Page:The Fall of Maximilan's Empire.djvu/112

104 city and castle within three days, beginning at noon of the 20th, and as an earnest of this the commanding general, Antonio Taboada, was allowed or induced to resign, and take passage in the Spanish mail steamer "Ciudad Condal" to Havana. This officer was strenuously opposed to entering into any negotiations with the Liberals for the delivery of the city, with the defence of which he was entrusted, and it seems probable that his voice was potent in causing Bureau's many vacillations. As the officer upon whom the command would next devolve was less irreconcilable and quixotic, and foresaw the necessity of ending the conflict in one way or another, it was decided that General Taboada should depart.

The only element of discord now remaining was the redoubtable Foreign Legion. This band of mercenaries, recruited from the scum of the military services of nearly all nations, had received its distinctive appellation almost from the very first, neither Spaniard, Frenchman, nor Austrian being willing to own it. As in all such motley congregations, the excellence of the discipline was greatly dependent upon circumstances. Being now subjected to great privations, and defrauded of their pay (the one thing for which they were hired to fight), the members of that body were individually turbulent, and greatly inclined to be so collectively, and their presence was a standing menace to law and order. In their desire to conciliate or appease this dreadful