Memoria del Secretario de Estado y del Despacho de Guerra y Marina....
Mexico City: Imprenta de Vincente G. Torres, 1849. 21pp., plus twenty-three leaves of tables and notes (some single page, some folding). Original yellow printed wrappers, bound into plain 19th-century sheep. Minor edge wear, scuffing, and some chipping to boards. Minor dust-soiling and foxing to text. Very good condition. Item #13245
An annual report by Mexico's minister of war, in the wake of the Mexican-American War. Presented to the Chamber of Deputies a year after the end of the war with the United States, Arista describes a desolate situation in the Republic: "With peace celebrated with the United States of the North, the government retained no means of those that drive the social machine: the bonds of the federal union were weakened, the laws violated, the morale of the people crushed, and factions embittered; the elements of destruction proliferated everywhere, and the government saw before it nothing but an unfathomable abyss, the product of so many misfortunes." Next, he describes the process of reorganizing the army and pacifying the nation. He also recounts some of the lessons learned during the last war, with a view to applying them to the restructuring of the Mexican army. Arista also reviews the country's new situation after the loss of territory with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In addition, pages 10-13 include a section titled, "Frontera de la Republica," devoted to the reality of indigenous peoples threatening the nation's northern frontier. OCLC records just four copies, at Yale, Baylor, UMKC, and the National Library of Mexico.
Price: $950