Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/217

 and Lissa! A telegraphic despatch, forwarded from the United States, was handed to him; it announced that the reason of the Empress Charlotte had received a shock. There are intensities of anguish, there are struggles of despair and rebellions against fate felt by a broken heart, which the pen is unable to describe.

The whole town, in which the empress was adored, was disconsolate. Maximilian gave the order to depart that night, and, on the morning of October 20, announced to the marshal that he was leaving Mexico:—

Alcazar de Chapultepec, October 20, 1866.

My dear Marshal,—I have been deeply touched by the expressions of consolation and sorrow that you have just sent me in your own name and that of your wife. I wish to express to you my deepest gratitude. The terrible blow caused by the late news, which has so grievously wounded my heart, and the bad state of my health caused by the intermittent fever which I have suffered from so long, now of course much increased, have necessitated (under the express order of my physician) a temporary sojourn in a softer climate.

In order to meet the express courier who is coming to me from Miramar, whose intelligence I am expecting with an anxiety easy to be understood, I intend to leave for Orizaba.

To your good judgment I confide, with the greatest confidence, the maintenance of tranquillity in the capital and in the most important places which are at the present time occupied by the troops under your command.

In these painful and difficult circumstances I rely more than ever on the loyalty and friendship that you have always shown me.

I shall travel according to the annexed itinerary, and I shall take with me the three squadrons of hussars of the Austrian volunteers, and all the disposable men of the gendarmerie.

This letter will be handed you by M. Herzfeld, a councillor of state, and my former fellow traveller at sea, whom I place at your disposal to give you every elucidation.

I repeat to you as well as to Madame Bazaine my warm