The expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Spain and its colonies in 1767 was a serious blow to the missions in Mexico and in Central and South America. Not everywhere, however, did the disappearance of the Jesuit missionaries from the scenes of their labors result in the collapse of the missions. The Franciscans, who had been among the pioneer missionaries of Peru and had played a prominent part in carrying the Cross into the most remote wilds of South America, came to the rescue in many places, and, efficiently and successfully, carried on the work of their predecessors. This is true not only with regard to the chief aim of their missionary activity—the Christianization and civilization of their converts — but also with regard to the important task of geographical exploration. Eduard Pöppig, the pupil of the great Alexander von Humboldt, unquestionably a witness above suspicion, who, during his extensive voyages of discovery in South America from 1827 to 1832, followed the mission trails of the Franciscans in Peru, makes the following judgment on their activity: “However well the Jesuits contributed to the civilization of the plain Maynas, however untiring they have been in throwing the first light upon the geography of the confluences of the Marañón (that is, of that part of the Amazon which flows within the Peruvian borders), yet their endeavours are not without counterpart. The Franciscans, probably less favored by the circumstances of time, began their work almost a century later than the former, but the results of their labors, although they lie in ruins, were not smaller, and today still fill us with admiration.”

On September 11, 1875, a select group of intellectuals met in the house of Don Alejandro Arango y Escandón. They came for the purpose of organizing and constituting in Mexico the Academia Mexicana Correspondiente de la Real Española. The group was made up of Don José María Bassoco, Don Alejandro Arango y Escandón, Don Casimiro del Collado, Don Francisco Pimentel, Don José Sebastián Segura, Don Manuel Peredo, Don José María Roa Barcena, Don Manuel Orozco y Berra, and Don Rafael Angel de la Peña. Also among them was a man in the prime of life : strong of body, with a kind but penetrating gaze, totally without affectation, yet extremely persuasive; his whole manner attractive and distinguished. What was he doing among all these others whom Fame had already made her chosen favorites, since this man always modestly recalled the fact that he had never had the opportunity of attending a public school? Yet that same gentleman was to become the very soul of this scholarly body, even though he insistently declared the contrary through the succeeding years; the succeeding years in which he was to mount that height in which his name would live both within and without our country from generation to generation. This genius in the world of letters was Don Joaquín García Icazbalceta.

There is probably no more controversial issue in the United States today than that which is being debated, quite inaccurately, under the heading of “socialized medicine.” Public interest in the question has been crystallized by the introduction in the Congress of the United States of the Wagner-Murray-Dingell bill. At the same time, the champions of State sovereignty have prepared legislation aiming to provide medical care as well as hospitalization for low-income groups, without excessive extension of Federal power in a domain that touches intimately upon personal rights and local liberties.

A New era in the history of nineteenth-century Mexico began with the collapse of the Second Empire in 1867 and the re-founding of the Republic. Naturally, the first decade or so of this new era were years of transition. Then followed what is correctly termed the Díaz era, ending in 1910 with the overthrow of President Porfirio Díaz who for so many years, beginning in 1876, controlled the political affairs of Mexico and by his policy of peace, as González Peña points out, made it possible for Mexican literature to flower as it never had flowered before. For the Church, too, despite the existing “Reform” laws, the policy of Diaz meant comparative peace and greater freedom of action in promoting the common good of the nation. Correspondingly, as might be expected, Catholic “conservatives” in matters of religion began to feel more at ease also in the temple of Mexican culture and participated with renewed enthusiasm in the literary life of their native land.