Page:The rise and fall of the Emperor Maximilian.djvu/56

40 the republic, and Mejia, the only general in Mexico who ever died faithful to his party. It was exactly ten years before that Colonel Mejia had entered Queretaro in triumph.

Marquez, who was defending Mexico, capitulated on the 21st. 'On June 27,' announced the Moniteur itself, 'Vera Cruz was occupied without disorder, and the foreign troops were able to embark without interference.' The liberals then did not commit the excesses which were feared, and, in three months, the authority of Juarez, who was considered powerless, had been again asserted on every point of Mexican territory. It must now be acknowledged that this fugitive government had at its disposal a majority of public opinion, for it was able to get together an army directly our soldiers ceased to take a part in the conflict. This fact, apart from all other grounds of complaint, would be a sufficient condemnation of this prolonged expedition, which the French press, had it but been free, would have certainly checked, if not prevented.

Maximilian fell under the stroke of the decree of October 1865, which he had signed and issued against every man taken with arms in his hand; a decree which was repugnant to his generous nature, and was but one of the fatal progenies of the civil war. In virtue of this terrible decree, the regular generals, Arteaga and Salazar, had been executed. Violence invites reprisals! The heart cannot fail to be wrung by the distressing thought that the condemned and royal prince had not the consolation of exchanging a last look with his august spouse; but the last adieus of the Juarist generals were not less touching. Let a sacred pity spread the same funeral veil over the three graves in which repose the victims of undoubtedly