Charles-François-Frédéric de Montholon

Charles-François-Frédéric de Montholon (1814–1886) belonged to the family of the Napoleonic general Charles-Tristan de Montholon and the memoirist Albine de Montholon. He entered diplomacy after leaving Saint-Cyr, beginning as an attaché at Athens in 1834. His American connections preceded his appointment as minister: he worked at the Washington legation, married Marie-Victoria Gratiot there in 1837, and later served at Quito, Lima, and the French consulate in New York. ¹

His transfer from Mexico to Washington in 1865 placed him between Napoleon III’s intervention in Mexico and American opposition to a monarchy backed by Europe there. In January 1866 he questioned William Seward about a raid on Bagdad, near the Rio Grande, and possible American participation. Seward’s account records that he consulted the War Department and assured Montholon that the expedition was unauthorized and that recruitment on American soil would be stopped. ^{2, 1}

On 21 April 1866 Montholon formally transmitted the French government’s proposed timetable for withdrawing its army from Mexico. Foreign Minister Drouyn de Lhuys announced three departures, beginning in November 1866 and ending in November 1867, while emphasizing assurances of American non-intervention. ³

Montholon subsequently represented France at Lisbon and entered the imperial Senate in 1870. His parliamentary service ended with the collapse of the Second Empire that September. He died at Rouen in 1886. ⁴