Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/153

 could not countenance any such control over the acts of his sovereign, who alone had the right of choosing officers to serve in Mexico. That same evening, in the saloons of the palace, in the presence of the corps diplomatique, and after the departure of the commander-in-chief, Maximilian thought it his duty to denounce this act in rather strong terms. The procedure of the marshal, when acquainted with this painful incident, was determined on by him; but the Emperor of Mexico, who had a noble heart, did not delay in being the first to efface every trace of this disagreement. Neither this sovereign nor the empress ever made the commander-in-chief acquainted, either directly or indirectly, with the grievances which they revealed to the court of the Tuileries; and, but for the indiscretion of the Empress Charlotte during her stay at the Grand Hotel in Paris, the marshal might have remained much longer in complete ignorance of them.

But the marshal was gravely wrong, in a way, too, which increased every day in the eyes of Maximilian and his august spouse. This offence was his desire, above all things, of remaining true to his own country. The instructions of the French cabinet, dated January 6, 1866, and incessantly repeated since that time, prohibited the head-quarters from exercising any influence, except with great reserve. 'Notwithstanding the complaints of Maximilian,' they wrote, 'we will not grant another soldier.' At the end of the same month, they wrote to the marshal from Paris:—'You have acted wisely in concentrating your troops between San Luis, Aguas Calientes, and Matehuala. Let our share in military operations gradually die out.' At the latter end of the month of May 1866, the French government 'was even then hoping for some definite resolutions on the part of Maximilian,' weighed down as he was by