New-York daily tribune., 1865-11-13
and in Washington. in Charleston and in New.
Orleans IL will be felt for good.
uBXICO,

dSlUt LU6 ODlIRbtiOuc VI SuO uOhhSOiSh" ""N
assumes tho duties of an executioner. Our
readers are familiar with the decree Of Maxi
milan, which assumes that the opposition Of
,Juarcz has descended into bandits war, and
that Juarez having abandoned Mexico, all who
follow him are to be outlawed and treated as
enemies of mankind. He speaks Of the Mexi-
can followers of the President as misled and
"misinformed, carried away by "unpatriotic
passions" and assisted by "demoralized per-
sons" and an unprincipled soldiery," the last
"sad remnants of the civil wars" 1t seems
very odd to find ruler denouncing Juarez and
his followers as the "sad remnants Of the civil
wars" and at the same time inviting to his Court
such remnants" as Kirby Smith, Magruder,
W. Allen. and Sterling Price; but this is
matter of Imperial taste, and none OF our ou'i'
ness. lie may keep as many Rebels rs ne
pleases, and give them nice offices; but II
seems odd that he should he 40 speedy to de-
nounce the devoted followers of Juarez for
clincing to their chief while he rewards the
followers of jeff Davis for defending their mas
ter, and expatriatng themselves out OF love tor
treason.
Mayimilian's decree, which goes into effect
IN November I5 very much resembles the decree
Of the coup d'etot of Napoleon. 1t seems 70
bear Parisian inspiration. We are apt 70 sus'
pect tho argument which makes anger take the
place OF reason. We are al.o apt to doubt the
security of power which seeks to perpetuate
itself By deeds of needless cruelty. Macmillan
proposes to do this. He has defeated Juarez in
war. or rather the soldiers Of the French armies
did this in his name. Representing, az he con-
tends, the national will" and. the majority OF
the nation" he draws his national army from
France and Belgium and Austria Remember
ing this, we need only look to Maximilans de-
cree of October 9 to find grave cause for sus'
pectng the stability Of throne which finds In
discriminate murder necessary for its security.
Every soldier Of Juarez taken in arms after Nov.
Is Is to be summarily tried By his cap.
tors and shot within twcnty-iOur hours. The
"cuilt" does not mean war, but "the fact Of
belonging to the band of Mexican soldiers"
II a Mexican, therefore, still adheres to Juarez,
even gives his symyathies, he is liable to be
shot by any sub.lieutenant from Austria who
desires TO show Imperial zeal. In order to
make the punishment more rigid, the Emperor
Furnishes by fine or imprisonment all who assist
the Juarez men with money, or who give them
"advice or information;' who sell them horses
or arms or food; who hold any relations with
them; who conceal them; who make false re.
ports calculated to disturb the peace or who
hear Of their whereabouts and refuse 10 give IN
formation. The sentence of death in all these
cases Is TO DO executed by the officer who makes
the arrest. The Emperor desires 1t TO be
summary. There is not TO be the super
visory power of General in command. nor even
an appeal TO his own clemency. II must be
executed at once, within tweDty-four hours.
When in the hight Of our war the President
directly said that 10 sentences of death should
be carried into effect without his approval, he
felt that the lives Of his iellow-ctizens, even of
the most notorious and malignant Rebels, were
in his own peculiar keeping, and none should
take life away until he had satisfied his own
conscience as to the justice Of the sentence.
Maximian, on the contrary, transfers the most
solemn pr.rogative that can belong to q ruler
to the most insignificant subordinate officer in
his empire.
Without attempting TO decide the chances
of Maximilian's success We must protest,
in the name of humanity. against the
course prescribed by this decree. II Maximilian
is really Emperor by the grace of God and the
will of the Mexican people, why is it necessary
to make his army an army of exeoutioners
We know the horrors of martial law, even when
checked and curbed, but We DO not know how
horrible that law becomes when the power Of
life aud death over the Mexican people is in the
hands Of any stupid or brutal corporal Of the
guard We read with horror Of the eexcesses oi the
cavaliers who had the power to take every poor
Scotchman, who would not take the test, down
from his loom and shoot him. Frenchmen
would gladly skip The pages that tell Of La
vendce and the revolutionary baptisms. No
Englishman is fond of dwelling upon the sup
preston of the Sepoy rebellion. The great
stain on the fame of the present Emperor Napo-
leon is the indiscriminate slaughter OF Partisan
men and women on the Partisan b0uloyards
during the days Of December 1t cannot be
that ruler so adroit as Macmillan is about TO
repeat in Mexico the worst crimes of old Eu-
ropean countries. He mus. rule by love or
never rulc at all. lie cannot be in mems
despite monarch.