was based on more solid grounds, however, for just then Miramon and Marquez returned from Europe and tendered their coöperation.[1] Their fame as the ablest and most influential of conservative generals could not fail to draw recruits, and their assertion that they had more than once extricated themselves from worse positions than the present tended toward widespread encouragement.
And now came a letter from Eloin, at the time on a secret mission in Europe, who brought his undeniable influence to bear against abdication before the French departed, as a sign of weakness, and a triumph to Napoleonic intrigues. Called by the nation, the emperor should appeal to it when freed from the pressure of foreign intervention; and if the appeal failed, he might return to Europe with the prestige of a mission nobly fulfilled. Such conduct, he intimated, would have its effect in Austria, where the discontented people were turning from the present ruler to himself.[2] The aspirations of his brother, real or fancied, reached the ear of Francis Joseph, and he took the precaution to warn him that he would not be permitted to enter Austria as emperor of Mexico, and that the family compact would be adhered to, thus attaching to the return as many humiliations as possible.[3] His mother wrote at the same time that he
- ↑ All admit the value of the offer, and Détroyat assumes that this decided Maximilian; not so Basch, 92, who states that at first their arguments had no effect. Marquez had been summoned back, but Miramon came of his own accord, allured by the prospects of becoming the leader in view of the emperor's departure. Finding him still here, he sacrificed his own hopes, despite the treatment he had received. Arrangoiz, 183, stoutly defends him against the charge that he really came to work against the empire. The truth probably is, that he saw no good chance for himself, owing to opposition from the French and others, and thereupon yielded to the noble impulses he undoubtedly possessed. The two generals arrived Nov. 9th.
- ↑ This letter, dated at Brussels, Sept. 17th, was heedlessly addressed to the care of the Mexican consul at New York, and fell into the hands of Romero, Juarez' agent, who distributed copies of it. Arrangoiz, 189-90, assumes that the secret mission was to sound the prospects in Austria. Kératry, Max., 221, attributes to this letter a decisive effect, and so does Domenech, 406, in the main, while Détroyat believes that the emperor had already resolved to stay before the letter came. There is no denying, however, the coincidence between the advice of this letter and the course adopted.
- ↑ Détroyat, 296, claims possession of several documents attesting the hostile
