Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/32

 signalised and terminated as it was by such terrible reprisals, it was because he recognised from the very first that the tri-coloured flag was but a mask for the imperial banner which followed in the track of the foreigner, and that the existence of the republic was menaced in the very first instance. We may well believe that this unavowed aim was the principal cause of the disguised support which was furnished by the United States to the republican cause from the beginning —a support which sufficed to hold in check, and finally to ruin, the French influence in America. Certain documents, which were found in General Comonfort's baggage, abandoned in the foundry at San Lorenzo, have come under our observation. They leave no doubt whatever as to the co-operation of the United States, and that the latter comprehended that France desired to profit by the war which was internally devastating them, so as to effect a counterbalance to the Anglo-Saxon influence. President Lincoln, whose honesty was so praised in France, wrote to Juarez:—'We are not at open war with France, but reckon on money, cannon, and voluntary enlistments, all of which we shall countenance.' He kept his word.

Here, too, one cannot help being painfully impressed by the vacillations of the imperial government, which seemed as if it dared not adopt a decided character in its trans-oceanic policy, and from the commencement to the conclusion of the expedition resorted to little else but half-measures. The idea of placing the Latin race as a bulwark against the encroachments of the Anglo-Saxon, who probably half a century hence will embrace the entire globe by joining hands with the Russians, was certainly an imposing one, and well worthy to tempt a bold heart and a great nation; but only on the condition that the means of its success