jecker Bonds ... ... ... 15,000,000
3. Claims ... ... ... ... 12,000,000
$27,300,000
or again :
DEBT (FUNDED AND UNFUNDED).
$
1. English ... ... ... ... 65,000,000
2. Spanish ... ... ... 9,000,000
3. French ... ... ... ... 300,000
$74,300,000
CLAIMS.
$
1. English ... ... ... ... 20,000,000
2. Spanish ... ... ... ... 8,000,000
3. French"-... ... ... ... 27,000,000
$55,000,000
The agreements between Captain Dunlop, R.N., H.M.S.
Tartar ; Captain Cornwallis Aldham, R.N. ; and Senor Zamara,
Governor of Vera Cruz under Juarez (January and February,
1859) are printed in a special Blue Book, 1861, LXV., p. 337.
* The French claims are collected and examined with
his usual care by Monsieur Lefevre, tome II., pp.
170-222, wrhere the names, dates, and amounts will be found
fully set out.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 139
The origin and history of the Jecker Bonds is even
more remarkable than that of any other part
of the Mexican debt as it existed in January, 1861.
And as the settlement of this trebly scandalous
loan was the main object cr justification put
forward for the French invasion of Mexico, it is as
well that a certain amount of attention should be
directed to the nature and development of the
claim.
In October, 1859, the usurper Miramcn and his
friends and supporters were not only losing all
hope of maintaining the struggle against President
Juarez and the Constitutionalists in Mexico, but
their Government, if Government it can be. called,
was absolutely bankrupt.
A certain Senor Peza, who was entrusted with
the administration of the Finances, had issued
in the course of the year 1858 no less than
$80,000,000 of bonds, nominally for the purpose of
converting the original debt, but really to obtain
money on any terms. And his $100 bonds were
dealt in at five, four, and even one half (50
centimes) per 100 !*
But even this was not the end. The Govern-
ment was still absolutely without funds. Juarez
was already at the gate.
* Montluc ; Correspon dance, Manuel Payno, Report, etc.,
Mexico, 1862.
I4O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
And in this dire distress Miramon applied to
a Swiss banker in Mexico, one Jecker, himself, as
it turned out, on the verge of insolvency, for a
loan on any conditions that he chose to name.
" He who does not intend to pay," says the Spanish
proverb, " is not troubled by the terms of his bar-
gain." And it was at length agreed by the high
contracting parties that in consideration of what
was practically an immediate cash advance to him-
self of six or seven hundred thousand dollars, the
obliging Jecker should receive Government paper
to the extent of $15,000,000, to be issued, sold, or
dealt with by the Swiss bankers at their good
pleasure/'"
And the advance by insolvent Jecker to insolvent
Miramon, at the expense of the Mexican nation,
was spoken of not as a loan, but as a new con-
version of the National Debt.f
* As a matter of fact a considerable number of these
bogus bonds were used for the appropriate purpose of bribing
those French adventurers who intervened some two years
afterwards with the object of raising their price.
f In March, 1860, having paid to Miramon 3,000,000
francs or say $600,000, the house of Jecker received the
75,000,000 francs of bonds. Two months after, the house
went into liquidation with 68,391,250 francs of the bonds in
their strong box. Keratry : " La creance Jecker," pp. 12-13.
The exact modus operandi of the Jecker Conversion will be
found detailed in Lefevre, I., pp. 28-31.
CHAPTER VII.
AGITATION. — JUNE, 1861 — JANUARY, 1862.
On the 25th of June, 1861, Sir Charles Wyke
wrote to his Government in England that nothing
short of the employment of her Majesty's naval
forces in a demonstration off the ports of Tampico
and Vera Cruz would suffice to bring the Mexican
authorities to reason.
The French — inspired by, or inspiring, Monsieur
Dubois de Saligny — had already begun to speak
of joint intervention. The Cabinet of Madrid had
already been approached from Paris. Lord John
Russell was hesitating in London.
And at this critical moment the Mexican
Congress, moved by Sefior Sebastian Lerdo de
Tejada, and to the infinite regret of President
Juarez,* saw fit to accept a motion, or resolution —
* Juarez, we must remember, was a Constitutional Presi-
dent. He had been formally installed in office on the nth of
June. His Government was carried on by an independent
Cabinet, whose members were responsible to the Chamber ;
and this wretched Decree was supremely distasteful to him.
142 A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUARFZ.
which, if net absolutely dishonest in fact, was
supremely unfortunate ;n fonr — suspending cash
payment en the part cf the Government for two
full years. Without a word cf warning to anyone
of the representatives, national or commercial, of
any foreign raticn, without consultation with
banker or agent, without even an intimation to Sir
Charles Wyke, engaged in almost daily negotia-
tions with a Cabinet Minister within a stone's throw
of the Chamber of Deputies, this announcement
of national bankruptcy was suddenly aud shame-
lessly sent forth. (July lyth, 1861.)
No cne, except perhaps Miramcn rnd Marque z,
the intriguers in France, cr the rebels in Mexico,
cculel even affect to be pleased by this disastrous
Decree ; and no cne was mere indignant than Sir
Charles Wyke, who felt keenly, and expressed,
perhaps somewhat too warmly, the absurdity of
the position in which he was placed by its rash and
unexpected publicLticn.
As to the folly of the Decree, as seen from the Mexican
point of view, see "Mexico a traves de los siglos," V., pp.
467-8, and Baz : " Vida de Juarez," chap. VII.
The President \vas, no doubt, constitutionally unwilling to
publish his own dissatisfaction with the Chamber. But it was
well known that on the yth of September a resolution was
proposed by 51 members calling upon Juarez to resign.
By way, presumably, of turning the motion into ridicule, 52
members proposed a centra-resolution — in a vote of confidence
in the President, and nothing further was done with either. —
" Mexico," ubi sr/nr, p. 469. Baz. Vida : chap. VII.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 143
His remonstrances * being entirely disregarded,
he boldly took upon himself to suspend all
diplomatic correspondence with the Government,
whose proceeding was, he asserted, simply that of
a thief. And his action was subsequently fully
approved by the Court of St. James's.
M. de Saligny, the French Minister, took the
still mere decided step of demanding his pass-
ports, and actually breaking off his official relations
with Mexico. Pachecc, the Spanish Envoy, had
already left the country. It was Mexico centra
Mur.diim. But Mexico, unfortunately, was in the
wrong. And Sir Charles Wyke, in his despatches,!
* Addressed to Sef:or Zamacona, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs.
f The words of Sir Charles Wyke's despatch are quoted in
the " Annual Register " as a permanent record of the shameless
wickedness of the Mexican Government. They form the
text of an Imperialist article in the Quai terly Review, No. CXV.
I have seen them in French in half-a-dczen publications ;
and, translated into Spanish, I have met with them not only
in Spain but in Mexico.
It seems impossible to escape them. Written in haste and
in very natural indignation, an expression of personal dissatis-
faction at a state of things of which the full and real signifi-
cance was hardly appreciated by the writer, Sir Charles
Wyke's words not only influenced public opinion in England
at a very critical juncture, but they have had a permanent
effect upon the foreign estimate of Mexico and of Juarez,
greater, perhaps, than has ever been produced by any similar
means.
The following extract affords a fair specimen : —
" In the meantime Congress, instead of enabling the
Government to put down the frightful disorder which reigns
throughout the length and breadth of the land, is occupied in
disputing about vain theories of so-called government on
144 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
accentuated her offences in vigorous but somewhat
unbridled language, which produced a great and last-
ing effect, not only in England but on the Continent,
where the Emperor Napoleon, then at the very
height of his power and authority, nlade the most
dexterous use of this opportunity to incite the
Cabinets of London and of Madrid to undertake a
joint expedition to Mexico in furtherance of his un-
ultra-Liberal principles, whilst the respectable part of the
population is delivered up defenceless to the attacks of
robbers and assassins, who swarm on the high roads and in
the streets of the capital. The Constitutional Government
is unable to maintain its authority in the various States of
the Federation, which are becoming de facto perfectly inde-
pendent, so that the same causes which, under similar circum-
stances, broke up the Confederation of Central America into
five separate Republics, are now at work here, and will pro-
bably produce a like result.
" This state of things renders one all but powerless to
obtain redress from a Government which is solely occupied in
maintaining its existence from day to day, and therefore
unwilling to attend to other people's misfortunes before
their own. The only hope of improvement I can see
is to be found in the small Moderate Party, who may step in
perhaps before all is lost to save their country from impend-
ing ruin. Patriotism, in the common acceptation of the
term, appears to be unknown, and no one of any note is to be
found in the ranks of either party. Contending factions
struggle for the possession of power only to gratify their
cupidity or their revenge, and in the meantime the country
sinks lower and lower, whilst its population becomes
brutalised and degraded to an extent frightful to contemplate.
" Such is the actual state of aftairs in Mexico, and your
lordship will perceive, therefore, that there is little chance of
justice or redress from such people, except by the employment
of force to exact that which both persuasion and menaces have
hitherto failed to obtain."— Blue Book, 1862, LXIV. 35.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 145
disclosed and long unsuspected designs upon that
country.
Marshal O'Donnell assented without much
difficulty. * Lord Russell more reluctantly ac-
quiesced, stipulating as conditions precedent to
any action in Mexico : I. — That the co-operation
of the United States should be invited ; II. — That
the combined Powers should not interfere by force
with the Government or in the internal affairs
of Mexico.
Conditions on paper have never checked the
progress of any adventurer. Lord Russell at
the English Foreign Office dictated terms only for
the greater glory of his diplomatic opponents.
And thus, while despatches and protocols of the
most unexceptional character, and telling only of
the profound disinterestedness of the allies, were
slowly passing between Paris and London and
Madrid, no improvement was found either in the
political or in the financial situation in Mexico.!
Juarez, as was afterwards but tardily admitted,
* Despatch to H. B. M. Minister at Madrid of September
27th, 1861, "Accounts and Papers," etc.
f Through the Autumn and early Winter of 1862, secret
negotiations were actively carried on between Paris and
Miramar, where Maximilian of Hapsburg, in return for
present assistance, was preparing to accede to any terms that
might be imposed upon him by the ambitious intriguers in Paris.
A sum of no less than 8,000,000 francs in cash, to start with,
was the amount agreed upon, and it was duly paid out of the
first Mexican loan.
146 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
was at least doing his best. But the disorder of
the country was so profound that no man could
in weeks or months make any show of improve-
ment.
The very foundations of society had to be relaid,
before it was possible to commence the work of
re-construction.
The news of the supposed attempt to murder
the French Minister, who was said to have been
fired at in the Legation on the i4th of August, *
together with Sir Charles Wyke's renewed
denunciation of the weakness and inefficiency of
the Mexican Government, not only as regards
finance, but in the maintenance of public order,
created a painful impression in Europe. It was
said that " the native Mexicans" had risen in great
force near the capital, that "an insurrection of
the entire Indian population was daily expected,"
and that Comonfort and Doblado, well-knowrn
Liberals, and old friends of Juarez, were indepen-
dently " conspiring for the overthrow of his
Government."
The French Minister had never been shot at.
The Indian population did not rise. Both Doblado
* This supposed outrage was the subject of an , immediate
investigation by the Mexican Executive, and was pronounced
to be an absolute figment, a diplomatic invention of M. de
Saligny himself.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 147
and Comonfort retained their commands in the
army of the Constitutional Republic.'''
* On the 28th of June, 1861, Marquez, with a band of
followers broke into the buildings of the celebrated Real del
Monte Mines, stole all the money that he could lay his hands on,
together with all the horses and such moveable property as
he could carry away, and was hardly prevented from killing
the miners, of whom 161 were Englishmen.
This outrage very properly excited the indignation of Sir
Charles Wyke ; but it was hardly just, or even logical, that it
should lead him to express his opinion that the Government of
Juarez was " weak and tyrannical."
It is almost a matter of necessity to subjoin another
extract from Sir Charles Wyke's own letters.
"It is very evident by the tone of these communications
that they are now alarmed at the turn affairs have taken ; but
their wretched vanity and pride will prevent them from taking
any step to remedy the evil, and, therefore, I see no chance of
the measure being withdrawn.
"Your lordship will thus perceive that it has become impos-
sible any longer to suffer the illegal and outrageous proceed-
ings of a Government which neither respects itself nor its
most solemn engagements.
" It is only by adopting coercive measures that we can force
them to give up a system of violent spoliation which in reality
is nearly as prejudicial to themselves as to those foreigners
who are so unfortunate as to have brought their capital and
industry to a country so misgoverned.
" On the publication of the Decree, the British merchants
resident here addressed a letter to me praying for my inter-
ference on their behalf, against the increase of duties on all
foreign articles of consumption thus imposed upon them. I
enclose copy of their letter; together with my reply
thereto.
"As long as the present dishonest and incapable Administra-
tion remains in power, things will go from bad to worse ; but
with a Government formed of respectable men, could such be
found, the resources of the country are so great that it might
easily fulfil its engagements, and increase threefold the
amount of its exportations, not only of the precious metals
but of those productions for which they receive British
manufactured goods in exchange. Mexico furnishes two-
thirds of the silver now in circulation, and might be made
L -2
148 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But the news served its turn. And the well-
founded report of the imposition of a tax upon
capital (one per cent.) by a Decree of August 2ist,
1861) from which the property of foreign merchants
was not exempted, tended still further to
exacerbate the feelings of the European creditors,
speculators and enemies.
The banished bishops, the fugitive generals, the
aspiring statesmen, the holders of Jecker bonds
the hangers-on of Mirama'r and the Tuileries ;
one of the richest and the most prosperous countries in the
world ; so that it becomes the interest of Great Britian to put
a stop, by force if necessary, to its present state of anarchy,
and insist on its Government paying what it owes to British
subjects. The Moderate party which is now cowed by the
two opposing ultra factions in the State, would then raise its
head, and encouraged by adopting the measures I pointed out
as necessary in my last month's correspondence, probably
establish by themselves such a Government as we require,
but without this moral support they fear to move, and hence
the continuation of the deplorable state of things now
existing.
" M. de Saligny, the French Minister here, has acted in
concert with me throughout the affair, and although the
interests he has to defend are trifling in comparison to ours,
he has used even stronger language than I have, for he does
not merely suspend, but actually breaks off all official inter-
course with the Government, unless they rescind the Decree
of the iyth instant.
" I have not the least hesitation in saying that unless Her
Majesty's Government take the most decided measures for
proving to this Government that it cannot thus act with
impunity, British subjects resident here will remain
defenceless, and their property be at the mercy of a set of
men who disregard their most solemn engagements, whenever
such interfere with either their caprice or rapacity. "-
" Accounts & Papers," 1861, Ixiv., p. 21.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 149
priests, financiers, adventurers, and devotees ; *
friends of the Pope and friends of Morny, with all
the military froth and scum of France in the later
days of the third Empire, all strove silently
together, greedy for Intervention and Plunder.
A military diversion, a review on a large scale in
the neighbourhood of the Havannah, commended
itself to the Spanish General Prim, and Lord
Russell,! protesting in precise despatches that
England would never be a party to doing any of
the things for the doing of which France alone
desired her co-operation and alliance, consented to
take part in an expedition, consisting, indeed, of
armed men in ships of war, but intended, as
explained to the ever-patient British public, to be
a demonstration, not of hostility, but of amity and
goodwill to Mexico.
The British public is always ready to accept
words instead of realities, if the words are printed
by Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
During the whole of the Autumn of 1861, Sefior
La Fuente, the Mexican Envoy, had been doing his-
utmost to prevail upon the European Powers to
consent to some re-arrangement of the National
Debt.
* " L'homme du benitier, I'homme de 1'agio."
Victor Hugo : Nox. iv.
f His patent as an Earl is dated July aoth, 1861.
15O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Nothing would satisfy the Court of Madrid but
the acceptance in its entirety of the Mon-Almonte
agreement ; a bargain, as already set forth, so
scandalously leonine in its character, that its
ratification by a responsible Government in Mexico
was obviously out of the question. The dismissal
of Senor Pacheco was explained by the Mexican
Envoy, with becoming expressions of regret, to have
been a purely personal matter, and one in no way
prejudicing the respect that was felt by the
Government of Mexico for that of her Most
Catholic Majesty. The claims under the Spanish
Convention debt should be honoured as heretofore
with the utmost punctuality ; a new Envoy from
the Court of Madrid would be warmly welcomed
by President Juarez at Mexico. But it was all to
no purpose. The Spaniard would not move.
In France, as may be supposed, Senor La Fuente
fared no better than in Spain. Proceeding to Lon-
don, he was admitted to audience of Lord Russell,
who treated him to a good deal of diplomatic circum-
locution, but who paid no real attention to his
proposals, to his suggestions, or his remonstrances.*
The Representative of the United States in
London was more sympathetic, but no whit
more useful than any of the European Ministers.
* Senor la Fuente's endeavours, as told in his letters, may
be read in Lefevre, I., 81-115. Lord Russell seems to have
behaved with a good deal of disingenuousness.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUARFZ. I 5 I'
The cause of Mexico was judged unheard. And
England, whether from ignorance or mere inepti-
tude, added the weight of her influence to a
scheme of transatlantic adventure, of which it is
difficult to say whether it was more sordid, more
shameless, or more extravagant.
On the 3ist of October, 1861, a Convention *
between Great Britain, France, and Spain was
signed in London, wherein it was recited that the
United Governments, " feeling compelled by the
arbitrary and vexatious conduct of the authorities
of the .Republic of Mexico to demand more
efficacious protection for the persons and properties
of their subjects " . . . had agreed (i.) . . .
11 to dispatch military and naval forces sufficient to
seize and occupy the several fortresses and military
positions on the Mexican coast "... (2) " not to
seek for themselves any acquisition of territory, nor
any special advantages," and " not to exercise in the
internal affairs of Mexico any influence to preju-
dice the right of the Mexican nation to choose
and constitute freely the form of its government."
* The original draft of this Treaty of Alliance, prepared
by Lord Russell himself, as it ran before its modification by
the French negotiation, is printed side by side with the defi-
nite Treaty, by M. Lefevre, I., 81-88. It is very instructive
reading. The part played by Spain in the same negotiations
will be seen on reading a letter from Sefior Calderon Collantes,
Foreign Minister at Madrid, printed by the same untiring
collector, I., 89-98.
UNIVERSITY
152 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
(3.) Three Commissioners were to be appointed
to proceed to Mexico ; and (4.) ! the Government
of the United States was to be invited to adhere to
any Convention that should be executed.
The signature of the Convention rendered the
august conspirators on the continent of Europe
less reticent than before. It became necessary,
indeed, to prepare the world for the development of
the new phase of French restlessness. Strange
rumours were permitted to make themselves heard
as to the establishment of a Catholic Monarchy in
Mexico, and of the desire of the Mexican nation to
elect an Austrian Prince to the new throne that
wras to be established beyond the Atlantic.
As early as January, 1862, questions were
addressed to the Court of Paris by the Spanish,
the English, 1 and the United States Governments as
regards the ultimate objects of the French inter-
vention, and the French Foreign Minister replied
from time to time in language more diplomatic than
satisfactory.
* This last condition was made a sine qua non by the
English Cabinet.
f Lord Cowley to Lord Russell, January 24th, 1862.
M. Thouvenel denied that " any negotiation had been pend-
ing between his Government and that of Austria with regard
to the Emperor Maximilian."
On February i3th, Lord Russell intimated to the Austrian
Government that the imposition of an Austrian Prince upon
the Mexicans would be unfavourably regarded in England.
But Lord John's intimations to foreign powers rarely led him
any further.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUARI.Z. 153
While the English Foreign Secretary in Down-
ing Street renewed his protestations of academic
horror at the mere thought of intervention in the
domestic affairs of Mexico ; Monsieur Thouvenel
at the Tuileries, expressing his respectful admi-
ration of such unexceptional theories of conduct,
found means to convey to Maximilian, to Miramon
and to de Saligny that the time for action was at
hand.
Meanwhile, towards the end of July, the Cabinet
at Washington, forewarned as to the French designs,
and supremely unwilling to see European troops
landed upon the shores of North America, pro-
posed to the Mexican Government that the entire
foreign debt of the country should be taken over
by the Treasury of the United States, * upon the
* The United States Government was to pay 3 per cent, to
the bondholders ; Mexico was to pay 6 per cent, to the
United States ; a somewhat leonine contract. Lord Lyons to
Earl Russell, Sept. loth, 1861. "Accounts and Papers," 1862,
Ixiv., p. 56.
Juarez was accused by Marshal O'Donnell in a speech in
the Spanish Senate, Dec. 24th, 1862, of selling or desiring
to sell Mexican territory to the United States. -And the ac-
cusation has been repeated with some bitterness by the
Italian historian, Cesar Cantu.
O'Donnell \vas no doubt misinformed, possibly by Zuloaga,
who induced hirn at the same time to assert that Juarez was
"resolved upon the extinction of the white race in Mexico,"
and Juarez himself did not think it beneath his dignity to give
the story a categorical and official denial, which was
published in the Diario Oficial of Mexico, February 23rd, 1863.
Translation.] February 22nd, 1863.
To the Editor of the Diario Oficial.
My dear Sir, — I have just read in the Monitor Republicano of
154 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
pledge for the repayment within five years of the
whole amount (say $72,000,000) of the provinces of
Lower California and Sonora — a tract of country
of some hundred and forty thousand square miles
in extent.
It was not twelve years since President Pierce
had acquired the Mexican Mesilla from the
shameless Santa Anna, and now President Lincoln
and his Secretary, Mr. Seward, wrould have com-
this date the speech of Marshal O'Donnell, President of the
Spanish Cabinet, delivered in the discussion of the reply to the
speech from the throne, and I have seen with surprise, amongst
other inaccurate statements that he uses, in judging of the
men and affairs of Mexico, the following remarkable words :
" Juarez, as a Mexican, has, in my opinion, a stain which can
never be effaced, that of having desired to sell two provinces
of his country to the U. S. A." This accusation, made by a
high functionary of a nation, and on a solemn and serious
occasion, in which a Statesman ought to be careful that his
words shall carry the seal of truth, of justice, and of good
faith, is an accusation of serious gravity, because it might be
suspected that, by reason of his high position, he holds docu-
ments to prove his statements. Yet this is not true. Marshal
O'Donnell is hereby authorised to publish the proofs which
he may hold with regard to this matter. In the meanwhile
my honour obliges me to state that Marshal O'Donnell has
erred in the judgment he has formed of my official proceed-
ings, and I authorize you, Mr. Editor, to deny the imputation
which is so unjustly made against the chief magistrate of the
State.
I am, Mr. Editor,
Your obedient servant,
BENITO JUAREZ.
The whole question is fully discussed, with extracts from
official documents, in a little work published in Mexico in
1885, under the title of "Juarez and Cesar Cantu," pp.
9-10 and 21, from which the above letter is taken as printed.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 155
passed a further extension of their Southern frontier.
For, that Mexico should ever be able to repay the
seventy-two millions of dollars, so temptingly offered
by the honest broker, to say nothing of interest at
six per cent., no one could for a moment suppose.
And the acquisition of Northern Mexico would have
been something more to President Lincoln than the
accession of so many hundreds of thousands of square
miles of territory, or even the practical assertion of
the Monroe doctrine as regards European interven-
tion ; it would have enclosed the seceding
Southern States of the American Union between two
fires, and prevented any support to the Confederate
cause from a possibly sympathetic Mexico.
Yet, on the other hand, the discharge of the
entire National debt ; a breathing time of five
years to develop the resources of the country ; the
infinite possibilities of a period of peace ; the
removal of all possible excuse for European inter-
ference ; all these things were worthy of serious
consideration in Mexico. Yet, after the fullest con-
sideration, Juarez refused the offer. And a new
proposal was made by Mr. Corwin, the Minister of
the United States, who offered the Mexican
Government a loan of nine or ten millions of
dollars, repayable on easy terms, but always on
condition of the mortgage of seme portion of the
Northern Provinces.
156 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But in the meanwhile, assistance was found in an
entirely unexpected quarter. Sir Charles Wyke?
who had only technically suspended, and had not
broken off, diplomatic relations, had turned over a
new leaf in Mexico.
His attitude on his arrival had been somewhat
unsympathetic. His despatches had been some-
what highly coloured ; and he himself had without
doubt played unconsciously into the hands of the
French. There was, unfortunately, nothing new
in the position.
Left more to himself on the departure of M. de
Saligny, and realising every day more fully the
immensity of the task which lay before the Govern-
ment, and the honesty of purpose of Juarez and
most of his Cabinet, the English Envoy had in-
vited Don Manuel Zamacona, the Mexican Minister
of Foreign Affairs, to consult with him extra offi-
cially at the British Legation, if haply some
arrangement could be suggested which should be
satisfactory at once to England and to Mexico.
Authorised by Juarez, Zamacona gladly accep-
ted the friendly hand that was stretched out to
him by the Englishman.
And day after day, hour after hour, with infinite
patience on either side, the negotiations were
carried on.
That Don Manuel acted with perfect loyalty ; that
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 157
Sir Charles acted with the greatest consideration,
was admitted on either side. Neither zeal nor
goodwill were wanting ; and, at length, on the
28th of October, 1861, the draft of a Convention
was agreed to between the negotiators with
regard to the English claims, which was pro-
nounced by the English Envoy, * and subsequently
by his chief in London, to be " highly satisfactory,"
and was certainly agreeable to the President of the
Republic.!
And a promise was given by the Mexican to the
English Minister that similar arrangements would
be made for the settlement of the claims of the
French and Spanish bondholders, which were of so
* Wyke to Lord Russell, October 28th ; Russell to Cramp-
ton, November 28th, 1861.
f Lord Russell's ultimatum of August 2ist had been
read by Senor Zamacona " with as much astonishment as
alarm," and had compelled his immediate attention. The
concluding words of this dispatch were indeed clear
enough. "If these terms are not complied with you will
leave Mexico with all the members of your mission." Thanks
a good deal to the true patriotism and good sense of
Senor Echeverria, who consented to accept the portfolio of
Finance at the urgent instance of Sir Charles Wyke, the
Convention was actually arranged.
The eleven articles are printed in "Accounts and Papers,"
etc., LXIV, 1861, pp. 129-134. The basis of the agreement
had been the proposal made by the Government of the
United States, that has been already referred to. And Sir
Charles Wyke in his despatches bears witness to the constant
loyalty of his colleague, Mr. Corwin, the Envoy from Wash-
ington.
I5§ A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
much less importance than those of the English,
and whose official representatives had withdrawn
from Mexico.
Everything at length seemed to be settled.
Senor Echeverria, a Mexican gentleman of inde-
pendent fortune and of the highest honour, had
been persuaded to accept the portfolio of
Finance.
And the Convention, finally approved by the
Mexican Cabinet, was actually signed on the
2ist of November, 1861.
The English Minister had good cause for satis-
faction. Foreign intervention was, of course, no
longer to be expected. Mexico would have a fair
chance of working her own way through peace to
prosperity. The English claims had been fully
admitted and fairly provided for. The interests of
other nations had not been forgotten. The work
of the Envoy wras done, and well done.
On the 23rd of November, the Convention*
recommended by the President was laid before the
Chamber for their formal ratification.
* From this time forth Zamacona ceased to be a supporter
of the domestic policy, or even of the future Presidential
candidatures of Juarez. But Zamacona was never a rebel,
and Juarez always treated his opposition as legitimate and
entitled to all respect.
See Sosa: " Biografia de Benito Juarez," Mexico, 1884,
pp. 25-27.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUARFZ. 159
The Chamber refused its assent. The whole
fabric, so patiently and so hopefully reared, was
destroyed in a single hour of folly.
Sefior Zamacona resigned. Mr. Corwin with-
drew the offer of his Government, * which had been
the basis of the late negotiations, and the Senate
of the United States subsequently confirmed his
action.!
Sir Charles Wyke, deeply and naturally
chagrined, demanded his passports, and prepared
to withdraw from Mexico. Not one of them, as
men of honour, could possibly have acted other-
wise than they did. The Assembly, alarmed at
the consequences of its rash and petulant action,
saw fit to stultify itself still further, and now
that it was too late, repealed the law of the iyth
of July suspending all Government payments,
and sought to cloak its folly by pompous and
meaningless resolutions. But the time for resolu-
tions, good or bad, was already past.]:
* The second offer of a small loan.
f Lord Lyons to Earl Russell, December 21, 1861. — " The
Wyke-Zamacona Convention was, in the words of Mr.
Seward, " a very proper treaty."
{ The leader of the opposition to this Wyke-Zamacona
Convention was Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, younger brother
of Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, who had died almost immediately
after the return of Juarez to Mexico, in January, 1861, when
he was actually a candidate for the Presidency. This
Sebastian, after his victory in the Chambers, was called upon
by the President, according to strict Constitutional principles.
l6O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
On the 23rd of November, 1861, the Chamber
repudiated Seiior Zamacona's Convention. On the
5th of December the Spanish squadron set sail
from the Havannah, and dropped their anchors
three days later in the harbour of Vera Cruz.
Spain at this time was in a state of absolute
peace with Mexico. No declaration of war had
been, or was to be, made. No demand for redress
or satisfaction was promulgated even by Admiral
Rubalcaba. But, as he came within striking
distance of San Juan de Ulloa, he cleared his ships
for action, and called upon the fortress to
surrender.
"The Mexicans, in pursuance of orders from
to form a Ministry in the place of that which had resigned
in consequence of the hostile vote which he had obtained.
But he refused. Yet he afterwards became the most faithful of
Ministers. He left Mexico with Juarez on the arrival of the
French, in April, 1863, was appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs in September, 1863, and shared all the peregrinations
of the President from that day until his final return to
Mexico after the execution of Maximilian on the i5th of July,
1867.
He was at all times a more bitter politician than his great
chief, and is said to have used his influence against the grant
of a pardon to Maximilian, which is at least highly probable.
He became President ad interim on the death of Juarez in
July, 1872, and was elected President in the month of Novem-
ber following.
* The troops, consisting of 6,500 men, with 300 horses,
were landed on the morning of the i5th. The fortress of
San Juan de Ulloa, as well as the citadel of Vera Cruz, had
been hastily dismantled, and the Spaniards took possession
without striking a blow.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. l6l
headquarters, whether wise or foolish, abandoned
the castle, as well as the town, at the first sum-
mons. And Vera Cruz, evacuated not only by
the soldiers, but by the citizens, was promptly
occupied by six thousand Spanish soldiers."
Meanwhile, on the 3oth of November, 1861, the
Envoys of the European Powers, greatly urged
by the English Cabinet, had formally requested the
Government of the United States to join them in
their expedition against Mexico ; and Mr. Seward
on behalf of his Government (December, i86i)had
categorically declined to do so.
* On the 1 3th of December, 1861, Sir Charles Wyke had
demanded his passports and retired, regretfully, to Vera Cruz,
on his way to meet his new colleague at Jamaica. On his
arrival at the sea coast he found, to his great surprise, that
the Spaniards were in actual occupation of the city, and he
decided to await further instructions from his Government
before quitting Mexico.
M. de Saligny had already begun to busy himself in pre-
paring for the reception of the new Emperor, and took
occasion to offer to the Mexican General Uraga, named by
President Juarez to the command of the defending army of
the east, a French title and military rank, if he would betray
his charge, lead his troops against the existing Government,
depose Juarez, and open friendly negotiations with France.
Uraga refused ; and the French Minister afterwards denied
that the interview had ever taken place ; a denial which was
at once necessary, diplomatic — and incredible.
On the i8th of December, 1861, Juarez issued a proclama-
tion, or protest, expressed in dignified and temperate language.
No molestation was offered to the Spaniards on the sea
coast, but the utmost diligence was exercised in the forti-
fication of the mountain passes of Chiquihuite, lying between
Vera Cruz and Orizaba, on the road to Mexico. " Accounts
and Papers," 1862, ubi supra, p. 152.
M
1 62 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
But, at the same time, the offer of an immediate
loan of money which had been made to Mexico
by the United States Government in October,
1 86 1, and had formed the basis of the Wyke-
Zamacona Convention of November 2ist, 1861,
was definitively withdrawn by the Senate/'1'
To consider what might have happened if the
Mexican Chamber had not thrown over Juarez and
his Foreign Minister in the matter of the Conven-
tion would be a vain and thankless task.
Would France have been baffled ? Would Spain
have been satisfied ? Would England have been
friendly ? WouM America have been firm ? * We
cannot tell. Mexico, in any case, had thrown
away her last chance. And the man who had the
greatest cause for disappointment and chagrin,
uttered no murmur of complaint, spoke no word
of reproach, sought no abatement of responsibility.
On the contrary, seeing clearly that the time had
come when Mexico might be called upon once more
to face the foreigner in the field, Juarez, the man
of peace and the man of law, set himself to organise
* "Accounts and Papers," 1862, pp. 116 and 143. The
amount proposed had been $i ,000,000, to relieve the more
pressing necessities of the Government of President Juarez,
without any stipulation as to the mode of disposal. The
offer was now definitively withdrawn. It had been provisionally
withdrawn by Mr. Corwin as before stated. See Lord Lyons
to Lord Russell, February 3rd. 1862. " Accounts and
Papers," ubi supra.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. l6j
an army to defend his country, and to fortify the
mountain passes of Chiquihuite, between VeraCruz
and Orizaba, on the road from the sea coast to the
capital.
Yet his hopes lay rather in negotiation.
Sir Charles Wyke, once loudest among his de-
nouncers, was now a trusted friend. The Chamber,
abashed at the immediate consequences of its rash
folly, was only too glad to allow him a free
hand.
If he prepared for war, it was that his mind was
most earnestly set upon the preservation of an
honourable peace.
The occupation of Vera Cruz by the Spanish
forces was speedily followed by the arrival of the
French and English fleets. With the former came
an army of some 4,500 men. The English did
not send a single soldier, but a small force of 700
Marines was disembarked at the same time as the
French troops, at Vera Cruz. The French Com-
missioner was, of course, M . de Saligny . The French
Commander-in-Chief was Admiral Jurien de la
Graviere. Spain was represented by the Prince de
Reuss, better known to foreign readers as General
Prim. And the interest of England was entrusted
to Sir Charles Wyke, as Envoy Extraordinary, and
Captain, now Commodore, Dunlop, who was in
command of the ships and Marines.
M — 2
1 64
CHAPTER VIII.
INTERVENTION. — JANUARY, 1862 — APRIL, 1862.
Within two days * after the arrival of the Allied
Commissioners, a pompous proclamation was issued
by their instructions, setting out that their pre-
sence must be considered by the Mexicans not as
in any way suggestive of war, but of peace ; that
they sought nothing but the honour and prosperity
of Mexico ; and that they had come partly to
civilise their good friends the Mexicans, and
partly to protect them against their enemies and
aggressors.
Why they should have embarrassed themselves
with powder and ball, on so peaceful and loving a
mission, it was somewhat hard to understand ; yet
it very soon became apparent that the objects of the
Allies were widely different in character, and that
while the English and Spanish Commissioners would
be contented with any reasonable settlement and
* January gth, 1862.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 165
guarantees as regards the vexed question of the
debt, the occupation of Mexico and the over-
throw of the existing Government were the least
that would satisfy the French.*
At the very first meeting of the Allied Commis-
sioners, M. de Saligny proposed to his colleagues
the dispatch of an ultima-turn of the most extravagant
character, demanding :
i. — A payment of $12,000,000 on account of
French claims in general.
2. — The assessment and payment of a further sum
on account of other special claims.
3. — Payment of all claims under the Convention of
1853-
4. — The payment, plena, leal y inmediata of the
nominal amount of the Jecker Bonds !
$15,000,000.
5, 6, 7. — The payment of various indemnities,
for various alleged injuries to French
subjects.
8. — A payment of 6 per cent on all the foregoing.
9. — A French occupation of the most effective
character, until the final payment of all
present and future claims.
* M. de Saligny said to Mr. Louet, on his arrival with
the French contingent : " My only merit is to have guessed the
intention of the Emperor to intervene in Mexico, and to have
rendered his intervention necessary." Gaulot, Reve., p. 29.
1 66 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The terms of this remarkable note were no more
acceptable to the Commissioners of England and
Spain, than they would have been to Juarez him-
self. And M. de Saligny was persuaded, with the
utmost difficulty, to agree to the dispatch (January
1 4th) in place of this ultimatum,* of a preliminary
note of a temperate character, speaking, in vague
language, of the necessity of a settlement of claims,
and of the excellent intentions of the allies.
Day by day the Commissioners sat at Vera Cruz,
and day by day their differences became more
accentuated, as they awaited the return of the
messenger who had carried their first summons up
to the city of Mexico.
The treatment by the Mexican Government
of this modified Collective Note was indeed
a matter of supreme gravity and importance. The
Chamber was fortunately not sitting. The decision
rested absolutely in the hands of the President.
And his answer was in the highest degree judicious
.and dignified. It set out (i.) that inasmuch as his
Government was not only legally constituted, but
was recognised and effective throughout the whole
of Mexico, the " civilising mission " of the Allies,
* History certainly repeats itself. On the day that I was
revising the MS. of this chapter, I read in the Times (July 23rd,
1893.) the French ultimatum to the Siamese Government.
But Siam is not Mexico, and King Chulalongkorn is very far
from being another Juarez.
A LIFE OF BEN I TO JUAREZ. l6/
however benevolent, was quite superfluous; (2.)
that his Government was desirous of treating with
the Allied Powers for the settlement of all debts
and claims; (3.) that for the purpose of such a
conference, the allied Commissioners, with a guard of
honour of two thousand men, would be immediately
received by the Mexican Authorities at Orizaba; and
(4.) that under these circumstances it was hoped
that the remainder of the friendly troops, whose pre-
sence in Mexico was now obviously superfluous,
and calculated to irritate the Mexican people,
would re-embark on board their ships at Vera Cruz.
By way of doing greater honour to the
messengers who were entrusted with the delivery
of this all-important note, Sefior Zamacona, the
ex- Minister and a persona grata to the English
Commissioner, was instructed to accompany the
party, which reached Vera Cruz on their return
journey on the morning of the 2Qth day of January.
Strange things had happened since their depar-
ture, barely a fortnight before.
Miramon,* travelling under a false name and with
a false passport, had arrived with a choice band of
* Miramon was in Paris in March 1861, admitted to
audience at the Tuileries, and consulted confidentially hy the
due de Morny. In November he was in Madrid, similarly
honoured. In December we hear of him in New York. On
the 27th he sailed for the Havannah. On the i3th of January
1 86 1, he obtained a passport under a false name, and sailed
in the s.s. Avon for Vera Cruz.
1 68 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
conspirators on the 2yth of January in the English
mail steamer — the friend, or the catspaw of de
Saligny — with the avowed object of overthrowing
the Government of Juarez.
Commodore Dunlop. commanding the British
squadron, regardless of the protests of the French
Commissioner, sent off a party of Marines, and
arrested Miramon immediately on the arrival of
the packet, on the charge of robbing the British
Legation, and sent him back in a man-of-war to
the Havannah.
It was obviously contrary at once to the letter
and the spirit of the Convention of Alliance, and
it would have been a scandalous abuse of their
powers and presence at Vera Cruz, if an avowed
conspirator against the de facto President of
Mexico, with whom the allies were actually treating,
were allowed to land in the country, and shelter
himself under the guns of the allies, while he
sought to compass the overthrow of a friendly
Government.
Yet Miramon, as we shall soon see, was but
the harbinger of a more august Pretender.
If the French Commissioners were angry at
the arrest and deportation of Miramon on the 2jth
of January, they were made furious by the Note of
Juarez on the 2Qth ; and Admiral Jurien proposed
to his colleagues that Senor Zamacona should
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 169
not even be received by the Commissioners, and that
no answer should be vouchsafed to the President's
letter. More diplomatic counsels, however, were
suffered to prevail, and a reply was ultimately
agreed to, conveying, with formal expressions of
friendship, and renewed asseverations of the
civilising mission (mision civilizadora) of the Allies,
the strange request that the foreign troops might
be permited to shift their quarters, on purely
hygienic grounds, to the high and healthy plateaux
of the interior.
The ans\ver to be returned by the Mexican
President was obviously a matter of the utmost
moment. And Juarez decided boldly to adopt a
policy which, if not, perhaps, justified in the result,
was certainly at once honest, statesmanlike and
prudent.
The Mexican Army was unprepared for war.
The defences of the Chiquihuite might be carried
by a coup detnain. In any case it was of the last
importance that the foreign alliance should not be
cemented by concerted and probably successful
action against his forces in the field. * He could
scarcely hope to withstand the arms of three great
European Powers as long as they stood shoulder to
* Prim had married a niece of the worthy Echeverria,
who retained his portfolio of Minister of Finance in the
Cabinet of Juarez even after the crisis of November 23rd,
1861.
I7O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
shoulder. The breaking up of their alliance was
the great object of his solicitude.
Of the good will of General Prim, of the
loyalty of Sir Charles Wyke, he had no doubt.
De Saligny he justly suspected .of bad faith. But
there was no reason for doubting the honour of
the French Admiral. To treat the invaders as
friends, as long as they maintained their professions
of friendship, was not only good policy, but it
accorded with the generous and straightforward
nature of the Indian statesman.
He would offer them the best quarters that the
country afforded. He would take no advantage
of the difficulties created by their own action in
landing their soldiers on his shores.
To guests, self-invited no doubt, it pleased him
to play the part of the chivalrous host. Enemies,
if enemies they should be, would find in him an
equally chivalrous foe. Traitors at least he did
not expect. And his reply'" to the Allied Note was
prompt and straightforward.
Regretting the vagueness with which the En-
voys had explained or referred to the objects of
their visit, while he accepted their renewed
* Written by the hand of Doblado on February 6th.
Doblado was suspected of treachery. But Juarez, against
the advice of his friends, did not hesitate to employ him in
the work for which he was pre-eminently fitted to assist him.
And his boldness was justified in the result. — Baz : Vida, 225-6.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I/I
assurances of peaceful and friendly intentions,* he
suggested an immediate meeting of two chosen
delegates, with the object of interchanging views by
word of mouth, and if possible of concluding at
least a preliminary agreement or Convention, in
which case he would gladly consent to the
cantonment of the friendly troops in the healthiest
district in the Republic, awaiting a more extended
and more formal conference.
The reasonableness of this proposal would have
insured its immediate rejection by the French
Commissioner, but that his Spanish and English
colleagues insisted that an interview should take
place as suggested ; and General Prim was
* Sir Charles Wyke, says M. Niox, op. cit. p. 15, avait
entame des negotiations dans le but demenager a 1'Angleterre
les avantages d'un protectorat formel, a la condition qu'elle
preterait son appui a Doblado, pour renverser Juarez.
And M. Niox actually has the effrontery to cite the
despatches — Wyke to Russell, 23rd of February, 1862, Russell
to Wyke, ist of April, 1862, in support of this monstrous
proposition.
The words used by Sir Charles Wyke are as follows
("Accounts and Papers," p. 67, February 23rd, 1862) : "A
Government representing the two principles that they, i.e.,
Juarez and Doblado, now personify, affords the best
reflection of public opinion to be found in this important
country."
And nothing is more clear from this language, and from
the context also, than that the British Minister, far from being
guilty of the incredible baseness of seeking to overthrow
(renverser) Juarez, was actually doing his best to promote
union beween Juarez and Doblado, who, as a matter of fact,
whether propter hoc or merely pest hoc, remained true to his
chief to the day of his death.
1/2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
accordingly commissioned to meet the Mexican
Envoy at the appointed place.
The honest and skilful statesmanship of President
Juarez might claim its first victory over the trained
diplomatists of Europe.
Upon the igth of February, accordingly, General
Doblado met the Prince of Reuss at Soledad, and
received with satisfaction his assurances that the
Allies had no desire to interfere directly or indirectly
in the internal affairs of Mexico, least of all to
impose any new Government, or form of Govern-
ment, upon the country.
Upon these conditions and guarantees, the
Foreign Minister, on behalf of President Juarez,
invited the Allies to canton their troops in the
healthy upland districts of the interior, awaiting the
confirmation by their respective Governments of
the Convention which was then and there drawn
up, agreed to, and subsequently signed by all the
Foreign Commissioners, and known as the Con-
vention of Soledad.*
* " Seul 1'avocat indien n'avait pas ete parjure ! II avait
pris la haute magistrature d'une republique en convulsion,
ruinee par la guerre civile. Chef d'un pays demoralise,
traverse par toutes les mauvaises passions qui cherchaient
a le deborder, il aurait pu mieux faire peut-etre, mais il
aurait pu aussi faire plus mal. Sur lui est retombe de tout
son poids le malheur d'un demi-siecle de fanatisme et d' anarchic !
II a eu le courage de porter le fardeau sans faiblir. Pour lui
du moins, le mot de patrie a eu un sens." — " L' lunpereur
Maximilien," E. de Keratry, p. 6.
lunp
\
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 173
By the first article of this celebrated Treaty the
legitimate status and authority of Juarez as
President of Mexico was recognised and con-
firmed ; by the last the Mexican flag was to be
flown once more on the citadel of Vera Cruz, by
the side of those of England, of France, and of
Spain.
The diplomatic victory of Juarez was well nigh
complete. But as far as the allies were concerned
the President's permission was not granted a day
too soon.
The deadly climate of the coast had already
prostrated a large number of the foreign soldiers.
Many had actually fallen victims to yellow fever
and dysentery ; many more were in hospital ; nearly
one-third of the entire force was hors de combat.
Hostile operations would have been difficult
with such an army, compelled, as a preliminary
operation, to carry the fortifications of the
mountain passes, and to escalade the heights of
Chiquihuite.
Prolonged inaction at Vera Cruz would certainly
have led to the loss of a great part of the army
from disease. A repulse in the pass would have
been at least equally disastrous.
Viewed in the light of subsequent events, it
would no doubt have been more prudent on the
part of. Juarez, if not actually to declare war, at
Of THE
[lyarrvERsiTYJ
OF
174 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
least to temporise. But bad faith was foreign to
his nature and to his dealings ; and he looked to
find at least common honesty on the part of
the civilising nations who had come to regenerate
his country. *
That the Convention of Soledad meant peace,
both present and future, was the unhesitating
opinion not only of the President, but of almost
every man in Mexico ; yet, to provide for all con-
tingencies, it was laid down in the fourth article :
(t That it may not be in the remotest degree believed
that the Allies have signed these preliminaries in
order to obtain the passage of the fortified places
garrisoned by the Mexican army, it is stipulated
that in the unhappy event of the negotiations being
broken off, the forces of the Allies will retire from
Cordova, Orizaba, and Tehuacan, and place them-
selves in the line that is beyond the fortifications."
It would have been difficult to have been more
precise. Neither Mexicans, nor English, nor
Spaniards, indeed, supposed for a moment that the
* Juarez, writing to an intimate friend, February 23rd,
1862, treats this celebrated agreement as definitive : " Como
vera V. se salvan la independencia y soberania de la nacion
asi como nuestras actuales instituciones, y por eso no he
vacilado en aprobarlos. Creo que es lo mejor que podriamos
conseguir atendidas nuestras actuales circunstancias.
' ' La reaccion queda definitamente desahuciada, pues ya
no habra intervencion en nuestra politica, que era su espe-
ranza de vida.
" Me apresuro a comunicar a V. por extraordinario este
suceso. .
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1/5
Convention would not be ratified by their respective
Governments. M. de Saligny may possibly have
suspected the reception that would be accorded to
it in Paris. In any case, President Juarez did not
hesitate to confirm it in Mexico. And his formal
Ratification was received by the Allied Commis-
sioners at Vera Cruz on the 26th of February.
The French marched up country the same day,
to take up their new positions at Orizaba, in the
healthiest part of Mexico.
The Spaniards followed less promptly. Captain
Dunlop, the English Commander, on his own autho-
rity withdrew his force of Marines from the country.
As long as hostilities seemed probable or possible,
this little contingent took its place beside the
armies of Spain and France, on the deadly slopes of
the Tierras Calient es.
But the Convention of Soledad, preliminary as
a matter of course to an honourable settlement of
all difficulties, left nothing for the British Marines
to do in the Republic of Mexico. And they were
promptly sent away to their own quarters at Ber-
muda.
It was not long before the French Envoys per-
ceived the mistake that they had made ; for what-
ever may have been the views of Admiral Jurien,
M. de Saligny, at least, was well aware that they
had been sent to Mexico not to make peace, but to
176 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
make war, and if possible to draw their Allies into
the conflict.
And now he had been compelled, at the risk of
sacrificing a French army, to recognise the au-
thority of the man whom he was seeking to depose,
and to make a Convention with a Government
which he was charged to overthrow. And his
vexation was shown in a graceless attitude to his
English and Spanish colleagues, and in his
constant endeavours to aid the rebel Mexicans who
were conspiring against the Government of the man
whose diplomacy had been too good for him.
On the i st of March, 1 861 , General Count de Loren-
cez, with reinforcements from France, disembarked
at Vera Cruz,* and with him came Senor Almonte,
an avowed conspirator against the existing Govern-
ment of Mexico, the accredited agent of an aspirant
Emperor, commissioned not only to promote
Revolution, but actually authorised to bestow titles
of honour in Mexico, in the name of Maximilian
of Hapsburg.
* Captain Dunlop's explanations to his Government, and
his justification of his conduct in arresting Miramon will be
found in "Accounts and Papers, Mexico," 1862, Ixiv., part III.,
25-26, where we also read that had it not been for Senor
Almonte's illness he would actually have received a passage
to Mexico in a French man-of-war in company with General
Lorencez.
Dunlop was said by Lord Russell to deserve the highest
credit for his conduct.
P.O., June 5, 1862. Blue Book, ubi supra, Part III. 27.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. I//
And in spite of the dignified but vigorous remon-
strance of the Mexican Government, followed by
the urgent representations of the English Com-
missioners, Almonte was permitted to proceed to
Orizaba, in the company and under the official
protection of the French General in chief. At
the same time Padre Miranda, "a man whose
very name," in the words of an English diplomatist,
"recalls some of the worst scenes of a civil war
which has proved a disgrace to the civilisation of
the present century," was welcomed by Admiral
Jurien to his headquarters at Orizaba, where he lived
and conspired under the shadow of the French flag.
The reception accorded to Almonte and his
friends at length opened the eyes of the Allied
Commissioners to the true nature of the French
design upon Mexico ; and General Prim and
Sir Charles Wyke, unable, after the fullest
consideration, to see that non-intervention under
the Treaty should be taken to signify a march
upon the capital and the overthrow of the
Constitutional Government, embarrassed . the
conspirators, French and Mexican, by obsti-
nately treating a solemn undertaking not to
set up any new form of sovereignty in Mexico as
a reason for refraining from active co-operation
with domestic outlaws and foreign intriguers in the
overthrow of President Juarez.
1/8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
This stupid subordination of the ideal to the real
was, as may be supposed, most irritating to the
French authorities at Vera Cruz, where Sir Charles
Wyke cared nothing for M. Thouvenel in Paris,
nor even for the feelings of his august sovereign,
and where Commodore Dunlop,* in the happy
absence of telegraphic communication with Eng-
land, was entirely independent of Whitehall.
While the Councils of the Allies were thus
divided,! Juarez judged that the time had at length
arrived for protest on the part of the Mexican
Government against their friendly harbouring of
Mexican rebels ; and a Note, expressed in pretty
plain language, was dispatched by Doblado to Vera
Cruz.;[ The note was received by the Allied Com-
* Captain Dunlop commanded, with the title of Commodore,
the British Fleet and Marines, in the absence of Vice-
Admiral Sir A. Milne, and acted as joint Commissioner with
Sir Charles Wyke. Admiral Sir Thomas Maitland, in com-
mand of the British Pacific Squadron, had his headquarters
at the same time at Acapulco.
f "La defense de nos nationaux, le desir de venger les
outrages subis par eux, outrages dont il faut en justice
accuser plutot tout le Mexique que Juarez, tout cela n'etait
qu'un pretexte relegue d'avance au second plan de
1'entreprise." " L'Empereur Maximilien," E. de Keratry, p. 10.
I The first serious step in the direction of dissolution was the
independent action of Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, when he
broke up his camp at Tehuacan, and ordered his troops to
march, without consulting or even informing his Spanish and
English colleagues. And while he afterwards expressed his
formal regret, in answer to the indignant remonstrances of
General Prim and Sir Charles Wyke, that Almonte and
Miranda should have been permitted to accompany the
French forces into the interior, he declined to withdraw his
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
missioners on the yth of April, and considered by
them at a special meeting on the gth, when General
Prim and Sir Charles Wyke contended that Almonte
and Miranda should be requested at once to quit
Mexico, and that every endeavour should be made
to follow up the Convention of Soledad by a definite
settlement of all financial differences in such a
way as to hamper as little as possible the
established Government of the country.
The French Commissioners refused to send
away the conspirators ; maintained that the best
way to settle the debt was to march upon the
capital; and reserved to themselves full liberty to
interpret the language of the International Con-
vention of Alliance in any way they chose. *
There was but one reply to such pretensions.
The Spanish and English Commissioners declared
that Joint Action was no longer possible, inasmuch
as the French refused to be bound by the elemental
conditions of Intervention ; and they proceeded to
withdraw their troops and ships of war from
Mexico.!
protection from those gentlemen, who remained at the head-
quarters of the French army.
* A proces- verbal of the Conference, held at Orizaba on
April gth, 1862, is given in "Accounts and Papers," liv., 1862,
P- 383 (114-127).
f "It is only just to say" (writes Senor Baz : " Vidade Juarez "
p. 226), " that General Prim and his English colleague not
only conducted themselves loyally in this matter, but they
saved the honour of their Governments."
N 2
l8O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
A Note conveying the intelligence of the dissolu-
tion of the alliance was received by General
Doblado on the i2th of April, and on the same day
his reply was dispatched to Vera Cruz to the effect
that the Mexican Government was anxious to enter
into a definite convention, at least with the English
and Spanish Commissioners, whose " noble, loyal,
generous, and considerate conduct is fully appreci-
ated," as regards the settlement of all financial
questions, and that the President solemnly protested
against the action of the French as regards
Almonte, Miranda, and other traitors and outlaws,
and declared that their invasion would be resisted
to the uttermost.
The Joint Intervention was at an end.*
The French flag alone flew on the fortress of
Vera Cruz.
On the 1 2th of April, President Juarez issued a
Proclamation to the Mexican people. The illegal and
arbitrary conduct of the French, and their refusal
to be bound by the fundamental conditions of the
Triple Alliance, were calmly and dispassionately set
forth ; the honourable conduct of the Spanish and
English Commissioners was duly recognised ; and
* The English fleet was placed at the disposal of the
Spanish Commander, for the conveyance of 1,500 Spanish
troops, as he was not sufficiently supplied with transports,
and the friendly powers retired without delay to the
Havannah.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. l8l
the Mexicans were urged to extend to every
foreigner resident in their country — to the French
as much as to any other stranger — the utmost
protection and hospitality. *
But as regards the invaders there was but one
word — War.f
Every Mexican between 20 and 60 years of age
was called upon to take up arms for the defence
of his country.
An admirable Note was dispatched to the French
Commissioners, categorically protesting against their
action.;!: The Chambers were summoned to meet
within three days. The Law and the Constitution
were even in this supreme moment punctiliously
regarded.
Meanwhile, the Convention of Soledad, accepted
by President Juarez as signed by every one of
the Joint Commissioners, was still binding upon all
the parties to the agreement.
* "Una vez rotas las hostilidades, todos los extranjeros
pacificos residentes en el pais quedaran bajo el amparo y
proteccion de las leyes ; y el Gobierno excita a los Mejicanos
a que dispensen a todos ellos y aun a los mismos francesesla
hospitalidad y consideraciones, etc., etc."
This last sentence is eminently characteristic of Juarez,
especially in that it was not a mere phrase, but a serious
declaration of a policy which he fully and faithfully carried
out.
f Le Gouvernement Constitutionnel soutiendra la guerre
jusqu'a ce qu'il succombe.
{ It is printed in Lefevre, pp. 230-233.
1 82 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
And it was not until the end of April that the
replies of the European Cabinets were received at
Vera Cruz.
*Sir Charles Wyke was informed by Lord
Russell that " Her Majesty's Government entirely
approved of the Convention of the igth February ; "
regretting only the use of the words " regeneration
•of Mexico" as suggesting even the possibility of
an intention on the part of the Allies to " interfere
in the internal affairs of" that country.
In Spain the Treaty was no less honourably
accepted, and although a debate in the Cortes upon
the conduct of the Government in so promptly
accepting it was provoked by some of the extreme
Clerical party, the action of Ministers was approved
by a majority of 138 to 39.!
* Russell to Wyke, April ist, 1862. "Accounts and Papers,"
1862, No. 86. p., i.
f In his article, or Chronique Politique in the Revue Nationale,
of July 8th, 1862, M. Lanfrey compliments the Spaniards not
only on their withdrawal from the alliance, but for the honesty
with which they published the State Papers connected with the
expedition ; papers which I regret I have not yet been able
to see.
The entire object of the French, says M. Lanfrey, was a
.simple rccouvrement d'indemnite, un but si mesquin, that Europe
refused to believe in it, and credited the Imperial Cabinet
with deep and magnificent schemes, which according to this
.acute chroniqueur politique existed only in their imaginations. M.
Lanfrey, it must be remembered, was a bitter enemy of
Napoleon III., but allowing for this, the entire article here
referred to is well deserving of study. It has been published
among others written in 1860-65, by Charpentier, 1883, two
vols., with a preface by L. de Ronchaud. Of this Edition,
see vol. II. pp, 35-54.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 183
In France the news had met with a very
different reception. Not only had the Emperor
refused to ratify the Convention; but Admiral
Jurien de la Graviere wras summarily withdrawn
from Mexico, and the conduct of affairs committed
to the more zealous and uncompromising hands
of Monsieur Dubois de Saligny.
The mask was at length thrown aside ; and in
time it gradually became known that the people
who had imposed upon themselves the duty, or
friendly mission, of the civilising of the Mexicans,
while refraining from interference, direct or indirect,
with their domestic politics or institutions, intended
to set up an Emperor of Mexico dependent upon
the Emperor of the French ; to conquer his
empire for him by a French army ; to overthrow
the existing Constitutional Government of the
country ; * to restore the Bishops, with their friends
Miramon, Marquez, and Padre Miranda; and
possibly to accept a few hundred thousand square
* "En effet, la defense de nos nationaux n'a ete jusqu,'ici
qu'un masque qu'il est temps d'ecarter. L'archiduc va tout
a 1'heure paraitre en scene. L'amiral a ete desavoue parce
que, agissant de bonne foi, il a failli ruiner un arriere projet
dont il n'a pas re$u la confidence. La convention a ete
repudiee par la France, parce que celle-ci ne voulait pas,
parce qu'elle ne pouvait plus traiter, liee qu'elle etait vis-a-vis
de Maximilien. II ne s'agissait guere de nos reclamations
financieres pour le moment. La chute de Juarez etait seule en
jeu, et, pour renverser le fauteuil de president, il fallait que
1'armee francaise put entrer a Mexico les armes a la main."
— " L'Empereur Maximilien," E. de Keratry, 1867, p. 15.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY,
184 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
miles of territory from the grateful Mexicans
for the " restoration to the Latin race on the other
side of the Atlantic of its ancient force and
prestige."*
But one man stood between the Emperor Napo-
leon and the realisation of the great scheme, and
that man was Benito Juarez. Ill-informed as wTas
the third Napoleon, and mistaken as regards the
conditions in Mexico, his great native shrewdness
led him at least to grasp the cardinal fact in the
situation, that the first object of the French policy
must be the destruction of the incorruptible lawyer
from Oaxaca.
And thus it came to pass that the Constitutional
President and de facto ruler of the country was
declared from the first a brigand and an outlaw,
the one leader with whom the French authorities
were categorically forbidden to treat.
The enormous weight of the Imperial authority
in the year 1862 may now hardly be understood;
and after a lapse of thirty years, a new generation
hears of Europe hanging on the utterances of
* In January, 1862, Lord Russell was informed from
Paris (i) That the French intended to send a reinforcement
of 4,000 men to Mexico. (2) That the Archduke Ferdinand
Maximilian would be invited by a large body of Mexicans to
place himself on the throne of Mexico, and that the Mexican
people would gladly hail such a change. "Accounts and
Papers," pp. 146-148. Nothing, as yet, was said about French
support or intervention.
A LIFE OF] BENITO JUAREZ. 185
Napoleon III. with the same conventional but un-
realising belief as that with which it reads of
Charles V. and the heroes of Pavia and the
Gariglano trembling lest Europe should be over-
run and subdued by the armies of the Ottoman
Turk." But before Lepanto, Solyman was the
terror of Christendom ; before Sadowa, Napoleon
was the arbiter of Europe ; and from Solferino to
Sadowa one man alone was found to oppose the
armies of the Colossus at the Tuileries — the bright-
eyed lawyer of Oaxaca.
* Certainly after Mohacz (1526). Solyman the Magni-
ficent died, as a matter of fact, in 1566, five years before
Lepanto (1571), when the Turkish power was broken under
his wretched successor, Selim.
1 86
CHAPTER IX.
WAR. — APRIL, 1862 — OCTOBER, 1863.
One of the first acts of President Juarez, after
the rupture of the alliance between the foreign
invaders — with war and invasion hanging over his
head — had been to authorise Doblado to negotiate
a Convention with Sir Charles Wyke (April 28th,
1862), by which provision was made, admittedly
abundant and even generous, for the discharge of
the English claims." The preliminaries were
signed at Puebla, on the 28th of April, and the
British Minister at once proceeded to the capital,
where he arrived on the nth of May, that he might
* The offer of a loan by the United States had been
renewed to the extent of $11,000,000, and of this, $2,000,000
were immediately to be handed over to the British Commis-
sioners, while all former provisions as regards the allocation
of Customs duties to the payment of interest on the bonds were
fully confirmed.
The convention was signed by Manuel Doblado, Hugh
Dunlop, and Charles Lennox Wyke, at Puebla, August 28th,
1862.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 8/
pay a visit to the President. Juarez, ever reason-
able, consented to some further modifications in
the Convention of Puebla, which was then and
there definitively signed by all the parties, and
transmitted to London for the ratification of her
Majesty's Government in England.'"
This new act of recognition on the part of
England of the legality and efficiency of the
Government of Juarez — at a time when the French
army was actually supporting the ad interim
pretender, Almonte, self-styled and self-elected
President of the Empire — was another triumph
both for Doblado and for Juarez, and was bitterly
resented by the French and the other foreign
adventurers, both in Mexico and in Europe.!
* The Convention will be found in "Accounts and Papers,"
LXIV., 1862, part III., pp. 16-22 and 27-34.
f Lord Russell unfortunately was not able to shake himself
quite free from French influence, and he declined to ratify the
Convention of Puebla, as we are told, to the "very great
satisfaction of the Emperor." — " Accounts and Papers," nbi
supra, pp. 441 and 443.
It is only right to add that he gave two fairly sufficient
reasons for this refusal. i. The non-ratification of the
United States Convention as to the loan upon which it was
founded (Seward : quoted by Lord Lyons to Lord Russell,
June 5th, 1862) ; and 2, The existence of a provision for
the payment of British claims, in that event, by the sale of
certain portions of Mexican territory, and the appropriation
of the proceeds to the satisfaction of the bondholders (Earl
Russell to Earl Cowley, June 19, 1862).
To judge his conduct with all possible fairness, it may be
said that he was not so much blameable for this refusal, as for
tne poor and flaccid diplomacy which rendered it necessary.
1 88 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
In the meantime, the French Commanders and
Diplomatists, without even waiting to learn if the
Convention of Soledad had been ratified or re-
pudiated in Paris, and while they were at least
bound by the conditions of the document to
which they had attached their signatures, took
upon themselves to assume the offensive in Mexico,
and to act regardless of treaties, conventions, and
stipulations, in the development of their new plan
of action.
If one clause in the Convention of Soledad had
been, more than any other, clear and precise, it was
that which provided that, in the event of a
rupture, the French troops should retire from the
quarters which they had been invited to occupy
within the Mexican lines of defence, and
should take up their old positions outside the forti-
fications.*
Yet, on the i8th of April, more than ten days be-
fore the Emperor's decision could have been received
He had been living for six months in a fool's paradise,
supposing that he could alter, as well as disguise, the nature of
things and of men by academic despatches. He had been
deceived by France, he had puzzled England, he had pleased
no man in Spain or Germany ; and now he found himself
suddenly called upon to open his eyes to what he might have
seen six months before, and to choose between throwing over
his Envoy or offending the French. That he contrived to do
both, was only in accordance with the usual success of his
diplomacy.
* See Domenech : op. cit. pp. 50-51, as to the great strength
of the position at Chiquihuite.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 189
from Paris, the French authorities took upon
themselves to violate, in the most unblushing
manner, this fundamental article of the recent
Treaty, by refusing to evacuate Orizaba or Cordova,
where they had been permitted to quarter them-
selves. They even made a prisoner of Colonel
Felix Diaz,* who peacefully presented himself to
take over charge of the cantonments from the
French Commander, [April igth] and they
attacked the small force of soldiers who lay await-
ing his orders, about seven miles from Orizaba.
Astonished at this unexpected action, the Mexicans
retired, with the loss of five men killed and many
wounded ; and this shameless opening of a shameful
campaign is spoken of by more than one French
writer as a brilliant feat of arms ! t
The violation of the Convention of Soledad, by
the very men that had signed it six weeks before, has
called forth rather admiration than criticism in
France. ;[ Some feeble attempts, indeed, have been
* A brother of Porfirio Diaz, now President of Mexico.
f See Bibesco : " Retraite des cinq mille," Paris, 1872 ; an
account by an eye witness of the operations before Puebla,
and the subsequent retreat of Lorencez to Orizaba. This
Prince Georges Bibesco was the son of Prince Demetrini
Bibesco, ex-Hospodar of Wallachia, the younger brother of
the Hospodar Barbo Stirbey. He was serving at this time,
like so many other continental adventurers, in the French
Imperial Army.
| "C'etait done le General Zaragoza et non le General
Lorencez," says the Abbe Domenech (Hist. III., 53) "qui
manquait aux engagements de la Soledad." It is impossible
for effrontery to go further than this.
IQO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
made to defend it. General Lorencez was afraid
of leaving his invalids in the hospital at Orizaba.
General Lorencez did not consider himself bound
by the signature of M. de Saligny, or of Admiral
Jurien de la Graviere. Finally, and most truly,
General Lorencez had too great a regard for the
lives of his troops to abandon the admirable posi-
tion in which he found himself. In a word, the
Mexicans were savages — the French were a great
and a noble people, whose mission of civilisation
must not be hindered by ridiculous treaties. *
No faith in the days of Papal Supremacy was to
be kept with those who questioned the authority of
Rome. No faith in the days of Napoleonic
aggressiveness need be kept with those who
resisted the power of France.
On the 25th of April, the mail arrived from
Paris, with the news of the repudiation of the Con-
vention of Soledad, and with orders for Lorencez,
promoted General of Division, to march at once
upon Mexico.
Three days later, at Orizaba (April 28th),
Almonte, the protege of the French Army, pro-
claimed himself President, Supreme Ruler of the
* "Laissons 1'Angleterre," says the Abbe Domenech in 1862
" le soin d'entraver notre mission reparatrice et feconde par sa
politique egoiste anti-sociale et jalouse . . . placer le coton
audessus des droits, de la dignite des interests et de bien etre de
I'espeke humaine ! " L' Empire ail Mexique," 1862., p. 3.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. IQI
Mexican nation, and Commander-in-Chief of the
National Armies, and issued a magniloquent Pro-
clamation calling upon his countrymen to welcome
the *• beneficial and civilizing influence of the
illustrious Sovereign of France.""
Almonte had few followers, and no friends. But
he asserted that Generals Zuloaga and Marquez,
Mejia and Miramon, would probably flock to his
protected banners; and that while the Mexican
clergy were ready to bless, the Mexican people
were ready to support, the French invaders.
Relying, it is possible, over much upon these
magnificent assurances, and eager in any case for
military glory which might justify the violation of
the Convention of Soledad, General Lorencez lost
not an hour in giving orders for that forward
march, for which no doubt he had been already
fully prepared ; and by the evening of the 4th of
* The first expeditionary force, entrusted to Admiral
Jurien de la Graviere, consisted of a regiment of Marines, a
battery of Artillery, a battalion of Zouaves, and a squadron
of Chasseurs d' Afrique, with some Engineers and miscel-
laneous troops ; in all about three thousand men. The
squadron numbered fourteen ships (steamers). Niox, chap-
ter I. The brigade under the command of Lorencez consisted
of 4,775 men ; and arrived at Vera Cruz the 8th of March,
1862 : and the total number of troops that marched under that
General against Puebla, on April 27th, 1862, was 7,300.
Niox, 133. From the arrival of the expedition, to the day that
Bazaine assumed the chief command, ist of October, 1863,
Captain Niox calculates the naval forces at 20,312 sailors em-
ployed afloat, and 4,060 sailors and Marines engaged on shore.
Op. cit., p. 320.
>^?^SE LlBftX/ty>\
S " OF THE \
[UNIVERSITY]
192 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
May, the French Army, something over 5,000
strong, had arrived within striking distance of
Puebla. The civil population had everywhere fled
at the approach of the invaders. Zaragoza, the
Mexican Commander-in-Chief, had so far made no
resistance. Lorencez proposed to enter the city of
Mexico early in the following week. Popocatepetl
and Ixtaccihuatl were already in sight. The
poet, who always accompanies such armies, was
already preparing his hymn of triumph. A small
fort — the fort of Guadalupe — which dominated the
city .of Puebla, was to be occupied the next
morning.
At break of day the troops were under arms.
But General Zaragoza was before them. And
after a combat which reached its height soon
after midday, and was prolonged until late in the
afternoon, the French were handsomely beaten,
with a loss of over five hundred men, leaving
twenty five prisoners in the hands of the National
troops (5th of May, 1862.)*
* These unsuccessful operations before Puebla are not
regarded by the French as a defeat.
General Forey's proclamation, or general order to the
troops, dated 28th of August 1862, commences in this
characteristic fashion :
" SOLDATS !
" Un jour, vouz avez trop demande & la Victoire, qui
marche habituellement avec vos drapeaux, elle vous a fait
une infidelite passagere qu'un ennemi dans sa presomptueuse
forfanterie a exploite aupres des credules et des ignorants, en
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 193
The news of this victory was received at the
capital with the utmost joy. The well-deserved
thanks of the President were conveyed to General
Zaragoza and his able lieutenants, Negrete,
Berriozabal, Lamadrid, and a young General who
won his spurs on that glorious day, and who, as
Porfirio Diaz, was destined to find undying honour
among the great and good men of regenerate Mexico.
The Chambers resolved that all the officers and
soldiers engaged in the battle had deserved well of
their country. A subscription i\as opened to
present Zaragoza with a sword of honour. The
Government of Juarez was stronger than ever. But
the Absolutist party made no sign ;* Lorencez
and his French army of civilisation, instead of
continuing their march upon Mexico, thought it
more prudent to retreat to the comfortable quarters
at Orizaba, that had been placed at their disposal
by the Mexican Government just three months
before.}
pretendant qu'ils avaient vaincus les soldats de Magenta et
de Solferino.
" Non. Vous n'avez pas ete vaincrus a Puebla ; et d'arthurs
vous avez pris une noble revanche a Acalcingo."
This " d'ailleurs " is superb !
* If it be not an order by the Bishop of Puebla forbidding
the administration of the last Sacraments to Mexican soldiers
dying on the field of battle, inasmuch as they were under
the ban of excommunication.
f On the 8th of May, the French troops turned their backs
upon Puebla and the more distant capital, and never stopped
194 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
In his Proclamation of National Defence, the
President had enjoined the greatest consideration
to be shown to all peaceable French residents in
Mexico. In his own action he went beyond this
honourable advice.
The French prisoners that were taken at Puebla
were sent back with safe conducts to their army at
Orizaba ; their w ounds cared for ; their medals and
decorations restored to them ; and they themselves
provided with money for their expenses by the
way. It is not often thus that war is carried on,
even by nations that pique themselves upon their
chivalry and disinterestedness ! But Juarez was
still spoken of in Europe as an Indian savage ; and
the French, at the invitation and with the support
of all the respectable inhabitants in Mexico, were
supposed to be establishing a civilised and stable
Government in his room.
Why they refrained so long from entering the
capital where they were so ardently expected, no
one in Europe seemed disposed to enquire.
The Emperor Napoleon, indeed, had with consum-
mate skill contrived to make both the Spanish and
the English Governments somewhat ashamed, not of
their unhappy participation in his policy, but of
in their retreat until they had reached Orizaba, on the igth
of May, just one month after their violation of the Convention
of Soledad.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 95
their refusal to co-operate with him in its-
development ; and thus Englishmen and Spaniards,
ignorant of the position in Mexico, and of the inten-
tions of France as regards the country, were
chagrined, not at the folly of the exalted States-
men by whom they had been betrayed into an
unholy alliance, but at the honourable and indepen-
dent firmness of those humbler representatives
by whom that alliance had been dissolved. With
England and Spain thus muzzled, with Austria
flattered by the choice of Maximilian of Hapsburg,
and the Papal Benediction assured for a Catholic re-
storation ; with the United States crippled and made
powerless by internal strife, the French had a free
hand in the New World. The star of the third
Napoleon, already exalted in Europe, was to rise
brighter and higher beyond the Western Atlantic.
And his first check was suffered to pass almost un-
noticed by Europe. *
The Mexican advocates of a Foreign Monarchy,
whose co-operation had been promised not only by
* A little book published by Dentu at the end of 1863, " La
France, le Mexique, et les Etats confederes," is amusing read-
ing if only for the curious unhappiness of its prophecies.
The Northern and the Southern States would never be
reconciled.
France would never quit Mexico ; but in alliance with the
Independent Republic of the Confederate States, would play a
great and enduring part in the New World; " et de noire
alliance avec le Sud sortira cetta grande renovation sociale qu'a
poursuivie vainement I'Angleterre," p. 24.
196 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Almonte, * but by Monsieur de Saligny, shewed no
disposition to relieve the French at Orizaba. But
they were by no means backward in reproaching the
French Commander for his failure to proceed to
Mexico. That brilliant General, Zuloaga, and
his friend, General Cobos, had already fled to the
Havannah, but Don Leonardo Marquez, who was
left behind, was loud in his denunciation of the in-
competence or apathy of the Count de Lorencez.
Nor was M. de Saligny more sympathetic or less
reticent in his officious condolences. Almonte and
Miranda were almost actively hostile ; while
the clergy of Guadalajara published a formal note
or manifesto, dated and signed in the Sala Capitular
de esta Iglesia Catedral (May i3th, 1862), pro-
testing against the French occupation, and
* Almonte was a son of the patriot priest Morelos, and his
name is said to have been acquired from the fact that his
father, who had, according to the fashion borrowed from his
opponents, named him Colonel at the age of ten, used on the
•eve of any exciting engagement to send him away al monte (to
the hills) for safety. The origin of the man and of the name
was thus almost equally irregular ! But Almonte, like his
father, was a person of some capacity, and though a rebel and
an adventurer, must never be classed with such men as
Marquez and Miramon.
On the 4th of June he had issued a proclamation from
Orizaba, calling upon the Mexican nation to obey his behests
(art. i) ; and stating that any want of affection for his newly-
established Government would be treated as a crime (art. 2). —
See Lefevre, I., 247-250. He had proceeded to issue half a
million of dollars in paper money, with a forced currency ; but
on a contemptuous protest by Sir Charles Wyke, his French
supporters had thrown over both Almonte and his bank-notes,
and the issue came to nothing.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. IQ/
declaring for the Constitutional and Mexican
Government of Juarez.
It was not all joy in the camp at Orizaba. To
wards the end of May, General Douay arrived from
France with a few hundred fresh troops ; but even
this welcome assistance hardly sufficed to keep
open the road between the French headquarters and
Vera Cruz ; and had General Zaragoza been more
vigorous or more fortunate, the French troops
might have been driven out of Orizaba, if not out
of Mexico, before the long-expected reinforce-
ments had arrived. But if the national com-
manders were unskilful, the national troops were
few and poorly equipped. Victorious armies are
not created in a month by a Government without
supplies, without material of war, and almost
entirely without money.'"
Yet, as month succeeded month, the Govern-
ment of Juarez became more widely respected, his
personal character more fully appreciated. And
the General Count de Lorencez, virtually im-
prisoned at Orizaba, and favoured with the
advice of de Saligny, of Almonte, and of Marquez,
* Juarez, indeed, showed himself almost the equal of
Isabella the Catholic in raising and equipping new regiments.
But Isabella was a great lady, and she commanded the sup-
port of the Church. Juarez was a despised Indian — excom-
municate and anathema.
198 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
had abundant opportunity of taking a just view of
the situation.
" 1 am convinced," he wrote in the middle of
June, " that we have no one in our favour
No one here desires a Monarchy, not even the
reactionary party — the Mexicans would rather be
.absorbed by the Americans ! " And again at the
end of July : " There is not to be found in Mexico
a single partizan of Monarchy ; to reduce the
people to submission a French occupation of many
years will hardly suffice."
But the Emperor at the Tuileries was too
blindly and too deeply committed to his extravagant
policy in Mexico, to draw back after the first
defeat. And on the 3rd of July, 1862, he wrote his
celebrated letter'1' to General Forey, entrusted with
the command of an army of thirty thousand men to
restore the French fortunes beyond the Western
Atlantic.!
* This letter is printed by many of the French and Mexican
writers, and is too long for insertion here. It will be found in
Domenech : Hist. III., pp. 91-93.
The letter certainly marks an epoch in the history of France
.as well as of Mexico.
f This notion of the aggrandisement of the Latin races
is further developed by M. Michel Chevalier in his
" Mexique Ancien et Moderne," 1863, pp. 492-505 ; where he
maintains that the duty as well as the policy of France was to
.arrest the progress of Protestantism the world over.
This section of M. Chevalier's work is of much interest, as
well as the last in his volume, entitled " Comment nous
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 1 99
In the middle of September, General Forey
arrived at Vera Cruz, and one of his first acts was
to suppress the Government of Almonte, which
had been constituted within range of the French
cannon, in concert with the French diplomatists,
by a simple advertisement in the local news-
papers. To welcome Almonte in February was cer-
tainly not wise ; to insult him in September was
scarcely wiser. But the insult was one more victory
for Juarez in the President's Palace at Mexico.
If Almonte was the chosen ruler of the Mexican
people, then might the French intervention have
found some shadow of justification . If Juarez
was at once dejure and de facto Chief of the State,
then the position of General Forey wras that of a
leader of buccaneers.
Early in September Zaragoza, the young Com-
mander who had led his troops to victory at
Puebla, fell a victim to the Autumn fever of the
country ; and General Ortega was appointed Com-
mander-in-Chief in his stead ; while Juarez, daily
and hourly engaged in the raising and equipment
of new forces, was at length able to put two
pourrons retrouver au Mexique la question Romaine, si nous
tentons de le regenerer ! "
A pamphlet published in 1864 by Dentu, entitled " L'Em-
pereur du Mexique," maintains that " L'Expedition du
Mexique est la plus belle page," not only " du regne de
Napoleon III," but, " de 1'histoire contemporaire de
1' Europe ! "
2OO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
fresh armies in the field, under the command of
his old friends and comrades, Comonfort and
Doblado.
But even the raising of regiments to defend the
fatherland did not interfere with the march of
Constitutional Government.
The Autumn elections were held according to
law in all districts not actually occupied by the
foreigner ; and the new Chambers met at Mexico"
on the 2oth of October, three days before General
Forey, in the first of a long series of magnilo-
quent proclamations, published on his arrival at
Cordova, announced his benevolent intention of
" freeing Mexico from the demagogic tyranny of
Benito Juarez, against whom, and not against
the Mexican nation, he had come to make
war." t
1863 opened sadly enough for all good men in
Mexico. Yet Forey, even with his enormous rein-
forcements, was compelled to restrict the sphere
of his operations, if he would reach the promised
goal ; and the French troops were withdrawn from
* The Presidential message : the reply of the House,
under the able and patriotic Presidency of Senor Echeverria;
and a special resolution of the Chambers, calling upon Juarez
under no circumstance to dissociate himself from the nation
which had elected him to defend as well as govern her ; will
all be found translated into French in Montluc : Correspon-
dance, pp. 139-155.
f Mexico, vol. V., p. 562.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2OI
Jalapa,* from Perote, and from the more important
town of Tampico, which were all promptly occu-
pied by the National troops. t
Four hundred black Soudanese, recruited for
Napoleon by Ismail Pasha, for the more effectual
civilisation of Mexico, were landed at Vera Cruz
by the end of January, and Admiral Bouet treated
the town of Acapulco to a three days bombard-
ment, in consequence of the refusal of the
Commandant to apologize for an article in a
Peruvian newspaper (El Chalaco), which he had
not written, reflecting in some way upon the con-
duct of the French forces. On the i6th of January,
* Over 23,000 fresh troops had arrived from France.
In April — July about eight hundred arrived under various
commanders : — 800
In August — November, under
Forey . . . . . . . . 22,320
23,120
The troops under Lorencez had
amounted to.. .. .. 7,300
In all . . . . . . . . 30,420
See Niox, pp. 153-207.
f Writing to Montluc, his Consul-General in Paris, on the
22nd April, 1863, Juarez, entirely hopeful of the future, says :
" J'aiparfaitement comprisqueseule la force des armes ferait
revenir 1'Empereur sur ses pas, et lui ferait comprendre 1* in-
sanite de sonentreprise, puisqu'il s'etait obstine a m^connaitre
la voix de la verite et de la raison. Aussi comprenant le
p£ril imminent qui menacait la nationalite Mexicaine, le
gouvernement prepara tous les moyens de defense dont il put
disposer." Montluc : Correspondance, pp. 177-178.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
nr~ I
2O2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Sir Charles Wyke demanded his passports, and
retired with much regret from the capital.*
Meanwhile, Juarez was using every endeavour to
strengthen the fortifications, not only of Mexico,
but of Puebla. He passed a week [February
24th — March 4th, 1863,] at the latter city, cheering
on the workers by words of counsel and encourage-
ment; although Puebla, without ramparts or walls
of circumvallation, remained to the last practically
an open city surrounded by ditches and breast-
works, protected chiefly by the neighbouring forts
of Loreto and Guadalupe, and embarrassed with a
miscellaneous throng of inhabitants, ill supplied
with provisions, and defended by a garrison most in-
sufficiently furnished with munitions of war. But
slowly as the French advanced, General Forey at
length felt strong enough to assume the offensive,
and by the 2gth of March — six months after his
arrival in the country — he found himself at the
head of some thirty thousand men, within striking
distance of the city.
* In January, 1863, General Bazaine had laid hands upon
one Floriano Bernard!, commanding an escort granted by the
National Government to the Secretary of the United States
Legislation and an American Consul ; and had ordered him
to be shot. And in spite of diplomatic remonstrance the
unfortunate officer was immediately put to death. " Mexico
& traves de los siglos," V., p. 569.
This was neither very civilising nor very civilised, but
it was only an earnest of far greater horrors to come.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2O3
An urgent request, conveyed by the Foreign
Consuls, that the women and children should be
permitted to leave the town, was promptly refused ;
and on the 2nd of April the batteries of the invader
opened fire upon the town of Puebla.
For two months the city held out.* But no
relieving army appeared to raise the siege, and at
length on the ijth of May, when the last cart-
ridge had been burned and the last rations dis-
tributed, the guns were blown up, the small
arms and military stores were destroyed, the
National army was disbanded, and the invaders
were informed that an undefended and famished
city awaited their entry. The Mexican officers, who
surrendered without further parley, were treated
with the utmost military rigour, and were marched
off, disarmed and on foot, under a strong escort, to
the coast, for shipment to Europe. Porfirio Diaz,
and one or two other officers of superior rank — one
and all had refused to give their parole under the
conditions on which it was tendered to them —
* On the 5th of May a truce for the exchange of prisoners
disclosed the strange fact that the French prisoners in the
hands of the Mexicans were more numerous, by some five
and twenty fighting men, than the Mexicans who had fallen
into the hands of the French ; and these unfortunate invaders
were at once set free by Ortega, and sent back to General
Forey without equivalent, or further bargaining as to exchange,
in accordance with the policy dictated and ever maintained
by Juarez himself.
2O4 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
made good their escape on the journey ; but the
remainder were promptly transported to France,
where they were shown about the country as
living tokens of the success of the French arms
in Mexico."
Puebla de los Angeles had been gallantly
defended. Bat it was not to be supposed that the
hastily-equipped levies and the inexperienced
commanders of the National army should continue
to hold their ground against the veterans of
Magenta and Solferino, the picked troops and the
chosen Generals of France.!
The city of Mexico 'was obviously untenable
after the fall of Puebla. The President, careless
of the effect upon his personal fortunes, refused to
expose the capital to the horrors of siege and
assault, and after due warning and every care
for the safety of the peaceful inhabitants, he with-
drew the seat of Government on the 3ist of May,
1863, to San Luis Potosi.
On the yth of June, General Bazaine, with the
vanguard of the invading army, entered the city of
* As to the way in which they were treated in France
see post pp. 248-9.
f According to Captain Niox, the actual number of officers
taken prisoner at Puebla was 1,508, who had commanded
' 9,000 (or 11,000) common soldiers. Of these officers, 530 were
]* actually shipped off to France. — Niox ; p. 282.
The number of fighting men left in the city of Mexico after
the fall of Puebla did not exceed 6,000. — Baz : Vida, p. 249.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2O5
Mexico, and three days later, General Forey, with
Marquez and de Saligny, made a triumphal entry
with the remainder of the French troops, accom-
panied by the Mexican partizans of the Absolutist
and Clerical factions who found shelter under the
flag of the invaders.
The French officers were quartered upon the
citizens, and treated themselves with becoming
liberality. General Forey, who lodged for three
months in the Puente de Alvarado, ran up bills
during that time to the extent of near fifty thou-
sand dollars for his personal entertainment.*
Marquez the assassin, Lopez the betrayer, and a
friendly swindler of the name of Facio,t were all
made Knight-Commanders of the Legion of
Honour.
Proclamations now poured daily from the military
printing press.
The entire property of those Mexicans who
opposed the Fre nch intervention was formally
sequestrated.]:
* The amounts are given in " Mexico a traves de los
siglos," V., 589. One item, $4,200, is for flowers ; another,
$15,000, for looking-glasses. The entire amount is $48,427.
f " Qui passa en conseil de guerre pour detournements."
Montluc, 211, and Domenech : Hist. III., 135 and 152-3.
{ "Nous prenions," says the most indulgent of critics, M.
Domenech (Hist. III., 96), " une allure de conquerants et
non d'une armee expediee pour aider les Mexicains a faire
cesser 1'anarchie et la guerre civile."
2O6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Courts-martial were established throughout the
country, in which two French captains and one
superior officer judged all questions — without
appeal, and their sentence was carried out dans les
vingt quatve heures.* The entire newspaper Press of
Mexico was provisionally suspended until the
appearance of an elaborate Decree, which per-
mitted the editors to publish articles upon every
subject, save only such as should have reference in
any way (i) to the French occupation, or (2) toany
officer in their army, (3) to Mexican politics, or (4)
to any phase thereof, at home or abroad.
The ground having been thus carefully prepared,
on the 1 6th of June, 1863, a National Assembly of
thirty-five persons, chosen and named by the
French General, was summoned to deliberate upon
the affairs of the nation : while a triumvirate, con-
sisting of Almonte, Salas, and Mgr. La Bastida, an
ecclesiastical outlaw who had been created during
his exile Archbishop of Mexico, was entrusted with
* Lefevre, I., 320-326. As to the flagellations et fusil-
lades secretes to which the French boasted that they treated
their Mexican opponents, see L'Estafelte, a French newspaper
published in Mexico, for August 4th, 1863, copied in Lefevre,
I., 336.
The Abbe Domenech no less pointedly says that the
Liberals were treated in the same way as the Thugs in India,
and that (195-196) " Les Liberaux sont les Taugs du Mexique ! "
These were the people who had come to deliver the Mexicans
from the cruelty of Juarez.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2O/
the executive power in the State, under the
doubtful style of The Regency.
But all these gentlemen were soon made to feel that
they were appointed merely to register the decrees
of the French Commander-in-Chief.
The Archbishop, who in spite of military Te
Deums, and even the French patronage of a
solemn ceremony in the Cathedral on the Octave of
Corpus Christi, was not at all satisfied with the
disposal of ecclesiastical property, remonstrated,
and was promptly dismissed.
The Mexican Press, both Trojan and Tyrian, was
subjected to a strict and most effective censorship.
The hard nand of the invader lay heavy upon the
nation.'1'
On the 8th of July, 1863, a second Junta, selected
with the utmost care by the French General, met
to formulate a spontaneous national invitation to
the Archduke Maximilian of Hapsburg, " of fail-
ing him, any other Catholic Prince indicated by
the Emperor of the French," to come and reign
over Mexico.f
* " Le moment etait venu de dechirer le dernier voile. Sur
1'invitation de M. de Saligny, apresune entrevue a la legation.
Almonte, Marquez, et le licenciado Aguilar poserent du
premier coup la candidature de 1'Archiduc Maximilien sous le
patronage des clericaux."
f Article 4 of the Petition ran as follows : " En el casoque
por circunstancias imposibles a prever el archiduque .
no llegase a tomar posesion del trono que se la ofrece la nacion
2O8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The invitation was somewhat more compre-
hensive than flattering, and was received with
considerable disappointment at Miramar. But it
was improved, or strengthened to order, before the
close of the year."
Meanwhile, on the 9th of June, Juarez and his
Cabinet had arrived at San Luis Potosi ; having
been everywhere received by the population with
the utmost respect and enthusiasm. Despatches
had been sent to the Governors of the various Pro-
vinces, announcing the change of the seat of Govern-
ment, and the most satisfactory assurances had
been received from all those districts that were not
actually occupied by the French. Constitutional
Government was not yet dead in the Provinces of
Mexico.
But in the city the intervention shewed itself
supremely effective. The courts-martial, prompt
and uncompromising, kept the population in ex-
cellent order, j French money was abundant. The
troops were at least excellent customers. The
Mexican Almonte proved to be an intelligent
Mexicana, seremitea la benevolencia de S. M. Napoleon III.
Emperador de los Franceses, para que le indique otro principe
catolico."
* ' ' Maximilien ne pouvait prendre au serieux 1'offre d'une
couronne par une commission qui tenait ses pouvoirs de M. M.
Saligny et Forey." — Montluc: Correspondance, p. 217.
| Imprisonments : floggings : banishments : confiscations
were of daily occurrence.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2O9
administrator, and was particularly successful in
the department of finance.
In July, Miramon reappeared in the country, and
after an interview with General Forey on the 2gth
of July, gave in his adhesion to the French cause.
And his example was followed by many others/''
It needed, no doubt, considerable political honesty,
or considerable political foresight, to maintain,
almost at the point of the bayonet, and actually at
the mercy of the confiscator, an allegiance to a
fugitive President, and to a Government technically
legitimate, but discredited, impoverished, and
banished from the capital.
General Forey, indeed, was now absolute master
not only of the city of Mexico but of the road to
the coast at Vera Cruz ;| and the French fleet,
whose arduous and thankless duties were at least
* Mejia had long before (April, 1862) pronounced him-
self a partizan of the intervention, or rather of Marquez.
Miramon is said, by his admiring biographer, M. Daran,
to have been compelled by the French Marshal ; but it is
doubtful whether Miramon was a personage whom any party
would be very desirous of including in their ranks. Juarez, at
all events, had given orders for his immediate arrest, whenever
found, as an assassin and an outlaw.
f Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Acapulco being all in the
hands of the Imperialists, Juarez derived his revenues chiefly
from the customs duties levied at the port of Matamoros,
which was not blockaded by the French fleet, as it served the
Southern States for the export of their cotton ; all their own
ports being blockaded by the Northern fleets. — Montluc :
Correspondance, p. 176.
2IO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
'&"
/ admirably performed, was able to carry out an
effective blockade of the Mexican Sea frontier,
which had been proclaimed by a French Decree
of September 6th, 1863.
But on dry land little or nothing was done.
Small parties of troops, indeed, harassed the
country within a few miles of the city of Mexico,
and the Free Companies that had been organized
by the French under the name of la Contva-guevilla,
murdered and plundered and burned throughout
the whole of the temperate plateaux within reach of
the French head-quarters.* Yet no forward move-
ment was made in the direction of San Luis
Potosi, where Juarez, the only enemy admitted by
the French proclamation to exist in Mexico, was
suffered to carry on the Government of the
country without opposition.
* A little book published in Paris in 1868, " La Contre-
Guerilla Francaise ail Mexique," by Count de Keratry, is
interesting chiefly in so far as it shows the way in which
Mexico and the Mexicans were regarded by the French
officers of even the highest class.
Their defence of their country against unprovoked invasion
was treated as brigandage ; Mexican soldiers and officers
were taken to be not only rebels, but highway robbers, to be
shot down at all times, and in all places, without quarter or
consideration.
The account that may be read on pp. 9 and 19 of a ball
given by Bazaine, at Orizaba, is astounding in its naive
hideousness.
A band of cut-throats was on the point of being organized,
with French officers as leaders, to supplement the legitimate
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2 1 I
And while the French fleet was harassed by
their odious and inglorious duty on the coast, and
the Contra-guerilla was harrying and exasperating
the entire population in the mountains, the French
regular army was content to rest on its slender
laurels in the city of Mexico.
But this want of military vigour, or, possibly,,
this just appreciation of the political situation, on
the part of the French Commander-in-Chief, was
warfare of Bazaine and Forey, by operations of frankly
organized savagery.
" Le Colonel Du Pin demanda au General ses instructions.
On lui donnalt pleins pouvoirs, il n'avait qu' a poursuivre a
outrance les bandits et a purger le pays. Le bal continuait
cependant ; au son des notes languissantes de la havanaise,
les couples se croisaient sans cesse ; parmi les belles
Mexicaines qui s'abandonnaient a 1'enivrement de la valse
plusieurs eussent pali si 1'ordre tombe des levres du general
en chef avait frappe leurs oreilles. Une contre-guerilla
francaise venait en effet d'etre decretee, et peut-etre y
avait-il ce soir-la, dans les salons du ministre de France
quelques chefs de guerillas travestis en galants cavaliers,
dont les tetes souriantes en cette nuit de fete, devaient plus
tard grimacer au bout d'une branche. " DeKeratry," op. cit.,
pp. lo-n.
"Cette bande d'aventuriers," says their admirer, "ignorait
la discipline ; officiers et soldats se grisaient sous la meme
tente : les coups de revolver sonnaient souvent le Reveil."
These were the troops — fierement deguenilles, Francais, Grecs,
Espagnols, Mexicains, Americains du Nord et du Sud,
Anglais, Piemontais, Napolitains, Hollandais et Suisses,
the runaways of every nation, slavers, beach combers, and
filibusters — that were destined by France to regenerate the
institutions of Mexico, (p. 13),
And this is how they are described by an enthusiastic
French officer, writing to glorify this special phase in the
intervention of his countrymen.
And his book of 332 pages is full of similar testimonials to
the character of these French contre-guerilleros.
P — 2
212 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
not appreciated in Paris. In twelve months
General Forey had marched no further than from
Vera Cruz to Mexico, after a detention of seventy-
two days before a feebly-fortified town ; and
in spite of his magniloquent proclamations, he
did not seem inclined to march any further.
Gratified accordingly, and justified de pay
le monde with the title of Marshal, Forey was
recalled to France, and M. Dubois de Saligny
was instructed to accompany him. Bazaine was
appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French
expeditionary army."
But public opinion in France had become some-
what hostile to an apparently fruitless intervention ;
and Bazaine was instructed to negotiate with any
Government that he could find in Mexico, except
that of Juarez. t
Yet, so far, it was the enemies of Juarez, rather
than Juarez himself, that had suffered in the
political strife in Mexico. J
* Juarez remained de facto ruler of a great part of Mexico.
f Maximilian was disinclined to assume the purple at the
request of the Tuileries, and was chagrined at the hollowness
of the Mexican invitation.
The Imperial policy, in consequence, had undergone con-
siderable modifications. Reference was even made to the
declaration of October 3oth, 1861, as to the duty of non-
intervention !
J Marshal Forey handed over charge to Bazaine on
October ist, and embarked on October 2ist for France at
Vera Cruz.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 215
The English and the Spanish, who had come to
chastise him, had retired empty-handed, expressing
their satisfaction at the honesty and rectitude of
his policy.
The French, who had come to civilise him,,
complained that they had been deceived by the
Mexican rebels, and had made little progress in
the country.^
The Mexicans who had conspired to overthrow
him, declared that they had been betrayed by the
French.!
Saligny, who had neglected to leave Mexico with Marshal
Forey.was ordered by a despatch of 28th, to quit Mexico, even
if he should have already resigned his diplomatic functions,
without another hour's delay, and without awaiting the arrival
of his successor, M. de Montholon. M. de Saligny was said
to be negotiating a rich marriage with a daughter of one of
the clerical leaders, SeriorLuz Ortiz. Montluc, p. 211.
The Emperor had apparently at length realised the true
character of M. de Saligny 's services.
* At the end of September, Bazaine had taken overcharge
of what was called the Regency. But he showed himself no
more favourable to the pretensions of the clergy than his pre-
decessor, and Archbishop La Bastida was removed from the
Imperial Palace without much ceremony.
Yet no man knew precisely what to expect.
f A little book, published anonymously in Paris in 1864, by
Dentu, " La question Mexicaine et la civilisation fran9aise,"
suggested a French colonisation of Mexico as the most satis-
factory sequel to the fait accompli of the occupation (p. 28)
— an occupation destined to give "de nouvelles splendeurs a
notre politique, de nouvelles places de surete a nos flottes, de
nouveaux debouches a notre commerce." (p. 40).
" L'interet," says the author, sententiously, in another place,
(p. 32), " est la conscience des nations! " This is at least
frank.
214 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
As for individual enemies, Miramon and
Miranda, Mr. Commissioner de Saligny, ex-
President Zuloaga, Admiral Jurien, General
Lorencez, Marshal Forey — all these worthies had
come to Mexico with the object of overthrowing
Juarez. They had called to their assistance an
army of near forty thousand men. And now, after
nearly two years fighting and proclaiming, they
had all retired discomfited.
And Juarez was still President of Mexico. *
* On the 3rd of October, 1863, Maximilian provisionally
accepted the Crown of Mexico. But he considered himself
Emperor not only from that date, but from some earlier
and Imperially indefinite period.
215
CHAPTER X.
MAXIMILIAN OF HAPSBURG.
On the night of the i8th of January, 1861, seven
days after Juarez had returned victorious to the city
of Mexico, an Indian runner made his way into the
capital from the little neighbouring town of Tlalpam.
He was the bearer of a secret missive from Mar-
quez to the licentiate Aguilar — an old friend of
Dictator Santa Anna — announcing to him that the
hour had come for " organising reaction, political,
social, and military ; " and offering him the post of
President of the new Republic, of which Marquez
was already appointed Ccmmander-in-Chief with
the motto or war-cry of Dios y Orden I
And, although neither Marquez nor his motto
inspired the wily licentiate with entire confidence,
he judged it expedient to accept, at least provi-
sionally, the post. At the same time, the foreign
correspondents of these self-appointed dignitaries,
Senores Gutierrez de Estrada, Hidalgo, Almonte,
2l6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
and ex-President Miramon were busy on their
own account in Paris, where they succeeded in
exciting the active interest of the Empress, and
afterwards of the Emperor of the French, in the
cause of revolution in Mexico.
La Bastida, the intriguer of Yucatan, who, on
the death of the exiled Ballesteros, had been made
Archbishop of Mexico, was no less successful
at Rome, and a plan wras gradually matured
between the Tuileries and the Vatican for the
overthrow of Republican Government in Mexico,
and the establishment of a pious prince of the great
Catholic family of Hapsburg upon the throne of
Montezuma.*
Warily, secretly, steadily, the project was
matured. The Cabinet of Madrid, flattered by
the French advances, was not unwilling to
chastise their rebellious colonists. The British
Foreign Minister, ^jjjj^c and ill-informed, was
content to lay dc™i B most unexceptionable
principles as regaroHBpntervention, even while
he wras being cajoled by the more astute
* Certains pretendent que 1'empire mexicain est sorti de la
paix de Villafranca. Sans attacher grande importance a cette
assertion, il est hors de doute qu a 1'heure ou Marquez
organisait un soulevement, le parti des emigres mexicains,
avec 1'appui secret du governement fran9ais dans le sein
duquel prevalaient des sympathies espagnoles, oftrait la
couronne imperiale a I'archiduc Maximilien, qui venait de
renoncer a toutes charges dans son proprepays, pour se retirer
a Miramaret se tenir pret a toute eventualite.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
diplomatists at the Tuileries into a joint invasion
cf Mexico. And nothing but the independent
vigour of the British Envoys, and the simple and
straightforward dealing cf President Juarez, had
saved England from blind participation in a great
crime.
For three hundred years the ineptitude of Right
Honourable Administrators in London has been
redeemed by individual Englishmen beyond the
sea ; not merely by the Wellingtons, and the Clives,
and the Dalhousies, but by thousands of uncon-
sidered and forgotten worthies who have taken
upon themselves the somewhat dangerous responsi-
bility of upholding the honour of England abroad.
But if in January, 1862, the Joint Commissioners
of the Allied Powers had been masters of the
situation at Vera Cruz ; from the Autumn of 1863
to the Spring of 1864, Bazaine was the master of
Mexico. * And the be^HBI can be said for his
Government was that ilHas ^fcctive. Taxes were
paid. Private robbery ^JHPEppressed. French
and even English money flowed into the country.
Foreigners, if not always of the most desirable
class, were encouraged to settle in the cities of the
* That is to say, of the Capital. It is unfortunate that
there is only one word for the country and the city of
Mexico in English, and more strangely still in Spanish.
The French as usual are more precise in their nomenclature,
and distinguish Mexico from Le Mexiqite.
2l8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
central plateau. The purchasers of Church lands
were confirmed in their possessions, even though it
was necessary to dismiss all the judges of the
Supreme Court by a stroke of the pen ;* and to
involve the Government in a sentence of excom-
munication !
Santa Anna, who was naive enough to land at
Vera Cruz in response to a Proclamation which set
out that all good Mexicans, without distinction
of party, would be welcomed by the Intervention,
was summarily shipped on board a French corvette, '
and deposited at his usual retiring place at the
Havannah.t
Sonora, indeed, was not colonized, but that was
partly because Sonora still remained true to
President Juarez. The French, it must be remem-
bered, were masters of only a small part of
the Republic of Mexico.
The dark stain, however, that lay, and will ever
lie, upon their Intervention, and upon the character
of Bazaine, is that of atrocious and cynical cruelty.
Soldiers and civilians, officers and functionaries of
the Constitutional Government were indifferently
* The Decree was dated 2nd January, 1864. Domenech:
Hist. III., pp. 136-7, 148, 151, 169-171. See also Gaulot :
Reve. 227-229, where the whole story of the Archbishop's
conduct may be read in detail, with his dismissal, or retire-
ment, the excommunications, etc., etc.
f March i2th, 1864, on board the corvette Colbert.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2IQ
classed as bandits. Quarter was rarely given by
the French troops, and of the prisoners that were
necessarily taken in the almost daily encounters
between French and Mexicans — the more impor-
tant and loyal officers were usually shot in cold
blood, and the rank and file were alternatively
pressed into the service of Mejia and Marquez.*
The extraction of money, whether under the
guise of contributions to the expenses of the Inter-
vention, or as fines for some supposed offence, was
the commonest cause of outrage.
In the larger towns, floggings, imprisonments,
outrage and confiscation were of daily and almost
hourly occurrence. In the villages, not only the
property, but the life and honour of every Mexican
was at the mercy of the French soldiers ; and while
the smallest hint of disapproval was visited with the
death of the individual, the faintest show of opposi-
tion led to the destruction of entire communities.
And in the more open country the Contra-guerilla
gloried in the constant commission of outrages, of
which even the hints and suggestions that have
reached us through the sympathetic medium of
French narrators, are sufficient to fill us with horror
and indignation.!
* "Passes paries armes" is the French euphemism — the
phrase occurs in almost every page of contemporary memoirs.
f It is positively sickening to read of these atrbcities. They
22O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Meanwhile, in Europe, and even in Mexico, the
cruelty of Juarez was daily denounced, and men
were called upon to admire the self-sacrificing
devotion with which " the heroes of Sebastopol
and Solferino " were engaged in the civilization of a
grateful Mexico !
Nothing wras wanted to crowrn the fairy edifice
but the appearance of the Austrian Archduke, to
recline upon what he had been assured was " a bed
of roses laid in a mine of gold."*
•(Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg, younger
will be found referred to, but not unduly dwelt upon, by all the
Mexican historians ; but I have derived my information
rather from the mingled boasts and excuses of French writers.
The fullest details, as usual, are collected by M. Lefevre, I.,
340-354 and 420-424, and II., 108-142. See also de
Keratry and Gaulot, op. cit.
A long letter is printed by Domenech (Hist. III., 100-102),
the most indulgent of critics of the Intervention, from which I
quote one sentence. The letter was written by a trusty
correspondent in Mexico to the Abbe himself, early in 1864.
" Nos amis de 1'interieur. . les habitants des villes
et villages occupes par les francais meurent de faim.
la misere est dans les families qui maudissent 1'intervention,
parce qu'elle leurapporte la faim, la misere et la ruine."
And this is the picture drawn by the hand of a friend !
See also de Keratry : "La Contra-guerilla " ; passim.
* Senor Gutierrez de Estrada, in his autobiographical
sketch, entitled "Mejico y el arciduque Fernando Maximilian,"
Paris, 1862, says (p. 26) that as far back as 1840 he pro-
posed the election as Sovereign of Mexico of some European
Prince of good blood pero sin desi^narlo.
f In 1862, according to Domenech (" 1'Empire au Mexique,"
Paris, 1862), there were four candidates for the Mexican
Throne — the Due de Montpensier, the Archduke Maximilian,
a Portuguese Prince, and a Prince — " Je ne veux pas citer des
noms particuliers," says he (133), " mais tout le monde sait
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 221
brother of the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria,
and son of the Archduke Francis Charles, was
born at Schonbrunn, the 6th of July, 1832.
Destined from his early boyhood for a naval life,
he had, before he had reached his twenty-fifth
year, visited almost all the countries of Europe and
the neighbouring seas, and was reputed to be an
intelligent as well as an amiable Prince.
In 1857 he married the Princess Maria
Charlotte Amelia, daughter of Leopold King of
the Belgians, and the Princess Louise of Orleans.
Soon after his marriage he undertook a long
voyage to the Brazils, and was entrusted on his
return by his brother the Emperor, with the
civil and military government of Lombardo-
Venetia, in which he seems to have displayed
more liberality than was entirely agreeable to the
authorities at Vienna.
In 1851 he is described as tall of stature,
slight of figure, with the blue eyes and
fair hair of his house, refined in manners,
gentle in disposition, naturally inclined to letters
and the arts ; a poet and an author, as well as a
que dans la famille imperiale de Napoleon il existe plusieurs
princes reconnus par leurs talents, leurs intelligence, etc."
" Tous les hommes serieux," says the author in another
place (127), " sont d'accord sur la necessited 'etablir au plus tot
dans cette contree la monarchie constitutionelle, etc."
That the Mexicans had anything to say to the matter never
apparently suggested itself to this discreet politician.
222 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
sailor and a statesman, speaking six languages,
hard-working, high-minded, ambitious. On the
other hand he was weak, vain, restless, punctilious,
ceremonious, unduly fond of magnificence and
pageantry, wrapt up in the consuming fancy that
he was born to absolute sovereignty. Versatile,
frivolous, capricious, at once irresolute and obsti-
nate ; inclined to study, but averse frcm trcuble :
earnest in the elaboration of petty details, ever
shrinking from the solution of serious difficulties ;
he was an unhappy mixture of the dilettante and
the doctrinaire. And it would, perhaps, have
been impossible to select among men of position
and character, such as the Archduke undoubtedly
was, a ruler so singularly unfitted to establish a
new and stable form of government in Mexico.'''
But Maximilian was on bad terms with his
brother. He was overwhelmed with debt, dissatis-
fied with his present position, and unmanageable
as regards the future. Extravagant, impracticable,
ambitious, an Autocrat masquerading as a Radical,
he had become an archducal and Imperial bore at
Miramar, and his big brother at Vienna was
glad to get rid of him, and find something for him
to do, with a good salary, across the Atlantic.
* A list of the extravagant and absurd decrees published
by Maximilian in the months of November, and December, 1865,
for example, is given by his admirer, Arrangoiz, vol IV., pp.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 223
Long before the month of September, 1861, when
Sir Charles Wyke's letters were convulsing Europe
and paving the way for European alliance and
intervention, the French Government had already
pitched upon Maximilian as the protagonist in the
great drama which Napoleon III. would cause to be
played in the Imperial theatre of Mexico ; and as
early as the i8th of September, the Emperor
Francis Joseph, secretly consulted, had given his
conditional consent to the employment of his
brother by the French. *
64-66. The titles alone fill two 8vo. pages. The laws them-
selves—of 1865 only — were published in eight large octavo
volumes ! Domenech : Histoire, III, 346.
* For the first steps in the choice of Maximilian as Emperor
of Mexico, and more especially as to the part played by
Gutierrez de Estrada, who appears to have been hankering after
a Mexican Emperor as far back as July, 1840, see Gaulot,
" Reve d' Empire," chapter I. The value as an authority of
this book, and its two complementary volumes, " L'Empire
de Maximilien," and " Find' Empire," to all of which I shall
have occasion to refer in the course of this work, is chiefly
in that the papers of M. Ernest Louet, Paymaster-General
of the French Forces in Mexico, were placed in M. Gaulot's
hands on the death of that officer, forming a collection of unique
and quite exceptional interest, as may be gathered from the
preface to the first volume. I must say also that M.
Gaulot himself appears to me to marshal his facts with great
fairness, and to have adopted generally a reasonable tone in
discussing questions which have usually excited to an
unfortunate extent the party spirit of French writers.
M. Gaulot has published his books to justify the French inter-
vention in Mexico, to vindicate the character and proceedings
of Napoleon III., and though I sympathize with him even less in
the former than in the latter part of his task, I have always
read his pages with pleasure and with
224 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The earlier and more secret history of these
negotiations, the influence of the Archduchess
Charlotte, of the Empress Eugenie, of Pius IX.,
and the parts that were played by the various
priests and princes, Jesuits and great ladies,
Mexican and French adventurers — all these things
are outside the scope of the present work, and it
must suffice to say that Maximilian of Hapsburg,
forewarned and flattered, considered himself already
as Emperor of Mexico, before even the alliance
was signed (October 30, 1861) between the
European allies, providing that none of them
sought, or would under any circumstances seek, to
interfere in the domestic politics of Mexico, or
to impose any sovereign or sovereignty upon the
people of that nation.
And it was as early as January, 1862, that he
commissioned Senor Almonte, as we have already
seen, to proceed to Mexico with the French army,
invested with the powers and privileges of an
Imperial Envoy. *
Mexican refugees, disaffected to the Constitu-
tional Government, were summoned to the Court
at Miramar, where the banished Bishopst were
* And with the right to promote and appoint officers in
the Imperial Mexican Army, and even to confer titles upon
Mexican subjects. — See ante pp. 176-7.
f The Archbishop of Mexico ; the Bishops of Michoacan and
of Oaxaca.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 225
especially welcomed, and where an altar in honour
of our Lady of Guadalupe, erected in the
bedchamber of Maximilian, was displayed for
their encouragement and veneration.
How Sefior Almonte conducted himself, and
how he was alternately set up and put down by
the French in Mexico : how General Lorencez
came and went : how, after a year's delay,
General Forey at last reached the capital : and
how a bogus Assembly resolved to offer a bogus
Crown to the Austrian, or any other protected
Prince — all these things have been already
related.
The Deputation, or Committee of Invitation, left
Mexico on the i8th of August ; arrived at Miramar
on the 2nd of October, 1863 ; and was received
on the following day by the Archduke. Their
leader, or president, Gutierrez de Estrada, made
a long speech, and laid the Crown of Mexico at
the feet of the scion of Charles V.
Maximilian replied, nolens imperare, suggest-
ing that a popular vote would alone justify him in
accepting the proffered Throne ; and the Envoys,
after some further discussion and consultation,
proceeded from Miramar to Paris, to confer with
the Emperor Napoleon. The obtaining of the
popular vote in Mexico presented no difficulty to
the master of twenty legions, and orders were at
Q
226 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
once transmitted to Bazaine, to the effect that a
popular vote should be obtained.
The well-satisfied Envoys were content mean-
while to bide their time, as Maximilian privately
assured them of his ultimate acceptance of the
Crown. The confidence, indeed, was of no very
extraordinary value, seeing that the Archduke
immediately followed up his conditional refusal of
the Mexican offer, by setting out upon a kind of
Imperial and triumphal progress to the various
Courts of Europe, accompanied by a Mexican con-
fidant, in the person of Don Francisco Arrangoiz,
a gentleman whose services in the matter of the
sale of the Mesilla by Santa Anna to the United
States had been somewhat too lavishly remune-
rated, and who was familiarly known to his friends
and enemies as Don Gota de Agua.*
* The Mesilla Treaty had been negotiated by Almonte, as the
representative of Santa Anna in the United States. The wily
Dictator apparently distrusting one of the most truly honest
of his supporters, dispatched Senor Arrangoiz in hot haste to
Washington, with orders to Almonte to pay over the money to
this new Envoy, which was accordingly done. But, whatever
Almonte might have done with the money, it is certain that
Arrangoiz appropriated a large share to himself under the
name of commission, and allowed the bankers Lizardi &Co.,
to take a further $3,600,000 as their share of the plunder,
leaving a very slender amount to be transmitted to Mexico.
Called to account for the sum which he himself had con-
verted, he professed it to be a mere drop of water, gota de agua,
not worthy of consideration, and he was familiarly known as
gota de agua to the end of his days, without forfeiting the esteem
of any of his friends and admirers in Mexico. As a side light
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 22 /
His first visit, in January, 1864, was to Vienna,
whence, after a brief sojourn, he proceeded to Paris,
where he was received with the honours due to a
reigning sovereign ; and where two treaties were
discussed and approved, and a number of financial
and other questions of his Empire were arranged
by him with his Imperial brother, Napoleon III., in
March, 1864. From Paris he went on to London,
where Lord Palmerston, to his great chagrin,
received him as a simple Archduke ; and after a visit
to Claremont, he proceeded, by way of Brussels,
to Vienna. But here a disagreeable surprise awaited
him, in the form of a requisition by his Imperial
brother that he should execute a solemn act of
renunciation of his rights of succession to the
ancient Empire of his ancestors, as a condition pre-
cedent to his acceptance of the shadowy diadem
that was offered by the refugees of a distant
Republic. And thus it happened that on the
return of the Mexican delegates to Miramar,
with the necessary popular vote in their port-
folio, at the end of March, 1864, they found the
upon the financial morality of public men of his party and
station, and especially upon the character of the entourage of the
Archduke from the very first, this little story, the accuracy of
which has never been questioned, (see Domenech, II., 260-269,
and Gaulot, Reve, 270) is sufficiently interesting.
Yet Juarez, who lived and died a poor man, is spoken of by
the smiling recorder of Arrangoiz's good humour, as a
rapacious and savage extortioner, who sold Mexican territory to
foreign nations and put the purchase money in his pocket.
Q— 2
228 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Archducal Court in the utmost confusion and
distress/'" Telegrams were flying backwards and
forwards between Vienna and Paris, between
Rome and Brussels and Trieste. Couriers with
despatches arrived and departed at every hour.
Friends were called in. Complaints were uttered —
loud and long, and a dozen different resolutions
were adopted in a single day.
Maximilian would never sign the suggested
renunciation. He would sign it. The Pope
should absolve him. His wife should plead for
him. He would never give up his Austrian rights.
He would never abandon his Mexican pretensions.!
At length, after a week of hesitation and lamen-
tation^ solution was found, eminently characteristic
of the temper and intelligence of the Archduke.
If his brother would come to Miramar J as the
guest of the Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian
would sign anything that was desired. A special
train was accordingly got ready. Francis Joseph
sped over the beautiful Sommering at forty miles
an hour ; arrived at Miramar ; saluted his Imperial
* They had expected to meet Maximilian at Vienna, but
finding that he had suddenly left on the very day of their
arrival, they followed with all speed to Miramar.
f Gaulot : Reve, p. 284.
J According to M. Gaulot : Reve (pp. 1-5)), the Crown of
Mexico had been actually offered to and accepted by Maxi-
milian two years before, on the 4th of October, 1861, at this
same castle of Miramar.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 229
brother ; and returned to Vienna the same day
(April Qth) and in the same carriage, with the act
of renunciation in his pocket, duly signed by
Maximilian. *
And next morning the gratified Archduke signi-
fied to the expectant deputation his definite
acceptance of the Imperial Crown of Mexico, April
loth, 1863.1
Oaths were administered, Te Dennis were sung,
salutes were fired. All the apparel of Empire was
present. And the young aspirant to a non-existent
Throne proceeded at once to assert his sovereignty
with the assurance of a reigning monarch. He re-
established the Sacred and Knightly Order of our
Lady of Guadalupe, and gratified not only the
worthy Estrada and the capable Mejia, but even
* The text of renunciation is given in full in " Mexico,"
p. 633. It was at least characteristic of the temper and in-
telligence of the Archduke, that as soon as he found himself
— as he was foolish enough to suppose — firmly seated upon his
Throne in Mexico (December, 1864) he disavowed the solemn
renunciation which had given so much trouble, and announced
that he had never legally divested himself, and would never
part with his Austrian right of succession ! — Domenech : III.,
P- 385-
f Monsieur Lanfrey, in October, 1863, pointed out pretty
clearly the dangerous absurdity of Maximilian supposing that
this so-called summons of the Mexican nation to assume a
trone sitr un volcan had any more solid basis than that of the
power of the French army of occupation.
" L'archiduc n'a pas reflechi sans doute qu'il est plus facile
aujourd' hui de donner un trone que de le garantir ! Qui lui
redigera ce bon billet ? Et qui lui garantira ses garants ? "-
Lanfrey: " Chroniques Politiques," as republished in 1883 ;.
torn. II.. p. 262.
23O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the atrocious Marquez, with the decoration of the
Grand Cross. He appointed Ministers, with and
without portfolios, and commissioned Envoys, ordi-
nary and extraordinary. He dissolved the Mexican
Regency, appointed his wife Empress Regent of
Mexico ; and he finally sanctioned the issue of a
Franco- Mexican loan for eight millions of pounds
sterling, out of which he had been promised by the
Emperor Napoleon a bonne main of eight millions
of francs ! *
This last exercise of the sovereign power,
indeed, was that which chiefly commended itself
to his European friends and creditors ; while the
Convention, of which it was an important part, is
worthy of the attention of those who would under-
stand the true nature of the conflict between
Benito Juarez and Maximilian of Hapsburg for
supreme power in Mexico.
This remarkable agreement provided in brief:
I. — That the expenses of the French expedition,
fixed for the purpose of settlement at
* The contract for the loan had been actually signed in
Paris a month before. The decree of Maximilian for the issue
was dated Sunday, April ioth, the day of his assumption of the
Imperial title at Miramar. There is no doubt that Maxi-
milian was reduced to the utmost straits for want of money.
" Le chateau de Miramar, cribled'hypotheques, etait, disait-on,
a la veille d'etre saisi par ses creanciers ! " Lefevre : I., 313.
A very sympathetic account of the manner of life led by
the Archduke and Archduchess at Miramar will be found in
Lady Burton's life of her husband, 1893, vol.11., pp. 19-20.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 23 1
275,000,000 francs, should be a charge
upon the Mexican Exchequer. That
seventy-six millions should be immediately
handed over to France, in bonds of the new
loan, the whole to bear interest at the
rate of 3 per cent.
II. — That of the remaining 199,000,000 francs,
25,000,000 francs should be paid off in
each year in cash (to be paid by Mexico
to France) on account of principal and
interest.
III. — That all future expenses of the French occu-
pation should be paid exclusively and
directly by Mexico.
IV. — That the French army of occupation should
be gradually reduced to 25,000 men, to be
paid for by Mexico at the rate of 1,000
francs per man per annum ; and that the
supreme command of all troops in
Mexico, Mexican as well as French,
should be given exclusively to French
officers.
V. — And that, in addition to all the old claims
formulated by the French Commissioners
in January, 1862, the Mexican Govern-
ment should indemnify all French
subjects for all loss, damage, or injury
which they might in any way have sus-
232 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
tained in connection with, or in conse-
quence of, the French expedition ; and
that a Commission should sit in Mexico
within three months for the hearing and
disposal of all claims.
Verily, the little finger of the Austrian defender
was thicker than the loins of the French assailant.
The demands of de Saligny were as nothing
compared with the concessions of Maximilian,*
* The secret articles had reference to the adoption of the
anti-Mexican policy of Forey, as proclaimed i ith of June, 1863,
the grant of a concession to Fould and other French bankers
for the foundation ofaNational Bank (Baz : "Vidade Juarez,"
253) ; and the reduction in the number of French troops in
Mexico, then admitted to be 38,000, to 28,000 in 1864, 25,000
in 1866, and 20,000 in 1867. The cession to France of Sonora
and other districts in the north of Mexico was a still more secret
branch of the Imperial Convention, which was not even com-
mitted to writing.
The whole question of the cession of the Province of
Sonora — supposed to be as rich as California - — to
France by Mexico, as part of the consideration for their
Imperial bargain, is exceedingly obscure, and is only indirectly
of interest in a biography of Benito Juarez. A number of docu-
ments chiefly those which would tend to throw full light
upon the matter, and compromise the exalted huxters, have
been stolen from their place in the Mexican archives ; and
perhaps the best information and references available will be
found in Lefevre, II., pp. 90-108.
But in every book upon the subject of the French interven-
tion, some more or less puzzling reference will be found to
Doctor Gwin and the colonization of Sonora.
The question is no doubt involved in much obscurity. The
facts would seem to be, (i.) that Napoleon intended that one of
the most striking triumphs of the French intervention in
Mexico, should be the acquisition of a large slice of territory
in the New World; (2.) that the cession, under the guise of a
colonisation, of Sonora was provisionally agreed upon
before the departure of Maximilian; but that no reference was
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 233
Yet, in addition to the avowed objects of this
singular Convention, there were, after the good
old mediaeval fashion, certain secret articles, not
perhaps in themselves more disgraceful than those
which were announced to Mexico and to the
world ; but more strikingly characteristic of the
nature of the bargain, which France, acting upon
a weak and ambitious adventurer, was seeking to
foist upon a people with whom neither Napoleon
nor Maximilian had the smallest concern, and who
were in absolute ignorance of the entire transac-
tion. The \vhole story, indeed, recalls rather
those facile dispositions of sovereignty in the
Middle Ages, when all-powerful Roman Pontiffs
were used to fling crowns and sceptres from one
favourite to another, than a diplomatic Convention
in everyday Europe towards the close of the
Nineteenth Century.
made to the subject in the Convention of Miramar for reasons of
high policy ; (3.) that the difficulties attending the estab-
lishment of the Archduke in Mexico interfered with the reali-
zation of the project, until the success of the Federals in the
United States made the acquisition of territory on their frontier
by a European Power, a matter of supreme difficulty ;
and (4.) that Maximilian, having by that time learned to
hate the French, persuaded himself that he had never really in-
tended to give up any Mexican province to his Imperial brother
at the Tuileries, and paid no attention to the schemes of
Doctor Gwin, or the claims of his august protector.
See also two letters of the Emperor Napoleon to Bazaine :
dated September i2th, 1863, and December i6th, 1863,
printed in Gaulot : Reve, pp. 167-169 and 215-216.
234
CHAPTER XI.
A SHAM EMPIRE.^-MAY, 1864 — AUGUST, 1865.
On the 2gth of May, 1864, Maximilian of
Hapsburg and his brilliant train set foot on the
shores of the promised land at Vera Cruz.*
In spite of an expenditure of a hundred and
twenty thousand dollars, his reception by the
inhabitants was frigid in the extreme ; and after a
visit to Orizaba and Puebla, and the shrine of our
Lady of Guadalupe, he made his public entry into
the city of Mexico 011 the i2th of June. Proclama-
tions and receptions, Te Deums and distributions,
shows and ceremonies — of these there was no lack,
but of popular welcome on the part of Mexico, of
* " On dut payer les habits de certains notables, comme
nous avions deja paye des fleurs sous les pas des fran9ais a leur
entree dans Mexico." — Keratry, 28.
The poor Archduchess was moved to shed actual tears of
vexation at the coldness of the reception. Mr. Corwin, the
American Envoy, left Mexico in May, 1864, on hearing of the
expected arrival of Maximilian, on temporary leave of absence.
The Ministers of the other powers were instructed to welcome
the new Emperor.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 235
solid statesmanship on the part of Maximilian,
there was no sign nor symptom.
The first care of the new Emperor had been to
pay a visit to Rome on his way from Miramar
to Vera Cruz — not that he might secure the good
offices and practical co-operation of the Pope in
the all-important question of the Mexican Church ;
but merely that he might receive the personal
blessing of Pius IX. * And the rest of the voyage
had been devoted to the solution of weighty
questions of Court etiquette, and the preparation of
rules for the administration, not of the country, but
of the Palace. To reign gracefully, this was the
chief concern of Maximilian.
Mexico, according to Bazaine and the French
historians, was already conquered. Juarez, if not
actually slain, was dispossessed, discredited,
practically, if not technically, an exile, j
* For an account of the voyage and of the interview between
the Archduke and Pope Pius IX., at Rome, on the way, see
Gaulot : Maximilian, Chap. I. See also " La Cour de Rome
et 1'Empereur Maximilian," (pp. i-n), where it is said that
aucune negotiation relative aux affaires religicuses du Mexique was
undertaken. Anything so practical was foreign to the temper
of the Archduke, who was engaged upon the preparation of
his celebrated Manual of Court Etiquette.
" Ce code formait un volume de 250 pages et reproduisait,
dans leurs formules les plus meticuleuses, les regies, observees
a la cour d'Autriche. L'empereur y attachait un tel prix que,
meme pendant le voyage qu'il entreprit brentot apres, les
epreuves durent lui etre envoyees d'etape en etape,"
Masseras : " Essai d'Empire," 35. Domenech, III., 180.
f As a matter of fact, Doblado died in harness at
236 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Every city in Mexico, it was glibly asserted, with
the exception of one or two distant towns, had
given their allegiance to t h e Intervention ; a convenient
word, which to the French signified Napoleon, to the
Austnans, Maximilian ; and whilst to the Mexicans
it may possibly have suggested some future state,
conceivably better than the actual condition of
things, practically signified in the immediate
present, the French Provost Marshal and the tender
mercies of the Contra-guerilla ! *
As a matter of fact, in spite of all his difficulties,
Juarez was still recognised, in the Summer of 1864,
Zacatecas, April 22nd, 1864, of fever, due to ex-
posure to various hardships, and General Urraga remained
faithful until August, 1864, when the Government of
the Emperor looked most promising, and the fortunes of Juarez
seemed well nigh hopeless. He had even sent his wife to the
United States for greater safety. Comonfort was dead ;
one more victim of the inevitable Marquez. Juarez was left
well nigh alone.
There is a good account of the operations of the Mexican
army of the North from 1864 to I^7> by Don Juan de Dios
Arias — Mexico, 1867, i vol. pp. 730, with numerous maps and
Flans, well drawn, well coloured and neatly mounted on linen,
t is entitled, " Reseria Historica de la formacion y opera-
ciones del ejercitodel Norte."
* "Un francaisavantureux.le colonel du Pui, apres avoir fait
campagne en Chine etait venu au Mexique, et guerroyait a la
tete de la centre-guerilla. Traitant indistinctmcnt tons scs
adversaircs comme des bandits," says M. Gaulot, at once a
patriotic and an honest apologist of the French intervention,
this gentleman highwayman had acquired " une universelle
reputation de cruaute." Gaulot : Max., 311.
See also Keratry : " La Contre Guerilla," passim.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 23/
in the provinces of New Leon, Coahuilla, Tamau-
lipas, Chihuahua, Sonora, Cinaloa, Colima,
Guerrero, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas, and
Jalisco,* while a French army of over 30,000
men, assisted by some 20,000 Mexican
soldiers, was employed during the whole of
1864 in gaining continual and important victories
over the Constitutional forces that were supposed
already to have ceased to exist.
But Maximilian, pleased with his new plaything,
set to work vigorously to perform all the ceremonial
duties of royalty, and to scatter the money that
was, or might be, at his disposal with a lavish
and fatuous hand. The ex-consul Arrangoiz was
named Minister Plenipotentiary in London, with a
salary of ^"8,000 a-year. The Spanish intriguer
Hidalgo was gratified with a similar post and a
similar salary in Paris. Marquez was sent with a
splendid mission to Constantinople !
The trusted Mexican supporters of the new
regime, on the other hand,! were removed from
* See Mexico : V., p. 642.
f His most trusted adviser, virtually Grand Vizier of
Mexico, was Monsieur Eloin, a Belgian engineer, who knew
nothing about Mexico, who hated the French, and whose
greatest talent was that of a singer of comic songs. Gaulot :
Maximilian, 38-39.
The way that Marquez was provided for at the same time
is almost the only act of Maximilian which looks as if he • had
any sense of humour : for that monster of cruelty was sent
238 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
their posts ; and even Mejia, who was not only the
most faithful, but the only really capable General
among the Mexican officers on any side, with the
single exception of Porfirio Diaz,* narrowly
escaped dismissal.
Even the Bishops were estranged — not by any
anti-clerical policy, but by the absence of any
policy whatever. ! The Archduke's visit to Rome
had resulted in nothing more solid than a Papal
Benediction. The Catholic Emperor had not even
suggested a Concordat for his Mexican Church.
Almonte, the most capable and perhaps the \
devoted of the partizans of the new regime, "most ;
who had presided over the Council of Regency
during a trying year with such success that he had
been able to hand three hundred thousand dollars
of savings to the Archduke on his arrival, was
upon a diplomatic mission to the Ottoman Empire, to obtain a
Firman from the Sultan for the establishment of a Mexican
Convent of Nuns at Jerusalem. "Mexico," (Longmans,
1865). p. 20.
Miramon was about the same time sent to Berlin " to study
Fortification." Gaulot : Maximilian, 96.
* And he was brought up, like Juarez, as a lawyer. —
Keratry.
f Neither the Ecclesiastics nor those who had recently
acquired their property were satisfied, conciliated, or even
considered. See Domenech: Hist., III., pp. 108-181, and
ante- p. 235.
" Le reglement des biens de main morte restait toujours en
suspens. La cour de Rome n'avait pas encore consent^ a se
prononcer." — Keratry, 63.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 239
relegated to the ridiculous position of Master of the
Ceremonies ! *
Nor did the new Sovereign succeed in conciliating
any class or party in Mexico, Ecclesiastical, Liberal,
Absolutist, National, or even French. Sincerely
believing that by consenting to reign over the
Mexicans, he had done them an honour which
called rather for their gratitude than for any
further services on his part, he was collecting
butterflies and beetles, classifying rare plants and
deciphering ancient inscriptions, while the gravest
questions of policy and of administration remained
untouched, or consigned to the portfolios of
procrastination, t
A doctrinaire and a pedant, the Archduke would
neither devote himself to the practical but
troublesome task of creating a Government, nor
suffer any of his subordinates or Ministers to act
independently of his interference. He took credit
for rising at five in the morning, and harassed his
secretaries till nightfall with a parade of business ;
and when evening fell, nothing had been added to
the work of the regeneration of Mexico, but
* Gaulot : Maximilian, 40-41.
As to the Archduke's neglect of Gutierrez de Estrada,
who was left in France, rewarded with a despicable order ; and
the appointment of Fernando Ramirez Minister of Foreign
Affairs, see Gaulot : Max., 50-58.
f Masseras, 46-47.
24O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the further complication of questions already
complicated, and the establishment, it might be,
of a new Order of Mexican chivalry."
His vacillations between a useless Liberalism
and an offensive Absolutism ; neither summoning a
Parliament nor grasping in his own hands the reins
of Government ; neither trusting nor dismfssing his
French allies ; alarming the Church without
relieving the State ; vain, extravagant, incompe-
tent, and volatile ; he devoted his narrow intellect
to questions of precedence and of etiquette, the
amount of lace on a courtier's coat, or the due
marshalling of the ladies of the bedchamber when
the Empress went to mass at the Cathedral.!
* Among the other orders and decorations instituted by
Maximilian was the Order of Constancy, of which the insignia
were only to be granted to those who had served fifty years in
the army ! If military service under a recognised Govern-
ment was subauditur, it is hard to say when this half century
was to be taken to begin !
f "Place en face d'une situation ou 1'activitela plus eclairee
chez le chef du pouvoir aurait amplement trouve son emploi
dans la seule tache de diriger les ministres, il avait attire a lui
le gouvernement tout entier. Son cabinet particulier acca-
parait les questions les plus considerables comme les plus
minimes, les projets d'importance vitale comme les derniers
details de routine administrative. Lui-meme accumulait sur
son bureau les dossiers par centaines, les confondant dans un
pele-mele ou les plus essentiels et les plus urgents disparais-
saient sous les plus futiles. Le perfectionnement du code
d'e^iquette, 1' ordonnance d'une ceremonie, le reglement d'un
cortege, la creation de 1'ordre de 1" Aigle Mexicaine, ou de
1'ordre de Saint Charles, 1'installation du theatre de la cour,,
la tenue correcte des equipages et des livrees 1'occupaient
facilement des semaines entieres. Puis venaient la botanique
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 24!
In a country as yet without industries, his atten-
tion was chiefly set on the choice of a body of
hallebardiers unequalled in beauty and stature, for
the service of his new Palace. In a country as yet
without roads, many days and many dollars were
spent in the elaboration of a State carriage more
gorgeous than anything that was to be found in the
stables at Schonbrunn or Madrid.
From a country, the immensity of whose foreign
debt, even before his own vast concession of
indebtedness, had provoked the indignation and the
intervention of Europe, he received four hundred
thousand pounds sterling for his yearly support,
to say nothing of immense sums spent upon
more enduring or less personal objects of his
folly.*
Every morning something over £1,000 sterling
in Mexican gold coin, ceremoniously disposed
upon a gilt salver, was handed to Maximilian in his
et 1'archeologie, pour lesquelles il lui prenait des acces de
passion intermittente." Masseras, 47.
* The amount allowed to the privy purse of the Emperor
and Empress was fixed at $1,700,000, or say, ^340,000 per
annum.
But the independent expenses of the Court were enormous.
From April to August, 1864, $319,670, say ^65,000, was spent
upon carriages and horses, liveries and harness, and such like.
For the establishment of a Court Theatre $75,000 was gaily
allocated at the time when Mejia was unable to move for want of
a few thousand dollars. He afterwards occupied Matomoras
without striking a blow, September 26th, 1864. Masseras, 47-49.
R
UNIVERSITY,
. 242 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
cabinet, while £100 was similarly laid before Her
Majesty the Empress. *
It is impossible to conceive of royalty under a
more grotesque, or a more sordid light ; albeit there
is a kind of old-fashioned child's fairy-story sim-
plicity in this daily delivery of spoil, t
The resources thus strangely devoted to the
support of a sham Empire were provided, not so
much by the taxpayers of Mexico, as by the invest-
ing public of England and France. Maximilian lived
and reigned on borrowed money. And the borrowing
was reckless in the extreme. J
On the 25th of March, 1864, a contract was
signed by Mr. Glyn, of the great banking house
of Glyn, Mills, and Currie, for the issue in London
and in Paris of a Mexican Loan. The amount,
fixed at the respectable sum of ^"8,000,000 sterling,
was afterwards increased by a stroke of the pen to
£12, 365,000.
Subscribed at the price of 63 per cent,§
* Masseras, 411.
f We feel inclined to wonder if this fantastic Emperor
" counted out his money " while his consort was in her parlour
with the bread and honey before her,
} Keratry, 79-81-3.
§ The loan was ill-received both in Paris and London, and
the French bankers suftered, according to M. de Keratry,
for their devotion to the Emperor and to his Finance
Minister, Monsieur Achille Fould. The Six per Cent. Anglo-
French loan of April, 1864, was for a nominal sum of
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 243
this larger amount should have produced over
£"7,500,000 sterling in specie, to be dealt
with by the Mexican Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer; but, as usual in such cases, a good
many millions of francs had to be subtracted,
before the dollars were piled up in the Treasury at
Mexico. And it is probable that no more than one
million sterling of this immense issue, found its way
directly into the Mexican Exchequer. Of the
nominal amount of £"12,365,000, indeed, less than
two-thirds or, say, £"8, 000,000, was destined for
Mexico in any shape or way.* The remaining
£"4,365,000, which constituted a new charge upon
the Mexican Finances, was surreptitiously added by
the creation of a supplementary bonded debt of
110,000,000 francs, handed over in the form of
bonds, precisely similar to those of the authorised
issue to the French Government, partly on account
of the expenses of the war in Mexico, and partly
to provide indemnities for French subjects in that
country.
£12,365,000, producing at 63 £7,790,000, issued in bonds by
Glyn, and in Paris by the Credit Mobilier.
At this time there was an estimated annual deficit of
£2, 600,000 on an estimated revenue of £3,300,000 ! — Fenn :
on the Funds, 1867, 354.
* This £4,365,000, added to the legitimate amount of
£8,000,000, makes up the sum of the actual issue to £12,365,000,
See Lefevre II., 144-147. This £12,365,000 was disposed of
much as follows :
R — 2
244
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Meanwhile, Juarez, hardly considered by the
glittering triflers at Chapultepec,* was patiently
biding his time in the North. Yet the Autumn
and Winter of 1864 brought nothing but disaster to
the National forces ; and the seat of Constitutional
Government was constantly moved further and
further north of the ancient capital ; and the
territory that acknowledged the supremacy of
Juarez was daily growing smaller and smaller,
Handed direct to the French Government in
bonds, as explained above
Difference between par and price of 63 on
8,000,000 francs
Retained by the Commission in Paris out of
the balance, for the payment of further
interest to Bondholders, chiefly French
Pay of French troops in Mexico for one year,
(see Leievre, II., 149) ..
Francs.
Cash to Maximilian as agreed . . 8,000,000
Debt on Palace of Miramar . . 1,500,000
Belgian Legion .. .. .. 1,800,000
Austrian Legion . . . . . . 2,500,000
Francs 13,800,000
Expenses of issue, printing of bonds, commis-
sion to financial houses, brokers, and others ;
discount allowed for payment in advance,
etc. ; and bonds unissued — (Leievre : II.,
149-150 ; Gaulot : Max., 138,)
Received by the Treasury at Mexico
£
4,365,000
2,140,000
2,600,000
1,000,000
550,000
710,000
1,000,000
^12,365,000
* Maximilian had established his Palace and Court in the
beautiful suburb and park of Chapultepec. The Castle
stands on rising ground four miles to the S. W. of the capital.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 245
like the dreadful prison chamber created by the
sombre imagination of Balzac. *
On the yth of June, 1863, the same day that
Bazaine had led the vanguard of the French army
into the Mexican capital, the President and his
Ministers had entered upon their functions at San
Luis Potosi, and Juarez had taken the opportunity
of issuing a manifesto protesting, as a matter
of form, against the French invasion, and
calling upon all good Mexicans to take up arms
at once for the maintenance of Constitutional
Government and for the defence of Mexican
Independence. Assurances of loyal support had
poured in from every part of the country. And for
some time the Government of Juarez appeared as
well established at San Luis as it had formerly been
at Mexico.
In the beginning of September, 1863, the
President's Cabinet was remodelled. General
Doblado, who had held the portfolio of Foreign
Affairs, was replaced by Sebastian Lerdo de
Tejada ; Comonfort remained at the War Office ;
and a young lawyer, Don Jose Iglesias, became
Minister of Justice and Religion. But neither
Juarez nor his supporters could hope to withstand
the well-armed and well-organized forces of the
* In " La Peau de Chagrin."
246 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
French invader, when, after the departure of Forey,
the Intervention became somewhat more active
than before, and Bazaine, preparing for the recep-
tion of a new Emperor, had occupied in quick
succession Queretaro, Morelia, Guanajuato, Leon,
and Aguas Calientes in the course of November
.and December, 1863.
Nor was it only at the hands of the French
invader that the National forces were doomed to
suffer defeat.
On the 24th of November, 1863, Negrete was
out-generalled and beaten, not by a French Mar-
shal, but by the little Indian, Thomas Mejia, one
of the bravest and most capable Generals of
Mexico, and San Luis itself was threatened by his
rebel forces.
Comonfort, surprised at the head of a small
detachment by a body of troops under Marquez,
was butchered in cold blood before the end of the
same month. *
And at length, on Christmas Eve, 1863, Mejia
succeeded in taking possession of San Luis
Potosi, whence the President, with the other
members of the National Government, were forced
to flee in haste to Saltillo, in the far North-East
of Mexico.
* At San Miguel de Allende, i ith of November, 1863. The
disgrace of his murder is shared by Marquez and Mejia.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 247
Madame Juarez and her children had already been
sent further north for greater safety. Juarez him-
self, anxious to remain at his post to the very last
moment, owed his safety, it is said, to the prompti-
tude and courage of his devoted servant, Juan
U duet a.*
Arriving at Saltillo on the gth of January, 1864,
he found that General Vidaurri, Governor of
New Leon and Coahuila, had actually offered to
surrender those important provinces to the French.
Without troops ; for he had left every available
soldier with Negrete and Uraga to make head
against the advance of the invader ; almost without
guards; but accompanied by his little Cabinet and a
few secretaries and faithful followers, Juarez lost not a
moment in pushing on to Monterey. The Governor,
surprised by this rapid movement, was unable to
organise an armed resistance : and his uncertain
troops, encouraged by the arrival of Juarez himself,
declined to rebel at the bidding of their commander.
Vidaurri, dismissed and vanquished without the
firing of a shot, fled to Mexico, where he was
welcomed by Maximilian ; and Juarez took up his
quarters with his entire Cabinet in the picturesque
and loyal city of Monterey.
* He had served the President as a coachman from his
landing at Vera Cruz in 1858, and he continued in his service
until his master's death in 1872.
248 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
It was here that a small party of his friends,
headed by Doblado, despairing of the Republic, and
not unnaturally disheartened by the reiterated
assurances of the invaders that the only Govern-
ment with which they could not treat was that of
Juarez — waited upon the President, and requested
or suggested to him, that he should abdicate his
supreme power in favour of General Ortega
(January, 1864). The suggestion found no favour
in the sight of Juarez, or any member of his
Cabinet ;* but Doblado remained loyal to his old
chief, until his death some three months afterwards!
deprived the National party of a most capable if
not an entirely trusted officer.
Juarez meanwhile maintained the even tenour of
his way ; and in these trying times, when every dollar
was needed for the actual necessities of the defence,
and when dollars were few and hardly obtained,
he was not unmindful of absent friends. The
officers taken prisoners at Puebla in July, 1863, to
the number of 543, who had refused to take the
new oath of allegiance tendered by Forey, had
been shipped off to France by their captors ; and
they were lodged in various inland towns, isolated
* Lerdode Tejada's answer is given in Baz : Vida, p. 263.
f Monsieur Gaulot : (Reve, 266,) says that Doblado retired
to the United States in May, 1864, taking with him an immense
treasure, and that he died in exile in the following year. I
believe my account to be the correct one.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 249
one from another, and hardly provided with the
means of subsistence."
Various attempts were made to induce them to
sign declarations recognising the new Government
of Mexico. But a large majority refused to
transfer their allegiance to the invader. And, in
order to provide adequately for the support of
these loyal countrymen, Juarez himself, harassed
fugitive as he was in Mexico, contrived to procure
and dispatch to France over a hundred thousand
francs, t
Until the 1 5th of August, 1864, the President
was able to maintain his position and his Govern-
ment at Monterey ; but the ever-advancing French
drove him once more to seek a more northern
asylum, until at length, on the I2th of October,
1864, he halted at the remote provincial capital of
Chihuahua ; while Madame Juarez, yielding to the
entreaties of her husband, took refuge with
her family in the United States. J
* Some of these unfortunates were reduced to a subsistence
allowance of ^4 a month, out of which they had to pay for
their own lodgings. — Lefevre, I., 331-333.
f " Mexico ; " V., 645-7.
} On the 3ist of July, 1864, Maximilian, to the great an-
noyance of his French advisers, decreed the cessation of the
blockade on all the coasts of Mexico.
On the 3oth of August, 1864, Bazaine received at the hands
of Napoleon the well-deserved baton. His army was
judiciously augmented, and for the time being, the French
influence was strong in well-nigh every part of Mexico.
25O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
General Negrete, whose army had been cut to
pieces by the French some months before, joined
his chief at Chihuahua, and having been appointed
Minister of War in the place of the unfortunate
Comonfort (September, 1864), was entrusted with
the command of a new army raised and equipped by
the untiring energy of Juarez, even as he himself
was driven from city to city by the ever advancing
tide of invasion. The Indian statesman would, in
one respect at least, have gained the applause of
William of Orange, in that, being no soldier, but a
" President in a black coat," he made no pretence of
commanding his armies, and entrusted the conduct
of military operations entirely to his Generals in the
field. But as a raiser of armies under the most
constant and apparently overwhelming difficulties,
he is almost without an equal in history. His
military commanders were no doubt frequently
incompetent, his Indian troops poorly equipped;
and that they should have been so constantly un-
successful when opposed to the trained and seasoned
troops of Imperial France, is a result hardly
to be wondered at. But as each army was defeated
and broken up, Juarez was found to have equipped
another, ready to take its place for the defence of
his country/'1'
* By a somewhat singular coincidence, at the end of the
year 1864, the number of troops at the disposal of President
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
251
Negrete, in the Spring of 1865, succeeded in
retaking not only Saltillo, but Monterey ; but by
some military blundering, he contrived to lose both
those important positions, as well as his entire
army, ere he presented himself once more before the
most patient of Presidents, at Chihuahua. On nest
plus heuveux a notre age, Monsieur le Mavechal, said the
most courtly of Monarchs to his defeated Marshal of
France.'''
Yet a fine phrase was easy enough when nothing
Juarez and that of those charged with his destruction was
about equal. According to Niox, the invaders were,
French . . . . . . 35,000
Belgians . . . . . . 1,500
Austrians . . . . 6,500
43,000
And I take from Lefevre, I., 392, the following estimate of the
number of the Constitutional forces.
In the Province or State of Jalisco . . . . 10,000
Oaxaca . . . . 9,000
Nuevo Leon . . 5,000
Durango . . 2,000
Vera Cruz . . 2,000
Puebla . . . . 3,000
San Luis . . 5,000
Tamaulipas . . 2,000
Zacatecas . . 2,000
Michoacan .. 1,500
Guanajuato .. 1,500
43,000
Marshal Villeroi, after Ramillies, May, 1706.
252 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
menaced the Crown or dignity of Louis XIV., nor
abated a jot of the splendour of Versailles.
Juarez, on the contrary, threatened in person as
well as in Government by the victorious column
that pursued the defeated Negrete, was com-
pelled once again to retire. * And after a rough
journey, he turned to make his last stand on the
very northernmost frontier of his country, at a
place that was appropriately known as Paso
del Norte, at a distance of over eleven hundred
miles from the City of Mexico.!
* 5th of August, 1865.
f Now, no less appropriately, named Ciudad de Juarez, the
frontier station on the through line of railway (Mexican
Central) from New York to the city of Mexico.
It may afford some idea of the change that has passed over
the country in eight-and-twenty years to note that the ex-
press train leaving New York at 10.0 p.m. on Monday, crosses
the frontier at Ciudad de Juarez at 7.0 p.m. on the following
Friday, and arrives at the city of Mexico at 7.0 a.m on the
next Monday, after a run of 1,225 rniles (I>97° kilometres) of
Mexican railway in thirty-six hours.
253
CHAPTER XII.
PLAYING WITH FIRE. — AUGUST, 1865 — OCTOBER,
1865.
From August, 1864, when Bazaine was rewarded
for his zeal and his success with a Marshal's baton*
to June, 1865, when he married a Mexican wife,
French influence was at its height in Mexico,
both at the Court and in the Provinces.!
Yet Maximilian was by no means satisfied with
his position;! and as early as February, 1865,
* On the ist of October, 1864, a new French journal, devoted
to the policy of the Intervention, and subsidized by the French
to the extent of 150,000 francs per annum, appeared in Mexico.
It was called L'Ere Nouvelle, and was edited by an accom-
plished journalist, M.Emmanuel Masseras, whose "Essaid'Em-
pire " I have constantly consulted with advantage in the course
of my own work. The contract between him and Marshal
Bazaine and M. de Montholon is given by Gaulot: Max, p. 90.
f In March, 1865, Bazaine took upon himself to banish
from Mexico a certain Father Allean, on suspicion of being a
friend of the Papal Nuncio ! Gaulot : Maximilian, 135-136.
Juarez himself had never ventured to take such liberties
with the Clergy.
I See translation of a letter written in cipher from the
city of Mexico, January 5th, 1865, in Gaulot: Maximilian, 155.
254 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
he had actually contemplated abdication.
Money was already scarce ; procrastination was
already common : and the settlement of the Jecker
debt, so earnestly desired by his friends at the
Tuileries, appeared to be as far off as ever. * For
Maximilian, now that he was fairly established on
the throne, showed a considerable aptitude for the
postponement of disagreeable claims. t But he
was at length given so very clearly to understand
that no further delay could be permitted, that
after endless negotiations and subterfuges, a Con-
vention, known as the Corta-Bonnefons Convention,
was signed in April, 1865, by which the amount of
the Jecker debt, reduced by about 40 per cent, to a
trifle over $5,500,000, was to be paid off at the
rate of $1,000,000 a year, in something over five
year and a half.
The Mexican Government was at this time
hopelessly insolvent ; and Jecker contrived to
* M. Lefevre consecrates an entire chapter of his first
volume (cap. xiv. pp. 164-185) to the history of the Crcance
Jecker : the Swiss nationality of the banker ; the mode of
issue of the bonds ; with many interesting and piquant details,
which must be exceedingly unpleasant reading to the friends
of M. Dubois de Saligny . et Compagnie.
f The Budget of the Mexican Empire, as prepared in
June, 1865, by a French financier, shews an ordinary expendi-
ture of no less than $205,000,000 or over ^40, 000,000 sterling.
The Revenue calculated upon the most hopeful basis could
not exceed ^30,000,000, leaving a minimum annual deficit
of over ^10,000,000 sterling.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 255
obtain a modification of the Convention of April
by another agreement, which was signed in
August of the same year, under the terms of
which he consented to a still further reduction of
the amount to be recovered, to $4,500,000
payable immediately in cash, by two instalments,
in August and December. A bill for the first
moiety of $2,500,000 was immediately drawn upon
the Commissioners of the Mexican Loan in Paris,
and was duly met at maturity ; but a second draft
for the remaining $2,000,000 was dishonoured,
and formed the subject of a claim by French
Jecker against the French Government, after the
fall of Maximilian ; a claim which, it is needless to
say, was entirely disregarded in Paris.
The net result, therefore, of the French inter-
vention, as far as it was undertaken to enforce the
payment to Monsieur Jecker and his friends in
France of $15,000,000 by the Mexican taxpayers,
was ultimately the payment of $2,500,000 to
Monsieur Jecker himself, by certain French finan-
ciers in Paris.
The secret history * of the Jecker claim forms no
* Jecker was naturalized a Frenchman at the solicitation of
the Due de Morny, March 26th, 1862.
See also Lano : "Secret d'Empire," and " Diary of an
English Resident in Paris," vol. II., pp. 67-70, where the true
reason for the French intervention in Mexico is found — or
sought — in a Court intrigue about a box at the Opera !
256 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
part of the biography of Juarez ; and yet some
slight acquaintance with the subject is necessary
to enable us fully to realise the nature and extent
of the forces against which the Mexican President
was called upon to struggle. The bribery of the
Due de Morny by Jecker and his friends ; the
coercion of Napoleon III. by his irrepressible
step-brother ; the naturalisation of Swiss Jecker,
who at the time of the intervention could not even
claim to be a French subject ; these things
should at least be referred to. They may be
studied in the secret history of the Tuileries
Nor is the end of the unhappy banker unworthy of
a passing notice.
Having rendered himself, by his proceedings in
Mexico," liable to criminal prosecution after the
fall of Maximilian ; and having lost all his in-
fluence in Paris on the death of Morny in 1865,
Jecker was at length reduced to writing a
threatening letter to the Emperor Napoleon, on
* On the 3rd of November, 1858, Juarez had issued a Decree
from the Palace of Government at Vera Cruz, cautioning all
persons, Mexicans and foreigners, against lending any assistance
in money, munitions of war, or otherwise, to the revolutionary
leaders in Mexico ; and decreeing moreover, that any person so
lending should forfeit ipso facto the money or goods so lent or
provided, and should further be liable to prosecution for the re-
covery of a penalty of double the amount or value of the loan, or
other assistance. [Keratry.iy.] The remembrance of this Decree
was not encouraging to Monsieur Jecker, as regards making
good any claim for repayment or compensation from the Con-
stitutional Government when it was restored in Mexico.
r
A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
the 8th of December, 1870, stating that he would
publish the correspondence and papers that
were in his possession with regard to the
Imperial intervention in Mexico, unless he was
paid by the Emperor. The letter was found,
with other secret papers, on the sack of the
Tuileries, and Jecker himself was shot by the
Communists as he was stealing out of Paris, on
the 26th of May, 1871.
It was against such men as these : the Jeckers,
the Mornys, the Miramons, the Bastidas,* the
Napoleons, the Maximilians, and the less dis-
tinguished adventurers of two continents, who
flattered and plundered them, that Benito Juarez,
almost forgotten in his northern retreat, was
found to fight in Mexico.
But at Chapultepec and at the Tuileries, the
trumpet was bravely blown for the delectation of
fools.
In September, 1865, a new Mexican loan for
^10,000,000 was launched in Paris, in bonds or
* According to Griscelli, "Crimes Politiques cle
Napoleon III.," (Paris, 1873), pp. 55-59, it was Monsignor La
Bastida, afterwards Archbishop of Mexico, who negotiated
the secret Convention between Jecker and Morny, It is only
fair to Monsieur Jecker to add to all that has been said and
cited, that he has published a long and elaborate defence of his
conduct in the Revue Contempfraiiu of January i5th, 1868.
I have read the article whh much care, but with little
satisfaction.
MJjpx.
OF THE X
UNIVERSITY)
ofr /
OA] /FORNlA- ^
258 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
obligations of 500 francs, issued at 340, with
a lottery or drawing, with rich prizes, devised to
attract the Mexicans, who were understood to be
devoted to gambling. But the net was spread in vain.
The Mexicans — gamblers or otherwise, failed to sub-
scribe ; and although the new loan was combined
with a scheme of converting the loan of the previous
year, already at a serious discount, and, although
the entire administrative power of the French
Empire and a powerful syndicate of bankers,
supported by M. Fould, was devoted to the placing
of the bonds among the French provincials, the issue
fell very flat, and before the end of 1866 the bonds
were quoted on the Exchanges of London and
Paris at a nominal i8J per cent, of their par value/'"
Nor did any very large number of dollars find
their way into the Mexican Treasury ; and the
Empire was once more bankrupt, within a twelve-
month of the issue of the loan.
The French army of occupation had been guilty,
almost from the time of their arrival in the city
of Mexico, of many and great atrocities ; not
the spasmodic cruelties of an ill-disciplined
* The 1864 Loan had declined at the same time to 12^.
The secret history of all these Imperial stock-jobbing
operations will be found in Keratry : " La Creance Jecker," pp.
106-153.
See also Lefevre ; II., pp, 156-170, where thematter is still
more fully developed by extracts from the Imperial
correspondence,
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 259
soldiery, but the organized tyranny of military
Governors, irresponsible and arbitrary, chagrined
at the poor success of their operations in the
field. Courts Martial were the only tribunals recog-
nized in the country, wherever the National
flag had ceased to fly. The capital, under the eye
of the Commander-in- Chief, was governed with an
uncompromising vigour. In the provinces the vigour
was still more pronounced. Houses and even
villages were plundered and burnt, as a matter of
military discipline. The lives and honour of the
peaceable inhabitants were everywhere at the
mercy of some choleric captain on the spot." The
Contra-guerrilla had more than the savagery, with-
out any of the redeeming patriotism, of the
guerilleros.
But for all this Bazaine was more blameable than
Maximilian, and local commanders like General de
Champagny were perhaps more blameable than
* By a decree issued as early as 2oth June, 1863, the whole of"
Mexico was placed under martial law, and so remained vir-
tually until the restoration of President Juarez. — Lefevre, I.,
315 ; and II., 243-5.
The massacres at Tlacotalpam (July 30, 1864), Amatlan
Huanchinango (August, 1864) [" Mexico; V." pp. 658-660] were
only exceeded in horror by that of Concordia — whose name is
more easily recalled ! (nth nf February, 1865) (op. cit., p. 6g6}.
These are only one or two out of the many hundreds.
The celebrated Courts Martial, first established by Cas-
tagny, 25th of January, 1865, were so effective that Bazaine
refused to countersign the Imperial Decree of October 5th.
— Keratry, 84, Mexico, 694-6, and post p. 264.
S — 2
26O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Bazaine. Mexico, to the French soldiery, who
were not likely to have been influenced by senti-
mental proclamations, was an enemy's country. The
climate was trying ; the occupation was unpopular ;
the National troops, patiently maintaining an
unequal contest against the overwhelming forces
of the invader, were always spoken of as rebels
and brigands. That houses should be plundered
and towns burnt, that prisoners should be shot
and defenceless citizens murdered and outraged,
was not extraordinary. But that the system* which
produced these horrors should be accepted and
perpetuated by the foreign usurper says as little for
his heart as for his head. I
Yet all this was as nothing to his conduct in
October, 1865.
* As a specimen and a certain indication of the savagery
with which the \var was waged by the French against the
Mexicans, whom they came to civilise, I am able to give totidem
I'ci'bis a general order issued by Bazaine to all the officers of his
army on the nth of October, 1865:
" Je vous invite a faire savoir aux troupes sous vos ordres que je
n'admets pas qu'on fassedesprisonniers. Tout individu,quel qu'ilsoit, qui
sera pris les armes a la main, sera mis a mort. Aucun echange de
prisonniers ne se fera.
" BAZAINE."
It is scarcely possible to believe that such an order is genuine1
yet I have copied it from the appreciative pages of Monsieur
Duvernois, where it may be read, with the Editor's apologies,
on pp. 364-370-
f According to M. Faucher de Saint Maurice, author of a
very eulogistic little biography of the Archduke, pleasantly
written, but poetry rather than history, under the title of
" Notes pour servir," etc., Quebec, 1889, (p. 49), the favourite
motto of Maximilian was the English, Tafte it coolly !
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 26 1
By that time, not only any man of sense, but any
man of only average folly, would have perceived
that the Empire was a failure ; any man of only
average vanity would have realized that he
was not wanted in Mexico. An acquaintance of
a year-and-a-half had not rendered Maximilian's
Government more popular." An army of sixty
thousand men had not been able to drive
his modest rival out of his country. While
he received the measured homage of lords
in waiting, and was admired by maids of
honour ; while he lavished the money that was
collected by foreign bayonets, on the gratification
of each passing whim, Juarez, without a Court
and without an ally, remained President of
Mexico.
Yet beyond the fact that Maximilian was singu-
larly and pre-eminently unfitted for the position in
which he had placed himself, and that he had neither
legal nor moral right to be there at all, his faults,
up to October, 1865, had been rather faults of
omission than of commission ; of incompetence
" A la fin de 1865, le tresor Mexicain s'epuisait deja, et la
mauvaise gestion financiere provoquait un accroissement de
deficit qui d'ailleurs n'eut jamais pu etre comble par lecontrole
le plus severe, car les recettes, eussent-elles etc regulierement
per^ues ne depassaient pas 90 millions de francs, tandis que,
sans parler des amortissements les depenses engloutissaient
150 millions au moins. Pourtant jamais le besoin d'argent ne
s'etait manifeste plusimperieusement." Keratry, p. 88.
262 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
rather than of wickedness, of weakness rather than
of blood-guiltiness.
Had he abdicated his pinchbeck Crown, as he is
said to have desired, in the Summer of 1865,*
he might have been blamed as a poltroon, or he
might have been lauded as a hero — a Reputation is
that which no man can foretell — but he would have
quitted Mexico with the self-satisfaction of an
honest man.
What he actually did was something very
different. Believing, or affecting to believe, that all
resistance to his authority was on the point of
extinction, and anxious to give the coup de grace to
such resistance as might yet endure, he prepared
and published a Proclamation and a Decree I by
* Mexico, 763.
f It is always stoutly maintained by the apologists of
Maximilian, as the only possible justification for this sangui-
nary Decree, that the Archduke at least honestly supposed that
the whole of Mexico was already subject to his Government,
and that none but brigands were left to oppose him and his
civilization.
Butin a very interesting little book, published at Rome, at the
end of 1867 : " Rapporti della Corte di Roma col governo Messi-
cano," publishing for the first time many original letters and
documents, I read in a confidential letter from Maximilian to the
Holy See, under date 2Qth of June, 1865, not only that the
greater part of Mexico refused to accept his government, but
that he knew it, and complained bitterly to the Pope of his
hard and helpless condition :
" Bisogna dirlo francamentc " says he, in the opening of this
letter, " die la nostra situazione militaree delle peggiore " . . And after
-enumerating in detail the various cities that were still in open
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 263
which it was ordained that every soldier or officer,
or any man belonging or appertaining or attached in
any way to the forces of the National army, or any
other person who might give them warning, notice,
or counsel, or should give or sell them horses,
arms, or food, should, on falling into the hands of the
French or Imperial Mexican commanders, be put
to death within twenty-four hours/'" The whole
of Mexico, with the exception of the partizans of
the usurper, was condemned to death. The religious
\vars of the Sixteenth Century in Europe can hardly
supply a parallel in reckless contemplation of
slaughter.
The apologists of Maximilian have endeavoured
to lay the blame of this wicked and foolish Decree
upon the Ministers who accepted it, rather than
upon the Autocrat who propounded it ; and Maxi-
milian himself, in his defence before the
Tribunal at Queretaro, sought to cast the entire
responsibility of its enunciation upon Marshal
Bazaine ; and of its execution upon his French
officers. -j- A plea under such circumstances must
not be too nicely criticized. Yet the responsi-
revolt, and the list is a long one, he concludes his review of
the situation thus : " Dal Nortc non pcrvcngonofiu notizie, di modo
chc la posisionc miliiarci1 lo rcpito, assai cattiva"
* Procurando que el reo reciba los auxilios espirituales.
f Mexico, 727.
264 A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
bility is purely that of the Emperor himself." The
draft of the Decree exists, and it is in his own
handwriting, i Bazaine disapproved and declined
even to countersign the Proclamation.;:
* Keratry, 84.
Yet Arrangoiz (IV. 17-24), elaborately contends that
Bazaine was entirely to blame.
f According to Lefevre, II., 240: the draft which he has
seen is not in the Archduke's handwriting.
J The refusal of Bazaine, indeed, was not suggested
by any considerations of mercy, but simply in that, not
being one of Maximilian's regular Ministers, his signature
would have been superfluous, if not impertinent.' The Courts
Martial, moreover, were in full swing. No quarter was given,
as we have seen, by the French in the field ; and the grant to
Mexicans of such enormous power of slaughtering other
Mexicans appeared to Bazaine to be bad policy. No action of
the French would render the Archduke so unpopular in Mexico
as the proceedings of his Mexican supporters. And French
cruelty in the eyes of a French Marshal like Bazaine, was a
much more reasonable and respectable thing than Mexi-
can cruelty, even when suggested by an" Austrian Arch-
duke.
Yet, according to M. Gaulot (" Maximilian," 277), Bazaine,
in a confidential letter to the Minister of War in Paris,
makes use of words which would seem to invest him with
a certain share in the responsibility of this odious edict.
" S. M.," says he, "s'est enfindecidee sur ines conseils a donner
une preuve de fermete qui a fait un bon effet parmi les con-
servateurs."
" Mais quant £ la forme choisie par Maximilien," continues
M. Gaulot himself (/'&.), "leMarechal n'y fut pour rien."
" La fennetp de Maximilien " was indeed a poor thing !
It may perhaps fairly be noticed here that on the 7th of
August, 1866, a year after the Decree, and when the fortunes
of the Empire were desperate, Maximilian proposed to
declare the wlwle of Mexico in a state of siege ; and that he was
only prevented from this astounding act of savagery by the
remonstrances of Bazaine ! His letter and that of the
humane Marshal will be found in Keratry, 152-157.
A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ. 265
One single individual was withdrawn from the
scope of this edict of death. Not Lerdo de Tejada,
nor yet Pornrio Diaz, not even the President himself.
But in case Vicente Riva Palacio should fall into
the hands of the army, wrote the Imperial Secretary
to Marshal Bazaine, let him be brought at once to
Mexico. " This is the only exception that his Majesty
for special reasons proposes to make to the execu-
tion of the Decree of October 3/'::
The belief in the truth of statements on account
of their impossibility is -one of the lest theological
arts or mental exercises of the middle ages. But
when we are gravely told that Maximilian's reason
for the fulmination of this dreadful decree was to
predispose the mind of Juarez to recognise his
Government, and induce him to accept the post of
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ' under the
Empire, we are tempted to wonder that people can
find anything strange in the creations of Mr^
Gilbert and Mr. Lewis Carroll. Whether the
suggestion is more valuable as a sample of Maxi-
milian's methods of Government, or of the fatuity
of those who would explain them, is somewhat hard
to say.
Letter of November i6th, 1865, Military Secretary to
Bazaine.
Keratry, 319-320 — Mexico, V., 735.
f Keratry, 83-4
266 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The making of the decree itself ; the exception of
one favoured foe from the universality of its opera-
tion ; the reasons that were suggested for its issue ;
the excuses that were made for its execution ; each
and all are marked with the same brand of folly
and wickedness, leading, as they needs must, to
disaster and disgrace. *
It is a common device in Oriental fiction, an
one familiar to every reader of the Biblical story of
Esther, for a judicious Sovereign to present to an
unsuspecting evil-doer some hypothetical case of
iniquity, and desire to be advised as to the punish-
* It is commonly said that this sanguinary edict was
directed only against persons found by the French or Imperialist
troops with arms in their hands. This would have been
sufficiently comprehensive, yet the scope of the Decree was far
greater. "All those," runs the opening section, " who may be-
long to armed bands or associations (reunions) not legally
authorized, whether they proclaim any political pretext or not,
and whatever may be the number of those who form the band,
their organization and the character and denomination which
they may assume, shall be judged in military fashion by the
Courts Martial ; and on being found guilty, even if only of the
fact of belonging to the band, shall be condemned to death, and
executed within twenty-four hours from the time of sentence."
My translation is somewhat bald. I have desired only
to make it literal.
It is further worthy of notice that on the 4th of November,
1866, over a year after this Decree had been in force, it was
replaced, after mature consideration by Maximilian, by one
hardly less sanguinary ; and the order transmitted on the 5th
of February, 1867, by the Archduke to Mon clicv Miramon as to
the disposal of Juarez as soon as he should be taken, is more
than sufficient to show the disposition of the so-called
Emperor, even when Bazaine was far away. See Lefevre, II.,
290-295.
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 26/
ment that should be meted out to the culprit. But
Maximilian of Hapsburg little recked, when he
decreed the death of every man who opposed his
Government in the free Republic of Mexico, that
he was signing his own death-warrant. It was no
shaft forged by Juarez that struck him down at
Queretaro. It was the weapon that he himself had
fashioned."
The Decree of October 3rd, 1865, was not long
suffered to remain a dead letter. On the i3th of
the same month the Imperialist General Mendez t
surprised and defeated the Constitutional forces
under General Arteaga, at Santa Anna Amatlan,
near Tancitaro ; and a number of prisoners fell
into his hands. Their high rank and military posi-
tion induced Mendez to refer the case to headquarters,
where as Maximilian afterwards maintained, the
Decree was interpreted with benignity, before
carrying out the newT decree. And the result
was the execution, or rather the murder in cold
blood, at Uruapan, on October 22nd, 1865, of
General Arteaga, Brigadier-General Salazar, and
Colonels Diaz Paracho, Villa Gomez, and Perez
* Technically, no doubt, he was tried and condemned to
death under the law and decree of February, 1862, but he
would hardly have been indicted under its provisions but for
his own action in October, 1865.
f Mendez had only the rank of Colonel at the time. See
Lefevre, II., 267-9
268 A LIFE OF BFXITO JUAREZ.
Milicua, with a number of officers of lower grade.
No reference to this exploit was permitted in any
of the Mexican newspapers. Mendez was
rewarded with a step in the Army, and the
command of a Brigade. :;: The civilization of
Mexico had indeed been commenced in good
earnest.
Yet some Belgian prisoners in the hands of the
Constitutional army, who had been treated with
the utmost consideration by their captors, were
moved to address a remonstrance to the Emperor
upon his violation of all the laws and usages of
civilized warfare, inasmuch as it might expose
them to reprisals. But reprisals were never
permitted by Juarez or his Generals. Yet no one
at the Imperial Court seems to have had sufficient
sense of humour to be struck by the difference
between the procedure of the refined and refining
* The remonstrance of Mr. Bigelow, the United States
Minister, to the French Foreign Office, provoked only a
scornful refusal to be responsible for the acts of the Emperor
of Mexico. " Mexico, "73.5.
M. Gaulot, in his elaborate apology for Bazaine and
Maximilian, is very severe upon those writers who " donnant
dans un don-quichottisme un peu naif, ont gemi sur cette
legion de patriotes exposes a etre fusilles dans lejvingt quatre
heures." ["Maximilian:" 280-282.] " L' Empire," says he, "a
essaye au M^xique ce que la royaute a fait en Algerie, ce que
la Republique a execute a Tunis et -a. Tonkin." This defence
appears to me even more naive thian the indignation of his
opponents. Is the man, moreover, so very simple who prefers
Don Quixote to Bazaine ?
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 269
foreigner and that of the savage and unspeakable
barbarian. If Maximilian was not the most
unscrupulous of usurpers, he was certainly the
dullest of doctrinaires.
2/0
CHAPTER XIII.
PASO DEL NORTE.
At the end of 1865 the fortunes of Juarez had
fallen to* their very lowest ebb. His patience alone
was not exhausted. Hope yet remained in the well-
nigh empty box. Porfirio Diaz, his most trusted
General, had been besieged at Oaxaca by Bazaine
in person, at the head of a numerous army. The
• town had fallen ; and the Commander, after a
gallant defence, had been taken prisoner and im-
prisoned in a fortress at Puebla.*
In other places the National troops had suffered
serious, if less striking, reverses ; and at
Paso del Norte, on the very brink of the river
which divided his territory from that of the United
States, Juarez was making his last standv
By the end of the year, the army of the Interven-
tion had been increased to an effective of not less
* He refused to give his parole, and was fortunate enough
to make his escape after a few weeks' captivity. Marshal Forey
expressed his opinion in the French Senate that he ought to
have been shot. Keratry, 58.
A LIFE OF BKNITO JUAREZ. 2J I
than seventy-two thousand men,:': while the
National forces, scattered, harassed, and disorgan-
ised, could hardly be said to constitute an army
at all. It was the master-hand of Juarez alone
that held aloft the torch of National life in Mexico.
At this moment the country was threatened with
a new danger, a deadly peril from within. The
Presidential powers with which Juarez was invested
under the Constitution, in January, 1861, expired
on the 3oth of November, 1865 ; and pending
a new election, the supreme authority would, under
ordinary circumstances, pass into the hands of the
Vice-President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Mexico.
Juarez himself had succeeded in this way to the
Presidential chair on the flight of Comonfort. Yet
the general conditions were widely different ; for
Comonfort in 1859 was a rebel and a fugitive ;
Juarez in 1865 was well-nigh the sole representa-
tive of National authority and National defence in
the country. He had, moreover, been specially
* Mexicans
35.500
Belgians
1,500
Austrians
6,500
French
28,500
Total troops
72,000
Keratry, 92.
A LIFE OF BFXITO JUAREZ.
invested by the Chambers, in April, 1863, with the
supreme power in Mexico, until the foreigner
should have been driven out of the country ; and it
was obvious, not only to him, but to all his friends,
that a Presidential election, although it would
certainly have led to his own re-election to office,
might possibly have been productive of dangerous
divisions, or unfortunate political complications,
and would certainly, under the existing circum-
stances of the country, have been a piece of pure
constitutional pedantry.
Accordingly, at Paso del Norte, on the 8th of
November, 1865, Juarez issued a Decree" formally
postponing the new Presidential election until a
more convenient season.
It is hard to see how he could have acted
otherwise ; and his action has been criticised only by
a few of the more jealous of his enemies, and a
few of the most impracticable of doctrinaires. Had
Maximilian taken advantage of the opportunity to
summon a Parliament, and submitted his own
claims to supreme government to the representa-
tives of the nation — however elected — he would
have seriously embarrassed Juarez, and he could
hardly have failed to strengthen his own position
both in and out of Mexico.
* The Decree is printed in full by Domenech : History,
III., 368-9.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2/3
That in a country like Mexico, and under
circumstances like those in which Juarez then
found himself, only two men should have been
found to make anything like a protest against his
action, when so admirable an opportunity pre-
sented itself for pronouncement and defection, is
itself one of the most remarkable facts in the
situation. It was General Ortega, a man who
had begun life as a travelling mountebank, and
as a capable soldier, had been advanced to high
honour by Juarez, who saw fit at this juncture to
challenge his right to a retention of power. And a
pronunciamientOj of somewhat an antiquated type,
was planned by him against the President, or
against his new Decree.
Ortega, however, found neither sympathy nor
assistance in Mexico ; his projects were sternly
repressed in the United States ; and his intrigues
led to nothing but his own confusion, and the
desertion of his solitary supporter, General Ruiz,"
to the camp of Maximilian.
The demeanour of Juarez, in these trying times,
was in the highest degree characteristic and
* General Ruiz took advantage of this opportunity of
changing sides; but he was alone, or almost alone in his
action.
Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada was, in this as in other cases, the
most faithful supporter and the boldest adviser of President
Juarez. — See Domenech, III., 367-370.
X^. O.THH
(UN]
^C °e
274 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
admirable. Hunted, like some wild creature, to the
very confines of his territory ; outlawed, not only
by the usurper in Mexico, but by every Govern-
ment in Europe ; without money, without credit,
and at length actually doomed to death ; the inflex-
ible President maintained not only a calm, but
even a well-satisfied demeanour ; doing all that
was humanly possible to maintain his Constitu-
tional Government in Mexico, with the least
appearance of effort ; never complaining, never
reviling, awaiting with a cheerful hope the dawn
_^of a happier day.
His establishment at Paso del Norte was, as
may be supposed, of the simplest ; and yet the
social obligations of his position as President of
Mexico were never forgotten ; and the ball that
was given in honour of the anniversary of Mexican
Independence, in the autumn of 1865, was attended
not only by many of his friends in Mexico, but
by some visitors from the United States to the
North of the Rio Grande.
" We have seen many entertainments in New
York," says one of his American guests, " some
under the most favourable auspices, but we must
in justice declare that we have seen none
which surpassed the Mexican President's ball at
El Paso *".•'..>
* " New York Catholic World," Vol. XVI., No. 92, Nov.,
1872, p. 283.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2/5
There may have been more glare, more glitter,
more diamonds ; but not more good taste, nor more
elegance, nor more refinement, nor more genuine
good breeding and good humour."
After supper the President sat for over an hour
chatting pleasantly with the American ladies in the
simplest Spanish he could devise. " No one, "says
the appreciative guest, " could have imagined, as
they saw him laughing and chatting gaily away,
that he had on his shoulders all the cares of a
tottering government and of an empty treasury."
He would have been a bold man who, on that
September night, would have prophesied that in less
than eighteen months Maximilian would be a fugi-
tive in a provincial town, and that in less than two
years Juarez would be sitting in his Palace in the
ancient capital of Mexico.
His guests, delighted as they were with the
President and his reception, dared not harbour any
such anticipations.
One personal trait that is recorded by the same
American visitor, is too characteristic of the true
nature of Juarez to be passed over in silence.
When the toast of American Independence was
proposed by the Mexican President, a tray was
produced " generously loaded with excellent
champagne": and the attendant in his hurry to-
open the wine, to which he was, no doubt,
T— 2
276 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
but little accustomed, allowed almost the
entire contents of one bottle to discharge itself full
in the face of Juarez himself. Juarez looked at the
poor peon — " whose swarthy face grew sickly pale,
and who seemed about to sink to the ground with
terror and confusion " — neither in sorrow nor in
anger. He took no notice whatever of the inci-
dent, but went on talking cheerfully as before.
Such an accident, happening to most men, would
have been laughable in the extreme. " It did not
seem to us," said the stranger, " to place Juarez in
a ludicrous position at all ; his self-command was
so perfect, his dignity so thoroughly preserved."
It is an easy and a self-satisfying task to point
out, in the workings of Divine Providence, the
development of our own notions of the due
apportionment of rewards and punishments in this
world. Yet as to judge thus justly is surely
superhuman, let it be sufficient for us to say as a
simple historical fact, that after the 3rd
of October, 1865, the position of Maximilian be-
came steadily more and more impossible in Mexico, t
and that the fortunes of Juarez, reduced by the end
of the year to their lowest depth of abasement,
* " Catholic World" in loc. at. p. 281.
f La crise du denouement commenga avec 1'annee 1866.
Masseras, p. 66.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2/7
were destined soon afterwards to enter upon a new
era of prosperity.
The efforts of generations of Alfonsos and
Ferdinands in old Spain were devoted during
nearly eight hundred years, from the rout of
Covadonga to the fall of Granada, to what was
known as the Reconquest, la Reconqnista, of Spain.
Reduced by the end of 1865 to a hands-breadth
of territory in the extreme north of the Republic,
less important than the ancient kingdoms of
Oviedo and the Asturias, Juarez, in little more
than a year-and-a-half, accomplished the Reconquest
of Mexico.
It is sometimes asserted by those who would
minimise the credit that is due to the " Indian
Savage " for his steadfastness in misfortune and
adversity, that he was ever secretly supported by
the United States. But this supposed assistance
was rather negative than positive. It was not
that Juarez was loved, but that Maximilian was
hated, at Washington. And at the close of 1865,.
Mr. Seward actually undertook a journey to
the West Indies in order to negotiate with the
evergreen Santa Anna * at Saint Thomas. At the
* "Et dont 1'ambition," says M. Gaulot [Max., 317-318]
" aiguisee par la rancune et le desir de vengeance accepterait
avec enthousiasme le role qu'on lui destinait." How
the negotiations came to nought I have never been able to
learn.
278 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
same time General Logan refused the post of
American Minister at the Court of Juarez, and
Mr. Campbell, who soon afterwards accepted the
Mission in his place, neglected, or feared, to pre-
sent his credentials at the Wandering Court of the
President. In all this there was but little of
support, or even of encouragement. But the
negotiations with Santa Anna came to nothing.'1'
Juarez was able to bide his time. And Mr.
Campbell's credentials were ultimately presented
to the President, installed in his Palace at Mexico.
So much for the trials and troubles of 1865.
With the Spring of 1866 came a change in
the National fortunes. The Emperor Napoleon,
weary of the fruitless struggle on behalf of the
ungrateful and fatuous Archduke, and chagrined
at the failure of all his hopes of French aggran-
dizement in the New World, t announced on
the opening of the Chambers (January 22nd, 1866),
that " inasmuch as the Mexican Empire was
already consolidated, and its opponents had no
* Gaulot : Maximilian, 320.
See further as to Santa Anna at St. Thomas, Report ol
Lieutenant Gaston de Beam, printed in the same work, pp.
246-251.
f Mr. Goldwin Smith, " History of the United States,"
1893, p. 292, suggests that Napoleon had views even more
ambitious than the acquisition of territory within the limits
of Mexico, and may have even contemplated the recovery of
Louisiana.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 279
longer even a leader " — the presence of Juarez was
conveniently ignored — the French troops " having
accomplished their mission " would shortly retire
from Mexico. And on the 6th of April (1866) his
Foreign Minister, M. Drouyn de Lluys, addressed
a note to the Mexican Government, announcing
that the withdrawal of French troops would
commence in the following October, to be com-
pleted before the end ot 1867.
Maximilian, overwhelmed at first by the fatal
news, promptly proceeded to persuade himself that
the threat would not be carried into execution ;
and as we are told by an eye-witness, at the end of
a week no trace remained of the anxiety that was
caused by the French despatch. *
The mere suggestion of a French retirement
would have nerved any ruler of average intelli-
gence to take some thought for the defence of his
position, when the foreign supporters should have
abandoned him. But nothing was done, even at
this eleventh hour, to organise a Mexican Army.f
To inspire the existing troops with zeal, with con-
* In March, 1866, Eloin was sent on a secret mission to
Austria, and Almonte was entrusted with a less equivocal
embassy to the Court of the Tuileries.
f Masseras, 72.
A convention was signed at Mexico, June 26th, 1866, for
the investigation and settlement of British claims, by a mixed
commission. Nothing, as far as I can learn, ever came of it.
See " Accounts and Papers," 1867, LXXIV., p. 501.
28O A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
fidence, with military pride, or even to subject
them to military discipline, was a task not only
beyond the power, but beyond the vision of Maxi-
milian.
Recruiting for the Imperial Army was only
carried on by means of a press. Indian labourers,
carried off by force from their farms or their
villages, were added to the scourings of the jails
throughout the country."
The troops so recruited were poorly paid, and
that only by forced loans exacted by the local
commanders, to the ruin of the peaceful inhabitants.
The provincial treasuries were plundered,! not only
by Imperial Mexicans, but by the Imperial
foreigners. | If government be the maintenance
of law and order, then assuredly in the Autumn
of 1866 there was no Government in Mexico.
Yet Maximilian, when he was not wandering
about the country, was working almost night and
day at Chapultepec. Plans were elaborated.
Commissioners were appointed. Reports were
submitted. Minutes were written. Decrees were
promulgated. But no business was ever done.
* Keratry, 141.
f Pla£ant les citoyens dans la necessite d'emigrer pour ne
pas etre victimes de telles vexations. Lacunza to Bazaine,
28th of April, 1866. Cited in Keratry, 100-104.
} Les hommes de la legion autrichrenne forcaient a Puebla
la caisse de la Douane pour se payer 1'arriere de leur solde.
Masseras, 83.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 28 1
In June, 1866, the Imperial Treasury was
actually bankrupt. At the beginning of July,
the port of Matamoros, where Mejia had held
good with great tenacity for twenty months, fell
at length into the hands of the Liberal forces,
and Mejia, with the few tattered soldiers that
still followed him, was glad to escape by ship
to Vera Cruz.* There was but one course open
to Maximilian, and that was abdication. The
courage or ambition of his consort, it is said, stayed
his hand ; and within a fortnight after the receipt of
the news from the North, the Empress Charlotte!
embarked at Vera Cruz on a desperate mission
to the Tuileries.J
Upon the personal and political results of her
most unhappy journey it is not necessary for us to
enlarge. Our place is with Juarez in Mexico.
* " Mexico," V., 753.
f When the Empress Charlotte undertook her ill-fated
mission to Paris, there was actually not enough cash in the
Treasury to provide for the expense of her journey, and it
was necessary to appropriate some of the money set apart for
the drainage of the lakes, held in reserve in case of sudden
inundation of the capital.
I On July i3th. Keratry, 149.
282
CHAPTER XIV.
RECONQUISTA.
From June, 1866, the tide of reconquest steadily
set in from the North. The French were concen-
trating their troops, previous to re-embarkation.
As they evacuated one post after another, the
National forces reoccupied the cities or fortresses,
in most cases not only without resistance, but
amid the hearty acclamation of the citizens. The
Mexican Imperialists, or those who had been
counted as such, one by one returned to their
allegiance, and either took service in the National
armies, or became merged in the civil population.
The persecution of his Mexican opponents formed
no part of the policy of Juarez. Bloodshed, save
on the field of battle, was not permitted to the
Constitutional leaders.
On the lyth of June, the President was able to
move his seat of Government from Paso del Norte
to the more important town of Chihuahua ; on the
26th of July he was found at Monterey, and on the
3rd of August at Saltillo.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 283
Maximilian, after the departure of the Empress,
fell a prey to more interested and less scrupulous
advisers.
The origin of the Abbe Fischer, one of the evil
influences of the last days of the Empire, is involved
in considerable obscurity. A German, connected
in some left-handed way with the Royal family of
Wurtemberg, Fischer seems to have made his first
appearance as a Texas colonist in 1845. Afterwards
.a lawyer's clerk, then a Californian goldseeker, he
at length abjured his Lutheran faith, took Orders of
the Church of Rome in Mexico, and succeeded in
getting himself appointed secretary to the Bishop
of Durango. Dismissed from this post on account
of a scandalous intrigue, he contrived to in-
troduce himself to Maximilian, by whom he was
sent upon some backstairs mission to Rome ; and
soon after his return from the Vatican he took his
place as nominal Private Secretary to His Majesty
--in truth the hidden director of the affairs of
Mexico. And the hand of this Court priest is
possibly to be seen, when Maximilian, taking ad-
vantage of the absence of Bazaine in the provinces,
suddenly called upon two officers on active service
in the French Army, General Osmont and
General Friant, to accept the portfolios of War
and Finance in the Mexican Imperial Cabinet. *
* It appeared to Marshal Bazaine. (see the letter quoted in
Gaulot : Fin, 130-131,) to be a manoeuvre "pour entra'iner
284 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The appointment was no doubt * well calcu-
lated to embarrass the French Government.
And the objections that were necessarily urged
by Marshal Randon, the Minister of War in
Paris, to the employment of the French Generals
in the civil Government of Mexico, gave the Arch-
duke the opportunity for much peevish complaint
and expostulation. Yet the manoeuvre was scarcely
worthy of the occasion.
To seek to force the hand of Louis Napoleon,
beset as he was writh difficulties both in Paris and
at Washington, was neither generous nor politic ;
but to seek, to fail, and to lament, was simply
detestable. It is not thus that Empires are
established.
The wisest thing, perhaps, that Maximilian could
do, or did, about this time, was to pack up his
valuables, and send them off to Vera Cruz, for
embarkation on board the Austrian Dandolo. But
la France malgre elle, a reconstituer le role de 1'intervention,
ou meme pour lui susciter des embarras."
It was. in truth, a stroke of policy in which the Archduke
is seen at his worst, with the hand of a Court Jesuit, and the
heart of a second-rate attorney.
* The appointment of MM. Osmont and Friant was an-
nounced on the 25th of July.
Bazaine's remonstrances and Maximilian's insistances lasted
until the middle of September, when instructions were
received from Paris, to the effect that the officers must choose
between French and Mexican service. It was then that the
Archduke threw himself into the arms of the Reactionary
party. Gaulot : Fin, 159-163.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 285
the sight of the well-laden fouvgons wending their
way down to the coast was not re-assuring to his
starving supporters in Mexico." Abdication was
obviously in the air.
On the 26th of September, already tired
of the French toys for which he had so
loudly cried not two months before, he dis-
missed his entire Cabinet, and summoned a
new set of Ministers to the Palace, drawn from the
ranks of the Ultramontane or Reactionary party,
and controlled by the all-powerful Abbe Fischer. t
September passed away and brought no relief.
The new Ministry was no more successful, and
was, if anything, less popular than the old. And
in October came the news that the Archduchess
had quarrelled with the French Emperor,
and that her reason was at least gravely affected.
Maximilian, overwhelmed by the cruel tidings,
fled, at two o'clock on the morning of the
2ist of October, secretly and almost alone, from
* Masseras, 85-87. Keratry, 202-210.
f The appointment of the two Frenchmen had not in-
volved either Bazaine or Napoleon in the desired embarrass-
ment ; and Maximilian abruptly dismissed them and threw
himself into the arms of their bitterest enemies. — Gaulot :
Fin, 130-131 and 158.
The nominal chief, or President , of this new Cabinet, was
Teodosio Lares, a violent reactionary " qui passait avec raison
pour Tame damnee de Mgr. La Bastida." Gaulot : Fin,
158. Keratry, 103.
286 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the capital, leaving his astonished Ministers to
offer their resignations to the departing Bazaine.*
For Maximilian had, at this time, not only resolved
upon abdication, but he had virtually abdicated,
and he informed Marshal Bazaine in a most confi-
dential letter of his progress and of his plans.
The story of the flight from Mexico ; the hesitation
at Orizaba ; the sudden re-appearance of Marquez
and Miramon ; the temptation of Eloin ; the mission
of Castelnau ; t the wiles of the Abbe Fischer ;
the conference of notables ; and the half-hearted
and completely insane return of the Archduke to
the capital — all this may be read, in the fullest
details, in the sympathetic pages of M. de Keratry,
M. Masseras, and M. Gaulot. And it is a terrible
exposition of vanity and of irresolution ; the
history of a man no less obstinate than irresolute, J
* Bazaine not only refused to accept their resignation, but
he even induced them to withdraw it. Masseras, 92.
f I have said nothing about the mission of General
Castelnau, of which the importance is rather French than
Mexican ; although in a life of Maximilian the subject
would be of the utmost interest. I am afraid, as it is, that
the great attraction of the story of Maximilian's own fall may
have led me to dwell more upon some details than is quite
justifiable in a biography of Juarez. I can only say in
extenuation, that I have not only constantly checked myself in
the progress of my work, but that I have cut out a great deal
in the course of revision.
} — Nee jam revocabile damnum . . .
Eventu rerum stolido didicere magistro.
Claudian, contra Eutrop : lib. II. 489.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 287
the victim of evil counsellors, of evil principles,
and of superlatively evil fortune."
Pushed on when he might have stood in safety,
held back when he was rightly struggling to
advance, trusting only in those who were un-
worthy of confidence, flouting all good advisers ; he
showed like the incarnation of the weakness of
humanity striving in vain against the great world
forces which his presumption had raised up in his
path, f
On the tenth of November, Miramon and
Marquez disembarked together at Vera Cruz : J
See a letter from Eloin to Maximilian, stating that the
Austrians were loudly demanding the abdication of the Emperor
Francis Joseph, and were ready to welcome Maximilian as
Emperor ; referred to in Masseras, ioi,and Keratry, 218, and
printed in full in the Appendix to Keratry, 320-322.
f General Douay, in his confidential reports addressed to a
friend in France, and submitted privately to the eye of
Napoleon at the Tuileries, speaks at this time of the blind
folly of Maximilian, " un des princes les plus idiots et plus
imbeciles." .... and of " son entetement qui nepeut
que le mener a une chute ridicule." — Letter of 2yth of October,
1869, m dt. Gaulot, Fin, 188-9.
| Miramon and Marquez were associated in so many
villainies from 1857 to 1867, that it is hardly surprising that
each one should seek to excuse or palliate his own conduct at
the expense of the other. The Times correspondent in
Mexico in 1867, who should have known better, writes of
" Marquez, the brother of Miramon." — Times, i7th of August,
1867.
Maximilian is said to have declared almost with his dying
breath that Marquez was the greatest blackguard in Mexico
(Clement Duvernois, " L' Intervention Fran9ais^' p. 934 ;
Daran: "Miguel Miramon, "p. 252), and he was probably not far
288 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
one from his Asiatic Nunnery, the other from
his Prussian School. The last act of the tragedy
was about to open, and the dark figures of
these two storm-birds take their places once more
upon the scene."
In the meantime, almost from the day in May,
1865, that the war of Secession had come to an
end with the capture of Jefferson Davis, Mr.
Seward had been urging the Emperor Napoleon
to withdraw his troops from the soil of the great
northern continent of America.
The States indeed, once more United, had
now nothing to fear from the action of the French
in Mexico ; yet the presence of a European army
on their frontier was distasteful to the Government
of Washington. Diplomatic representations of
ever increasing vigour were constantly conveyed to
the Tuileries ; and the French Emperor was well
wrong. He escaped the death which has cast a faint glamour
of respectability upon Miramon. It is said by M. Daran( p. 251)
that " de 1'exil il redigea des libelles outrageants pour la
memoire1 Miramon." It is just what might have been ex-
pected of him !
* An incident that occurred in November, 1866, is worthy
of passing notice.
"An attempt, benevolent in the intention, but highly irregular in the
execution,was made by the United States Commandant at Brownsville, on
the North-East frontier, to assist General Escobedo in the reduction of the
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 289
content to announce the withdrawal of his army
before the end of 1867.
But in November, 1866, it was obvious that a
crisis* was impending in Mexico. The French
Army was already on the move. The abdication
of Maximilian was virtually announced. And at
this juncture, two special envoys, Mr. Campbell
and General Sherman, were dispatched from
Washington, formally accredited to Juarez as
President of the Republic, with instructions to
await the development of affairs in Mexico. '
The appointment of Mr. Campbell, indeed, had
been actually made some time before. But he had
not thought fit to proceed to his destination. The
inclusion of a distinguished General in the new
Commission added much to its special impor-
tance, and the Envoys were enjoined to use their
good offices as regards the establishment of an
effective National Government, upon the expected
departure of Maximilian. Juarez, no doubt, was
to be recognised, as he had always been recognised,
by the United States, as the Elect of the Mexican
nation. But the instructions to the Envoys were
as vague as they were comprehensive, and would
* Mr. Seward had failed to make anything of his negotia-
tions with Santa Anna ; but it was said that he was at this
time inclined to favour Porfirio Diaz rather than Juarez as a
candidate for the Presidency of Mexico.
f Keratry, 226-234.
^^— ^U
s'^G&jzS"^' L 1 ^ny^A>^^^
f OF THE /^|
(UNIVERSITY]
OF S
^CALIFORNIA- ^
(L '
2yo
I if
x^
have justified negotiations with the retiring French,
if not with the retiring Emperor.
the end of the last week of November, 1866,
the frigate Susquehannah arrived off Vera Cruz.
Bazaine was sounded as to the reception that would
be accorded to the officious visitors. The attitude of
the Marshal was courteous, if not actually inviting. *
But before the Envoys had decided to land,
the most astounding intelligence was received
from Orizaba.
Maximilian had changed his mind. He would
not abdicate. He would conquer Mexico for him-
self; the more easily, he said, as the French, who
had so long thwarted him, were about to take their
departure from the country. Padre Fischer had
promised him money. Marquez had promised him
troops. Miramon had promised him victory.
Bazaine might go, as soon as he chose— Maximilian
would remain in Mexico.
On the 26th of November, he had summoned a
solemn conference to meet at Orizaba, when the
Mexican people, represented by eighteen particular
adherents of Maximilian, resolved, by a majority of
two ! (10 to 8) to request him to continue to reign.
Such conferences might have been good enough,
* " Le Marechal repondit que le General Sherman serait
acceuilli par lui avec toute la distinction due a son haut grade,
et avec la plus franche cordialite." Gaulot : Fin, 211.
A LIFE OF BF.XITO JUAREZ. 2QI
before his arrival, to deceive others ; but that after
the experience of nearly three years in Mexico, he
should summon a conference to deceive him-
self, passes the common measure of folly. *
On the ist of December, accordingly, after four
day's hesitation, a proclamation made known to
the city and to the world that the good of Mexico
rendered it necessary that Maximilian should
retain the supreme power, until such time as he
should see fit to summon a National Assembly.!
The National Assembly, as may be supposed, was
never summoned ; but Maximilian's proclamation
rendered the presence of the Envoys on the coast of
Mexico superfluous, if not ridiculous, and the
Susquehannah steamed slowly back to New Orleans, t
* Gaulot : Fin, 203-205 ; and Domenech : Hist. III.,
400-409.
f " A compter de ce moment " says Monsieur Masseras, p. 114,
"e'en et$ Jini . . . les envoyes americains n'avait plus
des lorsrque repartir." — ib., p. 119.
I One of the very numerous projects which are said to-
have about this time suggested themselves to Maximilian
[according to M. de Keratry, 233-4] was the summoning of
a Parliament. It is strange indeed that neither he nor any one
of his so-called Liberal supporters should have thought of this
before ; more especially as Juarez, hunted as he was in distant
parts of the country, had never had an opportunity of summon-
ing a Congress since the day on which he was entrusted with
exceptional powers on the approach of the French, by the
Parliament then sitting, in the Spring of 1863. Under these
circumstances, Maximilian could have more effectively
called his assembly the States General of the Nation. . . .
and he could no doubt have had the members elected as he
liked. [See also Keratry, 278-80.] A Parliament in 1864
might have gone far to establish his rule.
U — 2
2Q2 A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ.
All this time, Juarez and the Constitutional
troops were advancing ever nearer the goal. The
area that still acknowledged the Empire was grow-
ing smaller and smaller. The tide of foreign
invasion had already flowed away. The waters
were drying up from off the face of the land, and
the tops of the mountains were beginning to appear,
as the floods were abating over Mexico.
Tampico had been re-occupied on the jth of
August, and Tuxpan on the 2oth of September.
The western ports of Guaymas and Mazatlan
soon followed, with La Paz and Durango, in
November, and on Christmas Eve the important
city of Guadalajara,'"' second only in population to
Mexico itself, and within three hundred miles of
the Imperial Palace at Chapultepec, became the
southern limit of the government of Juarez.
Nor was it only to the north of the capital that
the rising tide engulphed the slender possessions of
the usurper.
The important city of Oaxaca, so lately occupied
by Bazaine himself, capitulated on the 3ist of
October to General Porfirio Diaz, who found him-
self once more at the head of a division ; Jalapa
wras evacuated by its Austrian garrison at the
* After a battle fought and won by Colonel Parra, Decem-
ber 20-21, 1866. The inhabitants, without distinction of poli-
tics, were treated with the usual clemency of those who obeyed
the orders of Juarez.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2QJ
summons of General Alatorre on the loth of
November. Perote was recovered on the 4th of
January, 1867, and Juarez, passing rapidly through
Durango, arrived on the 22nd at Zacatecas, on the
high road to the city of Mexico.
Everywhere the country was reoccupied, rather
than re-conquered, amid the acclamations of the
inhabitants. The cities surrendered, for the most
part, without striking a blow. The Imperial troops
hastened to enroll themselves under the banner of
the Constitutional Republic. The military com-
manders, amid so unanimous a display of National
feeling, did not even venture, on deserting the
Imperial colours, to indulge in the conventional
and time-honoured luxury of a prommciamiento.*
The new administration, organised almost from
day to day, in the name of Juarez, was recognised
and obeyed t>y all, and worked with as much regu-
larity as if it had never been interrupted I by the
" Une tentative," says M. Masseras, 140-141, */faite
par le General Ortega pour revendiquer la Presidenceen vertu
d'une argutie legale avortait dans le ridicule, et se/aenouait
prosaiquement par 1' arrestation du malencontreiix pretendant
reste 1'unique partisan de sa propre candidature, phenomene
sans exemple dans fes annales des pronunciamentos."
f This statement is not my own, with the exception of
the last few words, but a literal translation of Masseras,
p. 140. No foreigner in Mexico had better opportunities of
judging justly on the matter than he. His language struck
me as being very remarkable.
294 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
transitory intervention of any French or Austrian
authority.
But we may not linger on the threshold of
disaster.
On the 1 2th of December, 1866, Maximilian
turned his steps once more towards the capital,
drifting," rather than marching to his doom. The
friction between the French and the Imperial
authorities was already extreme. The new Minister
of Finance declined to recognise the receipts of the
French Customs Surveyor at Vera Cruz ; and called
upon importers to pay their duties! twice over.
Bazaine arrested the Chief of Police in the city
of Mexico, and wrote to justify his conduct to the
Archduke. Maximilian returned to the Marshal
his own letter, unread, with an offensive note from
the Abbe Fischer.;^
It was but a poor triumph over the departing
.ally.
On the 5th of February, 1867, the tricolour was
hauled down on the flagstaff of the Palace of Buena
Vista, and the French troops turned their faces to-
* Six weeks were occupied in this journey of one hundred
. and twenty miles !
f Masseras, 145.
I In connection with the arrest of a certain Garay, sup-
posed to be a representative of President Juarez, and certainly
furnished with a safe conduct by Bazaine. The editor of
the Government newspaper La P atria was also arrested.
Masseras, 146-8.
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 295
wards France. With bands playing and colours fly-
ing, with drum and trumpet and all military pageant,
Bazaine led his army through the streets and the
great square of Mexico. With no feelings of grati-
tude nor of kind regard towards the departing foe,
the citizens knew not what they might expect in
their place ; and the French regiments marched
out of the city through an uncertain and a silent
crowd. Yet should one house at least have
extended to them a grateful farewell.
But in the Imperial Palace every window
remained tightly closed, as though a funeral pro-
cession was in the streets. Maximilian, at this
supreme moment, forgot what he owed to the man
who had so long and so faithfully served him, who
had protected his Government, and had actually
paid his bills.
He forgot, moreover, what he owed to himself,
as a Hapsburg, if not as a host — as an Austrian
gentleman, if not as a Mexican Sovereign.
And Bazaine, with his ever faithful troops,
rode out of Mexico, without show or token of merest
conventional leave taking. * The army departed
without aide-de-camp or escort, without a stirrup
* " A la fin du mois de Janvier, 1867, 1'armee francaise en
pleine retraite, s'allongeait comme un ruban d'acier sur la
route poudreuse de Mexico a Vera Cruz." Keratry, 295.
2p6 A LIFE OF BEXITO JTAREZ.
cup, without a salute, without a complimentary
riband of honour. *
The cross of Guadalupe may not have been a
very precious decoration, but it would have been
a token of gratitude and goodwill. And the
refusal to grant so very cheap a favour was but
one sign among many of Maximilian's singular
perverseness as a politician ; and- of his singular
paltriness as a Prince. The blood of the Haps-
burgs flowed very thin in the veins of this un-
happy descendant of so many Emperors.
Before the afternoon of the 5th of February
was well spent, the last Frenchman had marched
out of Mexico on his way to Puebla. And by six
o'clock in the evening the walls and buildings were
placarded with posters, en which the affrighted
citizens read that the Government of the city had
been assumed by Leonardo Marquez.
Miramon had quitted the capital on the 28th of
December at the head of a considerable body of
troops, and having surprised a small force under
Colonel Antillon, at Zacatecas, just a month after-
wards, he had dispatched a magniloquent report,
speaking of his expectation of capturing Juarez
* How the Abbe Fischer prevented Maximilian from even
extending to the departing soldiers the promised honour of a
decoration, may also be read in the confessor's own most
insolent letter " addresed to General Osmont, and printed
by M. de Keratry, pp. 298-300.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 2Q7
and his entire Cabinet in the course of a few days,
Maximilian, excited at the news, lost not an hour
in writing to his General, specially charging him '••
to cause Juarez, Lerdo de Tejeda, Iglesias, Garcia,
and Negrete to be tried and condemned by a Court
Martial, as soon as they should be taken prisoners;
and extending his recommendations generally to.
all civil functionaries, judicial, financial, cr
ecclesiastical, who might fall into his hands.
These amiable instructions were happily not
carried out, for the simple reason that, before they
were received by Miramcn, that General had been
completely beaten by the Constitutional forces under
Escobedo, and had only escaped with his life by
abandoning his entire army to the enemy at San
Jacinto (February ist). I And among the spoils of
war that fell into the hands of Escobedo was the
very latest letter from Maximilian, which furnished
President Juarez with the most unimpeachable
evidence of the Archduke's benevolent intentions
with regard to himself.
Meanwhile, the Imperial authority was reduced
to the precarious possession of four or five towns,
* " De una mancra nnt\ especial." — " Mexico a traves de los
siglos," V., 815.
f The shooting of the French prisoners after the battle has
given rise to considerable controversy. Taking them even to
have been deserters, they might more advantageously have
been sent after Bazaine.
298 A LIFE OF BENITO JUARFZ.
and the doubtful allegiance of five or six thousand
soldiers. The troops were recruited by raids upon
the passers-by in the public streets. The Treasury
was replenished, not only by forced loans and forced
gifts, but by night attacks by the police upon the
strong-boxes of the merchants and shopkeepers.
" It was thus," says an intelligent eye-witness, him-
self a Frenchman, "that promises solemnly made
and more solemnly reiterated, were realised under
the Empire in Mexico.""
The open pillage of individuals by the Imperial
Government can hardly be believed or realised
without special study, and the enquiring reader
must be referred to the pages of M. Masseras, him-
self an eye-witness, and to the more categorical
chapter of M. Lefevre. The Foreign Ministers
protested in vain. Even the proceedings of Miramon
in former days were as nothing to those of the
Imperial officers in 1867. " On vott," says one
writer, " dcs cavaliers arrctcs en phine rue, et forces
de dehvrer Icur nwnturc ; trop heureux quand Us n ctaicnt
pas emmencs a la caserne avec die" Women and
children were shut up by the police in their own
houses, without food or water, until their husbands
and fathers had ransomed them by a payment in
coin.f A daily contribution, varying from /~i2o to
Masseras, 142.
Masseras, 188-9.
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 299
£i, was exacted by similar methods from every
householder in the city." The Foreign Ministers,
who protested against these exactions, narrowly
escaped arrest. I
And yet Europe, hoodwinked by Napoleon at
the Tuileries, and unenlightened by intelligent
reports from Mexico, believed that a gentle and
statesmanlike Emperor was still engaged in the
noble duty of protecting the Mexicans, whom he
had succeeded to some extent in civilising, from
the atrocities of an Indian bandit of the name of
Juarez.
By the end of January, 1867, the Constitutional
forces in Mexico had been brought up by the
ceaseless vigilance of Juarez, to very respectable
proportions, and consisted of some five and forty
thousand men, fairly armed and disciplined —
disposed somewhat as follows throughout the
country. |:
Under Porfirio Diaz ... ... 13,000
,, General Alvarez ... ... 9,000
,, ,, Rivera ... ... 4,200
,, ,, Carbajal ... ... 4,600
The commercial house of Barren was plundered in one
day of 100,000 dollars, that ofBergstein upon another day was
mulct in 150,000 dollars. Masseras, 214.
f Masseras, 200-201.
I I have followed Lefevre, II., 367.
3OO A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
Garrison of Mazatlan ... ... 600
,, Guaymas ... ... 350
,, Aguascalientes ... 375
,, Tampico ... ... 450
In Michoacan, Sonora, and Sinaloa... 2,700
In Queretaro, Guanajuato, Puebla,
and Jalisco ... ... 10,000
It was a wonderful result, after nearly three
years of supposed extinction.
At five o'clock in the morning of the i3th
of February, Maximilian once more stole away"
or rather was hustled out of the capital of Mexico.
He had sent a certain Monsieur Burnouf to treat
with Porfirio Diaz, whose army was threatening the
city, even while he was seeking the special advice
of his own Minister Lares, within the walls. And
the Imperialists, judging that it would be eminently
advantageous for them, if not for the Empire, that
so very uncertain a chief as Maximilian should be
removed from the capital, suggested that his
presence would be of greater value in some other
He carried off with him all the money upon which he
could lay his hands. The Treasury contained just 47,000
dollars, say ^9,000. He left it absolutely empty, trusting
to O'Horan to replenish it by the accustomed methods.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 3OI
place. :;: The ever-devoted Marquez would accom-
pany him, and the governorship of the city should
be confided, during the temporary absence of Don
Leonardo, to a certain O'Horan.f
Thus Maximilian, escorted by some fifteen
hundred men, abandoned the capital, and rode at
full speed to Queretaro almost at the same
moment that Juarez, moving steadily to the south-
ward in his patient progress to victory, estab-
lished the seat of his Government once more at San
Luis Potosi.
On the i gth of February, 1866, twelve hundred
long miles I had separated the President at Paso
del- Norte from the Prince at Chapultepec.
On the i gth of February, 1867, but forty leagues
intervened between the Palace at St. Luis and the
fortress at Queretaro.
Within a week of the flight of Maximilian from
the capital, the city of Puebla was finally evacuated
by the French, who wTere suffered to retire, un-
interrupted, but hedged in on either side by
the National troops, as they marched along
the well-known road, by way of Orizaba and
* The history of this curious intrigue \\ill be found in
Masseras, 172-174.
| And the citizens had no great cause for congratula-
tion at the change.
I Over 1,200 by road : about 1,100 as the crow flies.
See Map.
3O2 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Cordova, to embark on board their ships at Vera
Cruz.
Up to the last moment Bazaine expected and
hoped that Maximilian would once more change
his mind, and would retire with the French army
to Europe, and he even sent a mounted escort back
from Vera Cruz, in case he should be actually on
the way, not forty-eight hours before his own final
embarkation.
But the Archduke was riding a very different
road, the end whereof it was not given to him to-
discern.
CHAPTER XV.
PORFIRIO DIAZ.
The noblest and most conspicuous figure, after
that of Juarez himself, in the closing scene of the
great tragic farce of Mexican Empire, and the
definite triumph of the National Constitutional
party, is that of Porfirio Diaz." And for him, the
loyal and trusted lieutenant of Juarez when his
fortunes were at the lowest, the wisest and noblest
of his counsellors in the day of his triumph,-) it
* Porfirio Diaz was the candidate for the Presidency on
the abdication of Maximilian, who was favoured by Bazaine.
In Paris, Ortega was preferred. Juarez alone was nefandus. At
Washington it would seem that Diaz was the persona gratissima.
Keratry, 246-48.
f '* It was generally believed," writes Prince Salm-Salm :
Diary, vol. I., p. 314, "that the Emperor would not have
been shot if he had fallen into the hands of Porfirio Diaz,
instead of those of Escobedo." I give this bit of contemporary
gossip merely to shew the high opinion universally held of the
clemency of General Diaz. Eor Escobedo was by no means
cruel. And he actually offered to allow Tomas Mejia to escape
after his surrender. Mejia refused to take advantage of the
offer, unless Maximilian was permitted to go with him.
Escobedo's power did not extend so far. Mejia thus died at least
304 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
has been happily reserved to rule over a united and
a respected Commonwealth, and to be known the
world over as the President of a peaceful and
prosperous Republic.
Born, like his great chief, in Oaxaca, in
September, 1830, Diaz, like Juarez, wras an Indian,
a lawyer, and an honest man. Ready alike with
sword and with pen — a counsellor and a man of
action, like the ideal grandee of old Spain, Don
Porfirio was found ready, en the defection of
Comonfort in 1858, to put aside his lawyer's gown;
and at a time when good generalship was more
needed than the best of advocacy, and loyalty w^as
more precious than law, he accepted the command
of a Regiment in the National army.
Throwing himself heartily into the great struggle
for the maintenance of Constitutional Government,
he distinguished himself as a military commander,
at once by his skill and by his judgment, in the
revolutionary war of 1858-1861. With a large
share in the victory at Puebla in 1862 ; counted
among the heroic defenders of the same city in
1863 ; escaping, by a bold stroke for liberty, the
banishment of his fellow prisoners to France after
the surrender ; entrusted with the command of an
like a man of honour. But it is not likely that Escobedo had
much to say to the President's decision in confirming the sen-
tence of the Court-Martial as regards Maximilian.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 305
army in the November of the same year ; besieged at
Oaxaca, which surrendered only after a heroic defence
to Bazaine in person at the head of an overwhelm-
ing force in February, 1865, Pornrio Diaz, again
imprisoned, and again, as before, refusing to give his
parole to the French Commander, succeeded once
more in escaping (Sept. 2oth, 1865), and now, as
the end was approaching, he found his natural
place at the head of the army entrusted with the
all-important duty of occupying the capital.'-'
But, before Mexico could be threatened, it was
necessary that Puebla should be reduced. For
* The amount of ammunition handed over by the French
to the Imperialists in the City of Mexico alone, was 35,000
projectiles (shells, cannon balls, etc.), with powder equal to 300
rounds for each gun in position, and 500,000 cartridges. See
official reports in Keratry, pp. 305-6.
Puebla was left even more richly provided. Vera Cruz, from
its situation, most richly of all.
" What you have to give to the cat," says an old Spanish
proverb, "you may as well give to the mouse." All this
material of war passed promptly into the hands, not of
Maximilian, but of Mexico. According to General Diaz, the
retiring Bazaine offered to sell him 4,000,000 copper caps,
and to hand over to him, not only the cities evacuated by
the French — which was quite unnecessary — but the persons
of Marquez, Miramon, and even Maximilian himself. Baz.,
Vida : quoting letter of Pornrio Diaz, pp. 279-280.
This might have seemed incredible in 1867, especially to
European readers, but who is the man to-day, in any
country, who would set Bazaine' s honour above the word of
Porfirio Diaz ?
" I am able to affirm," says Prince Salm-Salm (I. 18 ) "that
Bazaine offered Pornrio Diaz to deliver [the city of]
Mexico into his hands, as the General told us so himself
in November, 1867 : hut Diaz declined, adding that he
hoped to be able to take the city himself."
^
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UNIVERSITY}
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... &. S
3O6 A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
Puebla, alone among the cities of Mexico, had
not on the departure of the French immediately
declared for the Republic, but had been dominated
by the quasi-Imperial troops of Mejia and
Marquez, to whom the immense stores of war
material that had been left by the French rendered
it a stronghold of the very last importance. But
the city which had baffled the French army in
1862, and only fallen after a two months' siege in
1863, was occupied by a brilliant coup dc main on the
morning of the 3rd of April, 1867, when Pornrio
Diaz, at the head of the National army, entered
the city without the loss of a loyal soldier or the
molestation of an unarmed citizen. *
* Not the slightest disorder accompanied the assault
on Puebla ; such was the spirit of discipline and modera-
tion with which General Diaz had succeeded in inspiring
his subordinates. Whatever may be the merits of the
taking of Puebla as a feat of arms, as an example of
discipline it has few parallels in history. " The Republic
of Mexico Restored, " by James White, 1867, P- I7-
Three weeks before, at Tlalpam, the savage Imperialist,
O'Horan, had shot Vicente Martinez and thirteen companions,
taken prisoners, without form of trial — October 7th, 1866. Such
things should be known and remembered in order fully to
appreciate the moderation and restraint of those who obeyed
the orders of Juarez. It is often enough from ignorance that
the critic "Datveniamcorvis, vcxat ccnsiira Columbas."
The highest and most important testimony is borne to this
constant clemency, not only on the part of Diaz, but of all
the Generals who followed the instructions of Juarez, by
Monsieur Gaulot, by no means a favourable witness, who says
(Maximilian, 297), with regard to the giving up of no less than
seven Belgian officers, and 180 soldiers, after the battle of
Tacambaro, " il cut etc facile an General RivaPalacio de prendre
•
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 3O/
Within a week after the surrender, a rash attack
by Marquez was brilliantly repulsed, and the
Lieutenant of the Empire'' ran away with all speed
to take refuge within the walls of Mexico, leaving
the remnant of his army to follow or surrender as
they chose. And Pornrio Diaz, pursuing at his
leisure, sat down before the expectant capital on
the i2th of April, 1867.
His objective was not glory, but peace. And he
announced that if the city gates were opened to his
onstitutional forces, the lives and property of the
citizens should not only be regarded, but protected
by his troops. Among the respectable inhabitants
pretexte de I 'execution d'Arteaga et de Salazar pourvenger. . . .-
comme Mendezavaitvenge. . . .
Cette generosite est d'atitant plus belle de sa part que le decret du
3 Octobre, venait lid meme de le mettre hors la loi."
See also still more striking proofs in Keratry, pp. 290-
294.
A little book, in English, printed at Mexico in 1867, by
James White, is full of interest and local colour.
As to the atrocities committed by the French, " a history of
calumny, of blood, of cruelty, of injustice and of barbarity of
which France is ignorant, and which Europe could hardly
believe," from the very day of the violation of the Treaty of
Soledad, the author bears striking testimony ; as well as to the
extraordinary moderation and humanity of the Constitutional
troops, who were ever urged by Juarez, not only to refrain from
reprisals, but to seta noble example of generosity. His facts
speak for themselves, pp. 13-20. They are too numerous to
quote well.
* Marquez, having virtually run away from Queretaro, had
arrived at the capital on the 25th of March, armed with a
letter from Maximilian, conferring upon him absolute power,,
and the fine-sounding title of Lieutenant of the Empire.
X — 2
3O8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
there was but one opinion as to the course to be
pursued. And even the foreign Envoys, departing
from their usual reserve, consented to add the
weight of their remonstrances to the general
expression of opinion.*
But, as usual in such circumstances, the worst
counsels, rather than the best, prevailed. Marquez
and the Abbe Fischer, Lares andTabera, O'Horan
and Vidaurri, sought, in a desperate resistance, to
postpone, if but for a few days, the wreck of their
own desperate fortunes. And Porfirio Diaz, patient
to the last, refrained from the assault which would
have made him triumphant master of the city ;
preferring even the possible dangers of delay to the
shedding of Mexican blood. I
The General was accused of incompetence, of
cowardice, of treachery ; a hundred disgraceful
reasons were assigned by his enemies for his in-
activity before Mexico. The ill-disciplined troops
under his own command murmured long and
loudly. His conduct was denounced to Juarez. But
Juarez was the very last man to think evil of a
subordinate, or to interfere with the discretion of a
Commander-in-Chief.
* On the first appearance of his troops within hail of the
walls, every decent man in Mexico would have taken refuge
under his standard. J. White, ubi supra.
f "Cettegenereuse fermete,"saysM.Masseras, igG./'ne fut
nisans difnculte ni sans merite."
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 309
In patient resolution, moreover, General Diaz
was hardly inferior to the President himself, and
General Diaz had made up his mind to sit
still.
He would never, even in the very last necessity,
let loose a victorious army upon the defenceless
citizens of the capital of his country. *
On the i gth of February, Maximilian had made
what was called, with that strange want of any
sense of humour which never deserted him in good
or evil fortune, a " triumphal entry ' into
Queretaro.
Two divisions of the National army, that of the
North, under Escobedo, and that of the South,,
under Corona, were then marching upon the town.
Separated by many leagues of intervening country,
they might have been attacked and haply defeated
in detail.
But no attempt was made to check the
onward course of either one or the other, nor
was anything done to fortify, or even to provision,,
the town in which the Emperor had chosen to make
his last stand.
* He saw, too, with the keen eye of an accomplished soldier,
that there was little danger in delay. Queretaro, the last abiding
place of the Empire — Vera Cruz may hardly be counted —
was, by the middle of April, 1867, virtually in the hands of the
besiegers, and untenable, save by a General very different from
those who held chief command in the city. Mexico could
wait upon Queretaro.
3IO A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Disputes for precedence between Miramon and
Marquez were grandiloquently composed by a
declaration that Maximilian was his own Com-
mander-in-Chief. But the Archduke commanded
nothing, not even himself. He did nothing. He
foresaw nothing. And on the I4thof March, after
four weeks of delay, he found himself shut up
by the united army of the advancing Generals
who had at length brought their scattered forces
together before the town.
On the 22nd of March, Marquez was sent to
Mexico for reinforcements. That he did not return
to Queretaro could surprise no one, except
perhaps, the man who sent him.
Miramon, relieved at his absence, talked of sorties,
and awaited the favourable moment for a profit-
.able defection."
There was, indeed, one General with the Arch-
duke in Queretaro. But the counsels of Tomas
Mejia were uniformly disregarded by his Sover-
eign.
Meanwhile, the unhappy Mexicans of Queretaro,
* If anyone doubts Miramon's treachery at the last moment,
let him read Prince Salm-Salm's Journal, Vol. I., more es-
pecially, pp. 122-123-125-133.
Whether he was too slow at the end, or whether Lopez
was too quick for him, or whether, as is more probable.
Maximilian was not betrayed at all, but fell a victim to his own
obstinacy and folly, is a question on which every reader of
the contemporay memoirs is entitled to form his own
•opinion.
A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ. 311
besieged in form by their own National troops, were
in fact at the mercy of the Imperialists. Their
store-rooms and their warehouses, their shops, and
even their dwellings were exposed to daily pillage.
Maximilian's garrison must be fed, even if the
townsmen should starve." Maximilian's troops,
moreover, must be paid ; and the humbled citizen
must be persuaded by the lash, cr mere dreadful
instruments of extortion, to open his little hoard to
the vain and pitiless usurper.! When all else was
abandoned, the Archduke retained his favourite
power of issuing decrees. Every man in Queretaro
between the ages of 16 and 60 was to enroll himself
in his army. Feed of all kinds, money, stores,
everything was to be abandoned to his Staff.
Rules, regulations, conditions, and above all,
punishments were prescribed and insisted upon
with his usual minuteness of detail.];
At length, after infinite indecision, a general
sortie was ordered fcr the loth of May. But the
* See Lefevre, II., 382-^85.
As to the extent of the famine and the misery endured by
the citizens during the siege, see Gaulot : Fin, 291-293.
f The best authorities for the siege of Queretaro, in addition
to those already cited are : —
!.__•• Queretaro " par Albert Hans, (Dentu, 1868).
2* — "Les dernieres heures d'un Empire," par le General
Avellano.
3.— Basch : " Souvenirs du Mexique."
Masseras devoted an entire chapter [op: cit. cap. X.] to
the subject.
312 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
order was almost immediately withdrawn. The
sortie was deferred till the i3th. Maximilian was
engaged in the work of granting decorations, and
found himself embarrassed as to the due apportion-
ment of such honours. Whether the Italian
Minister, who was far away in the City of
Mexico, should receive the Cross of Guadalupe or
the Star of the Mexican Eagle, indeed, was too
weighty a question to be resolved at a single
sitting. The grant, like the sortie, was postponed, :':
But the undecorated defenders of the town were
already on the verge of starvation : the troops were
worn out with delay.
But when the i3th came, the sortie was again
postponed. On the i5th, it was finally declared,
Maximilian would march out of the city, to
conquer, to die — or to escape.
But the sands of his vacillation were at length
running out. And after three years of postpone-
* " Besides this, the Emperor dictated tome the following
distributions of decorations. Baron Magnus, the Commander's
Cross of the Order of the Eagle ; his Chancellor, Mr.
Scholler, the Cross of the Order of Guadalupe ; Dr. Basch, the
Officer's Cross of the same ; Captain Pawlowski and Lieutenant
Koelich, of the Hussars, the Cross of the Guadalupe Order, and
General Prince Salm-Salm, the Commander's Cross of the
Order of the Eagle. At the same time, he told me that he
intended to decorate the Italian minister, Curtopassi, but
he did not know yet which Order he would give him ! and said he
would tell me on the 14th, when he expected to see me again. "-
See " Diary of Prince Salm-Salm," vol. I., pp. 267-8.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 313
ment, the inevitable end surprised him, as it ever
surprises the unready.
As the summer's day was dawning on Queretaro,
on the 1 5th of May, 1867, and the wearied
garrison were asleep in their quarters, * Escobedo
advanced boldly upon the position that had become
no longer tenable; and Maximilian, unprepared
for action, and uncertain to the last whether to
fight or to fly, gave himself up as a prisoner
into the | hands of the Commander-in-Chief of
the besieging army, expressing the hope that his
blood alone might be shed, to atone for the faults
or the misfortunes of his followers.:':
* "Tout le mondedormaitd'unprofondsommeil." Juande
Dios Arias : op. cit., 224-233. -Lefevre, II. p. 393.
f " When we stepped out of the door to go over the plaza
to the quarters of the Hussars, we were stopped by soldiers of
the enemy. Involuntarily I raised one of the Emperor's
revolvers, but he made me a gesture with his hand, and I
dropped it. At the same moment, Lopez stepped from among
the enemy, and at his side was the Liberal Colonel, Don Jose
Rincon Gallardo. The latter recognised the Emperor, but
turned to his soldiers, and said: ' Que pasen, son paisanos'—
They may pass, they are citizens. The soldiers stepped
aside, and we passed ; the Emperor, Castillo, Pradillo, and
myself in full uniform, and secretary Blasio. It was obvious
that it was not intended to capture the Emperor, but to give
him time to escape. The whole proceeding was so astonish-
ing and striking that I looked enquiringly up to the face of
the Emperor." Salm-Salm, vol. I., page 193. Gaulot : Fin.
296.297. i.
\ His words are said to have been on giving up his
sword : — Si se neccsita una victima, aqui estoy yo. Espcro que mi
sangrc sea la ultima quc sedcrrame en bien de estcpais.
If Maximilian was really ready to die for his friends or for
314 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
The betrayal of Maximilian and of Queretaro to
General Escobedo by a certain Colonel Lopez has
long been an accepted article of belief, not only by
the admirers of Maximilian, among whom the
devoted Prince Salm-Salm* speaks at least with
the authority of an eye-witness, but by M. Masseras
and M. Gaulot, and most of those who have
written upon the contemporary history of Mexico. t
Mexico, these words are sufficiently noble. But if, as is
usually asserted, he had no thought of suffering death, and
was satisfied that he would be permitted to return to Europe
on parole, they become somewhat too stagey for a true Haps-
burg.
But the exact words that are said upon such exciting occa-
sions are rarely accurately recorded, and Maximilian may be
judged fairly enough by his own actions.
And see the letter of Escobedo to Juarez, dated Queretaro,
May i6th, 1867, in which the Commander-in-Chief says :
" He informed me that his sole desire was to leave Mexico,
and that he hoped an escort would be placed at his disposal
to conduct him to the port at which he should embark." '
* The defence of Lopez, being a translation of a pamphlet,
published by him, entitled " The Capture of Queretaro ; "
with the reply by certain field-officers, prisoners at Morelia,
are all given in vol. II. of Prince Salm-Salm : " Diary in
Mexico," pp. 178-283. And in most of the authorities
cited, the question is more or less fully discussed.
I am by no means inclined to consider the "betrayal" to be
an historical fact.
f The witnesses, moreover, do not agree among them-
selves. " I do not believe," says Prince Salm-Salm (Diary,
etc., vol. I., pp. 214-15), who is one of the mos"t convinced
advocates of the theory that Lopez betrayed, or desired to
betray the city, "that Lopez intended to deliver the Emperor
into the hands of the Liberals he endeavoured
to save his life and earn at the same time a good round sum
of money. . . . The Emperor frustrated all his calculations
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 315
For everyone who may fully credit his narrative,
the whole question of the treachery of Lopez is set
at rest by the statement officially made by
Escobedo himself, in his note or memorandum * of
July 8th, 1887, addressed to President Porfirio
Diaz, and published in all the Mexican journals
of the day.
According to this authoritative statement, Lopez
was the Envoy, and not the betrayer, of Maxi-
milian— the confidant, not of Escobedo, but of the
Archduke. On a careful review and consideration
of the many conflicting versions of the events of
the i4th and i5th of May, 1867, I am inclined to
think that that of General Escobedo is by far the
most reasonable. But it is perhaps hardly worth
while to pursue the subject any further in this place.
Juarez, at least, was by no means anxious that
so embarrassing a prisoner should fall into his hands
at all ; and he would have been inclined to pay, if
he had wished to pay at all, not for assistance in
arresting him, but for connivance at his escape
from Mexico.
One of the most remarkable inherent weaknesses
in the corruption of Lopez theory is, that although
and arrangements to save him by his refusal to conceal him-
self in the house of Senor Rubio. ... an action . . '.
which he considered to be against his dignity ! "
* It is reproduced as a species of State Paper in " Mexico
a Traves de los Siglos," V., 838-844.
3l6 A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
various" sums of money have been mentioned as the
price of blood, all large, some enormous ; no one
has ever suggested how or when the money was
found.
Gold pieces were certainly not so plentiful at
Queretaro in May, 1867, as that thousands could
have been picked up, as it were, unobserved, and
handed over to passing traitors, as sums of fabu-
lous value are disposed of by tragedy kings upon
the stage.
The fact remains, and it may suffice for us to
know that Maximilian was taken prisoner in the
open, surrounded by his faithful officers, at the
head of an army of 8,000 men ; and that Queretaro
was occupied by Escobedo's troops, after a some-
what commonplace assault, f
No less than 15 Generals, 20 Colonels,]; and
375 officers of lower rank, with nearly 8,000 men
* Masseras, (p. 249), who is always reasonable, puts it as
low as ^4,000. I have seen ^10,000 given as the amount.
f There is a good account of the operations of the army of
the North from 1864 to 1867, and of the siege of Queretaro
from a military point of view, as well as of the trial of Maxi-
milian, by D. Juan de Dios Arias, entitled Rcscna historica de la
formation v operaciones del Ejercito del Nortc. Mejico, i vol.,
1867.
There is a very inferior military history by ex-Captain
Schrynmakers, of the Belgian Legion, Brussels, N.D., a
work abounding, if not in errors, at least in suggestions falsi.
I Mejia to Escobedo, 2ist of May, 1867. Lefevre, II., 413.
General Ignacio Mejia, Minister of War at this time in the
Cabinet of Juarez, must not be confused with General Tomas
Mejia who had just been taken prisoner.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of the rank and file, were taken prisoners, together
with the Archduke, at Queretaro. Lopez can
hardly have betrayed them all. Poor Tomas
Mejia, ill as he wras, offered, as Maximilian
was actually on the point of surrendering, to cut a
way for him through the surrounding enemy. But
the Archduke unbuckled his sword, and all was
over. Whether Lopez was or was not feed by
Escobedo, the man who betrayed Maximilian was
none other than Maximilian himself.
CHAPTER XVI.
JUSTICE.
The first plea that was tendered by the captive
Maximilian was strangely characteristic of the
man, and added one more to the many reasons
that he had himself provided for uncom-
promising treatment on the part of the Constitu-
tional Government. He was not, he said,
Emperor of Mexico at all. His Abdication had
been signed, and hidden away, more than two
months before. H,e was an Austrian Archduke,
unhappily present in Mexico, and he demanded to
be conducted to the sea coast, that he might return
to his own country.
The document that he so tardily referred to,
which was in effect found among his papers,\
had it even been published on the day that he had
signed it, was not in any sense an act of abdication.
It was a species of political testament prepared
for publication only in the event of the death or
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 319
captivity of the testator, and by its provisions,
Maximilian, far from abdicating his sovereignty
to the lawful Government of Mexico, named a
Regency of three persons, Marquez, Lares, and
Lacunza, to take his place at the Imperial Palace ;
" and thus," says so indulgent a critic as Monsieur
Masseras, " having maintained his authority up to
the very moment at which it was no longer in his
power to exercise it, he delegated his functions to
the irreconcilable enemies of the Constitutional
Government of the country ! "*
It is hard to conceive of a political expedient
more disingenuous, more feeble, or more futile.
* This act of abdication would, perhaps, have been con-
sidered smart on the part of a Yankee attorney of the less
scrupulous order ; but it was hardly worthy of a descendant
of Charles V.
It may possibly have been inspired by the Abbe Fischer !
To show how little real importance Maximilian attached
to his so-called abdication, even after he had so reluctantly
made it public, it is somewhat characteristic to note that in
the second week in June, when he was planning his escape, in
counsel with the Foreign Ministers, he proposed to decorate
them all with the Grand Cross of his Imperial Mexican
Orders. — Masseras, p. 316.
"Though his powers were now at an end (this was on the
28th of May), he ordered Blasio to make out the patents from
the date of the verbal appointment, viz., May i4th. He made
me Grand Officer of the Order of Guadalupe. He also made
my wife Lady of Honour of the San Carlos Order, which had
been instituted by the most excellent Empress Carlotta. He
said he would have made her ' palastdame ' of the Empress
but that it was an impossibility, as the document had to be
signed by the Empress herself. General Castillo, Colonel
Pradille, Dr. Basch, and others were also decorated."
— Diary of Salm-Salm, vol. I. page 236.
or THE
•ER3ITT;
32O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Escobedo, however, assured the Archduke that
his protest and his papers should be forwarded
to the President ; and in the meanwhile he was
confined in the Convent of La Cruz and treated in
a manner which, as he himself expressed it, "in no
way violated the customs of civilised nations. ':':
His doctor, his private secretary, his chamber-
lain, Prince Salm-Salm, and other officers of
his Staff and of his household were permitted to
share his captivity.
Sefior Rubio, at whose house he had judged it
beneath his dignity to take refuge, on the morning
of the 1 5th of May, was permitted to supply the
Archducal table with choice food.
On the 2oth, a new arrival brought new hopes
to the prisoner at Queretaro.
Born in New York, of French parents, not many
years before, Mademoiselle Agnes Le Clerq had
This was nearly three months after the signature of the
so-called abdication, and a fortnight after it had been actually
made public.
Maximilian, at least, considered himself in no wise bound by
a document which had been prepared merely to embarrass his
enemies.
* See the telegram forwarded by Maximilian to Vienna.
Escobedo has been accused of undue harshness to Maxi-
milian. It would be well to remember that, under the exist-
ing law, that General would have been fully justified in order-
ing him to be shot within twenty-four hours of his capture,
" upon a simple proof of identity."
This, moreover, was the treatment reserved for Juarez, the
constitutional ruler of the country, by special order of Maxi-
milian to Miramon, conveyed but a few weeks before.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 321
married Prince Salm-Salm when he was serving in
the ranks of the Federal army in the United States,
and had followed him to Mexico when he took
service under Maximilian, in the Summer of 1866.
Her beauty, her grace, her wit, her zeal rendered
her at once one of the most interesting, and one
of the most effective of the friends of *the captive
Archduke, between the time of his surrender and
his execution. Had Maximilian himself been
endowed with only half her energy, or a quarter of
her intelligence, he would never have found his
wray into Queretaro ; or, being there, he would
certainly have found his way out."
Inspired by the presence of this most amiable
aide-de-camp, Maximilian, before any reply had
been received from the Government at San Luis,
consented to face the position ; and arrangements
wrere made at once for his defence and for his
escape.
On May 24th, nine days after the surrender, a
dispatch from the supreme Government at San Luis
was received by General Escobedo, ordering him, as
Commander-in-Chief of the 'National army, to
summon a Court- Martial for the trial of Ferdinand
* Her diary, written in English, is appended to that of her
husband, published by Bentley, two volumes, 1868 ; and the
vignette portrait of the Princess herself; which forms the frontis-
piece to the second volume of this work, suggests at least a
young lady of exceptional grace and beauty.
322 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Maximilian of Hapsburg, Miguel Miramon, and
Tomas Mejia, under the Law of the 25th
January, 1862. The document, drawn up obvi-
ously after the fullest and most mature delibera-
tion, set forth under various heads the reasons that
rendered such a procedure necessary. The three
persons affected, having been taken prisoners
with arms in their hands, were liable under
article 28 of the Law of 1862, to be executed as
rebels after the simple formality of identifica-
tion ; but the Government had decided that a full
and public trial should be allowed to them."
With regard to Maximilian himself, he was
accused for that
(1) He had invaded the country without right
or claim, and " had been the principal instru-
ment of that iniquitous Intervention which had
during five years afflicted the Republic with crimes
and calamities of every kind."
(2) That he had further called in the subjects
* The law of January 25th, 1862, had been passed not
only before Maximilian had come to Mexico, but even before
he had accepted the invitation at Miramar. And an agent
of the Constitutional Government, the Licenciado Don Jesus
Teran, actually warned him at Miramar of the dangers that
he ran in seeking to overthrow the existing institutions of the
country. See Memorandum by Mariano Riva Palacio and
Rafael Martinez de la Torre, Mexico, 1867.
The copy in the British Museum Library of this inter-
esting Memorandum has inscribed upon the fly leaf the almost
equally interesting words — S. D.Augustin Fischey.de su at' mo
Eulalio Ma. Ortega.
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 323
of foreign nations, Austrians and Belgians, at
peace with the Republic of Mexico, to aid him
in his unrighteous warfare.
(3) That he had overthrown the Constitution
and free institutions of the country.
(4) That he had unjustly and illegally disposed
of the lives and liberties of the Mexicans.
(5) That he had promulgated a barbarous decree
prescribing the assassination of such Mexicans as
should defend the independence and institutions of
their country.
(6) That he had given effect to this decree by
numerous sanguinary executions.
(7) That he had authorised the destruction of
many Mexican villages and towns by his soldiers,
more especially in the Provinces of Michoacan,
Cinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.
(8) That he had permitted and encouraged
foreign troops to slay thousands of Mexican
subjects.
(9) That he had, when the foreign army
had retired, continued to employ Mexican rebels-
to sustain his usurped power by every means
of violence, depredation, desolation and death, to
the last moment ; and he had pretended to divest
himself of this usurped authority only when he
found himself deprived of it by actual force.'"
* Nothing was said about the savage instructions conveyed
Y 2
324 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
With regard to Miramon and Tomas Mejia, it
sufficed to say that they were both actually outlaws,
rebels, and leaders of rebels, prominent among
those Mexicans who had welcomed the foreigner,
and had desolated their country during four long
and dreadful years.
Against the five-and-thirty Generals and Colonels
of minor importance ; against the three hundred
and seventy-five officers of lesser degree, who had
fallen into the hands of the National forces at
Queretaro, no indictment would be preferred. *
It \vas necessary only to make an example of the
most powerful offenders. What was sought at San
Luis, was not vengeance, but peace.
The Law of 1862 prescribed that death should
follow conviction within the space of twenty-four
hours ; but nowhere wras there any desire to hasten
the end.
Colonel Azpiroz, appointed public prosecutor
by Maximilian to Miramon, as lately as the 5th of February,
1867, with regard to the prompt execution of Juarez and his
Ministers when they should be taken captive.
There is no trace of personal vengeance in the conduct of
Juarez throughout the whole matter.
The indictment is studiously temperate, and is very far from
being an exhaustive acte d' accusation.
* That is, of course, not under the law of 1862.
A certain number of the superior military rebels were sen-
tenced to various terms of imprisonment, as ordinary de-
faulters. They were pardoned, for the most part, as the
country became tranquillized towards the end of the year.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 32 J
ad lit em, was instructed by the General Command-
ing to undertake the examination of the prisoners
before the summoning of the court. After three
days the indictment or act of accusation, was
formally drawn up, and copies were supplied to the
prisoners.
Maximilian now requested that he might be
defended by counsel ; and after a reference to the
President, a further delay of ten days was accorded
for the preparation of the defence, while special :;:
instructions were transmitted by telegraph to
General Pornrio Diaz to permit the Archduke's
messengers to enter the besieged city of Mexico,
and to allow the advocates whom he had chosen to
pass through his lines, on their way to consult with
their august client at Queretaro. But the respite
had been demanded, not that the Archduke might
prepare an impossible defence, but that he might
make good his escape from captivity. |
* The Princess Salm-Salm had in the boldest and most
energetic manner travelled as far as San Luis, and had had
more than one interview with Juarez himself, whom she
describes as " a man a little under the middle size, with a very
dark-complexioned Indian face, which is not disfigured, but,
on the contrary, made more interesting, by a very large scar
across it. He has very black, piercing eyes, and gives one
the impression of a man who reflects much and deliberates
long and carefully before acting. He wore high old English
collars, and a black necktie, and was dressed in black broad-
cloth."— " Diary of Princess Salm-Salm," pp. 30-31.
f On the igth of May the Princess arrived at Queretaro ;
and set out some days afterwards for San Luis, where she
326 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
A long memorandum, drawn up by Maximilian
himself, was submitted to Escobedo, and by him
forwarded to the seat oi Government at San Luis.
And at the same time the Prince and Princess of
Salm were devoting all their intelligence and all
their zeal to making ready the way for the
flight of the Imperial captive.
It is distressing to read that, even after all that
had happened, the Archduke's design was not
frankly to quit the country : but to take refuge at
^ Vera Cruz, " whence he intended to treat with
Juarez," while Messrs. " Miramon and Mejia
were busy in the country ! " *
again was admitted to interviews with the President ; and after
the desired respite had been accorded, she returned once more
to Queretaro.
* " If an escape could be effected," says Prince Salm-Salm,
" we were to go next to the Sierra Gorda, from thence to the
Rio Grande, and thence to Vera Cruz. In that city the
Emperor expected to find more than a million dollars in the
Treasury, and as the Mexicans had no fleet to prevent it, we
could procure provisions from Havana, and troops from the
State of Yucatan, which was in favour of the Emperor. Thus
we might be able to hold out for at least a year, whilst Mira-
mon and Mejia were busy in the country. A year is a very
longtime in Mexico, and the cause of the Emperor might
.again take a favourable turn." — '• Diary of Salm-Salm," vol.
I., page 264.
Miramon and Mejia busy in the country for another year,
suggests a dreadful prolongation of bloodshed and suffering.
And after all the parade of abdication and retirement to
Europe, the entire programme is sufficiently disgraceful.
" Maximilien," says M. Masseras, " attendait pour s'y join-
dre, le resultat d'un pronunciamento tente sur la cote par
1'ancien dictateur Santa Anna." Masseras : 362.
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ.
But, whatever his ultimate design, by Sunday,
the 2nd of June, everything had been prepared for
his escape, * and the escape was to be effected that
very night.
Maximilian, although he had " refused to cut
off hi-s beautiful beard, "t in order to disguise him-
self, had bribed his immediate guards, and had
signed bills for a large amount for the corruption
of their commander, payable only upon his own
safe arrival in Europe — whither he did not intend
to proceed ! Everything was ready. His friends
were compromised ; the guards were unwatchful ;
the doors wrere open, the horses were saddled,
the escort armed ; and at five o'clock in the after-
noon, the Archduke sent for his trusted
chamberlain, and informed him that he would not
escape that night. \_
Santa Anna, as a matter of fact, was taken prisoner by
the Commander of the ss. Tacony, an American ship of war,
in the gulf of Vera Cruz, on the yth of June, 1867 ; and was
ordered to quit the country. Making another attempt at in-
vasion soon after, he fell into the hands of the Mexican
authorities, and was mercifully dealt with by order of Juarez,
the capital sentence being commuted to one of simple
banishment.
* President 'Juarez had granted a respite (Salm-Salm,
I., 240), and would himself have been well content that the
Archduke should make his escape.
f Salm-Salm, IV. p. 239.
\ As to the willingness of the Mexican authorities that
Maximilian should make his escape, and as to the constant and
characteristic fatuity of the Archduke in failing to take advan-
328 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
" Had a thunderbolt," says Prince Salm-Salm,
4 'fallen at my feet, I could not have been more
aghast. I implored the Emperor, almost on my
knees, not to postpone his escape ; " as " such a
favourable opportunity could never occur again."
But it was all in vain. Without reason, without
motive, without excuse, but that of his own
obstinate indecision, Maximilian drifted feebly to
his death.
On the 4th of June, at midnight, Baron Magnus,
with the counsel for the defence, Don Mariano
Riva Palacio, Don Rafael Martinez de la Torre,
and Don Eulalio Ortega," arrived at Queretaro,
together with M. Hoorickx, the Belgian Charge
d' Affaires, and M. Forest, in the place of M.
Dano. And they were joined two days later by M.
de Lago, the Austrian Minister, more particularly
interested in the fate of an Austrian Arch-
duke.
On the morning of the 5th, the advocates
conferred with their client afid his local lawyer,
Senor Vasquez, in the Convent Prison ; and a
request for further delay to elaborate a defence
was directed by them to San Luis. The answer
was favourable. A postponement for nine days
tage of their benign attitude, see the " Diary of the Princess
Salm-Salm," 1868, vol. II., pp. 60-62 and 79-80.
* What a very happy name for an advocate— Eulalio !
A LIFE OF BFNITO JUAREZ. ^29
was granted. Juarez, at least, would precipitate
nothing.
After further consultation, it was agreed that
Don Rafael and Don Mariano should proceed at
once to San Luis to conduct what may be called
the political or ad miscricordiam part of the case ;
while Don Eulalio and Senor Vasquez should
remain at Queretaro, and occupy themselves with
the more regular judicial defence."
On the i3th of June,, at 8 o'clock in the morning,
the Court- Martial assembled in the Iturbide
theatre at Queretaro. '
Miramon and Mejia appeared before the tribunal.
*It is, perhaps, needless to give any fuller account of the num-
erous plots and plans for the escape of the Archduke, not only in
May, but even in June, of which the Princess Salm-Salm was
the moving spirit. Her husband, in his published diary, so
often referred to in this and the preceding chapter, seems to
think that the Belgian and Austrian Ministers were lukewarm
in their assistance, and that they virtually spoiled the plans of
escape.
Masseras [chapter 13] on the other hand, gives it as his
opinion that they acted with great discretion, and would have
compromised themselves, without saving the Archduke, if they
had done as the Princess desired.
" Cette clairvoyance et cette energie sauverent probablement
les diplomates d'un grand danger," p. 321.
In any case, their schemes became known to the Comman-
der-in-Chief, and they were all put into a travelling carriage
and politely turned out of Queretaro on the 1/j.th day of June,
while the Court-Martial was still sitting.
f The Court was composed of a Lieutenant-Colonel as
President, with six Captains as ordinary members. It would
certainly have been more dignified if the tribunal had been
composed of Generals, at least, in a country where Generals
were so common.
33O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Maximilian was unwell, and did not attend, but his
defence was conducted by his counsel with the
utmost zeal and vigour. Their speeches were at
once bold and eloquent. Yet legally there was little
to be said. The law was plain. The crime was
patent. The only hope was at San Luis, whither
the most urgent telegrams were constantly being
dispatched.
Upon three separate occasions the uncompromis-
ing Foreign Minister, Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada,*
granted interviews to the professional and officious
defenders of Maximilian at San Luis Potosi. Their
arguments and their entreaties were listened to
with the utmost attention. But the reply was in-
variably the same. The prisoners wrould be treated
according to law. j
* "M. Lerdo was the right hand of M. Juarez, and enjoyed,
not only his perfect confidence, but had also the reputation of
being a great politician. He does not look at all like a Mexi-
can, for he is fair and has blue eyes. He is a very refined gentle-
man, and most exquisitely polite." — •" Diary of Princess Salm-
Salm," p. 84.
f On the i4th of June, the legal guilt of Maximilian being
apparent to all, and practically admitted by his zealous and
devoted advocates, they sought an interview with Senor Lerdo
deTejada upon the question of the exercise of the prerogative
of mercy after the inevitable sentence.
The reply of Senor Lerdo was eminently just (Memorandum
ubi supra, pp. 64-68) and may be thus summarised :
i. — Maximilian could not be trusted. His unstable nature,
moreover, offered no guarantee that he would not be
made the tool of other and more vigorous politicians.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 331
Meanwhile, in the hall of audience at Queretaro,
the eloquence of the advocates induced the court
at least to waver ; but at eleven o'clock at night
on the second day of the trial (June i/j-th), their
rinding was published and recorded.
The facts allowed but one verdict, and that
was, Guilty.
The law allowed but one sentence, and that was,
Death.
On the morning of the i5th of June, a telegram
was dispatched from Queretaro, in which Baron
Magnus, the Prussian Minister, * craved the favour
of three days further delay. Escobedo, who had
already ratified the finding of the court, took upon
himself to violate the law and suspend the execu-
tion, awaiting the reply from San Luis.
Once more the reply was favourable. The delay
was accorded as desired.
A carriage was placed at the disposal of Baron
Magnus in the evening of the i6th, and in the early
morning of the i8th he arrived at San Luis.
2. — His pardon would thus cause the utmost confusion and
political uncertainty in the country, which needed,
above all things, finality.
3. — His release would be an encouragement to Europe, which
had so poor an opinion of the Mexicans and of their
institutions, to undertake a fresh intervention on his
behalf.
* The Austrian, rather than the Prussian, Minister would
seem to have been a more natural intercessor or envoy.
332 A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ.
A final respite of three days had already been ac-
corded by Juarez. But the Envoy was warned that
it must be the last. The execution of the sentence
was not only an act of simple justice, it was
necessary to the peace of Mexico."
But Baron Magnus was not the only intercessor
for the life of the Archduke.
Upon the i4th of June, the Princess Salm-Salm
had been requested to leave Queretaro. And she
had taken advantage of the opportunity to proceed
to San Luis, and make a final appeal to Juarez
himself.
The President received her once more with his
usual simple courtesy. "It was eight o'clock at
night when I went to the Palace of M. Juarez,"
says the lady, " and he consented to see me at once
He looked pale and suffering himself. Our inter-
view was painful! in the extreme."
It were unkind to reproduce the record of grief
* Even M. Domenech sees in these repeated respites a
desire to save Maximilian's life, and he blames the United States
Minister, above all others, for his apathy and clumsiness in ex-
pressing the wishes of his Government, which he feels sure
Juarez would have gladly taken the opportunity of gratifying.
Domenech: Hist., III., pp. 431-434.
f " Juarez . . . had tears in his eyes : he said in a low
sad voice : ' I am grieved, madam, to see you thus on your
knees before me, but if all the kings and queens of Europe
were in your place I could not spare that life. It is not I
who take it, it is the people and the lawr ; and if I should
not do its will, the people would take it and mine also.'"-
"Diary of Princess Salm-Salm, " p. 82.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 333
— torn from its sympathetic setting in the diary of
the Princess. The wife of Miramon, leading in her
hands her two little children, was also admitted to
audience, and the behaviour of Juarez, even in the
eyes of the disappointed and heart-broken suppli-
ants, was found to be considerate and even tender ;'"::
but as President of Mexico, he could return but
one answer to their prayers.
Yet when the visitors had retired, human nature
asserted itself in the Palace, and the inflexible
President completely broke down. He retired
to his own room, and would see no one nor transact
business of any description for three entire days.)
On Thursday, the igth of June, the last respite
had expired.
The National army paraded at daybreak outside
* As to the dignified and considerate courtesy of Juarez and
his Ministers, even in the first flush of victory, to those
who felt and expressed themselves most bitterly against
him, see "Diary of the Princess Salm-Salm," vol. II., pp. 30-33
and 77-80.
Her visit to Juarez in July, from the time when the
President gave her his hand, and led her to a seat, to when
" he gave me his arm and accompanied me through all the
rooms to the head of the staircase, and dismissed me with a
low bow," is very happily described.
Some days later a second interview was accorded to the
Princess, and "although I had planned the escape of the
Emperor, Juarez received me in his usual manner. . . His
whole manner impressed me with the idea that the escape of
the Emperor would not have been disagreeable to him."
f Salm-Salm, II., 83.
334 A L1FE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
the walls of Queretaro, and the convicted prisoners,
Maximilian of Hapsburg, Miguel Miramon, and
Tomas Mejia suffered the extreme penalty of the
law.
335
CHAPTER XVII.
JUDGMENT.
If ever the dread precept that " Whoso sheddeth
man's blood by man shall his blood be shed," is to
be judicially interpreted ; if ever the execution of
political criminals is justifiable for the common
weal, then surely Maximilian of Hapsburg was
justly punished for his offences in Mexico.
Let it be granted that he was mistaken in the true
nature of his summons to a strange empire — and
mistakes in such exceptional circumstances are not
far removed from crimes — his eyes must surely
have been opened, had he taken the pains to see,
before he had been three months in the country.
But instead of retiring from a position so obviously
false, both as regards the French and the Mexicans*
a position in itself productive of constant blood-
shed and suffering of every kind, this Austrian
adventurer, maintained only by French bayonets,
took upon himself to decree the death of every
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
i. S
336 A L1FE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
loyal and patriotic Mexican who should oppose
him or his foreign supporters. *
The ordinary usurper supplants only a monarch,
less worthy perhaps than himself; but Maximilian
supplanted an entire Constitution : not by his
bravery in the field nor by his skill in the Council
Chamber, but as the figure-head of the invading
army of a nation that owed him no allegiance, t
From October, 1861, to May, 1864, the Arch-
duke was an ignorant intriguer. From May, 1864,
to October, 1865, he was a most incompetent
intruder ; but after October, 1865, he was merely
the accepted leader of a Revolutionary Party,
without even the poor justification of Mexican
nationality ; a man less capable than Santa Anna,
less devoted than Yturbide, more destructive than
those forgotten adventurers who, three hundred
years before the voyage of the Ncvara, had sailed
from Europe for the Gulf of Mexico, and had
fought for their own hands against all and several,
under the uncompromising shadow of the black
flag.
" J' ai vu arec plaisir," writes Maximilian himself under
date August iyth, 1865, " qite le nombre ties troupes fran^aises
allait agumentcr, c'etait de toute necessite pour ami'liorer la situation
militaire ... ct faire sortir Juarez." Domenech : Hist.
III., 307.
f Even Bazaine was forced to call attention to the mesiires
extremes adopted by Maximilian . . . pour prolongcr
ragonie (Vitne situation impossible. Report, cited in Gaulot :
Fin, 130-131.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 337
That Juarez might have earned the applause of
foreign nations by a display of misplaced clemency,
is very probable." But Juarez was the last man
in the world likely to be influenced by such con-
siderations in his conduct of public affairs.
Merciful as we know him to have been, at once
by disposition and by policy, averse at all times
from bloodshed, with no base or revengeful feelings
in his nature, it would no doubt have been to him
an immense personal gratification to have spared
the life of his defeated and humbled adversary.
For an Indian lawyer to pardon a suppliant
Archduke, would have been a fine bit of theatrical
triumph, that a man less simple and less single-
minded than Juarez, could hardly have consented
to forego. But as long as Maximilian lived, it was
clear that there could be no peace in Mexico. His
doom had been pronounced by the lawr. The law
should take its course.!
* "Juarez a certes perdu une grande occasion d'etonner
1' Europe par un acte de clemence, signe caracteristique des
forts, qui 1'eut reconcilie avec les cours de 1' Europe : mais
•a coup sur cet acte de clemence n'eut pas sauve la vie a
Maximilien, et 1'eut coutee a Juarez.. Qui connait le pays
et ses passions sauvages arrivees, ces derniers temps, au
paroxysme, n'en peut douter un instant."- — Keratry, 38.
f " Un debil generosidad se hubiera interpretado como una
cobardia, hubiera sido una burla sangriente de las leyes, y
dejando sin castigo la traicion y sin venganzalas victimas que
sacrifice el Imperio, habria consagrado con toda injusticia la
supremacia de los reyes sobre los pueblos." — Baz, 283.
338 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
It is sometimes a mark of the truest greatness to
refrain from action, and to accept the supreme re-
, sponsibility of non-interference. A cruel, a hasty,
or a revengeful man would have ordered the execu-
tion of Maximilian, as Maximilian had ordered the
execution of Juarez, within twenty-four hours of
/ his capture/1' A weak or an unprincipled man
I would have given himself the cheap satisfaction
| of pardoning him. Juarez was content simply to
I do his duty ; and the foreign reader who, without
\ the dreadful burden of his responsibility, or the
I disquieting solicitations of his emotion, is content
to-day to judge him, will hardly be found to say
that he failed.
But the Archduke was not the only man who
suffered death at Queretaro. The victims were
three in number.
That Maximilian should die was but strict jus-
tice. That Miramon should die was but righteous
judgment. The man who may fairly challenge our
sympathy was the little Indian, Tomas Mejia, a
man who was no politician, but a dashing General
of Cavalry, no assassin, but a brave and a not
unsuccessful soldier, whose devotion to a bad
cause had led him into actual rebellion, and who
* Instead of the possible twenty-four hours, Maximilian
was granted a period of five weeks to prepare his defence.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 339
was worthy to die in better company than that
of Miramon.*
Let us, at least, waste no sympathy upon the
dead Maximilian, however much we may pity his
wretched career. Let us turn to another and far
more agreeable figure, of the man who lived, and
still lives to serve his country.
The conduct of Porfirio Diaz, encamped before
Mexico, had been worthy of all praise. From the
middle of April to the middle of June, his patience
had been proof against all the solicitations of friends
and rivals. Within the city, the inhabitants of all
political parties awaited his entrance as a deliverer
from famine, from pillage, and from the savage
who oppressed them in the name of Maximilian —
Leonardo or Leopardo Marquez, Knight Com-
* " Don Tomas Mejia was a little ugly Indian, remarkably
yellow, of about forty-five, with an enormous mouth, and
over it a few bristles representing a moustache. He was a
thoroughly reliable, honest man, devoted to the Emperor, a
very good General of Cavalry, and well known for his personal
bravery. Before an attack, it was his habit to take a lance from
one of his soldiers, and rush with it, among the first, on the line
of the enemy. Some years ago he took Queretaro from the
Liberals. On his entering the city, its last defenders fled to
the first story of the Town Hall. Mejia appeared in front of
it, at the head of his Cavalry. Lance in hand he rode up the
steps, and in the large hall made the Liberals prisoners, and
then rode to the balcony welcoming, with a hurrah, his vic-
torious troops." — Diary of Salm-Salm, I., pp. 38-39.
Escobedo, as we have seen, ante p, 303, offered to assist
Mejia to escape ; and he refused as his Emperor could not be
saved with him. The trait is characteristic and worthy of
honourable mention and memory. See Arrangoiz, vol. IV. ,314^
Z — 2
34O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
mander of the Legion of Honour, and Grand Cross
of the Order of Guadalupe.
For the horrors of the siege of Mexico were the
work, not of the besieging army, but of the
besieged tyrants in the city, Marquez, Vidaurri,
O'Horan, and the Abbe Fischer. The news of
the surrender at Queretaro, which had been
officially conveyed to these pseudo-Imperialist
leaders within a few hours of the announcement of
Maximilian's so-called abdication, was studiously
concealed from the inhabitants. False news of
Imperialist successes wras, on the contrary,
invented and inculcated by Marquez and his com-
panions. The departure of the advocates and
foreign Envoys from Queretaro, as it could not be
concealed, was ingeniously misinterpreted. The
illusion, indeed, was boldly kept up. On the I5th
of June, the joy bells were rung from all the city
churches, and a public proclamation bade the
citizens prepare to welcome the coming of the
Emperor at the head of his victorious army.
Within forty-eight hours, O'Horan, anxious to
steal a march upon Marquez, had made his way
disguised into the camp of the besiegers, and
offered Porfirio Diaz to give up to him, not only
the city, but Marquez himself; and, at the same
time, Marquez, taking advantage of the absence of
O'Horan, laid hands upon all the gold pieces in
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 341
the Treasury, and stole a very decided march upon
his colleague, by making his way not only out of
the city, but out of Mexico ; and retiring for good,
with the cash in his valise, from an ungrateful and
impecunious country.*
The death of Maximilian and the flight of his
Imperial Lieutenant! relieved the National Govern-
ment from all further opposition, and on the 2ist
of June, at break of day, the army of Porfirio Diaz
marched into the city, and took peaceable
possession of the capital of Mexico. Yet
even this supreme victory was marked with the
accustomed moderation of the victor, and the
delighted J inhabitants were not even permitted to
salute their deliverers with cheers, lest a counter
demonstration should mar the harmony of the
day.§
* He turned up some weeks after at the usual trysting
place, the Havannah. How he got there has never been
told.
f Marquez.
J Masseras, 382-3.
§ We are all familiar, says Mr. White, with the events of
the siege of the city of Mexico, and can never forget while we
live the pleasurable surprise at being relieved from the tyranny
of a monster by the entrance of General Diaz, whose chival-
rous care for our safety exceeded our most sanguine hopes,
James White : " The Republic of Mexico Restored," 1867, p. 20.
The following extract from the report of M. Lago, to his
Government at home, and dated Mexico, June 25th, 1867, is
not likely to be highly coloured. The entire report is cited
342 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Great waggons loaded with bread that had
been specially baked the night before, followed the
advancing columns. The welcome food was dis-
tributed with order and decorum. The weak were
served before the strong. The sick were provided
for before the more vigorous citizens. The most
perfect order was maintained in the ranks of
the victorious army. Not a drunken man was to
be seen in the streets. The introduction of the
favourite Pulque was forbidden during three days.
For acts of plunder or personal violence the pre-
scribed punishment was death. But the public
peace remained absolutely undisturbed.
So vigorous a repression of military license is
.almost unexampled in the history of conquered
cities, and the utmost credit must be given to the
General Commanding, for the great-hearted
humanity of his intentions, and the firmness and
P .ability with which he carried them into action.
But we must not forget that the man who had ever
by Domenech : Histoire, III., 433-439. " Le 16 ail soir, nous
arrivames, apres un voyage penible, 4 Tacubaya, on nous
apprimes que le General Marquez ne songeait nullement a
rendre la ville, mais qu'il continuait a depouiller et a
torturer les habitants de la maniere la plus ehontee . . . "
The exasperation in the Liberal army was so great that
it was proposed to put to death all the superior officers in the
city, European as well as Mexican, as soon as it should be
taken.
How they were saved by Porfirio Diaz aud Juarez we have
.already seen. Cf. Domenech, ubi supra.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 343
prescribed clemency to vanquished opponents, and
set his face resolutely against the shedding of
Mexican blood, was Benito Juarez, once more
directing the Government of Mexico from his
modest Palace at San Luis.
And to Juarez, as was only natural, the ultimate
disposal of the actual garrison that was found in
the capital, Mexicans and foreigners, was immedi-
ately referred.
His answer was not long awaited. The
entire body of soldiers and subaltern officers
were dismissed unpunished — the foreigners to quit
the country, the natives to return under supervision
to their own homes.
The disposal of the superior officers, not only
those who had been taken in Mexico, but the un-
sentenced prisoners of Queretaro, presented greater
difficulty. Yet was no unreasonable delay suffered
to retard the general return of confidence through-
out the country.*
On the 1 5th of July, Juarez made his public
entry into the capital ; | and his first duty was that
of disposing of the prisoners. Porfirio Diaz, the first
General of the Republic, Vicente Riva Palacio, a
* The temper of the people was somewhat uncertain.
Masseras, 391-3. Baz, 288.
f The return of Juarez to the capital was celebrated, wore
Bntannico, by a great public dinner, with plenty of speeches
at dessert. Baz, p. 288.
344 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
soldier and a statesman, with many other less dis-
tinguished counsellors, were supposed to be in
favour of a complete amnesty. Lerdo de Tejada,
the most intimate friend and companion of the
President, was known to be inclined to greater
severity.
Within a day or two after his return to the
capital, the policy of Juarez was made known, and
it was essentially a policy of mercy.
The foreigners, both soldiers and civilians, who
had been sentenced to various terms of imprison-
ment, were to be permitted to take their departure
from Mexico before the end of the year. The
Mexican officers of superior rank, already in
custody, were to be released, from time to time,
as the circumstances of the country might war-
rant. With the exception of the rebel tyrants
of the capital, Vidaurri and O'Horan, traitors at
onpe to Maximilian and to Mexico, no man paid
the price of his treason with his life."
The Foreign Ministers, whose equivocal conduct
in Mexico had rendered them somewhat nervous
as to the reception that awaited them, on the
return of the " Indian Savage," were treated with
all the consideration that was due to their position ;
and were, after a decent interval, diplomatically
* Baz: Vida, 284-5.
A LIFE OF BFNITO JUAREZ.
furnished with their passports, and provided with
the usual escort to Vera Cruz.*
That men who had been accredited to a usurper,
condemned and executed as a rebel, should con-
tinue to be received as persona? grata1 at the Court of
the legitimate ruler of the country, on his return
to power : this \vas what no one could expect.
And no one, as a matter of fact, appears to have
expected it in Mexico.
* Mr. Middleton, the English Charge d1 Affaires, did not
leave Mexico until December ; and then not on account of
any action of the President as regards himself, but by order
of Lord Stanley, in consequence of a dispute about the status
of a Consul. See " Accounts and Papers," 1868. Masseras,
391-3, and post p. 351.
346
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONCLUSION7. — JULY, 1867 — JULY, 1872.
The time had now come when Benito Juarez
could safely resign into the hands of those who had
granted them, the great and exceptional powers
with which he had been invested just fifty months
before.
The position was unique. For the history of
these four years of tempest and of trial was without
parallel in the annals of nations.
Eighteen hundred and sixty-two had seen an
English fleet, a Spanish fleet, a French fleet in
Mexican waters ; an invasion undertaken by three
great European powers, with all the forces at the
disposal of the most aggressive military nation in
the world, and followed by a usurpation counte-
nanced by all the politicians of Europe, and sup-
ported by the capitalists not only of Paris, but of
London.
And the object of all their efforts had been the
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 34/
overthrow of President Juarez, the constitutional
ruler of Mexico.
Eighteen hundred and sixty-seven saw a very
different sight in Mexico. The British fleet had
sailed away. The Spanish troops had retired.
The French army of 60,000 men, two Marshals of
France, with all their proclamations and declara-
tions, with all their gunpowder and glory, the
Austrian contingent, the Belgian volunteers, the
cosmopolitan Contra-guerilla, Maximilian of Haps-
burg, with his ancient traditions and his modern
theories, with his foreign loans and his domestic
magnificence : all these things had absolutely
passed away, rolled up like a scroll that is cast
upon the fire, scattered like the small dust that is
driven before the wind. And the object of all
their attacks, the foe of five years' endurance, a
quiet Indian gentleman with gleaming eyes and a
scar across his unclouded brow, stood forth to give
an account of his stewardship to the nation that
had trusted him so long.
The account was not hard to render ; not a stone
of a Mexican fortress, not an inch of Mexican
territory had been lost in his hands. The foreign
invader had been driven out. Their led-captain
had been executed. Mexico was at length united
and free."
* As a contrast, we can cite what occurred after the
colossal war between France and Germany. France lost
34$ A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
On the 1 4th of August, less than one month after
the return of Juarez to the capital, the writs went
out for the election of a new Chamber and a
President of the Republic.
The usual grumblers asserted that the delay was-
excessive, and complained too that certain provis-
ions with regard to the mode of voting were not
sufficiently democratic. The action of the Presi-
dent was, however, fully approved by the electorate,
who accepted the new regulations, and returned a
Chamber of moderate complexion, With Juarez as
President, and his trusty Lerdo de Tejada as
Vice-President and Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of Mexico."
The Chambers met on the 2nd of December,
when Juarez had already constituted his new
Cabinet, which included Lerdo de Tejada, who
Alsace and Lorraine, was obliged to pay to Germany an in-
demnity of five thousand million francs. Italy in her war had
to cede Nice and Savoy to France. And this has happened
not alone in Europe. We have seen in America what Peru
has lost in her war with Chili. Mexico alone, without sign-
ing a treaty, without granting away any right, without even
listening to the terms of the invader, saw the war ended
without making any sacrifice, either of her honour, her dig-
nity, or her independence, or of the integrity of her territory.
And although this has happened before our own eyes, there are
still persons who believe, or pretend to believe, and say that
Juarez intended to cede to the Americans a portion of our
national territory. "Juarez and Cesar Cantu," (Mexico, 1885),
p. 21.
* Porfirio Diaz was also a candidate, and stood third at
the poll.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 349
took the portfolio of Home and Foreign Affairs ;
Jose Maria Iglesias, that of Finance ; General
Ignacio Mejia, that of War ; Senor Martinez de
Castro, that of Justice and Education ; and Sefior
Bias Bulcaral, that of Agriculture and Commerce.
The army, reduced to an effective of only
twenty thousand men, was divided into five great
commands: the first division under Porfirio Diaz,
the second under Escobedo, the third under Corona,
the fourth under Regules, and the fifth under
Alvarez, consisting each of not more than four
thousand soldiers.
Thiswise and most politic reduction was not likely
to be popular with the immense mass of officers
who had fought on one side or another during the
last ten years, and who, without sufficient private
means for their support, were unfitted by the very
fact of their past career for solid and useful work ;
and during the whole of the year 1868, risings and
sedition upon a small scale retarded the peaceful
settlement of the country. But the palmy days of
the pronunciamiento were passed and gone ; and
Juarez, ever maintaining his old policy of firmness
in administration and generosity in punishment,
was able to meet the Chambers at the end of
the year with assurances of the satisfactory, if
somewhat tardy, progress of the country towards
domestic peace and prosperity.
1
<
35O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Yet, in the important cities of Puebla and San
Luis Potosi, serious risings called forth all the
vigour of the Administration ; and it was over two
years before order was so firmly established as to
justify the announcement of that general pardon
which was at once the joy and the justification of
the restored President.
To give anything like a detailed account of the
not untroubled history of Mexico, from the
beginning of the year 1868 to the death of Juarez
some four years later, would be impertinent in
every sense of the word. Most of the characters
are still alive. Many of the events are still among
the vexed questions of contemporary politics ; and
yet none of them are of any commanding
importance abroad. Suffice it to say, thatyfunder
the just and vigorous government of Juarez,
Mexico progressed slowly but surely, even though
the progress was not always apparent at the time.
The Mexican Railway, from the capital to Vera
Cruz,"\ which had been projected in the time of
Maximilian (1864), and had remained in a state
of suspended animation during his reign, was re-
stored to life by a new charter in November, 1867,
and was encouraged by the grant of further privi-
leges in November, 1868.
The Telegraph system was largely developed.
The Post Office was reconstructed. Every depart-
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 351
ment of State was \rendered less costly and more
efficient than before,1 In the Treasury only, a new
order of things could not at once be instituted.
Juarez was himself an indifferent financier.
Nor in a still vexed commonwealth, deprived * of
European assistance and foreign credit, was it
to be expected that chronic bankruptcy should be
succeeded by immediate financial prosperity. (The
country, impoverished by fifty years of revolution
and five years of struggle against a powerful in-
vader, was unprovided with the funds that are one
of the necessaries of modern progressA
Juarez had assuredly no reason to love or to
trust the foreigner ; yet it is one of the most
apparent shortcomings of his policy that it failed
to obtain for his country the advantages of that
public national intercourse with the Governments
of friendly powers, which are possessed by most of
the civilised countries of the world. ; Without the\
aid of any foreign nation, and in spite of their)
ignorant hostility, Juarez had conquered his foesJ
* InDecember, 1867, the Government having declined to hold
any official communication with the agents of those powers
who recognised Maximilian as Emperor, Mr. Middleton, the
British Minister, acting on instructions from Lord Stanley,
broke off all diplomatic relations between England and
Mexico, closed the Legation, and carried off all the archives,
etc., as well as his staff and Consul Glennie to Europe via
New York. " Accounts and Papers," 1867, Ixxiii.
See also Note at conclusion of Chapter XVII, p. 345.
^tv>X
OF THE * \
UNIVERSITY)
OF
35- A LTFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
and had showed the world that Mexico was
able to stand alone. But something more was
needed for the happiness and prosperity of the
country than the mere defeat of the invader. *
And that was just what could hardly be attained
without the co-operation, the good-will, and the
confidence of other nations.
/But, within the bounds of the Republic, Juarez
* French writers, in their eagerness to blacken the charac-
ter of the man whom they were unable to defeat, represent
Juarez as a monster so grotesque, that Art as well as probabil-
ity is set at defiance in the creation, while any resemblance in
the picture to the real man is no more to be found than it was
sought in the painting. See Domenech : Hist, du Mexique,
volume III., passim.
One extract may possibly serve as a sample of many
similar passages.
"Juarez," says the Abbe Domenech, II., 359, "est le typede
1' incapacite la plus notoire le vrai Zapotec,
ennemi des Mexicains, n'ayant aucune notion de la legalite
(350) 1'exces personnifie des mauvaises passions,
de 1'ignorance, et du manque de patriotisms
" Si Miramon a rougi le doigt du sang de ses compatriotes,
Juarez a mis tout le bras ! (359)
" Juarez, dont le nom, moins le talent rappellent ceux de
Robespierre et de Marat." II., 296.
One writer, indeed, rises superior to the prejudice of his
countrymen.
" Que serait-t-il advenu de 1'oeuvre entreprise par
Napoleon III.," says Monsieur Gaulot. " si le souverain
choisi par lui pour 1'executer cut possede les memes
qualites que Juarez, ayant une egale ambition ? Cette
pensee hanta plus d'une fois 1'esprit de 1'Empereur
des Fran^ais, et 1'impatience dut le gagner quand il
sentait s'emietter une puissance qu'il avait crue forte et qu'il
avait esperee victorieuse." — Gaulot : Maximilian, p. 300.
And, to be quite just, there is plenty of ignorant abuse and
vilification of Juarez to be read in English books and news-
papers at anytime between 1859 and 1869.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 353
did all that man could do to consolidate, to compose,
to construct; and by October, 1870, he was able to
give a practical assurance of the success of his
Government, and an earnest of his confidence for
the future, by the issue of the decree of final
amnesty, in which all his\foes, domestic and
foreign, were freely included/
Two months later he was struck down by a blow
more cruel than any that had ever been dealt him by
Marqaez or Miramon, in the death of his wife Dona
Margarita Maza de Juarez ; and the Mexicans
showed their respect for his sorrow7 by a display
of general mourning, unprescribed and unsolicited,
— a spontaneous expression of national sympathy
and affection.
In the same month, December, 1870, the Presi-
dential election once more took place, and Juarez
was again returned at the head of the poll by a
considerable majority over his competitors ; * but
inasmuch as none of the candidates had obtained
an absolute majority of the entire number of
voters, the Congress decided the question on Octo-
ber 1 2th, 1871, by decreeing that Juarez was duly
* The numbers were as follow :
Juarez - -r 5,837
^iaz - 3,555
Lerdo - 2-874
12,266
A A
354 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. .
elected ; and on the ist of December, 1871, he re-
assumed the Presidential powers by virtue of this
Parliamentary mandate. The reign of law, how-
ever, had not yet been fairly established in Mexico ;
and the decision of the Chambers was violently
challenged, not by the defeated candidate himself,
but by some of his more impetuous supporters, who
plunged the country once more in an aimless and
profligate civil war.
But before the close of the conflict the great
President had gone to his rest, in a world where
haply ingratitude is unknown, and virtue and
simplicity are welcome guests.
It was a custom of Juarez to walk every after-
noon with his daughters in the Pasco, or public
promenade of Mexico. And upon the i8th of
July, 1872, his absence was remarked and
commented upon. In the evening it was known
that he was ill. Dangerous symptoms were mani-
fested during the night. From early dawn
enquirers of every rank presented themselves at the
doors of the Palace. The President's condition
rapidly became critical. Without in the city men
went sadly, and spoke under their breath, craving
for news of the President. Within his chamber,
throughout the long Summer day, the sick man
suffered violent pain : his breathing was difficult :
the heart was gravely affected.
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 355
Surrounded by his children and other members
of his family, he sought to distract their attention
from his own sufferings by cheerful and encourag-
ing conversation. But one loved face was want-
ing in the sick room. Dona Maria was no longer
there to minister to the last wants of her husband.
And as the end drew near, the dying man called
for her portrait, which was brought in from an
adjoining room ; and after one last fond look upon
the image of the wife who had gone before him,
he folded the bed-clothes about his face, and peace-
fully gave up the ghost."
The funeral obsequies of the dead President were
in keeping with the simple dignity of his life. The
coffin, with no further inscription or title than the
letters B. J., and placed in a modest car, was con-
veyed to its last resting place by the faithful servant,
Juan Udueta, who had followed his master's
fortunes in all his wanderings, who had driven
his carriage as he retired by successive stages
from Vera Cruz^to Paso del Norte ; and from Paso*
del Norte to Mexico.
Five thousand of all that was best in the city
and country followed in a mournful procession.
The streets were deeply lined with silent and respect-
ful spectators ; but of the false glitter and conven-
* 2oth of July, 1872.
A A 2
356 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
tional pageantry of a State funeral there was no
trace nor token.
The great President lies by his wife in the Pan-
theon of San Fernando ; and an effigy of white
marble has been raised to mark the spot for the
admiration of future ages.
For sixty years the life of Benito Juarez
was distinguished by many and rare virtues.
Yet in nothing was it more specially remarkable
than in its perfect consistency.
As the Indian apprentice, as the earnest student,
as the hard-working advocate, as the single-minded
politician, as the patient exile, as (the moderate
reformer, as the indefatigable Chief of the State,
he was ever the same simple, honest, dignified
Indian gentleman.
At one time in a palace, at another in a dungeon;
now threatened by all Europe, now supreme in
Mexico, to-day an international outlaw, on the
morrow the arbiter of Imperial fate; the confiscator
of untold riches, honourably poor to the day of
his death, after hard upon fifteen years of office — no
man with whose works and ways we are so
intimately acquainted was so little puffed up by
success, so little cast down by failure, through a
long and eventful life.
His career was as varied and as exciting as that
of a hero of Oriental romance. His character was
A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ. 357
as simple and as constant as that of some old-
fashioned village worthy in England. Truly and
honestly vigorous as a ruler and as a judge, he
detested cruelty in any form ; and he feared neither
friend nor foe.
He disliked pomp. He despised parade. He
coveted no man's riches. His greatest pleasure in
life was not in war, nor even in politics, but in
the society of his wife and children. *
A student rather than a soldier, he waged the
greatest and the most successful war that his country
had ever known, without putting on a uniform or
even assuming a military title.
In a country where Generals were more common
than soldiers, he remained, like Castlereagh, dis-
tinguished by the undecorated simplicity of his
black coat.i/"
As regards personal appearance, Juarez was
short in stature, of a powerful frame, with small
* There were born to Juarez and his wife nine sons and
three daughters, of whom two boys and three girls died in
their childhood.
The eldest daughter married D. Pedro Santacilla, a Cuban
of refinement and culture ; a younger sister found a husband
in Don Delfin Sanchez, the great Mexican railway
contractor.
The eldest son, Benito, is a distinguished member of the
present Mexican Legislature, and sits, not for Oaxaca, but for
the fourth division of the city of Mexico.
f " Huia de toda clase de honores oficiales, y en medio de
las mas bulliciosas fiestas se lo veia solo 6 bien acompanado-
a su familia." — Baz : Vida, p. 316.
358 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
hands and feet, and with the black eyes, the dark*
skin, and the strongly marked features of his
race.t
His manner was frank and open, his bearing
simple and dignified. Calm and deliberate in all
his movements, and in all his actions, he ever
possessed and displayed the quiet and sustained
vigour that belongs to exceptionally strong
natures.
Unrestrained, and even communicative, upon
matters of no public moment, he was reserved in
the extreme as regards all matters of State.
Expansive in his family circle and among his
intimate friends, he was grave, but ever courteous,
in his intercourse with strangers.
Above all things, he was cool and self-possessed
.at the approach and in the actual stress of
•danger. |
* Senor Baz: (Vida, cap. VIII,) speaks of him as of a
ly mphatico-bilious temperament .
f The portrait which serves as a frontispiece to this
volume has been carefully copied from a sketch most kindly
sent to me by the President's eldest son, Senor Don Benito
Juarez, of the City of Mexico, as giving a fair representation
of the personal appearance of his great father.
The copy, as far as I can judge, has been admirably
made, and will, I hope, satisfy those who may have the
.advantage of having personally known the President.
I The calmness with which he faced the soldiers' muskets
in the Palace at Salamanca, April, 1857, was not greater than
that with which seven years earlier, April, 1850, on hearing that
the garrison of Oaxaca had fired upon their officers, he had
hastened, unarmed and unprotected, to face the rebels, and in
A LIFE OF BEN1TO JUAREZ. 359
Simple in his personal habits, abstemious in
eating and drinking ; an early riser, needing at all
times but little sleep, he blended to an uncommon
degree the characteristics of the student with
those of the man of action, and he enjoyed * a
measure of bodily health which is given to few —
whether in the library or in the field. Hardy and
vigorous, yet disinclined to active exercise, tempe-
rate, sober, chaste, he did his work not in the
Senate hall, nor on the battle field, but in the study.
For even in the pursuit of his profession Juarez
was a juris-ccnsult rather than an advocate ;
deeply read in constitutional law, and an ardent
admirer of our English institutions and polity.!
His favourite relaxation wras History. His fa-
vourite author was Tacitus; and among the papers
that he left behind him is an annotated collection
of maxims from the works of that great master of
the midst of a hail of bullets had compelled them to
surrender to his authority. When Marquez was threatening
the capital at the end of June, 1861, the military commander
of the city took flight and disappeared ; Juarez, by his
coolness and resource, restored confidence after a day of
panic, which was nigh to have led to another Tacubaya.
Mexico, V. 462-6. Baz : Vida, cap. VII.
* He is said by Baz to have had only one illness during
the whole of his life, which confined him for a single day to
his bed, until his last and fatal seizure.
f Juarez could not speak English, though he could read
works published in that language. A number of his letters,
written in excellent French, may be read in the " Correspon-
dance de Juarez et de Montluc," frequently referred to in these
pages.
360 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
language, translated in hours of ease and leisure,
into his own vigorous Castilian. He has also left
behind him, in his own handwriting, a detailed
account, or record, of his many journeys :
(Cuent a ex act a de mis gastos y viajes), and a still
more interesting collection of estimates of the
characters of those personages with whom he had
been brought in contact : (Unjnicio sobre las personas
mas notables que habria tratado. — Baz : Vida, p. 315.)
The collection of maxims is rather an indication
of taste than a work of public or general importance,
and the publication of his personal and political
reminiscences is no doubt judiciously postponed
until the actors, whose works and ways he must
have severely if justly criticized, have disappeared
from this mortal scene.
But the work of his life was not the pursuit of
letters, nor the making of laws, nor yet the
organization of armies.
It was not even that he withstood the usurper,
and that he freed his country from her many
foes.
The undying glory of Benito Juarez is that,
undaunted by fierce opposition, undismayed by
constant danger, unshaken by enormous tempta-
tions, he set Law above Force in Mexico.
FINIS.
I N D E X.
A.
Abdication. — Contemplated by Maximilian,'" 253-4 ; pretended,
at Queretaro, 318-19.
Acapulco. — Only open port on the Mexican Pacific Coast, 14;
Juarez lands at, 63 ; taking of, by Morelos, 18-19; battle
at, 62 ; Admiral Sir Thomas Maitland commands British
Fleet at, 178.
Advocates. — Chosen by Maximilian, 325-328.
Agmlar. — The Licentiate, 207-215.
Aldham.— Captain, R.N., demands restitution of forced loan,
8 1 ; his friendliness, 81 ; his death, 81 ; his arrange-
ments as regards debt, 138.
Allende. — Captain, associated in Hidalgo's insurrection, 7-17.
Alliance. — Anglo-Franco-Spanish, conditions of, 145; rupture
of, 177-180.
Almonte. — Negotiates sale of Mesilla, 99 ; intrigues in
Europe, 1861, 125; proceeds on a Mission to Spain,
62-3; arrives in Mexico, 176; proceeds to Orizaba,
177-179 ; supported by the French, 187 ; proclaims
himself President, at Orizaba, 190 ; hostile to Lorencez,
196 ; his birth and parentage, 196 ; his issue of
paper money, 196 ; Regent of Mexico, 206 ; an intelli-
gent financier, 208 ; capacity of, 258.
Alvarez. — General, President, fij, fl |
Anahuac.— Junta of, 1813, 19.
362 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Angostura. — Battle of, 39.
Apodaca. — Viceroy of Mexico, 1817, 23.
Archbishops of Mexico. — Garza y Ballesteros, 118 ; La
Bastida, 118.
Area of Mexico. — At different periods, 34-42-43.
Arista. — General, 36; President, 44; deposed, 61.
Arrangoiz. — Concerned in sale of Mesilla, 62-226 ; ac"
companies Maximilian, 226 ; Minister in London, 237.
Arteaga. — General, shot at Uruopan, 267.
Ateqniza. — Victory of Miramon at, 82.
Augsburg. — Guillaume, assists Juarez at Salamanca, March'
1858, 79.
Austin City. — Founded, 30.
Austria. — Francis Joseph, Emperor of, 221-227-228-229.
Auto da f<". — First in Mexico, 15.
Ayutla. — Plan of, 63.
Aspiroz. — President of Court Martial for trial of Maximilian,
324-
Aztecs. — 46-7-8.
B.
Bancroft. — " Native Races of the Pacific States," cited, 16,
Barclay. — Messrs., Mexican loan issued by, 131.
Barradas. — Spanish General, 29 ; Vice-President, arrests
Juarez, 56.
Bar ron. — Mr., British Consul, 70.
Baudin. — French Admiral, 31.
Bazaine. — Shoots Commander of Diplomatic Escort, 202
enters Mexico, 204-5 ; Commander-in-Chief, 212
Supreme at Mexico, 217; Dismisses judges, 218
cruelty of, 219 ; Marshal of France, 249-253
marriage, 253 ; savage ordre du jour, 260 ; refuses to
sign Decree of October '65, 264 ; reply to United States
Envoys, 290 ; arrests Chief of Police, 294 ; quits
Mexico, 296; awaits Maximilian at Vera Cruz, 302.
INDEX. 363
Bernardi. — Floriano, Commanding Diplomatic Escort, shot
by Bazaine, 202.
Betrayal. — Of Maximilian by Lopez, questioned, 314-317.
Bibesco. — Prince Georges, quoted, 189.
Bishops.— Opposition to " Reform " Laws, 57-58 ; es-
trangement of, 238.
Blockade. — Of Mexican Coast by French, 210.
Bouet. — Admiral, bombards Acapulco, 201.
Brantz-Mayer. — " Mexico," referred to, 2.
Bravery. — Of Mexican troops, 40.
Budget. — Of Empire, 254.
Burnouf. — M., Maximilian's Envoy to Diaz, 300.
c.
Calderon. — Battle of, 1810, 17; Count of, 21.
Calderon-Collantes.— Spanish Foreign Minister, 151,
California. — State of, 43-44. ; Lower California to be pledged
to United States, 151.
Calleja. — Count of Calderon, 21.
Calpulalparn. — Victory at, no.
Campbell. — Mr., accepts post of United States Minister at
Mexico, 278-289.
Canning. — George, recognises Independence of Mexico,
21-27.
Carlotta. — Empress, marriage of, 221 ; influence of,
224-228 ; chagrin at reception at Vera Cruz, 234 ; ex-
penses of Mission to Paris, 211; her daily allowance,
242 ; negotiations with Napoleon, 285 ; madness of, 285.
Carrera. — General, President, 1855, 63.
Catholic World. — Of New York, quoted, 274-277.
Cesar Cantu. — Quoted, 84 and 348.
Champagny. — General, cruelty of, 260.
Chapultepec. — Battle of, 40.
Charles IV. — Of Spain, abandons a great part of New Spain
to Napoleon, 1800, 10-11.
364 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Chevalier. — M. Michel, " Le Mexique modern et ancien,"
quoted, 198-199.
Chichimecs. — Tribe of, 48. '
Chihuahua. — Juarez at, 249.
Chilpancingo. — -First meeting of a Mexican assembly at, 19.
Chiquihuite . — Fortification of Mountain Passes of, i6i>
163-169-173.
Chulalong Korn.- — King of Siam, French ultimatum to, 166.
Church. — Disestablishment of, 94; value of property, 97-
98.
Church Property — Expropriation, 1847, 57 ; mode of sale of,
114 ; purchasers of, confirmed in their titles, 218.
Churubusco. — Battle of, 40.
Ciudad de Juarez. — New name for Paso del Norte, 252.
Claims. — British, on Mexico, 130-31.
Clerical Landlords. — Position of, 67-68.
Cock-fighting.- — Revenue derived from, 13 ; work on: referred
to, ibid.
Codes. — Civil and penal, drawn up by Juarez, 59.
Cohahuila. — State of, included Texas, 30-34.
Comonfort. — Commander -in -Chief of insurgents, 63 ;
assumes Presidency, December, '55, 65 ; elected Presi-
dent, October, '57, 71 ; adheres to plan of Tacubaya,
73 ; appointed to important command, 200 ; falsely
asserted to be a conspirator, 146-7 ; War Minister,
245 ; murdered, 246.
Comuneros of Castille. — Insurrection of, referred to, 8.
Confederate States. — Views of France as regards, 195.
Congress.— Decree by, suspending payment, July, 1861, 142 ;
mutiny of, 200.
Constancy. — Order of, 240.
Constitution.— Of Mexico, 26-27 ; °f x^57' 69-70-71.
Contra-guerilla. — Described and criticised, 210-11, and
236.
Contreras. — Don Pedro de, first Inquisitor-General in Mexicor
INDEX. 365
Conventions. — Regarding debt, 129-140; between England,
France, and Spain, 151.
Corta-Bonnefons Convention. — 254.
Cortes. — Spanish, debate upon Convention of Soledad, 182.
Corwin. — Proposes loan by United States to Mexico, 155;
loyalty of, 157; withdraws offer of loan, 159;
withdrawal confirmed by United States Senate, 162.
Coiirts. — Ecclesiastical and military, 64-65-74.
Courts-Martial. — French in Mexico, 206-207-259; court-
martial for trial of Maximilian, 321 ; how composed,
329-
Cowley. — Lord, British Ambassador in Paris, 152.
Creole.— Meaning of, 14.
Cruelty. — Hatred of by Juarez, 116-7; °f the Spaniards in
New Spain, 15-16.
Cmrnavaca. — Congress of, 1865, 64.
D.
•
Dano. — M., French Charge d'Affaires, 328.
Debt. — Foreign, of Mexico, 129 ; Padre Moran, 129-136 ;
Wyke-Zamacona Convention regarding, 157-8 ; various
Conventions as to, 129-30-34 ; funded and unfunded,
129-34-37-
Decorations. — Maximilian's grants of, 313-319.
Decree. — Of July i7th, '61, 142 ; of August 2ist, '61, 148 ;
of October 3rd, '65, 261-269 ; of amnesty by Juarez, 350.
Degollado. — Defeated at Tacubaya, 87 ; plunder of Con-
ducta at Laguna Seca, 103-105 ; assassinated, 123.
Diaz, Felix. — Taken prisoner at Orizaba, 89.
Diaz, Porfirio. — Speech, September, 1893, 5 ; bravery at
Puebla, 193 ; refuses to give his parole, 203 ; escapes
from Puebla, 204 ; taken prisoner at Oaxaca, 270 ;
candidate for Presidency, 303 ; birth and early career,
304 ; negotiations with Bazaine, 305 ; capture of
Puebla, 306 ; besieges Mexico, 307-339 ; his patience,
308 ; entry into Mexico, 341 ; considerate conduct of,
342; favours amnesty, 343-344 ; candidate for Presidency,
1867 and 1870, 348-353.
366 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Doblado. — Falsely proclaimed a conspirator, 146 ; secretary
to Juarez, 170 ; alleged to be supported by Wyke,
171 ; note of, 178 ; negotiates Convention with • Sir
Charles Wyke, 186 ; appointed to important command,
200 ; Cabinet Minister, 245 ; invites Juarez to resign,
248 ; his death, 248.
Dolores. — Grito, or war cry of, 7-17-18.
Domenecli. — E., Catalogue of Mexican Governments, 3.
Douay. — General, arrival of, 197.
Doyle. — Mr., British Minister, 121 ; Convention, 135.
Drouyn de Lluys. — M., announces withdrawal of French
troops, 279.
Dunlop. — Captain, R.N., financial arrangement by, 1859,
126-137-38 ; withdraws forces from Mexico, 175 ; praised
by Lord Russell, 176 ; independence of, 178.
Du Pin. — Colonel, commanding Contra-guerilla, 211-236.
E.
Ecclesiastical Courts. — 64.
Echeverria. — Senor, appointed Finance Minister, 157-8-169.
Education. — Mexican, in 1820, 53.
Eloin. — Prime Minister of Mexico, 237; secret mission
to Austria, 279 ; intrigues of, 286-7.
Empire. — Of Mexico, candidates for, 220.
English .—Resident in Paris upon French Intervention in
Mexico, 255.
Escobedo. — General, victory at San Jacinto, 297 ; generosity
to Mejia, 303 ; advances upon Queretaro, 309-313 ;
capture of Maximilian, 314-316 ; memorandum as regards
Lopez, 315; occupies Queretaro, 316; treatment of
Maximilian, 320; suspends execution, 331; commands
a division, 349.
Escoceses. — A lodge of Freemasons, 28.
Estafctte, L\ — The French newspaper in Mexico, 206.
Esther. — Book of, referred to, 266.
Eugenie. — Empress, influence of, 224.
Exports. — Of colony of New Mexico, 12 , of modern
Mexico, 5.
INDEX. 367
F.
Facio. — A swindler, decorated with Legion of Honour,
205.
Federal Republic. — Proclaimed, 26 ; abolished, 29.
Ferdinand VII. — Of Spain, 16 ; sells Florida and other
Spanish territory to the United States, u; his restora-
tion to crown of Spain, 20 ; his tyranny, 20-21.
Fischer. — The Abbe, early history of, 283 ; influence on Maxi-
milian, 285 ; offensive note to Bazaine, 294 ; besieged in
Mexico, 308-340.
Flag. — National, origin of, in Mexico, 22-23.
Fleet. — French, arduous duties, 209-10.
Florida. — State of, 10-11.
Foreigners. — Rapacity of, in Mexico, 127-8 ; frauds by,
upon Mexican Treasury, 128 ; claims by, upon Mexi-
can Government, 130.
Forest. — M., takes place of M. Dano at Queretaro, 328.
Forey. — General, his proclamation, 192 ; Napoleon's cele-
brated letter to, 198 ; arrival at Vera Cruz, 199 ;
besieges Puebla, 202; enters Mexico, 205; his bills for
entertainment, 205 ; Master of the City of Mexico,
209 ; recalled to France, 212.
Forsyth.-— United States Minister, 82.
Fonld. — Achille, French Finance Minister* 242.
Frazer's Magazine. — Article of Dec. '61 quoted, 70 ; and
127-8.
French. — Cruelty of, 218.
French Expedition. — Against Mexico (1837-8), 31-32.
Friant. — General, Mexican Minister of Finance, 283-5.
G.
Gabriac. — M. de, 74 ; letter to Lazaro, Archbishop of Mexico
74- 121.
Gachnpines. — Nickname for the Spaniards by the Mexicans, 7.
368 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Game Cocks. — Revenue derived from, 12 ; rules and regu-
lations of cock-fights, 13.
Garza. — General-Commanding at Tampico, Si and 105.
GarzayBallesteros. — Archbishop of Mexico, his protests against
Juarez, 117-18.
Glyn. — Messrs., Mexican Loan issued by, 242.
Goldschmidt. — Messrs., Mexican Loan issued by, 131.
Gomes-Farias. — Vice-President, 1847, 57-
Gota de Agua. — Nickname for Arrangoiz, 226.
Grant. — General, his Memoirs referred to, 13, 36, and 40.
Grape. — Cultivation of the, forbidden in Mexico, 13.
Gravicre. — Admiral Jurien de la, 175 ; withdrawn from
Mexico, 183.
Guadalajara. — Threatened murder of Juarez at, March, '58,
77-78 ; victory of Ortega at, December, '60, no ; Manifesto
by Clergy of, 196 ; re-occupied, 292.
Guadalupe. — Blessed Virgin of, patron Saint of Mexico, origin
of legend, 7.
Guadalupes. — Nickname for the Mexicans by the Spaniards,
7 ; Fort of, at Puebla, 192-202.
Guanajuato. — Insurrection of Hidalgo at, 17 ; Juarez assembles
his Cabinet at, 75.
Guarantees. — The Three, 22.
Guatemala. — Independence of, 10-27.
Guerrero. — Third President of Mexico, 21-27-28.
Gutierrez de Estrada. — Embassy to Europe, 1854, 63 ; Mon-
archical schemes, 220.
Guzman. — Sehor, succeeds Senor Zarco as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, 128.
G'd'in.— Doctor, and Sonora, 232-3.
H.
Hcrrera. — President of Mexico, 35-44.
Hidalgo. — Father, his insurrection, 16-17 '• n^s Grito de
Dolores, 7 ; before the Inquisition, 8 ; excommuni-
cated, 6-7 ; death, 17.
INDEX. 369
Hidalgo. — Senor, mission to Paris, 237.
Hoorickx.—M., Belgian Charged' Affaires at Queretaro, 328.
I.
Igitala. — Plan de, 22.
Indians. — Of Mexico, 47-50.
Inquisition. — In Mexico, 8-15 ; re-established, 20.
Institute of Arts and Sciences. — At Oaxaca, 54 ; restored by
Juarez, 59.
Intervention.— ]oir\\., origin of, 144-6 ; arrival of troops, 163;
Commissioners appointed under, 163-164; Ultimatum
proposed by M. de Saiigny, 165 ; significance of, 236.
Isabella the Catholic. — A raiser of armies, 197.
Ismail Pasha. — Recruits troops for French army in Mexico,
201.
Ixtaccihualtl. — In sight of French troops, 192.
Jxtlan. — Near Oaxaca, 51.
Ixtlilxuchixl. — Fernando Alva de, on cruelty of Spaniards, 16.
J-
Jalapa. — Santa Anna at, 27 ; evacuated by the French,
201 ; re-occupied by Liberal troops, 293.
Jealousy.— Of the European Spaniards of all things Mexican,
Joinville.- — Prince de, besieges and bombards Vera Cruz,
31-32-
Jecker. — Bonds, 107-137-38-39-40-254-55 ; and the Due de
Morny, 256 ; his death, 257.
Jesuits.— Decree expelling, June, '56, 70.
Juarez. — Benito, work of, 5 and 360 ; character _of,_6.,, J>6,
197, 358-9 ; birthplace, 46 and 50 ; tirth and parentage,
51-52 ; Governor of Oaxaca, 45, 58, 60, 61, and 65 ; child-
hood and youth, 53 ; Professor of experimental physics,
54 ; Deputy to National Congress, 55 ; Judge at
Oaxaca, 56 ; marriage, 56-7 ; re-establishes Institute
B B
37O A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
of Arts and Sciences, 59 ; imprisoned in San Juan de
Ulloa, 62 ; exile at New Orleans, 63 ; returns to
Mexico, 64 ; abolishes ecclesiastical and military
courts, 65 ; his^efoxrn^Lawsi_66-&7J opposition of
Bishops, 68 ; new Constitution, 69 ; Vice- President
of the Republic, 70 and 72 ; Minister of Home Affairs,
71 ; imprisoned by Comonfort, 73 ; assembles his Cabinet
at Guanajuato, 75 ; legitimate President, 76 ; military forces
of, 77 ; Landa attempts his life, 78 ; leaves Guadalajara,
79 ; excommunicated, 80 ; recognises French and Eng-
lish claims, 81 ; loyalty of Vera Cruz to, 82 ; organises
defence of town, 83 ; refuses foreign volunteers, 84 ; a
" President in a black coat," 85 ; contrasted with Mira-
mon, 87; reception of McLane, 89; accused of selling
National property, 90-92 ; nis programme of July i8th,
59 and 93 ; ecclesiastical laws, 95-96 ; an unskilful finan-
cier, 98, 114-115-116, and 351; admits Spanish Minister
to Mexico, 101 ; probity and honesty of his Government,
103 ; decree of restitution in Laguna Seca case, 104-7 •
fixes new elections, 109; re-enters Mexico, no; difficul-
ties of administration, 111-112 ; re-elected President, 113;
hatred of cruelty, 116-117; banishes certain Bishops, 118 ;
recognised by European Ministers, 119 ; opposition of M.
de Saligny, 120 ; re-organisation of administration, 122 ;
slanders upon, in Europe, 125-6, 146, 154, 220, and 352 ;
declines loan from United States, 155 ; authorises Zama-
cona to confer with Sir C. Wyke, 156-7 ; approves Conven-
tion, 158; organizes defence of Mexico, 162-163: his
answer to Allied note, 166-7 '• honest treatment of Allies,
169-70, 173-4, and 217; proposes Conference 71 ; con-
firms Convention of Soledad, 172-175 ; remonstrances
as to Almonte, 177-8 ; negociates treaty with France
and Spain, 180 ; declares war against France, 181 ;
thwarts Napoleon III., 184-5 '> new Convention with
England, 186-7; thanks General Zaragoza, 193; his
treatment of French prisoners, 194 ; is especially de-
nounced by French, 200 ; fortifies Puebla, 202 ; retires
to San Luis Potosi, 204-208 ; the common enemy, 214;
loyalty of Sonora to, 218-232 ; true nature of his conflict
with Maximilian, 230 ; an unconsidered exile, 235 ;
recognized by 12 provinces, 236-7 ; his administration in
.the North, 244 ; manifesto of June 7th, '63, 245; re-
models his Cabinet, 245; at Saltillo and Monterey, 247
and 282 ; retirement suggested by Doblado, 248 ; remits
cash to prisoners in France, 249 ; a raiser of armies, 250 ;
at Chihuahua, 251 and 282 ; number of his forces, 251 ;
INDEX. 371
at Paso delNorte, 252, 270, 274-5-6-7 and 282 ; his Decree
of November 3rd, 1858, 256 ; his adversaries, 257 ; his
isolation, 261 ; Decree of October 3rd, '65, 265 ; Maxi-
milian's letter to Miramon, as to, 266 ; his Decree of Feb-
ruary, '62, 267 (note) ; allowed no reprisals, 268 and 282 ;
Constitutional position of, 271 ; decree regarding
272 ; threatened by Ortega, 273 ; Court Ball at
Paso del Norte, 275-6 ; relations with United States,
277-8 ; Envoys accredited to, 289-290 ; advances upon
Mexico City, 292-3 ; his army in '67, 299 ; at San Luis,
301 ; supports Porfirio Diaz, 309 ; desires escape of
Maximilian, 314 and 327 ; unrevengeful attitude of, 324 ;
his personal appearance, 325 and 358 ; grants of respite
to Maximilian, 325-8, 331-2 ; interview with Princess
Salm, 325 and 332 ; and with the wife of Miramon, 333 ;
his confirmation of death sentence on Maximilian, 337-8 ;
his clemency to the vanquished, 343-4 ; treatment of
Foreign Ministers, 345; he meets Parliament, 346; his
account of his stewardship, 347 ; his new Cabinet, 348 ;
reduces the army, 349 ; practical good government, 350 ;
unsuccessful foreign policy, 351 ; French libels upon, 351
(note) ; death of his wife, 353 ; re-election of, as Presi-
dent, 353 ; confirmed by Congress, 354 ; his illness, 354 ;
death, 355 ; funeral, 356 ; character, 357-8 ; his bravery
at Salamanca and Oaxaca, 358-9 ; his tastes and studies,
359; his works, 360 ; general summary, 360.
Juarez — Don Benito, junior, Member of Mexican Legislature,
357-
Juarez. — Dona Margarita Maza de, 56-7 ; on the Northern
frontier, 247 ; crosses frontier, 249 ; death, 353.
Junta. — At Seville, of 1810, 16.
Jurien. — Dela Graviere, Admiral, 175-183.
K.
Keratry. — Comte de, his works on Mexico. Introduction —
specially quoted as to Contra-guerilla, 211.
Kozhevar. — M., report upon finances of Mexico — quoted 131
132-134-136.
L.
La Bastida — Monsignor, Archbishop of Mexico, 206; dis-
missed by Forey, 207 ; intrigues at the Vatican, 216 ;
provokes outbreak in Yucatan, 80-216.
B B — 2
372 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
La Fiiente. — Senor, special Envoy to Europe, 124-149.
Lago. — M. de, Austrian Minister at Queretaro, 328.
Lagttna Encantada. — In Oaxaca, 51.
Lagttna Seca. — Plunder of Conducta at, 103-105.
Landa. — Treachery of, at Salamanca, 78-9.
Lanfrey. — His views upon joint alliance — quoted, 182.
Lano.- — " Secret d' Empire " — referred to, 255.
Lares. — Prime Minister of Mexico, 285-6 ; besieged
Mexico, 308.
Latin Race. — Restoration of its ancient force and prestige b
Napoleon III., 184.
Le Clerq. — Mile. Agnes, Princess Salm-Salm, 320.
Legion of Honour.— Appointments to, 205.
Lerdo Law. — The, 66-95.
Lerdo de Tejada. — Miguel, 84 ; death of, 122.
Lerdo de Tejada. — Sebastian, his opposition to motion,
Zamacona Convention, 159 ; Foreign Minister, 245 ;
answer to Doblado, 248 ; during trial of Maximilian,
330-1 ; inclined to severity, 344 ; Vice-President of
Mexico, 348 ; Minister of Home and Foreign Affairs, 349;
candidate for Presidency, 1870, 353.
Lettsom. — Mr., British Charge d' Affaires, 70-72-75.
Lincoln. — President, importance of Northern Mexico to, 154-5.
Lizardi. — Concerned in sale of Mesilla, 62 ; charged with
conversion of debt, 132.
Loans. — Mexican, 129, 140; (of 1864), 242-243 ; disposition of
proceeds, 244 ; (of 1865), 258.
Logan. — Mr., declines post of United States Minister in
Mexico, 278.
Lopez. — Colonel, decorated, 205 ; betrayal of Maximilian,
314-16.
Lorencez. — General Count, disembarks at Vera Cruz, 176 ;
excuses for violation of Convention of Soledad, 190 ;
advances towards Puebla, 191 ; repulsed at Puebla, 192.
Loreto. — Fort of, near Puebla, 202.
Louet. — M., French Paymaster-General of troops, 165.
Louis XIV. — And Marshal Villeroi, 251.
INDEX, 373
Louisiana. — Sale of, to United States, n ; possible object of
French Intervention in Mexico, 278.
M.
Maitland. — Admiral Sir Thomas, commands British fleet at
Acapulco, 178.
Magnus. — Baron, Prussian Minister at Mexico, 328, 330, and
332.
Manning and Mackintosh. — Messrs., their claims, 130.
Manzanillo. — Juarez embarks at, 1858, 79.
Marines. — British, retired from Mexico, 175.
Marqnez. — The s.s., 92.
Marqnez. — Leonardo, conduct at Tacubaya, 87-88 ; plunder of
specie at Guadalajara, 103 ; steals $660,000 from British
Legation, 109; outlawed, 123 ; pillages the Real del Monte
Mines, 147-8 ; decorated with Legion of Honour, 205 ;
intrigues with Aguilar, 215; mission to Constantinople,
237; returns to Mexico, 287; "the greatest blackguard
in Mexico " ib. (note) ; with Maximilian at Queretaro, 301 ;.
repulsed by Diaz, 306-7; Lieutenant of the Empire,
317 and 341 ; disputes with Miramon, 319; goes to Mex-
ico, 310-11; besieged in Mexico, 339-40; escapes from
Mexico, 341.
Martinez de la Torre. — D. Rafael, advocate for defence at
Queretaro, 328.
Masscras. — M., Editor of L'Ere Nonvelle, 253.
Matamoros. — Senor, an associate of Morelos, 18.
Matamoros.— Embarkation of Confederate cotton at, 209;.
General Mejia at, 241.
Matthew. — Mr., appointed British Minister, 1859, 102 ;
friendly negotiations with Senor Zarco, 106 ; leaves
Mexico for Jalapa, 108 ; National apology to, 119.
Maximilian of Hamburg. — Represented by Almonte in Mexicoi
176; invitation to Mexico, 207; birth and marriage,
221 ; character, 222, 239, 240 ; selected by Napoleon, 195
and 223 ; negotiations regarding the Empire, 224 ; re-
ceives Almonte and the Bishops, 225 ; receives Gutierrez
de Estrada, 225 ; receives Arrangoiz, 226; tour in Europe^
374 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
227 ; renunciation of European rights, 228 ; proclaimed
Emperor, 229 ; sanctions loan, 230 ; agreement with
France, 245 and 231-3 ; visits Piux IX., 235-38; arrives
at Vera Cruz, 234 ; his method of Government, 238-241-
280-288-9 ; his Civil List, 241 : Imperial Loan of 1864,
242-3 ; his palace at Chapultepec, 244 ; contemplates
abdication, 253-4 ; disposal of Jecker claims, 254 ; his
motto, " take it coolly," 260 ; his false position, 261 ; pro-
clamation of October, '65, 262 ; consequent Decree, 263 ;
his responsibility for, 264 : strange explanation of, 265 ;
results of, 266-7-8 ; reception of news from France, May,
'66, 279 ; and the Abbe Fischer, 283 ; his appointrhent
of MM. Osmond and Friant, 284 ; sends away his
valuables, 285 ; his new Cabinet, 286 ; his irresolution,
287 ; proposed abdication, 289 ; decides to stay in
Mexico, 290 ; proclamation to that effect, 291 ; proceeds
to Mexico, 294 ; ingratitude to Bazaine, 295 ; refuses
to decorate French officers, 296 ; orders execution of
Juarez, 297 ; flies to Queretaro, 300-1 ; awaited by
Bazaine at Vera Cruz, 302 ; besieged at Queretaro, 309-
317 ; grant of decorations, 312-19 ; surrenders to Escobedo,
313-16 ; betrayal of, by Lopez, 314-16 ; his first plea to
Juarez, 318; his proposed Regency, 319 ; confined in con-
vent of La Cruz, 320 ; assisted by Princess Salm-Salm,
321 ; indictment of, 322-3-4 ; his design after escape,
326 ; plan for escape, 327 ; tried by Court-Martial, 329-
331 ; executed, 334 ; responsibility for his own death,
317 ; justice of sentence, 335-6 ; impossibility of
pardon, 357-8.
Maza. — Dona Margarita, marries Juarez, 1843, 56.
Mazatlan. — Surrender of, 1859, 89.
Mejia. — Ignacio, Minister of War, 316, 349,
Mejia. — General Don Tomas, accepts command under Mira-
mon, 1858,76; outlawed, 123 ; pronounced partizan of an
intervention, 209 ; capacity of, 238 ; captures San Luis
Potosi, 246 ; at Queretaro, 310 ; declines to escape alone,
303 ; offers to cut his way out of Queretaro, 317 ; indicted,
324 ; tried, 331 ; executed, 334-338 ; his character, 339.
Mendez. — Slaughter of prisoners at Uruapan, 267; rewarded
by Maximilian, 268.
Mendoza. — Count of Tendilla, first Viceroy of Mexico, 1535,
8-9.
Mesilla. — Sale of, to United States, 62 and 154.
INDEX. 375
Mestizo. — Differs from Criollo, 14.
Mexican Railway. — 1864-1868, 350.
Middleton. — Mr., British Charge d' Affaires, 345-351.
Milne. — Admiral Sir A., commanding British Fleet, 178.
Ministers. — Foreign, recognition of Juarez by, 119 ; English
and French list of, in Mexico, 121 ; retire from Mexico,
344-5-
Miramar. — Reception of Mexican invitation at, August, '63,
208.
Mimmon. — The ss., captured by U. S. Navy, 92.
Mivamon. — General Don Miguel, appointed to command of
Zuloaga's army, 71 and 76; his victory at Atequiza and
San Joaquin, 82 ; assumes Presidency, 82 ; attacks Vera
Cruz, 83; repulsed, 85; ancestry and parentage, 86;
character, 87 ; murder of Liberal officers at Tacubaya,
88 ; resumes Presidency, 101-2 ; instructs Marquez to
violate British Legation, 108 ; issues bonds through Seiior
Peza, 139; his contract with fecker, 139-40 ; arrives at
Vera Cruz, 167; arrested by Commodore Dunlop, 168 ;
attaches hirnself to the French, 209 ; sent to Prussia to
study fortification, 238 ; return to Mexico, 287 ; proposes
to capture Juarez, 296 ; Maximilian's recommendations as
to, 297 ; disputes with Marquez, 310 ; at Queretaro, ib\
indicted, 324 ; tried, 331 ; executed, 334-338.
Miranda. — Padre, appearance of, 72 ; guest of Admiral Jurien
at Orizaba, 177 ; character of, 179.
Mision Civihzadora. — Of allies, 169.
Mitla. — Zapotec Palace at, 49.
McLane. — Mr., United States Envoy, April, 1859, 89.
41 M'Lane Surrender, The." — 90-92.
Mon. — Sen or, negotiates treaty of September, '59, 100.
Monarchy. — Not desired in Mexico, 198.
Monroe Doctrine. — 155.
Monterey. — Taking of, 37 ; Juarez at, 247.
Montgomery, Nicol &> Co. — Loan to Government, 134.
Montholon. — Marquis de, his contract with M. Masseras, 253.
Montluc. — Appointed Consul-General for Mexico, in Paris,
122 ; Mexican Consul-General in Paris, 201.
3/6 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
Morelia. — So named after Morelos, 19.
Morelos. — The muleteer, life of, 18 ; insurrection of, 18, 19 ;
tortured and shot, 20.
Morny. — Due de, intrigues with Jecker, 256 ; death of, 257,
Mortmain. — Law of, 67.
N.
Napoleon I. — Obtains Louisiana from Spain, 10 ; sells
Louisiana to United States, n.
Napoleon III. — Designs of, upon Mexico, 125-6-182-184 ;
enormous influence of , 185-194-198 ; refuses to accept Con-
vention of Soledad, 183 ; his celebrated letter to
General Forey, 198 ; opposing position of Juarez, 184-
185 ; orders march on Mexico, 190 ; orders Saligny to
retire, 213 ; early intrigues as to Mexico, 216 ; visit of
Maximilian, 225-227 ; his bonne main to Maximilian, 230;
secret articles of alliance with Maximilian, 233 ; con-
nection with Jecker, 255-257 ; Maximilian's ingratitude
to, 284; Empress Charlotte's mission to, 281; negotia-
tions with Empress Charlotte, 285.
National Assembly. — See Parliament.
Negrete. — General, 193; defeat of, 246; at Chihuahua, 250;
at Saltillo, 251.
Nicaragua Canal. — Schemes as regards to, 90.
Niox. — Captain, quoted, 191-204-251.
Nueces River. — boundary between Mexico and the United
States of America, 35.
' O.
Oaxaca. — State of 45-6 ; city of, 51 ; Centralisation of, 1836, 57 ;
model province of the Republic, 59-61, (1847 to l852) '•
Juarez, governor of, 65 ; reoccupied by Porfirio Diaz, 292 ;
surrenders to Bazaine, 305.
Ocampo. — Murder of, by order of Marquez, 123.
O'Donnell. — Marshal, see Tetuan, Duke of, 160.
O'DonojK. — Juan, Viceroy, 23.
INDEX. 377
Officers. — Mexican, in France, 248-49.
O'Horan. — Governor of Mexico, 301 ; murder of prisoners, 306 ;
besieged in Mexico, 308 and 340 ; shot, 344.
Olive. — Cultivation of the, forbidden in Mexico, 13.
Order. — Of constancy, 240 ; of the Mexican eagle, 240; of Saint
Charles, 240.
Orizaba. — Conference proposed at, 167; French arrival at, 175;
conference at, 179 ; Almonte proclaims himself President
at, 180 ; French retreat to, 193 ; conference at, 1866,
290.
Ortega.— Victory of, at Calpulalpam, no; Vice-President, 113;
appointed Commander-in-Chief, 199 ; sends back French
prisoners, 203; intrigues against Juarez, 273; candidate
for Presidency, 303.
Ortega.— Don Eulalio, advocate for defence at Queretaro,
328.
Osmont. — General, Mexican Minister of War, 283-5.
Ottoman. — Turks, mediaeval position of, 183; Empire, Marquez,
appointed Envoy to, 237.
Otivay. — Mr., British Minister, recalled, 82 and 102; modifies
Doyle Convention, 135-6.
P.
Pacheco. — Senor, Envoy from Isabella II. to Miramon, 59 and
100-1-8 ; expelled from Mexico, 117 ; apologies for expul-
sion of, 150.
Pakenham. — Mr., British Minister at Mexico, 32 ; signs Con-
vention of 1842, 134.
Palo Alto. — Battle of, 36.
Paredes. — General, President of Mexico, 35-38.
Parliament. — Of Mexico, first, 19 and 27 (note) ; Juarez
deputy to, 55-57 ; meeting of, at Cuernavaca, 63-64 ;
passes " Lerdo Law," 66 ; passes revised constitu-
tion, 69; new" meels, 71; summoned by Juarez, 109;
meets, 113; of Vera Cruz, 118-19; resolution of July,
1861, 141-2 ; repudiation of Zamacona Convention, 158-9
and 162; not sitting, 166; summoned by Juarez, 18 1 ;
resolution on victory at Puebla, 193 ; new meets, Octo-
3/8 A LIFE OF BENITO JUAREZ.
ber, 1862, 200 ; Maximilian neglects to summon, 291 ; '
new election, 1867, 348 ; meets, 349 ; confirms Presidential
election, 353-4.
Paso del Norte. — (Now Ciudad de Juarez), Juarez at, 252 ;
Decree of, 272 ; Court ball at, 274-5 ; Juarez at, 282.
Pasteles, Reclamation de los. — 32.
Pay no. — Senor, quoted, 72.
Pedraza. — Presidential candidate, 27-28.
Penaud. — Admiral, commanding French Fleet, in Mexican
Gulf, 81.
Perote. — Evacuated by French, 201.
Peza. — Senor, issues bonds for Miramon, '58, 139.
Pierce. — President, purchases the Mesilla from Santa Anna,
62 and 154.
Poinsett. — Mr., American Minister in Mexico, 28.
Polk. — Mr., President of United States of America, 35.
Popocatapetl. — In sight of French troops, 192.
"President in a Black Coat." — Juarez called, 250.
Press Law. — Under the Intervention, 206-7.
Prim. — General, Prince of Reuss, approves of joint interven-
tion, 149, 170, 172.
Prisoners. — French, taken at Puebla, 194.
Proclamations. — Numerous French, 205.
Programme. — Political, of Juarez at Vera Cruz, 93-5.
Pronunciamicntos. — Number of, 2.
Provinces. — Mexican, acknowledging Juarez, 236-7.
Puebla. — Taken by Comonfort, March, '56, 68 ; French not
conquered at, 193 ; besieged by General Forey, 202 ;
Bishop of, order regarding excommunicate soldiers, 193 ;
surrenders, 203; Mexican officers at, 203-4; evacuated
by the French, 301 ; occupied by Diaz, 306 ; risings at,
350.
Q.
Quarterly Review.- — Article cited, No. CXV., 13, 143.
Querctaro. — Maximilian retires to, 301 ; siege of, 311-17; false
news from, 340.
INDEX. 379
R.
Railway. — Mexican Central, 252 ; Mexican, 350.
Ramirez. — Minister of Foreign Affairs, 239.
Randon. — Marshal, French Minister of War, 284.
Reclamation de los pastehs — 32.
Reconquistaja. — Of Mexico and Spain compared, 277.
Recruiting. — Imperial, 280.
Reform Laws. — The so-called, 66, 94, 96.
Regeneration of Mexico. — Lord Russell objects to phrase, 182.
Reuss. — Prince of. See Prim, General.
Revenue. — Of the Colony of New Spain, 12 ; of modern
Mexico, 5, 13; of Empire, 254.
Riva-Palacio. — D. Mariano, Advocate for Defence at Queretaro,
328; favours amnesty, 343-4.
Rubio. — Senor, hospitality to Maximilian, 320.
Russell. — Lord John, his foreign policy, 145 ; created an Earl,
149 ; ultimatum to Mexico, August, 1861, 157 ; under
French ii^fluence, 187 ; political pedantry of, 216.
s.
Sacvificios. — United States troops land at, 39.
Salamanca. — General Doblado defeated at, March, 1858,
77-
Salanueva. — Antonio, first patron of Juarez, 52.
Salas. — Associated with Almonte in Regency, 206-7.
Saligny. — M. Dubois de, succeeds M. de Gabriac as French
Minister, 120; antipathy to Juarez, 120; attempted assa-
sination of, announced, 146 ; endeavours to seduce General
Uraga, 161 ;ultimatum proposed by, 165 ; agrees to moder-
ate note, 166, 170, 175, and 183 ; enters Mexico in triumph,
205; recalled to France, 212; his proposed marriage,
213.
Salm-Salm. — Prince, referred to, 303-5-10-12-13-14-19-26-27-28-
29.
380 A LIFE OF BEXITO JUAREZ.
Salm-Sahn. — Princess, 320-21-25-29-30-32-33.
SaltiUo. — Capital of Cohahuila and of Texas, 30-34; a seat of
Government, 246-247.
Sanchez. — DonDelfin, 357.
San Fernando. — Pantheon of, 356.
San Francisco. — Formerly port Sir Francis Drake, 44.
San Jacinto. — Battle of, 31.
San Joaquut. — Victory of Miramon at, 82.
San Juan dc Fuca. — TI.
San Luis Potosi. — Government of Juarez at, 204 ; Juarez atr
207-208-245-301 ; rising at, 350.
San Pablo Guelatao. — Birth of Juarez at, 51.
Santa Anna. — Antonio Lopez de, birth, 25; disloyalty to Ytur-
bide, 26 ; at Jalapa, 27 ; universal rebel, 28 ; President, 29;
Dictator, 30; prisoner in United States, 31 ; loses his leg,
32 ; introduced into Mexico, 37 ; President, 38 ; character
in Frazers Magazine, 38, (note) ; military incapacity, 39;
defeated at Jalapa, 40 ; retires to the Havannah, 41 ; Dicta-
tor in 1832, 55; imprisons Juarez, 56-62; flies to the
Havannah, 58-63 ; Dictator, 61 ; sells Mexican Mesilla, 62 ;
organises descent on Yucatan, 80 ; lands at Vera
Cruz, March, 1864, 218 ; sent back to Havannah, ibid ;
receives Mr. Seward at St. Thomas, 277-8 ; last attempt
against Government of Mexico, 327.
Santacilla. — Don Pedro, 357.
Scott. — Wingfield, United States America General, 37-39-40.
Seminary. — Ecclesiastical, at Oaxaca, 53-54.
Sequestration. — Of property of Mexicans by French, 205.
Seit'ard. — Mr., proposal as to assumption to Mexican debt, 153-
5 ; refuses to join intervention, 161 ; quoted by Lord
Lyons, 187 ; visits Santa Anna at St. Thomas, 277-8-289.
Sherman. — General, U. S. Envoy to Court of Juarez, 289.
Siam. — French ultimatum to, .161.
Sierra Madrc. — Range, 46.
Slavery. — In Mexico and the United States, 33-35.
Smith. — Mr. Goldwin, on United States intervention in
Mexico, 45 ; French designs upon Mexico, 278.
INDEX. 38l
Soledad. — Convention of, 172-174 ; ratified by England and
Spain, 182 ; plainest provision of, 188 ; violated by the
French, 189.
Sonora. — To be pledged to United States, 154 ; proposed
colonization of, 218-232-233.
Soudanese. — Troops with French army in Mexico, 201.
States. — Now United of North America, formerly comprisec
in Mexico, 10.
St. Thomas. — Island of, Santa Anna at, 277-8.
Susquehannah. — United States frigate, 290-1.
T.
Tacitus. — Favourite study of Juarez, 359.
Tampico. — Diversion of stolen dollars at, 104-5 '> evacuated by
French, 201 ; re-occupied, 292.
Taylor. — Zachary, United States America General, 35-36.
Tehuantepcc.—Mr. Webster, United States Consul at, 1850,
91.
Tendilla. — Antonio de Mendoza, Count of, first Viceroy of
Mexico, 1535, 8-9.
TVfHrtfl.— Duke of, speech regarding Juarez in the Cortez,
August, '62, 125 ; assents to Anglo-French Alliance,
145 : slander of Juarez in Spanish Senate, 153 ; reply of
Juarez thereto, 154.
Texas.— 10-30-31-34-37-39-40-42-43.
Thouvenel. — M., French Foreign Minister, 152-3-178.
Three Guarantees. — Army of the, 22-23.
Thugs. — Compared with Liberal Mexicans, 206.
Tierras Calientes. — Climate of, 175.
Toltecs — Indian tribe of, 47-8.
Treaty. — Of Paris, 1763, 10 ; 1803, I0 '> of San Ildefonso, 10; of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1^-42 ; of commerce with Great
Britain, 27 ; of Abolition of Traffic in Slaves, 33.
Tribunals. — Ecclesiastical, 64 ; Military, 64.
Troops. — Number of Mexican and French, 251.
382 A LIFE OF BF.NITO JUAREZ.
U.
Udueta. — Juan, Coachman of Juarez, 247-355.
Ulloa. — San Juan de, Fort off Vera Cruz, 29, 32, 39 ; Juarez
imprisoned in, 62; the Mexican Chateau D' If, 62-3.
United States of North America. — Rapid progress, 3; list of
States once Mexican territory, 10 ; cession of Louisiana
to, ii ; of Florida, n (note), 41 ; treaty of Guadalupe-
Hidalgo, n-12 ; Minister Poinsett introduces Yorkinos, 28 ;
recognise independence of Texas, 30-1-4 ; plunder of
Mexico, 33 ; slavery, 35 ; negotiations with President
Herrera, 35 ; invasion of Mexico, 36 ; campaign, 36-41 ;
taking of city of Mexico, 40 ; General Grant on the war,
36, 40,45; indemnity to be paid to Mexico, 42; acquisition
of territory by, 42-3; Goldwin Smith's, history of, 45 ;
claims of bond-holders upon indemnity payable,
1848, 133; proposes to advance $72,000,000 to Mex-
ico, 153-156 ; offer withdrawn, 159 ; declines to join
intervention, 161 ; offer of loan by, 186 ; crippled in '63,
195; Minister retires from Mexico, May, '64, 234; dis-
countenances scheme of Ortega, 273 ; passive attitude as
regards Juarez, 277; Minister Logan, 278; Minister
Campbell, 278 ; remonstrances with Napoleon, 288.
Uraga. — General, 247.
V.
Vancouver's Island. — Part of Mexico until 1819, 10-11.
Vasquez. — Local advocate defending Maximilian at Queretaro,
328.
Venegas.- Don Francisco, Viceroy of Mexico, 1810, 9; at
Talavera, 9.
Vera Cruz. — 14, 23-25, 29, 31-33, 38-41 ; hypothecation of
Customs duties at, 123-4 and I26-i35; counter revolution
at, 73; occupied by Spaniards, 161 ; Commissioners at,
166; evacuated by allies, 173.
Vicente Riva Palacio. — Don, excepted from Decree of October,
'65, 265.
Viceroy alty. — Of Mexico, area of, 34.
Viceroys of Mexico. — During the present century, 9.
INDEX. 383
Victoria. — Don Felix, President, 27.
Vidaurri. — Rebels at Monterey, 247 ; besieged in Mexico, 308,
340 ; shot, 344.
Villafranca. — Peace of, 216.
Villa Real. — Colonel, his fronunriaimento at Oaxaca, 65.
Villeroi. — Marshal, under Louis XIV., 251.
w.
Wagner. — Baron, Prussian Charge d'Affaires, 119.
White. — James, account of the Siege of Mexico, 306-7-8.
Wyke. — Sir Charles, Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, 127 ;
interviews with Serior Guzman, 128 and 142 ; his
letters, 129, 141-2, 143-4, 146-8 ; suspends diplomatic
relations, 143 ; resumes negociations with Senor
Zamacona, 156-7 ; concludes Convention of October, '61,
157-8 ; demands his passports, November, '61, 159 ; returns
to Vera Cruz, 161, 170-1 ; retires from Mexico, 202.
Wyke-Zamacona Convention. — Negociated, 156 ; concluded,
157 ; signed, 158 ; repudiated, 159.
Y.
Yorkinos. — A Lodge of Freemasons, 28.
Ytitrbide. — Augustin de, early career, 19, 21-6.
Yucatan. — La Bastida provokes outbreak at, 80.
z.
Zamacona. — Senor, negociations with Sir C. Wyke, 157-9 ; re-
signs on repudiation of Convention, 159-60 ; waits upon
Commissioners at Vera Cruz, 167-8-9.
Zamora. — Governor of Vera Cruz, 84 ; death of, 122.
Zapotecs. — Tribe of, 47 ; religious rights of, 49 ; jewellery of,
49 ; language of, 49-50 ; independence of, 50.
Zaragoza. — General of National Army, 189 ; successful defence
of Puebla, 192 ; presented with sword of honour, 193 ;
supineness of, 197 ; dies of fever, 199.
384 A LIFE OF BENITO" JUAREZ.
Zarco. — Francisco, editor of El Siglo XIX., 84; Minister of
Foreign Affairs, 106 ; financial proposals by, March, '61,
124-128.
Zuloaga. — Publishes plan of Tacubaya, 73 ; appoints Mira-
mon Commander-in-Chief, 76 ; receives blessing of Pope
Pius IX., 80 ; flight of, August, 1860, 101 ; escapes to the
Havannah, 123.
**£x
; UNIVERSITY)
^
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