Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/347

Rh who at the end appends some pages of notes and corrections by himself, as well as an article written by Manuel Payno and published in the Siglo XIX. Hans was a strong partisan of Maximilian, and while being as impartial as his position and political views would allow in his narration of events, he is occasionally unjust to the republican party. It is to refute such expressions that Elizaga penned his notes and Payno his article.

Felix Salm-Salm, My Diary in Mexico in 1867, including the Last Days of the Emperor Maximilian, with leaves from the Diary of the Princess Salm-Salm. London, 1868, sm. 8°, 2 vol., pp. xiv., 320, and 328. Maximilian in his last will expressed the desire that this author and the ex-minister Fernando Ramirez would undertake to write an historical account of his three years' sojourn in Mexico and of the preparatory period, with the assistance of documents kept in England and at Miramare. Salm-Salm was unable to procure those papers, and in his preface relates the efforts he made to obtain them and carry out one of the last wishes of the emperor. Aware that a publication about the occurrences at Querétaro was expected from him, he resolved to publish such a narrative with the help of his diary. He has to regret the loss of many important papers during the occupation of Querétaro by the liberals and his own imprisonment. He had written while a prisoner an account of these events for the emperor of Austria, and delivered it to Mr Price to forward it by the English courier to Vera Cruz. He states, vol. ii., p. 105, that he did not know whether it ever reached the hands of the emperor. Salm-Salm enters minutely into the occurrences at the siege of Querétaro, describing particularly the imprisonment and execution of Maximilian, as well as his own experiences while under condemnation of death to the time of his release. His wife's diary, which occupies the first 88 pages of the 2d volume, contains an account of her exertions to effect the escape of Maximilian by attempting to bribe the officers under whose guard he was placed. She attributes her failure to the meanness of the foreign representatives in not supplying her with funds. The Austrian and Belgian ministers she regarded as actually unfriendly. In both diaries the personal appearance and manners of prominent men are described. Prince Salm-Salm was general, first aide-de-camp, and chief of the household of Maximilian. He subsequently entered the Prussian service, and was killed before Metz, in August 1870. His wife was an American, and, as she states, 'understood perfectly well the feelings of the Mexicans.' ii. 57. This work has been translated into Spanish by Eduardo Gibbon y Cárdenas, and was published in Mexico in 1809, under the title, Félix de Salm-Salm. Mis Memorias sobre Querétaro y Maximiliano. The diary of the princess was also translated from the German and published serarately, under the title, Querétaro; Apuntes del Diario de la Princesa Inés de Salm-Salm. Mexico, 1869, sm. 4°, pp. 51.

Ignacio de la Peza y Agustin Pradillo, Maximiliano y los Ultimos Sucesos del Imperio en Querétaro y Mexico. Mexico, 1870, sm. 8°, p. 179. The object of the authors of this volume was to refute numerous false statements and misrepresentations asserted to be contained in Salm-Salm's book entitled My Diary. Peza was a colonel of artillery in the imperial army, and Pradillo Maximilian's only aide-de-camp in Querétaro, 'Unico Oficial de órdenes del Emperador en Querétaro.' They accuse Salm-Salm of ingratitude to his Mexican friends, of untruthfulness, and of attempting to stain the reputations of those who generously extricated him from difficulties on his arrival in Mexico. In their narrative of events they charge him with being responsible for the disastrous results of various engagements, and speak lightly of his military qualities. The last 28 pages are taken up by an appendix written by Manuel Noriega, whom the authors defend, and who deemed it necessary also to take up his pen in the same cause. Salm-Salm's remarks about the Mexican officers and troops were somewhat supercilious and ill-judged, and these writers show their resentment.

''La Caida de Querétaro en 1867; Varios Documentos Relativos á aquel Acontecimiento. Mexico, 1868, sm. 8°, p. 192.'' Miguel Lopez, a colonel in the imperial army, smarting under the charge of treacherous conduct at Querétaro,