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Indeed, it was the openly expressed opinion of many French officers that to famine was principally due the fall of Puebla. "Sans cela nous y serions encore," they would say. * "Lettres sur l'Expedition du Mexique," p. 101. General Forey's elevation had been due mainly to the fact that he was one of the men who had served Napoleon in 1851 in the coup d'etat.
He would encounter a bug of wood in the road, whom he will bet upon the time which he shall take to go where she would go and if you him have take at the word, he will follow the bug as far as Mexique, without himself caring to go so far; neither of the time which he there lost.
He and his brother had both participated in the revolution which made Carranza president. His description of which affair was utterly delightful. "Every-body run a-round with guns" Mexique said. "And bye-and-bye no see to shoot everybody, so everybody go home." We asked if he had shot anybody himself. "Sure. I shoot everybody I do'no" Mexique answered laughing.
The affair was hushed up, but is said to have made a deep impression on his mind. See D'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique: Histoire des Derniers Mois de l'Empire du Mexique," pp. 29, 54.
General de Lorencez slowly fell back upon Orizaba, where he issued a proclamation* to the army, openly laying the responsibility of the disaster upon the false statements made to him by the French representative. * See proclamation, published in Louet, "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique," etc. "Reve d'Empire," p. 72. The French army, which fell back upon Orizaba, was in a critical position.
* See "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, d'apres les Documents Inedits de Ernest Louet, Payeur-en-Chef du Corps Expeditionnaire," edited by Paul Gaulot. Part I, "Reve d'Empire" p. 37, 4th ed. Ibid, p. 47. This letter was dated "Orizaba, March 17, 1862."
"Oh! Lebrun. To be sure! I heard yesterday you were back. How did they treat you down in Mexique?" "Fairly well." "But not well enough to keep you there. Stunning girls, though, in Mexico. I thought I should never get away from Vera Cruz when I was down there a couple of years ago." "Did they embroider slippers and tobacco pouches and hat-bands and things for you?" asked Edna. "Oh! my! no!
They further decided, should the city surrender, not to share in the terms of a Mexican capitulation, but to make their own terms, or, if necessary, to cut their way through to the sea. See Charles d'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique," page 231 et seq. When at last the starving people rose in indignation, and would stand him no longer, he suddenly vanished.
About a fortnight later, when the grey dirty snow-slush hid the black filthy world which we saw from our windows, and when people lived in their ill-smelling beds, it came to pass that my particular amis The Zulu, Jean, Mexique and I and all the remaining miserables of La Ferte descended at the decree of Caesar Augustus to endure our bi-weekly bath.
The episodes of the contest recall those of the siege of Saragossa, when the Spaniards so fiercely resisted the French forces; only at Puebla the cruel struggle lasted two whole months.* To quote a French officer, it was "a noble defense, admirably organized." * From March 18 to May 10, 1863. See Colonel Loizillon, "Lettres sur l'Expedition du Mexique," Paris, 1890.
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