The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911 Page: 134
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134 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
terfering in behalf of a slave-holding people. For this reason he
had held aloof with Great Britain.
The "profound" and "sagacious" emperor of the French deter-
mined to elevate France to the highest position among the nations,
is credited with understanding both the designs of Great Britain
and the predicament of the Czar. He has no desire to see the
South conquered, for then the United States is likely to become a
militant empire, stretching out over Mexico, Central America and
the West Indies, and thus grasping and monopolizing every great
tropical product of the western world. Nor does he intend for
Great Britain to reap the profits of the ruin of American com-
merce, if that should be the result of the war. Both contingencies
must be defeated since "either would circumscribe the importance
of France, diminish the influence of the French empire, wound
the vanity of the French people, and endanger the present dynasty
upon the throne." To this great end he had seized upon Mexico,
forestalling the United States and securing to France a rich tropi-
cal region from which could be drawn the raw materials of manu-
factures, a region in which the existent institution of peonage
could easily be converted into the institution of slavery. It could
be no part of his plans to suffer the South to be subjugated for
that would inevitably bring him into conflict with the undivided
United States; it must be his purpose first to secure himself in
Mexico and then intervene in behalf of the South. This would
break the power of the North, foil Great Britain, create an im-
mense French empire and carry France to a higher position than
she had ever held even in the days of the great Napoleon.
Closing the long quotation, Major Tyler points out that the
Polish revolution and the fear of French interference there had
lately caused the Czar to draw closer to the United States and
Great Britain, and had forced Napoleon III to conciliate Austria
by offering the crown of Mexico to Maximilian. The Emperor
could not afford to risk fighting the United States, Great Britain
and Russia combined, by intervening alone in the American strug-
gle upon the vague principles of humanity and in consideration of
his own selfish advantages. The principle of European balance of
power would admit only of a joint intervention, and then not in
behalf of the South, but in accordance with the doctrine of uti
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 14, July 1910 - April, 1911, periodical, 1911; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101054/m1/148/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.