Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/122

 114 ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN January stricken swamps and parched uplands of his future empire. But in Greece there was a vacant throne. To seat Maximilian on it required a minimum of effort. Russell said positively that the Greeks would take him from England and France. In 1862 England had withdrawn from the Mexican expedition just because she suspected Napoleon of wishing to crown Maximilian in that country ; England in 1863 was inviting Napoleon's co-operation in crowning Maximilian king of Greece. If then Napoleon's object was to lay that spectre of Venice which Nigra said ' was roaming along the corridors of the Tuileries ',* it seems reasonable to suppose that his support to the British plan for presenting Maximilian with a crown would be of the most willing order. But beyond signifying to Earl Cowley that he ' was quite favorable ' to the archduke, Napoleon does not appear to have taken any steps to influence Austria in favour of the project. Indeed, what evidence there is points the other way. Rechberg, as we have seen, ' hardly trusted the honest co-operation of France ' ; he did not believe Napoleon to be sincere. Moreover, in his dispatch 2 no. 99 of 21 February, Lord Bloomfield wrote : With reference to that passage in my despatch No. 89 of the i8th inst. in which I mention Count Rechberg's observations on the support of the proposed candidature of the Archduke Maximilian for the Greek Crown which might be expected from France, I have the honour to report that Prince Metternich 3 reports to his Government that the Emperor had spoken to him on this subject, saying that he should approve of the selection but was sure the offer would be declined at Vienna. This praise is faint indeed. D. DAWSON. 1 Ollivier, v. 259. 2 Foreign Office List, 7 : 651. 3 Austrian ambassador at Paris.