redressing wrongs came a revision of tribunals, and the appointment of a visiting inspector.[1] Conciliatory proceedings were above all to be used, and no costs levied in verbal suits.[2] The empress, on her side, ministered to charities and other benevolent institutions. As an instance of respect for popular religious customs, she and the emperor one day descended from their carriage and knelt in the street on meeting the host. On the other hand came an order for keeping public offices open during the forenoon of Sundays;[3] and loose remarks on toleration were brought against Maximilian by conservatives, as well as the absence of the cross from the imperial crown, and of the phrase 'by grace of God' in connection with his title.[4]
- ↑ The revision was intrusted to a committee, leading meanwhile to a reorganization of minor courts, reaffirming the decisions of intervention judges, etc. Méx., Boletin Ley., 1864, 111-13, 211, 154, 179, 182, 310.
- ↑ Save 6 per cent on the amount, and not even this for the very poor.
- ↑ Issued June 28th, for the sake of promoting the disentanglement of affairs.
- ↑ Many would have preferred his first name, Ferdinand, as more Spanish. Countess Kollonitz, The Court of Mexico. Translated by J. E. Ollivant, M. A. Balliol College, Oxford. London, 1867, 8vo, pp. xix. 303. The authoress of this volume was lady-in-waiting to the Empress Charlotte, and she narrates in it the voyage from Miramare, and her travelling experiences in Mexico during the years 1864 and 1865. Her observations on the customs and habits of the Mexicans are enjoyable reading, though, as she remarks, the exceptional position which she occupied during her journeying hindered her from obtaining deep insight into the relations and circumstances of the country. The work contains, also, many trenchant remarks about prominent persons, and the impressions of the countess of Miramon, Mejía, and Bazaine are extremely interesting. In chap. ix. a review of Mexican history is given, in which attention is paid to the war of independence. Her book was favorably reviewed by the critics.
Miramar á Mexico — Viaje del Emperador Maximiliano y de la Emperatriz, etc., Orizaba, 1864, 8vo, pp. 412, 11. 2, with lithographs, contains an account of Maximilian's acceptance of the throne of Mexico; his journey from Miramare to the capital; and a description of his reception and celebrations at the different cities on his route. Copies are inserted of the addresses delivered on these occasions, and of odes, hymns, and poems composed in honor of him, with copious extracts from the periodicals of the day. The book opens with a brief summary of events in Mexico from the fall of Puebla, in May 1863, and closes with biographies of the emperor and empress. The author is anonymous.
Advenimiento de SS. MN. II. Maximiliano y Carlota al Trono de Mexico — Documentos Relativos y Narracion del Viaje de Nuestros Soberanos de Miramar á Veracruz y del Recibimiento que se les hizo, etc. Edicion de 'La Sociedad.' Mexico, 1864, 8vo, pp. 36S, with portraits and plates. This work contains important documents relating to the history of Mexico during the period 1861-64. In it the political events from the inception of the tripartite alliance to Maximilian's arrival and reception in the capital are fully described. The editors regarded Maximiliano's elevation to the throne by the wish of the nation (!) as the stepping-stone of Mexico from anarchy to order.
