band, by paying them what was indeed their legitimate due, the merchants of the city had consented to withdraw their merchandise from the bonded stores and pay the duties on it. General Benavides had also given guarantees of safety to all concerned in the Imperial cause, provided the arrangement for the delivery of the city to him should be carried out within the said three days.
The latest news from the interior was in a despatch to General Benavides, that, on the 15th, General Marquez had made a second attempt to cut his way through the forces investing the city of Mexico, but had been driven back with severe loss. The terrible opening of the morning of the 19th of June at Querétaro was not yet known, and there were no extraneous causes to prevent the carrying out of this fourth agreement regarding Vera Cruz. But on the 20th, the day of the "Tacony's" arrival, Señor Bureau had another of his remarkable, and one might almost say convenient, fits of illness, and was unable to treat personally with the Liberal general, so hostilities were resumed.
This was the condition of affairs revealed to Commander Roe. The mere fact of the town not having capitulated during all this time, when every thing had seemed so propitious at the time of his leaving, seemed pregnant with dire possibilities, and it was in the anticipation of serious trouble that he sent the order for the "Yantic" to come there from
