introduced, who, on his return from battle, presents his general with a turban, and tells him in a very pompous manner, 'Here is the turban of the Moor, whom I took prisoner!' 'And the Moor himself?' 'O, he unfortunately escaped!' The passage was received with bursts of laughter, and the application readily made by the audience.'Id. 199-200.
The siege of Cuautla was a subject of public conversation in Cádiz. Wellington, at a banquet which was given to him in that city, asked the deputy for Mexico, Beye de Cisneros, what kind of a place Cuautla was. 'It is a place,' replied Cisneros, 'open on all sides, situated in a plain or valley.' 'That,' answered Wellington, 'is a proof both of the ignorance of the general attacking it, and of the wisdom and valor of the general who is defending it.' Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., ii. Ind. viii.
The material for the history of the revolution is abundant, and the details of some parts of it have been fairly well presented by Mexican authors, though seldom without more or less bias, for and against persons and parties. Prominent among writers on this episode is Anastasio Zerecero, Memorias para la Historia de las Revoluciones de Mexico. Mexico, 1869, 1 vol. 608 pages. It is confined mostly to affairs during the time of Hidalgo, a brief sketch of the conquest being given as introductory. As the city of Mexico was occupied by the French at the time of his writing, the author pursued his labors at San Luis Potosí, and whether so intended or not, the result was little more than a series of recollections, the author evidently intending to carry them through the war for independence. Only one volume, however, was published. Zerecero was a strong revolutionary partisan. Thus while excusing the cruelties committed by the rebels, he denounces in strongest terms those indulged in by the royalists. He quotes freely from Alaman, and sparingly from Bustamante and Mendívil. The style is for the most part clear, yet without many distinctive characteristics. The last 150 pages are devoted to the biographies of Indians prominent since the conquest, and credited to Antonio Carrion.
Bustamante, Martirologio de Algunos de los Primeros Insurgentes por la libertad é independencia de la America Mexicana. Mexico, 1841, pp. 51. This short work gives a summary of the legal proceedings against those implicated in the plots of April and August 1811 to seize the viceroy. The particulars connected with the case of each ecclesiastic and layman are given, Bustamante having obtained them from the original documents of the junta de seguridad presided over by the oidor Miguel Bataller y Vasco. To these are added biographical notices of the subsequent fate of many of the conspirators. The names are given in alphabetical order, and among them appears that of Calleja. Bustamante deems it necessary to enter into an explanation of the reasons why he inserted the royalist general's name in a list of martyrs to the cause of independence and which he published to their honor. He, therefore, states that he did so in order that the indecent conduct of Calleja might be held up to view, who tried to pass over to the side of the insurgents when he found himself in disgrace with Venegas. Under such circumstances he ought to be regarded as one of the so-called insurgents. See also Bustamante, Cuad. Hist., i. passim; Id., ii. 3-428; Id., iv. 309; Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 89-178, passim; Bustamante, Elogio, Morelos, passim.
Diaz Calvillo, Sermon que en el aniversario solemne de gracias á Maria Santísima de los Remedios.. . . Mexico, 1811; followed by Noticias para la Historia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. . . Mexico, 1812. The sermon which precedes the historical matter in this volume, was preached in the cathedral of Mexico on the 10th of October, 1811, by Juan Bautista Diaz Calvillo, at the anniversary celebration of the royalist victory at the monte de las Cruces! The author was prefect of the oratory of San Felipe Neri, and was apparently as credulous a believer in the marvellous and as unmitigated a denouncer of the revolution as can well be found among the ranks of the churchmen of that time. With regard to the sermon it is a fair specimen of the discourses delivered from the pulpit during the first years of the revolution. Abuse is plentifully heaped upon Hidalgo; the so-called victory of Las Cruces and
