500 



MEXICO. 



court in his case, all three were convicted of 

 crimes against the law of the Republic of Jan- 

 uary 25, 1862, and condemned to be shot on the 

 16th of June. Efforts were made to obtain a 

 pardon from Juarez but without avail, the Presi- 

 dent declaring that " the most weighty consid- 

 erations of justice and the necessity of securing 

 peace to the nation are not consistent with such 

 an act of clemency." An earnest protest from 

 Baron Magnas, the Prussian minister in Mexico, 

 supported by the assurance that his own sover- 

 eign " and all the crowned heads of Europe, 

 united by ties of blood and kindred to the 

 prince prisoner," would agree " to give his Ex- 

 cellency Sefior Don Benito Juarez all security 

 that none of the prisoners shall again tread on 

 Mexican soil," was met with the same unrelent- 

 ing firmness ; and on the 19th of June, after a 

 postponement of three days, the unhappy Arch- 

 duke of Hapsburg was shot by a platoon of 

 Mexican soldiers whose Emperor he still claimed 

 to be. Miramon and Mejia were reduced 

 from their rank as Mexican officers, stripped of 

 all insignia of honor, and shot in the back, as 

 traitors to their country. The body of Maxi- 

 milian was given up to the consul-general of 

 Austria to be embalmed, and was subsequently 

 delivered to Admiral Tegethoff, and carried to 

 Europe, to remain at the disposal of the Em- 

 peror Francis Joseph of Austria. (See MEXICO 

 MAXIMILIAN.) 



On the very day of Maximilian's execution, 

 the besieged city of Mexico capitulated. Soon 

 after the surrender of Puebla, early in April, 

 General Diaz had defeated the forces of Mar- 

 quez at San Oristoval, and driven them to the 

 capital. From that time the lines of the Liberal 

 chief had gradually closed around the city, and 

 for two months held it in close siege. The 

 aqueducts were cut off, and all communication 

 to and from the invested town closely watched, 

 with the view of reducing it by starvation 

 rather than by active assault ; but in June the 

 forces of Diaz stormed the old castle of Chapul- 

 tepec and took possession of the city gates. 

 There had been some dissension among the im- 

 perial officers, more or less connected with the 

 violent measures adopted to raise funds for the 

 support of their army, and on the 19th of June 

 Marquez resigned the chief command into the 

 hands of General Tabera ; and a few hours later 

 a white flag was displayed, and the bombard- 

 ment ceased. Articles of capitulation .were 

 signed the next day, providing that General 

 Tabera should appoint commissioners to turn 

 over the troops, the treasury, and all materials 

 of war to General Diaz, and that the officers 

 should retain their swards and present them- 

 selves at a place thereafter to be appointed. 

 On the 20th General Diaz took possession of 

 the city, and issued orders for the temporary 

 government of the citizens and for the disposal 

 of the surrendered troops. 



All who had been " connected with the so- 

 called empire " were commanded to give them- 

 selves up within twenty-four hours, on pain of 



death. Members of the Assembly of Notables, 

 counsellors, and military commanders, were to 

 be imprisoned, to await the action of the Gov- 

 ernment. General Marquez had escaped, but 

 Santiago Vidaurri, the president of the Impe- 

 rial council, was discovered concealed in a 

 private house, and immediately executed. 

 General O'Horan, who had been prefect of 

 Mexico for two years, escaped at the time of 

 the surrender, but was taken some weeks after- 

 ward, tried, and executed without delay. 

 Several other officers, who had held high posi- 

 tions in the empire of Maximilian, were like- 

 wise shot, including twelve more of those cap- 

 tured at Queretaro. 



Still, about two thousand of the Imperial 

 forces held out in Yera Cruz, though closely 

 besieged by General Benavides with ten thou- 

 sand men. Their commander, a native Mexican 

 named Davato, had deserted them on receiving 

 tidings of the capture of Maximilian, and the 

 command had fallen into the hands of Pedro 

 Gomez, a Spanish officer in the Imperial army. 

 On the 27th of June he, too, capitulated. The 

 troops were allowed to retain their arms and 

 march from the town with flying colors, and 

 national vessels were furnished to transport 

 the alien forces from the country. The native 

 troops were allowed to disperse, but the feeble 

 remnant of the Foreign Legion set out from 

 the very port at which the Expeditionary 

 Corps had first landed, and on the 4th of July 

 the last of the armed force of Maximilian's 

 empire entered the harbor of Mobile, Alabama. 



On the 15th of July, Benito Juarez, consti- 

 tutional President of the Eepublic of Mexico, 

 i-eturned to the ancient capital of the country, 

 after an absence of four years, and met with 

 an enthusiastic reception from his adherents in 

 that city. The following is his address to the 

 people on that occasion : 



MEXICANS : The National Government returns to- 

 day to establish its residence in the city of Mexico, 

 which it left four years ago. It carried with it then 

 the resolution never to abandon a compliance with 

 its duties. 



I went with sure confidence that the Mexican 

 people would wrestle without ceasing against the 

 iniquitous foreign invasion, in defence of their rights 

 and their liberties. 



The Government went away to sustain the national 

 flag for whatever time would be necessary to obtain 

 the triumph of the cause of independence and the 

 institutions of the Eepublic. 



They have reached it, the good sons of Mexico 

 fighting alone without the assistance of any, without 

 means, without the necessary elements of war. They 

 have shed their blood with sublime patriotism, breast- 

 ing all sacrifices before they would sufl'er the loss of 

 the Kepublic and liberty. 



The triurnnh of the country, which has been the 

 object of their noble aspirations, will be always their 

 greatest title to glory and greatest premium to their 

 heroic labors. 



Full of confidence in them, the Government has 

 endeavored to comply with its duties ? without ever 

 conceiving a single thought that it mignt be lawful to 

 undermine any of the rights of the nation. The 

 Government has complied with the first of its du- 

 ties, without compromising in the exterior or interior 

 in any way the independence or sovereignty of the 



