To His Excellency M. Téodosio Larès, President of the Council of Ministers.
Mexico, December 8, 1866.
The undersigned have received the note, dated the 3rd instant, which MM. Larès and Arroyo did them the honour of sending them.
The president of the council being charged with the duty of dealing with the matters which formed the subject of this note, the undersigned have to acquaint him with their opinion as to the determination adopted by his majesty the Emperor Maximilian to retain the authority which the Mexican nation has conferred upon him, and to uphold his government with the resources of the country only.
The sacrifices which the government of the undersigned has made, and their own personal efforts to establish a monarchy in Mexico, need not be recalled. The agents of France deeply regret the arrival of a crisis which they would have desired to render impossible. However, after having maturely considered the position of things, they have come to the conviction that it is impossible that the imperial government should be upheld by its own resources alone.
However painful it may be for them, and without pretending at all to influence the final decision, they consider that it is their duty to make the above declaration; and they must add that, in the actual state of things, the high and generous resolution which the Emperor Maximilian appeared a month back anxious to decide on could be the only one to allow a solution of matters calculated to hold harmless every interest.
As to everything which bears upon the military question and all connected with it, replies have already been sent by competent French agents. Fresh explanations will be furnished by them if they become necessary.Bazaine.Alph. Dano.Castelnau
The minister's reply was not long before it appeared. On December 10 he issued a long circular, summing up the efforts of the monarchy in the past, and its hopes for the future; disclosing, also, the disloyalty of the French government.
