Bazaine,[1] who assumed command on the 1st of October. The instructions given him by Drouyn de Lhuys express clearly enough the course now intended to be pursued, reiterating as they do the contradictions and fallacies that France aimed at no conquest, colonization, or special privileges, but merely to secure the payment of claims and the possession of guarantees for the future, in the regeneration of the country from its hitherto anarchic condition — a regeneration left wholly to the good-will and patriotism of the people, and purely seconded by France, in the interest of themselves and of Europe generally. Bazaine must accordingly take steps to let the true popular vote regarding the proposed government find expression, and promote the fair election of officials, for the existing institutions of the country appeared satisfactory enough. The emperor deplored the sequestrations, outlawing, and restrictions hitherto imposed, and forbade also any reactionary or exclusive policy that might prevent the conciliation of parties. The army should be reorganized, with honorable prominence to native troops, and steps taken to hasten the object of the intervention, so as to shorten the French occupation.
While this document by no means disclosed several ultimate considerations, including financial natters, Sonora colonization, and the like, it served, aside from its direct object, in allaying, for a time at least, many rising doubts, notably in the United States. Napoleon recognized that the struggle in the northern republic must soon end, and that however weakened, it would have surplus armies enough to render itself formidable. He evidently did not believe wholly in the confederacy, or he would have recognized it. Then again, by observing neutrality, he hoped to
- ↑ He was a man of fifty-two years, descended from a military family, and had won his earliest laurels in Africa, distinguishing himself later in the Crimea and in Italy, as general of a division. A knowledge of Spanish acquired in a campaign against the Carlists served greatly to favor him in Mexico.
