New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-02-19


the position was hopeless from the moment the
French troops embarked, and tho activity OF
Juarez soon made this apparent to all the world.
The subsequent course Of the Imperalsts did little
to delay the catastrophe The retreat to Queretaro
was as much blunder rs any step which had pre-
coded It, Whether or not Marquee played the
traitor Is Of no real consequence. Had he peen
able or willing to bring up achievements there
can be no doubt that they would have shared thc
fate of the beseged. The treason OF Lopez only
anticipated the inevitable surrender by few days,
for it is not to be believed that the project OF
evasion would have succeeded. Macmillan had
in truth Gagged himself. and his capture, from the
moment he shut himself up in Queretaro, was
merely question OF time
Concerning the execution Of Macmillan there
is great deal TO be said on both sides. MI Ban
croft gives the arguments fully and importantly
but he does not seem TO be altogether decided In
his own mind as to the Judgment to be rendered.
Certainly Juarez had before him pregnant ex-
ample of wise clemency in the action of the Federal
Government Of the United States at the close OF
the Rebellion. But it is not exactly candid to
pretend parallelism in the cases The American
Government knew that It could depend upon the
support Of q strong civilized public opinion The
constitutional ruler of Mexico was by no means
sure of a similar backing. The Mexicans were
less civilized than their neighbors, more fierce
in their antipathies infinitely more accustomed to
sanguinary reprsals. We do not consider the
argument from the necessity Of giving lesson to
the European powers n valid defence OF JuareZ
The sparing Of Macmillan would not have de-
tracted from the force of the warning conveyed
by the whole history Of his disastrous experiment.
There really was no longer the slightest danger
that any European Government would think OF
| following in his or Napoleon's footsteps The
COLLAPSE of the Empire complete, hopeless and
humiliating. Viewed from this point alone 1T
cannot be said that the execution was justified
On the theory that it was the deed Of civilized
State indeed it would be scarcely possible to de-
fend it at all But if we look at it as the act of
an executive officer who had strong reason to
| believe that clemency would have seriously en-
dangered its position, and who held and
| Justly, that his overthrow at such crisis would
be National calamity, we shall perhaps be at
once approaching the truth and forming less
severe opinion upon the decision Of Juarez. We
need not hesitate to say that it would have been
much more to the credit of Mexico had MaXimil
JAMS life been spared But we should not visit
wholly upon Juarcz a deed which after all was
the result Of national barbarsm far more than Of
personal or official fear policy. AS to the en-
deavor to justify the execution upon the decree of
stitutonalist leaders in to death as brigands,
it is nullified by two circumstances. First, the
decree had been repealed by Macmillan long be-
fore; second, the counter-dccree Of Juarez, adopt
ing the same ferocious rule had not been repealed
at all. There is another consideration which
must not be ignored Whatever difference OF
opinion may exist as to the wisdom or humanity
of the execution of Maximilian il is not open to
any democratic thinkers at least, to question the
right of the Mexican people to judge foreign in
vader with the utmost severity. The fact that he
was aided by Mexicans does not affect this right
1t has never been seriously alleged that the aid
given by the Scottish Highanders to the Stuart
Prctenders diminished the responsibility of the
latter for the conspiacies and treasons in which
they engaged. If Macmillan did not know from
the first that he was only the nominee of a
| minority faction, it need only be said that it
his duty ascertain the truth before he pro-
ceeded further, and that in neglecting this duty
he committed a crime against Mexico In all re-
spects equally heinous with deliberate invasion
for naked aggrandizement He at least had no
ground of complaint, for he took his life in his
hand and challenged the hatred and resentment
Of nation when he accepted crown which, as
he should have known not In the gift Of those
who offered it to him. If, when Louis Napoleon
made his burlesque landing at Boulogne the Gov
ernment instead Of sending him to Ham, had
tried, convicted and executed him, it would have
been within its rights; and Europe and Mexico
would have been spared great waste of blood and
! treasure. In like manner Mexico was within her
rights when she caused Macmillan to be shot;
and while it may be admitted that act of grace
! would have been more magnanmous, it must be
insisted that to grant his life would have been an
act Of grace, and could not have been demanded
as right. Finally it can be cheerfully aclSnowl-
edged that he died with the utmost dignity and
gallantry, and that in effect nothing in his life
became him like the leaving of it." ALI the
world piticd his unhappy wife, and yet there Is
relief in the theory advanced by Mr. Bancroft on
strong testimony namely that her mind had given
way even before she left Mexico, and that there
fore she probably comprchended little Of the sad
ending Of her short reign.
Since the collapse Of the Imperial experiment
the history of Mexico is too we'll known to Ameri-
| cans TO need reca pituatiOn. After continuance
for several years of the old disturbed conditions
! period Of what looks like real progress appears
/ to have set in. The Nation Is perhaps outgrowing
| the childish tendency to uprisings small or no
| provocatlon. More attention is being given to
business and production. There is disposition
to settle down to serious work. to do away with
brigandage and fraud and corruption in Office and
to develop the great natural Of the coun
| try. On all these matters Mr.. Bancrofts history
/ is full and trustworthy work Of reference. In
the present volume he brings Mexican history
down to the year 1887, and thus completes this
branch of his great work. II would not be posi-
bic to write clearer account than this Of so con-
fused and anarchic subject as the evolution of
the Mexican people, and especially of people
who are evidently even yet in a haf-formed state.
Prophecy as to their future would be futile, for at
til. al. .litaff
racial strains will gain the ascendant; and upon
the issue of that struggle the destiny Of the Nation
manfestly depends.
TISR NOT BRAIN FOOD
From The HOspftal