Juarez fled again towards Paso del Norte, followed by a few travelling companions only. The soldiers and the liberal officials were already scattered to the winds. For six weeks the French troops had worked at constructing a fort in the town, so that it might be defended from any further attack; and after the completion of this work, they gave up the place to the care of about twelve hundred imperialists, who were not long before they were attacked. Their generals, instead of keeping them in the fort, and thence defending the environs, undertook a sortie with their forces to a spot half a mile from the town. That night their overthrow was complete, and Chihuahua definitively welcomed the republic.
This military episode was reproduced on many points of the territory; and Maximilian, whom the French and foreign press has so often represented as constantly disagreeing with our head-quarters, desired nothing better than its concurrence in the means of defence for the empire. The prince could not make the marshal responsible for the acts of his government, and, in spite of all, was pleased with his exertions. Does the following letter testify to any hostile feeling on the part of the crown, or any dissatisfaction with the management of military operations, when, on the contrary, its aim is to concentrate absolute authority in the hands of the general-in-chief?
Mexico, June 3, 1866.
My dear Marshal,—Unity of action is the first requisite for finishing promptly the organisation of the army.
The ideas which you have put forward in council on this subject are most just and full of practical good sense. You are already commander-in-chief of the army, and sole director of all military movements, and, therefore, the very best judge there can be of what ought to be done, and you are also in the position to carry it out.