Life in Mexico | Page 2

was destined to
be a long one, even for those days, for they left New York on October
27th and did not reach their destination until the 26th of the following
December.
Calderon's mission to Mexico lasted somewhat more than two years,

during which time he and his wife, says Prescott, "lived much at their
ease," and "were regaled en prince." In spite of Don Angel's delicate
diplomatic duties and her own frequent social engagements and
strenuous excursions, Fanny Inglis Calderon found time to write almost
daily letters, most of them of considerable length, to relatives and
friends. These letters constituted the basis of the present book when
they were collected and published--with certain necessary
omissions--simultaneously in London and Boston in 1843, under the
title of Life in Mexico during a Residence of Two Years in that Country.
The book was provided with a short but substantial Preface by Prescott.
That same year saw Don Angel Calderon de la Barca transferred to
Washington as Spanish Minister, a post in which he not only
discharged his diplomatic duties with much ability, but also frequented
the literary circles and even found time to translate several works into
Spanish.
In 1853 Calderon was recalled to Spain by his government and arrived
at Madrid on September 17th with his wife, who had recently become a
Catholic. A year later, he was appointed Minister of State in the
Cabinet of the Conde de San Luis, and thus became an actor in the
troubled drama of that period of Isabel II's reign. When finally the
unpopularity of the government culminated in a general rebellion,
Calderon managed to escape the unjust fury of the rabble by hiding first
in the Austrian, and later in the Danish Legation, until he was able to
cross the frontier and take refuge in France. The events that Madame
Calderon had witnessed in Spain moved her to write that entertaining
book The Attache in Madrid, which, pretending to be a translation from
the German, appeared in New York in 1856.
The Calderons were able to return to Spain after an absence of two
years, but in 1861 Don Angel died at San Sebastian, just when he was
expecting to move to a small villa which was being built for him
nearby in picturesque Zarauz. Hard upon this event Madame Calderon
retired to a convent across the Pyrenees, but shortly afterwards Queen
Isabel asked her to come back and take charge of the education of her
eldest daughter, the Infanta Isabel, a request which, though at first
respectfully declined, was finally accepted by her. From that time on
Madame Calderon became the constant companion of the Infanta Isabel,
until the latter's marriage to the Count of Girgenti in 1868. She then

returned to the United States, but only for a comparatively short time,
for as soon as Alfonso XII came to the throne, Madame Calderon went
back to Spain and was created by him Marquesa de Calderon de la
Barca. Thenceforward she led a very quiet life until her death, in the
Royal Palace of Madrid, on February 3rd, 1882.
Any radical change in the form of government is liable to be
accompanied by disorders, and this is even more likely to be true in a
country like Mexico, which has become famous for its frequent
political troubles and has been aptly called "a land of unrest." In the
eighteen-forties the country witnessed many plans, "pronunciamientos"
and revolutions, which could not escape the vigilant mind of Madame
Calderon, who often refers to them with a spice of delicate satire and
irony which is not unkindly. After the long period of peaceful if
unexciting viceregal rule, the government of the new republic had
become the prey of political groups, headed by men who coveted the
presidency chiefly impelled by a "vaulting ambition" which, in most
cases "overleapt itself." Madame Calderon drew faithful portraits of
many of the politicians of those days, not stinting her praise to such
men of honour as Bustamante, nor hiding her sympathy towards the
much reviled Santa Anna.
Naturally, as the wife of the Spanish Minister, she feels occasionally
bound to dwell somewhat disparagingly upon the existing state of
things, as compared with the excellences of the former viceregal regime.
Thus, on visiting the older cities and establishments, she lays stress on
the great benefits that the Mother Country had bestowed on her
Colonies, an opinion that, she states, was shared by the most
distinguished persons in Mexico, who missed the advantages of the
days of yore: "I fear we live in a Paradise Lost," she exclaims, "which
will not be regained in our days!"
But this does not mean to say that she withholds praise where praise is
due. On more than one occasion she extols the valour of a soldier,