Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/187

 if possible, those adherents to the empire and unfortunate officials who have sacrificed themselves in our cause.

This letter manifests considerable irritation, which was hardly uncalled for, on the part of the Prince, who was still feeling the blow inflicted by the imperial note of May 31, and saw that all his hopes were betrayed. If the commander-in-chief had been received at the palace, when he presented himself there before his departure for his northern tour of inspection, these questions might have received a more conciliatory solution. As this painful history goes on, we shall see that the sovereign's correspondence with the marshal, as far as regards all personal relations with him, never ceases to manifest feelings of cordial good-will. But as soon as the great military interests of the Mexican crown, now put in jeopardy by the anticipated withdrawal of our troops, again come into question, we shall find that Maximilian could only look upon the marshal as the representative of a government against which he had the most bitter cause of complaint; and consequently the relations on both sides will be as stiff as the situation itself was awkward, since the headquarters authorities, having already received several rebukes from Paris, could not do otherwise than conform to their instructions.

The commander-in-chief replied from his camp:—

Peotillos, August 12, 1866. Sire,—I have this instant received your majesty's letter of August 4.

In associating together the fact of the capture of Tampico by the rebels and that of the evacuation of Monterey effected by my orders, your majesty seems to wish to throw upon me the responsibility of both. By my two letters written from San Luis Potosi—No. 7, dated July 11, and No. 46, dated July 20—I