Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/279

 CHAPTER XX.

HE Mexican government, as may be well imagined, felt but little disposed to exhaust its treasury, poor enough already, to satisfy the requirements of the convention of July 30. The recall of the legion had definitively torn up all the conventions which bound the two parties; and, in our opinion, Maximilian was justified in seeking to free himself from the French claims. The very evening Maximilian arrived at Orizaba, our head-quarters had begged him to give orders to the customs' authorities at Vera Cruz, as a notification made on this subject by M. Dano before the court left Mexico had not met with a reply. The emperor replied by telegraph that he would see to the matter without delay. On November 1, the day on which the convention was to come into force, no measures had yet been taken; the ministers were seeking to gain time, and required that the convention which had already been approved of should now be ratified. M. Dano directed the financial agents at