Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-09-04
Macmillan In Mexico
Story of has Rule and Death

Tor very QlUerent cause. 1t was
there that Gen. Grant, then head of
the army, had concentrated a large
force, sometimes significantly called
the provisional army for Mexico"
Those were the days following the
civil war, when the vacillating French
men had not yet withdrawn from Mex.
leo their army of occupation, and when
eEaximilian empire had not yet come
to its tragic end. 1t was then a ques-
ton whether we should not have to
engage in another conflict in order to
throw the French forces into the sea-
Gen. Grant himself had declared the
French invasioa of Mexico "a direct
act or war against the United States"
And the thought mus have come to
him of the unifying spectacle it would
make if he could lead an army com.
posed OF the veterans of the south, as
well as the north, in assertion of the
Monroe doctrine, and to the confusion
of the scheming Louis Napoleon But
the French read the logic of our
overwhelming strength, and abandon
ing Macmillan to his fate. they sailed
away.
The story of Macmillan is unique
in the history of North America and
the quality that makes it unique is its
romantic tragedy, its contrast of death
by military execution in Mexico to the
pomp and glory of the Austrian
|, court. Many a scion of royalty has
|. been fitted for an end no better, but
Macmillan was made of finer stuff
and deserved a kinder fate. Chival-
ric and religious by nature, poet and
, 1t may be a dreamer, he thought it
: was the call of duty when, through
} the Vaccinations of Louis Napoleon,
, the emissaries of Mexico came to him
/ at his Swiss chalet of Miramar at the
| head of the Adriatic, and sought him
to lead people weary of anarchy and
| war. His was winning manner, and
the flattering emigsaries told him.
I'VE are assured that you have the
secret of conquering the hearts of all
3 men" This was the beginning. The
: zenith came during the few months,
, weeks almost, when Macmillan and
. Carlotta established their Mexican
court in ancient Chapultepec, with all
/ the regalia and forms of European
dynasty. The end came only three
years later, when Macmillan was exc
cuted for treason and Carlotta had
: gone mad.
The Inflated Ferdinand Joseph, arch
duke of Austria and later Emperor
Macmillan l of Mexico. was born in
1882 and was the second son of the
. Austrian Archduke Francis Charles
: and the younger brother of the present
. aged emperor of Austria Francis Jos
;. eph. The death of Macmillan was
!. in fact the first of the three great
: family tragedies that have come upon
Francis Joseph, the other two being
;. the mysterious death of his son, the
Crown Prince Rudolph and later the
assassination of the Empress Eliza
beth. Macmillan served in the Aus.
trian army and also with success as
governor of Lombardy and Venetia
: He was a devout Catholic, kindly
: prince and something of a poet
! Doubtless he would have lived a rea
sonably serene life and died a quiet
. death when his time came had it not
been for the schemes of Louis Napo-
leon who looked with a jealous eye
, upon the growth of the United States
/. How Napoleon's chance came to gain
foothold on our continent, while our
hands were desperately filled with
the civil war, will appear from the
\ story of events in Mexico.
In 1858 alter years full of revolu
ton and disturbance. Benito Juare2
came to the head of the Mexican gov
Iernment The year before, February
i s, 1857, it is worth noting, the pres
!, lent Mexican constitution was adopted
J, The struggle between church and
J. state would have added to the dis
ruption of the country, had become
acute before Juarez reached the pres
7 idency and he rendered it more acute
l. in 1859 by decreeing the nationalist
ton of the church property. But the
more inDortant historical act and the
: one which brought grayer conse
quences in its train was his subse-
t quent decree suspending payment on
. the foreign debt for two years. This
2 led to foreign war and indirectly to
. the tragic episode of the empire OF
Macmillan. The direct result was
thai in October 1861. England France
and Spain agreed by convention in
Loneon to take common action to pro-
test their interests in Mexico. While
the step taken by Juarez may have
been wise and have been dictated by
circumstances, it is the historical YER
dict that it was not done with tact or
diplomacy. 1t gave Napoleon his
opening.
/. Following the adoption of the con-
, vention of London in 1861 an allied
feet was at once dispatched to Mexico,
and in December, the Spanish fleet oc-
cupied Vera Cruz. This was the
chance that Louis Napoleon had been
waiting for 1t needed but few
months for England and France to
discover that he was plotting with the
support of Austria for French-Aus-
trian empire in Mexican territory. In