The Boy Soldier; Or, Garibaldi's Young Captain — page 283: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

—— a THE BOY SOLDIER; OR, GARIBALDI’'S YOUNG CAPTAIN. 277 which, after a warm contest, he succeeded in dis- lodging them, ‘““He then attempted to carry the suburb by a coup-de-main, “ In this he failed. ‘“‘ Repulsed in all his efforts, ‘after a long and fruitless contention, he at length, withdrew his troops, pursued by the garrison, with the loss of nearly one thousand men. ‘The French now regularly invested the place, and the besieged on their part endeavoured tocom- plete the work of defence, “A few days afterwards, Marshal Bazaine, who had now fixed his head quarters at a village two miles from Puebla, addressed a letter to Mendez, assuring him that Mexico city had capitulated, and that any further resistance on the part of the Pueblans could only produce the total and inevita- ble destruction of the town, “ He also spoke of his earnest wish to spare the effusion of blood, and to preserveso fine a city. ‘The Emperor, he said, had given him power to put a stop to all further evil; and his heart as well as his duty, made him urge the city to accept the peace which was proposed. ina ‘‘ Juarez replied, ‘that if the ‘capital had indeed capitulated, it must haye been. betrayed, The second of May,’ said he, ‘is a day which has no parallel in history, ‘for either that city defends itself, or it has been sold. . But what if it hasbeen sold ! The capital is but.a single town. What ayails it to talk of danger to men who know how to die? We, in Peubla, are not to be intimidated by horrors of a slege—that has been tried and failed. And for the effusion of blood which the French. marshal is sO desirous of sparing, it is as honorable for the Mexicans to shed blood in such a cause,as it: is ignominious for the French to be instruments in shedding it,’ “ President Juarez also addressed -a proclamation to the people of the capital. ‘“«The dogs by whom they were beset,’ he said, ‘ scarcely gave them time to cleanthe blood from their swords. But they still found their graves at Peubla, The defenders of that city may be destroyed, but compelled to surrender they could not be. We know,’ he added, ‘ that we were born for posterity not for ourselves.’ ‘‘ And he promised as soon as he was at liberty, to hasten to the deliverance of the capital. “ Onthe last day of the month a sally was made, which brought on a sharp action. “The French suffered considerable loss, and Juarez ordered every man who had signalized him- self in this affair to wear a red ribbon of distinction on his bresst. “The ladies and nuns admirably seconded Mendez, the general, and were animated by every feeling of honour, enthusiasm and duty. ‘Tf the most heroic and devoted courage could have ensured success, the confidence which Juarez had expressed would not have been frustrated ; that is to say, had there been only the enemy to contend with—but an infectious disease broke out in the city, and pestilence accomplished for the besiegers what they might else, with all their mighty means of destruction, have been unable to effect. At the beginning of the investment of Puebla, the French appeared to think that a few hours of sharp cannonading would have been sufficient to frighten the brave Mexicans out of the city; but they were much mistaken if they thought so seriously. On the 12th, the terrible bombardment began in earnest. , ‘‘The main fire was directed towards the head- - + ee ee ee ee quarters of Juarez and Mendez, adjoining which was the cathedral ; and this precious monument of antiquity was consumed, with everything it con- tained. The bombardment was so violent that the clergy suspended the administration of the sacra- ments, “The magnificent convent of St. Joseph and the bridge of Don Pedro were won by the superior numbers of the enemy. “Don Miguel, the brother of General Mendez, and a member of the National Assembly, left, the city in hopes of effecting a diyersion:in its favour. “He embarked at night in’a little boat, and descending the river, established himself at a vil- lage, called Castello; and’ instantly organized ‘the peasantry, and, by his active measures in concert with others, barrassed the communications of the besieging army, so that they began to be distressed for provisions. : * The movenients of bodies of armed peasantry in the surrounding country oceasioned considerable annoyance to the besiegers, | © Yap? ‘Bands were formed on all hands, which, though- unable to resist the attack of disciplined troops, yet were sufficiently formidable to!) require perpe- tual vigilance, and numerous enough to narrow the supplies of the besieging army*in a very important degree. ‘“The emperor became impatient at the slow progress of the siege, and sent a special messenger to Marshal Bazaine, ordering him \to assume the command himself in all departments, and accelerate the operatious, ‘ This: annoyed the French marshal, who directed General Noel to leave Puebla, and to-act on the river and other parts. ; “This general attacked the force of Don Miguel, -and succeeded in dispersing it with considerable loss. ‘‘ Marshal Bazaine, in order to depress the hopes of the garrison of all external assistance, addressed a letter to Juarez communicating the circumstanee, and detailing all the other disasters which had befallen the Mexican detachments. | “But the mortifying intelligence did not shake the firmness of the undaunted leader. “He rejected all compromise, and continued, with undiminished vigour, to oppose every possible obstacle to the progress of the enemy. ‘A breach was soon made in the mud walls, and, then, as in former sieges, the fight was carried on in the streets and houses, ‘‘The only means of conquering Puebla was to destroy it house by house and street by street, and upon this sytem of destruction the French pro- ceeded. “Three companies of miners and eight companies of sappers were incessantly at work, and the Mexi- cans, being quite unused to this species of warfare, vainly endeayoured to oppose them, by counter- mines. “Meantime the bombardment was unnecessarily kept up. } “Within this last forty-eight hours,’ said Juarez, in a letter addressed to a friend, ‘six thousand shells have been thrown in, two-thirds of the town are in ruins; but we shall perish under the ruins of the remaining third rather than surrender.’ Tn the course of the siege about seventeen thou- sand bombs were thrown at the town. “The stock of powder with which Puebla had been stored was exhausted. ‘They had none at last but what they manufac- tured day by day, and no other cannon balls than oO comlcooo SoCO a