Page:The Fall of Maximilan's Empire.djvu/24

16 was quickly put to rest on that score, it being simply pointed out to him that in such matters the two services differed, as, in the United States Navy, leave of absence would not be given to officers to carry on such operations against a nation with which their country was on friendly terms.

Capitaine de frégate Léopold Eberhard Ludovic de Pritzbuer, of the French corvette "Phlégéton," was a man of more sedentary habits than is usually found among seamen, and had the great resource of familiarity with many languages to help while away with books the tedious hours of his long stay in uninteresting ports. It was no rare matter, in an unexpected visit, to find him revelling in the beauties of Homer's imperishable works. Being the representative of the European empire that had intervened in the affairs of a Republic in the western continent, and caused the ambitious Maximilian to embark on his fatal enterprise, he was perhaps not apt to feel any excess of friendliness towards the vessel bearing a flag the flaunting of which in the face of his emperor had led so directly to the withdrawal of the French troops. Be that as it may, he showed the proverbial politeness of his gallant race, and Captain Roe had occasion to make special mention of his courtesy, in his report to Commodore Winslow, commanding the Gulf squadron.

The officer in charge of the Spanish corvette