Page:Vol 4 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/839

Rh  history of Mexico from 1830, during a period in which he played so conspicuous a part.

Lúcas Ignacio Alaman was born in the city of Guanajuato, October 18, 1792. On his mother's side he was lineally descended from Pedro de Busto, who in 1475 proclaimed Queen Isabel in Ocaña, and from Francisco Matías de Busto y Moya, first marquis of San Clemente and viscount of Duarte. His father, Juan Vicente Alaman, was a native of Ochagavia, in the valley of Salazar in Navarre, and married Maria Ignacia Escalada, the widow of Gabriel de Arechederreta. Alaman's mother by her first marriage had a son, Juan Bautista, who became knight of the order of Cárlos III., and canon of Mexico; it is the manuscript diary of this half-brother, kept at Mexico from 1811 to 1820, that constitutes Alaman's main authority in his history of the events during that period. He received his early education in the school of Belen at Guanajuato, and afterward studied mathematics and other branches in the college of La Purísima Concepcion, one of his instructors being the unfortunate Rafael Dávila, who was shot by order of Calleja in November 1810. The study of mining next occupied his attention, to which he devoted himself with an assiduity characteristic of all that he did. In 1808 he was in the city of Mexico, when Iturrigaray was deposed, and in 1810 witnessed the terrible events which occurred in Guanajuato. In December of the same year he removed with his mother to Mexico, his father having died three years before. Here he continued his studies, including in the course foreign languages, physical sciences, mineralogy, chemistry, and botany, until 1814. when he left for Spain. He remained abroad until 1820, travelling over nearly the whole of Europe, and completing his education with unwearied application. Italy, Switzerland, France, England and Scotland, Germany, Prussia and Saxony, Holland and Hanover were all visited. At Paris he pursued his study of natural science under Biot, of botany with Decandolle, and chemistry under Thenard; and at Freyberg, where he resided for some time, he increased his knowledge of mining. On his return to his native country he was elected deputy to the Spanish córtes for the province of Guanajuato, and embarked with the deputies who hastily left Mexico on the eve of Iturbide's revolution. From this time his career was a public one, and pertains to the history of his country. Alaman died June 2, 1853, after an illness of only a few days. On May 26th he was attacked with inflammation of the lungs, which assumed a fatal form on the 29th. He left a wife, Dona Narcisa García Castrillo, whom he married in 1823, and six children, five of whom were sons. Alaman was of somewhat diminutive stature, and possessed little physical strength. His determination, however, moral energy, and ceaseless perseverance rendered him capable of undergoing great exertion, and supplied him with an exhaustless fund of endurance. His forehead was broad and smooth, his eyes keen and piercing, and his complexion so fair that it would betoken him to belong to a northern race. He was highly gifted, speaking English, French, and Italian fluently, besides possessing considerable knowledge of the German language. He was a member of numerous scientific institutions and literary societies in Europe and the United States. His talent was of high order, and he cultivated it with exemplary industry. Though holding high office under the republic, he not infrequently displays in his history monarchical tendencies. Tornel states that during his travels in Europe Alaman became imbued with the idea that a monarchical form of government was the most perfect. Breve Reseña Hist., 25-6. Alaman, on the contrary, assures us that his experience ill Europe had made a republican of him, ''Hist. Méj.,'' v. 807; he was, however, opposed to democratic tendencies. Zavala speaks of him as cunning, reserved, avaricious, and ever ready to avoid danger: a man who made few or no friends. Rev. Mex., i. 342-3. Consult Alaman, Apuntes Biog., pp. 56; ''Id., Notic. Biog., pp. 59; Arroniz, Biog. Mex., 21-30; Montes de Oca, Orac. Fúneb.; Robinson's Mex. Rev., 268-70, 281; Bustamante, Voz de la Patria,'' ii. 8; ''Id., Hist. Iturbide,'' 150.

Alaman 's history was preceded by his Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la Rep. Mex., desde la conquista hasta la independencia. Mex. 1844, 1849. 3 vols.