MAXIMILIAN OF MEXICO.*
Ma. Manner, in spite of an undistinguished style, deserves credit for being an industrious collector of material. It is characteristic' of his method that be provides his books with a perfect gallery of illustrations. He has a liking for such details as please the readers of "society" papers. Not that a man's taste in clothes or in wines, in brnehing his hair or in choosing his menus, is without significance ; still, it may be used as Carlyle used it, and not as Mr. Martin uses it. Yet we suppose that such a well-known maker of books as Mr. Martin understands his public, and it may be that people read history in this manner who would not read it in any other. If that be so, it is certainly something to the good. And the story of Maximilian is always worth the telling; not only is it a tragedy that seems as though it bad wandered from the seventeenth century into the nineteenth, but it affords a signal example of the folly of fancying that high-sounding phrases are a substitute for the kovernment that a people desire.
Ferdinand Maximilian was the yoenger brother of Francis Joseph, the present Austrian Emperor. Mr. Martin tells us that the elder brother suspected the younger brother of incon- venient ambitions, and that as a result of this suspicion Ire treated him not only callously, but with wicked enmity. He suggests that Francis Joseph was especially glad to consent to the choice of Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico, because it was known to be a post of peril. Our own suspicion is that Mr. Martin exaggerates this matter and many others for the purpose—unconscious, no doubt—of dipping his brush in the striking colours of hate and diabolic intrigue. Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugenie suffer almost worse at his bands than the Emperor Francis Joseph. We do not say that Mr. Martin ought by any means to believe all that • Mareniliaa in Merico the Story of the French Interrentiort (1861-1087). ar Percy F. Martin, F.E.G.S. London: Constable and Co. 121.. set.] ... M. 011ivier has written in his L'Empire Libiral, but at all events a course of that history might correct his opinions sufficiently for him to do justice where injustice in purely unneeessary. Napoleon III. was ambitious, vain, and rather incapable, like many other rulers, but Ile bad some decent ideals and a certain brain-power. As for the Empress Eugenie, whatever her political indiscretions were, she has paid for them so far as a human being can in suffering, and her restraint and dignity have won the respect of all people capable of sympathy. If Mr. Martin were a more serious historian than Ire is we should protest more vigor- ously against the charge of inhumanity he brings against het As it is, it must at least be recorded as an offence. The Emperor Francis Joseph, who also ham reached an honoured old age, has learned much, chiefly along the path of stiffer' lug. No Monarch in Europe has turned popular mistrust into popular regard more completely than he.
No doubt the Mexican Expedition was conceived in ambi- tion. It was mainly an ambitious idea of Napoleon III., who thirsted for glory, although Ile bad nutteriul thoughts of improving French trade with the Western world. It may also be true that Ire was the unconscious victim of the shady financial manceuvres of his ille- gitimate blether, the Due de Monty. Although the British and the Spanish joined in the expedition, they never bad their hearts in it, and were glad to wash their hands of it at the earliest possible moment. Under French manipulation a group of Mexican notables were induced to appeal to the Powers for an Emperor, and Marrimilian was invited to ascend the throne, much as Otho of Bavaria was invited to ascend the Greek throne in MA sodas the Prince of Wied is now asked to become the ruler of Albania. Maximilian was au officer in the Austrian Navy ; Ire was a man of culture, of wide travel, a musician, and an excellent linguist He was highly amiable, and had been popular as Governor of the Lombardo-Venetian provinces, and as a generous host at his castle of Miramar. He was rather wanting in decision and a poor judge of character, yet not without admirable motives. He had married Princess Char- lotte, the very beautiful daughter of Leopold I. of Belgium. The name of the latter, of course, figures frequently and creditably in the diaries of Queen Victoria. Princess Charlotte was an ambitious woman, accomplished and ener- getic, and she stood to her husband much in the relation in winch the Empress Eugenie stood to Napoleon III. Maxi. milian replied to the invitation to the throne that it must be backed by a vote of the whole country. A vote of the whole of Mexico was no more possible to obtain in those days than it would be to-day, and Maximilian was soon satisfied with the assurance that the Mexicans really desired him for a King, and that he could perform in their country a great function of civilization. He did not know the truth, and never dis- covered it till he was eh Wally fighting for his life. In May, 1864, he set foot in Mexico, and by April, 1865, he was con- scious that the French troops were doing. little to pacify the country. Mr. Martin sayer- '. By therm:41th of April 1865 the imperial troops operating in Mexico under the command of Marshal Bazaine amounted to some 63,800 men, of whom over one-half were soldiers of the line. They included likewise 20,000 Mexicans, 8,500 • rurales' (or mounted police), 6,000 Austrian volunteers, and 1,360 Belgian irregulars. The troops were very much dispersed, however, and Bassin° con- ceived the idea of concentrating them upon an entirely new plan, a determination which was entirely disapproved of by Maximilian. Indeed the relations between the sovereign and the French com- mander-in-chief were becoming more and more strained, and a furious attack upon the French army, published simultaneously in the principal native journals supporting the monarchy, not unnaturally led to the belief that Maximilian was designedly seeking a quarrel with the Marshal with a view to his recall. The only immediate result, however, of this move was the arrest and punishment, by fine and imprisonnient, attire offending journalists, proceedings winch the emperor was compelled to countenance in order to avoid au open rupture with the commander-in-ehief." Things went from bad to worse, and in October, 1865, Maximilian, on an impels° characteristic of a weak man, consented to publish the notorious "Black Decree," by winch all Mexicans bearing arms against the monarchy were placed beyond the law. If Maximilian had learned anything by that time, it ought to have been that when the majority of a population are in iusurrection belligerent rights cannot be withheld. The Liberals, as the insurgents were called,
jristly refused to have any further direct negotiations with . .
Maximilian's staff. In 1866 Napoleon had had enough of Mexico, and withdrew his troops during that year and the following year. Mr. Martin writes of this as a disgraceful act of treachery, but it is really necessary to remember that many of the French officers were shocked by the terms under which they were required to fight against the Liberals. Mr. Martin comments contemptuously on the meanness of the French officers in saying that they would destroy the military equipment which they could not take away with them rather than let Maximilian have it for nothing. But when officers are found in that state of mind it is desirable to look for the motive rather more carefully than Mr. Martin has done.
The rest of the tragedy is soon told. Maximilian refused the opportunity offered to him of withdrawing with the French, and was left to fight alone. His wife meanwhile visited Europe to intercede with Napoleon and the Pope for assistance. She lost her reason during the voyage, and though she is still alive has never recovered it. Her hysterical appeals to the French Court and at the Vatican were of not the least avaiL As a matter of fact, the Pope was no friend of Maximilian since the latter, in spite of his own genuine religious faith, had declared his inability to restore the Establishment and the religions Orders, which had been abolished before his arrival by the Liberal President, Benito Juarez. At length Maximilian found himself in a very tight corner in the town of Queretaro, which was besieged by the Liberals. The town was betrayed by the infamous Colonel Miguel Lopez, whom Maximilian should never have trusted. After Maximilian had been captured hia execution was almost inevitable. Benito Juarez was a man of enough chivalry and imagination to behave generously, but probably the Black Decree had made mercy almost impossible. It is an irony worth noting that had Maximilian never lent himself to the ambitious Mexican adventure he would now, owing to the suicide of the Austrian Crown Prince, be the nearest in succession to the Austrian throne. We may end with Maximilian's most touching letter to his insane wife written juat before his execution:— " My Bstovan Casa.torrs,—
If God permits that your health be restored, and you should read these few lines, you will learn the cruelty with which fate has stricken me since your departure for Europe. You took with you not only my heart but my good fortune. Why did I not give heed to year voice ? So many untoward events ! Alas! so many sudden blows have stricken my hopes, that death is hot a happy deliverance, not an agony to me. I shall die gloriously, like a soldier, likes monarch, vanquished but not dishonoured. If your sufferings are too great, and God shall call you to join me, I shall bless fiis divine hand, which has weighed so heavily upon no.
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