American command. This hill is famous in the annals of Mexican history.
In the old times when it was crowned by the Church of Guadalupe,
religious processions used to go up and down on the days of sacred
ceremony. The fort was destined to a glorious triumph later, but at the
time of the American investment it had not yet won its reputation. Then,
as now, from the heights was to be seen one of the great views of the
world: three snow-covered volcanoes, with Malintzi rising 13,000 feet
above the level of the sea, and the lofty crest of Orizaba, and nearer
at hand the pyramid of Cholula. The city of Puebla spreads out below
like a map. It is very pretty, built like all the Mexican cities, with
streets running at accurate right angles, straight and regular. Many
churches are scattered over the city; the frequent use of colored tiles
in building furnishes a great many colors, for red, yellow, and blue are
employed in the domes, which glow with bright tints or glitter in the
reflection of the sun.
The American troops had full opportunity to enjoy this scene while they
occupied Puebla, awaiting at first the arrival of General Scott, and
afterwards reinforcements sufficient to warrant an advance. Santa Anna
returned to Mexico, where, as usual with beaten generals, his reception
was the reverse of cordial. He took what measures he could to win back
popularity, and as one step towards this, resigned the presidency.
Pending a new election, Congress created him Dictator until the next
year, and armed with this authority he began the work of fortifying the
capital, since this was evidently the next and last point of attack for
the enemy, General Taylor's army finding no hindrance in coming from the
north, and General Scott close at hand in the City of the Angels.
Patriotism, the desire to defend the capital, was fully aroused, and
battalions poured in from the different cities and states of the
Republic; each sent its guns to contribute to the defence, and by the
end of June the Mexican Dictator had at his disposal over 25,000 men and
sixty pieces of artillery. Pronunciamentos ceased for the time, and the
spirits of the Mexicans again rose, leading them to hope that the final
struggle would be successful, and that the troops of the United States
would meet with an overwhelming defeat at the gates of their capital.
XXXIV.
CHAPULTEPEC TAKEN.
Early in August the American army left Puebla and took up its quarters
outside the capital, having approached by a route south of Lake Chalco.
Santa Anna, having learned these movements, began fortifications at the
Bridge and Church of Churubusco, four miles south of the city. There is
no town here, only a few little scattered houses; in the time of the
Aztecs, however, it was an important place, which clustered round the
temple of their old god of war, Huitzilopochtli, of which the modern
name is a derivation, having come a long way from its root. "The place,"
says an old chronicler, "was the dwelling and diabolical habitation of
infernal spirits" until the priests of the Church cast them out. When
the artillery of the American army rattled about their ears, the poor
inhabitants may have fancied there had entered in devils worse than the
first.
The Mexican general ordered a barricade to be erected in the road over
which the American army must pass. This was done, but when Worth arrived
he set the same Indians who had thrown up the barricade to level it
again. These docile natives saw but little difference between one army
and another, and they set to work with the same patient alacrity they
had used to build the barricade, on the business of tearing it down
again.
On the 18th the battle of Churubusco was fought, the Mexicans defending
with great bravery a convent to which they had retreated. In this
battle, lost by the Mexicans, many of their distinguished men perished.
Gorostiza, a poet and dramatist, some of whose plays still hold the
stage, lost his life valiantly commanding his battalion, although he was
old and infirm.
It was all in vain. The Americans gained the convent and the town, in
spite of the valor of the defenders and the bravery of General Anaya,
who was in command. The Mexicans left alive were taken prisoners, and
the Americans triumphed. The day of Churubusco is regarded by the
Mexicans as a glorious one, in spite of their defeat. A monument stands
in the Plaza in memory of the heroes who died there defending their
country.
Closer and closer drew the lines of the hostile force. There was an
armistice after the battle of Churubusco; fighting began again at Molino
del Rey, a range of stone buildings under the fire of the heavy guns of
the Castle of Chapultepec. General Scott was informed that a foundry was
in operation at that place, and that bells from the steeples of the city
had lately been dismounted, probably to be recast there for cannon. This
turned his attention to the place. It was attacked on the night of
September 8th, and taken the next day after furious resistance. Inside
the Molino were some few old cannon moulds, but no evidence of recent
founding. The Americans were now close under the fortifications of
Chapultepec, whose guns had played incessantly upon them from daylight
throughout the action.
[Illustration: _BATTLE OF MOLINO DEL REY SEPT 8TH 1847_]
This also is regarded by the Mexicans as a brilliant action, as it
undoubtedly was on their part, as well as that of the daring invaders.
During the battle, the bells of the city were ringing a continuous
joyful peal, as if to assert a victory beforehand. The city was wholly
confident in the impregnability of its stronghold, the Castle of
Chapultepec.
Yet on the 13th this difficult fortress was attacked by General Pillow,
scaled and taken by the American troops. General Bravo was in command of
the castle, while Santa Anna was occupied with other exposed places.
Under him were eight hundred men, among them the pupils of the Military
College established there. The General was taken prisoner; many of the
brave young fellows, before they had gone beyond the first lessons of
military science, were taught its last and most bitter one,--death, in
the defence of their citadel. The American soldiers rushed in at the
many different doors of the college; it is said that they showed unusual
ferocity, made savages by the custom of slaughter among the Mexicans in
former engagements. Quarter was rarely given, a practice learned of the
Spaniards themselves; for a few moments the struggle was fearful, and
the bloodshed unrestrained. Parties of American officers found their way
to the Azotea, and tore down the Mexican colors, while the standards of
two United States regiments were displayed. The shouts of the victors
announced to the city that her stronghold had fallen.
[Illustration: _STORMING OF CHAPULTEPEC SEPT 18TH 1847_]
The taking of Chapultepec was practically the end of the war. The city
of Mexico was shortly after occupied, and although the negotiations for
peace were long and tiresome, the end was obvious.
On the 2d of February, 1848, a treaty was confirmed, called that of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, from the name of the little suburb city where it was
signed. Mexico received fifteen millions of dollars, by way of
indemnity; but lost the territory of Alta California, New Mexico, Texas,
and a part of her state of Coahuila, by the agreement to consider the
windings of the Rio Bravo del Norte, or Rio Grande, as the boundary
between the two nations, as far as it goes; that is, to a direct line
parallel with San Diego on the coast of California.
No sooner had California fallen into the hands of the Americans, than it
turned out to be full of gold. In that very year, 1848, began the gold
fever of California, and emigration poured in from all parts of the
States, so that rapidly the territory, unknown and neglected by the
Mexicans, grew to be a most important State. San Francisco, then a
little straggling Mexican port, is now a large and flourishing city.
This is a result of the war which must be viewed with impatience, to say
the least, by the Mexicans, who saw themselves, at the time, forced to
relinquish this large amount of territory without the power of refusal.
On the other hand, there is room for thinking that California, left in
the hands of that people, might have remained to this day undiscovered,
with its wealth still hidden in the earth. Whatever comfort this may be,
is open to the losing side.
The war left them disgraced and humiliated, with ruined cities and
desolated homes scattered over the land. It is probable, however, that
the permanent effect of the war was beneficial. It taught the Mexicans,
for one thing, to distrust the prestige of their army, and humbled the
pretensions of a crowd of military men, who, while they aspired to the
highest offices of government, proved themselves not only incapable of
serving their country thus, but incompetent in the field. High praise,
however, is always to be assigned to the courage and bravery of the
army, its commanders, and private soldiers, especially in the defence of
their capital when the struggle reached its last agony.
The United States by the war acquired an immense extent of territory, by
many of its citizens, however, even at the time, regarded as a
questionable good. The acquisition of so much slave territory without
doubt hastened the crisis which called for the civil war of 1861. The
experiences of the American army in the Mexican war, and the glory,
exaggerated perhaps, which attached to their feats of arms, stimulated
the taste for military pursuits, before very moderate in a peaceful and
industrious land. The heroes of the campaign of Anahuac were transferred
to the field of politics. General Taylor became President of the United
States, and General Scott narrowly escaped it. The defects of the army
were recognized and in great measure remedied, so that when the civil
war did come, both armies, on the two contending sides of that
unfortunate conflict, were in a state of readiness much in advance of
the condition of the national troops before the campaign in Mexico,
while a crop of officers, heroes of the so-called glorious victories of
Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and the rest, responded to the call of loyalty,
or rebellion, with the alacrity of experience.
After the evacuation of Mexico an attempt was made by the Americans to
capture Santa Anna. General Lane, who with a small force was engaged in
driving guerrillas from the roads, received information that this
general was at Tehuacan, not very far from Puebla. After marching all
night in that direction, he occupied two large haciendas in that
neighborhood, where his men and horses were concealed during daylight,
and the Mexican residents held close prisoners. When evening arrived the
command marched on towards Tehuacan. About five miles out they met a
carriage with an escort of ten or twelve armed men. They were stopped,
but the occupant of the carriage produced a written safeguard over the
signature of an American general, and upon this the whole party was
allowed to proceed. General Lane arrived at Tehuacan just at daylight,
and entered it at once. But the bird had flown. Santa Anna had been
there; but, warned by a breathless messenger on horseback, who rode back
from the carriage the soldiers had met, to give him news of the approach
of the soldiers, had just time enough to make his escape, with his
family, leaving all his effects, which were quickly plundered by the
troops of Lane's command.
On Friday 1st, before the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Santa Anna
informed the Minister of War and the American Commander-in-Chief that he
desired to leave Mexico and seek an asylum on a foreign soil, where he
"might pass his last days in that tranquillity which he could never find
in the land of his birth." This permission was granted, and he went to
Jamaica, leaving his country at peace, but not forever.
Ulysses S. Grant, then a young soldier in the army of the United States,
took part in the Mexican war. He went into the battle of Palo Alto as
second lieutenant, at the age of twenty-six, and entered the city of
Mexico sixteen months later with the conquering army.
In his personal memoirs General Grant expresses his opinion that the
Mexican war was one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against
a weaker nation. "It was an instance," he says, "of a republic following
the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in
their desire to acquire additional territory."
XXXV.
BENITO JUAREZ.
Peace was restored, and with it revived commerce and industry; the
coffers of government were full, thanks to the fifteen millions of
_pesos_ received from the United States to heal the wounds of war.
General Herrera took possession of the presidential chair, and Mexico,
after twenty years of warfare, civil and foreign, took a respite of as
many months.
Herrera became President on the 3d of June, 1848, and fulfilled the
appointed time of office until January, 1851, when he handed over the
control to his successor, when for the first time in the history of the
Republic this change was effected without violence.
His administration was economical and moral, and so was that of his
successor, General Arista, who continued the reform of the army,
bringing order into the financial condition of the country. These two
terms may be regarded as models of good government.
[Illustration: BENITO JUAREZ.]
Before the close of Arista's term the Mexicans took up their old
practice of _pronouncing_, and rather than create a disturbance, the
President, finding himself unpopular, secretly retired from the capital.
Resolutions began, and Santa Anna, hearing their echo afar, returned to
the country once more, to be made Dictator.
But Mexico was not to fall back into the hopeless anarchy of the period
before the American war. The better class had learned to desire peace,
and there were leaders among them strong enough to restrain the mobile
desires of the multitude, and lead them to better things. The epoch of
the reform began; and although this reform was signalized by bloodshed,
it was a war for definite objects and principles, and not a squabble,
setting up and putting down incompetent presidents, which used to
prevail.
The great struggle arose over the question of the sequestration of
Church property, begun during the United States war, but then, as we
have seen, treated injudiciously, hastily dealt with, with but temporary
and inefficient results. Later the disagreement between the _clerigos_,
or Church party, and the _liberales_, or those demanding the surrender
of the property of the Church, became wider and wider, until two great
parties divided the country. For half a century these parties have
disputed the power under their two political standards. It must not be
inferred that the party opposed to the _clerigos_ has been opposed to
religion. The liberals have been as good Christians, and not only this,
as devout Catholics, as the so-called Church party. The question has not
turned upon matters of doctrine, but upon those pertaining to the goods
of the Church.
Benito Juarez was of pure Aztec birth. It has even been said that the
blood of the Montezumas was in his veins. Be that as it may, his family
was of the lowest order of the Indians, living in a village of the state
of Oaxaca. They were poor, and it is said that at twelve Benito knew
neither how to read nor write.
He found a protector in Don Antonio Salanueva, head of a rich family of
Oaxaca, who became interested in him, and kindly helped him to an
education. In him, as in many other cases less known, the facility of
the Indian intelligence to acquire knowledge was shown. He learned
rapidly to read and write, and advanced so far as to study law, in which
he afterwards distinguished himself, elected first a member of the
legislature of Oaxaca, and afterwards climbing all the steps to legal
fame until he became the presiding judge of the courts there.
During the war with the United States, Juarez was at the capital, as
deputy to Congress. He took a vigorous part in the demand for the loan
upon Church property to supply money for the war, and thus ranged
himself with the opponents to the Church party, although himself
preserving the devout faith of the Catholic religion, which the Indians
almost invariably cling to.
He was made Governor of Oaxaca, and devoted himself to establishing
schools for the Indians, to benefit his race, while he managed affairs
wisely and economically for all.
During Santa Anna's dictatorship, he was banished from the country, and
stayed in New Orleans until the turn of the wheel brought his way of
thinking to the top, when among other offices he resumed that of
Governor of Oaxaca. He became afterwards Secretary of State, and
President of the Supreme Court of Justice.
On the 17th of February, 1857, a new Constitution was promulgated by the
enlightened Congress. It declared that national sovereignty resides
essentially in the people, and adopted the republican form of
government, representative, democratic, and federal. It proclaimed each
state free and sovereign within its limits, and introduced many reforms
and improvements in the old code. It was received with great applause by
the liberal party, but with little disguised disapproval by the army and
clergy, who set themselves from its birth to combating its success.
Great disturbance arose, excommunication of the liberals, promulgations,
pronunciamentos, arrests, uprisings. From the midst of all the confusion
Juarez took possession of the presidency by right of his position as
head of the Supreme Court, since Comonfort, the legitimate President,
had _pronounced_, been condemned, and forced to leave the country.
Juarez and his party held their own through much adverse circumstance.
On his side were ranged, in the defence of the Constitution of 1857,
Doblado, Ortega, Zaragoza, Guillermo, Prieto, and other important men;
on the side of the _clerigos_ were the Generals Miramon and Márquez, and
the greater part of the chiefs of the regular army. Civil war waged over
the land; there is reason to believe that moderate principles and the
Constitution of 1857 would have triumphed, had it not been for the
strange and certainly unexpected events of the foreign intervention,
which occasioned an episode in Mexican affairs as cruel and unnecessary
as it was dramatic. So foreign indeed was it to the national life of the
Mexican people, that it in reality scarcely formed a part of their
history. The Indian in his hut of adobe saw the princely pageant pass,
he scarce knew why.
XXXVI.
FRENCH INTERVENTION.
IN 1861, four years after the declaration of the Constitution of 1857,
on the 8th of December, there appeared in the waters of Vera Cruz a
foreign squadron, over which floated the colors of three European
powers. It was a combined expedition from the governments of Spain,
England, and France. The commissioners from these three powers were
accompanied by a body of Spanish troops, a smaller force of French ones,
and some English sailors. Why were they there? Did they come to demand
something? Had they an ultimatum to present?
The three powers had signed a treaty in London by which they agreed to
send this threefold expedition to Mexico to demand guaranties for the
safety of their subjects living there, and further to urge their claim
to sums borrowed by the Mexicans during their difficulties, on which a
law had been lately passed suspending payment. This was the pretext for
the expedition; its real cause was below the surface.
The commissioners took possession easily of Vera Cruz, and then
proceeded to Orizaba, where a conference was opened with Juarez. The
demand for payment was readily acknowledged, and the commissioners for
Spain and England at once withdrew their troops. But the French
remained. The proclamation issued by the commissioners, declaring their
presence in Mexico was for no other purpose than that of settling vexed
questions, had served as a reason for introducing their troops. The
expedition was undertaken in good faith by the English and Spanish
governments, but when their commissioners found that a deeper question
was involved, they extricated themselves and their governments from the
affair and went away.
A plan had been formed in the court of the Tuileries, by Napoleon III.,
encouraged and even instigated by Mexican refugees who had sought the
court of France, disgusted with the liberal turn of affairs in their own
country. Among these were Gutierrez de Estrada, the ex-President
Miramon, and others of the clergy party, who were opposed entirely to
the supremacy of Juarez, and wanted above all things to bring back a
monarchy to Mexico. At the same time the Archbishop of Mexico, robbed as
he said of the property of his Church, warmly advocated the same cause
at Rome.
The plan was to select a prince of some European house, and place him
upon the throne left vacant since the abdication of Agustin I. in the
capital of the Aztec Emperors. Estrada, indeed, was living in exile, on
account of his pamphlet proposing this scheme. Napoleon III. accepted
these overtures with alacrity, and at once furnished troops, money, and
influence to the alluring idea of "opposing the Latin race to the
invasion of Anglo-Saxons" in the New World--that is, to check the
supremacy of the United States upon the western continent, and establish
an Empire in Mexico, which, nominally independent, would be under his
own control, and thus add to the glory of the French nation.
The time was opportune, for the United States were then engrossed in a
civil war, which absorbed all their resources. The government at
Washington could not give its attention to affairs in Mexico, and
Napoleon hoped, in the not improbable event of the success of the
Southern States, that there would be no danger of interference from that
quarter.
The demands of the commissioners, therefore, were but an excuse for
entering the country. Relying on the representatives of the Mexican
_émigrés_, which promised cordial support from the clerical party at
home, the French advanced towards the capital of Mexico.
Meanwhile, the future Emperor had been found. Ferdinand Maximilian
Joseph, Archduke of Austria, of the house of Hapsburg Lorraine, accepted
the proposition secretly made him by Napoleon, to become Emperor of
Mexico.
[Illustration: ARCHDUKE MAXIMILIAN.]
He was brother of the reigning Emperor of Austria, and they were
descended from the royal house of Charles V. of Germany and I. of Spain.
Maximilian was born in 1832; in 1857 he had married the daughter of the
King of Belgium, Carlotta Maria Amalia. These two young persons, for the
prince was but little over thirty, were at Miramar, their palace near
Trieste, where they received the overtures of the Mexican conspirators.
For many months the Archduke hesitated over so startling a proposal;
finally he decided to accept the crown which was offered him, but "on
the condition that France and England should sustain him with their
guaranty, moral and material, both on land and sea." England, as we have
seen, early withdrew from the alliance, with a loyalty to honorable
principles greatly to its credit, well aware that the United States
would look upon the scheme with no favor, and less confident than the
French Emperor in the success of the Southern Confederacy.
Maximilian was a dreamer. The scion of the stock of kings, he believed
firmly in the "right divine," which he persuaded himself to fancy, by
tortuous ways might now be hovering over him. Ardently religious, he
attached the highest importance to the preservation of the Church, and
believed that he was an instrument to this end. The vision of Mexico
snatched from the hands of impious rebels and restored to the prestige
of an ancient Empire, fascinated him, and with a vivid imagination, he
pictured himself, and his Carlotta, whom he dearly loved, as the central
figures of the great restoration. His expression of this thought at
Naples, in 1857, so often quoted, proves how far he was carried by the
vividness of his dreams.