Part 23

The Emperor was accompanied almost wholly by Mexicans, only a few Europeans being about him. He was determined to excite no jealousy in the minds of his subjects by apparent preference for those of his own country. As for the French, they were no longer desired by him. General Márquez was his quartermaster-general; his aides-de-camp were Mexican; his physician accompanied him, Dr. Basch, who was a worthy and devoted friend up to his last moments. Personally attached to the Emperor was the young Prince Felix of Salm-Salm, who had been fighting in the civil war of the United States, and came to Mexico, for want of other occupation. He attached himself to the cause of Maximilian with a devotion which became ardent before the end. Besides these gentlemen, the Emperor had with him a Hungarian cook and four Mexican servants.

Thanks to the vigorous measures of Miramon and the clerical party, Maximilian found himself at the head of an army of more than eight thousand men. Among these were found the most active and valiant chiefs of the old regular army, who showed great bravery, as did their trained soldiers, but nearly half the troops were raw Mexican recruits, ready to run away at a moment's notice.

Querétaro was soon invested by the army of the north under General Escobedo. Daily skirmishes took place, which showed great daring on both sides. The troops of the Emperor sallied out for provisions, of which there was soon sore need within the besieged city, returning after each attack to their quarters, around which the liberals were drawing their lines closer and closer. The investment lasted two months, during which General Márquez was sent by Maximilian to the capital for those forces and funds which had been so confidently promised him by the clergy. Márquez succeeded in avoiding the liberal army, but never returned, and no reinforcements whatever were sent to Querétaro. He made use of the troops and funds he was able to raise in the capital in order to attack General Diaz who was advancing upon Puebla. Diaz captured Puebla, after a siege of twenty-five days, and then turned round and utterly routed Márquez, who, taking refuge in flight, returned almost alone to the capital under cover of the night. Had he brought back his troops to the succor of Querétaro, the immediate result might have been different, but the fall of the Empire could not be long delayed. During this long and trying siege, the conduct of Maximilian was admirable. He won everybody by the gentleness and cheerfulness of his bearing, brave to a fault, and exposing himself fearlessly to the fire of the enemy. Several plans of escape were formed, by which the Emperor, with a few guards, was to disappear from the city and place himself at the head of his troops elsewhere, but these were generally frustrated at the last moment by the unwillingness of Maximilian to abandon his brave companions, from a delicate sense of honor.

Maximilian, at Querétaro, is described by the Prince of Salm-Salm, as generally in citizen's dress; but when he stood at the head of his troops he wore the uniform of a general of division.

He was about six feet high, of a slender figure. His movements and gait were light and graceful, his greeting especially genial. He had fair hair, not very thick, which he wore carefully parted in the middle. His beard was fair and very long, and he nursed it with great care, parting it in the middle, and frequently stroking it with his hand. His skin was pure and clear, and his eyes were blue. His mouth had the unmistakable stamp of the Hapsburg house, but not so strongly marked as with some of his illustrious family. The expression of his face was kind and friendly, and so was his bearing; even with his intimate friends he was never familiar, but preserved a certain dignity of manner. He was true to his friends and loyal to a fault, for he never could suspect treachery in those who surrounded him. His love of beauty and harmony was so great that he was easily captivated by handsome people with pleasing manners, and he could not divest himself of the idea that a fine human form must contain a noble soul. The strength of mind and moral dignity he displayed when his misfortunes came upon him, and the sadness of his fate, silence whatever criticisms of his course may be suggested by the events of his brief career in Mexico.

The condition of the foreign army shut up in Querétaro became more and more painful. Provisions grew scarce. Maximilian, with the greatest serenity, accepted the coarse, tough food which was all that could be had. The only hope of the garrison was in Márquez, and day after day brought only disappointment, as no troops appeared from the capital.

On the night of the 14th of May, Gen. Lopez, who had the charge of the most important point in Querétaro, the Convent de la Cruz, betrayed his trust and admitted two battalions of the enemy into the citadel. From this point they advanced to other parts of the city, where all became at once terror and confusion. Lopez had been won by the liberals, but he had not intended that the Emperor should be captured, and indeed gave him ample warning that he might escape. With his aides-de-camp Maximilian passed, untouched, by some liberal soldiers and gained a little hill just outside the town. Here he surrendered to a detachment of the victorious army and delivered up his sword. The horse of the Emperor was brought to him, and the little party rode to meet Escobedo, the victorious general. Generals Miramon and Mejia were also then taken prisoners. Mendez, another imperialist, succeeded in lying concealed for a few days, but being found, he was shot at once.

For a month Maximilian and his generals remained prisoners in Querétaro, while their fate hung undecided in the hands of Juarez. Even then there were propositions for the escape of the Emperor, boldly planned and helped by ample funds; but he always failed at the last moment to avail himself of them.

The Princess of Salm-Salm, an American by birth, was as devoted to the cause of the unfortunate Emperor as her husband. She showed great energy and courage at Querétaro, visiting Maximilian and carrying messages between him and the Prince, from whom he was separated. She even went to San Luis de Potosi to beseech the clemency of the liberal chief, Juarez, or at least obtain a delay, but her pleading was in vain.

The decision of the President, which nothing could shake, was, that the traitors, as they were called, should be tried by court-martial. The trial was but a farce, the result a foregone conclusion, although the cause of Maximilian was eloquently urged by his counsel, Mariano Riva Palacios and Rafael Martinez de la Torre.

Maximilian met his death with great composure and heroism. He rose early on the fatal morning, and at five o'clock mass was celebrated. With the stroke of six o'clock a liberal officer came to take him. He said "I am ready," and came from his cell, where he was surrounded by his few servants, who wept and kissed his hands. He said to them: "Be calm; you see that I am so. It is the will of God that I should die; against that we cannot strive."

Miramon and Mejia came forward, and he embraced them both. On arriving in the street he looked round him, and drawing a deep breath, said: "What a beautiful day! On such a one I have always wished to die."

The streets were crowded; every one greeted the condemned Archduke with respect; the women wept aloud. He responded to these greetings with his usual gentle smile.

He made a short address to the Mexicans, of which these were the last words:

"Mexicans! May my blood be the last spilt for the welfare of the country, and if more should be shed, may it flow for its good, and not by treason. Viva Independencia! Viva Mexico!"

Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia were all shot at the same moment.

Thus really closed the episode of the French intervention in Mexico. The foreign intruder, encouraged by the short-lived intention of a European potentate to plant the Latin race upon the soil of the New World, abandoned by his instigator, betrayed by his few remaining troops, was dead. There was no longer question of a foreign prince upon the Aztec throne.

XL.

END OF THE EPISODE.

The city of Mexico, after the departure of Maximilian for Querétaro, had remained tranquil awaiting events. The Emperor sent back immediately General Santiago Vidaurri, who had accompanied him out of the capital, with full powers to govern the city.

This man had been one of the chiefs of the liberal party, and had often fought, on the opposite side, both Márquez and Miramon. As governor of the state of Nueva Leon, he had brought its administration into such good order that it was an example to the rest of Mexico. Disgusted with anarchy, and disliking Juarez personally, he espoused the cause of Maximilian as the best chance for his country of regular government; yet he always remained a liberal, not joining the clerical party, and thus was distrusted by Miramon and the rest, who kept him away from the Emperor as much as they could. Nevertheless Maximilian, recognizing his worth and his capacity for organization, entrusted him with the charge of the capital. But Márquez, when he reached Mexico, after successfully evading the enemy around Querétaro, instead of sending back money and troops to succor that besieged place, assumed the position of lieutenant of the Empire, and proceeded to govern the capital. Vidaurri withdrew from the scene, and from that time was allowed no part in the affairs of the imperialists; yet he did not escape judgment from the liberals, and was shot, among the first examples of their government restored to power.

Márquez was intended for the same fate, but he kept in hiding, and succeeded later in escaping to the coast, where he embarked for Havana. He then returned to Mexico, after travelling abroad under an assumed name. He is described as a lively little man with black hair and sharp black eyes. He wore a full beard, which concealed a disfiguring scar on his cheek caused by a bullet wound. His cruelty in war won him the name of the "Mexican Alva," but that stern old campaigner better deserves the respect of posterity than such a namesake. Alva would not have left a besieged city to fall a prey to one enemy, while he led his troops to a futile encounter with another one more powerful than his own force.

The brilliant capture of Puebla by General Porfirio Diaz brought into prominence this name, which has since been of the greatest importance in the story of Mexico.

Puebla, after the departure of the French troops from the country, was left in the hands of General Noriega. It had been in the possession of the imperialists scarcely five years, and the courageous repulse of the French troops on the 5th of May, 1862, was still fresh in every Mexican mind, as indeed it is to-day, an inspiring example of their capacity for defending their homes. Yet the imperialists held the city for twenty-five days, in spite of the vigorous attack, at five separate points, by the liberals. Diaz himself, with two companions, was buried for a time underneath a falling roof, and thought to be lost, but they were rescued after a few moments without injury. It was General Diaz, with his troops, who took possession of the capital for the liberals on the 21st of June, 1867. Assuming military command, he at once introduced order into the city, providing corn and food for the hungry population, who stood in great need of it. No persecution visited the conquered imperialists, with the exception of the active leaders, who were condemned to be shot or imprisoned.

The vigorous action of the liberal government towards Maximilian and the imperialist generals, however, impressed the country with its inflexible determination, as well as its power to execute its intent. The Republic reinstated upon the ruins of so brief an attempt at monarchy, Mexican rule, after the bold effort to ingraft upon the country a foreign potentate, proved to have a firmer grasp upon the country than in all its previous essays.

XLI.

THE LAST OF SANTA ANNA.

On the 15th of July, Juarez made a solemn entry into the capital. Many good citizens of Mexico, who had watched gloomily the whole episode of the French intervention, now emerged to light and rejoiced conspicuously in the return of their legitimate chief. Juarez, all this time, had never relinquished his title of President, but wherever he found himself had kept up the state due to the office, and retained his Cabinet. He was received with genuine acclamations by the populace, while high society remained within doors, curtains close-drawn, except that the women took pride in showing their deep mourning for the death of the Emperor. The reign of French fashions and frivolity was over when the troops of Bazaine marched from the town. There are still lurking in the capital descendants of French pastry-cooks and barbers, who shake their heads mournfully over the good old days, all too brief, of the imperial court. A French flavor still lingers about the capital; it is welcome in the excellent cuisine of the Café Anglais, and is evident in the handiwork of certain Parisian _modistes_.

Peace now came back to the country. A general election established Juarez as President, and order and progress once more consented to test the good resolutions of the Republic. The first days of the new era were tranquil, and all went well, in spite of the restlessness of generals of the liberals themselves, who could ill bear to forego their inherent tendency to disputing and wrangling. Above all, Santa Anna was still alive, and it was not to be hoped that he would hold himself aloof from a share in the prosperity of the nation.

He had retired to the Island of St. Thomas, and was growing old. Yet he watched from afar every turn of affairs in Mexico. No sooner had Maximilian landed at Vera Cruz, than he received a letter of congratulation from Santa Anna, expressing his entire approval of the French scheme, and his wish to further it. He even came to Vera Cruz to lend his services to the Emperor, but as no notice whatever was taken of these overtures, he became indignant and withdrew his countenance from the new government. He went to New York, and fixed his residence in Elizabethport, New Jersey, where he published manifestoes against the Empire and the French, and sought an alliance with Juarez. The President, like the Emperor, ignored all overtures from the Mexican king-maker, who instantly turned his superabundant energies to conspiring against the Republic, just as it was struggling to take up, once more, the threads of order.

On the 12th of July, 1867, he was seized on board a steamboat he had fitted out, charged with conspiring against government, and narrowly escaped being shot on the spot; but more moderate measures prevailed, and he was allowed a legal trial by a council of war. Doubtless influenced by all his real services at the head of the national army, which in time past he had conferred upon his country, and through untiring efforts in his behalf by his friends and family, this council did not condemn him to death, but a sentence was passed upon him of exile for eight years. He returned to St. Thomas, much impoverished by this last attempt against good government, and broken with years and failure.

At the end of his time of exile, or perhaps, indeed, before its expiration, he returned quietly to the city of Mexico, and died there on the 20th of June, 1876, in his house in the Calle de Vergaza. He was over eighty years old, blind, lame, poor. His last days were embittered by his sensitive conviction that his great deeds were not appreciated by his country. He was buried in the city of Guadalupe, without honors or recognition by government, who, naturally, it may be supposed, retained their fear of rousing the populace even by so dead a lion.

A family connection of Santa Anna has written a life of him, in which fulsome justice is done to his good qualities. He says, and perhaps with reason, that had he died immediately after the loss of his leg in driving the French from Vera Cruz "this _benemerito mutilado_ had surely left not one single personal enemy."

With great gifts of bravery and military skill, and with a love of his country it is but fair to allow him, probably not possessing the black characteristics ascribed to him by his enemies, he was at the best a turbulent, troublesome creature, an exponent in his own person of all the dangerous qualities of the Mexican character, which for so long a time have kept the country far away from the true path to prosperity.

The character of Juarez, on the other hand, represents precisely the opposite qualities of the Mexican race, inherited from his Indian parentage,--endurance, patience, imperturbability. Calm in the midst of exciting elements, he knew how to stand and wait for his turn. These qualities, so useful to him in adversity were supplemented by executive ability, good sense, and prompt action, which, when he returned to power, enabled him to rule wisely without losing his balance on the giddy height of success, like many of his predecessors.

His seat was not secure, and peace was not confirmed in emotional Mexico. The restless population, untrained to any permanent government, wearied of his rule, and early in his administration began to clamor that he had been President long enough. This people, scarcely yet freed from three hundred years of foreign control, found four years of one liberal leader enough to convert him in their eyes into a tyrant. As the period of election approached, in 1871, party lines became sharply divided, and the question of his return to power was warmly contested. A large body still advocated the re-election of Juarez, as of the greatest importance to the consolidation of the Constitution and reform, but the admirers of military glory claimed the honors of President for General Diaz, who had done so much, at the head of the army, to restore the Republic. A third party represented the interests of Lerdo, minister of Juarez all through the epoch of the intervention, a man of great strength of character and capacity for government. The argument of the _Lerdistas_ was that re-election was contrary to the principles of democratic government; of the _Porfiristas_ that their idol, Diaz, deserved the reward of the highest gift of his fellow-citizens; of the _Juaristas_, that things were very well as they were, and had better so remain.

The campaign was vigorous throughout the country. The press, the tribune, personal influence, were all at work in every state for each of the great parties. The election took place; the _Juaristas_ were triumphant. Their party had a fair majority, and Juarez was re-elected. But the Mexicans not yet had learned to accept the ballot, and a rebellion followed. The two defeated parties combined, and civil war began again.

Government defended itself with vigor and resolution, and in spite of the popularity of General Diaz as a commander, held its own during a campaign of more than a year. Its opponents were still undaunted, and the struggle might have long continued but for the sudden death of Juarez, on the 19th of July, 1872. At dawn of that day, the sound of cannon from the citadel fired at slow intervals awoke the population, who learned on inquiry that their President had died during the night.

Juarez had a singularly robust constitution; he habitually worked eight or ten hours a day without fatigue, but, unconsciously to himself, some organic infirmity was affecting him. He was seized during the night with great pain at the heart, and died very soon in much suffering.

All society was deeply moved by the death of this their faithful servant, who had given his life to their service. Every party joined in the solemn ceremony of his burial, which took place attended by an immense concourse of citizens.

Don Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, then President of the Supreme Court, assumed the government, was elected President, and the late agitation of parties was at an end.

XLII.

PORFIRIO DIAZ.

For three years peace reigned in Mexico, and then began another revolution. Towards the end of 1875, rumors of dissatisfaction were afloat; in spite of the present quiet, which seemed solid and durable, distrust reigned, yet no one voice proclaimed the nature of the malady. Early in the next year, a "Plan" was started, one of those fatal propositions for change which have always spread like wildfire through the Mexican community. By midsummer, the Republic was once more plunged in civil war.

Although he had apparently no hand in the "Plan" of Tuxtepec, General Porfirio Diaz appeared at the head of the army of the revolutionists. He had been living quietly in the neighborhood of Vera Cruz, but now he emerged to take an active part in the general disturbance.

Porfirio Diaz was born in Oaxaca, on the 15th of September, 1830. This state, the farthest of all the states to the south, and except Chiapas, the limit of the Mexican Republic, has many claims to distinction. Its northern part formed the Marquezado, or grant, given in 1529 to Cortés, with the title of Márqués del Valle de Oaxaca.

The scenery of Oaxaca is of the wildest and grandest in Mexico. The Pass of Saloméa, leading to the city, recalls those of Switzerland. Wild animals, not only deer, but pumas and even the jaguar, roam over its slopes, covered with fan-palms and other tropical growths, while higher up is a forest of palms and oaks growing together. At the summit is a grand view of the valley of Oaxaca.

The city, like Puebla, is of Spanish foundation, but at no very great distance from it are the ancient ruins of Mitla, still a puzzle to archæologists, since nothing certain is known even of the tribes found in that region by the Conquistadores,--the Zapotecas, or the traditions of their origin. Their customs seem to have been like those of the Mexicans, but their language resembled that of the Mayas. They were subject to long struggles with the Aztecs, and at the end of the 15th century their capital city, Mitla, was taken and given over to pillage, and the prisoners taken to Mexico to be offered up on the altars of Huitzilopochtli.

The ruins stand in the midst of a gloomy, cheerless landscape, of stunted vegetation, sandy soil, from which project dull gray rocks. No singing birds or even insects frequent the place; the turkey-buzzard soars over the lonely tract under a gloomy sky, and dismal silence reigns around the abandoned architecture of a forgotten race. Even the carvings of geometric ornaments, without any human or animal forms, add to the gloom of this solitary spot.