The story is here. The conquest of Mexico by Spain occurred five centuries ago, under King Carlos I of Spain, better known as the Emperor Charles V. Spanish rule in Mexico lasted 300 years, during which the wealth of the country was systematically looted and mostly used to fund European wars. The Spaniards withdrew from Mexico almost 200 years ago, but many of their descendants remain, including, if I’m not mistaken, Mr. Lopez Obrador, the Mexican President.

This raises a number of questions, among them:

1) Are you owed an apology for a wrong that was done before you were born, by people now long dead against your long-dead ancestors?

2) Can the child of a wrongdoer be held responsible for the misdeed of his or her parent? What about grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, and descendants yet more remote whose ancestors may include both perpetrators and victims?

3) What does it gain Mexico to get an apology from Spain, and what loss does Spain suffer if it apologizes?

4) Should England demand an apology for the Norman conquest, while at the same time being held to account for the persecution of the Irish, the atrocities of King Philip’s War, and 150 years of rule in India? And who should apologize on behalf of the Normans? The people of Guernsey? The Seigneur of Sark? “The Queen, our Duke”?

5) If Spain is held to account for the occupation of Mexico, what about the expulsions of its Jewish and Muslim citizens in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries? Is the Church responsible for the Inquisition? What descendants of a celibate priestly order are alive to be asked to apologize for the actions of their ancestors?

There comes a point when it all seems rather absurd. I remember reading somewhere that every person of European descent alive today is a descendant of Charlemagne. Presumably, we should all be apologizing to the descendants of the Saxons he persecuted,whose descendants are also Charlemagne’s.