Maximilian in Mexico | Page 7

of the republic.
The defeated army, as was invariably the case in Mexico, dissolved and
disappeared, leaving only a residuum of small bands of guerrillas.
These preyed impartially upon the people and upon travelers of both
parties. Leonardo Marquez almost alone remained in the field and
seriously continued the conflict. The principal leaders fled abroad,
especially to Paris, where they made friends, and planned a revenge
upon the victorious oppressors of the church, whose outrages upon God
and man were vividly colored by religious and party hatred. Among
these were men of refinement and good address, scions of old Spanish
families, who, like M. Gutierrez de Estrada, found ready sympathy
among the Emperor's entourage. As a rule, none but "hopelessly
defeated parties seek the help of foreign invasion of their own land";
but the Empress Eugenie, who, a Spaniard herself, was a devout
churchwoman, lent a willing ear to the stories of the refugees,
impressively told in her own native tongue. To reinstate the church, and
to oppose the strong Catholicism of a Latin monarchy to the Protestant
influence of the Northern republic, seemed to her the most attractive
aspect of the projected scheme.
The struggle that had been carried on for so many years in Mexico with
varying vicissitudes was not purely one of partizan interest based upon
a different view of political government: it was the struggle of the spirit

of the nineteenth century against the survival of Spanish medievalism;
it was the contest of American republicanism against the old order of
things, religious and social as well as political; of progressive
liberalism against conservatism and reaction.
The French intervention as planned by Napoleon III was, therefore, a
glaring paradox, and betrays his absolute ignorance of the conditions
with which he was undertaking to cope. As a matter of fact, the party
upon whose support he relied for the purpose of developing the natural
resources of Mexico, and of bringing that country into line with
European intellectual and industrial progress, was pledged by all its
traditions to moral and political retrogression.
The enterprise, undertaken under these conditions, bore in itself such
elements of failure that nothing save the force of arms and a vast
expenditure of life and money could, even for a time, make it a success.
Unless the French assumed direct and absolute control of Mexican
affairs irrespective of party--and this contingency was specifically set
aside by the most solemn declarations--they must sooner or later come
into direct antagonism with allies who were pledged to the most
benighted form of clericalism, and into real, though perhaps
unconscious, sympathy with their opponents who stood arrayed upon
the side of progress.
It was not long before the pretensions of the church and party
complications caused a breach between the Corps Expeditionnaire and
its original supporters, which placed the French in the unlooked-for,
and by them much deprecated, attitude of invaders and conquerors of
the land, equally hated by ally and foe. And yet at the outset one aspect
of the situation was favorable to the success of the French undertaking.
The sweeping reforms carried out by Juarez during his brief
undisturbed occupation of the country had greatly smoothed the way
for the French in their self-imposed task of Mexican regeneration. The
new laws had already been enforced regulating the relations of church
and state. The confiscation of clergy property, the breaking up of the
powerful religious orders, and religious tolerance, all had been
proclaimed, as well as the freedom of the press.
Spanish, influence, which in these struggles had been exercised
strongly against reform, had been abruptly brought to an end by the
summary dismissal of Senor Pacheco, the Spanish minister, and the

Archbishop of Mexico had been exiled.
III. M. DE SALIGNY AND M. JECKER
One of the first problems, and quite the most important, to be faced by
President Juarez, upon his establishment in the capital, had been the
raising of funds with which to carry on the expense of the Liberal
government. As a measure the throwing upon the market of the
nationalized church property recommended itself. There was, however,
but little confidence, and still less ready money, in the country after
many years of civil strife. So much real estate suddenly thrown upon
the market depreciated property. The easy terms of sale--a third cash,
the balance to be paid in pagares--tempted speculators and gave rise to
many fraudulent transactions, and the measure brought little relief to
the government.
Although in March, 1861, President Juarez had signed a convention
adjusting anew the pecuniary claims of the French residents, on July 17
Congress found itself compelled to suspend payment on all agreements
hitherto entered into with foreign powers. The very next day the
representatives of France and Great Britain entered a formal protest on
behalf of their governments.