must now be determined. Already diplomacy had been brought into play by
Napoleon III to induce his allies to acquiesce in his views and to
consider the elevation of Maximilian to the throne of Mexico. Spain had
willingly listened to the idea of establishing a monarchy, but on the
condition that the monarch should belong or be closely allied to the
house of Bourbon; and it stood firm upon this condition.

* The haste of Spain was regarded as an attempt to take a selfish
advantage of the situation, and gave rise to some correspondence. See
Domenech, loc. cit., pp. 384, 392.


IV. THE ALLIES IN MEXICO

The sound common sense of John Bull, his clearer appreciation of foreign
possibilities, or perhaps the superior intelligence and honesty of his
agent in Mexico, shine out brilliantly in a letter of Lord John Russell,
written to the representative of England at the court of Vienna,
previous to the armed demonstration made by the triple alliance.* The
letter was in truth prophetic, and showed a statesmanlike grasp of the
situation. He pointed out that the project of placing the Archduke
Maximilian upon the throne of Mexico had been conceived by Mexican
refugees in Paris; that such people were notorious for overrating the
strength of their partizans in their native land, and for the
extravagance of their hopes of success; that her Majesty's government
would grant no support to such a project; that a long time would be
necessary to consolidate a throne in Mexico, as well as to make the
sovereign independent of foreign support; and that, should this foreign
support be withdrawn, the sovereign might easily be expelled by the
Mexican republicans. The Spanish general Prim, when later, upon the