On a subsequent occasion Fred presented the following, which was heartily approved by Doctor Bronson as deserving a place in the narrative of their journey through Mexico:
"Maximilian was condemned to death on account of the 'Black Decree,' and the officers who had carried out his orders were sentenced to the same fate. The wife of General Miramon went to San Luis Potosi to intercede with President Juarez for her husband's life. The Princess Salm-Salm went at the same time to do a similar service for Maximilian. The princess, in the account of her interview, says: 'I saw the President was moved; he had tears in his eyes, but he assured me in a low, sad voice, "I am grieved, madame, to see you thus on your knees before me, but if all the kings and queens of Europe were in your place, I could not spare that life. It is not I who take it, it is the people and the law; and if I should not do its will, the people would take it, and mine also."'
"Miramon's wife told a similar story about the wish of the President to be merciful and reprieve her husband. She says he was wavering when his Minister of Foreign Affairs said, 'It is to-day or never that you will consolidate the peace of the republic.' Then the President told her as gently as he could that it was impossible to grant her request.
"The Government of the United States asked that Maximilian's life be spared, and the Emperor of Austria sent a similar request, but all to no purpose. On the morning of the execution Maximilian rode in a coach with his confessor from the prison to the Hill of the Bells, and Miramon and Mejia, with their confessors, followed in another coach. An adobe wall had been built up for the occasion, and the three men were placed in front of it, and about ten paces from the firing party. Maximilian held a crucifix in his hand, and looked intently upon it as the order to fire was given. The President caused the remains of the ill-fated Emperor to be carefully coffined, and they were sent home to Austria for interment in the Imperial vault of the Hapsburgs.
"President Juarez entered the city of Mexico on the 15th of July, less than a month after Maximilian's death, and carried with him a train of provisions for the relief of the suffering inhabitants. Great leniency was shown to all who had served under Maximilian; nineteen of the officers who had committed crimes or deserted from the Republican army were shot, others were imprisoned, and some were ordered to leave the country under pain of imprisonment in case they returned. The rank and file of the soldiery were sent to their homes or incorporated into the national army, and the President did everything in his power to bring peace to the country; and since that time Mexico has been a peaceful land compared with what it had been for the preceding forty years."
When Fred completed the reading of his story Doctor Bronson said he was reminded of an incident that happened at the time of the execution of Maximilian.
"I was in Paris," said he, "when the news came that the execution had taken place. The French papers were not allowed to make any comment upon the affair, except to execrate it and denounce the Mexicans in the bitterest terms. Louis Napoleon would have caused the immediate suspension of any paper that uttered a word in sympathy with the acts of Juarez.
"One of the liberal papers managed very skilfully to get around the prohibition. It printed the telegram announcing that Maximilian had been shot by order of a Mexican court-martial, and directly beneath the telegram it printed the 'Black Decree' of October, 1865, to which you have alluded, and with it two letters written by Maximilian's victims just before they were led to execution. The decree and the letters were copied from the French official newspapers, and therefore they could be printed without risk of interference. There was not a word of editorial comment, nor was any needed."
"We said there had been peace in Mexico since the fall of the Empire," continued Fred, "but our words deserve to be qualified. There have been disturbances at different times and in various parts of the country. In 1871 there was something that almost threatened civil war in the shape of a pronunciamento by General Diaz, and for a while things had a serious aspect. General Diaz did not like the election of Juarez for a third time; he proposed an assembly of notables to reorganize the government, and that he (Diaz) should be commander-in-chief of the army until the assembly had done its work. This would have been practically equivalent to making him President, but the whole scheme was ended by the sudden death of Juarez in July, 1872.
"Lerdo de Tejado then became President, and for three years everything was peaceful. Then came another revolution, which drove Lerdo from the capital and installed Diaz in the Presidential chair. At the end of his term Diaz was succeeded by General Gonzales, who was a poor man when he became President, and a very rich one when he left the office. He left it peaceably, and was succeeded, December 1, 1884, by Diaz, who has shown himself a man of ability, and has managed the affairs of the country very creditably.