him, on this and all subsequent occasions, to execute the provisions of the decree to the very letter. Can any honest man stand here with these damning records before him, and maintain that Maximilian did not deserve his fate? It does not seem to me to be possible, and I can only attribute the sympathy Maximilian has received in the United States, to gross ignorance of the facts of history, and his true character.
There is a positive relief in turning from the perusal of this infernal decree, and the record of the butcheries performed under it, to the letters of the loyal men who were the first sacrificed, written to their mothers during their last moments. These letters should be translated into all languages, and published, as the most effective answer to the charges of cruelty and unnecessary harshness in the matter of the treatment of Maximilian, made so freely against the Liberals of Mexico. Here they are:
"Uruapan, October 20, 1865.
"My Adored Mother: I was taken prisoner on the 13th instant by the Imperial troops, and to-morrow I am to be shot. I pray you, mama, to pardon me for all the suffering I have caused you during the time I have followed the profession of arms, against your will.
"Mama, in spite of all my efforts to aid you, the only means I had I sent you in April last; but God is with you, and he will not suffer you to perish, nor my sister Trinidad, the little Yankee.
"I have not told you before of the death of my brother Luis, because I feared you would die of grief; he died at Tuxpan, in the State of Jalisco, about the first of January last.
"Mama, I leave nothing but a spotless name; for I have never taken anything that did not belong to me; and I trust God will pardon all my sins and take me into his glory.
