Second Mexican Empire

Mexican monarchism emerged in conjunction with the struggle for independence. After Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain, the initial independence movements throughout Latin America concerned themselves with supporting the deposed Ferdinand VII as the legitimate king as opposed to Joseph Bonaparte who had been established as king of Spain by Napoleon. During the Grito de Dolores, Miguel Hidalgo Costilla rallied his listeners to support Ferdinand VII against the New Spanish ruling classes that were allegedly going to betray Mexico and Catholicism over to the French. [3]

While his insurrection was unsuccessful the ultimately triumphant movement for Mexican independence was led by Agustin de Iturbide with his Plan of Iguala, which made specific provision for a European monarch to be placed on the Mexican throne. After the offer was refused Iturbide himself assumed the throne in a barracks revolt, which was nonetheless confirmed by the Mexican congress.

Iturbide in his attempts to govern became increasingly autocratic, losing support of congress, and shutting the legislature down, discrediting monarchy even amongst conservatives, but the idea did not go away and French observers began expressing interest in the idea of a Mexican monarchy. Lorenzo de Zavala claimed that in 1830, he was approached by a foreign agent hoping to recruit him in a plan to place an Orléans monarch upon a Mexican throne.[4] In 1838, Jose Maria Gutierrez Estrada wrote a monarchist essay endorsing the idea of a legitimate European monarch being invited to govern Mexico. The pamphlet was addressed to the conservative president Bustamante, who rejected the idea.[5] French diplomats tended to sympathize with the Conservatives in Mexico, Victor de Broglie opining that monarchy was a form of government more suited to Mexico at the time and François Guizot giving a positive review of Estrada's pamphlet. [6]

Mexican Delegation: Back Row: José Hidalgo, Antonio Escandón, Ángel Domínguez, Antonio Peredo, Adrian Woll, Jose Maria de Landa. Front Row: Ignacio Marocho, José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, Francisco Morfi, Joaquín de León.

Heavily influenced by his wife Empress Eugenie, who was in contact with the aforementioned Estrada and his fellow Mexican monarchist José Hidalgo, Napoleon III became intent on reviving the Mexican monarchy. Prior to 1861 any interference in the affairs of Mexico by European powers would have been viewed in the U.S as a challenge to the Monroe Doctrine. In 1861 however, the U.S. was embroiled in its own conflict, the American Civil War, which made the U.S. government powerless to intervene. When on July, 1861 Mexican President Benito Juarez declared a two-year moratorium on Mexican debt to France among other nations, Napoleon finally had a pretext. Encouraged by Empress Eugenie, who saw herself as the champion of the Catholic Church in Mexico, Napoleon III took advantage of the situation.

The Offering of the Mexican Crown by a Mexican delegation, Miramare Castle, 1863.

Napoleon III saw the opportunity to make France the great modernizing influence in the Western Hemisphere, as well as enabling the country to capture the South American markets. To give him further encouragement, there was his half brother, the duc de Morny, who was the largest holder of Mexican bonds.

French troops landed in December, 1861, and began military operations on April, 1862. They were eventually joined by conservative Mexican generals who had never been entirely defeated in the War of Reform.[7] After Charles de Lorencez small expeditionary force was repulsed at the Battle of Puebla, reinforcements were sent and placed under the command of Élie Forey. The capital was taken by June, 1863 and the French now sought to establish a friendly Mexican government. Forey appointed a committee of thirty five Mexicans, the Junta Superior who then elected three Mexican citizens to serve as the government's executive: Juan Nepucemo Almonte, José Mariano Salas, and Pelagio Antonio de Labastida. In turn this triumvirate then selected two hundred fifteen Mexican citizens to form together with the Junta Superior, an Assembly of Notables.[8]

The Assembly met on July, 1863 and resolved to invite Ferdinand Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. The executive triumvirate was formally changed into the Regency of the Mexican Empire. An official delegation left Mexico and arrived in Europe on October. Maximilian formally accepted the crown on April 10, 1864, and set sail for Mexico, arriving in Veracruz on May 28 and reaching the capital on June 12.

On his arrival in the summer of 1864 Maximilian declared a political amnesty for all liberals who wished to join the Empire, and his conciliation efforts eventually won over moderate liberals such as José Fernando Ramírez and Santiago Vidaurri.[9] His first priorities included reforming his ministries and reforming the Imperial Mexican Army, the latter of which was impeded upon by Bazaine in an effort to consolidate French control of the nation.[10]

On August, Maximilian took a state trip through the nation while Carlota reigned as regent, going to Queretaro, Guanajuato, and Michoacan, giving public audiences and visiting officials, even celebrating Mexican independence by commemorating the Cry of Dolores, in the actual town where it took place.[11]

In December a Papal Nuncio arrived in order to arrange a concordat with the Empire to revise the Reform laws previously passed by the Mexican government that had nationalized Catholic Church property. Maximilian wished to maintain Catholicism as the state religion, and yet preferred to keep the reform laws intact, and also introduce religious toleration, measures which disillusioned his conservative and clerical supporters.[12]

In April 1865, the U.S. Civil War ended, and while the American government was reluctant at the time to enter upon a conflict with France to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, official American sympathy remained with the deposed Mexican president Benito Juárez. The U.S. government refused to recognize the Empire and also ignored Maximilian's correspondence.[13] In December, a thirty million dollar private American loan was approved for Juarez, and American volunteers kept joining the Mexican republican troops.[14]

A concentration of French troops in the north of Mexico only led to a surge of republican guerilla activity in the south. While French troops controlled major cities, guerillas continued to be a major military threat in the countryside. In an effort to combat the increasing violence and in a belief that Juarez was outside of the nation already, Maximilian in October signed a decree authorizing the court martial and execution of anyone found either aiding or participating with the guerillas. The harsh measure was hardly unprecedented in Mexican history even resembling an 1862 measure by Juarez, but it proved to be widely reviled, being branded the Black Decree, and contributing to the growing unpopularity of the Empire.[15]

In January 1866, seeing the war as unwinnable Napoleon declared to the French Chambers that he intended to withdraw the French military from Mexico. Maximilian's request for more aid or at least a delay in troop withdrawals was denied. Carlota arrived in Europe in an attempt to plead for the Empire's cause, but was unable to gain more support. The failure of her mission apparently caused her to go insane, and she would spend the rest of her life in Belgium, living until 1927.

In October Maximilian moved his cabinet to Orizaba and was widely rumored to be leaving the nation. He contemplated abdication, and on November 25 held a council of his ministers to address the crisis faced by the Empire. They narrowly voted against abdication and Maximilian headed back towards the capital.[16] He intended to appeal to the nation in order to hold a national assembly which would then decide what form of government the Mexican nation was to take. Such a measure however would require a ceasefire from Juarez who had no intention of conceding to someone whom he viewed as a usurper.

As the national assembly project fell through Maximilian decided to focus on military operations and in February as the last of the French troops were leaving, the Emperor headed for the city of Queretaro to join the bulk of his loyal Mexican troops, numbering about 10,000 men. The liberal generals Escobedo and Corona converged on Queretaro with 40,000 men and yet the city held out until being betrayed by an imperial officer who opened the gates to the liberals on May 15.[17]

Maximilian was captured and placed on trial with his leading generals Mejía and Miramon. All three were sentenced to death and executed on June 19.

Mexican Railway, Bridge by José María Velasco Gómez 1877.

One of the main challenges encountered by the Emperor was the lack of sufficient infrastructure to link the different parts of the realm. The main goal was connecting the port of Veracruz and the capital in Mexico City. In 1857, Don Antonio Escandón secured the right to build a line from the port of Veracruz to Mexico City and on to the Pacific Ocean. Revolution and political instability stifled progress on the financing or construction of the line until 1864, when, under the regime of Emperor Maximilian, the Imperial Mexican Railway Company began construction of the line. Political upheaval continued to stifle progress, and the initial segment from Veracruz to Mexico City was inaugurated nine years later on January 1, 1873 by President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.

Mexican Railway, Bridge by José María Velasco Gómez 1877.

In 1857 the original proprietors of the government concession, the Masso Brothers, inaugurated on the 4th of July the train service from Tlatelolco, in México City, to the nearby town of Guadalupe Hidalgo.[24] Eventually they ran out of funds and decided to sell it to Manuel Escandón and Antonio Escandón.[25] The Escandón Brothers continued working and the project, and Antonio Escandón visited the United States and England in the last months of the year. In the first country, he hired Andrew Talcott, and in the latter, he sold company stock. Exploration of a route from Orizaba to Maltrata was performed by engineers Andrew H. Talcott and Pascual Almazán.

Mexican Railway, Bridge by José María Velasco Gómez 1877.

José María Velasco - The Metlac Ravine.

During the French intervention, part of the railways were destroyed. The only option available was the establishment of a pact between the French Army, and the two companies of the Escandón Brothers. The French Army was to provide a subsidy to the companies of 120 000 francs a month for the works, and the companies were to establish service from Veracruz to Soledad para by May, actually concluding on August 15, 1862, concluding 41 kilometres of tracks. Next they reached the Camarón station, with a length of 62 kilometres. By October 16, 1864 they reached Paso del Macho with a length of 76 kilometres.[26]

On September 19, 1864, the Imperial Mexican Railway Company (Compañía Limitada del Ferrocarril Imperial Mexicano) was Incorporated in London to complete the earlier projects and continued construction on this line. Escandón ceded his privileges to the new company. Smith, Knight and Co. was later contracted in 1864 by the Imperial Mexican Railway to continue work on the line from Mexico City to Veracruz.[27] William Elliot was employed as Chief Assistant for three years on the construction of about 70 miles of the heaviest portion of the Mexican Railway, after which he returned to England. He had several years of experience building railways in England, India, and Brazil. In this last country, he held the position of Engineer-in-Chief of the Province of São Paulo.[28]

Maximiliano I hired engineer M Lyons for the construction of the line from La Soledad to Monte del Chiquihuite, later on joining the line from Veracruz to Paso del Macho.[29] Works were begun in Maltrata, at the same time that the works from Veracruz and Mexico City kept moving forward. By the end of the Empire in June 1867, 76 kilometers from Veracruz to Paso del Macho were functional (part of the concession to Lyons) and the line from Mexico City reached Apizaco with 139 km.[30]

Maximillian planned the monument to Christopher Columbus for the grand boulevard, now called Paseo de la Reforma. It was built during the regime of Porfirio Díaz.

Before 1864, there was no banking in Mexico. Credits were obtained from religious orders and merchant guilds. During the French Intervention, the branch of a British bank was opened. The London Bank of Mexico and South America Ltd began operations with a capital of two and a half million pesos. It belonged to the Baring Brothers Group, and had its head office in the corner of the Capuchinas and Lerdo Streets in Downtown Mexico City.[31]

At the beginning of the American Civil War, the city of Matamoros was simply a sleepy little border town across the Rio Grande from Brownsville.[32] It had, for several years, been considered a port, but it had relatively few ships arriving. Previous to the war, accounts mention that not over six ships entered the port each year.[33] Nevertheless, in about four years, Matamoros, due to its proximity to Texas, was to assume state as a port, and multiply its inhabitants in number. Following is a quote from a Union General in 1885 describing the importance of the port in Matamoros:

Matamoros is to the rebellion west of the Mississippi what New York is to the United States—its great commercial and financial center, feeding and clothing the rebellion, arming and equipping, furnishing it materials of war and a specie basis of circulation that has almost displaced Confederate paper...The entire Confederate Government is greatly sustained by resources from this port.[34]

Emperor Don Maximiliano I of Mexico (1832-1867).

The cotton trade brought together in Bagdad, Tamaulipas and Matamoros over 20,000 speculators from the Union and the Confederacy, England, France, and Germany.[35] Bagdad had grown from a small, seashore town to a "full-pledge town."[36] The English-speaking population in the area by 1864 was so great that Matamoros even had a newspaper printed in English—it was called the Matamoros Morning Call.[37] In addition, the port exported cotton to England and France, where millions of people needed it for their daily livelihood,[38] and it was possible to receive fifty cents per pound in gold for cotton, when it cost about three cents in the Confederacy, "and much more money was received for it laid down in New York and European ports."[39] Other sources mention that the port of Matamoros traded with London, Havana, Belize, and New Orleans.[40][41] The Matamoros and New York City trade agreement, however, continued throughout the war and until 1864, and it was considered "heavy and profitable."[42]

By 1865, Matamoros was described as a prosperous town of 30,000 people,[43] and Lew Wallace informed General Ulysses S. Grant that neither Baltimore or New Orleans could compare itself to the growing commercial activity of Matamoros.[33] Nevertheless, after the collapse of the Confederacy, "gloom, despondency, and despair" became evident in Matamoros—markets shut down, business almost ceased to exist, and ships were rarely seen.[44] "For Sale" signs began to sprout up everywhere, and Matamoros returned to its role of a sleepy little border town across the Rio Grande.[45]

The conclusion of the American Civil War brought a severe crisis to the now abandoned Port of Bagdad, a crisis that until this day the port has never recovered from.[46] In addition, a tremendous hurricane in 1889 destroyed the desolated port. This same hurricane was one of the many hurricanes during the period of devastating hurricanes of 1870 to 1889, which reduced the population of Matamoros to nearly half its size, mounting with it another upsetting economic downturn.[47][48]