Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/123

Rh shared, nolens volens, the fate of the capital. These and subsequent acts were made to appear as the will of the Mexican people. Only too frequently the oath was taken with apathetic obedience to the authority in control, and liberal journals were filled with notices of forced compliance. Among the notable adherents was Miramon, who had made his way from Matamoros to Mexico through the heart of the constitutionalist country. The Juarez government did its best to counteract imperialist influence, by offers of pensions and offices, which circumstances prevented it from fulfilling; by threats of confiscation and death, which were carried out only in the rare places where it managed to regain a temporary control; and by annulling the acts of the imperial administration, empty declarations which could not be enforced. In the circulars issued to local authorities and foreign powers, the new government was branded as a cloak to cover French designs to transform Mexico into a colony. It was a gross infringement upon national rights, at first attempted under pretence of flimsy claims like Jecker's, and of paltry debts which the republic had offered to pay. The acts of adhesion to the empire were forced and fictitious, and emanated from an insignificant portion of the country; for the republicans held possession of nearly all the territory. The people were stirred against the invaders by enumerations of outrages on