While at Segura, Cortes wrote that celebrated letter to the
emperor,- the second in the series,- so often cited in the preceding
pages. It takes up the narrative with the departure from Vera Cruz,
and exhibits in a brief and comprehensive form the occurrences up to
the time at which we are now arrived. In the concluding page, the
general, after noticing the embarrassments under which he labours,
says, in his usual manly spirit, that he holds danger and fatigue
light in comparison with the attainment of his object; and that he
is confident a short time will restore the Spaniards to their former
position, and repair all their losses.
He notices the resemblance of Mexico, in many of its features
and productions, to the mother country, and requests that it may
henceforth be called, "New Spain of the Ocean Sea." He finally
requests that a commission may be sent out at once, to investigate his
conduct, and to verify the accuracy of his statements.
This letter, which was printed at Seville the year after its
reception, has been since reprinted and translated more than once.
It excited a great sensation at the court, and among the friends of
science generally. The previous discoveries of the New World had
disappointed the expectations which had been formed after. the
solution of the grand problem of its existence. They had brought to
light only rude tribes, which, however gentle and inoffensive in their
manners, were still in the primitive stages of barbarism.
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