Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/232

216 departure; and, in the midst of the events which are sure to spring up, you will be able to play the part which so eminently belongs to you.

Having left Miramar on the 4th of this month with the resolution of embarking at Saint Nazaire, I was induced, after receiving the orders of her majesty the empress, to again put off my departure. It needed this august influence to change a determination which my devotion as well as my duty dictated to me.

I have been bitterly disappointed at learning that my numerous despatches of June and July did not reach your majesty in good time. They were placed under cover to our devoted friend Bombelle, and accompanied by long letters addressed to him, and intended to be communicated to your majesty; but I had not anticipated your departure from Mexico. They have now lost all the interest which they derived from the unforeseen events which were then so rapidly occurring. I especially regret this annoying incident, if it can have for a moment awakened doubts in your majesty's mind as to my unfailing desire to faithfully perform my duty.

When I was travelling through Austria, I was enabled to ascertain the general discontent which is prevailing there. Nothing is yet done. The emperor is disheartened; the people are becoming impatient, and publicly demand his abdication. A sympathy for your majesty is visibly spreading over all the territory of the empire. In Venetia, there is a party ready to welcome their former governor; but when a government arranges elections under the régime of universal suffrage it is easy to foresee the result.

According to your majesty's last orders, I forward by this courier a telegram in cipher to Roccas, to advise your majesty of the arrival of General Castelnau and of the disavowal of the appointments of MM. Osmont and Friant.

Can it be believed that a royal councillor would have ventured to use language like this, if he had not been authorised by the secret wishes and confidence of his sovereign? Maximilian, then, was still dreaming of fresh adventures, and his ambitious glance was