and the fifth extends thence to the present time, including as salient features a series of internal revolutions, the war with the United States, the imperial experiment of Maximilian, and the peaceful development of national industries and power in recent years. It is my purpose to present on a national scale, and in a space symmetrically proportioned to the importance of each, the record of the four successive periods.
The conquest of Mexico, filling the present and part of another volume, has been treated by many writers, and in a masterly manner. In the three periods of Mexican history following the conquest there is no comprehensive work extant in English; nor is there any such work in Spanish that if translated would prove entirely satisfactory to English readers. Of the few Spanish and Mexican writers whose researches have extended over the whole field, or large portions of it, none have been conspicuously successful in freeing themselves from the quicksands of race prejudice, of religious feeling, of patriotic impulse, of political partisanship; none have had a satisfactory command of existing authorities; none in the matter of space have made a symmetrical division of the periods, or have appreciated the relative importance of different topics as they appear to any but Spanish eyes. Yet there has been no lack among these writers of careful investigation or brilliant diction. Indeed there is hardly an epoch that has not been ably treated from various partisan standpoints.
The list of authorities prefixed to this volume shows approximately my resources for writing a History of Mexico. I may add that no part of my
