End of Imperialism in Mexico.
A CONDENSED VIEW OF THE WHOLE MOVEMENT.
We have the interesting information from Mexico of the fall of Queretaro, where the Imperialist forces have been for some months besieged by Juarez and the Liberal army, and the capture of Maximilian and all his generals. The character of the more recent reports renders the above intelligence probable. On the 10th of July, 1863, following some considerable successes of the French arms under Marshal Bazaine, the Council of Notables assembled at the City of Mexico and elected, by a vote of 213 to 2, the Archduke Maximilian, of Austria, to the throne. In the latter part of 1863 a Mexican deputation visited him, but the time was not ripe for his acceptance. On the 10th of April, 1864, a second delegation had audience of the Emperor Maximilian at his palace of Miramar, and having represented to him the vote of the Council of Notables, which they claimed was indorsed by an overwhelming majority of the people, he was induced to accept the throne, an act that French negotiation had pre-arranged. On the same day a convention was entered into between France and Mexico stipulating the reduction of the French force to 20,000 men, and the indemnification of the French Government for the expenses it had incurred in seating Maximilian on the throne. After his acceptance, Maximilian visited the Pope of Rome in company with his consort the Empress Charlotte. On the 28th of May, having come by way of Madeira and Martinique, he landed at Vera Cruz. Some time was spent at Orizaba, and the imperial entry into Mexico occurred June 12th, amid much pomp and pageantry. At this time Juarez occupied Monterey, Uraga and Ortega held their forces in various parts of Durango, Jalisco and Michoacan, and Diaz and Alvarez had considerable strength in Southern Mexico. The situation was quite favorable to the Imperialists. We cannot pretend in this connection to trace the tangled narrative of military and political events in this distracted country in the interval between the accession of Maximilian, and the series of operations that led to the downfall of Queretaro, where the Imperialists made their latest stand. The Emperor, soon after the ceremonies on his arrival at the City of Mexico, made a tour of the Provinces that were held by the French forces, organized his Ministry, created a Council of State, made such preparations as were possible for filling his exchequer, and the supporting operations of the Franco-Mexican army went on. The surrender of Cortinas and the fall of Matamoros now shortly occurring, were a severe reverse to Juarez, but he seemed to gather energy from defeat and pushed his movements with great activity, in which he was aided to no small degree by the moral influence of the United States, which, both through the protests of the State Department and by the action of Congress, which on the 4th of April, 1864, unanimously resolved not to recognize the Imperial Government. At the commencement of the year 1865 the Imperialists were firmly established in all the important places in Central Mexico, and controlled more than three-fourths of the population of the whole country. In March of this year the final rupture between Maximilian and the Church party, a most unfortunate event for the Empire, took place. After military movements of a varying character throughout the year, but mostly favorable to the Imperialists, Juarez in December, having been compelled to leave Chihuahua, which the Imperialists had once evacuated but returned to, placed his seat of government at El Paso. About this time the Liberal cause was seriously threatened by a contest between Juarez and Ortega for the Presidency. The United States, as is well known, maintained the legitimacy of Juarez. The triumphant close of the war in this country, the emigration of numerous bodies of Americans to Mexico, the increasing protests of this government and the impecuniosity of Maximilian’s government had a seriously-weakening effect upon it. We cannot trace the military events which gradually but surely added strength to the Liberal cause. Juarez and his followers, with wonderful energy and tenacity, maintained their cause, which began to see brighter days when the position of this Government, that rightly looked upon the attempted establishment of the Mexican Empire as a part of the rebellion, brought the Emperor of France to the point of consenting to an evacuation of Mexican soil. The military events of the year 1866, are still fresh in the minds of our readers, and we need only advert to some of the more recent, directly bearing upon the collapse of the Empire. Napoleon’s agreement with Mr. Seward had been to evacuate Mexico in three divisions, the last to embark in March of the present year. The Liberal forces, however, manifested such impatience and so little disposition to respect the convenience of the French, that such a division of his army as this arrangement would necessitate, was found by Marshal Bazaine to be quite impracticable. He therefore concentrated his troops, the Republicans occupying every inch almost as fast as he vacated it, until in March he had collected all his forces in Vera Cruz ready to set sail. By the 12th the last man was aboard the French squadron, and almost on the same day Vera Cruz was besieged by the Liberals. Maximilian still held the capital with Queretaro, about 100 miles to the northward of Puebla, 75 miles eastward and somewhat more than 100 miles northwest from Vera Cruz. His communication between these places, however, was imperfect and was daily becoming more so. Before the French were fairly off, Porfirio Diaz had begun the siege of Puebla while Escobedo took charge of operations against Queretaro. By the fifth of April, Diaz had taken Puebla, and, advancing toward Mexico, defeated on the 12th the Imperialist forces under Marquez, who was advancing to the relief of the fallen city. The Empire was thus completely driven from the open field and cooped up in Queretaro and the Capital. The sieges proceeded with comparative slowness for want of heavy artillery. Several desperate sorties were made by the Imperialists from Queretaro, inflicting considerable loss on the besiegers, but only resulting each time in a closer investment; until on the 15th of the present month, as yesterday’s dispatch informs us, the city fell, and with it the last hope of the Mexican Empire. Thus ignominiously, in utter failure, has ended the second attempt to found an empire in Mexico—an attempt begun while the United States were grappling with a stupendous rebellion of a large portion of their own inhabitants—an attempt intended to promote the success of the rebellion, and which was naturally looked upon by our own citizens as an irritating form of intervention and a menace to Republican institutions on this continent.—Detroit Tribune.