Vast tracts of profitable land in Mexico are still unsettled. As the government becomes more and more stable, it is probable that these will be occupied with emigrants from all other nations, eager to develop the great natural resources. There are at present many Germans engaged in all the branches of industry; and Englishmen, attracted by the great mining and other capabilities of the country, are yearly investing more and more capital in these enterprises. To the skill of English engineers is due the successful achievement of the Mexican railway, the first built of the great lines that now mark up the map in all directions. Many a Mexican company had faced the chasm between the capital and the gulf, but baulked before the leap. No government lasted long enough to ensure the success of the enterprise, until, in 1868 republican stability and English capital combined to push it forward, and in 1873 the road was opened to the public.
Two great lines connecting Mexico with the United States—the Mexican Central and the National Railway—are essentially American enterprises. The Yankee pervades Mexico—not, as many of its inhabitants fear, with the deep design of absorbing all its territory into the already large domain of the United States, but with his characteristic instinct for doing a good thing for himself. He finds a perfect climate, a productive soil, a land rich in metals and minerals, unlimited space for future railroads, telegraphs, towns, shops, business. There are instances, no doubt, where he thinks he has found a simple native population, easily imposed upon, whose ignorance he may work to his own advantage. But there is no doubt that Yankee liberality, intelligence, conscience, and capital have already done much, and will do far more, to advance the civilization of the country, and lift the spirit of the Aztec, kept low down by centuries of life at the very base of the social pyramid, so that it may ascend higher and higher towards its apex.
The darkest days of the Mexican Republic are over. Its members have learned sharp lessons from adversity; they have suffered every thing that their own headstrong conduct, their vain-glorious ambition could bring upon them—civil war, anarchy, invasion by the army of a neighboring government—their natural friend perverted to an enemy partly by their own folly,—the unwarranted intervention of a foreign potentate, the difficulties of debt, want of public faith, a low state of public honesty.
Out of all these troubles they have bravely emerged, and now take their stand, heavily weighted still, indeed, with the burdens of past mistakes, among them the lingering distrust of other nations, but young, full of promise, with all the elements surrounding them of a possible great future. This future must depend for the most part on their own exertions. The children of to-day must be reared in such enlightened fashion that they may avoid the mistakes and crimes of the generation before them; they must learn to long for honorable peace, and must resist the pull there is to their blood for change and military renown. They must seek glory in the permanence of their institutions and the development of their great resources, thus slowly winning the confidence of other nations.
Then they will find these other nations, and especially the powerful one next them on their own continent, ready to perform the neighborly part of protecting their interests, sympathizing in their prosperity, generously willing to share with them the growing fame of the civilization of America.
INDEX.
A
Aak, [78]
Academy of Fine Arts, [226]
Acamapichtli, [90]
Acapulco, [225]
Acatl, [76]
Acolhuacan, [93]
Aculco, [246]
Aculhuas, [42]
Agave, [34]
Aguilar, Jérome de, [138]
Agustin I., see Yturbide
Ahuehuete, [22], [56]
Ahuitzotl, [105]
Aldama, [248]
Allende, Ignacio, joins Hidalgo, [241];
denounced, [244];
attacked by Calleja, [246];
forced to retreat, [247];
captured and shot, [248]
Alta California, [190]; see also California
Alvarado, [137], [160], [163], [173], [194]
Amaquemecan, [38], [42]
Amecameca, [99], [208]
Ampudia, General, [318], [319], [322]
Anahuac, [6], [8], [12], [17], [33]
Anaya, General, [334]
Angostura, [323]
Apan, [36]
Apodaca, Viceroy, [259], [262]
Arista, General, [311], [342]
Atlantis, [21]
Atzacualco, [83]
Atzcapotzalco, [42], [43], [51]
Audiencia, [184]
Austin, Moses, [304]
Axayacatl, [101], [158]
Ayaxzitl, [41]
Ayotzinco, [156]
Ayuntamiento, [184]
Azoteas, [127]
Aztecs, [43];
emigration of, [83];
wanderings of, [84];
settlement at Chapultepec, [86];
driven to the islands, [87];
found Tenochtitlan, [88];
their civilization, [89];
extent of the kingdom, [106];
religion of, [107];
hieroglyphics, [111];
paintings, [112];
religion, [114];
domestic life, [115];
laws, [115];
calendar, [116];
cycle, [118];
agriculture, [119];
character, [120];
priestesses, [121];
policy of the nation, [123]
Aztlan, [22]
B
Bajan, Las Norias de, [248]
Balam, [78]
Barradas, [277]
Basch, Dr., [375]
"Baths of Montezuma,", [57]
Baudelier, quoted, [30], [38], [170]
Bazaine, Marshal, [356], [360], [367], [371], [373]
Bocanegro, [277]
Bonaparte, Joseph, [235]
Bonpland, [224]
Boot, Adrian, [218]
Branciforte, Marquis of, [234], [235]
Bravo, General Don Nicholas, [262], [268], [274], [307], [321]
Buena Vista, [323]
Bustamente, [262], [277], [278], [285], [287], [288]
C
Cacamatzin, [130], [154], [156]
Calderon, battle of, [247]
Calderon, Conde de, see Calleja
Calderon, Madame, [290];
quoted, [227], [273], [282], [284], [293]
Calderon, Señor, [290]
California, [313], [316], [338]
Calleja, General, [246], [247], [252], [258]
Calzadas, [80]
Calzonzi, [67], [176], [189]
Campeche, [132]
Canoas, [92], [127]
Cargadores, [4], [405]
Carlotta, Empress of Mexico, [350];
her character, [358], [364];
goes to Europe, [367];
interview with Napoleon, [368];
her madness, [369]
Carratelas, [292]
Casa de Cortés, [28]
Casa Grande, [13]
Casa-Mata, [268]
Catholic Fathers, [9], [412]
Cazadero, [202]
Cempoallan, [143]
Cerro de Borrego, battle at, [355]
Cerro Gordo, [330]
Ceutla, ruins at, [17]
Chaak Mool, [78]
Chalcas, [66]
Chalchiuhtlatonac, [26], [38]
Chalco, Lake, [12], [333]
Chapparral, [5]
Chapultepec, [86], [127], [156], [291], [338], [362], [399]
Charles V., [10], [177], [214]
Charles II., [220]
Charles III., [226], [233]
Charles IV., [227], [233]
Chavero, quoted, [117]
Chiapas, [18], [71], [265]
Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, [41]
Chichen-Itza, [76]
Chichimecs, [26], [38]-44, [64], [87]
Chihuahua, [323]
Chilpantzingo, [252]
Chimalpopoca, [91], [94]
Chinampas, [228]
Cholollan, [28]
Cholula, pyramid of, [14], [100], [106], [206]
Cholultecas, massacre of, [154]
Churubusco, [333], [334]
Cinco de Mayo, [354]
Clerigos, [344]
Coahuila, [338]
Coatlicue, [121]
Coatzacoalco River, [106]
Colima, [62]
Colorado River, [24]
Columbus, [131]
Comonfort, General, [356]
Conquistadores, [8], [12], [89]
Contreras, Don Pedro Moya de, [216]
Copan, [17], [71]
Córdoba, [5]
Cordova, [132]
Cordova, treaty of, [264], [266]
Cortazar, General, [285]
Cortés, Fernando, alluded to, [2], [3];
birth of, [135];
character of, [136];
commissioned by Velasquez, [127];
his squadron, [138];
at the Tabasco River, [139];
worshipped as Quetzalcoatl, [141];
sends gifts to Montezuma, [141];
visits Cempoallan, [143];
destroys the ships, [144];
interview with Montezuma, [147];
conquers Tlaxcalla, [152];
at Cholula, [154];
arrives in Mexico, [156];
meeting with Montezuma, [157];
seizes Montezuma, [159];
expedition to Vera Cruz, [160];
abandons Mexico, [163];
retreat from the city, [164];
gathers a new army, [171];
campaign against Mexico, [173];
at Coyoacán, [175];
conquers Michoacan, [176];
expedition to Honduras, [177];
voyages to Spain, [178];
death of, [178];
burial in Mexico, [179]
Cortés, Martin, [180]
Cotton, [92], [406]
Council of Music, [53]
Coxcox, [22]
Coyoacán, [175]
Cozumel, [138]
Cuahtemoc, [167], [170], [174], [175], [178]
Cuauhnahuac, [92]
Cuautla, [252]
Cuba, [132]
Cuepopan, [88]
Cuernavaca, [28], [225]
Cuextecas, [106]
Cuicuicatzin, [155]
Cuitlahuac, [101]
Cuitlahuatzin, [161], [166]
Cuitzao, Lake, [62]
Culhuacan, [23]
Culhuas, [87]
D
Diaz, Bernal, [137];
quoted, [127], [148], [181]
Diaz, Porfirio, takes Oaxaca, [371];
takes Puebla, [376], [384];
a candidate for the presidency, [390];
at the head of the revolutionists again, [392];
his earlier life, [394];
in the war of the reform, [395];
campaign against Oaxaca, [395];
an escape from government troops, [396];
president, [398];
re-elected, [398];
his home, [399]
Doblado, [346]
Dolores, [240]
Dominicans, [324]
Dominiguez, Doña Josefa, [258]
"Drinking cup of the Eagle," [101]
E
Escobedo, General, [374], [375], [378]
Estrada, Gutierrez, [299], [349]
F
Farías, Valentine Gomez, [279], [282], [307], [321], [330]
Ferdinand VII., [234], [259]
Fischer, Father, [371]
Forey, Marshal, [356]
Franciscans, [324]
Fremont, Colonel, [316]
Frijoles, [26]
G
Galves, Viceroy, [226], [228]
Garces, Fray Julian, [204]
Garibay, Viceroy, [236]
Ghent, Fray Pedro de, [192]
Gonsalez, General Manuel, [398]
Good-Friday in Mexico, [294]
Gorostiza, [334]
Grant, Ulysses, quoted, [341]
Grenaditas, Alhóndiga de, [243], [248]
Grijalva, Juan de, [132]-134
Grito de Dolores, [242]
Guadalajara, [193], [246]
Guadalupe-Hidalgo, treaty of, [338]
Guanajuato, [19], [243], [409]
Guardias Rurales, [298]
Guatemala, [71], [265]
Guerrero, [259];
joins Yturbide, [261];
joins in the Casa-Mata, [268];
a candidate for the presidency, [275];
president, [277];
his government overthrown, [277];
captured and shot, [278]
Guillermo, [346]
Guzman, Nuño de, [184], [185]-194
H
Herrara, General, [262], [307], [342]
Hicuxaxé, [66]
Hidalgo, Manuel, birth and education, [238];
life at Dolores, [240];
declares independence, [241];
Grito de Dolores, [242];
takes Guanahuato, [243];
takes Valladolid, [245];
defeated at Aculco, [246];
defeated at Calderon, [247];
captured and shot, [248]
Hidalgo, state of, [41]
Historia Chichimeca, [60]
Holy Brotherhood, tribunal of, [203]
Houston, General, [305]
Huactlatohani, [41]
Huatusco, ruins at, [16]
Huehue-Tlapallan, [19], [24]
Huehuetoca, [218]
Huematzin, [24]
Huexotzinco, [106]
Huitzilihuitl, [91], [92], [94]
Huitzilopochtli, [29], [87], [88], [99], [105]
Human sacrifices, [102]
Humboldt, Alexander von, visits Mexico, [224]-232
I
"Iguala, Plan of," [261]
Indian, the name, [184]
Indios, [184]
Inquisition, [196], [216]
Iré-Titatacamé, [65]
Istaccíhuatl, [6]
Iturrigaray, Don José de, [224], [236]
Itzcoatl, [96], [97], [98]
Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando de Alva, [23], [44], [60], [64]
Ixtlilxochitl, king of the Chichimecs, [44], [45], [94]
Ixtlilxochitl, of Texcuco, [130], [154], [155], [171]
Izamal, [81]
J
Jaramillo, Don Juan de, [183]
Jesuits, [324]
Jimenez, [247], [248]
Joinville, Prince de, [281]
Jorullo, [231]
Juarez, Benito, his descent, [344];
governor of Oaxaca, [345];
president, [346];
withdraws from the capital, [356];
advances to Zacatecas, [374];
enters the capital, [386];
president, [387];
character of, [389];
re-elected, [390];
death of, [390]
Juarez, Doña Catalina, [137], [181], [182]
Juntas, [235]
K
Kinich-Katmo, [78]
L
Lane, General, [340]
Leon, Diégo Velasquez de, [132], [135], [137]
Leon y Gama, quoted, [117]
Le Plongeon, Dr., quoted, [78]
Lerdo, Don Sebastian de Tejada, [391], [396]
Lerma, River, [219]
Le Teja, [372]
Liberales, [344]
Lopez, General, [377]
Lorencez, General, [354]
Loreto, Fort, [331]
Louis Philippe, [281]
M
Maguey, [35]
Malinche, mountain of, [46]
Malintzi, birth and early life, [145];
in slavery, [146];
given to Cortés, [146];
becomes interpreter, [147];
appearance of, [149];
escape of, [164];