The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian/Chapter IV
CHAPTER IV.
Intention of this History—Political Conduct of the French and Mexican Cabinets—Character of Maximilian, and his Earliest Measures—Energy of General Bazaine—Reorganisation of the Mexican Resources—General Bazaine's Explanations—Military Movements—Calumnies against French Officers—Appeal to the Empress—Maximilian's Want of Appreciation of the Indians—Financial Embarrassments—Apathy of Mexican Officials—Success of the French Campaigns
BEING in possession of the documents relative to the last year of the reign of the Emperor of Mexico, we shall now proceed to trace out its history, and, by the help of facts, we shall put to silence all adverse comments. His sense of discipline would repel the idea that the marshal of France, partly honoured with the confidence of the emperor up to the time of the evacuation, whose acts during the last part of the period called forth a thousand expressions of approbation in various quarters, would have executed any orders but those which emanated directly from the sovereign. It was therefore most important to the dignity of our government to show, by publications of a more serious nature than the words of M. Rouher, that, in the hope perhaps of hurriedly reorganising a new state of things, and with the intention of preventing the complete disorder which must follow our evacuation, they had not plotted the downfall of Maximilian, as they had before plotted his elevation. Since it has thought proper to keep silence, we desire to tell the truth.
The principal aim of this historical study is to divide out and assign to each of the actors in the sanguinary drama that we call 'the French intervention' his due share of responsibility. That portion which concerns Maximilian, which will be developed in this new consideration of past events, will explain, before the tribunal of history, the faults and the misfortunes of that unhappy sovereign. Looking to the numerous documents before us of unquestionable authenticity, two principal points will, from the very outset of the imperial reign, make their appearance through the veil we are about to tear away, and will dilate on the Mexican horizon up to the fatal end. On one side will be revealed the instability, the indecision, and the blindness of Maximilian, animated though he was by the most generous sentiments, which he willingly ratified with his royal blood, after having been deceived by the sudden desertion of our government; and, on the other side, will shine forth the rough freedom, the continuous loyalty, and the co-operating devotion which was shown to the second Emperor of Mexico by the French military commander.
In order to understand fully the march of events which signalised the period of the Mexican intervention from 1866 to 1867, it will not be without interest to cast back a brief glance on the political conduct of the French and Mexican cabinets.
From the day on which the French government invited Maximilian to ascend the throne which the famous junta of notables had raised for him under the ægis of our flag, the Emperor Napoleon, who flattered himself that he had attained his first end— the regeneration of Mexico through the influence if the Latin race—considered that the proper time had now come for demanding the reparations due to the interests of our countrymen. For this purpose, after the acceptance of the throne by the archduke, which took place on April 10, 1864, the treaty of Miramar was concluded, 'intended both to settle past events and also to put us in possession of the advantages acquired by our arms. By this convention, France was bound to maintain a military force in Mexico on certain settled conditions. The new sovereign engaged in return to pay, at the times and in the way pointed out, the expenses of this occupation; he engaged also to reimburse us the cost of the expedition, and to indemnify the French whose wrongs had provoked it.'
The official programme was therefore a plain one, and devoid of all ambiguity; and Maximilian comprehended beforehand the whole import of it. He was going to reign in Mexico, and to govern it with the assistance of France; and in return for this protection, he promised to honour all the engagements he had made to our country. The Emperor Napoleon, in reward for military sacrifices past and future, obtained the right of carrying out the reimbursement of the indemnities stipulated by the treaty of Miramar, and also, after three months' notice, of calling for a bona fide examination of the debts due to our countrymen—and all this while proving his moderation. He ought, therefore, to have reckoned on the co-operation of the young prince whose ambition, excited and countenanced by his arms, had longed for and had found a crown.
In spite of the unsteadiness of his disposition, Maximilian possessed a self-willed temper. Even during the time of the regency at Mexico, he himself, from his palace at Miramar, put things in train as far as he thought necessary to prepare for his accession to the throne. Scarcely had he provisionally accepted the crown (October 3, 1863) ere he effectively took possession of it, although at so great distance; even at this epoch he sent precise instructions to M. Almonte, the president of the regency; subsequently also, after having nominated him lieutenant-governor of the empire on the occasion of signing the treaty of Miramar, he continued to acquaint him with his views; and it must be confessed that at the very outset the latter betrayed, if not actual hostility, at least a great carelessness for French interests; for during the six weeks which elapsed between Maximilian's definitive acceptance of the crown and his landing in Mexico (May 29, 1864), the Marquis de Montholon, French minister at Mexico, who had been commissioned to press the regent to turn his attention to the settlement of the French claims, had to contend with the following evasive reply from M. Almonte:—'I can do nothing; it is necessary for me to take my orders from his majesty, who is at Miramar, and to consult M. Gutierrez de Estrada, who is at Rome.' It was strange that the Mexican cabinet, which had for a long time derived all its suggestions from Europe, had as yet settled nothing even preliminarily on the subject of so urgent a question, which had already been maturely debated between the two sovereigns, which also kept in suspense the interests of so many persons.
No sooner had the emperor trod the soil of his new country than, oblivious of all gratitude (a fault too often attributable to princes), he set aside nearly all the personages belonging to the so-called conservative or clerical party who had assisted the intervention, and seemed bent upon constituting a ministry from elements hostile to the French name, and calling themselves the national party. He was persuaded that it would appear good policy in the eyes of his people to repudiate from the very outset a too great community of action with our government. Thus it was that the fighting party which had kept the field, and had been the first to hoist the imperial flag, was decimated by many most ungracious dismissals. The colonel of gendarmerie, La Peña, of Tulancingo, who had rendered both valuable and dangerous services, was slighted, and also the chiefs Galvez and Arguyes. The foremost generals were gradually set aside and overwhelmed with discredit; the dismissal even of the faithful Mejia himself was contemplated, he who subsequently remained the only true friend in misfortune. The army, the préfectures, and the gardes rurales, were recruited with treacherous men, who secretly plotted treason, and neutralised the efforts of our troops from the very commencement of operations.
General Bazaine, however, keeping strictly to his military duties, had lost no time, and had in no way relaxed the measures which were favourable to the new régime, for the success of which he had been ten months preparing. Persevering in the labours begun by Marshal Forey, who, on the arrival of our regiments at Mexico, had directed the re-establishment of the arsenal and of the cannon foundry at Chapultepec, he took the greatest care in fortifying the capital and its approaches; he had also extended these same defensive measures to the capitals of the states of the interior, which had been occupied by our forces and the Mexican troops. On his arrival in the first city of the republic, he found the artillery service completely disorganised; the working stock was dilapidated, and not in working order; the magazines had been given up to plunder, the arsenal was without a tool, the machinery partly taken to pieces, and partly given up to certain individuals in settlement of their claims against the government. The implements of the foundry had disappeared, and the percussion-cap manufactory was not in a condition to make any. Four hundred French workmen had in a few months reorganised and set to full work the factories at Molino del Rey, which supplied munitions, arms, and stores to various fortified places, and also to the movable columns operating with the army. During the winter, 1863-64, fifty pieces of ordnance were placed on the fortifications of Mexico. Fifteen thousand muskets, brought in from every corner of the subdued territory, were distributed to the Mexican troops, as well as to all the great centres of population which were desirous of arming in defence of their homes against the partisan bands. Mejia's and Marquez's two divisions, the cadres of which had been weeded out and strengthened, had taken the field with soldiers well paid, newly clothed, and regularly equipped. One of Maximilian's first acts was to commission General Bazaine, in whom he had the highest confidence, to reconstruct the whole military system, which he was anxious to bring into conformity with the real wants and the supposed resources of the empire. This was a difficult task, requiring an unremitting and concentrated energy of order, if any durable success was to be ensured. The general, desirous of responding frankly to the emperor's appeal, acquainted him that very day with the military arrangements which he was making for the pacification of the country; but, at the same time, he spoke to him in plain terms, which could leave him no grounds for doubt as to the real character of the French intervention. Several towns, either through their political prefects or their leading men, had begged Maximilian to grant them the permanent protection of French garrisons. It was a matter of duty to warn the sovereign at the very beginning against tendencies of this kind, which, if they were encouraged, would increase the supineness of the population and their merely local selfishness. If they felt assured of their security under our flag, they would get accustomed to a mischievous state of tutelage, which would certainly result in scattering our army over every part of the territory, and in preventing it from operating opportunely as a compact force. The only efficient system for raising and maintaining the energies of the inhabitants was traversing the country by movable columns, which, radiating in every direction, would afford protection to the towns and to the haciendas, would furnish them with arms, and would even help them in arranging their means of defence. The following was the plan the commander-in-chief adopted:—
Sire,—I have the honour of informing your majesty that I think the time has now come for despatching movable columns to traverse the mountainous country between Tulancingo, Zacuatilpan, Llanos de Apam, Perote, and Jalapa, extending on the north as far as Huexutla, and on the east to Tampico.
The sierras into which this mountainous range is divided are difficult of access, but contain some tolerably important centres of population. Numerous bands are infesting the sierras, capturing the inhabitants for sake of ransom, impeding the communications, and spreading disorder and uneasiness, thereby keeping up a state of anarchy. My intention would be to send from Mexico a light French column of about 600 men of all arms, another weaker column from Pachuca, and lastly, from Jalapa and Perote, a third column of mixed troops.
These movable columns, traversing the sierra in every direction, will repel the insurgents, and thus, giving time to the inhabitants to arm and organise for their defence, will have the effect of exciting their too easily depressed energies.
But it will not be possible to appoint permanent French garrisons. It is now a suitable time to explain to your majesty the hurtful tendency which the whole population manifest, of never thinking themselves in safety except behind the shelter of our bayonets. Whenever our troops haveI cannot accede to all these demands, because it is impossible to allow the army to be scattered, and thus deprive it of its cohesion, which is its principal strength; especially also because it has appeared to me to be indispensable that the population generally should habituate itself to reckon on its own means of defence, and should not lull itself into a false security, due only to the presence of our soldiers.
Your majesty has already received numerous requests for French garrisons. The political prefects, and the chief commandants themselves, have represented to the emperor the necessity for making this or that military operation within the circle of their own individual sphere of action, each one looking only to that portion of territory under his immediate charge.
But the commander-in-chief alone holds the threads of this complicated web, and he alone can judge not only of the opportune moment for undertaking any operation, but also as to the expedient mode for combining all the movements so as to arrive at a definite result without fear of danger in any direction.
I have thought it my duty to warn your majesty against these tendencies, due, as they are, to a sentiment of exaggerated zeal and merely local egotism, and also against the timidity of the population generally, who will not fail to send both addresses and delegates, with a view of obtaining French garrisons.
The examples of Tulancingo, Chapa de Nota, and some other towns which have been fortified by our instrumentality, and are now entrenched and organised for defence, prove that, with good will and energy, the inhabitants themselves ought to be able to defend the towns of their territory. I shall take every pains to develope these two sentiments, and to inspire with self-confidence the inhabitants of the towns and haciendas. I shall furnish them with arms, and shall help them in organising their means of defence; but it will be impossible for me to leave them garrisons.
The duty of the movable columns is to take the place of these garrisons. Their effect is even more powerful, and military spirit and discipline will thus suffer no injury.
The emperor approved of this plan, which was the result of experience; and the light columns were despatched across the turbulent districts extending from Tulancingo to La Huasteca, up to the banks of the Panuco, a mountainous and woody range of country, with ravines, abrupt declivities and steep bluffs, and known as sierras.
The reorganisation of the Mexican army was now actively taken in hand. It was, at this time, massed in two great divisions—that of General Marquez, operating in the Michoacan, at the south of Mexico; and General Mejia's division, which had taken up its position in the north, in the city of San Luis, which it had boldly captured from the liberal army after a sanguinary conflict. For some months, a permanent board had been revising the commissions of officers of all ranks. Looking at the redundance in the list of the staff and officers generally, this measure was highly necessary; it raised, however, a tempest of opposition, and was the cause of inevitable defections, because a large number of generals and colonels had illegitimately conferred on themselves these titles, merely with a view of heading bands recruited for the purposes of rapine on the main roads. At this time, half of the Franco-Mexican army was also moving towards the north. The French head-quarters, impatient to assert Maximilian's authority, had given orders to undertake a serious campaign, with a view of driving back to the American frontier Juarez and his government, who were now installed in the capital of Nuevo Leon, about two hundred leagues from Mexico. Although always pursued, and always conquered, the president of the Mexican republic remained unshaken, and resolved never to let slip his lawful rights.
As a reward for their services, certain generals in our army found themselves calumniated to the sovereign, and the ministers, jealous of our well-merited influence, made themselves the mouthpieces in high quarters of the impassioned complaints emanating from certain hostile political prefects, who had taken care to nominate themselves in the provinces, so as to reserve a chance of safety for the future. In the month of September 1864, the charges which had been brought to the ears of the Empress Charlotte, whose ardent temper would probably be affected by them, redoubled the prevailing acrimony. The commander-in-chief, on being apprised of the matter, did not hesitate to address himself to the empress herself, and loyally denounced the intrigues of these high functionaries, as being both injurious to the dignity of the crown and to our reputation.
Mexico, September 24, 1864.
To Her Majesty the Empress.
This agitation, maintained by party spirit, is sanctioned to some extent by events to be regretted in every respect, and the responsibility of which can only be attributed to agents whose incapacity or weakness may be pointed out without exercising any too great severity.
The late events at San Angel, where armed bandits have just seized, in the very centre of the town, the arms and stores which had been placed at random in an unguarded house, abundantly prove that the civil authorities are not on the watch, but that they lull themselves into a deplorable sense of security, even if they are not guilty of a corrupt complicity.
The people themselves, whose zeal and devotion are so praised by certain functionaries, are wanting in energy at the moment of action, and this may be certainly laid to the deficiency in promptitude and initiative spirit of those who, by their position, ought to have persuaded them to resistance, even if they had not urged them by their example.
The latest news that I have received from Zacuatilpan depict this town as abandoned by its inhabitants, who were making their escape, as also were the brigands, pursued by a handful of our soldiers.
This state of things is much to be regretted, and I cannot too much impress upon your majesty that a circular should be addressed to the people, and widely circulated among them, to persuade everyone to remain at their homes to defend their hearths, or at all events not to abandon them. . . .It was proved by documents that our military commandants had only acted according to the orders that they had regularly received, and that their conduct could not be otherwise than approved of. Unfortunately, the fidelity of the imperialist authorities did not come up to the rectitude of the French officers. Even where the former were not accomplices of the enemy, they slumbered in a strange security, allowing, as at San Angel, the rebels to carry away from towns close to Mexico the arms and stores which had been entrusted to them, which, however, they had forgotten to distribute for the purposes of defence.
Maximilian did not appear to be roused by these vexatious indications. He had come from Miramar with a budget of laws ready prepared, which he called 'his statutes,' and being thoroughly imbued with preconceived ideas, he worked at his desk unceasingly, issuing excellent decrees, which became waste-paper in the hands of his ministers; summoning and presiding at numerous French commissions, the efforts of which were pre-condemned to inutility for want of one vigorous guiding hand. For the emperor, who was not armed for the strife with a sufficiently sustained energy, looked at every question from a theoretical point of view, without pertinaciously forcing his way to a practical result. He forgot the temperament and habits of his subjects, and remembered only the character of European officials. He did not comprehend that he ought to be both the head and the arm of the nation. Nevertheless he did not want for advice and even for remonstrance.
From the very first, the emperor did not perceive that the only condition on which the Indian race could be called upon to form the regenerating leaven of his people was that they should be made free of 'péonage,' and also that they should have a share of the soil abandoned by the neglect of the state. Nevertheless, the throne boasted a valiant champion in General Mejia, who was an Indian, like Juarez himself, and like the famous Porfirio Diaz, the future defender of Oajaca. Ought not these people to have met with some consideration from the crown? Yet the head-quarters authorities were compelled to appeal to the authority of the emperor as to the persecutions to which certain members of this caste so worthy of interest were subjected by the Mexican authorities.
Sire,—I was visited yesterday by a certain Manuel Medel, sub-prefect and ex-commandant of Tepeji de la Seda, who has just been dismissed by M. Pardo, political prefect of the department of Puebla. I only know Manuel Medel by the reputation for honesty and energy which he bears in the country. His excellency Marshal Forey thought right to nominate him as a chevalier of the Legion of Honour on account of the vigorous resistance he offered to the Juarists. Medel is a true-born Indian, of the energetic type and somewhat timid manners peculiar to this race. He professes the utmost devotion to the empire and the very best intentions, referring back to what he has already done as an evidence in favour of his principles.
I am not aware what motives M. Pardo can have had for dismissing him, and I must refer it to your majesty, who will, I am sure, listen to a servant who is the only Indian of the civil service wearing the insignia of the Legion of Honour, and may thus be able to convince yourself of the truth, and to appreciate the facts in their real light...Bazaine.This act, done in the name of the emperor, cooled the devotion of many a one.
The subject of finances began to be a question of life or death for the infant empire. At the time when he first trod the Mexican soil, Maximilian ought to have surveyed in all its aspects this monster which was to destroy him. But he brought with him some great misconceptions as to the financial power of his adopted country, and as to its mineral resources. He had fancied that the mere appearance of the French flag floating; over the distant central towns would be sufficient to re-establish the circulation of capital; and from his palace at Chapultepec, where he was about to sink large sums in the restoration of the building, and in making a road to connect it with the capital, he failed to notice that his own troops, both in the north and south, were beginning to fall short of their pay, and were ready to mutiny in the face of the enemy.
Six months had elapsed since the inauguration of his reign, when the emperor received a French note, dated at the end of November 1864, which called his attention to certain delays which were prejudicial to the interests of his empire. At his desire, a complete financial staff had been sent out from France. After a conference, to which Maximilian had summoned his minister of war and his secretary of state for finance to meet Marshal Bazaine, in order to consult on the necessary measures, the above staff was portioned out through the country. Our authorities had forwarded these financial agents, as soon as they arrived in Mexico, to their respective destinations, where they were to carry out their duties of supervision and control; at the same time, circulars were distributed in the departments addressed to the military chiefs, who were directed to assist them. On the other hand, the minister of finance had formally promised to send without delay similar instructions to the directors of the public haciendas in the provinces of the empire which were then subject. When they reached their posts, the French officials were politely repudiated by the local administrations. No arrangement whatever had been settled, as is shown by the marshal's letter to the emperor:—
I acquainted M. the under secretary of state that the French officials had left. I sent him a copy of the instructions given to them, and to the chief commandants, who were called on to assist them in their mission, and I also insisted that M. the under secretary of state should send instructions of a similar character to mine to the directors of the public haciendas in the several departments of the empire.
His reply to me was that this question was still under consideration, and that no resolution on it had yet been come to!
I fear that the French financial agents will find themselves in a false position, and that, for want of some arrangement, and not being provided with commissions in due form, they will be unable to accomplish the duties of supervision and control which they have been called upon to fulfil.
I have the honour of submitting these observations to your majesty's consideration, and to point out to you this delay, which will certainly be prejudicial to the financial interests of the country.Bazaine.Thus were the wisest measures paralysed by the inertness of the royal advisers. Whilst the emperor's orders, so feebly administered, were quietly lying in the portfolios, valuable time was being wasted. The depredations at the custom-houses were not repressed, and the taxes did not find their way into the public treasury. Maximilian would have had better success if he had personally superintended the execution of his orders. Could he not have presented himself at those more important points, where difficulties were every day being revealed to him by our military reports? The presence of a sovereign is always eloquent, and warms the feelings of the masses. Was it not by this system that Alexander conquered Asia in three years, and impressed on the whole country a character that it has never lost since that grand era? But the German system, with all its deliberate inaction, was the prevailing one here. But it is only just to confess that the Mexican climate had already affected the constitution of the emperor, and in these latitudes the state of health reacts cruelly on the mental faculties.
In the departments, the political prefects chosen out of the midst of the national party neutralised all the efforts of our movable columns. Besides these injurious tendencies, against which Maximilian, misled, as he was, by the suggestions of those round him, but feebly contended, the ministry, managed by M. Eloïn, a Belgian attached to the suite of the Empress Charlotte, furnished fresh proofs every day of its ill-will in everything that concerned French interests. In spite of the repeated entreaties of the Marquis de Montholon, the commission which had been formed at Mexico to discuss and estimate the demands of our claimants found itself incessantly impeded by planned occurrences. Apart from the pressure brought to bear on him by his advisers, Maximilian would doubtless have fulfilled his engagements; but he met with encouragement to his resistance even from Paris itself, through the stimulus of M. Hidalgo, whose recriminations were not without influence at the court of the Tuileries, thanks to a certain august intervention. We must also state that the French requirements, not without reason, appeared to Maximilian to be exaggerated, and in part not well founded, so far as regarded the portion relating to the usurious bonds of Jecker, the Swiss, who had been naturalised as a Frenchman after the outset of the intervention.
There had been a point in litigation for about five months. Our minister in Mexico demanded, but did not obtain, interest on those claims which were to be subject to revision. If this revision was an equitable one, it was also just to compensate by interest for the delay in the settlement thereby caused; and it would hardly be desired that our countrymen should be worse treated as regards the legal rate than the ordinary creditors of the state. It was not until December 9, 1864, that M. Ramirez, minister of foreign affairs, wrote to the Marquis de Montholon—'That his sovereign, although convinced that justice was entirely on his side, had, to avoid disturbing the good understanding with the Emperor of the French, given orders by the packet to M. Hidalgo, his minister at Paris, to admit that, for the future, interest was guaranteed on the claims which were subject to revision.'
About the same time the news of the pacification of the central provinces, effected by our arms, reached head-quarters. The military situation in the districts traversed by the Franco-Mexican army appeared to be excellent. In the north, General de Castagny, at the head of a French division, General Mejia, followed by his Mexican force, and the French contra-guerillas, advanced in a parallel line over a breadth of one hundred and fifty leagues of country, and a simultaneous march drove back the enemy to the United States frontier. In the other direction, General Douay, in conjunction with Marquez, had effected a brilliant line of march as far as Colima, a state capital situated on the edge of the Pacific; and Colonel de Pothier, taking Arteaga's army in the rear, had hurled the latter across the Rio Grande. In every direction, warlike stores and field-pieces thrown into the barrancas[1] remained in the hands of the French, whilst our fleet was successfully assisting the operations by effecting landings on the two coasts, of the Gulf and of the Ocean. But the Mexican arms, when left to themselves, appeared to be less fortunate. General Vicario, who occupied the southern road to the Pacific, although he had been warned twenty days beforehand by the commander-in-chief that General Douay's movements on his right would inevitably have the effect of turning back on him a portion of the enemy's forces, had taken no defensive measures, and found himself forced to beat a retreat. In order to protect the town of Cuernavaca, left uncovered by the imperialist reverse, and to relieve the country, already becoming demoralised, Marshal Bazaine lost no time in sending a column to the endangered districts.
- ↑ Deep ravines hollowed out by the tropical rains.