Page:The Fall of Maximilan's Empire.djvu/114

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THE FALL OF MAXIMILIAN'S EMPIRE.

Tampico. This was on the 22d, on the same day that the news came that the city of Mexico had surrendered to General Porfirio Diaz.[1] Marquez had suddenly disappeared, the evening before, leaving General Tabera, with a demoralized garrison, to bear the odium of a defence protracted far beyond the rules or necessities of civilized warfare; it was only curious that a man so plainly marked by a scar on his face, and so well known, should have succeeded in effecting his escape.

The next day came the news of that sad event, over which history bends with moistened eyes, that plunged two reigning families of Europe into grief, and many others into mourning. The premature ending of the gallant young Prince's life was heralded through the columns of the Concordia of June 20th, published at Orizaba, in the following terms:

"Ferdinand Maximilian, of Hapsburg, Archduke of Austria, in league with Napoleon III. to rob Mexico of its independence and institutions, usurper of its sovereignty, calling himself emperor, overthrown by the national will, and made prisoner by the republican forces in Querétaro, on the 15th of May, 1867, and judged by the law upon offences against the independence of the nation of the 25th of January, 1862, and sentenced by the respective council of war to the extreme penalty, was executed

  1. Now President of Mexico.