Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/78

58 from Perote, a place the French could have taken the first day, meeting with little or no resistance.

Gonzales Ortega having sent Forey a few Frenchmen of the wounded in the affair of May 5th, together with a zouave's medal, the French commander transmitted a copy of his last proclamation, adding that he received Ortega's courteous letter as one from a brave soldier, and not from the government he was serving, with which he, Forey, could not correspond without repugnance. He also expressed the wish that Ortega's sword would be in the near future employed in a better cause. This insult to the Mexican government, accompanied by a hint that Ortega should become a traitor, wounded him deeply. The Mexican general replied with dignity on the 16th, assuring Forey that whatever ground the diplomatic question might be placed on by military events, the French representative would have sooner or later to treat with the chief magistrate holding his powers from the nation, and whose generosity had released the French prisoners. He further said that the true interests of France did not lie in coöperating with a few malecontents to upset a government sustained by the Mexican people, nor in waging war against a nation entirely in sympathy with liberal France. As for himself, leaving aside his personal regard for Juarez, he would have Forey understand that he was freely serving his country as an independent citizen. He concluded to return Forey's letter and proclamation, which, he said, could have no place among his records. There were at this time between 300 and 400 Mexican officers of all ranks without troops in