having considered any questions of distinctively national character upon which the two great political parties could join issue, the session was occasionally marked by bitter debate, such as characterized former sessions, when subjects of clearly defined political issue were before both houses. In this connection a few members of the Senate, viz., Messrs. Hoar, Logan, and Evarts, distinguished themselves, and the Republican party has not been made any stronger by their course. New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, (Ind.), August 6. [Translated for PUBLIC OPINION.]

PRESENTED in its entire circumference, the truth can not be suppressed that the qualitative of achievements is, in an extraordinary degree, inferior to the qantitative. As regards the rest, this is the rule rather than the exception in Congressional performances generally. Whether the present deserves more condemnation than commendation, it will not be forgotten next fall, when the people are to sit in judgment upon it, that the greater blame for its shortcomings attaches to Republicans, whose majority in the Senate troubled itself precious little about the people's welfare, but-in spite of Sherman's closing speech-were chiefly interested in laying a pitfall for the Democratic administration and Democratic House.

Philadelphia Ledger (Ind.), August 9.

It was a great oversight in the Senate at the late session not to tack an amendment to a House bill to give everybody every thing; and it was an equal piece of negligence in the House not to pass a bill to distribute pro rata all the money in the Treasury, and to give a pension to every member of every soldier's family, and to the sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, aunts, nieces, and newhews of every person who ever knew a soldier. A few comprehensive measures of this kind might have settled for a year or two the question, What shall we do with the surplus ?

Galveston News (Dem.), August 6.

It was a worthless session. Controlled by the Democrats, the House made no serious effort to carry out the pledges made by the last Democratic convention. The effort to reform the tariff was largely farcical. The oleomargarine bill was a contemptible piece of demagogism unworthy of the American Congress. The river and harbor bill will cost the tax-payers as much as usual, and no doubt be as barren of any profitable results. There is no reason why the work of the session could not have been done in a week. If the Republicans should capture the next House, the Democrats of the present House have only themselves to thank for it.

Courrier des Etats-Unis (Ind.), New York, August 6.
[Translated for PUBLIC OPINION.]

THERE were no very notable incidents on the last day of the session, unless it be that immediately after the arrival of the messenger bearing to the House the river and harbor bill clothed with the President's signature there was a general exodus of members who rushed into the refreshment room in order to celebrate the good news. But warned by the experience of former years, the Speaker had given orders not to sell any intoxicating liquors, so that legislators and visitors (their guests) were obliged to content themselves with lemonade and other refreshing drinks.

Las Novedades (Ind.), New York, August 6.

[Translated for PUBLIC OPINION.]

THE judgment pronounced upon the labors of Congress by our American colleagues does not escape the common lot of those Congresses which have preceded it; political ideas and affinities entering very largely into this judgment, and impressing themselves upon their respective organs of opinion to such a degree that that which, by some of them is qualified as one of the most useless and unprofitable of sessions, is believed or affirmed by others to have far surpassed in the utility of its legislative enactments the work of the last Republican Congress.

Nashville American (Dem.), August 6.

LOOKING at it from a party standpoint, the Democratic party unquestionably carries off the greater honors. The forfeiture of unearned land grants, the appropri-. ation of the surplus in the treasury to the payment pro tanto of the national debt, the effort, supported by a large majority of Democrats, to reduce the tariff, though defeated by a combination of a few with the Republicans, may be set down to their credit. For the opposition of a majority of its members to all these and other wholesome measures, the Republican party will have to answer.

Charleston News and Courier (Dem.), August 7.

THE session of Congress has been one of the most barren ever known in the history of the country. Outside of the regular appropriation bills necessary for carrying on the expenses of the Government, and, perhaps, less than a half dozen other measures, there is nothing whatever of consequence to show for the protracted session. The two houses might have met and passed the appropriation bills and adjourned, all within a fortnight, with far more credit to themselves than has been acquired by remaining in session for months.

Bradstreet's, August 7.

THE session of Congress cannot be said to have been a very profitable one for the country. It has, indeed, been more than usually unproductive, regard being had to the amount of actual legislation accomplished. The session has not been devoid of activity, but much of that activity has been resultless, partly owing to the unpractical nature of the activity itself, partly owing to the fact that the two Houses have not been in political accord, and partly owing to the disagreement of the Executive with both Houses.

Der Deutsche Correspondent (Dem.), August 5.
[Translated for PUBLIC OPINION.]

THE first session of the Forty-ninth Congress has not been so entirely fruitless. Let it not be forgotten that Congress has regained dominion over hundreds of thousands of acres of territory of which it had been despoiled; has begun to build

up a new fleet, and has passed every law submitted to it for the amelioration of the condition of the laboring class. And it must be reckoned not least among the achievements of that much-reviled body that it has not passed one single measure in behalf of the monopoly.

St. Paul Press (Rep.), August 6.

THE Congress whose first session adjourned yesterday might have done worse. It could hardly have wasted time more ingeniously. It could hardly have made itself more ridiculous. But it might easily have done more active mischief. It could hardly have enacted less useful and important legislation, but it might have passed more bad bills. This is something to be thankful for. The only bill of large national importance which has become a law is that to regulate the Presi dential succession.

Wisconsin State Journal (Rep.), August 7.

ONE more session, and that a short one, will close out the Forty-ninth Congress, a legislative body memorable mostly for what it has not done; for its abuse and neglect of grand opportunities; for the predominance in its popular branch of a most incongruous and wrong-headed set of partisans, practically intent only upon perpetuating their own power, and concerning themselves with the problem of how best to distribute the patronage of a Democratic Administration.

Illinois State Journal (Rep.), August 6.

THE greatest point of value the country will find in the session is the new dem onstration of the fact that the Democrats have no policy, and that every issue upon which the party professes to stand is one upon which the President and the majority of his constitutional advisers hold grounds directly antagonistic to those of the leaders of the party in Congress. With such an exhibition of the Democracy, the country takes leave of the long session.

Troy Press (Dem.), August 6.

DURING a week or ten days before adjournment the House rallied and did a good deal of work, and good work, too. This shows what it might have done if it had shown greater earnestness and industry earlier in the session. While much that was desirable has been left undone, it can not be denied that the record does not look so bad as it gave promise of looking ten days ago.

New York Sun (Dem.), August 6.

Nor one dollar has been voted for sea-coast defenses, and only a meagre provision has been made for the construction of a new navy. Yet the aggregate of appropriations voted at the first session of the Forty-ninth Congress is $265,000,ooo-the largest total, with a single exception, in any year of peace since the Government began to exist.

We do not think that this session can fairly be regarded as unprofitable beyond precedent, or as being more deserving than many other sessions of the kind of condemnation which a great many of our esteemed contemporaries of all parties and no parties are bestowing upon it.—Philadelphia Telegraph (Rep.), August 6. THE responsibility for failure to enact legislation worthy the name must lie mainly at the door of the Democratic House. The Senate was well up in its work throughout the session, and acted with reasonable promptness and courage upon many matters of national importance.—Milwaukee Wisconsin (Rep.), August 6. No, there is no reason for grumbling at the Democratic party for spending so much money. What the party can fairly be accused of is, that while spending more money than any preceding Congress since the war, the country has "nothing to show for it," as the expression goes.-Brooklyn Times (Rep.), August 5.

THE river and harbor bill, with its big jobs, has got through. Fortunately, Blair's education, pension, and prohibition vagaries have failed of statutory completion. Such are the main features of the record, which contains nothing to make the people regret the adjournment.—Chicago Tribune (Rep.), August, 6.

THE Democratic party, as represented in Congress, is a reform party only in name. Its mission is to kill, not to cure. It sought to break down the tariff, but failing in that, it refused to trouble itself with the reforms that are needed, and which it had power to effect.-Philadelphia Press (Rep.), August 6.

THE Country heartily approves the course the Republican Senate has followed. This majority, representing great Northern and Southern and Eastern and Western interests, has labored for the best results to the entire public service.—Chicago Inter-Ocean (Rep.), August 6.

THE failure of Congress to relieve the people of the onerous war taxes that still press on them-twenty years after the necessity for them has ceased-is due to the dogged action of the Republican majority in the Senate.-The Irish Ameri can (Dem.), for August 14.

THE party responsible for the conduct of the Government has not displayed any capacity for the discharge of its duties, and a great part of the session was consumed in a fruitless wrangle of its factions over the tariff.-Pittsburgh CommercialGazette, (Rep.), August 6.

THE important measures passed might almost be counted on the fingers of one hand, and aside from the appropriation bills they certainly could be. Even of these important measures, all can not be conceded to have been good.-Pittsburgh Dispatch (Ind.), August 6.

committee's final work lopped off several of the bill's worst features, but it contains scores of jobs which Mr. Cleveland would surely have vetoed if they had come to him in separate pieces of legislation. It is unfortunate that he did not have time to make a careful and independent examination of them. If he had done so, he would undoubtedly have either vetoed the entire bill or at least have sent to Congress a message pointing out the defects in it. Such a message would surely have contained some instructive observations about the log-rolling methods by which such a bill is made.

Philadelphia Inquirer (Rep.), August 7.

As a party measure the river and harbor appropriation bill is already complained of as badly devised and inefficient. The trouble with it is that it does not put money where it will do the most good. The bulk of the fourteen million odd dollars appropriated is distributed through the Southern States, where the Democracy is certain of control anyway. The party doesn't need any funds to carry the South; that whole section is safe and solid, and yet the South gets nearly all the cash, while many and many a doubtful "deestrict" in the North, where a little lucre would be of incalculable advantage, doesn't get a cent.

Pittsburgh Press (Ind.), August 7.

It has of late years come to be the fashion with certain people who know nothing about the subject to condemn every river and harbor bill as a "job," or a series of "jobs" strung on one stick. It is to the credit of President Cleveland that he pays no attention to such clamor, but signs the bill because he believes it to be meritorious. His action in this, as in signing the honest butter bill, is in the nature of a surprise to the wiseacres who knew he was opposed to both. His sign seems quite as surprising to some as his no sign to others. After it is done is the safest time to say what he will do.

Brooklyn Union (Ind.), August 5.

Nor having the power to veto separate items in it, the President had to make choice between withholding necessary appropriations and allowing a certain amount of jobbery. Though there may be room for criticism of his action, it is the system by which he is not allowed to separate good items from bad ones that must chiefly be held responsible when the bad items are not numerous or large enough clearly to warrant disapproval of all. The bill and his approval of it will escape the judgment that they are scandalous as far as they fall short of being creditable.

New York Sun (Dem.), August 7.

THE specially vicious and dangerous feature of this act is that of having collected all sorts of indefensible items, until it was too monstrous to have any chance of enactment, and then resorting to the trick of saving most of the bad items by scaling down all, good, bad, and indifferent. We have before expressed the conviction that no bill constructed on this outrageous plan ought to become a law, and see nothing whatever in the actual results to change this opinion. Mr. Cleveland should have vetoed the job.

Railway World, August 7.

RIVER and harbor legislation embodies appropriations for so many good, bad, and indifferent objects that the necessity of clear lines of distinction between important classes of such works that should or should not be undertaken is yearly increasing. A number of the outlays have proven very useful, and it is to be hoped that the continuance of appropriations for meritorious work will be intermingled with a comparatively small amount of useless or improper expenditures.

New Yorker Staats-Zeitung (Ind.), August 6.
{Translated for PUBLIC OPINION.]

IN regard to several of its appropriations the President entertains a doubt, but the requisite time was wanting to institute more exact inquiries into these particulars. And here the conviction again obtrudes itself that a longer delay should absolutely be accorded the President for the consideration of bills of this character, as likewise the necessity of an amendment to the Constitution by which he be empowered to veto individual items in such statements of account.

Mobile Register (Dem.), August 7.

IT is with a feeling of deep gratification that we note that the President has approved the river and harbor bill. There are probably a few objectionable features, but they are small when compared with the mass of useful and important items. The House eliminated the jobs put in by the Senate. The President has acted wisely, and with an eye to the public good. He has not been influenced by the clamor of railroad organs.

Florida Times-Union (Dem.), August 7.

THE canal jobs have been to a great extent eliminated from it; the only objection that remained was that there were items in it appropriating money for creeks and coves that did not rise to the dignity of rivers and harbors. But is was not worth while to sacrifice such public works as the St. Johns jetties, the Cumberland Sound improvements, New York harbor, etc., for the sake of killing them.

SO LONG as the log rolling clique can blend their predatory schemes with projects of real merit, and compel the adoption or rejection of the entire mass, it is vain to hope for any abatement of public stealing, and of the abominable system of dicker which has been established between the House and the Senate.-Newark News (Dem.), August 6.

THE only way in which a reform can be had in the river and harbor extravagance is for the President to veto every bill of that sort that comes up until Congress passes a law which will enable him to veto sections of a measure without invalidating the whole.- Washington Hatchet (Ind.), August 7.

IF the President had taken the bold ground that even one flagrant job, like that of Sabine Pass, was an adequate reason for a veto, we have not the slightest doubt that public opinion would have sustained him in his position.—New York Evening Post (Ind.), August 6.

It would have been better for the Administration, and better for the country, if the President had exercised as strict scrutiny over the $14,000,000 river and harbor bill as he did over $8 pension bills.-New York World (Dem.), August 8.

THE only good thing that can be said for it, as a whole, is that it is cheaper by several millions than any thing which we were accustomed to receive under Republican administrations.—Cincinnati Enquirer (Dem.), August 6.

It is not so good as it might be; it has been made much better than it was; it is not bad enough to justify a veto. We think Mr. Cleveland did well in the circumstances.-Brooklyn Eagle (Dem.), August 7.

It is, probably, about the best bill that could have been fashioned into law. Washington Post (Dem.), August 6.

THE President could hardly do otherwise than sign the river and harbor bill.— Brooklyn Times (Rep.), August 5.

A VARIETY OF ISSUES.

Washington Star (Ind.), August 7.

THE Congressional campaign is now opening, and the politicians are proclaiming aloud the issues of the day. Issues, in fact, are to a politician what meat is to a butcher and cloth to a tailor-his stock in trade. A brief inspection of the new political advertisements is sufficient to show that the country is not to suffer for any lack of variety in the way of issues next autumn. It is also observable that these differ according to latitude and longitude. Mr. Hewitt, of New York, says the only great question is revenue reform. Mr. Hiscock, of the same State, clings to the tariff issue. Col. Morrison frankly says that the main issue in his part of the country "is to beat the other fellows." Mr. Lanham, of Texas, endeavors to erect the Mexican war into the highest rank. In Nebraska, Georgia, and Rhode Island clusively interested in the subjects of interstate transportation and land grants. prohibition is the great thing at present, while the Iowa people are said to be exSenator Harrison says that the leading issue in Indiana is the recent gerrymandering of the State by the Democrats; while, according to Mr. Butterworth, the Payne incident will furnish forth the bulk of the ammunition for the Ohio speakers. Mr. Belmont thinks there is nothing in all these matters, and that reform in our foreign policy is the main thing to bring to the attention of the populace. Labor and capital is Mr. Findlay's theme, and the Chinese question Mr. Felton's, while Mr. Collins, of Boston, bluntly declares that there are no issues at all. Among such an abundant variety the average citizen will have no difficulty in suiting his political

taste.

THREATENING THE LAW OFFICERS.
Chicago News (Ind.), August 7.

IN the editorial from Most's paper, the Freiheit, reproduced in Thursday's issue of the Daily News, our readers were enabled to judge how the vicious crew of American anarchists view the lawful conservators of American society. The judge, the counsel for the people, and the jury were held up to the ignorant dupes of Most as judicial scoundrels engaged in an infamous work. Mr. Grinnell, especially, came in for the fiercest abuse the pen of this fugitive from transatlantic justice could command. "The beast called Grinnell," and the abominable Grinnell," are specimen epithets applied by the Freiheit to the man who to-day is simply, bravely, and

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE LAST MOMENTS OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN.

THE widow of General Miramon, who was Maximilian's fellow-captive, and perished with him, has written her memoirs. They are still unpublished, but one of our friends has read several parts of the manuscript, and among others, the last act of the drama (June 19, 1867). The following is this thrilling chapter.-Ed. of "De Figaro."

The prisoners had been incarcerated in the Capuchinas convent, a heavy, square, stone building, solidly constructed after the ordinary style of Spanish convents. On the first story, looking over a high-walled, narrow court-yard, a corridor, ten metres long and three wide, gave access to three cells. They still bore the names which the Capuchin sisters had given to them, and the first, called the "eleven thousand virgins," was occupied by General Mejia; that of "Santa Rosa" by Miramon; while the other, "Santa Ecresa," more spacious, and which advanced on to the corridor, was destine for the emperor. The cloister's austerity was still apparent in the interior of these cells, transformed into prisons. A stone floor, whitewashed walls, an iron folding bedstead, two or three chairs, a table, and a washstand, of the most simple description. It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and the emperor was dining. Seated on the side of his bed, he held a basin between his knees, in which he placed the dishes. On the small deal table a chandelier bore several lighted candles, lighting the cell up brightly, and on the clear background of the plain and dingy walls Maximilian's shadow stood out in bold relief. At his side were General Miramon and Madame Miramon, both silent, each absorbed in their own sorrow. The general, overwhelmed by the humiliations he had undergone in his long hours of imprisonment and of struggle in defense of his honor-not of his life, which he knew too well to be in the power of pitiless enemies-profoundly felt all the devotedness of his wife, and his affection for her was only the greater. He held her hand in his, and softly, perhaps involuntarily, he carried it to his lips. The movement had not escaped the emperor's notice, and tears sprang to his eyes. The general and his wife, much moved, thought that a recollection of the empress had caused this sudden pain. "No," said Maximilian, "but I only knew too late how devoted you were to me, and I suffer at being the cause of your separation." "Ah, sire," replied Miramon, "if I had listened to my wife's advice I should not be here now.' "" "I am here because I listened to the advice of mine," rejoined Maximilian. ***The 16th of June, toward mid-day, the prisoners were breakfasting. Madame Miramon was at her husband's side, when the fiscal, Aspiroz, entered the cell and announced to them that the indulto had been rejected, and that they would be executed at three o'clock in the afternoon of that same day. General Miramon reproached the fiscal, Aspiroz, with giving them this order in the presence of his wife, and he begged the latter and Madame Cobo to withdraw and prepare his death bed. He requested them to have his body buried in the San Fernando cemetery, at Mexico, by the side of his father's tomb, and to place his heart in an urn, which should be deposited at the foot of the tomb of General Osollo, one of his first and best friends. Madame Miramon left the cell with Madame Cobo, heart-broken, to fulfill their sad mission. Miramon wrote several letters. He said to General de Partcarroyo: "I am going to die in three hours' time, although they have been unable to bring forward any proof of the act of treason with which they charge me to justify my condemnation; but I was doomed to die, and it would surely have come to this sooner or later." The condemned men dressed themselves in full mourning, all three wearing a black frock coat and black trousers. General Mejia alone wore the faja round his waist, mark of his rank of general. They quitted their cells and waited in the narrow corridor the order to march to their death.*** Three o'clock was striking. The troops were under arms, and the courtyard literally swarmed with soldiers. They were waiting for orders froml headquarters. The time passed slowly in this cruel delay. The heat was stil. heavy and depressing, the usual vague sounds from the busy little town were comf pletely covered by the clashing of the officers' scabbards, and their shouting of orders to their men. Half-past three struck. Some minutes before four one of General Escobedo's aides-de-camp at last appeared. He carried an order to suspend the execution for three days. Madam Miramon, who had gone home, was waiting in tears for her husband's corpse to arrive The hours passed slowly in sanguinary visions and dull anguish, when suddenly some people entered the courtyard. They came to tell her of the respite accorded to the condemned men. returned to her husband's cell, but, so as to spare her the terrible trials she had just passed through, and which would shortly recommence, the general asked her to go to San Luis Potosi and beg Juarez to pardon him. She would, perhaps, succeed in obtaining it, now that, morally, he had already passed through the threshold of death. She did not like going, for in three days she could not be back. The emperor insisted. On Monday, June 17, Madame Miramon took the diligence to go to San Luis. She was fortunate in winning to her cause the lawyers Rive Palacio and Martinez de la Corre, Maximilian's defenders, the ministers of Austro-Hungary and Prussia, and the Juarist General Jeromino Trivino, whose noble sentiments never once belied themselves. His entreaties were even so pressing that Juarez, moved, was hesitating, when M. S. Leido de Cejado appeared. Juarez's minister for foreign affairs was short in height, bald, nose aquiline, mouth small and slightly twisted. "It is to-day, or never, Monsieur le President, that you will consolidate the peace of the republic.' The emperor living, it meant the empire. General Miramon was young and bold; he was, incontestably, the most able soldier in Mexico. General Mejia, of pure native race, was a brave soldier, who enjoyed the greatest popularity among the Indians of the Cordillerasthe Siena. It was absolutely necessary that these three men should disappear. Juarez, strengthened in his first resolution, decided that the execution should be maintained for the 19th. The eve of the execution, Colonel Palacio, charged with the guard of the prisoners, whose good graces he had been fortunate enough to obtain, entered the cell of Miramon, who questioned him: "Well, Colonel, where is the place of execution to be?" "I do not know, General." "I think they have chosen the Cerro de las Campanas." "I think so, too," stammered the colonel,

"

She

*

*

"Well, so much the better; it is an important point." Miramon sat up until midnight, at which hour M. Lombardo, Madame Miramon's brother, brought him a telegram from his wife, containing these words: "All is lost; farewell, until we meet in heaven. Coucha de Miramon." The general crushed the telegram up in his hand. "I only regret existence on my poor wife's account. Go," he said to M. Lombardo, "be to-morrow on the Cerro with the other friends who have promised to assist at the execution, and bring a sheet with you to cover my body from the vulgar gaze." Miramon slept three hours; he then rose, drank a cup of chocolate, and dressed himself with care; at six o'clock he was ready to start, accompanied by a priest, M. Ladron de Guevara. In the corridor he found Maximilian bidding his lawyer, Eulalio Ortega, farewell. The sun was already high in the heavens, and his warm beams shot down brilliantly on to the Queretaro valley; flashes of sunlight penetrated into the narrow courtyard of the convent. "What a splendid day, Don Eulalio!" said Maximilian; "it is on such a day as this I should have chosen to die." A few bugle-notes were heard, and Maximilian, not knowing how to interpret them, questioned Miramon: " Miguel, will that be for the execution? "I have not the slightest idea, sire; it will be the first time I' shall ever have been shot." This reply brought a smile to the emperor's lips. * The moment had come; each of the condemned men mounted into the carriage which awaited them, and they traversed the streets of Queretaro in the midst of a motley multitude who, respectful and afflicted, crowded round on their passage; handkerchiefs were waved, and now and again a sound of sobs would reach the prisoners' ears. The condemned men bowed on each side as they recognized in the crowd many a familiar face. Some minutes before seven o'clock they arrived on the Cerro de las Campanas, a little more than a half a mile distant from the town; here they descended from the carriage, walked on foot half-way up the hill called the Cerro de las Campanas, and turned their backs against a clump of cactus. The general in command of the troops, S. Garcia de Leon, caused an order of the day to be read, making it a penalty of death for any persons who should try to prevent the execution, and the prisoners were then given leave to address the crowd. The sun was by now high in the blue sky, glowing over the profound azure of the lofty mountains and bathing the valley with an intense flood of light and heat. The Cerro, like an immense rock thrown in the valley, stood forth bare and yellow-looking, green in places, with patches of cactus and nopals; a square of 4,000 men surrounded the base of the hill with its regular lines, and its uniforms and bayonets glittering in the sun. Outside the medley of the undulating crowd, toward the west, on the prairie, stretched away the long and powderly ribbon of the Celaya road; toward the east appeared the lines of the white houses of Queretaro, all nearly covered with foliage and surmounted with numerous cupolas and crosses; in the far distance the dim, bluish outline of the Cordilleras. The officer in command of the file of execution approached Maximilian, and asked his pardon for having to fulfill his duty. The emperor distributed several pieces of gold bearing his effigy to the soldiers, recommending them not to aim at his face. He then embraced the Generals Mejia and Miramon, and as the latter had placed himself on his right, he said to him aloud: "Brave men should be respected by their sovereigns to the brink of the grave. General, pass to the place of honor." Mira mon stepped to the center. Then, with a firm voice, the emperor addressed the crowd: Mexicans! Men of my race and origin are born either to make a peo. ple's happiness or to be martyrs. God grant that my blood may be the last shed for the redemption of this unhappy country. Long live Mexico!" Immediately General Miramon, at the top of his voice, as when he commanded his troops on the battle-field, cried: "Mexicans! Before the court-martial my defenders only sought to save my life. At the moment I am about to appear before my God I protest against the name of traitor, which they have thrown in my face to justify my condemnation. Let this spot of infamy be removed from my children's name, and God grant that my country may be happy. Long live Mexico!" General Mejia raised his eyes toward the heavens: "Very Holy Mother, I beseech thy Son to pardon me, as I pardon those who are about to sacrifice me." A volley rung out from the file of soldiers, and, amidst the cloud of smoke, which slowly drifted away, Maximilian appeared writhing convulsively in a pool of blood, and groaning, Hay Hombre!" The coup de grâce put him out of his agony.-Translated from the Paris Figaro.

CELEBRATING THE FIVE HUNDRETH BIRTHDAY OF SWISS FREEDOM.-The little republics of shepherds, about 600 years ago, entered into a solemn alliance for mutual defense, ratified that alliance by an oath, and hence called themselves "Eidgenossen" (Companions of the Oath), by which name, or its Latin representative, "Confederates," they still always address one another in public meetings, rather than as Swiss, a name taken from that of one of the republics or cantons which first entered the Confederation, that of Schwyz. In process of time several neighhoring communities, including the important trading city of Zurich, joined themselves to the shepherd canton. Not far away, in what is now the flourishing canton of Aargau, the fruitful valley of the river Aar, rose the proud castle of Hapsburg (its ruins are still to be seen), the owners of which became Dukes of Austria, and constantly strove to reduce the Confederates to the position of vassals. In this endeavor in 1315 the then Duke of Austria met with a severe defeat in the Pass of Morgarten, and in 1386, on July 9, a still more terrible overthrow on the shores of the lake of Sempach. On that fatal day more than one thousand princes, counts, barons, and knights fell, including Duke Leopold of Austria himself, to say nothing of their humbler retainers. It was the birthday of Swiss freedom. The Swiss all the world over, just as their hearts bound at the sound of the Alpine horn, and as they yearn after their native land with its fertile valleys, its lakes, glaciers, and sky-cleaving peaks covered with eternal snow, look back to the battle of Sempach as to the day which secured freedom to their fathers. It was, therefore, no wonder that when half one thousand years had passed away, nearly forty thousand people should assemble upon the battle-field, including the president and vice-president of the Confederation, the highest officers of the federal courts of justice and of the federal army, as well as numerous representatives of both houses of the federal legislature. Divine service was celebrated with great solemnity just outside the little battle chapel, erected where Duke Leopold fell, and