The Freebooters: A Story of the Texan War Page 5

  CHAPTER V.

  GENERAL RUBIO.

  As the opportunity offers itself, let us say a few words about themilitary organization of the United States of Mexico, an organization assingular as all the rest of the machinery by means of which the strangegovernment of this eccentric Republic does its work.

  A military uniform generally pleases the masses; a soldier's life hassomething in it so independent of ordinary life, that all nations moreor less allow themselves to be carried away and seduced by the glitterof embroidery and epaulettes, the rolling of drums, and the shrill notesof the bugles. Young nations, especially, like to play at soldiering, tomake standards flutter, horses curvet, and mighty sabres flash.

  The struggle of Mexico with Spain lasted ten years, constant, feverish,and obstinate: it was fertile in terrible events and striking incidents.The Mexicans, held by their oppressors in the most complete subjection,were as simple at the beginning of the revolution as at the period ofthe conquest: the majority did not know how to load a gun, and none ofthem had ever had firearms in their hands. Still, excited by the ardentdesire for liberty which boiled in their hearts, their progress inmilitary tactics was rapid, and the Spaniards soon learned at their ownexpense that these wretched guerillas, commanded by priests and curates,who at the outset were only armed with lances and arrows, became atlength capable of responding to their platoon fire, dying bravelywithout yielding an inch, and inflicting terrible defeats upon them. Theenthusiasm and hatred of the oppressors had made soldiers of all the mencapable of bearing arms.

  When the independence was proclaimed and the war ended, the part playedby the army was at an end in a country which, without immediateneighbours, had no foreign intervention to apprehend in its internalaffairs and had no invasion to fear. The army, therefore, ought to havelaid down the arms which had so valiantly achieved the liberty of thecountry, and returned peaceably home. Such was its duty, and such wasexpected; but this was a great mistake. The army felt itself strong andfeared; hence it wished to keep the place it had assumed, and, imposeconditions in its turn.

  Having no longer enemies to combat, the Mexican army constituted itself,or its private authority, the arbiter of the destinies of the country ithad been called out to defend: in order to secure promotion among theofficers, the army made revolutions. Then commenced that era ofpronunciamentos, in which Mexico is fatally ensnared, and which isleading it irresistibly to that gulf in which its independence, sodearly acquired, and even its nationality, will be finally wrecked.

  From the sub-lieutenant to the general of division, each officer made astepping stone of a pronunciamento to gain a step--the lieutenant tobecome captain; the captain, colonel; the colonel, general; and thegeneral, president of the Mexican Republic. There are generally three tofour presidents at once; often enough there are five, or even six; asingle president would be regarded as an extraordinary phenomenon--a_rara avis._ We believe that since the proclamation of Independence nosingle president has governed the country for six consecutive months.The result of this state of things is, that the army has fallen intoextreme discredit; and while the profession of arms was honourable atthe period of the struggle against the Spaniards, it is exactly thereverse now. The army is, therefore, necessarily recruited from thelowest classes of society, that is to say, from bandits, leperos, andeven the villains condemned for robbery or assassination.

  All these men, on reaching certain grades, merely change their uniform,while retaining in the new rank where accident places them their vicesand low habits; hence young men of good family are not at all inclinedto accept an epaulette, and despise a profession regarded with so littlehonour by the respectable classes of society. In a corps so badlyorganised, where discipline does not exist, and military education is anullity, any _esprit de corps_ must be unknown, and that is the case.And yet this army has been good, and it counts magnificent exploits onits books; its soldiers and officers displayed great bravery in thecritical phases of the War of Independence.

  But at the present day everything is dead, the feeling of duty isdespised, and honour--that powerful stimulus to the soldier--istrampled under foot. Duelling, that necessary evil to a certain point tomake the soldier respect the cloth he wears, is forbidden under theseverest penalties; and if you horsewhip a Mexican officer, or call hima coward or a scoundrel, the only risk you run is of being treacherouslyassassinated.

  It needs a lengthened apprenticeship to become a soldier and obtain theproper spirit; it is only after long and serious study, when he hassuffered great privations, and looked death several times in the face,that a man acquires that knowledge and coolness which enable him tosacrifice his life without calculation, and fulfil the duties of a truesoldier.

  Most of the Mexican generals would blush at their ignorance if theyfound themselves face to face with the lowest non-commissioned officerof our army; for they know absolutely nothing, and have not the leastidea of their art. With Mexican officers all is reduced to this:changing the scarf. The colonel wears a red one, the brigadier-general'sis green, and that of the general of division white. It is for thepurpose of obtaining the last colour that all the pronunciamentos aremade.

  Badly clothed, badly fed, and badly paid, the Mexican troops are ascourge to the civilian population, whom they shamelessly and pitilesslysqueeze upon the slightest pretext. From what we have written, it iseasy to see how an armed corps thus disorganised must be dangerous toeverybody, for it knows no restraint, and lives beyond the law which itdespises. The present state of Mexico proves the incontestable truth ofour assertions.

  We have not wished to enter into personalities, but treated the questiongenerally, seeking to show what it is really. There are, we allow, someofficers of merit--a few truly honourable men--in this unhappy army; butthey are pearls lost in the mud, and the number is so limited, that ifwe quoted all their names, we should not reach a hundred. This is themore sad, because the further Mexico goes, the nearer it approaches thecatastrophe; and, ere long, the evil that undermines this fair countrywill be incurable, and it will sink for ever--not under the blows ofstrangers, but assassinated by its own children.

  General Don Jos? Maria Rubio was in no way distinguished from the herdof Mexican officers, but he possessed over those who surrounded him theimmense advantage of being a soldier of the war of Independence, and inhim experience amply compensated for his lack of education. His historywas simple, and may be told in a few words.

  Son of an evangelista or public writer at Tampico, he had with greatdifficulty learned a little reading and writing under the auspices ofhis father; this pretence at education, slight as it was, was destinedto be of great utility to him at a later date. The great uprising, ofwhich the celebrated Fray Hidalgo was the promoter, and whichinaugurated the revolution, found young Jos? Maria wandering about theneighbourhood of Tampico, where he gained a livelihood by the mostheterogeneous trades. The young man--a little bit of a muleteer, alittle bit of a fisherman, and a good deal of a smuggler--intoxicatedby the smell of gunpowder, and fascinated by the omnipotent influenceHidalgo exercised over all those who approached him, threw his gun overhis shoulder, mounted the first horse he came across, and gaily followedthe revolutionary band. From that moment his life was only one longsuccession of combats.

  He became in a short time, thanks to his courage, energy, and presenceof mind, one of the guerillas most feared by the Spaniards; always thefirst in attack, the last to retreat. Chief of a cuadrilla composed ofpicked men, to whom the most daring and wild expeditions appeared butchild's play, and favoured by constant good luck, for fortune ever lovesthe rash, Jos? Maria soon became a terror to the Spaniards, and his merename inspired them with indescribable terror. After serving in turnunder all the heroes of the Mexican war of Independence, and fightingbravely by their side, peace found him a brigadier-general.

  General Rubio was not ambitious; he was a brave and honest soldier, wholoved his profession passionately, and who needed to render him happythe roll of the drum, the lustre of arms, and military life in itsfullest extent. When he fought, the idea never occurred to him that thewar would end some day or other; and hence he was quite surprised andperfectly demoralised when peace was made and independence proclaimed.

  The worthy General looked round him. Everybody was preparing to retireto the bosom of his family, and enjoy a repose do dearly purchased. DonJos? Maria might perhaps have desired nothing better than to follow theexample; but his family was the army, and he had, or at least wasacquainted with, no other. During the ten years' fighting which had justelapsed, the General had completely lost out of sight all the relationshe possessed. His father, whose death he learned accidentally, was thesole person whose influence might have brought him to abandon amilitary career, but the paternal hearth was cold. Nothing attracted himto the province, and he therefore remained under the banner, though notthrough ambition. We repeat that the worthy soldier did himself justice,and recognised the fact that he had attained a position far superior toany he might ever have dared to desire; but he could not live alone orabandon old friends with whom he had so long suffered, combated--in aword, shared good and evil fortune.

  The different Chiefs, who immediately began coveting power, andsucceeded each other in the presidential chair, far from fearing thegeneral, whose simple and honest character was known to them, on thecontrary sought his friendship, and lavished on him proofs of the mostfrank and real protection; for they felt convinced that he would neverabuse their confidence in him.

  At the period when the Texans began agitating and claiming theirindependence, the Mexican Government, deceived at the outset by theagents appointed to watch that state, sent insufficient forces tore-establish order, and crush the insurgents: but the movement soonassumed such a distinctly revolutionary character, that the Pre
sidentfound it urgent to make an effective demonstration. Unfortunately it wastoo late; the dissatisfaction had spread: it was no longer a question ofsuppressing a revolt, but stifling a revolution, which is not at all thesame thing.

  The President of the Mexican Republic then learned at his own cost that,in every human question, there is something more powerful than the bruteforce of bayonets: it is the idea whose time has come and hour struck.The troops sent to Texas were beaten and driven back on all sides; inshort, they were compelled to treat with the insurgents, and withdrawignominiously.

  The government could not, and would not, accept such a dishonouringcheck inflicted by badly-armed and undisciplined bands, and theyresolved to make a last and decisive effort. Numerous troops were massedon the Texan frontiers; and to terrify the insurgents, and finish withthem at one blow, a grand military demonstration was made.

  But the war then changed its character: the Texans, nearly all NorthAmericans, skilful hunters, indefatigable marchers, and marksmen ofproverbial reputation, broke up into small bands, and instead ofoffering the Mexican troops a front, which would have enabled them tooutmanoeuvre and crush them, they began a hedge war, full of tricks andambushes, after the manner of the Vendeans, the first result of whichwas to enormously fatigue the soldiers by compelling them to makecontinual marches and counter-marches, and produced among themdiscouragement and demoralization, by compelling to fight against ashifting foe, whom they knew to be everywhere, and yet could neverseize.

  The position became more and more critical. These outlaws, branded withthe epithets of bandits, border ruffians, and freebooters, whom theyaffected to confound with the villains who congregate in thesecountries, and whom they obstinately treated as such by granting them noquarter, and shooting them without trial wherever they were captured:these men, now disciplined, hardened, and strong in the moral support oftheir fellow citizens, who applauded their successes, and put up vowsfor them, had boldly raised the flag of Texan independence, and afterseveral engagements, in which they decimated the troops sent againstthem, compelled the latter to recognize them as the avowed defenders ofan honourable cause.

  Among the numerous generals of the republic, the president at lengthchose the only man capable of repairing the successive disastersundergone by the government. General Don Jos? Maria Rubio was investedwith the supreme command of the troops detached to act against Texas.This choice was most lucky; the general, an honest man and bravesoldier, was incapable of selling himself, however great the priceoffered. Hence there was no reason to fear treachery from him, fromwhich others, less susceptible or more avaricious than he was, had notrecoiled. As an old soldier of the war of Independence, and ex-guerilla,Don Jos? Maria was thoroughly conversant with all the tricks, and wasthe very man to fight with advantage against the foes that awaited him.

  Unfortunately, this selection was made very late. Still, the General,while perfectly comprehending the immense responsibility he assumed,accepted without a murmur the rude task imposed on him. Certain men havethe incontestable privilege of being born for the positions they occupy;their intellect seems to grow with the situation; made for great things,they ever remain on a level with events, whatever the nature of thelatter may be. The General possessed this precious faculty; at the firstglance he judged his enemies with that coolness which renders oldsoldiers so strong, and his plan was formed in a few minutes.

  He immediately changed the tactics employed by his predecessors, andadopted a system diametrically opposite. Instead of fatiguing his troopsby purposeless marches which had no result, he seized on the strongestpositions, scattered his troops through cantonments, where theysupported each other, and in case of need could all he assembled underhis orders within four-and-twenty hours.

  When these precautions were taken, still keeping his forces in hand, heprudently remained on the defensive, and instead of marching forward,watched with indefatigable patience for the opportunity to fall on theenemy suddenly and crush him.

  The Texan Chiefs soon comprehended all the danger of these new andskilful tactics. In fact, they had changed parts; instead of beingattacked, the insurgents were obliged to become the assailants, whichmade them lose all the advantages of their position, by compelling themto concentrate their troops, and make a demonstration of strength,contrary to their usual habits of fighting.

  To the young officers who murmured at the plan adopted by the general,and made sarcastic remarks on his prudence, the latter replied with asmile that there was no hurry, that war was a game of skill in which thecleverest man won; and that he must not, for the sake of little lustre,let himself be led away to compromise the success of an enterprisewhich, with a little patience, must lead to certain success. The resultproved that the general reasoned correctly, and that his plan was good.

  The insurgents, reduced to inactivity by the system the new Chief of theMexican army adopted, tried several times to attack his entrenchments,and draw him out; but the general contented himself with killing as manyof them as he could, and would not move a step forward.

  The conducta de plata intrusted to Captain Melendez had an immenseimportance in the eyes of the needy government at the capital; thedollars must at all hazards reach Mexico in safety; the more so, becausefor some time past the arrival of coin from Texas had become desperatelyirregular, and threatened to leave off altogether ere long.

  General Rubio found himself reluctantly compelled to modify temporarilythe line he had traced; he did not doubt that the insurgents, advised ofthe passage of the conducta, would make the greatest efforts tointercept and seize it, for they also suffered from a great want ofmoney, and the millions sent to Mexico were of the utmost importance tothem. Hence their plans must be foiled, and the conducta saved. For thispurpose the General collected a large body of troops, placed himself attheir head, and advanced by forced marches to the entrance of thedefile, where, from the reports of his spies, he knew that theinsurgents were ambuscaded; then, as we have seen, he sent off a sureman (or whom he supposed to be) to Captain Melendez, to warn him of hisapproach, and put him on his guard.

  We have narrated in the "Border Rifles" what took place, and how trulyworthy the General's express was of the confidence placed in him.

  The Mexican camp stood in the centre of a beautiful plain, facing thedefile through which the conducta must pass, according to the General'sinstructions. It was evening, and the sun had set for about an hour. DonJos? Maria, rendered anxious by the Captain's delay, and beginning tosuspect a mishap, had sent off scouts in different directions to bringhim news, and a prey to an agitation, which each moment that passedaugmented, was walking anxiously about his tent, cursing and swearing ina low voice, frowning and stopping every now and then to listen to thosethousand noises which arise at night without apparent cause, and pass asif borne on the wings of the Djinns.

  General Don Jos? Maria Rubio was still a young man; he was aboutforty-two, though he seemed older, through the fatigues of a militarylife, which had left rude marks on his martial and open countenance; hewas tall and well-built; his muscular limbs, his wide and projectingchest denoted great vigour; and though his close-shaven hair wasbeginning to turn grey, his black eye had a brilliancy full of youth andintelligence.

  Contrary to the habits of Mexican general officers, who, under allcircumstances, make a great display of embroidery, and are gilded andplumed like charlatans, his uniform had a simplicity and severity whichadded to his military appearance, and gave him that aspect of reflectionand majesty which is so befitting the chief of an army.

  A sabre and a pair of holster pistols were carelessly thrown across amap on the table in the centre of the room, over which the Generalfrequently bent in his agitated walk. The gallop of a horse, at firstdistant, but which rapidly drew nearer, was heard. The sentinel outsidethe tent challenged, "Who goes there?"

  The horseman stopped, leapt to the ground, and a moment later thecurtain of the tent was thrust aside, and a man appeared.

  It was Captain Don Juan Melendez.

  "Here you are, at last!" the General exclaimed, as his countenance grewbrighter.

  But on noticing the impression of sorrow spread over the officer'sfeatures, the General, who had walked two steps toward him, stopped, andhis face again assumed an anxious look.

  "Oh, oh!" he said, "What can have happened? Captain, has any mishapoccurred to the conducta?"

  The officer bowed his head.

  "What is the meaning of this, Caballero?" the General continued,angrily; "Have you suddenly grown dumb?"

  The Captain made an effort. "No, General," he answered.

  "The conducta! Where is the conducta?" he went on, violently.

  "Captured!" Don Juan replied, in a hollow voice.

  "Viva Dios!" the General shouted, as he gave him a terrible glance, andstamped his foot: "The conducta captured, and yourself alive to bring methe news?"

  "I could not get myself killed."

  "I really believe, Heaven pardon me!" the General said, ironically,"that you have not even received a scratch."

  "It is true."

  The General walked up and down the tent in the utmost agitation. "Andyour soldiers, Caballero," he went on, a minute later, stopping beforethe officer, "I suppose they fled at the first shot?"

  "My soldiers are dead, General."

  "What do you say?"

  "I say, General, that my soldiers fell to the last man defending thetrust confided to their honour."

  "Hum, hum!" the General remarked, "Are they all dead?"

  "Yes, General, all lie in a bloody grave; I am the only survivor offifty brave and devoted men."

  There was a second silence. The General knew the Captain too well todoubt his courage and honour. He began to suspect a mystery.

  "But I sent you a guide," he a
t length said.

  "Yes, General, and it was that guide who led us into the trap laid bythe insurgents."

  "A thousand demons! If the scoundrel----"

  "He is dead," the Captain interrupted him, "I killed him."

  "Good. But there is something about the affair I cannot understand."

  "General," the young man exclaimed, with some animation, "though theconducta is lost, the fight was glorious for the Mexican name. Ourhonour has not suffered; we were crushed by numbers."

  "Come, Captain, you are one of those men above suspicion, whom not theslightest stain can affect. If necessary, I would give bail for yourloyalty and bravery before the world. Report to me frankly, and withoutany beating round the bush, all that has happened, and I will believeyou; give me the fullest details about this action, in order that I mayknow whether I have to pity or punish you."

  "Listen, then, General. But I swear to you that if after my report theslightest doubt remains in your heart as to my honour and the devotionof my soldiers, I will blow out my brains in your presence."

  "Speak first, Caballero, we will see afterwards what your best courseshould be."

  The Captain bowed, and began an exact report of what had taken place.