edly followed only instructions, although impelled occasionally perhaps to a certain excess by the hostility and misconstruction applied on every side; yet it must be admitted that sordid avarice was among the defects of character which tended to justify suspicion against him.[1] A letter from General Diaz was not without its effect, accusing him of offering to surrender all the towns in French possession with armament, and even the persons of Maximilian and his leading supporters; but this rests on the misinterpreted utterances of the agent sent to confer with him about assuming the leadership of the new government sought by France. Negotiation with Ortega had been frustrated by the United States, as we have seen, and Diaz was too loyal to entertain the offer;[2] yet he as well as several other leaders showed every consideration for Frenchmen, and readily exchanged the prisoners of this nationality.[3]
- ↑ He sold, for instance, for private benefit, the furniture of his residence, placed merely at his service by the government; and also a carriage belonging to Santa Anna, as Maximilian himself puts it. Basch, i. 173, ii. 75. A writer in Pap. y Corr. Fam. Imp., 74-80, adds that Col Boyer was his agent in all manner of speculation, including dealings in army pay warrants. See also Mex., El Imp., 18-20; Allenet, Bazaine Acusado, 1-4. Aspirations are also hinted at toward a position as supreme ruler over Mexico; but these Détroyat, 314, will not entertain. He considered that the favors received from Maxi milian could not have been forgotten by him. Kératry also defends him, and states that this refusal to take extreme steps against the empire without positive instructions brought upon him the anger of Napoleon, who objected to commit himself in writing. Jax., 280. This anger was increased by the effort of Bazaine to justify himself before his officers, to whom he revealed a portion of these instructions. Arrangoiz echoes Kératry, by pointing out that with all the accusation against Bazaine his conduct was not investigated. Méj., iv. 248. Later we find him in a responsible command, during the war with Prussia. Salm-Salm insists, nevertheless, that his conduct was more brutal than it should have been. My Diary, i. 16; and so does Basch, who assumes that his failure to carry out his (Napoleon's) plans roused anger and 'liess nun der Marschall die Maske... fallen. Loc. cit.
- ↑ Which involved the recognition of French claims 'la cual deseché por no recerme honrosa,' says Diaz. Lefèvre, Docs, ii. 376. The offer implied the previous abdication of Maximilian. The sale of arms to Diaz was to take effect only after his acceptance of the presidency had been settled. So Kératry very reasonably explains it. Max., 248-51. The agent was the U.S. consul Otterburg, who had pecuniary reasons for favoring a new govern ment with French aid, and also a Frenchman named Thiele, employed by Diaz. Salm-Salm asserts himself somewhat too positively on mere hearsay.
- ↑ Diaz refused, however, to surrender the Austrians. Kératry publishes several of the letters exchanged on this subject. Not having enough military prisoners, says Arrangoiz, Méj., iv. 245, political offenders were included in Bazaine's delivery.
