back, reëntering on the 20th of November, amidst great demonstration. Shortly after, however, came news that Bazaine had yielded to Maximilian's instances to retain Chihuahua, and that 500 men were approaching under Billot. On December 9th, accordingly, two days before the entry of the French, he was again on the way back to his refuge on the border of the friendly sister republic; and with him fell also the hope of his officers for any effective achievement for some time to come. Not that they had been idle. Villagran, for instance, had surprised the French post left by Brincourt at Parral, and Ojinaga, lately made governor of the state, operated near Guerrero, where he fell.[1]
In addition to the military crisis which for a moment threatened to ingulf him, Juarez had to contend with another among his own party. His term as president expired on November 30th. Under the present condition of affairs an election could not well be held, and according to the constitution his office should in such a case be assumed by the chief justice.[2] But General Ortega, who held this position, had long been absent in the United States, so long, indeed, and without formal permission, that his position was now declared forfeited.[3] Further, the assumption of the
- ↑ The actions and skirmishes in 1865 are estimated at 322, with 5,674 killed and 1,279 wounded. Juarez, Biog., 30.
- ↑ 'Si por cualquier motivo la eleccion de presidente no estuviere hecha y publicada para el 1° de Diciembre. . . cesará sin embargo el antiguo, y el supremo poder ejecutivo se depositará interinamente en el presidente de la Suprema Corte de Justicia.' Art. 82 of the constitution.
- ↑ In his defence, Ortega published a letter of Dec. 30, 1864, granting him permission to leave his post for an indefinite time, but with the understanding that, whether passing through foreign territory or not, he should in some unoccupied part of Mexican territory continue the war for independence. He had remained wholly in a foreign land, however, yet engaged, as he claimed, in actively aiding the cause, advising to this effect the president, who knew of his movements from journals. He received no reply to his letter, asking for authority to enroll volunteers, etc., and declared that a private suit at law was concocted to detain him as long as possible abroad. He also instanced previous futile attempts to obtain his removal from the post of chief justice, for having acted as governor of Zacatecas, and to injure his prestige as a military leader by placing him in critical positions with insufficient forces. His arguments are fully presented in Legac. Mex., Corresp., 3-210, passim, with special
251; Juarez, Biog., 31. 'Juarez habia sacado de Chihuahua mas de 400,000 pesos.' Rivera, Hist. Jal., v. 654.
