indeed as the most unselfish of men, caring little for fame and nothing for wealth, and working solely for
in the conventional term of 'nephew.' Cuad. Hist., iii. 217. Several honors were bestowed on Morelos 1 name. By act of July 19, 1823, he was included among the nation's benemérltos. The legislature of Michoacan changed the name of their capital, Valladolid, to Morelia, on Sept. 12, 1828, and on April 17, 1869, the southern part of the state of Mexico was formed into the state of Morelos. See Dublan y Lozano, Leg. Mex., ii. x.; Mex. Col. Ord. y Dec., ii. 149-51. The attention so exclusively absorbed by Morelos served to shield his fellow-prisoner Morales, late chaplain to the congress, and enabled the archbishop to save him.
It is but fitting that I should here acknowledge my indebtedness for historic material to the labors of Juan E. Hernandez y Dávalos. Ever an ardent student of national records, he became finally so enthusiastic in the cause as to barter a competency for a set of original documents relating to the trial of Hidalgo. This formed the nucleus for his collection, which he has sought to complete by ransacking the archives at Mexico and other places and employing copyists to assist him. As a first result he began to issue in 1877 Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de la Guerra de Independencia de Mexico, de 1808 á 1821, which by 1882 reached six bulky folios of about 1,000 pages each, presenting copies of all important documents bearing on the war of independence. A great proportion of them are new to historians, and have enabled me, in connection with my other material relating to this period, to add much valuable information, filling the gaps and correcting the errors left by my predecessors. The only objection to the collection is a lack of system in the arrangement, but this disappears before the consideration of the toil and sacrifices of the editor, as well as a modest reserve concerning them, for over 30 years he has devoted all spare hours to the work, and he has even pinched his family upon a portion of his pay as clerk in the treasury department, in order to save wherewith to pay assistants and printers. Public indifference and prejudice have also had to be struggled against. The publication of documents adverse to the virgin of Guadalupe cost him at one time several hundred of the hard acquired subscribers.
In contrast to this appears Mexico en el Siglo XIX, o sea su Historia desde 1800 hasta la Epoca Presente, Mexico, 1875-82, 7 volumes large 8º, which cover the period from 1800 to 1817. The author, Emilio del Castillo Negrete, informs the reader in an elaborate and imposing preface that history-writing is the grandest and most difficult of all literary efforts, partly from the vast research it demands in almost every branch of knowledge. He enters upon it after long and arduous studies of the country, its people and politics, and perceives at once how deplorably his predecessors in the field have failed in their mission, through partisan spirit and lack of information. To remedy these defects and harmonize conflicting elements is a task worthy of an Herodotus or Tacitus—he is not certain which—it shall be his, to serve a noble mission of enlightenment and guidance. Self-confidence is one of Castillo's most striking virtues, and it sustains him to his own satisfaction in forming a series of extracts and synopses, mainly from the two leading historians whom he has just condemned, swelled by reports on military movements and political occurrences from one or two ready sources, pointed out by his predecessors. He improves upon them however by reproducing the documents in full with introductions, details, and flights of fancy which their inferior judgment had omitted as useless and tiresome. The chapters are graced at the close with a paragraph conspicuously headed Reflections, wholly from his own brain, wherein he veils over the mistakes committed by his heroes and the defects of the writers whom he has copied. What those mistakes and defects are he generally leaves to the imagination of the reader, offering occasionally a reverie, which, if somewhat mazy of theme, is also stamped by refreshing simplicity of tone. His eagerness to fill pages is not hampered by
