The Daily Dispatch: March 24, 1865., [Electronic resource]

It seems evident that Maximilian is steadily consolidating his powers in Mexico. He is believed to be a man of sagacity; of sound judgment; of an amiable disposition; a wise, liberal and firm man. His administration thus far confirms this belief, and we shall not be surprised to see Mexico become a happy, prosperous and powerful country under his reign. If the sagacious ruler of France lives long enough, Maximilian will receive from that powerful empire a support which will render it questionable in the extreme whether the United States will find it any child's play to undertake the overthrow of the new Power. Certainly, if the present war is protracted any considerable length of time, the United States may bid good-bye to its cherished schemes of territorial extension southward. Mexico and Cuba will be safe from the swoop of the eagle. With bankrupt finances, and the Southern population under the hoof of oppression, driven to madness by the execution of their leaders and the confiscation of their property, it will be no safe enterprise to attempt the invasion of a country so distant, and supported by the military power of France. That will be a very different enterprise from making war, ten to one, upon the struggling South, cut off from the world, without a navy, and without friends among the nations. But even this they have not accomplished after a war of four years, in which they have passed the culminating point of their capacity for conquest without effecting that result. We rather think that the "manifest destiny" of Mexico points in a different direction from formerly.