Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/316

 on the rear-guard and the Egyptian battalion stationed in the Terres Chaudes. A report was spread among the guerillas that he was about to reopen the campaign, in order to clear the road. But he was compelled to retrace his steps to Vera Cruz without the emperor. Maximilian had already reached Queretaro.

The following note, emanating from the head of the French artillery, gives an exact idea of the means of defence left to the monarchy:—

The manufacture of cartridges and percussion caps under the care of the French artillery, and by the use of French powder, was continued, for the help of the Mexican government, up to the month of January, 1867, when the above government ceased, notwithstanding repeated demands, to furnish the funds necessary for the work.

At the request of the marshal commanding-in-chief, considerable quantities of cartridges and 20,000 kilograms of gunpowder had been sent out from France for the use of the Mexican army and people. From the official documents, provided with the written acknowledgment of the parties receiving them, it appears that the number of cartridges delivered was 3,228,226, and the quantity of gunpowder reached 21,437 kilograms.

In short, when the French army quitted the city of Mexico, it left it provided with 34,741 projectiles of all calibres with charges sufficient to fire 300 shot from each cannon, and a reserve of 500,000 cartridges (without reckoning those belonging to the Austro-Belgian legion). No kind of munitions of war belonging to Mexico were destroyed or taken away from the magazines, and Mexican officers, appointed for the purpose, gave an acknowledgment for them, and certified to their being duly handed over. The same formalities were observed in all the places in the interior occupied by the army, as they were evacuated.

Up to the middle of January, 1867, that is, fifteen days before it left the city of Mexico, the French artillery continued