AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF MEXICO. 13 



instigated the rebellion that ultimately overthrew the government 

 and expelled the Spaniards from Mexico. All official posts in the coun- 

 try, furthermore, were filled by Spaniards, and the colonial offices 

 were regularly sold in Madrid to the highest bidder. 



In the National Museum in the city of Mexico is a nearly or quite 

 complete collection of the portraits of the fifty-six Spanish viceroys 

 who successively governed the country. The series commences with 

 a portrait of Cortes, which is said to be an original ; and, according to 

 Mr. Prescott (who prefixed an engraved copy of it to the third volume 

 of his "Conquest of Mexico"), has been indorsed by one of the best 

 Spanish authorities, Don Antonio Uguina, as the " best portrait " of the 

 conqueror that was ever executed. It is an exceedingly striking face, 

 full of character, and more quiet, contemplative, and intellectual than 

 might have been expected from his stirring and eventful career ; and as 

 the picture is neglected and apparently in a state of decay, a copy of 

 it ought at once to be acquired by our national Government and placed 

 in the Capitol at Washington ; or, in neglect thereof, by some one of 

 our historical societies. For, whatever may be the opinion entertained 

 concerning the man and his acts, there can be no question that he was 

 one of the most conspicuous characters in American history, and has 

 left his mark indelibly upon what is now no small part of the terri- 

 tory of the United States. Of the long series of portraits of his suc- 

 cessors, as they hang upon the walls of the museum, the majority 

 depicted in gorgeous vice-regal robes, and with stars and orders of 

 nobility, there is this to be said that, with few exceptions, they rep- 

 resent the most mediocre, unintellectual, and uninteresting group of 

 faces that could well be imagined. They convey the idea that nearly 

 all of the originals were men past the prime of life, whose business 

 had been that of courtiers, and who had won their appointments either 

 by court favoritism or from the supposed possession of qualities which 

 would enable them to extort from the country and its people a larger 

 revenue for the Spanish treasury than their predecessors. Among the 

 few exceptions noted are the portraits of Don Juan de Acuiia (1722- 

 1734), the only Spanish viceroy born in America (Peru), and the 

 Count de Revilla-Gigedo (1789-;1794), both of whom were unques- 

 tionably rulers of great ability, and who might also well be repre- 

 sented in the national galleries of the United States ; and the por- 

 traits of occasional ecclesiastical viceroys bishops or archbishops 

 conspicuous among their neighbors by reason of their more somber 

 vestments. The faces of these latter are not devoid of intellectuality, 

 or indications of mental ability ; but they are one and all stern, 

 unimpassioned, and with an expression of grim malevolence and big- 

 otry, which as much as says, " Woe betide any heretic, or contemner 

 of Church supremacy, who dares to question my authority ! " To which 

 may be properly added that, during nearly all the long period of Span- 

 ish rule in Mexico, the Inquisition, or " Holy Office," wielded a power 



