THE END
I. QUERETARO, 1867
The end is known. On February 13 the Emperor, with Generals Marquez and
Vidaurri, at the head of a column of some two thousand men, sallied
forth from Mexico to establish his base of operations at Queretaro.
After his defeat at San Jacinto (January 27), General Miramon, with the
remains of his army, had fallen back upon Queretaro, then held by
General Mejia with nine hundred men, and it was urged that Maximilian
should there join his faithful generals. This plan, evolved by Senor
Lares and the clerical leaders, had for its ostensible object to spare
the capital the horrors of a siege. But it was more than suspected that
a certain distrust had arisen between the Emperor and his Mexican
supporters. They feared lest he also might make terms with the national
party; and they wished, by inducing him to leave the capital, to put it
out of his power to sacrifice them or their cause. Had he not once
before, after accepting the crown at their hands, thrown himself into
the arms of their enemies by calling Liberal leaders to his councils?
However worthy in the eyes of posterity may appear Maximilian's attempt
to reconcile opposing elements in the interest of peace and order, such
a course was not calculated to inspire confidence in his personal
loyalty to the once discarded extremists, now become his only
supporters. Miramon and Marquez were not likely to forget that, in the
hour of triumph of the monarchy erected by their hands, they had been
sent, as wags then put it, one to study the art of fortification in
Prussia, the other to watch the progress of civilization in Turkey.
It is difficult to penetrate all the hidden causes that governed the
extraordinary policy followed at this time; but there is little doubt
that individual interest and personal distrust played too large a part
in its adoption. However this may be, it was at Queretaro that the last
scene of the tragedy was enacted.
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.
General Quiroga's division was withdrawn from San Luis and brought to
Queretaro, while the veteran division of General Mendez, who had
victoriously held Morelia and the Michoacan against the forces of
Generals Regules and Corona, was likewise ordered, on February 13, to
abandon that section of the country and to hasten to the Emperor's
support. These leaders, with Generals Miramon, Marquez, Mejia, and
Castillo, and General Arellano, who commanded the artillery, were the
most conspicuous among the Imperialist officers gathered around
Maximilian at this time.*
* A. Haus, "Queretaro: Souvenirs d'un Officier de l'Empereur
Maximilien," pp. 11, 17.
During the cruel weeks of mingled hope and despair that had elapsed
since he had left Chapultepec, Maximilian had conquered self. Now the
ambitious Austrian prince, the weak tool of intriguing politicians, the
upholder of religious and political retrogression, disappears; and where
he had stood posterity will henceforth see only the noble son of the
Hapsburgs, the well-bred gentleman who, aware of his failure, was ready
to stand by it and to pay the extreme penalty of his errors.
Before the figure of Maximilian of Austria, from the time when he took
command of his little army and resolved to stand for better or worse by
those who had remained faithful to his fallen fortunes, all true-hearted
men must bow with respect. From this time forth his words and acts were
noble; and in his attitude at this supreme moment, his incapacity as a
chief executive, his moral and intellectual limitations as a man, are
overlooked. We forget that he was no leader when we see how well he
could die.
It is noteworthy that, with the exception of General Miramon, those who
had most urged upon him the last sacrifice were not with him to share
it. Father Fischer disappeared from the stage of history almost as
abruptly as he had entered it. Senior Lares and the cabinet, who were
responsible for the last plan of action carried out by the Emperor, had
remained in Mexico at the head of affairs. General Marquez, when the
republican forces closed in upon the doomed empire, was sent from
Queretaro with General Vidaurri, under an escort of cavalry led by
General Quiroga, to raise supplies and reinforcements. He was vested
with supreme authority as lieutenant of the empire, and had pledged
himself to return with relief within twenty days. The Emperor wearily
counted the hours as time went by; but, like the raven sent out from
Noah's ark, General Marquez found enough to occupy him in the
satisfaction of his own greed, and was never again heard from by him who
sent him.
Overruling General Vidaurri, he deserted his imperial master in his
extremity. He used the extraordinary powers given him to establish
himself in the capital, where, for his own ends, he subjected the
wretched inhabitants to the most cruel extortions. Routed at San
Lorenzo* by General Diaz, who at once proceeded to besiege Mexico, he
unduly prolonged the resistance of the city after the final downfall of
the empire, exposing it to the unnecessary hardships of a four months'
siege, the horrors of which were mitigated only by the generosity and
forbearance of the Liberal commander.
* In the difficult retreat which followed these defeats, General Marquez
fled with a body of two hundred cavalry, leaving his beaten army, then
pursued by sixteen thousand men, to extricate itself as best it might.
Colonel Kodolitch then assumed command, and fighting his way through the
enemy, brought back the debris of the imperial forces, now reduced to
one third, to the capital, where the general had preceded him.
It is said that this extraordinary conduct on the part of their official
leader caused the indignant foreign officers no little concern with
regard to the future. In order to guard against similar accidents, a
council was held by the foreign leaders, Colonel Kodolitch, Captain von
Wickemburg, Captain Hammerstein, Commanders Klickzing and Chenet, etc.,
who resolved that, although it was deeply humiliating for them to serve
under a general who did not blush to desert his command under fire, as
their service was needed by the Emperor they would retain their
respective commissions; but in the moment of danger they would regard
themselves as under the orders of Colonel Kodolitch. They further
decided, should the city surrender, not to share in the terms of a
Mexican capitulation, but to make their own terms, or, if necessary, to
cut their way through to the sea.
See Charles d'Hericault, "Maximilien et le Mexique," page 231 et seq.
When at last the starving people rose in indignation, and would stand
him no longer, he suddenly vanished. It is said that on the eve of being
delivered into the hands of his enemies he managed his escape by
concealing himself in a freshly dug grave. Twenty-seven years elapsed
before the Mexican "Leopard" dared show his face once more in his native
land, now transformed by the triumph of the men and of the institutions
against which he had so desperately fought.
General Marquez, who, strangely enough, seems to have enjoyed the full
confidence of his sovereign, had opposed with all his influence General
Miramon's desire to conduct the war aggressively and to attack in detail
the enemy's forces before they could unite to invest Queretaro.*
* A. Haus, loc. cit., page 164.
Gradually the republican divisions, arriving from all points of the
country, were allowed to concentrate, until the imperial army was
completely hemmed in. The heroic sorties with which the weary monotony
of those weeks of expectancy was broken could now only result in the
gradual exhaustion of the besieged and of their supplies. General
Miramon, fretting under the restraint imposed upon him, saw the circle
growing closer and stronger, until it was too late to make a winning
fight. Only the energy of despair could contemplate a bare escape from
the trap in which the Imperialists were now caught.
After a siege of over two months (from March 4 to May 15), during which
his army had been cruelly depleted by frequent sorties and by the typhus
fever now raging in the town, having abandoned all hope of relief from
without, starvation staring him in the face, and ammunition beginning to
fail, Maximilian and his still faithful generals resolved to cut their
way through the enemy's lines with the little army, then numbering about
nine thousand men and thirty-nine guns. This course had been urged for
some time, but General Miramon, ever sanguine of ultimate success, had
opposed the idea.
Three o'clock in the morning of May 14 was the time agreed upon for the
sortie. Colonel Salm-Salm was to form a body-guard for the Emperor with
the Khevenhuller hussars, the cavalry under Major Malburg, and the
regiment of the Empress, commanded by Colonel Lopez.* All was in
readiness. The gold and silver in the imperial treasury were divided for
safe-keeping among four or five trusted men,** one of whom was Colonel
Lopez, military commander of La Cruz, who enjoyed the confidence of
Maximilian and had just received from him a decoration for valor.***
* Dr. Basch. (loc. cit., p. 229) mentions fifty of the Khevenhuller
hussars, eventually increased to one hundred by volunteers, and eighty
men were commanded by Major Malburg. Count Pacuta was lieutenant-colonel
of the cavalry regiment of the Empress, of which Colonel Lopez was
commander. These, led by Prince Salm-Salm, were to protect the Emperor
during the sortie.
** Colonel Lopez, Colonel Pradillo, Colonel Campos, Colonel Salm-Salm,
Dr. Basch, and the Emperor's secretary, Senor Blasio. See Basch, loc.
cit., p. 233.
*** Colonel Lopez was highly thought of by the French, who had conferred
upon him the red ribbon of the Legion of Honor. He was appointed to act
on the imperial escort when the monarch landed, at Vera Cruz, and made
himself agreeable to him. The dragoons of the Empress, of which he was
the commander, were regarded as one of the best regiments in the army.
The man's political past, however, did not bear investigation, and when
Maximilian, whose favorite he had become, thought of promoting him to
the rank of general, the best among the officers of the imperial army
requested General Mendez to inform the Emperor of his record. It has
been stated that his disappointed hopes influenced his conduct in the
dark transactions through which his name has been handed down to lasting
infamy.
When the generals assembled in council at ten o'clock on the evening of
May 13 to decide upon the final details of the projected sortie, General
Mejia stated that his preparations were not quite perfected, and it was
decided to postpone the venture until the following night.*
* Salm-Salm, loc. cit.
At ten o'clock on the evening of May 14 the generals once more assembled
in council of war with a view to arranging for the coming conflict; but
again the execution of the project was postponed twenty-four hours.
It was past eleven o'clock when Colonel Lopez left the Emperor's room
after talking over with his sovereign certain details connected with the
service. Before he went out Maximilian asked him, should he be wounded
in the sortie, to prevent his capture by blowing out his brains.*
* Basch, loc. cit., p. 233.
The Imperialist leaders had returned to their respective quarters. The
Emperor, however, was ill with dysentery; the excitement of the
approaching conflict kept him awake, and he did not retire till one
o'clock. At 3 he was seized with violent pain, and sent for his
physician. A profound stillness reigned over La Cruz as the doctor
passed through its corridors, and no sign of the impending catastrophe
attracted his attention.
But the angel of death was even then hovering over the group of brave
men gathered within the walls of the old convent on that fateful night.
The coming hours were pregnant with tragedy. At this very moment,
destiny was at work ruthlessly clipping the threads of the web so
painfully woven by them, and upon which hung their lives.
At 2 a. m. a young officer of artillery, Lieutenant Albert Haus,* to
whose special care his superior officer had intrusted the handling of
two pieces which, in the plan laid for the intended sortie, were to
defend the entrance of the huerta, or garden, of La Cruz, was awakened,
as previously arranged, by his old sergeant, as he slept, wrapped in his
zarape, by the side of his battery.
* See "Queretaro: Souvenirs d'un Officier de l'Empereur Maximilien"
(Paris, 1869).
For a while he paced up and down the platform, trying to overcome his
drowsiness, as he took up his watch, and finally he sat down on one of
the guns, feverishly awaiting the signal to prepare for the coming
struggle; for he was unaware of any change in the orders given.
Suddenly he heard rapid footsteps coming toward him, and Colonel Lopez,
recognizable in the dark by his uniform embroidered in silver, stood
before him, followed at a short distance by a body of soldiers. Pointing
to these, he said: "Here is a reinforcement of infantry. Arouse your
artillerymen; have this gun taken out of its embrasure and turned
obliquely to the left--quickly."
Believing that the time for the sortie had come, the lieutenant promptly
called his men, while Colonel Lopez stood by impatiently, upbraiding in
forcible terms the old sergeant, who, just aroused from his first sleep,
was slow to obey. After repeating his orders, he hastily withdrew.
The lieutenant was surprised at the strange instructions given him, and
although he reflected that the colonel must have good reasons for the
command,--probably some cause to fear an attack on this point,--he
instinctively felt a misgiving.
The platoon of infantry brought by Colonel Lopez had taken its stand
behind the battery. After carrying out the colonel's orders, the
lieutenant looked for his sword and his zarape, left by him on the
ground where he had lain. They were missing. Suspecting the newcomers,
he called their officer's attention to the fact. Then for the first time
he noticed the strange demeanor of his new companions. The officer was
utterly unknown to him. He seemed uncommunicative. There was something
particularly unfamiliar in the men's appearance. Yet as a number of
companies in the imperial army had been formed with city recruits or
even with prisoners taken in the sorties during the siege, this alone
would not have warranted serious suspicion. But when one of his
artillerymen came up to him excitedly and complained that his musket had
been taken from him, and when this complaint was promptly followed by
another, he again went to the officer and inquired to what corps he and
his men belonged. Without a moment's hesitation the stranger answered
that he formed part of General Mendez's brigade.
Lieutenant Hans had long served in this brigade and knew all its
officers. His doubts were at once aroused. The conviction gradually grew
upon him that something unusual was taking place, and again he begged
the officer to tell him the real cause of his presence at this post. The
man answered that news had come that one of the battalions of the
garrison of La Cruz had agreed to betray the place, but that fortunately
the conspiracy had been discovered, and that all the posts were now
being changed. This story tallied with the haste and peculiar manner of
Colonel Lopez, the commander of the place, as well as with the unusual
stir now visible farther along the line toward the pantheon. Anxious,
however, to get at the truth, the lieutenant resolved to join the
colonel, and asked the officer the direction which he had taken. The
stranger silently pointed toward the pantheon.
As the lieutenant proceeded to descend from the terrace, a sentry,
hitherto unnoticed, roughly stopped him, crying, "Halt, there!" The man
evidently had his orders, and the lieutenant turned to the strange
officer, requesting him to suspend them in his favor. The latter,
however, evaded the question. This irritated him, and noticing just then
a man holding one of the missing muskets, he attempted to tear it away
from him, whereupon the soldier attacked him with his bayonet, and
things might have gone hard with Lieutenant Haus had not the strange
officer interfered.
"But," exclaimed the young man, "will you tell me what on earth is going
on here?" "Do not worry," reiterated the strange officer." The truth is
that we are part of General Quiroga's brigade. We have just returned
from Mexico with General Marquez to relieve the place."
The palpable falsehood was enough to excite the young man's worst fears.
General Quiroga, it was well known, had left his infantry at Queretaro.
Moreover, it was quite impossible for troops to enter the closely
besieged place without being heard and recognized by the besiegers.
Something like the truth flashed through his brain. And yet how was he
to account for the presence and words of Colonel Lopez, whose interest,
as well as every tie of duty and gratitude, must bind him to the
Emperor? In his bewilderment he exclaimed: "Amid so many falsehoods, I
suspect treason." After a moment's hesitation the strange officer
replied: "Have no fear, senor; you are in the hands of the regular army.
We are not guerrilleros; we belong to the battalion of the supremos
poderes of the republic."
For a moment the lieutenant stood petrified. The whole truth, in all its
hideousness, burst upon him. The enemy was in possession of the place.
What horrors would come next? And yet, Colonel Lopez--was it a
hallucination? Could he have mistaken his identity in the darkness of
the night? He called the old sergeant and asked him if he had recognized
the colonel. "Yes," replied the sergeant, who, having been roughly
handled by their superior officer, had good reason to remember.
"But then," cried the young man, beside himself, now that the terrors of
the situation dawned upon his understanding, "he must be a traitor! He
is going to deliver up the Emperor!"
"Are you only now finding this out?" sadly queried the old soldier.
Lieutenant Haus once more turned to the strange officer. "Then," he
asked, "it is Colonel Lopez who introduced you here?"
"Certainly," he replied. And, smiling: "But, I repeat it, you need have
no fear. We are of the regular army. No harm will come to you."
He looked toward La Cruz, the improvised stronghold where the Emperor
had his headquarters, hoping to see some sign of a struggle--the flash
of a musket, the noise of resistance, a movement, a signal. But no. The
dark mass of the convent building detached itself with imposing grandeur
against the night sky, and silence reigned everywhere.
He was a prisoner. The Juarists were in Queretaro, and treason even then
was stealthily completing its loathsome task of destruction without his
being able to give one word of warning to its victims.
The mysterious officer, guessing his thoughts, said quietly: "The whole
convent is already in our power. Your emperor must be taken even now."
At this moment Captain Gontron, a Frenchman, appeared upon the scene,
seemingly free, but in a towering rage.
"I wish," he said, "that you, who can speak Spanish better than I, would
ask these black devils who have just come to relieve me at the pantheon
why my sarape and my sword have disappeared. I believe they have stolen
them. Anyhow, who are these filibusters that Colonel Lopez has brought
here? If my sword does not turn up in five minutes, I will smash in the
face of their rascally commander, who is anything but civil."
The captain spoke in French, fiercely twisting his mustache. At any
other time the humorous side of the situation must have struck the
lieutenant, but just then he felt little inclination for mirth. He
thereupon explained to the captain that they were prisoners, and that
Colonel Lopez had introduced the enemy into the place.
The Frenchman for a while stood speechless; then recovering his speech
with his philosophy, he said: "After all, it had to come to an end
SOMEHOW."
As he spoke, a Juarist officer, with a detachment at his heels, rushed
upon the terrace and ordered a gun turned upon the convent. His orders
were that the artillerymen be made to serve the battery. Should they
demur, they must be shot down. As for the captain and the lieutenant,
they were to be conducted under escort before General Velez, who was
then in the convent. They were made to start at once.
Upon arriving near La Cruz, they saw a republican battalion entering the
edifice. At every moment they expected to hear firing. But no one seemed
aware of what was going on. Nothing broke the oppressive stillness save
the dull sound of the tread of the enemy's detachments as they quietly
marched along, and the quick orders whispered by the officers in the
silence of the night.
Failing to find General Velez, the escort marched the prisoners back to
the garden. Day was dawning. Upon reaching the garden they met Colonel
Guzman, who had just been made prisoner.
The unusual incidents which had accompanied Colonel Lopez's betrayal had
not remained wholly unobserved. It has been stated* that at 1:30 A.M.
Colonel Tinajero, on watch at the convent heights, had come to
headquarters and reported an unusual stir in the enemy's camp. The same
writer adds that, later on, another officer had come to report that the
Juarists seemed to be entering La Cruz.* He was laughed at for his
pains. How could such a thing take place without a single shot being
fired!
* By M. Charles d'Hericault, loc. cit, p. 252.
Colonel Manuel Guzman, a member of the Emperor's staff, however, thought
it wise personally to look into the matter. He went down into the court
of the convent, intending to visit the outposts. Here his progress was
barred by the enemy. He was forthwith arrested and placed under the same
escort as Lieutenant Haus and Captain Gontron, who, in a few words, told
him what had happened. The colonel's face grew ashy. "Impossible!" he
said; "what you tell me is impossible."*
* I here follow Lieutenant Haus's narrative, as it is based upon
personal experience. Loc. cit., p. 284.
The prisoners now stood again upon the terrace which three hours before
had been guarded by the men of the command of Colonel Jablonski, the
friend and accomplice of Colonel Lopez. They were led across to the
other side and made to pass down some hastily disposed steps of adobe
bricks, the recent origin of which was obvious. It was clearly at this
point that the enemy had entered the place. A few moments more, and they
were out of Queretaro, marching between a double hedge of republican
bayonets, disposed as though expecting a long line of prisoners.
At 5 A.M. Dr. Basch and Prince Salm-Salm were each abruptly startled out
of a sound sleep, the first by Colonel Jablonski, the second by Colonel
Lopez. Having completed their preparations beyond the possibility of
failure, the traitors now wished, if practicable, to conceal from their
victims their contemptible share in the dastardly affair.
Prince Salm-Salm dressed hastily, and after sending word by the doctor
to Captain Furstenwarther to order out his hussars, he ran to the
Emperor's apartments. No imperial troops were to be seen. It was evident
that the garrison of the place had been removed.
As Maximilian, his minister, General Castillo, and his secretary came
forth to inquire into what had happened, they found themselves face to
face with the Liberal colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo, who, with his
command, was already in possession of the place. With him was Colonel
Lopez. The Liberal colonel recognized the fallen Emperor; but, perhaps
foreseeing the terrible complications involved in his capture, he
feigned ignorance of his identity, and said to his men, "Let them pass,
they are civilians" ("Que passen, son paisanos"), thus giving him a
chance for his life.
Shortly afterward, having reached the street, Maximilian was
endeavoring, by issuing orders to his scattered officers, to collect
his remaining forces on the Cerro de las Campanas, where he hoped to
make a last stand, when he was joined by Colonel Lopez, whom, according
to Prince Salm-Salm, no one as yet suspected of being the author of the
infamy. The colonel had come to persuade the prince to conceal himself;
and as they talked, his horse was unexpectedly brought to him, ready
for flight. It would therefore seem that in betraying his master's
cause the wretched man had not planned his personal destruction.
As the betrayed men continued their progress through the streets, on
their way to the cerro, they saw coming toward them a battalion of the
enemy; and among the officers riding at their head again was Colonel
Lopez. Upon seeing the Emperor, they slackened their pace, and once more
he was allowed to pursue his way.
Had he cared to avail himself of the opportunities afforded him then, it
is possible that, like Generals Arellano, Gutierrez, and others, he
might have succeeded in escaping from Queretaro. But noblesse oblige: an
admiral does not desert his ship or its crew. Maximilian remained at his
post.
At last the cerro was reached, and here the last disappointment awaited
him. Instead of his army, only a battalion occupied the place, and,
singly or in groups, the deserted leaders assembled, unable to rally
their men.
General Mendez had accepted the shelter of a friend's roof. The latter,
acting, it is said, in concert with a member of his staff, sold him to
General Escobedo.*
* It was General Mendez who, in October, 1865, had carried out the
provisions of the Bando Negro in executing Generals Salazar and Arteaga
and their companions. He could therefore expect no mercy from his
antagonists. He was condemned at once, and, as a traitor, was shot May
19, with his back to the four soldiers who carried out the sentence.
Struck with four bullets, but not killed, the general arose, and turning
to the men, begged that he be despatched. A corporal then stepped
forward and mercifully blew out his brains. General Mendez was a
courageous soldier. Always victorious, he was beloved by his men and was
highly spoken of by the French in Mexico.
General Miramon, the man of action, always hopeful to the very last, was
still attempting to muster what troops he might for a last effort, when
at the corner of a street he unexpectedly was faced by a detachment of
the enemy's cavalry. The commanding officer drew a revolver and shot
him, the bullet entering the right cheek and coming out near his ear.
The wounded chief then sought refuge in the house of a friend--who
delivered him to his enemies that afternoon!
In the bright sunlight of the May morning there suddenly burst forth
upon the air, already vibrating with the noise of the unequal conflict,
a peal of bells from the convent of La Cruz. This was the signal of the
success of the conspiracy, agreed upon with the besiegers; and from the
lines of the Liberal army the clarions rang in wild, exultant strains.
Then the dense masses of the enemy's regiments marched forth; and as
they approached, the doomed leaders saw their own followers go over and
join them.
Hemmed in upon the cerro with a few faithful followers, every hope
passed away. No help came. It was now impossible, with so feeble a
force, to cut their way through the lines of the Liberals, and from
every side the enemy poured fire upon the devoted band.
A flag of truce was sent, and Colonel Echegaray, on behalf of the
Juarists, came to receive the Emperor as prisoner. At the latter's
request, he was taken forthwith to General Escobedo's presence. To him
he surrendered his sword.
He was then turned over to General Riva-Palacio, who showed him every
courtesy, and had him incarcerated in his old quarters at the convent of
La Cruz. Here he was visited by some Liberal officers, among others by
Colonel Jose Rincon Gallardo and his brother Don Pedro, the former of
whom spoke to him in contemptuous terms of the treason of Colonel Lopez.
"Such men are used, and then kicked," he said.
By ten o'clock all was over. The Mexican empire, inaugurated with so
much pomp and glitter exactly three years before, had wearily reached a
miserable ending. The curtain then falling upon its closing scene was a
death-pall; and of the young sovereigns who only a short time before had
regarded themselves as the anointed of Heaven, sent by a higher power to
strengthen the church and to uphold the principles of monarchy, one had
gone mad, and the other now stood an expiatory victim about to be
offered up to republican resentment.
It would seem that Maximilian had at first no thought that his life was
in peril. This is shown by his attempts to make terms with General
Escobedo on behalf of his foreign followers, requesting that they and
himself should be safely conducted to the coast and embarked; in
exchange for which he pledged himself nevermore to interfere in Mexican
affairs, and to issue orders for the disarmament and immediate surrender
of all strongholds now in the power of his followers.
Soon, however, he was removed to the convent of the Capuchins, where he
could be more securely guarded; and the feeling began to grow that he
must pay with his life for his brief enjoyment of the Mexican crown.
Brought up for trial on June 13 before a military tribunal composed of
six captains and one lieutenant-colonel, which held its court on the
stage of a public theater, he was ably defended by Mexico's foremost
lawyers, Messrs. Mariano Riva-Palacio, Martinez de la Torre, Eulalio
Ortega, and Jesus-Maria Vazquez; but his doom was already sealed. On
June 14, at eleven o'clock at night, he was sentenced to death.
Every effort was made by his lawyers and by the foreign representatives
whom he had summoned to his side to obtain from the republican
government a mitigation of the sentence. The Queen of England, the
government of the United States, begged for mercy. Baron Magnus, Baron
Lago, and M. de Hoorickx, in the names of the European monarchs allied
to the prince by ties of relationship, moved heaven and earth to
influence the president. Princess Salm-Salm cleverly used every means in
a woman's power to accomplish the same end. In vain.
President Juarez could well afford to be magnanimous; but under the
existing social conditions in Mexico, who, knowing all the facts, could
blame if stern justice was allowed to take its course?
When Maximilian remained to carry on the civil war on factional lines,
after the French, recognizing their mistake, had retired from the
country, he placed himself, if taken, within the reach of the law. The
people were then rising in arms, ready to drive out the empire. By his
own act he deprived himself of the only excuse which he could logically
offer for his presence in the country, namely, that in good faith he had
accepted a crown offered him by what might be regarded as the suffrage
of the nation, under conditions with the creating of which he had
nothing to do. He was now only the factional leader of a turbulent and
defeated minority.
Moreover, only a few months before, when General Miramon's brilliant
coup de main of January 27, at Zacatecas, had come near to delivering
into his hands the president of the republican government, Maximilian's
instructions to his lieutenant, in anticipation of such a contingency,
were to bring the republican leaders to trial, if caught, according to
his too famous decree, but to refer the execution of the sentence to his
imperial sanction. His official letter to this effect had fallen into
the hands of President Juarez after the defeat of General Miramon at San
Jacinto, which so speedily followed. It is open to doubt whether, in
such an event, General Marquez, then all-powerful, would have allowed
the Emperor to display mercy.
All hope of obtaining a commutation of the sentence now at an end, the
energies of his friends, were turned toward effecting his escape. Three
officers were bribed by Prince Salm-Salm, and steps were taken to
provide the necessary disguise and conveyance for the party. The plan
was to make for the Sierra Gorda, whence Tuzpan could be reached. From
this point the party could proceed to Vera Cruz, then still holding out
against the Juarists. The Austrian frigate Elizabeth, under Captain von
Groeller, was at anchor in the port, awaiting the prince's pleasure.
The project had been seriously complicated by the positive refusal on
the part of Maximilian to fly without Generals Miramon and Mejia. All
details, however, were at last satisfactorily settled, and the night of
June 2 was fixed for the attempt. On this night the officers whose good
will had been secured were to be on guard, and the plot seemed easy of
execution. But once more the innate in decision of Maximilian's
character interfered. For some trivial cause he postponed the venture,
and thus lost his last opportunity. Too many were in the secret for it
to remain one. Some one made disclosures, which reached the ears of the
authorities, and led to the complete isolation of the prince from his
followers; and although another effort was afterward made, the
surveillance was now so close, and the conditions had grown so
difficult, that it also came to naught.
On June 15 tidings of the Empress Charlotte's death reached Queretaro.
General Mejia, who was the first to hear it, broke it to Maximilian.
While it stirred the very depths of his nature, this false information
proved a help to him in his last moments. The bitterness of leaving his
unfortunate wife in her helpless condition was thus spared him. "One tie
less to bind me to the world," he said.
The execution had been fixed for June 16. At eleven o'clock on that day
sentence was read to the condemned, who were told that it would be
carried into effect at three o'clock on the same afternoon.
Maximilian received the intelligence calmly, and devoted the following
hours, which he deemed his last, to dictating letters to Dr. Basch and
to his Mexican secretary, Senor Blasio.* He then confessed to Padre
Soria and heard mass in General Miramon's chamber, where the condemned
men received the last sacraments, after which he signed his letters and
took leave of those about him. In removing his wedding-ring and handing
it to Dr. Basch, he said: "You will tell my mother that I did my duty as
a soldier and died like a Christian." After this he quietly awaited
death.
* One of these letters, written to Senor Don Carlos Rubio, reads as
follows:
"Full of confidence, I come to you, being completely without money, to
obtain the sum necessary for the carrying out of my last wishes. It
will be returned to you by my European relatives, whom I have
constituted my heirs.
"I wish my body taken back to Europe near that of the Empress; I intrust
the details to my physician, Dr. Basch; you will supply him with funds
for the embalming and transportation, and for the return of my servants
to Europe. The settlement of the loan will be made by my relatives
either through any European house that you may name or by drafts sent to
Mexico. The physician above alluded to will make all necessary
arrangements.
"Thanking you in advance for any favor, I send you farewell greetings,
and wishing you happiness,
"I am yours,
"Maximilian."
"Queretaro, 16 June, 1867."
Compare S. Basch, "Maximilien au Mexique," p. 296.
The appointed hour passed, however, without being summoned to execution.
After prolonged suspense, at four o'clock in the afternoon news arrived
that a reprieve of three days had been granted by the president, in
order that the condemned might make their last dispositions.
{illustration caption: THE CALVARY OF QUERETARO, SHOWING WHERE
MAXIMILIAN, MEJIA, AND MIRAMON WERE SHOT.}
This unexpected delay* naturally aroused hopes among the friends of the
doomed men. These hopes, it is said by those closest to him at that
time, were not shared by Maximilian. He continued his preparations with
the calm dignity that had not once forsaken him; but he sent a telegram
to the national government, asking that the lives of Generals Miramon
and Mejia, "who had already undergone all the anguish of death, be
spared," and that he might be the only victim. The request was denied.**
*It is stated by Domenech that this reprieve was granted at the request
of Baron Magnus, who hoped that delay might bring some chance of life to
the condemned.
** He also wrote to President Juarez, under date of June 19, as follows:
"M. Benito Juarez: About to die for having tried whether new
institutions could put an end to the bloody war which has for so many
years disturbed this unhappy land, I should gladly give my life if the
sacrifice could contribute to the peace and prosperity of my adopted
country. Profoundly convinced that nothing durable can be produced from
a soil drenched with blood and shaken by violence, I pray you
solemnly--with that sincerity peculiar to the hour at which I have
arrived--I beg of you, let my blood be the last spilled, and pursue the
noble course which you have chosen with the perseverance (I recognized
it even when in prosperity) with which you defended the cause that now
at last triumphs through your efforts. Reconcile factions, establish a
durable peace based upon solid principles."
See Dr. Basch, "Maximilien au Mexique," p. 303.
After making this supreme effort on behalf of his generals, he employed
his remaining hours in dictating letters, and when night came he slept
soundly.
On the morning of his execution (June 19) he arose at three o'clock, and
dressed carefully. At four o'clock Padre Soria came, and once more gave
him the last sacraments; an altar had been erected for this purpose in a
niche formed by a passageway to his cell.
This religious duty having been performed, he gave instructions to Dr.
Basch, sending greetings and last tokens to friends. At a quarter before
six he breakfasted; and when, on the stroke of six, the officer appeared
who was to lead him to execution, he was ready, and himself called his
companions in death. Three hacks had been provided for the condemned.
The prince entered the first with the priest, and, escorted by the
soldiery, the mournful procession moved through a dense crowd to the
place of execution.
On arriving at the Cerro de las Campanas, where a month before he had
made his last stand, the fallen Emperor looked about him for a friendly
face, and finding only his servant, the Hungarian Tudos, he asked, "Is
no one else here?" It is said, however, that Baron Magnus, the Prussian
minister, and the Consul Bahnsen were present, although out of sight.
{illustration caption: THE HACK IN WHICH MAXIMILIAN WAS TAKEN TO THE
PLACE OF EXECUTION.}
The good priest weakened under the ordeal; he felt faint, and the prince
held his own smelling-bottle to his nose.
Followed by Generals Miramon and Mejia, Maximilian walked toward the
open square, where an adobe wall had been erected, against which they
were expected to stand. About to take his position in the middle,
Maximilian stopped, and turning to General Miramon, said: "A brave
soldier should be honored even in his last hour; permit me to give you
the place of honor"; and he made way for him.
An officer and seven men had been detailed to do the deadly work. The
prince gave each of the soldiers a piece of gold, asking them to aim
carefully at his heart; and taking off his hat, he said: "Mexicans, may
my blood be the last to be spilled for the welfare of the country; and
if it should be necessary that its sons should still shed theirs, may it
flow for its good, but never by treason. Long live independence! Long
live Mexico!"*
* "Que me sangre sea la ultima que se derrame en sacrificio a la patria;
y si fuese necessario algunos de sus hijos, sea para el bien de la
nacion, y nunca en traicion de ella." Other versions of his last words
have been given, but that given above seems the most authentic, not only
from intrinsic probability, but from the fact that it was given, shortly
after the execution, by the Mexican Dr. Reyes, who was present, to Dr.
Basch. Loc. cit., p. 308.
He then laid his hands on his breast, and looked straight before him.
Five shots fired at short range pierced his body; each of them was
mortal. He fell, and as he still moved, the officer in charge pointed to
his heart with his sword, and a soldier stepped, forward and fired a
last shot.
The physician who afterward examined the remains, preparatory to
embalmment, could not find a single bullet; all had gone through the
body, and it was his opinion that death must have been almost
instantaneous, and that the movements observed were convulsive.*
* Dr. Basch says: "The head was free from wounds. Of the six shots
received in the body, three had struck the abdomen, and three the breast
almost in a straight line. The shots were fired at shortest range, and
the six bullets so perforated the body that not a single one was found.
"The three wounds in the chest were mortal: one had reached the heart,
the two ventricles; the second had cut the great arteries; the third had
gone through the right lung. From the nature of the wounds the
death-struggle must have been very brief, and the poetic words
attributed to the Emperor, giving anew the word of command to 'fire,'
could not have been pronounced. The motions of his hands must have been
the convulsive motions which, according to physiological laws, accompany
death caused by sudden hemorrhage."
The bodies of the two generals were given to their families. That of
Maximilian, inclosed in a common coffin, was placed in the chapel of the
convent of the Capuchins, and delivered up to the doctor.
As President Juarez insisted upon an official request, made in due form
by the Austrian government, before delivering the remains, much delay
occurred in the carrying out of the unfortunate prince's wishes with
regard to them.
At last, on November 1, the coffin containing the body of Ferdinand
Maximilian Joseph, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Bohemia,
Count of Hapsburg, Prince of Lorraine, Emperor of Mexico, was handed
over to Admiral Tegetthoff, who had been sent on a special mission to
receive it, and left the capital with a cortege composed of his staff
and an escort of one hundred cavalry.
On November 26 the Novara, with all that remained of the Emperor, left
the Mexican shore, where only three years before he had landed in all
the pride of power and the hopefulness of ambitious youth. The news of
his execution sent a painful thrill through the civilized world. By one
of those r cruel ironies which fate seems to affect, it reached France
on the day of the formal distribution of prizes at the International
Exposition. Paris, in its splendor, was throwing open its gates to all
the nations of the earth; the crowned heads and leaders of Europe had
accepted the hospitality of Napoleon III; and all outward appearances
combined to make this the most brilliant occasion of his reign. But the
flash-light and noise of French fireworks were unable to drown in men's
hearts the dull echo of those distant shots fired on the Cerro de las
Campanas. Nemesis was near, and only a short time after Queretaro,
Sedan, Metz, and Chiselhurst were inscribed in gloomy sequence upon the
pages of history.
APPENDIX A
THE BANDO NEGRO (BLACK DECREE) PROCLAMATION OF EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN,
OCTOBER 3, 1866
Mexicans: The cause sustained by D. Benito Juarez with so much valor and
constancy had already succumbed, not only before the national will, but
before the very law invoked by him in support of his claims. To-day this
cause, having degenerated into a faction, is abandoned by the fact of
the removal of its leaders from the country's territory.
The national government has long been indulgent, and has lavished its
clemency in order that men led astray or ignorant of the true condition
of things might still unite with the majority of the nation and return
to the path of duty. The desired result has been obtained. Men of honor
have rallied around the flag and have accepted the just and liberal
principles which guide its policy. Disorder is now only kept up by a few
leaders swayed by their unpatriotic passions, by demoralized individuals
unable to rise to the height of political principle, and by an unruly
soldiery such as ever remains the last and sad vestige of civil wars.
Henceforth the struggle must be between the honorable men of the nation
and bands of brigands and evil-doers. The time for indulgence has gone
by: it would only encourage the despotism of bands of incendiaries, of
thieves, of highwaymen, and of murderers of old men and defenseless
women.
The government, strong in its power, will henceforth be inflexible in
meting out punishment when the laws of civilization, humanity, or
morality demand it.
Mexico, October 2, 1885.
---------------
Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico: Our Council of Ministers and our Council
of State having been heard, we decree:
Article I. All individuals forming a part of armed bands or bodies
existing without legal authority, whether or not proclaiming a political
pretext, whatever the number of those forming such band, or its
organization, character, and denomination, shall be judged militarily by
the courts martial. If found guilty, even though only of the fact of
belonging to an armed band, they shall be condemned to capital
punishment, and the sentence shall be executed within twenty-four hours.
Article II. Those who, forming part of the bands mentioned in the above
article, shall have been taken prisoners in combat shall be judged by
the officer commanding the force into the power of which they have
fallen. It shall become the duty of said officer within the twenty-four
hours following to institute an inquest, hearing the accused in his own
behalf. Upon this inquest a report shall be drawn and sentence shall be
passed. The pain of death shall be pronounced against offenders even if
only found guilty of belonging to an armed band. The chief shall have
the sentence carried into execution within twenty-four hours,--being
careful to secure to the condemned spiritual aid,--after which he will
address the report to the Minister of War.
Article III. Sentence of death shall not be imposed upon those who,
although forming part of a band, can prove that they were coerced into
its ranks, or upon those who, without belonging to a band, are
accidentally found there.
Article IV. If from the inquest mentioned in Article II facts should
appear calculated to induce the chief to believe that the accused has
been enrolled by force, or that, although forming part of the band, he
was there accidentally, he shall abstain from pronouncing a sentence,
and will consign the prisoner, with the corresponding report, to the
court martial, to be judged in accordance with Article I.
Article V. There shall be judged and sentenced under the terms of
Article I of the present law:
I. All individuals who voluntarily have procured money or any other
succor to guerrilleros.
II. Those who have given them advice, news, or counsel.
III. Those who voluntarily and with knowledge of the position of said
guerrilleros have sold them or procured for them arms, horses,
ammunition, provisions, or any other materials of war.
Article VI. There shall be judged and sentenced in accordance with
Article I:
I. Those who have entertained with guerrilleros relations constituting
the fact of connivance.
II. Those who of their own free will and knowingly have given them
shelter in their houses or on their estate.
III. Those who have spread orally or in writing false or alarming news
calculated to disturb order, or who have made any demonstration
against the public peace.
IV. The owners or agents of rural property who have not at once given
notice to the nearest authority of the passage of a band upon their
estate.
The persons included in the first and second sections of this article
shall be liable to an imprisonment of from six months to two years, or
from one to three years' hard labor, according to the gravity of the
offense.
Those who, placed in the second category, are connected with the
individual concealed by them by ties of relationship, whether as
parents, consorts, or brothers, shall not be liable to the penalty above
prescribed, but they shall be subject to surveillance by the authorities
during such time as may be prescribed by the court martial.
Those included in the third category shall be sentenced to a fine of
from twenty-five to one thousand piasters or to one year's imprisonment,
according to the gravity of the offense.
Article VII. When the authorities have not given notice to their
immediate superior of the passage of an armed force in their locality,
the superior authority shall inflict a fine of from two hundred to two
thousand piasters or from three months' to two years' imprisonment.
Article VIII. Every inhabitant who, having knowledge of the passage of
an armed band in a village or of its approach, has not notified the
authorities shall be liable to a fine of from five to five hundred
piasters.
Article IX. All inhabitants between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five
years of age not physically incapacitated shall, when the locality
inhabited by them is threatened by a band, take part in the defense of
the place, under penalty of a fine of from five to two hundred piasters
or of from fifteen days' to four months' imprisonment. If the
authorities deem it proper to punish the village for non-resistance,
they may impose a fine of from two hundred to two thousand piasters,
which shall be payable by all those who have not taken part in the
defense.
Article X. The owners or agents of country property who, being able to
defend themselves, have not kept guerrillas and other evil-doers away
from their estates or have not notified the nearest military authority
of their presence, or who have received the tired or wounded horses of
the guerrillas without advising the said authority, shall be punished by
said authority by a fine of from one hundred to two thousand piasters,
according to the gravity of the offense. In cases of extreme gravity
they shall be arrested and brought before the court martial, to be
judged in conformity with the rules laid down by the present law. The
fine shall be paid to the principal administrator of the revenue of the
district where the estate is situated. The provisions of the first part
of the present article are applicable to the populations.
Article XI. All authorities, whether political, military, or municipal,
who have not acted in accordance with the provisions of the present law
against those who are suspected of or recognized as being guilty of the
offenses with which it deals, shall be liable to a fine of from fifty to
one thousand piasters; and when the omission implies acquaintance with
the guilty, the delinquent shall be brought before the court martial,
who shall judge him and inflict a penalty in proportion to the offense.
Article XII. Plagiarios* shall be judged and sentenced under the
provisions of Article I of the present law, without regard to the
circumstances under which the abduction shall have been committed.
* Kidnappers.
Article XIII. Sentence of death passed upon those guilty of the offenses
enumerated by the present law shall be executed in the time fixed, and
the benefit of appeal for mercy shall be refused to the condemned. When
the accused has not been condemned to death, and is a stranger, the
government, after he shall have undergone punishment, may make use with
regard to him of its right to expel from its territory pernicious
strangers.
Article XIV. Amnesty is proclaimed in favor of all who, having belonged
or still belonging to armed bands and having committed no other offense,
shall present themselves to the authorities before the 10th of next
November. The authorities shall take possession of the arms of those so
surrendering themselves.
Article XV. The government reserves unto itself the right to fix the
time when the provisions of the present law shall cease to be enforced.
Each of our ministers is bound, as far as his department is concerned,
to enforce the present law and to issue such orders as will secure its
strict observance.
Issued in the Palace of Mexico, October 3, 1865.
Maximilian.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, intrusted with the Department of State,
Jose F. Ramirez.
The Minister of Commerce, Luis Robles Pezuela.
The Minister of the Interior, Jose Maria Esteva.
The Minister of War, Juan de Dios Peza.
The Minister of Justice, Pedro Escudero y Echanove.
The Minister of Public Instruction and of Cults, Manuel Siliceo.
The Under-Secretary of the Treasury, Francisco de P. Cesar.
APPENDIX B
TREATY OF MIRAMAR, SIGNED ON APRIL 10, 1864
Napoleon, by the grace of God and the national will Emperor of the
French, to all who will see the present letters, Greeting:
A convention, followed by secret additional articles, having been
concluded on April 10,1864, between France and Mexico, to settle the
conditions of the sojourn of French troops in Mexico, the said
convention and secret additional articles are as follows:
The government of H. M. the Emperor of the French and that of H. M. the
Emperor of Mexico, animated with. an equal desire to assure the
reestablishment of order in Mexico and to consolidate the new empire,
have resolved to settle through a convention the conditions of the
sojourn of the French troops in that country, and have appointed to that
effect: H. M. the Emperor of the French, M. Charles Francois Edouard
Herbet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the First Class, etc., and H. M. the
Emperor of Mexico, M. Joaquin Velazquez de Leon, his Minister of State
without a portfolio, etc., who, after communicating their full powers to
one another, these having been found to be in good and due form, have
agreed upon the following articles:
Article I. The French troops actually in Mexico shall, as soon as
possible, be reduced to a corps of twenty-five thousand men, including
the foreign legion. This corps, as a safeguard to the interests which
have brought about the French intervention, shall temporarily remain in
Mexico under the conditions agreed upon in the following articles.
Article II. The French troops shall gradually evacuate Mexico as H. M.
the Emperor of Mexico shall be able to organize the troops necessary to
take their place.
Article III. The foreign legion in the service of France, composed of
eight thousand men, shall, however, remain for six years in Mexico after
all other French forces shall have been recalled under Article II. From
that date said legion shall pass into the service and pay of the Mexican
government, the Mexican government reserving unto itself the right to
shorten the duration of the employment in Mexico of the foreign legion.
Article IV. The points of the territory to be occupied by the French
troops, as well as the military expeditions of said troops if necessary,
shall be determined under direct agreement between H. M. the Emperor of
Mexico and the Commander-in-chief of the French corps.
Article V. Upon all points where a garrison shall not be exclusively
composed of Mexican troops, the military command shall devolve upon the
French commander. In case of combined expeditions of French and Mexican
troops the superior command shall also belong to the French commander.
Article VI. The French commanders shall not interfere with any branch of
the Mexican administration.
Article VII. So long as the needs of the French army-corps will require
every two months a service of transports between France and the port of
Vera Cruz, the expense of this service, fixed at the sum of four hundred
thousand francs per journey, including return, shall be borne by the
Mexican government and paid in Mexico.
Article VIII. The naval stations supported by France in the Antilles and
in the Pacific Ocean shall frequently send ships to show the French flag
in the Mexican ports.
Article IX. The cost of the French expedition in Mexico, to be
reimbursed by the Mexican government, is fixed at the sum of two hundred
and seventy million francs from the time of the expedition to July 1,
1864. That sum shall bear interest at three per cent. a year.
Article X. The indemnity to be paid to France by the Mexican government
for the pay and support of the army-corps from July 1, 1864, shall be
fixed at the rate of one thousand francs per man a year.
Article XI. The Mexican government shall at once remit to the French
government the sum of sixty-six millions in loan securities at par,
i.e., fifty-four millions to be deducted from the debt mentioned in
Article IX, and twelve millions as an instalment on the indemnities due
the French under Article XIV of the present agreement.
Article XII. In payment of the balance of war expenses and of the
charges mentioned in Articles VII, X, and XIV, the Mexican government
agrees to pay to France the annual sum of twenty-five million francs in
cash. That sum shall be credited, first, to the sums due under Articles
VII and X, second, to the amount, interest and principal, of the sum
fixed in Article IX; third, to the indemnities still due to French
subjects under Article XIV and following.
Article XIII. The Mexican government shall pay on the last day of every
month, in Mexico, into the hands of the paymaster-general of the army,
the amount necessary to cover the expense of the French troops remaining
in Mexico, in conformity with Article X.
Article XIV. The Mexican government agrees to indemnify French subjects
for the grievances unduly suffered by them and which caused the
expedition.
Article XV. A mixed commission composed of three Frenchmen and three
Mexicans, appointed by their respective governments, shall meet in
Mexico within three months to examine into and settle these claims.
Article XVI. A mission of revision composed of two Frenchmen and two
Mexicans, appointed as above and sitting in Paris, shall proceed to the
definite settlement of the claims already admitted by the commission
mentioned in the preceding article, and shall pass upon those the
settlement of which shall be reserved to them.
Article XVII. The French government shall set free all Mexican prisoners
of war as soon as H. M, the Emperor of Mexico shall have entered his
empire.
Article XVIII. The present convention shall be ratified and the
ratification shall be exchanged as soon as possible.
Done at the Castle of Miramar, on April 10, 1864.
Herbet.
Velazquez.
Additional Secret Articles
[Here follow the ordinary preambles.]
Article I. H. M. the Emperor of Mexico, approving the principles and
promises announced in General Forey's proclamation, dated June 12, 1863,
as well as the measures taken by the regency and by the French
general-in-chief in accordance with said declaration, has resolved to
inform his people, by a manifesto, of his intentions in the matter.
Article II. On his side, H. M. the Emperor of the French declares that
the actual effective force of the French corps of thirty-eight thousand
men shall only be reduced gradually and from year to year, in such a way
that the French troops remaining in Mexico, including the foreign
legion, shall be of twenty-eight thousand men in 1865, of twenty-five
thousand in 1866, of twenty thousand in 1867.
Article III. When the said foreign legion, under the terms of Article
III of the above convention, shall pass into the service and pay of
Mexico, as it nevertheless shall continue to serve a cause in which
France is interested, its generals and officers shall preserve their
quality of Frenchmen and their claim to promotion in the French army
according to law.
Done at the Castle of Miramar, on April 10, 1864.
Herbet.
Velazquez.
End of Project Gutenberg's Maximilian in Mexico, by Sare Yorke Stevenson