From Canada I pass to Mexico, and close this list with Lucas Alaman,
the Mexican statesman and historian, who has left on record a most
pathetic prophecy with regard to his own country, intensely interesting
to us at this moment.
Alaman was born in the latter part of the last century, and died June
2, 1855. He was a prominent leader of the monarchical party, and
Minister of Foreign Affairs under Presidents Bustamente and Santa Aña.
In this capacity he inspired the respect of foreign diplomatists. One
of these, who had occasion to know him officially, says of him, in
answer to my inquiries, that he “was the greatest statesman Mexico has
produced since her independence.”[642] He was one of the few in any
country who have been able to unite literature with public life, and
obtain honors in each.
His first work was “Dissertations on the History of the Mexican
Republic,”[643] in three volumes, published at Mexico, 1844-49. In
these he considers the original conquest by Cortés, its consequences,
the conqueror and his family, the propagation of the Christian religion
in New Spain, the formation of the city of Mexico, the history of
Spain and the House of Bourbon. All these topics are treated somewhat
copiously. Then followed the “History of Mexico, from the First
Movements which prepared its Independence in 1808 to the Present
Epoch,”[644] in five volumes, published at Mexico, the first bearing
date 1849, and the fifth 1852. From the Preface to the first volume it
appears that the author was born in Guanajuato, and witnessed there
the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1810, under Don Miguel
Hidalgo, the curate of Dolores; that he was personally acquainted with
the curate, and with many who had a principal part in the successes of
that time; that he was experienced in public affairs, as Deputy and as
member of the Cabinet; and that he had known directly the persons and
things of which he wrote. His last volume embraces the government of
Iturbide as Emperor, and also his unfortunate death, ending with the
establishment of the Mexican Federal Republic, in 1824. The work is
careful and well considered. The eminent diplomatist already mentioned,
who had known the author officially, writes that “no one was better
acquainted with the history and causes of the incessant revolutions
in his unfortunate country, and that his work on this subject is
considered by all respectable men in Mexico a _chef-d’œuvre_ for purity
of sentiments and patriotic convictions.”
It is on account of the valedictory words of this History that I
introduce the name of Alaman, and nothing more striking appears in this
gallery. Behold!--
“Mexico will be, without doubt, a land of prosperity from its
natural advantages, _but it will not be so for the races which
now inhabit it_. As it seemed the destiny of the peoples who
established themselves therein at different and remote epochs
to perish from the face of it, leaving hardly a memory of
their existence; even as the nation which built the edifices
of Palenque, and those which we admire in the peninsula of
Yucatan, was destroyed without its being known what it was or
how it disappeared; _even as the Toltecs perished by the hands
of barbarous tribes coming from the North_, no record of them
remaining but the pyramids of Cholula and Teotihuacan; and,
finally, even as the ancient Mexicans fell beneath the power of
the Spaniards, _the country gaining infinitely by this change
of dominion, but its ancient masters being overthrown_;--so
likewise its present inhabitants shall be ruined and hardly
obtain the compassion they have merited, and the Mexican
nation of our days shall have applied to it what a celebrated
Latin poet said of one of the most famous personages of Roman
history, STAT MAGNI NOMINIS UMBRA,[645]--Nothing more remains
than the shadow of a name illustrious in another time.
“May the Almighty, in whose hands is the fate of nations,
and who by ways hidden from our sight abases or exalts them
according to the designs of His providence, be pleased to grant
unto ours the protection by which He has so often deigned to
preserve it from the dangers to which it has been exposed!”[646]
Most affecting words of prophecy! Considering the character of the
author as statesman and historian, it could have been only with
inconceivable anguish that he made this terrible record for the land
whose child and servant he was. Born and reared in Mexico, honored by
its important trusts, and writing the history of its independence, it
was his country, having for him all that makes country dear; and yet
thus calmly he consigns the present people to oblivion, while another
enters into those happy places where Nature is so bountiful. And so a
Mexican leaves the door open to the foreigner.