Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/31

 2em

Henceforth, then, the expedition has for its aim the triumph of the Latin race on American soil, in order to oppose the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxon. In this imperial document, the real idea of the emperor is for the first time revealed. It stands in formal contradiction to the instructions given by the French government to its plenipotentiary, and also to the language of its ministers—MM. Billault and Rouher—which, up to that time, asserted from the tribune that the creation of an empire for Maximilian had never been a matter in question, and that the defence of our national interests had been the sole cause of the hostilities against Juarez.

In fact, the redress of the wrongs of our countrymen had been nothing but a mask which it was at last time to take off. The archduke was about to appear upon the scene. The admiral had been disavowed, because, acting as he did in good faith, he very nearly ruined a hidden project of which he had been kept in ignorance. The convention was repudiated by France because the latter would not treat, being in fact unable to do so, bound as it was to Maximilian. Our financial claims were for the time no longer in question. The downfall of Juarez was the only business in hand, and in order to upset the president's chair, it was necessary that the French army should enter Mexico arms in hand.

Thus, from the outset, the intervention of France in Mexico was the result of an ambiguous policy, which proved a constant incubus on the enterprise; and when Juarez consented to engage in this war à outrance,