“In this defence, addressed by you to your countrymen, to France, and to the world at large, you appeal to me as witness that Querétaro did not fall by treachery and maintain that your statements bear the stamp of perfect truth. Although I, as you know, have been a prisoner of war for five months, my sense of justice will no longer allow me to be silent, for I can prove their utter falsity. You publicly declare that Querétaro was captured by force of arms; that the Emperor commissioned you on the night of the fourteenth of May to negotiate with the enemy, his troops being completely demoralized and all hope of escape abandoned; and you dare any who maintain that Querétaro fell by treachery to appear and dispute your assertions. I accept your challenge, therefore, and before the world proclaim you a traitor with the blood of your former sovereign and benefactor on your hands. It is not true that the Emperor commissioned you to negotiate with the enemy. I had the honor of conversing with His Majesty that night, after you had left him, and he had not then or at any other time the faintest idea of treating with the republicans. If his army was small, it was still brave and loyal enough to have fought a way out through the enemy’s lines for its beloved sovereign, to whose character, as you well know, such a course as you describe would have been utterly foreign. This being the case, permit me, Senor Lopez, to ask you a few questions before the world.
“Why, if you had been ordered to enter the enemy’s lines, did you return about two o’clock with a republican officer of high rank and bring him into La Cruz, the Emperor’s headquarters? Why did you, contrary to the Emperor’s wishes, and without my knowledge, order the Hungarian hussars to unsaddle, when I had already given them the Emperor’s commands to remain saddled all night? Why, at such a dangerous time, did you remove from the Emperor’s headquarters the guard upon whom the safety of La Cruz depended? Why were the eight guns which stood on the square in front of the convent turned with their muzzles toward the city? Why, at two o’clock in the morning, did you take this republican general, dressed as a civilian and armed with a revolver, all through our fortifications? Why did you leave our lines before four o’clock that morning, still with this same officer, and return in a quarter of an hour at the head of two of the enemy’s battalions and lead them into the inner court of La Cruz, where you were met by your accomplice, Lieutenant Jablonski? How did it happen that you and Jablonski, both supposedly prisoners, should have informed the Emperor of the enemy’s presence in La Cruz? How do you explain the fact that when His Majesty, with General Castillo and myself, were about to leave the convent, then already surrounded by the enemy, we were allowed at a word from you to pass as civilians, although the Emperor must have been already recognized and General Castillo and I were in full uniform? How was it that after our capture some of the republican officers named you as the traitor? How did it happen that you, a prisoner, were always at liberty? And, finally, how were you able to possess yourself of the imperial papers and various articles belonging to His Majesty, such as his silver toilet service, which, by the way, have never appeared again?
“To all of this, Señor Miguel Lopez, you cannot honestly and honorably reply; the facts speak for themselves and proclaim you both traitor and murderer. Why did you betray your Emperor and benefactor? Because, in the first place, you wished to be revenged on him for withholding from you the General’s commission which he had already signed. In case you should not know his reason for this, then learn now that it was because a brave man, whose blood is also on your hands and whose name I will not mention, lest you take revenge on those he has left behind, had presented to His Majesty a private document dismissing you from the army for infamous conduct during Santa Anna’s presidency and forbidding your ever holding a government office again.
“And, secondly, Señor Lopez, you were moved by fear. Seeing that something decisive must soon occur and fearing, in case of our defeat, for your future and for your life, you hoped by this shameful treachery to clear your past account with the republicans, as indeed you did. Your third attempt at treason failed, for a short time after the Emperor had been made prisoner, finding your hopes disappointed, you sent a person known to us both to him with offers to betray your new confederates. In my presence this person attempted to pave the way for you to approach the Emperor, overtures that were naturally rejected with contempt. A man may choose his own course in life, but he must be true to his principles. You have not only been false to yours but have also committed the most infamous of all crimes—that of treason—and broken the oath you took to the imperial cause. The name of Miguel Lopez may become famous, no doubt, but it will never be mentioned in the annals of Mexico or of the world save with deepest abhorrence and contempt.”
Chapter XVI
The Emperor’s Imprisonment
After Maximilian had surrendered his sword to the republican commander on the Cerro de la Campaña he was taken back to his old quarters at the convent, his physician and two attendants, Grill and Severo, being allowed to join him later.
“It was with a heavy heart,” writes Dr. Basch, “that I approached the Emperor’s door, before which a guard was posted. I opened it and paused a moment on the threshold to compose myself, but His Majesty came up at once and embraced me, weeping. Quickly controlling himself, however, he pressed my hand and turned away, sighing deeply. A mournful silence followed. Now for the first time I perceived that Salm, Blasio, Pachta, and Pradillo were also in the room. For a time the Emperor paced up and down, lost in thought, but at last he spoke, this time more calmly.
“‘I am glad,’ he said, ‘that it all happened without more bloodshed. That much at least has been accomplished. I feared for you all.’
“Although he had been so ill the night before, excitement had sustained him during the events that had since occurred. Now, however, the attack returned and he was forced to go to bed suffering greatly. Having, in our present situation, no remedies at hand to relieve his distress, I was greatly surprised when the Emperor produced a small box of pills which I had given him the night before. ‘You see,’ he declared, ‘how important it is not to lose one’s presence of mind. This morning when we were surprised I remembered to put this in my pocket.’”
Maximilian’s room had been completely rifled during his absence. Personal effects, books, clothing, and documents all had disappeared, having been appropriated by Lopez as souvenirs of his former benefactor. During the forenoon the Emperor was visited by several of the republican officers, among whom was Colonel José Gallardo, who had permitted him to leave La Cruz the preceding night—a mistaken kindness, as it proved, for Maximilian, in consequence, had been arrested in arms and thereby made himself liable to that fatal decree of October third, which he had tried to revoke on his way to Orizaba.