in the hour of victory would be glad to strengthen herself by an alliance with the gimcrack Empire which he proposed to erect on the ruins of the Mexican Republic. In so doing, they undoubtedly embittered their relations with the North, and became entangled in an enterprise from which they were speedily obliged to beat a retreat. Not that the grievances of England, France, and Spain, the signatories of the Convention of 1861, against the Mexican Republic, were not perfectly genuine. During the anarchy which for years had desolated that unhappy State, English subjects had been exposed to all kinds of outrage, and redress had never been obtained. Agreements which had been made by various presidents to set aside a certain portion of the customs receipts for the satisfaction of foreign bondholders, had never been fully carried out; the house of the British Legation had been robbed of part of the money that was actually paid, and another portion had been carried off while on its way to the coast. At the same time, Lord Palmerston's Government were hardly well-advised in pushing matters to an extremity at that particular moment. The prospect of French and Spanish co-operation was perhaps tempting; but, on the other hand, a war with the North appeared to be imminent over the Trent affair, and the circumstances of Mexico herself appeared to counsel delay. For, bad as the government of the Red Indian Juarez was, it was the government of a strong man, and should have been allowed time to make head against its clerical antagonists, instead of being coerced to satisfy wrongs which had been committed for the most part by its predecessors. Besides, there lurked in the minds of two of the signatory Powers a shrewd suspicion that the third was not strictly to be relied upon, and it was found advisable to

insert an article in the Convention by which the three Powers bound themselves not to interfere with the form of government established in Mexico. When it appeared that these suspicions were only too well based, that Napoleon had not only determined to overthrow the Mexican Republic, but actually had his nominee, the unfortunate Archduke Maximilian, in waiting, there was nothing left for the English Government but to withdraw themselves from the Convention, and their small force of 700 marines from the expedition. At least there was no hesitation on the part of the Cabinet, and they extricated themselves from a dangerous enterprise without loss of dignity.

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CHAPTER XV.

POLAND AND SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.

1863-1865.

The Polish Rebellion-Policy of the Cabinet-The proposed European Congress-The Schleswig-Holstein Question-Motives of the Powers-English advice to Denmark-The Cabinet determines on eutrality-The Conference of London-Lord Palmerston on the state of Europe-The Danish debate-Palmerston's last victory— The General Election of 1865-Lord Palmerston's last illness and death-Conclusion.

FROM the hour of the withdrawal of the English contingent from the Mexican expedition to the last day of his life, Lord Palmerston never laid aside his distrust of the Emperor Napoleon. It became a fixed idea with him, and when opporturities presented themselves for reconstituting the alliance of the Western Powers he deliberately rejected them. Such an opportunity was the Polish rebellion of 1863. The cause of the insurgents, gallantly maintained against overwhelming numbers, was extremely popular in England; it was favoured by statesmen of all shades of opinion, and was the theme of enthusiastic resolutions passed at swollen mass meetings. Food for eloquent periods was especially to be found in the proceedings of the new

un

Nor should we have
France would have

Prussian Minister, Herr von Bismarck, who had turned the occasion to his own ends, ard at the same time prevented the spread of the rebellion, by proposing to the Russian Chancellor-and the proposal was gladly accepted that the two Governments should sign a convention authorising the troops of each nation to cross. their respective frontiers in pursuit of fugitive rebels. This grim method of exterminating the revolt aroused a perfect storm of indignation throughout the country; and a war for the liberation of Poland would doubtedly have been very popular. gone to the battle without allies. plunged enthusiastically into the struggle, for affection for the Poles had been for centuries a national proclivity, and her ruler was drawn in the same direction by the double consideration that the reconstruction of Poland was a Napoleonic tradition, and that success on the Vistula would detract attention from the failure imminent in Mexico. As there was no fear of the movement extending into Galicia, the Austrian Government would certainly not have departed from a friendly neutrality.

Lord Palmerston made no secret of his sympathies with the insurgents. He wrote a letter to Baron Brünnow in which he bluntly told him that he regarded the Polish rebellion as the just punishment inflicted by Heaven on Russia for her numerous attempts to stir up revolution in the Christian Provinces of the Porte. In the House of Commons he was equally outspoken against Prussia. He hoped that the February convention would not be carried into execution, "because such an interference of Prussia with what was then passing in Poland would excite, as it had already excited, great condemnation everywhere, and if that

conventional interference were followed by acts it would cast discredit on the Government of Prussia." But the Prime Minister and his colleagues were determined not to commit themselves to any threat of intervention. They thoroughly distrusted the Emperor of the French, and declined his invitation to address, in concert with Austria, a violent note of remonstrance to the Prussian Government. The Premier, in a letter to the King of the Belgians, described the invitation as a trap. They felt, also, that it was useless to engage in a war of which the object would have been the establishment of Poland as an independent State, when the dissensions among the insurgents proved that the basis for such a State was altogether wanting. Under the circumstances, the diplomatic action of the three Powers was barren of result. Lord Palmerston helped to frame some able despatches the aim of which was to convince Prince. Gortschakoff that the promises of a constitution made to the Poles at the Congress of Vienna had never been carried out; Austria took the lead in declaring that Poland was a source of never-ending disquietude to Europe; and the three Powers agreed upon six suggestions of reform which they urged in concert upon the Russian Government. But, unaccompanied by a menace of war, their remonstrances at Berlin and St. Petersburg were not treated with much respect, and signally failed to ameliorate the lot of Poland.

Lord Palmerston was quite as adverse to the next adventure of the Emperor of the French, his proposal that the treaties of 1815 should be submitted to a European Congress. It was known that Napoleon had been brooding over the idea for many years, and when it was at last put into shape it certainly contained a certain amount of plausibility. There was justice in