The indecision which plagued Prescott regarding the advisability of publishing the massive manuscript on which he had labored a decade yielded to a decisively vigorous, though little known, presentation of that work to the American reading public.

The manuscript of the History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic, concluded by Prescott in mid-1836, passed, in succeeding months, through the hands of one friendly critic after another. First to subject the long opus to critical evaluation was William Howard Gardiner, a foremost figure in the inner circle of Prescott's Boston neighbors and literary friends. Next it went to editor-historian Jared Sparks, then situated in Cambridge. Reflectively reading and, as circumstances permitted, occasionally visiting Prescott to discuss the manuscript with him, Sparks never had reason to retract the judgment he pronounced on February 24, 1837 in a brief note which closed with the succinct assertion, “The book will be sucessful,—bought, read and praised.” With the spring of 1837 the itinerant manuscript passed into the hands of the scholarly-minded city solicitor of Boston, John Pickering, but before that reader could be heard from, Prescott was actively facing the publication problem on another front.

Throughout Mexican history the attitudes and actions of the Church have been of the greatest importance. During the colonial period the Church had exclusive jurisdiction not only over the religious life of the people, but also over education. Its role in the political and economic fields was often paramount. In the national period of Mexican history the attitude of a government toward the Church and religion was often the most important feature of its program, and on many occasions a government came to power or fell on this question.

The reluctance of Costa Rica to join in cooperative political action with her Central American neighbors has for more than a century been a dominant theme in the relations of these states with each other. Costa Rican separatism—a traditional withdrawal or aloofness from Central American political affairs—has been cited in most studies as a powerful factor in the repeated failure of the attemptsof these nations to create a single Central American Government. Always apart by reason of geography, and largely ignored by Spain, the Costa Ricans acquired strong feelings of exceptionality in late colónial times near the end of the eighteenth century. The basis of this attitude was the conviction that they were being badly treated by other Central American provinces, Guatemala and Nicaragua in particular, who in various ways were responsible for Costa Rican administration. In the few years remaining before independence the Costa Rican distrust was substantially increased by Central American and international events. Independence in 1821 intensified this separatism and grossly compounded it by freeing the forces of localism in individual towns and villages.

An adequate comprehension of Brazilian institutions, history, economics, and other aspects of national life could be but with great difficulty acquired without a consideration of the role played by the Negro in the development of the Brazilian nation. His influence has been far-reaching, encompassing the major social institutions; and his impress is to be found in virtually every phase of the culture. Although originating from a wide diversity of African nations with distinctive cultural backgrounds, he has received as well as given culturally, and is distinctively Brazilian.

In this paper the Negro in Brazil will be discussed from three different points of view: the demographic; the historical; and the social.

As American economic interests expanded in Central America in the early twentieth century, many British representatives concluded that the Foreign Office would have to devise some method to protect existing British investments against American encroachment. When Secretary of State Knox visited Central America in 1912, he and Sir Lionel E. G. Carden, the British Minister to Central America, discussed Central American affairs when they met in Guatemala on March 16. Knox could scarcely have been very sympathetic as Carden expounded the British point of view, for the Department of State believed that the greatest obstacle to the success of its policy in Central America was none other than the British Minister. As early as April, 1910, Knox had unsuccessfully tried to have Carden transferred from his post; the attempt failed because Sir Edward Grey backed up his Minister.