The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-31 00:00:00

CONDITION OF MEXICO.

MAXIMILIAN has been blamed for remainirg in
Mexico after the French withdrew. We believe
that MAXIMILIAN in this case was substantially

right—and that events have shown he was justified
in the course he adopted. We speak in reference

to the position in which he was personally en-
tangled, and the way out of the difficulty. He
could have retired in safety from the country to his
native Europe in the possession of high rank and of
a large fortune. But he knew that he would leave
thousands the victims of a shocking persecution. It
would have been impossible for him to have enjoyed

a moment's peace who had thus sought his own
safety and ease, leaving his followers to a terrible
fate. Some men could—but not MAxIMILIAN.
His life would have been blighted, his honour

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gone ; and henceforth he would have dragged on •a
weary and miserable existence. What would then have
beenithe judgment of the world which now condemns
him for rashness had his conduct been in accordance
with what it declares to have been advisable ?
From the nature of Mexican leaders and parties,
MAXIMILIAN foresaw that from the moment he
ceased to rule, the country would become the prey
of the most horrible excesses. If he could succeed
in establishing his power, unaided by foreign
bayonets, much of the anticipated anarchy would be
averted. If not, he could at least die gloriously,with-

out witnessing this misery, and leave an honourable
name recorded in history. He accepted the alter-
native when he found the decree against him with
the courage of a brave man, leaving an example to
his followers who since fell in thousands for his
cause. They at least had not the bitter pang when
led to execution that they were the victims, while
the chief who had deserted them was luxuriating in
European palaces, leaving them to suffer every ex-
tremity in Mexico. It is on this ground that his-
tory will justify MAXIMILIAN. Could he have
treated with JUAREZ, and felt secure of a general
amnesty following his abdication, the course pru-
dence dictated was to vacate the throne and return
to Europe. But he knew that this was impossible ;
he must either control in Mexico, die, or witness the
extermination of his adherents. MAXIMILIAN was
but the first of a frightful massacre. It is stated
that since his execution nearly 2,000 persons have
been shot without any trial whatever. ESCOBEDO
meant what he said, when he stated his hopes of
seeing the blood of every foreigner in Mexico shed.
Although DIAZ on entering the capital did not
inaugurate so brutal a system of persecution, there
is in reality little difference between the rule in
Mexico and the rule in Queretaro. He appears to
have directed alarge measure of his vengeance against
the Church. Religious institutions of all kinds
have been broken up, and 1,000 nuns turned
into the streets. The advice by the Java '
say
that JUAREZ is confiscating the Roman Catho-
lic convents. Priests have been compelled to
abandon their distinctive attire. The capital is in
a state of destitution, absolutely without money, yet
a heavy tax is being wrung from all possessors of
real estate. Hundreds of the most prominent
citizens have been thrown into prison, and as there
are uo courts and no Government, save the will of
the General and his myrmidoms, they remain
absolutely at his mercy. Every brigand in his
own circle controls the inhabitants by the force of
the bullet and the sword. Trade is annihilated, and
all who can, have fled the capital to escape a rule
worse than the days of terror in the metropolis of
France. Those who knew anything of Mexico were
ware that this would follow on the ascendancy of
a holy of men, perhaps less fitted to rule their
fellows than any other class on earth. The effect
on the United States of such a scene of iniquity is
shown by the organisation of parties bent onanda
l
inter-
fering for the suppression of so damaging a scandal
to Republican institutions. The Aliglo-Sax.-on can-
not understand why a system of government, admir-
able in his case, should be unsuited for other races.
He might, in truth, as well attempt to feed his
infant on the food fitted for himself. But he does
not personally come iu contact with these
Mexicans, and he cannot therefore judge what
the effect really is. A large party of earnest
Liberals in the United States, honestly believing
that JUAREZ, ESCOBEDO, DIAz, and the other
Republican commanders, are striving to establish
Liberal institutions in combating a usurper and a
form of government hateful to them, justify the
acts of the Mexican leaders. Thus STEVENS,
CHANDLER, HOWARD, LoGAN, and other members
of Congress, have in their &cos strongly

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1867.

ing grace and amnesty, according to Parliamentary
usage, to any person having cognisance of such con-
spiracy not already put on trial and convicted of
complicity therein, who shall give material and
faithful evidence tending to bring to light the facts

of said conspiracy; and that in the judgment of
the House no person in whose favour said report

shall be made ought to be brought to trial on any
evidence given by him to the committee, nor should
such evidence be used against such person on any
trial." On Friday, the sth inst., the prosecution

closed in the trial of Surratt, and the defence com-
menced next day, being opened by Mr. Bradley,
junior, who declared his belief in the prisoner's in-

nocence, and his ability to prove an alibi, as well as
to break down the most important testimony of the

Government. The proprietor and many of the
actors employed at Ford's Theatre when the assas-

nation occurred were examined, and a professor

at the Observatory of Washington. These wit-
nesses show that the theatre was not open on the

day prece ling the assassination—that the mysterious
calling of the time is to apprise the actors when
they must appear on. the stage, and that it was not
Surratt who called the time, but an employe of the
theatre. They further show that the night was
_ _

cloudy ani dark, and that it was impossible for
people to have been sworn to by the wit-
nesses for the prosecution. The testimony on

Thursday was interesting and important.

object ;as to destroy Weichnian's evidence. Sur-

ratt's counsel stated that he could prove Weichman
to have been deep in the conspiracy. Hollahan,
who accompanied the detectives to Canada in their

search for Surratt, claims the handkerchief picked
up at the railway station at Vermont as his own.
It will be remembered that it was supposed to have
been dropped by Surratt as he fled from Washing-
ton to Montreal on the night of the murder. The
Government witnesses, Tibbetts, Lee, Cleaver, and
several others, are, according to a number of per-
sons, not to be relied on, and the last was shown to
have been tried and convicted of rape and man-
slaughter.

Petroleum. has again been tried on board the
United States gunboat Palos at Boston, on July 3.
The vessel steamed 44 nautical miles in 4 hours
10 minutes, or at the rate of 10 knots an hour, con-
suming eight barrels of petroleum. This trial is
considered conclusive, confirming, as it does, the
success on previous occasions. Greater speed would
have been attained, but for the derangement
of the air-pumps which were temporarily con-
nected. The gentlemen on board resolved them-

selves into a meeting, and passed sundry reso-
lutions, of which the last was as follows:
Resolved, " That the thanks of the commercial
world are due to Colonel 13. R. Foote and his asso-

ciates for this discovery, which must produce an
important revolution in ocean and river steam
navigation."
On a recent visit to Lennoxville Jefferson Davis
at the Sherbrook Railway station made a short
speech. He was met there by a large crowd, who
welcomed him with loud cheers, and, after some per-
suasion, he said :—" Gentlemen,—I thank you most
kindly for this hearty British reception, which I take
as a manifestation of your sympathy and goodwill
for one in misfortune. It bespeaks the true in-
stincts of your race. I trust you may ever remain
as free a people as you are now, and that under the
union of your provinces you will grow great and
prosperous as you are free. I hope that you will
hold fast to your British principles, and that you
may ever strive to cultivate a close and affectionate
connexion with the mother country. Gentlemen,
again I thank you."
The Iron Age encourages the stern re3olve of the
Irish People to smother the British lion with its
own piece goods and other manufactures. As the
British lion cannot be choked out of existence by
the Fenian grasp of the shaggy beast's throat, the
oft-tried device is to be again attempted of starving
it by withdrawing custom. We cannot say with
what amount of dismay the much-enduring brute
will hear of this fresh conspiracy for its destruc-
tion. It may perhaps be comforted by the know-
ledge that thescheme has been often planned, but with
little harm. People have a shocking habit of buy-
ing in the cheapest market, and of this inveterate
propensity it has been found most difficult to bre ik
them. While the New York Ti ibnne his been ad-
vocating " Protection to American Industry" it is
regularly printed on paper imported from Europe,
and takes credit to itself for the great advance it has
made in the creditable appearance of its sheet. We
wonder what paper the Iron Age uses ? It certainly
is of so good a quality that we are half-inclined to
believe that it also is foreign. But this of
course cannot be so, for whatever might be the
inconsistency of the Tribune, the Iron Age could not
have the audacity to print on foreign paper the
article to which we allude. It will scarcely be
gratifying to the Iron Age to learn that the country
which has taken the largest supply of British pro-
duce and manufactures for the last year is the
United States, the increase being so great as to
restore the value of British exports to that country
to a higher position than they occupied before the
American war. But whether gratifying or not,
the increase of imports into the United Kingdom
from the United States is on a still larger scale than
the increase of exports, as the annual report to which
we allude elsewhere shows. If the Fenian conspiracy
drops into this harmless result, we may well con-
gratulate the Irish brotherhood on the change from
dangerous madness into drivelling idiotcy.

THE SULTAN'S V151N,w,46,46,4,..

If pleasure and sight-seeing be a weary pastim6
to even young people of western Europe, what
must have been the toil to AnDooL-Aziz of the last
few weeks. It requires long residence in the east
for the people of either England or France to com-
prehend the feelings of the grand Turk when he
found himself the centre of attraction in the great
cities of Paris and London. A Christian sovereign
is more or less trained to be a show. It is his
most irksome duty to form the principal figure in
pageants, and to take the foremost place in
cumbrous ceremonial, but it is all after his kind—
the customs and habits to which he has been
educated. Yet it wearies inexpressibly, and he is
a rare monarch who does not occasionally break
impatiently through the etiquette which fences him
around. The leading idea of an eastern potentate
is that power is to be used for personal gratification,
not for the benefit of his subjects. If he be lazy
he reposes in a state of dolce fir niente, and the
rule passes into the hand of his minister. If he be
sensual he fills his harem with houris, and the law
of the Prophet against the sparkling bowl becomes
a dead letter. If he be cruel the heads of the faith-
ful are severed from their bodies; whatever may be
his idiosyncrasy he makes it felt over his dominion.
So long as he occupies his throne he is widely sepa-
rated from all around him. Those who come in
contact with him address him as the Master of the
Universe—almost as GOD on earth—whom it is
their business to obey at the sacrifice of their lives,
as his slaves—the mere creatures of his will. No
doubt there are controlling influences which he feels
indirectly, but he reads little, and knows little, even
of the country over which he presides. The plunge
of the SULTAN from his capital of Constantinople
into the midst of Parisian and London society is
in truth a " header," a sort of cold bath, which it is
Impossible for us fully to comprehend. An Eng -
lishman, finding himself is an Eastern city feels
how strange all is around him ; yet he is not ad-
mitted into Turkish houses, Le does not view more
than the outside of Turkish society, he does not dine
at their tables, converse with their wives and daugh-
ters; he is not introduced into their harem, and,
however strange the change may be, it is but
the outside of things he sees. Reading lessens
much of the novelty, and his roving habits break
in a measure the strangeness of the scene. But
ABDOOL-AZIZ, without such preparation, found
himself on the boulevards of Paris, not many hours
after the minarets of Constantinople had sunk below
the horizon. From that moment he became the centre
of a throng of Franks. Thousands of eyes were for ever
peering at him. At his elbow stood the reporter,
pencil in hand. The lens of the photographer was
directed at him. If he spoke, his words circulated
through the press ; if he looked, if he laughed, if he
yawned, all was recorded in large type for the in-
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