ere disregarded. But when our hands were freed by the
collapse of the Confederacy, Napoleon changed his tone. The French
troops were withdrawn early in 1867, and Maximilian was left to his
fate. The unhappy prince, betrayed by his own general, fell into the
hands of the old Mexican Government, now in the ascendant, and was tried
by court-martial and shot. It should be remembered, however, that
France's unfriendly attitude all through the Rebellion was maintained by
her unscrupulous emperor and did not reflect the wish of the French
people.

The expenses of the war were colossal. From beginning to close they
averaged $2,000,000 a day, sometimes running up to $3,500,000. The
expenditure for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1865, was nearly
$2,000,000,000. Of this the War Department required, in round numbers,
$1,000, 000,000; the navy department, $123,000,000. These figures reveal
the vast scale upon which the war was waged by land and sea. The
national debt rose with frightful rapidity. It was $64,000,000 in 1860,
$1,100,000,000 in 1863, $2,800,000,000 (the highest point reached) in
1865. State and local war debts would swell the amount to more than
$4,000,000,000.

The position of Secretary of the Treasury during the war was anything
but a bed of roses. The ordinary national income was hardly a drop in
the bucket compared with the enormous and constantly increasing
expenses. The total receipts for the year ending July 1, 1860, were only
$81,000,000. How should the vast sums needed to carryon the war be
raised? Resort was had to two sources of revenue--taxation and loans.

A considerable revenue was already derived from customs imposed upon
imported goods. In 1861, and again in 1863, tariffs were raised
enormously, professedly to increase the revenue. These high rates in a
measure defeated their own purpose, altogether stopping the importation
of not a few articles.

The war compelled the Government to resort to internal taxation--always
unpopular and now unknown in the United States for nearly half a
century. Taxes were laid upon almost everything--upon trades, incomes,
legacies, manufactures. The words of Sydney Smith will apply to our
internal taxes during the war:

"Taxes on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs
the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice; on the
brass nails of the coffin and the ribands of the bride." The tax on many
finished products ranged from eight