Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/309

MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH MAXWELL 297 by whose decision he promised to abide. But no such assembly could be brought together, owing to the opposition of the great majority of republicans; and the meeting of Jan. 14, 1867, consisted of only 35 notables, all but 10 of whom were opposed to the abdication. But no practical result could have been achieved under any circumstances, as the authority of Juarez was fully restored excepting in the cities of Mexico, Puebla, Yera Cruz, and Que- retaro. Besides, Maximilian's exchequer was empty, and the withdrawal of the French un- der Bazaine included even those who had en- listed in his army. Yet, instead of remaining in the capital, to which he had returned, and where there were more adequate means of re- sistance than anywhere else, he decided on re- moving to Queretaro with a single corps (Feb. 13), and offering battle to his adversaries, who speedily besieged that place. He made several gallant but unavailing sorties, and he and his soldiers were reduced to the last extremities by the exhaustion of provisions, when he decided to escape through the enemy's line (May 15). But Gen. Escobedo, having gained access to the city in the preceding night through the treach- ery of Col. Lopez, arrested Maximilian and Gens. Miramon and Mejia. After a fruitless effort to procure the intervention of the United States in his behalf, he was sentenced to death by court martial, June 13, and shot six days afterward, together with the two generals. The emperor of Austria sent Vice Admiral Tegetthoff to Mexico to convey his remains to Vienna, where they were interred in the im- perial vault, Jan. 18, 1868. His writings have been published under the title Aus meinem Leben, Reiseskizzen, ApJioriamen, &c. (7 vols., Leipsic, 1867). See also Eugene de Keratry, VEmpereur Mavimilien, son elevation et sa chute (Paris, 1867); Hellwald, Maximilian I. , Kaiser von Mexico, nebst Abriss der GescMchte des Kaiserreichs (Vienna, 1869) ; and Kendall, "Mexico under Maximilian" (London, 1872). MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH, "duke in Bavaria," a German author, born in Bamberg, Dec. 4, 1808. He is the only son of Pius Augustus, duke in Bavaria, married in 1828 the princess Louisa, a daughter of King Maximilian I., and was ap- pointed to a high rank in the army. He de- scribed his journey to the East in 1838 in his Wanderung nach dem Orient (Munich, 1839). His other works, published under the nom de plume of Phantasus, include Novellen (2 vols., 1831); Skizzeribuch (1834); the novels Jakobina (1835) and Der Stieflruder (1838) ; and Sammlung oberbaieriscTier VolTcslieder und Singweixen (1846). He has three sons and five daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, be- came in 1854 the wife of the emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. MAXIMIN (CAirs JuLirs VERTJS MAXIMLSTS), a Roman emperor, born in Thrace in the latter part of the 2d century, killed before Aquileia in 238. He was the son of a Goth by an Alan wo- man, and was brought up as a shepherd. During the passage of the emperor Septimius Severus through Thrace, on his return from the East, he attracted the attention of that monarch by marvellous feats of strength and agility, as well as by his gigantic stature, being more than 8 ft. high, and eventually able to wear the brace- let of his wife as a ring on his finger. Admitted to the army, though a barbarian, he rose from rank to rank, gained the admiration of his fellow soldiers by valor equalling his strength, and after several reigns succeeded in supplant- ing the virtuous Alexander Severus, on whose assassination by the soldiers in Gaul he was proclaimed emperor (235). He appointed his son Maximus to the dignity of Ca?sar. Though successful in his almost continual wars against the Germans, the imperial barbarian, who is said to have eaten 40 pounds of meat and drunk an amphora of wine a day, was tor- mented by a sense of insecurity, and in order to preserve his power perpetrated cruelties which surpassed those of his previous masters, Caracalla and Elagabalus. He spared none whom birth or merit exposed to suspicion. For alleged conspiracy, Magnus, a senator, was put to death, with 4,000 other persons. Sim- ple death was regarded as a favor. His rapaci- ty was no less disastrous than his cruelty, and he finally sunk under the general indignation of the provinces aroused by a wholesale con- fiscation of municipal property for the use of the imperial treasury. The insurrection broke out in Africa, where the two Gordians were proclaimed emperors. These perishing soon after, the senate proclaimed Maximus and Bal- binus their successors. Maximin, who had his winter quarters on the lower Danube, has- tened to Italy, crossed the Alps, and besieged Aquileia, but was soon murdered, together with his son, by his own soldiers. MAXWELL, James Clerk, an English physicist, born in Edinburgh in 1831. He was educated at the academy and university of Edinburgh and Trinity college, Cambridge, graduating at the last institution in 1854. In 1856 he was appointed professor of natural philosophy in Marischal college, Aberdeen, and in 1860 in King's college, London, where he remained till 1865. In 1871 he became professor of ex- perimental physics in the university of Cam- bridge. He has published " Essay on the Sta- bility of the Motion of Saturn's Rings " (Lon- don, 1859), "Theory of Heat"(12mo, 1871), and " Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism " (2 vols. 8vo, 1873). The last named work possesses much interest beyond its mere value as a scientific treatise, being a translation into mathematical form of Faraday's "Experimen- tal Researches in Electricity." Mr. Maxwell with many others regards Faraday's as a pro- found mathematical mind, although not famil- iar with technical mathematical language, and believes that many methods of research em- ployed by mathematicians could be better ex- pressed "in terms of ideas derived from Fara- day than in their original form."