Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/188

172 believed I had so sufficiently explained the situation of Nuevo Leon and Cohahuila, that the necessity of the evacuation of Monterey (after the destruction of General Mejia's troops and the capitulation of Matamoros in the present moral condition of the Belgian legion) would have been fully recognised, not only in a political but also especially in a military point of view.

The capitulation of Matamoros, and the consequences which have resulted from it, are not my doing, and I have not yet been able to state my opinion on the subject. I had to meet the exigencies of a position which I found ready made to my hands, and I believe I have done my duty to the sovereign in placing before him all the documents annexed to my before-named letters, duplicates of which I have sent to my government.

With respect to the capture of the city of Tampico by the rebels, I must have the honour of respectfully reminding the emperor that, before undertaking what he is pleased to call my campaign in the north, at the time when the remains of General Mejia's troops were arriving at Vera Cruz, I asked that General Olvera, with the residue of his brigade, should be sent to Tampico. The urgency of General Mejia has, it appears, induced your majesty to modify your first decision, which was favourable to the contemplated movement. For Olvera's brigade has not gone to Tampico, and has indeed been sent on to Mexico contrary to the orders which I left, which were in harmony with a military combination, the foiling of which finds its material results in the state of Queretaro.

The want of a similar co-operation, which General de Thun refused to afford me, has not a little contributed to the disasters which have befallen Tamaulipas. General Mejia complained that his soldiers were exposed to the yellow fever at Tampico.

A small detachment of the contre-guerilla, which was all I had at my disposal to form a garrison at Tampico, was then embarked at Vera Cruz, without noticing the dangers of the climate, which cost us a whole battalion last year. I am not aware that this detachment has abandoned its post, or delivered up that which it was charged to defend.

Your majesty expresses a desire of being informed of the plan which I propose to follow in my operations.