The professor advised him to abdicate and sail for Europe at once, but Dr. Basch opposed this, representing that an unnecessarily sudden departure would only precipitate matters and bring about exactly what the Emperor wished to avoid, namely, more bloodshed in Mexico. At the same time he urged a revocation of the decree of the third of October, 1865, a suggestion which Maximilian cordially approved, and in regard to which he expressed himself in strong terms on this occasion. Father Fischer and Colonel Kodolitsch, who were also in the Emperor’s confidence, added their influence to the doctor’s, urging that a _hacienda_ was not a suitable place from which to abdicate a throne, as Maximilian himself was forced to acknowledge. He contented himself, therefore, with issuing two orders. Father Fischer was to write personal letters at once to Bazaine and to Minister Lares, ordering the repeal of the law of the third of October and the cessation of all hostilities until further notice. These two important despatches were entrusted to Count Lamotte, an officer in the Austrian Hussars, to carry back to the city of Mexico, and on the following morning the Emperor left the _hacienda_ apparently much relieved. At noon of the second day, while resting at Rio-Frio, he sent the following telegram to Captain Pierron: “You, with Messieurs Pino, Trouchot, and Mangino, are hereby appointed a commission which, under your direction and with the assistance of some trustworthy official from the ministry of finance, will examine the Civil List accounts, mine as well as that of the Empress, to prove whether we owe the State or the State us. I desire from the commission a detailed and authenticated statement in regard to this, in which shall be included the sum taken by the Empress for her voyage to Europe, and that received by my secretary on the Civil List account, together with those employed by Minister Arroyo after the reduction of the Civil List, in works on the palace and at Chapultepec.” Herzfeld was also commissioned to issue, in the name of the Emperor, the necessary written orders to the prefect and treasurer at Miramar. “The Emperor wishes the utmost publicity to be given these matters,” so Herzfeld was notified, “and holds you responsible therefor on your honor and your friendship. Amid the political shipwreck he desires to keep his name and honor untarnished and would rather suffer personal loss than touch any part of the property of the Mexican nation.”