envoy there upon lowered his flag and retired Jalapa.

** Bibesco, loc. cit., p. 64.

On February 19 the preliminary treaty of La Soledad was signed by the
allies and by Senor Doblado for the Mexican government, and on February
23 it was ratified by President Juarez. By its terms the allies were
allowed, pending the negotiations having for object the adjustment of
their claims, to take up their quarters beyond the limits of the
unhealthful district, and to occupy the road of Mexico as far as
Tehuacan and Orizaba. On the other hand, "the allies pledged themselves,
should the negotiations not result in a final understanding, to vacate
the territory occupied by them, and to return on the road to Vera Cruz
to a point beyond the Chiquihuite, near Paso Ancho,"* i.e., in the
pestilential coast region.

* Ibid., p. 49.

President Juarez only agreed to the terms, it is stated, upon the formal
declaration on the part of the commissioners that "the allies had no
intention to threaten the independence, the sovereignty, and the
integrity of the territory of the Mexican republic."

The French contingent originally sent by Napoleon III numbered, all
told, only three thousand men. As soon as the Emperor was notified of
the doubtful attitude of General Prim, reinforcements numbering some
forty-five hundred men had been ordered, and on March 6, 1862, General
Count de Lorencez arrived at Vera Cruz to take command of the Corps
Expeditionnaire.*