in 1866, and 20,000 in 1867. The officers of the foreign legion included in the above force, serving as they did also French interests, were to retain the right to promotion in the French army.[1]
The secret clauses were loudly decried afterward as a deception on the people, ministering wholly to the ambitious views of the contracting parties, and in direct opposition to what had been intimated to the deputation from Mexico. The trip to Paris had greatly modified, or rather defined, the plans of Maximilian; yet the conservatives should have learned from his administration in Lombardy that his ideas were decidedly liberal. The clause for the maintenance of a larger French force than mentioned in the first article shows how little confidence the new emperor had in the 'immense popular majority' which elected him, a doubt expressed also in the demand for frequent demonstrations on the coasts by French vessels, and in his reluctance to surrender archducal rights.[2] The financial part of the agreement was denounced by the Juarists as an outrageous imposition, like the article referring the final adjustment of French claims to a commission at Paris, there to be influenced by Napoleon. The subordination of Mexican officers of whatever rank to the French, when associated on garrison or field duty, was a humiliation which
- ↑ This document was signed at Miramare, April 10, 1864, by Herbet, for France, and by Maximilian's newly appointed minister of state, Velazquez de Leon. It contained 21 articles, 3 being the secret clauses. By articles 4 and 5 the new emperor and the French general were jointly to determine on the places to be occupied by French troops. Wherever the garrison was not exclusively Mexican, French officers should hold the chief command; so, also, in case of joint expeditions; but they could not interfere in administrative matters. French naval stations in the Antilles and Pacific should send frequently vessels to display the tri-color in Mexican ports. Mexicans naturally objected to have their officers, often of superior rank, subordinated to the French. The full text of the document may be consulted in Max. y Carlota, Adven., 127-9; Arrangoiz, Méj., iii. 200-4, etc. A proposed cession of Sonora, as arranged with the regency, was objected to by Maximilian. Niox, Expéd. du Mex., 745.
- ↑ Engañaba á Napoleon haciéndole creer que aceptaba de buena fé el trono de Méjico, cuando sólo quería que le sirviera de teatro de estreno para darse á conocer á los ultraliberales austriacos.' Arrangoiz, Méj., iii. 204. Zarco is equally severe. Convencion; La Estrella de Occid., July 8, 1864.
