UC-NRLF 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 OF 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 
Maximilian 
 
 A Play in Five Acts by 
 
 Edgar Lee ^Masters 
 
 Boston: 1902 
 
 Richard G. Badger 
 
 The Gorham Press 
 
Copyright 1902 by 
 Edgar Lee Masters 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 Dramatic Rights Reserved. 
 
 The Gorham Press, Boston. 
 
MAIN 
 
 THE PERSONS OF THE DRAMA 
 
 FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH Archduke 
 
 of Austria; afterwards Emperor Maximilian of 
 
 Mexico. 
 MARSHALL BAZAINE Head of the army of the 
 
 intervention. 
 COLONEL LOPEZ Governor of the Castle; and 
 
 Colonel of the empress guards. 
 PRINCE SALM-SALM A friend of Maximilian and 
 
 in his service. 
 GENERAL MIRAMON A clerical; and Grand 
 
 Marshall under Maximilian. 
 
 GENERAL MEJIA Also in the Imperial service. 
 ARCHBISHOP LABASTIDA A clerical and friend 
 
 of the, French intervention. 
 
 GENERAL CASTLENAU Envoy of Napoleon. 
 DOCTOR BASCH Physician to Maximilian. 
 BENITO PUBLO JUAREZ President of the Mexican 
 
 republic. 
 
 GENERAL ESCOBEDO In the service of the re 
 public. 
 COLONEL GOLLARDO Also in the service of the 
 
 republic. 
 GENERAL SALAS, PRINCE ZICHY, MARQUIS DE GALLIFET, 
 
 COUNT FUNFKIRCHEN At the imperial ball. 
 
MARIE CHARLOTTE AMELIA Wife of Maximi 
 lian, Empress of Mexico. 
 
 PRINCESS JOSEFA Daughter of Augustin I. former 
 emperor of Mexico. Member of the Imperial 
 Household, and friend of the Empress. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM-SALM Wife of the prince and a 
 friend at Court. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Wife of General Mariscali 
 who was shot under the Black Decree. 
 
 MLLE DE LA PENA Afterwards Madam Bazaine. 
 
 SENORA SALAS, PRINCESS ZICHY, COUNTESS FUNFKIRCHEN 
 
 Ladies at the imperial ball. 
 
 Spies, lackeys, liberal and imperial soldiers, a French 
 captain, a priest, women, a company (ladies and gentle 
 men) at the imperial ball, etc. 
 
 TIME 1866-67. 
 
Maximilian 
 
 ACT ONE 
 
 jf state room in the palace of Chapultepec, Mexico. 
 
 /J Back of the room a hall way divided only from 
 
 ^ ^ the state room by marble pillars supporting 
 
 arches. The arches are draped in the French 
 and Mexican flags and at their base banked by plants and 
 flowers. At the rear several pyramids of ca?mon balls, 
 cannons set on end and trophies of war, such as flags, 
 drums, guns and bayonets. At the left in the state room a 
 gorgeous throne resting upon French cannon and set under 
 a canopy of crimson velvet. The Mexican and French 
 coat of arms are displayed on the expanse above the arcade. 
 Two Liberal soldiers disguised as lackeys are discovered 
 assisting in arranging the decorations. At the rear a num 
 ber of men walking to and fro also engaged in the work. 
 One of the lackeys takes a bunch of letters and starts to 
 lay it on the table near the throne. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY The emperor s mail. 
 
 SECOND LACKEY You mean his majesty s. 
 
8 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 FIRST LACKEY The etiquette! 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Her majesty is strict. 
 
 I know the code of etiquette by heart. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY They ll see to-night how many people 
 
 blunder. 
 SECOND LACKEY If anyone should sneeze within the 
 
 presence. 
 FIRST LACKEY If anyone should cough within the 
 
 presence. 
 
 SECOND LACKEY If anyone should stir a hand or foot, 
 Unless the time is opportune to do it. 
 FIRST LACKEY No matter if a pin sticks in the head. 
 SECOND LACKEY Until the tears run glistening down the 
 
 cheek. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY Or even if one s wig should get awry. 
 SECOND LACKEY No one can laugh or even wink an eye 
 FIRST LACKEY Costumes, ye gods, as bright as Joseph s 
 
 coat! 
 SECOND LACKEY Swart faces, glittering eyes, demure 
 
 expressions. 
 FIRST LACKEY The hands that fumble and the feet that 
 
 trip. 
 
 SECOND LACKEY But what s the mail? 
 FIRST LACKEY (Looking over the letters and putting 
 them on the table. ) 
 
 The Austrian emperor! 
 Napoleon ah! Could we but open this 
 
 ( Looks around at the workmen and 
 servants ) 
 
 Some news of benefit to take Juarez ! 
 SECOND LACKEY Caution ! 
 
 FIRST LACKEY Not now. What scrawls the others are! 
 SECOND LACKEY Good fellow listen we must fly this 
 
 hour. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY Must fly? 
 SECOND LACKEY The emperor returns to-night. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 9 
 
 Then look at this! 
 
 (Brings forth a large poster upon which are 
 visible the words Proclamation, Death to 
 Liberals, and at the bottom Maximilian. ) 
 FIRST LACKEY (Lays the letters on the table] 
 
 Heavens! How came you by it? 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Here in the castle; and these many days, 
 So have I learned since finding it alarmed me, 
 The country has been blazoned with this horror! 
 FIRST LACKEY Watch while I read: 
 "The Mexican republic 
 Has ceased to be. Juarez is no more. 
 All honest men have rallied to the empire. 
 Brigands alone resist the emperor. 
 All persons even adjudged to be but members 
 Of any armed band shall suffer death 
 In four and twenty hours. Ah ! 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Heard you no one? 
 
 FIRST LACKEY {Listening and then pointing to the 
 
 servants. ) 
 Only those there. 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Come on. 
 
 \ FIRST LACKEY I do not fear 
 
 lut at the most we ll die revenged. My country \J >*/"* 
 ! For centuries the foot-mat of the Spaniard, /YV 
 
 hese many years the prey of revolution. f fl \\ A 
 
 f jjTorn by the talons of the northern eagle, ^4 
 
 Erring and struggling for self-government 
 Then like two wrestlers bent upon their strife Jjjr* 
 
 V And taken unaware amidst their toil 
 Anon comes France and straps upon our backs 
 A throne for Austria s prince to sit upon. 
 SECOND LACKEY (With scorn) 
 
 "Brigands alone resist the emperor." 
 FIRST LACKEY In truth, you see, the logic is resistless 
 The gluttonous eye of empire spied our country, 
 
TO MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The brandished sword of France put us to rout, 
 
 And pricked this Maximilian in the coat-tails 
 
 To carry him to an imperial throne. 
 
 Of course, I say, all men are thieves and cut-throats 
 
 Who have withstood the will of God. 
 
 SECOND LACKEY You rave! 
 
 FIRST LACKEY Meantime if we are captured with this 
 
 paper 
 We will be food for vultures! 
 
 Do you see 
 
 Even our president is marked for death. 
 SECOND LACKEY What s death? For I have muttered 
 
 o er the word 
 
 Until its meaning has been sapped. Go live 
 For forty years and fight for principle, 
 And fall into that soldier quietism 
 Which those who fought, alone can learn to know 
 Experience ties the tongue. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY We shall be free! 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Be calm. Come on. Let s reach 
 
 the president. 
 
 He must be notified of all we know. 
 After we leave the city we are safe 
 Here only is the snake of empire coiled 
 Petted and fed by Miramon and priest-craft. 
 FIRST LACKEY Some one approaches from the hall. 
 SECOND LACKEY {Pointi?ig to a room near the 
 throne. ) 
 
 Through there! 
 
 FIRST LACKEY How can we leave? 
 SECOND LACKEY Our horses wait. 
 
 FIRST LACKEY Tis planned? 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Relays have been arranged at twenty 
 
 miles. 
 FIRST LACKEY This must be left, not carried on our 
 
 persons. 
 
MAXIMILIAN u 
 
 SECOND LACKEY Then tuck it neath the cushions of 
 
 the throne 
 And also this (Handing him a paper) 
 
 Although you overlook 
 Our very flight betrays us who we are 
 Be quick and come. 
 
 ( The second lackey places both papers under the cushion. ) 
 FIRST LACKEY They re at the entrance now. 
 
 ( Exeunt. ) 
 
 ( Enter Bazaine and Lopez. ) 
 BAZAINE And so his majesty returns to-night. 
 LOPEZ Who was it went out there? 
 BAZAINE You seem alarmed. 
 
 LOPEZ Were they not lackeys? 
 
 BAZAINE Well, if they were lackeys? 
 
 LOPEZ They are forbidden to pass out that way. 
 BAZAINE You are a zealous governor of the castle. 
 They say you keep an eager supervision 
 Over the smallest details of the court; 
 Bumping the heads of butlers, stewards, maids, 
 And doling out the perquisites of wine 
 To faithful ones; enforcing etiquette; 
 And all the while keeping the empress s guards 
 Fit for the show of the imperial city. 
 So adding medals to your coat of honor 
 Which can be changed to suit the change of power. 
 LOPEZ Your excellency jests. (He goes to the door.} 
 
 This way they went. 
 
 BAZAINE ( Going up to the table. ) 
 
 I fain would read them. (Handles the letters.) 
 
 Get behind me, Satan. 
 My master s letter no, I can resist it. 
 And Joseph s too, I hate the German script. 
 Petitions, heavens! insupportable! 
 Ah! here is one writ in an awkward scrawl. 
 
 (He places it back, walks away.) 
 
12 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ, {Observing him} I m thunderstruck. 
 
 BAZAINE Bring me that letter Lopez. 
 
 LOPEZ Your pardon excellency. 
 
 BAZAINE It is my master 
 
 Likewise the master of your master Lopez 
 
 Who thus commands you. 
 
 LOPEZ You must pardon me. 
 
 BAZAINE Tis I who made you governor of the casrle 
 
 And Colonel of the empress s guards. In truth 
 
 Twas not the least deception that I played 
 
 When I protested to the emperor 
 
 "Your majesty" I bow " twas not this Lopez 
 
 Who turned a traitorous back on Santa Anna" 
 
 And this despite your enemies. 
 
 LOPEZ {With emotion.} I thank you 
 
 The emperor knows of me? 
 
 BAZAINE But disbelieves it, 
 
 Through my assurances. Bring me the letter. 
 
 If I should bow to-night before this throne 
 
 And say: "Your majesty, I crave your pardon, 
 
 I was in error." Will you bring the letter? 
 
 "My service makes the truth imperative 
 
 1 have learned different of this Colonel Lopez" 
 
 I d like to see that letter if you please 
 
 "Of course your majesty tis my belief 
 
 Tis hard to trust one who betrays a cause. 
 And so, though I regret it, Colonel Lopez 
 Should not control the castle, nor command 
 The guards; but should be given common service 
 Where time may test his virtues." Yes the letter. 
 
 (Lopez brings it to 
 him. ) 
 
 I thank you Lopez 
 
 LOPEZ And I wash my hands. 
 
 {Bazaine tears it open and reads it, then laughs 
 and hands it to 
 
MAXIMILIAN 13 
 
 LOPEZ (Reads ) "Beware Bazaine, beware the treacher 
 ous Lopez." 
 
 BAZAINE How fortunate! two pigeons killed at once. 
 Sweet messages hauled from the mid-most heaven 
 To hell with him who wrote it. Hugh, tis little 
 That I am moved for what it says of me: 
 He trusts me or he falls; or falls and trusts me. 
 The end is near whoever stands or flys. 
 Now put it back. 
 
 LOPEZ Unsealed r 
 
 BAZAINE I ll fasten it. 
 
 (He does so.} 
 
 LOPEZ My master will know all 
 BAZAINE Oh childish mind 
 
 The empire needs you for your face and figure. 
 When even General Mendez told your master 
 Touching your history in which republic? 
 And I o ercame him. Why then blanch for this 
 From some vile gossip who conceals his name? 
 Who has not changed, or here in Mexico 
 Been renegade to some one? Even he, 
 Old Santa Anna whose uplifting cause 
 Ceased once to interest you to put it mildly, 
 Before your day had kicked Iturbide, 
 Who had kicked whom? The line fades in the 
 
 distance. 
 
 And think Iturbide s child, this same Josefa, 
 Who s made a member of the royal household 
 And languishes in sunshine hates the name 
 Of Santa Anna and your own must love 
 By that same spirit of hate. I saw this letter 
 And smelt its Spanish malice by the scrawl 
 Go put it back. 
 
 ( Lopez pla ces it on the table and in doing so dis 
 covers the papers which stick from the cushion on 
 the throne chair. ) 
 
i 4 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ What s this? 
 
 ( He unfolds it. ) 
 
 BAZAINE The black decree! 
 
 LOPEZ (Unfolds the other.} Juarez s proclamation. 
 Let none say 
 
 Some enemy has not been in the castle. 
 
 I know it now. And through that door they went. 
 (Bazaine takes it and reads.} 
 
 BAZAINE "Our cause is righteous. Courage country 
 men 
 
 The prize of liberty is dearly bought. 
 
 Hold up the nobler ideals of the soul, 
 
 Be true, be brave. The right must win at last." 
 
 The rebel president I like that man 
 
 And he will win. 
 
 LOPEZ What shall we do For look 
 
 The proclamations of the throne are treated 
 
 Like bills of auction. 
 
 BAZAINE Well, the throne was up, 
 
 And struck off to the highest bidder Lopez; 
 
 And if the promised payments are not made 
 
 It may be sold again. 
 
 LOPEZ But think the insult, 
 
 To tuck and fold the proclamations thus, 
 
 As if the emperor and the rebel chief 
 
 Were rudely bundled so and put away. 
 
 Let s catch the guilty devil. 
 
 BAZAINE Go ahead 
 
 Twould be a feather in your cap to do it. 
 
 But as for me upon whose shoulders rest 
 
 The weight of empire, I take extra duty 
 
 In humoring the emperor to believe 
 
 He is the very soul of Charles the Fifth. 
 
 But let me tell you trifles to consider. 
 
 Quarrels rage apace between the allied troops; 
 The treasury of the empire is a void. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 15 
 
 The northern eagle screams and flaps his wings 
 
 Whereat my master knits his brows and thinks. 
 
 Meanwhile the emperor dreams of wondrous nayies^" 
 
 Plans boulevards, and drives, and parks and fountains, 
 
 Builds hospitals and churches; helps the poor, 
 
 Dips in the sciences and poetry, 
 
 Gives audience to reports on agriculture, 
 
 And stalks enwrapped like Kant of Heidelberg 
 
 While old Juarez musters freedom s army 
 
 Bastioned behind the mountains to the north. 
 
 And now this black decree tis well enough 
 
 But Bonaparte himself should execute it. 
 
 Tis like a brand held by a nerveless arm 
 
 Twill fall and burn the bearer. Mind the word. 
 
 LOPEZ What could be done? 
 
 BAZAINE I did not contravene it; 
 
 For he has fenced with shadows from the first, 
 
 Nettled to madness by these unseen foes. 
 
 Yet once translate that paper into action 
 
 And every man will stand aghast. Besides 
 
 It should be backed by an unconquered sword 
 
 To cut to death that spirit of keen hate 
 
 Which will arise to haunt the policy. 
 
 The policy? The studied inquisition 
 
 Which takes the soldiers of a worthy foe 
 
 And brands them felons, and because they re branded 
 
 Gives them a felon s death. He is too weak. 
 
 LOPEZ I cannot understand your policy. 
 
 BAZAINE Whence came this empire? From Napoleon s 
 
 brain. 
 
 It sprang not from reaction, that you know. 
 What keeps it standing now? Napoleon s army 
 And not a peoples will, why else the army ? 
 Who else supports the throne, yourself, of course, 
 Estrada, Miramon, and Labastida 
 Who hope to profit through the holy church. 
 
16 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Now take the army out, where is the empire? 
 
 Estrange the clericals, what have you left? 
 
 A bit of colored glass shifts in the tube 
 
 And what a different picture in time s mirror! 
 
 LOPEZ What words you speak! 
 
 BAZAINE Drink milk and play with boys! 
 
 When lands are confiscate by strength of arms 
 
 The only principle is one offeree. 
 
 So now s the time for you to shed away 
 
 The ultra spirit of unbending virtue 
 
 Which your conversion to the imperial cause 
 
 Has cast on you; as if to quite prevent 
 
 The least reversion to apostacy. 
 
 Along the way of prosperous circumstance 
 
 Glean what you can, and if the palace falls 
 
 Be ready to pick up the precious relics. 
 
 Control your tongue and see the game played out 
 
 And if you need me, come; while I am here 
 
 I can be seen behind the curtained throne 
 
 Doing hypnotic gestures. But again 
 
 Whate er you say ot me will come to me 
 
 Not that I care, but that no one deceives me. 
 
 And now to-night, whatever time may bring 
 
 Our little Hoffahig will be enacted. 
 
 And sir, how like you this? 
 
 LOPEZ Tis gorgeous, excellency. 
 
 BAZAINE Yes, and it took a mint of coin to do it. 
 
 But nothing dazzles vulgar sight so much 
 
 As clouds of gold dust. Is the throne in taste? 
 
 LOPEZ A miracle of beauty. 
 
 BAZAINE How expressive 
 
 Are the French cannon which it rests upon. 
 
 With these did General Forey at Puebla 
 
 Sweep down the Liberal army. And the flag 
 
 LOPEZ Of the republic! 
 
 BAZAINE Brought from Vera Cruz. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 17 
 
 First lowered when the imperial flag of France 
 
 Flew gallantly; and next it there I placed 
 
 The standard which was raised above the palace 
 
 In honor of their majesties arrival. 
 V Above the arcade, France and Mexico 
 | Convey their friendship by their coat of arm 
 I And on those bayonets the ballot-box 
 J Well signifies the plebiscite which brought 
 
 The emperor Maximilian here to rule. 
 
 LOPEZ The ballot box? 
 
 BAZAINE There sir 
 
 LOPEZ I do not see it. 
 
 BAZAINE It is as palpable and plain to view 
 
 As on the day the plebiscite was taken. 
 
 LOPEZ Which is not palpable and plain at all. 
 
 BAZAINE We did deceive poor Ferdinand in that! 
 
 Let fancy picture some things not expressed. 
 
 I ve tried to tell the story by arrangement; 
 
 But faith what could portray the bitter tears 
 
 Which Europe shed o er barbarous Mexico? 
 
 Methinks I see old Jecker now, poor fellow, 
 
 Weeping because the bonds of Mexico 
 
 Had gone to protest. Then the Mexicans 
 
 Got powder, for they gauged such sympathy. 
 
 Or what could symbolize old Forey s blunder 
 
 Who followed out Napoleon s veiled instructions, 
 
 Who spoke in diplomatic language thus: 
 
 And not to dictate forms of government." 
 Lol^z^^AndtEeiiyoif^amg."^ 1 ^* * wwtlw -*~* Sx 
 BAZAINE Through me the glove was shed, 
 
 When Spain and England slunk away out-witted. 
 Until the troops of France possessed this city. 
 The tale is written all around you sir. 
 LOPEZ 1 know it. 
 BAZAINE And the finis is, the throne. 
 
1 8 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Twill thrill the dancers; for this theme will mix 
 
 With music and the romance of the heart 
 
 To charm the atmosphere like summer s breath. 
 
 LOPEZ Poet and orator! 
 
 BAZAINE You flatter me. 
 
 The blunt of speech are never orators. 
 
 So do I say I picked you from the crowd 
 
 To be a sort of comrade. Now begin 
 
 To understand me. I have read your mind. 
 
 You think at times my friendship might be questioned 
 
 For Maximilian. You mistake me Lopez. 
 
 LOPEZ I never thought it. 
 
 BAZAINE Don t deceive yourself. 
 
 But hear the water ooze beneath the quag-mire 
 
 The undercurrents sweeping from the sea 
 
 Set the loose island swinging up and down 
 
 Then falls the castle! 
 
 LOPEZ God, you startle me! 
 
 BAZAINE What is a life of war and politics? 
 
 It is the school that brings the he&rt good humor 
 
 After it learns that all men lie and plunder. 
 
 Yes, by my sword that even government 
 
 Cements these stones with blood and gold together. 
 
 Tis I, a monocrat, that tell you this, 
 
 Just as I feel the warm, fraternal blood 
 
 Spread with a glow of friendship o er my face. 
 
 A monocrat! For monarchy s the best 
 
 It is no hypocrite like all republics: 
 
 They are a lie within a lie; at last 
 
 The shell of falsehood bursts and falls away 
 
 And lo an empire spreads its brilliant wings. 
 
 For lust of money, man s unconquered lust 
 
 In any clime and under any law 
 
 Will build a favored class. Ye common tribe 
 
 To work, to work, support the king and priest! 
 
 They love to do it. Let them be indulged. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 19 
 
 Hence is it, sir, I m loyal to myself. 
 
 LOPEZ And you have been most kind and true to me. 
 
 BAZAINE It cost me nothing. 
 
 LOPEZ Well, the spies have flown. 
 
 BAZAINE No matter, they learned nothing of importance 
 
 But news has come of serious import Lopez, 
 
 Have you not heard? 
 
 LOPEZ Not I. 
 
 BAZAINE You will not tell 
 
 Not even the emperor? 
 
 LOPEZ Should he not know? 
 
 BAZAINE Let the poor prince have rest to-night, at least. 
 
 LOPEZ I promise. (Shouts outside "Lo?tg live the 
 
 emperor" ] ) 
 
 BAZAINE There s the emperor. 
 
 LOPEZ And then 
 
 Her majesty will come; not now or here 
 Should we meet her. 
 BAZAINE We ll make the castle s rounds 
 
 (They start) 
 
 She s coming through the hall My heart bounds up! 
 A lily planted on a noisome hill 
 Is not so spotless, no, nor out of place 
 As in this Mexico is fair Carlotta 
 Child of the Holy Queen. 
 
 LOPEZ ( The shouts are again heard) 
 
 That s loyalty. 
 (Bazaine and Lopez go out) 
 
 (Enter Carlotta who goes to the window at the back) 
 CARLOTTA Ah is it not worth the Austrian succession 
 To rule this empire? Yes, a thousand times! 
 The carriage stops. I see him. He s alighted. 
 Is there not condescension in his bow? 
 And all the awe-struck mob is falling back! 
 He comes; they kneel; they doff their hats 
 
 (Shouts) They shout. 
 
20 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Tis Maximilian, emperor of Mexico. 
 We are the source of glory and of power, 
 And for the future 
 
 (Enter Maximilian who takes Car lot to. in 
 MAXIMILIAN Let us seize the present. 
 CARLOTTA My prince! 
 
 (Holds her at arms " length and looks at her) 
 MAXIMILIAN Well, pretty regent, how s the empire? 
 CARLOTTA Improving sir. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN No cabinet dissolved? 
 
 CARLOTTA I wish it had. ( They sit) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN They cultivate one s patience. 
 
 What news? 
 
 CARLOTTA Priest? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes? 
 
 CARLOTTA Priest. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes that s two. 
 CARLOTTA And priest. 
 
 I have had priest for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
 
 AXIMILIAN The church s lands shall never be restored. 
 ARLOTTA Did you not promise? 
 MAXIMILIAN No! At Miramar 
 
 he evening that preceded my acceptance 
 f empire, 1 was waited on by three 
 
 _Mirainon. 
 
 RLOTTA These are^tKe""triree who won Napoleon s ear 
 n your behalf. 
 
 AXIMILIAN They claim it. Then I said 
 
 I should do justice. 
 
 CARLOTTA Which meant restoration. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN To them perhaps; to me it meant no mort 
 main. 
 CARLOTTA There was a deference in your doubttul 
 
 words. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The words of the King are dark! 
 CARLOTTA But I must tell you 
 
MAXIMILIAN 21 
 
 This Miramon is here. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I am surprised! 
 
 CARLOTTA Prince SaJjp^turncd^JrojT^^ 
 
 week * I" "***** 
 Denied an audience. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I thought as much. 
 
 CARLOTTA Your books have come. 
 MAXIMILIAN That s good. You looked them over? 
 CARLOTTA I did. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What s there? 
 
 CARLOTTA Your naval books and charts 
 
 The classics, Aristotle and the rest, 
 Old snuffy Kant; your books of economics 
 And Goethe 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Ah, we ll have some reading now. 
 
 But how s the treasury? 
 
 CARLOTTA There s not a dollar. 
 
 I ve heard of finance till my head was aching. 
 MAXIMILIAN But Vera Cruz and Tampico are ours 
 My soldiers seized them. 
 
 CARLOTTA Yes the recent quarter 
 
 During your absence brought two million dollars. 
 But the expenses parks and boulevards 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes, and the army. Still the navy lags 
 Tis near my heart. If I could rival England. 
 CARLOTTA Your proclamation has been published, 
 
 dear 
 
 I halted but obeyed. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN They all advised it. 
 
 My cabinet, Bazaine, Prince Salm as well 
 Who can be wholly wise? I trust in God. 
 For as my power is given of God, its use 
 Is moulded to the will of Providence. 
 So do I thrill to feel myself the source 
 Of God-like will and o er this land of ours 
 First in its firmament to shed the rays 
 
22 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Of light and hope and by such glory nurse 
 The strength and beauty of a struggling race. 
 For once within the palace of Caserta 
 I stood upon its monumental stairway, 
 Amidst those pillars of resplendent marble. 
 And thought could Charles the Fifth adorn its head 
 Who would not bow before that wondrous power. 
 So have I felt, fancying the surging crow r d 
 About me, and with gracious condescension 
 ; Permitting them, and with a lofty bow 
 Warming and cheering such poor hearts beneath me. 
 CARLOTTA How eloquent you are! 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes, I d believe 
 
 The people love the empire. Some there be 
 Rebellious souls kept in the path of hate 
 By traitorous leaders. I ll be firm at last. 
 Some clericals as well who seek their own. 
 CARLOTTA I fear them both. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The black decree will work. 
 
 Enough ! I see the ball is held to-night. 
 The French support is quite in evidence 
 The trophies of Bazaine. 
 
 CARLOTTA I likejnm_not.\ 
 
 The shrewd old bear forever hunifmg honey. 
 MAXIMILIAN And never stung. 
 CARLOTTA Although the natives hate him. 
 
 He is not friendly to us Ferdinand 
 But still the tranquil empire owes him much. 
 MAXIMILIAN He must be won. Who sent the invita 
 tions? 
 
 CARLOTTA I made Prince Salm grandmaster of the ball 
 To imitate your brother s court. 
 MAXIMILIAN That s well 
 
 And whom did you invite? 
 CARLOTTA Well, be assured 
 
 I had no list to use whose ancestors 
 
MAXIMILIAN 23 
 
 Were noble in eight pairs of either line. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Quite true of course. But if in Austria 
 
 One mesalliance breaks the noble chain 
 
 There would not be a link in Mexico. 
 
 I fear we must conceal our smiles tonight. 
 
 CARLOTTA I burn to think of what may happen here. 
 
 Tis hard to teach them royal etiquette.. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Where is my mail? 
 
 CARLOTTA Why, there upon the table ! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Begins to open letter.") My brother 
 
 writes 
 
 CARLOTTA Equivocally, I judge 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Quite otherwise. He says his diplomats 
 Construe my waiver of the Austrian throne 
 \s binding 
 
 ARLOTTA Yes? Ah! Ferdinand that pains me. 
 
 t Miramar your brother was too eager 
 That you should come to Mexico. Just think 
 Whatever falls to us we are shut out 
 Forever from the land we love so well. 
 MAXIMILIAN Tis solacing to him. 
 CARLOTTA Oh vile ambition! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN ( Opening another letter. ) Napoleon 
 
 writes at length 
 
 CARLOTTA To hide his thoughts. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN They re plain enough at last. 
 CARLOTTA Concerning money? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN How could you fail to guess? He wants 
 
 a lien 
 
 Upon Sonora s mine. He wants assurance 
 That fresh advances will be promptly met 
 He soon will send another financier 
 To give the empire counsel. 
 CARLOTTA So do we 
 
 Besmirch our pride by being thus dependent. 
 MAXIMILIAN The United States is growing insolent. 
 
24 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 CARLOTTA Does he say "growing"? Well the tense is 
 wrong. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And still demands the troops of France 
 withdrawn 
 
 Which must be done 
 
 CARLOTTA ( With agitation. ) So bold and faithless sir? 
 
 What should we do? What troops would stay the 
 throne? 
 
 Where could we go? Our door at home is closed? 
 
 Do you not see? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN He gives the reason here 
 
 \Because the imperial scheme in Mexico 
 
 Preponderates in danger and in loss 
 -- G-ARLOTTA Because he is afraid. Because he flies 
 
 And drops the standard of imperial rule 
 
 When low republicans assault its banner. 
 
 Yes, even he will break his word to keep 
 
 The troops six years until the throne is firm. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But if we will divide the revenues 
 
 Of Tampico and Vera Cruz in order 
 
 To make secure the heavy loans of France, 
 
 He will stand firm as long as possible 
 
 CARLOTTA How long is that? Suppose we give him all 
 
 And the United States demands these troops 
 
 Withdrawn to France. Their civil war is over. 
 
 What will he do? He fears that vulgar power? 
 
 My prince, this is the swollen artery 
 
 Whose bursting any time will stop the heart. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Ah well ( Tosses the letter aside. ) To 
 morrow will be soon enough for this. 
 
 CARLOTTA Whom can we trust? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Readinganother letter . ) A clerical petition. 
 
 CARLOTTA I hardly think you meant to answer so. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Persistent priests I ll give it due attention. 
 (^He tears it up. Reads another.^) 
 
 < Beware Bazaine, beware the treacherous Lopez" 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Who opened this? That matter must be looked to. 
 
 What means this letter? I have had a dozen. 
 
 Beware Bazaine what has he done but serve me? 
 
 Beware the treacherous Lopez! But I like him. 
 
 What little passions rage about my head 
 
 I am fatigued. 
 
 CARLOTTA . Dear Prince forsake the letters. 
 
 Do you not think the rooms are beautiful? 
 nf niir 
 
 CARLOTTA You JiTcetBTtKrone. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But not the props beneath it. 
 
 1 hate to see it rest upon French cannon. 
 
 CARLOTTA Let us be happy for to-night at least 
 
 As if we were again at Miramar 
 
 How oft we walked by moonlight on the beach 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Not knowing we were happy! For am 
 bition 
 
 That held the crown before my eager eyes 
 Maimed every moment with its hidden sting. 
 But God s work must be done. And I will do it 
 Yes when the voice said stretch your hand and take it 
 I put it forth and lo the crown was mine. 
 I am a soldier 
 
 CARLOTTA And a lover yet. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN An emperor too by God s wise providence 
 Even if strong ambition brought us here, 
 We were predestined. Though I will the act 
 It was not I who did create the will. 
 Therefore this work before me must be done. 
 
 (He rings) 
 
 Carlotta I would talk alone with Salm. 
 Retire sweet girl; besides the dancing hour 
 Draws on apace. 
 
 (Enter Lackey) 
 Go bring his highness here. 
 
 (Exit Lackey) 
 
26 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 CARLOTTA Conduct me through the hall. 
 
 (As they go out Eazaine and Lopez re-enter.} 
 
 LOPEZ I m cold with fear. 
 
 BAZAINE Oh pooh, when the worst has come 
 
 Tis not so bad as that 
 
 LOPEZ But what s the end? 
 
 BAZAINE Don t know. Your only business, as I said, 
 
 Is to be still; and then as I commanded 
 
 Distribute troops enough to keep the peace. 
 
 Let no bells ring, I hate the horrid custom. 
 
 Leave the poor emperor to one night of joy. 
 
 LOPEZ Of joy? 
 
 BAZAINE I said it. 
 
 LOPEZ Glance across your shoulder. 
 
 ( Enter Archbishop Labastida and Prince 
 
 Salm-Salm.) 
 
 BAZAINE The archbishop ! the prince the church s lands, 
 God if I had to hear that piteous wail ! 
 Let s be polite 
 
 (To them} 
 
 Your reverence! Your highness! 
 LABASTIDA The army ! excellency 
 BAZAINE We were but going. 
 
 Business constrains us. 
 LABASTIDA You have heard the news? 
 
 ( Sa/m and Lopez converse aside. ) 
 BAZAINE The United States- 
 . LABASTIDA I hate them excellency 
 
 Their foul hypocrisy caught from the British 
 i Is more than skin deep now. Tis in the flesh. 
 L For mark me now, their civil war was waged 
 I In an imperial cause, I speak with candor. 
 I All power has moved to Washington, but how? 
 I By giving to its flow a moral impulse 
 ;Such as the cry for negro liberty. 
 1 We call such central power imperial 
 
MAXIMILIAN 27 
 
 There tis democracy that helps the weak. (He laughs 
 
 snceringly. ) 
 
 BAZAINE I grasp your hand. And not content to dictate 
 Their form of government, they deny these people 
 The right to have an empire if they, like 
 I hate them for their arrogance and lying 
 LABASTIDA I hate them for their cool, contemptuous 
 
 wav_s. 
 
 Their bold sophistications to the face. 
 BAZAINE (^ Aside.) A word with you! Make haste to 
 
 get your lands. 
 
 ( Enfer the lackey and goes up to Salm. ) 
 LABASTIDA You never said so yet! I am surprised. 
 LACKEY ( To Sa/m) His majesty would see your highness 
 
 here 
 
 Lopez Your excellency 
 
 BAZAINE We ll meet to-night I hope 
 
 Till then adieu. 
 SALM and LABASTIDA Adieu. 
 
 (^Bazai)ie and Lopez go out. Lackeys enter and 
 
 light the candles. ) 
 
 LABASTIDA Now will you help me? 
 
 The treasury is empty, I will fill it. 
 The army may fall off, I will recruit it 
 All that I ask is for the church s own. 
 If empire merely leaves us where we were 
 Despoiled and robbed; then give us the republic. 
 SALM Your reverence. 
 
 LABASTIDA I mean it. Can t you see 
 
 The empire s peril? Months and years were wasted 
 In doing what? I know not. Here we are: 
 There s not a clerical strong at the court, 
 Almonte has been shrewdly sent away, 
 Estrada loiters in a foreign office, 
 And Miramon until a month ago 
 Grieved for this wrong in far away Berlin. 
 
28 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Bazaine has smitten me with heavy hand 
 
 Commanded silence. And his majesty 
 
 Denied an exequatur to all bulls 
 
 Touching this thing. Is it desired I wonder 
 
 To break with Rome? 
 
 SALM Not that. 
 
 LABASTIDA What is the matter? 
 
 Because the exiled, clericals at Paris 
 
 Won to their cause the emperor of" the French; 
 
 Because Napoleon won, built yonder throne 
 
 The church demands this sequence of its labors 
 
 Or else 
 
 SALM Or else? 
 
 LABASTIDA Twill wield its ancient power. 
 
 (Enter Maximilian.) 
 SALM His majesty! 
 MAXIMILIAN What conference is this? 
 
 ( They bow to Maximilian. ) 
 What is the ancient power the church will wield? 
 LABASTIDA Your majesty needs but one friend. 
 MAXIMILIAN What friend? 
 
 LABASTIDA Foes of the throne cannot be turned to foes 
 Friends of the throne may join the enemy 
 Only the Liberals will protest the act. 
 MAXIMILIAN Your reverence errs to be reactionary 
 We would be left alone 
 
 {Labastida and Prince Sa/m start to 
 
 leave. ) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Stay Prince! 
 
 LABASTIDA Your majesty (^Labastida goes out) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (^Grasping Salmis hand) 
 Old school-fellow what did he say? 
 SALM Complaints ! 
 
 The church s lands; the work that he has done, 
 The clericals, Napoleon s heed of them; 
 The consequences if the church is scorned. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 29 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What do you think? I trust you to the 
 
 foil. 
 
 SALM Like every policy it has two sides, 
 Justice, expediency 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I ll do justice 
 
 And leave the rest to God. Forestall events 
 Nor make it necessary in the course of things 
 To raise another Richelieu to cow 
 The despotism of a wide mortmain. 
 This infant empire can be reared aright 
 Thus saving to our children tears and blood! 
 SALM Your majesty I would all men could know you 
 As I have known you, as I know you now. 
 MAXIMILIAN To you I m Maximilian tell me prince 
 Why with this grave and saddened face you come 
 What happened? 
 
 SALM Tis ill news. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN For this I called you. 
 
 SALM Then you have heard ? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Only you were rejected. 
 
 SALM Of that? Why yes, they do not recognize 
 The empire is, therefore would not receive me. 
 MAXIMILIAN I m fearful Salm! 
 
 SALM Alas ! they hate us all 
 
 Holding this scheme of empire in abhorrence 
 MAXIMILIAN Inscrutable, the fruit of ignorance. 
 SALM Perhaps but then I know America 
 For as the death of Caesar fired the soul 
 Of tyranny which lurked for the occasion. 
 So liberty did lave her quickened hands 
 In Lincoln s blood, and vowed with sternest will 
 To free mankind and while your majesty 
 Wears the imperial crown, though following 
 The people s will like Thomas Jefferson 
 America will look above our heads 
 And know us not. Albeit 1 like that land 
 
30 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 For toward myself they showed profound respect. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN God help me! 
 
 SALM {Aside} If they had remained but neutral! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN So failing you returned. I m very glad 
 
 To look into your honest eyes again. 
 
 And hear this message, fateful though it be. 
 
 I ve had a weary journey through the country; 
 
 These people smile and .hate you while they smile. 
 
 And if the states o crstep the bounds of nations 
 
 And meddle with the throne of Mexico 
 
 Then if Napoleon takes the troops away 
 
 So yielding to America s coercion 
 
 Aye, there s a problem fit for Charles the Fifth. 
 
 ( Music is heard} 
 
 SALM {Aside} He does not know the worst. 
 MAXIMILIAN I m sad at times 
 
 I am to-night. 
 
 SALM (Aside} The cabinet may tell him 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And then the church distracts me night and 
 
 day 
 
 Have you seen Miramon? 
 
 SALM He seems disgusted 
 
 Has come to give his labors to the church. 
 
 {The music continues} 
 MAXIMILIAN Oh ! 
 
 SALM He loathed his mission at Berlin and thinks 
 
 It was a scheme to put him out of way. 
 MAXIMILIAN Let me forget the cares of state to-night 
 The music has struck up. We ll talk again. 
 Old friend 
 
 {He grasps Salmis hand, drops it and walks away} 
 
 Be joyous for to-night. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 SALM Alas! 
 
 I m yours till death! 
 
 (Enter Lopez] 
 
MAXIMILIAN 31 
 
 LOPEZ This way they ll come. 
 
 SALM How apropos. You ve placed the troops no 
 
 doubt. 
 
 LOPEZ Whoever rings a bell will die the death. 
 But did you tell the emperor? 
 SALM Why no 
 
 Twas on my tongue; but then he was so grieved 
 That I had failed at Washington; to tell him 
 The United States not only look upon him 
 As Maximilian, prince, who claims to be 
 An emperor, chief of a faction, leader 
 In a mere siege of arms of monarchies 
 For thus they speak, but also have in truth 
 Accredited^-the rebel 1 diitPaseZL^ 
 
 minister I lacked the heart to do it. 
 And then again to break upon his peace 
 And say also that with this minister, 
 A hint of mountain size that Sherman comes 
 And follow up that Tampico has fallen 
 Into the Liberal hand and Metamoras 
 LOPEZ Why this is news to me! 
 SALM Like booming cannon 
 
 One shock succeeds another. 
 LOPEZ I am glad 
 
 You kept these horrors from the emperor 
 He s ill; and shrinks before the heavy clouds 
 SALM I m part of the quadrille and must be going 
 Yet have you seen a woman seeking you 
 She mingles with the company and asks 
 For you; approached me, but I scarce believe 
 She can have proper business. 
 LOPEZ That is strange 
 
 ( Sound of voices talking a?id 
 
 laughing^ 
 SALM I join her highness. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
32 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ Now to fight Juarez 
 
 Until he falls. 
 
 (Enter Madam Mar is call) 
 {With surprise} 
 
 Why Madam Mariscali! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI, ( Coolly) Yes, Miguel. 
 LOPEZ You are audacious 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Yes? 
 
 I ve waited for this opportunity long. 
 You re my protector. 
 
 LOPEZ And you dared to come here 
 
 Talk quietly you must from here at once 
 MADAM MARISCALI I m not invited to the ball I know 
 And shall not stay 
 
 LOPEZ But then the guests are here 
 
 They enter soon; 
 MADAM MARISCALI In truth, but mong so 
 
 many 
 
 No one would pick me out, so the occasion 
 Co-operates with me to see you now 
 While now I need you. 
 
 LOPEZ Go away I pray you. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI I look to you. 
 LOPEZ But even now his highness 
 
 Mentioned to me a woman sought for me 
 Tis you how bold how careless of my fame 
 MADAM MARISCALI How could I find you else? 
 LOPEZ Oh witch. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI I care not. 
 
 LOPEZ You will be seen, they know you here away 
 To-morrow at some place I ll keep the hour 
 No never, you re a spy 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI You must assist me. 
 
 LOPEZ If you have ever thought of me as friend 
 Or listened to my words of love depart. 
 MADAM MARISCALI You break vour oath! 
 
MAXIMILIAN 33 
 
 LOPEZ I never took an oath 
 
 To play the spy. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI You loved me once. 
 
 LOPEZ I loved you 
 
 But you must leave Tis past all argument 
 
 Just think your husband wars against this throne 
 
 Nay, is a general in the Liberal army, 
 
 And you are here away or I must seize you. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Then do so. I would stay. I must 
 
 be heard 
 
 For know, old friend, my husband has been captured 
 And by the black decree must suffer death. 
 LOPEZ Ah Julia ! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Miguel, intercede for me, 
 Beg of the emperor an amnesty. 
 It was our parting oath to help each other. 
 LOPEZ You speak the truth? 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI You doubt me? God be witness. 
 All that I ask is that you ll storm his heart. 
 Merciful heavens shall the General die? 
 LOPEZ Be calm. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Is it not granted? 
 LOPEZ Come to-morrow 
 
 But let me think! I ll send a messenger 
 Fixing the hour and place Oh Julia go 
 MADAM MARISCALI Oh Miguel! 
 LOPEZ Make haste. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI I thank you. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 LOPEZ Just 
 
 In time my brow is beaded. 
 
 (Enter Miramon~) 
 
 MIRAMON What s her name? 
 
 That face I know! 
 LOPEZ Indeed! 
 
 MIRAMON But where I know not. 
 
34 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Why do you still sustain these old flirtations? 
 She will be prompt upon the very minute! 
 LOPEZ Tis only the passe who keep appointments. 
 I m saved; 
 
 ( The voices grow louder^) 
 (Aloud} They enter. 
 
 (A numerous company 
 MIRAMON Shall I stay or go 
 
 And enter with the strangers? 
 LOPEZ For the present 
 
 I m glad you re with me. Listen! 
 
 ( To the company } Range yourselves, 
 There must be space to dance. And don t forget 
 The points of etiquette. 
 
 (He arranges them} 
 A VOICE Do we salute them? 
 
 LOPEZ Whom? 
 
 THE VOICE Long live their majesties! 
 LOPEZ Don t speak a word. 
 
 Be quiet there 
 
 ANOTHER VOICE Or do we kneel? 
 LOPEZ Have you forgotten? 
 
 Stand to this side. When the quadrille is finished 
 After the noble guests have passed the throne 
 Then you will follow where they walked before you; 
 But do not as they do. Remember that! 
 You may but kiss their majesties on the hand 
 Don t blunder! 
 
 (Smiles light their faces and whispers run through 
 
 the crowd. The music becomes louder. ) 
 Now! be ready there they come. 
 (Enter Maximilian and Car lot t a. After the?n 
 Prince and Princess Zichy, Prince and 
 Princess Salm-Salm, Count and Countess 
 Funfkirchen, Marquis de Gallifet and 
 Princess Josefa y Senor and Senora Salas, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 35 
 
 Archbishop Labastida, Marshal Bazaine, 
 General and Madam Miramon and a cortege 
 of brilliantly dressed people. Maximilian 
 and Carlotta together with Prince and 
 Princess Zichy, Count and Countess Funfkir- 
 chen and Prince and Princess 
 Salm-Salm dance the quadrille a honneur. 
 After which Marshal Bazaine escorts the 
 emperor and empress to the throne where 
 they stand at the foot of the steps to receive 
 the company; the Prince and Princess Zichy 
 leading. The empress kisses her cheek and 
 that of Countess Funfkirchen, Princess Salm- 
 Salm and Princess jfosefa. The rest are 
 permitted to kiss her hand only. Senora 
 Salas in an impulsive moment gives the 
 empress the Mexican abrazio y whereupon 
 the empress starts back with a look of pained 
 indignation; while Senora Salas puts her 
 hands to her eyes to suppress the tears. ) 
 
 CARLOTTA In Spain it would be death to touch me so! 
 
 SENORA SALAS {Kneeling} 
 
 Your majesty, I humbly pray your pardon. 
 
 BAZAINE (To Senor Salas) 
 
 You are her husband. Please escort her hence. 
 (She is escorted away by her 
 husband) 
 
 CARLOTTA (To Bazaine) 
 
 I will not see the others. 
 
 A LADY -{Aside to another} 
 
 But I think 
 
 She might have overlooked it. 
 
 ANOTHER (Aside) 
 
 How impulsive! 
 
 A NOTHER ( Aside ) 
 
 That is not royal etiquette. 
 
36 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 ANOTHER ( Aside) 
 
 But then 
 
 Her majesty is alien to our customs. 
 
 ANOTHER Just think ! before the eyes of everyone 
 
 ANOTHER Her dress accorded with the fearful blund 
 er 
 
 ANOTHER In Austria they say tis very hard 
 
 To see the empress 
 
 ANOTHER And, of course, she ll weep. 
 
 ANOTHER Who ll want to waltz against her ruddy 
 nose 
 
 BAZAINE (To Lopez] 
 
 Scatter your people through the dancing rooms 
 
 You understand her majesty refuses. 
 
 A GENTLEMAN The punch is excellent they say. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (To Bazaine) 
 
 One moment 
 ( To the company) 
 
 Friends of the throne, tis fit you dance to-night. 
 
 As it was said, the empire means but peace. 
 
 You who are sick of war and revolution 
 
 Welcome the equal justice of the throne. 
 
 That was my oath at Miramar, and if 
 
 I shall uphold the flag of independence 
 
 Conserve the territory and the honor 
 
 Of Mexico, the deed will pay the doer 
 
 For every day now sees the sun of truth 
 
 Mount higher in the firmament of empire 
 
 The Mexican republic has collapsed. 
 
 Mine is the task to hold the sword and sceptre 
 
 Till every tongue shall voice its loyalty. 
 
 My heart and hopes are all with Mexico 
 
 And the red current of my life that leaps 
 
 In joyous rapture for our happy future 
 
 Is Mexican to the last ruddy drop 
 
 Share with the throne these feelings and accept 
 
MAXIMILIAN 37 
 
 Our hope that naught may mar the evening s bliss! 
 
 ( They move through the rooms. Meanwhile 
 Miramojiy Mejia and Labastida approach 
 Maximilian. Princess Josefa, Princess 
 Zichy and Countess Funfkirchen stand near 
 Carlotta. Bazaine and Prince and Princess 
 Salm-Salm stand together near the center. 
 Music. ) 
 
 ( While going out) 
 A LADY Twas said to smooth us. 
 ANOTHER Yes, tis evident 
 
 The native Mexicans are not considered. 
 ANOTHER Tis French. 
 ANOTHER And Austrians. 
 ANOTHER And there s the Prince. 
 
 ANOTHER By no means liked. 
 ANOTHER I think his wife is charming . 
 
 BAZAINE A bullet through the heart is not so painful. 
 PRINCESS SALM Because she knows she brought it on her 
 self 
 
 Poor simple lady. 
 
 BAZAINE The emperor does not know? 
 
 PRINCE SALM I told her highness in a mood of caution. 
 BAZAINE What gallant compliments he pays your 
 
 highness 
 
 To tell one s wife a secret out of caution. 
 PRINCESS SALM Why excellency, you know I keep a 
 
 secret. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Fie but you told 
 PRINCESS SALM That secret you may keep 
 
 Ah but it shook my very soul with fear 
 Let us forget how beautiful the rooms 
 PRINCE SALM Your highness then must thank his excel 
 lency 
 
 BAZAINE And Colonel Lopez 
 PRINCESS SALM But above it all 
 
38 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 How young and beautiful their majesties. 
 
 BAZAINE A boy and girl! But see that lovely 
 
 creature 
 
 Conversing with Funfkirchen near the throne. 
 I ve seen her oft tonight. 
 PRINCESS SALM Princess Josefa the empire s heir 
 
 presumptive 
 
 Lady in waiting, counselor and friend 
 The daughter of Iturbide "Liberator" 
 Augustus I 
 
 BAZAINE I beg your pardon highness 
 
 I know her well. I mean the one who stopped 
 To disengage her train. (Aside) My wife s own 
 
 image ! 
 PRINCESS SALM Oh yes you mean fair Mademoiselle de 
 
 Pena 
 
 Oh! she s not noble 
 
 BAZAINE But she s beautiful 
 
 You know her Prince? Who will present me to her? 
 PRINCESS SALM Your excellency twould give me 
 
 greatest pleasure. 
 
 BAZAINE She takes Funfkirchen s arm She goes. 
 PRINCESS SALM Be calm- 
 
 She 11 not escape. This is romantic truly. 
 
 (Bazaine and Prince and Princess Salm-Salm 
 go out.) 
 
 LABASTIDA So now for having spoken on the theme 
 I hope your majesty will pardon me. 
 CARLOTTA (^j/Vfc)Thus every joy is shadowed by a 
 
 priest. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN We think Juarez government was right 
 Lands valued at a thousand million francs 
 Siezed from the people, given to the church 
 Would paralyze prosperity! 
 
 LABASTIDA ( Jside ) Enough ! 
 
 He cannot see he has no friends but us. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 39 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Well, Miramon where have you left your 
 
 cares 
 
 You look so happy. 
 
 MIRAMON In Berlin I think; 
 
 1 hope to never leave this soil again. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I m glad to see you, but regret your 
 
 coming. 
 
 Mejia are you tired? 
 
 MEJIA I m ill at ease 
 
 I m weather-beaten, scarred, the butt of mirth 
 In such a scene. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But then your heart of honor 
 
 You are a soldier! 
 
 ( They converse) 
 
 A GENTLEMAN Then of course we thought 
 
 The South would triumph. 
 
 ANOTHER ( With him ) And we wished it too. 
 
 THE FIRST By consequence the victor deems the empire 
 A remnant of the fallen enemy. 
 THE SECOND And now the French army 
 THE FIRST Reduced by half 
 
 THE SECOND But ah America! 
 
 (Re-enter Eaxaine and Mile de la Pena) 
 THE FIRST Tis plain enough. 
 
 Napoleon fears! 
 
 THE SECOND For Seward s notes are threats. 
 
 THE FIRST Which they will execute. 
 BAZAINE You are not bored 
 
 To dance with such a cavalier as I? 
 
 MLLE PENA Ah self-contempt is not your forte I think. 
 But you were saying 
 
 BAZAINE Yes, about my travels. 
 
 Of course I ve been in Spain, (Aside) and loved in Spain 
 You look quite like a friend I had in Spain. 
 MLLE PENA Where is she now? 
 BAZAINE In heaven Mademoiselle 
 
40 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Unless this thing they call re-incarnation 
 
 A LADY You know she can t control him. 
 
 A GENTLEMAN How absurd 
 
 THE LADY So he s intoxicated. 
 
 THE GENTLEMAN Poor Senora! 
 
 ANOTHER LADY Those two are on the tongues of every 
 
 one 
 
 ANOTHER It is a hit. See how her cheeks are glowing. 
 THE FIRST Besides he follows her about the rooms. 
 THE SECOND And how he looks at her. 
 THE FIRST It is a match. 
 
 BAZAINE The only wounds a soldier ever shows 
 Are those that bleed outside. You think it strange 
 That I who on the battle field have seen 
 The drummer youth sink dying to the earth, 
 Clasping the darling locket with her picture; 
 And with an eye fixed like the ravin eagle 
 Have rushed my charger o er his corse to win; 
 Should ne ertheless send up a whine to heaven 
 When I have felt the iron fingers here. 
 
 ( Touches his heart^) 
 MLLE PENA Ah Sir. 
 
 BAZAINE For what are all my gallant services 
 At Solferino or Sebastapol 
 The campaign in Algeria and Morocco, 
 To what has been; to what I hope may be? 
 Shall I be honored with another dance? 
 
 (Enter Prince and Princess Salm-Salm} 
 PRINCE SALM (To Bazaine") So all goes well? 
 PRINCESS SALM Who can o erlook the fact? 
 
 Your excellency thanks me, do you not? 
 BAZAINE Twas not of that he spoke. You know the 
 
 bells 
 
 Which like the woman in the old ballad 
 We vow shall not ring out. 
 PRINCE SALM Let s try the punch 
 
MAXIMILIAN 41 
 
 PRINCESS SALM We came to take you with us. 
 
 MLLE PENA On the moment. 
 
 His excellency 
 
 BAZAINE Begged another dance. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Can it be stayed until we drink your health? 
 
 PRINCESS SALM ( M ock serious ) Ah! excellency? 
 
 BAZAINE But mademoiselle you see 
 
 Knows friends of mine, and here in Mexico 
 
 How charming to exclaim, why you remember 
 
 He got a fortune, or she wedded ill 
 
 Or so and so is dead; or so and so 
 
 Has been promoted, is a colonel now 
 
 PRINCESS SALM Of which things you have uttered not a 
 
 word. 
 
 MLLE PENA In truth, your highness yes I beg of you. 
 PRINCE SALM And now the punch. 
 PRINCESS SALM Or General Salas drinks 
 The last of it. 
 
 ( They start to go out. As they do so a distant 
 
 bell rings. ) 
 
 PRINCE SALM That sound. 
 
 MLLE PENA It tolls the hour. 
 
 BAZAINE That wings the moments of this happy dance. 
 
 (The bell rings rapidly] 
 But what was that? 
 
 PRINCE SALM Can it be possible? 
 
 BAZAINE Where s Lopez 
 MLLE PENA Your excellency is grave. 
 
 BAZAINE Your pardon 
 
 May I conduct you? 
 
 MLLE PENA Tis a custom here. 
 
 BAZAINE Yes, when they celebrate. 
 PRINCE SALM They ring the bells. 
 
 {Prince Salm-Salm and Bazaine escort the Prin 
 cess and Mademoiselle de la Pena to the group 
 near the throne. Enter Lopez} 
 
42 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 BAZAINE ( To him) We are outwitted. 
 
 LOPEZ Heard you that? 
 
 BAZAINE Well Lopez 
 
 Is this a case for discipline? 
 
 LOPEZ Your pardon 
 
 I followed every detail of the order. 
 
 {A more general ringing. Enter Miramon ana 
 
 Mejia) 
 
 MIRAMON They celebrate. 
 PRINCE SALM The Liberals! 
 
 BAZAINE ( To Lopez} Go at once 
 And you Mejia, quell it if you can. 
 
 ( Lopez and Mejia go out. The ringing and the 
 
 sound of musketry become very loud. The 
 
 guests crowd into the throne room. ) 
 A MAN The Liberals are here. 
 ANOTHER The city s taken. 
 
 ANOTHER Fly all of you! 
 
 ANOTHER Tis nothing but a fire. 
 
 ANOTHER The guns protect his majesty. 
 A WOMAN {Falling on her knees) Oh mercy 
 ANOTHER They re in the castle 
 A MAN Bar the outer doors 
 
 ( Great noise and 
 confusion} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What is this wild disorder? 
 GEN. SALAS {Entering intoxicated} Live the empire! 
 BAZAINE Silence. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Stepping from the throne} I 
 Command to know. 
 
 {A silence by the company. The noise without 
 
 continuing. ) 
 
 PRINCE SALM {Aside) Who has the heart to speak? 
 BAZAINE {Aside) Permit the priest! 
 LABASTIDA ( Cooly) Your majesty I grieve 
 
 The Liberals have taken Tampico. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 43 
 
 CARLOTTA Your reverence knew this and from us con 
 cealed it? 
 
 LABASTIDA ( Continuing} And Metamoras. 
 
 BAZAINE (Aside^) How the priest rejoices. 
 
 LABASTIDA (Continuing} The United States accredits to 
 Juarez 
 
 A minister. And General Sherman comes 
 
 To see what aid of arms the Liberals need. 
 
 CARLOTTA Hence all of you! 
 
 LABASTIDA ( Continuing} In sympathy with this 
 
 A riot rulmines in our capital. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Bazaine, the troops! 
 CURTAIN. 
 
ACT TWO 
 
 A 
 
 state room in the palace; on the left a throne; 
 on the right a council table surrounded by 
 chairs. Members of the ministry discover 
 ed at the table. 
 
 A MINISTER So this awaits the imperial sanction? 
 
 ANOTHER Yes. 
 
 THE FIRST A somewhat useless routine. 
 
 ANOTHER I approve it 
 
 ANOTHER And I; for when the black decree was issued 
 
 I thought it should except the president 
 
 His generals and other men of state; 
 
 Unless his majesty should order death. 
 
 ANOTHER His majesty did make a reservation 
 
 In case Juarez should be captured. 
 
 ANOTHER True ! 
 
 THE LAST Now Mariscali profits by that spirit. 
 
 ANOTHER But dies! 
 
 ANOTHER Alas 
 
 MINISTER OF FINANCE {Holding a paper) 
 
 More money for the French. 
 ANOTHER Now will the army stick? 
 ANOTHER Bazaine has wedded. 
 
 Of course we ratify the emperor s deed, 
 By which the bride is dowered of San Cosme 
 For there the twain keep royal state and least 
 
 (45) 
 
46 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The hungry French; so if we had the power 
 
 Tvvould work embarrassment to stay the seal 
 
 Of our consent. 
 
 ANOTHER But thus the treasure goes 
 
 In gifts to those whose hearts are alien to us. 
 
 ANOTHER His majesty? 
 
 (They rise as Maximilian enters) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The orders are prepared 
 
 Then I will sign them, I indulge the hope 
 No meeting will be needful in my absence. 
 Her majesty is regent and will call you. 
 I thank you for your aid. To all adieu! 
 
 ( They bow and walk away. ) 
 A MINISTER His majesty departs. 
 
 ANOTHER How pale he is. 
 
 ANOTHER What does it mean? 
 
 ANOTHER But when will he return 
 
 ANOTHER I m loath to credit it. 
 ANOTHER You may believe me. 
 
 ( They go out) 
 MAXIMILIAN In early youth when first the rapturous 
 
 blood 
 
 Mounts up with giddy vigor to the brain 
 How light in dreams of empire weigh the deeds 
 Of those who ruled the world. How hard to rule ! 
 For what avails those years of patient toil 
 Beneath the student s lamp, if now I fail 
 Before these questions, which my youthful thought 
 Gave me equipment for the mastery. 
 Foes, armies, hatred, dread assassination 
 The strategy of states, the court s cabal 
 Or intertwined intrigue, these were the shades 
 Which kings of yore encountered and subdued- 
 Whilst I the son of Kings, and by their strife 
 Inheriting the fine and finished sense 
 For their defeat, must think, but cannot act. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 47 
 
 But oh for health again, and for the spirit 
 Of dauntless enterprise. Yes, 1 will seek 
 Midst quiet scenes the soaring soul of youth 
 And try again to do it. Ye matchless dead 
 Who slumber in me, wake that 1 may be 
 The aid of fate, the builder of a throne. 
 And as ye dealt, myself to deal as well 
 In blood and gold Nor longer feel my cheek 
 Burning behind the idle mask of King. 
 My spirit shall not wither in your presence! 
 
 (A silence) 
 
 Nor will I analyze the varying shades 
 Of good and ill that shift in my decision 
 I will, I act, it is the emperor 
 So Mariscali dies! 
 
 (He sits and writes, Car lot ta enters.) 
 CARLOTTA Forever writing. 
 
 (He looks up.) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Tis you. I thought the sun was shining. 
 CARLOTTA Sweetheart! 
 
 You ve made me weep with these. 
 
 ( Handling a string of pearls. ) 
 
 Ah Ferdinand 
 
 These are the peaceful days at Miramar 
 Turned by the alchemy of memory 
 And by these shifting shades of Meeting glory 
 Holding within themselves those perished sunsets 
 Which burned along the Adriatic wave, 
 Until they mingled in that moonlit sky 
 Of white pellucid air which makes the pearl. 
 You love me yet as in my girl -hood yes? 
 MAXIMILIAN How can you ask? 
 CARLOTTA You ne er forget my birthday. 
 
 Well, one is young at twenty-six, 1 think. 
 But all the morning I have I heard a ringing 
 Of Miramar. 
 
48 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And I have heard the bells. 
 
 CARLOTTA I scarce can bear to have you go from me. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Nor should I go! 
 
 CARLOTTA And yet the doctor wills it. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I cannot hold my hand, see how it trembles. 
 
 CARLOTTA That s from the fever 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes of life ! 
 
 CARLOTTA Of life? 
 
 Now don t be sad. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I m over-worked, Carlotta 
 
 And every day brings news of evil import; 
 
 The United States have dealt a staggering blow. 
 
 I doubt if we can rally from the shock 
 
 CARLOTTA Napoleon keeps his army 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Here s the order 
 
 Which dedicates to him the revenues 
 
 Of Vera Cruz, our only port, and makes 
 
 As a trap of the Austrian prince who once 
 
 Held the succession of the Austrian throne. 
 
 Twas bitter, bitter. For in spite of all 
 
 My pressing need, the help that he could be 
 
 The rude insistence of his blunt demands 
 
 Struck harshly Nor content with this he threatens 
 
 To take the French away without allowance 
 
 Wherein I might amass a native army 
 
 To hold the throne. 
 
 CARLOTTA Alas! I too have wondered! 
 
 What stays the empire if they did their duty ? 
 
 It is a nothing that one cannot grasp. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN This very empire, like a ship becalmed, 
 
 Waits for some nameless favor, held by nothing. 
 
 This canopy is made the perch of nothing. 
 
 Napoleon First took Moscow and found nothing. ; 
 
 Napoleon Third took Mexico 
 
 CARLOTTA My lord 
 
 The thought you raise outruns the dreadful words. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 49 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The sword leaps out for foes and reaches 
 
 nothing. 
 
 Tis here, tis here, tis gone, it is a voice, 
 An ignis fatuus flitting through a marsh. 
 A shadow with the power of death, a fear 
 A breath blown icy from the lips of fate. 
 Rumor of pestilence in the sunny air 
 Venomous motes that move about unseen. 
 A viewless barrier more stern than steel. 
 A crushing imminence that laughs at us 
 The pregnant messages of kings that glide 
 Like magic under seas, armies afar 
 That strike not and yet enervate our rule. 
 CARLOTTA Oh Maximilian! Maximilian! 
 MAXIMILIAN There! there! how foolish of me. 
 CARLOTTA No! 
 
 You cannot hide what I see far too well 
 I know this problem. Yes, I feel its weight 
 Yet not the teaching of that master mind 
 Which was my father s, lately passed away 
 Who hoped to school his daughter in the craft 
 Which pilots states, avails the least for me 
 It flies us, it escapes and hides in darkness 
 I feel at times my mind " ah 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Horrible! 
 
 Silence ! 
 
 CARLOTTA What did I say? Not that! 
 
 But save me from this shadow, fold me to you 
 This ghostly nothing which you pictured so 
 Freezes my blood! I would not have you leave 
 MAXIMILIAN Not leave you? Ah Carlotta if but 
 
 heaven 
 
 Would see and pity! 
 
 CARLOTTA Sir, your soldier s spirit! 
 
 God pities those who fall on the redoubt 
 Not those who shrink Go gladly, Maximilian 
 
5 
 
 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 I m regent; I will act: For never falls 
 
 This throne, the gift of God. I spurn aside 
 
 These hints of" abdication. Under foot 
 
 I tread the enmity of all the world 
 
 And if we fall, let s fall with majesty! 
 
 Why even last night I fancied you and I 
 
 Strolled by the fluted waves of Miramar. 
 
 Yet did it seem, so strangely are these visions, 
 
 We walked the balcony of the palace here 
 
 Breathing again the words of love and hope 
 
 Of Miramar in the sweet days long past. 
 
 When of a sudden in the middle north 
 
 Upsprung the terrible sun and smote the moon 
 
 So fiercely that it writhed away like mist, 
 
 And all the stars dissolved in seas of dawn, 
 
 Save for one planet burning a dull red 
 
 Low to the east whither the soft bats flew: 
 
 Thus charmed with this sorcery of light 
 
 Chapultepec dissolved 
 
 {She pauses ) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What idle dreams 
 
 CARLOTTA But if it means the falling of the empire 
 
 Or even death, I m nerved to meet the fate 
 
 There s something else 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Carlotta come with me! 
 
 CARLOTTA There s something else! 
 
 ( While she is talking the strand of pearls 
 slip from her hand and falling on the floor 
 scatter. ) 
 
 Who cast this fateful spell 
 
 Ah look! the pearls themselves cry out to us 
 
 Is it our benefactions thrown away 
 
 Our treasure wasted on ungracious subjects 
 
 Or something else? Too terrible to think! 
 
 How foolish of us both. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN For shame Carlotta. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 51 
 
 CARLOTTA My father would have boxed my ears for this, 
 I ll pick them up. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes, break the occult charm. 
 
 CARLOTTA I ve found them everyone 
 MAXIMILIAN Now sweet Carlotta 
 
 No more such moods as this for either of us 
 Before I go I would impart to you 
 Some counsel; we will talk as I make ready. 
 CARLOTTA And from my cabinet I ll show you some 
 thing 
 
 A document all brightly tied with ribbons, 
 
 My birthday greetings sent from Yucatan 
 
 MAXIMILIAN That s from your visit. 
 
 CARLOTTA - I am holy empress, 
 
 Friend of the church 
 
 MAXIMILIAN They thrust me thus obliquely 
 
 Preserve these orders Go! I ll come at once 
 {He resumes writing} 
 
 CARLOTTA (Aside) 
 
 My heart is breaking! Still must I endure! 
 
 ( Carlotta walks away and at the entrance reels 
 but steadies herself against the wall ) 
 
 CARLOTTA Come to me 
 
 ( Maximilian drops his pen, goes to her and assists 
 her out. As they go out Bazaine and Labastida 
 enter and pause looking after them.} 
 
 LABASTIDA See! she swoons 
 
 BAZAINE The children are not well. 
 
 {Aside) I wonder not she swoons. The crisis comes! 
 
 LABASTIDA Then I ll go on. 
 
 BAZAINE Your reverence stay, with me, 
 
 You may see that which will revive your hopes 
 
 {Aside) I ll use the priest. 
 
 LABASTIDA Tis piteous to see 
 
 Things drift and drift. Moreover sir your master 
 
 Is one with Maximilian gainst the church. 
 
52 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 BAZAINE I m not. And even they may change; you 
 
 know 
 
 Time conjugates the will of emperors, 
 What is becomes what was, and what has been. 
 The future tense their grammar ne er expresses 
 LABASTIDA You call it grammar? 
 BAZAINE Or astrology. 
 
 You have been wronged. 
 
 LABASTIDA Much more we were deceived 
 
 BAZAINE Your reverence is much too cynical 
 Write failure on your tomb; wear not the badge 
 Like some marked package. Have an eye to thrift 
 The harvest ripens; when the winter comes 
 The ungathered corn is lost. 
 
 LABASTIDA You speak in riddles 
 
 BAZAINE His majesty is very fond of me 
 
 {Produces a paper*) 
 
 LABASTIDA A deed! 
 
 BAZAINE A palace for my wedding gift Monsignor 
 LABASTIDA Then tis not merely that he loves the people 
 That keeps the church s property with them? 
 BAZAINE My morning s errand here is quite peculiar 
 LABASTIDA In truth! To thank his majesty, perhaps? 
 BAZAINE How then peculiar? Might I ask Monsignor 
 If I do ought which in the course of things 
 Bobs up to your advantage throw a stone 
 Which ultimately strikes and helps you on 
 Prevent some move or by a crafty impact 
 Give speed to your desires you understand 
 I promise no results, but let you gamble 
 And give you the per centum of success 
 What will you do? 
 
 LABASTIDA I leave the act to you? 
 
 But if you promise me to lend your hand 
 How so you will, I trust you to do well 
 Fortune, pours in, your hand, ten thousand dollars 
 
MAXIMILIAN 53 
 
 This very day. And when it comes to pass 
 
 More money for you that will make this palace 
 
 Too poor for you. 
 
 BAZAINE I ll do it Labastida! 
 
 For I hold here a secret that will shake 
 
 The empire. And it s time to use the hands 
 
 Before the prompter rings the curtain down 
 
 And robbers without tickets grab the box. 
 
 I do suspect or to speak otherwise 
 
 I am inspired; and grab the flapping skirts 
 
 Of passing inspiration. 
 
 LABASTIDA You delight me! 
 
 BAZAINE Oh fie, oh faugh, oh zounds, oh everything 
 
 Profane and sacred that it comes to this 
 
 To day dreams catalepsy addled wits. 
 
 Such is this scheme of empire; and the man 
 
 Picked out to rule, is praised, as if it were 
 
 The all in all, because he loves his wife 
 
 Then get my money! For you want your lands 
 
 And Maximilian wants all Mexico. 
 
 And Europe wants his majesty to have it. 
 
 How well I know the story and you know it 
 
 The banded monarchs prod themselves to fury. 
 
 "This country owes us money" cries the first. 
 
 LABASTIDA "They have despised our flag," another says. 
 
 BAZAINE "We must protect our ministers and subjects." 
 
 LABASTIDA "A stable government must be established." 
 
 BAZAINE "The natives pass our envoy on the side-walk." 
 
 LABASTIDA "Some school-boys bit their thumbs at our 
 
 legation. 
 
 They will not trade with us; they have abstained " 
 BAZAINE "From opium and bibles. They protest " 
 LABASTIDA "Our goods are cheats. They wound our 
 
 missionaries. 
 BAZAINE With questions like "Whence came the wife 
 
 of Cain?" 
 
54 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LABASTIDA "They are not civilized they kill each 
 
 other." 
 BAZAINE "With knives They re prone, to revolutions, 
 
 Blood 
 
 Must cease to flow, " 
 
 LABASTIDA "And blood cures blood" 
 
 BAZAINE And so 
 
 A manifesto and a dozen war-ships 
 To shame dishonor and to cow rebellion 
 Grape-shot 
 
 LABASTIDA Puebla 
 
 BAZAINE Mexico at last 
 
 A throne stuck on Napoleon s bayonets 
 
 And two young creatures, very tall and fair 
 
 Escorted twixt a rabble of dark faces 
 
 That shouted vivas with a garlic breath. 
 
 LABASTIDA And empire 
 
 BAZAINE Yes, a dangerous toy for children 
 
 I see that o er topped brow before me now 
 
 Crushing upon the silken-whiskered chin 
 
 He should have mine. The puckered Hapsburg mouth 
 
 The baby eyes in which the shadows flit 
 
 LABASTIDA Shed from the vampire wings of feudalism 
 
 BAZAINE Disorder, riot, tangled circumstance, 
 
 Spies in the city. Liberal opposition 
 
 Wounded but crawling to its hiding place 
 
 Where it regathers venom and returns 
 
 To strike 
 
 ( The sound of objects being moved is heard. ) 
 
 Perhaps! 
 
 ( A lackey appears at the rear carrying baggage. ) 
 He abdicates! 
 
 ( Turning around to the lackey) You stop! 
 
 ( To Lab as ti da) 
 
 The emperor flies! I stop it. Get my money. 
 Have I preserved to you a chance of winning? 
 
MAXIMILIAN 55 
 
 Yes, when the empire falls you lose forever 
 
 LABASTIDA "Tis true, my thanks. 
 
 BAZAINE ( To the lackey) Go take the baggage back. 
 
 ( To Labastida) 
 
 Some reason to him, for his master s sake 
 ( To the lackey) The enemy is camped near Orizaba 
 Twould jeopard much the emperor s sacred person 
 To travel thence. Announce my presence here. 
 Take back the baggage. ( The lackey bows and obeys. ) 
 
 LABASTIDA Oh! Lucky stroke. 
 BAZAINE Thrice happy inspirations 
 
 Think what it means. The emperor abdicates, 
 Departs in secret leaves Napoleon s army 
 With nothing but a vacant throne to guard. 
 And we trail after, hauling through the dust 
 The eagles; tingling in our very backs, 
 And drawing in that scope of rounded flesh 
 God made to kick, as from a sort of instinct. 
 Drooped, spiritless before the bitter sneers 
 Of what they call the great United States. 
 Hooted from Mexico! with lofty gestures 
 Waved hence like lackeys. I decline the part. 
 For when I saw the empress near to swooning 
 1 knew the parting words were being said 
 Go Labastida 
 LABASTIDA We shall meet to-day. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 BAZAINE Old friend, myselt, you ve grown a financier - 
 Which is to use and seize what others make 
 Well, let it be discount of backs and hands, 
 Hopes put in escrow, happiness impounded, 
 I was the pen which wrote and nothing else 
 I neither made the empire nor will break it. 
 If heaven breaks it, and I profit by it 
 Who has been wronged? (Enter Lopez.) 
 
 You keep the hour with me? 
 
56 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ I thank your excellency, for I am grieved 
 
 Quite to the quick. 
 
 BAZAINE Your face betrays it, Lopez. 
 
 LOPEZ I loved, I love 
 
 BAZAINE But why invert the tense? 
 
 LOPEZ It was and is. 
 
 BAZAINE I see. Twas at the ball 
 
 You met this fair one. 
 
 LOPEZ And I ve suffered since 
 
 BAZAINE You meet? 
 
 LOPEZ Each day. 
 
 BAZAINE You have been reticent 
 
 Yes more than that, there should have been a wedding. 
 
 LOPEZ She s plighted now 
 
 BAZAINE Ah sir, a liaison? 
 
 LOPEZ She s Mariscali s wife. 
 
 BAZAINE The General? 
 
 I m dumb! But softly, for you know my friend 
 
 Her widow s weeds are growing. 
 
 LOPEZ I would nip them. 
 
 BAZAINE Self-sacrifice! I see the noble stuff 
 
 Where6f your love is made 
 
 LOPEZ Twas years ago 
 
 BAZAINE So says the story book 
 
 LOPEZ Our love began 
 
 But under evil stars. There was a woman 
 
 BAZAINE And her name was Eve. 
 
 LOPEZ I was the tempter too 
 
 But then as well the tempted 
 
 BAZAINE As of old 
 
 You shared, the apple. 
 
 LOPEZ Then I tired of her 
 
 BAZAINE Of course you strove to throw away the core, 
 
 Wipe off your mouth, deny the wickedness 
 
 And say I never touched the bitter apple. 
 
 LOPEZ Prophetic man ! Besides there was the child. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 57 
 
 And when this heaven of love was shown to me 
 
 And Madam Mariscali hoped to be 
 
 My wife along came number one 
 
 BAZAINE I see 
 
 LOPEZ And wrecks my peace and so our lives divided 
 
 Can I forget the sad farewells we said 
 
 When she with eyes made soft by tears and sorrow 
 
 Looked love at me, and with a quivering voice 
 
 Whispered those words of hopeless hope "I love you." 
 
 Then did we vow to stand as friends forever 
 
 Forever in this life whate er betide. 
 
 And by that vow and by its sacred hour 
 
 I mean to save her husband, if I can. 
 
 BAZAINE Tis madness, for the order has been signed. 
 
 LOPEZ I plotted at the trial 
 
 BAZAINE He was convicted. 
 
 LOPEZ I ll see his majesty. 
 
 BAZAINE Where is she, sir? 
 
 LOPEZ Within my call. 
 
 BAZAINE You re overbold, I think. 
 
 Is this not treason 
 
 LOPEZ Call it what you will 
 
 BAZAINE Be still, he comes. 
 
 LOPEZ I cry to you for help. 
 
 Appeal to him ! 
 
 BAZAINE ( Thinking} 
 
 I m logical good man. 
 I gave my counsel for the black decree 
 And lack a reason for its intermission 
 In Mariscali s case. Not so with you 
 And less with her whose loss impends to-day. 
 I have a plan. 
 
 LOPEZ She weeps so softly, cries 
 
 With such a piteous moan. And raves by turns; 
 If I were emperor, I could not shut 
 My sympathy against her. 
 
58 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 BAZAINE Listen then 
 
 Go bring her here, conceal her near the door. 
 
 The emperor departs, but I will hold him 
 
 Till you have come. Now haste the emperor s step! 
 
 When you return, walk in, make your appeal 
 
 When he refuses let her rush before him 
 
 With such impetuous begging for her husband 
 
 As will convulse his soul. Go sir 
 
 (Exit Lopez} 
 
 Another blow 
 
 To break his resolution. For these women 
 Are tigerish creatures, scratch if you demur 
 Hell hath no fury like a woman, scorned 
 That phrase was meant for Mexico ! And even 
 If what I did should fail, this startling trap 
 Which opens with a pop and out she comes 
 With tears and storms of words will overcome him 
 He shall not abdicate. 
 
 ( Enter Maximilian ) 
 
 Your majesty 
 
 Would 1 could grant your majesty protection ! 
 MAXIMILIAN What is the matter? 
 BAZAINE Travel is dangerous 
 
 A riot brews at Orizaba 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Why! 
 
 That s very strange. 
 
 BAZAINE The South is in turmoil. 
 
 Nor is it possible to check advances 
 Of Liberal troops; and then there are guerillas. 
 Here in the Capitol but yester-night 
 They hooted old Mejia. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Why I pray? 
 
 BAZAINE He made a speech. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Mejia is discreet 
 
 What did he say? 
 BAZAINE What everyone should say 
 
MAXIMILIAN 59 
 
 Long live the Emperor Maximilian first! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Here in the city ? ( With amazement. ) 
 
 BAZAINE But they caught the culprits. 
 
 This happened near the bull-ring, being Friday 
 
 The effigy of Judas was hung up 
 
 And dangled from the wall. Some curious person 
 
 Turned it around and there upon its breast 
 
 Appeared a card bearing the name Juarez 
 
 First there were murmurs, afterward the cries 
 
 Of treason and then screeches of derision, 
 
 And then a bedlam of tumultuous sound 
 
 Until the soldiers smoothed the matter over. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Might I inquire, can you police the city? 
 
 BAZAINE {Aside} I ll not return that parry. 
 
 (To Maximilian} I obey! 
 Your majesty has heard the dreadful news 
 Count Kurtzroch has been murdered by guerillas. 
 MAXIMILIAN That noble Austrian ! I grieve indeed. 
 BAZAINE Two Frenchmen taken captive near Puebla 
 Were buried in the sand all but their heads 
 And these the wolves devoured. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN How horrible ! 
 
 BAZAINE A stage coach was attacked six leagues from here 
 The passengers were murdered. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Stay Bazaine 
 
 BAZAINE Some Union troops and General Sheridan 
 Have taken station near the Rio Grande 
 For Washington lays down its ultimatum 
 The French must take the troops from Mexico. 
 The northern country swarms with Liberals 
 And movements in the South 
 
 MAXIMILIAN ( Weakly} I pray you spare me. 
 
 ( With resolution} I lay the empire under siege to-day 
 Proceed Bazaine, San Luis shall be taken, 
 Juarez captured if he can be found 
 And every rebel general in the field 
 
60 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 This Mariscali dies. How fit it is. 
 
 Tis felon s blood that stops the hand of treason 
 
 I will the siege; be swift to execute it. 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty might I inquire what troops 
 
 Shall do this work? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The troops of France! {A silence} 
 
 BAZAINE I have not seen the order of Napoleon. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I will it sir. The troops are mine. Your 
 
 master 
 
 Receives my revenues. I pay the troops 
 Thousands have sworn allegiance to me. 
 BAZAINE Believe me tis a thought that stifles me 
 France cannot war with the United States 
 And what your majesty commands of me 
 Awakes the bugle s voice. Monroe is dead, 
 But lives in spirit. And to seize Juarez 
 Whom Washington through the official eye 
 Regards as ruler of the Mexicans 
 Strips off the scabbard. France declines the fight. 
 MAXIMILIAN I have commanded. 
 
 BAZAINE And I have explained 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Since you resist, and doing so command, 
 While I obey; since you are emperor 
 Might I solicit counsel on these problems 
 Which close like circling fire about the throne. 
 Bazaine there is such reason in your words 
 I lay the watchword of " Beware" aside 
 And drink your speech. 
 
 BAZAINE I know that you suspect me, 
 
 I m hurt indeed 
 
 (Enter a lackey} 
 LACKEY The president of the council. 
 
 (Enter the president} 
 
 PRESIDENT Your majesty I crave an audience. 
 MAXIMILIAN ( To azaiffe)You may withdraw. But of 
 
 these serious matters 
 
MAXIMILIAN 61 
 
 There s more to say. What is the business sir? 
 
 (Bazaine goes to a side room) 
 PRESIDENT Our resignations. 
 
 (Hands Maximilian a paper.) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN All the ministers? 
 
 PRESIDENT Your majesty ! 
 MAXIMILIAN ( Feebly and confused} I cannot understand 
 
 it. 
 
 Why sir, this extraordinary act 
 Just on the eve of my enforced departure 
 Thus bluntly heralded, I ask to know? 
 PRESIDENT Your majesty has heard of the excitement, 
 We learn your majesty departs. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I go 
 
 To Orizaba 
 
 PRESIDENT Rumors fill the streets 
 
 Your majesty departs for Vera Cruz 
 En route to Austria. In short we hear 
 Your majesty has abdicated. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Astonished} Sir 
 
 Upon that point tis useless to debate 
 They are accepted ! 
 
 ( He motions the president away who goes 
 
 out.) 
 
 Ah! I ve grown so poor 
 
 My very word is doubted Hence my crown! 
 Hence gaudy symbol of evanished power! 
 Or else, come spirit of the mighty Charles 
 Fill me with courage, wisdom, resolution, 
 That with a hand of steel I may grasp up 
 Such slimy things as sprawl about my steps 
 And strangle them. 
 
 (He rings. Enter a lackey] 
 Go bring the baggage back. 
 LACKEY Your majesty I was about to take it 
 MAXIMILIAN Then do not. 
 
62 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LACKEY His excellency 
 
 ( Maximilian motions him away. ) 
 
 Forbade me ! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Bazaine? (Re-enter Bazaine) 
 BAZAINE Your majesty desires me? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes! 
 
 The lackey says you countermanded me. 
 BAZAINE Your majesty, he did not understand 
 In this disorder I was apprehensive 
 MAXIMILIAN Then sir you told him 
 BAZAINE Not to take the baggage, 
 
 Travel is perilous to Orizaba ! 
 I hope I have not trespassed. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Quite too far. 
 
 BAZAINE (Aside) The tow awaits the spark. Be kind 
 
 Bazaine 
 MAXIMILIAN (Angrily) At last I see the cunning plot 
 
 you wove 
 
 You too have heard I fly to Austria 
 BAZAINE Your majesty 
 
 MAXIMILIAN That I have abdicated 
 
 BAZAINE In truth I did 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And you believe it, sir? 
 
 BAZAINE Twas credible! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And so you stop my baggage 
 
 Shed panic on my ministry. 
 
 BAZAINE They re wise 
 
 To scamper from the storm; for if Juarez 
 Should find a royal cabinet when he comes 
 There would be throats to stick. They know it well, 
 And like repentant scoundrels facing death 
 They take this sacrament to purchase peace! 
 MAXIMILIAN Well have you done? It serves your royal 
 
 master 
 
 To stop my flight, if flight I did intend. 
 But if 1 will to abdicate your master 
 
MAXIMILIAN 63 
 
 Will have sufficient chance to take the troops 
 From Mexico. And furthermore Bazaine 
 Since the United States give you concern 
 T crave to reassure you I shall never 
 Furnish the circumstance for them to laugh, 
 Nor leave you here to play the game alone. 
 BAZAINE I m innocent of all that you impute. 
 MAXIMILIAN Yet tis a grievous breach of etiquette 
 A piece of small chicane to stop my baggage 
 And look you sir! You negative the siege 
 Disarm me if I stay, prevent my flight 
 If such it was 
 
 (/;/ sorrow) God be my hope and strength! 
 And be your judge For ah it is the virtue 
 Of monarchy that looks to Him alone 
 And grounds the mobs suspicious looks which heeded 
 Would rent the throne. Bazaine adieu 
 BAZAINE {Aside -re tiring) Poor boy! 
 
 What madness drives him to a breach with me. 
 Tis not enough to beard the Vatican, 
 Break with the clericals, but he must haste 
 The day that wings its flight toward him now 
 When France will yield to the United States. 
 I pity him. Yes more, my pity moves me 
 
 (He walks back) 
 
 Your majesty 1 crave forgiveness! 
 I am too sensible of all your deeds 
 Of generous friendship thus to part. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (Kindly; but not yielding) Bazaine! 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty ( As Bazaine goes out he meets 
 Lopez) 
 
 (To Lopez) You will succeed! I think. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Lopez well come Matters of state forbid 
 My trip to Orizaba and impose 
 Fresh enterprise. Before I talk of these 
 
64 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 I pin this medal on your loyal breast 
 
 Which signifies imperial recognition 
 
 Of all you did the night the bells were rung 
 
 And other services. 
 
 LOPEZ I am unworthy ! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN You master leans upon you. See Prince 
 
 Salm 
 
 And say I ask him and the Princess here 
 To dine with us to-night. I want Mejia 
 To raise a native army; tell him so 
 Hint that you heard the clericals had won; 
 Fetch Miramon to see me in the morning 
 To-day I ll make the very minutes work, 
 Heaping success like ants that never tire 
 And to these ends make haste. 
 
 (He removes his traveling coat) 
 
 LOPEZ I have a cause 
 
 Near to my heart to plead. Your majesty 
 If ever I by any act of mine 
 Have stirred your majesty to thought of me 
 Hear me, I pray 
 
 MAXIMILIAN My heart is open Lopez 
 
 (Enter a lackey and announces Miramon and 
 
 Labastida ) 
 
 Conduct them hither. That s a glimpse of sky! 
 What warms the soul of Miramon to me? 
 Postpone your suit 
 
 (Enter Miramon and Labastida } 
 
 Your reverence would see me? 
 LABASTIDA To pledge my service. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN You are very kind 
 
 LABASTIDA The church can never see the government 
 Embarrassed by a traitorous ministry. 
 MAXIMILIAN It is a day for courage. 
 MIRAMON Yes if one 
 
 Maintained his prestige. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 65 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Prestige? Miramon ! 
 
 MIRAMON Why all my friends on me have turned their 
 
 backs 
 
 They say of me why look at Miramon 
 He lives at Paris, woos Napoleon s ear 
 And maddens Europe with the church s wrongs 
 He hears 
 
 LABASTIDA And sends an army of redress 
 
 MIRAMON The Liberals are scattered in the mountains. 
 A people s love, like a prophetic spirit, 
 Caught up your majesty 
 
 LABASTIDA Upon this throne. 
 
 MIRAMON The fault is mine. I told them from my heart 
 Your majesty would give them back their lands. 
 And what your majesty has done for me, 
 With medals, benefits and offices 
 Past all my worth burns like a robe of fire. 
 The bishops say my importunities 
 Have dwindled to myself, save Labastida. 
 LABASTIDA Yes, Miramon I know your heart 
 MIRAMON Indeed, 
 
 No sooner did I hear this dreadful news 
 Than I have hurried with my preferred hand 
 For any service which your majesty 
 Commands; but faith what can I do. Yes I 
 Once ruler of the Mexican republic 
 And bringing to this throne a life of strength 
 Friends, influence and all that years of thought 
 Win for a name. Faith, I repeat the question, 
 What can I do, when every clerical 
 Rains down the molten pitch of malediction 
 Upon this roof; And I who won their love 
 With promises which I cannot fulfil 
 Go forth with barren and abortive hands 
 To seek their love again, must pardoned be 
 It failure over-comes me 
 
66 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But the people! 
 
 MIRAMON Who are the church and friends; And for the 
 
 rest 
 
 The Liberals are foes, do what we will. 
 In state-craft never has ennobled justice 
 Brought prosperous gales, to drive the vessel straight; 
 For every wind that blows is usable 
 When principles, which are but prejudices 
 Are hauled to deck while up the main-sail goes 
 Which with expedient skill employs the zephyrs 
 And moves the ship, but God moves it to port; 
 Nor leaves it battling nor becalmed to rot 
 This side the sweeping streams of destiny 
 For when this empire meets the onward currents 
 Much can be done which now must be postponed; 
 And polities be squared with idealism 
 Which now to vulgar practice are reduced. 
 MAXIMILIAN Almost you make me friendly to the church. 
 LABASTIDA (Aside) You heard those words 
 MIRAMON Your majesty believe me 
 
 In all this realm no truer heart than mine 
 Beats for the throne. Upon my solemn oath 
 Unless the clericals are pacified 
 Farewell to hope! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN-^ Suppose the French depart. 
 
 What army can you raise? 
 MIRAMON Give me the power! 
 
 (A silence) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Go see Mejia. And good Labastida 
 Consult the church s treasury, I ll think 
 With friendly spirit of your words Go each 
 About his task. 
 
 (Labastida and Miramon go out, Lopez remains) 
 
 You loiter. 
 
 LOPEZ Yes I crave 
 
 An audience of mv cause 
 
MAXIMILIAN 67 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Another time. 
 
 LOPEZ Your majesty will pardon my insistence 
 
 Delay is death. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Sir you are pale! 
 
 LOPEZ There s one 
 
 Who s very near to me. If I deserve 
 
 Your majesty s regard, might life be spared? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Tis rarely that the throne should interfere, 
 
 Who is the wretch? 
 
 LOPEZ I pause your majesty 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Then if the suit is one which harrows you 
 
 Why plead it sir? 
 
 LOPEZ I do it for a woman 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What woman near to you must reach the 
 
 throne, 
 
 For whom delay is death? 
 
 LOPEZ It is her husband. 
 
 Tis Mariscali s wife. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Lopez no more! 
 
 You grieve, you startle me. What fit of madness 
 Has driven you to this? You most of all 
 On whom suspicion rests. By whom, tis said, 
 The Mexican republic was betrayed 
 Why sir, what loss of wits is this to think 
 The throne is ignorant of your career 
 As tis reported? 
 
 LOPEZ By my enemies 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But yet a maiden s guileless reasoning 
 Whereby her name is wrongly tossed about 
 Would grasp this situation. Think a moment ! 
 You who are falsely charged give color to it 
 By asking me to pardon Mariscali 
 Whose enmity against your master s throne 
 Has made it tremble. And you give no reason 
 LOPEZ I love his wife 
 MAXIMILIAN Then are you doubly guilty 
 
68 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ If I could tell your majesty 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But I 
 
 Refuse to hear. Seek to restore that mood 
 
 Of confidence your conduct has destroyed 
 
 And to your business, sir. 
 
 LOPEZ Then all is lost 
 
 (Enter Madam Mar is call} 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Twas all for me! And by the God 
 we love 
 
 Upon my knees I beg your majesty 
 
 (She flings herself before 
 him} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN A scoundrel s plot! Remove this woman 
 Lopez 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Learn from your enemies that other 
 truth 
 
 Which they believe, and from my lips receive 
 
 This humble prayer, preserve my husband s life. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Remove this woman! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Ah! your majesty 
 
 One thought alone I press against your heart 
 
 Tis that my husband was obedient 
 
 To orders of the power he served so well. 
 
 Yes, what the wide world knows, it is a power 
 
 Which stays the empire and disputes the throne. 
 
 And by the laws of war, the General 
 
 Deserves the treatment of a captured soldier, 
 
 But not a rebel s death. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Remove this woman. 
 
 LOPEZ (Laying bis hands upon her} 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Twas of my will I sought this au 
 dience 
 
 And woman, as I am, incurred the peril 
 
 That waits an enemy, the blinding horror 
 
 Of hard denial. 
 
 M AXIMILIAN Shall I be obeyed? 
 
MAXIMILIAN 69 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Ah! how this clemency would thrill 
 
 the hearts 
 
 Of doubting Mexico, of tardy souls 
 Who wait some inspiration to decide. 
 If it should be, not that a native friend 
 Already cleaving to the throne was favored, 
 But that a Mexican and enemy 
 To this emprise had furnished the occasion 
 To show your majesty s imperial spirit. 
 MAXIMILIAN Once more do I command. 
 MADAM MARISCALI I beg of you 
 
 I crawl before you, kiss your feet behold ! 
 Have mercy 
 
 ( Maximilian points to Lopez zvho seizes her ) 
 Then your majesty denies! 
 Ha! can it be? 
 
 (She screams. ) 
 
 I curse you Maximilian ! 
 ( As she is dragged away. ) 
 They who destroy shall also beg for life. 
 I will it. By my power it shall be so. 
 I curse you Maximilian. From this day 
 The sceptre falters in your hand. I curse you! 
 I dip this hyssop in my husband s blood 
 And smite the republic s lintels Liberty 
 The treasured nursling of our Mexico 
 Sleeps, but shall die not by the passing Fate. 
 God shall behold and finish my revenge 
 I curse you in the name of Liberty 
 I curse you by a woman s hate. I curse you 
 By woman s love, by high, by low, by death, 
 In treason s name 
 
 ( She pauses convulsed with passion. Bazaine re-enters. ) 
 BA/AINE Tut! tut! What s this? 
 
 CURTAIN 
 
ACT THREE 
 
 {A state room in the palace the same as in the pre 
 ceding act. ) 
 
 (Enter Bazaine and Lopez) 
 BAZAINE What did I tell you? 
 
 LOPEZ It has come to pass 
 
 BAZAINE^I ITI very busy. For to move the army 
 Is no light matter. And to pick a way 
 To Vera Cruz and not to be hawked at 
 By hovering rebels taxes genius. 
 
 LOPEZ Yes- 
 
 How have you done it? 
 
 BAZAINE I ve surrendered cities 
 
 Along the way. 
 
 LOPEZ ( With surprise) You leave the emperor cornered ! 
 BAZAINE Then let him make a public abdication, 
 Heed Castlenau who comes to urge him to it; 
 Say that the Mexicans are democrats, 
 Napoleon and himself have been deceived; 
 Sophisticate and smear the obvious fact 
 That Paris bends the knee to Washington. 
 Pm sick at heart. I loathe the shameless logic 
 By which I take the troops from Mexico 
 But contra, if the Mexicans have changed, 
 Want a republic, and the emperor bows 
 To the same will by which he took the throne, 
 And abdicates, directs me to withdraw 
 The army well you see I turn the laugh 
 
 (71) 
 
72 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 If his perversity is headed so! 
 
 This is my task! Then France abides the day 
 
 When she can spank the bastard progeny 
 
 Of our Rousseau The carriage of my wife 
 
 Drove to the entrance but a moment since 
 
 Go Lopez. But return, for I shall need you. 
 
 ( Exit Lopez a?id enter Madam Bazaine, gorgeously 
 
 attired. ) 
 
 Madam Bazaine, the empire s favorite 
 Sweet lady may I kiss your hand? 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE You rogue 
 
 BAZAINE Or spread my mantle o er the muddy way. 
 MADAM BAZAINE I know you not. 
 
 BAZAINE Then you are not the same 
 
 Whom Maximilian dowered of a palace? 
 MADAM BAZAINE Sir agent who have sold my palace for 
 
 me 
 
 What have you done, sir, with the purchase price? 
 BAZAINE I bought a draft on Paris you are here 
 To say farewell make haste, for Castlenau 
 Arrived this morning and will dine with us 
 I go to meet him now. Be kind sweet thing 
 And join us readily. I kiss your hand. 
 MADAM BAZAINE No ! ( She offers her lips. He kisses her) 
 BAZAINE Adieu (Exit Bazaine) 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE Is no one living here? 
 
 Almost it seems this is a rendezvous 
 JOSEFA (Aside as she enters) For ingrates! 
 
 ( To her) What a charming day Madam ! 
 MADAM BAZAINE The drive about the city too is lovely. 
 There is much bustle. 
 
 J OSEFA Gathering up their treasure 
 
 To take away. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE And saying sad farewells; 
 
 I am much grieved to go. But then your highness 
 Jt compensates to think I ll live in Paris. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 73 
 
 JOSEFA Tis pleasant, too, to leave one s native country. 
 MADAM BAZAINE (Aside) Her spirit rasps! But I ll be 
 
 soft as wool. 
 
 Yes even Mexico grows old at last. 
 I wish their majesties were going with us. 
 JOSEFA To fly with you? 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE I would not phrase it so. 
 
 JOSEFA And yet 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE Yes General Castlenau is here 
 
 Somewhat the worse for travel. Quite astonished 
 To see the country in such sad turmoil. 
 In France they think the empire is at peace 
 You see how much deceived Napoleon is 
 His train was almost ditched by the guerillas 
 JOSEFA He came by Vera Cruz? 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE A dangerous way 
 
 His excellency is talking with him now. 
 But even we from whom such royal secrets 
 Are kept have had forerunners of his mission. 
 What s whispered in Cathay is heard in London 
 The Paris gossip travels with the morn, 
 His task is painful, highness 
 
 JOSEFA Yes, your husband 
 
 Was kind enough to bulletin the news 
 MADAM BAZAINE To bulletin? 
 
 JOSEFA That is to circulate it. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE (Aside) The lady s claws are sharp. 
 JOSEFA It was a secret, 
 
 As you have said, of state. Their majesties 
 Like not the freedom of its publication. 
 And then the ill effect. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE I grieve indeed 
 
 Your highness to resume while I was driving 
 I stopped to bid her majesty adieu 
 How is her majesty 
 JOSEFA Improving Madam. 
 
74 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE I never thought Chapultepec was 
 
 healthful 
 
 So near the marsh. Our palace is delightful. 
 It almost broke my heart to sell it, yet 
 We ll not return. And in these stirring days 
 What rights of property can be conserved? 
 May I solicit of her majesty 
 A brief adieu Perhaps ah could it be 
 To win her majesty to go with us 
 JOSEFA 1 doubt it Madam. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE I beseech your highness 
 
 JOSEFA Her majesty is resting 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE I ll go to her 
 
 JOSEFA ( Aside) Let the rebuff" be from a higher hand 
 ( She rings A lackey enters ) 
 
 ( To the lackey) Madam Bazaine would see her majesty 
 
 (Exit lackey) 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE If Mexico could ever come to peace 
 One might be reconciled to live here always. 
 JOSEFA Madam your speech seems strangely out of place, 
 Her sufferings have left your sky serene. 
 MADAM BAZAINE Have I not seen? 
 JOSEFA They shot my father Madam. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE Yes tragic fate. 
 
 JOSEFA Too true and orphaned me 
 
 You mid these thorns have found a bed of roses, 
 Whilst in a sense the weight of shock and change 
 Have rested on my shoulders. 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE Ah your highness! 
 
 JOSEFA Nor is it strange 1 love their majesties 
 Who hold the second empire 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE (Aside) If they hold it 
 
 JOSEFA And with these puny hands support the throne 
 
 (Re-enter the lackey) 
 
 LACKEY Her majesty declines the kind adieu 
 Which Madam tenders to her majesty (Exit) 
 
MAXIMILIAN 75 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE (Aside) Ah I must smooth the decli 
 nation over. 
 
 (Aloud) I m grieved to know her majesty is ill 
 
 And now your highness say my sad farewell, 
 
 I must be going. To their majesties 
 
 Express the gratitude I feel for all 
 
 Their majesties have done for me. Alas! 
 
 Your highness I am sad at parting. Yes 
 
 Thus with your highness (She takes her hand) 
 
 When you come to Paris 
 
 May I be honored with your entertainment 
 
 JOSEFA Ah thank you Madam but I ll scarcely come 
 
 My life in Paris did dispel the glamour 
 
 MADAM BAZAINE (Aside) A thrust! She knows I ve never 
 been in Paris. 
 
 How sad when youthful feelings die away 
 
 And now adieu. 
 
 JOSEFA Adieu (Exit Madam Bazaine) 
 
 False, cruel heart. 
 
 (Enter Car lot ta) 
 
 CARLOTTA She s gone At last 
 
 JOSEFA Your majesty 
 
 CARLOTTA Josefa 
 
 But let a woman entertain the fiend 
 
 She ll think of subtle torture. Oh that woman 
 
 Whose ardent zeal helped on tj^e intervention 
 
 Now wedded to the vile Bazaine and grown 
 
 Affluent by the favors of these hands, 
 
 How cold her spirit! 
 
 JOSEFA Like the rest. 
 
 CARLOTTA Audacious 
 
 To come to say adieu as if to empty 
 
 The poison in my bleeding heart 
 
 JOSEFA The peacock! 
 
 A butterfly would pale beside her. 
 
 CARLOTTA Think 
 
76 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Of all her husband did and does to-day 
 
 And of Napoleon s breach of faith with us 
 
 In which Bazaine participates. Josefa 
 
 My mind must break beneath this growing strain; 
 
 For to o er-top the summit of despair 
 
 That wretched Castlenau comes here to-day. 
 
 But we ll not see him. We will hold the crown 
 
 The emperor has listened, he will heed me 
 
 Tis I that rule ; and by this heart of fire 
 
 Which needs alone a man s embodiment 
 
 Stones shall grow plastic and be shaped to use. 
 JOSEFA Good Doctor Basch proscribes affairs of state, 
 
 He comes anon. 
 
 CARLOTTA It is my soul that sickens 
 
 It is my mind that ever thinks and thinks 
 
 Twill run until it wears to nothing Ah! 
 
 Josefa favor me 
 
 JOSEFA Your majesty 
 
 CARLOTTA O er look the preparation of my food 
 
 JOSEFA I m over-come! 
 
 CARLOTTA I have been long suspicious 
 
 Why should his majesty and I be ill 
 
 Habitually. 
 
 JOSEFA What villain s hand would do this? 
 
 CARLOTTA But poison may be given while far away 
 
 The guilty hand smooths off the tear of sorrow 
 
 Even from Paris might my life be snared 
 
 JOSEFA Tis almost past belief. 
 
 CARLOTTA There is a juice 
 
 Distilled from tropic roots by Mexicans 
 
 Which has no taste, but works upon the brain 
 
 And blurs the memory like congealed breath 
 
 On window panes, until the eyes of thought 
 
 See darkly. Yet it is a shame Josefa 
 
 When all things are as wormwood to the empress 
 
 She cannot even drink a cup of water 
 
MAXIMILIAN 77 
 
 Without this dull paralysis up here 
 
 ( She clasps her brows. ) 
 JOSEFA It is the fever. 
 
 CARLOTTA I ve remarked for weeks 
 
 A lapse of memory on the gravest subjects. 
 His majesty likewise is thus afflicted 
 You say no one would do it? Would Napoleon? 
 You have known bitterness enough to learn 
 Man s cruelty is bounded by his caution 
 
 {A lackey announces Dr. Basch) 
 JOSEFA The Doctor comes 
 
 (Enter Dr. Basch} 
 
 BASCH Your majesty, your highness 
 
 (Looks at Carlotta} 
 Your majesty is better, that is clear. 
 Sleep and the healing air do much for one. 
 His majesty? 
 
 CARLOTTA So weak he scarce can move. 
 
 What is the ailment? 
 
 BASCH Tis a sort of fever 
 
 CARLOTTA No more? 
 
 BASCH And over-work, excitement 
 
 CARLOTTA Yes? 
 
 BASCH Of course the worry 
 
 CARLOTTA Is that all good Doctor? 
 
 BASCH If he could take a rest at Orizaba, 
 Or breathe the liberal breezes of the sea 
 He would recover 
 
 CARLOTTA That s impossible 
 
 This government would topple to the fall 
 But might I ask the symptoms if some one 
 Should mix a tasteless poison with our food 
 Would that account? 
 
 BASCH Not that or any poison 
 
 You need not think of that. 
 CARLOTTA Why do you say so? 
 
78 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 BASCH There s no such symptoms in the diagnosis 
 
 Put this from mind, for if you harbor it 
 
 Twill grow in thought. Endeavor to avoid 
 
 Excitement and be in the open air 
 
 Your majesty shall drive? 
 
 CARLOTTA The troops depart! 
 
 BASCH Quite true. Then walk along the balcony 
 
 Courage, your majesty. For time o er-masters 
 
 Our little physic and restores the soul 
 
 To harmony. His majesty must have 
 
 Some stimulant to buoy him through to-day 
 
 I leave him these. 
 
 ( Josef a opens the box and takes one of the capsules ) 
 Your majesty may try them. 
 I ll call again to-day. (Aside to Josef a) 
 
 Attend her closely. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 CARLOTTA He seems the soul of honor. Yet Josefa 
 He asked if I shall drive to-day, indeed 
 When all the French are rushing for the port, 
 And hatred brews. 
 
 (A distant drum is heard) 
 
 That is the fatal beat 
 The tatoo of Napoleon ! If dishonor 
 Meets with its expiation in this world 
 How shall Napoleon suffer Traitorous wretch ! 
 JOSEFA Your majesty let s walk the balcony 
 CARLOTTA Not I How works that medicine? 
 JOSEFA It livens. 
 
 CARLOTTA And yet because his majesty and I 
 Alike feel this debility, the cause 
 Should be the same. But can I trust no one? 
 JOSEFA (Falling to her knees) Myself till death. 
 CARLOTTA I know it, kindest heart. 
 
 Ah good Josefa there my child and princess 
 Your father also was an emperor 
 
MAXIMILIAN 79 
 
 He suffered too. And you may be an empress 
 
 But when the tempter holds the robe of power 
 
 And with a gallant smile doth lift it up 
 
 To place it on your shoulders, turn away 
 
 He seeks to snare your soul. 
 
 JOSEFA Is it ambition? 
 
 CARLOTTA Ah yes Josefa it is but ambition 
 
 The doves of peace are still at Miramar. 
 
 But youth is gone Oh tragic consequence! 
 
 When the sweet buds that hallowed all the air 
 
 Wither and fall in mire Oh noble father 
 
 Whose memory is now the world s Avert 
 
 Thy vision from me, nor behold thy child 
 
 So fallen, so pierced with sorrow 
 
 JOSEFA God preserve you! 
 
 CARLOTTA Not knowing what the day may bring to us 
 
 I must remember you with something I 
 
 Have worn 
 
 JOSEFA Your love 
 
 CARLOTTA That now is ^vours. 
 
 JOSEFA Ah then 
 
 Keep me in memory as the native princess 
 
 Who of all hearts in Mexico was truest 
 
 And loved your majesty. 
 
 CARLOTTA No I will give you 
 
 Something to cherish in the days to come 
 
 When these poor hands perhaps are fallen to dust 
 
 Which looking at you ll say with tears of love 
 
 Unhappy Charlotte empress of Mexico 
 
 Gave me these pearls. 
 
 ( She offers Josef a a strand of pear Is ) 
 JOSEFA Ah no your majesty. 
 
 CARLOTTA You are the first in Mexico to shut 
 The palm against a gift. His majesty 
 Has played the Timon to the very gutters 
 With medals to the French and palaces 
 
8o MAXIMILIAN 
 
 To generals and diamonds for their wives. 
 Money to Indians, Mexicans and Spaniards 
 To buy the love of sycophants and thieves. 
 Only Mejia and yourself Josefa 
 Less honored than the rest are faithfullest. 
 Out of my heart I give these pearls to you 
 To recognize your love and speak my own. 
 How prettily they hang about your neck 
 JOSEFA Forgive me (Enter Maximilian} 
 
 CARLOTTA ( To him) Josefa will not take the pearls 
 MAXIMILIAN 1 gave your majesty. 
 
 CARLOTTA ( With sudden realization) Josefa leave us 
 
 (Exit Josefa) 
 
 (Aside) Is this the herald of a mind diseased? 
 He shall not know. 
 
 ( To him) I put her to the test. 
 She loves us for ourselves. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I trust her fully. 
 
 CARLOTTA Nor did not with a greedy hand accept 
 This precious gift. Who else refused our bounty? 
 Josefa may be trusted, I have tried her 
 
 ( Maximilian sits at the table. ) 
 MAXIMILIAN Bereft of any council to advise me 
 I plan and act alone. The city stirs 
 The French depart. And Castlenau will seek 
 An interview and urge my abdication. 
 CARLOTTA Spurn him my lord. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Is that your judgment, sweet 
 
 CARLOTTA Spurn him, I say. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN On that I differ with you. 
 
 He comes as special envoy of Napoleon 
 And by that token merits deference 
 Polite reception, serious audience, 
 Perhaps compliance 
 
 CARLOTTA Fie! it is not you 
 
 Who speak so basely. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 81 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Reason conquers us 
 
 And to this suppliance of the emperor 
 
 Who can reply? Tis true he serves himself 
 
 But not less true he rescues us from plight, 
 
 And gives us safe conveyance from a land 
 
 Which hates us which I hate 
 
 CARLOTTA An added reason 
 
 For you to grind this people to submission. 
 
 Twas I who wooed you to this kingly task, 
 
 And held you firmly to the twin ideals 
 
 Of power and glory. Now the crisis springs. 
 
 Still do I bear aloft the spotless banner 
 
 Of empire. We will keep the crown ! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And how? 
 
 CARLOTTA State policies are like the kites we fly 
 
 They must be strung to earth. When severed from it 
 
 They dive and fall. If you would but abandon 
 
 The tender heart of equity. Be stern 
 
 Be bold, be brave and yes to instance it 
 
 Punish such foes as Madam Mariscali 
 
 W horn you released from prison. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But Bazaine 
 
 Requested her parole. 
 
 CARLOTTA Ah Maximilian 
 
 "Beware Bazaine, beware the treacherous Lopez" 
 
 Are you not warned? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Who can be wholly wise 
 
 Pulled every way at once? I bow to fate. 
 
 For if the Mexicans desired the throne 
 
 All things were possible, but as it is 
 
 I abdicate! 
 
 CARLOTTA (Greatly agitated) You abdicate! Sweet 
 
 heaven 
 
 Sustain my heart ! You abdicate ! We fly 
 What peaceful haven welcomes you and me? 
 America? there s bitter hell for us 
 
82 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Or Belgium, let s seek the quiet graver 
 
 Or France? avaunt thou basest degradation! 
 
 Or Austria, your brother s door is shut. 
 
 What exiles we, what wanderers on the earth. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Since you persist, who ll fill the treasury? 
 
 CARLOTTA Is it for money? Sell my plate and jewels. 
 
 Is it for money? Seize the revenues 
 
 Napoleon forfeits by his breach with you. 
 
 Is it for money? Then debauch the church 
 
 Restore their lands. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Is it my wife that speaks? 
 
 CARLOTTA Tis Leopold, my father. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Very well 
 
 Where is the army, yes, even the troops 
 
 To hold the revenues of Vera Cruz? 
 
 CARLOTTA We have the Austrian and the Belgians 
 
 armies 
 
 And there s the French who took the oath for you 
 They ll not return to France. Two things alone 
 Gold and the sword Then crush the president 
 We need not fear America, for when 
 The Mexican republic is no more 
 Its recognition falls. Nor will it stir 
 To block an empire which supports itself 
 Without the help of France or any power 
 Can I not move you prince? Does all my fire 
 Expire upon the flint? Yes, if you wish it, 
 I ll go to Europe? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Speak no more Carlotta 
 
 CARLOTTA The scion of a royal house shall bend 
 At France s throne and on degraded knees 
 Do supplications to the dancing man 
 With waxed mustachios, the feeble spawn 
 Of Jacobites. I ll go to Austria 
 And sue for grace low bowing to your brother 
 Who with indecent haste out-witted you 
 
MAXIMILIAN 83 
 
 Of all your royal rights at Miramar. 
 
 I ll wend my weary steps to Belgium 
 
 And hear my father sighing from the tomb 
 
 With helpless grief for this our tragic need. 
 
 Pll go to Rome to see the Holy Father 
 
 A timorous opportunist sapped by time, 
 
 Advancing by retreats and going east 
 
 By sailing west, no longer bold and strong 
 
 As in the ancient days. All this I ll do 
 
 Yes, if Napoleon does not poison me 
 
 Only to learn the problem is with us 
 
 And by none other can be solved 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Alas! 
 
 Not that, dear wife, such stress is not for you. 
 
 CARLOTTA Then put this abdication out ot mind. 
 
 (Enter a lackey conducting Mira?non and Sa/m- 
 
 8 aim. ) 
 
 There s Miramon a friend, 1 know a friend. 
 Use him, my lord! 
 
 ( To them} I m glad to see you both 
 MIRAMON The French have all collected in the city 
 CARLOTTA Like all the blood collected in the heart. 
 MIRAMON The veins are shriveled. Yes that it should be! 
 Filled now with blood of Dogs; the Liberals 
 Invest San Luis, now their capital. 
 Queretaro and all the northern cities 
 Are in their hands; Puebla to the south. 
 They make occasion of the French departure 
 And Escobedo at Queretaro 
 Protects San Luis. 
 
 CARLOTTA That s the head; Strike it 
 
 And let the tail whip harmless in the grass. 
 SALM My hand and heart to that. 
 
 MIRAMON The message comes 
 
 But now ! And by the God, we love, I swear 
 If but your majesties will lend a hand 
 
84 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Mejia and myself will raise an army 
 Which spite of fate will crush the president 
 MAXIMILIAN The treasury is empty 
 CARLOTTA Let him speak! 
 
 MIRAMON I know a spring that gurgles underground, 
 Open and let it flow. 
 
 CARLOTTA I know the spring! 
 
 MIRAMON His majesty alone can open it. 
 MAXIMILIAN When I was rich in friends and revenues 
 And panoplied in power I did refuse; 
 Nor shall my mind be suited to my need 
 Still I refuse 
 
 CARLOTTA Go, Miramon, at once 
 
 See Labastida, find what he can do. 
 Precision sir, we want the very figures. 
 How much of gold to buy the church s lands, 
 How many men the capitol can spare 
 MIRAMON One thing remains a leader 
 CARLOTTA Why yourself 
 
 Once president and still the people s idol. 
 MIRAMON When I was president I led the army 
 His majesty must do it. 
 
 CARLOTTA I refuse. 
 
 M \XIMILIAN (To Car lotto) Your syllogism ends. 
 MIRAMON Nay more than that | 
 
 His majesty must throw himself completely 
 Upon the loyal souls of Mexico 
 And leave the Austrian and Belgian troops 
 To guard the imperial city. 
 
 CARLOTTA Sir, the reason? 
 
 MIRAMON Distrust thrives twixt the people and the 
 
 throne, 
 
 They fear the future. In the storm collecting 
 They doubt the course his majesty will take. 
 For as the clericals were turned away 
 As even French and Liberals joined the council, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 85 
 
 They will not brook dependence in the future 
 
 On foreign aid. But ah, his majesty 
 
 Can win the ardent hearts of Mexico 
 
 On horse, with sword in hand; And they will follow, 
 
 Knowing his majesty has cast the die, 
 
 And cannot sit upon a throne of peace 
 
 Until the Mexican republic lies 
 
 Collapsed between his hands like a balloon, 
 
 So long to chase elusive 
 
 CARLOTTA I refuse! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN On horse with sword in hand like Charles 
 
 the Fifth! 
 
 It is the soldier and the orator 
 
 Who thrills my soul with reason s sweetest music 
 Tis I, whose corporal presence must subdue 
 A traitorous people, visibly to do it 
 And by the boldness of my face to blanch 
 The Liberal cheek. Myself to win the throne, 
 And in the act draw over admiration 
 To my imperial worth. 
 
 ( Car lot t a staggers} 
 
 SALM Her majesty ! 
 
 ( He catches her and helps her to a chair } 
 MAXIMILIAN What is it? 
 
 (She revives} 
 
 CARLOTTA ( Wearily} Take me away I m very faint. 
 SALM (Aside} Can she survive the ordeal of the time? 
 MIRAMON (Aside} Her mind. 
 SALM Don t whisper it 
 
 MIRAMON My heart is touched 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Enlist Mejia speed the work along, 
 Queretaro shall see us in a week. (Holds up a paper} 
 
 Thus aptly do I change my policies. 
 Tell Labastida I have drawn the order 
 And wish to see him. Go! 
 
 (Miramon and Salm-Salm go out} 
 
86 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Mortmain restored! 
 
 Now sweet Carlotta smile, for at the last 
 Your counsel triumphs. 
 
 CARLOTTA If it brings us triumph 
 
 And comes not to the sick, but to the dead 
 Like some belated doctor. 
 MAXIMILIAN It will win. 
 
 (Enter a lackey} 
 LACKEY His excellency 
 
 ( Carlotta motions the lackey away} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN That s Castlenau 
 
 CARLOTTA Tis he 
 
 In flesh, in spirit tis Napoleon 
 Whom we abhor; whom we refuse to hear. 
 MAXIMILIAN Oh but the insult! 
 
 CARLOTTA For his perfidy ! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Let me receive him and with dignity 
 Refuse Napoleon. 
 
 CARLOTTA No! you shall not do it! 
 
 We will not see the envoy. We deny 
 Napoleon s right to urge your abdication, 
 And to this rude gratuity we show 
 Our cool contempt. Come Maximilian, come ! 
 MAXIMILIAN This is against my better judgment ! 
 CARLOTTA Come! 
 
 ( They go out} 
 (Enter Bazaine} 
 BAZAINE No one receives me. Since I stopped the 
 
 baggage 
 
 I have not been a favorite at Court 
 Yet Labastida has consoled me much. 
 
 ( Takes a paper from his pocket ) 
 Oh magic paper, positive to gold ! 
 And since I leave this ends my compensation. 
 For if hejabdicates, the project falls 
 And if he stays but then he must not stay 
 
MAXIMILIAN 87 
 
 But still a day, a week makes little matter 
 
 I ll keep the army here and get the pay 
 
 Which Labastida promised. I could say 
 
 Napoleon holds the troops in Mexico 
 
 Then Labastida pays. But if I fail 
 
 To cozen him, still there is other treasure: 
 
 Six thousand muskets and four million caps 
 
 A million francs for these? Then sold to Diaz! 
 
 (He goes to the table and writes Enter Lopez) 
 You are in time I see good, trusty soul. 
 LOPEZ His majesty may want some service done. 
 BAZAINE So faithful Lopez? You are well converted 
 But ever since fair Madam Mariscali 
 Broke on his majesty, your zeal has quickened, 
 And by the gods I think you ll be restored 
 To the imperial favor. 
 
 LOPEZ You re unkind 
 
 BAZAINE Her husband died, I hear twas somewhat 
 
 sudden 
 
 Though not unlocked for. 
 
 LOPEZ What a jest. 
 
 BAZAINE I like you 
 
 Hence my familiar language. Come my friend 
 You ll marry her? 
 
 LOPEZ Why sir! 
 
 BAZAINE And go to Paris? 
 
 LOPEZ I ll ne er desert the emperor 
 BAZAINE But he 
 
 Deserts you. 
 
 LOPEZ Sir? 
 
 BAZAINE He goes with us to-day 
 
 He abdicates 
 
 LOPEZ Damnation ! 
 
 BAZAINE Then you ll go? 
 
 And be a colonel in the French arrny? 
 You ll live in Paris, travel o er the world. 
 
88 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 LOPEZ When did you hear? 
 
 BAZAINE I know it; Yes I feel it 
 
 LOPEZ You feel it, well I question much the feeling. 
 
 BAZAINE And why 
 
 LOPEZ Because the clericals have won. 
 
 BAZAINE Who told you Lopez? 
 
 LOPEZ Miramon. 
 
 BAZAINE Sweet hell! 
 
 LOPEZ He means to stay, he will not abdicate. 
 
 He ll fight. 
 
 BAZAINE With what? 
 
 LOPEZ Legions 
 
 BAZAINE Of proclamations 
 
 Decrees of every hue, black, red and yellow! 
 
 LOPEZ With Spaniards, Belgians, Austrians and French. 
 
 BAZAINE I ll bet a million francs it is not so, 
 
 I ll stake my life he will not have a Frenchman. 
 
 LOPEZ You seem so sure! 
 
 BAZAINE I know it. For the French 
 
 Who took the oath for Maximilian, sir 
 
 Are booked to sail. They have deserted him. 
 
 I purchased them in bunches; hold them so 
 
 Like onions in my grasp. 
 
 LOPEZ (Aside} Devil and wretch! 
 
 BAZAINE And have you wit? Then fly while yet you 
 
 may! 
 
 LOPEZ Not I. One traitorous act is quite enough! 
 BAZAINE They say the ghost of Santa Anna walks ! 
 
 (He goes to the table and writes) 
 LOPEZ (Aside) If one but shows an evil aptitude 
 The world will make him use it. 
 
 BAZAINE Sir, consider 
 
 The needle on the wheel of fortune points 
 Across the lucky number! 
 
 LOPEZ But I m colonel, 
 
 I m governor 
 
MAXIMILIAN 89 
 
 BAZAINE But then your term of office 
 
 Is well expired. For when the French are gone, 
 
 And with them draw the water out to sea, 
 
 Such fish as you will gasp upon the shore. 
 
 Think well of this, my friend. Here take this letter. 
 
 LOPEZ "Tis not addressed. 
 
 BAZAINE I know it; tis arranged 
 
 You ll find a messenger at my headquarters 
 
 LOPEZ (Aside) There s mischief in this letter 
 
 BAZAINE Will you do it? 
 
 Make haste ( Lopez hesitates ) 
 
 LOPEZ (Aside) So for thy ill advice, thy taunts 
 
 Of bitterness I ll seek to find revenge. 
 
 ( To Bazaine) Your excellency. 
 
 BAZAINE And while you do this errand 
 
 Consider well your future; hurry back 
 
 And tell me you will go to France with me. (Exit Lopez) 
 
 I want this Lopez; were it possible 
 
 I d leave the Liberal army and Juarez 
 
 The sole inhabitants of Mexico 
 
 Save Maximilian; let him fight alone. 
 
 The troops of France shall not be used to wreak 
 
 Her degradation. (Enter lackey conducting Castlenau) 
 
 Indeed I m glad to see you 
 But, as I said, be kind but quick with him. 
 You ve had a weary trip. 
 
 CASTLENAU My dear Bazaine 
 
 This place is fit for devils. 
 
 BAZAINE Well we have them. 
 
 CASTLENAU I crave to see his majesty at once. 
 Tis but a formal matter to submit 
 My master s message. Nay, I understand 
 Their majesties in fact have abdicated. 
 BAZAINE (Aside) If he knew what I knew. But let him 
 
 try. 
 CASTLENAU They only need to seal it by announcemen 
 
90 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 To add the final touch. 
 
 BAZAINE I ll ring 
 
 CASTLENAU The lackey 
 
 Who showed me in announces me. So now 
 
 By fit appointments I perform my mission 
 
 And sail with you. 
 
 BAZAINE This was a sad mistake. 
 
 CASTLENAU And now our master knows it well enough. 
 
 What made it fail? 
 
 BAZAINE America. 
 
 CASTLENAU Tis true. 
 
 BAZAINE America whose forehead is of brass, 
 
 And feet of clay. 
 
 CASTLENAU Which licks the English hands 
 
 That smote it. 
 
 BAZAINE Renegade to freedom 
 
 CASTLENAU The frozen spirit of the Puritan 
 
 BAZAINE Looking to God as king and by the thought 
 
 So drifting to the monarchy it scorns 
 
 CASTLENAU Despoiler of these Mexicans when Texas 
 
 Served as the stepping stone to California 
 
 BAZAINE But then the empire s weak. His majesty 
 
 Lacks action, penetration and he blunders 
 
 (Enter lackey} 
 
 LACKEY His majesty refuses audience (Exit) 
 CASTLENAU Shall I believe my ears? Can it be true? 
 Is it possible my master is rebuffed 
 BAZAINE Yes, Castlenau ! 
 
 CASTLENAU Slapped in the face, why sir! 
 
 BAZAINE You asked what made the empire fail! 
 CASTLENAU I go! 
 
 BAZAINE Your eyes have seen. 
 
 CASTLENAU But why this studied insult 
 
 For even if he hates my master why? 
 BAZAINE Should he not show it? He s not French, you 
 know, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 91 
 
 But of the serious stock which prides itself 
 
 On candor You have had a taste of candor 
 
 CASTLENAU And yet I fail to seize its import. 
 
 BAZAINE Well 
 
 I ll see the emperor, I ll give the message 
 
 In language full of meaning. 
 
 CASTLENAU No, I beg you 
 
 BAZAINE What matters it? 
 
 CASTLENAU You have not been commissioned 
 
 BAZAINE Since he does so, I waive diplomacy. 
 
 I ll bend his will or break it, he shall heed. 
 
 CASTLENAU You do not mean? 
 
 BAZAINE - He s fallen in the hands 
 
 Of priests, adventurers and black magicians; 
 
 He s listened to his wife s demented cooing. 
 
 Yes, Castlenau it means he scorns your master, 
 
 It means he holds the throne. 
 
 CASTLENAU Get me some brandy! 
 
 BAZAINE It means America has fed us dirt. 
 
 CASTLENAU I taste it now 
 
 BAZAINE But it means hell to him! 
 
 I ve mined beneath him, lit the fuse myself 
 
 I stay to tell him. He will abdicate 
 
 And save us. Yes extinguish the affront 
 
 Unborn but twinkling in the hateful eye 
 
 He ll abdicate; or I will ruin him. 
 
 CASTLENAU Bazaine I go. 
 
 BAZAINE Then leave the task to me 
 
 He is perverse. And even from the first 
 
 Was clamorous to hold the reins but still 
 
 The foot-man gave directions where to drive 
 
 I ll play the foot-man. I ll be deferential 
 
 I ll hint, cajole, I ll play upon his fears 
 
 Warm up his egotism tent his pride 
 
 And touch the nerve of gratitude 
 
 CASTLENAU I go 
 
92 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Do what you will 
 
 BAZAINE (Rings the bell, a lackey enters) 
 
 I await his majesty (Exit lackey) 
 I ll not be long about it, will you dine 
 With us? 
 
 CASTLENAU With pleasure ! 
 
 BAZAINE You must meet my wife 
 
 Think we shall sail together! 
 
 CASTLENAU That is charming 
 
 BAZAINE And to be back in Paris once again 
 To greet my friends and see his majesty, 
 And go to war if Germany persists 
 At six my carriage calls at your hotel 
 And lest you see the Emperor Maximilian 
 I speed your going for I hear his step 
 Adieu till then. 
 
 CASTLENAU Adieu ( Exit ) 
 
 BAZAINE (Looking after Castlenau) 
 
 He s boiling over 
 And now the crisis. 
 
 (Enter Maximilian) 
 
 Ah your majesty 
 MAXIMILIAN Bazaine. 
 BAZAINE {Aside} So cold! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN You came to say adieu 
 
 Adieu, Bazaine. 
 BAZAINE In truth, I would not say it 
 
 (A silence) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The army is departing. 
 BAZAINE (Aside) That cracks the nut 
 
 (Aloud) And hopes to see your majesty arrive 
 Safely at Miramar. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Sir, I forbid you! 
 
 BAZAINE I humbly pray your majesty s indulgence 
 MAXIMILIAN What is the business, sir, that brings you 
 here? 
 
MAXIMILIAN 93 
 
 BAZAINE My master thinks the recent turn of things 
 
 MAXIMILIAN When did his majesty commission you? 
 
 BAZAINE Why, every man ot France has a commission 
 
 To shield the honor of France. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN You merely trifle 
 
 We have refused to see the special envoy 
 
 Sent by your master. 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty believe me 
 
 My errand seeks your majesty s well being 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I ask no fulsome reassurances 
 
 BAZAINE I tender none. But this I do affirm 
 
 All men perceive that unforseen events 
 
 Have made the intervention a mistake - 
 
 Yes, even a hopeless failure And to-day 
 
 Fate flying over trails the final thread 
 
 Which we may catch at and be carried out 
 
 From this deep slough. So as a man and soldier, 
 
 Devoid of power in this, with naught but reason 
 
 Tempered with love, should I not come and urge 
 
 Your majesty to abdicate the throne? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Napoleon may abandon his mistake 
 
 I stand by mine. 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty admits 
 
 The scheme was a mistake. Then very good 
 
 Next is the question how to wipe it out. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I have a duty. 
 
 BAZAINE Owed to whom? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN To God 
 
 And Mexico 
 
 BAZAINE As for the Deity 
 
 I m loath to speak. Of Mexico I may. 
 
 From every quarter comes the chilling news 
 
 This people hates the empire. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN And no wonder! 
 
 BAZAINE {Aside} What does he mean? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But when the cause of hatred 
 
94 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Has been removed, I ll make them love the empire 
 BAZAINE What is the cause? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The French; The Janizaries 
 
 BAZAINE (Aside] God in heaven! 
 
 (Aloud} Yes, perhaps tis true. 
 Still with your majesty I beg to differ - 
 But for this army there is something due 
 To France; it laid the corner stone. And then 
 There are two governments in Mexico 
 America feeds one and starves the other 
 And forces thus the issue which of these 
 The republic or the empire shall survive - 
 With this regard the services of France 
 Deserve consideration when to that 
 Is added the embarrassment of France 
 Forced by another power to take its army 
 From Mexico. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN France has been paid 
 
 BAZAINE I know it 
 
 But who will recompense her for the shame? 
 Or wash the gathered grime from oft her laurels 
 Trailed by this resolution through the dust. 
 Yes I express my heart s deep gratitude 
 For all your majesty s kind benefits 
 Bestowed on me with counsel I requite it 
 Spurn these perfidious clericals for when 
 They have obtained the object of their ardor 
 How limp and flaccid they. Tis on a sea 
 Untraveled filled with shoals and cruel rocks 
 Your majesty embarks, whilst all is fit 
 For abdication and a safe departure 
 Perhaps a future on the Austrian throne. 
 MAXIMILIAN Adieu Bazaine 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty will pardon 
 
 My importunities 
 MAXIMILIAN Since you persist 
 
MAXIMILIAN 95 
 
 Might I remind you that I have been privy 
 
 Of the wide freedom of your speech and conduct 
 
 The throne was warned 
 
 BAZAINE By whom? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN "Beware Bazaine" 
 
 BAZAINE " Beware the treacherous Lopez" 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Yes you know 
 
 BAZAINE Have seen! It was annonymous 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Had I 
 
 Been cognizant twas you who broke my mail 
 
 French general as you are you should have felt 
 
 The empire s hand. Twas you who spread contempt 
 
 O er my best efforts 
 
 With your going hence 
 There s hope again. 
 
 BAZAINE Yes as the throne depends 
 
 Upon such title as the sword can quiet 
 I am legitimate as heir presumptive. 
 MAXIMILIAN Or as your master planned a coup d etat. 
 BAZAINE (Aside) That brought the blood But I ll 
 
 reserve the finish. 
 
 (Aloud) Your majesty refuses I believe 
 Perhaps tis well. I ll not prolong my suit 
 In France they say since Mexico is quiet 
 Since everywhere your majesty is hailed 
 By loyal acclamations, by bouquets 
 
 From Senoritas; since the very Indians 
 
 Think Montezuma has come back to earth 
 
 They say the army is a useless clog 
 
 Which chokes the genial intercourse between 
 
 The throne and all your people. So to work 
 
 Complete eradication of the pest 
 
 And leave no Frenchman in the empire s realm 
 
 To breed defection I have summoned back 
 
 Even the French who took the imperial oath 
 
 They sail with me 
 
96 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Aside, agitated} I ll kill him if he stays 
 
 (Aloud) Their perjury be on your guilty soul 
 
 Leave me at once lest a too righteous wrath 
 
 BAZAINE I hope your majesty will keep your head 
 
 The physical one s hopes should be in reason. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I ll call the lackey 
 
 BAZAINE And I ll butcher them 
 
 Your majesty shall hear. You! Emperor! 
 
 This project is an epigram of state-craft 
 
 A pun, a joke, a vulgar play on \vords 
 
 A piece of paste work of the jeweler s- art 
 
 A palace built of staff of gilt and mirrors 
 
 That rain discolors, leaking in the roof 
 
 A fragile tent enriched with costly hangings 
 
 A germ of life mixed by the chemist s skill 
 
 A death s head of great Kings. A corpse revived 
 
 By shocks from the great batteries of France 
 
 A dream of empire bound up in a mood 
 
 Of languid thought of unprojected vision 
 
 Great Charles the Fifth in wax with glassy eyes 
 
 (Labastida appears at the rear] 
 MAXIMILIAN Will you not leave me? 
 BAZAINE So Napoleon s toy 
 
 Takes life and runs away ! ( Maximilian rings ) 
 
 The Frankenstien 
 Brings ruin on its own creator 
 
 ( The lackeys appear. Bazaine turns around and 
 
 sees Labastida) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Seize 
 
 BAZAINE {Pointing to Labastida) The spy 
 
 (The lackeys approach Labastida) 
 MAXIMILIAN (Pointi?tg to Bazaine) No! 
 LABASTIDA - Your majesty leave him to rne 
 
 (Motions the lackeys away) 
 BAZAINE Yes where s my money? 
 LABASTIDA Is it not enough 
 
MAXIMILIAN 97 
 
 That thou revilest thy own master s work, 
 
 Bringing to naught the very will of France: 
 
 But thou must seek to lay thy smutty hands 
 
 On the fair vestments of the Holy Church, 
 
 And publish forth the vile deceit that I, 
 
 Archbishop, have corrupted thee with gold, 
 
 That thou shouldst win his majesty? Avaunt, 
 
 Incarnate elements of greed and hate, 
 
 I cast the curses of the church upon thee. 
 
 BAZAINE Precious hypocrite! (He laughs quietly} 
 
 LABASTIDA I charge thee in this presence 
 
 With selling to the Liberals ammunition 
 
 Bought with the dear won treasure of the empire. 
 
 BAZAINE I challenge you to prove it. 
 
 LABASTIDA And I charge 
 
 That thou hast in thy pocket of the fruit. 
 
 BAZAINE No ! by the gods, the money which you gave 
 
 me. 
 
 LABASTIDA So thou hast boasted. Well I do deny it. 
 BAZAINE {Aside} What stays the bolt of heaven? 
 
 ( He starts to go ) 
 
 LABASTIDA Stay Bazaine! 
 
 BAZAINE What, should 1 stay to see you act a part? 
 
 (He moves on} 
 
 LABASTIDA Thou art afraid! 
 BAZAINE Of nothing saving boredom. 
 
 ( Coming back) 
 
 LABASTIDA Your majesty tis true that Col. Lopez 
 Betrayed old Santa Anna long ago. 
 MAXIMILIAN Your reverence! 
 
 LABASTIDA Yet he s a loyal servant 
 
 In every mission of the throne. To-day 
 His excellency commissioned him with this. 
 
 (He hands Maximilian a letter} 
 And, feeling doubtful, he did open it. 
 Seeing its contents, like a faithful child 
 
98 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Made me confessor, so I bring it here. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN My guns and caps sold to the Liberals ! 
 
 (He drops the paper} 
 
 BAZAINE Your majesty has dropped my letter. Well 
 Your majesty, I beg no explanations. 
 Tis nothing, tis a trifle, I protest. 
 Oh! Oh! I m overcome; say nothing of it. 
 Tis somewhat soiled; of course the seal is broken. 
 Tis crumpled by a multitude of hands. 
 But yet how easy tis to write it over. 
 And Diaz will not know the mail was robbed ! 
 MAXIMILIAN To think I trusted you. 
 LABASTIDA So did Napoleon. 
 
 But will no more. 
 
 BAZAINE {With self-possession} Adieu, your majesty. 
 Adieu your reverence I compliment you. 
 I did not think you d bite, at least while music 
 Was being played. Oh modern Mazarin! 
 Oh Richelieu and Granvelle mixed in one! 
 Thou art the church and state; the cabinet, 
 But newly chosen, never to resign. 
 And holding in your single person all 
 Relating to finance or foreign states, 
 The army and the navy, mark the word. 
 And as I see the cabinet has arrived 
 To go in session, I must take my leave. 
 LABASTIDA Not all your evil power can wreck the em 
 pire. 
 
 The treasury has twenty million dollars 
 Brought by the church. And Miramon reports 
 Nine thousand men all fit for war. 
 
 (Enter a lackey conducting Mejia, Miramon and 
 
 Salm Salm) 
 
 BAZAINE (Ironically} I m glad. 
 
 You ll need them. But this flock of willing sheep 
 Will scamper to the shambles. Tis a leader 
 
MAXIMILIAN 99 
 
 Who s neither fool nor Judas, you require. 
 LABASTIDA His majesty. 
 
 ALL His majesty. 
 
 BAZAINE {Laughing ) Alas ! 
 
 I ve made the category and decline 
 To place this nomination; to you all 
 A kind adieu. 
 
 ALL Adieu, your excellency. 
 
 (Drums and bugles without in the distance} 
 BAZAINE (Aside to Labastida} 
 Were you in earnest? Faith, you acted well! 
 LABASTIDA Adieu, your excellency. 
 BAZAINE Oh lovely land! 
 
 Where each man eats his brother! without salt. 
 Oh Mexico, sweet garden ! full of weeds, 
 Volcanoes, revolutions, haven of hell. 
 Home of the one, the only true religion ! 
 Of bread and butter. Rich, prolific soil! 
 That nourishes two governments alas! 
 Adieu (Exit) 
 
 SALM But why this bitter mood I pray: 
 
 MIRAMON Oh! hateful wretch! So we have exorcised 
 The seven devils out of Mexico. (A silence} 
 MAXIMILIAN (Looking at them sadly} 
 Have I so many friends? 
 
 MIRAMON For better or worse. 
 
 LABASTIDA For holy church. 
 
 SALM For empire. 
 
 MEJIA Independence. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I give the church its lands. 
 MIRAMON Then stands the empire! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Collect the army, bring the cannon out. 
 With sword in hand I ll lead the forces forth. 
 And with the sword I ll cut this tangled fate. 
 
 (A noise of marching men is heard to the music of 
 Jifes and drums. ) 
 
TOO MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The French depart. The empire shall remain. 
 
 About the work! 
 
 (Exeunt Labastida y Miramon, Mejia and Salm- 
 Salrn. Maximilian goes hack to the window 
 and pulls the curtain slightly aside. It 
 grows dark. Enter Carlotta. Silence. ) 
 
 CARLOTTA (Aside) My heart is drained of tears! 
 
 ( Aloud) Ah, Ferdinand what curious sense has led you 
 
 To watch the French depart? Twould blind my eyes. 
 (He comes forzvard and takes her in his arms] 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Darling, God keep you. 
 
 CARLOTTA Go, lest sorrow weaken 
 
 The will you need. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN God keep you. 
 
 (He kisses her) 
 
 CARLOTTA Ferdinand! (He goes out) 
 
 Alone! (She moves her hands feebly across her brow and 
 sits. It grows dark. Then she rings. A 
 lackey enters. ) 
 
 ( To him) The candles! (They are lighted) 
 
 What a fate is mine ! 
 
 (Enter Josef a and kneels at Car lotto* s feet* 
 The lackey goes out. ) 
 
 CARLOTTA Good, kind Josefa. 
 
 JOSEFA God preserve your majesty. 
 
 CARLOTTA I am alone! and weary! and afraid. 
 
 The crickets chirp so plaintive in the castle. 
 
 The darkness swarms with glowing eyes. So keep 
 
 Lights in my chamber, for the freezing horror 
 
 Which seizes me to see them, can t be borne. 
 
 josefa have you done that which I bade? 
 
 JOSEFA Your majesty I did, but is it well? 
 
 CARLOTTA Whether tis well or ill, I must o er-leap 
 
 The present and amid these shattering blows 
 
 Know what s to come. Where is the witch? 
 
 JOSEFA She s here. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 101 
 
 CARLOTTA Whether she trades with devils or 
 
 angels, 
 
 She knows the future, as such spirits know 
 Evil or good. And since good spirits fly me 
 1*11 learn by the worst odds. Go then, but stay, 
 I would not have you leave me. 
 
 ( Carlotta rings. A lackey enters. 
 
 To him) 
 
 Bring the woman! 
 (Exit lackey^) 
 
 We are like motes within a shaft of sun-light, 
 Coming from darkness, into darkness going. 
 And stand like fools, who peer within a mirror, 
 Thinking the sad reflect is that which lies 
 Beyond this glass of hope and fervent dream. 
 So hurrying to enfold the mocking shadow 
 The glass is shattered and the image flown ! 
 JOSEFA Ah no, your majesty. Our souls shall live 
 In some etherial realm of higher being. 
 CARLOTTA Then if it be, tis thence my heart aspires. 
 That is the only home that welcomes me. 
 
 (Enter the witch conducted by the lackey) 
 JOSEFA ( Aside) But here s this woman. 
 CARLOTTA (Aside) I should fear her, doubtless. 
 
 JOSEFA (Aside) I do; pray send her hence. 
 CARLOTTA (Aside) I ll talk to her. 
 
 (Aloud) You are the woman who draws back the curtain 
 Which screens the future. 
 THE WOMAN Both the past and future. 
 CARLOTTA (To Josefa) 
 How old she looks, bent down with mystery ! 
 
 ( Aloud) 
 
 Yes, even they say of you, you can conjure 
 
 (She hesitates) 
 The dead. 
 THE WOMAN Ask what you will 
 
io2 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 CARLOTTA ( To Josef if) 
 
 What think you of her? 
 
 JOSEFA She fills my soul with tear. 
 
 CARLOTTA But then you say 
 
 She s earned a generous fame in Mexico 
 
 As medium, clairvoyant, sorceress. 
 
 JOSEFA "Tis on that fame I acted; Yet behold 
 
 Her hideous face! I fear your majesty 
 
 These wildest spells of hers might so o er-master 
 
 Your majesty s best reason as to give 
 
 The form of truth to phantoms of the brain. 
 
 And Dr. Basch has warned your majesty 
 
 Against excitement. Send the creature hence. 
 
 Besides in truth what can this woman know 
 
 Of heaven s plans reserved for God alone? 
 
 CARLOTTA I ll know the worst. And if this thing can 
 
 tell 
 I do not shrink. 
 
 ( To the woman ) 
 
 Proceed. 
 
 THE WOMAN Your majesty 
 And I must be alone. 
 JOSEFA Your majesty, not that! 
 THE WOMAN Tis so always. For else the powers 
 
 which keep 
 
 The secrets of this soul, to speak refuse. 
 CARLOTTA Josefa, stand without. 
 (She hesitates] 
 
 Go, vex me not! 
 
 THE WOMAN Nor hold not an espial of this spell, 
 For I shall know and cease. 
 
 (Josefa goes ouf] 
 
 Your majesty 
 Would cast the future? 
 
 CARLOTTA Yes, if you have lived 
 
 In Mexico, already do you know, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 103 
 
 Despite such occult arts as you profess, 
 About the past and me. If you can help me, 
 In any wise, to meet the time to come 
 That would I have. 
 
 THE WOMAN The power is mine. 
 
 CARLOTTA Proceed. 
 
 THE WOMAN Then with these cards I ll strip away the 
 veil. 
 
 (She takes a deck of cards from her shawl and 
 
 amidst chatter and low laughter lays 
 
 them out on the table. ) 
 For tis a lively spirit which controls 
 These seemingly unvalued bits of paper. 
 
 {She laughs) 
 
 How strange, at once they speak upon the subject 
 Nearest the heart the emperor! 
 
 CARLOTTA Good woman! 
 
 THE WOMAN The force that ruled him ever was of 
 
 man. 
 
 It was the spell of a malignant soul 
 Which held his mood. He strove to imitate, 
 To work a problem from a borrowed mood. 
 So are men ruled and so do they perform 
 A part not given them of heaven. 
 
 CARLOTTA Well, 
 
 This tells me nothing. 
 
 THE WOMAN ( With wide and horrible eyes) 
 Answer this, I pray you, 
 What brought him here? 
 
 CARLOTTA Why look you so at me? 
 
 THE WOMAN Why, here to Mexico the spirit asks. 
 And with a solemn echo makes reply 
 From hence he never goes ! 
 
 CARLOTTA (Alarmed) What do you see? 
 
 THE WOMAN Napoleon, Caesar, Frederick, Leopold. 
 CARLOTTA {Trembling} Bring not my father here! 
 
io4 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 THE WOMAN Your father, no 
 
 The one of ancient days. For in these cards 
 
 The faces of dead kings arise and pass, 
 
 Imploring peace. 
 
 CARLOTTA I pray you go away! 
 
 THE WOMAN Will you not hear of him? 
 
 CARLOTTA Pray leave me now! 
 
 THE WOMAN Nor see him? 
 
 CARLOTTA ( Clasping her brows ) 
 
 My head ! my head ! 
 
 THE WOMAN For never more 
 
 Fond soul, I pity you, shall you behold 
 Your husband in the flesh. 
 
 CARLOTTA No! No! Stop! Stop! 
 
 THE WOMAN (Pointing to the cards ) Tis here! 
 CARLOTTA I ll not believe it. 
 
 THE WOMAN Then I ll bring him here. 
 
 CARLOTTA Depart ! 
 
 THE WOMAN I ll draw upon the canvas of the air 
 His face! 
 
 CARLOTTA No! No! 
 
 THE WOMAN I ll show you what s to be! 
 
 CARLOTTA Will you not leave me? 
 THE WOMAN See the tragic eyes 
 
 Which sorrow, desolation and despair 
 Haunt to the final hour. 
 
 CARLOTTA Have mercy on me! 
 
 THE WOMAN This is the meed of empire. 
 CARLOTTA I will call 
 
 The Castle s guards! 
 
 THE WOMAN Poor queen you cannot move 
 
 Save as I will. 
 
 CARLOTTA (Gasping) Leave me! 
 THE WOMAN Will you not see 
 
 His forehead splashed with blood? 
 CARLOTTA My head! my head 
 
MAXIMILIAN 105 
 
 THE WOMAN Here is yourself, beneath whose crown is 
 
 hatched 
 
 The rusty wings of madness ! 
 CARLOTTA You are she 
 
 Whose guilty art has done it ! 
 THE WOMAN Holy queen! 
 
 Whose royal blood for centuries has fed 
 The dread anatomies 
 
 CARLOTTA (Feebly} My head! my hea.d! 
 
 THE WOMAN Arise! 
 
 ( Carhtta stands up. ) 
 
 Becalmed with madness! 
 CARLOTTA (Waving her hands) What is this? 
 
 ( There appears to Carlotta the counterpart of 
 herself y a half -illumined figure or aura. ) 
 
 Twas you that brought this here. It is myself! 
 The shining, disembodied soul of me. 
 This is the thing the martyred Lincoln saw 
 E re three days fell he. Am I satisfied? 
 Oh hollow voice of horror, speak no more ! 
 Away ! away ! away ! 
 
 (She backs away; meantime the woman takes off 
 her shawl and reveals Madam Mariscali. ) 
 
 Thou shalt not grasp me! 
 (To Madam Mariscali) 
 
 Conjure this shadow hence! Tis you that did it! 
 What can my ghost foretell? 
 MADAM MARISCALI The eyes that look 
 On vacancy, the chattering talk! 
 CARLOTTA Who are you? 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Herald of madness! Messenger of 
 death ! 
 
 ( Carlotta endeavors to scream but is transfixed. 
 Enter Josef a. ) 
 
ro6 
 
 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 JOSEFA ( hi amazement} Madam Mariscali! 
 
 ( Josef a endeavors to seize Madam Mariscali. ) 
 
 Help! 
 
 ( Madam Mariscali waves Josef a back and 
 eludmg her grasp glides away. ) 
 
 CURTAIN 
 
ACT FOUR 
 
 r HE court of the convent La Cruz at !^ueretaro 
 at the right the convent with an entrance 
 opening into the court. A view of the hills 
 about Queretaro above the wall. Soldiers 
 zu a Ik ing too and fro. Others lying sleeping. Enter 
 Prince Salm-Salm and a crowd of soldiers hurriedly. 
 
 SALM I did not see them till they fired upon us. 
 
 My horse dropped under me. 
 
 A SOLDIER I m wounded, help! 
 
 (He reels; is caught by other soldiers and carried 
 
 off-} 
 
 ANOTHER The surgeon! 
 ANOTHER ( To another} Your cap is clipped. 
 ANOTHER It was too light. 
 
 ANOTHER I saw Gollardo near the Alameda. 
 ANOTHER And Escobedo with him. 
 ANOTHER So they saw us! 
 
 SALM Failure! failure! 
 
 A SOLDIER Let us try again. 
 
 ANOTHER It will be darker soon. 
 
 ANOTHER But now they know. 
 
 ANOTHER My blood is boiling? 
 
 ANOTHER Shall we knuckle then? 
 
 ANOTHER Or bite the dust? 
 
 SALM But as we had the word 
 
 We should have passed. 
 A SOLDIER Treason! 
 
 107 
 
ro8 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 ALL Treason? 
 
 SALM Hush! 
 
 Who was the vanguard? Where s the craven wretch? 
 
 A SOLDIER His name was Mendez and the idiot blundered. 
 
 I stood beside him when the picket cried 
 
 \Vhat ho, who comes! He must have been confused, 
 
 For on the sudden he said Enemigo, 
 
 Whereat the murderous fire belched in our faces. 
 
 He fell. You see my hand! 
 
 SALM Go, have it dressed. 
 
 (Sounds of musketry. Enter Miramon in a rage 
 
 with the blood streaming down his face.} 
 SALM You re wounded, sir. 
 
 MIRAMON Twere better to be dead, 
 
 Than fail in everything. Where s private Mendez? 
 SALM He s dead! 
 
 MIRAMON How many killed? 
 
 SALM Attend your wound! 
 
 MIRAMON I felt the cursed bullet graze my cheek, 
 One of a whistling thousand. 
 SALM Did you hear? 
 
 This Mendez whom you picked to lead us through 
 Said Enemigo to the sentinel. 
 MIRAMON And so we failed. Well, by the love of 
 
 God 
 
 Two things alone succeed famine and death. 
 What can we do? Oh recreant General Marquez 
 These six weeks gone to bring us help. 
 SALM Oh devil! 
 
 Who took our horses, soldiers, arms, munitions 
 With which to bring the Austro-Belgian troops. 
 And this slow siege, endured for near three months, 
 Whilst we behold his majesty s pale visage, 
 Growing more wan amidst the thickening gloom. 
 MIRAMON But after all if he can t fight his way 
 To us what struggle must we have, although 
 
MAXIMILIAN 109 
 
 Our forces joined him somewhere on the way. 
 
 My plan is best to fly! 
 
 SALM What else remains: 
 
 This ends the last attempt to send for help.. 
 
 In Mexico. The hills about are swarming 
 
 With regiments of Liberals pouring in. 
 
 There s not a vantage point but has a cannon, 
 
 And like a band of stricken Gauls we stand, 
 
 In this huge coliseum shaped by Time 
 
 Dying before an audience of foes. 
 
 A SOLDIER Yes, and we starve. 
 
 ANOTHER And thirst. 
 
 ANOTHER And eat horse flesh, 
 
 Stricken with fever. 
 
 ANOTHER Drink the ditch-water. 
 
 MIRAMON Cheer up my boys. 
 
 ANOTHER The fever s coming on me! 
 
 (^Murmurs of suffering and discontent^} 
 OTHERS The hospital! 
 
 ( 7 J hey carry him off} 
 
 (Enter a Sister of Mercy carrying a basket^} 
 THE SISTER (To Miramon) 
 
 Your excellency bleeds! 
 MIRAMON Tis but a scratch. 
 THE SISTER I bring his majesty some eggs 
 
 And bread sent by San Teresita. 
 MIRAMON Bless you! 
 
 And have you eaten? 
 
 THE SISTER Yes, a crust with tears 
 
 Sv/eetened by prayers for all who suffer here. 
 
 (^She crosses herself} 
 MIRAMON (Picking straw from her^ Where slept you 
 
 sister? 
 
 THE SISTER Not where I ll sleep to-night, 
 
 I brought it here. 
 MIRAMON Why sister! 
 
no MAXIMILIAN 
 
 THE SISTER In the court 
 
 You ll find the straw ripped from our only bed 
 
 To feed the horses. 
 
 MIRAMON Saint, I thank you. 
 
 THE SISTER But 
 
 His majesty? 
 
 MIRAMON (Pointing to a door} 
 
 SALM You know ! the other room 
 
 Turn to the left. 
 
 MIRAMON The right! 
 
 SALM His majesty 
 
 Gave up his quarters to the wounded soldiers! 
 
 ( Exit sister in the convent as they 
 
 remove their caps. ) 
 MIRAMON When was this? 
 SALM Yesterday. 
 
 MIRAMON Oh noble soul. 
 
 SALM And now the plan postponed for my return 
 Must be put through to-night. 
 MIRAMON For had Marquez 
 
 Come hither through your help it might have come 
 To this same pass of flight. No more delays 
 If we can hold the emperor to the scheme 
 To-night shall see us safely on the way 
 To Mexico. But why his sad reluctance 
 He knows the seige can never be destroyed? 
 SALM But then Queretaro has touched his heart 
 With loyalty. 
 
 MIRAMON He fears for them? 
 
 SALM Besides, 
 
 The wounded soldiers. 
 
 MIRAMON This is fantasy, 
 
 A sentiment too sickly sweet. For Salm 
 The enemy would treat our wounded soldiers 
 As well as we. For differ as we may 
 Juarez is a man and tis his spirit 
 
MAXIMILIAN in 
 
 Which rules the troops we fear. 
 
 SALM Alas, 
 
 These frowning hills about! 
 
 MTRAMON The fault is mine. 
 
 There is no choice with us twixt true and false; 
 
 The careful and the ill-considered plans 
 
 End equally in failure. But you know 
 
 Mejia has been ready for a week 
 
 To make the sortie. Win his majesty 
 
 To fly to-night. 
 
 (A great sound of musketry} 
 SALM As usual at the bridge 
 The fight is raging 
 MIRAMON Ah tis Lopez there 
 Who leads the Cazadores. Old Mejia 
 Rallies the native troops. The pass is safe. 
 Tis oft the enemy has been repulsed. 
 There can they never enter in the city. 
 
 (Enter Princess Salm-Salm hurriedly} 
 PRINCESS SALM Where is the prince ah 
 
 {Throws herself in his arms} 
 Such horrors were related. 
 You live! ah general you re wounded! 
 
 {A shell bursts over them) 
 SALM ( To her} 
 Go in the convent. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM No! what you can brave 
 I brave also! 
 MIRAMON You are a soldier 
 
 {Great shouting} 
 
 SALM Hark ! 
 
 MIRAMON The bridge is safe! 
 
 SALM At least they ll rest to-night! 
 
 MIRAMON 
 
 Then to persuade the emperor to fly 
 To Mexico and there in wait to lie 
 
ii2 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Holding the capitol against the world! 
 
 ( Miramon t Salm and Princess Salm go in the 
 convent. ) 
 
 Great shouting without and Mejia enters amidst 
 
 the cheers of his soldiers. ) 
 MEJIA 
 Well, boys the bridge is safe! We drove them off. 
 
 ( They cheer him. ) 
 
 It was not I who did it. Colonel Lopez 
 Fought with the ardor of Leonidas, 
 Your thanks to him. 
 
 ( Cries of No No ) 
 Be silent zealous friends 
 Tis he who walks besides his majesty 
 W hilst the sharpshooters sight with careful eye. 
 Tis he who through the hospital at night 
 Till morning greys stand reverently by; 
 Whilst him we serve with winged prayers assists 
 The parting soul. My friends remember this 
 Your thanks to him. 
 
 A SOLDIER Shall we be butchered uncle? 
 
 ANOTHER 
 Or starved to death. 
 
 ANOTHER Or burnt up by the typhus 
 
 MEJIA Silence! 
 
 ANOTHER What is the user 
 
 ANOTHER We can t escape! 
 
 ANOTHER 
 
 When General Marquez comes. 
 ANOTHER He will not come. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (Entering with the basket^) 
 
 He will return! Let not my soldiers doubt 
 The honor of a general of the empire. 
 
 ( A shell bursts near the roof of the convent, a 
 part of it taking off the arm of a soldier. 
 Maximilian lifts him #/>.) 
 
MAXIMILIAN 113 
 
 His arm is gone! 
 
 MEJIA ( To some soldiers} Assist him in 
 
 Turn to the right. 
 
 A SOLDIER ( To Mejia} The left! the hospital 
 
 Is moved. 
 
 MEJIA His majesty s apartments. 
 
 A SOLDIER Yes! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The spacious windows catch the air and sun 
 
 That inner room is dark. 
 
 A SOLDIER (To Mejia} 
 
 In very truth 
 His majesty is one with us. 
 
 ( They take the soldier in} 
 MEJIA Tis plain 
 
 Whene er your majesty appears they shell 
 The convent. Go within I pray. 
 MAXIMILIAN And why? 
 
 (Aside} Oh for a lucky bullet. 
 
 (Aloud} Have no fear. 
 A SOLDIER (Apart} 
 He covets death as much as we avoid it. 
 MAXIMILIAN ( To Mejia} 
 Here have I walked each day amid the bullets 
 And while death strikes about me I escape. 
 
 (Enter Salm) 
 
 ( To him} So then you failed 
 SALM We failed, but his the fault 
 
 Who fell. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But who? 
 
 SALM The vanguard. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I m relieved, 
 
 I thought twas Miramon. 
 SALM It might have been, 
 
 He picked the vanguard. 
 MAXIMILIAN How ill-starred his plans 
 
1 1 4 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 SALM 
 
 Your majesty I came from Colonel Lopez 
 
 Who has in charge some traitors. At the bridge 
 
 They failed him, in despite of which he saved 
 
 The city, but his wrath is hot. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Mejia, 
 
 Tell Lopez that I ll have no traitors shot. 
 
 I should be poor in spirit, mean in soul 
 
 To punish those whom this gigantic pressure 
 
 Has weakened then subdued. No! go and tell him. 
 
 (Exit Mejia.) 
 (Enter several soldiers ghastly pale. One falls 
 
 on his knees) 
 
 SOLDIER We re starving. 
 MAXIMILIAN ( Taki?ig the basket) Here is food. Go 
 
 share it. 
 
 SOLDIER {Looking in) Eggs! 
 
 ANOTHER Bread! 
 ANOTHER (Eagerly) I m saved. 
 MAXIMILIAN Be fair with one another. 
 
 ( They go to one side) 
 How good it is to feed these starving men. 
 For ever as my hands grow whiter, Salm 
 My soldier spirit rises up in courage. 
 SALM I ve pleasant news. 
 
 (Enter a soldier holding up the stump of his arm.) 
 SOLDIER Long live the emperor! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN God bless you ah his arm ! 
 SOLDIER Shot off! 
 
 (He reels.) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN ( To the soldiers) 
 Go take him in. 
 
 ( To Salm) 
 
 That s food for me! 
 
 It touches me beyond the power of words 
 How faithfully the soldiers stand the siege. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 115 
 
 But what s the news? 
 
 SALM Basch has arrived. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN From Mexico You saw him? How s the 
 
 empress? 
 
 SALM He will be here at once and touching Marquez 
 Brings sad intelligence. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN So he is dead? 
 
 SALM To honor. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What? 
 
 SALM Let Basch relate the story. 
 
 His cynic smiles and sneers were proof enough, 
 To me he was a dog. 
 MAXIMILIAN I trusted him! 
 
 (Enter Dr. Basch.) 
 I am delighted. 
 
 BASCH Ah your majesty, 
 
 Your highness! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But how could you come to me? 
 BASCH I swore that I would die to do it. When 
 I reached the Liberal lines I changed my plan 
 And faced the chief commander made a breast 
 Of who I was, my business, I was searched 
 Found truthful, granted audience. 
 MAXIMILIAN He s a man 
 
 This Escobedo. But of Marquez 
 BASCH Thief and fiend! 
 
 Who now disports himself in Mexico, 
 Turning disorder into ordered tribute, 
 He bends the people to a vile extortion. 
 MAXIMILIAN He s failed us then? But can her majesty 
 Do naught to curb him? 
 
 BASCH {Starting and embarrassed} No, your majesty. 
 MAXIMILIAN You started! 
 
 BASCH With thinking of her! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Does she live? 
 
 BASCH Your majesty. 
 
n6 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Her health? 
 
 BASCH Quite shattered. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (Lowering his voice) Then 
 
 Her mind? 
 
 (Basch turns away. A silence. Maximilian sits.) 
 BASCH ( Taking a bottle from his satchel) 
 Your majesty some brandy. 
 
 ( Maximilian drinks ) 
 (To Salm) Prince, 
 
 What rations have you? 
 SALM Corn. 
 
 BASCH His majesty? 
 
 SALM The same. 
 BASCH Prepare some. 
 
 SALM It is gone. 
 
 BASCH It is 
 
 The hunger which afflicts his majesty 
 
 ( Maximilian rises) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Oh, had it been the will of heaven only 
 To sacrifice my heart, my mind, my life 
 In this inscrutable struggle. But for her, 
 This little girl, this princess without fault 
 To waste her spirit on the barren air 
 Like breath of flowers upon the desert s edge, 
 What cruel prodigality ! Thou fate 
 Whose fast revenge has followed me to this, 
 Come haste the play and end the tragedy 
 And let the curtain fall. Oh Basch, Oh Salm 
 Dear God, if thou hadst closed those tender eyes 
 Ere they had stared in madness. 
 
 (A pause) 
 
 But good Basch 
 
 Where is she, who attends her? 
 BASCH In the castle 
 
 Her highness watches with a mother s eye. 
 And I have placed physicians with instructions 
 
MAXIMILIAN 117 
 
 To minister alone to her. 
 MAXIMILIAN J thank you! 
 
 One other hand she needs, tis mine. To-night 
 We make the sortie. Salm, go bring the treasure. 
 
 (Salm goes in the convent.) 
 
 (Enter Lopez) 
 (To Lopez) 
 
 You are well come. Where are the generals? 
 LOPEZ At hand your majesty. 
 
 (Enter Mejia and Miramon) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Go Basch! the hospitals, I am too weak 
 To join you; give my soldiers tender service. 
 
 (Exit Basch. Re-enter Salm and hands 
 
 Maximilian four small bags. ) 
 The imperial treasure shrunk to this, my friends. 
 Your highness, Miramon, Mejia, Lopez. 
 
 (Hands each a bag") 
 Faithful in this extremity I give 
 All that remains. My heart s best thanks beside 
 
 (They all bow) 
 We go to-night. 
 
 MIRAMON To-night your majesty? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The sortie starts at three. 
 MEJIA We can be ready 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Then do so. Each about his proper task. 
 Fill well our firing lines with citizens, 
 Their musketry must hide our sortie. I 
 Shall have the escort of the cavalry 
 Under Prince Salm and Lopez. J retire 
 To rest. 
 
 ( A silence ) 
 
 One thing remains 
 
 SALM Your majesty. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Promise if I am captured he who stands 
 Convenient to the task will kill me 
 
 (A silence) 
 
u8 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Well? 
 
 You promise? 
 SALM (Sorrowfully") Yes, I promise. 
 
 (4 silence.} 
 
 ALL Yes, we promise! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN My thanks to you. When all has been 
 
 arranged 
 Return to me. 
 
 MEJIA God bless your majesty 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Till then adieu 
 
 ( Maximilian goes in the convent} 
 
 MIRAMON (To the soldiers ) Soldiers, a word of caution: 
 The army leaves at three o clock 
 
 (Murtnurs of delight} 
 
 Attend! 
 
 The sortie will be screened by citizens 
 To fill the lines made vacant by our leaving. 
 Therefore be not alarmed at unknown faces. 
 There will be firing by the dummy soldiers 
 To work our scheme. At last, when all is ready 
 File out and join the ranks. Meantime restrain 
 Your fear, if any enter here they come 
 To take your places. 
 
 (Enter several women with baskets} 
 A SOLDIER {Apart} Heard you? 
 ANOTHER We shall eat. 
 
 ANOTHER We ll poach the haciendas. 
 ANOTHER Think, a chicken! 
 
 ANOTHER And eggs! 
 
 ANOTHER Bananas, oranges 
 
 A WOMAN ( To Mir am on} You buy? 
 
 SALM Yes, do we not? 
 A WOMAN ( To Salm} Of course ! 
 SALM (To Miramon) We play the game. 
 
 THE WOMAN (To Salm} Tvvas yesterday you wanted 
 
 musket balls, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 119 
 
 And so to-day I went a picking. Look! 
 SALM I ll take that basket. They are ripe. 
 
 (Some soldiers who misunderstood rush forward) 
 A SOLDIER Melons! 
 
 SALM Bad for the stomach! 
 
 (The soldiers who have seen) 
 
 Bah! 
 
 SALM They hurt our soldiers! 
 
 ( To the woman) 
 
 You helped us when our store of ammunition 
 Needed replenishment. These can be cooked 
 And moulded over. Set the basket there. 
 Your money! 
 
 ( She takes it and retires ) 
 MIRAMON ( To a woman) A good fine pounder; can be 
 
 used again. 
 (Holding it up) 
 
 This is a symbol of the world, my friends, 
 Cruel and round and bloody. 
 (To the women) Yes I ll buy 
 
 Poor, as we are, we have more coin than friends 
 And you who helped us in our need shall profit 
 (Aside) 
 
 Although we fly. 
 
 SALM To fail is possible. 
 
 MIRAMON When we should need them. 
 SALM Then we buy the lot 
 
 MIRAMON (To the women) Here s money for you all. 
 
 ( The women set their baskets down ) 
 MEJIA (Coming forward) You did not fear? 
 I know these women. 
 MIRAMON No! 
 
 ( The wo?nen retire, are accosted by the soldiers 
 for a moment and go out.) 
 
 But then at last 
 What was it that resolved the emperor? 
 
120 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 SALM Her majesty. 
 
 MIRAMON But where? 
 
 MEJIA Within the convent: 
 
 SALM All reasons failed to move his noble heart 
 
 Save that he learned her majesty 
 
 (He pauses) 
 
 MIRAMON You pause! 
 
 SALM That delicate reason broke beneath the strain. 
 MIRAMON Madness ! 
 
 {A silence*} 
 
 Then to succeed in this. 
 
 (Enter Labastida ) 
 
 LABASTIDA A Council. 
 
 MIRAMON We fly to-night. 
 
 LABASTIDA Tis well indeed. But whither 
 MIRAMON To Mexico. 
 LABASTIDA But Mexico tis said 
 
 Is pressed by Liberal troops, and all the way 
 North from San Luis where Juarez holds 
 His capitol, southward to Vera Cruz 
 The Liberals invest the stricken country. 
 MIRAMON So have J heard. 
 LABASTIDA Then why to Mexico? 
 
 MIRAMON To hold the capitol against the world! 
 LABASTIDA Your excellency jests. There would be reason 
 To pick a northward route and reach the States; 
 Once in America his majesty 
 May fly to Austria. For who but hears 
 The empire s dying groans. 
 SALM No never. 
 
 MEJIA Never 
 
 LABASTIDA Tis not humanity that deals in "Never" 
 Courage, like yours, should find a better use. 
 The church performed its contract when it gave 
 Both men and money to this enterprise. 
 But when the army settled in this basin, 
 
MAXIMILIAN T2i 
 
 All then was lost; besides the hopes that perished 
 
 In the cold glare of empire, tardy spring 
 
 In which naught flourished. (Exit in Convent} 
 
 MIRAMON That s a freezing soul! 
 
 Thus fail the friends whose friendship must be bought. 
 
 SALM What does her 
 
 MIRAMON Carps and shades away his course 
 
 To blend it with the rising power To work! 
 
 ( Miramon, Salm-Salm and Mejia 
 go out. ) 
 LOPEZ ( Looking after. ) Tis well you rally us to leave 
 
 this hole 
 Tis thanks to you that put us in the same. 
 
 (Enter a woman} 
 
 THE WOMAN I think you re Col. Lopez? 
 LOPEZ Well, my woman. 
 
 WOMAN Here is a cannon-ball I bring to sell you. 
 LOPEZ (Takes it. ) Where did you find it? 
 WOMAN Embedded in the wall. 
 
 LOPEZ ( To a soldier ) 
 Here for our stores ! Your pay ! 
 
 (Hands her a coin and walks away) 
 WOMAN But sir. 
 
 LOPEZ (Aside) I know that voice! 
 
 (He walks back) 
 WOMAN Will you not read? 
 
 (She hands him a paper) 
 LOPEZ Who are you? 
 
 (Aside) The darkness screens her face, I know that voice 
 But cannot think. 
 WOMAN Read, sir. 
 
 (Lopez retires to the wall of the convent where 
 
 a lantern is hanging and reads} 
 LOPEZ (To the soldiers) Patrol the entrance! 
 
 ( The soldiers who were walking go out) 
 And you brought this message? 
 
122 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 WOMAN For special deliverance to you. 
 
 (JjQfez crushes the paper in his hand, takes down the 
 lantern and rushes toward the woman hur 
 riedly) 
 LOPEZ {Holding the lantern in her face} Who are you? 
 
 Julia 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI The republic s widow! 
 LOPEZ Dear God in heaven do I wake or dream? 
 MADAM MARISCALI You wake, you live through me. 
 LOPEZ And is it true 
 
 That General Escobedo sends me this? 
 MADAM MARISCALI At my request. 
 LOPEZ Tis you, who speak a woman 
 
 Conjuring to my mind the thought of shame, 
 Touching the nerve of fear, the spring of hope 
 A woman, you a woman with soft voice 
 Veiled in the ghostly darkness of the night, 
 And bringing here the loathed form of treason, 
 Whose forked tongue licks cold against my hand. 
 MADAM MARISCALI You strove to save my husband and 
 
 I strive 
 
 To save you in requital. Do you think 
 It was no sacrifice for me to do this? 
 It taxed my wits to gain admission here. 
 But when I heard your name tossed round in glee 
 Just as I nursed the wounded and fhe dying. 
 And when they said that from the highest wall 
 Your corse should hang upon the city falling, 
 I said to Escobedo, write it to him, 
 I ll take the message. I am here you see. 
 LOPEZ Your daring over-whelms me. Think of it, 
 You ve crossed our lines. You re in our citadel. 
 MADAM MARISCALI Ah but they hate you! 
 LOPEZ Me, they hate me, Julia? 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI They hate you for the past. They 
 
 hate you all, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 123 
 
 Mejia, Miramon, all Mexicans 
 
 Whose principles have changed. Who comes to-night 
 
 With messages to them? It is to you, 
 
 To you alone that Providence extends 
 
 The hope of life, because it chanced to be 
 
 Our souls were intermingled. 
 
 LOPEZ Yes, I loved you 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Nay more you love me! 
 
 LOPEZ Yes! you know I love you. 
 
 Our separation was that undertone 
 
 Which yet subdues the melody of life. 
 
 To-night you come in such a puzzling guise, 
 
 Armed with the memory of a summer s day, 
 
 And ask me to betray the emperor. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Some one approaches. 
 
 LOPEZ {Blows out the lantern} 
 
 Come! (They retire to one side} 
 
 (A soldier enters from the convent} 
 SOLDIER Who s there? 
 
 (Lopez emerging} Tis I. 
 SOLDIER Twas you I sought, his majesty is ill, 
 And sickens to the death. Where s Dr. Baschr 
 LOPEZ Search through the hospitals ! 
 SOLDIER Why should he leave 
 
 His majesty for service such as that? 
 LOPEZ His majesty so ordered. 
 SOLDIER What a mid-night! 
 
 Where are the lights? 
 LOPEZ Make haste 
 
 ( The soldier goes out} 
 
 Come forth Depart \ 
 Require my life but not this wretched act. 
 The emperor is ill ! What am I doing? 
 With any soul, or under any stress 
 To hold debate like this? 
 MADAM MARISCALI Are you apprised 
 
124 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The Liberal out-post has been moved to-night 
 
 Close to the city gates? Ere morning comes 
 
 The city falls. 
 
 LOPEZ Then let me perish too! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI For him who lives? The emperor 
 
 will be 
 
 A prisoner of war, released at last 
 To freedom. While the renegades who held 
 With stubborn zeal to him, will die the death. 
 (.Jueretaro will fall in your despite; 
 But if it does, you know the consequence 
 For Escobedo writes you. Rouse yourself! 
 Is it a sin to save your life? 
 LOPEZ (Feebly^ Depart! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI How many helpless children, men 
 
 and women 
 
 Will perish in the shelling of the city, 
 And to no use. At last the city falls 
 Marquez has saved himself in Mexico. 
 Miramon and Mejia will be shot 
 As traitors. You as a felon hung. 
 The fallen prince will go to Austria 
 With all the honors of war. But if you give 
 The citadel to General Escobedo 
 One change occurs, you live! Ah dear! but listen 
 W T ill you not yield? You shall not doubt rny purpose: 
 Search then my soul, to you is nothing hidden. 
 The passions which impel my heart are two, 
 Revenge and love. First with this little hand 
 To wreck the throne which slew the General 
 And next to save you. 
 
 LOPEZ Julia, 1 believe you ! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI You shall not wildly throw your lite 
 
 away 
 
 This is a mad fanaticism which 
 Recoils on you and blesses none. Between 
 
MAXIMILIAN 125 
 
 Our souls the truth alone has been I call 
 
 The spirit from the hour that parted us 
 
 When to the woman who had tangled you 
 
 And for the child I seized this love of mine 
 
 And hushed its vain regrets 
 
 LOPEZ Repeat the words 
 
 That day you sweetly said. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Ah Miguel! 
 
 LOPEZ Repeat those words. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Quite softly in a whisper. 
 
 LOPEZ No audibly, so that the inner sense 
 
 May fondly hear their echo. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Well 
 
 LOPEZ Repeat them 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Yes, I love you (He takes her in hi? 
 
 arms and kisses her} 
 List! 
 
 {Steps are heard. They retire again. Enter the 
 
 soldier with Miramon and Dr. Basch. ) 
 MIRAMON But Doctor, 
 
 What can we do, the army waits the word 
 All is in readiness. 
 
 BASCH If it be only 
 
 A pain to be allayed, by three o clock 
 That can be done; but then you know the weakness 
 Attending this complaint. His majesty 
 Must now be carried. 
 
 MIRAMON Nothing shall prevent 
 
 The sortie at the hour. Come on ! 
 
 ( The v go in the convent. Lopez and Madam 
 
 Mar is call come out of biding} 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI And so to-night 
 
 The imperial army flies! You yield? 
 LOPEZ {Confused} But stay 
 
 You shall not go. You over-heard our plans. 
 
 {She starts to leave) 
 
126 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Farewell! 
 LOPEZ Julia! 
 
 (He seizes her) 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI Remove your hands! 
 
 LOPEZ My duty! 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI And mine; I ve tried to save vou. 
 
 You refuse. 
 
 You scorn my warning. So my other duty 
 Born not of love of you, but love of country 
 Love of our native people, intermixed 
 With feelings of revenge because my husband 
 Fell in the cause of Freedom by the hand 
 Of him you serve this is my other duty 
 The republic s widow must perform to-night. 
 Unhand me! shall I scream? 
 LOPEZ Not if you love me. 
 
 MADAM MARISCALI But if you love me, let me go at 
 
 once. 
 
 LOPEZ If you cry out we shall be seen together. 
 Stay here in peace and let the sortie prosper. 
 Now I detain you, when the army leaves 
 You will be taken with it in my care. 
 MADAM MARISCALI Madman! Your army will be dashed 
 
 to pieces 
 
 Amidst the countless hosts about these hills. 
 T promise you that harm shall come to none 
 Save to the generals the prince and you 
 Shall live, be free ! 
 
 LOPEZ Oh fate, oh time, oh love 
 
 Oh fear of death, ye dread conspirators 
 Who will not leave me in the path of honor. 
 What tragic means of retribution this: 
 That I who snared the Mexican republic 
 Just twenty years thereafter should betray 
 The empire. 
 
 (He seizes the bag of treasure at his belt) 
 
MAXIMILIAN 127 
 
 Hence imperial gold! 
 
 (He throws the bag down, it breaks and the coin 
 spill) 
 
 It spills 
 Bad luck; the lantern. Let us pick them up. 
 
 (He lights it) 
 (And sees with surprise) 
 The silver! Marked as Judas ere I did it 
 
 (A silence) 
 Tis fate. 
 
 (He spurns the silver with his foot.) 
 I m yours. 
 
 ( They go out) 
 
 (Enter a number of soldiers) 
 A SOLDIER I m dead for sleep. 
 
 ANOTHER And I. 
 
 ANOTHER Tis better sleeping here. 
 ANOTHER Than near the dead. 
 
 ANOTHER The pantheon has ghosts. 
 ANOTHER Keep still. 
 
 ANOTHER Who s watching? 
 
 ANOTHER Those yonder. 
 
 ( They lie down) 
 
 (Enter Maximilian, Dr. Bascb and Miramon) 
 MAXIMILIAN I m very ill. 
 
 BASCH Your majesty must rest. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN What is the temperature? My room is 
 
 stifling, 
 
 And reeks with musty smells. Some brandy Basch! 
 BASCH Your majesty 
 
 (Hands Maximilian a flask. He drinks) 
 MAXIMILIAN I m better, but the heat, 
 If I could rest here in the open air. 
 Are there no soldiers here? Ah Miramon 
 Bring out my cot my cot and place it there. 
 
 (Exit Miramon in convent) 
 
128 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 What is the hour? 
 
 BASCH The convent clock struck two. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN If but the empress were among the dead 
 Then might I die this hour then might I die. 
 
 (He zvalks to one side and steps on the silver} 
 What s this? The silver that I gave to Lopez 
 BASCH What can it mean? 
 MAXIMILIAN Where s Lopez? 
 
 BASCH Was he robbed? 
 
 Murdered perhaps? 
 
 (Re-enter Mir amort with a tot} 
 MAXIMILIAN ( To him) Where s Lopez? 
 MIRAMON He was here. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I did not think. Who keeps this citadel? 
 There s none but sleeping soldiers holding guard. 
 Go Miramon and seek him! First arrange 
 The cot behind the corner over there. 
 
 ( Miramon takes the cot and retires behind the 
 
 corner) 
 
 I m weak. I m growing fainter. Help me Basch. 
 I must lie down. 
 
 (Maximilian and Basch retire Miramon 
 
 emerges) 
 
 MIRAMON The silver! Can it be 
 
 A sense of jealous wrong was roused in him? 
 The emperor gave the rest of us the gold; 
 Perhaps he knew this; threw it on the ground. 
 But where is he? My soul is dark with fear, 
 The air seems filled w 7 ith whispers ominous. 
 
 (Enter Salm-Salm) 
 
 SALM Who s in the shadow of the convent there? 
 MIRAMON Your friend, Prince Salm 
 SALM The voice of Miramon. 
 
 MIRAMON Have you seen Lopez! There is treachery 
 
 here, 
 Murder or robberv. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 129 
 
 SALM Why, how you speak! 
 
 MIRAMON This was his portion look! 
 
 SALM I passed him now, 
 
 With one of these peddling women. 
 
 MIRAMON He s forgotten 
 
 His treasure. 
 
 (Distant musketry) 
 
 SALM We are ready. Do you hear 
 
 The distant firing? In the darkness yonder 
 Mejia labors. 
 
 MIRAMON But, the guards, your highness 
 The cavalry. 
 SALM I ll go for Col. Lopez. 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 MIRAMON Oh, what a lethargy can come from hunger. 
 (He sits on the steps of the convent) 
 What aching racks my bones. The emperor 
 Has fallen in sleep. Tis well, I ll wait the hour 
 W T ith open eye. The firing should be louder. 
 Ah me! the shame to slink away and leave 
 Our chosen fort, the blot is on my hands. 
 The devil s got us had us from the first 
 
 {Sound of marching men) 
 Ah him 
 
 (He yawns) 
 
 But then you know! So soon, Mejia? 
 Good, faithful Tomasito Lopez! 
 
 (He sleeps. Enter a crowd of soldiers who pick up 
 
 the guns of those lying asleep, also unstrapping 
 
 and taking swords, including that of Miramon. 
 
 After doing so they pass out. Enter an officer 
 
 and three soldiers. ) 
 
 OFFICER {Looks around) None! 
 
 The others you have turned toward the convent. 
 Behind each cannon let a soldier stand. 
 Just at the moment have the taper ready, 
 
130 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Fire if I order. 
 
 ( They go out") 
 
 (Enter Lopez) 
 
 LOPEZ Yet there is time to do it. 
 
 The emperor is there in calm repose 
 Unconscious of the hovering destiny. 
 The cavalry is waiting at the gate. 
 I ll fly and tell him all. I ll rescue him. 
 
 (He hurries to the steps of the convent and falls 
 
 into Miramon. ) 
 
 MIRAMON {Asleep) There! save the emperor! 
 LOPEZ Prophetic devil! 
 
 MIRAMON My wife and little children left alone 
 You smear your hands with blood 
 
 (Deeper) 
 
 with blood. 
 
 ( His voice is choked with tears. Lopez shrinks away} 
 LOPEZ {Aside) Abhorrent dreams! Yet does he feign 
 
 this talk? 
 
 MIRAMON A drink! a drink; I ll fight until I drop 
 LOPEZ {Approaching again") He dreams indeed! 
 MIRAMON Lopez the bridge! Stand back! 
 
 His majesty so pale but resolute 
 LOPEZ I ll pass him cautiously. 
 
 ( He starts forward, when a loud voice is heard ex 
 claiming st my sword y my sword" and enter 
 from the rear a French captain with a lantern. 
 Lopez retires ) 
 
 CAPTAIN Some one tell me 
 
 Who are these sooty devils? Who speaks Spanish? 
 
 {He twists his mustache furiously Enter a number 
 
 of soldiers) 
 
 Is no one waking? Some one took my sword. 
 The soldiers sleep. Is not a soul on watch? 
 A SOLDIER We are! 
 CAPTAIN Some one has taken my sword. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 131 
 
 ANOTHER {Laughing} But who? 
 
 CAPTAIN Well, who are you? 
 
 THE SOLDIER A soldier under Lopez. 
 
 CAPTAIN Is that prevention gainst a trait of theft? 
 
 You guard! my sword is gone! 
 
 (He thinks} 
 
 Why lying knave, 
 
 I met your black commander over there. 
 How are you. under Col. Lopez then? 
 Does some one crave a broken pate; a nose 
 Suffusing tears and blood? 
 
 {He slaps the soldier with his glove") 
 Draw wretch ! 
 
 {He feels for his sword} 
 { Finding it gone, he turns around^) 
 
 My sword 
 You are beneath me! 
 
 (Enter Mejia from the court"} 
 MEJIA Silence! what s the matter? 
 
 CAPTAIN These men are thieves! 
 MEJIA No, they are citizens. 
 
 CAPTAIN My sword is gone! 
 
 {Soldiers rising from slumber"} 
 SOLDIER And mine 
 
 ANOTHER And mine 
 
 ANOTHER And mine 
 
 CAPTAIN 
 
 {Seeing Miramon on the steps rushes over to him 
 and shakes him. During the confusion Lopez 
 slips into the convent. ) 
 Rascal! 
 
 {Drags him up} 
 
 My sword ! 
 
 MIRAMON Enough ! 
 
 CAPTAIN Have you not seen? 
 
 MIRAMON I am awake! 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 (He pushes the Frenchman away and sees Mejia.) 
 
 What is the hour? 
 
 MEJIA I ll call 
 
 The emperor. The time has come! 
 
 (Enter a soldier hurriedly} 
 
 SOLDIER Why uncle 
 
 A throng of soldiers pass the outer gate? 
 MIRAMON What is it? 
 MEJIA ( To tbe soldier) 
 Go and send the idiots back 
 Fifty may come; but send the rest to fill 
 The city s lines. 
 LOPEZ (From tbe convent") 
 
 We are betrayed ! betrayed ! 
 THE FRENCH CAPTAIN I knew it! 
 LOPEZ (In the convent} 
 Where is the emperor? 
 
 MEJIA Betrayed! 
 
 MIRAMON Betrayed! 
 
 MEJIA The troops! the cannon! 
 
 LOPEZ (Rushing to the door) 
 
 Save his majesty 
 There s time there s time where is his majesty? 
 
 (He rushes about. A crowd of soldiers enter. 
 
 General Escobedo emerges from the mass. 
 
 The soldiers level their guns at Mejia, 
 
 Miramon and Lopez) 
 MIRAMON General Escobedo! 
 ESCOBEDO (To Miramon) Your sword! 
 
 MIRAMON (Feeling for it) Who filched? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN (Emerging) The empire? 
 
 CURTAIN 
 
ACT FIVE 
 
 ^ room in the convent of the Capuchins at Quere- 
 
 /l taro. The walls and floor are barren. 
 
 ^ f Alongside the left wall a plain bed slightly 
 
 draped. At its foot a door leading to a 
 
 chamber. To the right of the bed in the rear wall a 
 
 door leading without. In the left wall a door leading to 
 
 another chamber. In the center a plain large table with 
 
 papers scattered over it. Chairs around it. Miramon 
 
 and Mejia discovered sitting at the table. Prince Salm 
 
 walking up and down. 
 
 MIRAMON I cannot understand it! 
 
 PRINCE SALM No, nor I. 
 
 MIRAMON The temper of the people may demand 
 
 The blood of Tomasito and my own, 
 
 For reasons obvious. The emperor 
 
 Falls in a different class. 
 
 PRINCE SALM But stranger still, 
 
 Not the united voice of Europe s thrones, 
 
 Nor even America s more noble suit 
 
 Can move Juarez s heart. 
 
 MIRAMON And so to-morrow 
 
 At sun up mid the ringing of the bells, 
 
 Whose solemn clangor thrilled us at the ball, 
 
 We expiate the crime, whate er it is, 
 
 (133) 
 
134 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 But what I know not. Though the court martial 
 
 Decrees us guilty and the government 
 
 Affirms the finding. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Keep your courage up! 
 
 MIRAMON (Groa?iing} My wife and little children. Oh 
 
 the dastard, 
 
 The devil s spawn who trapped our citadel! 
 PRINCE SALM He too has striven for your lives. 
 MIRAMON Because 
 
 A torturing conscience, like a bloody head, 
 Stuck on the bed-post, ever dripping blood 
 And leering with glassed eyes and frozen scowl, 
 Gives him no rest. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Two hopes remain to you 
 
 The princess may arrive at any hour 
 With words of amnesty. She would not listen 
 To my dissuasion but in spite of all 
 And with an angel s energy and hope 
 Sped on to see Juarez. Then the other 
 A secret (Pointing to his heart} 
 
 Till 1 see his majesty 
 MEJIA And both will fail. 
 
 MIRAMON Your Indian stoicism 
 
 I cannot understand. 
 
 PRINCE SALM But think of me 
 
 The princess three days gone, and where none knows 
 Who went to seek Juarez near the city, 
 Perhaps she s killed! Oh bitter, bitter thought 
 To me who beat myself against these bars 
 Without conviction, but with ominous silence 
 Detained. What are those voices? 
 
 (Enter Princess Salm-Salm followed immediately 
 
 by a soldier, ) 
 PRINCESS SALM Prince 
 
 (She falls in his arms} 
 SOLDIER Madam, retire. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 135 
 
 PRINCESS SALM I have a full permission 
 
 To enter here 
 
 SOLDIER Then show it. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM But it is 
 
 Among my papers, in my room. 
 
 SOLDIER Go bring it. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM Mercy, for I have ridden eighty leagues. 
 
 SOLDIER Retire. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM I might have known I had it here 
 
 (Hands him money) 
 SOLDIER You call this your permit? 
 PRINCESS SALM In Mexico 
 
 It never failed me yet. Yes, though it bears 
 The clear embossment of his majesty. 
 SOLDIER In form and substance it meets all requirements. 
 
 (Exit.) 
 PRINCE SALM What weary hours I ve waited, watched 
 
 and dreamed 
 
 Of death and you. And you have failed? 
 PRINCESS SALM Oh Prince, the task was wholly past my 
 
 strength. 
 
 You should have seen me race the Indian ponies 
 For ah, no sooner had I reached the mansion 
 Where twas reported that the president 
 Was lodged than did I ascertain that he 
 Had never left San Luis. And alas, 
 When after riding without drink or food 
 And almost killed by an assassin s hand 
 Screened in a cactus hedge I set my foot 
 Within the portals of the capitol 
 A Spanish servant bowed to me politely 
 And laughing at my sore distress, perhaps 
 My wild demeanor and begrimed condition 
 Uttered the words "He s in Queretaro". 
 PRINCE SALM Queretaro! 
 PRINCESS SALM I was too faint to stop 
 
136 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The welling tears. And then without delay 
 
 I traced again the weary road until 
 
 Queretaro shone twinkling mong the hills 
 
 And galloped to La Cruz, passed through the door 
 
 Fell there beneath the feet of old Juarez 
 
 And battered at his stony heart for life! 
 
 PRINCE SALM You ve seen him? 
 
 PRINCESS SALM What a winter for my heart 
 
 So full of grief, so open to his frost 
 
 Who boasted that Napoleon could not save 
 
 His majesty, no, nor his generals. 
 
 And then he spoke of you so fearfully 
 
 "Strange that your husband fought with Lincoln s army 
 
 And then in Mexico stabbed liberty." 
 
 PRINCE SALM That s ominous we re lost. 
 
 ( Enter Dr. Basch. The princess sits. ) 
 
 PRINCESS SALM A glass of water. 
 
 (If is brought. ) 
 
 BASCH (To Salm) Now bathe her forehead! 
 
 PRINCESS SALM (Surviving} Thank you, sir. 
 
 BASCH Your highness 
 
 Supports a heavy strain. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM I am so weary 
 
 That o er my blackest fear sleep stands aloof 
 
 And bids me rest. 
 
 BASCH Then do so. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM If I dared. 
 
 BASCH And how s his majesty? 
 
 MIRAMON Serene, triumphant! 
 
 BASCH Your excellencies are brave. I must within. 
 
 ( Enter Car lot t a disguised as a Sister of Mercy. ) 
 CARLOTTA They searched me but found nothing. 
 
 (She takes off her hood. They tur?i around and 
 
 see Carlotta. ) 
 
 PRINCESS SALM (Startled) Her majesty! 
 
 ( They all arise ) 
 
MAXIMILIAN 137 
 
 CARLOTTA I scorn to carry daggers, for they tear 
 
 To lay on me the bloody hand of treason, 
 
 While yet there s poison to do it. Still I fly. 
 
 And now the council sits. Well, what s the business? 
 
 Who sues for favors? Oh a hospital 
 
 Tis granted. 
 
 PRINCE SALM All her life parades before her. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM How low and sweet her voice, like 
 
 lovely music. 
 CARLOTTA And then the schools. But sir, no more of 
 
 churches. 
 
 Let us be pious in our homes. I knew 
 They d kill him! But my prince awake and strike 
 The villains dead, or else sign up the order. 
 Why for so small a thing endure the cage? 
 
 (Looking about") 
 
 By no means golden ! I have seen his brother. 
 Oh that was paltry business spirit of Cain 
 To shut the door so tight. But then my father 
 Keeps "Welcome" o er the portals of his home 
 It is the tomb, the hospitable inn for all. 
 PRINCESS SALM What shall we do? 
 MIRAMON His majesty should never 
 
 Behold this piteous ruin 
 PRINCESS SALM Break my heart! 
 
 BASCH Is there no place to take her. 
 CARLOTTA You did err 
 
 To dawdle with the time. Be stern, my lord. 
 Oh what a love my heart has given you 
 All heaven can t contain it. Once again 
 Myself appears; remove the ghastly hood. 
 That is my face! And why the bitter speech? 
 Thou knowest well that I am satisfied ! 
 PRINCE SALM How could she get here? 
 BASCH With the cunning mind 
 
 Which oft they have who are afflicted thus 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 She has eluded all who watched the palace 
 
 And note her guise, how well designed to fool 
 
 The guards who keep the prison; then besides 
 
 None knows her here. 
 
 PRINCESS SALM How altered is that face 
 
 Which bore the stamp of noble worth and beauty. 
 
 CARLOTTA Now we ascend the throne. These are 
 
 our children, 
 
 Our subjects and the liberal throne pours out 
 Blessings and benefits. For I m sure, Madam 
 This strand of diamonds well adorns your neck. 
 We recognize your husband s worth Bazaine 
 Was it not he who sought to overthrow 
 The empire? and, my lord, except for me 
 Who held you to it, what had foiled the wretch? 
 PRINCE SALM Princess approach her and by following 
 The present mood induce her to retire 
 To yonder room; for if his majesty 
 Should enter here what horror might ensue? 
 Be quick to act! 
 
 BASCH When she is safely there 
 
 I will administer an opiate 
 So that subdued with sleep she will not cry 
 Or talk and by her most familiar voice 
 Assail his heart. 
 
 MIRAMON Yes, take her to our room 
 
 Mejia and myself on some pretext 
 We ll share his majesty s 
 
 PRINCESS SALM {Approaching her*} Your majesty, 
 Now that the business of the day is done 
 Might I accompany your majesty? 
 CARLOTTA Why have you changed your voice? 
 PRINCESS SALM It is a cold 
 
 CARLOTTA Yes, but Josepha 
 PRINCE SALM There is some one now 
 
MAXIMILIAN 139 
 
 PRINCESS SALM Your majesty 
 
 (She takes her arm) 
 
 CARLOTTA Josepha, see to that 
 
 BASCH I ll go with them. Meantime let no word fall 
 The priest who comes to see his majesty 
 Has learned her majesty is dead. In that 
 Fit ignorance let him remain; he will 
 In tender mercy tell his majesty 
 Who prays her death and knows of what we see. 
 CARLOTTA I trust you 
 
 (She laughs quietly) 
 Then I could not help my wrath 
 It was so unexpected, that embrace. 
 The ball was spoiled for me, and yet I laugh 
 But why not ride? You know the faithful Lopez 
 Stands ready to conduct my guards. I ll tell you 
 A tender secret; when his majesty 
 Last night was sleeping, I awoke and saw 
 His face so pure and boyish, rather sad, 
 And kissed him on the brow, he too awoke 
 And found me weeping 
 
 (She sighs} 
 
 Ah, did you hear it? 
 No one can sigh more deeply 
 
 ( To the others) 
 
 Fare you well 
 Tomorrow 7 we ll consider of the navy. 
 
 (She bids them adieu) 
 
 But, oh, I pray you let them kill him not 
 Will you do it? Will you do it? 
 PRINCE SALM Some one enters ! 
 
 He too takes Car lot t a s arm, who goes to the room 
 on the right with Prince and Princess Salm- 
 Salm. Enter Gen. Escobedo) 
 ESCOBEDO Where is Prince Salm? 
 MIRAMON In yonder. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 
 
 ESCOBEDO - And who else? 
 
 MIRAMON The princess. 
 ESCOBEDO And who else? 
 
 MIRAMON That s all. 
 
 ESCOBEDO (After hesitating} Go fetch him. 
 
 ( Mira?non goes in the chamber} 
 I m sorry, Tomasito, you have come 
 To this. 
 
 ( Mejia does not reply) 
 I understand you; mutely will you die 
 Without complaint. If clemency there were 
 Then should you live. 
 
 ( Mejia appears lost in r every} 
 But as for Miramon 
 His family will grieve; none others. 
 
 (Re-enter Prince Salm and Miramon) 
 PRINCE SALM Tell me 
 
 What is my fate? 
 
 ESCOBEDO Your guilt is shaded some 
 
 Because you were a school mate of this prince 
 Who played the dangerous role of emperor. 
 PRINCE SALM If you but knew him. 
 ESCOBEDO Well, and if I did. 
 
 Napoleon knew him and deserted him. 
 This Col. Lopez knew him and betrayed him. 
 PRINCE SALM But each of us would die for him, if need 
 
 be! 
 ESCOBEDO Well, everyone will have the chance to die. 
 
 (Re-enter Princess Sa/m) 
 PRINCESS SALM How horrible your words! 
 
 (She 
 
 PRINCE SALM Her heart is breaking. 
 
 ESCOBEDO It touches her, being so near at home. 
 But think you of the hearts that throb no more, 
 Upon whose dying ear the clarion lapsed. 
 Ah, yes, the suffering of your wife is tragic. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 141 
 
 But who has grieved for widowed Mexico? 
 
 Who wept to see that precious blood effused, 
 
 When Mariscali died and with his blood 
 
 Sealed with a firm compact our liberties? 
 
 Oh, hypocrites and murderers who slay 
 
 A glorious people fighting for their homes. 
 
 Why do you whine when on your hearth is laid 
 
 The bloody sword? 
 
 PRINCESS SALM Bloody it is in truth. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Sir, if your mood is prone to be so stern, 
 
 What has the emperor done to merit death? 
 
 ESCOBEDO He took a gambler s chances when he came. 
 
 Napoleon stacked the cards and gave them to him 
 
 And bought him chips and furnished him with guards, 
 
 To overawe the players cross the table. 
 
 And with the little winnings which he made 
 
 He sought to buy a sullen people s love 
 
 For all the flummery of monarchy. 
 
 And flung his coin among the craven French, 
 
 Who fawned about the throne they helped to build. 
 
 Whilst we endured privation in the hills 
 
 Nursing the life of trampled liberty 
 
 Which now defies the despot and the liar 
 
 And all who use the word imperialism 
 
 To mask the face of greed. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Oh, sir in truth 
 
 You fail to read the emperor s heart aright. 
 
 If men could only banish skepticism 
 
 The scabbard maker would find work to do. 
 
 ESCOBEDO We understand the spirit of the Prince. 
 
 The despot powers of Europe have conspired 
 
 To spatter lies upon the face of truth. 
 
 Satan s a liar and the father of it: 
 
 Therefore he sends abroad this plague of armies 
 
 Schooled in the arts of pillage and of murder, 
 
 To prop a hated rule and furnish forth 
 
142 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 The means by which a tinseled indolence 
 
 May swagger in the eyes they blur with tears 
 
 Yes, they have rilled the earth with lamentations 
 
 And plundered every clime; and Oh the fiends 
 
 How have they done it? In the Devil s name? 
 
 Sweet heaven, they have done it for religion, 
 
 For God! for order, for the good of man, 
 
 For fellowship, for liberty, for truth. 
 
 Tell me, why should we spare the fallen prince? 
 
 He who debauched the name of Mexico 
 
 He who disguised the face of despotism 
 
 With fair pretence and wreathed it o er with smiles. 
 
 Whose throne was laid on perjury, veneered 
 
 By the bright color of his private worth. 
 
 He who advised a vote of invitation 
 
 Held at the point of France s bayonets. 
 
 He who with cold idealism sought 
 
 To stab to death the spirit of republics. 
 
 He, who defied the great United States. 
 
 Who trod a path of blood to reach the throne. 
 
 Who dipped his hands in sanguine proscription. 
 
 Who hurled decrees of death at Liberals. 
 
 Who kept a patriot army in the mountains 
 
 Exiles for heaven s rights and heaven s truth. 
 
 W T hose judgment forfeited my lease of life. 
 
 Who would return to Europe to become 
 
 A rallying menace of our liberties, 
 
 Hovering above us, ready to descend 
 
 If revolution shook the popular will. 
 
 He dies! And as for you who were adviser, 
 
 Patron and pensioner of the perished empire, 
 
 The fate is yours no less, although delayed. 
 
 PRINCCSS SALM Inhuman man! 
 
 ESCOBEDO Oh, woman, for your zeal 
 
 I pass no judgment. But to show our spirit! 
 
 What shall I do with her in yonder room, 
 
MAXIMILIAN 143 
 
 Once Empress? 
 
 PRINCESS SALM (Kneeling} God in heaven, will her sex, 
 
 Not of itself, suffice to stay your hand? 
 
 ESCOBEDO Arise, for when the Mexican republic 
 
 Descends to levy war on helpless women, 
 
 Empress or maid, let the republic die. 
 
 (Enter Juarez} 
 
 To-night the president vouchsafes the aid, 
 
 The purse, the heart, the tears of Mexico, 
 
 For hapless Charlotte, empress once, no more, 
 
 The ruler of herself. 
 
 JUAREZ And so it is! 
 
 PRINCE SALM The president! 
 
 JUAREZ ( To Eseobedo^} This is the prince? 
 
 ESCOBEDO (Presenting them) The President, Prince 
 Salm-Salm. 
 
 JUAREZ Sir. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Sir. 
 
 JUAREZ You may release him. 
 
 ESCOBEDO Release him? 
 
 PRINCESS SALM Oh noble heart I kneel to you; I thank 
 you. 
 
 JUAREZ He fought for liberty with Lincoln s army 
 
 To free the slaves. He has a margin. 
 
 PRINCE SALM (Kneeling) Ah! 
 
 Your excellency. 
 
 JUAREZ I have no empty title. 
 
 To administer the laws is not to rule. 
 
 PRINCE SALM My thanks, my thanks, too deep for words, 
 my thanks 
 
 JUAREZ (To Escobedo) Of this dread coming of the 
 fallen empress 
 
 Let naught be known. 
 
 ESCOBEDO She s yonder in that room. 
 
 PRINCE SALM In heavy slumber, for her sense is van 
 quished 
 
144 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 By sleeping potions. 
 
 JUAREZ Then if it be safe 
 
 For her to stay, so that the stricken prince 
 
 Shall know not of her presence, let her be. 
 
 But otherwise with proper care and form, 
 
 Adapted to her station, sex and sorrow 
 
 Give her attendance, comfort and assistance 
 
 Where it is best. And for the morrow s task, 
 
 Have all things simple as befits republics. 
 
 Let not the deed be colored by revenge. 
 
 Prevent disorder and unseemly noise; 
 
 Instruct Gollardo so. And as I deem 
 
 It proper to come face to face with him 
 
 Who dies, at break of morning, I request 
 
 All others to depart. And one of you 
 
 Tell Maximilian that the president 
 
 Would not intrude, but fain would see him here 
 
 If he desires. 
 
 ( They all go out except Juarez. Prince and 
 Princess Salm-Salm to the room of the 
 empress. Miramon and Mejia to Maximi 
 lian s room. Escobedo without} 
 It is the people s will 
 
 I execute; it is the stern decree 
 
 Whose syllables were framed at Runnymede; 
 
 Moulded in words by William Prince of Orange, 
 
 And in the flowing ages formed of God 
 
 Until in living language it was thundered 
 
 Amidst the bells at Philadelphia. 
 
 That never in this western hemisphere 
 
 Shall there be Kings! 
 
 (Enter Maximilian} 
 (4 silence) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN You are the president. 
 
 (He extends bis hand) 
 
 Men of our rank should be impersonal. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 145 
 
 JUAREZ "Tis nobly said; I grieve to find you here. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN This is a brief confinement. I am glad 
 
 To meet you. 
 
 JUAREZ Thank you. I m relieved, indeed, 
 
 Of the embarrassment which stayed my coming. 
 
 For to intrude upon your privacy 
 
 Could not be justified. And yet despite 
 
 The comment that the action of the court 
 
 Transgressed the rules of war, I wished to say 
 
 It is the people; yes it is the spirit 
 
 Which overrules the course of polity 
 
 In all this western world, not understood 
 
 By men in Europe, w r hose remorseless sweep, 
 
 Like nature s laws, which cannot be suspended 
 
 Enforces what I sorrow to behold. 
 
 Yea what, had I the power to will it so, 
 
 Would not be done. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I clasp your hand in friendship. 
 
 May history do justice to us both. 
 
 Your premises were Washington, and mine 
 
 Were Charles the Fifth. And which were true, let God 
 
 In time determine. 
 
 [UAREZ Can I serve you aught? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Pardon my generals. They but obeyed me. 
 
 JUAREZ I cannot grant it. But yourself? 
 
 (A silence} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Well, then, 
 
 Since I was vanquished in the game of war 
 And you have given me a soldier s death, 
 I ask these things alone: 
 
 JUAREZ I hope to serve you. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Then may your soldiers truly aim at me; 
 
 (Points to bis heart} 
 And may my body rest in Austria. 
 For sir, this mind of ours, while leaping o er 
 The chasm we call death, still glances back; 
 
146 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 And with a loving thought regards the body, 
 So poor, so prostrate on the other bank 
 Mine could not sleep in Mexico. 
 JUAREZ I feel 
 
 With you in this. I shall observe your wishes. 
 MAXIMILIAN I thank you, sir. Farewell ! 
 JUAREZ Farewell! 
 
 (Exit) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN He s noble. 
 
 Like some bald peak, around whose sovereign head 
 The cold clear air reposes. Yet so stern, 
 As I should be were it a task of duty 
 
 (He sits at the table and writes. Enter twt 
 
 soldiers. One approaches him with mock 
 
 servility carrying a pillow with a paper 
 
 crown upo?^ / /) 
 
 FIRST SOLDIER I was your lackey once in Mexico. 
 Twas I who placed beneath the cushioned chair 
 The black decree. The crown! 
 
 (He kneels and holds up the pillow} 
 SECOND SOLDIER It is refused. 
 
 Then may we say the prince has been converted. 
 
 (He kneels} 
 
 I was your lackey once in Mexico. 
 Twas I who placed beneath the cushioned chair 
 The proclamation of the president. 
 And now receive the declaration writ 
 By Jefferson. 
 
 FIRST SOLDIER (Mocking him} Juarez is no more. 
 SECOND SOLDIER The Mexican republic has collapsed. 
 FIRST SOLDIER Only brigands resist the emperor. 
 
 (Enters from Maximilian s room a priest and sees 
 
 what is being done. } 
 
 PRIEST For shame! I bid you stop. Go hence at once! 
 
 ( The soldiers go out} 
 
MAXIMILIAN 147 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I thank you father. But how strange! my 
 
 comrades 
 
 Came to my chamber. 
 
 PRIEST I have learned the reason. 
 
 To take the sacrament with your majesty 
 Was their desire. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Already I had done so! 
 
 PRIEST To them but even now I did administer 
 Those solemn rites. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN If only we together 
 
 Had, as they wished, received them. Kindest father, 
 I note the absence of the archbishop. 
 Why has not Labastida come? 
 PRIEST He s gone! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN So to win favor with the president 
 He lets me die alone, save for these hearts 
 Humbler but kinder. Yet in heaven who 
 Is over all? Tis he who was the servant! 
 Therefore I bless you for these ministrations. 
 Pray for me that this wound, which only heaven 
 Knows how to heal, may pass without a scar. 
 Not loss of empire, nor my sad betrayal 
 Moves me to-night. It is the thought of her 
 Whose gentle mind was wrecked by Mexico 
 That makes the minutes flag behind despair. 
 PRIEST Then were the empress dead 
 MAXIMILIAN If she were dead! 
 
 So nevermore to feel the cruel thorns 
 That grew so thickly by the path she trod. 
 For now I leave her in this world alone, 
 Yea in this land of foes, while otherwise 
 I soon should join her there. I was but writing 
 My poor Carlotta, if God shall permit 
 Your gentle eyes to read these mournful lines, 
 Then you will learn that from a hostile sky 
 The levin-bolts fell thick around my head, 
 
148 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 Which shattered every hope. But you shall know 
 
 I faced with solemn pride the tragic end, 
 
 Died like a monarch, vanquished, not dishonored - 
 
 See that this letter reaches my Carlotta, 
 
 If ever she can read it. 
 
 PRIEST Thanks to God, 
 
 Since that your majesty has made the prayer 
 
 The empress is no more. 
 
 ( A silence. ) 
 
 MAXIMILIAN No more! 
 
 Oh, tragic news ! I thank thee, God in heaven 
 Who set my sweet Carlotta s spirit free. 
 No more! then never more to struggle here, 
 Like some bright planet buffeted with clouds. 
 One tie the less to bind me to the world. 
 No more! no more! I cannot deem her dead 
 She lives, for me as ever. 
 
 ( He is overcome. ) 
 
 PRIEST Yes, in heaven! 
 
 The love of Christ support your majesty. 
 MAXIMILIAN I am content. It is the will of God. 
 This is my wedding ring. I pray you send it 
 To my poor mother the archduchess, here 
 I give my will for you to keep. You ll find 
 Some poor bequests to those I love. How poor 
 To grace an emperor s will. There s one for you. 
 Say mass for me when I am gone. My soul 
 Would speedily repose with hers. My thanks, 
 My thanks to you. Here are my comrades. 
 
 ( Enter Miramon and Mejia. ) 
 MIRAMON Yes, 
 
 Comrades who brought your majesty to this, 
 Forgive us. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Miramon. 
 
 MIRAMON My wife and children, 
 Sweet heaven protect them ! 
 
MAXIMILIAN 149 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Answered is your prayer. 
 
 MIRAMON Ah, God inspire me with that perfect faith. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN They are remembered in my humble will. 
 
 MIRAMON My emperor, you shame our small natures. 
 
 That man s vile heart should father such a deed, 
 
 To take your noble life. For what sweet heaven? 
 
 Why are the eyes of justice turned afar? 
 
 Faugh on that logic! There is naught but law, 
 
 They captured us, and as the leaping fire 
 
 Drives on the bullet, so we die tomorrow, 
 
 Yet on this barren field of common fact 
 
 The sun-light of a glorious thought is shining 
 
 We die with you. 
 
 (Re-enter Salm-Salm) 
 SALM No ! for you may escape. 
 
 I was approached. 
 MIRAMON By whom? 
 
 SALM The officer 
 
 Who keeps the prison. And the bargain s made. 
 He wants five thousand dollars for himself, 
 Five thousand for the rest, with which to buy 
 The guards on watch. The money, once delivered, 
 A soldier comes with Liberal uniforms. 
 We put them on; we pass the door, we walk 
 Before the guards who counterfeit a sleep. 
 Four horses wait for us within the yard. 
 We mount. Put to the spurs. The darkness hides us. 
 MIRAMON Yes, but the money. Where s the money, 
 
 Prince? 
 
 They confiscated every piece of money. 
 PRINCE SALM The emperor s draft on Vienna will suffice. 
 MIRAMON We re saved! 
 
 PRINCE SALM Your majesty approves? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN I ll draw the draft. 
 
 ( He writes} 
 MIRAMON We re saved! 
 
150 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 METIA They ll take the draft and then betray. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Your majesty must execute a protest 
 
 To stop the draft, if they should break their word. 
 
 MEJIA My emperor, my brother, haste your flight 
 
 But waste no hopes on me. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Mejia, why 
 
 MEJIA I stay. My time is come! 
 
 PRINCE SALM You spoil our plans! 
 
 MEJIA Go, all of you, and leave me! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN But I wish 
 
 To save you. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Madman! 
 
 MIRAMON Stoic! 
 
 MEJIA I am glad. 
 
 For with the contents of these shrunken veins 
 
 I seal my life; and to these many years 
 
 Of war and revolution add the oath 
 
 Of sacrificial life. 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Upon me then, 
 
 His emperor, devolves the sacred duty 
 
 To minister to him; the sacrament 
 
 Hath cleansed his soul for heaven. There remains 
 
 The human voice of courage and of faith. 
 
 (He picks up a book} 
 So ere we part 
 MEJIA The Greek! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Here is the place. 
 
 PRINCE SALM Your majesty the dawn is near! 
 MAXIMILIAN There s time! 
 
 (He reads} 
 
 " Twas near the morning now. So then the guard 
 With praises for his gentleness announced 
 The fateful hour, and turned away in tears. 
 Then Socrates replied, the gods be with you 
 And turning to the others said: How kind; 
 He weeps because he knows how cheerfully 
 
MAXIMILIAN 151 
 
 I shall obey the mandate of the court 
 
 Just as I would not fly from prison." 
 
 MIRAMON Ah! 
 
 Who was this man? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN The wisest of the ancients 
 
 "Then Crito said the sun is on the mountains; 
 
 Some I have known who did not drink the poison 
 
 Till late at night. But Socrates replied: 
 
 What childish greed of life. Then took the cup 
 
 And asked the guard to tell him what to do. 
 
 Walk, said the guard, when you have drained the cup 
 
 Until you feel a heaviness of spirit 
 
 Then lie and it will work. He drank it off, 
 
 And looking with serenity at them 
 
 With solemn voice requested: Pray for me, 
 
 That through the darkness haply I may fare. 
 
 MIRAMON I scent the morning air! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN "And then he walked 
 
 Whilst all his friends were sobbing." 
 
 PRINCE SALM We must haste 
 
 MAXIMILIAN " A man should die amid a solemn stillness 
 
 The sage observed, and as he pinched himself 
 
 And knew that death was creeping to his heart 
 
 He lay him down" 
 
 PRINCE SALM Your majesty the draft! 
 
 MAXIMILIAN "And ere he covered up his ashen face 
 
 With kindliest wit he jested with his friends. 
 
 We owe a cock to Aesculapius 
 
 Do not neglect the debt. " 
 
 PRINCE SALM Your majesty 
 
 The morn is near! 
 
 ( Maximilian hands him the draft} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN {Reading} " And noble friend what else? 
 His face was set. 
 
 PRINCE SALM {Reading) "This draft was given to aid 
 General Mejia and General Miramon 
 
152 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 To fly 1 . Your majesty? 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Will pay the debt! 
 
 MEJIA Republic, revolution, empire, death 
 
 We lost the game. For losing we should die. 
 Strike out my name. 
 
 MIRAMON And mine! 
 
 PRINCE SALM (Aside} Oh madmen! 
 MAXIMILIAN My friends, may no extravagance of friend 
 ship 
 
 Bind you to me in such a solemn league. 
 Fly while you may! And let him, whom Bazaine 
 Sneered at as manakin and idealist, 
 Die all alone; and in that death to rise, 
 Like Socrates, upon the heights! And when 
 The murderous jailers come at dawn to peek 
 On fallen pride, on sorrow, on despair, 
 Let them behold the child of Charles the Fifth 
 Erect and ready. See the crownless King 
 With forehead diademed with resolution. 
 For with my blood upon this western world 
 I plant the seeds of empire, which my fathers 
 Nourished in centuries past. And they will spring 
 In armed men hereafter to avenge 
 My martyrdom. So with the Greek s contempt 
 I scorn to ask my life. Tis theirs to do 
 What justice asks, what equity demands 
 But you my friends, the life of man is sweet 
 So fly and leave me. 
 MEJIA Never 
 
 MIRAMON (After a time) Never 
 
 MAXIMILIAN Ah! 
 
 You quite unman me with this fealty. 
 If in the years to come the world shall read 
 That two convicted men marked out for death 
 Clung to the person of a fallen king 
 There will be tears and memory for you. 
 
MAXIMILIAN 153 
 
 MEJIA Give me the draft. 
 
 (He tears it up} 
 MIRAMON The east is gray with light! 
 
 (Re-enter Dr. Baschfrom the chamber} 
 BASCH (Aside to Salm) Her majesty reposes; and her 
 
 highness 
 Sleeps near her. 
 MIRAMON The sun! 
 
 (Enter Colonel Collar do and soldiers} 
 GOLLARDO The fatal hour has come. 
 
 The bandages 
 
 (He offers them bandages for the eyes} 
 MAXIMILIAN I thank you, no. 
 
 MEJIA Twere strange, 
 
 When here upon the floor the pieces lie 
 Of what had oped the doors, if we had wished, 
 I then should screen my vision from the guns. 
 Let old Juarez keep them he may need them. 
 MIRAMON Long live the emperor! 
 
 (Refuses also} 
 
 MAXIMILIAN ( To Miramon} To you belongs 
 
 The place of honor. 
 
 GOLLARDO ( To some of the soldiers} Take out the two. 
 ( Some of the soldiers escort Miramon and Mejia out} 
 MAXIMILIAN Good Basch. 
 
 ( Basch kneels and kisses his hand} 
 Farewell my prince. 
 
 ( Prince Salm kneels and kisses his hand} 
 Farewell good father. 
 
 ( The priest kneels and kisses bis hand. They all 
 
 weep} 
 Be brave. Arise. 
 
 (They all arise} 
 
 PRINCE SALM My emperor farewell 
 
 I ll follow you till death. 
 
 ( The priest holds up the crucifix and goes out. 
 
154 MAXIMILIAN 
 
 followed by Dr. Basch and Prince Salm. The 
 soldiers go out and stand at the door followed 
 by Go liar do who also stands at the door ) 
 ( Maximilian walks towards the door, stops and 
 endeavors to master his feelings. Then with 
 a look of inexpressible sorrow he lifts his 
 hand solemnly and says) 
 MAXIMILIAN Oh, man! Oh, man! 
 
 ( He goes out. The convent bells ring and through 
 the open door and the window appears the city, 
 bathed in the morning sun-light. There is 
 a general ringing of bells , and now very sud 
 denly but with a slinking movement, Lopez 
 enters, pale and nervous, he walks about rap 
 idly in a distracted manner muttering to 
 himself. Then he goes to the window and 
 clutches at the window frames ) 
 LOPEZ I will not see it. 
 
 {He stabs himself and dies. The bells continue to 
 ring. Enter Gen. Escobedo who goes to the 
 window, and not seeing Lopez s body steps 
 upon it) 
 
 ESCOBEDO Ha! the renegade 
 
 And dead! 
 
 ( He looks out of the window. Enter Carlotta 
 from the chamber and goes up to the table} 
 CARLOTTA The bells! the bells! 
 
 {A sound of musketry} 
 
 ESCOBEDO {Not seeing Carlotta} Thus are the roots of 
 liberty refreshed! 
 
 Carlotta kneels, folds her arms upon the table and 
 bows her head in her arms as if in prayer} 
 
 CURTAIN 
 
14 DAY USE 
 
 RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWE1 
 LOAN DEPT. 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 
 
 UiUJUATIQN DEPT. 
 
 General Library _ 
 University of California 
 Berkeley 
 
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 CDMEfl^fiB? 
 
 M542541