Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/113

Rh notwithstanding Gutierrez' assertion that they comprised the first men in the country for their social standing, the greater portion of the clergy, and all who had changed their opinions as a result of their past experience. It was quite evident that without European aid the so-called monarchist party was powerless.

Coming now to the French intervention period, with Juarez' triumph over Miramon, the ascendencyascendancy [sic] of liberal republican principles was for a time considered as permanently secured. But it was not yet to be so; for the reactionists, though in a hopeless minority, and without means to push their pretensions, would not, as we have seen, give up the contest. Hopes were held out to them from abroad. The plan to continue the civil war was adopted at Tlalpan, January 18, 1861, under the leadership of Leonardo Marquez. It was to be, they said, a fight for law and order. At the same time, a number of their affiliated, residing in Paris, went to work at the French court to obtain help, and later, through the influence of the exiled bishops, the pope favored their plans; but it appears that at first they only hoped for aid to restore their strength, without any thought of the European powers entertaining the idea of a monarchy in Mexico. The thought was, most probably, put into their heads by Napoleon III., who saw his opportunity in the disturbed political condition of the United States, and especially after the latter refused to take part in the intervention proposed. The reactionists in Mexico had no idea, at least expressed, of any form of government other than the republican, as was made evident in their organ. Then again, we have the evidence