THE MEXICAN EXPEDITION.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1789, 8 November 1862, Page 5

THE MEXICAN EXPEDITION.

The Paris correspondent of the Times writing on the 9th, says:— lt is still believed that the expeditionary force to Mexico will be larger than people have supposed. Some of the choicest men and officers of the Artillery of the Guard at Versailles are under orders for thai country ; and, in addition to the regular troops, volunteers are said to be embodied in Martinique and Guadaloupe for the same destination. An opinion prevails among the officers jjoing from here that the Mexicans are not only people they may have some trouble with in that part of the world The Vigie, of Cherbourg slates that a ministerial despatch has been received there giving instructions as to the number of officers, soldiers, and horses to be embarked on board the ships of war assembled at Cherbourg, or to •arrive there. Altogether, 232 officers, 7979 non commissioned officers and soldiers, 1296 horses, and 175 carriages. All the ships are aireadvat Cherbourg, except the Jura, Tourville, and Ulm, which are expected from Brest, Lorient, for Rouchfort. The troops to he em ha iked at Toulon and Mexico, comprise Generals Bezaine, de Castagny, and Nigre, 286 officers, 8787 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, 1248 horses, and 72 carriages. Besides the for Mexico, embarked at Toulon and Cheriiouvg 1 , others are to be embarked at Algiers and Oran. According to the Patrie, the last intelligence received from Mexico, by the Florida, is favorable. The sanitary condition of Vera Cruz had improved ; and that of Martinique j and Havana is described as excellent. The Paris correspondent of the Daily News says: Letters from Mexico to July 17 (by way of Havana), confirm the repulse of Ortega in a new attack upon Orizaba, and show that Lorencez's communications with Vera Cruz were open. Although the sanitary stUe of the I army at Orizaba is reported to be excellent, the yellow fever was still raging at Vera Cruz. The auxiliary Mexican curps under Generals Marquez, Taboda, and Galvez, which originally amounted to 6000 men, was reduced by deser tion to 2000. So much for the native supp ut of the conservative party, upon which Almonte induced the French Emperor to calculate General Lorencez lately wrote to M. Doazan, the French consul at Vera Cruz, for a. heavy sum of money ,to distribute among the remaining troops of Maiquez," for," said he, in a vein of grim humour, "if we do not succour our allies we shall uot haveoneleft in a week." The Geneial applied to the Consul rather than to the Minister, M de Saligny, because his rupture with the latter is complete. A rumour current at Vera Cruz, that M. de Siligny was recalled gave great pleasure to all foreigners — especially I to Frenchmen. There is no additional intelligence from the French army ; but the Patrie guarantees the truth of the report that Zaragoza had been defeated in an attack on t'ne position of Borneo, taken and fortified by the French, alter the hurried retreat of ibe Mexican forces. It adds tliat though no precise details of tiiis second I engagement have been received, the loss of the j Mexicans amounted to 4000 men, and that the moral effect of the defeat has been very {rreat. Heavy rains and a north wind are snid to t have cooled the atmosphere of the term talienle, ! and, as a consequence, the .lumber of cases of yellow fever iv Vera Cruz have diminished. The Paris cot respondent of the Times writing on the 14ih, says . — The Govern. i.cut papers gives the following as the latest, if m,i tbe truest, accouuts iroin Mexico :—" After tbe

! unsuccessful attack on Borrego, the part ofthe* division of Ortega placed in reserve found itself , separated from the rest of the Mexican army, at tbe same time that the fraction which had the height was so dispersed thaton the occupied day after the combat, at the rmtmeut when the official report was being dvawji up, General Zaragoza could only obtain from a few isolated officers some vague information both of the operations of the night and of the fate of that portion of his troops. That division, in the most complete disorder, bad reached tbe heights known by tbe name of tbe Peak of Orizaba, while the main body retired by the direct road of the Combres and Ingenio. Ortega, who owes his rank and bis reputation to some chance successes in guerilla warfare, seeing his renown clouded by the failure of the 14th of June, I wished to recover it by a decisive blow, in at- , . tacking the detachmentwhich occupied Borrego, but was completely beaten. Regular cotnmunic ttions continue between Vera Cruz and Ori- ' • zaha. A detachment of 1400 men, which arrived at the former place on the Ist July, left I on the 4th with a convoy, which reached the head-quarters without being molested. In spite , of the high price of provisions in the country, so ,* long devastated by civil war, snpplies are se- , cured by means of resources which merchant \ vessels bring lo Vera Cruz from the different 1 West India Islands, also by the provisions * landed from the fleet." I Communications between Orizaba and Vera -1 Cruz can hardly be said to be perfectly safe and ' regular when 1400 men are required to escort a 1 convoy from Vera Cruz tv Orizaba. 1400 men * - formed ahout one-third of ihe French force in ■ position, and the object the Mexicans seemed - to have at heart, was to weaken it by these large . detachments sent on escort duty. • The Ist battery of the mounted regiment of c Artillery of the Imperial Guard now quartered •- al tbe Elcole Militaire (the others being at t Versailles), is to form part of the expedition to t Vera Cruz. Oiders bave been issued by the s War Depai tment for the battery to be com- 1 pleted for immediate service in the field ; tbat % is, that it shall consist of five officeis, 235 pri- } "•ates, and 242 horses. Tbo Director of the *" Artillery bas been instructed to furnish it with , four rifled cannon of the new model. The y officer commanding the battery is in daily j expectation of orders to match to the place of embarkation. The Patrie slates tbat no negotiations rela- ( tive to Mexican affairs will be resumed between a the Governments of Paris and Mitlrid till the f city of Mexico is in possession of the French * troops ; but after the capture of that city, which B the Cabinet of Spain regards as a point involving the honor of France, it is not impossible •= that the Spanish Government may propose to place the Mexicai question on the basis ofthe Convention of Lon. ion, which at Madrid is not considered as annulled, but only suspended.