Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/125

Rh fresh successes won by our arms, it was also known through private correspondence that the Juarists, countenanced by the privity of the United States, and by the approach of threatening complications in Europe, were not discouraged by the reverses inflicted upon them by our soldiers, and were reconquering without difficulty those portions of the territory which were entrusted for defence to the imperial forces alone.

On the other hand, our government, who were now uneasy as to the eventualities of the German conflict, felt unwilling to be deprived of the help of 30,000 seasoned men, now engaged on the other side of the ocean; a force which it had the intention (we are justified in believing) to maintain in Mexico for an indeterminate period. Besides, it was annoyed in domestic matters by the utterances from the tribune and the notices of the press, which incessantly demanded that an end should be put to this fruitless enterprise. Then it was that the United States, through the medium of Mr. Seward, spoke out dictatorially to the cabinet of the Tuileries. In 1864, this minister had confined himself to asserting to M. Drouyn de Lhuys 'that the unanimous feeling of the American people was opposed to the recognition of a monarchy in Mexico.' Now, become bolder, he challenges directly the French intervention itself, and gives France to understand that the prolongation of an armed occupation might become pregnant with danger.

On December 6, 1865, a note emanating from the state department at Washington had been sent to the Marquis de Montholon, the French minister; it explained, à propos of Mexico, the political views of the United States with regard to the American continent. This note, when communicated to the palace of the Tuileries, and there considered, caused considerable