The white wings of the Holy Ghost,
Brood, seen or unseen, o'er the heads of all."
Three Spanish documents still exist in the territorial records of New Mexico dated 1693-1694, which give a full account of the Spanish conquest; of the re-conquest by the Indians, and the final conquest again by the Spaniards. There is ample evidence that a city existed on the present site of Santa Fé four hundred years before the settlement at St. Augustine. The final Spanish conquest took place in 1692, but all the records prior to 1680 were unfortunately destroyed in the Pueblo Rebellion. New Mexico's historian, Hon. L. Bradford Prince, who has more than once served as Governor of the territory and who is one of the most distinguished men of the West, has finely said that the people of his territory, although threefold in origin and language (Spanish, Mexican, and American), are one in nationality, purpose, and destiny. In Governor Prince's history of New Mexico he notes its three determining epochs,—the Pueblo, the Spanish, and the American,—and he refers to it as "an isolated, unique civilization in the midst of encircling deserts and nomadic tribes."
On August 18, 1846, General Stephen W. Kearny took possession of the capital of New Mexico in the name of the United States; and on that date, for the first time, the national colors floated from the Old Palace and the acting Spanish Governor, Don Juan Baptista Vigil y Alvarid resigned his authority.
On the historic plaza where now a memorial to this brave officer stands, placed there by the "Daughters of the Revolution," General Kearny proclaimed the peaceful annexation of the territory of the United States.
"We come as friends to make you a part of the representative government," he said. "In our government all men are equal. Every man has a right to serve God according to his conscience and his heart."
General Kearny assured the people of the protection of every civil and religious right, and this forcible and noble speech—so characteristically representing the generous and noble spirit of one of the ablest among the leaders and the heroes of the nineteenth century—made a profound impression on the minds of all who listened to the words. When on August 18 of 1946 New Mexico shall celebrate her centenary of union with the United States, this memorable address of General Kearny's should be read to the assembled populace. Not even Lincoln's noble speech at Gettysburg exceeds in simple eloquence and magnanimity the lofty words of General Kearny. They were worthy to be spoken in "The City of the Holy Faith."
It was thus that New Mexico entered the United States, Esto Perpetua. To-day, after a territorial novitiate of more than sixty years, she is ardently urging her claim for statehood.
In old Santa Fé the past and the present meet. Governor Hagerman receives his guests in the same room in the Old Palace that was used by the first viceroy; and seventy-six Spanish and Mexican and eighteen American rulers have preceded him, among whom was General Lew. Wallace, who, while serving as territorial Governor, wrote his immortal "Ben Hur" in one room of the palace, which is still pointed out to the visitor. During this period Mrs. Wallace wrote many interesting articles on the history, the life, and the resources of the territory, in which are embalmed valuable information delightfully recorded. Mrs. Prince, the wife of ex-Governor Prince, a lady distinguished throughout all the country for her gracious sweetness and refined dignity of manner, is much interested in the New Mexico Historical Association; and the ex-Governor and Mrs. Prince, His Honor, Mayor Cotrell, and Mrs. Cotrell, Colonel and Mrs. Max Frost, and others of the choice society of Santa Fé, are preserving the history of this territory "that has survived all those strange modulations by which a Spanish province has become a territory of the Union bordering on statehood." Santa Fé is the home of some of the ablest lawyers in the United States, and one private law library is said to be the largest legal library west of Chicago.
The Old Palace has been identified with the times of the Inquisition; with the zealous work of Friar Marcos de Nizza, Friar Augustino Ruiz, and with Coronado and his band of warriors. On the Plaza, Juan de Oñate unfurled the banner of Spain; here de Vargas gave thanks for his victory, and here to-day is a simple monumental memorial of General Kearny placed there by the Daughters of the Revolution. The revered memory of Archbishop Lamy is closely associated with the place. In the Old Palace is a musée where a great array of unique curios is gathered; pictures of saints rudely painted on skins; crucifixes rudely carved in wood or moulded in native silver; gods carved in stone, and primitive domestic utensils.