Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/172

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

156

TAKING OF THE ALHÓNDIGA OF GUANAJUATO.

tion issued by him to that effect on the 30th was unheeded, and the rioters only ceased when their work was finished. The scene in Guanajuato was pitiahle.^[1]

↑ Hidalgo has been greatly blamed for the frightful excesses, as if it had been in his power to prevent them. Robinson holds that it was not extraordinary he should permit the Indians to enjoy the first fruits of their exertions. He considered it politic to let them have palpable proofs that they would profit by the revolution; and with regard to the slaughter of the Spaniards, it was impossible for him to prevent it. Nevertheless, many Europeans and creoles owed their lives to his protection, members of these latter incurring the same danger and violence as the former, their houses being sacked and their persons exposed to continual peril. The historian Alaman narrowly escaped ill treatment if not death, and Hidalgo, in person, with the sacred banner went to the succor of him and his family. Even his authority failed to disperse the crowd bent upon plundering the wealth of a Spaniard that had been secreted in Alaman's house, and it was only by Allende freely using his sword that the mob was driven back. Hist. Mej., i. 438-41. The main authorities consulted for the above account of the taking of the alhóndiga de granaditas have been Alaman, Liceaga, and Bustamante. The testimony of Liceaga is of especial value, since he was a witness of the whole affair from the balcony of a house which commanded a view of the alhóndiga, and which he gained at the risk of his life. The object of his work Adiciones y Rectificaciones á la Historla de Mexico que escribió D. Lucas Alaman, published in Guanajuato in 1868, was, as its name implies, to correct mistakes which appear in Alaman's history, and fill up vacancies in the sequence of events by information which Alaman could not obtain. Liceaga, while complimenting Alaman for his diligence, close research, good judgment, and learning, and pronouncing his history the most complete of the kind and worthy of all appreciation, points out that in many portions of his work he had to depend upon the accounts of previous writers, which he himself asserts to be full of errors arising from the want of knowledge of some authors and the prejudiced views of others. Alaman consequently, with all his care, could not avoid falling into mistakes which Liceaga felt himself able to correct from personal observation and contact with eye-witnesses. The additions and corrections supplied by Liceaga do not form a connected history of the revolution, but they constitute a valuable supplement to Alaman's work, and throw light upon many points previously obscure. Many of his details, however, are of minor importance. His comments are generally sound, and his arguments commonly lead to correct conclusions, though more lately obtained evidence shows that occasionally his deductions have not hit the mark. With regard to the author himself, he was born in the city of Guanajuato on the 4th of July, 1785, his parents being Ramon Guillermo de Liceaga and Doña Ana Catarina de Espinosa. His early education was received in the college of la Purísima Concepcion and the convent of San Francisco in that city. In 1803 he entered the college of San Ildefonso in the city of Mexico, where he studied jurisprudence until 1806, when he commenced practical work under the licenciado Joséd Domingo Lazo. In 1810 he received his diploma from the colegio de Abogados, and during the period of the revolution followed the legal profession. After the independence, he filled several high offices in his State, being appointed magistrado decano of the Suprema Tribunal de justicia del Estado in 1824, and district judge in 1827. In 1864, after several changes of position in office, owing to his advanced age and infirmities, he retired from public life in the nominal enjoyment of his full salary, but of which he succeeded in obtaining only a small portion. Liceaga's volume covers the historical epoch of 1808 to 1824, and the work which he performed in its production extended over a period of fifteen years. He penned his final remarks on the 27th of June, 1870, exactly one week before the completion of his 85th birthday.

[1] Hidalgo has been greatly blamed for the frightful excesses, as if it had been in his power to prevent them. Robinson holds that it was not extraordinary he should permit the Indians to enjoy the first fruits of their exertions. He considered it politic to let them have palpable proofs that they would profit by the revolution; and with regard to the slaughter of the Spaniards, it was impossible for him to prevent it. Nevertheless, many Europeans and creoles owed their lives to his protection, members of these latter incurring the same danger and violence as the former, their houses being sacked and their persons exposed to continual peril. The historian Alaman narrowly escaped ill treatment if not death, and Hidalgo, in person, with the sacred banner went to the succor of him and his family. Even his authority failed to disperse the crowd bent upon plundering the wealth of a Spaniard that had been secreted in Alaman's house, and it was only by Allende freely using his sword that the mob was driven back. Hist. Mej., i. 438-41. The main authorities consulted for the above account of the taking of the alhóndiga de granaditas have been Alaman, Liceaga, and Bustamante. The testimony of Liceaga is of especial value, since he was a witness of the whole affair from the balcony of a house which commanded a view of the alhóndiga, and which he gained at the risk of his life. The object of his work Adiciones y Rectificaciones á la Historla de Mexico que escribió D. Lucas Alaman, published in Guanajuato in 1868, was, as its name implies, to correct mistakes which appear in Alaman's history, and fill up vacancies in the sequence of events by information which Alaman could not obtain. Liceaga, while complimenting Alaman for his diligence, close research, good judgment, and learning, and pronouncing his history the most complete of the kind and worthy of all appreciation, points out that in many portions of his work he had to depend upon the accounts of previous writers, which he himself asserts to be full of errors arising from the want of knowledge of some authors and the prejudiced views of others. Alaman consequently, with all his care, could not avoid falling into mistakes which Liceaga felt himself able to correct from personal observation and contact with eye-witnesses. The additions and corrections supplied by Liceaga do not form a connected history of the revolution, but they constitute a valuable supplement to Alaman's work, and throw light upon many points previously obscure. Many of his details, however, are of minor importance. His comments are generally sound, and his arguments commonly lead to correct conclusions, though more lately obtained evidence shows that occasionally his deductions have not hit the mark. With regard to the author himself, he was born in the city of Guanajuato on the 4th of July, 1785, his parents being Ramon Guillermo de Liceaga and Doña Ana Catarina de Espinosa. His early education was received in the college of la Purísima Concepcion and the convent of San Francisco in that city. In 1803 he entered the college of San Ildefonso in the city of Mexico, where he studied jurisprudence until 1806, when he commenced practical work under the licenciado Joséd Domingo Lazo. In 1810 he received his diploma from the colegio de Abogados, and during the period of the revolution followed the legal profession. After the independence, he filled several high offices in his State, being appointed magistrado decano of the Suprema Tribunal de justicia del Estado in 1824, and district judge in 1827. In 1864, after several changes of position in office, owing to his advanced age and infirmities, he retired from public life in the nominal enjoyment of his full salary, but of which he succeeded in obtaining only a small portion. Liceaga's volume covers the historical epoch of 1808 to 1824, and the work which he performed in its production extended over a period of fifteen years. He penned his final remarks on the 27th of June, 1870, exactly one week before the completion of his 85th birthday.

[1]