demand for $200,000 to cover the expenses of his expedition, he could obtain no satisfactory promises regarding the exemption from forced contributions or the enjoyment of retail trade, nor guaranties for the payment of the $600,000 now conceded, although deferred for six months. He accordingly left Jalapa on the 21st, with the declaration that unless his terms were accepted by noon on the 27th he would then begin hostilities. The congress and people had great confidence in their Gibraltar, which held out so long under Spain, and the hitherto passive operations of the fleet encouraged the general desire for resisting foreign demands which were represented as humiliating. The ignominious failure of the Spanish expedition was still fresh in mind. And so the chambers declared unanimously against yielding.[1] The president issued the usual florid proclamation[2] offering to sacrifice his life in defence of national honor, but failed to exhibit any effective promptness in his measures. General Arista was sent to reënforce Vera Cruz with 1,000 men, who of course arrived on the scene when too late.
- ↑ Bustamante asserts that the capital was ripe for revolution against any concession to France. The deputies were threatened with assassination if they yielded. Ubi sup.
- ↑ Bustamante, Á sus Habitantes, 1-7; Vallejo, Col. Doc. Mex., i. pts 122-3.
regards the punishment of the officials, and even renounced the demand for expenses. Several minor modifications of clauses were admitted on both sides, bearing partly on the convention of 1827. Full text of correspondence and projects may be consulted in Cuevas, Espos. Dif. Francia, and in Pesado, Doc. Conferencias en Jalapa, Mexico, 1838, 1-56. See also the official French version in Blanchard, San Juan de Ulúa, 261-85, 301-5. The fragmentary accounts in Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, iii. 377-9, Bustamante, Gabinete Mex., i. 119, etc., followed by Zamacois, either miss or perversely neglect the main points. Additional authorities will be given in a later note. The proposed English arbitration was not entertained, nor had Mexico listened to it when offered shortly before 'porque sabiamos de Lóndres que nada deberiamos esperar favorable.' Id., 116-18. This writer believes that mediation on the part of Prussia or Russia might have succeeded, for 'it was known' that France would have eagerly accepted a decorous compromise. A strong admission by so rabid a Mexican advocate, in face of the wide charge that Baudin was anxious for naval achievements. Méx., Mem. Min. Rel., 1839, 2 et seq. Interference on the part of the United States was at one time proposed by the Mexican envoy. See also remonstrances by English traders in Vallejo, Col. Doc. Mex., i. pt 129; Rivera, Gob. de Méx., ii. 214-15, declares that Cuevas was an obstacle to any arrangement and Bustamante blinded to the state of affairs.
