Page:The Story of Mexico.djvu/405



XXXIX.

MAXIMILIAN.

, the envoy from the Tuileries, and all true friends of the Emperor, heard with dismay his resolution to remain. His peaceful abdication had been hoped for by all parties. Bazaine sought to withdraw his troops, since withdraw they must, in as orderly a manner as possible. Overtures had even been made with the liberals, in regard to a successor to Maximilian, that all parties might be harmonized if possible, so that the country should find itself under firm hands, just as if there had been no French intervention, as soon as the Republic was clear of French troops. But the manifesto of the Emperor rendered all such hopes vain. The insistance of the United States and repeated orders from France made it necessary to remove the French troops without delay. French steamers awaited them off the coast of Vera Cruz, and the hour of departure was fixed.

At the end of the month of January, 1867, the French army, in full retreat, rolled out its long course "like a ribbon of steel" over the dusty route between the capital and Vera Cruz. Cannons were broken up, horses were sold for almost nothing, to reappear