Page:The Fall of Maximilan's Empire.djvu/15

Rh words addressed to Mr. Dayton, as he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris one day in April, 1864. The question referred to the passage, by the House of Representatives, of a resolution condemning the invasion of Mexico and the establishment of Maximilian upon the throne.

Vain protests. They indicated a current, but one powerless just then to stem the counter torrent of aggression. As had been pointed out by Mr. Sumner, in combating Mr. McDougal's fiery resolution in the Senate, we were not in a position to invite war with a foreign power; and a keen appreciation of that fact was in itself ample explanation for the invasion of the New World by the Old.

The doomed Prince, accompanied by his faithful, loving consort, left the fair palace of Miramar, and landed in Mexico greeted by ovations as brilliant as those that had characterized their departure from Austria. The clerical party and the authorities of the Intervention had reached the summit of their desires, and festivities and decorations were lavished with a free hand. Even a large part of the Indian population hailed their new emperor with manifestations of joy, for the legend of Quetzalcoatl still lived in their traditions, and they saw in him the fair white man who was to come from over the eastern sea to raise them from their oppressed condition.