Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/326

 not credible. There is no news in this island. I have nothing more to add to-day, and I repeat that I am your devoted friend

The Juarist agent was playing his part. But how are we to understand the attitude of the authorities at Havannah, a Spanish colony, with respect to this Juarist subscription which was intended to arm the republican troops? What a sudden contrast! From this very port, only a few months before, the Spanish squadron had set sail for Vera Cruz, to raise the flag of her Catholic Majesty by the side of the banner of France. Would not the baffled ambition of General Prim (who had perhaps dreamt of a Mexican crown for his own head) explain this violation of neutrality to which the captain-general of the colony must have been privy? Yet we were their allies but a short time before!

Looking at the following document, which derives its importance from the name of the signer, no doubt can be entertained as to the active part taken by the cabinet of the Tuileries in the creation of the Mexican throne. This transoceanic enterprise was intended to act on European politics, as we may notice that this letter, addressed to an English member of Parliament, alludes to the Venetian question, which was being discussed both at Paris and at Vienna.

To an English Member of Parliament. Paris, December 30, 1863. My dear Sir,—. . . . Although it may be said that the archduke has neither altered nor rescinded any of his intentions, this is very far from being the case. You may consider it as certain that he will leave next March, the date when the result of the general (but not universal) vote of the nation will become known in Europe; this is the only condition which he now imposes, and his departure is considered by us as an assured fact.

It must be remarked (and this tends to set our minds at rest), that the Mexican question is a matter altogether apart from the general political movements in Europe. It is an affair exclusively confined to the Emperor Napoleon and the archduke, with the approbation of the emperor, his brother, as head of the family, but