Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/82

with a great quantity of material for the history of subsequent events, carried it forward and included the first years of the revolution in Mexico. The first volume is almost entirely devoted to the vindication of Iturrigaray; in the second the progress of the revolution is narrated down to the year 1812. Guerra in his preface supplies us with a biographical sketch of Cancelada's life down to the date of the publication of the Historia, and exposes his career with most contemptuous irony. His work is largely taken up with extracts from official documents, of which he possessed a great number. For the insertion of so much of such material he excuses himself upon the plea that having been far from the scene of events, and having undertaken to refute the false representations of one who professed to have been present at them, he was compelled to support his arguments by documentary evidence. Guerra, after the fall of the viceroy, narrowly escaped arrest, and fleeing from Mexico took up his residence in London. There he became the most able defender of Iturrigaray, who, according to Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 268-9, supported him in London until his tendencies inclined to the support of the revolution. His work displays great talent and skill. While the style is elegant, the author had at his command a sarcasm that could bite. Alaman speaks highly of this work, which, party spirit aside, will, he says, be ever appreciated for the amount of information which it contains. Verdadero Origen. . . de la Revolucion de Nueva España, etc., Mexico, 1820, fol. pp. 17. (Followed by) Manifiesto á Todas las Naciones por el Superior Gobierno de Nueva España. The author of this angry treatise was Juan Martin de Juan Martiñena, who in 1816 took up the gauntlet in defence of Iturrigaray's deposers. Martiñena quotes extracts from Lizarza, Cisneros, Bustamante, and other supporters of Iturrigaray, and condemns these writers with vehement asperity. 'How degrading it is,' he exclaims, 'to find in them the same language, the same ideas, object, and even vulgar outcry— voces materiales—as in the rebel leaders with respect to Iturrigaray and the faithful patriots who put a stop to his criminal proceedings, the only difference being that the former affect peace, harmony, and fidelity, which the latter do not, being in a position to explain frankly their true sentiments!' The historian has, however, to thank Juan Martin de Juan Martiñena for his transcript of the Manifesto, but particularly for the large number of interesting documents appended thereto. The publication of the Verdadero Origen, etc., immediately brought out a number of anonymous replies, from among which I will make mention of Censura Particular é Imparcïal del Cuaderno Titulado: Verdadero origen, etc.; Breves Reflexiones que pueden añadirse por via de impugnacion al, id.; and Consejos al Sr Autor, Editor y Anotador del Cuaderno en Folio Titulado, id. With regard to the Manifiesto above mentioned, it was issued on the 16th of January, 1816, by the government of New Spain, in refutation of the 'falsehoods, calumnies, and errors which the rebels of Mexico have given utterance to in a paper entitled El Supremo Congreso Mexicano á todas las Naciones, escrito en Puruarán á 28 de junio de 1815.'