Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/94

 Mexico, June 26, 1865. My dear Marshal Bazaine,—Desiring to give a proof of my personal friendship, as well as of my gratitude for the services you have rendered to our country, we take advantage of the occasion of your marriage, and confer on the Maréchale Bazaine the palace of Buena-Vista, including the gardens and furniture; with the condition that, when you return to Europe, or if from any other cause you do not wish to retain the said palace, the nation shall again resume the property; and in this case the government binds itself to pay to the Maréchale Bazaine as dowry the sum of a hundred thousand piastres.—Your most affectionate 2em

It is well known that some weeks after his solemn entry into Mexico, Maximilian addressed to his minister, M. Velasquez de Leon, a remarkable financial and administrative programme, embracing the various branches of the two services. This manifesto contains the germs of the sovereign's intentions, who certainly came to Mexico with a high-minded sense of his regenerative mission. The taxes, the custom-house, the loans, the railroads and telegraphic lines, the public works, the postal service, the unity of weights and measures, the control of the public funds, were all discussed with great intelligence, and the formation of the necessary commissions was directed. With regard to colonisation, the royal will was expressed as follows:—'After having adopted a base for the ordinary taxes, the commission will take in hand the sales of waste lands. The extent and the value of these lands cannot be determined for want of correct information. In the present .