The History of the Conquest of New Spain is a subject inwhich great interest is felt at the present day, and the Englishpublic will hail these memoirs, which contain the only true andcomplete account of that important transaction.
The author of this original and charming production, to whichhe justly gives the title of 'The True History of the Conquestof New Spain,' was himself one of the Conquistadores; one whonot only witnessed the transactions which he relates, but whoalso performed a glorious part in them; a soldier who, for impartialityand veracity, perhaps never had his equal. His accountis acknowledged to be the only one on which we can placereliance, and it has been the magazine from which the mosteloquent of the Spanish writers on the same subject, as well asthose of other countries, have borrowed their best materials.Some historians have even transcribed whole pages, but havenot had sufficient honesty to acknowledge it.
The author, while living, was never rewarded for the greatservices he had rendered his country, and it is remarkable that,after his death, his very memoirs were pillaged by court historians,to raise a literary monument to themselves.
Most of the other writers on the conquest, particularly theSpanish, have filled their works with exaggerations, to createastonishment and false interest; pages are filled with so termedphilosophical remarks, which but ill supply the place of the intelligentreader's own reflections. Bernal Diaz differs widelyfrom those writers, for he only states what he knows to be true.[Pg iv]The British public, fond above all others of original productions,will peruse with interest and delight a work which has so longbeen the secret fountain from which all other accounts of theconquest, with the exception of those which are least faithful,have taken life.
In respect of its originality, it may vie with any work ofmodern times, not excepting 'Don Quixote.' The author seemsto have been born to show forth truth in all its beauty, and heraises it to a divinity in his mind. Can anything be more expressiveof an honest conscience than what he says in his own preface:"You have only to read my history, and you see it is true."
The reader may form a general idea of this work from thefollowing critique, which Dr. Robertson, the historian, passesupon it: "Bernal Diaz's account bears all the marks of authenticity,and is accompanied with such pleasant naïveté, withsuch interesting details, with such amusing vanity, and yet sopardonable in an old soldier, who had been, as he boasts, in ahundred and nineteen battles, as renders his book one of themost singular that is to be found in any language."
One circumstance, and that very justly, he is most anxiousto impress on your mind, namely, that all the merit of the conquestis not due to Cortes alone; for which reason he generallyuses the expression "Cortes and all of us."
This is an allowable feeling in our old soldier, and it mu