his rights at Queretaro. War raged between the two parties, with rapidly
varying success. A letter dated November 19,1860, written by my brother,
a young American engineer who had gone to Mexico to take part in the
construction of the first piece of railroad built between Vera Cruz and
Mexico, gives a concise and picturesque account of the situation:

Things look dark--so dark, in fact, that for the present I do not think
it advisable to risk any more money here. There is a fair prospect of
the decree of Juarez being annulled. If so, our bonds go overboard.
There is a prospect of Juarez signing a treaty. If so, our bonds go up
15 or 20. It is rouge et noire--a throw of the dice. The Liberals have
been beaten at Queretaro, where Miramon took from them twenty-one pieces
of artillery and many prisoners, among them an American officer of
artillery, whom he shot the next day, AS USUAL. Oajaca has fallen into
the hands of the clergy. The Liberals under Carbajal attacked
Tulancingo, and were disgracefully beaten by a lot of ragged Indians.
They are losing ground everywhere; and if the United States does not
take hold of this unhappy country it will certainly go to the dogs.
There is a possibility of compromise between Juarez and Miramon, the
effect of which is this: the constitution of '57 to be revised; the sale
of clergy property to their profit; the revocation of Juarez's decree of
July about the confiscation of clergy property to the profit of the
state; religious liberty, civil marriage, etc.

A gloomy picture, and true enough, save in one respect. The Liberals
might be beaten everywhere, but they were not losing ground; on the
contrary, their cause rested upon too solid a foundation of right and
progress, and the last brilliant exploits of General Miramon were
insufficient to galvanize the reactionary party into a living force.