was taking. Leaving Cordoba with the army, he immediately pushed on to
Orizaba (April 19), where he arrived (April 20) just as General Prim,
with the Spanish contingent (and the newspaper staff which, gossip
related, had traveled in his suite to herald his exploits--truly a
sinecure!), were leaving by the same garita on their way to the coast.
General Zaragoza, with the Liberal army, retreated from the city by one
gate as the French entered by the other, with all the bells of the city
ringing in token of popular rejoicing--under compulsion. General
Zaragoza fell back upon Puebla. Having secured Orizaba as a basis of
operation, General de Lorencez, with some five thousand men, started in
pursuit of the Mexican army (April 27).

In the meantime a courier from France had brought the recall of Admiral
Jurien de la Graviere, whose fall from the favor of his imperial master
was kept no secret. The same courier that brought the admiral the
disapproval of his government brought General de Lorencez his promotion
to the command of the army. Napoleon, deceived by his minister's
statements, now corroborated by General de Lorencez, only later did
tardy justice to the admiral, to whom he strove to make amends by
attaching him to his imperial staff.

Thus the clearing up of a situation already precarious was left to a man
of narrow views and small capacity, who, according to the verdict of his
own officers, had little to recommend him save the soldierly qualities
of bravery and energy. That General de Lorencez, under instructions from
his government and relying upon the statements of its agent at Mexico,
should have arrived imbued with erroneous ideas with regard to the
popularity of the intervention and the relative strength of the Liberal
and clerical parties, seems natural. But enough had taken place since
his arrival in Mexico to open the eyes of one less wilfully blind. Any