Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/315

 a report that the rebels have entered Queretaro without firing a shot, the imperialists having evacuated the town. This news, however, is not at all certain. It is feared that the road to Mexico will now be closed for Maximilian.

As the French retired, they solidly strengthened the whole road which might serve as a line of retreat for the emperor if a moment of danger arrived. The town of Puebla (which, a month after, fell into Porfirio's power) was so well organised for defence that the 'general orders' of the 7th of April, addressed by the conqueror to his troops, ended thus:—

. . . . . . . .With the muskets taken from the enemy, this place—not without reason entitled impregnable, as the first soldiers in the world were not able to take it by assault—has yielded to the first effort of our overpowering valour. The entire garrison, and the immense matériel of war collected together by the enemy, are the trophies of our victory.

The marshal, on his arrival at Vera Cruz, in order to prepare and ensure a retreat for Maximilian, caused the fortifications of the port to be at once completed; he himself inspected the forts. At the request of M. Bureau, the imperial commissioner, he made over to the Mexicans a considerable store of cartridges, a hundred muskets, and thirty hundred-weights of powder taken from our fleet.

At one time there was an idea that the emperor had left the city of Mexico to come down to the sea. The marshal, who, in defiance of the vomito, had prolonged his stay at Vera Cruz, went up in great haste to La Soledad with some officers, intending to rely for