Yet at this very time he had given the marshal, as he now ranked, a beautiful palace on the occasion of his marriage with a Mexican.[1] Regarding the French as the only reliable and efficient support, he continued to ask Napoleon for more troops, intimating that he preferred Douay for chief. Meanwhile he proposed to remedy the lack of soldiers with terrorism. Taking advantage of recent successes in the north, and the mere rumor that Juarez had actually fled from Mexican soil,[2] he declared in a manifest of October 2d that the president having left the territory, a legal pretence no longer existed for continuing to war against the empire, and guerrilla bands would henceforth be regarded as malefactors, and subjected to the extreme severity of the law.[3] To this effect was issued on the following day that much-abused decree of Maximilian, ordering the trial by court-martial and execution within twenty-four hours of any member of such bands, or abettors thereof, the trial and sentence to be carried out by the officer who captured them.[4] Even those who secreted guerrillas, or withheld information and aid against them, were to be imprisoned or fined.[5]
- ↑ A grand-daughter of Azcárate, the regidor of 1808. The palace of Buena Vista, with gardens and furniture, was given as a dowry to her, to be redeemed by the government with $100,000 in case she left Mexico, or preferred not to keep it. Mexicans were naturally surprised at this liberal bestowal of national property, and to one declared so unworthy. Zamacois, Hist. Méj., xvii. 1125-7; La Voz de Méj., July 8, 1881. Bazaine is depicted as hypocritical and avaricious in Pap. y Corr. Famil. Imp. Franc., 20. in Payno, Cuentas, 382-3, 699, etc., is given a list of expenses incurred by and for French officers. Both Woll and Eloin had gone to Europe to obtain the removal of Bazaine, Arrangoiz, Méj., iii. 268, 301-2, in favor of Douay. Niox, Expéd. du Mex., 433.
- ↑ Juarez would in such a case have been replaced by another leader, so that the republican government still remained.
- ↑ The manifest begins: 'La causa que con tanto valor y constancia sostuvo · Don Benito Juarez' — a phrase by no means to the liking of either Napoleon or other opponents.
- ↑ The only exemptions were persons who accidentally, or by force, happened to be with the bands. No regard was to be paid to the size of the band or the rank of the prisoner, so that a lieutenant might judge and execute a general.
- ↑ All persons between the ages of 18 and 55 must aid in defending their town or estate under a penalty. Authorities who failed to prosecute such
of June 29th. Again on July 18th: 'Je parle de ces hauts fonctionnaires qui dépensent l'argent et le sang du Mexique inutilement, qui font toutes les intrigues,' etc. See Niox, Expéd. du Méx., 438-91.
