The Great Round World And What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1. No. 23, April 15, 1897 | Page 2

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VOL. 1 APRIL 15, 1897. NO. 23

It is said that the unfortunate Princess Charlotte of Belgium is to be
taken over to Mexico, in the hope that a visit to the scenes of her
former happiness may restore her reason.
Her story brings back to memory a very sad and interesting page of our
modern history.
Princess Charlotte, the daughter of Leopold I., King of the Belgians,
was the most accomplished and beautiful princess of her time. She was
the only daughter of the king. While she was still quite young he found
she had a great talent for statecraft, and so he had her admitted to all the
councils of state, and from her earliest childhood she was familiar with
the ways and arts of diplomacy.
A brilliant future was expected for her, but when she was seventeen she
married, for love, the young Archduke Maximilian, brother of the
Emperor of Austria.
There was no expectation that Maximilian would ever come to a throne,
and so it seemed as if the young princess' talents were to be thrown
away when she settled down with her husband, and became the
happiest young wife in Europe.
For seven years these two young folks were a model happy couple;
then, one fatal day, Napoleon III. of France offered Maximilian the
crown of Mexico.
Europe thought that Mexico needed a wise and clever ruler to
straighten out the tangle into which its affairs had fallen, and it was
supposed that Maximilian, backed by his beautiful and clever wife,
would be just the man for the post. As Mexican affairs were in a very
turbulent state, Napoleon promised Maximilian that he would keep a
number of French troops in the country, and support him with an armed
force, until the people of Mexico had learned to love and trust him, and
he could rule them without danger.
Under these conditions Maximilian accepted, and the young couple
became Emperor and Empress of Mexico, and, setting forth to their
new land, bade farewell to Europe and happiness.
At that time Mexico was in the most terrible condition, as you will
understand when you learn that within a period of forty-seven years
there were three hundred revolutions, some successful, some the
reverse. During this time the government was changed ten times, and
over fifty persons succeeded each other as presidents, dictators, and

emperors.
The throne of such an uneasy kingdom as this was by no means a
pleasant one to occupy.
During these frequent revolutions it is easy to understand that many
treaties were broken, and much property was seized.
The foreign residents in particular found Mexico a dangerous country
to live in, and within a few years Spain, England, and France were
making heavy claims against the country for damage done to their
citizens.
The claims of England and Spain were satisfied, and they withdrew the
troops they had sent to Mexico to enforce their demands.
France, however, could get no satisfaction, and so she remained, and
carried on war against the Mexicans until she succeeded in getting a
little the best of them.
It was at this moment that Louis Napoleon made up his mind that an
Emperor was what Mexico needed, and sent out the unfortunate
Archduke Maximilian to rule a wild, boisterous, and only
half-conquered people.
The Mexicans, ever pleased with a change, welcomed the Emperor
very kindly; the beauty and charity of the Empress made many friends
for her, and for a time all went well.
With the aid of the French troops, Maximilian completed the conquest
of the rebellious Mexicans, and was at the height of his popularity,
when, in an evil moment, he made a proclamation that all the rebels
who had fought against the government should be regarded as bandits,
and punished as such.
The people were furious at this. These bandits were many of them of
their own families and friends, and revolutions were so common in the
country, that they could not see why these men should be hanged and
shot by a foreign prince, whom they had never invited to come and
govern them.
From that moment they began to conspire against him, and his position
was becoming very unsafe, when Napoleon ordered his French soldiers
to return from Mexico.
Maximilian would not allow this; he reminded Napoleon that he had
only accepted the throne on the condition that the French soldiers were
left to protect him; but Napoleon III. paid no attention to his protest,

nor to the assurance that he would not be safe if the French soldiers
were withdrawn.
The orders to return to France were repeated.
Both Maximilian and Charlotte were fearful of the result of this rash act;
and as the Empress had been very successful in managing several
difficult affairs in