2 



PREFACE. 



merous works have been written to sketch the story of individual ad- 

 venture, or to portray the most interesting physical features of various 

 sections of the republic. Thus by war and literature, by ancient cu- 

 riosity and political sympathy, by geographical position and commer- 

 cial interest, Mexico has become perhaps the most interesting portion 

 of the world to our countrymen at the present moment. And I have 

 been led to believe that the American people would not receive unfa- 

 vorably a work designed to describe the entire country, to develop its 

 resources and condition, and to sketch impartially its history from the 

 conquest to the present day. 



It has been no ordinary task to chronicle the career of a nation for 

 more than three centuries, to unveil the colonial government of sixty- 

 two Viceroys, to follow the thread of war and politics through the 

 mazes of revolution, and to track the rebellious spirit of intrigue amid 

 the numerous civil outbreaks which have occurred since the downfall 

 of Iturbide. The complete Viceroyal history of Mexico is now for 

 the first time presented to the world in the English language, while, 

 in Spanish, no single author has ever attempted it continuously. Free 

 from the bias of Mexican partizanship, I have endeavored to narrate 

 events fairly, and to paint character without regard to individual 

 men. In describing the country, its resources, geography, finances, 

 church, agriculture, army, industrial condition, and social as well as 

 political prospects, I have taken care to provide myself with the most 

 recent and respectable authorities. My residence in the country, and 

 intimacy with many of its educated and intelligent patriots, enabled 

 me to gather information in which I confided, and I have endeavored 

 to fuse the whole mass of knowledge thus laboriously procured, with 

 my personal, and, I hope, unprejudiced, observation. 



I have not deemed it proper to encumber the margin of my pages 

 with continual references to authorities that are rarely consulted by 

 general readers, and could only be desired by critics who would often 

 be tantalized by the citation of works, which, in all likelihood, are not 

 to be found except in private collections in the United States, and some 

 of which, I am quite sure, exist only in my own library or in the 

 Mexican Legation, at Washington. Such references, whilst they oc- 

 cupied an undue portion of the book, would be ostentatiously and te- 

 diously pedantic in a work of so little pretension as mine. I may 

 state, however, that no important fact has been asserted without au- 

 thority, and, in order to indicate the greater portion of my published 

 sources of reliance, I have subjoined a list of the principal materials 

 consulted and carefully verified in the composition of these volumes. 

 Nevertheless, I have perhaps failed sometimes to procure the standard 

 works that are accessible to native or permanent residents of the 

 country, and thus, may have fallen accidently into error, whilst hon- 

 estly seeking to shun misstatement. If those whose information 



