Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1867-07-17
Romance, Honor, Hero WOr-
shin,

ana weeping over the Just and rlghte-
Gus punishment of criminals Of the
darkest dye.
When some human monster slays
the unsuspecting traveller on the high
way, or murders whole family in theil
sleep, we are momentarily shocked or
reading the account CT the tragedy
but the victims and the crime which
sent them, unprepared to their great
account, are alike forgotten ere the
grave covers the dead from the sight o.
their afflicted friends. But should the
murderer be detected, tried, convicted
and executed, the feelings and sympa.
thies of the whole community are en-
listed in behalf of him whom the law:
of God and man adjudge to be unwor
thy to live. We are edited by the
meek bearing and pious expressions o.
the murderer; we shed tears over the
story of his sufferings and death anC
feel that, some how or other, he has
been hardly dealt with.
Are these facts creditable to US as 6
people2 We ayow our beliefthat they
tend TO destroy our sense of honor and
justice, degrade our self-respect, ano
diminish our regard for humanity.
We are moved to make these re
marks upon reading the pathetic arti
cles of some of our contemporaries touch
ing the romantic life and tragic death
of the so-called Mexican Emperor
Maximilian. He is depioted as young
and handsome soldier, a scholar and
a statesman Of princely or rather i'm.
perial origin, q descendant of the
Cesars, the husband of a beautiful and
accomplished woman of equally high
and gentle blood; the lord of gorge
GUS palace, and the possessor Of little
Eden, on the shores Of the Adriatic
the most romantic of seas.
But these things do not satisfy him
and his beautiful spouse. They are
mortal, though denizens of Paradise.
They dream Of crowns, diadems and
boundless sway. Ancestral blood as
serts itself. Their fathers conquered
and reigned; why may not they They
abandon their pleasant abode, the
charms of literature, philosophy and
domestic felicity, and sail for the semi.
barbarous shores of Mexico, hoping
there to become the founders of a new
Empire which in a few years, or gene
rations at most, shall rival the gloriss
of their ancestral 6ominions. But
unforeseen and unexpected difficulties
intervene. The barbarous and ungrate-
full Mexicans refuse to be governed and
civilized they are deserted by their
allies, and betrayed by those in whom
they put their trust. Carlotta, the
sometime Empress, is dispatched to
Europe in search Of help, and, failing
to secure it, becomes hopelessly insane;
her palace becomes her prison-house ;
Macmillan, in order to shame his faith
less allies, continues q struggle which
he knows to be hopeless, and the con-
tinusnee of which will result in moth
ing but more bloodshed; but, like the
last Byzantine Emperor, he resolves
that his death shall be worthy Of his
life and lineage; and, so sacrifices his
life upon point of honor, and is shot
To death by his rebellious and migrate
full subjects, who escaped the same fate
only because he failed to capture them.
Here is q romance, the plot. and the
material, for fifty volumes Of yellow
bound hteraturel And the world waits
in anxious expectancy, for them 70 be
writtenl Where is Emerson Bennett? ?
Where is SylYanus Cobb, Jr.
We regard ourselves as among the
last who would seek to detract from
the credit due to courage and laudable
ambition. But courage unconpected
with 8 just cause exeites in US no feel
ings of admiration for its possessor. In
spired bypatriotism and love of liberty
the humblest private that ever carried
q musket or drew q sabre in defense of
his country is greater hero, is worthy
Of more honor, and is an object of more
interest than all the CGsars,
and Maximilians that ever
lived. How many such heroes have
we seen die, as it were, in ourpresence,
giving them scarcely passing thought !
And may it not be that other women,
as beautiful as Carlotta, and though
unknown to the world, her equals in
the sight of God and his angels, may
be wandering among the Mountains of
Mexico, bereft of reason in consequence
1f the loss of lovers, husbands ard
done to death by Maximilian's
ordersl 1t requires no grea fight of
,he imagination to conceive as much.
But need we go to the shores of the
Adriatic or the valley of Mexico in
earch of examples of moral and physi-
al heroismi Need we travel so far TO |
ind men whose honor was held desrer
han lief Are none but Emperors,
Kings and the great ones of the earth |
'spable of these things?
Take one example, which may not |
70 altogether imaginary: A poor man |
$ the owner of cottage and few
.cres of land, not by the sea, but on
teep hillside. He is the husband of
woman who, in his eyes, is the perfect
mage of beauty-the gentlest, the
'urest and the best in the world and
Ie is the father of six children, ''sons
nd daughters of beauty" who are the
ride of his heart. Much as he loves
is home snd family, he has been
aught, and is a part of his religion,
hat his country has q claim upon his
erVices in her hour of danger. He
ss learned from the family history
nd traditions that his forefsthers, from
period long anterior 10 the Revolu-
ion, generation after generation, were
oldiers, and never turned their backs
o their country's enemies. Fired with
n ambition nobler than that which
nds Judgment in the breast of kings,
o commits his loved ones to God,
ids them farewell, and joins the army.
It length the day Of battle comes, say
Dr. example, at Monocacy. Though
ick, and exhausted by long and weary
marches, and distant several miles from
be field where the fight opens, he
Fesses forward with his comrades, and
engaged in the thickest of the bat ,
e. The day is against us-the enc
ly's force is overwhelming-and our
rmy is forced to retreat. His high
oirits, notwithstanding his in6rmities,
nabled him to get to the battle, buthe
as unable to get ai0Gy, and so was
lade prisoner. Carried to Salisbury
nd shut up in the prison pens, strip
ed of nearly sll his clothing, without
lelter, and almost without food, he ::
y for months. Day after day he was
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