Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-07-27
sEwARp,s COSTLY DISPATCH.
The Bill Was $4,000, and One of the
Results Was the Fall of Macmillan.

It was during our own serious
troubles in the early sixties that
France and Austria undertook to plant
an empire on this continent in the
neighboring state of Mexico. Although
warned off by our state department.,
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
their 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
affairs, attention was again directed to
what was going on in Mexico against
the avowed wishes and policy of the
American government.
At this period Napoleon and Eu-
genie were dazzling the world with
the splendors of the court of the
second empire. A great number of
our own people from all sections of the
country were residing in Paris, to
which city it was jokingly said call
good Americans wanted to go after
death" Americans were in evidence
at all the brilliant fetes of the empire.
The elegance of their residence, the
lavish expenditure of money, and the
brilliancy and fascinationof the women
from this side of the Atlantic made
our country people important social
factors. The American colony in Paris
as m organization datas from this
period.
At the height of this happy state OF
affairs Secretary Stewards dispatch
notifying tho imperial governmental that
Mexico must be evacuated came
like the proverbial thnnderclap out
of n cloudless sky. That dispatch
yet holds q place in Frances official
memory. The cable was almost in its
infancy, and communication through
it was very costly. Secretary Seward
did not economize his words, but
talked as fuently and went into as
many details as though he were seated
at table opposite the French minis
ter OF foreign affairs.
The dispatch cost $15, 900. If Ma
poleon III had been skeptical before
Ms to the intention of the United
States, Stewards GOODNESS in holding
conversation at such price convinced
ths emperor aud his ministers that
the American government would
stand by what the secretary said, and
France came to the conclusion to let
Macmillan ego it alone" rs emperor
of Mexico.
The withdrawal of the French
troops was ordered, and this led direct
ly to Maximiian's tragic death at
Queretaro in June, 1867. The empe-
TOR did not pretend to disguise his
chagrin at the failure to establish
monarchical government in America.
On July following the execution of
Macmillan n number of American
gentlemen in Paris made all arrange
ments to celebrate the national festi-
val by grand dinner. But the ban
quet was never given, the emperor
formally 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 sta
bility OF the empire than keeping the
shopkeepers of Paris in good humor
and plenty of American gold circu-
latipg throughout France. Under
such conditions the emperor was at
liberty to run the country as he
pleased.
After. Secretary Stewards costly dis
patch had had its results-not only in
the withdrawal of French troops from
Mexico, but in diminution of Louis
Napoleon's prestige-the glories of the
American colony at the imperial court
began to wane. Since then only on
extraordinary occasions does it exhibit
any of its old-time, empire-period bril-
liancy. Under the new dispersion Of
republican government it is matter
Of such difficulty for an American to
get an invitation to the Eysee as to
be hardly worth the trouble incurred.