ity of the nation, to defend its independence, and maintain the integrity of its territory." Their majesties were three times saluted with cheers: "Long live the emperor! long live the empress!" given by his excellency Señor Gutierrez de Estrada, and repeated with enthusiasm by the assemblage. They then retired to await the hour set for the Te Deum, which was solemnly chaunted in the chapel in presence of their majesties, the deputation and suite, at which act the emperor also wore the insignia of Grand Master of the Mexican order of Guadalupe. Meantime, at the moment the emperor took the oath, the imperial Mexican standard was hoisted on the tower of the castle, and the frigate Bellona, of the imperial and royal Austrian navy, gave a salute of twenty-one guns, which was repeated by the castle at Trieste, and by the French frigate Themis. Thus closed the solemn act by which the Archduke of Austria, proclaimed emperor of Mexico by the free and spontaneous choice of that people, became invested with the sovereignty which he will transmit to his illustrious descendants, or to princes called to rule by the law of succession which his majesty may deign to sanction. To perpetuate the memory of this great event, this act is extended, by order of his excellency the president of the deputation, in duplicate, and signed by him and other members of the same deputation before mentioned, and authenticated by me as secretary, and will be transmitted to the department of foreign affairs and to the archives of the imperial house. J. M. GUTIERREZ DE ESTRADA, President 99. MAXIMILIAN'S PROCLAMATION ON ENTERING MEXICO [Vera Cruz, May 28, 1864. Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, 1865, III, 456-457. Published by the United States Government.] Emperor Maximilian and the Empress Charlotte, accompanied by their suites, left Miramar, near Trieste, Austria, on April 14, 1864, to take up their new duties in Mexico. On their way they passed Rome, Gibraltar, the Madeiras, and Jamaica. When they arrived in the city of Vera Cruz the following proclamation was issued by the Emperor of the Mexicans. Mexicans: You have desired my presence. Your noble nation, by a universal vote, has elected me henceforth the guardian of your destinies. I gladly obey your will. Painful as it has been for me to bid farewell forever to my own, my native country, I have done so, being convinced that the Almighty has pointed out to me, through you, the great and noble duty of devoting all my might and heart to the care of a people who, at last, tired of war and disastrous contests, sincerely wish for peace and prosperity - a people who, having gloriously obtained their independence, desire to reap the benefits of civilization and of true progress to be attained through a stable Constitutional Government. The reliance that you place in me, and I in you, will be crowned by a brilliant triumph if we remain always steadfastly united in courageously defending those great principles which are the only true and lasting basis of modern government, those principles of inviolable and immutable justice, the equality of all men before the law; equal advantages to all in attaining positions of trust and honor, socially and politically; complete and well-defined personal liberty, consisting in protection to the individual and the protection of his property; encouragement to the national wealth, improvements in agriculture, mining, and manufactures; the establishment of new lines of communication for an extensive commerce; and lastly, the free development of intelligence in all that relates to public welfare. The blessing of God, and with it progress and liberty, will not surely be wanting if all parties, under the guidance of a strong National Government, unite together to accomplish what I have just indicated, and if we continue to be animated by that religious sentiment which has made our beautiful country so prominent even in the most troublous periods. The civilizing flag of France, raised to such a high position by her noble Emperor, to whom you owe the new birth of order and peace, represents those principles. Hear what, in sincere and disinterested words, the chief of his army told you a few months since, being the message of a new era of happiness: "Every country which has wished for a great future, has become great and powerful." Following in this course, if we are united, loyal, and firm, God will grant us strength to reach to that degree of prosperity which is the object of our ambition. Mexicans! the future of your beautiful country is controlled by yourselves. Its future is yours. In all that relates to myself, I offer you a sincere will, a hearty loyalty, and a firm determination to respect the laws and to cause them to be respected by an undeviating and all-efficient authority. My strength rests in God and in your loyal confidence. The banner of independence is my symbol; my motto you know already: "Equal justice to all." I will be faithful to this trust through all my life. It is my duty conscientiously to wield the sceptre of authority, and with firmness the sword of honor. To the Empress is confided the sacred trust of devoting to the country all the noble sentiments of Christian virtue and all the teachings of a tender mother. Let us unite to reach the goal of our common desires; let us forget past sorrows; let us lay aside party hatreds, and the bright morning of peace and well-deserved happiness will dawn gloriously on our new empire. MAXIMILIAN 100. MAXIMILIAN'S ADDRESS AT THE INAUGURATION [September, 1865. House Executive Documents, 39th Congress, 1st Session, No. 73, 493-494.] The inauguration of a monument to José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the great liberators of Mexico, in Guardiola Square, Mexico City, gave Maximilian an opportunity to address the liberals of the empire. The good intentions of the emperor are made evident by this effort to conciliate the various factions by an appeal direct to the people themselves. That he failed was not due to any lack of good intentions but to the fact that he lacked the ability to carry them out.1 MEXICANS: We celebrate, to-day, the memory of a man born in obscurity, from the lowest ranks of the people, and who occupies now one of the highest and most illustrious places in the glorious history of our country. A representative of the Mixed races, to whom man's false pride, 1 Consult H. H. Bancroft's History of Mexico, VI, 322-326, as well as his general narrative of the whole period in the same volume. outraging the sublime precepts of our gospel, refused to grant what is due them, he has written his name in golden letters on the pages of immortality. How has he done it? With two qualities which are the virtues of a true citizen: the patriotism and courage of an indomitable conviction. He wanted the true independence of his country; he wanted it with the consciousness of the justice of his cause; and God, who helps always those who have faith in their mission, had gifted him with the peculiar qualities of a great leader. We have seen the humble son of the people triumph on the battlefield; we saw him, a poor curate, govern the provinces under his command in the difficult moments of their painful regeneration; we saw him die in shedding blood like a martyr to freedom and independence; but this man will live forever, for the triumph of his principles is the basis of our nationality. As a free and democratic country, Mexico has the happiness to show the history of its regeneration and freedom represented by heroes belonging to all classes of human society, of all the races who form now an individual nation. This happiness constitutes its futurity. Every one of them has worked with the same patriotic zeal for the good of the country. All of them have the same rights of enjoying the benefits of their arduous task, and thus to proclaim equality, which is the only and true basis of a nation which respects itself. Let the monument which we inaugurate to-day for Morelos's one hundredth anniversary be a stimulant to new generations, so that they may learn from the great citizen the qualities which make the invincible strength of our nation. 101. LETTER OF POPE PIUS IX TO THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN [Rome, October 18, 1864. Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, 1865, III, 588-590.] The great majority of the Mexican clergy welcomed Emperor Maximilian. Its members had high hopes of a reëstablishment of the old clerical order. On his way to Mexico City the emperor elect had an audience with the Holy Father at the Vatican. The following letter sets forth in detail the program which the Holy See desired the monarch to follow in Mexico. Sire: When in the month of April last, before assuming the reins of the new empire of Mexico, your Majesty arrived in this capital in order to worship at the tombs of the holy apostles and to receive our apostolic benediction, we informed you of the deep sorrow which filled our soul by reason of the lamentable state into which the social disorders during these last years have reduced all that concerns religion in the Mexican nation. Before that time, and more than once, we had made known our complaints in public and solemn acts, protesting against the iniquitous law called the law of reform, which attacked the most inviolable rights of the church and outraged the authority of its pastors; against the seizure of the ecclesiastical property and the dissipation of the sacred patrimony; against the unjust suppression of the religious orders; against the false maxims that attack the sanctity of the Catholic religion; and, in fine, against many other transgressions committed not only to the prejudice of sacred persons, but also of the pastoral priesthood and discipline of the church. For these reasons your Majesty must have well understood how happy we were to see thanks to the establishment of the new empire - the dawn of pacific and prosperous days for the church of Mexico; a joy which was increased when we saw called to the throne a prince of a Catholic family, and who had given so many proofs of religious zeal and piety. Equally intense was the joy of the worthy Mexican bishops who, on leaving the capital of christendom, where they had presented so many examples of their fidelity and self-denial towards our person, had the happiness of being the first to pay their sincere homage to the sovereign elect of their country, and of hearing from his own lips the most complete assurances of his firm resolution to redress the wrongs done to the church and to reorganize the disturbed elements of civil and religious administration. The Mexican nation also learned with indescribable pleasure of your Majesty's accession to the throne called to it by the unanimous desire of a people who, up to that time, had been constrained to groan beneath the yoke of an anarchical government, and to lament over the ruins and disasters of the Catholic religion, their chief pride at all times and the foundation of their prosperity. Under such auspices we have been waiting day by day the acts of the new empire, persuaded that the church, outraged with so much. |