The foreign residents in particular found Mexico a dangerous country to live in, and within a few years Spain, England, and France were making heavy claims against the country for damage done to their citizens.
The claims of England and Spain were satisfied, and they withdrew the troops they had sent to Mexico to enforce their demands.
France, however, could get no satisfaction, and so she remained, and carried on war against the Mexicans until she succeeded in getting a little the best of them.
It was at this moment that Louis Napoleon made up his mind that an Emperor was what Mexico needed, and sent out the unfortunate Archduke Maximilian to rule a wild, boisterous, and only half-conquered people.
The Mexicans, ever pleased with a change, welcomed the Emperor very kindly; the beauty and charity of the Empress made many friends for her, and for a time all went well.
With the aid of the French troops, Maximilian completed the conquest of the rebellious Mexicans, and was at the height of his popularity, when, in an evil moment, he made a proclamation that all the rebels who had fought against the government should be regarded as bandits, and punished as such.
The people were furious at this. These bandits were many of them of their own families and friends, and revolutions were so common in the country, that they could not see why these men should be hanged and shot by a foreign prince, whom they had never invited to come and govern them.
From that moment they began to conspire against him, and his position was becoming very unsafe, when Napoleon ordered his French soldiers to return from Mexico.
Maximilian would not allow this; he reminded Napoleon that he had only accepted the throne on the condition that the French soldiers were left to protect him; but Napoleon III. paid no attention to his protest, nor to the assurance that he would not be safe if the French soldiers were withdrawn.
The orders to return to France were repeated.