502 



MEXICO FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH. 



the Government for the establishment of constitution- 

 al order is evident. 



Once freed from the claims of war, Government has 

 been able to turn its attention to all the branches of 

 the public administration. The administration or 

 justice, internal improvements, the army and the 

 treasury have been the theme of several laws and 

 administrative resolutions. It is very gratifying that 

 the dollars of the public treasury are worth as much 

 as those of any private individual, and that one of the 

 causes of public misfortune has been destroyed. 



The Mexican people exercises its sovereignty by 

 means of the powers of the Union in all competent 

 c^ses, in the terms established by the Federal Consti- 

 tution ; the President of the Eepublic has the right to 

 initiate laws ; consequently the project of constitu- 

 tional reforms will be decidedly legal in its beginning 

 and in its progress ; its final result will be what the 

 legislator may think just. 



While the administration has been occupied 

 in reestablishing its regular constitutional 

 powers at the capital, considerable activity has 

 been required to preserve order and maintain 

 the authority of the Government throughout the 

 country. Many districts have been overrun by 

 robbers, and lawless gangs have infested the 

 mountains upon the routes of travel. Among 

 those disaffected to the lawful authorities, has 

 been a band of "avengers," led by Carlos 

 Miratnon, brother to the late Imperialist general, 

 who was reported to hold supreme sway among 

 the villages of the Sierras Gordas. The most 

 formidable insurrection, however, occurred in 

 Yucatan, toward the close of the year. Vigor- 

 ous measures were adopted for its suppression, 

 among which was an order, banishing from 

 Mexico all persons who have been tried and 

 convicted of taking part in the late war against 

 the Eepublic, including those whose sentences 

 had been suspended and those who had received 

 pardon from the Government. 



The action of Congress, looking to the direct 

 suppression of the revolt, has resulted in the 

 following propositions: 1. The President shall 

 be authorized to declare in a state of siege the 

 places of the State of Yucatan in which it may 

 be necessary to operate for the reestablishment 

 of constitutional order. 2. The Government 

 may employ 500 men of the National Guard of 

 Campeachy, and an equal number of Tobasco, 

 in addition to the 1,500 sent from General Diaz's 

 army. 3. The Executive may spend $100,000 

 monthly on the war, in addition to regular 

 military expenses. 4. These authorizations end 

 on the 26th of April, 1868, or before, if the war 

 ceases. 5. The President must answer at the 

 next session of Congress for the use of the 

 powers granted him. 



MEXICO, FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH, 

 late EMPEROE of, born at Schonbrunn, Austria, 

 July 6, 1832 ; executed by order of. the Liberal 

 Government of Mexico, at Queretaro. June 19, 

 1867. He was the son of Francis Charles Jo- 

 seph, Archduke of Austria, and Sophie Doro- 

 thea, daughter of Maximilian I., King of Ba- 

 varia, and was the younger brother of Francis 

 Joseph, the present Emperor of Austria, He 

 received his education at Vienna, but did not 

 enter into the gayeties and frivolities of that 



dissolute capital, and was remarkable for his 

 quiet and studious habits. In 1846 he entered 

 the Austrian Navy, and saw considerable sea- 

 service, visiting Greece, Italy, Morocco, French 

 Algeria, Spain, and Portugal. Meanwhile he 

 was prosecuting his studies, and made himself 

 a very accomplished scholar. In 1854 he was 

 made Admiral of the Austrian Navy an office 

 not very oppressive in its duties, as the navy 

 consisted of very few vessels. He, however, 

 vit-ited with his squadron Syria and Palestine, 

 and the Red Sea, and in 1856, being in French 

 waters, spent a fortnight at St. Cloud with the 

 Emperor of the French. In 1857 bo. was ap- 

 pointed Viceroy of Lombardy and Venice; and 

 although the Italians were very hostile to the 

 Germans, his fascinating manners soon made 

 him a favorite with them. On the 27th of 

 July, 1859, he married Maria Carlotta, daughter 

 of Leopold I., then King of the Belgians, and 

 sister of Leopold II., the present King. The 

 popularity of Maximilian with the Italians dis- 

 pleased his brother, the Emperor Francis Jo- 

 seph, and he removed him from the viceroyalty 

 in the autumn of 1859. Reverting to his 

 former position, as Admiral of the Austrian 

 Navy, Maximilian and his archduchess spent 

 most of their time at his castle of Miramar, on 

 the Adriatic, occupying many hours in study, 

 and introducing many beneficial reforms into 

 the navy. Meantime, the Emperor of the 

 French found himself with the Mexican war on 

 his hands, and was casting about for some one 

 upon whose shoulders he could throw it, vith 

 the pretence of making over to the recipient 

 the government of Mexico. The Archduke 

 Maximilian seemed the man for his purpose. 

 He was young, handsome, rich, and of fascinat- 

 ing and popular manners, and he had the ad- 

 vantage of being a scion of one of the greatest 

 imperial families of Europe. Accordingly, mat- 

 ters were put in train to make him Emperor of 

 Mexico. 



The Asamblea de Notables of Mexico, a body 

 of the French Emperor's creatures, and in his 

 pay, were ordered to elect the Archduke Em- 

 peror of Mexico, and did so on tlje 10th of 

 July, 1863. Maximilian was at first averse to 

 the acceptance of the proffered crown, and 

 sought the counsel of his friends in the matter. 

 Louis Napoleon and his Empress~~of course 

 urged him strongly to accept, and even the 

 usually astute Leopold, his father-in-law, ad- 

 vised it. On the 3d of October, 1863, a depu- 

 tation from the Mexican Assembly waited on 

 him at his castle of Miramar to request formally 

 his assumption of the imperial office. He was 

 still unwilling to give them a favorable answer, 

 until he could be satisfied that it was really the 

 voice of the Mexican nation which called him 

 to the position. In his reply to the address of 

 the deputation, he said : " Although the mission 

 of maintaining the welfare of Mexico on a solid 

 foundation, and with free institutions, is a most 

 noble one, I must, nevertheless, in complete ac- 

 cordance with the views of the Emperor Napo- 



