Part 21

Yet on the 13th this difficult fortress was attacked by General Pillow, scaled and taken by the American troops. General Bravo was in command of the castle, while Santa Anna was occupied with other exposed places. Under him were eight hundred men, among them the pupils of the Military College established there. The General was taken prisoner; many of the brave young fellows, before they had gone beyond the first lessons of military science, were taught its last and most bitter one,--death, in the defence of their citadel. The American soldiers rushed in at the many different doors of the college; it is said that they showed unusual ferocity, made savages by the custom of slaughter among the Mexicans in former engagements. Quarter was rarely given, a practice learned of the Spaniards themselves; for a few moments the struggle was fearful, and the bloodshed unrestrained. Parties of American officers found their way to the Azotea, and tore down the Mexican colors, while the standards of two United States regiments were displayed. The shouts of the victors announced to the city that her stronghold had fallen.

The taking of Chapultepec was practically the end of the war. The city of Mexico was shortly after occupied, and although the negotiations for peace were long and tiresome, the end was obvious.

On the 2d of February, 1848, a treaty was confirmed, called that of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, from the name of the little suburb city where it was signed. Mexico received fifteen millions of dollars, by way of indemnity; but lost the territory of Alta California, New Mexico, Texas, and a part of her state of Coahuila, by the agreement to consider the windings of the Rio Bravo del Norte, or Rio Grande, as the boundary between the two nations, as far as it goes; that is, to a direct line parallel with San Diego on the coast of California.

No sooner had California fallen into the hands of the Americans, than it turned out to be full of gold. In that very year, 1848, began the gold fever of California, and emigration poured in from all parts of the States, so that rapidly the territory, unknown and neglected by the Mexicans, grew to be a most important State. San Francisco, then a little straggling Mexican port, is now a large and flourishing city.

This is a result of the war which must be viewed with impatience, to say the least, by the Mexicans, who saw themselves, at the time, forced to relinquish this large amount of territory without the power of refusal. On the other hand, there is room for thinking that California, left in the hands of that people, might have remained to this day undiscovered, with its wealth still hidden in the earth. Whatever comfort this may be, is open to the losing side.

The war left them disgraced and humiliated, with ruined cities and desolated homes scattered over the land. It is probable, however, that the permanent effect of the war was beneficial. It taught the Mexicans, for one thing, to distrust the prestige of their army, and humbled the pretensions of a crowd of military men, who, while they aspired to the highest offices of government, proved themselves not only incapable of serving their country thus, but incompetent in the field. High praise, however, is always to be assigned to the courage and bravery of the army, its commanders, and private soldiers, especially in the defence of their capital when the struggle reached its last agony.

The United States by the war acquired an immense extent of territory, by many of its citizens, however, even at the time, regarded as a questionable good. The acquisition of so much slave territory without doubt hastened the crisis which called for the civil war of 1861. The experiences of the American army in the Mexican war, and the glory, exaggerated perhaps, which attached to their feats of arms, stimulated the taste for military pursuits, before very moderate in a peaceful and industrious land. The heroes of the campaign of Anahuac were transferred to the field of politics. General Taylor became President of the United States, and General Scott narrowly escaped it. The defects of the army were recognized and in great measure remedied, so that when the civil war did come, both armies, on the two contending sides of that unfortunate conflict, were in a state of readiness much in advance of the condition of the national troops before the campaign in Mexico, while a crop of officers, heroes of the so-called glorious victories of Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and the rest, responded to the call of loyalty, or rebellion, with the alacrity of experience.

After the evacuation of Mexico an attempt was made by the Americans to capture Santa Anna. General Lane, who with a small force was engaged in driving guerrillas from the roads, received information that this general was at Tehuacan, not very far from Puebla. After marching all night in that direction, he occupied two large haciendas in that neighborhood, where his men and horses were concealed during daylight, and the Mexican residents held close prisoners. When evening arrived the command marched on towards Tehuacan. About five miles out they met a carriage with an escort of ten or twelve armed men. They were stopped, but the occupant of the carriage produced a written safeguard over the signature of an American general, and upon this the whole party was allowed to proceed. General Lane arrived at Tehuacan just at daylight, and entered it at once. But the bird had flown. Santa Anna had been there; but, warned by a breathless messenger on horseback, who rode back from the carriage the soldiers had met, to give him news of the approach of the soldiers, had just time enough to make his escape, with his family, leaving all his effects, which were quickly plundered by the troops of Lane's command.

On Friday 1st, before the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Santa Anna informed the Minister of War and the American Commander-in-Chief that he desired to leave Mexico and seek an asylum on a foreign soil, where he "might pass his last days in that tranquillity which he could never find in the land of his birth." This permission was granted, and he went to Jamaica, leaving his country at peace, but not forever.

Ulysses S. Grant, then a young soldier in the army of the United States, took part in the Mexican war. He went into the battle of Palo Alto as second lieutenant, at the age of twenty-six, and entered the city of Mexico sixteen months later with the conquering army.

In his personal memoirs General Grant expresses his opinion that the Mexican war was one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. "It was an instance," he says, "of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory."

XXXV.

BENITO JUAREZ.

Peace was restored, and with it revived commerce and industry; the coffers of government were full, thanks to the fifteen millions of _pesos_ received from the United States to heal the wounds of war.

General Herrera took possession of the presidential chair, and Mexico, after twenty years of warfare, civil and foreign, took a respite of as many months.

Herrera became President on the 3d of June, 1848, and fulfilled the appointed time of office until January, 1851, when he handed over the control to his successor, when for the first time in the history of the Republic this change was effected without violence.

His administration was economical and moral, and so was that of his successor, General Arista, who continued the reform of the army, bringing order into the financial condition of the country. These two terms may be regarded as models of good government.

Before the close of Arista's term the Mexicans took up their old practice of _pronouncing_, and rather than create a disturbance, the President, finding himself unpopular, secretly retired from the capital. Resolutions began, and Santa Anna, hearing their echo afar, returned to the country once more, to be made Dictator.

But Mexico was not to fall back into the hopeless anarchy of the period before the American war. The better class had learned to desire peace, and there were leaders among them strong enough to restrain the mobile desires of the multitude, and lead them to better things. The epoch of the reform began; and although this reform was signalized by bloodshed, it was a war for definite objects and principles, and not a squabble, setting up and putting down incompetent presidents, which used to prevail.

The great struggle arose over the question of the sequestration of Church property, begun during the United States war, but then, as we have seen, treated injudiciously, hastily dealt with, with but temporary and inefficient results. Later the disagreement between the _clerigos_, or Church party, and the _liberales_, or those demanding the surrender of the property of the Church, became wider and wider, until two great parties divided the country. For half a century these parties have disputed the power under their two political standards. It must not be inferred that the party opposed to the _clerigos_ has been opposed to religion. The liberals have been as good Christians, and not only this, as devout Catholics, as the so-called Church party. The question has not turned upon matters of doctrine, but upon those pertaining to the goods of the Church.

Benito Juarez was of pure Aztec birth. It has even been said that the blood of the Montezumas was in his veins. Be that as it may, his family was of the lowest order of the Indians, living in a village of the state of Oaxaca. They were poor, and it is said that at twelve Benito knew neither how to read nor write.

He found a protector in Don Antonio Salanueva, head of a rich family of Oaxaca, who became interested in him, and kindly helped him to an education. In him, as in many other cases less known, the facility of the Indian intelligence to acquire knowledge was shown. He learned rapidly to read and write, and advanced so far as to study law, in which he afterwards distinguished himself, elected first a member of the legislature of Oaxaca, and afterwards climbing all the steps to legal fame until he became the presiding judge of the courts there.

During the war with the United States, Juarez was at the capital, as deputy to Congress. He took a vigorous part in the demand for the loan upon Church property to supply money for the war, and thus ranged himself with the opponents to the Church party, although himself preserving the devout faith of the Catholic religion, which the Indians almost invariably cling to.

He was made Governor of Oaxaca, and devoted himself to establishing schools for the Indians, to benefit his race, while he managed affairs wisely and economically for all.

During Santa Anna's dictatorship, he was banished from the country, and stayed in New Orleans until the turn of the wheel brought his way of thinking to the top, when among other offices he resumed that of Governor of Oaxaca. He became afterwards Secretary of State, and President of the Supreme Court of Justice.

On the 17th of February, 1857, a new Constitution was promulgated by the enlightened Congress. It declared that national sovereignty resides essentially in the people, and adopted the republican form of government, representative, democratic, and federal. It proclaimed each state free and sovereign within its limits, and introduced many reforms and improvements in the old code. It was received with great applause by the liberal party, but with little disguised disapproval by the army and clergy, who set themselves from its birth to combating its success. Great disturbance arose, excommunication of the liberals, promulgations, pronunciamentos, arrests, uprisings. From the midst of all the confusion Juarez took possession of the presidency by right of his position as head of the Supreme Court, since Comonfort, the legitimate President, had _pronounced_, been condemned, and forced to leave the country. Juarez and his party held their own through much adverse circumstance. On his side were ranged, in the defence of the Constitution of 1857, Doblado, Ortega, Zaragoza, Guillermo, Prieto, and other important men; on the side of the _clerigos_ were the Generals Miramon and Márquez, and the greater part of the chiefs of the regular army. Civil war waged over the land; there is reason to believe that moderate principles and the Constitution of 1857 would have triumphed, had it not been for the strange and certainly unexpected events of the foreign intervention, which occasioned an episode in Mexican affairs as cruel and unnecessary as it was dramatic. So foreign indeed was it to the national life of the Mexican people, that it in reality scarcely formed a part of their history. The Indian in his hut of adobe saw the princely pageant pass, he scarce knew why.

XXXVI.

FRENCH INTERVENTION.

IN 1861, four years after the declaration of the Constitution of 1857, on the 8th of December, there appeared in the waters of Vera Cruz a foreign squadron, over which floated the colors of three European powers. It was a combined expedition from the governments of Spain, England, and France. The commissioners from these three powers were accompanied by a body of Spanish troops, a smaller force of French ones, and some English sailors. Why were they there? Did they come to demand something? Had they an ultimatum to present?

The three powers had signed a treaty in London by which they agreed to send this threefold expedition to Mexico to demand guaranties for the safety of their subjects living there, and further to urge their claim to sums borrowed by the Mexicans during their difficulties, on which a law had been lately passed suspending payment. This was the pretext for the expedition; its real cause was below the surface.

The commissioners took possession easily of Vera Cruz, and then proceeded to Orizaba, where a conference was opened with Juarez. The demand for payment was readily acknowledged, and the commissioners for Spain and England at once withdrew their troops. But the French remained. The proclamation issued by the commissioners, declaring their presence in Mexico was for no other purpose than that of settling vexed questions, had served as a reason for introducing their troops. The expedition was undertaken in good faith by the English and Spanish governments, but when their commissioners found that a deeper question was involved, they extricated themselves and their governments from the affair and went away.

A plan had been formed in the court of the Tuileries, by Napoleon III., encouraged and even instigated by Mexican refugees who had sought the court of France, disgusted with the liberal turn of affairs in their own country. Among these were Gutierrez de Estrada, the ex-President Miramon, and others of the clergy party, who were opposed entirely to the supremacy of Juarez, and wanted above all things to bring back a monarchy to Mexico. At the same time the Archbishop of Mexico, robbed as he said of the property of his Church, warmly advocated the same cause at Rome.

The plan was to select a prince of some European house, and place him upon the throne left vacant since the abdication of Agustin I. in the capital of the Aztec Emperors. Estrada, indeed, was living in exile, on account of his pamphlet proposing this scheme. Napoleon III. accepted these overtures with alacrity, and at once furnished troops, money, and influence to the alluring idea of "opposing the Latin race to the invasion of Anglo-Saxons" in the New World--that is, to check the supremacy of the United States upon the western continent, and establish an Empire in Mexico, which, nominally independent, would be under his own control, and thus add to the glory of the French nation.

The time was opportune, for the United States were then engrossed in a civil war, which absorbed all their resources. The government at Washington could not give its attention to affairs in Mexico, and Napoleon hoped, in the not improbable event of the success of the Southern States, that there would be no danger of interference from that quarter.

The demands of the commissioners, therefore, were but an excuse for entering the country. Relying on the representatives of the Mexican _émigrés_, which promised cordial support from the clerical party at home, the French advanced towards the capital of Mexico.

Meanwhile, the future Emperor had been found. Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, Archduke of Austria, of the house of Hapsburg Lorraine, accepted the proposition secretly made him by Napoleon, to become Emperor of Mexico.

He was brother of the reigning Emperor of Austria, and they were descended from the royal house of Charles V. of Germany and I. of Spain. Maximilian was born in 1832; in 1857 he had married the daughter of the King of Belgium, Carlotta Maria Amalia. These two young persons, for the prince was but little over thirty, were at Miramar, their palace near Trieste, where they received the overtures of the Mexican conspirators. For many months the Archduke hesitated over so startling a proposal; finally he decided to accept the crown which was offered him, but "on the condition that France and England should sustain him with their guaranty, moral and material, both on land and sea." England, as we have seen, early withdrew from the alliance, with a loyalty to honorable principles greatly to its credit, well aware that the United States would look upon the scheme with no favor, and less confident than the French Emperor in the success of the Southern Confederacy.

Maximilian was a dreamer. The scion of the stock of kings, he believed firmly in the "right divine," which he persuaded himself to fancy, by tortuous ways might now be hovering over him. Ardently religious, he attached the highest importance to the preservation of the Church, and believed that he was an instrument to this end. The vision of Mexico snatched from the hands of impious rebels and restored to the prestige of an ancient Empire, fascinated him, and with a vivid imagination, he pictured himself, and his Carlotta, whom he dearly loved, as the central figures of the great restoration. His expression of this thought at Naples, in 1857, so often quoted, proves how far he was carried by the vividness of his dreams.

"The monumental stairway of the palace of Caserta is worthy of majesty. What can be finer than to imagine the sovereign placed at its head, resplendent in the midst of those marble pillars,--to fancy this monarch like a god graciously permitting the approach of human beings. The crowd surges upward. The king vouchsafes a gracious glance, but from a lofty elevation. All powerful, imperial, he makes one step towards them with a smile of infinite condescension.

"Could Charles V., could Maria Theresa appear thus at the head of this ascending stair, who would not bow the head before that majestic power God-given! I too, poor fluttering insect of a day, have felt such pride throb in my veins, when I have been standing in the palace of the Doges of Venice, as to think how agreeable it would be, not too often, but in rare solemn moments, to stand thus at the height of such an ascent, and glancing downward over all the world, to feel myself the First, like the sun in the firmament."

All this had been arranged, as is now known by the dates of the preliminary correspondence, before the French commissioners were sent to Vera Cruz. The conciliating attitude of Juarez towards them took away the pretext under which they had entered the country, but they had no orders to retire. On the contrary, reinforcements soon arrived, and the Mexican President found himself obliged to put an army in their way.

The expedition, whose object, no longer concealed, was "the triumph of the Latin race on American soil," advanced towards the capital. Mexico was divided by its two great parties for and against the invasion. The ultra-clerigos, secretly aware of the action of their party abroad, encouraged it; but there were many amongst them who paused before the innovation of a foreign ruler on Mexican soil.

French troops under the command of General Lorencez advanced upon Puebla, joined before they arrived there by a strong Mexican force of the clerical party under Márques, so that they had a large and effective army. The resisting force in Puebla was much smaller, not more than two thousand strong, but the defence under General Zaragoza was brilliant against a vigorous attack. The French were driven off and had to retire to Orizaba.

This is the victory of the _Cinco de Mayo_, or 5th of May, which the Mexicans celebrate as one of their best holidays. The battle was not in itself very important, but its moral effect upon the Mexicans was great, encouraging them to continue their gallant defence of their country. They fought to resist foreign intrusion. At that time they scarcely knew why it was thrust upon them, and could not have dreamed of the extent to which imperial audacity on the other side of the ocean had dared to go. To impose upon a free and able-bodied people a sovereign of foreign birth, without the slightest sign of inclination on their part, was hardly justified by the argument that this party constituted an important minority. The extent of the enterprise dawned upon the people gradually, as the scheme of the French Emperor unfolded itself. Meanwhile, there was fighting in Puebla, and the long-suffering Mexicans again took up arms.

The Indians, over whose villages peace for a few years had stretched her fostering wing, once more heard the noise of cannon and the call to arms. The old troubled life had come back again. Repose was only a dream.

On the 5th of May, every year, there are great rejoicings all over Mexico, but especially in the capital, where a broad handsome street, well paved and lighted, is called the Cinco de Mayo. All the troops are reviewed on that day by the President. The buildings are hung deep with flags and decorations, and the streets crowded with a joyous population swarming to and fro, crying _Vivas!_ over the long procession of regiments marching through the city to the stirring sound of the Mexican national march.

An adventure of which the French are very proud occurred in the following month. After retreating from Puebla, the army of Lorencez was quartered in Orizaba where they were closely watched by Zaragoza's men. A body of four or five thousand Mexican troops placed themselves upon the Cerro de Borrego, high above the town, whence they threatened to bombard it. The condition of the French within the town grew more and more uncomfortable, food was giving out, and the presence of the overlooking enemy was, to say the least, annoying.

A young captain, lately promoted, watched and followed a Mexican woman whom he saw day by day, as she climbed a steep path to the height, carrying a water jar upon her head to supply the Mexican army. The French officer entreated permission of his general to attempt the dislodgement of the enemy. This granted, in the deep darkness of night one hundred and fifty soldiers crept cautiously up the narrow path, unconsciously betrayed by the Indian woman, close to the edge of the cliff. Suddenly, as they arrived at the top, the officer called out "_A moi les Zouaves!_" "_A moi la Légion!_" giving such a volley of directions that the Mexicans imagined the whole French army was upon their traces. Startled from secure slumber, they were easily overcome. The French claim the destruction of three hundred men, a general, three colonels, and two lieutenant-colonels, with all the arms and the colors of the Mexicans, who, if they survived the weapons of the small attacking party, fled and were lost in the steep slopes of the precipice.