392 AMKRICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



leader and a just man ; in many respects he was a remark- 

 able character, whose memory will continue to be cherished 

 in Mexico; although in control of the government he was 

 quite unable to prevent the disorder and riot which imme- 

 diately followed his inauguration as president. Foreign in- 

 tervention again became imminent, and the Conservatives, 

 or, in other words, those inclined to monarchical institu- 

 tions supported by the church, conspired in its favor. The 

 policy of Juarez, to suppress the monasteries, to confiscate the 

 wraith of the clergy, and to guarantee full religious liberty 

 to all, were measures altogether too radical in a country so 

 completely dominated by ecclesiastical orders. Envoys of 

 the Conservatives appeared in Europe, in 1861, to induce 

 Spain to reestablish an empire in Mexico. Napoleon III of 

 France was also approached, and that ambitious monarch at 

 once grasped this opportunity to launch the great project 

 that lay near his heart; Earl Russell, on the part of Great 

 Britain, was finally induced to assume, though reluctantly* 

 a share in a tripartite scheme of intervention in Mexico. 



France, Spain, and England, no doubt, had each some 

 grounds for interposition. In the case of France, the col- 

 lection of a debt long overdue gave her, as a creditor govern- 

 ment, a right to take action in her own interests. It appears 

 that during his presidency Miramon had issued bonds to 

 the extent of $15,000,000, realizing upon them, accord- 

 ing to his fullest expectations, less than $1,000,000 in cash ; 

 and the largest holders of this doubtful Mexican paper were- 

 French citizens. Juarez, on coming into power, promptly 

 repudiated this debt. Other claims, amounting to many 

 millions of dollars, were suddenly resurrected from the waste 

 basket by the French Government. Their validity had 

 always been questionable, though some of them were, no 

 doubt, just. Spain relied upon a violated treaty to justify 

 her action, and Great Britain found ample cause for armed 

 intervention in certain atrocities committed by Miramon's 

 officers in the British Legation at Mexico. A large sum of 

 money had been stolen from the legation safe, and various 

 English consulates had been sacked ; for these enormities no 



