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208 millions had been expended and lives sacrificed without insuring even the first claim. The whole nation took alarm at the gloomy prospects of an expedition which from the beginning had found many opponents, and had gradually encroached upon the patience of the majority.

At the opening of the chambers in January 1866, Napoleon accordingly announced that he had taken steps to arrange for a recall of the troops. It was by no means a pleasant course, this acknowledgment of failure in an undertaking so long vaunted as the most glorious of his reign, and into which he had deluded so many of his subjects. But the step was opportune in saving France from yet greater disasters and humiliation; for politics in the United States was assuming an aspect which required the government to pursue a more determined foreign policy than ever. In reply to a note asking for at least a strict neutrality in Mexican affairs, Seward, on February 12th, insisted that the withdrawal of the French army should be effected without any conditions; for the states would not prove untrue to the political principles they had so far practised, or depart from the line of conduct traced by Washington. Napoleon answered this imperious demand in the most amiable manner; and grasping at the vague promise of an adherence to the principles of the first president as 'sufficient guarantee,' he declared that the return of the troops would no longer be deferred. They would be withdrawn in three detachments, "the first to depart about November 1866, the second in March 1867, and the third in the following November." Encouraged