Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/172

 siege, under these conditions, would increase the enemies of the empire, and would give credibility to the calumny which is employed by the malcontents to stir up the national spirit, namely, that France came to Mexico with the aim of conquest.

The means which, as I think, ought to be first tried, are as follows:—You must oblige the prefects and the sub-prefects to send to the generals and chief-commandants (whatever may be their nationality) political reports as to the state of the country and its requirements. You must deprive them of the right to dispose of any troops without the assent of the military authority, to whom they must address a requisition in writing. And, finally, you must actively push forward the organisation of a good gendarmerie, and must endeavour to bring about a solidarité between the military and civil powers, instead of setting them in opposition one to the other.

Your majesty will pardon this long statement, which is dictated by the sincere desire that I have to be of service to you in every way, and by the dread I feel of seeing you involved in a course of proceeding which would be more hurtful than useful.—With profound respect, Sire, &c.

If it had not been for this language, so worthy of the French people, the severities incumbent on a state of siege would have desolated the whole of Mexico; and the Americans, now ready to cross for a second time the frontier of the Rio Bravo, would have hurled defiance at the tri-coloured flag, which our army, less patient than our policy, would certainly never have allowed to be humbled.