imilian will become firmly established. But it may be quite another matter if we continue to take the part of the usurper Juarez against the legal President Ortega, and if the Juarists continue to derive aid and encouragement from the United States. In consequence of such intervention, Maximilian may be forced to abdicate and what will be the result then? The war between the Juarists and the followers of Ortega will rage with greater bitterness than ever: Mexico will at once revert to its former condition of anarchy: and continual civil wars will absorb all the energies and all the wealth of the people. Mexico has never prospered under a republic, and the history and character of her people proves that she never can prosper under that form of government. To re-establish the republic in Mexico would simply be to give up that country to the pillage of rival republican chiefs.

Under such a state of things, every foreign nation which has claims against Mexico would at once present them, and Mexico would again be at the mercy of every foreign power. England, Spain, and France, all have heavy claims against Mexico, which remain unsatisfied to this day. Under the present government of that country, there is a fair prospect that those claims will be eventually paid. France has arranged for hers, and England and Spain are willing to wait. But the matter would be very different, if the present government of Mexico should be destroyed by

The

intervention on the part of the United States; and with it, the ability of Mexico to satisfy these claims. Those three nations would again make war upon Mexico, as they did in 1861: they would be compelled to do so, in order to obtain for their own citizens the payment of their just claims. The end of such a war would find Mexico dismembered, as we dismembered her at the end of our Mexican war in 1848. Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with its already surveyed railroad between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, and the States of Oaxaca, Tabaso, Chiapas, Campeche, and Yucatan, lie very convenient to the British and Spanish possessions in the Balize and Cuba: and nothing would be easier than for the French, at the same time, to again occupy and hold the port and State of Vera Cruz, and the city of Mexico, with the immediately surrounding country.

The best and richest half of Mexico thus disposed of, what would become of the remainder? It would ultimately be absorbed by the United States, and Mexico, as a nation, would disappear from the face of the earth.

CHAPTER VIII.

Policy of the United States toward Mexico-Question before the "Lincoln Administration: "Shall we Save the Mexican Republic ?"-Consequences to the North of Interference in Opposition to Napoleon-Object of the American Civil War-Interference with the Emperor Napoleon would Defeat that Object-Critical Condition of the North in 1862-Consequences to the North if the Emperor Napoleon should Recognize the South-The United States Determine to Maintain a Neutral PolicyThe United States Government Acknowledges the Right of France to make War on the Mexican Republic, and to Secure the Fruits of Victory.

No sooner did the Emperor Maximilian ascend the throne of Mexico, than he communicated the fact of his accession to all the great powers of the world, and among the rest, to the United States. This was in May, 1864. The United States government took no notice of the communication. All the other great powers immediately recognized the empire of Mexico, sent ministers to reside at the court of Maximilian, and received ministers from him to reside at their capitals. But why did the United States not interfere in time to prevent the extinction of the Mexican republic?

When France made war on Mexico, in 1861 and 1862; when the French expedition, under General

Forey, was sent to Mexico, the United States was invited to join that expedition. The United States government declined, but at the same time admitted the justice of the war on the part of France. On the 11th of September, 1863, Mr. Seward said to Mr. Motley, our minister to Vienna: "When France made war against Mexico, we asked of France explanations of her objects and purposes. She answered that it was a war for the redress of grievances; that she did not intend to permanently occupy or dominate in Mexico; and that she should leave to the people of Mexico a free choice of institutions of government. Under these circumstances the United States adopted, and they have since maintained, entire neutrality between the belligerents, in harmony with our traditional policy in regard to foreign wars."

But our policy toward Mexico had a deeper foundation than that. At the time of the French intervention in Mexico, the United States were engaged in civil war. In 1862, when it became necessary for our government to decide what our policy toward Mexico was to be when it became absolutely necessary for us to decide whether we would uphold the Monroe doctrine in Mexico, and save the republic there, or remain coldly looking on while the empire was being established-at that time matters did not look well for the North.

The first war fever had passed away, and people

began to realize that they had been entrapped into a job that was going to be any thing but an easy one. Drafting had not yet begun, but it was plainly seen that conscription was inevitable, and that without forced conscription the war could not be carried on. It was plainly seen that the real object of the war was to free the negroes and to subjugate the Southern States; and that in giving liberty to the blacks the white people would lose their own.

The finances of the country had begun to get deranged. All the specie in the country had been withdrawn from circulation, and had been sent to Europe to buy arms; and our new national bank-note currency had not yet got under headway. The events of the war had not been such as to inspire confidence as to the result of the struggle. The North had been defeated, and the South had been victorious, at Big Bethel, Bull Run, Manassas Junction, Ball's Bluff, and Belmont. Washington had been beleaguered by the Confederate forces, from the battle of Manassas, in July, 1861, until March, 1862, a period of seven months. President Lincoln had offered the South four hundred millions of dollars for the liberation of. their slaves, and the offer had been refused. The peninsula campaign against Richmond had not been successful. The national army had then been placed under the command of General Pope. It had been defeated with terrible loss, and had retreated in con