This stirring narrative of toil and adventure, addressed by the celebrated conqueror of Mexico to his sovereign, although replete with the most romantic interest, has hitherto escaped an English translator. Written amidst the very scenes described, in a tone of honest sincerity, and with a scrupulous attention to the truth, which none has ever attempted to gainsay, these Letters or Despatches, after being published separately as they were received in Spain, seem to have been overlooked and forgotten when in the lapse of time the original editions had disappeared from the public eye.