Francisco Sosa was born in Campeche, April 2, 1848. When he was still a child his parents removed to Merida, where the boy received his education. His first poetical effort appeared in a local paper, when the writer was but fourteen years of age. At that time, he was editor—in union with Ovidio and Octavio Zorilla—of the paper, La Esperanza (Hope), in which it appeared. Four years later his Manual de Biografía Yucateca (Manual of Yucatecan Biography) was published, showing his early devotion to the field in which he has chiefly figured, that of biography. With Ramón Aldana, he founded La Revista de Merida (The Merida Review), which is still published and is, unquestionably, the most influential paper in Yucatan. In 1868, when but twenty years old, he went, for the first time to the City of Mexico, where most of his life since has been spent. He had, however, already been a prisoner, for political reasons, in the famous and dreadful fortress of San Juan de Ulúa, at Vera Cruz. He became promptly associated with the literary men of Mexico and collaborated with them, upon a number of important periodical publications, literary and political. In 1873 he was associated with Gen. Riva Palacios in the editorship of El Radical (The Radical). Later as editor of the Federalista (Federalist), he gave to that paper a notable literary reputation and contributed to it, both prose and verse. He was one of the editors of El Bien Publico (The Public Good), a paper aimed to combat the administration of President Lerdo de Tejada; while thus connected, he went to Guanajuato to join the standard of Iglesias, returning, at the downfall of Lerdo de Tejada, to the City of Mexico. Since that time, he has edited various periodicals, including El Siglo XIX (The Nineteenth Century), El Nacional (The National), and La Libertad (Liberty).
Señor Sosa’s books have been mainly in the line of biography. Besides the volume on Yucatecans already mentioned, he has published Don Wenceslao Alpuche, Biografías de Mexicanos Distinguidos (Biographies of Distinguished Mexicans), El Episcopado Mexicano (The Mexican Episcopacy), Efemérides Historicas y Biograficas (Historical and Biographical Ephemerids), Los Contemporaneos (The Contemporaries), Las Estatuas de la Reforma (The Statues of “the Reforma”) and Conquistadores Antiguos y Modernos (Ancient and Modern Conquerors). He has also written an appreciative work upon South-American writers—Escritores y poetas Sud-Americanos. Among his works in other fields are a volume of stories—Doce Leyendas (Twelve Stories), and a book of sonnets, Recuerdos (Recollections).
In his poetry Sosa is vigorous, chaste, and strong. In prose he is direct and simple, but careful in language.
Señor Sosa has ever been interested in every cause tending toward the advancement of Mexico and has actively participated in the organization and conduct of literary and learned societies. It is to his efforts that the interesting series of statues, that border the Paseo de la Reforma, is due.
Our selections are taken from his Estatuas de la Reforma and Biografías de Mexicanos Distinguidos.
THE STATUES OF THE REFORMA.
In 1887 Sosa published an article in El Partido Liberal (The Liberal Party), which has produced a happy result. From it, we quote:
The inauguration of the magnificent monument with which the Federal Government has honored the memory of the illustrious Cuauhtemoc and that of the principal chieftains of the defense of the native land in 1521, has shown, not only that Mexico does not forget her heroes, but, also, that among her sons are artists capable of producing works creditable to any cultured nation.
This affirmation is not born from our enthusiasm for all that redounds to the glory of our native land. Foreign writers have not hesitated to say that the monument of Cuauhtemoc may be considered the finest in America, in its essentially American architecture and in being a work exclusively realized by Mexican artists.