Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/384

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REPUBLICAN RECONSTRUCTION

    then useful and necessary to prevent the spread of pernicious ideas on matters of religious faith, and he does not fail to bring forward the horrible tortures inflicted in England and other European nations, and in the American colonies, upon both political and common prisoners, the burning of witches, etc. Zamacois lived many years in Mexico, and died there early in 1886. During Maximilian's empire he was the chief editor of El Cronista, and had likewise been previously known as a novelist. He confesses a strong affection for Mexico and Mexicans, and in his treatment of questions disconnected with Spanish interests endeavors to exercise an unbiassed judgment, feeling his responsibility, and resolving to accomplish his task honorably. On the whole, he ought to be awarded some credit for the good arrangement of events, and for much information on character, literary advancement, and many other points of real interest. Nor should mention of his industry be omitted. He states that for five years he worked daily from nine to eleven hours, and sometimes twelve hours. xviii. 1773. His last three volumes, containing no less than 3,971 pages, are devoted to the tripartite alliance, and the French intervention. Zamacois considers that the governments of the U. S., England, and France caused irreparable injury to the Mexican nation, by their lying promises of sympathy and disinterestedness.' He maintains that there are very few foreign writers who, in their narratives of those events, have not spoken with injustice of Mexico and the Mexicans. Salm-Salm, Kératry, and Domenech come under his special censure for offensive and unjust expressions, the latter being freely quoted and commented upon for his exposure of the immoralities of the Mexican priesthood and their want of enlightenment. Zamacois maintains that Domenech's assertions are false. Among the few impartial foreign writers he mentions Alberto Hans, who knew how to appreciate properly the good qualities of the sons of the country.' The typographical work throughout is good, and all the volumes are embellished with wood-cuts, a large number of them purporting to be portraits of distinguished men of Mexican history.

    Circulares y Otras Publicaciones hechas por la Legacion Mexicana en Washington durante la Guerra de Intervencion en 1862-1867. Mexico, 1868. 2 vol., pp. 507 and 408. These volumes contain a collection of circulars and other publications issued during the years 1862-1867 by Matías Romero, the enroy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Washington. They were sent to Mexico by Romero for the purpose of inspiring patriotism in the people dnring the intervention, and are of a diversified nature, including official correspondence and documents, accounts showing the sales of Mexican bonds and the purchase of war material, speeches and extracts from periodicals, and a great variety of other such matter. In vol. i., 406-48, will be found a biography of Benito Juarez, written by Un Mexicano, and in vol. ii., 306-13, is an introduction by Romero to Historia Militar del General Ulíses S. Grant, written in English by Adam Badeau, and proposed, at the suggestion of Romero, to be translated into Spanish. The names of the collectors and editors of these volumes do not appear.

    As a sequel to the above is, Correspondencia de la Legacion Mexicana en Washington...sobre la captura, Juicio y Ejecucion de Don Fernando Maximiliano de Hapsburgo, which was published in Mexico the same year by Romero, and contains his correspondence with the minister of foreign relations of the Mexican republic and the department of state at Washington relative to Maximilian's capture and execution, and also accounts of conferences hell by him with Mr Seward relative to the intervention of the U.S. on his behalf.

    L. Le Saint Guerre du Mexique 1861-1867, Lille and Paris, n. d., 89, pp. 224, is a French version of the intervention, devoted principally to sounding the praises of the French army and its leaders, as well as of Maximilian, whose course of action is warmly supported. The data relating to' military and political events are comparatively meagre, and the accounts of them favorable to the imperialists. Occasionally documents of an official character are given.