Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/329

Rh and had with the assistance of Frederic Hall from California taken active steps in the case before the others arrived.

The trial opened on June 13th in the Iturbide theatre, in which the stage was reserved for the officials, defendants, and counsel, and the auditorium for the public, admission being obtained with tickets. The judges consisted of a lieutenant-colonel and six captains, selected with little or no regard for the weighty questions involved. The fiscal, or attorney for the government, was Manuel Aspiroz. Mejía and Miramon appeared first, and impressed the hushed audience with the dignity of their bearing. Their case was disposed of early in the afternoon. They must die. Then came that of Maximilian, which involved practically the same charges and defence. Here the expectant assembly was doomed to disappointment, for the imperial defendant refused to expose himself to the humiliation of a public appearance, and his plea of sickness was accepted.

The charges, thirteen in number, were elaborated from the points presented in the ministerial order for a court-martial, based on the severe decree of January 25, 1862, and formed a most incongruous and tautologic medley. They may be reduced to the following points: that he had offered himself as an instrument for the French intervention, aiming at the overthrow