On the tenth of May, 1865, the Mexican commander-in-chief, Vicente Rosas, writes to the minister of war:
“Matters are bad and grow worse daily. Besides the bands of Regules and Pueblita, several others are roving about in this vicinity, plundering and burning haciendas. Unless something can be done to remedy affairs, this whole department will be lost.”
The country’s most serious enemy, however, was its ex-President, Benito Juarez. Born about 1807, in the State of Oaxaca, of an Indian family, claiming descent from Zapotekos, Juarez’s childhood was spent in extreme poverty. With a natural thirst for knowledge, he eagerly availed himself of all the opportunities for learning that came within his reach, and, finally succeeding in obtaining some education, he determined to devote himself to the study of law. A wealthy Indian merchant, named Don José Hernandez, had taken him into his service as errand-boy from which position he soon rose to a clerkship, and afterward was admitted to the bar with the dignity of Doctor of Laws. Later he was elected to the Vice-Presidency under Comonfort, upon whose resignation, in 1858, Juarez became President of Mexico.
When Maximilian assumed the throne, Juarez’s term of office had nearly expired (November 30, 1864). He would have been wise therefore to recognize the Empire, under which he might have looked to hold some important position. Maximilian, indeed, did make overtures to the ex-President by offering him a place in the cabinet, but Juarez coldly declined, preferring to remain at the head of the revolutionists, who kept Mexico in a state of turmoil and effectually prevented any peaceful development of that distracted country.
The position taken by the United States toward the new Empire has already been alluded to. On the fourth of April, 1864, Congress adopted a resolution declaring the unwillingness of the United States tacitly to appear before the world as an indifferent spectator of the deplorable events then taking place in Mexico, and its refusal to recognize a monarchical government founded on the ruins of an American republic and under the protection of a European power.
Much to his regret, therefore, Maximilian was forced to abandon all thought of an embassy at Washington. Realizing fully how great an advantage recognition by the United States would have been to the Empire, both he and his ministers had used every effort to establish friendly relations between the two governments. The White House, however, still continued to recognize Juarez and his ambassador, Romero, a crafty official who succeeded, not only in establishing recruiting offices for his master in some of the large cities of the United States, but in winning over many of the newspapers also to his side.
Chapter VII
Bazaine’s Position in Mexico
The attitude taken by the French in Mexico has already been alluded to. Bazaine in particular seems from the first to have been little affected by the Emperor’s good example. He was well aware of France’s incalculable services to Mexico, and that it was French bayonets chiefly which still maintained some show of order in the country. As for Maximilian, while thoroughly appreciating Bazaine’s ability, he could not but regard him as the man of whose will he was more or less at the mercy, and felt most keenly the arbitrary acts of the Marshal and his underlings, of which the following examples will serve as illustrations.
In 1864 the French general, Briancourt, had a Mexican colonel arrested and forced him to sweep the streets for two hours every day. Indignant at this outrage, some ladies of the town brought wreaths of flowers to the colonel as he swept, whereupon Briancourt had bills posted proclaiming that in the future any one who committed this offence should share the prisoner’s sentence. After being humiliated in this way for ten days, the imperial officer was summoned before Briancourt, who dismissed him with the words: “Go where you choose now—over to the republicans—for all I care!” And the colonel actually did join the Emperor’s enemies, with several other officers.
A French officer, meeting one of his comrades who had served through a campaign under Lieutenant-colonel Ornano, congratulated him on having been one of those receiving decorations for bravery. “You do me an injustice!” replied the other. “We invariably turned our backs upon the enemy and if Ornano singled me out in his report, it was only through fear lest I might betray how it was falsified. Let me tell you just one incident of this honorable campaign. As we were approaching the village of San Francisco, Ornano sent a party of cavalry in advance to reconnoitre. A fifteen-year-old boy, attracted by the sound of riders, came to the door of his house to see who they were, and, as he galloped by, the leader of the patrol split the poor child’s skull with one stroke of his sabre, just as his mother was about to draw him back into the house. Truly a heroic deed!”