The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-07-30
For the Standard.

MAXIMILIAN.
Macmillan has been shot to death with
musketry. The courts of Europe are In
mourning and the friends OF Monarchy and
Imperialism in America are lamenhng ms
untimely end England, black with the
murder of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Win
her iron grip on the throat of poor old Ire
land. is dissolved to tears. Napoleon III,
who swore to defend the French Republic
and its constitution and then broke his oath
and drove the best Republicans from France,
weeps likewise. Austria, with her subter-
ranean dungeons, where freedom has been stl-
fled for centuries, awakes at last to pity and
compassion, and in the United States, the
adherents of the martyred Davis, all the
heroes of the lost cause" forgetting Belle
Isle and Andersonville, are beginning to talk
about humanity"
But there are those who do not weep
there are those whose clear perceptions and
whose stern sense of justice have not been
vitiated and diluted by the maudlin senti-
ment of girlish philosophers. They see in
the execution of Macmillan, of Hapsburg,
righteous retribution. They have an abb
ding faith in the final triumph of the prin-
ciple Of human rights and human equality.
They believe that here in America, we have
begun to write anew the history of the race.
They despise the precedents of feudal past,
built upon caste and conventional distinc-
lions, and have written the first page of the
new Evangel in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, and it reads, Justice to all alike and
the dignity of man as man." These ideas
must advance; mankind must go forward,
and if Macmillan stands in their way, the
worse for Macmillan. There is no reioic-
ing at his fate among those who pronounce
L. 4 1Y1cf I'm hn pfrar fhnIT
recognize his amiable personal traits and re-
greet deeply that he was trained and educa-
ted in the unfortunate belief that the circum-
stance of his birth entitled him to an exemp
ton from any penalty where Others must
have forfeited their lives
Maximilian's history, in Mexico, may be
briefly stated. The United States was crap
ling in struggle for life. The powers of
Europe were watching the contest with in
tense interest," hoping that Republican gov
eminent in America would prove failure,
and that Democracy would receive a blow
which would disable it for many years to
come. The successes of the rebellion in its
earlier stages strengthened their hopes and
pretext was soon found for interference
1t was found in Mexico. This country was
in an unsettled condition. Its form of gov
eminent, like ours. was Republican; but it
uaU HOT ycG SettlcCl uOWu 10 StdDluCy. L lie
power of the church, the old aristocrjsy of
the country, and the foreign influence were
all combined against Repubicanism, and
the wonder would have been. if it had sue
ceeded, without long and trying struggle.
Taking advantage of these internal dissen-
sions Napoleon III, himselfa usurper caused
Macmillan to be proclaimed Emperor of
Mexico and maintained that claim with
French bayonets. The United States would
never have submitted to this outrage had
she been in condition to prevent it. But
rebellion was there striking at her throat
and its arms had to be broken first. The
Mexican people refused to acknowledge the
and band of patriots rallied under
Benito Juarez, the legitimate head of the
government, to drive the interloping stranger
from their shores These Mexican soldiers
fighting against foreign troops and in de-
Tense of their country, their constitution,
their liberties and their homes, were outlaw
ed by Macmillan, declared robbers and vag-
abOnds and when taken prisoners were shot
down in cold blood. For six years Juarez
held out with a skill and heroism rarely
equalled Shut out from the sea, without a
navy, a disorganized government, driven to
the Businesses of the frontier, his soldiers
few in numbers, and fighting with the halter
round their necks, he upheld the standard of
the Republic until the French troops were
the capital in his possession,
Macmillan his prisoner, and Mexico free
Macmillan had staked his head against
crown and lost. He was the victim of his
own folly, and would have had no right to
of his eXecutloners even if his ad-
had not been stained with cru
city. But then the blood of the butchered
Mexican prisoners cried aloud from the
f1,n Al
deed was done by one, who boosted the
blood of the Caesars and of old Rudolph of
in his veins Was it less a con-
spiracy against the Republic that it was
headed by son of the oldest house in Eu-
rope, than if its chief had been an adyen-
turing American tilibuster Not so, thought
Juarez, nor did he shrink from his duty,-
The blood of Macmillan and his confeder-
ates will baptize Mexico into a new life
There, at least, loyalty will be made respec-
table and treason odious. There, at least
spotted traitors will not parade their crimes
and boast them in the faces of those who
have suffered for the Republic Under this
wise and vigorous policy Mexico will be
speedily regenerated. Discontents will SUBJ
side; rebellion and treason be afraid to show
their heads; the people no longer divided
between rival chiettains, and finding their
old occupation of war and plumber gone.
will turn their attention to the more quiet
paths of industry; proprietors who have
feared to sow, not knowing who would reap,
may now till their lands in peace and gather
their abundant harvests in security.
All honor to Benito Juarez Nav his
name be forever remembered as the avenger
Of treason and the deliverer of his country
from a foreign despotisml s..
For the Standard
REPUBLICAN, MEETING In GlSTON COCyTv