Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/54

38 saddle, sword in hand. It was necessary to speak their eyes before he attempted to appeal to their hearts. The empire withered away for want of concentration, because he wanted to undertake everything at once. One may civilise a hundred square leagues, whither the arm of industry and the comforts of security may be easily summoned; but one cannot civilise deserts exposed to every wind that blows. Thus the French army spent itself gloriously in this immensity of space, without profiting the crown, the prosperity of which it longed to see, if it were only from feelings of patriotism, leading them to hope for some return for the grievous sacrifices of men and money which had been swallowed up in this Mexican gulf. For Juarez, it is to be expected, will sink with Mexico into the abyss which the intervention has lastingly dug out between the two parties. Perhaps, if it had been left to itself, and to its own instincts of self-preservation, Mexico, being still in its infancy, might have been able to purify and regenerate itself in the school of misfortune. France itself was not made in a day. How many centuries have been required, since Charlemagne, for shaking off barbarism and fanaticism, and for finally organising a nation, and how many commotions has it cost? We are all too forgetful of history.

Public opinion was painfully excited by the discord which broke out during the last year between the imperial authority of Mexico and the French commander. There is but little reason to wonder at it, if it is true that the instructions emanating from Paris, and going a year back, directed that an almost compulsory abdication was to be obtained from Maximilian. But we cannot allow ourselves to put faith in such a report, which, if true, would be so painful. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that our government failed