belling against the government, and to entreat them to return to their duty. But this artifice was commonly employed by the royalists; to almost every prominent patriot chief who was executed during the war of independence such a recantation was attributed and published.
The documents which contain the alleged proceedings at the trial of Hidalgo, a copy of which is supplied by Hernandez y Dávalos in his Col, Doc., i. 7-01, are open to grave doubts as to the authenticity of all the testimony produced. Much of the evidence is warped and garbled so as to represent Hidalgo in the most odious light possible. Many of the admissions appearing in the documents were never uttered by him, and most of the statements attributed to other declarants are not to be relied upon as genuine. I cannot, however, agree with Negrete, who endeavors to show that these documents are wholly apocryphal, and 'que esos documentos no pueden hacer fé en ningun sentido, ni considerarse como auténtico lo en ellos contenido.' Mex. Siglo XIX., iii. 274. I have found many of the statements therein contained corroborated or supported by other authorities of reliability, and to ignore entirely the Declaracion del cura Hidalgo and the accompanying papers would scarcely be wise.
The official organs of the government naturally magnified the successes of the royalists and the reverses of the revolutionists. Pompous reports from generals narrating victories were invariably published, but many of their despatches which represented the true conditions of affairs were consigned to the secrecy of the government archives, from which they have been brought to light by different researchers, as Bustamante, Hernandez y Dávalos, and Negrete, and used by numerous authors. With regard to those published during the war, they are valuable and reliable in so far as they represent the movement of armies, the general results of engagements, and a broad view of the condition of the country. But in regard to the respective numbers of opposing forces, of insurgents killed and casualties sustained by the government troops, they are untrustworthy; while from the documents that were shelved a true picture of the position is obtained. The press being under the control of the government during Hidalgo's career, it teemed with productions laboring to advance the royalist cause and hold up to detestation that of the independents. Learned men printed heavy essays attempting to prove on philosophical and political grounds the illegal ity and want of justice in the movement; bishops issued pastorals and long dissertations arguing on the iniquity of the insurrection and proclaiming the perdition of the leaders; and poets sang the praises of the royalist command ers, comparing them with the heroes of antiquity and renowned Roman generals. Calleja was superior to Fabius Maximus, and Cruz the supporting pillar of the tottering nation. The adulation was truly affecting! In honor of Calleja Dr José Mariano Beristain composed a drinking-song drawing a parallel between him and Fabius; to which the oider Melchor de Foncerrada replied with the following decastich, supplied by Negrete, Mex. Sig. XIX., iv. 394-5:
Fabio ganó retirando,
Calleja acometiendo,
El Fubio triunfó cansando;
Pero Calleja venciendo:
Y á lo poco que yo entiendo
En el arte militar,
No so puedo comparar
Un Fábio con un Callejas,
Allá hubo accioncs perplexas;
Todo aquí puro triunfar.
Effusions of minor genius, too, swarmed, scurrilous in abuse, vile in vituperation, against the one side, and sickening with flattery and sycophant homage offered to the other. But no language, however shameful, however fallacious, was unpalatable to government, if it brought odium upon the revolution.
General list of authorities for the last four chapters: Bustamante, Campañas de Calleja, 1-103, passim; Id., Cuad. Hist., i. 20-292, 437-42, iv. 53--
