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FRENCH DOMINATION IN MEXICO.

the attitude of the allied forces appeared to stimulate the government to redoubled audacity; that, for his part, he formally declared he would not treat with that government, and that his well-matured opinion was that it was necessary to march upon Mexico.

For this the commissioners of England and Spain, Sir C. Wyke and General Prim, were in no way prepared. They thought that the conference should take place, and at length, as they could not induce M. de Saligny to alter his determination, the English and Spanish governments relinquished their cooperation, and their troops were withdrawn from Mexico.

The consequence was that the French army, under General Lorencez, was left to prosecute the enterprise alone. On the 16th of April the French commissioners issued a proclamation saying, "We are not here to take part in your discussions, but to settle them. . . . Let men who have been too long divided rally round us. In their hands are the destinies of Mexico. The French flag has been planted on Mexican soil; that flag will not retire: let wise men hail it as a friendly flag; only madmen will dare to fight it."

The Mexican troops, under General Zarazoga, had retired from Orizaba, which was occupied by the French about the middle of April. Puebla had been represented as the town most hostile to Juarez, and yet, after a desperate attempt, the French general failed to take the two forts by which it was protected.

The news of the repulse of the troops caused great dissatisfaction in France, but it was then too late to accept the disaster and retire from any further attempt. The government had been deceived as to the state of public feeling in Mexico, but it was necessary to support their flag energetically on every point where it was engaged.

This was the expressed determination of the committee, who passed the bill granting supplementary credits, to enable General Forey to go out at the head of the reinforcements, which reached Vera Cruz at the end of the year.

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In 1863 the treaty of commerce with England had, it was said, tended still further to develop the resources of France. The exports increased from those of the previons year by the amount of 233,000,000 francs, while during the same period 175,000 tons of shipping had been added to the mercantile marine, of which 136,000 tons were under the French flag. The harvest was abundant, public works were carried on with great enterprise, and considerable prosperity was manifest, notwithstanding the expenses required for carrying on the war.

General Forey had taken Puebla. The garrison defending it suffered severely from hunger, and General Ortega, who commanded the place, proposed to capitulate, but asked to be allowed to leave with the honours of war, and with arms, baggage, and artillery to withdraw to Mexico. This was refused, General Forey demanding that his army should march past the French army, lay down their arms, and remain prisoners of war. These proposals were not accepted, and on the night of the 16th of May General Ortega disbanded his army, destroyed the weapons, spiked his guns, blew up the powder magazines, and sent an envoy to the French general to say that the garrison had completed its defence, and surrendered at discretion. By daylight 12,000 men, mostly without arms or ammunition, surrendered as prisoners, and about 1000 officers of different grades awaited the orders of General Forey at the palace of the government.

On the 10th of June the French army made its triumphal entry into the city of Mexico. The throne was then at the disposal of the conquerors. General Forey issued a proclamation, in which he said: "I invoke the support of all classes; I demand of all parties to lay down their arms, and to employ henceforth all their strength, not in destroying, but in constructing. I proclaim oblivion of the past, and a complete amnesty for all those who will rally in good faith round the government which the nation, by its own free-will, shall impose upon itself." These were excellent words, but there was nobody left who was strong enough to oppose the method of obtain

The French army in Mexico then amounted ing the plebiscite. to not less than 30,000 men.

Juarez and the members of his government

had already evacuated the city and retired to San Luis Potosi, and no attempt was made to disturb the French occupation. "An assembly of notables," 215 in number, was constituted, the members of which, it was carefully reprepresented, were taken from all classes. They were to determine what form of government should be established in Mexico; their vote on this question was to unite two-thirds of their suffrages.

On the 10th of July they resolved that Mexico should be an empire, and that the throne should be offered to the Archduke Maximilian of Austria. In the event of his refusal to accept the crown, the Emperor of the French was to be requested to select a candidate for the imperial dignity. The archduke was therefore solemnly proclaimed emperor, and a deputation of "notables" proceeded to Europe to offer him the throne.

He received them at his residence near Trieste, and, in answer to their offer, accepted the trust, on the condition that there should be a spontaneous expression of the wishes of the whole nation; that he should obtain guarautees securing Mexico against the dangers that threatened her integrity and independ

ence.

He also declared that it was his intention to open the path of progress by a constitution, as was done by Napoleon III., and, "after the complete pacification of the country, to seal the fundamental law with an oath."

It was not till May, 1864, that he assumed the empire, after the expression of that "spontaneous desire of the majority" which he had demanded. He then issued an imperial proclamation at Vera Cruz, and became the ruler of Mexico, under the partial protection of France.

The unhappy result of the French intervention in Mexico is one of the saddest records of history during that period. After his accession the Emperor Maximilian discovered that the French government had been entirely mistaken in their estimate of the Mexican character, and that he had been grossly deceived in the assurances he had received of the stability of the population, and their desire for European intervention. A series of conflicts, which partook of the character

istics of a continued intestine war, joined to insurrectionary troubles, kept his throne insecure and gave him only the shadow of empire. Juarez was again in arms, and his followers were active, numerous, and fighting in a kind of guerilla warfare, which perpetually harassed the regular forces, and yet gave them none of the advantages of such victories as they were able to gain.

At the beginning of February, 1867, the Emperor Maximilian left the city of Mexico at the head of his army, and marched northwards, where the adherents of Juarez were in force. He occupied the town of Queretaro with about 10,000 troops, and then had to sustain the attacks of General Escobedo, which were generally defeated, but without such a decided victory as to crush the revolt.

The whole of the French troops quitted Mexico in the early part of 1867, leaving him to carry on the conflict. In the beginning of April his reverses began. Puebla was captured by the Juarists, who at once prepared to lay siege to the city of Mexico, and surrounded Queretaro, then held by the emperor, and the garrison of which was reduced to desperate straits. The place becoming at last untenable, Maximilian determined to make an attempt to cut through the enemy's lines, but it was too late. On the 14th of May the Juarists, under Escobedo, forced their way into the town, and after a short resistance the emperor surrendered, and was taken prisoner with all his staff. In the following month Maximilian, who bore his reverses with great dignity and resignation, was brought before a council of war at Queretaro, and with his generals, Miramon and Mejia, was condemned to death. On the morning of the 19th they were led out to the place of execution and shot. The following official notice was published to the Mexican people:-"Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg, a grandduke of Austria and an ally of Napoleon III. of France, came to Mexico to rob the country of its independence and its institutions, and although a mere usurper of the national sovereignty, assumed the title of emperor. This usurper having been captured by the republican forces at Queretaro, on the 15th of May, 1867, he was

NAPOLEON III. PROPOSES A PEACE CONGRESS.

sentenced to death by a military court-martial, | with the concurrence of the nation, and was shot for his crimes against the independence of the nation at Queretaro, on the 9th of June, 1867, in company with Generals Miramon and Mejia. Peace be to his ashes!"

A few days afterwards the city of Mexico surrendered, and Juarez became once more absolute master of the kingdom, or rather of a republic, which, in the space of less than fifty years, had been the scene of upwards of thirty changes of government. At the close of the year he was elected president.

The Archduchess Charlotte, ex-Empress of Mexico, contrived to escape from the country, and returned to Europe in a condition of mind which aroused the respectful sympathy of all who knew her sad history.

She continued in a state of mental derangement for two or three years, and by the advice of her physicians travelled from place to place, but with little hope of complete restoration of her physical health, or cure for the mental malady which had ensued from the grief she had undergone and the terrible scenes she had witnessed.

The policy of Napoleon III. seems to have been to combine the development of the internal material resources of France with such a degree of foreign influence as would make his opinion, supported by the nation, a power not only in Europe but in distant countries. In Syria, where French arms vindicated the rights of the Christian population; in Montenegro, where the national desire to become part of a single government, including all the principalities, was upheld by French influence; in Cochin China, where an expedition had been organized for promoting French colonial interests; in Spain, where the questions of the frontier line and the debt of 1823 were settled without further misunderstanding; and in Switzerland, where the differences arising from disputes about the valley of the Dappes were explained and remedied, this prompt and aggressively conciliatory intervention was exercised. France was powerful and respected even where suspicion still cxisted as to the probable intentions of her

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ruler; for nearly all the world seems to have agreed to give Napoleon III. credit for subtle statecraft, while he himself assumed to be the least secret and the least combinative of European sovereigns. He claimed credit for frankness, and professed to pursue a candid and easily estimated policy. At the same time, it cannot be denied that the promptitude of action, combined with the liberal sentiments which characterized the whole policy of the emperor, had placed the country high in the rank of nations with reference to all questions affecting peace and mutual understanding between European states. It was with this assurance that, on the 4th of November, 1863, the emperor proposed to the other powers to regulate the condition of Europe, and to secure its future by a congress of nations or an international council. This proposition was accompanied by an invitation, which said:—

"In case the princes, allies and friends of France, should think proper to heighten by their presence the authority of the deliberations, I shall be proud to offer them my cordial hospitality. Europe would see, perhaps, some advantage in the capital from which the signal for subversion has so often been given, becoming the seat of the conferences destined to lay the basis of a general pacification."

After some diplomatic correspondence, in which it was stated that the emperor had already indicated the questions of Poland, Denmark, and Germany, the Danubian Principalities, Austria and Italy, and the occupation of Rome, to be those which would demand discussion; Earl Russell, on the part of the English government, declined participation in the congress, on the ground that those questions could not be decided by the mere utterance of opinions, while if the mere expression of wishes and opinions would accomplish no positive results, it appeared certain that the deliberations of a congress would consist of demands and pretensions put forward by some and resisted by others. That there being no supreme authority in such an assembly to enforce the decisions of the majority, the congress would probably separate leaving many of its members on worse terms with each other than they had been when they met; while if this

would be the probable result, it followed that no decrease of armaments would be likely to be effected by the proposed congress.

The Emperor of Russia gave his entire adhesion to the principle of settling the peace of Europe by such a representative meeting of the sovereigns, but thought it essential that Napoleon III., who initiated the proposal, should define clearly the questions which, in his opinion, should be the subject of an understanding, and the bases upon which this understanding would have to be established.

The Queen of Spain gave her ready adhesion to the proposal, and promised cordial co-oper

ation.

The Emperor of Austria considered it essential to have a clear understanding upon the point of departure, to define the object and means of action held in view, and to determine beforehand the line of conduct that would be followed.

The King of Prussia considered the measures to be discussed should first be submitted to the responsible ministers of the respective states.

The pope accepted the proposition with the utmost gratification, only reserving, with satirical caution, the power to sustain with the greatest rigour the rights of the Romish Church.

The Swiss Confederation, the new King of Greece, and the King of Denmark accepted the proposal without reserve; and the replies of the King of Hanover and the King of Bavaria were equally favourable. It was evident, however, that the English minister had stated the true difficulty; the objections of Prussia, Russia, and Austria were proofs that this difficulty was sufficient to prevent any lasting advantage from a deliberative assembly to which each member would go with the view rather of confirming than relinquishing the demands of his policy.

It would have been well, indeed, if some of the questions then arising in Europe could have been settled by pacific discussion. The effusion of blood during the Polish insurrection would then have been stayed; the question of the claims of Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein might have been so settled as to avert the events that led to the dreadful war between

Austria and Prussia; the liberty of Italy might have penetrated Rome, set free from the threatenings of French bayonets. But the very statement of these subjects of discussion is almost sufficient to show that no decision was likely to be come to, involving the satisfactory arrangement of affairs which had already been made of vital importance by the states which included them in their most unyielding demands.

Small war clouds gathering and bursting in other places challenged comparatively little attention while the roar of the great tempest of strife continued in America. The sufferings of Poland excited much emotion, the expedition to Mexico aroused curiosity not unmixed with apprehension of the result. The archduke consented to take his cue from an actor who had written only his own part in the drama which ended in a tragedy, not for Maximilian only, but as some thoughtful statesmen believed, for the French emperor also. There were forewarnings that the prestige of Napoleon III. would never survive the Mexican fiasco, and that, from the moment of its becoming known, it would lead to the downfall of his power. If this opinion was founded on the belief that he had already given evidence of a weak reliance on false or incompetent advisers, it was signally verified; but it is characteristic of many prophecies that they are fulfilled in a manner or under conditions not clearly perceived by the prophet himself. Meantime, while the wretched dénouement of the Mexican story was scarcely guessed at, and while fresh difficulties in China and the neces sity for insisting on reparation for attacks on British traders in Japan were engaging some notice here, the arrogant assumptions which Prussia had for some time been exhibiting, threatened the peace of Europe.

The Schleswig-Holstein question, though by no means a laughing matter, was, at the time, jocularly mentioned as another way of expressing an insoluble problem. The rival claims of the kingdom of Denmark and the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein as represented by the hereditary prince of SchleswigHolstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg were not

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN DIFFICULTY.

clear to people who heard of them for the first time, nor was it by any means to be concluded that the King of Prussia had any just claim to make such an easy display of the growing power of his authority, by commencing hostilities against a small state in defiance of European opinion. He had become strong enough to refuse the urgent invitation of the Emperor of Austria to attend a congress of the German sovereigns at Frankfort for the purpose of forming a Bund or confederation of all their states. The dream of "United Germany" must be realized, if it were to be realized at all, by the domination of Prussia -and thus it was realized years afterward; but not till Austria had been temporarily crushed by a war which, for a time, crippled her resources and left her German scarcely even in name.

There is no need to go into the remote history of the relations between the German states, the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and the kingdom of Denmark.

The dispute which menaced the peace of Europe was, as the Times said, not calculated to inspire implicit confidence in the arrangements of governments assembled in congresses or in conferences. The chronic difficulty of the duchies attached to the Danish crown had been unexpectedly rendered urgent by the death of Frederick VII., the last king of the house of Oldenburg. As long as the kings were absolute in Denmark their ducal sovereignty in Schleswig and Holstein involved no subordination of their German subjects to the Danes of the kingdom. It was only when a representative constitution was granted in 1846 that the conflict of races seriously commenced, and in 1848 it produced civil war. With the aid of Prussia the Germans of Holstein and Schleswig expelled the Danish forces from both duchies, but on the withdrawal of the Prussian troops the Danes recovered the greater part of Schleswig; and finally, the authority of Frederick VII. was re-established in both duchies by various conventions in 1850 and 1851. Austria and Prussia, on behalf of Germany, assented to the dissolution of the ancient union between Holstein and Schleswig, and, in return, Denmark undertook to perform

VOL. IV.

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the federal engagements which were due in Holstein, and to maintain various privileges and immunities which were claimed by the German inhabitants of Schleswig. In 1852 the great powers thought it expedient, in anticipation of the extinction of the dynasty, to provide for the integrity of the Danish monarchy, including the ancient dependencies of the crown. By the Treaty of London, executed by the five powers and by Denmark and Sweden, the succession was settled on Prince Christian of Schleswig-HolsteinGlücksburg, whose wife became, by aid of certain family renunciations, the heiress of the royal crown of Denmark. The Duke of Augustenburg, who was heir of Holstein and claimant of Schleswig, was induced to relinquish his pretensions; and the King of Prussia, who was head of the ducal house of Holstein-Gottorp, agreed to postpone any hereditary claim which he might have asserted. All the principal German states, except Bavaria and Baden, afterwards adhered to the treaty; and on the death of Frederick VII. Prince Christian possessed an undisputed diplomatic title. In the interval, however, extreme irritation had existed between Germany and Denmark, especially when Frederick VII. was said to have encroached on federal rights by a patent establishing a constitution in Holstein, issued in the spring of the year 1863. Federal execution in the duchy was imminent, when the accession of King Christian IX. in Denmark afforded an excuse for opening the question of his right to the duchies. Prince Frederick, son of the Duke of Augustenburg, disputed the validity of his father's renunciation, and nearly every legislative assembly in the German states urged their respective governments to recognize his title.

But the points actually in dispute, the concessions in regard to which Prussia and the diet had at one stage of the negotiations virtually agreed to accept, may be all summed up in a single question-that of the budget. The duchy and the diet had rejected any plan for a constitution of the whole monarchy by Frederick VII., and any reasonable plan for a provisional government of the duchy alone. As the government had to be carried

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