De la Introducción:
El libro de Sir John sobre Venezuela, titulado Reminiscences of South America: from two and a half years’ Residence in Venezuela, fue publicado en Londres por Jackson y Walford en 1838. Es un volumen en 8º menor, xii-260 pp., Appendix: 4 fnn. Hackshaw llegó a Venezuela en un momento crucial, cuando la nueva República empezaba a dar los primeros pasos. El país le fascinó, no solo por su belleza física, sino que tomo afecto por sus gentes. Es interesante observar el criterio avanzado, humanitario, e ilustrado que Sir John demuestra al hablar sobre la esclavitud, o sobre la presunta superioridad de la raza blanca sobre las razas de color, que el rechaza con fuertes argumentos. Con serenidad y justeza analiza el carácter de los venezolanos de entonces, y les reconoce sus virtudes sin dejar de anotar honestamente sus defectos.En ingles:
Sir John Hawkshaw, was an English civil engineer. He served as President of the Institute of Civil Engineers 1862-63. His most noteworthy work is the Severn Tunnel. (…) He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, the son of Henry Hawkshaw,[1] and was educated at Leeds Grammar School. Before he was 21 he had been engaged for six or seven years in railway engineering and the construction of roads in his native county, and in the year of his majority he obtained an appointment as engineer to the Bolivar Mining Association in Venezuela. But the climate there was more than his health could stand, and in 1834 he was obliged to return to England.
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