xico. Maximilian
was taken by surprise. The proposition was a startling one. But in the end
ambition overcame judgment, and he accepted the lofty but perilous
position on the condition that France should sustain him on the throne.

[Illustration: HOUSE OF MAXIMILIAN AT QUERETARO.]

HOUSE OF MAXIMILIAN AT QUERETARO.

The struggle of the Mexicans for freedom was for the time at an end, and
the French had almost everywhere prevailed, when in 1864 the new emperor
and his young wife Carlotta arrived at Vera Cruz and made their way to the
city of Mexico. This they entered with great show and ceremony and amid
the cheers of many of the lookers on, though the mass of the people, who
had no love for emperors, kept away or held their peace.

The new empire began with imperial display. All the higher society of
Mexico were at the feet of the new monarchs. With French money to pay
their way and a French army to protect them, there was nothing for
Maximilian and Carlotta to do but enjoy the romance and splendor of their
new dignity. On the summit of the hill of Chapultepec, two hundred feet
above the valley, stood the old palace which had been ruined by the
American guns when Scott invaded Mexico. This was rebuilt by Maximilian on
a grand scale, hanging gardens were constructed and walled in by galleries
with marble columns, costly furniture was brought from Europe, and here
the new emperor and empress held their court, with a brilliant succession
of fetes, dinners, dances, and receptions. All was brilliance and gayety,
and as yet no shadow fell on their dream of proud and royal reign.

But the shadow was coming. Maximilian had reached Mexico in June, 1864.
For a year longer the civil war in the great republic of the north
continued; then it came to an end, and the government of the United States
was free to take a hand in the arbitrary doings on the soil of her near
neighbor to the south.

It was a sad blow to the ambitious schemes of Napoleon, it was like the
rumble of an earthquake under the throne of Maximilian, when from
Washington came a diplomatic demand which, translated into plain English,
meant, you had better make haste to get your armies out of Mexico; if they
stay there, you will have the United States to deal with. It hurt Louis
Napoleon's pride. He shifted and prevaricated and delayed, but the hand of
the great republic was on the throat of his new empire, and there was
nothing f