No doubt but Napoleon and the officials of the Second Empire sympathized with the government of the Confederate States, and would have given them substantial aid if they had dared; but the Russian Czar sent a fleet to New York as a warning,—­and the French had had enough of Russians on their track.

It was expressly stipulated in France, upon the founding of the Maximilian Empire, that the obligations given for funds to carry on the survey and location of the Iturbide Grant should be inscribed and recognized as a public debt of the Empire, and such will be found a matter of record and history.  Many Frenchmen, no doubt, keep them as companion souvenirs to the obligations of the Panama Canal.  The Grant has never been located, and the Mexican government yet owes the heirs, in equity, the original million dollars.

The French, under Maximilian, occupied Mexico up to the American boundary line, and many Mexicans took refuge in the United States,—­among them Pesquiera, the governor of Sonora.  His camp was at the old Mission of Tumucacori, in the Santa Cruz Valley and his wife is buried there.

President Juarez, of Mexico, was a refugee at El Paso del Norte during the reign of Maximilian, in destitute circumstances, when I was enabled to furnish him with a hundred thousand dollars in gold on a concession of Lower California.  The circumstances were recently related for the Examiner of San Francisco, by Senor Romero, the Mexican minister in Washington.

During the brief existence of the Maximilian Empire in Mexico, many Americans flocked to the capital for adventures, as sympathizers with the government of the Confederate States, and consequently with the occupation of Mexico.

The late Senator Gwin of California was the acknowledged leader of the Americans, and it was rumored that he was to be created Duke of Sonora, but I never believed that the sterling old Democrat would have accepted a title of nobility.

The battle of Gettysburg sealed the fate of the Maximilian Empire, as well as the fate of the empire of the United States.  The Mexican Empire and the French Empire have both passed away like dreams, but the Empire of the People grows stronger every year.

IV

Arizona a Territory at Last

When the Civil War was nearly over, General Heintzelman accompanied me on a call at the executive mansion, to solicit the organization of a territorial government for Arizona.

President Lincoln listened to my tale of woe like a martyr, and finally said, “Well, you must see Ben Wade about that.”

I subsequently called upon Senator Wade of Ohio, the chairman of the Committee on Territories, and repeated my story of Arizona.

The bluff old Senator said, “O, yes, I have heard of that country,—­it is just like hell—­all it lacks is water and good society.”

He finally consented to attend a meeting at the President’s, to discuss the subject.