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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Bibliographers record only two items in English out of the thousands of publications that appeared in New Spain from 1539 to 1821: (1) a 1784 English translation of the sixth article of the 1783 peace treaty concluded between Spain and England, and (2) a brief catechism of Catholic doctrine published in 1787 or shortly after. Both appeared in Mexico City. I have found no reference to any other imṕrint in English issuing from the Mexican colonial presses. I consulted the first in the splendid collection of Señor Martín Carrancedo of Mexico City and the second in the library of the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus in Rome.
1 The complete text (in French) of the treaty is to be found in Davenport, Frances G., European Treaties bearing on the History of the United States and its Dependencies (Washington D.C., 1937) 4 (edited by Paullin, Charles O.), 158–161.Google Scholar The heading of the French text gives September 12, 1783 as the date of the “Ratification by Spain”; Keating’s translation from the Spanish reads “the Ratification [were] exchang’d the 19 of the same Month,” presumably in reference to the acceptance of both concluding parties.
2 In the Spanish works of the time, the area was “en la provincia de Honduras (o Hibueras) del reyno de Guatemala del virreynato de la Nueva España,” and today a part of British Honduras. A contemporary account of the geography and history of the area, with emphasis on the English lumbermen active there (cortadores del palo de tinte o de Campeche) is given by de Alcedo, Antonio, Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales o América (Madrid, 1787) 2, 367–370.Google Scholar
3 See Davenport, op. cit., IV, 161.
4 In the French text “distrit”; op. cit., IV, 159.
5 The same text reads “les rivieres Walliz ou Bellesee et Rio Hondo” and later “la riviere Waliz ou Bellesse”; ibid. A contemporary map gives in great detail the course of these rivers, referring to them as “Río VValis” and “Río Hondo”; it is entitled “Descripción plano-hidrográphica de la provincia de Yucathán, golfo de Honduras y laguna de Términos,” no. 123 of Cartografía de Ultramar. Carpeta III: Méjico. Láminas ([Madrid], n. d.).
6 Cf. the French text “les dites isles”; Davenport, op. cit., IV, 160.
7 Through an error of printing the catechism has “XII” instead of “VII.”
8 It has not been possible to determine the author or translator of this catechism. The Abridgement is an excellent and exact exposition of the key doctrines of the Church. Did the small volume have a parallel in other modern languages? Were they more generously represented in Mexican colonial publications?