information of the aims of the French. Thereupon Dayton was instructed to inform the French minister of foreign affairs that we could not look with indifference upon any armed European intervention in Mexico for political ends.1 But our military campaigns of the spring of 1862 were so engrossing that the Mexican question was postponed, on the ground, as Seward explained, that "nations no more than individuals can wisely divide their attention upon many subjects at one time." 2 While France was frequently interrogated, and was permitted to infer that Seward thought her avowals and actions not altogether consistent, he never indicated plainly that he questioned her sincerity. Not knowing what we could afford to risk for Mexico, he discreetly awaited events, not feeling, as he wrote, at liberty to reject the explanations of France or to anticipate a violation of her assurances.3

Toward the end of the year 1863 the French minister of foreign affairs, Drouyn de Lhuys, intimated that if the United States would early recognize the proposed empire, such action would be agreeable to France and would hasten the withdrawal of her troops. Seward's answer must have been as unsatisfactory as it was adroit. He said that the United States were determined to err, if at all, on the side of strict neutrality in the war between France and Mexico; that they were still of the opinion that the permanent establishment of a foreign or monarchical government in Mexico would be found neither easy nor desirable; and that the United States could not do otherwise than leave the destinies of Mexico in the keeping of her own people, and recognize their sovereignty and independence in whatever form they themselves should choose.1 These statements were doubtless intended to convey the impression that the United States would not invoke the Monroe Doctrine.

Congress and the newspapers could not understand the wisdom of trying to conquer the Confederacy before seeking hostilities abroad. They had great contempt for what they styled Seward's cowardice. In January, 1864, McDougal of Cali

fornia introduced into the Senate a series of resolutions which declared it to be the duty of our government to require France to remove her armed forces from Mexico; and the resolutions further called for the negotiation of a treaty by which we should engage to prevent the possible interposition of any of the European powers in the affairs of Mexico.1 Fortunately there were enough prudent men in the Senate to cause these resolutions to be laid on the table. But in April the House declared unanimously that it would not accord with the policy of the United States to acknowledge a monarchical government, erected on the ruins of any republican government in America under the auspices of any European power.2 Dayton reported that the European press inferred from this that either France or the United States would soon have to make a change of policy. When he called upon Drouyn de Lhuys shortly after the report of these resolutions reached Paris, the first words of the French minister were: "Do you bring us peace, or bring us war?" Seward had already taken the precaution to inform Dayton that the extravagant opinions entertained at the Capitol were "not in harmony with the policy of neutrality, forbearance and consideration which the president has so faithfully pursued." After the passage of the House resolution, he caused the French government to be reminded that the question of the policy toward Mexico was an executive one, unless two-thirds of both houses should agree; that the president did not at present contemplate a departure from the policy hitherto pursued; and that in any case France would be seasonably apprised of any change. But for such declarations as these in opposition to the prevalent opinion of the people of the United States it is practically certain that Napoleon would have felt compelled to strike at us in our weakness, and while he was still master of affairs at home and in Mexico.

5

The chief aim of the secretary of state during the years 1863 and 1864, so critical on account of our military campaigns, was 1 McPherson, History of the Rebellion, 348, 349.

2 Ibid., 349.

3 Dispatch of Apr. 22, 1864.

43 Dip. Cor. 1864, 76.

5 Dispatch Jan. 12, 1864.

6 3 Dip. Cor. 1865, 356, 357.

to avoid the active disfavor of France, but still to keep her informed that her invasion of Mexico was not approved. He gave no heed to the popular clamor against Napoleon. "But why should we gasconade about Mexico, when we are in a struggle for our national life?" he wrote to an intimate friend at Paris.1 However, when Dayton informed him of Maximilian's final acceptance, he was not wanting in decision, and replied, that if our precautions should

fail to secure us against oppression, we shall then, I trust, be able to rise without great effort to the new duties which in that case will have devolved upon us. I remain now firm, as heretofore, in the opinion that the destinies of the American continent are not to be permanently controlled by political arrangements that can be made in the capitals of Europe.2

III.

After the summer of 1864 the fortunes of Napoleon and of poor Maximilian did not brighten. The Liberal party in Mexico had confiscated most of the enormous possessions of the Catholic Church. It was the Clerical party that had planned and encouraged foreign intervention, with the firm conviction that thereby the lost riches of the church could be regained. Probably Napoleon had given assurances of this nature; but the French found that much of the former property of the church had fallen into the hands of their fellow-citizens. Maximilian was preeminently a Catholic prince; and it was confidently believed that he would champion the cause of his church. But he sincerely sought to conciliate all parties. As a result he received the full support of none. The Clericals could never accept one who disobeyed the injunctions of the Pope, and the Liberals would never yield to an emperor. Many of the Clericals were soon denouncing Napoleon and Maximilian as bitterly as were any of the Liberals. Moreover, neither Maximilian nor any of his trusted friends had any executive ability. Able men would have organized a new financial system, but Maximilian had to depend upon the French budget as much as upon the French troops.

1 May 21, 1864, MS.

23 Dip. Cor. 1865, 759.

But despite all this and the growing strength of the French republicans, Napoleon was determined to keep Maximilian on his throne long enough for France either to secure out of Mexican taxes and mines partial compensation for her expenses, or else to get possession of some of the richest Mexican territory. He would probably have succeeded in one or both, if the Federal army had not overthrown the Confederacy.

The conclusion of our Civil War removed all reasonable objection to a bolder and more candid discussion of the real significance to the United States of the status in Mexico. Seward no longer feared the results of a conflict with France; but diplomacy had been so potent in other directions, that he believed it could be used to undermine Maximilian's empire and to persuade Napoleon that he was attempting an impossibility. The United States kept up friendly relations with Juarez's government and declined to recognize Maximilian. As late as June 3, 1865, Seward informed Mr. John Bigelow, then our minister at Paris, that the policy toward Mexico had undergone no change. Soon after this he stated that there was a growing disposition to find a casus belli in the political situation in Mexico.

Grant and Sheridan and many of the officers of the regular army were eager to go to war with France. In the spring of 1865 Sheridan had been ordered to western Texas, where some of the Confederates still held out. After they disbanded, he gathered a large army along the Rio Grande, ready to invade Mexico as soon as the war sentiment of the army and of many of the politicians could overcome President Johnson's confidence in Seward's diplomacy. Sheridan's Memoirs show how bitterly he resented Seward's influence for peace.

As a sort of compromise between continuing the policy of neutrality and adopting the bellicose ideas of the soldiers and the politicians, Seward caused General Schofield to be sent to Paris to advise with Mr. Bigelow and to impress France with the danger of war. In the autumn of 1865 Seward's instructions to Mr. Bigelow became much bolder and more direct. In a long dispatch of September 6, 1865, he said in substance:

For many years there has been a traditional friendship between France and the United States which has been cherished quite regardless of political conditions in either country. The United States favor republican institutions on the American continent. French intervention in Mexico has been antagonistic to this position and has tended to prevent the republican sovereignty of Mexico from asserting itself. The national policy of the United States springs from the national will, and not from the will of any president or administration. Heretofore the national will has been directed mainly toward the suppression of a rebellion; having accomplished this it will soon turn to the Mexican question. France and the United States have armies confronting each other on the Mexican border; and although each has heretofore practiced prudence toward the other, "a time seems to have come when both nations may well consider whether the permanent interests of international peace and friendship do not require the exercise of a thoughtful and serious attention to the political question to which I have thus adverted."

On November 6 another step in advance was taken. Seward declared that Maximilian's government was in direct antagonism to the fundamental policy and principle of our own. Therefore it could not be recognized; nor were the United States prepared to pledge themselves thereafter to recognize any political institutions in Mexico which were in opposition to the republican government there. This was a diplomatic way of saying that thenceforth the republican interests in Mexico and those of the United States would be united. This serious meaning was so plain to the French minister of foreign affairs, that he felt constrained to remark, after Mr. Bigelow had finished reading the dispatch, that its contents gave him neither pleasure nor satisfaction.2

Still Napoleon deferred accepting the logic of the situation; he waited blindly, as if expecting a miracle to save him and Maximilian. But before the end of 1865 practically everybody in the United States agreed that French intervention must 2 Ibid., 427.

3 Dip. Cor. 1865, 422.