LETTER XXXII. 
POLITICAL HISTORY. 
Darkness hangs upon both extremes'of Mexican History. The an- 
cient story of that beautiful country is lost in the gloom of tradition ; — the 
detail of her colonial history is buried in Spanish archives ; — her revolu- 
tionary history is blotted with blood ; — her present is uncertain, and her 
future is impenetrable even to the eye of hope. 
I vi'ill take the liberty to recall to you, however, some of the prominent 
events that have recently occurred, and the character and purposes of 
those to whom the nation owes its origin. 
Cortez was the personification of a period in the development of this 
Continent. Warrior, orator, statesman, poet, historian ; — he blended in 
himself every requisite for a daring adventurer, and his success may 
well be esteemed the result of a single resolute mind over a whole Em- 
pire of mere physical force. He had the power to conceive and fashion 
his projects ; to lead and control men ; to fight ; to diplomatize with cun- 
ning foes ; to speak with fluency and eloquence to multitudes ; to sing in 
sweet verse the lay of knight or lover, and, with becoming modesty and 
grace, to tell the tale of his own achievements in phrase befitting the 
ear of an enlightened monarch.* In fact, he was, in every quality, the 
proper person to lead so bold a band of Spaniards as that which gathered 
around his standard, when he unfurled it for the conquest of Mexico. 
While the love of glory, and the enthusiasm of a bigot in religion, United 
with the most eminent loyalty to form the chief characteristics of Cortez, 
the purposes and temper of those who joined his enterprise are much more 
questionable. 
Spain required a vent for her population, and the new-found world 
afforded it. People of staid habits and regular morals were not tempted 
to the perils of an adventurous life ; but there were thousands who had 
neither means nor objects sufficient to retain them on their native soil. 
Men of mark, but broken fortunes ; rakes of old distinction, such as de- 
cay in the corrupting atmosphere of courts ; noisy and riotous young men ; 
soldiers, half bandit, half warrior ; and all the offal of a society dissi- 
♦ See the recent translation of his Dispatches to the Emperor, by Mr. Folsom, of New- York. 
