Chapter XXVI: Mrs. Clymer Ketchum's Party (3)

"If your Lordship will cast your eye upon the map to the
south and east of the Ohio and the Mississippi, you will see
many millions of acres, which, valued at a single dollar per
acre, would discharge many millions sterling. The whole
space within the boundaries lately conceded to the United
States, together with the unoccupied lands eastward of the
great rivers, may perhaps contain near half a million of
square miles (in acres, perhaps three hundred millions, more
or less). A sixth part of this, the nearest parts being
likewise the most valuable, would discharge the whole of
their national debt. It is a new proposition to be offered
to the numerous common rank of mankind in all the countries
of the world, to say that there are in America fertile soils
and temperate climates in which an acre of land may be
purchased for a trifling consideration, which may be
possessed in freedom, together with all the natural and
civil rights of mankind. The Congress have already
proclaimed this, and that no other qualification or name is
necessary but to become settlers, without distinction of
countries or persons. The European peasant, who toils for
his scanty sustenance in penury, wretchedness, and
servitude, will eagerly fly to this asylum for free and
industrious labor. The tide of immigration may set strongly
outward from Scotland, Ireland, and Canada to this new land
of promise. A very great proportion of men in all the
countries of the world are without property, and generally
are subject to governments of which they have no
participation, and over whom they have no control. The
Congress have now opened to all the world a sale of landed
settlements where the liberty and property of each
individual is to be consigned to his own custody and
defence. The first settlers, as the seedlings of a new
State, will be under a temporary government of their own
choice, provided it be similar to some one of the present
American governments. But as soon as their numbers shall
amount to twenty thousand, their temporary government is to
cease, and they are to establish a permanent government for
themselves, and whenever such new State shall have of free
inhabitants as many as shall be in any one the least
numerous of the original States. These are such propositions
of free establishments as have never yet been offered to
mankind, and cannot fail of producing great effects in the
future progress of things. The Congress have arranged their
offers in the most inviting and artful terms, and lest
individual peasants and laborers should not have the means
of removing themselves, they throw out inducements to
moneyed adventurers to purchase and to undertake the
settlement by commission and agency, without personal
residence, by stipulating that the lands of proprietors
being absentees shall not be higher taxed than the lands of
residents. This will quicken the sale of lands, which is
their object. For the explanation of these points, I beg
leave to refer your Lordship to the documents annexed, Nos.
5 and 6, namely, the Map and Resolutions of Congress, dated
April, 1784. There is another circumstance would confirm
that it is the intention of Congress to invite moneyed
adventurers to make purchases and settlements, which is the
precise and mathematical mode of dividing and marking out
for sale the lands in each new proposed State. These new
States are to be divided by parallel lines running north and
south, and by other parallels running east and west. They
are to be divided into hundreds of ten geographical miles
square, and then again into lots of one square mile. The
divisions are laid out as regularly as the squares upon a
chessboard, and all to be formed into a Charter of Compact.

"They may be purchased by purchasers at any distance, and
the titles may be verified by registers of such or such
numbers, north or south, east or west; all this is explained
by the document annexed, No. 7, viz. _The Ordinance for
ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in
the Western Territory. This is their plan and means for
paying off their national debt, and they seem very intent
upon doing it._ I should observe that their debt consists of
two parts, namely, domestic and foreign. The sale of lands
is to be appropriated to the former.

"The domestic debt may perhaps be nine or ten millions, and
the foreign debt two or three. For payment of the foreign
debt it is proposed to lay a tax of five per cent upon all
imports until discharged, which, I am informed, has already
been agreed to by most of the States, and probably will
soon be confirmed by the rest. Upon the whole, it appears
that this plan is as prudently conceived and as judiciously
arranged, as to the end proposed, as any experienced cabinet
of European ministers could have devised or planned any
similar project. The second point which appears to me to be
deserving of attention, respecting the immense cession of
territory to the United States at the late peace, is a point
_which will perhaps in a few years become an unparalleled
phenomenon in the political world_. As soon as the national
debt of the United States shall be discharged by the sale of
one portion of those lands, we shall then see the
Confederate Republic in a new character, as a proprietor of
lands, either for sale or to let upon rents, while other
nations may be struggling under debts too enormous to be
discharged either by economy or taxation, and while they may
be laboring to raise ordinary and necessary supplies by
burdensome impositions upon their own persons and
properties. _Here will be a nation possessed of a new and
unheard of financial organ of stupendous magnitude, and in
process of time of unmeasured value, thrown into their lap
as a fortuitous superfluity, and almost without being sought
for._

"When such an organ of revenue begins to arise into produce
and exertion, what public uses it may be applicable to, or
to what abuses and perversions it might be rendered
subservient, is far beyond the reach of probable discussion
now. Such discussions would only be visionary speculations.
However, thus far it is obvious and highly deserving of our
attention, that it cannot fail becoming to the American
States a most important instrument of national power, the
progress and operation of which must hereafter be _a most
interesting object of attention to the British American
dominions which are in close vicinity to the territories of
the United States, and I should hope that these
considerations would lead us, inasmuch as we value those
parts of our dominions, to encourage conciliatory and
amicable correspondence between them and their neighbors_.

"I have thus, my Lord, endeavored to comply with your
Lordship's commands to the best of my power, in stating such
information to his Majesty's government as I have been
enabled to collect of such nature as may tend to the mutual
and reciprocal interest of Great Britain and the United
States of America. I do not recollect at present anything
further to trouble your Lordship with. If any of the
foregoing points should require any further elucidation, I
shall always be ready to obey your Lordship's summons, or to
give in any other way the best explanations in my power."

COUNT D'ARANDA.--1783.

The Count d'Aranda was one of the first of Spanish statesmen and diplomatists, and one of the richest subjects of Spain in his day; born at Saragossa, 1718, and died 1799. He, too, is one of our prophets. Originally a soldier, he became ambassador, governor of a province, and prime minister. In the latter post he displayed character as well as ability, and was the benefactor of his country. He drove the Jesuits from Spain and dared to oppose the Inquisition. He was a philosopher, and, like Pope Benedict XIV., corresponded with Voltaire. Such a liberal spirit was out of place in Spain. Compelled to resign in 1773, he found a retreat at Paris as ambassador, where he came into communication with Franklin, Adams, and Jay, and finally signed the Treaty of Paris, by which Spain acknowledged our independence. Shortly afterwards he returned to Spain and took the place of Florida Blanca as prime minister.

Franklin, on meeting him, records, in his letter to the secret committee of Congress, that he seemed "well disposed to us."[80] Shortly afterwards he had another interview with him, which he thus chronicles in his journal:--

"_Saturday, June 29th_ [1782].--We went together to the Spanish Ambassador's, who received us with great civility and politeness. He spoke with Mr. Jay on the subject of the treaty they were to make together.... On our going out, he took pains himself to open the folding-doors for us, which is a high compliment here, and told us he would return our visit (_rendre son devoir_), and then fix a day with us for dining with him."[81]

Adams, in his journal, describes a Sunday dinner at his house, then a "new building in the finest situation of Paris,"[82] being a part of the incomparable palace, with its columnar front, which is still admired as it looks on the Place de la Concorde. Jay also describes a dinner with the Count, who was "living in great splendor, with an assortment of wines the finest in Europe," and was "the ablest Spaniard he had ever known"; showing by his conversation "that his court is in earnest," and appearing "frank and candid, as well as sagacious."[83] These hospitalities have a peculiar interest, when it is known, as it now is, that Count d'Aranda regarded the acknowledgment of our independence with "grief and dread." But these sentiments were disguised from our ministers.

After signing the Treaty of Paris, by which Spain acknowledged our independence, D'Aranda addressed a memoir secretly to King Charles III., in which his opinions on this event are set forth. This prophetic document slumbered for a long time in the confidential archives of the Spanish crown. Coxe, in his "Memoirs of the House of Bourbon in Spain," which are founded on a rare collection of original documents, makes no allusion to it. The memoir appears for the first time in a volume published at Paris in 1837, and entitled _Gouvernement de Charles III., Roi d'Espagne, ou Instruction réservée à la Funte d'État par ce Monarque. Publiée par D. André Muriel_. The editor had already translated into French the Memoirs of Coxe, and was probably led by this labor to make the supplementary collection. An abstract of the memoir of D'Aranda appears in one of the historical dissertations of the Mexican authority, Alaman, who said of it that it has "a just celebrity, because results have made it pass for a prophecy."[84] I translate it now from the French of Muriel.

"_Memoir communicated secretly to the King by his Excellency
the Count d'Aranda, on the Independence of the English
Colonies, after having signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783._

"The independence of the English colonies has been
acknowledged. This is for me an occasion of grief and dread.
France has few possessions in America; but she should have
considered that Spain, her intimate ally, has many, and that
she is left to-day exposed to terrible shocks. From the
beginning, France has acted contrary to her true interests
in encouraging and seconding this independence; I have so
declared often to the ministers of this nation. What could
happen better for France than to see the English and the
colonists destroy each other in a party warfare which could
only augment her power and favor her interests? The
antipathy which reigns between France and England blinded
the French Cabinet; it forgot that its interest consisted in
remaining a tranquil spectator of this conflict; and, once
launched in the arena, it dragged us unhappily, and by
virtue of the family compact, into a war entirely contrary
to our proper interest.

"I will not stop here to examine the opinions of some
statesmen, our own countrymen as well as foreigners, which I
share, on _the difficulty of preserving our power in
America. Never have so extensive possessions, placed at a
great distance from the metropolis, been long preserved_.
To this cause, applicable to all colonies, must be added
others peculiar to the Spanish possessions; namely, the
difficulty of succoring them in case of need; the vexations
to which the unhappy inhabitants have been exposed from some
of the governors; the distance of the supreme authority to
which they must have recourse for the redress of grievances,
which causes years to pass before justice is done to their
complaints; the vengeance of the local authorities to which
they continue exposed while waiting; the difficulty of
knowing the truth at so great a distance; finally, the means
which the viceroys and governors, from being Spaniards,
cannot fail to have for obtaining favorable judgments in
Spain; all these different circumstances will render the
inhabitants of America discontented, and make them attempt
efforts to obtain independence as soon as they shall have a
propitious occasion.

"Without entering into any of these considerations, I shall
confine myself now to that which occupies us from the dread
of seeing ourselves exposed to dangers from the new power
which we have just recognized in a country where there is no
other in condition to arrest its progress. _This Federal
Republic is born a pygmy_, so to speak. It required the
support and the forces of two powers as great as Spain and
France in order to attain independence. _A day will come
when it will be a giant, even a colossus formidable in these
countries._ It will then forget the benefits which it has
received from the two powers, and will dream of nothing but
to organize itself. _Liberty of conscience, the facility for
establishing a new population on immense lands, as well as
the advantages of the new government, will draw thither
agriculturists and artisans from all the nations; for men
always run after fortune. And in a few years we shall see
with true grief the tyrannical existence of this same
colossus of which I speak._

"The first movement of this power, when it has arrived at
its aggrandizement, will be to obtain possession of the
Floridas, in order to dominate the Gulf of Mexico. After
having rendered commerce with New Spain difficult for us, it
will aspire to the conquest of this vast empire, which it
will not be possible for us to defend against a formidable
power established on the same continent, and in its
neighborhood. These fears are well founded, Sire; they will
be changed into reality in a few years, if, indeed, there
are not other disorders in our Americas still more fatal.
This observation is justified by what has happened in all
ages, and with all nations which have begun to rise. Man is
the same everywhere; the difference of climate does not
change the nature of our sentiments; he who finds the
opportunity of acquiring power and of aggrandizing himself,
profits by it always. How then can we expect the Americans
to respect the kingdom of New Spain, when they shall have
the facility of possessing themselves of this rich and
beautiful country? A wise policy counsels us to take
precautions against evils which may happen. This thought has
occupied my whole mind, since, as Minister Plenipotentiary
of your Majesty, and conformably to your royal will and
instructions, I signed the Peace of Paris. I have considered
this important affair with all the attention of which I am
capable, and after much reflection drawn from the knowledge,
military as well as political, which I have been able to
acquire in my long career, I think that, in order to escape
the great losses with which we are threatened, there remains
nothing but the means which I am about to have the honor of
exhibiting to your Majesty.

"Your Majesty must relieve yourself of all your possessions
on the continent of the two Americas, _preserving only the
islands of Cuba and Porto Rico_ in the northern part, and
some other convenient one in the southern part, to serve as
a seaport or trading-place for Spanish commerce.

"In order to accomplish this great thought in a manner
becoming to Spain, three infantas must be placed in
America,--one as king of Mexico, another as king of Peru,
and the third as king of the Terra Firma. Your Majesty will
take the title of Emperor."

I have sometimes heard this remarkable memoir called apocryphal, but without reason, except because its foresight is so remarkable. The Mexican historian Alaman treats it as genuine, and, after praising it, informs us that the proposition of Count d'Aranda to the king was not taken into consideration, which, according to him, was "disastrous to all, and especially to the people of America, who in this way would have obtained independence, without struggle or anarchy."[85] Meanwhile all the American possessions of the Spanish crown, except Cuba and Porto Rico, have become independent, as predicted, and the new power, known as the United States, which at that time was a "pygmy," has become a "colossus."

D'Aranda was not alone in surprise at the course of Spain. The English traveller Burnaby, in his edition of 1796, mentions this as one of the reasons for the success of the colonists, and declares that he had not supposed, originally, "that Spain would join in a plan inevitably leading by slow and imperceptible steps to the final loss of all her rich possessions in America."[86] This was not an uncommon idea. One of John Adams's Dutch correspondents, under date of 14th September, 1780, writes he has heard it said twenty times, that, "if America becomes free, it will some day give the law to Europe; it will seize our islands and our colonies of Guiana; it will seize all the West Indies; it will swallow Mexico, even Peru, Chili, and Brazil; it will take from us our freighting commerce; it will pay its benefactors with ingratitude."[87] Mr. Adams also records in his diary, under date of 14th December, 1779, on his landing at Ferrol in Spain, that, according to the report of various persons, "the Spanish nation in general have been of opinion that the Revolution in America was of bad example to the Spanish colonies, and dangerous to the interests of Spain, as the United States, should they become ambitious, and be seized with the spirit of conquest, might aim at Mexico and Peru."[88] All this is entirely in harmony with the memoir of the Count d'Aranda.

BURNS.--1788.

From Count d'Aranda to Robert Burns,--from the rich and titled minister, faring sumptuously in the best house of Paris, to the poor ploughboy poet, struggling in a cottage,--what a contrast! Of the poet I shall say nothing, except that he was born 25th January, 1759, and died 21st July, 1796, in the thirty-seventh year of his age.

There is only a slender thread of Burns to be woven into this web, and yet, coming from him, it must not be neglected. In a letter _dated 8th November, 1788_, after saying a friendly word for the unfortunate house of Stuart, he thus prophetically alludes to our independence:--

"I will not, I cannot, enter into the merits of the cause, but I dare say the American Congress, in 1776, will be allowed to be as able and as enlightened as the English Convention was in 1688; _and that their posterity will celebrate the centenary of their deliverance from us, as duly and sincerely as we do ours from the oppressive measures of the house of Stuart_."[89]

The year 1788, when these words were written, was a year of commemoration, being the hundredth from the famous revolution by which the Stuarts were excluded from the throne of England. The "centenary" of our independence is not yet completed; but long ago the commemoration began. On the coming of that hundredth anniversary, the prophecy of Burns will be more than fulfilled.

FOX.--1794.

In quoting from Charles James Fox, the statesman, minister, and orator, I need add nothing, except that he was born 24th January, 1749, and died 13th September, 1806, and that he was an early friend of our country.

Many words of his, especially during our Revolution, might be introduced here; but I content myself with a single passage of a later date, which, besides its expression of good-will, is a prophecy of our power. It will be found in a speech on his motion for putting an end to war with France in the House of Commons, _30th May, 1794_.

"It was impossible to dissemble that we had a serious dispute with America, and although we might be confident that the wisest and best man of his age, who presided in the government of that country, would do everything that became him to avert a war, it was impossible to foresee the issue. America had no fleet, no army; but in case of war she would find various means to harass and annoy us. Against her we could not strike a blow that would not be as severely felt in London as in America, so identified were the two countries by commercial intercourse. _To a contest with such an adversary he looked as the greatest possible misfortune._ If we commenced another crusade against her, we might destroy her trade, and check the progress of her agriculture, but we must also equally injure ourselves. Desperate, therefore, indeed, must be that war in which each wound inflicted on our enemy would at the same time inflict one upon ourselves. He hoped to God that such an event as a war with America would not happen."[90]

All good men on both sides of the ocean must join with Fox, who thus early deprecated a war between the United States and England, and portrayed the consequences. Time, which has enlarged and multiplied the relations between the two countries, makes his words more applicable now than when he first uttered them.

GEORGE CANNING.--1826.

George Canning was a successor of Fox, in the House of Commons, as statesman, minister, and orator; he was born 11th April, 1770, and died 8th August, 1827, in the beautiful villa of the Duke of Devonshire, at Chiswick, where Fox had died before. Unlike Fox in sentiment for our country, he is nevertheless associated with a leading event of our history, and is the author of prophetic words.

The Monroe Doctrine, as it is now familiarly called, proceeded from Canning. He was its inventor, promoter, and champion, at least so far as it bears against European intervention in American affairs. Earnestly engaged in counteracting the designs of the Holy Alliance for the restoration of the Spanish colonies to Spain, he sought to enlist the United States in the same policy, and when Mr. Rush, who was at the time our Minister at London, replied that any interference with European politics was contrary to the traditions of our government, he argued that, however just such a policy might have been formerly, it was no longer applicable,--that the question was new and complicated,--that it was "full as much American as European, to say no more,"--that it concerned the United States under aspects and interests as immediate and commanding as those of any of the states of Europe,--that "they were the first power on that continent, and confessedly the leading power"; and he then asked, "Was it possible that they could see with indifference their fate decided upon by Europe? Had not a new epoch arrived in the relative position of the United States toward Europe, which Europe must acknowledge? _Were the great political and commercial interests_ which hung upon the destinies of the new continent to be canvassed and adjusted in this hemisphere, without the co-operation, or even the knowledge, of the United States?" With mingled ardor and importunity the British Minister pressed his case. At last, after much discussion in the Cabinet at Washington, President Monroe, accepting the lead of Mr. Canning, put forth his famous declaration, where, after referring to the radical difference between the political systems of Europe and America, he says, that "we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their systems to any portion of this hemisphere as _dangerous to our peace and safety_," and that, where governments have been recognized by us as independent, "we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as _a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States_."[91]

The message of President Monroe was received in England with enthusiastic congratulations. It was upon all tongues; the press was full of it; the securities of Spanish America rose in the market; the agents of Spanish America were happy.[92] Brougham exclaimed, in Parliament, that "no event had ever dispersed greater joy, exultation, and gratitude over all the freemen of Europe." Mackintosh rejoiced in the coincidence of England and the United States, "the two great commonwealths, for so he delighted to call them; and he heartily prayed that they may be forever united in the cause of justice and liberty."[93] The Holy Alliance abandoned their purposes on this continent, and the independence of the Spanish colonies in America was established. Some time afterwards, on the occasion of assistance to Portugal, when Mr. Canning felt called to review and vindicate his foreign policy, he assumed the following lofty strain. This was in the House of Commons, _12th December, 1826_:--

"It would be disingenuous not to admit that the entry of the French army into Spain was, in a certain sense, a disparagement,--an affront to our pride,--a blow to the feelings of England. But I deny that, questionable or censurable as the act may be, it was one that necessarily called for our direct and hostile opposition. Was nothing then to be done? If France occupied Spain, was it necessary, in order to avoid the consequences of that occupation, that we should blockade Cadiz? No. I looked another way. I sought materials for compensation in another hemisphere. Contemplating Spain, such as our ancestors had known her, I resolved that, if France had Spain, it should not be Spain 'with the Indies.' _I called the New World into existence to resist the balance of the Old._"[94]

The republics of Spanish America, thus called into independent existence, were to redress the balance of the Old World. If they have not contributed the weight thus vaunted, the growing power of the United States is ample to compensate any deficiencies on this continent. There is no balance of power which it cannot redress, if occasion requires.

RICHARD COBDEN.--1849.

Coming to our own day, we meet a familiar name, now consecrated by death,--Richard Cobden; born 3d June, 1804, and died 2d April, 1865. In proportion as truth prevails among men, his character will shine with increasing glory until he is recognized as the first Englishman of his time. Though thoroughly English, he was not insular, and he served mankind as well as England.

His masterly faculties and his real goodness made him a prophet always. He saw the future, and strove to hasten its promises. The elevation and happiness of the human family were his daily thought. He knew how to build as well as to destroy. Through him disabilities upon trade and oppressive taxes were overturned; also a new treaty was negotiated with France, quickening commerce and intercourse. He was never so truly eminent as when bringing his practical sense and enlarged experience to commend the cause of Permanent Peace in the world by the establishment of a refined system of International Justice, and the disarming of the nations. To this great consummation all his later labors tended. I have before me a long letter, dated at _London, 7th November, 1849_, where he says much on this absorbing question, from which, by an easy transition, he passes to speak of the proposed annexation of Canada to the United States. As what he says on the latter topic concerns America, and is a prophetic voice, I have obtained permission to copy it for this collection.

"Race, religion, language, traditions, are becoming bonds of union, and not the parchment title-deeds of sovereigns. These instincts maybe thwarted for the day, but they are too deeply rooted in nature and in usefulness not to prevail in the end. I look with less interest to these struggles of races to live apart for what they want to undo, than for what they will prevent being done in future. _They will warn rulers that henceforth the acquisition of fresh territory, by force of arms, will only bring embarrassments and civil war_, instead of that increased strength which, in ancient times, when people were passed, like flocks of sheep, from one king to another, always accompanied the incorporation of new territorial conquests.

"This is the secret of the admitted doctrine, that we shall have no more wars of conquest or ambition. In this respect _you_ are differently situated, having vast tracts of unpeopled territory to tempt that cupidity which, in respect of landed property, always disposes individuals and nations, however rich in acres, to desire more. This brings me to the subject of Canada, to which you refer in your letters.

"I agree with you, that _nature has decided that Canada and the United States must become one, for all purposes of free intercommunication_. Whether they also shall be united in the same federal government must depend upon the two parties to the union. I can assure you that there will be no repetition of the policy of 1776, on our part, to prevent our North American colonies from pursuing their interest in their own way. If the people of Canada are tolerably unanimous in wishing to sever the very slight thread which now binds them to this country, I see no reason why, if good faith and ordinary temper be observed, it should not be done amicably. I think it would be far more likely to be accomplished peaceably, _if the subject of annexation were left as a distinct question_. I am quite sure that _we_ should be gainers, to the amount of about a million sterling annually, if our North American colonists would set up in life for themselves and maintain their own establishments, and I see no reason to doubt that they might be also gainers by being thrown upon their own resources.

"The less your countrymen mingle in the controversy, the better. It will only be an additional obstacle in the path of those in this country who see the ultimate necessity of a separation, but who have still some ignorance and prejudice to contend against, which, if used as political capital by designing politicians, may complicate seriously a very difficult piece of statesmanship. It is for you and such as you, who love peace, to guide your countrymen aright in this matter. You have made the most noble contributions of any modern writer to the cause of peace; and as a public man I hope you will exert all your influence to induce Americans to hold a dignified attitude and observe a 'masterly inactivity' in the controversy which is rapidly advancing to a solution between the mother country and her American colonies."

A prudent patriotism among us will appreciate the wisdom of this counsel, which is more needed now than when it was written. The controversy which Cobden foresaw "between the mother country and her American colonies" is yet undetermined. The recent creation of what is somewhat grandly called "The Dominion of Canada" marks one stage in its progress.

LUCAS ALAMAN.--1852.

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.

Little can be gathered here with regard to this remarkable character. His name does not appear in any biographical or bibliographical dictionary,--not in the late editions of Michaud or Brunet,--although his public life and his literary labors might claim for him a place in biography and bibliography. From the title-page of one of his volumes it appears that, besides being a member of the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics, and also of the Fine Arts, he was a corresponding member of several foreign societies, among which were the Royal Academy of History at Madrid, the Royal Institute of Sciences in Bavaria, the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. It is only in the dearth of authentic information with regard to him that I mention these circumstances. It does not appear when he died. The Preface to the last volume of his History is dated 18th November, 1852; and, as his name is not noticed in Mexican affairs since then, it is not unreasonable to suppose that he died shortly after this date, although his death first appears in the Transactions of the Massachusetts Historical Society for 1861.

Alaman figured in the Mexican Cortes, and also as Minister of Foreign Affairs, especially under President Bustamente. In the latter 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 which Mexico has produced since her independence." His portrait, as engraved in one of his volumes, resembles the late Mr. Clayton of Delaware. He was one of the few persons in any country who have been able to unite literature with public life, and obtain honors in each department.

His first work was "Dissertations on the History of the Mexican Republic," _Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Republica Megicana_, in three volumes, published at Mexico, 1844. In these he considers the original conquest by Cortez; 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," (_Historia de Mejico desde los primeros Movimientos que prepararon á su Independencia en el Año de 1808 hasta la Época presente_,) 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 of those 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'oevre_ for purity of sentiments and patriotic convictions."

It is on account of the valedictory words of this History that I have introduced the name of Alaman on this occasion. They are as follows:--

"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 nor 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 Cholulu 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,[95]--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."[96]

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 with regard to 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 a 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. Thus does a Mexican leave the door open to the foreigner.