Between the glamorous galleons of the sixteenth century and the flashing fighter planes of the 1940’s—which were the Mexican commercial and military introductions to the Far East—came the less brilliant but more permanent diplomatic orientation toward the Far East on the part of Mexico during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Today, on the Western Coast of the peninsula of Yucatán stand centuries-old Spanish fortifications, the most remarkable example of military architecture in the Western Hemisphere. Abandoned monuments to that titanic colonial adventure of the New World, which came to an end more than two hundred years ago, they guard the port and little town of Campeche, which now lies like some half-forgotten legend beside the blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

On September 26, 1786, Don Francisco de Miranda, adventurer and patriot, secured a passport from the Austrian Minister in Constantinople which enabled him to continue his “grand tour” to Russia. The nature of Miranda’s subsequent visit, and the extent to which his reception at the court of Catherine II influenced Spanish and Russian policy, assumes significance in the light of events on the North American continent immediately preceding and during his stay in Russia.