List Of Illustrations Frontsview Page Napoleon III, Eugenie, And Duc De Morny . . 9 Maximilian Gold Coin . . . . . . 19 Agustin De Iturbide . . . . . . . 29 Miguel Miramon . . . . . . 39 President Benito Pablo Juarez . . . . . 49 General Prim . . . . . . . . 59 Porfirio Diaz . . . . . . . . . 69 Matias Romero . . . . . . . . 79 From "Mexico and The United States," by permission of G.P.Putnam's Sons. Chapultepec, Maximilian's Palace . . . . 89 Empress Charlotte . . . . . . . 99 Colonel Van Der Smissen . . . . . . 109 Marechal Bazaine And Madame La Marechale . 119 Matthew Fontaine Maury . . . . 129 After a Photograph By D. H. Anderson. Comte De Thun De Hohenstein . . . . . 143 Photographed By Merille. Count Von Funfkirkchen . . . . . . . 153 From Photograph By Montes De Oca. Ex-Confederate Generals In Mexico . . . 171 Dr. William M. Gwin . . . . . . . 183 From A Steel-Engraving By A. B. Walter For "The Democratic Review." General Mejia . . . . 195 Marquis De Gallifet . . . . . . . 211 After Photograph By Nadar. Colonel Tourre, Third Zouaves . . . . 227 After Photograph By Montes De Oca. Comte De Bombelles . . . . . . . 239 After Photograph By Aubert & Co. General Castelnau . . . . . . . 251 Colonel Dupin . . . . . . . . . 263 Surrender of Maximilian, May 15, 1867 . . . 275 Don Pedro Rincon Gallardo . . . . 283 From A Photograph By Cruces y Campa. Guard And Sergeant Who Shot Maximilian . . 291 Last Day Of Maximilian . . . . . . . 297 The Calvary Of Queretaro, Showing Where Maximilian, Mejia, And Miramon Were Shot . . . 300 The Last Moments Of Maximilian . . . . 301 The Hack In Which Maximilian Was Taken To The Place Of Execution . . . . .304 Monuments Marking The Place of Execution . . 307 PRELUDE In offering these pages to the public, my aim is not to write a historical sketch of the reign of Maximilian of Austria, nor is it to give a description of the political crisis through which Mexico passed during that period. My only desire is to furnish the reader with a point of view the value of which lies in the fact that it is that of an eyewitness who was somewhat more than an ordinary spectator of a series of occurrences which developed into one of the most dramatic episodes of modern times. Historians too often present their personages to the public and to posterity as actors upon a stage,--I was about to say as puppets in a show,--whose acts are quite outside of themselves, and whose voices express emotions not their own. They appear before the footlights of a fulfilled destiny; and their doubts, their weaknesses, are concealed, along with their temptations, beneath the paint and stage drapery lent them by the historian who, knowing beforehand the denouement toward which their efforts tended, unconsciously assumes a like knowledge on their part. They are thus often credited with deep-laid motives and plans which it may perhaps have been impossible for them to entertain at the time.