The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-10
sEwARD's COSTLY DISPATCH.
Bill Was $4,000, and One of the Re.
suits Was the Fall of Macmillan.

suits Was the Fall of Macmillan.
Washington Post.
1t was during our own serious troubles In
the early sixties that France and Austria
undertook to plant an empire on the CONT
nenr in the neighboring State of Mexico.
Although warned off by our State Depart
ment American diplomatic methods seem
never. to inspire any particular amount of
awe in European foreign offices. In this
case they were simply ignored, and the two
allied powers continued the work of setting
up an emperor in the land of Montezuma.
However, with the ending of our war and
the readjustment of our own internal af-
fairs, attention was again directed to what
going on In Mexico against the avowed
wishes and policy of the American govern
ment.
At this period Napoleon and Eugene were
dazzling the world with the splendors of the
court of the second empire. A great num-
Der OF our own people from all sections of
the country We're residing in Paris, to which
cans wanted to gS after go'd Amer
cans were in evidence at all the brilliant
fetes of the empire. The elegance of their
and the brilliancy and fascination OF the
women from this side of the Atlantic made
our country people important social fac
tors. The American colony in Paris as an
organization dates from this period
At the height of this happy state of af-
fairs Secretary Stewards dispatch notifying
the imperial government that Mexico must
be evacuated came like the proverbial thun-
derclap out of a cloudlesS sky. That dis
patch yet holds q place in Frances official
fancy, and communication through it was
very costly. Secretary Seward did not econ
omize his words, but talked as fuently and
went into as many details as though he
were seated at a table opposite the French
minister of foreign affairs
The dispatch cost $4,000. If Napoleon III
had been skeptical before as to the intention
of the United States, Stewards GOODNESS in
holding a conversation at such a price con-
WINGED the Emperor and his ministers that
the American government would stand by
what the secretary said, and France came
to the conclusion to let Maximilian "go it
alone" as Emperor Of Mexico.
The withdrawal of the French troops was
ians tragic death at Queretaro in June 1857
The Emperor did not pretend to disguise his
chagrin at the failure to establish a mon
archical government in America On July
following the execution of Macmillan a
number of American gentlemen in Paris
made all arrangements to celebrate the ma
tional festival by grand dinner But the
banquet was never given, the Emperor for
mally and arbitrarily forbidding it.
Up to this time the Americans, who spent
immense sums of money in Paris, were
warmly received at the Tuileries,, and, in
fact, encouraged to come, for nothing more
contributed to the stability of the empire
than keeping the shopkeepers of Paris in
good humor and plenty of American gold
circulating throughout France. Under such
conditions the Emperor was at liberty to
run the country as he pleased.
After Secretary Stewards costly dispatch
had had its results-not only in the with
drawal of French troops from Mexico, but
in dninution of Louis Napoleon's pres
tige-the glories of the American colony at
the imperial court began to wane. Since
then only on extraordinary occasions does
1t exhibit any of its old-time, empire period
brllliancy. Under the new diSpensation OF
republican government 1t is a matter of
such difficulty for an American to get an
invitation to the Elysee as to be hardly
worth the trouble incurred