San August in. IGl 



San Augustin is a quiet country place, and a visit there is 

 a highly refreshing and agreeable change from the noise of the 

 city. 



At the end of September we arranged a great party to San 

 Augustin, consisting of seven ladies and about ten or twelve 

 gentlemen. We were all on horseback, and two donkeys, 

 loaded with all kinds of provision, followed us. The distance 

 from Mexico is about three and a half leagues. We established 

 ourselves at a most beautiful spot, where we breakfasted with 

 good appetites, and having procured some Indian musicians, 

 we had a dance on the green sward. 



One day Baron Magnus called on me requesting a con- 

 fidential conversation. His manner was excited and mysterious, 

 and the proposition he made to me was indeed rather exciting 

 and of great importance. He came from an audience with 

 the Emperor Maximilian, whose position threatened to become 

 alarming, for the French were on the point of leaving the 

 country. 



Though the American Government had at that time done 

 nothing hostile to MaximiUan, they had not recognized him, 

 and it was well-known that they were opposed to the estabHsh- 

 ment of a monarchy so near their frontier. There was, how- 

 ever, a party in the United States who did not look quite un- 

 favourably on such a plan, for they thought it better for the 

 interest of their countiy that order should be restored in 

 Mexico, as its troubled state interfered not only with the 

 security of the many American citizens living there, but also 

 with the general mercantile transactions between the two 

 countries. President Johnson himself was rather favourably 

 inclined in reference to the civilizing mission of the young 

 Emperor, and it seemed therefore not irnpossible to turn the 

 scale in Congress in favour of the cause ot Maximilian, and to 

 win a majority for his recognition by the United States. This 

 would have been of the highest importance, and increased the 

 chance of Maximilian's success more than the ambiguous and 

 humiliating patronage of the French Emperor. If only the 

 United States remained neutral it would have been much 

 gained, for if they declared themselves positively against the 

 Emperor his downfall would have been only a question of time. 

 As I was well acquainted not only with President Johnson 

 and most of the influential persons in the United States, but 



J 



