The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian/Chapter III
CHAPTER III.
French Organisation of Mexico—Convocation of a Junta—Unwillingness to join it, and the Cause—Decision for a Monarchy—Offer of the Crowu to Maximilian—The Council of Regency—Maximilian's Doubts—Arrival of General Bazaine as Commander-in Chief—His Difficulties—Juarez and Church Property—Peace restored in Mexico—Arrival of Maximilian—His Virtues, his Faults, and his Fate.
THE third phase of the expedition begins with the entry of the French force into the capital of Mexico. (July 1863). It comprises two entirely distinct periods, during which the two French commanders-in-chief who succeeded one another respectively followed out a diametrically opposite course of action. This want of harmony in the views of the military and political authorities was the necessary consequence of a programme the object of which had been at first concealed; it was, too, the cause of dangerous and unwise measures, and of sudden changes, which excited the mistrust even of that portion of public opinion which was most favourable to intervention. The sacred fire of our army began even to burn dully; for its good sense was not long in error as to the value of men and things, which it had been the better able to judge of as it advanced farther into the interior of the country.
To our military movements, to which Mexico had been assigned as the glorious goal, now succeeded the political organisation of the country, the regular government of which had disappeared before our flag. This task fell upon General Forey, with the co-operation of the French minister, M. Dubois de Saligny. The moment was now come for tearing away the last veil. At the invitation of M. de Saligny, after an interview at the legation, Almonte, General Marquez, and the Licenciado Aquilar, announced at the first outset the candidature of the Archduke Maximilian under the patronage of the clerical party. A 'junta' of 'notables' was convoked in the capital by General Forey to choose the form of the future government. Their suffrages were to decide the destinies of Mexico. The notables were summoned to deliberate in peace under the shadow of our flag.
The principal personages in the capital showed no marked eagerness to attend the junta. French promises inspired too scanty a confidence. It must be confessed that our former course of procedure had not been calculated to encourage them to openly compromise themselves by joining a meeting on leaving which they might have their names inscribed on 'the lists of Scylla.' During the inarches and counter-marches in which our columns had been occupied before they encamped before Puebla, the labour of victualling and mounting the troops had led our arms into all the richest centres of population. Thus it was that San Andres and Tehuacan were visited, and that a landing had been made even at Tampico, and the inhabitants and the neighbouring villages had been invited to supply grain and animals. The Mexicans of these towns consented to the transactions only on the promise that the French troops should not evacuate their cities—henceforth doomed to suffer from the vengeance of the liberals—or that a sufficient garrison should be left in them. And then some morning they woke up to find themselves abandoned, or to hear of the sudden departure of our columns. They were compelled to fly, or to remain at the mercy of the Juarists, who either shot or hanged them. Thus an unhappy renown had gone before us in Mexico. Besides, the haciendas of the 'notables' themselves, scattered as they were over the neighbouring provinces, would, in case of the faithlessness of their owners, become the prey of an enemy ready enough to exercise their vengeance. Now, we were quite unable to give them any efficient protection.
Nevertheless, in spite of non-attendances which were to be regretted, a phantom[1] of a junta was got together, held a meeting, and voted, accompanied by the sound of the cannon, which proclaimed the birth of the empire. The Licenciado Aquilar read a remarkable report, full of good intentions, deciding for a monarchy, and proposing to offer the crown to the Archduke Maximilian. A commission, of which the author of the report was nominated a member, was appointed to proceed to the chateau of Miramar, passing through Paris and Rome, and to be the bearers of the requisite documents and an imperial sceptre.
This page of history was but little worthy of the country whose name is connected with it; France owed another homage to universal suffrage. One ought to have taken a part in this episode of the intervention in order to estimate it at its true value. This memorable meeting of the junta will ever be a deplorable example of an outrage against truth. Not but that a portion of the assembly, anxious for safety and quiet, had not really cast its eyes on a prince whose virtues could not fail to be a great stimulus for Mexico, but the assembly as a whole had neither authority nor character sufficient to enable it to pledge the whole country. What had become of the declarations made to Lord Cowley by our minister of foreign affairs?—
'No government will be forced on the Mexican people!'
Whilst the commissioners, encouraged by the cabinet of the Tuileries, were at Miramar endeavouring to overcome the hesitation of the brother of the Emperor of Austria, in whose mind the siege of Puebla and the coolness of England had given rise to just forebodings, General Forey was making a last appeal for peace to the rebel Mexicans, who still held the country districts. Unfortunately, yielding to clerical influence, he published a bando, which was both impolitic and also barbarous and cruel. This bando pronounced that the property of all the liberals who did not lay down their arms would be confiscated. This was the means of giving to Juarez the right of reprisal. To the honour of the French government, this decree was disavowed at Paris, and was annulled at Mexico. Whilst the definitive acceptance of the archduke was in suspense, a council of regency was established in the capital; it was composed of three Mexicans— Almonte, General Salas, and the Archbishop of Mexico. Almonte acted as president; this selection was a happy one, although in former times he had shown himself to be an ardent republican.
In spite of the persuasions of our government, who were impatient to establish order, Maximilian was too high-spirited to yield to an appeal so fraught with precipitation as was that of the junta. M. Drouyn de Lhuys, who had succeeded M. de Thouvenel in the ministry of foreign affairs, was compelled, on August 17, 1863, to write as follows to the commander-in-chief (although the imperial policy had from the very first named the city of Mexico as the limit of our military operations):—'We can only consider the votes of the assembly at Mexico as a first indication of the inclination of the country———'
This was the signal for a new campaign, intended 'to collect the suffrages of the provincial towns.' It was felt that too much haste had been used, without having sufficiently taken account of the public spirit, and above all of the delicacy of the future sovereign, who required a sincere suffrage. Once more then, in spite of all the promises made at the French tribune, without any kind of foresight, we were about to plunge into new contingencies, and to commence a third series of costly sacrifices. We were no longer 'masters of the situation;' we were bound to follow the slippery path on which we had entered. Now, however, was the time to reflect on the state of matters, and notwithstanding the repugnance of M. Rouher, the time, too, to treat with the conquered Juarez, if we ourselves wished to come off as conquerors.
In the month of October 1863, General Bazaine took the command-in-chief out of the hands of General Forey, who had been promoted to be marshal, and had been recalled to France; he also assumed the functions which had devolved on M. de Saligny, who did not long delay in following the captor of Puebla.
General Bazaine assumed the reins of office at a critical time. The Juarist contingents were forming again in the interior, and were getting dangerous; bandits infested the roads and the environs of the capital; the inclinations of General Forey towards the clerical party had alienated those honest liberals who were ready to rally round him in the hope that a generous inspiration had been kindled by France to put an end to discord; that, when once the honour of her arms had been satisfied, the public rights would not remain unrecognised; and that without any distinction of parties, every man that was willing would be called upon to give his advice freely as to public matters. The clergy, on the other hand, had announced that Maximilian had engaged with the pope to reinstate them in their mortmain property, and had thus given alarm to the numerous holders, both Mexicans and foreigners, of the realty which had been sold. The Archbishop of Mexico, a member of the council of regency, contributed no little by his intrigues and restless character to give authority to these unhappy reports.
The religious question was the real knotty point in Mexico, which, for six years past, had arrayed the inhabitants in arms one against the other. The ecclesiastical property was so considerable that it represented a value of about a thousand million of francs. This immense capital belonged legitimately in part to the church; but undue means and abuses of authority had had much to do with this accumulation of wealth so contrary to the ideas of self-denial. Juarez's government, whilst obeying the spirit of progress which rejects mortmain endowments, had fallen into the grave error of not acting with sufficient moderation—of not leaving for the benevolent, charitable, and educational institutions those resources which were requisite for their maintenance—of stripping the church of all the pomps of worship, and of not providing, from the very outset, by means of a concordat, for the proper position of the clergy; besides all this, the sales of the ecclesiastical lands had been conducted in a scandalous manner, and it was important both for the interests of the treasury and for the dignity of the state that a revision of the contracts should be effected. On these grounds of conciliation, the new commander-in-chief, who wisely saw the danger there would be in attempting to retrieve the past by any larger measure, undertook to rally round him all well-disposed men. This line of conduct had all the better chance of success as General Bazaine, on succeeding to the command, was preceded by a reputation for bravery which had its influence even over the Mexicans, who besides were not indifferent to his good humour, so full both of heartiness and polish. The latter, too, felt flattered at hearing the French commander-in-chief speak the Spanish language, which he had learnt during the last Spanish war.
Some coups de main, vigorously carried out against the plundering bands which infested the country, soon restored confidence in Mexico and the neighbouring towns. They augured well for the quick despatch, after the rains, of the expedition which was being prepared for the purpose of driving away the Juarists from the interior, and of thus allowing the central provinces to choose a new government. Unfortunately, the council of regency already exhibited the spectacle of a sad division, to which it was highly necessary that the general should put an end, so as not to leave behind him the elements of discord whilst he was engaged in military operations. The dissolution of the regency now became a question; but the idea was rejected by the general himself, who felt that this act of vigour might throw discredit on the origin of Maximilian's title to power, and would infallibly be made the most of by the partisans of Juarez. The president of the council of regency, a wise and disinterested man, and devoted to his country, the aspirations of which he had ill understood, because he attributed to it virtues of which it was incapable, followed in the path traced out by General Bazaine. Salas, the second member of the council, an inoffensive old man, followed him in it like his shadow. But the Archbishop of Mexico, who had been able to gain the confidence of the Tuileries, made up his mind to thwart every salutary decision, and yet managed to colour all his acts of systematic opposition with the softest hues. The general, making use of the same tactics, and with Almonte's acquiescence, without any exposure or violence, gave him to understand with clever politeness, that he had ceased de facto to belong to the council of regency. Mexico only found it out by the disappearance of the guard of honour which had been appropriated to the archiepiscopal palace.
When the untoward influence of Mgr. Bastida was once removed, in the beginning of November 1863, our army, which had been dispersed beforehand with the view of making an encircling movement, received the order to move in several convergent directions. The Juarist generals Uraga, Doblado, Negrete, and Comonfort, had re-formed corps d'armée for the defence of the republic. In six weeks the enemy was overthrown by the rapidity of our march. The Franco-Mexican flag fluttered on all the plateaus from Morelia to San Luis, towns which Marquez and Mejia won brilliantly for the future crown; from Mexico to Guadalajara, into which General Bazaine, after six weeks' marching in a straight line, entered without striking a blow. The laurels of San Lorenzo were yet green; everywhere the enemy gave way at his approach. This was a campaign entirely of speed, and, according to general opinion, happily planned and promptly terminated. All the towns of the interior, in which we at first met with a most frigid reception (except at Leon), gradually decided in favour of the archduke (whose very name some were ignorant of); they did so with the same readiness with which they would have espoused the cause of anyone whom we had supported with a similar display of force. In the month of February 1864, General Bazaine, accompanied by his escort only, returned at night to the capital, which was surprised by his sudden arrival. His presence there was quite necessary to counterbalance the intrigues of the archbishop and the clerical party, who, during his absence, had thought proper to excommunicate the French army. The prelate got out of the scrape by publicly giving them his benediction.
Never since 1821, the date of its independence, had Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, enjoyed a calm equal to that which it experienced during the four months which followed this campaign in the interior. There had been a moment of reaction which was favourable to the ideas of order and comfort which the French army brought with them. Maximilian could not have chosen a more propitious moment to inaugurate his reign, when he finally determined to turn a deaf ear to the advice of his own family. General Bazaine did much for Maximilian's crown.
On May 28, 1864, the new sovereigns landed at Vera Cruz, to the great relief of the cabinet of the Tuileries, which had feared for the moment that, in consequence of the opposition of the archduke, it would see the structure crumble away which it had so laboriously raised. It is well known that the sovereigns were but badly received there. It was natural that this commercial town, accustomed as it was to the large profits derived from the plunder of the custom-house, should see with grief the inauguration of a new era of morality and honesty. Isolated as was their landing, the sovereigns made their entry into Mexico followed by a whole race, which formed a brilliant cortege. These were the real body of the people, who would have saved and upheld the emperor if he had only known and appreciated them.
By order of the clergy, who flattered themselves that the visit of Maximilian to the capital of the Holy See would ensure the success of their unjust claims, the Indians rose en masse; they were already devoted to the cause, but still were intent and eager to hear from the imperial lips a promise of liberty, and of a reestablishment of their rights. They went back again in despair to their miserable ranchos.
On Maximilian's arrival, an active imperialist party, sincere and full of enthusiasm, was freely and spontaneously formed, captivated as they were by the personal charms of their majesties. There was then a time when the empire, in spite of the difficulty and peril which the task promised, had a good chance for a great future. It was an unexpected hour for Mexico; but neither the prince nor his subjects knew how to take advantage of it. Despite the efforts of a wife abounding in illusions, which were subsequently to be so painfully deceived and so grievously punished, whose name, however, will ever leave a shining track in the history of that unfortunate country, Maximilian, who dared not do as he would, committed numerous errors, because with his chivalric and undecided character he persisted in fancying that he was seated on an European throne. Under his easy rule every bad passion, with its accompanying appetites, again got the upper hand. He forgot that treason circulates in the very blood of Mexico. The Mexicans needed a Louis XI or a Cromwell, who would unflinchingly pursue his set course, thinking of the country's good, without caring for individuals. He could not expect to conquer his kingdom with a bulletin of laws as his weapon; he should, on the contrary, have been always in the saddle, sword in hand. It was necessary to speak their eyes before he attempted to appeal to their hearts. The empire withered away for want of concentration, because he wanted to undertake everything at once. One may civilise a hundred square leagues, whither the arm of industry and the comforts of security may be easily summoned; but one cannot civilise deserts exposed to every wind that blows. Thus the French army spent itself gloriously in this immensity of space, without profiting the crown, the prosperity of which it longed to see, if it were only from feelings of patriotism, leading them to hope for some return for the grievous sacrifices of men and money which had been swallowed up in this Mexican gulf. For Juarez, it is to be expected, will sink with Mexico into the abyss which the intervention has lastingly dug out between the two parties. Perhaps, if it had been left to itself, and to its own instincts of self-preservation, Mexico, being still in its infancy, might have been able to purify and regenerate itself in the school of misfortune. France itself was not made in a day. How many centuries have been required, since Charlemagne, for shaking off barbarism and fanaticism, and for finally organising a nation, and how many commotions has it cost? We are all too forgetful of history.
Public opinion was painfully excited by the discord which broke out during the last year between the imperial authority of Mexico and the French commander. There is but little reason to wonder at it, if it is true that the instructions emanating from Paris, and going a year back, directed that an almost compulsory abdication was to be obtained from Maximilian. But we cannot allow ourselves to put faith in such a report, which, if true, would be so painful. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that our government failed in its engagements by withdrawing its troops all at once, and before the fixed time had elapsed, in consequence of the threats of the United States: they thus left Maximilian suddenly disarmed. Our government committed an error in promising any prolongation of its intervention, which was to have ceased after our occupation of Mexico: but it committed another error in not keeping its word. In spite of this, the marshal would have deserved well of Europe if he had adopted on his own responsibility a measure of exceptional determination, which might perhaps have raised a clamour, but would have been justified by reason and humanity. When Maximilian, half distracted, came to Orizaba on his return to Europe, thus obeying the suppliant appeal of the now undeceived empress, he threw himself back into the melee because the clerical party offered him their fallacious succour in the shape of soldiers and money. At this momentous juncture, when the noble-minded prince was allowing his honour to force him over the precipice which lay open before him and manifest enough to all eyes, it would have been generous to have carried away even by force the companion of our evil fortunes and to have restored him (even against his will) to his fatherland, and to a princess well worthy of the respect due to great misfortune. A lamentable catastrophe would have been thus averted both from Juarez and Europe, a catastrophe which has thrilled through every human fibre, so as almost to put to silence the sober voice of cool reason. A sad conclusion to this great drama, every page of which is written in blood! On June 19, at seven o'clock in the morning, on the cerro de la campana which hangs over Queretaro, Maximilian fell before the bullets which at the same time struck down his generals: Miramon, the former president of the republic, and Mejia, the only general in Mexico who ever died faithful to his party. It was exactly ten years before that Colonel Mejia had entered Queretaro in triumph.
Marquez, who was defending Mexico, capitulated on the 21st. 'On June 27,' announced the Moniteur itself, 'Vera Cruz was occupied without disorder, and the foreign troops were able to embark without interference.' The liberals then did not commit the excesses which were feared, and, in three months, the authority of Juarez, who was considered powerless, had been again asserted on every point of Mexican territory. It must now be acknowledged that this fugitive government had at its disposal a majority of public opinion, for it was able to get together an army directly our soldiers ceased to take a part in the conflict. This fact, apart from all other grounds of complaint, would be a sufficient condemnation of this prolonged expedition, which the French press, had it but been free, would have certainly checked, if not prevented.
Maximilian fell under the stroke of the decree of October 1865, which he had signed and issued against every man taken with arms in his hand; a decree which was repugnant to his generous nature, and was but one of the fatal progenies of the civil war. In virtue of this terrible decree, the regular generals, Arteaga and Salazar, had been executed. Violence invites reprisals! The heart cannot fail to be wrung by the distressing thought that the condemned and royal prince had not the consolation of exchanging a last look with his august spouse; but the last adieus of the Juarist generals were not less touching. Let a sacred pity spread the same funeral veil over the three graves in which repose the victims of undoubtedly noble sentiments. Maximilian has expiated by his blood his confidence in the assistance of our government, and his useless though sincere devotion to his adopted people. Arteaga and Salazar died like soldiers fighting against the invasion of their native soil. Juarez certainly let slip a grand opportunity of astonishing Europe by an act of clemency—the sure characteristic of a strong—which would have been the means of conciliating all the courts of Europe; but it is very certain that this act of clemency would have failed to save Maximilian's life, and would have cost Juarez his. Anyone who is acquainted with the country, and knows how its savage passions were then wrought up to a paroxysm of fury, will not for an instant doubt this.
- ↑ We had to pay for the apparel of some of the 'notables,' just as we had to pay for flowers which were thrown under the feet of the French on their entry into Mexico.