Henry George Ward

“ Like the letter of the Viceroy Calleja, and the representation of the Mexican Audiencia to the Cortes, to which I shall have occasion to allude in the next book, I see no reason to question their authenticity; and, where this is the case, nothing tends to throw so strong a light upon the causes of a revolution, as such documents. They are better than a thousand theories, the result merely of private opinions, more or less warmly expressed; for, without pretending to establish any system, they enable every one to form his own upon a basis, the stability of which there is no reason to doubt. ”

“ In the other parts of the town, some cumbrous furniture was occasionally to be met with, as bedsteads, presses, and tables, painted, varnished, and inlaid at a vast expence, but of a most uncouth shape, and generally as little calculated for comfort, as for ornament. All the other contents of the shops appeared to be European, but the supply was scanty, and the price enormous. Nature, on the other hand, as if to compensate the want of the luxuries of the Old World, appeared to have been most munificent in her gifts. ”

“ Nowhere has any American been known to insult a European, but the reverse. In every province, Americans were tried and thrown into prison, on pretence of being disaffected to Spain, and yet not one of the many Europeans who insulted the Americans, even in public places, was chastised. In them it was a crime only to show themselves well disposed towards the Creoles, or to commiserate their oppression. For this the most respectable men amongst them were arrested, and even a Viceroy himself deposed. ”

“ You forget Europe and all the mingled advantages and restraints of civilization, and trusting to your horse for carrying you to the place of your destination, and often to your gun for a meal upon the way, you care neither for mountains nor rivers, but take at once the shortest and the most picturesque road, or branch off to the east or the west, at pleasure, should there be any thing, on either side, to attract attention. ”

“ The war affords the Insurgents an opportunity of knowing Foreign Powers, with whom they form connexions, and from whom they receive aid: the war, in fine, destroys, in detail, our little army, either by the fruitless fatigues of a campaign under the present system, or by exposing it to the influence of seduction, to which the apparent remoteness of our success gives but too much room, and the effects of which are felt even amongst the European soldiers, without its being possible for the Government either to replace them or the arms which they generally carry off. ”

“ Still there was a feeling in the country so decidedly in favour of the Independent cause,—a feeling so strong, so universal, (as was proved four years later,) that had Mina succeeded in awakening it, his success would have been almost certain; but he struck the wrong chord. He was a Spaniard, and, very naturally, did not forget the land of his birth, nor wish to deprive it of the most precious jewel in its Crown. ”

“ In general, the Mines both of Capula and Chico (with the exception of Arevalo) are poor; and although, where one good mine has been discovered, others may be found, there are so many districts in which the chances of success are greater, that the investments made by the New Mexican, United Mexican, and Anglo-Mexican Companies, in the inferior Mines of Chico and Real del Monte, appear to me to belong to that class of injudicious experiments into which Foreign Adventurers were betrayed, in the beginning of 1825, by the absurd competition for contracts which the mining mania in England created. ”

“ I know few sensations more pleasing in life than those which I have experienced when starting, thus accompanied, upon one of my long expeditions, with all my party well mounted, a few spare mules and horses driven before us, and the certainty of finding, after traversing a new country, in the principal object of the journey, enough to gratify curiosity, and often to remove unpleasant doubts. There is something so wild and independent in the whole thing, that there are few people, who have stamina enough to support the fatigue, that do not learn to enjoy it. ”

“ Without the riches of the Europeans, he could not pay his own debts, much less undertake an expensive war: without these same riches as a bait, he could not gratify that thirst for plunder which possessed the immense legions by which he was followed. Besides, it was as difficult to establish independence while the Europeans remained in power, as it was to prevent these vile and cruel traitors from giving loose to their rage against those who had from the first opposed its establishment. ”

“ It is quite melancholy to see magnificent rows of columns, windows, and doors, completely out of the perpendicular, with walls and staircases cracking in every direction. The roof, too, in some places, and the ceilings in almost all, are falling in, and a very few years will complete the destruction of this noble edifice, which ought to have served as a monument of the wealth and magnificence of the miners of New Spain, at whose expence it was erected. ”

“ Slavery rests upon the supposed natural inferiority of the slave to his master; to admit the manumitted slave to a participation of political rights, in common with his former lord, would destroy this basis altogether; and the Free Black is, therefore, not only exiled from the society of the Whites, but excluded most carefully from power; not by law, indeed, but by virtue of common usage; for the law, in general, does not recognize any difference of colour, or establish any distinction, except that of slave-owner and slave. ”

“ A town entirely abandoned by its inhabitants, must be, at all times, a strange, and a mournful sight; but when to this unnatural solitude are added the marks of recent warfare, houses riddled with shot, churches half in ruins, and flights of vultures, congregating around the carcase of some dead animal in the streets, it is difficult to imagine a more striking picture of desolation. ”

“ In the course of that year, the declaration of the Army in favour of Independence occurred, and one of the first effects of political emancipation was, to free the country from that system of absolute prohibition, under which it had so long suffered. Foreign vessels were invited to visit the harbours of Mexico, on a footing of perfect equality with those of Spain; and most of the Spanish capitalists, disgusted by the prospect of such an encroachment upon their former monopoly, and discouraged, too, by the aspect of affairs, withdrew, with their families, to the Peninsula or the Island of Cuba. ”

“ I do not believe that I am guilty of any exaggeration in stating, that there never was a greater spirit of enterprise, more liberality, or, in general, better faith, displayed in any part of the world, than amongst the Miners of Mexico before the year 1810. Unexampled prosperity was their reward; and had freedom of commerce then existed, there is no doubt that the country would have derived the greatest permanent benefit from their exertions. ”

“ The political preference given to Europeans, might rankle in the breasts of those Creoles, who, from their birth or fortune, conceived themselves to be entitled to a share of that authority which the old Spaniards engrossed; but it was a matter of indifference to the great mass of the people. The commercial monopoly of Cadiz, on the contrary, came home to all; and, from the enormous price to which every article of European produce was raised by it, it bore hardest upon those least able to support it. ”

“ Every thing, in short, was characteristic of a state of things in which civilization had made but little progress: the natives possessed both the honesty and the hospitality of a primitive race; for our horses were brought back to us on the evening of our arrival at Sierra Hermosa, with even the holster-pistols untouched, notwithstanding the eagerness with which European fire-arms are always eyed in America; and at the Hacienda we met with a most friendly reception from the Administrador and his family, who insisted upon giving up to us all the best apartments in the house. ”

“ Those who have been settled in Texas a few months, really enjoy more comforts (and these, in addition to the opportunity of realizing a handsome property,) than any peasantry with which I am acquainted. One act of liberality and hospitality-which is constantly practised by all his neighbours towards a new comer, whose character is found unexceptionable, would do honour to the most highly civilized people. They all assemble at the spot which he has fixed upon for his residence, with their axes and draught-oxen, fell the timber, and build for him his log-hut. ”

“ In the time of the old Count Regla, when six hundred mules were employed daily in conveying ore from the mines to the Hacienda of Regla, which is nearly six leagues from the Real, there was no other mode of communication than a very dangerous path across the mountains. This has now been transformed into a road for wheel-carriages, which is beautifully laid down, and upon which timber, of a size never transported before in Mexico, is brought to the mines in the waggons that were originally sent out for the conveyance of the steam-engines from the coast. ”

“ If a system of absolute prohibition could ever prove a good one in the end, or ever be made to answer, by the greatest strictness in enforcing it, the policy of Spain might be held out, as an object of admiration to all future ages. From the first, she reserved to herself the exclusive right of supplying all the wants of her Colonies. No foreigner was permitted to trade with them, or foreign vessel to enter their ports;—no American could own a ship. ”

“ Such was the object of the liberty of the press,—the elections, and other popular forms adopted in that Constitution; and this object was attained in the Peninsula, because the general desires of the people were in unison with those principles of justice which the Constitution sanctioned. Here, the result was exactly the reverse, because patriotism and public virtues were wanting; and because, if the will of the people, corrupted as it now is, prevails, the Independence of the country will be established also, in favour of which the great majority of the natives is undoubtedly decided. ”

“ The Civil War has, indeed, reduced almost to nothing the value of these possessions, and there is little, at present, to demonstrate the wealth, to which, under more favourable circumstances, the principal families of the Republic will find themselves restored: but time alone is wanting in order to bring things round to their natural level; the seeds of opulence are there, and, in proportion as the country advances towards a more settled order of things, the period approaches, at which they may be again expected to produce their former fruits. ”

“ Galeana, who commanded in the Plaza, seeing a Spanish colonel at some distance from his troops, and endeavouring to bring them up to the charge again, sallied out upon him alone, engaged him hand to hand, and killed him on the spot; an action, which contributed, not a little, to raise the spirits of his own men. Indeed, nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which Morelos had inspired both his troops, and the inhabitants of the town. ”