Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/348

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DEATH OF EMPIRE AND EMPEROR.

    published July 31, 1861, a manifesto, under the title of La Toma de Querétaro. in which he attempts to vindicate his action, giving his version of events connected with the fall of that city. He supports his assertions with copies of 14 official documents. Lopez allows himself to be carried away by passion, and makes a number of false statements, which are refuted in a pamphlet issued by imperial officers imprisoned at Morelia, and by publications of Salm-Salm, Felix Becerra, and others. The attack of these imperialists on Lopez is very severe, and proves that he was bribed to surrender the point which in all honor he ought to have defended. This volume is a collection of the above-named pamphlets and documents, and of insertions in periodicals bearing upon the question.

    S. Basch, Erinnerungen aus Mexico. Geschichte der letzten Zehn Monate des Kaiserreichs. Leipsic, 1868, 89, 2 bks in 1 vol., pp. vi., 196, and vi., 261. This book may be considered as a sequel to Kératry's work on the intervention, the author coinmencing his narrative at a historical point just before the departure of the French, with which event Kératry closes. Basch was physician in ordinary to Maximilian, and was by his side from September 1866 to the time of his death. He enjoyed the emperor's confidence, and was an eye-witness of many circumstances which would have remained unknown had he not published them. His work has an importance almost official, since Maximilian, with the intention of writing a history of the war, intrusted Basch with the care of preparing material, and placed at his disposal his own private manuscripts and documents of the war department, among which were plans of campaigns, orders of the day, and protocols of councils of war, When Basch was made prisoner, many of the papers written in Spanish were lost, but nearly all those in German were saved. From these, and from notes made by himself and others around Maximilian, Basch produced his work by the express order of the fallen emperor, who himself gave to it its title. It contains copies of a number of official documents that had not been previously published. This volume has been translated into several European languages, and in 1870 Dr Manuel Paredo published a translation in Spanish from the Italian edition, under the title, Samuel Basch, Recuerdos de Mexico, Memorias del Médico ordinario del Emperador Maximiliano. (1866 á 1867.) Mexico, 1870, 89, pp. 479, 1.1. In this volume the translation-which is an excellent one-occupies the first 327 pages, the remaining 152 pages being taken up by a production of Hilarion Frias y Soto, written for the purpose of correcting and refuting Basch, whose depreciation of Mexicans, false views of affairs, and errors could not be passed over in silence.

    Frederic Hall, Life of Maximilian I., Late Emperor of Mexico, with a Sketch of the Empress Carlota. New York, 1868, sm. 8°, pp. 317, with portraits and plates. The author was one of the legal advisers of Maximilian. In the first chapter he gives a brief sketch of the leading events connected with the Austrian nation and the house of Hapsburg. He states in his preface that his object was not to give a history of the Mexican empire under Maximilian, but to portray his personal qualities, and concisely state the facts and law pertaining to his trial. Hall is a great admirer of the unfortunate emperor, whom he regards as a victim, and describes as a 'noble chief.' The trial he stigmatizes as a farce, which, with the succeeding tragedy, are recorded as a stain on the pages of the history of the Mexican nation which can never be effaced therefrom. The author supplies a number of documents, the most of which relate to Maximilian's trial. The same work was also published in New York, without date, under the title, Invasion of Mexico by the French, and the Reign of Maximilian I., with a Sketch of the Empress Carlota.

    Juan de Dios Arias, Reseña Histórica de la Formacion y Operaciones del Cuerpo de Ejército del Norte durante la Intervencion Francesa, Sitio de Querétaro y Noticias Oficiales sobre lit Captura de Maximiliano, su Proceso Intryro y su Muerte. Mexico, 1867, 89, pp. 725, 11. 3, with portraits and plans. This author does not attempt to enter into any explanation of the causes which conduced to the English, Spanish, and French alliance, but attributes the intervention to the machinations of Napoleon, who made Mexico his safety-