Twentieth-Century historians accept the fact that history can no longer be viewed merely as past politics; it must now embrace all aspects of national life and thought—total history. In the study of a colonial empire, the social scientist must seek his sources not only in the colony but also in the mother country. The enumeration and analysis of American themes in the literature of imagination of eighteenth-century Spain can open new panoramas to the student of history since these themes reflect the ideas of the peninsular Spaniard and might help explain the reactions which they caused in the colonies.

Books of travel and books inspired by travel have probably been more popular in Great Britain than any other literary form, with the exception of novels.

This was especially true in the nineteenth century, when travel, owing to the lack of today's facilities, was reserved for the relative few. During that period, photography had not yet replaced the written word, as is happening in our own generation. The nineteenth-century Englishman wandered through the medium of a travel book and not through newsreels, travelogues, and even full-length movies. Today, the Englishman, like the American, is able to sit in his living room and see the world on his television screen. He is not dependent on literature to the extent that his grandfather or great-grandfather was. For the Englishman of the nineteenth century, therefore, travel literature was very important. Often, these books furnished the only source of information concerning strange lands and strange peoples.

A History of Catholicism in Brazil could well be divided into the pre- and post-Jacksonian eras. Jackson de Figueiredo, fiery Catholic journalist of the 1920's who serves as the point of reference, performed the feat of almost single-handedly wrenching the Brazilian Church from the position of static equilibrium in which it long lay suspended. This statis had its roots in the restrictive regalism of the Portuguese and Brazilian Empires and in the Republican disestablishment which followed in 1890.

Caught up since 1890 with organizational and financial problems of survival, the Brazilian Church had drawn ever closer to Rome. Under the auspices of the papacy, the hierarchy recruited foreign clergy to staff its underorganized church and encouraged new orders to set up branches in Brazil. In 1905 Pope Leo XIII appointed Archbishop Joaquim Arcoverde of Rio the first Cardinal of Brazil and of Latin America. He created new dioceses in Brazil and appointed Rome-trained bishops to fill them. The utilization of Rome's financial and personnel resources in the postdisestablishment period considerably shored up the Church qua organization in Brazil.

It is generally recognized that the grave military reverses of 1762 impelled Charles III “to place his American Empire on a competitive military footing.” A crucial element in this process was the “expansion of the regular, or veteran garrisons. . . .” This is not to say, of course, that there were no military establishments in the Indies before the Seven Years War. Indeed, as Allan J. Kuethe points out:

Yet, how different was this “promising defense system” from that put into place after 1762?

The revolution of 1904 was the major political disturbance in Paraguay for thirty years after the revolt of 1873-1874 which succeeded in driving the Liberals from power. Although not formally organized as a political party until 1887, young Liberals succeeded in gaining a brief, precarious ascendancy in postwar Paraguay. They dominated the Constituent Assembly when it met in 1870 to draft a constitution. This assembly elected Juan Bautista Rivarola, the surviving member of the postwar Triumvirate, as provisional president. But the young Liberals distrusted Rivarola and the conservatives, whose acknowledged leader was Cándido Bareiro, a nephew of Francisco Solano López who had served the dictator as a diplomat in Europe. The Liberals executed the first postwar political coup in Paraguay when they succeeded in substituting Facundo Machaín in place of Rivarola for a few hours until Bareiro directed a conservative coup that restored Rivarola as President of Paraguay. Bareiro expected to be elected president in the 1870 elections but Rivarola's position as provisional president gave him the advantage and he won the election.

The Latin Americans watched with fascination and concern as the dramatic events of November of 1903 progressed in the Isthmus of Panama. There, early in that eventful month, the interests of Panamanian patriots who long had sought the independence of their region from Colombia and of the United States which wanted to begin the construction of a vitally needed inter-ocean canal coincided. The Panamanians declared their independence on November 3, and the presence of United States forces to prevent the suppression of that revolution by Colombia assured its success. On November 6, Secretary of State John Hay ordered the United States consul in Panama to enter into relations with the new government, thereby extending to it de facto recognition. De jure recognition followed on November 13, when Panama's representative to the United States, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, was received officially in Washington. Five days later, Hay and Bunau-Varilla signed the treaty which gave to the United States the use, occupation, and control of a zone of land ten miles wide, extending across the isthmus from Colon to Panama City. In effect, Panama ceded sovereignty over that zone. The United States, for its part, guaranteed the independence of Panama, paid the sum of $10,000,000 to the new government, and promised an annual subsidy of $250,000.

The Stewarts of Scotland came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066 and descended from Alan Falhald of Oswestry. Walter, First Lord High Steward of Scotland, was the son of Alan. Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, who was killed at the battle of Falkirk in 1298, was the son of Lord Alexander Oswestry, Fourth Lord High Steward. Sir John’s brother, Lord James Oswestry, became the Fifth Lord High Steward, and from him descended the House of Stuart, rulers of Scotland and England. William Stewart of Paraguay descended from Sir John of Bonkyll, the twenty-second generation after Alan Falhald. In Scotland the Stewarts were landlords, merchants, bankers and farmers whose fortunes waxed and waned but always seemed to recover. That they were a resourceful clan is a conclusion easily reached if one takes the career of Dr. William Stewart of Paraguay as an example.

The celebration of the centennial of the Brazilian Republic (1889-1989) was marked by a few events of academic or civic nature and no enthusiasm whatsoever. It has been observed that the bicentennial of the French Revolution aroused more interest in the people of Brazil. The reasons for this are not difficult to understand. Two seem to have particular relevance. First, is the recent memory of a military regime (1964-1985) in the minds of the people. The proclamation of the Republic on 15 November 1889 is generally held to be the making of the Brazilian military; it would be somewhat embarrassing to celebrate the actions of yesterday's enemies.

The second reason relates to the disappointment felt among the populace with the New Republic—the name given to the civilian government inaugurated in 1985. The New Republic rode in on the crest of huge mass demonstrations, the most impressive ever to take place in the country. These people called for the end of military rule and the direct election of a civilian president. In 1985 a civilian president took over, although not chosen by direct election, and a constituent assembly drafted a new constitution. Freedom of the press was restored and the people lived in great hope that a new era had finally dawned for the nation. Four years later, in 1989, a new constitution was in effect, and the fundamental precepts of a democratic system—the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary branches of government; a free press; multiple political parties; and a politicized populace—were all in place.

When the old Palacio de Gobierno was demolished in 1938, a mass of papers and volumes were discovered and saved. They turned out to be the heart of the colonial archive of the Lima Tribunal of the Consulado (or Merchant’s Guild) and represented a substantial portion of the colonial Hacienda, or treasury, papers of Lima as well. An archive, the Archivo Histórico de Comercio y Hacienda, was created (and opened in 1944) for the express purpose of housing these documents and its first director, Frederico Schwab, was entrusted with the organization and cataloguing of this valuable collection. Schwab and Luis Felipe Muro Arias’ Catàlogo de la Sección Colonial del Archivo Histórico del Ministerio de Hacienda was published in Lima in 1944 and listed all of the major documentation held by the new archive relative to the colonial affairs of the Consulado and the Real Hacienda. A few years later Robert Sidney Smith, another scholar to reach and work this rich depisitory in its early years, transcribed the original index to the archive created by the Consulado to house its papers in the late eighteenth century. This work, El Indice del Archivo del Tribunal del Consulado de Lima, appeared in 1948 with an excellent preface to the history of the collection by Schwab and a valuable introduction to the Lima Consulado prepared by Smith himself. Since then, scholars such as the Peruvian Manuel Moreyra y Paz-Soldan and the Frenchwoman Marie Helmer have been able to take advantage of this great collection because of the pioneering work of Schwab, Smith, and their colleagues. The archive has since lost its autonomy and is now incorporated into the Archivo Nacional, which was a logical step in centralization since both archives are located in the Palacio de Justicia in Lima.

Simón Bolívar has sometimes been called “The George Washington of South America.” Certainly his achievements are so well known as to deserve the apt appelation “El Libertador” by which he is known by many of the neighbors of the United States of America south of the border.

One of the most important propaganda influences in Bolívar's success was the achievement of a good press in nations sympathetic to his cause. He was quite reticent to see the United States in a dominant role in the future regarding the areas he was trying to free from Spanish rule. Because he believed that Britain was “ruler of the world” during this period of world history, he was particularly interested that favorable images of him should appear in the British press.