Maximilian I of Mexico

“ It will be an honour to his majesty the Emperor Maximilian and to the Mexican nation to have thus accomplished that work of civilisation which we shall always feel proud of having encouraged and protected at the outset. The court of Mexico was stupified, and even showed openly all its grief at the conduct of the Tuileries, feeling it all the more strongly as the Mexican treasury had been emptied to meet its engagements to France. ”

“ He will keep on styling himself to our shame,—Emperor of Mexico; all dissatisfied Mexicans will keep up an active correspondence with him about his supposed popularity there, and even may induce him to return at some future time, as they did with Iturbide; such of them as can afford it will go over to Austria and form a Mexican court for Maximilian at Miramar, and he will have enough of them to organize a legitimate Mexican government there, as the ex-king of the Two Sicilies did at Rome, after he was expelled from Naples ”

“ My dear Marshal and Friend,—It is with the greatest pleasure that I have just heard of your promotion to the rank of marshal.
By distinguishing you with so high a mark of favour, the emperor fulfils the desire of all good Mexicans, to whom, in his name, you have brought liberty and peace, for which they will always be grateful to you. One thing alone could lessen the joy which this happy event causes us, it is in case it should result in your leaving our country. I trust that the Emperor Napoleon will not deprive Mexico of services which are so necessary to her well-being. ”

“ The president's presence on Mexican territory deeply affected Maximilian, who imagined that the resistance of the malcontents was due to this cause only. In spite of the want of troops which was felt in the central states, the court of Mexico itself resolved on a second expedition against Chihuahua, and it signified its desire to the commander-in-chief in terms which clearly prove that the emperor reigned and governed in complete independence. ”

“ For more than a year the instructions sent to the French agents in Mexico, and inspired by the feeling of the reciprocal duties and obligations which we have contracted, have aimed to bring before the Mexican government certain recommendations dictated by the interest of the two countries no less than by the sincere friendship which his majesty feels for the Emperor Maximilian. ”

“ At this late day, passing in review the acts of Maximilian, we believe that he was honest, first, in believing that he was called to Mexico by the popular voice; second, in accepting as sincere those expressions of joy at his arrival, from the people along the route he travelled, then under French control. But he saw only a superficial demonstration; deep down in the nation's heart still strongly throbbed the desire for liberty—for the people, of the people, and by the people. Every grace of person and endowment of intellect he doubtless possessed ”

“ It must be understood that article 2 of the treaty of Miramar,—worded as follows, 'The French troops shall evacuate Mexico in proportion as his majesty the Emperor of Mexico shall be able to organise troops to replace them'—would confer on France the strict right of diminishing its forces, inasmuch as Maximilian had had for eighteen months both the time and the means for organising a part of his army, if he had not been hindered by his generals and officials. ”

“ A conqueror, with bayonet and cannon-ball, has brought to this people the very boon which forty years ago they craved,—a monarchy, with an offshoot from European royalty sitting upon its throne. If Maximilian come to Mexico, he can build his palace on a corner-stone which Iturbide, Guerrero, and many another patriot leader who sleeps in a bloody grave, helped to lay. ”

“ Maximilian had dreamt of an impossibility when he desired to keep all these immense solitudes under his sceptre, and our head-quarters authorities would, in my opinion, have acted wisely in resisting still more strongly than they did the impulse of the crown; for our troops traversing Mexico resembled a ship gliding through the water and leaving behind it no traces of its track. ”

“ The United States have not seen any satisfactory proof that the people of Mexico have had a voice in the matter, or that they have established or accepted the self-styled empire which is asserted to have been established in their capital. As I have remarked on former occasions, the United States are of opinion that no popular assent can be either freely obtained or legitimately accepted at any time, in the presence of the French army of invasion. The withdrawal of the French forces appears to them a necessary measure to allow Mexico to resort to a manifestation of this nature. ”

“ The moment is now come for Mexico to satisfy every doubt and to elevate its patriotism to the pitch required by the difficult circumstances through which she has to pass. At home as well as abroad, the attacks directed against the particular form of government she has adopted will doubtless gradually weaken when it will be she alone who defends it, and they will be powerless against an union of the sovereign and the people firmly cemented by trials courageously accepted and endured together. ”

“ How many centuries have been required, since Charlemagne, for shaking off barbarism and fanaticism, and for finally organising a nation, and how many commotions has it cost? We are all too forgetful of history.
Public opinion was painfully excited by the discord which broke out during the last year between the imperial authority of Mexico and the French commander. There is but little reason to wonder at it, if it is true that the instructions emanating from Paris, and going a year back, directed that an almost compulsory abdication was to be obtained from Maximilian. ”

“ Maximilian, Miramon, and Mejia arrived at about a quarter past seven, brought in carriages, and each one accompanied by a priest. Maximilian descended first and said courteously to his companions in misfortune: “Let us go, gentlemen,” and the three directed themselves with firm step to the place of execution, where they gave each other a farewell embrace. Maximilian then advanced and distributed twenty-peso gold pieces among the soldiers, who were to shoot him, and then, raising his voice, said: “I am about to die for a just cause, the liberty and independence of Mexico. ”

“ As Mexican affairs were in a very turbulent state, Napoleon promised Maximilian that he would keep a number of French troops in the country, and support him with an armed force, until the people of Mexico had learned to love and trust him, and he could rule them without danger.
Under these conditions Maximilian accepted, and the young couple became Emperor and Empress of Mexico, and, setting forth to their new land, bade farewell to Europe and happiness. ”

“ We must, first of all, say that there is cause for painful surprise that the ministers who countersigned this decree, and subsequently abandoned Maximilian in order to take refuge in France, have not as yet raised their voice to defend the memory of the sovereign who himself conceived and signed this fatal bando; for in full council, and from the very lips of the emperor, they had learnt the truth.
As soon as the news that Juarez had crossed the frontier at Paso del Norte reached Mexico, there was great joy at the palace. The army then held all the strong positions. ”

“ There is but one feeling here as to the determination of France to wash its hands of Mexico as soon as possible. I doubt not that the emperor is acting in good faith towards us; but I was not sure that the change in his plans which I have commented upon would receive an equally favourable interpretation in the United States. ”

“ Yet he is commemorated in the national anthem,* and a certain hold, in the Napoleonic way, which he had upon the popular imagination, was relied upon by the French when they endeavored to establish Maximilian in Mexico. A grandson of Iturbide still lives who was adopted by Maximilian, in order to give his dynasty a more indigenous effect, and made heir to the succession. ”

“ It will not do to impute to Maximilian the responsibility of all the decay through which the empire was about to succumb; money, the sinews of war, was already deficient. As the French government had resolved, at the cost of enormous sacrifices, opposed by public opinion, to found a firm dynasty in Mexico, was it not wrong in having paid to its ally only forty millions out of two enormous loans—loans by which it had realised, through its own receivers-general, the sum of five hundred millions lent by imprudent subscribers who had been allured and then deceived? ”

“ A success, which in reality is but insignificant, has taken place, which is much boasted of. To make up for it, there is
a report that the rebels have entered Queretaro without firing a shot, the imperialists having evacuated the town. This news, however, is not at all certain. It is feared that the road to Mexico will now be closed for Maximilian. As the French retired, they solidly strengthened the whole road which might serve as a line of retreat for the emperor if a moment of danger arrived. ”

“ His decree of July 1861, suspending for two years all payments on public debts of every kind, led to the landing in Mexico of English, Spanish and French troops. The first two powers were soon induced to withdraw their forces; but the French remained, declared war in 1862, placed Maximilian upon the throne as emperor, and drove Juarez and his adherents to the northern limits of the republic. Juarez maintained an obstinate resistance, which resulted in final success. In 1867 Maximilian was taken at Querétaro, and shot; and in August Juarez was once more elected president. ”

“ The auxiliary regiments, Maximilian's most trustworthy dependence in his extremity, were, by the advice of Marquez, left behind. The Emperor, he urged, must now throw himself entirely upon the Mexican nation. Thus Colonels Kodolitch, Khevenhuller, Hammerstein, and others, remained in Mexico, and only a few of the Emperor's foreign supporters followed him. ”

“ Moreover, it was becoming obvious, from the various complications occurring upon the Rio Grande, that the befriending of the Confederate refugees must henceforth seriously add to the difficulty of obtaining the recognition of the Mexican empire by the United States—an end which Maximilian had greatly at heart, and one which, strangely enough, he never lost the hope of accomplishing, so little did he, even after two years' residence in Mexico, understand American conditions. ”

“ Many of the questions which arose between Maximilian and Marshal Bazaine might have been discussed in a more conciliatory way by friendly conversation than by correspondence; but Maximilian often requested the marshal to come but seldom to the palace at Mexico, as the visits of the French commander-in-chief to the sovereign might (so the emperor fancied) be unfavourably interpreted by the Mexicans. ”

“ Sir:—I have the honor to inform you that by the last mail received from the United States I have intelligence that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of my government has directed a courier to be sent to you to beg, upon the part of my government, that in the event of the capture, as a prisoner of war, of the Prince Maximilian of Austria, His Excellency the President of Mexico may be pleased, through a spirit of clemency and also of friendship for the United States, that the Prince Maximilian may be spared his life should it be in danger. ”

“ These Mexican officials, who a short time back dreaded endangering themselves even in Mexico, would never have consented to traverse sixty leagues of country ripe for revolt, merely to register an abdication. They then knew the real aim of their assembling at La Jalapilla. When the above despatch arrived at our head-quarters, Miramon's arrival and his proceedings in the capital had already foretold the reaction which had taken place in Maximilian's resolutions; the attitude of the ministers, which had now become almost ungracious, was a sure sign of this. ”

“ Your communications as American representative must be addressed to him in whatever place he may be, and, at all events, you will be unable to recognise officially either the Prince Maximilian, who claims to be emperor of Mexico, or any other person, chief, or commission, carrying on the executive power in Mexico, without having previously referred to my department, and without receiving the instructions of the President of the United States. ”

“ He had some reputation as a Liberal, and this led, in February 1857, to his appointment as viceroy of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom; in the same year he married the Princess Charlotte, daughter of Leopold I., king of the Belgians. On the outbreak of the war of 1859 he retired into private life, chiefly at Trieste, near which he built the beautiful chateau of Miramar. ”

“ Only fourteen days before, MM. Larès and Arroyo showed much less anxiety about the future of their country, when they tendered their resignations at the palace of Chapultepec, and declared that, if Maximilian quitted Mexico, 'there would no longer be a government.'
On November 7 the three French authorities confirmed the resolutions of the Emperor Napoleon. All the Mexican forces and munitions of war were to be given up to the imperial generals, who were already in possession of all the military establishments. ”