Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/214

 from Paris their retrograde movement was about to be hastened, and our head-quarters authorities brought these military arrangements to the knowledge of Maximilian, leaving to Napoleon's envoy the task of dealing with the political side of the mission, with which he alone was charged, and of which he alone knew the full import. What a complicated drama was this, the exciting scenes of which were now being acted at Paris, Rome, Washington, and Mexico! The whole weight of it fell upon two persons,—Maximilian and the Marshal. The Emperor of Mexico began to feel his energies giving way, but ere he gave up the contest he issued this final protest against the actions of our policy.

Mexico, October 18, 1866. My dear Marshal,—I have learnt with the deepest regret from your esteemed letter of yesterday's date, that we are threatened with the immediate abandonment of Matehuala, which is a strategetical point of great importance as regards the rebels.

I have at once given orders that the necessary funds should be provided to pay the troops in full. I am firmly persuaded that one vigorous attack would be sufficient to put to flight the undisciplined forces of the rebels; whilst, if the Franco-Mexican forces retire, not only will the number of the enemy be increased, but the communications between Tamaulipas and San Luis will be cut off, and we shall be deprived of the resources of this territory. It will also be the means of giving to the rebellion a fictitious importance, to which, up to the present time, it has never attained.

You well know, my dear marshal, that the government cannot in so short a time combine a sufficient force, which by itself would be able to face the enemy, and consequently the proposition of relying on our local resources is only an illusion. I hope, my dear marshal, that in accordance with article 4 of the treaty of Miramar, in virtue of which you dispose of the whole forces of the empire, you will have the kindness to take