convention of La Soledad, and to retreat with his contingent toward the
coast, thereby recovering his freedom of action and the right to march
upon Mexico without further delay.

It was obvious that the Mexican government was only gaining time in
order to give the climate a chance to do its work. General de Lorencez,
disapproving of the preliminary treaty which circumstances had forced
the admiral to sign, was strongly inclined to break through its
provisions and push on to the capital. He was overruled by the admiral's
high sense of honor.

Measures were immediately taken to execute the articles of the
convention by bringing back the French forces beyond the Chiquihuite,
and on April 7 General Almonte, officially recognized by the French,
endeavored to rally the scattered remnants of the clerical party by
issuing a proclamation signed by ninety-two Mexican notables, in which
he declared himself provisionally the supreme chief of the nation. To
this President Juarez responded by a decree establishing martial law and
declaring all cities occupied by the French in a state of siege. War
with Mexico was declared.*

* "Where was the solemn assurance that there existed no intention to
threaten the independence, the sovereignty, and the integrity of the
territory of the Mexican republic? And yet, even after the repulse of
the French at Puebla, Napoleon, in a letter to General Forey, dated July
3, 1862, still kept up the flimsy farce. "The end to be attained," he
wrote, "is not to force upon the Mexicans a form of government which
would be disagreeable to them, but to aid them in their efforts to
establish, according to their own wish, a government which may have some
chance of stability and "which can insure to France redress for the