III. THE SIEGE OF PUEBLA--GENERAL FOREY--GENERAL ORTEGA

The news of the check sustained by the French at Puebla--a check to
which the precarious condition of the army lent all the proportions of a
serious defeat--was made public in France by means of a despatch sent
from New York on June 14. The army was at once raised to twenty-five
thousand men. The command-in-chief of this increased force was given to
General Forey. He entered upon his official duties on October 25,1862.*

* General Forey commanded the Fourth Division at the battle of Alma, in
the Crimean war; at Sebastopol he commanded both the Third and the
Fourth, to which was intrusted the siege work.

The new commander-in-chief, like those whom he was superseding, was
under precise orders from the home government to be guided by M. de
Saligny. Notwithstanding the disastrous consequences of his
misrepresentations, the French minister, strangely enough, still
retained his hold upon the Emperor and his advisers.

General Forey's instructions, given in a note from Napoleon dated July
3, 1862, were to bring about, through General Almonte, the convocation
of an assembly of notables to decide upon the "form of government and
the destinies of Mexico." Should the Mexicans prefer a monarchy, "it was
in the interest of France to support them, and to indicate the Archduke
Maximilian as the candidate of France."*

* "La Verite sur l'Expedition du Mexique, d'apres les Documents Inedits
d'Ernest Louet," etc. Edited by Paul Gaulot. Part I, "Reve d'Empire," p.