EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN
Life Stories for Young People
Translated from the German of
J. Kemper
BY
GEORGE P. UPTON
Translator of “Memories,” “Immensee,” etc.
WITH THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1911
Copyright
A. C. McClurg & Co.
1911
Published September, 1911
THE · PLIMPTON · PRESS
[W·D·O]
NORWOOD · MASS · U·S·A
The life story of Maximilian First in Mexicois one of the saddest of tragedies. Admittingthat he was in some respects a weaksovereign and incompetent for the task he undertook,the tragedy is none the less sad. The dreadfulfate which overtook the Empress Carlotta only addsto the gloom of the situation, and, if all reports aretrue, serves to emphasize Mexican cruelty andtreachery, for in official circles it is generally believedshe was made insane by a poisonous herb secretlymixed with her drink. Maximilian himself was agentleman in the best sense of the term, gentle,courteous, refined, and scholarly; unfitted for theposition he held, inexperienced in political matters,and ignorant how to contend with guile and treacheryof the basest kind. He was virtually forced toascend the Mexican throne, and consented only whenhe was assured that the Mexican people had enthusiasticallyelected him. Once there, he found himselfthe victim of treacherous plots and deadly hatred.He had but few friends upon whom he could rely,and they were unable to aid him in the hour ofgreatest danger. Louis Napoleon, who was chieflyinstrumental in sending him there, violated hisagreements, withdrew the French troops fromMexico, and abandoned him as a prey to his vindictiveenemies, at whose hands he died like a gentlemanand a hero, leaving the Empress to sufferthe tortures of living death in a European asylum.History recalls few sadder tragedies than the onecontained in the story of Maximilian’s three yearsin Mexico.
G. P. U.
Chicago, May, 1911