DEATH BY EMPEROR'S SIDE

Evening Star, Issue 22514, 5 December 1936, Page 1

DEATH BY EMPEROR'S SIDE

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, was born in Vienna in 1832, where his : youth was happy and carefree, and he began to dream of great enterprises" (says the ' News-Chronicle '). At the, age of 22 he was made vice-admiral-of the Austrian fleet, and a. few years later Governor-General of Lombardy-1 Venetia. Then Napoleon 111. thought of a great plan. He was to lend Maxi-, milian troops and money to establish' a kingdom in Mexico, and he received' an invitation from the Mexicans him to rule their country. ' In 1864 the young Austrian and his. wife sailed to their new land, bat, alas! they soon found that it was only a very small number of the people wanted them; the greater part of tha nation was loyal, to the President. For a while Maximilian held out', against great opposition, and proved' himself a good ruler, but he could not ; win over the mass of the people, who considered him to be a foreign usurper. When the French troops left, the Emperor was soon overpowered by the hostile forces. His wife he sent to Europe, but the poor woman was refused help, and lost her reason. So, Maximilian, betrayed by Mexicans, and deserted by France,.was in 1867 led to his trial accompanied by two faithful followers. The men were tried at Quertaro, and , their death sentence pronounced. Early on the morning of the execution Meija, a faithful Indian general, was awake, thinking of the happy life he had led, when suddenly the door opened, and a man of the Republican side entered. He said, " General Meija, three times I have fallen into your hands, and three times you have saved me; now I have come to return your kindness,.for outside a horse waits at your disposal, to take you to freedom." Meija asked: "Is there also one for the Emperor?" The man replied that there was not; the Indian's quiet manner disappeared, and he replied scornfully that he would not dream of leaving without his beloved master. He told the man to go, and thus threw away his chance of escape; a few hours later he went to his death with the Emperor, surely one of the most faithful subjects ever known. .