Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/117

Rh was supposed to be connected with Mexico in this way: the republican government was to be destroyed, and replaced by an Austrian archduke, with the hope of negotiating afterward with his brother the cession of Loumbardo-Venetia.

We must now ascertain when, how, and by whom the propositions were made in Vienna. The Gazette, a semi-official organ of the Austrian government, said, in August 1863, that in the autumn of 1861 both the chief and representative of the Mexican nonarchists, then in Paris, confidentially asked if, in the event of an initiative by France, with England's sanction, an Austrian archduke were invited to occupy the throne of Mexico, specially naming Ferdinand Maximilian, there would be good reason to apprehend a repulse. It was then asserted that the archduke would not refuse the crown if his brother, the emperor, approved of the arrangement. The answer was, that no such proposals could be considered unless conditioned upon guarantees of success to secure the dignity of the archduke and of the imperial house. The Austrian court resolved to maintain a passive attitude, without approaching France or England on the subject, and quietly awaited the formal tender on the basis of the conditions it had demanded.