Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/224

208 to pass unattended through the streets in which he knew the inhabitants were waiting for him.

One of Maximilian's most decided tendencies, which distinctly manifested itself during his whole reign, was his desire to show himself to his people as seldom as possible when he was surrounded by the French, for whom he in general felt a deep antipathy. M. Dubois, a talented critic, who published in the Temps a conscientious review of the 'Souvenirs de Voyages' a work written by the archduke in his early youth, certifies to the constant expression of feelings unfavourable to France. He, indeed, concludes by avowing that his study of the prince's character has tended to lessen in his eyes this descendant of Charles the Fifth. 'It must be admitted,' adds this writer, 'that when Maximilian accepted the Mexican crown, others drew the sword for him; and he does not seem to have been very fond of his allies. His writings show, in fact, that he was full of prejudice against France and the French. The Emperor Napoleon is almost the sole exception to this dislike, which is so forcibly contrasted with the prince's infatuation for the Spaniards. In 1852, some months after "December 2," before the proclamation of the empire, the future emperor of Mexico recognised in the future emperor of the French "the powerful mind of the statesman who rules his age." There is no doubt that this impression existed; and that, at the decisive moment, it justified the prince's confidence in himself and his star, to which he was always quite disposed. But we must again repeat that, in general, the prince refuses us his sympathies; we are neither sufficiently catholic, nor sufficiently romantic for him. Perhaps, too, the prejudices which he manifests proceed from that deep and secret resentment against France, over which