Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/103

 deal a decisive blow against the rebellion, which would henceforth be countenanced by none but bands of brigands. He then brought before his council the project of offering Juarez the presidency of the supreme court, and his own sincere desire of rallying round him all the illustrious men in the country.

As a means of opening negotiations, he drew up the decree of October 3. At the beginning of this decree, he laid it down that the republican cause had lost its last support, and the preambles were a homage paid to the character of Juarez. As to the decree itself, it certainly was only directed, in the intention of the emperor, against those persons whose only aim was to shelter their brigandage under the republican flag. This fatal decree, the original minutes of which may be consulted, was written entirely by Maximilian's own hand, although he had a secretary at his side. All the ministers who countenanced the idea affixed their signatures to it. The marshal alone did not sign it. Before investing it with any official character, Maximilian thought it right to consult the marshal. The answer returned from our head-quarters was that, in the first place, the preamble so flattering to the president (who was opposed by France as an enemy) appeared to be directed against the intervention; also, that, apart from this painful interpretation, the decree itself was useless, as courts-martial were acting which had the guarantee of the cognisance of the French officers; besides, that it was impolitic, because it rendered Mexicans amenable to Mexicans, and that all the odium in it would fall upon the person of the sovereign, whose most precious attribute was the right of mercy and pardon. The emperor, with the entire approbation of his five ministers, persisted in his original idea—that of attaching Juarez by this public