Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/22

6 on April 1. The French troops had been occupying Tehuacan; they halted at Cordova, three stages from Paso Ancho, by the side of the Spanish force. But a rupture between the three allied bodies was now imminent, their respective views and interests being so plainly at variance. On April 9, 1862, the rupture was consummated; the cause especially alleged was the presence under our flag of Almonte, and some emigrants, who had arrived in the early part of March, who on account of their monarchical opinions were objects of suspicion both to Juarez and also to the English government. Sir C. Wyke, the British minister, wrote to Earl Russell—'By giving our intervention the appearance of a friendly protectorate, we shall be best able to consolidate a government which represents the intelligent and respectable portion of the nation.'

We will now state that, in 1857, a constitution voted by the general congress had conferred the presidency on General Comonfort, who was illegally deposed from his chair; that Juarez, in virtue of his commission as vice-president, had defended this constitution for six years. The Indian advocate seemed the only one who had not perjured himself! He held the position of chief magistrate in a republic which was convulsed and ruined by civil war. Standing at the head of affairs in a country thoroughly demoralised by the evil passions which sought to overflow it, he might perhaps have been able to do better, but he might also have done much worse. On him has fallen with all its weight the unhappy result of half a century of fanaticism and anarchy, and he has had the courage to bear his burden without giving way. For him at least the word 'country' has not been without signification, and he who would judge him, if he means to judge justly,