Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 1.djvu/436

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NOTES ON CHAPTER 1, PAGES 1—6
407

terred the author — as it might well have done — from completing his task. As it stands, the book probably represents (including the work of clerical assistants) nearly twenty years of labor. After all, the chief value of citations is perhaps their effect upon the author. Few look them up; but, no matter how conscientious he may be, the fact of constantly giving such pledges of fidelity keeps him wide-awake to the necessity of accuracy, and indeed compels him to refer to his sources more than he might otherwise feel obliged to do.


I, MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS

(To the sources mentioned below may be added a residence of more than a year in Mexico, during which the author met people of numerous categories and made every possible effort to understand the national traits.)

1. Physical Mexico. U.S. War Dept., Monograph. Bureau of Amer. Republics, Mexico. Encyclopedia Britannica, "Mexico." Numerous books of travel mentioned in note 8.

2. Population. The census which served as a basis for the elections of 1841 and some later years gave the population as 7,016,000 (Dublán, Legislación, v, 152, gives the figures by states). The American governor of Jalapa, Col. Hughes, 257wrote, Jan. 28, 1848, that according to "authentic Mexican official documents" the population was about 7,500,000, of whom 2,500,000 were under seventeen years of age, 500,000 were over sixty, and 300,000 were idlers, beggars, etc., incapable of work. The population of the United States in 1840 was 17,069,453. Observador Judicial, 1842. Consideraciones, 5. Journal des Débats, Sept. 9, 1847. 261Mémoire. Macgregor, Progress, i, 317. Ward, Mexico, i, 28. Mora, Obras, i, 54. México á través, iii, 19; iv, p. vii. Relaciones, circular, Aug. 9, 1847. 82Decree, Dec. 16, 1847. Diario, May 4, 1847, claimed 8,009,000.

3. Racial divisions and characteristics. México á través, iii, 18-21. Humboldt, Essai Polit., i, 367, 381, 411-6; ii, 1-4, 9, 45, 48-52. 52Poinsett, no. 166, March 10, 1829. Mayer, War, 13, 16. Commerc. Review, ii, 165-76. Consideraciones, 5-7. García, Conquista, 4, 370-2, 397. Thompson, Recolls., 7. Poinsett, Notes, 161. 13Hervey, Description of Mexico.
Mémoire. Léwenstern, Le Mexique, 166, 174-89. Mora, Obras, i, 54-6. Cuevas, Porvenir, 12-14. 178Davis, diary. 162Conner to wife, Mar. 4, 1846. Diccionario Universal (Mexicanos). 13Morier, no. 10, Feb. 10, 1825. Eco del Comercio, Mar. 22, 1848.

Technically the child of a Spaniard and an Indian was a "mestizo," the child of a Spaniard and a mestizo was a "castizo," and the child of a Spaniard and a castizo was a "criollo" (creole); but "criollo" came to include all these classes and also pure whites born in Mexico. As very few Spanish women went to Mexico, the mixture of blood was practically inevitable. As is well known the Spanish blood itself is a singular mixture. Hence the Mexican was naturally peculiar.

4, The class divisions. Otero, Cuestión, 37, 47-51. 13Morier, no. 12, Feb. 10, 1825. Lerdo de Tejada, Apuntes, i, 232. 261Mémoire. Humboldt, Essai Polit., i, 391-5, 400-1, 429-31; ii, 40. Poinsett, Notes, 162. Constituent Cong. of Mex., Address. Consideraciones, 18, 19. Mora, Obras, i, 54-6. Paredes, Papers, 136. 52Poinsett, no. 166. México á través, iii, 18. Löwenstern, Le Mexique, 188-9.