MEXICO,
AZTEC, SPANISH AND REPUBLICAN:
A HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, POLITICAL, STATISTICAL AND SOCIAL
ACCOUNT OF THAT COUNTRY FROM THE PERIOD OF THE INVASION
BY THE SPANIARDS TO THE PRESENT TIME;
WITH A VIEW OF THE
ANCIENT AZTEC EMPIRE AND CIVILIZATION;
A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LATE WAR;
AND NOTICES OF
NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA
BY
BRANTZ MAYER,
FORMERLY SECRETARY OF LEGATION TO MEXICO
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I.
HARTFORD:
S. DRAKE AND COMPANY.
MDCCCLII.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
SIDNEY DRAKE,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
29 Gold-st., N. Y.
TO THE
HONORABLE HENRY CLAY:
I take the liberty to inscribe these volumes to youas a testimonial of personal gratitude. In the midst of engrossingcares you have often been pleased to turn aside for a while to fosterthose who were following the humbler and quieter walks of literature;and it is, naturally, their delight to offer for your acceptance,upon every suitable occasion, an acknowledgment of cordial thankfulness.
Allow me, then, as the only tribute I can tender, to present awork designed to illustrate the history and resources of one of thoseAmerican States which were summoned into the brotherhood ofnations by your sympathy and eloquence.
Your friend and servant,
BRANTZ MAYER.
PREFACE.
The people of the United States have always felt a deep interest inthe history and destiny of Mexico. It was not only the commercialspirit of our citizens that awakened this sentiment. In former times,when the exclusive policy of Spain closed the door of intercoursewith her American colonies, the ancient history of Peru and Mexicoattracted the curiosity of our students. They were eager to solve theenigma of a strange civilization which had originated in the centralportions of our continent in isolated independence of all the world.They desired, moreover, to know something of those enchanted regions,which, like the fabled garden of the Hesperides, were watchedand warded with such jealous vigilance; and they craved to beholdthose marvelous mines whose boundless wealth was poured into thelap of Spain. The valuable work of Baron Humboldt, published inthe early part of this century, stimulated this natural curiosity; and,when the revolutionary spirit of Europe penetrated our continent, andthe masses rose to cast off colonial bondage, we hailed with joy everyeffort of the patriots who fought so bravely in the war of liberation.Bound to Mexico by geographical ties, though without a common languageor lineage, we were the first to welcome her and the new AmericanSovereignties into the brotherhood of nations, and to fortify ourcontinental alliance by embassies and treaties.
After more than twenty years of peaceful intercourse, the war of1846 broke out between Mexico and our Union. Thousands, of allclasses, professions and occupations,—educated and uneducated—observers