Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/74

 obtain, interest on those claims which were to be subject to revision. If this revision was an equitable one, it was also just to compensate by interest for the delay in the settlement thereby caused; and it would hardly be desired that our countrymen should be worse treated as regards the legal rate than the ordinary creditors of the state. It was not until December 9, 1864, that M. Ramirez, minister of foreign affairs, wrote to the Marquis de Montholon—'That his sovereign, although convinced that justice was entirely on his side, had, to avoid disturbing the good understanding with the Emperor of the French, given orders by the packet to M. Hidalgo, his minister at Paris, to admit that, for the future, interest was guaranteed on the claims which were subject to revision.'

About the same time the news of the pacification of the central provinces, effected by our arms, reached head-quarters. The military situation in the districts traversed by the Franco-Mexican army appeared to be excellent. In the north, General de Castagny, at the head of a French division, General Mejia, followed by his Mexican force, and the French contra-guerillas, advanced in a parallel line over a breadth of one hundred and fifty leagues of country, and a simultaneous march drove back the enemy to the United States frontier. In the other direction, General Douay, in conjunction with Marquez, had effected a brilliant line of march as far as Colima, a state capital situated on the edge of the Pacific; and Colonel de Pothier, taking Arteaga's army in the rear, had hurled the latter across the Rio Grande. In every direction, warlike stores and field-pieces thrown into the barrancas remained in the hands of the French, whilst