The Apuntaciones of Modesto de la Torre: Mexican Nationalism as Seen by a Spanish Military Officer, 1821-1822

In the Mendel Collection at the Lilly Library at the University of Indiana, Bloomington, is an unpublished diary of over 400 pages written by a Spanish soldier during his voyage from Spain to New Spain, and his return voyage to the Iberian Peninsula, between May 30, 1821, and May 17, 1822. The document is titled Apuntaciones que en su viaje a ultramar ha tomado el oficial de infantería Modesto de la Torre (Notes Written by Infantry Officer Modesto de la Torre During His Voyage Overseas).¹ Lieutenant De la Torre was part of the delegation that accompanied General Juan O'Donojú when he assumed the position of captain-general and chief policy officer of New Spain, the highest-ranking office in Spain's overseas territories, following the reinstatement of the Constitution of Cádiz in 1820. The diary discusses a wide variety of topics, including the defeat of the Royalist army at Puerto Cabello (Carabobo, Venezuela) and the subsequent exodus of loyalist officers and troops to Havana. The diary also presents portraits of the people, cities, villages, towns, and flora and fauna that the lieutenant saw during his journey. In addition, it contains numerous references to the events triggered by Agustín de Iturbide's declaration of Mexican independence from Spain on February 24, 1821. Notable among these is the Royalist military leaders' opposition to the Iguala Plan and the defense of their posts in Mexico City, Veracruz, Perote, and Acapulco. All of this, however, is a mere accompaniment to the central theme at the heart of the Apuntaciones: the rise of early Mexican nationalism.

A few years ago David Brading defined the separatist discourse that arose in New Spain as a late mutation of creole patriotism.² Although rooted in the geographical setting of New Spain, the separatists' initial articulation of social identity was based on their Catholic faith and Spanish cultural heritage and thus provided a sense of belonging to the fatherland. The shift in thought that took place during the first part of the nineteenth century involved the integration of new strands in the historical narrative, such as anti-Spanish sentiment and the Aztec roots of residents of New Spain. The works of eighteenth-century historians, which criticized colonial dominion and promoted the notion that the people of New Spain descended from Moctezuma rather than from the conquistadors, were of fundamental importance in this regard. For example, the texts, sermons, and insurgent speeches of Fray Servando Teresa de Mier and Carlos María de Bustamante made repeated references to Francisco Clavijero's Historia Antigua de México.³ It was by affirming the indigenous past and by stigmatizing the peninsular Spaniards that the Mexican nation was invented and her political sovereignty justified.⁴ The Apuntaciones, in its great detail, reveals aspects of this teleology that are still a subject of debate, such as how deeply rooted and how widespread these beliefs were in society, and the critiques they inspired among Spanish loyalist soldiers. It is surprising, given the manuscript's importance, that it has heretofore been mentioned only briefly, in a note published by Carlos Olmedilla 40 years ago, and in Michael Zeuske's study of Francisco de Miranda.⁵

In Modesto de la Torre's diary entries, the myth of the Mexican nation appears as a reality shared unquestioningly by diverse members of Mexican society, serving to incorporate different social groups under a single horizon of images. The rejection of the Spanish and the defense of the Aztec heritage are evident in the dialogues between the lieutenant and the landowners, members of the elite, soldiers, merchants, and members of the clergy that he met in Veracruz, Puebla, and Mexico City. The author also constructs his narrative around the contrast he establishes between the New Spain he sees, and what he hears and reads about, particularly in Alexander von Humboldt's Essai politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne.⁶ The principles of liberalism associated with the Constitution of 1812 and the values and demonstrations of state patriotism...