feet of the president, and fainted as Juarez in deeply moved voice repeated his refusal.
The ostensible reason for the refusal was not alone that Maximilian, once in safety, would renew his pretensions, amid a group of discontented fugitives, to form his court, but that in case of subsequent internal or foreign trouble, his cause might serve as a dangerous pretence. Among the real reasons were a national jealousy of foreign interference and dictation, and the desire to show that Mexico could act independently. Leniency would be attributed to fear, although another invasion was improbable after Napoleon's failure. Hence the very pleading for mercy proved irritating, and tended to rouse the consciousness of comparative weakness to assume a mask of implacable sternness. The strongest pressure for punishment, however, came from the army, here composed of men from northern provinces, whose aversion to foreigners, unsoftened by lack of intercourse, had been increased by the irritation arising from the proximity of a powerful and suspected neighbor. They cried for revenge on the author of the decree under which their beloved leaders, like Arteaga, had met a cruel end.[1] It also flattered the national vanity of many to aim a blow at divine rights through republican sovereignty, by killing a monarch for lèse-majesté populaire — and a ruler so widely connected among European rulers.
On the 16th of June Maximilian and his compan-
- ↑ This is generally admitted, and Escobedo stands widely accused for having promoted the feeling. Many insist that he could have saved Maximilian. His selection of men for the court-martial was a proof of ill-will. He declared to the president that if Maximilian was not shot, that he, Escobedo, could not hold his army together.' Hall's Life Max., 207, 212. Salm-Salm is doubtful about vindictiveness and cruelty as motives, but believes in a desire for revenge by army and ultra-republicans. Diary, i. 273; Lefévre, Docs, ii. 410. Basch assumes that Juarez did not forget that Maximilian had refused to recognize him, giving the preference to Ortega. Erin., ii. 103. His letter to Miramon, ordering Juarez and officers to be judged by court-martial, if caught — at Zacatecas — is also brought forward as irritating. The Indian nature is certainly tenacious. Maximilian would no doubt have given guarantees to abstain from all claims, but promises have never had much value in Mexico. Pardoned chiefs used to rise again as soon as released.
