The effect of this large movement of troops on the destiny of Imperialism in Mexico has not been fully appreciated by our people. It is, however, well known that while we were struggling for a republican existence against organized rebellion, and when nearly all the heads of the governments in Europe (except Russia) wished, and did believe, that republicanism was not a success, the Emperor of the French undertook the bold expedition to subvert the Republic of Mexico. There was no territorial question to be settled, and history will not excuse attempted annihilation of a nation on the plea of non-payment of a million or two of debts due. There was no good excuse for this attempted violation of rights, and the history of imperialism in Mexico is only the history of the buccaneer Morgan on a more extended scale, who at one time captured and held Panama, on the isthmus, until he could hold it no longer. So that, when this movement of our troops to Texas and the Rio Grande took place, we found the line of that river and all Northern Mexico in the hands of Imperialism, a government which collected no taxes, had no system of government, and supported its partisans, soldiers, and civilians by levying contributions on the poor inhabitants. But the appearance of our troops and the knowledge that friends were on the border went like electricity to the homes and hearts of the Mexican people. The rebels who had escaped from our country received no sympathy, and in less than a year this hardy people, without money, without arms and munitions of war, and without supplies, have recaptured Matamoras, Camargo, Presidio de Rio Grande, Lampazos, Monterey, Saltillo, Monclova, Durango, Chihuahua, and in fact hold nearly all of the country, putting the invaders on the defensive, and confining them to the Valley of Mexico, with a fair prospect of their speedy extermination. I have felt much interest in this event, because I have always believed that the occupation of Mexico was a part of the rebellion; and believing that the contest in our own country was for the vindication of republicanism, I did not think that that vindication would be complete until Maximilian was compelled to leave.

The course taken by nearly every newspaper in the lately rebellious States was sympathy for Maximilian, and the sentiment of a large portion of the population was likewise; and so determined was this on the part of thousands of adventurers that the Cordova emigration scheme was gotten up, and had, I think, for its object the formation of a Maximilian-American party, composed of Confederates entertaining antipathy toward our Government. Many of these, having no means, would have drifted into the army of Maximilian. I had to take strong grounds against this emigration, and finally broke it up by refusing to permit emigrants to embark from the sea-ports within the limits of my command. The effect of the presence of our troops in Texas and on the Rio Grande, as alluded to heretofore, on the destiny of imperialism, was great. It had not a friend among the officers or men from the highest to the lowest grade, and the effect was depressing in the extreme, so much so, that I am incited to believe that had a demand been made for the withdrawal of the Imperial troops, on the ground that the invasion of Mexico was a part of the rebellion, it would have been granted ad the miseries of that country for the last year avoided. While the Imperial troops held the line of the Rio Grande the strictest neutrality was preserved. Since thy were driven away the same honorable neutrality has been preserved toward the Liberal Government.