- >- s IK! ^.OFCAIIFO^^ ^: '^^omw j:?i]onvsoi^ '^Aa]AiNn-3WV^ -<>^lllBRARYac ^' '^OJITVOJOy ^OFCAIIFO/?^ ^OFCAilFO% ' Nri]y\^ MEXICO POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY CONSIDEEED. LONDOrf FEINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AH D CO. NEW-SIEEET SQUAKE Pi m M <) 1^ »! |x O (A o Ph >5 O H e< NOTES MEXICO IN 1861 AND 1862: POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY CONSIDERED. CHARLES LEMPEIEIiE, D.C.L. OP TUB IiVNBli TEMPLE, AND LAW FELLOW OP ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFOKD : AUTHOH OP 'the AMEUICAN CEISIS.' LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN. 1862. ^^A": CONTENTS. I. Introductory .... II. From Vera Cruz to Mexico . III. Mexico ..... IV. Environs of Mexico . V. Description of the Country VI. Statistics . . • . VII. Population — Finance — Copper Bonds - Insecurity of Life — Army O VIII. JoU14NEY FROM MeXICO TO VeRA CrUZ ^ IX. History of Etents J ^ X. Position of England . APPENDICES : — I II Ill 1 47 74 105 129 181 229 281 321 376 423 437 456 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. The merciful hand of Providence has bestowed on the Mexicans a magnificent land, abounding in resources of all kinds — a land where none ought to be poor, and where misery ought to be unknown — a land whose products and riches of every kind are abundant, and as varied as they are rich. It is a country endowed to profusion with every gift that man can desire or envy; — all the metals from gold to lead ; every sort of climate from perpetual snow to tropical heat, and inconceivable fertility. Wheat, maize, barley, sugar, coffee, spices, tobacco, cotton, indigo, drugs, &c., are cultivated with little eflfort. One thing alone is wanting, that is, a government — and the absence of this mars all the other mani- B 2 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. fold advantages. The people are docile and easily managed ; they care not who rule them (always ex- cepting the Spaniards) so long as they are left in peace and tranquillity to pursue their humble and unambitious life. Three steamers in the Pacific and three in the Gulf would effectually stop all smug- gling, and insure an overflowing treasury to any well-regulated administration. The entire public debt does not exceed ^120,000,000, about £24,000,000 sterling, a mere bagatelle, consider- ing its wealth and resources. Their present unpro- ductiveness arises entirely from mismanagement and malversation. Every man, for years past, when he has secured office — no matter what, from minister downwards, with a few honourable exceptions, — has thought of nothing but enriching himself at the public expense; and this they have managed to do to no small extent, even at the worst of times. The present government, though really representing the constitutional feeling and strength of the country, is weak and vacillating, and has never been able to organise an efficient and strong central moving power, which can be felt through all its dependencies. They naturally look to England as the ark of civil liberty ; while the clergy are leaning on France in the hope of reestablishing ecclesiastical INTRODUCTORY. 3 supremacy. The party which most desire interven- tion are, of course, the landowners, who suffer most cruelly from the exactions of anarchy. Most of their cattle, horses, mules, &c., are taken, their breeding- grounds destroyed, mines abandoned, and in many parts of the country the haciendas burnt down and ruined by the one party or the other of those who have been for years tearing the bosom of their common country ; while the complete overthrow of the priestly domination offers an opportunity for the introduction of arts and literature, which has never before had a chance of dawning upon them. They know all this well; and were it not for ovir blind and unhappy convention last year in this matter, France and England would be received with open arms, and will still, if they listen to reason. The country, with the exception of the capital, is virtually subject to the whims or policy of the military commander, who, for the time being, is in possession of the town or province. These chiefs, up to the present time, have refused obedience to all authority with perfect impunity whenever it suited them. They levy war, exact contributions and loans ; seize and confiscate property ; and, where resistance is offered, imprison individuals, both native and foreign — ex- ercising absolute despotic power, uncontrolled, un- B 2 4 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. punished, and frequently unrebuked, as much as in the pashalicks of Asia. The central government fears to reprove its own officers, lest their lukewarm ad- herence be turned into declared hostility, which it is not strong enough to resent and punish. England has no views which shun the light, no covetous or disguised designs. The day of decep- tion and deceit with her is long past and gone ; she knows that honesty and honour are the best policy, and the highest wisdom for nations, as well as indi- viduals. Men may affect to disbelieve this, but the fact is true and resistless, and the day is fast ap- proaching when few, if any, will dare to gainsay it. She desires neither dominion nor aggrandisement in Mexico ; neither political influence nor commercial advantage or privilege. She has disavowed all such as foreign to her theories and practice ; she is op- posed to any interference in the domestic concerns of any nation, and can only be prevailed to depart from her principles by the extraordinary circum- stances of this case. She feels that it is imperatively necessary to prevent Mexico from relapsing into barbarism, to extinguish the anarchy and crime which have for years reigned triumphant, unpun- ished, unchecked, and unrestrained, and restore pro- tection to life and property. INTRODUCTOET. 5 There can be no reconciliation of parties there. It is a war to the knife, between a demoralised and ignorant priesthood, smarting under their deposition from unlimited wealth and power, and a progressive and arrogant ultra-liberalism. The animosities are inconceivably intense and virulent : one party or the other must succumb and be completely subjugated before moderate and calm counsels can prevail. It is idle and wicked to shut one's eyes to the fact or evade it ; we cannot escape the consequences by any empirical treatment or diplomatic humbug. We ought to be present in force sufficient to overawe opposition ; and very little is wanted (say 4,000 men) to induce the honest and good citizens to exert themselves to denounce the bad (not to imprison or shoot them, but to restrain them by law and well- armed authority) — and to proclaim the independent nationality of the country. Is it not worth while, in common humanity, to extend a helping hand to such an important country, and prevent its ruin and return to barbarism ? Can we tamely see it fall into the slavery of the Southern States of America?* would it not be better for the * Slavery was abolished at the independence, and there has never again been the slightest intimation of any wish, on the part of any- one, to restore or reintroduce the infamous traffic into the country. 6 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. whole world that it should remain an independent nationality, open to all and belonging exclusively to none? ^^^ly, with thirty odd years of misrule and murder — with half its revenue plundered by malversation and smuggling — with scarcely two con- secutive years of peace — Mexico is still rich and flourishing:. What would she be if rendered secure and tranquil ? The effect would be instantaneous and magical. There would not be a whisper of discon- There is, however, a well-founded fear that a number of Yucatan Indians have been sold into Cuba, as they are very refractory, and, when made prisoners, the two and a half days' sail is very tempting to get rid altogether of such very troublesome neighbours ; but it is against both the law and the universal feeling of the country. A former American minister, Gadsden, was very anxious to negotiate an extradition treaty for runaway slaves, but did not succeed, it would be of great importance to Texas, as there is no diflSculty at present in escaping over the frontier into Mexican territory. In some parts of the south the Indians are held in a species of bondage by a running debt to the hacienda, the ancient laws prohibiting their removal without payment. But their wages are on the most wretched scale. They are, in fact, not very far removed from ser- vitude, but cling with the most desperate tenacity to liberty ; and as they have few wants, and make thomselves all that supplies those few wants, they are universally contented in Mexico, except under the Spaniards, who use them with the most cruel harshness. During the Yankee occupation of Mexico they were invariably spoken of as niggers, and treated with the most supreme contempt. The Minister (Gadsden) made no secret of his views, declaring that his opinion was that slavery was the only means of 'improving' them, and that it was only through slavery that the resources of the country could be properly developed. Wluit, then, is likely to be the fate of the Mexicans under rulers of this stamp aud complexion ? INTRODUCTORY. 7 tent from Chihuahua to Tabasco. Commerce would flourish, industry revive, and wealth, in every shape and form, abound. The ordinary revenue would immediately cover all expenses and very speedily exceed them. But we must cut our disreputable connection with Spain, and take care that France also is not too much influenced by the virulent de- clamations of the exiled clergy, who are moving heaven and earth in Europe to recover their lost sway. England has a great dvity to perform in endea- vouring to extinguish the system of anarchy and crime, which has been too long tolerated with indif- ference, and is a reproach to the age. She has far greater interests in the well-being of Mexico than all the other nations put together — a country not hos- tile, but inviting her with open arms — a country un- equalled in the whole area of the world for riches, teeming with wealth of every variety under the sun, and of the most important description — a country young and vigorous, with a docile population. The Mexican people are ignorant and superstitious, it is true, but susceptible of great improvement, having never yet had a chance of national moral culture. And yet at present England seems moving as the tool of such an unmitigated scoundrel as Miramon — a man whom, if there existed an extradition treaty, we 8 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. should have insisted on being hung. Gabriac,* the fosterer of this man's murderous rule, and Pacheco,t * In the papers of the Archbishop of Mexico was found a recom- mendation of this man to the prayers and favour of the Pope, for the Taluable services he had rendered the clerical party in the revolution of Mexico, and the recognition of Miramon, their cham- pion. t The following circular will explain the reason of this Minister's expulsion : — National Palace, January 15, 1861. In order that you may bring to the knowledge of the Minister of Foreign Relations of the Government, near which you are accredited, the reason why the President has thought proper to order the de- parture from the Republic of MJVI. Don Joaquin Francesco Pacheco, Don Felipe Neri del Barrio, and Don Louis Clementi, Archbishop of Damascus, as you will see by the communication which accompany this note, I proceed to make a short statement with regard thereto. M. Pacheco came here, not long since, accredited expressly in the character of Ambassador of Her Most Catholic Majesty, to the Government so called which occupied this capital, of which Don Miguel Miramon acted as chief. A few days after his arrival, he caused himself to be received by the rebel Government ; and besides the support which in his official character he thus lent to the faction which had succeeded in holding the capital for thi-ee years, he, by his policy, his expressed opinion, and his open influence, lent himself to the maintenance of the rebel Government and the prolongation of civil war. The Constitutional Government of the Republic, which has never ceased to discharge its functions during this long period of civil war, notwithstanding its official relations with Spain have been interrupted, does not actually see in M. Pacheco the representative of H.C.M., with whose Government the Constitutional Government of the Republic desires to cultivate the best relations, and is ready to terminate existing differences in good-wiU, regulating itself always by the principles of the strictest justice ; but in ordering the depar- ture from the country of M. Pacheco, the Government acts simply INTRODUCTORY. 9 both of whom have been hooted out of the country, with well-merited and universal execration — these are the men who are moving the strings at Paris, with Almonte, their able ex-ambassador. The clergy on tlie exercise of its prerogatives, viewing him only as a foreigner falling under the stipulations of the Thirty-third Article of our con- stitution, M. del Barrio, for a long time Minister of Guatemala, accredited to this Republic, has not only had continual official relations with the rebels for the last three years, but has made his partiality open for the reactionary faction, to which he lent his most decided support in the unhappy co%ip d'etat of December 1857 — a matter of public notoriety. This minister was almost the first who hastened to recognise the usurper Zuloaga, and who mainly induced other members of the diplomatic corps to do the same. Notwith- standing, he took this unjustifiable step with the knowledge that the existing Government was lawfully installed at Guanajuato in January 1856. The Constitutional Government cannot aUow this gentleman, thus abusing his position, to continue fomenting civil war. For this reason it causes his departure from the Eepublic, without intending, however, that such a measure of internal policy should, in any degree, imply a hostile spirit toward the Republic of Guatemala, which M. del Barrio has represented. Don Louis Clementi has held in this country the mission of Nuncio from His Holiness the Pope. His disposition, and the general tone of the Roman Church, which he has represented, has caused him to figure throughout the civil war as a partisan of the seditious clergy of the Republic, who, to the greatest degree, have stained with blood the past revolution in this country, under the pretext of religion. Now that the Mexican Republic has, in the exercise of its sovereign power, declared religious liberty, and the absolute independence of each other of Church and State, the official representative of the Roman Church can have no mission whatever to attend to near the general Government of the Republic. Neither of these gentlemen has been officially accredited to the 10 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. of France are in accord with their distressed and exiled brethren, and the Emperor is partly forced and partly cajoled; but how can we explain the action of England? We were aiding a power that never paid us a shilling in collecting a very question- able debt in Mexico, and reestablishing a religious dominion, which is abhorrent to the mind of every honest Englishman. The ' London Quarterly Eeview ' for October 1860, re- marks : — ' The early histoiy of South America must for ever stand out preeminent in the records of human wicked- ness. If the discovery of the New "World is the gi-eat romance of history, its settlement and conquest form one of its deepest tragedies ; for the subjugation of some of the finest regions of the globe, by the most advanced and powerful nation of Europe in the fifteenth centiiry, imfor- tunately fell to the lot of men, upon whom the multiplying villanies of nature swarmed in unwonted profusion ; and the countries which long formed the transatlantic empire of Spain have, from the day on which she first planted her Constitutional Government for the last three years; consequently their expulsion is nothing more than an act of public order, which is carried into effect through the provisions of the supreme law of the land, and in the exercise of the prerogatives with which the Govern- ment is invested, &c., &c. OCAMPO.* To the Mexican Legation at . * This public spirited minister was brutally murdered at his own private resi- dence last year, alter two days' torture, by Miramon's forces. INTRODUCTORY. 1 1 foot in the New World, to the present time, never ceased to present the most painful contrast between the benevolent dispositions of Providence for the happiness of its creatures, and the power of man to counteract them.' The ' North British Review' for November 1860, says : — ' "We find in them the elements of the same antagonistic parties as have long been contending in the older Catholic countries of Europe; a priestly party, jealous of all liberty, and striving to bring the community more than ever under the influence of Eome ; and, on the other hand, a party struggling for freedom, giving utterance to noble senti- ments, that shine the brighter for the dark firmament on which they gleam, and encouraging hope for a better day than those republics have as yet seen.' Having spent the year 1860 in Brazil, I cannot help contrasting the state of things I found there with Mexico, similar as the conditions have been in the two cases. The Brazilian Empire stands out from this dark and forbid- ding picture in bold, colossal, and pleasing proportions. That empire, originally a dependency of Portugal, was, under the rule of that country, reduced to a condition more abject even than any of the Spanish- American colonies. In no portion of the American continent was the slave-trade carried on so extensively as with Brazil. Early in the present century, and before the severance of the colony fi'om Portugal, it is estimated that 50,000 blacks were annually shipped from the coast of Afi-ica to Brazil. It is, however, proper to state that, for a long period, this trade, by means of the factory at Lisbon, was in the hands of the 12 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. English. It may also be said, that in no part of the world was the system of slavery attended with greater barbarity than in Brazil. It was considered cheaper in the plantations to use up a slave in five or six years, and buy another, than to take care of him. The bigoted and intolerant Eoman Catholic Church of the sixteenth century — the curse of Spanish America — was sustained with greater vigour, and more pomp and splendour, than in Italy. The general system on which Poitugal ruled her vast dependency created a stupendous commercial trading and manufacturing monopoly. The article on the Brazilian Empire, in the ' London Quarterly Eeview,' October 1860, to which we have above refeiTed, states : — All intercourse with foreigners was prohibited by the most rigid laws ; and if a relaxation of jealousy was oc- casionally permitted in favour of foreign nations in close alliance with the mother country, the passengers and crews of such ships as were allowed to enter the waters of Rio, or any of the Brazilian ports, were placed under the sur- veillance of a miUtary guard. The colonists were not allowed to produce any article which the mother-country coidd supply. Even Humboldt, in travelling in South America for purely scientific purposes, was not allowed to enter any portion of the Brazilian empire. In short, aU those prominent evils that have so afflicted Mexico, and, Ave may say, all other Spanish-American countries, had still deeper root, if such a thing were possible, in the Portuguese dependency of Brazil, But now, how chanced ! INTRODUCTOKY. 13 The abject dependence of Brazil continued down to an early period of the present century, when the world-mov- ing operations of Napoleon had the effect so to vitalise that country, and create such remarkable changes, both there and in the mother-country, that in 1822 the independence of Brazil was suddenly and almost peacefully accomplished. In 1824, the same year that witnessed the fonnation of the federal constitution of Mexico, the present constitution of Brazil (with the exception of some slight changes recently made) was established. This constitution provides for a hereditary constitutional monarchy of the most liberal character. Judicial proceedings are public. It provides for the habeas corpus act as well as the institution of trial by jury. The legislative power is vested in the general assembly. It consists of a senate and chamber of deputies. For the latter, every male citizen of full age, if he possess an income of one hundred milreis (fifty doUars), is entitled to vote ; but monks and domestic servants are excluded from the franchise. Senators for life are nominated by provincial electors in triple lists, from which three candidates are submitted to the emperor, who selects one ; the prin- ciples of popular election and crown nomination are thus combined in the constitution of the second estate. Although Brazil does not possess the materials of a territorial peerage, it has constituted a second chamber as an element of vital importance in a popular government. Nobility in Brazil is not hereditary ; it is conferred for public services and civil merit alone. There are four titles — those of marquis, count, viscount, and baron. The emperor possesses a legislative suspensive veto only. 14 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. The dispensation of justice, altliougli perhaps not perfect, or free from some suspicion of corruption, is conducted with becoming solemnity, and is, on the whole, said to be satisfactory. One of the legal institutions of the country merits particular notice. Courts of conciliation are esta- blished throughout the empire ; and no caiise can be brought into any of the regular courts of law without a certificate from the district officer, that the parties to the suit have previously appeared before him and endeavoured to ac- commodate theu* differences. "We commend this law to our legal reformers, as it must inevitably diminish immensely the amount of unnecessary litigation. The country is divided into provinces, and there is a legislative assembly for each province. The presidents of the provinces are appointed by the emperor. There is no proscription on accoimt of coloiu* ; and though legally the blacks are eligible to office, they do not aspire to prominence in public or private life, but rest quiet and contented in the conviction that they occupy a position fully equal to what nature intended it should be. The religion of the state is Eoman Catholic; hut the principle upon which the Roman Catholic Church is based is altogether abjured in Brazil. Religious toleration is one of the fundamental principles of the constitution. All have full and entire liberty to profess and exercise any religion what- ever, and to erect religious edifices. The provincial assem- blies have full power to legislate for ecclesiastical objects. On several occasions, the general assembly of Brazil has enacted laws to restrain the interference and curtail the authority of the Pope. At one remarkable crisis a complete INTRODTJCTORY. 15 separation from Rome was imminent, "which would have been hailed, it is believed, with general satisfaction by the people. There cannot be a doubt but that the ties which bind this country to the Papacy are now of the slightest character, and might, with very little provocation, be snapped asunder any day. The religion of the Church of Eome has no root in the land; the priesthood are said to be diminishing year by year, and to have been recently so reduced in number, that the Government was under the necessity of sending to Italy for a fresh supply to keep up the regular ministrations of the chiu-ch. The institution of slavery in Brazil, under the operation of the constitution and public opinion, is in process of gradual and certain extinction. In 1850 measures were adopted for the abolition of the slave trade, and, in 1853, there was not a single disembarkation. As a proof that the Brazilians have thoroughly abandoned the traffic in human flesh, it may be stated, that a slaver taken in January 1856, into Bahia, and condemned, had touched at five places along the coast previous to her detection, but had not suc- ceeded in selling a single slave. The condition of the slaves is highly creditable to the country. By the BraziHan law, a slave can at any time appear before a magistrate, have his price fixed, and pur- chase his freedom. There is a system of colonisation in progress intended to supply the gradually diminishing quantity of slave-labour, and the statesmen of the empire are said to be devoting much time and attention to dis- cover the best means of promoting immigration. Ger- many, Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira, are constantly 16 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. supplying labourers, attracted by the prospect whicli Brazil holds out to them, and there seems to be no doubt that the free African population will eventually frdly suffice for those occupations in a tropical country for which the white race is necessarily tmfitted. For more than 300 years, the entire agricultural and manufacturing interests of Brazil, from north to south, from east to west, have been based on slave labour. The institution of slavery has entered more thoroughly into the industrial system of Brazil than it has into that of the United States. Natural causes favour the system of slave labour in Brazil more than they do in the United States; and though the number of slaves in the former country reaches 3,000,000, the institution of slavery is steadily and surely coming to an end in that empire. And yet, though freedom of speech is allowed, and the press is free, they never had an anti-slavery society in Brazil, nor an an ti- slavery journal. The Emperor of Brazil is a noble representative of the house of Braganza, and under the constitution which he faithfully administers, the country is making prodigious strides in intellectual and material advancement. It is true that, as yet, the standard of Brazilian morality is not of the highest order, but the country is in a transition state. Education, intelligence, and civilisation are steadily spreading over the land. The public credit is almost equal to that of the most respectable European governments, and a coimtiy of which, the first year or two of its indepen- dence, the currency consisted chiefly of copper and the notes of an insolvent bank, may now present itself as a INTRODUCTORY. 17 borrower in the capitals of any of the moneyed states of Em-ope, with the assurance of a favourable reception. The pojDulation is steadily increasing. A large and most valuable trade has sprung up ; and there is scarcely a civilised coiintry that does not gladly exchange its manu- factures and commodities for the productions of Brazil. Here, then, we have a vast and magnificent region, lavishly endowed by nature — sparsely inhabited at present, it is true — yet making wonderful progress in all that con- stitutes national greatness and power. If, in giving this succinct outline of the Brazilian empire, I have digressed fi"om my principal theme, it is to institute a compai'ison between that country and Mexico ; and to hold up the former in all its magnificent proportions and rapid advancement, as an interesting and instructive study for our own people, and in opposition to the despicable idea, so prevalent, that something like a curse rests upon the Spanish- American race, and that the Anglo-Saxon race, under Providence, is to be the instrument for the execution of this curse, by sweeping those despised nation- alities from the face of the earth. Forty years ago, the masses of the Brazilian people were in that abject condition but little above the brute. Now, these same masses are making such rapid progress in all that tends to national greatness, that in the ordinary course of events, they will, at no very remote period, command the admiration and respect of the most enlightened peoples and rank among the leading Powers of the world. Brazil started on her new political career the same year as Mexico. The population of the former country is but C 18 NOTES IN MEXICO, lSei-62. little more than that of the latter, and the characteristics of race in both countries are similar. In climate and physical features there is not sufficient difference between Brazil and Mexico to create any marked dissimilarity of character in the two nations. Brazil started with a con- stitutional monarchy ; Mexico adopted the democratic form of government. I do not propose to argue the point, as to which of these two forms of government is the best for the Spanish-American people. At the present moment, I wish to point out the great fact — the most important fact of all, namely, that the foundation of the government of Brazil was civil and religious libei'ty, while that of Mexico ■was civil and religious despotism of the most degrading and despotic character. Now compare the condition of the two countries. One affords an astonishing, stupendous example of progi-ess; the other lies prostrate, Avretched, and bleed- ing, with scarcely strength to profit by the victory over the enemies of her freedom, which has recently been so gloriously won. Can any one be blind to the real cause of the immense difference that now exists between Mexico and Brazil ? Brazil is the only country in Spanish' America whose fundamental law has sustained religious toleration, and she is the only bright example of advancement among those degenerated and unliappy nations. But to return to the question of Mexican nationality. The liberals have gained a complete victory over the forces of the church, and the Constitutional Government is now located in the capital of the republic. This victory came none too soon. It improved the condition of affairs vastly; but a new season of trial is now before those patriotic INTRODUCTORY. 19 Mexicans, wliose noble and self-sacrificing struggles have bronglit about the former happy result. It remains to be seen whether the liberals will be united among themselves, and whether foreign claimants will show any mercy. Let Mexico now be true to herself, and there is reason to hope that all will be well. It is unfair to estimate that country by the highest in Europe. The fairest comparison is with Spain, and with Spain alone. The people also have been much misrepresented in Europe, and unjustly maligned by many of the public papers. Public men there are far superior in education and intelligence, in general attainments, and even in urbanity and courtesy, to many of the ministers sent from Europe. Some years ago there was a public prosecution by the British Legation of a member of Congress (Zarco) and a custom-house officer, because they denounced the infamous smuggling transactions and other disreputable proceedings of one of our consuls in the Pacific ; and pecuniary indemnity was exacted and enforced for crimes which in any other country would have been marked by the severest reprobation and visited with punishment — (Lord Clarendon knows something about this). It was a private letter to him which alone prevented the eternal disgrace of a British force appearing in the Gulf to enforce and C 2 20 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. support this infamous proceeding; but indemnity was nevertheless obtained in hard cash. These cases could be multiplied. Our whole diplo- matic and consular history for the last thirteen or fourteen years has been a reproach to Europe ; and we are not alone — the dignitaries of some other nations have rivalled us; but our boasted superior morality makes us the more conspicuous. Now all these flagrant corruptions are well known to the natives, patent as the sun at noon to all ; yet we assail them with epithets of inferiority, barbarism, &c., accuse them of bad faith in their engagements, plunder, robbery, and so forth ; and we do as bad ourselves, for I hold any departure from the path of honour by an officer of the crown of England is tenfold, nay a hundredfold, more criminal than the same delinquency in a Mexican, however high his rank. We are among the oldest nations in the globe, the foremost in intelligence and in civilisation, and with the highest advantages — Mexico is about the youngest and the least favoured by education, — and all chances, in fact, of high moral or intellec- tual developement. The contrast is great, and all crime is comparative.* * We have remarked upon tlie character of the foreign diplomacy which has hitherto prevailed in Mexico. England has carefully INTRODUCTOEY. Let US give them a specimen of our boasted supe- riority by sending upright and enlightened men and gentlemen to represent the crown of Britain. Grive them some example of our standard of public men, and the honour of British public servants. Send them men at all events of probity and principle, who wdll not make their countrymen blush for them. The standard of the British character there has been lowered — immeasurably lowered — in the estima- tion of the Mexican people, by the conduct of our official representatives. Some of them have been needy and embarrassed, and specially open to corrupt influences. The diplomatic protection was a traffic, and chiefly bestowed on persons who had no legal or legitimate right to it, far less their speculations and interests. (See p. 180.) The British character is sunk in the public esti- mation ; the laxity of principle among our public men has there infected the whole mass of British nursed those evils which have ah-eady come so near destroying Mexi- can nationality. England has pursiied this course in spite of irrefra- gable evidence, that in so doing she was completely annihilating her Mexican interests. The policy that England has pursued towards Mexico is inexpli- cable, except in the fact that a few interested individuals, official and private, control the action of the English government, and public opinion in England, on Mexican affairs, to the total des- truction of the general and legitimate English interests in that country. (See also p. 177.) 22 NOTES IN MEXICO, IS6I-62. society; all the restraints which high principle ought to impart have been weakened. Still Mexico has a reverence for England, which she does not show for any other nation ; for they know the nation at large wishes to deal honestly by them. It is the impunity of silence and concealment, and the indifference of the Foreign Office, that has encouraged and fostered this great evil. All these facts may be fully relied on ; and any public man in England, who will devote some attention to them, and remedy them, will perform a great service to his own country, as well as to Mexico, and to humanity and civilisation, and morality itself. Let us now look shortly at the history of past events in Mexico. The religion of Spain and the feelings it excited begat a species of knight-errantry, which led the young bloods to do battle for the beauty of a mis- tress, the honour of St. Jago, or the Immaculate Conception, with equal pertinacity and ferocity. The expeditions which Spain sent from her shores to plant the standard of her empire in the New "World, were imbued with such feelings to an inten- sity it is now hard to conceive. Stimulated besides INTRODUCTORY. 23 with the thirst of gold, they spread devastation wherever they marched, and inflicted on the simple natives tortures and sufferings, differing little, except in duration, from the pains which the priests, who always accompanied the expeditions, announced as awaitinsc the wretched victims in another world. These priests also insisted invariably on the blindest submission in spiritual matters, which it was not unreasonably expected would secure civil dependence. As a consequence, few colonists were allowed to carry arms ; so that within a century they became so utterly incapable of self-defence as to fall an easy prey to the buccaneers. While they were not likely to be called on to exercise any public functions, they had no inducements, even if they had the means, to qualify themselves for the discharge of any public duties to society. The laws were unknown to all but the Europeans, who presided in the courts, and were strained and perverted, so as to destroy all respect for their administration.* * It is a well-understood fact, that when Spain exercised her dominion oyer Mexican territory, the city of Mexico was the centre of political, religious, financial, and social influence and power tliroughout all that portion of the Spanish possessions. The Spaniards were supreme throughout the length and breadth of the land. They held every office of the Government ; they monopolised the best trade of the country, and nearly all the active capital. Every avenue to political or social prominence of position was, for 24 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. The sea-shore being generally unhealthy, the more elevated plateaux were peopled by the densest popu- lation. Mexico, Gruadalajara, Guanajuato, are all in the interior, and communication between them and Europe is difficult, hazardous, and protracted, even without the various impediments and restrictions which the home government interposed to limit the intercommunication and knowledge of neighbouring colonies. Colonies they were not, strictly speaking. three centuries, most effectually closed to native-born IMexicans — Creoles even not being allowed to bold office, or to take part or lot in the management of the affairs of the country, either political, religious, or social. To such a degree of degradation were the native citizens of the country reduced, that the highest bom, best educated, and most refined Mexican lady would wed with a common Spanish boor rather than with a native Mexican gentleman, in order to secure something like a social position, and escape the odium and oppres- sion that fell to the lot of the cruelly-proscribed Mexican race. Hence, ^vith the first revolution, arose the popular cry of ' Death to the Gachupins!' Who can wonder that the Mexicans hate the Spaniards with undying hatred ? The recent diplomatic action of France and Spain in Mexico has been scarcely less disastrous to the latter country than has that of England. I am inclined to believe that this ruinous policy of Euro- pean Powers in Mexico, except Spain, has, in the main, been based on false information from sources deemed reliable. I conceive this to be the case, more particularly with France ; for, considering the independent position in wliich she stands relative to the Mexican republic, it is difficult to imagine what interest the practical and enlightened statesman, who administers the government of the French empire with so much wisdom and success, can have in supporting a policy in Mexico totally opposed to that wliicli he so powerfully sus- tains in Italy. INTRODUCTORY. 25 The Spanish-American possessions, even where they were separate property, were held in fief by the crown in right of grants from the Pope, and governed by a special board, called the Council of the Indies, and a separate code. Each viceroy was independent of all but the Crown, though nominally controlled by the Audiencia, composed of Europeans, who were never allowed to marry, or hold lands in the colony. The offices were all sold at Madrid, and the proceeds formed at one time a very considerable item in the royal revenues. All public employments were in the hands of Europeans, as the native colonists could not get them vidthout an enormous outlay. Of fifty viceroys of Mexico, only one was American born. So at Buenos Ayres, of 170 only four were natives. How was it possible to obtain redress for even the most flagrant injustice from such a Grovernment. The complaints addressed to the throne were either lost in the distance of many thousand leagues, or if they got there, smothered at the court by those who pro- tected the very men who had perpetrated the ini- quities complained of. The colony had no voice, direct or indirect, in legislation : all that was done in Spain ; and any attempt to win freedom was crushed with a severity which invented the most unheard-of cruelties, and mercilessly executed them. Agriculture 26 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. was subjected to the most arbitrary restrictions ; native Americans were prevented by severe penalties from raising flax, hemp, or saffron. During Humboldt's visit to Mexico, the viceroy received orders from Madrid to root up all the vines in the northern pro- vinces ; because the merchants of Cadiz complained of a diminution of the consumption of their wines. Humboldt tells us that the manufacture of cloth prevailed extensively among the colonists, but that the Grovernment employed every indirect means to hinder the manufactures. He gives an instance of two noblemen who brought over to America a colony of artizans ; the Government affected to applaud their zeal, but so contrived to fetter all their pro- ceedings that they at last perceived secret orders had been given to the viceroy to ruin their undertaking ; and they were compelled to abandon it in despair. Captain Basil Hall tells us, the sole purpose for which the colonies existed was held to be collecting gold and silver for the mother-country. If the horses and cattle which overrun the country could have performed this office, the inhabitants might have been altogether dispensed with, and the system would have been perfect ; but the Spanish Americans, not- withstanding the network of their chains, longed for the enjoyments congenial to their nature; and INTRODUCTORT. 27 in process of time there arose the most extraordi- nary system of organised smuggling the world has ever seen. Vessels armed and manned to fight their way to the coast through the guarda costas of Spain swarmed along the whole line : Dutch, Portuguese, French, English, and United States men, distributed goods to an immense value through the Spanish pos- sessions, in the teeth of an armed restriction of all commerce or intercourse whatever maintained to the very last by Spain. The civil, criminal, and fiscal administration cor- responded to the rest of the political system. Taxes, duties, and tithes, were levied with a severity un- known in any part of the world but Spain itself. The alcavala, the most vexatious of all, as it was levied on every transfer of goods, was mercilessly exacted. Nothing escaped the tithes ; and every individual in the country was forced annually to buy a certain number of Pope's bulls, under penalties. A man, for instance, who had not a hula cle confesion could not receive absolution on his death-bed ; his will became invalid, and his property confiscated. The courts of law were mere farces ; the prisons under no control or supervision ; and the notorious in- stance of Lima, where, on the taking of the city, they were found crammed with prisoners long forgotten 28 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. by the courts, and against whom no charge whatever was found recorded, was by no means a singular case. The law made it a capital offence for any foreigner to enter the country without a license, and the dread of other governments alone prevented its execution ; but they subjected such victims as they got hold of to the most horrible imprisonment. When the Spanish Greneral, Morillo, entered Carta- gena, he seized all the British and foreign merchants and threw them into loathsome dungeons, and would unquestionably have killed them all, for a breach of the ' Laws of the Indies,' but for the timely arrival of the British Admiral on the station. Hence the revolutionary struggles of Spanish colonies have been fearful; but the horrors perpetrated by the revolutionary party, though utterly disgraceful, have never come up in atrocity to those of the Spanish Crown and Church. The barbarities of Callegas at Guanajuato, and Cuantla deAmilpas,have no parallels in history. Such was the rule overthrown successfully by Iturbide and his adherents. Is it likely that the memory of it has been lost ? There are many still living who were actual sufferers, and have themselves narrated to me the horrors the country underwent. Their children are men in arms against the hated INTRODUCTORY. 29 Spaniards, whose political intrigues are honestly believed to have been the cause of most of the mis- fortunes of Mexico since the day she achieved her independence. The men who have represented Mexico in all the courts of Europe are members of that party. I never heard in Mexico one single word of all the proposals which I found represented in the European public papers as coming from the people of Mexico. Even Almonte, the most detested of all the exiles of the clerical party, with the sole exception of the ruffian Miramon, I saw was called in a late article from Paris, in the 'Times,' 'Ambassador from Mexico.' Ambassador accredited by whom I should like to know ? And representing what interest ? No ; the clerical party is identified with the Spanish policy, and shares the national hatred with them ; and the odium which most righteously attaches to them not unfairly reacts on those who abet them, though in- nocent of their crimes, and even ignorant of the natural consequence of them — the national hatred of an emancipated people. From its renunciation of the Spanish rule Mexico has presented, almost without an interval, a deplorable spec- tacle of mal-administration. The experiment of self- government, after thirty-five years of revolution and exhausting civil war, has proved a lamentable failure. 30 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. With no lack of patriotism, and a consciousness of their responsible position, their leaders have showTi blind per- sistence in fi-antic sectional strife and aimless revolutions, each of which has but the more fatally impelled the coimtry towards its present enfeebled condition. In the vain endeavour to supply radical defects by a reorganisa- tion of the social system, violent and frequent changes, involving cruel and fririous civil Avars, have taken place, until a country, embracing the most valuable portion of the continent, with a geographical position as an avenue for universal commerce unexampled on the globe, has descended with surprising rapidity to decay and political insignificance. The jjronunciamientos of ambitious leaders were generally followed by an appeal to arms; the president of to-day was the exile of to-morrow, and the minister of one week the fomenter of insurrection the next — affording a melancholy caricature upon the name of repubhcanism, where popular ignorance and imprincipled rulers are constant enemies to progress and the blessings of liberty. I pass over the stormy period, from the first establishment of Mexican independence down to the oriffin of the late internecine war, and come at once to the history of the events which have pro- duced the combined action of Spain, France, and England, in the present intervention. Five years ago, the constitutional Congress con- voked by the plan of Ayutla for the formation of a INTRODUCTORY. 31 constitution sat in the city of Mexico. On the 7th February, 1857, they concluded their labours, in the 37th year of Mexican independence. On the 12th they published the fundamental law to the world. On December 1st the President elect, D. Ignacio Comonfort, took the oaths of the constitution, which then became the law of the land. But the enemies of order bent their efforts to sow dissension among the members of Congress, and so far succeeded, that that body became so weak and disorganised as to bring the session to a close in sixteen days. They separated quietly on the 16th, when it was assumed they would no longer be allowed to sit. No one understood the meaning of the law ; but next morning the publication of the plan of Tacu- baya, and the marching into the city of Greneral Zuloaga's brigade, with flags flying, cannon roaring, bells ringing, and an explosion of rockets, soon ex- plained that the army had again attained power; and for the fourth time the federal system of govern- ment had to give place to force at the capital. The Congress disappeared, though some able representa- tions were made of the danger that threatened the republic. Two days after, Comonfort, in a mani- festo addressed to the nation, accepted the plan, and, according to its provision, called a Council of Govern- 32 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. ment, composed of representatives and subordinates from every state. They never did anything ; as a new revolt of the army took place in the citadel, January 11th, 1858. Zuloaga was again the prime mover. Instigated and backed by the French minister, Gabriac, Comonfort was forced to throw himself into the ranks of the Ultra-Liberals. He liberated Benito Juarez, President of the Supreme Court (then a pri- soner in his hands), and to him resigned the office of President, and took that of Commander-in-Chief. The clergy supplied the army with money, and active hostilities soon commenced. The strongholds of the city were pretty equally divided among the belligerents. Several fruitless attempts at compro- mise were made ; and at length, after ten days' firing, D. Luis Gr. Osillo, a man of great merit among the insurgents, took the Exacoidada by force. This decided the day. The Liberals fled everywhere ; and late on the 20th of January, Comonfort returned to the palace, satisfied he was completely deserted, and the next morning left the city with a few devoted adherents. . He embarked at Vera Cruz for New Orleans. The army under Osillo took possession of the palace on January 21st. On the 22nd, a junta, composed of one member from each state, was to elect a President. In the mean time. President Juarez had INTRODUCTOKY. 33 gone to the interior, where considerable forces were on foot. Osillo marched at once against him. The Liberals, calling themselves the coalition, made but little resistance at points lying between the capital and Salamanca ; but there they made a determined stand. They were beaten and completely dispersed. Juarez, who had set up a form of government and cabinet at Guanajuato, retired with the remnants of the Liberal party to Guadalajara, where he was able to maiuiain himself till March 15th, when Colonel Landa took him and his cabinet prisoners, and despatched them to Colima. There Juarez took passage in a small steamer to Panama, crossed the Isthmus of Darien, passed to Havanna and New Orleans, and finally settled at Vera Cruz on May 4th. From that day he held out successfully, and kept alive the principles of constitutional order in spite of every attempt to oust him. While, however, he was on his voyages, Zuloaga, on being elected President, was at once acknowledged by the whole diplomatic corps, to their everlasting disgrace. Osillo immediately overrun the upper country as far as St. Luis, Zacatecas, Guadalajara, Colima, and Mazatlan. His sudden and mysterious death at St. Luis, June 18th, 1858, quenched the hopes of the brilliant career his talents and energy had made D 34 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. almost certain ; for Osillo was a man of .higher views, and was more independent and liberal in his political sagacity than suited the purpose of his clerical allies. His death brought his companion Miramon to power — a young and ambitious aspirant, whose unscrupulous character made him a most useful officer. He soon forced Zuloaga to resign in his favour. The consti- tutional forces still continued to act ; the first attempt was made October 15, 1858, by General Blanco, but he was completely defeated. In March following, Greneral Degollado marched on Tacubaya, where he maintained himself for three weeks, but was ulti- mately routed on April 11, 1859, and Marquez followed up the victory by the atrocious assassinations ordered by Miramon. An unsuccessful campaign followed against Vera Cruz ; but at the close of the year 1858, the Federals were completely defeated at Estancia de las Vacas, near Queretaro. The ports and the distant interior re- mained in the hands of the Federals, while the army and clergy held the cities and the capital. Early in December, Uraga gained an important victory over them under Vejas, at Loura Alta, and immediately lost no time in rousing the constitutional party, and organising a force at Guadalajara; in assaulting which place he fell wounded, losing a foot, and was INTRODUCTORY. 35 taken prisoner. At this time, Miramon was be- sieging Vera Cruz : an attempt was made to support him from Havanna ; ISIarin, with several vessels and munitions of war, actually anchored at Sacrificios; but the U. S. minister, who had recognised the constitutional government, captured his vessels, and MiramoQ was compelled to retire. The loss of Uraga was severely felt ; but Ortega, who had raised the constitutional standard in Zacatecas, and gained several important advantages in that state, threatened the cities in the Bajio. Miramon hastened back to meet him, and on the 9th August, 1859, engaged him on the plains of Silas. Miramon escaped alone from the field. Ortega did not follow up his victory, but marched on Guadalajara, and took it in a month. He then marched on the capital by different routes. The first division, under Berriozabal, was surprised on its march by Miramon, and Degollado and Berriozabal were made prisoners ; but on the 23rd of December, Miramon returned to Mexico, escorted only by two or three adjutants. The day previous, on the heights of S. Miguel Calpulalpan, this side of Arroyozarco, he had been completely routed, and left all his army, cannon, and munitions on the field. On the 24th, the ministers of France and Spain D 2 36 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. again interfered for tlie clergy champion ; but Ortega would not listen to them, and on Christmas-day entered the city, though the grand entry of the army did not take place till January 1st. On the 1 1th, Juarez and his cabinet arrived, and the constitutional govern- ment was established. In the three years, three large deposits of money had been despoiled by the contending chiefs. The British consulate at St. Luis, January 1st, 1857, had been broken into and de- spoiled, and the English Minister's house in INIexico on Decembar 17th, 1860, at Mexico. No one great public work had been projected, with the exception of two insignificant tramroads. At JNIexico nothing has been done in that direction. Notwith- standing the vast extent of coast of the repubKc, no one steamer carries their flag. The high roads of the country are execrable and unsafe from robbers ; they swarm at the gates of all the principal cities on the route from the capital to the coast. No canals, no public works, have been executed, and the extinction of the clerical party has not yet been effected, though their partisans have now degenerated into cruel and merciless highway thieves. As a contrast of the two platforms I subjoin them together, that Englishmen may form a judgement upon the difference of the clerical, or Zuloaga's INTRODUCTORY. 37 principles, and the Liberal party now in power under the rule of Juarez. SYNOPSIS OF THE LIBERAL CONSTITUTION OF 1857. 1. The establishment of a constitutional federal govern- ment in the place of a mihtary dictatorship. 2. Freedom and protection to slaves that enter the national territory. 3. Freedom of religion. 4. Freedom of the press. 5. The nationalisation of the ^200,000,000 of property held by the clergy, fi-om which, and other sources, the church derives an annual income of not less than ,^20,000,000. 6. The subordination of the army to the civil power, and the abolition of military and ecclesiastical faeros, or special tribunals. 7. A reduction of the tariff, the stoppage of the system of exceptional permits, and the entire abohtion of alcavala or interior duties; also the abolition of passports. 8. The negotiation of commercial treaties of the fullest scope and liberal character, including reciprocity of trade on our frontiers. 9. The colonisation of Mexico by the fuU opening of every part of the country to immigration, and the en- couragement of foreign enterprise in every branch of industry, particularly in mining and in works of internal improvement. 38 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAN OF TACUBAYA PKOCLAIMED BY ZULOAGA. 1. The inviolability of all cliixrch property and church revenues, and the reestablishment of former exactions. 2. The reestablishment of the fiieros, or special rights of the church and of the army. (Under these fueros, the military and clergy are responsible only to their own tribunals.) 3. The restoration of the Roman Catholic religion as the sole and exclusive religion of Mexico. 4. The censorship of the press. 5. The maintenance of a high tariff, the restoration of the oppressive system of alcavala, or interior duties, and the continuance of special monopolies. 6. The exclusive system with regard to foreign immi- gration, confining it solely to immigrants fi-om Catholic countries. 7. The overthrow of the constitution of 1857, and the establishment of an irresponsible central dictatorship, sub- servient solely to the church. 8. If possible, the restoration of a monarchy in Mexico, or the establishment of a European protectorate. I take the summary of events from a thoroughly well-informed source. The constitutional government establisJied by the supreme laws of the land, on the 16th September, 1857, commenced its life under the presidency of Comonfort, by the Avill of the people, under a constitution of their own desire ; but INTRODUCTORY. 39 the clergy, in January 1858, instigated a military rebellion, and drove out the constitutional authorities from the capital. Comonfort fled the country. In his absence, and in default, the Presidency devolved under the constitution upon the President of the Supreme Court of Justice. Article 128 declares : ' This constitution shall not lose its force and vigour, even if its observance be inteiTupted by rebellion. In case that, by means of any such event, a government shall have been established contrary to the principles which it sanctions, immediately upon the people recovering their liberty its observance shall be reestablished, and, accord- ing to the provisions of the laws which have been framed in virtue of it, shall be judged, as well those who have figured in the government emanating from the rebellion, as those who have cooperated with them. The President of the Supreme Court of Justice was S'' Benito Juarez. Proceeding to the city of Guanajuato, he immediately reestablished the constitutional government, and, issuing his proclamation to that effect, began to raise forces to put down the rebellion. This proclamation reached Mexico before the decision had been taken by the diplomatic corps with regard to the recognition of the so-called govern- ment, set up by the leaders of the military pronunciamievto. The clergy, however, were not idle ; and in the French minister, M. Gabriac, and the minister for Guatemala, the head of the diplomati c corps, they had able and willing allies. With the various influences these could bring to bear, and with that of the capitalists (who in Mexico have always sided with the Church, and against the constitu- tional rule), the recogrdtion of Zuloaga, the President 40 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. installed by the clerical party, was obtained from the whole diplomatic corps ; whereas the rebellion was sus- tained only by the single cities of Mexico and Puebla, and their immediately adjacent villages, and its only title to any recognition was a mere local force under a ' plan ' proclaimed by a regiment of soldiers. Commencing on January 11th, 185 Ij the revolutionary party gained possession of the capital on the 21st, the morning of the flight of Comonfort. On the 22nd a junta of twenty-eight, named and convened by himself, declared Zuloaga the commander of the garrison, and nominal leader of the Tacubaya plan, President of the EepubKc ; and before the 30th his government was recog- nised by all the representatives of foreign powers resident in the capital, — viz., Don Felipe Neri del Barrio, Guatemala, chief of the diplomatic corps ; M. Gabriac, France, and charged with the affairs of Spain ; John Forsyth, United States ; Don Francisco Pastor, Ecuador ; John Lettsom, charge d'affaires, England ; and M. Clementi, Papal nuncio (he, of course, was the principal agent of the Church). Forsyth Avanted to treat for a purchase of tern - tory, and became the dupe of the rest ; and the Englishman was controlled by the capitalists, who had played the game of monopoly so long, they thought it could be safely played for ever. Time has proved they were mistaken. Such were the influences which procured this hasty and ill-judged recognition by the foreign diplomatic corps of the so-called government of Zuloaga, which has been the means of leading people abroad to suppose that, having been recog- nised and approved by these official representatives on the spot, it was both a government of fact and of right, notwith- INTRODUCTOET. 41 standing the protest or proclamation of the President Juarez, upon whom the authority had legitimately devolved, under the constitution. The recognition of the representatives of foreign powers was thus given to a so-called government, instituted against the will of the people, and based on the destruction of the constitution of the country ; and they took on themselves to say that the leaders of a military rebellion, gaining the capital, should constitute the lawful government of the Republic. Withoiit this recognition, the Zuloaga rebellion would have been put down in three months ; with it, it was able to keep the country in a state of civil war for three years. On February 9th, 1858, Juarez issued a decree, declaring all the acts of Zuloaga's government null, and of no effect. The recognition, however, by the diplomatic corps, gave that government a certain character of legitimacy and moral prestige, which, with the money of the clergy, enabled it to make head against such powers as still remained faithful to the constitutional government, or which, with the limited means at its command, it could raise. The consequence has been the struggle which, with varying results from time to time, has only been lately terminated by the triumph of the Liberal forces, and the reestablishment of the constitutional government in the capital. The struggle has been sustained by the coun- tenance and recognition of foreign powers, and the money and arms of the Church, against the people, without means and without an army, but rising spontaneously everywhere. The reverse at first experienced caused Juarez to remove the seat of government, first to Gua- dalajara, and then to Vera Cruz, where it was esta- 42 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. blislaed May 1858. In that month a new English minister, Mr. Otway, passed through that place, but without treating in any manner with the constituted government, he pro- ceeded to the capital, and presented his credentials to Zuloaga, whose government he acknowledged. In July 1858, the United States minister, Forsyth, was ordered to terminate all relations with the clerical government, and withdraw the legation from the capital, and left in Sep- tember. This was the first act of any government discoun- tenancing the clerico-militaiy revolution. In November 1858, Juarez reissued his decree of February 7th, declaring null and void the acts of Zuloaga's government, and on the 30th January Zuloaga Avas set aside by the same revolu- tionary means by which he had been raised, and the Presidency was assumed by Miramon. Again the action of the diplomatic corps was invoked, and proffered even more hastily than before, being on the same day that Miramon assumed power. The British minister, Otway, j oined (though but a few weeks before he had demanded Miramon's dismissal from the army, on account of repeated outrages to British subjects) April 6th, 1859. The constitutional government at Vera Cruz was re- cognised by the United States minister, M'Lane, as the legitimate and tie facto government of the Republic. All this time the entire sea- coast, with a great portion of the interior, had re mained faithful to the constitution. The clerical Government could only hold the cities by military force, and as long as they occvipied them, it was characterised by every act which violated international and moral obliga- tion; its only support was the money of the Church, and the INTRODUCTORY. 43 recognition of the diplomatic corps. This, however, was gradually withdrawn ; for, yielding at last to the universal outcry of the British residents against Otway's shameless neglect of the interests of his countrymen, the English Government recalled him, and on September he Avas superseded by Mr. Mathew, the charge d'affaires. April 1860 a new representative appeared in Vera Cruz in the person of Baron Wagner, minister of Prussia, who after some informal conferences with the constitutional authorities proceeded to Mexico. There Gabriac's proved too powerful an interest to resist ; the moral weight of Protestant Prussia was thrown into the scale of the clergy. He was recalled, and on May 1860 left the legation in charge of its secretary. Immediately Zuloaga ordered Miramon to restore to him the Presidency which had been intrusted to him only temporarily and by substitution. Miramon was too strong for him, and carried him a captive in a forced campaign into the interior. Biit in his absence, on May 11th, 1860, a document was drawn up by the diplomatic corps, and signed by all, except the Papal nuncio and the minister of Guatemala, declaring there was no government existing in the capital. Miramon returned in August, defeated by the Liberals ; yet he called a ' junta,' who elected him Presi- dent, and as such he was recognised by Don J. Francisco Pacheco, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extra- ordinary of Spain. In September 1859, Spain had nego- tiated a treaty with the Miramon government through its agent, Almonte, at Paris.* This conferred advantages and * See Appendix. 44 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-e2. recognised claims before refuted by every government in Mexico, and to a very large amount. The constitutional government protested against this Mon-Almonte treaty as unjust in its essence, foreign to the usage of nations in the principles it established, illegal in the manner in which it was negotiated, and contrary to the rights of the country. The maintenance of this treaty explains the recognition of M. Pacheco, after a ma- jority of the foreign representatives, resident in Mexico, had united in a declaration that there was no government existing there. In December 1860, Mr. Mathew, the English charge cVaffaires, retired to Jalapa, fi-om orders received from his government. The Prussian minister also withdrew with him. In November, M. Saligny, the new French minister, arrived, without in any way treat- ing with the constitutional authorities at Vera Cruz, pro- ceeded to Jalapa, and endeavoured to procure a combina- tion of the diplomatic corps to bring about a compromise, but utterly failed ; and he pressed on to the capital, pre- pared to recognise INIiramon as President of the Republic — but it was too late. Without moral prestige, the money of the clergy almost gone, and the Liberals fast gaining on the capital, one only resource was left Miramon. This was the British bondliolders' money, stored in the British legation, inider the minister's seal and the imaginary protection of the British flag. Miramon did not hesitate. On November 17th he broke the seals in open day, and carried off the money by armed force. It was but a short respite, for, em- boldened by a slight victory, he ventured out of his INTRODUCTORY. 45 strongliold to meet the Liberal army, Avas overwhelmed, and utterly defeated. The French and Spanish ministers tried to make terms for him, but failed ; so, seizing all that remained in the treasury of the English bondholders' money, he fled for ever from Mexico. On December 25th, the constitutional forces occupied un- molested the capital and the Government ; and on January 11th, 1861, the constitutional and representative government of Juarez was peaceably and unanimously installed in the palace, whence three years before it had been di-iven by a rebellion so ignominiously terminated. — New York Tribune, March Idth, 1861. The following is the sum I paid the post office for horses from post to post on the line of the mail couriers. I paid just as much again at each relay, besides a present to the horse-keeper who took back the horses. Leagues Dollars Vera Cruz to Tejeria . 4 1"50 Tpjeria , Soledad . . 5 2 Soledad , Camaron . 5 2-25 Camaron , Tres Encinos . 5 2-25 Tres Encinos , Cordova . 7 2-25 Cordova , Orizaba . 6 2-25 Orizaba , Acolzingo . . 7 2-25 Acolzingo , Canada . 5 2-25 Canada , San Augustin . 5 2-25 San Augiistin , Quecholac . . 4 1-50 46 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Quecliolae , , Acatzingo . . 7 2-25 Acatzingo , , San G-regorio . 5 2-25 San Gregorio , , Puebla . 8 2-25 Puebla , San Martin . 6 2-25 San Martin , , Eio Frio . 7 2-25 Eio Frio , , Ayotla . 5 2-25 Ayotla , , Mexico . 6 2-25 97 36-50 The system of couriers dates back to the time of the Spaniards. The couriers, whether private or government, pass through the country with perfect immunity from impressment or any other impediment. Their calling is almost sacred, and Avhoever interferes with them is re- garded as an offender against the public weal. Like the arriei'os, they are invariably honest : no record exists of a courier having robbed his employer or surrendered the letters intrusted to his charge, unless waylaid and inter- cepted by an enemy ; and even at such times they have dexterous methods, known only to themselves, of conceal- ing their despatches. 47 CHAPTEE 11. FROM VERA CRUZ TO MEXICO.* The first impression of Vera Cruz is favourable. The approach is picturesque, aud the streets are wide and clean ; but the total absence of life, the frequent gaps of ruined and uninhabited houses, and the squalid appearance of the working-classes, fix on the mind an indelible feeling of melancholy. Yet this is in fact the only port which the re- * Health. — The vomito, or yellow fever, is one of the great draw- backs to the entry of foreign troops here ; but it does not prevail beyond ten or twelve leagues from the coast, and a very moderate elevation resists its progress. Cases have been known as high up as Jalapa, but all persons who caught it on the coast, and were removed there, generally die ; but there is no known instance of its being propagated from any of such cases, or its having been spontaneously generated there. Vera Cruz is, of course, subject to its fiercest visitation, but only at particular times of the year. As soon as the traveller reaches Plain del Eio, on the route up, he is safe ; and from thence to Mexico the climate is luxurious, and to the last degree exhilarating and salubrious. The country abounds in every kind of food and transport, and the roads, though execrable for wheeled carriages, are wide and easy for the march of troops ; the popiilation is peaceable and quiet. 48 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. public of Mexico possesses. In the roadsteads, which are protected by the island fort of San Juan de Ulloa, and defended from the south by a long ridge of rocks, there was not a single vessel at anchor, but the men-of-war of England and France ; while none but small coasters were ranged along its massive and commodious quay. To right and left of the town extend miles on miles of sandy plain, covered in parts with herds of cattle, the value of which may be estimated by their being shot for their skins; yet they seemed well-grown and serviceable beasts, and of excellent make and breed. The road for twelve miles into the interior, as far as Tejeria is laid on a tramway, and is efficiently and scientifically constructed over a light sand, which seems capable of being converted into valuable soil by cultivation. From hence a long and rugged series of mere stony tracks leads the traveller over the plain, diversified with heathy flats and sandy hollows, but tolerably wooded past the stations of Soledad, Camaron, and Tres Encinos. Here we found a detachment of cannoniers with their pieces, retiring from Vera Cruz, which the Mexican Govern- ment wisely determined to leave unfortified on the approach of the allied intervention. The men were MEXICAN SOLDIERS. 49 light, active, middle-sized soldiers,* in fair campaign- ing order, well elotlied, and animated by the best possible spirit. They would form excellent material in good hands. Their pieces, both field and small arms, were in good order, clean, and of fair quality. Like all of the Mexican lower orders I met, they were docile and polite when not roused; and were it not for their invariable habit of magniloquence, one would imagine they were as good as they look. But, alas! that terrible weakness prevails in all classes of the country. Like the Irishman's history, their accounts of everything would be excellent, were it not for the facts ; and, like him, their only answer to a complaint is, ' So much the worse for the facts' that they do not correspond. In general they are very swarthy ; most of them burnt by exposure ; both sexes of a deep copper colour, but clean built, active, and often broad-shouldered and deep-chested * Soldiers. — The men were mostly stout fellows, dressed in a sim- ple uniform of white drilling, with red collars and stripes down the legs of the trousers. All were barefooted, except a leathern sole, strapped on to the naked foot with thongs. Some where sleeping on the rough wooden benches of the wide vestibule ; others were gambling, drinking, or buying a sort of confectionery of sugar and cocoa-nut from an old woman, who carried it about in a basket on her head. E 50 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. men — their fashion of carrying heavy weights, strapped from their backs across the forehead, keeping the body firm and upright. The old men I met were seldom infirm or paralysed, but seemed to endure labour with comparative ease. The women are not generally well-looking, the face being too flat, and from their wearing few clothes, the figure falling abroad, as they say in the west of England; but their fine hair and eyes, and the smallness of their hands and feet, in a great measure redeem the defect of a rather unmeaning face. The ordinary dress of a man is a wide-brimmed hat of stiff felt or straw, fastened under the chin with ribbons, an em- broidered shirt-front, and a jacket of bro-^^m leather, more or less ornamented according to the pecuniary condition of the wearer ; a belt containing his purse confines his waist, below which he wears brown leather trowsers, buttoned all the way down orna- mentally on the outer seam, so that in walking they are thrown open to let out the full calzoncillos or linen drawers, and are confined by the buttons in riding quite as tight as by gaiters. The Mexican rides very forward, on a demipique saddle, with an abomination in front in the shape of a highly- ornamented metal pommel, the use of which is to fasten the lasso to ; when the noose is tightened to MEXICAN HORSEMEN. 51 throw a man or beast to the ground, the horse is taught to swerve and hold himself firm against the pull. They ride well, and the horses, which are trained from their earliest years to easy paces, are fast and enduring ; their best pace is the passo, which is a very rapid run, all four legs following very closely together, at a pace so easy as not to shake the rider's seat in the smallest degree, while they are taught to stop back or turn at the slightest motion of the bit. They never run above fifteen hands, but are well-shaped and strong, having almost invariably good heads and legs. Mules are used for draught and carriage, as many as ten or even twelve being harnessed four-abreast to a diligence, or the carro, a long narrow wagon used for conveying goods over the heavy roads. The dress of the women consists of a loose chemise and wide petticoat, with a hat of straw or felt ; but the features, as well as the bust, are concealed in walking by a shawl of grey plaid, which is thrown over the left shoulder and held up to the mouth. The better classes seldom wear anything on the head, though in the retraitas and paseos I saw no lack of hat and feather and crinoline beau- ties, whose gaiety and amplitude rivalled even Paris or London. We continued our route occasionally through herds of cattle : provisions in the shape of dried £ 2 52 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. beef, chichi, aguardiente, chickens, eggs, tortillas, sal- chichas, rice, and beans, may be found at every station on the road, together with excellent chocolate and coffee. We began the ascent of the shoulder of the mountain Orizaba. It was just daylight when I mounted the pass, which led into masses of deep forests, with a wide and foaming river roaring in the ravine below. I reined in my horse to see the cloudless sun burst out of the sea over the sixty miles of plain I had tra- versed the day before. The most brilliant foliage surrounded me, principally acacias ; while large con- volvuli, the size of a dinner-plate, hung in graceful festoons from every branch.* The wide plain smoked blood-red in the morning mist ; while above my head a pure clear sky shed a delicious freshness on every sense. The only lack I felt was that exquisite morn- ing hymn sent up by the forest birds in merrie Eng- land ; for here there were none but most discordant * In the passes of Orizaba, I knew the jalap tree by a disagree- able but peculiar scent, which I found proceeded from the leaves of the well-known plant. The stem climbs to a groat heiglit, of a brownish colour, round and smooth; its leaves are on long footstalks, shaping to a peak; the flower is a convolvulus, of a crimson or light- red colour, with a long tube and fine stamina ; it has a tuberous, fleshy root, with pear-shaped tubers, in size from a walnut to an orange, externally brown, internally white, with numerous long fibres. It grows on the eastern declivity of the Andes of Mexico, up to an elevation of 6,000 feet, where the weather is rainy and subject to frost and winter. PASSES OF ORIZABA. 53 jays.* Along these lofty passes the road wound most picturesquely, but sorely to the discomfort of men and horses. It was clogged with immense stones, and not unfrequently knee-deep in soft mud. How any wheeled vehicles can possibly stand the wear and tear of such bumping and thumping is quite marvel- lous ; — but here comes the diligence at a pace which threatens to tear the clumsy wheels to pieces, as it rolls, jumps, and bumps over the irregularities of the ground. The body is fitted with three seats, each holding three persons ; the middle seats being fur- nished with a broad leather band for their backs. The sides are closed with leather curtains, and the doors have sashes to the windows, so that there is * The camfanero is often heard in these woods ; the traveller is startled with the distant toll of a bell, resembling the muffled clang of some deep-mouthed convent bell. The eampanero tolls about an hour towards evening, and, as he affects the shadiest depths of the forests, is seldom seen. They told me he was an unassuming fellow, with few of the gaudy trappings of his feathered companions, but has a remarkable crest on his head. The Mexican macaw has the most splendid colours, and beautifiilly distributed. The head, breast, and back are of a deep glossy red ; the wings yellow, blue, and green; the tail is composed of eleven blue quills, six of which are stout and short, the remaining five tapering, but broad, and when full grown fourteen inches in length. They keep up an incessant screaming, scrambling about, hanging by their claws, or swinging by their hooked beaks, so that the tree seems hung with gaudy banners, as on a gala day. I heard of the superb blue macaw, but it is a very rare bird. 54 XOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. abundance of air and light. Four seats are on the top, while the cochero and his assistant occupy the box, having enough to do to work the team. Two stout mules occupy the shafts ; then four abreast in vsplinter bars ; and in front of all a pair, or some- times three more; bells are hung on their necks, and the harness is generally good ; so that, though de- cidedly a strong exercise, highly conducive to promote digestion, the merry jingling and the roomy, well- stuffed leather cushions, rendered the travelling not uncomfortable. As we neared Cordova, troops of mules, heavily laden with packs of cotton, wool, sugar, &c., straggled on ; of course perversely climbing the sides of the road to crop herbage, and fully occupy- ing the attention of the arrieros, who, some on horseback and some on foot, whooped and cracked their long whips to urge forward their wayward con- voy. We were now some thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the air was fresh and balmy. Cattle were feeding in the maize fields, and among the dried stalks of Indian corn, while a delicious verdure clothed the slopes of the glades ; and even the wide open spaces in front of the village cottages, almost reminding one of the English commons, so short and firm was the turf. Cordova, a town of 7,000 inhabitants, is most delightfully situated on CORDOVA. 55 the slopes of a hill, which exactly faces the snow peaks of Orizaba, 17,800 feet high. The cone rises easily and gracefully from vast shoulders, fringed with pine forest to the very verge of the snow-line. It is perhaps not so imposing as its sister Popocate- petl ; but its immense size, and the dark rugged range of cliffs that tower up on all sides to the pure white crown, fill the spectator's mind with pictures of beauty and power. The square of Cordova is as large as Lincoln's Inn Fields, with a wide colonnade run- ning round three sides, the fourth being occupied by a fine old cathedral in the usual barbarous Spanish style of architecture — an incongruous collection of towers and cupolas, without simplicity or grandeur, except from mere size. It was here that Captain Aldham, E.N., lingered for months, under the hos- pitable care of M. Legrand, when brought in after the murderous attack on the diligence by some po- litical ruffians, on the Orizaba road, under command of Cobos,* one of the clergy chiefs, who was most deservedly shot on September 7, at Calpulalpam. The captain, fortunately, as well as the British con- sul's family, escaped with life, though at the expense of shattered health and a shortened limb ; but a poor * His brother is now in the French camp with his fellow-ruffian Marquez. 56 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. young French lady, shot at the same time, died in great agony. Of course nothing has been done to render the road more secure. From Cordova to Orizaba the road winds and dips among the elevated ranges of the mountain, and, being diversified with running streams and wide open valleys, fertile to a very high degree, is about the pleasantest portion of the whole route from the sea to the capital. The last two miles lie over a vast common, some half-league square, of as perfect grass land as could be found in any country, and as flat as a bowling green, though surrounded by richly-wooded heights of a considerable elevation. Not a beast — horse, cow, sheep, or even donkey — grazed on its pleasant verdure, — not even a goose. The first building that strikes you on entering a street at least a mile long and 100 feet wide, is a church without any roof, and the plaster, once gaudily painted, hanging in long stripes from the walls; yet still decorated in the porch with faded flower-wreaths and several wax representations of our Saviour on the cross, and the Madonna and Child, while an old sacristan screamed for alms to the ver}"- indifferent passers-by. Orizaba contains 30,000 inhabitants, and is one of the most important district centres. There seemed ORIZABA. 57 to be no trade; I did not see any single man at work the whole time I was in the town; and cer- tainly really one-third of the houses were either uninhabited or in a rapid state of decay. Yet it is hardly possible to conceive a more healthy, a more delicious, or a more advantageous position for a large departmental city. Situated at 2,000 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by fertile valleys and magnificent forests, on the high road from the capital to the principal seaport of the republic, it seems to contain every qualification for the man of business or leisure to desire in a place of residence. I left it with regret. A fine gallop of twenty-four miles took me over an undulating valley with picturesque wooded heights of great elevation, hemming it in to about two miles width as far as Acolzulco. The whole road was thronged with traffic of every kind, flocks of sheep, herds of goats, donkeys laden with foully smelling fish, or salt meat, mule-droves of sugar carros going down to the coast, arrieros with every kind of cargo, from barrels slung across horse and mule to fruit- baskets, passed us in long and endless succession. At length we commenced the ascent of the pass which leads to the higher plateau by a series of zig- zags, under a blazing sky. Half-way up a very pretty 58 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. mountain-fall discharged its waters literally on to the road; as the bridge-parapet, under which its clear stream foamed down into the valley, was not high enough to prevent its most refreshing spray from dashing over my face as I sat on horseback. The view from the top, though circumscribed, was very lovely from the delightful verdure of every part of the landscape. We descended into another valley, and again as- cended by another series of zigzags to the heights above Canada. Here we were visited by a severe thunder-storm. The forked lightning played above the surrounding peaks, and the thunder rolled along the pine forests, dying away in the distance — the sublimest artillery. The whole road was perfectly solitary; I did not see a soul or a house till I reached the miserable sandy village, where I sat in the post-house on a rough deal bench, in a room where there was an iron bedstead and a small deal table on the stone floor — nothing else whatever. Yet the owner, the master of the correo, was a polite and educated man, to an extraordinary degree. He handed me a handful of excellent cigars. I sent for some aguardiente ; and while I dried myself we con- versed on a variety of subjects, with an audience of about twenty individuals, who crowded round the SAN AUGUSTIN 59 door-way ; but neither intruded themselves nor their conversation upon us. He provided me and the postillion with two excellent horses, which carried us over the sandy plain to San Augustin de Palma, a distance of five leagues, in a couple of hours, with great ease and comfort. The bells of a vast number of towers were ringing as I entered the town, which seemed well built and populous, though not very large. The court-yard of the post-house was most tastily laid out on the side of the house, with a very pretty flower-garden, and a broad verandah, on the stone seat of which I sat with my back leaning against the wall, smoking a comfortable cigar, until my hospi- table host announced my dinner. Two buxom ladies waited, while the postmaster faced me, attending personally to all my wants. He served me some excellent meat soup, with toast, an omelette, a cutlet, with potatoes, and a mould of sweet jelly, for which I paid three shillings (including a cup of delicious coffee), and we parted the best of friends. Here they provided me with a mule. (The mula, or female, is much more valuable than the male, or macho. She is taught an easy amble, peculiar to South America, and when broken in is called an andedore. A good mule costs thirty dollars, but I 60 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. saw some less than that price. Horses are small, but very strong and enduring, and come of a good stock ; but for long distances mules are pre- ferred.) On a mula I rode from hence to the next stage, Quecholac, two and a half leagues, which was perhaps fortunate, as night fell, and we scram- bled most of the eight miles in pitch dark, over some queer places, as it seemed. About half-way, four men met us in a gallop. I took no part in the conversation that ensued ; but it was evident each mistook the other for robbers. They were three Spaniards and a courier, travelling post to catch the return steamer to Havanna. At Quecholac I was most hospitably received by the family of the postmaster, Jose Augustin Velez, whose brothers, Joachim and Christoval, joined me in a cup of superb chocolate * and a cigar, and we all slept on the floor in the large room, which for height and size was almost a hall. The children, too, came to look at my watch, and a many-bladed and wondrous * There is nothing more palatable, and at the same time nourish- ing, than a cup of chocolate, which is procurable at almost every roadside venda. It is ground in a mortar from the cocoa till it becomes an oily paste ; a little Tanilla is added, with sugar, and it is then made into small cakes, each of which makes two cups when dissolved in boiling water and cream, and is served brimming with a fragrant froth, and light sweet cakes are added. A Mexican always washes his mouth out afterwards with cold water. ACATZINGO. 61 knife of Mappin's best which I had ; they brought me water to wash my feet, and attended to my every want with the most courteous and flattering care ; nor when I left in the morning would they accept a farthing of recompense, but all embraced me as a friend. The sandy road, bordered with aloe and cactus, and drenched with yesterday's rain, was dreary to the last degree ; beyond a few donkeys and labourers going to work in the fields I did not see a soul. The sun had hardly risen, and it was bitter cold. I was glad, therefore, to get into Acatzingo to break- fast about eight. Here I found Senor Couttolene, with four other gentlemen and a large troop of lancers, escorting about 1,000 wagons to Vera Cruz for the steamer. Anything more courteous or at- tentive than M. Couttolene's politeness cannot be imagined. Not only did he and his companions give me every possible advice and information as to my route, but even sent six lancers with me, as he assured me the entrance to Puebla was beset, with dangers. I had by this time become so thoroughly tired of hearing the accounts of the ill-treatment I was to expect, that I hardly believed him ; but I soon had positive experience ; for the coming dili- gence brought my portmanteau smashed to pieces. 62 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. with every single thing taken out but my dirty linen, which was saturated with the contents of a bottle of carbonate of soda and another of sulphate of quinine — two handy medicines my long experience of travel had tauo-ht me never to be without in a warm climate: indeed, these and a little opium are as much as, in ordinary circumstances, a man need require. The passengers told me amusing stories of the satisfaction of the robbers, who stopped them close to the barrier entering Puebla, when they over- hauled my stock. Two hundred splendid Havanna cigars, a last present from my friend Lorenzo de Peon, two Bond Street coats and an overcoat, my dandy trousers, my white and other waistcoats, merino drawers, shirts, &c. &c., were held up to, and handed round with intense gratification, from one to another of the ruffians. As they did not rob the carpet-bags of four not very spicey Mexicans in the coach, I only hope my spoils may be the cause. However, unconscious of my coming mis- fortunes, I gaily galloped on with my gallant lancers, on a brilliant sunshiny morning, through San Gregorio and Amazoc to Puebla. Happy, well-behaved, and courteous men they were; full of questions as to the intervention and PUEBLA. 63 the recent outrage on the English flag in the piratical assault on the 'Trent,' and the seizure of Messrs. Slidell and Mason ; the war of American secession ; the strength and position of the French emperor ; and, above all, the deep-seated hatred of Spain and everything Spanish were their principal topics; and very well they expressed themselves. We passed an old aboriginal coach with six mules and four armed servants, containing a family in- side a framework covered with white canvas ; the springs, wheels, &c., seemed very good, but the whole of the carriage was flapping in the air, which gave it a most absurd appearance. As we neared Puebla, we met a long succession of carts, mules, donkeys; gentlemen and servants armed to the teeth ; women trudging with baskets and earthen pots on their heads ; beggars, and a good many well- mounted but seedy and truculent-looking gentlemen, who saluted me with adios Senor ; but would, I have no doubt, have given me a very different salutation, had it not been for M. Couttolene's lancers. Puebla was founded at an early date by the Spaniards. The general arrangement of the city is exceedingly good, and its position is charming. Its population is estimated at 70,000. The houses are built in the massive and imposing style which cha- 64 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. racterises all the works of the grand old Spaniards in their days of power and wealth. The city is full of churches, and their bells clang from tower and steeple from morning to night — nor is their devotion confined to the buildings. The people take off their hats whenever they meet bishop, padre, friar, or Jesuit; whenever they pass an image in paint, plaster, or wax ; and also, whenever the bells indicate that some performance is going on inside any one of the churches they happen to be passing. I calculated that on an ordinary day a Pueblano would take off his hat once every two minutes, or if he were in the streets eight hours he would uncover 240 times ! Puebla, the second city of the Republic, is one of the most picturesque places I ever saw. Indeed, if it had the advantage of water, instead of the dry ditch which when I saw it did duty for a river, hardly affording water enough for the washerwomen, who, to the number of some hundreds, were barbarously and savagely banging and thumping shirts and stock- ings in the scanty stream, it would rival most cities of noted beauty of position. One is struck by the crowd of churches and convents, whose towers greatly heighten the effect. The cathedral is massive and imposing, occupying one whole side of the plaza, on PUEBLA. 65 an elevated plot of ground. The interior is lofty, and filled with the most beautiful specimens of marbles from the neighbourhood. Its other riches have been seized by the government. Its splendid silver chandelier, so large that four men got inside to clean it; the altar and lamps of silver, the pic- tures and jewels, are all gone, and the effect is made up by gilding and velvet, in a manner which is not very effective. The choir and screen block up the whole space ; and the side chapels, filled from floor to roof with bad paintings of sometimes very disgusting subjects, and enclosed by gilt rails, give one but a confused idea of the magnificent extent of the build- ing, which is 500 feet deep and about 200 in width at the principal entrance. The view from the top over the rich plains, covered with well-tilled fields and pretty haciendas, well-wooded, and evidencing both riches and care, to the snow range on the south and west, is most exquisite. Nothing can be finer than the spring of Popo- catepetl, from the plain to its snow-crowned cone near 18,000 feet high, while to the north the elegant form of Malinche, which rises gently with forest ravines and dark deep glens to most picturesque-shaped castled crags at its lofty summit ; and to the east the roseate tints of far off Orizaba in the setting sun F 66 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. form the most perfectly satisfactory picture to the artist and the traveller, did he not know that the man who travels one hundred yards outside the walls is sure to lose horse, money, clothes, and even life itself, unless escorted or under some protection. While I remained there, a young man was lassoed in the Paseo and detained for ransom, — his father offering ,^300, and the robbers demanding ^^3,000; nor was the negotiation at all in a forward state when I left. The streets are clean, straight, and wide, and the trade brisk and good, as far as I saw ; but the barri- cades in every one of them told a very sad story of rapine and revolution. They were not removed, they told me, because the bands of guerilleros would sweep through the town otherwise, carrying all before them ; however, every one seemed happy and con- tented. In the evening a fine band played in the retraita or plaza, which was some eight hundred yards square, paved with stone, and had a balustrade round the four sides and a fountain in the centre; while the rank, fashion, and beauty of the city either gently promenaded, or reclined on the stone seats of the balustrade till ten, under a cloudless sky and a clear, cahn atmosphere. The three other sides were occupied by portales or piazzas of shops. I had the good fortune to see the interior of many PUEBLA. 67 Mexican houses, where I played whist, danced,* and heard excellent music, and can testify to the grace and beauty of the female population. Most of them spoke French, though not fluently or confidently; while their exquisite shaped heads, hands, and feet, fully compensated for a bad complexion, which, moreover, magnificent hair, eyes, and teeth, soon made one forget. * Waltzing. — It is rare to find an indifferent waltzer among the ladies of Mexico. They are generally easy and lithe in their motions, sailing through the dance with a rather stately, though animated, mien, but without the slightest approach to a hop. Pretty hands and arms are too common to be regarded as particu- lar marks of elegance ; but I often observed they took extra pains to display their little advantages. Morenas, with raven hair, decidedly prevail as to numbers with the delicate paleness usually associated with Spanish tropical beauty ; and siieh complexions, aided by clear white foreheads, large black or hazel eyes, clear coral lips, and fine teeth, are no inconsiderable attractions, when joined, as they are frequently, to a vivacious and joyous disposition, to which they generally unite the qualities of gentleness, good humour, and sin- cerity, — pleasing traits in any country. The hair is oftener worn plaited, and put up behind the head, than any other way ; ringlets are seldom seen. At parties, or balls, the dress is usually white, and very thin ; and but little jewellery is worn in the street. The man- tilla, or crape shawl, is used ; but the parasol has in a great measure superseded the fan. In the general lack of education, women are taught but little ; and when a young lady can play the guitar and piano, waltz, and appear a la mode in society, she is sei-ved up whole at the matrimonial altar as quickly as possible, and her matronly duties begin. And yet, Mdth few or none of the advantages offered in more enlightened countries, Mexican women never fail to interest a stranger by the peculiar gentleness and dignity of their demeanour, as well as their latent talents and susceptibility of cultivation. F 2 68 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. The principal amusement of the gentlemen is American bowls, the alleys for which are better than any I have seen in London, and, as they said, now all riding outside the town is dangerous, affords them capital exercise.* Every house, too, had one or more magnificent Cuban blood-bounds — not over well secured, for the roofs being all flat, there is but little difficulty in making your way over great part of the city into any house — a precaution which is exten- sively made use of, especially as justice is not only per- fectly blind, but venal, to the last degree. One man who lived opposite me had his house entered while I was there and all his money taken. In the morning he made a full deposition before the police offi^ce; three days after the magistrate called, and, as no money was offered, said it was too late then to institute * Cricket. — Just out of the Paseo, in a field of fifty acres, lies a ■well-rolled and watered cricket-ground, belonging to a club, formed mostly of British, of course, but haying three or four Mexican gentle- men and two Indians playing in matches. Twice I formed one of two elevens, who made excellent play. The air was delightfully cool, though sunny, and the view round us exquisite, A cool and roomy tent, 2)itched in the best style, received our weary limbs ; and we had a must charming meal, the tea being the most delicious I think I ever tasted. To MM. Mello, Tregeiros, and Bovis, as well as the ex- cellent British Consul, Glennic, are our countrymen indebted for this most u.sefid and exhilarating exercise. Nor should tlic long-stop, Mr. Da%ndson, bo forgotten, not only for his excellence in the field, but his care and courtesy to the guests. PUEBLA TO S. MAETIN. 69 proceedings. But, sir, said the sufferer, I Jost not an hour in apprising the magistracy of the burglary. Very true, answered coolly the official ; but I am very busy just now with political matters, and I could not attend to it; and there the matter dropped. No one thinks of moving after dark without pistols, and ge- nerally two or three together. In our courtyard were six valuable horses belonging to Mexicans, removed to the protection of the British flag to save them from forced contribution ; and even there they were not safe. By daybreak I started with seven and a half dol- lars in my pocket, a plaid wrapped round my loins, and a not very good coat. No sooner had I cleared the walls than iifty men barred my passage, and I was requested to dismount, and my money demanded peremptorily, but courteously. I instantly poured my money into the palm that did not hold a pistol, and explained that my clothes had all been taken some days before. The gentlemen then felt me all over; but as I had left my watch in Puebla I had nothing but my meerschaum and tobacco-pouch, which they politely returned me on my telling them it was an old friend of many years' travel, and having twice felt my plaid, which they rejected as being too thin, as it was compared with the Mexican serape. 70 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-f.2. Of course they could not see its length and breadth ; so they very politely ordered me to remount. I had taken the precaution to hide my papers in the corn- bag strapped behind the courier's saddle. I continued my route rejoicing, over a very fair road through highly cultivated fields, where I fre- quently saw as many as ten or twelve ploughs at work under the eye of the master, who, on horse- back, personally superintended the operation. Three hours brought me to San Martin, which was filled by a regiment of very serviceable light dragoons, on their way to the coast — a circumstance which I after- wards heard procured me the escape of a repetition of myPuebla episode, as the gentlemen of this town enjoy a most evil reputation. Seven leagues of rising ground through splendid pine-woods, with wide open glades covered with luxuriant verdure, but not a single animal to crop the short sweet grass, brought me to Rio Frio, another quarter of villanous repute ; but the whole way was lined with straggling bodies of horse, foot, and artillery passing down, so that the robbers, luckily for me, had made themselves scarce. I passed twenty cannon, with tumbrils and all com- plete, in the most creditable order ; the men, too, were excellent in make and dress, as far as a non- military man could judge; but I could not say much VALLEY OF MEXICO. 71 for the officers — tbey seemed one half to be too fat, and the other half too withered and lean: perhaps I could not distinguish the lieutenants and ensigns from the men ; but I saw some eight hundred troops, and certainly forty who were undoubtedly officers, and who came under the one or the other category. At Rio Frio I had to pawn my gold sleeve-links, which had fortunately escaped the attentions of my Puebla friends, in order to procure me a dinner; and a very good one I had. Soup bouilli, and the meat, with cabbage, a roast leg of lamb, cutlets, a fricandeau of veal, and some delicious stewed apples, were served to appease my starving appetite. The cloth, knives, and glasses were clean, and changed every dish, so that I fared sumptuously on my trinkets. I ought to add they were duly returned to me by the driver of the diligence three days after- wards in exchange for one dollar. A hot descent in a broiling afternoon sun brought us into the valley of Mexico, the aspect of which in the evening glow wa^ superb, the lakes shining like molten gold, and the snow range (the shoulder of which I had passed) throwing back the bright rays to the beautifully piled mountains which lie be3^ond the city, now bathed in the soft light of the declin- 72 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. ing sun. We reached Ayutla but just in time to insure gaining the city by daylight. There is nothing for the last twenty-five miles to call for remark. A rich sandy soil, very well cultivated, the road bor- dered by cactus, maize fields, and, where running along the lake, over a causeway, with myriads of ducks and starlings, sometimes on both sides, are the only pictures of the passage. But the distant hills on all sides of the wide-spread valley are most picturesque and beautiful. We reached the Hotel Iturbide in perfect safety about seven ; and one of the best restaurants that ever tempted a hungry connoisseur received my welcome attentions. This hotel was formerly the palace of the Emperor, whose name it beai's. His son was living in it while I was there ; but he seemed much more like an American than a Mexican in dress, manners, and conversation. It is conducted on the same prin- ciple as the Louvre at Paris, except that there is no table cThote. You pay by the day, week, or month. Everything is clean and good, and, what is marvel- lous, reasonable. I paid ^30 a month for a room twenty feet square, with a window opening down to the ground, and a wide balcony overlooking the bowling-alley, and well shaded by trees. It was HOTEL ITUKBIDE. 73 fully and even handsomely furnished with every luxury that the best hotel in Paris could afford me. As might be expected from such excellent accom- modation, it was crammed the whole time I spent in Mexico. 74 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. CHAPTEE III. MEXICO.' Mexico is 7,800 feet above the level of the sea. The approach is very pleasing ; for the last six miles the long line of towers, domes, and spires, rises up white * The city of Mexico is situated in latitude 19° 25' 45" N., and longitude 103'^ 45' 53" W. from Greenwich. The mean temperature of the city is 17° (R) 21° (Cent.). The barometer varies between 23 and 23*2 English inches. The magnetic needle declines 8° 30' 12" to the east. The prevailing winds are north-east and north. In the ' Letter of Cortez to Charles V.' it is described : — ' The province which constitutes the jjrincipal territory of Monte- zuma is circular, and surrounded by lofty and rugged mountains, and the circumference fully seventy leagues. In the plain there are two lakes, which nearly occupy the whole of it, as the people use canoes for more than fifty leagues round. One of tlicse lakes is of fresh water, and the larger of salt. They are divided, on one side, by a small collection of high hills, which stand in the centre of the plain, and they unite in a level strait, formed between tliese hUls and the mountain, which strait is a gun-shot wide ; and the people of the cities and other settlements which are in these lakes communicate with each otlicr in canoes, without the necessity of going by land. And as the great salt lake ebbs and flows with the tide, as the sea does, in every flood, the water flows from it into the fresh lake as impetuously as if it M'crc a large river, and consequently at the ebb •^<3<^ t?. ^z^^ -3^-^ . — -"^ -.^'^ Camargo . 422 Monterey 1,63( ) Eegnosa . 104 Marin .... 1,35^ MEX ICO TO ACAPULCO. Places Altitudes Places Altitudes Mexico .... 7,500 Matamoras de Azucar . 3,400 Amecameca . 8,129 Mescala . . 1,588 Cuautla .... 4,380 Eio Papagayo . 1,000 Cuemavaca 4,000 Acapulco . Level ALTITUDES OF MINING LOCALITIES. Places Altitudes Places Altitudes Guanajuato 6,840 Pachuca . 8,112 Fresnillo 7,240 Catorce . . 8,788 Zacatecas 8,040 Eeal del Monte . 9,000 HEIGHTS OF THE F RINCIPAL MOL-NTAINS. Elevation States above the Sea Popocatepetl* . Mexico 17,716 feet Pico de Orizaba* Vera Cruz . 17,372 „ Iztaccihuatl Mexico 15,619 „ Cofre da Perote Vera Cruz . 13,410 „ Nevado de Toluca Mexico . 14,567 „ Zempoaltecatl . Oajaca 11,141 „ Colima* . Jalisco 12,034 „ Pico de Quicceo Michoacan 10,072 „ Soconusco* Chiapas 7,374 „ Jesus Maria Chihuahua . 8,238 „ Tabacotes ), • 7,739 „ STATISTICS. 185 states Elevation above the Sea Cerro del Mercado Durango . 7,923 feet Veta Grande Zacatecas . • 9,126 „ Bufa de Zacatecas „ . 8,294 „ Jorullo* . Michoacan . 1,683 „ Tuxtla* . Vera Cvuz . . 1,000 „ Note. — The mountains marked thus [*] are volcanoes. RIVERS. Those which flow through the Mexican territory are divided into three classes, viz., those which flow into the Pacific Ocean, those which empty into the Gulf of Mexico, and those Avhich terminate in lakes and lagunas, as will be seen by the following table : — Rivers States in which situated Length in miles Termination Bravo del New Mexico, Chi- 1,427 Gulf of Mexico Norte huahua, CoahuUa, and Tamaulipas Panuco . . Tamaulipas 286 ,» ,, Alvarado Vera Cruz 161 ,> ,, Coatzacoalcos Tehuantepec . 145 >, J, Grijalva . . Tabasco . 344 J) ,, Osumaeinta . ,, . . • 341 Rio Yaqui . Sonora . 357 Gulf of California Rio Mayo ,, . . . 208 ,5 5) Fuerte . . Between Sonora and Sinaloa 278 ,> !) Culiacan . . Siualoa . 156 Balzas , , Guerrero, Michoa- can, and Mexico 419 Pacific Ocean Mezquital Dui-ango and Jalisco 299 )> )> Santiago . , Jalisco . 261 Ures . . . Sonora . 411 Lake of Sonora Nazas . . . Coahuila 282 Lake of the Caiman Lerma . . Mexico, Michoacan, 282 Lake of Chapala con- and Guanajuato tinues its course in Jalisco, under the name of the Santiago 186 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. CLIMATE. Mexico is divided into three regions, or superficial strata,! which are classed as follows : — 1. The Tierras Calientes, or hot lands, which embrace- chiefl}'' that portion of the territory lying on the borders of the Atlantic and Pacific, and extend up the slope of the respec- tive ranges to an elevation of between three and four thou- sand feet. This division, however, is not confined exclusively to the coast, for it also includes such portions of the interior as do not exceed this elevation, and where there are heat and moisture enough to produce the fi-uits of the tropics. 2. The Tierras Templadas, or temperate regions, com- prise all the greater portion of the Republic having an elevation of between four thousand and eight thousand feet,, embracing the "whole of the vast plateau stretched between the mountains of the Gulf and those of the Pacific slope. This is the characteristic region of Mexico, and includes within its limits all the gi'eat centres of population of the Eepublic. 3. The Tierras Frias, or cold lands. These comprise the mountainous districts rising above the level of the ' Tierras Templadas ' up to the limit of constant snow. BetAvecn these elevations of eight thousand and three thousand feet, a considerable Indian population, hardy and independent, are to be found upon the sierras, and also within it are many of the most extensive mining districts of the country. Though Mexico extends into both the temperate and STATISTICS. 187 tlic torrid zones, its climate, it will be seen, dependsless upon latitude than upon elevation. In general, the Republic, with the exception of the coast and a few other places which, from their situation, ai'e ex- tremely hot, enjoys an even and temperate climate, free from the extremes of heat and cold, in consequence of which most of the hills in the cold regions are covered with trees which never lose their foliage, and often remind the traveller of the beautiful scenery of the valleys of Switzerland. In the Tierra Caliente we are struck by the groves of mimosas, liquid amber, palms, and other gigantic plants characteristic of tropical vegetation ; and, finally, in the Tierra Templada, by the enormous haciendas, many of which are of such extent as to be lost to the sight in the horizon with which they blend. The Mexicans are not accustomed to separate the year into four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and Avinter, for the variation of temperature scarcely authorises such marked distinctions of climate ; but they divide the twelve months into two grand divisions, ' the dry season ' and ' the rainy season.' The latter commences about May and lasts usually four months, whilst the dry season comprises the remainder ©f the year. NATURAL WEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC. Under this head S*" Lerdo de Tejada, in his ' Cuadro Sinoptico,' remarks : ' It would not be possible in a synop- tical view of this kind to give a full scientific and minute description of all the various elements of wealth which exist 188 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. in Mexico. We shall tlierefore content ourselves with simply indicating several of the most important items, in order to give some faint idea of the immense Avealth which is contained in and upon the soil of INIexico. To commence with the animal kingdom. The various quadrupeds wliich minister to the use of man for food or other purposes, aboimd in such quantities that, owing either to the smallness of poptdation, or to the little use made by the great mass of the people of meat for their daily food, there is not perhaps any other country in the world where cattle sell so cheap as in Mexico. Wild animals, valuable as articles of food, are found in equal abundance throughout the country. The number of horses and asses is enormous. The same may be said of mules, which are commonly em- ployed for carriages, for agi-icultural labours, and for working in the mines. Of birds fit for food there are above seventy different sorts in the Eepublic. Of the birds which are distinguished by the beauty of their plumage and the sweetness of their song, there are, according to Clavejero, about fifty or sixty different species. As regards fish, they are found in immense numbers and of great variety, both on the coasts of the Gulf and the Pacific, as well as in the lakes and streams of the interior. In speaking of fisheries we ought not to omit to men- tion, as a part of the natural wealth of Mexico, the tortoise- shell fishery on the coast of Yucatan, which yields very abundantly; and also the pearl fisheries on the coast of Lower California, and at other places on the Pacific shore. STATISTICS. 189 ' All kinds of productions belonging to the vegetable kingdom are produced in Mexico. The elevated part of the country is capable of producing every kind of grain or fi-uit raised in Europe, while the lower portions of the country yield every production of the tropics. The vanilla is cultivated with great ease : cuttings about a foot in length are inserted in the bark of the tree upon which it is intended to climb. The flowers are of a greenish yellow, mixed with white. Of three varieties, that kno'v\ai as la pina is the most esteemed. The longer and narrower the pods the greater is their value. Vanilla sells at from two to four dollars of silver. It has a climbing stalk, sending out roots from the joints and moimting to a great height ; the leaves, which come out singly at each joint, are oblong, smooth, and jointed; the helmet is of pale pink, and the lips purple ; the pods grow in pairs, and are generally of the thickness of a child's finger, and about five or six inches long : they are green at first, then yellowish, and then brown as they ripen. Wlien gathered they are made to ferment in the heat for several days, and then dried in the sun, during which process they are touched with palm oil. The stalk is slender, and throws out long, winding tendrils opposite to each of the lower leaves, by which it adheres to the branches of the tree ; but after it gains the top these become useless, and theu* place is supplied by leaves. It may be truly said that the soil of Mexico is the most fer- tile in the world. There are, it is true, outside of the ton-id zone, some tracts which, from want of water, are unj)roduc- 190 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. tive ; but in all other parts the labourer, with very little Avork and trouble, is sure to reap a rich and abundant re- compense for his toil. In some places the production is almost fabulous, where, for one bushel of maize or Indian com put into the ground, the return is from 250 to 300 bushels. Various kinds of trees are to be found in Mexico, useful for the valuable giims which distil from their trunks, such as the india-rubber or gum-elastic tree, the copal, the gum- lac, the liquid amber, and others. Medicinal plants of all kinds also abound. Of timber trees there are immense forests, which afford woods of great beauty and solidity. Dye-woods are produced in great quantities, especially in the Isle of Carmen, and on the coast of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas in the Gulf of IMexico, and on the coasts of the Pacific. To the great variety and riches of the vegetable kingdom may be added the extraordinary mineral wealth which abounds in Mexico. Besides gold and silver (which are principally worked) there are rich and abundant mines of iron, copper, mercury, tin, lead, zinc, cobalt, coal, sulphur, salt, porcelain clay, and other minerals. As mining, perhaps, more than agriculture, forms the chief branch of national industry, a great part of the inhabitants are to be found occupied in the mines or some of the numerous branches of works connected therewith. Mexico also produces precious stones, as the ruby, ame- thyst, topaz, opal, garnets, pearls, agate, chalcedony, &c. Marble and stone of all kinds fit for building are also found in abundance. STATISTICS. 191 FOREIGN COMMERCE OF MEXICO. The total annual value of the foreign importations into the Eepublic of Mexico is estimated by S"" Lerdo de Tejada at ^26,000,000, and of exportations at ^$28,000,000, making a total foreign interchange of imports and exports of ^54,000,000 per annum. The general prevalence of con- traband trade, particulai'ly along the Pacific coast, renders it difficult, however, to arrive at the total importations of merchandise or exportations of specie ; and the entire commerce, legal and illegal, may be considered nearly, if not quite, double the above amount. The difference in favour of the exports as given above, is attributed to the large sums annually exported by the Government in payment of interest on the foreign debt, and to the large amoimts exported by foreigners Avho, after some residence in Mexico, return to their homes. The imports consist chiefly of cotton, linen, woollen, and silk fabrics, as well as cotton and silk in their raw state ; brandies, wines, liquors, oil, earthenware, glass, quicksilver, iron, guns, steel, tin, hardware, watches, jewellery, paper, machineiy, wax, cocoa, carriages, flu-niture, musical instru- ments, books, and other articles of minor impoi'tance. The exports are principally of gold and silver, in coin and bars, of which precious metals an amount equal to twenty- two or twenty-three millions is annually extracted. The remaining five or six millions are made up by cochineal, vanilla, tobacco, coffee, jalap, sarsaparilla, American aloe, flax, copper, hides, tallow, timber, cattle, logwood, indigo, cocoa, pepper, salt, tortoise-shell, pearls, mother-of-pearl, 192 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. meat and fish salted, rice, beans, hats, woollen fabi-ics, biscuit, fruit, sugar preserves, and other articles of small value. The importations from different countries, as estimated by S"" Lerdo de Tejada, in 1856, were as follows : — Great Britain . ,^12,500,000 United States . 4,500,000 France , 4,500,000 Germany . 1,860,000 Spain . 700,000 Belgium 300,000 Sardinia 90,000 Guatemala, Ecuador, New Granada, Venezuela and Chili . . 250,000 Island of Cuba . 600,000 India and China Total 700,000 ,^26,000,000 The total commerce, imports and exports, is distributed nearly as follows : — Exchanges with England „ „ United States (1858) „ „ France )) „ Germany „ „ Spain . „ „ Belgium „ „ Sardinia „ „ Guatemala, Ecuador, New Granada Venezuela, and Chili „ „ Island of Cuba „ „ India and China Total ,^33,400,000 8,700,000 5,500,000 2,000,000 1,200,000 400,000 100,000 500,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 ^54,000,000 STATISTICS. 193 Besides this direct trade, England, in receiving, as she does, nearly all the silver Avhich is exported by Mexico, in payment for her importations, not only from home but also from other countries, has the additional advantage of securing a profitable exchange business, and the exclusive freight upon this vast amount of treasure. The exports to Vera Cruz of British produce and manu- factures were, in 1856, 887,862/.; 1857, 567,311/.; 1858, 411,831/. We have not the figures for 1859 and 1860, but we understand that the amount has dwindled down to an exceedingly low point. In addition to this, there has been little or no interest paid on the debts due to the English for the past six years; and, as if to cap the climax, and expose the folly of English policy in Mexico, about ^1,000,000, interest money due to English claimants, which had accumulated in the city of Mexico, was, on the 19th day of November, 1860, by force of arms, burgla- riously abstracted from the vaults of the English legation, by the very government that England had so persistently and so powerfully sustained. The shipments of silver from Mexico, in coin and bullion, amount annually to upwards of ,^23,000,000. After being collected from every Mexican port along the entire Gulf and Pacific coasts, by British men-of-war and by British steamers, supported by Government subsidy, it is shipped by the Royal West India Mail Line of Steamers, via St. Thomas, to England, where it forms a most import- ant part of that great tide of the precious metals, by whose constant influx the commercial supremacy of Great Britain is supported and maintained. 194 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. From Panama nortliward, along the Central American coast, commvmication has been opened, since the latter part of the year 1856, by the far-sighted enterprise and public spirit of the Panama Eailroad Company, who have esta- blished a line of steamers making monthly trips fi'om Panama to the ports of Punta Arenas in Costa Rica, Eealejo in Nicaragua, La Union, La Libertad, and Acajutla in San Salvador, and San Jose in Guatemala. Through the agency of these steamers not only has mail communication been established where before no facilities whatever existed, but an entire revolution in the commerce of these states has been effected. The capacity of Mexico at once to sustain a large and profitable foreign commerce is much greater than is generally supposed. The population of the Republic, according to the latest and best authenticated returns, is now over eight millions (8,283,088). This is divided, according to races, nearly as follows : — Of pure European blood, i — or say . . . 1,656,620 Of the native or indigenous race, ^ — or say . . 2,208,824 Of mixed European and indigenous blood, ~ — or say . 4,417,644 8.283.088 The total area of the Republic is 766,482 square miles ; giving an average density of 10' 8 to the square mile. This, it will be observed, is a greater density of population than that of the United States ; is one and one half times that of Canada ; nearly twice that of Chili ; over four times that of Brazil ; and more than three times the average for the whole of South America. STATISTICS. 195 This population, though not so far progressed in social developement as to have become accustomed to all the varied wants of more advanced countries, is a population that has been devoted for centuries to mining pursuits, and Avliich consequently possesses all that extravagance of habit, fondness for display and unthriftiness of disposition, which, are so proverbially engendered among a people chiefly devoted to such pursuits. Add to this the natural tendency towards extravagance of the Spanish character, and the re- flecting mind will at once perceive that the consumption of foreign mei'chandise by such a people will be limited only by the supply afforded to them, and their ability to buy. They will consume fully to the extent of their resources. This disposition bears the more exclusively upon the foreign trade of Mexico, from the fact that domestic manu- factures in that country are as yet in their infancy, and under the most favourable circumstances cannot for a long time compete with those imported by sea from European coimtries : consequently, for all except the more primitive articles of consumption, their entire dependence must be exclusively upon the supply received from abroad. The limited means of communication that exist at present, and consequent iiTegularity, the high cost of trans- portation both into the country from abroad, and from the coast to the interior, have so added to the cost of foreign merchandise, that the resources of the country have been exhausted in paying for only moderate importations. And yet the introduction of many of the appliances of modern inventions, and larger supplies of general mer- chandise at reduced rates, would present temj^tations too o 2 196 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Strong to be resisted by a people naturally so lavish in their expenditui'e ; and the desire to avail themselves of these new articles, and fuller supplies thus placed within their reach, will lead to an increased activity in the pursuit of the means wherewith to gratify their incKnations. The present foreign importations of Mexico (;^2 6,000,000, population 8,283,088) are at the rate of but ^3*14 per head. This is probably not one quarter of the consimiption of foreign effects which might reasonably be expected from a people consuming so freely according to their means, and maniifactru'ing so little, as the people of Mexico. Canada imports at the rate of ^19' 16 per head; Cuba, ^27-29; ChiH, ,^12-70; BrazU, ^8-96; and the whole of South America, ^6' 13 per head. With importations at the same rate — in proportion to population — as those of Chili, she would consume over ^105,000,000 per annum ; and at the same rate as Cuba, she would require over ,^225,000,000. These last-named countiies have a poptdation in no re- spect likely to consume more largely — imder equal facilities of communication — than that of Mexico ; therefore we see what the trade of Mexico might become, even under the application of merely ordinary means of developement, and apart from the causes which have been alluded to as so strongly operating to increase her proportionate consumption over that of a more thrifty people or a more largely manu- facturing country. The imj)nrtations from Great Britain into Mexico may be illustrated from a report made by order of Parliament. STATISTICS. 197 For a period of seven years from 1840 to 184G, both in- cluded, the sum total of the value of the imports was nearly ^82,246,705, making an average value of ^12,000,000 per annum. The principal articles of impoi-t were as follows : — drugs, haberdashery and wearing apparel, arms and ammimition, malt liquors, printed books, manufactures of brass and copper, furniture, carriages, coals, cordage, manufactures of cotton, earthenware of all kinds, glassware, hardAvare and cutlery, hats, iron and steel in bars, manufactured lead, prepared skins, harness and saddles, manufactures of flax, machinery, tools, musical instruments, &c. Of these articles, cotton fabrics rank highest, the estimated value of the importations for the seven years amounting to more than ^57,000,000, while those of linen (which come next in order of value) were more than ,^12,000,000, leav- ing only some ,^12,000,000or ,^13,000,000 as the aggregate value of all the other imports from Great Britain into Mexico. The character and value of merchandise entering into the commercial movement of Mexico with France, may be exemplified by those of the year 1851, as exhibited in the following statement made up from data furnished by the official returns of France : — IMPORTS FROM FRANCE. Description of Merchandise Value Manufactures of silk . . . .81,249,038 „ of cotton . . . 644,134 „ of wool .... 625,447 82,618,619 198 5 NOTES IN MEXICO, 18G1-62. Description of Merchandise Value'". Brought forward . 82,518,619 Manufactures of glass . 328,583 Engravings, books, &c. 278,065* Wines ..... 245,693 Arms ..... 231,419 Manufactures of metal . 179,8^0- Haberdashery, &c. 126,549 Eabbit and hare skins . 604,216 Mechanical and other tools 103,040 Dressed skins .... 67^17 Cutlery .... 56,-851 Fish, pickled, &e. 55,5i6 Artificial flowers and fancy goods 47,310 Spirits and liquors 47,257 Manufactures of hemp and flax 45,921 Perfumery .... 42,957 Precious stones 40,000 Clocks and watches 39,943 Carriages, &c. 32,630 Jewellery . • . 35,553 Furniture . . . . . 32,581 Machines and machinery 25,541 Musical instruments 23,008 Stearine oil .... 21,675 Medicines . . . . . 19,867 Iron and steel . . . . . 19,747 Prepared skins 19,298 SUk (raw and manufactured) . 15,861 Toys ...... 15,073 Olive oil .... . 13,976 Umbrellas and parasols (sUk) . 13,625 Sundries ■ . . . . 221,966 g5,469,167 STATISTICS. 199 EXPORTS TO FRANCE. Cocliineal 8367,025 Vanilla . 209,400 Dye-woods 405,429 Sarsaparilla and jalap 16,355 Hides . 4,014 Indigo . 3,731 Pepper , 3,638 Copper , 2.164 Sundry articles . 132,930 81,144,686 The reason of the shipments thither of the precious metals being so smaR in amount, is, that exchanges with England can always be more conveniently arranged than with France direct. The importations into Mexico from Germany consist principally of linen textures ; such as Silesian linen, creas, &c., &c. ; to which are added, in smaller quantities, some chintzes, muslins, silk handkerchiefs, cloths, cassimeres, crystals, plain glass, fine and common hardware, arms, carriages, furniture, pianos, &c. ADDITIONAL DUTIES ON MERCHANDISE. All foreign goods imported into the Mexican Eepublic are liable to the following additional fixed duties, besides the import duty, regulated by the tariff, viz. : — 1. A municipal duty of 12^ cents for every package weighing 200 pounds, payable to the custom-house at the port of discharge. 200 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. 2. An internal improvement duty of one-fiftli of the foreign or import duty, also payable at the port of dis- charge. 3. An internal duty of one-tenth the amount of the foreign duty, payable at the time of disj)atching the goods into the interior. 4. A registering duty of one-fifth of the foreign duty, payable at the interior custom-house to which the goods are destined. 5. Sinking-fund duty of one-fourth of the foreign duty, payable at the Treasury, in bonds of the public consoli- dated and liquidated debt. It will be observed that the above additional duties on foreign goods imported and remitted to the interior, amount to about 75 per cent, on the original import duty designated by the tariff. The exportation of gold and silver in bars, sheets, or dust, is strictly prohibited, as also gold and silver ores. The following can be exported on pajonent of the pre- fixed duties : — Coined or worked gold , t . 1 per cent Coined silver dollars . . . . 6 „ Stamped silver • . 7 „ WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Mexican Coi 'ns. 1 onza , gold = 16 dollars 1 peso silver = 1 dollar 1 real )> = 121 cents. 1 medio real !» = 6^ ft 1 quartillo copper = H „ 1 tlaco . )) = 1^ )> STATISTICS. 201 Measures. 1 foot . . . . = -928 English 1 vara (3 feet, Mexican) , . = 2784 feet, English 1 legua (2,663 to 1 meridian, English) = 5,000 varas = 2-636 miles. Weights, 1 onza . (8 ocharos) = 1 ounce 1 marco . (8 onzas) = 1 pound 1 libra . (2 marcos) = 1 „ 1 arroba . (25 libras) = 25 pounds 1 quintal . . (4 arrobas) = 100 „ 1 carga . (3 quin tales) = 300 „ 1 fanega . (140 libras) = 2 bushels nearly. PORTS OF ENTRY FOR FOREIGN COMMERCE. In the Gulf of Mexico. Vera Cruz, Tampico, Matamoras, Sisal, Campeclie, Tabasco, Isla del Carmen (Lagtina), Coatzacoalcos. Ill the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California, La Ventosa, Acapulco, Manzanillo, San Bias, Mazatlan, Guayinas. CUSTOM-HOUSES ON THE FRONTIER. On the Northern Frontier. Matamoras, Camargo, Mier, Piedras Negras, Monterey or Laredo, Presidio del Norte, Paso del Norte. On the Southern Frontier. Tonala, Zapaluta. 202 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. PORTS OPEN TO THE COASTING-TRADE. In the Gulf of Mexico. ' Alvarado, Tecolutla, Tuxpan, Santacomapan.' In the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California. La Escondida, Siimantanejo, Altata, Navachiste, La Paz, Cape San Lucas. DOMESTIC OR INTERIOR TRADE. His excellency Don Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, in his work entitled ' Cuadro Sinoptico,' of the Mexican Republic in 1856, reviews the domestic trade of Mexico as follows: — ' Although it is somewhat difficult, in the absence of com- plete data, to give a correct statement of the interior commerce of the Eepublic, or of the value of its domestic exchanges, it is nevertheless easy, by calculation, to arrive at an approximate result, taking as a basis the produce of its agriculture, of its industry, of the mines and cattle, as weU as the conveyances of real estate, and, finally, the amount of foreign merchandise, computed according to its value in the interior markets ; all of which cannot be esti- mated at less than ^450,000,000 per annum ; and, admitting that one-half of the national products are not articles of mercantile speculation, on account of their passing from production to immediate consumption, and that the other half only pass through two hands ere disappearing from circulation, it is, beyond doubt, apparent that the interior commerce of the Republic, proceeding as above stated, STATISTICS. 203 amountg, at the present date, annually, to more than ^400,000,000. As a proof of there being no exaggeration in the above estimate, it will suffice to say, that, according to the mercantile statistics published by the Board of Trade in Mexico, Puebla, Queretaro, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, and Guadalajara, from the years 1842 to 1846 inclusive, the value of domestic and foreign goods (including specie) legally introduced into those six departments, based upon the custom-house valuation, which is generally less tkan the real value, amounted, annually, to more than ^40,000,000. * The medium of exchanges by drafts, although not gene- rally understood or adopted throughout the Republic, being in operation only between the capital and such points as are open to foreign commerce and the principal cities, amounts, according to reliable data, to thirty or forty million dollars per annum. ' The banking and discount business for lending money at interest on mortgage, or other good securities, as well as for discounting bills and notes at short dates, is also of some importance ; as, over and above the large amount of fimds 'belonging to the clergy and other religious bodies (which have, in reality, for many years past, formed a great national bank, their real estate, representing as it does from eighty to one hundred million dollars) out at interest, this class of business, which more than any other affords to those who exercise it the advantage of appropriating to themselves the produce of the industry and the labour of others by the agency of their capital, has become quite general in all the departments enjoying any kind of industry and commercial activity. The total value of operations 204 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. effected in tlie city of Mexico alone, amounts annually to between eight and ten million dollars; and that done in the other parts and cities of the EepubHc to an equal sum.' MEANS OF INTERNAL TRANSPORTATION. The conveyance of aU kinds of merchandise throughout the Eepublic of Mexico is effected by pack-mules, and wagons drawn by mules and oxen. "With this system, and the bad state of the roads generally, it Avill be easily under- stood that transportation is not only slow but costly, and forms one of the chief obstacles in the way of the developement of the great resources of the country. The average distance performed by mules and wagons is fi-om fifteen to eighteen miles per day, with the exception, however, of an enter- prise recently established, which runs a line of wagons from Vera Cruz to Queretaro, and vice versa, passing through the city of Mexico, averaging during the dry sea- son from 36 to 45 miles per day, thus pei-forming the journey (390 miles) in 11 days. The cost of transporting merchandise from one place to another varies much, according to the price of wages and pasture, always rising, however, during the rainy season. As a general thing, freights on the most frequented roads do not exceed two cents per arroba of 25 lbs. per Mexican league. Personal travelling is generally performed on horse or mule back, which is not only the most economical, but in many cases the only possible way, owing to the narrow and precipitous roads between many towns. On the high STATISTICS. 205 roads, travelling and transportation are performed by con- veyances of various kinds, drawn by horses and mules. In some parts of the tropics, as, for instance, between Jalapa and Vera Cruz, litters supported by mules or men are used. For the general conveyance of passengers, besides private carriages, there exists a line of diligences which perform regular trips from Mexico to Vera Cruz, to San Bias on the Pacific, and to other points of the interior, in the following order : — To Puebla every day ; to Orizaba and Vera Cruz, Pachuca and Toluca, during six days of the week ; to San Bias, Morelia, Cuernavaca, Cautla, Tulancingo, three times a week ; and from Guanajuato to Leon three times a week. Besides the above principal line of diligences, there are others performing service between the following places : — From Puebla to Vera Cruz, by Perote and Jalapa ; fi-om Mexico to Ameca and Ixmiquilpan ; from Guadalajara to Zapotlan ; from Lagos to Zacatecas, by Aguascalientes ; from Puebla to Matamoras Izucara ; and from Sisal to Merida, three times a week. The fare by the diligences is not the same on all roads, but, as a general rule, the rate varies from ten to twenty pence per Mexican league. By means of this ' general line of diligences,' a traveller can traverse the Republic from one sea to the other — a distance of 912 miles, from the port of Vera Cruz to that of San Bias on the Pacific, passing through the principal cities, including the capital, in the short space of eleven days. Part of the time is spent in resting at the dif- ferent towns on the road, so that in reality the time spent in travelling, changing horses, and feeding, is only 144 hours. 206 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Arrangements are in contemplation for a good can-iage road fi'om the city of Mexico to Acapidco. This will enable passengers landing at Vera Cruz to reach Aca- pulco, on the Pacific coast, and vice versa, with safety and despatch. AGRICULTURE. This branch of industry is reviewed by S'" Lerdo de Tejada, as follows : — * The agricultural productions of Mexico are still limited to the absolute necessaries for the consumption of its in- habitants, and the extent of ground under tillage is not equal to more than one-eighth of the whole area of the EepubHc. ' The principal productions are maize, beans, and chile (which three articles in general constitute the only food iised by the poorer class), wheat, barley, rice, potatoes, peas, lentils, American aloe, nopal, sugar-cane, cocoa, coffee, cotton, tobacco, pepper, anis, vanilla, sarsaparilla, olives, and all kinds of fruits and horticultural produc- tions, to which may be added indigo, cochineal, wax, and silk, of which two last articles large quantities are already produced in the States of Michoacan, Jalisco, and Guana- juato. 'As regards the annual value of the agricultural pro- duce of Mexico, the statistics are so limited and unsatis- factory that it is quite impossible to arrive at anything like a correct estimate. The most reliable information which we possess is contained in an account presented in the year 1817, by Don Jose Maria Quiroz, at that time STATISTICS. 207 secretary to the consulado in Vera Cruz, and according to whom, the total value of agricultural produce in New Spain amounted then to ^138,850,121 annually, including ^4,997,496, as the amount of produce exported; which sum, when compared with the then existing population of 5,810,005, gives an average of ^24 per head. This estimate, however, cannot serve as a basis to arrive at its present value, considering the progress, even though slow, which has been made since, in this and all other branches of industry. * For want of better data, we will take the amount of population, and calculating the quantity of agricultural produce necessary for the support of each person at ^25 per annum, or about 3c?. per day, the result is a yearly produce equal in value to ^197,000,000 ; and if to this be added the produce consumed by cattle, the production of cotton, which amounts annually to 70,000 quintals, and that of cochineal to 625,000 lbs., as well as of silk and wax, and many other products, it will be seen that the territorial value of produce in this Republic cannot be estimated at a less total than ^220,000,000 ; and if to this be added ,^40,000,000, as the value of reproduction in all kinds of horses, cattle, and poultry, and of their natural produce, such as milk, eggs, tallow, .&c., &c., all of which are considered under the head of agriculture, the annual value of this branch throughout the whole country may be safely estimated at ^260,000,000.' In order to give a more clear idea regarding the various agricultural productions of the country, they are presented under their special heads, as follows : — 208 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Sugar-ca7ie.'-^Tlie cultivation of sugar-cane, as much from its enormous yield as from its good quality, is of tlie greatest importance in tlie Eepublic, and ought to be one of the principal articles produced for exportation. In Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Michoacan, Tabasco, Oajaca, Chiapas, Yucatan, Sonora, and Lower California, exist large plantations. In the first six States mentioned above, are manufactured yearly 40,000,000 pounds of sugax*, in the following proportions : — lbs. Mexico . 25,000,000 Puebla . 4,000,000 Vera Cruz . 2,500,000 Michoacan , 5,000,000 Tabasco , , 2,000,000 Oajaca . 1,500,000 40,000,000 Coffee has been produced of very good quality in the districts of Autlan and Tepic, in the State of Jalisco ; but the best is found in Cuernavaca, Coliraa, and some parts of the state of Vera Cruz ; which is, as before stated, equal in qi;ahty to the best produced in any part of the world ; that of Orizaba also is justly celebrated. Tobacco is cultivated with success in many parts of the Eepublic, and is destined to become an article of ex- tensive exportation, particularly that produced in Tabasco, called * Tabaco de Corral,' and, in fact, that of many other districts can be favourably compared with the best groAvn in Cuba. STATISTICS. 209 Indigo is found wild in great quantities in many parts of Oajaca, Tabasco, Yucatan, Chiapas, Michoacan, and Colima. That produced in the last-mentioned place is considered to be of a superior quality. Rice is cultivated to a considerable extent in the Tierras Calientes, in damp and marshy situations, and yields from 40 to 60 per cent. It is destined to become one of the principal objects of agricultural industry, as the soil and climate of many localities are peculiarly adapted to its growth. Cocoa of excellent quality is found in Tabasco and Soconusco, in the state of Chiapas, and other places in the States on that side of the Gulf, and in yield equals any in the world. Flax and Hemp are successfully cultivated ; the latter particularly, in the southern districts of Michoacan, where it grows even spontaneously. The product is very large, and the fabrics made from it highly approved. Cotton. — Throughout the cotton-growing districts of the United States the cotton plant is of annual growth ; frost destroys it, and the planter is obliged to renew the seed for every crop. But in the Tierra Caliente of Mexico this is not requisite, as the tree propagates itself, and the labourers are only required to keep the fields clear of useless vegetation. The production, however, is very limited, not at all meeting the Avants of the factories in the Eepublic, and probably does not exceed in the aggregate over 25,000 bales of 400 lbs. each per annum. Cochineal. — The cultivation of this article has always been of the greatest importance in the State of Oajaca. P 210 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. The crop and value of it in the years 1854 and 1855 were in that State alone as follows : — Cochineal Zacatillo Grana blanca Granilla Value i54 150,525 lbs. 632,625 Dds. 2,450 lbs. 3523.433 155 145,050 „ 500,525 „ 1,550 „ 459,709 Total 295,575 „ 1,133,150 „ 4,000 „ 8983,142 Vanilla. — The vanilla bean is cultivated on a few plan- tations in Oajaca, and also grows there, as in many other parts of the coast, spontaneously, in large quantities. In the State of Vera Cruz it is extensively cultivated, and has become one of the principal articles of exportation, with a gradual increase of shipments annually. The Grape. — Although the cultivation of the vine would be a most important branch of industr}'^, still it is at present limited principally to the town of Pan-as, in the State of Coahuila, where excellent wine has been pro- duced. In Chihuahua and Sonora, however, wine and brandy are produced from the grape, and in Durango, Zacatecas, and Jalisco, a liquor called ' Mescal ' is manu- factured to a large extent. Jlfaize. — This plant, Avhich is indigenous to America, is cultivated as Avell in the hot regions as in the tem- perate and cold. It has a very large consumption in this country, both for human food and for fattening animals. In the hot regions it produces from 250 to 300 grains for each one planted, and in a district near the capital as many as 600. In many parts of the country two crops are gathered annually, and, in fact, there are frequent in- STATISTICS. 211 stances on the Gulf coast of three harvests on the same ground in one year. Frijole, or Black Bean. — In the fields of wheat and maize is sown the frijole, or black bean, which is most extensively consumed in Mexico, and is as much of a national dish with the Mexicans as the potato is with the Irish. mieat is cultivated on all the central table lands. The best is found in Atlisco, in the State of Puebla, and in the fertile valleys between Queretaro and Guanajuato, called the Bajio, where it yields sixty bushels to one sown. In some parts of the State of Sonora, and other sections of the Republic, the yield has been computed by rehable authorities at an almost incredible amovmt. Barley. — This grain is also extensively cultivated on all the central table lands with equally abundant harvests. There is a very great consumption of it throughout the country, as it is one of the principal articles of forage used by the muleteers and Avagoners for the animals of the immense transportation trains. Trees. — Besides almost every variety of fruit trees to be found in other parts of the world, Mexico possesses an inexhaustible source of wealth in the natural pro- ducts of her forests, which furnish abundantly a supply of the several woods employed in shipbuilding and other mechanical arts, either for works of use or fancy. In fine, it may be said that every branch of agricul- tural industry is susceptible of augmentation and improve- ment, and if a proper spirit of enterprise could once be awakened in its inhabitants, Mexico Avould soon become P 2 212 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. one of the most prosperous and flourishing commercial countries on the American continent, affording to the world at large a more favourable opportunity than that hitherto enjoyed, for the mutual exchange of the numerous articles of foreign manufacture for the rich products of Mexican soil. The chief evil that now exists, is the constant drain of specie, and the diversion of enormous amounts from the natural arteries of national enterprise into European channels, in payment of imported goods. Let the IVIexican people learn that such luxuries and necessaries as they desire can be purchased Avith other equivalents besides hard silver dollars ; and that in commercial exchange they can have Avhat they desire without submitting to the im- poverishment they yearly undergo by dealing outside the continent. Let them learn this, or let them have facilities to improve the knowledge of it, and their rich gold and silver mines will be converted into a circiilating medium among the inhabitants, instead of finding its way into the vaults of European speculators ; and the people of Mexico would then be induced to turn their attention to import- ant national enterprises that would result in the future prosperity and aggrandisement of the Avhole country. MINES AND COINAGE OF MEXICO. The great wealth of Mexico, which is developed at the present day, consists in her mines. It is true that nearly the whole of the capital and labour, both foreign and domestic, employed in that country, has been devoted to the production of the precious metals, and though under a new order of things, agriculture and manufactures will doubtless receive STATISTICS. 213 greater attention, still, the abundance of minerals through- out the length and breadth of the land is so great that its mines must always constitute the leading interest. The minerals of Mexico are silver, gold, copper, iron, zinc, lead, magistralj antimony, arsenic, sulphur, cobalt, &c., &c. The mines of gold and silver only have been worked extensively, and silver forms the principal cur- rency of the country and the great article of export. In treating upon Mexico, there is no subject so un- satisfactory and bewildering as that which relates to the production of her mines. Humboldt, who wrote in 1803, gives some valuable statistics of mining operations in Mexico previous to that period. He gives the total amount of silver raised fi-om the Mexican mines, from the conquest in 1521 to 1803, as ^1,767,952,000, according to the official returns, and adding one-seventh for unregis- tered silver, he makes the grand total ^2,027,952,000. Ward gives the total coinage from 1733 to 1826, as re- presented by Government returns, ^1,433,658,611. The ancient Mexicans, properly speaking, had no coin. The conquerors introduced it into the colony, and coining dates from the building of a mint in the city of Mexico, in 1535. For many years after the invasion, pieces of gold and silver were stamped by officials of the Crown, which constituted them a circulating medium. The coinage of money in Mexico presents two great epochs ; first, from the establishment of a mint in the city of Mexico, up to the Independence ; and second, from the Independence down to the present date. The first period affords three sub- divisions, viz. : ' Moneda Macuquina,' or Irregular coins ; 214 NOTES IX MEXICO, 1861-62. ' Monecla Columnaria,' or Colonnade coin ; and ' Moneda de Busto,' or Bust coin. The first was so called, owing to its irregular form and "weiglit, and was stamped by means of a hammer, with a cross, two lions, and two columns on one side ; and on the reverse, with the name of the reigning king. The second received the name of * Colonnade,' from presenting on one side the arms of Spain, supported by the columns of Hercules, This was the first coin struck in the mint according to the rules of art. The thu-d, or ' Bust coin,' is that with which we are acquainted, bearing the effigy of the last king who ruled Mexico. The following statement of the coinage of Mexico fi'om the conquest down to and including the year 1856, is from ofiicial data furnished by the Ministerio de Fomento. Amount coined in each of the different Hints of Mexico, from the Conquest to 1856 inclusive. Minta Silver Gold Copper Total Mexico Chihuahua . Culiacan Durango Guadalajara Guadalupe y Calvo Guanajuato San Luis Potosi . Sombrerete . Tlalpan Zacatecas Dollars 2,l'z9,093,20n 10,59:t,:!97 7,037,r>3n 29.841,957 25,056,753 2,0fi3.958 122,035.825 37,302.201 1,551,249 959,110 167.980,493 Dollars 76,447,439 956,992 2,6114,410 2,K31,916 651,317 2,311,104 10,885,820 ' 203,.544 Dollars 5,493,705 50,428 ' 62,069 * 23,5 iV '107,949 Dollars 2,211,034.404 11,600,818 9,641,940 32,673.873 2.5,770,140 4.375,06'i 133,521.645 37,.32.5,718 l,.55l,249 1,162.060 168,088,442 Total 2,534,115,679 90,892,542 5,737,728 2.630.745,951 The yearly coinage of the mints of Mexico increased in steady progression from the time of the establishment of the first mint in the city of Mexico in 1535 up to the year 1805, when the highest amount was reached, being for that year ^'27,000,000. STATISTICS. 215 The total Coinage of the Mints of Mexico since the War of Independence is as follows: — gl3,162,567 13,475,632 13,800,266 12,075,698 13,671,230 15,236,717 15,414,453 17,636,115 19,203,688 19,386,570 19,389,336 17,481,934 18,190,514 17,028,921 17,249,946 17,593,475 19,205,656 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 89,816,525 9,785,024 9,560,472 8,927,658 8,177,471 10,395,291 10,237,448 12,164,483 11,608,871 10,258,299 12,216,460 12,642,876 12,972,148 11,815,687 11,530,622 11,470,509 13,084,267 12,525,085 Total since the independence of Mexico, In 1855. 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 8478,392,014. Mints Gold Silver Total Culiacan . Chihuahua Durango . Mexico Gruanajuato Guadalajara San Luis Potosi Zacatecas Dollars 144,208 17,536 73,647 155,263 555,200 10,368 Dollars 737,968 475,500 609,171 4,013,359 4,698,800 633,662 1,849,795 3,619,000 Dollars 882,176 493,036 682,818 4,168,622 5,254,000 644,030 1,849,795 3,619,000 Aggregate . 956,222 16,637,255 17,593,477 216 NOTES IN MEXICO, lg61-62. In 1856. Mints Gold Silver Total Culiacan . Chihualiua Diu'aiigo . Mexico Guanajuato Guadalajara San Luis Potosi Zacatecas Dollars 279.668 10,064 57,072 164,297 479.476 5,236 Dollars- 658,536 400,000 533,652 4,401,793 4,306,524 556,486 3,676,000 3,676,000 Dollars 938,204 410.064 590.724 4,566,090 4,786,000 561.722 3,676.000 3,676,000 Aggregate . 995,813 18,208,991 19,204,804 Coin in circulation. — The ancient tribunal of the con- sulate in 1805, estimated the amount of money in circula- tion in New Spain, at something more than seventy-eight milhons, which, being compared with the population, gave an average of fourteen dollars per head. Taking this estimate as a basis, and also taking into consideration the prosperity of mining operations, ever since that date, with the general improvement in the circumstances of a class who were formerly in misery, it is not an over-estimate to say that the amount in circulation, notwithstanding the great annual exportation, exceeds ^100,000,000. Although this sum is imdoubtedly sufficient for all the interior wants of Mexico, considering the small trade carried on in agi'iculture, manufactures, aiid commerce, the fact that the greater portion of it is in few hands, with the want of confidence and absence of banks of issue (whose paper in other countries advantageously supplies a circulating medium) makes it comparatively useless, and STATISTICS. 217 tends to show tliat there is not a sufficient circulation for the wants of the Republic. The kings of Spain held the mines of Mexico as royal property, but any citizen of the country was allowed to work them by paying over to the royal treasury one-fifth of the product thereof The government of Mexico, after she obtained her independence, decreed the mines to be public property, but placed certain limits on the miners, and required a small percentage on their products to be paid into the national treasury. This demand or tax is now relinquished, and any citizen or foreigner can, by the right of discovery, denounce or record the same, and obtain the right to work a certain number of varas free of all tribute. The total value of gold and silver legally exported since the conquest down to 1858, a period of 339 years, is esti- mated by official documents at ^'4,040,204,889. This gives ^13,687,920 as the average legal exports of the precious metals per annum, since the landing of Hernando Cortes up to 1858. We cannot regard this statement as having any approximation even to the truth. It is, in fact, absolutely impossible to give any reliable data from which an accurate estimate of the amount of precious metals that has been ex- ported from Mexico, or in other words, how much gold and silver she has furnished to the Avorld since the conquest by the Spaniards. Irregular or illegal commerce, both in im- ports and exports, was not carried on in Mexico under the viceroys to the same extent that it has been since the independence of the country, still, there has always been more or less irregularity, and the inducements to conceal 218 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the real product of the mines and smuggle specie, bullion, and plate out of the coimtry, have been great from the beginning. There is every reason to believe, that the true amount is nearer ^40,000,000, and when we take into consideration the extent of illegal exportations of specie and illegal im- portations of merchandise, it would be found that the con- traband trade exceeds the legal trade, and instead of pre- senting the present estimate of ^54,000,000 per annum, the facts, could they all be given, would, doubtless, make an exhibit of more than ^100,000,000 per annum. This explains why it is that the official retirms make such an exceedingly low exhibit of imports per capita for the Mexican population, as compared with other Spanish American countries, that for Mexico being but ^3*14, while for Cuba they are ^27*29, Uruguay ^25-86, Chili ^12-70, Brazil ^8' 9 6, and the average of the whole of South America is ^G'13 per capita. REAL ESTATE. According to the statistics furnished by S"* Lerdo de Tejada, based upon the last official statistics presented by the General Office for contributions to the Government, it would appear that the number of estates in the whole Republic amounts to 13,000, the value of which is esti- mated at ^720,000,000, and that of town property at ;^'G35, 000,000, so that the total value of i-eal estate amounts to ^'1,355,000,000. Although the above sums may appear, at first sight, STATISTICS. 219 someAvhat exaggerated, they are doubtless considerably Tinder the mark, notwithstanding the bad condition gene- rally of property in the Eepublic. These amounts, of course, comprise the total value of the whole extent of real estate throughout the country, including the house pro- perty contained in 26,468 villages and towns of all classes, being the number now existing in the Republic. The latter class of property, in the city of Mexico alone, is worth to-day over ,^80,000,000, and that in the other principal cities represents an aggregate capital of from ^250,000,000 to ,$300,000,000. The above figures show the enormous wealth of the Eepublic at the present time in real estate, which might be doubled or trebled in ten years Avith facility, could the coimtry be so fortunate as to enjoy internal peace and prosperity during that length of time. NATIONAL DEBT. The total amount of the national debt, at the beginning of 1857, is divided into interior and exterior. The first arises out of sundry obligations contracted under the Vice- Eoyalty and after the Independence ; and the second out of loans contracted in London in the years 1823 and 1824. FOREIGN DEBT. The capital of, or amount due under this head, accord- ing to the last convention, was £10,241,650, which, at So per pound sterling, is equal to . . 851,208,250 For six dividends due since January 1st, 1853, up to December 31st, 1855 .... 4,608,741 g55,816,991 220 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. INTERIOE DEBT. The total amount of this flmd, on the 31st December, 1850, after making the deduction prescribed by law, passed on November 30th of the same year, Avas calculated at ^40,000,000, of which the Junta de Credito Publico had recognised and liquidated the sum of ,^16,829,775, up to January 1st, 1855 ; but as certain amoimts, paid previously, and the value of credits formed by after-con- ventions, which figure separately, were taken after the above calculation, this debt did not amount, at the be- ginning of 1857, to more than — ^30,000,000 To amount credited for interest on fund recognised, up to January 1st, 1856 , ... 2,491,395 The debt contracted during tlie five years preceding the above calculation, up to December 31st, 1855, ^ supposing that not more than ,^3,000,000 per annum have remained owing to military and civil obliga- tions, and adding to this the debts contracted by the chiefs of the late revolution, which have been re- cognised by the present government, will amount to 17,000,000 British conventions . . . 4,323,428 Of Padre Moran .... 855,210 5,178,638 Spanish convention, including bonds in circulation and those to be emitted ..... 6,680,000 French convention ..... 600,000 ^61,950,033 STATISTICS. 221 RECAPITULATION, Interior debt . . . ^61,950,033 Foreim „ . . . 55,816,991 Total .... ^117,767,02-i Note.- — The sum of ^768,123, the amonnt of one dividend on the British convention debt, may be deducted, as it has been paid since the above estimate was made. Since the above statistics were made up, the French convention debt of ,^600,000 has been liquidated. GOVERNMENT REVENUE. Notwithstanding that a law was made November 24th, 1856, designating the revenues of the Supreme Govern- ment and those of the States, it has not been put in practice, nor are the anterior laws on the subject ; the consequence of which is, that many of the States not having a systematised revenue, take such sums from the general fund at their disposal, as they may require for their own wants. This being the real state of affairs, it is well to present, without any deduction, what the esta- blished taxes and revenue will produce, in order that a comparison may be made between them and the total amount of expenditure, which will clearly show what the true state of the treasury is : — 222 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Import duties .... . ^4,500,000 Twenty per cent, for material improvements 900,000 Twenty-five per cent, for sinking fund of the interior debt ..... . 1,125,000 Ten per cent, internal duties on ^3,500,000 350,000 Twenty per cent, register duty on ditto 700,000 Tonnage dues .... 90,000 Light-house dues 20,000 Exportation duty 500,000 Circulation duty 300,000 Aleavala, or interior duty 3,500,000 Three per cent, coinage and mint duty 450,000 One real per mark on same (12^ cents.) 220,000 Mails ..... 150,000 Direct taxes . . . . . 1,200,000 Stamp duty . . . . . 150,000 Post-office .... 60,000 Lotteries . . . . . 80,000 ToUs 300,000 Pawnbroker's house, foreign licences, legacy di ity, salt duty, card duty, discount of salaries and sunc jies 405,000 Total . . . . . ^15,000,000 COMPARISON. Expenses . . . . $2A 819,203 Eevenue . , . . 15,000,000 Deficit . ^ 819,203 Owing to the want of publicity in the management of the affairs of the clergy, it is difficult to arrive at the exact value and revenue of their property : still, an approximate estimate may be made, by taking as a ba.sis the data within STATISTICS. 223 reach — such as the annual value of agricuhural produce, the number of births, marriages, and deaths, and the number of devout rites and fetes which are still habitual and common with most of the inhabitants. According to these tables it can be safely computed that the total amoimt collected at this date by the clergy of Mexico, under the head of tithes, parochial dues, charities, ecclesiastical fetes, and sale of devotional articles, is not less than from six to eight million dollars annually. So far as regards the property of the clergy, some Avriters have estimated it as one-half of the whole real estate in the country ; others at one- third. Setting these statements aside, the total value of their property — including sums subscribed for chaplaincies and gifts, estates, houses, churches, and other resources — to- day, may be computed at ^250,000,000 to ^300,000,000, notwithstanding the great losses which they are said to have suiFered for some years past. In the city of Mexico alone, which contains 5,000 houses, valued at ^80,000,000, the clergy own at least one-half. The income of the above, added to the tithes and parochial dues, &c., &c., Avarrant me in stating that the Mexican clergy collect throughout the Republic annually a sum of ,^20,000,000. Up to the present time, two districts only of the State of Vera Cruz have been explored by speculators in mines : they are Jalapa and Jalacingo ; and the ores have been found at about twenty-one miles north of the Cofre de Perote, at places called respectively Tatatila, Zomclahuacan, and Senepanoya. There are being worked, at present, mines, containing lead mixed with gold, lead and copper, cojsper and iron, 224 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. and copper alone — in all eleven. Twelve are at present abandoned, from various causes, such as the want of capital or their being flooded with water in the rainy season. To sum up the sources of material wealth, these statistics, drawn from the latest available sources down to the present hour, show us — The number of landed estates of the Republic is 13,000, the value of which is roughly estimated by reliable autho- rity at ^720,000,000, and town property at ;^G35,000,000. This gives a total valuation of real estate at ^1,355,000,000, or an average of ,1^163"50 per capita. The mineral productions of Mexico are the present chief support of her foreign commerce. The yield of silver is estimated by the best Mexican authorities to be upwards of ^'23,000,000 per annum, and of gold, from one to two millions. The amomit of gold and silver coined in 1856 was ^19,870,900. The balance of the production is mostly illegally exported in the shape of bars from the Pacific coast, to avoid the coinage azid export duties. The great mineral wealth of Mexico has been so tho- roughly demonstrated, and is so generally understood, that no one will doubt her capacity under an era of prosperity to produce twice or three times her present amount of silver. This alone is sufficient basis upon Avhich to predicate a vast future increase of trade. In addition, recent explorations have brought to light on her Pacific coast a copper district, possessing all the characteristics of inexhaustible supply, and STATISTICS. 225 great richness of the copper districts of Chili, and exceeding those districts in extent and accessibility. Developed as this new source of wealth might be, this mineral would probably add upwards of ^10,000,000 per annum to the national products for exportation. But the agricultural productions of Mexico, perhaps, may be destined hereafter to enter more largely into her foreign commerce than even the products of her mineral veins. The annual value of the entire agricultural products of Mexico is already estimated at over ^250,000,000. Of this only about ^,5,000,000 or ^0,000,000 enter as yet into the exportations of the country. The present production is limited to the demand for home consumption, because there is no other market afforded : let a demand from abroad be created by an en- larged commerce and the establishment of means of trans- portation, and the production would at once rise fotu'fold. The present entire agricultural production of Mexico is at the rate of only ^30 per head at the highest valuation, while that of Cuba, for exportation alone, is nearly as much per head as the entire product of Mexico, including that consumed at home. The coffee of Mexico is equal to the best produced in any part of the world. A production equal to that of Brazil would give Mexico an amount to export, in this one article alone, of over ^30,000,000 per annum. The sugar-cane of Mexico is as remarkable for its quality and yield, and the climate is as well adapted to its cultiva- tion, as that of Cuba. The sugar lands of Mexico, which are found throughout the entire Gulf States, along the Q 226 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Pacific and in the interior, are in no way inferior to those of Cuba. The present production of the state of Mexico is about 25,000,000 lbs., and of the other States, in the aggregate say- twice as much more, or in all 75,000,000 lbs., per annum. None is now exported, though in 1817 the exports of sugar fi-om the port of Vera Cruz alone were ^1,458,330. With a production equal to that of Cuba, Mexico's commerce in this one item would amount to upwards of ^40,000,000 per annum. Tobacco is already cultivated with success in many parts of the Eepublic, and might become an article of most ex- tensive exportation. Its cultivation and sale has heretofore been a Government monopoly, but is now free. The income derived by the Government from this soiu'ce has been as high as ^2,000,000 per annum in past times. Indigo at one time formed a very considerable item of the exportations from Vera Cruz, and might again enter largely into the foreign commerce of the country. Cochineal is now largely exported, and with proper en- couragement the amount could be rendered very import- ant. According to an official document, the production of this one article in the State of Oajaca has amounted to over ^1,000,000 per annum, on an average, for the last hundred years. Mexico enjoys almost a monopoly of this product. Vanilla and Cocoa also fall under the same head. The consumption of the latter article in the United States is largely increasing, and the supply must be derived mainly from the Mexican States. In fine, it may be said that every branch of industry in STATISTICS. 227 Mexico is susceptible of immense and immediate develope- ment, and that in all the elements that enter into and con- stitute a basis for a reliable and profitable trade, she stands as a customer more attractive and more desirable than any other country on the face of the globe. When we consider that Mexico is to-day a country virgin to all the material improvements of the age — that she has railroads yet to build, telegraphs to construct, maniifactories to establish, industrial enterprises of every kind to put in operation, her mines to work by the use of improved machinery, her lands to be cultivated, and their products gathered and prepared for market by the aid of modern la- bour-saving appliances — that, in fact, to all those inventions and improvements, and industrial ameliorations, to which we are now accustomed, and to which we owe so much of our material progress, she is as yet a stranger, and that for all these things she has to look abroad for her supply : when all this is considered, and we remember she has a popula- tion of eight millions inhabiting the richest country on the face of the globe, whose wants are thus to be supplied, Ave may well wonder at the apathy and indifference that has led us hitherto to neglect so great advantages, and for want of ordinary attention and trifling encouragement, to pennit so rich a commerce to lie dormant at our very doors. Forts. — The only Avorks of any importance are the castle of San Juan de Ulloa at Vera Cruz, now dis- mantled by order of Government, and very much knocked about by several bombardments^ so as to be able to offer little or no resistance. It was taken by the French in three hours, when garrisoned by the best men and in a 228 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. tolerable state of efficiency. The Yankees landed to lee- ward beyond its range, and took Vera Cruz from the rear. A pass in the mountain, called Cerco Gordo, near Jalapa, has been attempted to be fortified by lines, and the natural strength of the position is great. But this was taken in the rear by the Yankees, and turned with very Httle loss. The only fort on the road up to Mexico is the castle of Perote. It is on a plain, and commands nothing. It is more suited for an arsenal. There is a fort near Puebla, but it is commanded by two adjacent hills, and, though it has bastions and ditches, may be easily shelled. In Mexico there is a citadel, originally a cigar factory. There are ditches and earthworks, but of no military strength. It stands on perfectly flat ground. The navy consists of two small steamers, six guns. 229 CHAPTEE VIL POPULATION — FINANCE — COPPER BONBS — INSECUEITT OF LIFE ArvMT. The capabilities for raising cotton are enormous. The plant was known, and extensively cultivated, before the arrival of the Spaniards, under Cortez, and most probably is indigenous. Some of the varieties are very fine, particularly that raised on the west coast, between Acapulco and Colima, where the soil and climate are peculiarly favourable to its production. Vast regions on both sides of the Cordillera are most admirably adapted for the cultivation of this important article ; in all the table lands of moderate elevation white labour may be advantageously employed. These lands are found lying out of the range of fever, and perfectly salubrious. The quality of that now produced is good, but very imperfectly cleaned, and as yet very little attention or capital has been bestowed on its culture or preparation. With an influx of labour, and the introduction of 230 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. macbineiy, it would no doubt soon become a most important article of export, as the land suitable to its growth is almost without limit, and lies close to ports whence it could be easily shipped. These considerations have by no means escaped the keen vision of the nearest neighbours of Mexico. In many of the United States papers, speeches are to be read and lectures given on the desirability of get- ting a fresh supply of land for the great staple of the Southern States ; but, alas ! it is always with the addition of the domestic institution. Not only could the wholesale importations of negro slaves enable the Southern States to get up a most enormous and lucrative trade in cotton from this country, but the inevitable result would be the enslaving of the four millions of wretched Indians who now drag on their existence at least in the enjoyment of a perfect personal liberty — a blessing which, in the absence of nearly every other, they inordinately value, if it is possible to put a limit on such a necessity to life ; a consideration which, even more than the immense importance of opening up a new channel for the supply of Manchester and Eouen, ought to rouse the peoples of France and England to the value of Mexico as an independent and flourishing country: for if tliey do not in a very few months so ordain POPULATION. 231 matters as to secure the independence of Mexico, the whole will as certainly be in the hands of the Southern States, and become a gigantic slave State, as any political proposition that was ever broached. The population of Mexico * is estimated usually at about seven and eight millions ; probably incorrectly, as very many lives have been lost lately, both from the internal warfare and Indian aggression. Of these, 4,000,000 are pure Indian indigenes ; the rest are of Spanish, or mixed blood. Of course, being the dominant race, they arrogate to themselves the style of gente de razon, and, in contradistinction, term the aborigines gente sin razon. This population is sparsely scattered over 120,000 square leagues of territory, which gives above sixty individuals to a square league ; but by no means evenly, as the denser population is settled chiefly in the central and southern portion of the Eepublic. All the N. and NW. territory beyond Zacatecas is almost entirely depopulated ; and a great portion of it may be truly said to be desert, abandoned to the wild Indians, — savage and nomadic tribes, who are continually driven * This account diifers somewhat from the official returns in Chap. VI., but I am inclined to think is more accurate, being based on Mr. Grant's personal experience of thirty years. 232 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. south by the raids from the United States.* The Mexicans have nowhere been able to make head against them, and, in their incursions, they have fre- quently struck terror into Zacatecas itself, and, in consequence, large and lucrative estates, well culti- vated, as well as mines and cattle corrals, have been abandoned to the wild beasts, and still more savage enemies of civilised men. As to the Indian subjects of the republic, they remain in very nearly the same condition as when they were originally reduced into subjection to their masters ; but still retaining their old primitive language and habits. They are invariably a very simple and inoffensive order of men, possessing few wants ; of a humlile superstition, and apathetic character of mind ; devoid of any sort of ambition, or apparent anxiety to better their pre- sent condition, or improve their national or social position. Altogether, theirs is a very low standard of humanity ; nor do their numbers in any way add strength or wealth to the resources of the country. They produce very little beyond their own personal * Life is utterly inseaire in Sonora, Simaloa, Cliilniahua, Coahuila, Durango, &c. ; although Loth the nature of the soil and its produce, besides the riches of mineral wealth which are known to exist there, point out those countries as most favourable spots for the develope- mcnt of colonisation or immigration. POPULATION. 233 requirements, and consume little but what they pro- duce. On the other handjthey are eminently docile, and undoubtedly are capable of much amelioration, both physically and intellectually, had they the chance, under other masters and a different regime. They do not shun civilisation, or refuse to amalga- mate with the whites, as is invariably the case with the fiercer tribes of the northern territories. It is by no means improbable their exclusive and subdued habits and character may be attributable, in a great degree, to the severe rule under which they have so long languished. In many parts of the country, even in the present day, they are harshly, unjustly, and even cruelly oppressed ; 'and where employed in agricultural labour, as is very largely the case, the minimum of pay allowed them — about IS^d. a day. Yet, with all these drawbacks, they can work well, and do so, when they have the inducement of kindly treatment and good wages. They are apt, and easily learn most kinds of handicrafts. There is, moreover, a principle in the haciendas of always keeping them in debt, which descends from father to son, so that the labourer can seldom or ever leave a farm ; and if they do succeed, there is a combination against their being able to earn an honest livelihood elsewhere. This practice, more than any other, conduces tp 234 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. their being kept down to their present degraded position of almost servitude. Of foreigners, the number in the Republic varies from ten to twelve thousand, of whom over one-half are pure Spaniards. The French come next in numerical strength, perhaps to the amount of 2,000 souls ; then British, about 600 ; Yankees, 400 to 500 ; other nations (chiefly German), about 300. There is a great difficulty in exactly ascertaining their numbers, as they do not all take out the cartas de segurida required by the Grovernment ; but my inquiries in more than one quarter, where long re- sidence and ample opportunities have given every facility of accuracy, have resulted in the informa- tion above given. The population has apparently not increased, either naturally or by immigration ; the very unsettled state of the country, and the ab- sence of all religious toleration, effectually checking the latter ; while the habits and recklessness of life are a satisfactory reason for explaining the other. But if these two disturbing causes were once removed, and effectually, there is certainly every ground to hope that population would rapidly increase. The immense natural resources of a magnificent country would be developed, to the infinite advantage of the inhabitants themselves, while, at the same time. FINANCE. 235 conferring immense good on tbe whole civilised world. Finance. — Of course there has been very con- ,' siderable discrepancy in the estimates of various ministers, as to the general income of the state; and it has probably, in different years, varied to a considerable extent, but it ranges between ;^15,000,000 and ^17,000,000 ; and in the same way the expen- diture has also varied, some putting as high as ^20,000,000, and some as low as ;^1 5,000,000. The actual expenditure* of the year 1856 was given as 1(18,287,829, of which, however, ^882,757 do not belong properly to the returns of that year, thereby reducing the figures to ,^17,405,072 ; but, with that exception, I have not been able to fall in with any even tolerably accurate account of the expenditure of the revenue. This revenue is derived chiefly from f; * Actual expenses of a. d. 1856 — War department Finance (including interest on debt) Fomento (public works) Justice. .... Gobemacion (home) Eelaciones (foreign), 1,140,150 less 882,757 Presidencia . . . . . ^^7,738,778-97 7,710,726-20 211,167-45 273,598-25 1,150,750-57 257,393 62,657-79 ^17,405,072 236 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. the returns of the maritime custom-houses, consist- ing of importation and exportation duties (the latter I almost entirely on silver), producing in all as muoh as half the whole revenue of the country. In round numbers we may put it at . . . ^8,000,000 The interior customs realise in alcabalas — (excise), consumers' duties, &c. .... 3,500,000 Taxes on real property' .... 1,500,000 Other taxes — stamps, silver duties (mineria), lot- teries, toUs, casas de moneda, &c. &c. . . 3,000,000 ^16,000,000 But as these are confessedly collected in a care- less and expensive manner, the returns would be immensely increased by a different management. Firstly, by the suppression of smuggling, which prevails extensively ; secondly, by a more strict and effective collection of the various imports of mer- chandise, which are now in a thousand ways evaded i altogether. From the port of Matamoras, opposite the corner of the territory of Texas, we have no returns whatever ; that section of the country being in the absolute independent possession of Vidaurri, and under his exclusive rule ; while the whole sea- board of the Pacific is plied with contraband commerce, for which there is every facility, and against which there is absolutely no guard whatever. Contraband FINANCE. 237 goods are smuggled into the country by these means, generally with the connivance of the collector him- self; and bullion and specie, to very large amounts, smuggled out. Certain it is, that the whole of this splendid coast yields little or nothing to the revenue, as far as it is known. All the other sources of revenue, such as the monopoly of tobacco, the coin- age of silver and gold, &c., have been either sold outright to individuals, or are farmed out to favoured adherents for terms of years, and often upon a pay- ment of rent in advance — a system, the effects of which can be easily recognised. Expenditure may fairly be classed under the fol- lowing general heads : — Army and navy ..... ^9,000,000 Civil list ...... 4,000,000 Interest on debt and diplomatic conventions . 2,500,000 Interest on domestic debt .... 1,500,000 was passed August 16, 1861, fi ^17,000,000 A decree Xing— Foreign relations $ 210,340 Interior 1,191,830 Justice 537,050 Fomento 69,179 Finance 1,573,624 War . 4,745,418 ^8,327,441 238 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-6-2. And the 3Iinister of Finance reports — Customs ^5,500,000 Contributions ..... 400,000 Sealed paper ...... 250,000 District dues 1,200,000 ^7,350,000 So that annual disbursements exceed the receipts by 1^977,418./' One fact is abundantly proved — inamely, that the annual revenue has never, under jany circumstances, kept pace with the annual ex- penditure. If evidence were wanting of this, we , need only look at the continued increase of the 1 public debt, which now amounts to upwards of ;^1 20,000,000; and yet the Government received between the years 1849 and 1854, over and above their actual returns, |fl 7,000,000 in hard cash for ceded lands — viz., for California ;81 5,000,000, less |f5,000,000, for claims alleged to be due from the Mexican Government to American citizens ; leaving a net balance of ^^10,000,000, and ^10,000,000 for the Mesilla territory, out of which ^^3,000,000 were retained on the same plea, leaving a balance of ^7,000,000, in all $\ 7,000,000. Extraordinary resources. These are also very fre- quently put in requisition, particularly of late years. FINANCE. 239 for the purpose of raising supplies ; and consist prin- cipally of three sources — 1. Forced loans or contributions. 2. Sale of territory. 3. Sale of church property. The first is very difficult to be levied to any large amount, and each turn diminishes future supply ; in fact, in practice it is almost inoperative on any large scale on any emergency. The second is of doubtful application, as the States have of late evinced no desire to 'purchase any more land from the Republic. The third has not realised anything like what was reasonably expected, or what, if any regular or honest administration had superintended it, — first, because by act of the Parliament three-fifths of the purchase-money is payable in bonos or public bonds, which are rarely worth more than five per cent., and the remaining two-fifths is payable by instalments, which extend over long periods, and are often en- tirely evaded; and next, because any amount of peculation and plundering has prevailed among all the parties from the very highest, who have had this tempting source of immense wealth confided to their hands, without any efficient public supervision. It is certain that Mexico can no longer raise 240 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-52. money by foreign loans — that resource has been closed, and permanently, to all appearance. The successive governments since the declaration of independence have all, without exception, been distinguished by an absence of principle in all en- gagements with their creditors, and unblushing- effrontery in their method of dealing with them. No one can possibly have the slightest faith or con- fidence in the integrity of any party or government, or even in their stability. Each new cabinet re- pudiates the engagements of its predecessor, how- ever sacredly they may have been guaranteed, if by any possibility they can evade them. Nor has it made any difference whether nations or individuals have been swindled by theii' infraction of the most solemn engagements, and even the most violent and burglarious outrages on the common laws of civilised nations. Hence the imperative necessity which has called for the present allied intervention. And yet there is something to be said on the way in which some of the debts have been created. Let us look at the British, first in order and in magnitude. Mexican bonds. Capital .... ;g51,208,250 Interest .... 4.608,741 Balance . . . 55,816,991 FINANCE. 241 The Mexican account in the books of the Treasury stand thus : — En pesos a razon deciuco per libra esterlina — Denda .... ,^51,208,260 Interes vencido . . . 379.780-20 ;^51, 088,030-20 These British claims have undergone every kind of modificaiion to suit the convenience and accom- modate the necessities of the Mexican Grovernment. The bondholders have continually conceded and yielded up advantages, under the delusion that their generosity would be appreciated, and insure an honourable and honest observance of new ar- rangements. But all these natural expectations have been miserably disappointed, and the British creditor finds himself worse off than the citizens of other countries, who have not deserved the same con- sideration. The London debt originally bore five per cent, interest; they consented to reduce it to three, on a solemn assurance that good faith would be kept in future — an assurance which, of course, has been shamelessly broken by the Mexican Govern- ment, ^vith their systematic violation of all their most solemn engagements. The British convention originally bore interest at one per cent., and some K 242 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. two per cent., per month — the commercial value of money here, and less than the Government paid to others under similar circumstances. French Claims. — The Emperor's government is totally misled on the subject of the Yekkers bonds, which their embassy are enforcing, and which were the real cause of the rupture. They were a mere speculation from the beginning, in which Miramon, the late president, and Gabriac, the French minister, were the parties interested. The amount is ^15,000,000. The cash paid ^1,200,000. ATRerican Claims. — The debt of Mexico to the , citizens of the United States, or supposed to be such, and claimed by the G-overnment of the latter, accumu- lates in the most extraordinary manner. In 1850 all was paid off, by ^4,000,000 retained for that special purpose out of the Californian indemnity money. Again all was paid off in 1855, by ^^3,000,000 more deducted from the purchase-money of the IMesilla territory. The late President Buchanan, however, in a note to the Mexican minister, informed him that they again amount to ,^10,000,000 more, and actually proposed to take military possession of Chihuahua and Sonora to secure them. Now the Americans in FINANCE, 243 Mexico are fewer in number than any other nation, while their capital and interest are perfectly insig- nificant, with the exception of the Tehuantepec Eoad Company : their establishments, either commercial or industrial, are not of any great importance or value. There is no American firm in Mexico, only one at Vera Cruz, none at Tampico or elsewhere, as far as I have been able to ascertain. And yet their claims have far exceeded those of all other foreign nations put together. Just or unjust, however, they have possessed this remarkable advantage over all the others, — that they have always been paid, and in hard cash. As a fair specimen of their character, I ^^'ill give one claim, with all the circumstances of which I am fully acquainted. A certain Dr. Burr had a mine in Tasco, where he was plundered of thirty or forty fanegas of maize, value ;^50 or ,^60. On this he swore before the consul a claim for damagfes, ,$f 1,300,000, and got the United States minister, Gradsden, officially to present it to the Mexican Government, and demand payment. Of course it was rejected with supreme contempt; but it was archived at Washington, and no doubt is ready to be brought forward on occasion, and will be paid. Another of the same class; a certain McCurdy, calling himself major^ with sixty or seventy others. 244 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. formed a filibustering expedition at San Francisco with a gentleman named Zerman, calling himself admiral. I knew him personally in London. They made a descent on the west coast of Mexico, and were taken prisoners. Instead of shooting the lot, they were released as American citizens, and all have got claims. The admiral's, of course, is worthy of his rank and dignity. A friend of mine was offered the major's. It charged high for * wounded feelings,' outraged honour, &c. As he was not in affluent circumstances, I think 201. might have bought it. And, moreover, the gallant officer was publicly ac- cused by his companions in misfortune of appro- priating to his own use charitable contributions, given for the relief of their common necessities. Yet this claim was sworn and authenticated by Consular Probate, and the United States minister was prepared to give any information or assurance of its legality. It is but due to Mr. Forsyth, that he afterwards confessed he had been cajoled, and regretted the part he took. It suits the American policy to encourage these gentlemen. The broker who tried to negotiate a loan on Burr's claim published the following account, the whole of which is pure fabrication : — Required for six months the sum of ^1,000. Security FINANCE. 245 offered — claim of the Pedrigal Mining Company on the Mexican Government, which is supported by the United States. The claim consists of — ■ Interest and capital, April 1st, 1857 (ominous day) . ^ 355,463 Capital, interest, and damages . . . 4,319,883 ^4,675,346 To which is to be added for the burning of the mine, destruction of the steam-engine and buildings, on April 30, 1858 — Actual cost of replacing engine . . . ^180,000 Timbering tlie shaft ..... 20,000 Hacienda de beneficio (La Luz) . . . 25,000 Office buildings, wall, &c. . . . . 20,000 j^245,000 A document which, I think, cannot be paralleled anywhere for fiction. Factories — At present are cotton, wool, iron, paper, soap, oil, earthenware, glass, sugar, rum, and wine. The cotton factories employ the greatest number of labourers and largest capital. According to a report of the minister, in 1857, there were forty-seven, five of which were idle, twenty were worked by water- power, twenty by horses or mules, and two by manual labour; the number of spindles only amounted to 246 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. 119,278, and the consumption of raw cotton only 5,000 tons ; and there has been no increase since. Puebla has the largest share, then Mexico, Jalisco, and Vera Cruz. The articles manufactured are yarns of low class, and a kind of domestic cloth called manta, suitable only to the natives. The woollen factories are much inferior ; they pro- duce scrapes, soldiers' cloths, carpets, &c. ; the raw material is very abundant. Of iron factories there are five ; the same number of glass and earthenware ; but they are none of them in a prosperous or flourish- ing condition. MonasteHes. — The value of their real property can hardly be estimated accurately ; but besides this they have large investments on mortgage ; and there are very few estates that are not hampered, as money was granted on easy terms : so that the best informed put down their claim upon the entire land of the country as one-third, may fully account for the weapons with which they have been able successfully to defy the adoption of liberal and progressive measures till quite recently. Real Property. — By a return of the *Oficio General de Contribuciones ' in 1849, there were in the country 13,000 fincas rusticas. FINANCE. 247 Landed estates valued at , . ^^720,000,000 Fincas urbanas . . . 635,000,000 ^1,355,000,000 But as this estimate was based on returns collected for purposes of taxation, it is more than probable that it represents a value very much below the real one. The ecclesiastical property is not less than ^300,000,000, producing an annual income of ^14,000,000 — tithes, dues, fees, sale indulgences, bequests, &c., yielding annually from |f6,000,000 to ^8,000,000 more, or more than a dollar a head for the population — the whole income amounting to ;^1 8,000,000 or ^^20,000,000. The tithes are now not obligatory, but are paid pretty much as formerly, as great spiritual coercion exists all over the country. In 1852, the clergy, secular and regular, amounted to 4,615. There were fifty-eight nunneries. Nuns .... 1,484 Girls , . . .533 Servants . . . 1,260 3,277 4,615 7,892 248 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. About one in a thousand of the whole population, including Indians. WTien the nationalisation of the ecclesiastical pro- perty was imminent, had the clergy party possessed the sagacity to combine in the movement and control it, or the courage to provide with liberality the funds necessary for the carrying on of the Grovernment, they might have fully succeeded in saving their power, and the greater portion of their wealth, and staved off the evil day ; but they had neither the sense nor the pluck to make the sacrifice in the first instance : ;^15,QOO,000 or ^^20,000,000 would have saved them, but they rushed blindly into a deadly struggle, with- out preparation, without combination, or even calcula- tion of the certain issue ; and they fell irretrievably and without a murmur of compassion. The silver and gold coined in the several mints average annually in round numbers, according to the best authorities — Silver . . 16 to 17,000,000 Gold . . . 1,000,000 1 17,000,000 to 18,000,000, There is about ^7,000,000 (bullion) shipped from the ports of the Pacific, almost all smuggled. The total amount of produce of precious metals reaches FINANCE. 249 ;^24,000,000 or ^25,000,000, and it is pretty steady. However, it is capable of almost indefinite augmenta- tion, should the country be ever rendered secure and populous, by an improvement in the Government, and the political and social relations with Europe. Many districts of known richness are wholly un- worked at present, and many very imperfectly, for want of hands. There has never been any geological survey of any importance — Humboldt being the only scientific man who has given us any account of Mexico. The savage incursions of Indians, the reck- less waste of life in robber and partisan warfare, have caused many most profitable undertakings to be abandoned in despair. The supply of silver particu- larly is unlimited and inexhaustible; this may be considered the metal of the country, and is generally diffused : there is also most excellent iron and copper. The produce of these, together with antimony, cinna- borum, zinc, tin, pure sulphur, salt, &c., may be estimated as at present ^2,000,000: some of the iron is unparalleled in richness, and quite equal to the best Swedish qualities. Quicksilver is also found, but not in easy districts for transport, so that the exportation has hitherto been small. 250 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Probable yearly export Gold Silver Mexico . ^155,263 ^'4,013,359 Guanajuato 555,200 4,698,800 Zacatecas — 3,619,000 S. Luis Potosi — 1,849,795 Guadalajara 10,368 633,662 Durango 73,647 609,171 Chihualma . 17,536 475,500 Culiacan . 144,208 737,968 ^956,222 ,^16,637,255 or ;^1 7,593,47 7 in the whole amount. Simaloa, Sonora, New Mexico, and Coahuila, are almost deserted, from the frightful insecurity of life. Yera Gimz. — The imports from foreign countries are — From Great Britain and Ireland. — Cotton, linen, and woollen fabrics ; steel, iron, and hardware ; tin- plates, earthenware, malt liquors, &c. United States. — Eaw cotton, coarse cotton fabrics, machinery, hardware, drugs, flour, and lard. France. — Silk, linen, and woollen manufactures, muslins; wines, brandy, liqueurs; oil, paper, jewellery, and fancy goods ; porcelain, and preserved provisions. Hanse Towns. — Linen, cotton, and woollen goods; hardware, glass, and other small articles. FINANCE. 251 Spain. — Wine, brandy, oil, raisins, wax, cigars, and merchandise known as ' abarrotes.' Sardinia. — Paper, raisins, oil, maccaroni, slabs of marble, and other articles of small importance. Belgium. — Linen and cotton goods ; arms, and military stores of all kinds ; spirits, bricks, and demi- johns. Venezuela. — Cocoa, three or four vessels annually. Exports are specie, cochineal, jalap, vanilla, sarsa- parilla, tobacco, indigo, and hides. A considerable quantity of dollars are smuggled here, to avoid the heavy export duty of sixteen per cent. The whole amount may be fairly estimated at ^9,000,000. There is a good coasting trade, in vessels of thirty to 100 tons, who carry out the foreign merchandise, and return with cocoa, salt, aguardiente, sugar, to- bacco, and hides. Vera Cruz has an area of 3,813 square leagues, and a population of 300,000. Its principal cities are roughly estimated : — Vera Cruz . . . .9,000 Orizaba, • . . .15,000 Cordova .... 4,500 Jalapa . . . .6,000 There are no towns of size on the coast, the largest being Alvardo, with 2,000 inhabitants, mostly em- ployed in fishing. 252 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Vera Cruz is the most important Mexican port, and its harbour, though far from safe or commodious, is the channel of very considerable trade with the United States and Europe. In 1858 there entered — Vessels Tons Crew American 32 7,389 274 British . 20 3,676 197 French . 19 5,448 296 Spanish . 13 2,591 158 Hanseatic 5 748 45 Belgian . 2 398 18 Danish . 5 596 44 Sardinian 3 690 35 Hanoverian 3 484 26 This return does not include the monthly British or the American steamers, which touch here : the former bring principally passengers, the latter car- goes of cotton, &c. The revenues of the customs are about ^4,000,000 ; more than three-quarters pledged for payment of foreign creditors of the nation ; the rest is mortgaged over and over again to the foreigners and natives — some ,^2,000,000 of orders being now in what is called via de payo. Foreign Trade. — The Pacific coast gives no re- turns. Vera Cruz imports ;$3,000,000, mostly British FINANCE. 253 goods, and exports about ^6,000,000, including specie ; but as we know there is an outward flow of ^22,000,000 or |f23,000,000 of specie and bullion (allowing ^2,000,000 to be retained for the use of the country itself), and also an export of cochineal, vanilla, jalap, indigo, sarsaparilla, mahogany, dye- woods, hides, and pimento, to the value of at least ^6,000,000 more (in all about ^28,000,000 or ^29,000,000), it is clear that there must be an im- portation to nearly the same value. Part of the specie, perhaps, is absorbed — i.e., sent to Europe, for saving or investment, and so withdrawn from mercantile calculation ; but this cannot exceed one and a half or ^2,000,000 at the outside; for the remaining ^26,000,000 or ;$;27,000,000 are received back in merchandise, consisting chiefly of manufac- tured cottons, cloths, linens, silks, wines, liquors, steel, paper, hardware, raw cotton, machinery, and wax, in something like these proportions : — Europe ...... 20,000,000 United States . . . 4,500,000 to 5,000,000 Cuba, Venezuela, and Peru . . 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 ^26,500,000 There may also come small returns from Asia, the coast of China, the Philippines, &c. &c., but not much. 254 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. There used formerly to be a contraband trade with China to the port of San Bias ; but it is of late de- clined to almost nothing. A large part of the British trade is in the hands of Grermans. Vessels entered at the different ports last year : — Atlantic. Number Average Tons Vera Cruz . . 156 350 Tampico 53 146 Tabasco 30 137 Isla Carmen •48 128 Campeche 24 123 Sisal 27 140 Matamoras . . No returns Pacific. Number Average Tons Mazatlan 31 230 S. Bias 22 270 Mazanillo 12 230 Guagmes 12 240 Acapulco G8 1,320* Lapaz (Lower California) 1 130 The British trade returns do not give any reliable statement of their commerce with Mexico. Vessels clear out from British ports (principally Liverpool), and proceed with fictitious destinations, in order to conceal their true one (the Pacific coast) more ^ This is either an error, or it includes tlie American steamers. FINANCE. 255 effectually from the Mexican consul. Of course | they smuggle the goods in.* '' The import trade is in the hands of Germans and British, who deal in Manchester, Glasgow, and Belfast goods ; French and Spaniards, in their own produce. The whole coast is well adapted for cotton growing ; but such is the dearth of labour, that out of the 110,000 quintals required annually, about forty are imported from the United States. The state could also supply, in any quantity, sugar, coffee, tobacco, aguardiente, maize, and every other tropical product ; but the total want of roads renders all plans of export trade impracticable. The waters teem with excellent fish, which, were the rail carried farther into the interior, where such a luxury is unknown, would form a considerable trade, — only six boats being now employed ; and these abundantly supply the local market. BEITISH CONVENTION. About half of the present debt is composed of Bonos of tobacco duty, the interior debt and Padre *■ A friend of mine saw lately, in the Pacific ports, twenty large English merchantmen iinloading, not one of whom was cleared for Mexico, but mostly for San Francisco, or other ports. Not one of ^ them paid a farthing to the Mexican treasury. 256 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Moran's. This at two and a half interest can be paid off at Vera Cruz in three years, with a six per cent, stock and guarantee of a sure government ; a fund to pay this ought to be ninety to ninety-five per cent. The sum originally entered in the convention as owing to British subjects, viz. j$3,462,000, was not worth ^207,720, and could be bought at that price now. Yet the convention is charged with considerably more than ,^1,000,000, so that the owners of the ^207,720 of tobacco and interior credits must have been marvellously aided to get such a position. The history of the case stands thus: — In June 1839, a contract was made with Grovernment iox farm- ing the tobacco revenues by Benito, Magna, Cayetano, Eubio Manuel Escandon, and Felipe Neri del Barrio. In 1841, this speculation was not in a flourishing condition, and the Grovernment took back the con- tract, which was not a brilliant bargain, as they bought cigarette packets at eleven cents to sell them a six. The government paid the company no less than ;^1,768,032 in cash, and 5,000,000 in paper, known as Bonos of the tobacco enterprise. A law was passed consolidating this and other funds into one, and twenty-five per cent, of the products of the maritime custom houses was assigned for payment. FINANCE. 257 Afterwards the per centage was increased to twenty- six, and for some years money was paid, perhaps, to the extent of eleven per cent. Now in course of time the house of Martinez del Kio Hermanos became possessed of 2,700,000 of these credits. M. del Kio Hermanos informs us in a pamphlet of 1855, 'The supreme Government in the 13th clause of the agreement, which by its orders was drawn up by the public treasury of Mexico, in presence of Notary D. Manuel Orihualo, on June 13th, 1842, in order to obtain the revision of the contract, declared that the company can freely en dorse, transfer, and give as guarantee the bonds, which in conformity with this agreement will be crossed to them, and the person or persons into whose hands they may pass shall be recognised as having the same right and the same share in the enterprise, as if the contract had been celebrated with them, &c., &c., from the express tenour of which, it is evident that the rights and shares in a Mexican enterprise cannot be converted into rights and shares in an English one, without remaining counter, not only to law, but common sense. Nor can the privileges of a Mexican enter- prise, transferred to an English house, be the subject of the protection of the British Grovernment. Otherwise it would be sufficient for a Frenchman, 258 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. an Englishman, and a Spaniard, to buy up together at the current price any amount of the various denominations of public funds, to call on the Grovern- ments to exact immediate payment, and an amortiza- tion of the custom houses. They might with the greatest ease get a decision in their favour at any court of justice in Mexico ; but I doubt whether any embassy would recognise the transaction. And yet the case is the same here — the house of Martinez del Eio Hermanos acquired the same rights conceded to the Mexicans, and had to submit to the same consolidation as other Mexican holders of funds, to the extent of 12,000; yet the house did not, but appealed as bondholders to the supreme court, and got a sentence — no difficult matter — but a sentence against the law of the land, which ordained that a certain class of credits should have assigned for their payment a certain specified fund, with such augmen- tations as might indemnify the holders for loss. Yet the house, having a sentence against Mexico generally, presented themselves to the English minister, and demanded their Mexican bonds should be made English property, and made the subject of a British convention ; and it was done, December 1857. The Grovemment paid up ,^411,000 interest, and the credits ^973,000. A Spanish affair of Padre Moran FINANCE. 259 and another of Montgomery, Nicol & Co., were added. Then, and since then, as much as would make up ^1,000,000 additional has been paid ; yet on the 4th December, 1860, it stands as ^5,000,000, and is so claimed in the convention. At the present moment the English interest in the convention is ^^ 266,000. Take the money robbed from the Laguna Seca Conducta, that robbed from H.B.M.'s legation, the Guadalajara Conducta, and the Consumo duty reclamation, and a few other fair claims, and we have ^2,000,000, or ^^2,500,000. Montgomery^ Nicol, & Co. — Martinez, the late treasurer for collecting revenues, paid this house, in conjunction with several Mexicans and Spaniards, dividends on sums loaned, say, two million dollars, to the Grovernment. Soon after St. Anna over- threw it, and, as dictator, refused to fulfil the con- tract, and peremptorily stopped legal proceedings in the supreme court in direct contravention of our treaty. Lord Aberdeen ordered that repara- tion should be demanded, and that portion of the bond fide English property claimed. This amount was something less than one million, and the rest was of course excluded. This was in June 1844. It was arranged by Mr. Stephen Miller, who is now in London. WTiat is the amount of the claim now? — 260 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. About three millions. In point of fact, the working and OTOwth of some of these Mexican claims, which are now advanced under the sanction of the British flag, is most mysterious and inexplicable, and quite as much disgraceful and disreputable to us as a nation. No accounts have ever been rendered, though fre- quently demanded; and I am requested to publish one which was treated, like all others, with perfect silence. I presume, from what I know personally of both the auditor and his correspondent, this was done by superior orders, as a more upright man Mr. Grlennie does not exist. British Convention Fund. Mexico, January 31, 1861. Sib, I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your despatch of the 12th instant ; and on the 23rd I received copy of the minute of the meeting of the proprietors held in Her Majesty's legation on the 15th June last. Without entering into any polemical discussion on points of no value or importance, and which only divert attention from the main question, I submit that, as auditor of this fiind, you have at all times access to the accoTxnts and archives thereof, and can demand and compel any infor- mation required ; or you may extract it yourself from these archives, or appoint a deputy to do so, without asking any one's permission ; the archives are common property. FINANCE. 261 I further submit that the proprietors, or any one of them, ought, in like manner, to have access to aU accounts and documents connected with the revenues of this fund, and especially of the disposal of those revenues. I am myself the treasurer of a public fund, and I fur- nish accoiuits of my transactions every half year wnsohcited, and present a copy to each of the parties interested. They are ftu-ther invited to inspect aU the books, accounts, and correspondence connected therewith, at any day and hour they please ; and at all meetings I present those books and correspondence for general inspection and examination. Our British convention fiind should he conducted in the same iqmght and honourable manner. I deny emphatically, and reject with scorn, the idea that has been put forth, that secrecy and mystery of any kind are necessary, either as respects British interests or the British Government. All such secrecy and mystery im- pKes something opprobrious and offensive, and is in itself an imputation and slur on our national honour. The management of this fund, like all other British fimds, shovild be in conformity Avith our universal polity and practice, o^jew to inspection — franh and ahovehoard ; and the very exertions and efforts made in this case to stifle inquiry, or furnish accounts of the moneys recovered, are in themselves a strong and imperative reason for enforcing that inquiry. Truth and honour love open dealing ; and truth and honour are the only principles that can be re- cognised in the management of a British Government fund. This fund, therefore, being a Government convention, 262 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. and under the especial protection and control of officers of the crown, it is their province and duty to institute in- quiry into the management thereof, when accounts are systematically withheld and refused, and complaints of maladministration and misapplication of the revenues have been laid before them ; and I enclose for your informa- tion on this head a copy of my reply to a circular, issued by Her Majesty's legation on tlie subject in May last year. The management of this fund, I repeat, has been, and is, a source of scandal and reproach to the British name ; and in no other part of the world wotdd such abuses have been tolerated by representatives of the Crown. I recollect the day in Mexico when men would not have dared to act as these men have acted, or they would have been suspended instanter. Where now is that high consideration and commanding influence which a British minister formerly inspired ? the just tribute to a lofty sense of honour that chilled and awed the boldest, and kept in check their evil propensities ? Where now that exalted sense of personal and national dignity which shrunk fi'om baseness and defilement as from the leprosy ? — gone — departed — fled — banished — alike from our conduct and from our coimcils. The decay of virtue in late years among British officials in Mexico, and descending from them, contaminating their countrymen generally, strikes even the natives with astonishment, and is deplorable, humiliating, and appalling. They countenance crime ; they frequently aid it : none seem to have the moral courage to oppose and repress it ; some even seem FINANCE. 263 to delight in it and participate in it. The wave rolls on- ward, acquiring additional force with every surge, till we have seen a British convention fund robbed publicly in the face of day, and the victims insiUted and defied. I therefore cannot admit, and do not accept, the limited interpretation of your functions as auditor, to which it is the design of Mr. Matthew and the treasurers of this fiind to confine them : still less can I accept, as a reason for not furnishing the information required, the objections of the parties imjjlicated — such a reason not only being injudicial, but singularly irrational. They always have reftised, always will refiise ; and it is because they have refused and do refuse to act like honourable and honest men, that appeal has been made for redress to Her Majesty's Govern- ment, and that you have been appointed auditor. They oppose, as a matter of course : it is our duty to enforce. If the management has been honourable, what have they to fear ? Their exculpation will in such case be triumphant. We ask for nothing biit that which ought to have been granted without asking. Men of honour court inquiry ; knaves alone shun and resist it ; virtuous men enforce it. Englishmen, in their place, would have demanded it long ago. I therefore again urge on you the necessity of fiirnish- ing the information required by my despatch of lltli September, and hkewise inspection of the accounts and archives of the fund, all of which are at your command. A report also by yourself of the fund ah initio would be a graceful and customary inauguration of your appointment. Your course is clear, straightforward, and honourable ; .264 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the limitation is Jjslionourable, and betrays a consciousness of ^v^ong. Is there a conspiracy to protect guilt, and defeat the ends of jiistice? As auditor of that fimd, as an officer of the Crown, and as an English7nan, I call upon you to do your duty fear- lessly and unflinchingly, undeterred by corrupt counsels or vicious influences, and show the world that British honour and British probity are not myths ; that they are still realities, though long abject and in abeyance. I call upon you also to open up for inspection this mysterious and disreputable ftmd, and enforce payment of the balance of the dividend of the 12th May, 1859, and thus rescue the honour of oiir country, now prostrate at the feet of unprincipled aliens. I call upon you in the name of the British Government, whose protection has been abused and whose confidence has been betrayed ; I call upon you in the name of the British nation, whose honour stands basely outraged ; and I call upon you in the name of those sacred and immutable principles of truth and justice, which neither Governments nor indi- viduals can infringe without a stigma. I have the honour to be, sir, Your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) Alexander Grant. F. Glennie, Esq., Auditor of the Eritish Convention Fund.* I enclose the original paper, sent to me by the treasurers of this fund, with the remnant of my dividend of the 12th of May, 1869; and I demand payment of the balance of that dividend, — say ^1,215. I also enclose the protest by Notary Madariaga. * This officer is appointed by the British minister accredited to Mexico. COPPER BONDS. 265 HISTORY OF THE COPPER BONDS. The old copper currency was removed from circulation by a decree of the Mexican Government, dated the 24th March, 1841, which guaranteed to holders reimbursement in new coin within six months. Certificates of deposit were given to those who, in accordance with this law, delivered up their money. Instead of recoining the old copper, and thus paying the holders of the certificates of deposit, as had been gua- ranteed, the Mexican Government sold the metal of the old coin when it was melted. Thus being unable to comply with the pledge made, the Mexican Government, by a decree dated the 11th Jtdy, 1842, assigned for the payment of the holders of the copper certificates the products of the stamped paper ; and by decrees of the following year gave, as additional security for the repayment of funds thus appropriated, a mortgage upon the waste lands of the nation, not situated on the frontier, as also certain credits denounced previous to the independence. In fulfilment of these pledges the Mexican Government, on the 9th December, 1843, decreed the suspension of the circulation of the old depositors' certificates, and ordered the General Treasuiy to substitute them by bonds, payable to bearer, having inserted the pledges made for the benefit of this credit, and bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum fi-om the 1st of January, 1844. As the decree of the 11th July, 1842, had created a Special Board of Creditors for the copper, who were to 266 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. administer the revenues of the stamped paper assigned to them, this Board continued to exercise its fiinctions of collecting and distributing these funds amongst the creditors up to the 30th November, 1850. On that day Sefior Payno, then Minister of Finance, gave a decree that most imrighteously despoiled the holders of copper bonds of the fimds that had been so sacredly guaranteed them, and which they had so long enjoyed. By this decree it was ordered that the copper bonds should be incorporated into the Consolidated Na- tional Debt. Against this faithless act of the Mexican Government there was a universal protest, and the French Minister Plenipotentiary, M. Lavesseur, finding a large number of his countrymen were sufferers, made every effort to pro- cure redress for this act of spoliation. He ultimately succeeded, on the 30th Jime, 1853, in concluding with the Mexican Government a convention for the benefit of French holders, which convention has since been paid off. Robbers. — I regret to say the temporary lull in highway robbery has passed; and every high- way and bye way leading out of the city swarms with banditti. The ransom system is coming more and more in vogue. Two days ago a train of pulque coming into the place was captured by a gang of rogues well known, who now hold sway over a large tract of country; they are headed by one Antonio Perez, an old and well-known thief. The murderers INSECURITY OF LIFE. 267 of Yorke, the young American attache, are perfectly well ascertained citizens resident in Tepeyahualco. The man killed by him was buried in sacred ground. The wounded robber is also well known, and the ac- complices are all marked men in that favourite den of thieving — the plain of Perote. The civil power has no force. The thieves represent a large majority of the industrial classes in that quarter. Mr. Mathew's residence in Mexico was forcibly taken possession of on the 16th November, 1860, by General Lagarde, by order of General Marquez, under a pretence, the falsehood and absurdity of which must be notorious, that a deposit of arms was concealed; and on the 17th, by an armed force under Colonel Jauregui, the premises secured under the official seal were broken open by workmen em- ployed for the purpose ; and property placed there by him at the request of the agent for the English bondholders, carried off, to the amount of ^^6 6 0,000. On Friday July 4th, 1861, the small garrison of Pachuca being attacked, and losing their second in command, retired on Eeal del Monte, where they made a stand ; but ultimately fled. Bar- barities were committed on the English residents by the clerical party troops : Doctor G-riffin, an old and peaceable resident, was struck over the face with a 268 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. sabre ; the houses were pillaged, and even the clothes taken off the women's backs. On the night of the 26th, the village of Tacubaya, only one league from the city of Mexico, was sacked. For three hours the house of Mr. Grant was besieged, the troops keeping up a constant fire, but providentially did not succeed in forcing the gates. They returned on the 30th, and nearly gutted the house : fortunately Mr. Grrant had removed his family in the meantime. On the 27th they attacked the paper factory at Belen. The director, an Englishman, defended the premises, killed two men and wounded several, and for- tunately had time to escape before a larger force came up and destroyed everything. On the 27th, Lieut. Dye, United States army, killed two robbers on the spot and beat off eight others ; at Eio Frio, Messrs. Dye and Halley, United States, state that near the hacienda of S. Diego del Pinal, in the plain of Perote, they jumped out of the diligence, one on each side ; they were at once abandoned by the rest of the passengers, who ran to the robbers ; firing commenced on both sides, and a Frenchman was wounded at the com- mencement ; they had no support from any one, but kept up the contest for an hour, and finally the rob- bers retreated, after making several charges, which were successively repulsed. Once one of them came INSECURITY OF LIFE. 269 on Mr. Dye with his carbine pointed, but received a charge of buckshot in his face, and fell dead from his horse; Mr. Dye received a slight wound, but Halley had not a scratch. They left four men and seven horses dead on the ground, and eight were se- verely wounded. After the struggle, the United States men went to the hacienda to get aid for the wounded Frenchmen, and to bind up Mr. Dye's wound, and met with the most barbarous incivility. No linen or cloth of any kind was given them, and they were obliged to walk on all the way to the next post of the diligence before they could procmre any aid for their badly wounded fellow-traveller. July 6th. — At 11 P.M., a force of twenty or more horsemen, armed and with a trumpet, came into Naples, and made a descent on the house of Mr. Beale. All the inmates were in bed. Mr. Beale got up, and rousing Mrs. Wylee, an old lady staying in his house, took her to the roof for safety. He then opened the front door unarmed, and told the robbers that his house was at their mercy, but prayed them to spare the lives of his establishment, as he had never taken any side or political bias, and therefore ought to have no enemies. They told him he was a foreigner, and as such their enemy, and fell upon him, and literally cut him to pieces : the head was 270 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. split open by two sabre wounds, he had four gun-shot wounds on the breast, both arms and thighs were disfigured by gashes in the most horrible manner. The victim to this atrocity was an old man of re- markably peaceful and charitable character. He is known never to have even expressed an opinion on the parties of the Mexican civil war ; and he main- tained at his own cost a number of orphan children, who will bitterly lament his loss. On August 3rd the diligence from Pachuca brought in two passengers — one young Englishwoman of twenty-four, dead, and the other a Frenchman, dying in great agony. At Ozambilla eight robbers sud- denly, and without a moment's warning, fired into the interior and shot Mrs. Chawner through the back, across the knees of her husband, who fortunately killed instantly with his pistol one of the assassins ; the others, after a dozen more shots, which happily took no effect, abandoned the attack. August nth, 1861. — AFrenchman was assaulted in the San Francisco early in the evening ; fortunately he warded off the first blow with an umbrella, which was nearly cut through the stick ; a second blow inflicted a severe wound in his wrist, but he managed to escape. It is needless to say no arrest was made ; indeed one of the oldest residents here told me he never re- INSECURITY OF LIFE. 271 membered a criminal process urged by a foreigner — the course being that about two or three months are consumed in examinations and depositions, for which a large sum is demanded ; then, perhaps, the prisoner is sentenced, while the whole of the goods stolen are detained as corpus delicti, and never appear again ; then the prisoner appeals, and more money is exacted, and the prosecutor, disgusted, does not defend the appeal, and usually, after all his expense and trouble, has to pay the prisoner a sum of money to compro- mise an attack on his unblemished character, which he had not dared to prosecute on appeal. August 2Gth. — The past week furnished two instances of the barbarity of the robbers. Two of the public stages arrived in this city, with the passengers stark naked, and some of them females, who were obliged to borrow blankets to roll around them. The mails to the interior are all stopped. Mr. Burnard, in 1852, erected a manufactory on a very extensive scale, and just got into working order when the whole premises were taken possession of by S. Anna; and it was not till 1856 the proj^erty was restored, but in so dilapidated and ruinous a condition, that it was two years before he could put it into such repair as to recommence work. In March 272 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. 1860, the factory was sacked by troops; and on the 2nd of April another body entered at night, inflicted sixteen sabre wounds upon Mr. Burnard, broke three ribs, and left him for dead ; they then utterly de- stroyed the factory. But, though his left arm was amputated, he lived. His wife lost her senses, and his daughter is incapacitated from epileptic fits. He has been reduced to almost utter destitution. On September 27th the diligence was robbed in front of Santa Maria, within the walls of the city. At Guanajuato, an Englishman named Cuming was just getting into bed, his family and wife being luckily absent, when ten men got over the wall and tied the servants: they knocked at the bed-room door, saying they were police, looking for an escaped offender ; he knew them, and got his arms ready, and when they broke in with axes and crowbars, fired at the first who entered ; after a fight of some minutes he dashed out on them into the passage, and they ran. He found fourteen bullets in the room, and only one in the passage, so that of eight he fired seven took effect ; two bodies were found afterwards. Now during the past eight months we have suffi- cient examples to prove the systematised hatred to foreigners which exists ; for instance, the murderous attack on Captain Aldham, and the family of the INSECUKITY OF LIFE. 273 British Consul ; the assault on the Prussian Secretary, Baron Wagner; and innumerable night robberies in Mexico. Let us take the English alone. ' On January 20th, Isaac Cask was murdered in the street. On the 6th July, Henry M. Beale, murdered in his house at Naples. On 5th April, Stephen Bennett, murdered in his house at Pachuca, and now his daughter, Mrs. Chawner.' Here these startling events create but a momentary interest in the legations. Questions of the rights of Sisters of Charity, the clamorous demands of greedy speculators, occupy their high diplomatic attention, and drown the wail of the widow and the orphan. The lists of claims for outrages on British subjects present such a frightful catalogue of murder and robbery that, except vouched for on the most solemn and sure grounds, would be utterly incredible. Justice here has indeed leaden feet. Some small show of inquiry, and incessant persecution of wit- nesses, and never-ending expenses, ending in a mockery of investigation and total impunity of crime, are generally the utmost attained. All the surrounding country is given up to rapine and murder : the haciendas are going to ruin. They are deserted by their proprietors and their families, T 274 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. who pay black mail to the robbers to allow their caits to bring in the produce, but who dare not trust their lives upon their property. The Army. — The army varies, of course, very considerably, according to circumstances : each of the late contending parties vaunt the number and strength of their own, and underrate that of their adversaries. Again, little or nothing is known of Vidaurri's or other independent troops in the north ; but the whole number of men under arms in Mexico can not be set down at less than 20,000 to 25,000 men ; though some well-informed authorities rate it higher. The service is compulsory, and recruited by forced enlistment. The pay is bad, and very uncertain ; the training hitherto very poor and scanty, so that the troops have neither interest nor heart in the service, and no care for the contentions which disturb the country. In general they are profoundly ignorant of the matters in dispute, or what they are fighting for. They invariably seize the first favourable op- portunity to desert ; and as they cannot return to the cities, or their homes, for fear of being recognised and apprehended, they take to the highway ; hence the numerous well-armed bands of robbers that infest the country on all the roads. They become ARMY. 275 soldiers by compulsion and banditti by necessity, and seldom return to any peaceful avocation. The army is a nursery for highwaymen, and is the chief source of the general demoralisation which is unhappily becoming more and more prevalent in Mexico. It lets loose on society annually a fresh crop of male- factors, and, as they are seldom prosecuted and punished, of course their numbers are rapidly in- creasing. Of course they are mostly cavalry, and after their comparative failure against the American forces, armed with rifles, they will never be brought again to face an enemy. The officers have been as yet all miserably deficient in the first elements of their profession, and in the Yankee war showed gross cowardice. The men behaved much better, and stood their ground, even when deserted by their officers ; but they will not again face regular troops — on the contrary, both army and people would wel- come any force but Spaniards. My informant was present at every battle in 1847 — Coatrevas, Churu- busco, Moleno del Key, Chapultepec, and had a great opinion of the raw material of the Mexican troops. They never ran till deserted by their officers, whose military tactics were below contempt. Worth, the American General, said, *This work is sickening — they are not worth beating — there is no glory in it. T 2 276 NOTES IN MEXICO, 186>62. It is like the Chinese.' They are generally good, hardy, and well-built young men, of middle size, excellent horsemen, and some infantry regiments I saw — perhaps six — very well disciplined. For the last week, previous to my leaving, bodies of men kept continually arriving from the interior, and were armed and forwarded to the frontier. As usual, the Grovernment were not particular about the manner in which they procured arms, and * occupied' all they could get by stratagem or force. One French gun-maker had 2,000 rifles taken bodily from his store, for which he only got an order on the treasury, which was worth about twenty-five per cent, of its real value : so he put his rifles up the other seventy- five per cent, in price and squared it; but he will be twelve or eighteen months before he is fully paid. Zaragosa, the Minister at War, threw up his seals of ofiice, and marched at the head of 3,000 men out of the city on December 21st, amid a most wild enthusiasm of the whole population. The women and children spat as they spoke of the Gachupinos, and, for a wonder, there was no lack of recruits. The new Prime Minister, Doblado, was indefati- gable, and pressed forward arms, munitions, and men, as fast as the perfectly empty state of the ARMY. 277 treasury allowed. The reactionary officers took ready advantage of the amnesty, and I met personally several whose names, not being palatable to the Mexican Liberals, were prudently concealed. They seemed, generally, of a much better class than the regular officers, but were sadly out of luck, having been hunted in the mountains for some months. They all described their cause as lost, and their troops as fast degenerating into mere brigands. The army has been till lately not only useless as an arm of defence, but a direct source of evil to the well- being and prosperity of the country, and the cause of the worst social evils. A poor, peaceable man is kidnapped away from his home, and forced into the ranks, which he detests, and perhaps has to leave his wife to starve or worse. What wonder he deserts, and is a lost man. And thus a good citizen is summarily converted into an outcast and a scoundrel, and his wife and children into paupers. It is almost surprising there are not more. They care nothing about their leaders. They know foreigners to be more just in their dealings, and less exacting, than their own countrymen. The Yankees even got all sorts of supplies readily from the country people as soon as it was known they paid for them, and consequently they were far better 278 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. off than the national army who did not. There is one point I can not help remarking : the Yankee army were all efficiently clothed and victualled — no top-heavy head gear — no stiff stocks or tight trousers — to impede the natural motions of the head and the free use of their limbs. Jonathan knows the value of a man, black or white, keeps his physical energies up to the mark, and gives them full play when he requires their highest exertion. The men were there to fight, not to carry baggage — that was all done for them in light wagons; their powers were economised and their comforts consulted; every company had a cook with a battery of utensils, handy ovens for meat, &c. When a man came off duty he found a comfortable and excellent meal and carefully ar- ranged quarters ; — no meanness or screwing — no dirty deductions from pay ; — they were treated generously and fairly by the nation they fought for. They also invariably avoided keeping prisoners: these they dis- armed and dismissed, with an oath not to serve again — a very unnecessary ceremony, as the poor devils were only too glad to get away. WhileFrance for the informal execution for brigfand- age of two of her subjects taken with arms in their hands, and for ^^500,000 due from Mexico to French- men, took the castle of St. Juan d'Ulloa, England with ARMY. 279 a list of diplomatic demands for the murder of twenty- six of her subjects, peaceable and industrious inhabit- ants of the country, and for a pecuniary obligation amounting to ,^80,000,000, has never once struck a blow against the independent pride of the country ; and she has now chosen her associates, her time, and her claims equally unfortunately. For Mexico can very well say : — Take from the British convention the tobacco and the interior credits, which certainly have no business to be there, and in fact were allowed insertion by the most disgraceful jobbery, and you will find that the 25 per cent, of import duties set aside for the purpose of paying English reclama- tions, will suffice to cover all our legitimate debts to you. The Colony of Tcaltepec lies not far distant from the skirts of the Cordillera, situated by the river Nautla, which flows through groves of mahogany, cedar, vanilla, and other equally rich specimens of the vege- table kingdom. We reached the white straw-covered houses, roofed with slate or flat tiles — green Venetian blinds and glazed windows giving the highest idea of industry and civilisation. It was founded by a Frenchman in 1830, and has continually increased and flourished. The lands about it are surprisingly fertile and well-watered by the 280 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Nautla. In some of the dry channels soil is found twenty to twenty-two varas. Its principal production is tobacco, in which most, if not all, the inhabitants deal ; drawing also a con- siderable quantity from the Vegas del Pital, and all along the banks of the river. They also produce indigo, coffee, cocoa, and vanilla, in large quantities. The situation lies at a short elevation above the level of the sea ; but the temperature is variable : at dawn the thermometer stands at 70° or 80°, at mid-day 90° or 92°. Iron is also found ; but, being in general far from the roads, cannot be brought to market to pay ; and as by them also coal must be brought for smelting, it has been found more profitable to import it. ^-^;.j!^^^S-gg^:g- ' J}jm^^ 281 CHAPTER VIII. JOURNEY FROM MEXICO TO VERA CRUZ. About 1 o'clock a.m. all our escort, consisting of twenty-two light dragoons, well armed and well mounted, with an exceedingly well-bred and gentle- manly young lieutenant, arrived at our door, where my good friends. Plumb, the attache of the American legation, and D'Oleire, Prussian Consul at Vera Cruz, had stored the diligence with ample provision for the journey. We were armed to the teeth, and our principal fear was that we should shoot each other in the tumbling and jolting to which the awful state of the roads was sure to subject us. The outskirts of the city being wholly unlighted, our lamp, in passing, flashed upon some curious scenes as we passed by ; but we cleared the Grarita, and dashed out on the causeway in a most gallant style. Our first halt was at Ayutla, where we had to expend half an 282 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. hour in waking the fresh escort, which was to carry us on, and to procure a relay of mules. The centre of the street was blocked up by a mass of carros, or long wagons, underneath which, wrapped m scrapes^ snored, promiscuously heaped together, the arrieros in charge; a smouldering fire just preserved embers enough to light our cigars-a luxury we appreciated, as it was bitter cold. The mules being ready before the escort, our coachman mounted the box, and drove us to the other end of the village, where, fortunately, our friend the lieutenant and his orderly came galloping up, and with drawn swords compelled the cochero to stop, for at that moment there issued from a side lane about twenty as trucu- lent-looking ruffians as a peaceful traveller would wish to see. In answer to our lieutenant, they said they were the Banda, or night-watch ; but as, the night after. Count Lalande, Secretary of the French Lega- tion, was robbed on precisely the same spot by gen- tlemen whom he accurately described to me, and who marvellously resembled the Banda soi-disant in numbers, dress, and general appearance, / calculated, with Mr. Plumb, that they combined other duties with their night-watch. Our escort soon arrived, and by daylight we were gallantly ascending a steep road which passes over the ledge of the Istaccihuatl, RIO FRIO. 283 and reached the valley of Kio Frio about 8 o'clock A.M., where an excellent breakfast awaited us, and where we found Seiior Koldan, with twenty fine young fellows, expecting our arrival, having marched from San Martino over night, by order of the Grovernor of Puebla, to meet us. Eoldan was a fine specimen of the irregular cavalry leader, or guerillero ; though grey, and inclined to be stout, he sat his horse with perfect ease, and even elegance. He wore the usual round leather ranchero jacket, red sash around his middle, and his untanned leather trousers were worn open up to the hips, to let the breeze swell out his snow-white muslin canzoncillas ; moimted on a strong, well-knit roan horse, perfectly broken to the bit, his erect figure fixed in the saddle like a monument, his toes just resting in the stirrup, and the parti-coloured serape flowing becomingly over his left shoulder, his swarthy face glowing with honest pride from under his wide- brimmed grey felt hat, set jauntily on one side : the tout ensemble of man and horse formed a picture of ease and democratic freedom rarely to be seen, ex- cept in the wide pampas of La Plata. The ice had formed one-eighth of an inch in thick- ness over the pools, and a grey rime covered every object not touched by the sun — fully justifying the 284 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. name of Eio Frio, by which this district is known. It is covered with dense pine forests, affording occu- pation to numberless charcoal-burners ; while the frequent recurrence of crosses on the road-side, marking the sites of assassination, showed it had other more dangerous denizens. Thanks to Eoldan, however, and his men, we passed safe ; but poor Lalande, next day, had the remnants spared by the robbers at Ayutla stripped from him, and stood shivering in his drawers a whole hour, while the ruffians were being dissuaded from their determined purpose of hanging him as a spy by the cochero, who asserted he was an emjoloye of the diligence, and that his death would have the effect of stopping the running of public vehicles, so that they would have no travellers to rob — an argumentum ad pecuniam which had its due weight ; and they released him, nearly naked. We, however, passed on unconscious, and arrived at San Martino, expecting a fresh escort; none such, however, appeared ; and as a young man walked into the town while we were waiting, with a nasty sabre-cut on his right arm, freshly inflicted by five banditti, who had robbed him on the highway of his horse and saddle- bags a few miles from the town, Eoldan and ten of his freshest men volunteered to carry us on to Puebla, which they actually did, keeping pace with PUEBLA. 285 the diligence, although we had fresh relays of twelve mules every five leagues — thus accomplishing a journey of twenty-seven leagues, the greater part of which was performed under the heat of a noon-day tropical sun. Our good friends, the ladies of Puebla, received us with more than wonted hospitality, and till late at night we lounged in the flower-girt corridor of my excellent friend, Senor Teruel, describing our adven- tures to his amiable lady, and answering the never- ending questions of his lovely daughters on the latest fashions of the capital.* At 4 a.m. we started * A Tertulla. — We entered by a wide portal into the patio, and by a long flight of stone stairs passed into a gallery, which ran round the first floor, and was covered with glass. All the rooms were thrown open. The front sidte consisted of three rooms, splendidly furnished with every luxury, and brilliantly lighted. Here we found the ladies seated. The music soon called us, and we danced quadrilles and waltzes till 1.30, when an excellent supper was served. The ices and sherbet were of the best quality; but I observed every one of the gentlemen on leaving buckled on a revolver round his waist, which told its own tale, though the night watchmen's lanterns gleam on the pavement every 200 yards in the centre of the city. A group of loiterers, lounging in every attitude round the scene of preparations, gazed with stapid pleasure upon our gallant equipage ; a dozen lightly-clad ladies, with heads enveloped in mantillas, peered from the surrounding balconies, as if exchanging silent good-byes with departing good fi-iends ; all were sedate and impassive. There were twenty cabaUeros mounted on costly stallions, each worth $\oO; the trappings were silver-mounted, and some of the bridles and head- stalls adorned with plates of virgin silver, hammered flat, and 286 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. again in our leathern basket, escorted by about twenty of the wildest-looking Mamelukes I ever saw, but their captain was as polished a gentleman as could be met with in the salons of the Tuileries. Our route lay over dangerous ground — the scene of a hard fight the day before between my good friend, Couttolene, and a band of about forty, whom he had driven back to the mountains, not without loss, fastened with untanned leather thongs ; each, as he mounted, which was done at a single step and with the utmost grace, curvetted about a little while to show the mettle of his animal ; then drawing his serape closely about his form, but with a hand protruding near the breast to allow the free use of a lighted cigarro, tiu-ned and bowed to the ladies, and joined the group of horsemen. To dance and ride well is part of a Mexican's education, and not to be excellent in both is the exception to the rule. To return the numerous bows and ' buenos dias caballeros ' from even the slightest acquaintance is a bore, but at the same time very amusing. Manners, which would else- where be styled impertinences, are here simple customs. They have a way of stopping near you when you are conversing with an acquaint- ance in the street, listening with earnest innocence to your remarks ; and if you attempt to turn away with English hauteur, they are rather flattered by the notice — perhaps smile with inward satisfaction. Secluded from the world, rarely hearing foreign news, any bit of in- formation is considered fair game and public property. Like all Spaniards or HispaSo-descended people, they are great gamblers ; and while many have been ruined, few escape the influence of the vice. It is bequeathed them by their ancestors ; and in regarding the idle habits of a large portion of the middle classes, we should be less disposed to censure, from the fact, that the frequent revolutions preventing or destroying all improvements in the country, and no public amusements presenting themselves, it is quite natural that falling into gaming is one of their few pastimes. AMAZOC. 287 as he had bewailed to me over our glass of iced cognac and a real havana at the inn of Puebla — the death of one of his best sergeants. "We ran down the plain of Puebla, teeming with villages, peeping out of rich fields of maize and corn for forty miles. The first place we reached was Amazoc, whence the road branches off to the plain of Perote. Here the escort sent on the night before from Puebla met us, and we had a ride of twenty miles, over a fine rich loam country, covered with maize and teeming with cattle ; it is dreadfully infested with robbers, and on the low hills which ran at a mile distance parallel with our road, we could see parties of them watching us. Our escort had formed part of Couttolene's force in the fight of the day before, and had killed two, so that they expected to be attacked on their way back from Tepiaca, where, however, we gave them an excel- lent breakfast to fortify them for their expected en- counter. From that spot, the country rapidly descends to the next plateau, and in the course of about an hour and a half we experienced as much jolting as a set of marbles in a schoolboy's pockets ; nothing but hold- ing on by main force with both hands prevented either your head being banged against the top, or from one side of the vehicle to the other, or bodily into your neighbour's stomach. The greater part of 288 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the time we rolled over bare rocks ; and being down hill, and the mules going their best pace, the cochero picked out, as he best could, the easiest places. How wood and iron stood it will be a marvel to me for the rest of my days. Our escort now were not regular troops, but a sort of national guard, supplied us by the hefe 'politico of the district. Of course they were extra valiant : kept careering and dashing about in every direction in search of imaginary robbers, who never appeared; galloping up to the windows for us to get our rifles ready for a harmless group of donkeys, who ap- peared a quarter of a mile off ; and of course grum- bled at being paid a dollar apiece at the end of our two hours' run, about double what the regular soldiers were very thankful for. We found an excellent dinner at Tecamachalco in a lofty stone-floored room, with two windows looking into the street, a large patio, in the centre of which was a tank brimming with exquisitely limpid water, supplied by a run- ning stream from the mountain. A dinner was served of soup and toast, fried eggs and chilies, mut- ton cutlets with baked potatoes, a stew of chickens and pumpkins, some excellent guava jelly, chocolate and sweet cakes, with a glass of aguardiente to wash it all down, at two dollars for the three of us. The kitchen opened into the room : it was fitted with a kind of IMPROVED CULTIVATION. 289 counter, two and a half feet high, of stone, and stretched semicircularly across thp room ; behind it were the females of the establishment, who presided at five or six fires of charcoal, let into the top of the counter with iron bars, upon which the pots and pans were frizzling ; so that we saw our dinner come hot off the fire. In front were gathered a motley group of our escort that had been, our escort that was to be, and no end of idlers, to whom on tortillas, by way of plates, the remains of our dinner were liberally dis- tributed ; and we rattled down the main street accom- panied by a very respectable cheer. From thence till late in the afternoon our way lay over the rich plain, on which we could see, for miles away, whirlwinds of dust madly careering, exactly like water-spouts at sea ; the sun was overpoweringly hot, and the fruits with which we had taken care to provide ourselves with at Tecamachalco were inconceivably refreshing. The whole of the road — if road it could be called— lay over worn flat trap-rocks, barely covered with the soil, which was of a rich sandy loam throughout. There were in- dications of much better cultivation of every sort of grain throughout the whole of this district : cattle of respectable size and fatness gazed at us lazily from the maize fields ; and we saw a great many flocks of sheep of several hundreds in number. The inhabitants are u 290 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. almost invariably Indians ; and although their houses did not represent a high order of architecture, they appeared roomy and comfortable, while they them- selves seemed tolerably well-clad, well-fed, and con- tented : there was also no lack of pigs and poultry, in excellent condition. Their houses are in most cases built of upright palm stems, placed close together, with the doorway of canes ; the roof is formed of the leaves of the aloe, with the scoop upwards, forming a perfect natural tile ; chimney there was none, but as the air had free egress between the palms, it was not necessary. The aloe or aguave is here cultivated to perfection ; they spread on each side of the road by thousands and by thousands, and we saw them in every stage of ripeness. The cactus, in numerous and beautiful varieties, shaded the sides of the road during our whole route, sometimes starting out of niches in the rock, and at others towering out of the rich sandy loam, to the height of eighteen and twenty feet : some of the flowers were scarlet, but the greater number were of a rich yellow. There are other plants, which I often inquired the names and properties of without ever getting any satisfactory answer : nobody understands why you ask, and they only stare at your curiosity, and, if you persist, shrug their shoulders at your inquiries and vote you a bore. TLACOTEPEC. 291 The guava is here met with — a yellow fruit like a small apricot: it is pleasant to the taste, though slightly- glutinous, and is excellent to assuage thirst, as it melts in the mouth ; it grows on a scrubby sort of tree, with small blunt leaves. Limes, oranges, bananas, pines, jocotes, figs, apples, granaditas, are spread on hides or in rough baskets on the stones of every little town in tempting profusion, and at ridiculously low prices . for 3^d. you may buy as much and as great variety as you can eat in a day. Hyacinths, roses, convolvuli, and honeysuckle, grow in such wild profusion as to check the growth of the maize. Late in the afternoon we arrived at the village of Tlacotepec. On the top of a lofty hill, with a wide- paved road, fitted with praying stations, was an im- posing pile of buildings forming the Calvary to the Parochia, in the centre of the village itself, as big as a small cathedral. We were not admitted within its walls; but on a platform of some acres in extent were ash and other European trees, at least eighty feet in height, which must have required infinite care and pains to be reared in such a soil. The village was a mere collection of Indian huts. No town or place was within twenty-five miles ; so all the riches and magnificence were for the benefit of the monks u 2 292 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. themselves — and a pretty good time they seemed to have had of it, for the land in a wide circuit round all belongs to them. I must say, however, that the buildings were kept in most excellent order. There was a handsome tank of water, 200 feet square, built with solid masonry, with steps down to the water's edge. From this to San Juan de Tepango we thumped and bumped over masses of rock, cropping out from the earth in the middle of the road, through endless groves of cactus and aloe, whose tall spires were lit up by the rays of the evening sun, and shone like miniature minarets. Some of the columnar cactus rose to the height of more than twenty feet, — the gigantic aloe, with its crown of flowers, at least twenty feet higher. In this country they never seemed to cut it, as is necessary to extract pulque, in the manner I have explained elsewhere. There were also specimens of the cabbage and other palms ; so that the country presented one mass of green verdure. It was interspersed with numberless villages of Indians, and appeared thickly populated, not only with these specimens of the human race, but with every kind of mongrel cur, and pigs innu- merable. A long gentle slope of many miles, all thickly wooded, led us to the town of Tehuacan, which we reached at the commencement of a tremen- LEAVE TEHUACAN. 293 dous storm of thunder and lightning, which lasted all night. The smell of the earth and the aromatic herbs was delicious, as they welcomed the unusual moisture. Tehuacan is a town of some 6,000 to 7,000 inhabitants, with well-built streets, and an immense square plaza of at least six or eight acres. The hefe 'politico assured us that there was no further danger from robbers, as none had ventured down into his district ; but out of politeness and respect for our distinguished diplomatists, ordered a guard of ten men to attend us in the morning. We had a most excellent supper at the inn, where we found half a dozen travellers preparing next morning to traverse the road we had passed safely that day. It was no small satisfaction to describe to them the dangers they had to look forward to, and which we had escaped; and we went to our beds with the pleasing consciousness that we had frightened them out of their wits. At 4 a.m. we again started, splashing in the dark through pools formed by the heavy rainfall of the previous night. Our route lay through a rich valley, highly cultivated, and filled with a thriving and apparently happy rustic popula- tion. It led up to the highlands of Orizaba, whose towering peak, with its mantle of eternal snow, jflushed pink in the early rays of the morning sun, 294 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. while we were still in darkness below. Groups of donkeys, laden with luscious fruit and excellent vege- tables, passed us from time to time, driven by laugh- ing men and women, who exchanged jokes with our escort. These last appeared a happy set of fellows, and of a much better class than we had hitherto met with. They, like every other human being we saw in the country, indulged volubly in expressions of bitter hatred against the Gachupinos; but I never once detected the slightest feeling, even of discontent, against the English or French. The higher portion of the pass was studded with fine oak trees, covered with some curious parasitical plants, hanging in long tresses, which at a distance looked like masses of grey hair. It was bitter cold when we reached Puente Colorado, where our escort left us, with many expressions of mutual good-will, after drinking a parting-glass of aguardiente. All along here some pains appeared to be taken with the road ; for there were gangs of men levelling the uneven surface, and drawing a ditch along the side to carry off the torrents of mountain water, which hitherto seemed to have preferred the middle of the road for a channel. It took us an hour to toil up the ascent which led to the Combres de Acolzingo, when fortunately the sun burst out in time to show the splendour of ORIZABA. 295 the scene. We were on the top of a mountain wall, a quarter of a mile thick, which completely blocks up the valley of Orizaba. We looked down an almost sheer descent into this valley, which extended itself before us for twenty miles in length by five or six in breadth, and gleaming in the sun with every shade of verdure. On either side towered the everlasting hills, covered with vegetation to the very summits, filled with game of every description. Deep-wooded valleys ran up on every side, and on our right leapt in one spring a cascade 150 feet, and then found its way by successive leaps to water the valley below. As a finish to this exquisite picture, on a small flat ledge, some acres in extent, were the ruins of what must have been once a magnificent convent, its crumbling walls still markino: the extent of the garden. Far below us we could trace the road marked by clouds of dust, amidst which floated the red and white pennons and gleamed the bayonets of Zaragosa's army in the beams of the morning sun. The succes- sion of more than a dozen long zigzags, often buttressed up with massive masonry, brought us to the bottom, — of course rattled and bumped with the speed at which these fellows always drive down hill, — and for three hours along an excellent road, flanked with well 296 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. cultivated and fenced fields, and rich haciendas. W- passed parties of horse, foot, and artillery, lancers, ammunition wagons, and brass field-pieces, in long and glittering array. The men seemed healthy and cheerful, and stepped along to the bugles right merrily. As far as I could judge, they were about 4,500 strong. It was noon-day when we arrived at Orizaba, a town of about 15,000 inhabitants, most exquisitely situated on the plateau of the mountain, surrounded by thriving plantations of coffee and rich corn land. It is well built, and ought to be the very type of a thriving commercial town. Under a bridge of five arches, built with gigantic and heavy buttresses, flowed a noble river, which, as we passed it, was alive with hundreds of soldiers, bathing and swimming their mules and horses in the clear blue water. A clean and comfortable inn received us: the rooms opened upon a tiled corridor, which ran round the sides of a courtyard, and at least eighteen or twenty feet wide ; one side of it was covered in with glass, and from a hole in the wall, which I presumed communicated wdth the kitchen, a succession of hot dishes were put upon the table for our very substan- tial breakfast. Scarcely had we finished a cup of the most delicious coffee, for which this district is cele- brated, when the bugles announced Greneral Zaragosa's GENERAL ZARAGOSA. 297 arrival. He is a quiet unassuming man, about forty, tall and well-built, with a good eye and a mild ex- pression of face ; he talked much with us of the en- thusiasm of his troops, saying that recruits poured upon him in greater numbers than he could manage, contrary to all former experience of Mexican wars ; that the indignation aroused by the invasion of their soil by the hated Spaniards had even loosed the purse- strings of the rich farmers, several of whom had placed at his disposal all the store of their haciendas, in corn, maize, barley, and straw, for the cavalry, without asking for a dollar, — a most unusual trait in the Mexican character ; he also spoke with much warmth and feeling of the treatment he had met with from the foreign merchants at Puebla. This, the second city of the republic, has always been coveted, as the seat of one of the richest governments in the country ; it is not only the most thriving commercial city, but stands in the centre of the richest agricultural districts. It appeared, however, that the present Gro- vevnor formed no exception to the general rule of Mexican officials ; for when Zaragosa, in pursuance of his powers from the Government, drew upon the trea- sury for rations for his troops, the Grovernor gravely assured him he had not a dollar cash in hand. Under these circumstances Zaragosa called together the 298 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. principal foreign merchants, and explained to them the difficulties of his position. He told them the new prime minister, Doblado, had exhausted his means in providing the arms, clothing, and ammunition of the men ; that he, Zaragosa, had set his face against forced loans and confiscation, which had too long been the rule; that Doblado had faithfully pro- mised to send him, Zaragosa, ,^60,000 for his troops; but that if the money did not arrive in reasonable time, he himself would pledge his word to pay out of his own private means whatever sum the merchants would think proper to lend him in his difficulty. To this appeal they had immediately responded, by lending him |f8,000 in cash, which had enabled him to continue his march without delay. He spoke to me with much gratitude of the part that the British had taken in the affair. At 7 o'clock dinner was served to the whole of his staff, which consisted of about forty : most of them spoke French fluently, and seemed to me men of good family and education ; they were all young, and of course enthusiastic. By 8 o'clock my excellent friend, M. Chylius, had with great trouble secured us horses and mules for our journey, and at 6 o'clock the next morning we left with our escort, and a letter from the Greneral to Uraga, the Commander-in- CORDOVA. 299 Chief, under the guidance of Chylius, who, in his capa- city as the vice-consul of Prussia, would be able to bring back the horses through the lines of the enemy. A most delightful ride of three hours took us through a country of the most surpassingly lovely scenery, but to my uninitiated eye of great strategic difficulty, to the city of Cordova. The bridge which spans the river that pours the melting snows of Orizaba in a rushing stream through the deep rocky barranca, or ravine, which extends from the mountain's side down to the passes, seems to me to be an insur- mountable barrier to an invading army, if well defended by artillery. At Cordova we found Uraga just returned from an interview demanded by the French and English ministers at Tejeria. He received us with great politeness, though overwhelmed with business. I could not help remarking that he gave precedence of audience to a poor Indian muleteer, who complained that one of his staff officers had taken his mules for some military service without payment, to whom he ordered instant restitution of his beasts, together with full compensation in money. It might have been intentional ; but I think not, as he would have hardly supposed us to be in the room. At our audience he told us that the French and English 300 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. ministers had at first endeavoured to cajole him, by assuring him that the intervention had no other object in view than the good of the country ; to which he answered, that the Mexicans had done enough by giving up Vera Cruz at once, and without a murmur, to the hated Spaniards ; but that if they attempted to set foot in the interior, he would pour upon them the long pent-up fury of his countrymen. There the English minister paused ; but the Frenchman, with much volubility, and, as he described it, much undignified vituperation, threatened him with the enmity of the French nation ; that he replied, that the Grovemment of Mexico were prepared to treat on the most liberal and equitable terms with England and France ; but that if hostilities were forced upon him, it was his most sacred duty, as a soldier, to defend his country, and that if he had a man to follow him, he would dispute, inch by inch, an advance into the interior — to which the English minister did not say one word. He kindly gave us an escort, and orders to his lieutenants to pass us free to the gates of Vera Cruz, and told us to assure the Consuls on our arrival, that at all times couriers bearing mails or despatches should have free ingress and egress through his lines, in communication with the capital. I saw in camp about 1,000 cavalry, mostly CHIQUIHUITAS. 301 lancers, and armed with light carbines, stamped Liege, 1858, and about 8,000 infantry, with thirty pieces of artillery, most of them brass, and some rifled. They were generally young men, robust, and rather above the ordinary height. I should say the average was about five feet eight inches; and as they live on tortillas and frijoles, i.e. pancakes and beans, they are able to subsist where no other troops in the world could support existence. As soon as the heat of the day was passed, we rode for- ward through a most exquisitely wooded country towards the passes. The road was full of men and women singing, and carrjdng market produce on their donkeys to the town. Through the villages the women were knitting at the doors, and the children playing, as if no such terrible visitation as war was near their hearths ; everything was as calm as in the inland counties of England, nor did we see the slightest indication of warlike preparations till we reached the Chiquihuitas, where the river rushes in a deep rapid stream through a narrow gorge, and falls in a tumbling cascade into the lower country. The whole sides of this deep valley are clothed with the densest jungle, utterly impassable to any but the wild beast. The view as we turned to descend the declivity was enchanting. Behind us 302 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the sun poured its parting rays over the slopes of the snow mountain, aslant the level country, which extends in gentle undulations sixty miles right away to the sea. Here we found the captain of the port of Vera Cruz, M. de Forster, — a gallant Dane, who has served in the English navy, surrounded by the boatmen of Vera Cruz, who, together with the entire male population, had left the city on its occupation by the Spaniards. Forster had not been idle : every available point had been occupied by the long sixty- eight-pounders which had been removed from the fortress of San Juan de Ulloa, and were now in posi- tion, guarded by the very men who served them with such terrible effect against Miramon, when he so unsuccessfully attempted to bombard the city in 1859. De Forster had with him, besides his own officers, a large staff of young men, mostly the sons of wealthy families in Vera Cruz, who spoke English and French fluently. All the trees which impeded the range of the guns had been cut down, and the plain for three miles, as well as all the approaches, were completely commanded by the guns in position.* He will be a dangerous customer to any force that attempts to invade his natural fortress; and our * The whole of these troops are now withdraMTi, and the road from Vera Cruz to Orizaba is in possession of the French. TRES ENCINOS. 303 muleteers, who had known the country for forty years, said there was no path by which it could be turned. After a very noisy supper with the gallant Dane and his men, we descended into the plain, and found our way to a solitary house, the only one left inhabited, except those occupied by troops, in all the wide district between the sea and the mountains, and which is known by the name of Tierras Calientes. When I last saw it, the whole plain was swarming with cattle and horses ; now not a hoof was left, nor a single peasant's hut inhabited. All had retired, in obedience to Uraga's proclamation (see Appendix), and also, I must add, entirely to their own approbation. The house that received us was called Tres Encinos, from three noble oaks before the front — I was going to say door, but there was none. The inn consisted of an immense long roof of about 100 feet in length by thirty in breadth, supported on palm stems set a few inches apart. It was divided in three, but a very temporary and insufficient separation it was, as one could see from one end to the other, both over and through the flimsy barriers. The upper end was appropriated to the shop and kitchen, and there was some attempt at a locker, with a gigantic padlock, where it was to be presumed valuables were kept; but there are no robbers in this part of the country. 304 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-C2. The largest, or middle partition, is the guest-chamber by day and dormitory by night ; the centre, occupied by a long deal table with benches, and the sides by tressles, on which, wrapped in serapes, snored the travellers, the natives on rugs and mats ; the third was appropriated to the mules and horses, who occa- sionally varied the proceedings by fighting furiously. I had often slept in the open air before, but never under the semblance of a house ; and here it was the same thing to all intents and purposes, for there was no door or window, and the cold air blew over us from every quarter. Our supper consisted of coarse chocolate, with sweet cakes to dip in it ; strips of jerked beef, which hung in festoons from the rafters above our heads, and were toasted over the charcoal fire; and newly-baked tortillas, hot from the pan. The whole was washed down with excellent aguar- diente from a very Etruscan-looking long-necked amphora. After supper our mozo slung my ham- mock, and I dozed, amid the snoring of nine persons and four pigs, who occupied one corner of the apart- ment. A lantern, slung from the roof, gave a feeble light. On two beds of hide lay a heap of children covered with a serape, their eyes blinking and twinkling in the semi-darkness. Their mother, the Senora, was clad in a scanty night-dress, over which UNPLEASANT SLEEriNa-QUARTERS. 305 her long black hair fell with a very unearthly look. Our servants were coiled up on the saddles and mule-blankets, while the centre of the floor was occupied by several dogs, who seemed little disposed to move at the shrill voice of the mistress of the mansion, but all night long got up little fights, and varied the monotony of the dead silence by snarls and snaps. On a framework, erected for their especial accommodation, was a row of cocks, who expressed discontent at the illumination by deep chuckles of rage, and fierce pecks at each other. Overhead dangled strings of sausages. Chili peppers, plantains, and garden vegetables, in a network of cobwebs, whose proprietors spun about in fearful proximity to my nose. Water is fearfully scarce here ; and we had to go four miles to a deep cleft, where we took off the bridles and let our horses and mules plunge their nozzles into the icy fluid. All of them seemed thoroughly to enjoy it, and gratefully returned to their labour after fully satisfying their thirst, but one mula, who determined to carry out the charac- teristics of her race : of course it was the one which carried the American despatches and the new treaty going to Washington to be signed. I laughed im- moderately at first, till I remembered this, and saw X 306 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-G2. Plumb rushing about in agony, yet not venturing to plunge into the dark and uninviting pool, exactly like a hen who has reared a brood of ducklings sees them rush into the water, and cackles fretting on the shore, vainly endeavouring to call them back, yet fearful of wetting her feet. The brute of a mule walked deliberately deeper and deeper into the pool, till the portmanteau containing the precious paper was all but covered ; and then, I presume, enjoying our agony, prepared to lie down, when at one rush our gallant arriero, an old man of sixty-four, dashing in up to his neck, seized the brute by the nose, and with one dexterous twist diverted the pleasant animal from her -wicked designs, and saved the reputation of my excellent friend the diplomatist. At Camaron we found 2,000 troops and about twenty brass cannon in position, under General La Madrid, who received us with every kindness and consideration ; but we pushed on in the burning heat to La Soledad. Here a clear and deep river, whicli runs from the mountain of Orizaba through a wide barranca, with steep walls of perpendicular grey rock, falls in a series of rapids over a ledge of rocks, covered with white shining shingle. The road bends down on each side by two zigzags to the bridge, which spans the only ford. It is, like all the LA SOLEDAD. 307 old works of the Spaniards, a massive and imposing structure, the j)iers standing with giant buttresses at least 120 feet high. The middle is spanned by a temporary roadway, laid upon faggots, having been blo^vn up by Miramon in his retreat from his unsuc- cessful bombardment of Vera Cruz in 1859. On the farther side of the river stood the white tents of 4,500 cavalry and infantry, under Greneral Alvarez, and forming the avant garde of the Mexican force. All along the shore parties of men were bathing themselves and their horses in the clear stream, both men and beasts thoroughly enjoying the refreshing coolness of the mountain water. The Greneral received us with the greatest kindness, and pressed us, nothing loath, to go no farther that day. We formed a very merry party at dinner. About fifty gentlemen, all men of rank and position, and all volunteers, formed his staff. Indeed, Alvarez assured us they paid all the troops out of their own pockets. Most of them spoke French ; and the Quartermaster- Greneral, an old Pole, who had seen service in every quarter of the globe, spoke every European language with fluency. Alvarez himself is a most accomplished gentleman, and perfectly well posted in every kind of European literature and information. The con- versation, of course, turned on the absorbing subject X 2 308 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-6-2. of the hated Spaniards, and their invasion of the soil. Towards England and France they had no antipathy : towards England the very reverse. The freedom of her institutions — the comfort of settled law and honest judges — the honesty of her national character and policy — were lauded in the warmest terms. How was I to answer their questions? — What were we in arms for ? Why link our cause with the Spaniards ? It was in vain to say, We came to avenge the murder and outrage on om- countrymen. They answered me that their party had not committed one of them, but Miramon and his clerical friends. And, besides, had we mentioned one word of them in the solemn con- vention our ambassador had presented to Congress ? There was not a syllable about them in the whole document. Did I answer. We were there to demand the money due to our subjects, who had lent it, trust- ing to the faith of Mexico, — they answered again — It was Miramon who broke open the Minister's house and stole the funds destined for their payment. Again, was this a thing to fight for, when the Grovernment acknowledged the debt, and was ^villing to meet us fairly and honourably to arrange its acquittal ? Besides, are we sure that the claims we make are all honest ? Awkward questions, tlie answer to which it behoves England to look Avell to, before she commits her- MEXICAN POLICY. 309 self to a forcible intervention, by the side, and in partnership with, the avowed and well-convicted enemies of Mexican freedom and independence. 'Let us,' said they, 'once organise our force so as to give the central Grovernment the means of enforc- ing law in the provinces, and the first thing we shall do is, to compel the Governors to obey law, in order to collect the taxes and pay them into the common treasury of the nation, not into their own pockets. The roads can soon be cleared. In fact, could we pay them all, the disbanded soldiers of the clerical party, who now drag on a precarious existence as marauders, would gladly join the regular army. The disgraceful monopolies which the late Grovern- ment sold would be settled with, and an income would come in, not only sufficient to pay all our debts, but also to repair the roads, execute public works, and meet all the exigencies of the State.' This was no idle dream : my companions, who had resided for a long period of years in Mexico, knew it was no idle fancy or delusive hope. If once the good blood of Mexico came forward, as it has done at the cry of danger to their common country, and support an intelligent and able native government, the difficulties of the past will melt away. Surely it is better to help them in such a course than 310 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. to fight them. Surely it is better to encourage the first hope, the first chance for the future, than to attempt to punish them for the past ; and more especially, when the wrong doing was not theirs, but their bitterest enemies, whom they have only just been able to overthrow after four years' usurp- ation — the men, in fact, whom the ministers of the three intervening powers at once recognised in 1857 as the lawful rulers of the land, when they were merely military usurpers, and whose agents are now the only Mexicans whose voice is heard in the councils of Europe. These matters we discussed over some excellent cigars and coffee in the cool verandah which covered the front of the quartier-general ; while occasionally a capital band played, at a short distance off, some of those wild plaintive airs which so stir the Castilian blood. In no country where their language is spoken will you hear bad or even indifferent music. In the cool of the evening we rode out to view the troops. There were all the national games going on ; and especially to please me some of the young officers threw off their helmets and jackets, and prepared their lassoes, while we formed a line to the corral, where a larsre herd of cattle had been driven in. The men speedily selected a young bull, who came tearing out through MEXICAN GAMES. 311 the double line of horsemen, whose shouts roused him to his utmost speed. No sooner had he gained the open ground than his pursuers were upon him whichever way he turned; their horses rode him down, and he was quickly thrown on his side by the graceful festoon of tough hide, which floated like an angler's line over his head an instant before it encircled his horns, and being held taut on the pommel by the sudden slope of the horse, both beast and rider swerving to the motion, the sudden check upset his balance, and over he came with a terrible thump. Another and another succeeded, and at last I witnessed the triumph of their skill. As the bull plunged furiously along, carrying his head low and his tall straight out, a single horse- man seized it by the bushy tuft, and, firmly grasping it with his right hand, passed it under his thigh at full speed, and, suddenly turning and checking his horse to meet the sway of the brute, rolled him by main force, without the least disturbance of his firm seat in the saddle. A pleasant and genial supper closed the day ; and in dismissing us the General told us he had ordered our escort, with fresh mules for our baggage, to take us down to the first outpost of the enemy, and bade us rest on the best beds his house afforded. At a 312 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. very early hour next morning we started, and plodded seven hours across the sandy plain from one undula- tion to another, without seeing one single living soul, or hearing a sound, but the birds we disturbed in our passage. The herds had been long driven off; the houses were bare; even the cottages all stood naked and silent. We passed many farmyards, but not a cock crowed welcome or alarm. All was perfect desolation; nor did we see one drop of water for our tired beasts till we reached Tejeria, the station of the Vera Cruz railway, where we found a couple of diligences prepared to take up to Mexico the passengers expected to arrive by that day's steamer from Europe. Before we left, two carriages full were drawn up by horses along the rail, and we had to answer numberless questions from the group of French, Grermans, English, and Mexicans, who pro- posed to try their fortunes on the road ; and blank enough they looked at the prospect we were forced, in common honesty, to lay before them. A couple of hours brought us to the gates of Vera Cruz, where, in the comfortable house of our good com- panion D'Oleire, we quickly forgot all the fatigues and perils of our six days' journey. I found the Spaniards a very fine body of men, well disciplined and effectively armed, and clothed VERA CRUZ. 313 for the service required, but wholly destitute of can- non, as well as of all means of transport whatever. They were haughty and imperious to the few natives left in Vera Cruz, and amply repaid with scorn the hatred too manifest towards themselves and their nation. The officers carried this out in the most offensive manner in the cafes and table d'hotes, and I had great difficulty in smothering an expression of disgust at language I heard there addressed to my- self personally. Disease prevailed very extensively among the troops ; more than twelve per cent, were in hospital ; and the General most wisely varied every day the parades and exercises, always attended with most excellent music, and frequently by torchlight, to amuse and occupy his men. The French were better soldiers, but dirtier, to my astonishment, and much more noisy, of course. They were great favourites, especially the Zouaves. As to the English marines, they were wisely kept on board till wanted. As usual, those from time to time on leave on shore be- guiled the holiday by getting stupidly drunk. The impression of all the foreigners was that the heads of the expedition were all at loggerheads. Prim is a very ambitious and rather unscrupulous man ; La Graviere, on the contrary, a very cautious and wary one, being quite as good a statesman and diplomatist 314 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. as he is a sailor. Saligny, tlie French Commissioner, is hated in INIexico, deservedly, as having abetted Mira- mon and Almonte ; so that the team was altogether a curious one to run in harness together. The forcible banishment of Miramon by no means tended to soften the bitter feeling which already existed. The Spanish troops were outrageous at the spirited conduct of Commodore Dunlop, who placed sentries at the gang- way of the ' Avon ' when the steamer brought the ex- President out and took him away again without al- lowing him to hold any communication with the shore ; but the French were too well aware of the compli- cation of affairs as they stand to interfere with the summary disposal of so combustible an element of discord. The state of the town was pitiable. Every- thing had to be imported by sea, all the inlets from the land being hermetically closed by the indefatigable Jarochos.* Trade, of course, was at a stand-still. As an evidence of the mode in which Her Catholic Majesty's Commissioners' forces, always humane, noble, and loyal, as Eubelcava styles them, conducted their operations when in sole occupation of Vera Cruz. * The Jarochos are mulattos. They all rido magnificently, and are employed as herdsmen to the vast droTes of cattle which covered the TioiTas Calientes. They are now organised as a Guerilla force, and, from their knowledge of the intricate countr}', are truly formidable. STATE OF VEKA CRUZ. 315 The French, who at once established a post-office and customs' arrangements, found the floors of the post- house covered several inches with letters from all parts of the world, massed indiscriminately — official, mercantile, and private packages tumbled all in heaps, as the ignorant soldiers who guarded the doors chose to throw them ; and not a single permit to land goods had been granted to all the vessels which had lain there for weeks laden with produce from foreign parts and consigned to their respective consuls — a pretty beginning to intervention on the part of Spain in Mexico. The French of course managed better, but in comiDlete disregard of the feelings and habits of the Mexican population, they were no way behind their continental allies. I was present also at two audiences, where cattle dealers complained to General Grassiet that the troops seized their beasts without payment, and assured him that their complaints to the regimental officers had been treated with contempt ; but the presence of the French and English had considerably altered the aspect of such matters before I left Vera Cruz. No doubt, as we at least paid for all we consumed, and probably the French also, supplies will soon come in, as the outposts at Tejeria are held by these latter ; and now that they are pushed forward to the towns on 316 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the plateaux, there is the more hope of their being well supplied ; but I observed the old leaven still pervad- ing all our military arrangements, forming a strong contrast, not only to the practice of foreign armies, but also the dearly-bought experience of many a campaign. On arriving at Havana, I found the authorities in the greatest consternation. Serrano, the Captain- General, had sent in his resignation, and publicly an- nounced his intention of leaving the island, whether his successor arrived or no. The Government was in debt for the money dra^m from the banks to fit out the Mexican expedition to an extent which they were utterly unable to meet, and yet more requisitions came in from day to day to supply funds to the same object. Not that this affected the people an atom. Gayer, prouder, or more showy people it is impossible to meet with. I was much struck with an anecdote Serrano related to me. It is the rule to invite the Captain-General and his staff to every ball or enter- tainment at a native noble's. A lady, whose brother had voluntarily exiled himself on a hint from Serrano, gave a magnificent ball to the elite of Cuba, and prevailed on lier husband to omit sending a card to the palace. As he was a man of very high rank, Serrano sent for him next morning. The duque EOYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET COMPANY. 317 answered his wife wished to come with him, to which Serrano expressed no objection, and they both had the audience. The Captain-Greneral pointed out to the lady, as best man, that if her brother wished to be reinstated, he had only to demand a public hearing ; but as he held in his hand nine cases of assassination authorised by him, in his own handwriting, Serrano advised her to let matters remain as they were, as, if her brother did come back, he was determined to bring him to justice ; and blandly recommended her to have another ball next week, and invite the palace staff, and he would attend and say no more about it. The advice ivas taken. The service of the mails is admirably performed by the Eoyal Mail Steam Packet Company. Once a month regularly to the hour a steamer arrives and departs, and the service is never interrupted by wind or weather. There is also monthly communication with New York, but it is most uncertain: passen- gers are sometimes kept twenty days waiting for a steamer. The trade with the States is very brisk, notwithstanding what is pretended to be a blockade. In the six days I was at Havana, five steamers laden with cotton and turpentine came in from the Con- federates. One man, the captain of a steamer which brought 700 bales and 1,300 barrels of turpentine. 318 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. told me his steam whistle went off on the bar of the Mississippi, while waiting for the dead of night to run through the blockading squadron, and that no power could stop it for a whole quarter of an hour. Of course he expected the boats to come in and take him, but he ran out, and never saw a sign of a vessel all the way over to Havana. A pretty mockery of a blockade ! Fortunately it is working its own cure ; for when our merchants find, as they have already, that the profit of taking goods into the Confederate States is 400 per cent., and the war insurance charged in England is only 15 per cent., we see the South supplied every week with all they can pay for, any force or blockade to the contrary notwithstanding. The mails from England are made up on the 2nd and I7th of every month, and are taken from Southampton by one of the splendid steamships of the ' Eoyal Mail Steam Packet Company.' This Company has twenty vessels of 29,454 tons, 9,306 horse-power, and 1,667 men. They contract with the Government to carry the mails between England and the West Indies, Gulf of Mexico, and Spanish Main, twice a month, from Southampton, for an aggregate subsidy of 270,000/. per annum, with the Brazil line. After leaving Southampton, the vessels of the West India line proceed direct to EOYAL MAIL STEAM PACKET COMPANY. 319 St. Thomas, and thence to Santa Martha, Car- thagena, and Aspinwall, and from Aspinwall to Grreytown and back. Eeturning, they leave Aspin- wall with the mails and treasure from the west coast of South America, and from California, and, touching only at Carthagena, proceed to St. Thomas, where the entire West Indian mails and the mails and treasure from Mexico have meanwhile been collected ; and thence they proceed direct to South- ampton. The time between Aspinwall and South- ampton occupies twenty-two days. Once a month a branch steamer leaves St. Thomas for Havana, Vera Cruz, and Tampico, with the out mails of the 2nd of the month, brought by the steamer of the trunk line from Southampton to St. Thomas. Eeturning, the mails and treasure are collected at Tampico, Vera Cruz, and Havana, and reach St. Thomas in time to meet the main-line steamer thence to Southampton. Twice a month another steamer proceeds from St. Thomas to Porto Kico, Jacmel, and Jamaica, and back in the same order to St. Thomas, distributing the out mails and collecting the home correspondence. Another steamer leaves St. Thomas twice a month, and proceeds to St. Kitts, Antigua, Gruadalupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbadoes, and 320 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Demerara, and returns in the same order. Another branch steamer, in connection with the last, proceeds from Barbadoes twice a month, to St. Vincent, Car- riacou, Grranada, Trinidad, and Tobago, and back to Barbadoes, by the same route, in time to meet the steamer for St. Thomas. Another steamer leaves Jamaica once a month for Honduras, and back to Jamaica, in connection with that from Jamaica to St. Thomas. Another leaves St. Thomas once a month for Nassau, and back to St. Thomas. The present time of passage by the English steamers from Vera Cruz, touching and remaining a day to coal at Havana, and exchanging steamers with loss of another day, and sometimes more, at St. Thomas, to Southampton, is twenty-seven days. 321 CHAPTER IX. HISTORY OF EYENTS. On the afternoon of January 6, the French and English squadrons anchored off Vera Cruz, and on the 7th the disembarkation of the troops commenced. The French force was estimated at 2,800, the English at 800, men. Add to these 6,300 Spaniards, and you have a total of 9,900 men. On the 9th Greneral Prim, who took the command of the whole, landed. The Zouaves appear to have excited more attention than all the rest of the force ; they are described as a rough, businesslike-looking set of fellows, and able to contend with any Mexican force ten times their number. In less than an hour and a half they were snugly in quarters, baggage and all, and, having been fifty days at sea, they were given * liberty.' In an hour they had put all Vera Cruz in an uproar : they drank, they sang, they danced; still, not a single outrage was committed ; and, although the peaceable T 322 IsOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. inhabitants of Vera Cruz were a little frightened at first, they soon picked up courage when they found that all ended in fun and frolic. As a French officer remarked to me, ' lis sont bons soldats, mais mau- vais citoyens.' The English and the Zouaves, who seemed to fraternise marvellously, were stationed at Tejeria, a few miles from Vera Cruz, and other portions of troops were quartered outside the to^vn, which was greatly overcrowded. On the 10th a proclamation was issued to the Mexican nation ; but its publication and circulation have been strictly prohibited by Grovernment. The following is a translation : — Mexicans — The representatives of England, France, and Spain, fulfill a sacred duty in making you acquainted with their intentions from the moment tliey entered upon Mexican territory. The faith of treaties broken by various successive govern- ments, the personal security of our countrymen constantly threatened, have rendered necessary this expedition. Those deceive you who make you believe that these just and legitimate pretensions are accompanied by plans of conquest, restoration, and intervention in your policy and administration. Three nations who accepted in good faith, and acknow- ledged your independence, are not influenced by imworthy motives, but by noble and generous ones. HISTORY OF EVENTS. 323 The three nations we represent, and whose chief object would appear to be to obtain satisfaction for the ontrages they have suffered, have a higher interest at stake. They offer the hand of friendship to a people upon whom Provi- dence has lavished its best gifts, and who are consuming their strength and vitality in civil wars and perpetual con- vulsions. This is the trv;th ; but we proclaim it, not with the threat of war, but that you may work out your own destiny, which interests us all. You, and you alone, does it concern to reorganise yourselves upon a firm and solid basis ; yoiTrs will be the work of regeneration ; and all will have contri- buted towards it, some with their opinions, others with their talents. The evil is great — the remedy urgent ; now or never you can seciire your happiness. Mexicans, trust to the Allies as to an anchor in the storm, with the utmost confidence in their good faith and rectitude of intention. Fear not unquiet spirits ; your rectitude and decision will confound them, Avhile we shall preside as passive spectators of the grand spectacle of your regeneration, guaranteed by order and liberty. In this light will it be viewed by the Supreme Govern- ment, to whom we address oiu'selves — by the enlightened portion of the nation, to whom Ave speak ; and, as good citizens, you cannot but agree that, laying aside arms, reason, which ought to triumph in the nineteenth century, should prevail. C. L. "Wyke E. Jurien de la Hugh Dunlop Graviere Dubois de S^vligny Conde de Eeuss. Y 2 324 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Leaving on the evening of the 20th, General Milares de Boche, Captain Thomaset, and Captain Tatham, accompanied by three aides-de-camp and four or five servants, delivered their despatches on the following morning to the President, and gave the Grovernment forty-eight hours for deliberation. The exact terms of this ultimatuTn have been kept secret, but its tenour appears to have been a request to allow the Allies to occupy Jalapa and Orizaba, with an intimation that if it was not acceded to force would be em- ployed. Leave was given. That unanimity of opinion did not prevail at head-quarters is beyond all doubt. General Prim and Sir C. Wyke were for temporising, while Admiral Jurien de la Graviere and M. de Saligny were for energetic measures. People who remembered the very decided manner in which Sir C. Wyke some few months back advocated interven- tion, and the glee with which he seized the first opportunity for breaking relations with the Govern- ment, as a means to an end, were naturally surprised at the very conciliatory policy he now seemed in- clined to pursue. That the most perfect understanding existed be- tween the Spanish chief and Her ]\Lajesty's repre- sentative, was proved beyond doubt by a letter from the latter, the substance of which is as follows : — HISTORY OF EVENTS. 325 That the ultimatum sent by the deputy- commissioners is couched in the same conciliatory spirit as the proclamation issued to the nation ; that it is not the wish of the foreign powers in any way to interfere in the form of government the Mexican nation may think fit to select ; that General Prim is a most charming person ; that he is most intimate Avith him ; and that they are perfectly agreed upon all points, although Admiral de la Graviere and M. de Saligny differ ; and he concludes by saying, that in order to satisfy the Mexican Government of the goodness of their intentions, and to give them time, he and General Prim have agreed to 2'>ostpone the consideration of all pjnvate claims to a future occasion. The object of the expedition ought to be to redress the wrongs of individuals ; to obtain the repayment of spoliations extending over a period of twenty-seven years ; to demand satisfaction for the murders of Dr. Duval, Mr. Bodmer, Her Majesty's Consul, Mrs. Chawner, Messrs. Beale, Bennet, Chace, and a host of others ; to prevent the repetition of such outrages as were offered to Messrs. Newall, Davis, Pitman, Selly, and Burnard ; to demand satisfaction for the viola- tion of treaties, the robbery of conductas, the sacking of a legation, the exaction of forced loans, and the illegal expulsion and imprisonment of our country- men : and one can never believe that such a list of grievances can be ignored by a British Government, 326 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. even if such a course be recommended by Her Majesty's representative. Admiral Jurien de la Grravi^re and M, de Saligny were firm in their determination to see equal justice done to all, and it was therefore in them that the hopes of all foreigners were centred. Captain Dunlop, who in the absence of Admiral Milne was one of the Commissioners, inclined to their opinion ; and to satisfy him that no middle course can avail the country in its present emergency, the British mer- chants of the capital forwarded to him the address they presented to Sir C. Wyke, condemning his convention of November 21, in which they clearly pointed out that, as treaties and conventions never have been held sacred, so they never will be, and that the only remedy lies in actual intervention. General Doblado, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, ' offered to enter into an imdertaking for formal guarantees for the satisfaction of British and Spanish claims,' and Spain and England thus obtained a security for the objects of the convention in the pledge of the Mexican Minister. After the adminis- tration of Juarez came into power, proposals for a settlement were sent over to our Government, and they were of such a nature that they could not be regarded without some approval. The communication HISTORY OF EVENTS. 327 was not received, however, until after the combined action with France and Spain had been settled ; and although the proposition still appeared to present a facility for an amicable arrangement, since it showed the feeling of the existing government in Mexico, and indicated terms that might not have been unaccept- able, it was thought advisable to let the negotiations proceed on the other side of the Atlantic under the tripartite convention. Subsequently the Mexican Congress disallowed the draft of the treaty proposed by the Juarez ministry, so that the proposition entirely lapsed. The Allies went to Vera Cruz without acknowledsr- ing Juarez, who is constitutionally President, and from the time Miramon usurped the power of Zuloaga, who usurped that of Comonfort and Juarez, they have done all they could to break up the Re- public. Their acknowledgement of Almonte, who made the infamous treaty with Mon, virtually selling- Mexico to Spain, and at a time when he had no au- thority to make a treaty which has never been rati- fied by Mexico, and never will be, and their refusal to acknowledge La Fuente, who was the true Mexican Minister, and who was in Paris at the time the Mon- Almonte treaty was made, and who in the name of Juarez protested against it all, were the beginning of 328 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. a plot, long seen through, to subvert the regular order and to establish a monarchy in Mexico. This is the treaty the Mexican Grovernment is accused of breaking, and for which it is stigmatised as a non- respecter of treaties, so as to furnish an excuse for armed intervention and dictation. There is much to condemn in the manner in which the expedition was planned and carried out. Spain ought not to have been allowed to take the initiative. The command ought not to have been conferred on a Spanish general, ^^^ly unnecessarily wound the feel- ings of Mexicans, and at the same time hurt the pride of French and English ti'oops ? Let the Mexican nation understand that France and England are the chief movers in the undertaking — that it is to 'preserve their nationality, not to destroy it, that they come — and all would go well. * It was * The Yankees hurried out of the hoiise they had taken. Their men were sick and tired of it ; the officers had won all they wanted (military rank and distinction) in a perfectly successful campaign. They left Mexico a prey to the most perfect anarchy, and the game has been played to the last card. The whole people cry out for security to life and property, and despair of finding it at the hands of their own leaders. Spain they cordially detest, both nationally and individually ; and no wonder, as they hare greater wrongs to redress at her hands than any nation, and the feeling is very intense. Any action of France and England would be cheerfully accepted, and with gratitude ; and any outlay would be amply repaid, as the supply of silver would be doubled and quadrupled if life and property were HISTORY OF EVENTS. 329 easy of accomplisliinent, but not by fighting. The roads positively swarm with banditti. The fact is that poor fellows, dragged by force from their homes to serve in a cause they cordially abhor, desert by hundreds, carry with them their arms, and have no other means of livelihood but the road. The Deputy Commissioners on their way down narrowly escaped being plundered. A party came out with that in- tention, but the escort, which was at a little distance off, galloped up and saved the officers from having to stand and deliver. The second diligence, a short distance in the rear, was stopped, and a cornier from the United States Legation eased of all his despatches. More harmony amongst the Allied commanders, and a more honest attempt on the part of the Grovernments to adhere to the stipulations of the convention, would have saved largely from the loss of life and waste of money which this blunder of Earl Eussell's has even now cost us. Very few persons will feel any disap- pointment at its result. The speculators who were foolish enough to trust to the promises of the half- informed Grovernment organs must take the conse- quences of their credulity. No honest critic could seciired to the undertakers. Nor need an intervention in any way- impair the nationaKty of the country, or its territorial integrity ; and they have that confidence in us, that they have no fear of annexation or spoliation. 330 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. admit the possibility of the success of the expedition. Earl Eussell himself has confessed, plainly enough, that nothing positive was to be obtained from it. The results he proposed to himself in negotiating the convention were purely negative. He saw no good to England from such an intervention, but he thought that by participating in it she might hinder the ambitious projects justly attributed to France and Spain. The result has not justified his Lordship's confidence in his own cleverness. All the evils he dreaded have occurred, in spite of his costly expedient to prevent them. The lives of our poor soldiers and sailors were sacrificed to the yellow fever at Vera Cruz ; the estimates were swelled, as Lord Palmerston told us, in making out this exceptional year, to pre- vent Spain and France from acquiring special influ- ence in Mexico or interfering ■s\dth the constitution of its Government. It turns out now that Spain has no such intention ; but after all our efforts we leave France apparently engaged in a grand scheme for making the Mexicans happy against their own will, and certainly lending her aid to the party which seeks to establish a monarchy upon the ruin of that Ee- public, over the inauguration of which the Liberals of forty years ago wept tears of joy. We hope that, now all fear of disturbing the combination is removed by HISTORY OF EVENTS. 331 its dissolution, the unexampled folly displayed by Earl Eussell in this business will be properly stigmatised as it deserves. His own despatches give conclusive proof that he was thoroughly aware of the certain failure of such an expedition, and that the desire to signalise himself by a masterpiece of cunning was his motive in involving England in this scrape. Whilst we rejoice at the rupture which has taken place between the Allied plenipotentiaries, and most willingly leave to the French the sole danger of bringing the Mexicans to reason, we cannot acquit the French Grovernment of disingenuous conduct. It assented to that article of the convention which binds the contracting powers ' not to exercise in the internal affairs of Mexico any influence of a nature to prejudice the right of the Mexican nation to choose and to constitute freely the form of its Government ; ' and it has ever since the signature of the convention been lending the aid of its influence to the party who seeks to establish a monarchy. Its refusal to ratify the convention of Soledad showed that it had much larger objects than the mere satisfaction for the past and guarantee for the future, assigned in the conven- tion as the object of the intervention; and there seems no reason to doubt, that the final rupture which resulted in the withdrawal of the Spaniards was 332 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-62. caused by the determination of the French plenipo- tentiaries to march upon Mexico under any circum- stances, and the protection which they persistently gave to the party which avowed its intention to establish the Church dominion. It is certain that General Prim would not have withdrawn from the expedition for trifling departures from the terms of the convention, and his letter from Orizaba probably states the main facts fairly enough. The French Commissioners have instructions which are quite inconsistent with the convention, and they have allied themselves with a few traitors, headed by General Almonte, against the legitimate govern- ment of Juarez, which they have themselves re- cognised, and with which they are not even yet professedly at war. The interference of the Captain- General of Cuba, announced with so great a flourish by the * Moniteur,' was not likely to be brooked by the Conde de Eeuss, who, independent of the strength which his great popularity gives him, can hardly be under Serrano's orders ; and the Spanish Government sustained a resolution to which Spanish pride naturally responded. The French will, therefore, be left alone to finish the work, whatever that ma}'- be, which their Govern- ment has undertaken. England will watch their HISTORY OF EVENTS. 333 course without the slightest jealousy. It is not true that the French have grievances which justify them in subverting the Mexican Government and reducing the country to be a dependency or a satellite of France. The pecuniary claims of French subjects are infinitesimal compared with those of the English, and the wrongs they have sustained have been of the sort to which every inhabitant of Mexico, native or foreigner, has been continually exposed for the last twenty years. No doubt these outrages, if committed in a country where the Grovernment could be said to have any real responsibility, might, if redress were denied, furnish a casus belli ; but it is preposterous to hold the helpless Mexican Grovernment responsible for outrages it cannot prevent, and for which, besides, it is anxious to give satisfaction. We cannot bid our neighbours lay the flattering unction to their souls that they are in Mexico for a cause in which the honour and interest of France are involved, and still less can we encourage them by holding out any prospect of success at all correspondent to the sacri- fices which they will have to incur. Half a dozen victories over the ragged regiments of Mexicans, let them be as bloody as the great ones of the First Empire, would add nothing to that glory of which France has already quite enough. Greneral Lorencez 334 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. will, no doubt, reach Mexico ; hut Avhat can he do when he gets there ? He may order a plebiscite and elect an emperor, but his majesty will only be recognised within the range of his protector's out- posts. The French cannot occupy the whole country. To hold its most important points will require an army of 80,000 or 100,000 men, which would need continual reinforcements. European soldiers will not suffer much from the resistance of the Mexicans, but they will fall victims in thousands to the Mexican climate. WTiat advantage can France derive from this occupation ? What order she does establish will turn to the profit of the two nations which have backed out of the intervention. She cannot make the country pay for it. And, despite M, Michel Chevalier's ingenious theory about France being the protector of the Latin and Catholic races, all the Emperor's services to the Church in Mexico would not weigh with fervent French Catholics against the abandonment of the Pope. Is France in a position to bear such burdens ? Many members of the Legislative Chamber have protested against the oc- cupation of Eome on account of its cost. Will the country look with any complacency upon the enormous charge which even the maintenance of the inadequate force now in Mexico imposes ? This Mexican expedi- HISTORY OP EYENTS. 335 tion is not popular. It appeals to no popular passion, it promises no sterling advantage. The organs of independent French opinion go so far as to assert that the encouragement given from England to France to persevere in this expedition is dictated by a desire to 8ee a rival involved in difficulties and disasters, whilst England must reap all the fruits of her labours. There is, of course, no such feeling entertained, but the suspicion is only natural on the part of men who , recognise that France has no interest in the enormous undertaking recommended to her. "We hope, for the sake of France, that the French Commissioners have misunderstood their instructions, and that this great and gallant nation is not going to pour its blood and treasure into this foul sink. In obedience to the impatient demand of the public for information, the journals of Paris discuss the curious turn which affairs have taken in Mexico ; but they do so in a manner which betrays alike the uneasiness of the public and the perplexity of the writers, whose attempts at explanation have thus far only multiplied the errors. The ' Opinion Nationale ' represents England and Spain as * separating them- selves from France,' and hopes to find that the grounds stated by General Prim and the English press are ' calumnies ' against the French Grovern- 336 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. ment — a very intelligible mode of hiutiDg the alarm occasioned in Paris by the course which the French Commander has adopted. France does not want a new Algeria in the swamps of Mexico, and protests that the indifference with which French movements in that quarter are viewed in England is in itself a proof that the dangers of the expedition far outweigh its profits. Were the undertaking profitable, of course perfidious Albion would have a finger in the pie, or she would not take it so coolly. The ' Constitutionnel ' reproduces passages from the speeches delivered from the throne by the Sovereigns of Spain, France, and England, in order to point the question on what ground two of the Grovernments have ' retreated ' before * the accomplishment of a duty,' at a time 'when the blood was about to flow.' * France,' says the same writer, proceeds not 'to a conquest, but to the deliverance of a people.' Certainly that was not the original purpose of the convention between the Three Powers. Now that people know the truth with respect to the monarchical intentions of France, with one voice the Liberal party condemn the line of policy she is adopting, whilst the conduct of England and Spain is HISTORY OF EVENTS. 337 universally approved of. The ' Constitutionnel' main- tains that it is the mission of France to deliver nations and succour the oppressed ; in a word, to render Mexico to herself. But Mexico, whatever M. Paulin Limayrac may say, has not asked for such an intervention, which is absolutely contrary to the very speeches he quotes. The Emperor said on January 27, both to the Senate and the Corps Legislatif, that the conduct of an un- scrupulous government had obliged France to join with England and Spain to protect her subjects, and put down the attempts made against humanity and the rights of nations. Queen Victoria, on February 26, declared that the convention of the Three Powers was for the purpose of obtaining satisfaction for the violent acts committed by different persons, under successive governments, in Mexico, upon the foreigners resident upon the Mexican territory. The Queen of Spain announced to the Cortes, on November 12, that Spain, England, and France had agreed to obtain reparation, and to prevent the repetition of conduct which had outraged humanity and scandal- ised the world. The question was therefore to protect the rights of nations, and not to overthrow the Mexican Eepublic and replace it by a monarchy. Nobody could have entertained such an idea at the time, especially as France was sufficiently busy z 338 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. herself not to engage in dictating laws to eight mil- lions of men inhabiting a country situated between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. M. Paulin Limayrac humorously compares the retreat of the English and Spanish troops * to the departure of firemen at the height of a fire.' But if fire there is, pray who lighted it?* y Although abandoned on this ground by its two allies, the French Government seems to persist in its project of establishing a monarchy in Mexico. The difficulty is not to install at first a monarchical government in the capital, and to obtain in its favour a vote, more or less sincere, from the natives. Universal suffrage, in countries which are not prepared for it by long experience of political life, is an instrument which can be made to render any sound that may be wished for ; and the votes of the kingdom of Naples show us what that system is worth when it works under the influence of militaiy occupation. But, the voting once accomplished, the Archduke MaximiHan or any other candidate once proclaimed sovereign and established in Mexico, how should his power be maintained ? The example of Iturbide shows us what length of time a monarchy lasts when left to its o^vn resources on the soil of Mexico. And this example is the more striking, since Iturbide profited, to strengthen his power, by conditions which will not be so favourable to a foreign prince. He * In Lord Malmesbury's speech, pp. 402-3, will be found due notice of this. HISTORY OF EVENTS. 339 was a native, and he shared all the instincts and all the passions of the country ; in fact, it was his sword that had achieved the national independence. If anyone could have solidly established the monarchical principle in Mexico, it was certainly he, and his rule did not last two years ! To give some strength and some period of life to the new royalty, it will be necessary that the power to be consti- tuted its protectress — that is, France — shall fiirnish for several years, impossible to reckon in advance, an army and a budget — an army to keep the country in order, to prevent new revolts, and a return to anarchy — a budget, for the financial resources of Mexico are absolutely ex- hausted, and several years will be required to revive them. If it be wished to obtain a definitive result, and to act in such a manner that the royal authority may not be exclu- sively confined within the limited space between Vera Cruz and Mexico, but shall extend everywhere, and that the country may not be dismembered amid the convulsions of a civil war, it will be necessary that the army of occu- pation should not number less than 100,000 men. The sovereign authority established by the aid of Europe will really exist only on the spot where the troops placed at its service may be encamped. How can we believe that it reqiures but the word ' monarchy ' to pacify in an instant a country so completely unsettled as Mexico ? The in- stallation of royalty will not dissipate the ambition, the hatred, or the passions which have produced internal discord. The chiefs of the democratic camp — adventurers interested in every disorder, pretenders to power — will not vanish before this magic word. Mexico will be held, Z 2 340 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. but not tlie provinces ; and the Slexicans, like those Eomans of the decline, of whom Tacitus speaks, have learnt by experience that a power destined to triumph can be created elsewhere than in the capital. Unless the Avhole country be occupied, almost a miracle would be necessary to escape the prominciamiejitos indefinitely repeated by all those who might think themselves aggrieved by the new system of government. Royalty would reckon hardly a few months of existence before finding itself in the situation in which Miramon found himself during two years, and Juarez ailer his victory, almost besieged in Mexico, and obliged to oppose on every side bands of malcontents grown every day more numerous. Movable columns, weU-organised, would certainly overcome those bands in the neighbourhood of the capital ; but it would not be so everywhere. Mexico is an immense country, of which many parts are almost in- accessible. "Without a complete and pemianent occupation, how could a new Alvarez be prevented from raising the standard of revolt in his State of Guerraro, the fiery climate of which destroys Eiu'opeans, or in any other distant State, and from proclaiming himself independent, if he did not succeed in marching even on Mexico itself with success? Let us admit, what is hardly probable, that fatigue and the necessity for order after so many civil wars should decide the Mexicans to accept the royalty which M. Dubois de Saligny brings them, and to recognise, without dispute, authority from one end of the country to the otlier. Do people think they wiU have constructed a solid work — one, the duration of which Avould not require from us still more pain and still more trouble ? The taint of a foreign origin HISTORY OF EVENTS. 341 is fatal to every such government, and not one can resist the effects of this reproach, even when it is not merited. How much time was required in order that the Restoration — whicli France herself had invited, and which saved her from dismemberment ; which had restored her finances, destroyed under the Empire ; which, five years after the invasion and the disasters of 1815, had given her back an army and a fleet ; which, finally, had given her liberty — how much time was required in order that this govern- ment should fall under the absurd reproach of having been brought back in the baggage-wagons of the foreigner ? Now, what government would be a foreign one ? That which troops have gone to install in Mexico. France has but one interest in Mexico. The security of such of our countrymen as are established there in sufficient number in order to make their fortune. There is no deed of monarchy to give them this sectuity. The guarantees can be equally fomid in a conservative and re- gular government with republican forms. Of all foreigners the French have, up to the present, been the most consi- dered in Mexico, and, comparatively, the most respected. Should we not be endangering the situation by too direct an intervention in the internal alFairs of the Mexican people, and should we not be incurring the risks, by supporting with a French army the establishment of a government repugnant to the instincts of the country, of changing the good-will towards our nation into anger and resentment, which would nullify all the guarantees that constituted authority could give us ? The establishment of a monarchy in Mexico would 342 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. be no defence against the encroachments of the United States of America ; on the contrary, it would precipitate annexation, besides placing France in antagonism with the American Kepublic, and any foreign monarchy would be attended with insur- mountable difficulties and dangers. Certainly the Archduke INIaximilian is a very distin- guished prince ; he has given proof of moderation and wisdom in Lombardy, and he is admirably fitted for a throne in Germany. But what interest can France have in giving herself all this trouble to bestow a crown on a prince of the House of Austria? It surely cannot be that the French Government hopes by it to promote the solution of the Venetian question. The Austrian Government has formally denied that there was any connection between the two ; and we readily believe it, for it would be madness for Austria to barter Venetia for the crown of Iturbide. Besides, Austria is menaced enough to keep her most distinguished princes at home, and not to see them involved in perilous adventures beyond sea, hunting after a fantastic sceptre. If the French Government have really thought of the Aj-chduke Maximihan, it must have some other and some secret motive for the scheme. The sole object France should have in view is to obtain satisfaction for the injuries done her by ' a corrupt and despotic government under the mask of liberty,' and to assist the people in giving themselves a regular government without doing violence to HISTORY OF EVENTS. 343 their usages and habits. ' Why seek for any other ? ' The ' Constitutionnel ' writes : — Two years ago France lost the opportunity of obtaining the result by sustaining Miramon against Juarez. But, although more difficult than this, the task is not impossible. Instead of dreaming of the foundation of a monarchy which cannot live, and which would be only a source of compli- cations unceasingly renewed, let France, without changing the basis of the social organisation of Mexico, accomplish, under republican forms, the work of political and moral regeneration. In this way the end towards which our country bends will be fulfilled, order may be solidly re- established in Mexico, national susceptibilities will not be hurt, and, at the same time that France will have acquired guarantees for the security of her interests in future, she will have definitely attached to herself the Mexican nation by the closest ties of gratitude. We do not dream of any other role for France in these distant countries ; and we should wish to see her Government accept, as a conclusion of the successes which soon will crown her arms, in spite of all obstacles, this line of conduct — more simple, more economical, and less adventurous. But there is a much broader and longer programme before the Allies, which they must at once set about realising. Mexico is to be revolutionised ; the actual Government at the capital is to be displaced ; the wrongs of Europeans are to be redressed ; fresh 344 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. guarantees for peace and order are to be exacted ; a new political system is to be established. These arrangements of the treaty demand as a preliminary the subjugation of the entire country and people. It will be necessary to do more than reduce the capital: every important town, seaport and inland, must be held by the invaders before any part of their plans can be carried out. And of this, what is the promise ? Slight, indeed. Already they feel the pinch of popular hatred. The entire district is alive with implacable enemies. The supplies of fresh food from the in- terior are entirely suspended. It is intimated that a strong detachment of troops was despatched the other day to disperse the Mexican bands, who hold all the roads leading from the city, and that they were so vigorously attacked as to retreat in confusion within the walls. Other expeditions of great strength were organising with a view to clearing the State of the guerillas ; but nothing has yet been effected, and the fact remains, that beyond the reach of their guns the Allies have nothing but swarming and relentless enemies. And this must be their experience upon every step in advance they may succeed in making. Not only is the entire district held by the INIexicans, but when the two roads leading toward the capital approach the mountains, all the narrow passages and HISTORY OF EVENTS. 345 eminently defensible points are occupied by veteran soldiers, schooled in protracted civil wars, and led by the ablest generals of the Eepublic. All that en- gineering skill can do to make those passes imprac- ticable has, we are assured, been done. They can only be carried with a fearful sacrifice of life, and by numbers much exceeding the encamped force now available for the assault. One of the most discouraging and unexpected in- dications of the campaign is the unanimity of the Mexican people. There is no doubt that Almonte and Miramon gave the Government pledges of the exist- ence of a powerful party in the State ready to take arms, and hail the new comers as liberators. No such party manifests itself. The reactionists have thrown themselves almost to a man into the patriotic ranks ; their leaders stand ready to fight at the side of the same generals against whom they have been urging a pitiless war. Mexico, in this critical hour of her history, is a unit. The Allies will have to contend against 150,000 men expert in arms, not ill- provided, furnished with some show of artillery, and, what is of more consequence, actuated by an irrecon- cilable hatred of all foreigners, and of those chiefly who come at the moment of the Eepublic's utmost prostration to strip it of independence. 346 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Of the odds of such a contest there can be small doubt. The French will find they have undertaken an impossible task. There will come a time when they will seek every avenue of escape from an entan- glement into which selfish ambition has betrayed them. That time will be the opportunity of the United States ; for to the mediation of that Govern- ment, as the one most intimate and influential with that of Mexico, the Allies will naturally resort, and will be prepared to accept any honourable conditions that shall extricate them from a false position. And it will be no matter of surprise if the solution be found eventually in the suggestion of Mr. Seward, that the United States, after obtaining proper securities and territorial liens from Mexico, ' shall assume the foreign debt of the Eepublic, and send those obstre- perous and baffled bailiffs about their business.' In the recital of Mexican grievances which is given in the address of Congress to the President of the Republic, will be seen that England is specially — indeed exclusively — pointed to as the author of the existing troubles. The Speaker of the Mexican Legislature, let it be observed, dwells with strong emphasis on the cause of the rupture with the British Government. He points out that the pro- posals made in the negotiations with that power, HISTOKY OF EVENTS. 347 which succeeded the decree of July 23 for suspending for two years all payments on account of diplomatic conventions, were of a nature, apart from merely fiscal considerations, which no nation having the slightest pretensions to self-respect could possibly accede to. And in this opinion most disinterested on-lookers will be disposed, at least partially, to agree. The British Minister, in short, proposed to put the stamp of his Government upon the bonds emitted as security for the payment of its indebtedness by the authority of the Mexican Congress. The signa- ture of the Finance Minister of the Eepublic was to be of no value, unless flanked by that of the agent of the English creditors : and as well might the Mexican authorities at once have assented to the appointment of an English receiver, as become parties to a treaty which threw the entire financial control of the Ee- public into foreign hands. Whether we agree with the President of the Mexican Congress or not, the fact remains, that while England claims to be the largest creditor and the heaviest sufferer at the hands of Mexico, her move- ments thus far, as one of the parties to the invading alliance, are either eclipsed as to their magnitude by France and Spain, from want of timely preparation, or have been studiously held in abeyance for ulterior 348 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. political objects, the scope of which is not yet ap- parent. Meanwhile, it is important not to lose sight of the original purport of the tripartite agreement by which the invaders of Mexico are supposed to govern their actions. The treaty between England, France, and Spain was signed in London on October 23. It started by professing that the contracting powers were to send equal naval forces, the number of troops sent by each power to be proportioned to the number of its subjects resident in Mexico. The powers also solemnly declare that they will not meddle with the internal politics of the Eepublic, but will only demand payment of sums due to European governments and individuals ; in case of refusal of payment, they will take possession of the Mexican ports, one half of whose revenues shall go toward the payment of foreign creditors, and one half be left to the Mexican Grovernment. The ports are not to be occupied permanently, but only as a sort of pledge. In case of a refusal by Mexico to grant the required stipulations, the commanders of the three squadrons are to take measures in common to secure a settle- ment; none have the power to bargain for special advantages. An effort at pacification between the domestic factions is to be attempted, but the Mexicans are to be left entirely free as to their mSTORr OF EVENTS. 349 choice of government, whether monarchical or re- publican. These are the main provisions of the treaty, and if we lose sight of them, we shall forget at what particular points, and how far, the Allied powers have diverged from the line they marked out for themselves at starting. We have pointed to the dilatoriness of England to make a display in force at the main landing-point. This, however, sus- picious as it may appear, was remedied. But what are we to say of the attempt at pacification proposed in the treaty ? If we are to credit the reports from the interior, the Mexican factions are already united without the aid of the foreign pacifi- cators. And this union, instead of being ascribed to friendly counsel on the part of the invaders, is at- tributed solely to the hostile occupation of the chief port of the Eepublic. It is true we must receive all such reports of domestic harmony with large allowance. The Clerical party could hardly expect to be a loser either in point of influence or income in a reconquest of the country by France. For the time, the reactionary party will naturally find its interest to lie in neutrality, until the objects of the alliance are more fully deve- loped, and the chances of successful invasion become 350 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. more apparent than they are now. Be this as it may, the task which the Allies marked out for themselves will become more difficult the farther it is pursued. Already the interior of the country swarms on every hand with hordes of native guerillas, and the contingents from the various States, amounting to 52,000 men, are readily turning out at the summons of the President. Everything, indeed, betokens that, in spite of tripartite treaties and pacific avowals, before matters in Mexico are mended, they will yet be many degrees worse than they are to-day. The Mexican war has expanded to a first-rate political question. It has shown, not feeble half-castes flying before two or three regiments, but an army posted in a difficult country, which has to be dealt with. It cannot be doubted that the French troops have received one, if not two, checks, and that the capture of Mexico and the establishment of the monarchical faction in power is not likely to be ac- complished until the large reinforcements arrive which have been sent from France. The news from Mexico, taken in connection with the recent speeches on the French expedition in the Corps Legislatif at Paris, must awaken serious doubts in the Emperor's mind as to his ability to conquer that country. Although the French have HISTOKT OF EVENTS. 351 all along been disputing the plain statements of Grenerals Zaragosa and Beriozabal concerning the defeat of the expeditionary army at Puebla, they have ever since that battle been content to remain entrenched at Orizaba, without attempting to advance again on the road to the city of Mexico. The Mexicans, becoming tired of this state of inaction, resolved to bring matters to a crisis, and accordingly summoned Count Lorencez, the French Commander- in-Chief, to capitulate on easy terms. The French Greneral evaded this demand, and the result was that a combined attack on Orizaba was planned by the Mexican commanders, which, had it been carried out with skill and decision, would have finally ended the French schemes of conquest in Mexico. General Gronzalez Ortega was sent forward with his forces to the Cerro de Barrego, a high position, command- ing the city of Orizaba, and there at six o'clock in the evening of June 14 he took up his position, planted his batteries, and prepared for an attack on the French camp at an early hour next morning. After this the Mexicans went to sleep and did not awake from their sweet slumbers until the French were in their camp, at one o'clock on a dark morning, and their guns were turned upon themselves. They were so surprised that they could make little or no 352 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. resistance, and in the thick gloom they could not see their assailants; and thus the whole plan of the Mexican attack on Orizaba fell to the ground. The following order of the day was published after the retreat from Puebla to Orizaba had been success- fully performed. Soldiers and Marines, — Your marcli upon Mexico has been delayed by material obstacles which you were far from expecting, according to the information that was o-iven. A hundred times you were told that the city of Puebla called you with anxiety, and that the inhabitants would rush to embrace you and crown you with flowers. We have presented ourselves before Puebla with the con- fidence inspired by this deceptive appearance. The city was found enclosed by barricades and commanded by a fort, where every means of defence had been accumulated. Your field-artillery was not sufficient to open a breach in the breastworks, and for that there would have been required siege material. Not having this, but confiding in your dauntlessness, you were precipitated upon fortifications defended by an immense artillery and a triple file of musketry, whilst at the same time you had to sustain upon your flanks the attacks of many Mexican battalions and a large number of cavalry. You have done Avliat French soldiers know how to do, as the walls of Guadalupe testify. A heavy rain came on which inundated the soil and made the heights inaccessible, rendering it impossible to renew the attack ; but the Emperor will know how to appreciate your efibrts. HISTORY OF EYENTS. 353 Yes, all I have told you is true. You have been deceived, as well as His JMajesty the Emperor, and you have been obliged to defend yourselves even against those who have sympathies for you. But deceived France will know how to recognise her error ; for your sovereign is too great to do wrong. He himself has said — * Justice everywhere accompanies the French flag.' LORENCEZ. Orizaba: May 21, 1862. The official despatch of General Ortega, who com- manded the Mexican forces on the hill of Borrego, and which we are obliged to condense, tells a very different story from the version of the Franco-Mexican bulletin. The General says that as soon as he occu- pied the hill he made arrangements for attacking the Angostura gate of Orizaba, planting four pieces of light artillery within pistol-shot range, supported by the requisite infantry force under the immediate com- mand of Gonzalez de la Llave. His main body was at the town of Jesus INIaria, about five miles from the hill, and the only force he had with him was the fourth Zacatecan regiment, two companies of the second, and a Durango battalion. The attack was to be made next day, and the officers in charge of the position thought they might take it easily, and actu- ally went to sleep on their post. They were roused .by the attack of the French, who got possession A A 354 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. of the four pieces of cannon without the slightest trouble, and turned them on the bewildered Zaca- tecans with most damaging effect. In the confusion which ensued^ all, or nearly all, his principal officers were killed or wounded. The night was pitch dark, and the General says — ' I used my voice, in the midst of that dreadful and fatal confusion, as a banner to my soldiers.' It came near costing him his life, however, for a French soldier sought out that famous voice, and wounded the gallant Greneral in the shoulder with his bayonet. He says the enemy were repulsed when they reached the top of the hill ; but under all the circumstances, he was obliged to retire, which he did in good order. He estimates his loss at from 400 to 500 men in killed and wounded, probably one-third of his force engaged. The French suffered him to retreat without molesting him much, and he says he was ready next day to renew the previous day's plan of attack, with the re- giments that had not 3''et had ' the honour of firing a shot in their country's defence.' General de la Llave, his second in command, was among the wounded. This despatch is addressed to General Mejia, and explains fully how and why the Mexicans were driven from their position by a mere handful cf their enemies. HISTORY OF EVENTS. 355 I subjoin the official correspondence that passed on this affair. From the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the East. June 13, 1862. As I have already informed this department, the army imder my command began to move upon the city of Orizaba on tlie lltli inst. I expected that tlie enemy would have made some defence at El Ingenio ; but he abandoned it on the ajjproach of our troops, and we occupied it with our forces. [He then details the regiments so occupying the place.] Acting on the decision of the SujDreme Government, I addressed General Lorencez, proposing to him the honour- able capitulation expressed in the subjoined note numbered 1. That officer refused, as will be seen by Document No. 2, to enter into any negotiation, stating that all the power in this matter had been conferred on Monsieur de Saligny. Consequently I have resolved to commence an attack on the city to-morrow, as the only means which, after exhausting all the eiforts of peace and conciliation, remains to put an end to a situation of affairs which is causing so many evils to the Republic. You will please bring this to the notice of the Presi- dent, &c. &c. I. Zaragosa. To tlie Minister of War. Document No. 1. Head-quarters in Tecamaluca : June 12, 1862. I have reason to believe that you and the officers of the division under your command have sent a protest to the A A 2 356 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Emperor of the French against the conduct of the Minister Saligny, for having brought about an expedition against a people which, ixp to the present time, have been the best friends of the French nation. This circiunstance, and the knowledge of the difficult position of the French army, as well as the desire to afford it an honourable retreat, have decided me to propose a capitulation to jon, the principal basis of which shall be the evacuation of the territory of the Republic within a time agreed upon. I believe that my Government Avill not question this new manifestation for peace, because, Avithout transcending' my powers, I may avoid the shedding of the blood of the sons of two nations, whom only error and intrigue could cause to appear together as enemies ; and this has been the idea of the constitutional Cabinet ever since the beginning of the invasion. If this oifer is not accepted, I will have fulfilled my last duty in the way of humanity, and I will proceed to comply Avith the orders Avhich I have received, throwing the respon- sibility of whatever may arise solely on those who have in- sisted on an undertaking condemned by reason and justice. To the Commander-in-Chief of the I. ZarAGOSA. French Forces in Mexico, at Orizaba. Document No. 2. expeditionary corps to mexico. Quarters of the Commander-in-Chief. Orizaba : June 12, 1862. The Commander-in-Chief of the French troops in Mexico, not finding himself invested by his Government with HISTORY OF EVENTS. 357 political powers, all of wliicli have been conferred on M. de Saligny, it is impossible for him to enter into the negotia- tions proposed to liim by General Zaragosa. The Minister of France is the only person who has authority to receive propositions of this kind. The General Count de Lorencez. Army of the East. From the Commander-in-Chief: — In pursuance of the express orders for the attack on Orizaba, the brigades and divisions were moved to their various positions, but, for causes of which I am ignorant up to the present moment. General Jesus Gonzalez Ortega did not occupy the Cerro del Barrego at half-past eleven on the 13th — the hour which had been fixed for a combined attack on the Angostura — which pass it was necessary to force, directing our strength against the right flank of the enemy, aided by the Cerro itself, so as to develope the attack, after having reduced the enemy only to the pre- cincts of the city. The Cerro before mentioned having been occupied in the afternoon, and there being no time to establish our camp with entire security, I came to a halt with the rest of the army, covering my left with the brigade of Antillon, my right with the division of Beriozabal, and the centre with the division of Negrete, and delayed the attack until day- light to-day, so as to carry out the combined operations already arranged. It unfortunately occurred, according to the information I 358 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. have received fi-om varioiis officers of Ortega's division, that through neglect the enemy surprised a part of that division in the darkness of early morning, dislodging them from their position, and, consequently, their cooperation was waited for in vain at the hour fixed for the attack. The fire of our artillery Avas replied to by that of the enemy, who firmly maintained himself, being assured of the safety of his flank, which was to have been threatened ; and with this confidence he advanced a column upon my line, which, however, we repidsed completely. During the rest of the day there was only occasional fii'ing fi-om the artillery and infantry both on one side and the other ; the casualties on our side not amounting to more than fi-om eighteen to twenty wounded, the most of them severely. Among these were several officers, and General Santiago Tapia, who, early in the contest, received a slight wound in the foot. The facts which I have stated prevented me fi-ora beginning an attack, which might under the circumstances have been disastrous to our arms, and I therefore retired on El Ingenio, where I will await the enemy to fight him with advantage; but if he remains in Orizaba, I will dispose my troops in convenient quarters. Liberty and Reform, &c. I. Zahagosa. To tho Minister of War, &c. &e. It will be a salutary lesson to tLem to be more vigilant for the future. They require a few more lessons in war. The advantage thus gained by the iriSTORY OF EVENTS. 359 French is, however, of no importance whatever, except that when the news — magnified and exagge- rated — reached France, it excited the pride of the people and caused the war to be more popular. Such a result makes things worse for the French — the passions of the antagonists are farther excited, and the war of necessity more intensified. The Mexicans are on the spot with their millions, and even now we hear that 14,000 determined men are preparing to make an united attack on the common enemy. To carry out the war successfully Napoleon will need no less than 100,000 men, and even then his chances of success would be doubtful. In June last the French troops at Orizaba had a train of some 200 large wagons that were being loaded with provisions, and some of them had already been put on the road. During the first days of the month something like 100 wagons were sent off under the escort of a French guard, and 200 or 300 Mexicans. These reached Orizaba in safety, but other small lots have been attacked by parties of guerillas of the Juarez party, and considerable damage has been done. One lot of twenty wagons, loaded with powder and flour, was fired upon the other day, and nearly the whole of the teamsters were killed. The small escort ran off at the first discharge and left the wasrons 360 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. to their fate. Two French officers, who were going up with this train, to escape from the vomito of this city, were shot, as well as two French vivandieres. These poor females were shown no consideration, but were killed, and persons who have seen their bodies lying with the rest of the dead in the road, say they were horribly disfigured and mutilated, and stripped of clothing. The wagons of this train were destroyed, the powder blown up, and all the rest of the cargo destroyed or carried off. In consequence of this reverse, and on account of the inability to send French escorts from there, the French Commander of Vera Cruz has ordered the return of sixty wagons that were already on the point of starting from the raikoad terminus at Tejeria, and those wagons are aeain within the walls of Vera Cruz. The French troops at Orizaba, however, have provisions enough to last them for nearly two months : but they will be in want again, as, in addition to Mexican gue- rillas, they will soon have the rainy season to contend with. The following is the expose des motifs of the bill demanding supplementary credits for the expedition to Mexico by Count de Morny : — Gextlemkn, — 1)1 the Emperor's spcecli to the great bodies of the State on January 27 last, this phrase occurs : — HISTORY OF EVENTS. 361 We should not be engaged in a struggle with anyone at present, if in Mexico the proceedings of an unscrupulous government had not obliged us to join with SjDain and England for the protection of our countrymen and for the repression of violent acts against humanity and the law of nations. In the interval which has elapsed since that time England and Spain have thought fit to ivithdraw their troops from Mexico, and a small French corps of 7,000 men has remained to continue alone the operations commenced in common. That body of men, notwithstanding its very moderate number, will not fail in its mission of civilisation, but will issue victoriously, we are quite convinced, from the trials which may await it. But, whatever may be our confidence in its ultimate success, prudence always com- mands us to place ourselves in a position to provide against all eventualities of war; and it is with that object that the Government ajDj^lies to the Legislative body before the session terminates for the credits necessary to convey, according as they may be required, such reinforcements in men and stores as may be found indispensable. The first reinforcements will be sent out at once. Such is the object of the hill for supplementary credits which we now present — 7,000,000 f. being for the war department, and 8,000,000 f. for that of the marine. It is well understood that the said credits cannot receive any other destination than the expedition to Mexico. ' On every point where our flag is engaged,' says the Keport of the Committee on the Budget, 362 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. ' we will support it energetically.' The Government expected nothing else from the patriotism of the Legislative body, and the firm confidence that an unanimous response would be given to the appeal now made to it has not been disappointed. The French and their Mexican allies continued fortifying themselves at Orizaba and Cordova, whilst the Mexicans were gathering great forces around them, and Generals Gonzalez Ortega, Llave, Carvajal, and Zaragosa, demanded the capitulation of the enemy. All the roads from Vera Cruz to Orizaba are infested with guerillas, who do considerable damage, inter- cepting the bearers of despatches, and making al- most impossible the remittance to the French of the stores and provisions received at Vera Cruz by the frigates. Several diligencias had been detained on their way to Orizaba and carried by the Mexicans to Jalapa. On June 11a great convoy, composed of more than twenty wagons, with arms and powder, was surprised by the guerillas in the neighbourhood of Tejeria ; the INIexicans took possession of all, rout- ing the escort and carrying off more than 200 mules, after the explosion of all the powder, though it must be supposed that this last act was not intentional. General Douay attempted to send reinforcements, including some negroes, from Martinique, but they HISTORY OF EVENTS. 363 were forced to retreat to Vera Cruz, as the guerillas were in possession of the principal passes. The guerillas are intercepting the introduction of all kinds of vegetables and country produce from this market. On Sunday, June 12, they seized the railroad train coming from Medellin, and carried the passen- gers back to that place. Mr. Lyons, the Director of the road, and Mr. Moran were on the train, and were made to take a long journey on foot, but were finally set at liberty. The object appears to have been simply to prevent the railroad from being used for the aid or comfort of their enemies inside the walls, although the effect of this molestation is to make the poor natives suffer more than foreigners. Mejia, the Clergy leader of the Sierra, has taken Queretaro, and Lozada is again in power in the canton of Tepic. It is said the last political change was brought about by the merchants of Tepic, who, finding they could make better arrangements with Lozada than with Eojas, turned the influence of their purses in favour of the former. In Aguas Calientes and Zacatecas large bands of robbers have taken advan- tage of the disorders of the times, and are desolating the country in the name of ' intervention.' In the valley of Mexico they have had intervention in the houses of several private residents. One of the paper 364 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. factories belonging to foreig-n residents was lately broken into. The Mexican steamer ' Constitution ' was manned and sent to Alvarado to force the Government there to declare for Almonte. The inhabitants of Alvarado refused, and drove the steamer off. She then went to Tlacotalpan with the same result. The French man-of-war 'L'Eclair' was sent to Campeche on a like errand with a like result, for after exchanging a few shots with the castle of San Luis, and molesting the commerce for a few days, she left. The French man-of-war ' Bayonnaise ' went to Mazatlan and ordered the Government to declare for Almonte, threatening force ; it was refused, and she left. Admiral Jurien de la Graviere returns to Mexico to resume his functions as head of the naval station. He attended the Cabinet Council held on Wednesday, June 6, and it appears is in greater favour than ever. 12,000 fresh troops are going out at once. There are already about 4,000 men in or about Amazoc ; so that, with the additional reinforcements to be despatched at a later period, the whole force for this second ' Conquest of Mexico ' will be about 20,000 men. General Almonte had declared that the population would meet them half-way to receive them as libera- HISTORY OF EVENTS. 365 tors. It was on the faith of those promises that their little army, though weakened by the departure of the Spaniards, began its march in Mexico. All these joro- mises 'proved illusory. Not only has the population of Puebla not stirred, but the famous pronunciamiento of Orizaba had nothing serious in it. The data on which the French were to act do not exist, and their intervention has no longer any ground to stand on. The government of Juarez, of whatever kind it be, is relatively the most stable and the most 'popular of all those that have followed each other in Mexico for the lastfortij yectrs, for it has not vanished before the courage and prestige of the French soldier, like the Miramons and Santa Annas before the first Mexican who showed energy and will. What has been checked at Guadalupe is not the valour of the French soldiers ; it is the idea of intervention. The soldiers advanced on the faith of fallacious promises; they counted on the cooperation of the population ; that cooperation has been found wanting, and the re- sponsibility of the situation falls entirely on those who had promised it. As we have seen, on June 4 the French attacked Puebla, and after a severe action were forced to retire, with the loss of some 1,000 killed and wounded, and 200 Zouaves, who were taken 366 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. prisoners. The following day (the 5th) the French made a new effort to take the place, and were again defeated with heavy loss. The French were 4,000 strong, and their movements were directed by Greneral Lorencez in person. The second regiment of Zouaves, who so gallantly attempted to carry the Mexican batteries at Gruada- lupe, is one of the regiments whose colours are decorated for distinguished merit. It was at the battle of Magenta that the corps earned this distinc- tion, which is never conferred except where colours are taken froin the enemy. After events of so remarkable a character, Don Juan Almonte, * Supreme Chief ' of the Mexican nation, could do no less than issue another proclama- tion to his ' fellow citizens,' in which he tells them that the unconquerable Frenchmen ' defend the cause of the independence and nationality of Mexico,' and in which his own countrymen of the Mexican army are called ' vandalic hordes,' their generals ' notorious for their crimes against society,' and the cause which they defend ' infamous.' According to this production, Zaragosa was ' flying shamefully ' through the pass of Acultzingo, pursued by the cavalry of the national (i. e. French) army. He has put a finishing-touch to the exploits of the ' one HISTORY OF EVENTS. 367 company' by killing off Ortega, Alatorre, and all the rest in the most off-hand and Frenchy manner, telling how these and many other Liberalist generals and chiefs ' found a humble sepulchre on the hill of Borrego.' General Almonte, as ' chief of the nation,' as he styles himself, has decreed the issue of 1^500,000 paper money to be forced into circulation. He published this infamous decree at Vera Cruz, and the mer- chants and all classes of people got into such a state of excitement over the matter, that on the follow- ing morning all the shops were closed. Indigna- tion meetings were held, and the leading merchants signed an agreement among themselves not to open their places of business until the decree was revoked. Protests were made by foreign traders to their consuls, who again made protests to General Almonte's local Governor and to the French Commander. The organs of Almonte spread the false news of a pronuncia- miento, said to have occurred in the capital about May 30. The truth is that General Zaragosa's forces, whose pickets had some insignificant skir- mishes on May 31 with the enemy, retreated early the next morning to the heights of Acultzingo, and afterwards to Puebla. General Almonte's decree, published on June 7, 368 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. provided for the emission of ^500,000 in national bonds, to have forced circulation as legal tender, dis- tributed in five-dollar bills to the amount of ,^60,000, one-dollar bills to the amount of ^100,000, and the balance in bills of one and two shillings. The decree was received at Vera Cruz with the utmost disgust, as was perfectly natural. On their refusal to continue business, Almonte issued another decree, declaring that the shopkeepers who refused to receive his paper money would be considered as traitors and brought to trial accordingly. Almonte named as Secretary for Foreign Affairs Don jManuel Castellano, as Secretary of the Treasury Don Desiderio de Jamaniego, and for the Department of War and Navy, Don Jose Hipolito Gonzales. General Ortega's forces had arrived from Zaca- tecas and San Luis Potosi. The Grovernment was urging the Governors of States to furnish their contingents with the least possible . delay. To raise money the Government had doubled nearly all of the old imposts. There was still a great want of money, and new demands would be made on the capitalists of Mexico. With all the preparations that were being made in the capital, it was doubtful if the Government would stay, in case the French move on. There was a large party in favour of HISTORY OF EVENTS. 369 moving the capital to one of the interior cities, and this it is probable will be done. The Mexican papers announced that a treaty had been fully concluded between England and Mexico, by which all pending questions are settled. This treaij was first agreed to at Puebla by Doblado on the part of Mexico, and by Commodore Dunlop and Sir C. Wyke on the part of England, and had since been approved of by President Juarez. But English residents of the capital manifested great dissatisfac- tion, saying that any new paper guarantee from the Mexicans was merely an aggravation of the wrongs they had already suffered. Grreat hopes are now entertained by a certain class of people upon the prospect of the American treaty being ratified, and there are those among the Mexi- cans who are greatly opposed to this treaty, saying that it is jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire for the Mexicans to throw themselves on the Ameri- cans for protection. The French Commissioners made a protest against the ratification of the treaty with the United States, in so far as it may interfere with securities likely to be asked for by France to secure her claims against the country. The enthusiasm of the Almonte party appeared not BB 370 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. to have passed the city of Mexico as yet. In the valley of Tlaxcala, and at Matamoras, Izucar, and neighbouring populations, the Almonte plan had been accepted ; but towards the interior it had not yet met with much favour. In Mexico and other places occupied by Grovern- ment troops, great efforts were being made to raise the National Gruard. In Mexico General Trias had command of that force. He was in a similar position when Comonfort fell, and it is a notorious fact that on the afternoon of the last day of the fight he was completely abandoned by all of his officers and most of his men, and that he was carried away from his post at a late hour in a most happy state, having confined his operations during the day to the con- sumption of brandy and water. With such forces as the National Gruard of Mexico there will not be much bloodshed. The United States Government had agreed to loan to the Eepublic of Mexico ^^ 11, 000, 000 for a period of five years, the Mexican Government pledging the entire public domain and the residue of its church property, estimated at a value of #100,000,000, for the repayment of the loan. The money to be made available to Mexico in this wise : — The United States Government is to issue its HISTORY OF EVENTS. 371 bonds for the amount of ^11,000,000 payable in twenty years, and bearing interest at six per cent. In fifteen days after the ratification of the treaty by the United States Government, ^^2,000,000 of the sum agreed to be loaned is to be paid to the Mexican Government, the balance to be paid by monthly instal- ments of ;^500,000 for a period of eighteen months. As a guarantee for the repayment of this loan, the Mexican Government is to turn over its bonds to the United States for the amount of ^^1 1,000 000, bear- ing six per cent, interest, and payable in five years. A mixed commission is also to be appointed for the sale of the public domain and church property suf- ficient to liquidate the liability, the sums so realised to be handed over to an agent of the American Government resident in the city of Mexico. The relations of the United States with Mexico are of the most important character. Her fate is intimately connected with the many complications in that country, and it is their manifest interest to stand firmly by her in this her hour of danger. A serious blow struck at the liberties of Mexico cannot fail to be felt in that country at some future day. That country stands in urgent need of financial and other assistance, and in her necessity she appeals to the only Government that has the power, and should have B B 2 372 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the Anil, to aid her. As an independent constitu- tional Grovernment, with ideas and principles iden- tical to their own, they cannot allow her to fall before her enemies for the lack of a moral and material support. The former she has : they will extend the latter. The security offered them by the Mexican Government for the proposed loan is unexceptionable in every particular. The * New York Herald ' writes : 'It has been currently reported that the interfer- ence of the United States in any way in the affairs of Mexico will be regarded by the Emperor of the French as an open cause of war. This is an entirely preposterous idea. They know their international rights as well as the French Grovernment know theirs, and we warn the ruler of the French at once that he is treading on dangerous ground, and that unless he recedes from his unwarrantable position, his persist- ence will only end in farther disaster and disgrace to the arms of the Empire. The United States Govern- ment is true to its principles, its traditions, and its great destiny, and these it will maintain in defiance of the machinations and envy of the combined nations of the globe. ' We therefore call upon the Senate to take up the new Mexican treaty and ratify it without delay. If we HISTORY OF EVENTS. 373 would appear honourable and dignified in the eyes of other nations, we must do so at once. The people of America are warmly in favour of the Mexicans, and are ready to give them every support in their heroic struggle for the preservation of republican institutions. Congress should second these noble views of our people, and confirm the new treaty at once, so that the French may be hurled out of Mexico, and the nationality of that country be henceforth respected by all the nations of the world. We will thus show to Louis Napoleon and to his British allies that we know how to take care of ourselves as well as of our Mexican neighbours. We fear no danger from Euro- pean designs or purposes. We are now nearly ready for them, let them assail us how or when they may ; but we would at the same time seriously impress upon Congress not to neglect our Mexican friends, well- wishers, and neighbours, in this their extremity ; for on the result of their contest with the French will greatly depend the future welfare of our own country.' General Cobos returned to Havana on June 22 from a visit to General Santa Anna. They have agreed in a general plan for the expulsion of the invaders, under the rallying cry of ' National inde- pendence, war to the intruders and coalition of all parties.' General Cobos sailed the same day in 374 NOTES IN ITEXICO, 1861-62. the English packet for Vera Cruz, accompanied by General Benavides and Colonels Gralindo and Aubal, carrying a letter from Santa Anna to Almonte. At the latest date the French are besieging Tampico. Zaragosa died of tjrphiis on Sept. 6. Whatever may have been his qualifications as a general, he was undoubtedly a man of energy and courage, and, what is more to his credit, I cannot learn that his conduct has ever been tainted by deeds of cruelty. Doblado has gone into the interior to prepare for the retirement of Government to Guanajuato, if necessary, and to bring up troops. He is replaced by La Fuente as Minister. There has been some excitement in Chihuahua on account of the invasion of that state by Colonel Beller with a small force of Texans. The pretext of Beller was that he was hunting Apaches ; but this failed to give quiet to the inhabitants of Chihuahua, who saw in Beller nothing but a filibustei". The town of Piedras, in Nueva Leon, has also been invaded by some 120 Americans, who appear to have no con- nection with Beller. At Piedras the population fired upon the invaders, declaring they were filibusters. Great stagnation prevailed in the capital and all the interior cities, except those which get their im- HISTORY OF EVENTS. 375 portations by the west coast or frontier. The roads remained in the same deplorable state as ever. Sept. 16 was celebrated in the usual manner with speechifying and fireworks. After dark some few riots occurred, and the windows of fourteen French- men and one Englishman were smashed ; but, upon the whole, the day went off more quietly than was expected. Small bodies of troops patrolled the streets, and the Government, at all events, proved that it was strong enough to put down any attempts that might be made by evil-disposed persons to create riot and confusion. A few days afterwards the clubs, which had been demanding the expulsion of all Frenchmen, and had threatened to take the law into their own hands if the President refused to accede to their wishes, were dissolved. This energetic conduct on the part of Juarez has been much com- mended. He is reported to have said to a deputation that waited upon him, ' If you wish to show your patriotism, go do^vn to Orizaba and expel those who have invaded your country with arms in their hands, but do not interfere with peaceable citizens.' The first act of Greneral Forey on his arrival in Mexico (Sept. 24) was to depose Almonte from all his offices, and to ignore all the acts done under the self-imposed Presidency of this arch impostor. 376 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. CHAPTER X. POSITION OF ENGLAND. Haying thus briefly noticed the state Mexico pre- sented in the summer of 1862, it only remains to point out what fairly appears to be the relative position of our country as to those matters wherein we can act to the advantage of civilisation as well as our own material interests ; and, undoubtedly, the first consideration is the encouragement of, nay more, the participation in the system of smuggling which has been the rule on the stations of our navy on the coast of Mexico for years. \Miether it is that the total want of check from the hioher powers at home, or the perfect impunity of the gain, has blunted the moral sense of our officers, but not one of them seemed to think it was more than a great shame to deprive the Mexican Govern- ment of their legitimate revenue. I saw myself the boats' crews of our flag-ship at Vera Cruz bring bags on bags of dollars to be shipped to England by the steamer which brousrht me home, not one dollar POSITION OF ENGLAND. 377 of which had paid a farthing to the Mexican ex- chequer : and the public journals in England en- courage the idea of this being a legitimate employ- ment ; for I found a letter directed to one of the most widely circulated and most praiseworthy pe- riodicals of our country, pointing out this in such clear terms that, with the permission of the writer, I insert it entire. W. and H. Cha7nbers, Edinburgh. Mexico: July 27, 1861. Gentlemen, Your interesting Joui-nal in one of its late numbers contains an account of a silver smuggling adventure on the coasts of this unhappy country. It bears some evidence of having been worked up a bit ; but I have no reason for believing that the main incidents are not correct ; and I was very sorry to see such a discreditable adventure ajipear in your Journal, without one word of condemnation, — on the contrary, a tone or air of approbation runs through the narrative, as if the writer imagined it was not only harmless, but positively meritorious, in H.M.'s ships and H.M.'s officers being engaged in a wilful and deliberate breach of morality and violation of the laws of another and a friendly state ! It is unhappily too true, that H.M.'s ships and officers are often engaged in these disreputable transactions, especially on the Pacific coast, to the very great disgrace and dishonour of H.M.'s service. And it is also unhappily true, that the repeated remonstrance of this country to the British Government on the subject have 378 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. not produced any mitigation of tlie evil. But pray do not let us so far forget the principles of propriety and public decorum as to represent sucli 'adventures' as anything else than that which they are, — namely, crimes, which a man of honour — be he officer, or be he merchant — would scorn to he engaged in. What w^ould you say in Eng- land if a French or Danish man-of-war was to anchor in one of your ports, and not only encourage and protect a system of contraband for miles along the coast, but even to assist it with armed boats and barges? Yet this is what H.M.'s ships do every year in the ports of Mexico, frequently overawing the coast-guard, and em- barking the smuggled silver by 'superior force.' Is there one system of ethics for the temperate zone and another for the tropics? The Queen's ships assist in defrauding the revenue, and the Queen's representatives complain that the country can't pay its creditors. I am. Gentlemen, Your most obedient servant, A. Grant. But the real delinquents are our British con- sulates ; the J receive and store the specie which comes down to the coast, until a safe opportunity arrives for smuggling it out of the country. All commercial consulships, especially at ports, should be abolished. They are sought and coveted soleli/ as a protection to smuggling. The aj)pointment is of no other value ivhatever to these men. POSITION or ENGLAND. 379 For instance — One commercial house on the west coast has acquired immense wealth and immense notoriety by this kind of 'adventure,' — smuggling in and smuggling out. The chief was a Spaniard, a colonel in the Spanish army, but got himself named British Consul ; and then all the family became English. His son, a Mexican (the mother is Spanish), is now British Consul, but never resides at his post ; he appoints one of his own commercial subordinates to do the duty. The British Consulate is convenient on account of the immunity and local influence it alFords; and has been for upwards of thirty years a most useful appanage to the mercantile concern, to which it is entirely subservient. These appointments are very disgraceful, and our national honour and national character have become a bye-word and a reproach. The British Government listens to no representation' on the subject, and our envoys there have been injiuenced to connive at and support the infamous system. It is a crime to send such men as these to new and dis- tant countries as representatives of the honour and dignity of Britain^ where the honour and character of the nation is refected by the conduct of the individual representing it to an extent unknown in Europe. The man wanted in Mexico is one of average capacity, sound judgement, and, above all, inflexible probity and principle ; such a man would exercise a very great influence, and a highly beneficial one, for both countries, or rather for all. These people want a British minister whom they can consult in 380 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. their difficulties, in whose judgement they can confide, and whose opinion they can respect. The next consideration is to hold up to the Mexicans themselves, for just appreciation, the dis- graceful state of their public offices and employes. They have now undeniably able men at the head of affairs, and men of energy, perhaps a little too much so. Now, then, is the time for calling on them as friends to commence sweeping out the Augean stable of official corruption. To give some idea of how things go on, I subjoin a few instances. One of the palace brokers told me that, having credits on the treasury to pass for the commis- sariat account to the amount of ^^5 00,000, for which he received one per cent, commission, he ap- phed to the chief clerk, who said it would take six weeks to make up the accounts; and, after some discussion, demanded ^1,000 as a fee. My infor- mant demurred, as it was a mere routine duty; but the other insisted, and they parted in anger. Well, for six weeks he tried his hand, and failed at every turn ; so, in sheer despair, he went to his friend the chief clerk, and said — 'I am willing to give you your ,^1,000.' 'Ah I' said the other, ' I thought you would come to your senses ; but I must have ^^4,000 more now, as my second here POSITION OF ENGLAND. 381 takes it into his head to look into matters, and I must give him some.' The business was done in six days, as soon as the douceur was forthcoming. In the arcliives of the British Foreign Office will be found this story, sent home by Mr. Lettsome, the British charge d'affaires of that day. Some ten years ago, an English merchant named Macintosh, being in failing circumstances, and realising his outstanding credits, tried to pass an order on the treasury for some ^20,000 or ^30,000. The claim was of course dis- puted, and there was some reason for it ; but the secretary, ivlio held office till this year, Don Lucas Palacio Mascarolla, offered him five per cent, for his claims, which Macintosh, being very hard up, took. The whole money was paid Don Lucas without a word, and the five per cent, was eked out in driblets to Macintosh, and was not all settled when he died. The order of the day is this : you go into the office to one of the clerks, who gives you a seat and a cigarette; you beg him, as a favour, to look at your treasury bill. He says, ' He is so busy you must come next week.' You say, ' My dear friend, it only requires your signature and the office stamp.' He says, 'Well, I am very poor just now; would it be convenient to lend me ^20 ? ' You say, 'It is not worth my while to spare $20 ; but if you will 382 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. get it cleared by to-morrow I will give you ^10.' He then says, 'But I want it particularly to- day.' You smile graciously, and say, 'Well, then, do it to-day and you shall have the ,^10.' And in a quarter of an hour you have your order ; otherwise you may haunt the office for months in vain. What would Englishmen think of this method of procedure in the state offices ? About eight years ago, one of the principal English houses imported some two dozen handsome brass rocking-chairs, at about ^^^12 each. They were mis-described in the manifest, and were seized at Vera Cruz. The merchant went to the Minister of Finance (Hacienda Publica), who was personally known to him, and said it Avas a mistake of ignor- ance in mis-translating rocking-chairs into Spanish ; and begged, that on paying the duty and all ex- penses, the chairs might be given up. ' No,' said the conscientious Minister of Inland Eevenue ; ' I am convinced it was a fraud, and such things must be put a stop to.' Whereupon the merchant said, ' It is a pity, as they are such very comfortable and elegant chairs. I intended making a present of one to your wife, and I '11 tell her how cruel you are.' * Don't do that,' said the Minister ; ' it was very kind of you to think of her, and I must give you the POSITION OF ENGLAND. 383 order for their passing ; ' which he did. But it is no wonder that such laxity prevailed when a French Minister was publicly accused of using his privilege of passing baggage duty free, to bring in carriages, cigars, and millinery, which were openly sold in the streets of Mexico without disguise. The next point will be to urge the Mexican Go- vernment to rearrange their revenue so as to give a greater security of income, and more especially with regard to the duties on specie, on which they must mainly rely for payments to foreign bondholders. There is no delicacy in putting this to them, for they have frequently desired advice and urgently; and first, as to the mints. Of the almost universal system of monopolies established in Mexico under the oppressive dominion of Spain, but two instances have survived to modern times : one, the tobacco monopoly, which was finally overthrown at the establishment of the government of Comonfort, under the revolution of Ayutla; the other, the prohibition of the export of the precious metals, except after coinage, at a few monopolised mints, which still remains. And this latter, as the production of the precious metals is a more general and important branch, weighs still more heavily upon the industry of the country than even the 384 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. former restrictions in the cultivation and sale of tobacco. The products of its mines must, for a long period, and probably in an increasing ratio, form the chief item in the exports of Mexico. Upon those exports the importations into the country must be based ; and to stimulate their amount, every restriction upon their free circulation and ready access to market must be removed, and the products of the mines be placed as free as the products of the wheat-fields. The system of monopolised mints, and export and other duties on the precious metals, which now pre- vails in Mexico, is the following : — Capitalists taking advantage of the frequently re- curring necessities of the Government have, for a long period, been able to procure contracts for the management of the Government mints, with the ex- clusive right of coinage, within a certain district, by advancing to the Government a certain amount of money as a bonus, and a further amount usually as a loan. The most notorious, because the most important and onerous, of these contracts is that of the mint at the city of Mexico, which will serve to show the system followed in nearly all the others. This mint was contracted in 1857 for the term of ten years to an association of capitalists (Spaniards and POSITION OP ENGLAND. 385 Mexican officials under the cover of an American name), who advanced to the Government, in effective money and what was made to represent it, the sum of ^200,000 as a bonus and ^^3 00,000 as a loan, or ;$'500,000 in all, for the exclusive privilege of coinage within a district of 150 leagues radius from the city of Mexico, for ten years, with the condition that the term should be continued until the Grovernment should have repaid any balance that might be due, and ivith the further condition, that the Govern- ment should strictly prohibit the exportation of un- coined silver or gold from any point within this district of 150 leagues radius; thus requiring that all the products of the mines within this immense extent of territory, including the mines of Tehuacan, which lie near the port of Vera Cruz, the mines of Tasco, which lie near the Pacific coast, and the rich mines of Eeal del Monte, which lie nearer Tampico, should all be brought to the city of Mexico (ignoring the greater risk of transit and the expense of car- riage), and there be made to pay toll for an un- necessary coinage, before finding their market abroad, where all that can be realised is their intrinsic value. The penalties for any exportation in an uncoined shape are very severe, beside the danger of confiscation incurred. For all this oppressive . c c 386 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. restriction on the mov^ement of the products of the mines within this important district, the Govern- ment gets, besides the advance of the speculative capitalists, Avhich of course was soon squandered, but the trifling sum of ^45,000 to ^60,000 per annum, in a charge of one per cent, on all amounts coined, and which comes out of the pockets of the miner, not from the contractors. To cover so enormous advances, the mint con- tractors must realise, legitimately or illegitimately, a very heavy tax upon the precious metals passing through their hands. This charge is nominally four to four and a half per cent. ; but their opportunities for getting mOre from the unassayed metal are very great. The most injurious effect, however, upon the mining production, is found in the necessity of transporting their valuable products, always exposed to risk of loss, from points nearer the coast to the capital, there to remain, as in the time of Miramon, exposed to the rapacity of authorities that do not respect even the seal of the British Legation; and then to incur the delay and additional risk of trans- portation in large Government conductas, the move- ments of which are of course publicly known, to the port of shipment. How much more readily these products could find their way as they come fresh POSITION OF ENGLAND. 387 from the mine, in small quantities and by ordinary and unheralded channels, a silent but healthy stream, to the various points of export ! Under the present regulations of the Mexican revenue laws, no movement of the products of the mines, or of coined money, can take place legally without application is first made for a Government permit, and the respective duty paid. The design is to secure this latter; the practical effect is so to expose the movements of these valuable and easily stolen products, that, except in times of most perfect order and security, it is unsafe to move them except in such vast sums as will justify the employment of an army of soldiers for their protection. The various taxes or duties upon the precious metals are the following : — 1. Direclio de quinto, now three per cent., payable at the moment of the deposit of bars for coinage ; and one real per mark for the mining college. 2. Government's coinage duty, one per cent. 3. Mint contractor's coinage and assay charge, nominally reckoned at four per cent, or foiir and a half per cent., but really importing considerably more. 4. Government circulation duty, two per cent., payable on the movement of any money fi-om point to point, or to place of export. 5. Export duty to Government, six per cent., payable usually half in the interior and half at port of export. CC 2 388 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Here are duties amounting to over sixteen per cent, on the principal product of the country, to be advanced before that product has yet been embarked on board the vessel which is to carry it to market. Beside all these must be added frequent additional charges for escort, commission of correspondent in the capital, commission of correspondent at port of export, and charges of embarkation, insurance, and freight to destination, — the two latter not less than one and a half to two per cent. ; and then the charges of correspondent and commission of sale or exchange in, say, London or New York. In all, these charges and items swelling the ex- penses placed upon the exports of Mexico to upwards of twenty per cent., or one-ffth of tlieir entire value. What branch of national industry can sustain these enormous charges, to say nothing of the loss of time and general insecurity in Mexico, which must be taken into account. It may be observed in passing, as a singular feature of misguided diplomacy in Mexico, that the contract for the mint of that city, which is the prin- cipal one in the Eepublic, would long ere this have been thrown over by the government of Juarez, had it not been persistently and pertinaciously sustained by the American Legation, although it is notorious POSITION OF ENGLAND. 389 that there is not ^^5,000 of American capital invested in it ; and that the American name, which is used, is merely a cloak for the protection of Spanish and Mexican speculators and monopolists, A wise policy for the encouragement of the com- merce of Mexico, requires the brushing away of all these oppressive charges and restrictions upon the free movement of the precious metals, and the encour- agement, by every means, of this great branch of in- dustry, the chief source of Mexico's exports, and upon the amount of which her importations must depend. It is a fact our Government are never likely to learn through the Legation — that the ports on the Pacific, which for the last four years have never con- tributed a shilling to the exchequer, are capable, if properly administered, of producing with ease a nett annual revenue of ,^4,000,000, and that Vera Cruz and Tampico can produce even a larger sum. A good government would have no difiiculty in meet- ing all its liabilities. They are a mere bagatelle when compared with the resources of the country. The next is a more difficult consideration, — viz., the part we should take under the disruption of the fraudulent convention of last year between France, Spain, and England. It was worse than fraudulent, because the deliberate intention to possess Mexico 390 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. on the part of two out of the three contracting powers, was foolish ; palpably so in the case of Spain, who has retired covered with the ignominy of failure and of being found out, and with France necessitating an engulphing of life and treasure of which no one can see the end. A naval officer who arrived in England three days ago told me that, out of a regiment of 1,200 men and 40 officers he was at Vera Cruz with in June last, there were only 400 men and one oficer left in August. But our Crimean experience tells us how impenetrable is the secrecy of the information sent to France on such occasions, — such losses never transpire. We fortunately have blundered out as we blundered into the em- broglio : what our original intention was it is diffi- cult to gather from the speeches of the Foreign Minister and his secretary. Earl Russell said that Commodore Dunlop and Sir Charles Wyke never went to New York. Sir Charles "Wyke wrote home to say that it was his intention to go there, biit he never executed that intention. He was now living at Mexico, but not in an official character, and he had infoiined the Mexican Govei-nment that he would not resume that character until the convention had been ratified by liis Government. The Spanish Secretary of Legation was also, he believed, living there in an unofficial capacity. "With regard to the address of tlie French Government to POSITION OF ENGLAND. 391 the Chamber, it "was certainly hable to misapprehension. But the papers which had been laid before Parliament were likely to remove that misapprehension, and he should write despatches upon the subject which would, he hoped, tend to the same result. I beg to take this opportunity of making a statement to your lordships as to matters of con- siderable importance, upon which it is desirable no mis- apprehension should exist. It has been stated in the pubhc prints that a convention has been entered into by Sir C. Wyke and Commodore Dunlop on one side, and the Mexican Government on the other, by which the British claims on Mexico will be satisfied, and that the convention has been ratified by Her Majesty's Government. As to the first part, it is quite true that a convention has been signed by Sir C. Wyke and Commodore Dunlop, and it has been sent home for ratification. The arrangement contem- plated for the satisfaction of British claims was fair and liberal, but we found that the convention referred to another convention bettveen 3lexico and the United States ; and fearing that it might involve this country in difficulties, Her Majesty's Government detennined not to ratify it. There is another point upon which I wish to make a statement to the House. It is generally believed in France, and much circulated here, that Her Majesty's troops, together with the Spanish troops, were withdrawn, leaving the French troops alone to contend with the difiiculties of the situation. Aft;er the temporary check which the French troops received, 710 one can be sui-jmsed that the French Govern- ment have resolved to send large reinforcements to Mexico : bi;t the order is not formded iipon any course taken by the 392 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. British Government. In the original convention of October there was no specific engagement as to tlie number of troops to be sent on tlie part of the different Governments, but communications were made separately by each Govern- ment. The Spaniards declared that they meant to send 6,000 or 7,000 troops. The French said at first that they would send 2,000, which was afterwards increased to 2,500 men. The British Government proposed to send a squadron with 700 marines, to be landed, if necessary, for the occu- pation of forts. The marines were landed, and for a short time occupied some forts. It seemed that the land forces met with difficulties, and Commodere Dunlop, in order not to have the appearance in any way of leaving the AlUes, said he would provide, by his own activity and resources, camp, equipage, and conveyance. That, however, has not been approved by the Home Government, and orders were sent out that the marines should be reembarked. Com- modore Dunlop, on his side, very soon found that there was no immediate danger of collision with the IMexicans, and he determined to send away the marines, iclio were never intended to march up the country. They were accordingly removed from Vera Crviz. After this came the convention, and the Allied Commissioners agreed to a proces verbal, with regard to which I will now say nothing, as I do not Avish to enter into the great question involved in it. But it should be known that at that time there were only 150 marines in occupation of the various forts, and when the rupture took place between the French Commis- sioners on the one side, and the Engli.sli and .S])anish Commissioners on the other, it was determined by Commo- POSITION OF ENGLAND. 393 dore Dunlop to haul down the British flag in the ports of Mexico and to withdraw this small force. There was thus no question of withdrawing troops from Mexico, for there never were any land troops there; the only force we ever sent in the naval sqviadron was a force of 700 marines, the greater number of whom Avere withcbawn some time previously. (Hear.) I thought it necessary to make this statement, as I believe that great misapj^rehension has arisen on the subj ect. I am informed that considerable in- dignation has been expressed in France as to the presumed withdrawal of troops by this country at a very critical moment. That siippositiou, as I have shown, has no foundation in fact, as there were no British troops to he withdrawn from Mexico. Mr. Layard wished to say a few words upon the general policy of the Mexican intervention. As to the general policy of the affair he thought the mission of our Govern- ment was perfectly clear. There were many outrages to be redressed, many claims to be enforced, besides those of the Mexican bondholders. But, even with regard to the Mexican bondholders, the Government had carefully avoided mixing up those which had been ratified by convention with those ■which had not been so ratified. It was not the part of the British Government to go to war to enforce claims like those of the greater part of the Mexican bondholders. The Mexican bondliolders had various claims on the Mexican Government. A certain portion of them were recognised under a convention, known as the Dunlop Convention. Two solemn conventions had been entered into, which it was the bounden duty of the Government to enforce. 394 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Besides these, there Avere many other claims. The papers laid on the table refeiTed to various claims which British subjects and firms had on the Mexican Government. These were perfectly legitimate claims ; but besides these claims, there were outrages of a very serious kind which had been committed on Her Majesty's subjects, for which no redress had been obtained — outrages on the British Government of the most serious nature : for instance, the outrage on the British embassy, when Miramon ordered a room to be broken open, and property placed under the seal of the British Legation Avas carried off, in violation of the most sacred rights, from the residence of the British Minister. More than that, a sum of money belonging to British subjects, which had been sent down to the sea coast, had been pillaged by an officer of the Mexican Government, acting on their responsibility. ' No doubt the British Go- vernment had a right to demand redress for those outrages, and to enforce those claims. The principle was iindeniable. It was one of the most difficult things for a Government to deal with a weak State. They did not know exactly what to do. The moment they made any attempt to interfere, the parties made any terms, and a convention was signed ; but scarcely had that taken j^lace than the same course had to be renewed. A strong Government did not like to interfere with a weak Government ; but, if they altogether refused, British subjects whose property had been destroyed and whose lives had been threatened, would have a right to complain. He ventured to say nothing could be more for- bearing than the instructions of his noble friend, Avith which Sir Charles Wyke Avent to Mexico. It was stated distinctly. POSITION OF ENGLAND. 395 that if the Mexican Government would now give the redress to which we were entitled, we should forget all that had gone by, and renew with them the most friendly rela- tions. The noble lord had spoken as if Juarez, on coming to the Presidency, was ready to do everything that was required ; but, on the contrary, outrages had been com- mitted as frequently as before, and the very sum taken by force from the British residency, which the Government was pledged to pay, had been withheld. The parties, indeed, were prosecuted, but acquitted on the gi'ound that there was no theft, but a mere occupation of the British ftinds. Sir Charles Wyke succeeded in obtaining redress from Juarez, but the convention was not ratified ; it was rejected by the Mexican Legislature. Over and over again in his despatches Sir Charles Wyke called on the British Government to in- terfere ; no one could be more urgent than Sir Charles Wyke upon that point. We were not the only power that had claims on Mexico ; we were not the only power which had suiFered outrages that called for redress. The French Government had claims, though not so large or so impor- tant as we had. The Spanish Government had also claims, and the claims of Spain had been recognised by a treaty known as the Almonte Treaty. That treaty was set at nought* The first power to take any step towards in- terference in Mexico was Spain. Spain proposed to take possession of Vera Cruz and Tampico. Spain fully made up her mind to that. This was plain from the papers which had been laid on the table. The French Government was equally ready with Spain to enforce its claims ; and what * See p. 444, App. III. 396 KOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. were we to do ? Were we to cooperate witli them, or to take independent action? Had we not interfered at all, it would have been said that we neglected to enforce British claims, and that we had abandoned British rights. If we had taken independent action we should probably have come into collision with France or Spain, and o;ir only course appeared to be that which we did take. In order that our action should be clearly understood, the Convention of London was signed. We had no desire to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico ; our object was solely to enforce our claims, and the occupying of any territory or place on the coast would be only temporary. The Government from the very beginning said that there was no intention of making any advance into the interior — all that was intended was to occupy Vera Cruz, to which we had a right and title by treaty, and that only a force of 700 marines was sent to occupy San Juan d'Ulloa. Now, he must say, no doubt Sir Charles Wyke had acted for the best, but he had committed two mistakes at the commencement which were not justified by any instructions he received from his Go- vernment; indeed, they were diametrically opposed to his instructions. The first mistake consisted in his issuing a pro- clamation stating that the object of the intervention was the regeneration of the country ; and the second was the attempt to place the marines on the same footing with the French and Spanish forces and send them into the interior. These mistakes were made in direct opposition to the instructions of Her Majesty's Government, although, no doubt, Sir C. Wyke acted with the very best intentions. Soon after the landing the Mexican Government signified their wish to POSITION OF ENGLAND. 397 bring matters to an amicable termination, and the Conven- tion of Soledad was agreed upon. Then appeared upon the scene a man who, according to all accounts, was the most promising Mexican statesman, and the man most likely to restore order and establish a strong government under Juarez. He referred to General Doblado, who made very liberal proposals to the Allies, which had every prospect of being accepted. Unfortunately, however. General Almonte, a refugee, intervened — a man who had entertained the idea that there was a strong monarchical party in Mexico, which had only to be appealed to to rise at once and set up a monarchy in the place of the government of Juarez. All the information which our Government had received was directly opposed to that opinion. General Almonte, however, appeared to have persuaded the representative of France that a monarchical party really existed, and that it would be useless to treat any longer with the Mexican Government ; and he induced the French to withdraw their adhesion from the Convention of Soledad, and renounce all communication with the Government of Juarez. Her Majesty's Govern- ment looked upon that as a violation of the treaty (hear), as we had gone to Mexico with the intention of not in- terfering in the internal affairs of that country ; and they felt that they could not decline to hold communication with Juarez, who represented the Mexican people and Govern- ment. The Spanish authorities took exactly the same view as we did, and Genei-al Prim acted like a man of honour in refusing to be a party to any attempt to raise to the throne of Mexico a king, contrary, as he believed, to the wishes of the people. Our 700 marines consequently reembarked 398 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. and retired. Our Government had been tmjiistly reproached for deserting France. Those who knew Vera Cruz were aware that it was impossible to remain there from early in the spring to an advanced period of the autumn; and in withdrawing our marines from that place we had only done as we should have done in either case, whether there had been war or peace. The French Government had publicly admitted that we had acted with perfect fi-ankness. The Church party in Mexico — a party who, if he must use a strong term, were the greatest ruffians (hear, hear), and who had been guilty of the most horrible outrages upon civilisation — gathered round General Almonte in his attempt to estabhsh monarchy ; but when the French advanced into the country they found that the warnings which had been given them were perfectly true, and that no monarchical party really existed there. The French General himself, with great frankness, admitted this, avowing that if he had dreamt that there was no party in favour of monarchy, he would not have advanced into the midst of a hostile country. That being so, what were Her Majesty's Government to do ? His noble friend had rather accused the Government of deserting Sir C. Wyke. Lord R. IMoNTAGU. — Of not giving him precise instruc- tions. Mr. La YARD. — It should be remembered that the Government never foresaw the state of things described by his noble friend. On the contrary, when the marines were withdrawn, when the Convention of Soledad had been broken, and the French troops took action by themselves, Sir C. Wyke wrote to his Government to say that he was POSITION OF ENGLAND. 399 going to leave Mexico, and they accordingly believed that he would have retired to New York, Instead of that, he remained in the country, and entered into the convention with General Doblado that had been mentioned to the house. The Government were perfectly astonished when they heard that he had signed that instrument. The convention was sent home to the Government, and was not ratified by them. His noble friend misstated the reasons why it was not ratified. The question was one merely of principle. The principle on which we had insisted in all oiu" relations with the central States of America was this — not to allow them to involve themselves towards the United States in a manner that might lead to inconvenient results. The convention declared that a certain sum should be paid to the British claimants out of money to be supplied by the United States, who, in return, were to have a kind of mortgage upon all the waste lands in Mexico. That arrangement might have produced a state of things which Her Majesty's Government were desirous to see avoided. Again, the convention provided that in default of the United States advancing the money, those waste lands should be mortgaged to the British Government. Her Majesty's Government were as much opposed to that as to their being mortgaged to the United States, thinking it might lead to disagreeable consequences in regard to our relations with the United States or other powers. We were also to have been bound to occupy certain ports in Mexico by our naval force for the collec- tion of the dues from which the claims on the Mexican Government Avere to have been met. Her Majesty's Government did not think that would at all have been a 400 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. convenient arrangement. These, then, were some of the important grounds upon which they did not deem it right to ratify the convention, and he believed they were per- fectly valid grounds. In saying that he cast no reflection upon Sir C. "Wyke, who appeared to have done his best ; and if the convention had been unaccompanied by the objectionable features Avhich he had described, it might have been quite satisfactory. That was the short history of our policy towards Mexico. We had long been in com- munication with the Mexican Government upon the subject of the claims of British subjects, and the Governments of France and of Spain had frequently called upon us to join with them to enforce those claims. But Earl Russell had always laid it do'wn as a rule, that if we did interfere it must be upon the distinct understanding that other religions than the lioman Catholic should be tolerated in Mexico. That was at the time the Church party was in power, and when every person who professed any other religion than the Roman Catholic was subject to persecution. All that Earl Russell had done in the instructions was to refer to a despatch upon the subject that had been written a year or two before, reciting the principle upon which alone the British Govern- ment could interfere or mediate in Mexico. The second question of the nol^le Lord referred to what he called the Italian expedition to Mexico. The facts were that there were Italians in Mexico who had claims upon the Govern- ment, and Avhen England joined with France and Spain in interfering in Mexico the Italian Government enquired, vmofficially, Avhether we would assist the Italians in Mexico. The British Government felt there would be inconvenience POSITION OF ENGLAND. 401 in taking up the claims of others than its own countrymen, and it was suggested to the Italian Government that they might send a vessel with the joint expedition, and that some official person should be on board to whom the Italians might apply. No ship, however, was sent, and Sir C. Wyke merely alluded to the possibility of an Italian vessel being sent out, but there was no intention that the Italian Go- vernment should enter into any convention. Having gone through the principal points connected with this subject, he could only say that he did not think the Government could have adopted any other policy than that which they had acted upon. They could not abstain from all interference, or British subjects might fairly have complained that their interests were neglected by their Government while the subjects of other powers were protected. They did avoid all interference in the affairs of the country, and he thought the policy we had pursued would inci'ease British influence in Mexico, and lead to a better obsei'vance in future of engagements towards this country. He hoped also, after the clear proofs that had been given of the non-existence in Mexico of a monarchical party, that France would open negotiations with any Government that did really represent the feelings of the people of Mexico, and thus bring to a pacific termination the differences that had heretofore existed. (Hear, hear.) But the answers of Lord Malmesbury and Mr. Sey- mour Fitzgerald put matters in a very different light. The Earl of Malmeseuuy said he had seen in the public prints a statement that the feeling in Mexico was that Sir D D 402 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. diaries Wyke ]:!ad taken a strong part with the Mexican Government as against the proceedings of the French. He did not beheve it at the time, but it was alleged that Sir Charles had attended some public representation given at a theatre for the benefit of the wounded Mexicans. This, if true, was a very ill-judg6d act. There was in this country no feeling ivhatever against the French as to their proceedings in Mexico. His own feeling was that they had made a great mistake hi point of policy ; but the state of Mexico was such, that any change in the Government there must be an improvement. (Hear.) The people of Mexico, and the world generally, were likely to profit by the acts of the French, however opposed those acts might be to the in- terests of France. He was extremely glad to hear the explanation just given respecting a matter Avhich had ex- cited something like a disagreeable feeling towards this country in France. He entirely agreed in the modifications which the noble Earl had thought it his duty to make in the convention. Those modifications were most wise and prudent, and the dangers apprehended by the noble Earl were just those which he should himself think were most likely to occur. But the noble Earl had hardly spoken sufficiently strongly as to the indignation felt in France respecting the supposed desertion of its ally by the English Government. This was not only common rumour — it was not only a natural misunderstanding of the facts of the case ; but the address made hy the French Government to the Chambers was so worded that the misunderstanding was likely to be prolonged. He had read the address in question, and imdoubtedly its meaning was that there was some POSITION OF ENGLAND. 403 common agreement between the two powers Avith respect to a military advance in Mexico, which agreement we had not> carried out ; that at a very critical moment we had deserted the French troops; and that they had consequently been overpowered by enemies whom, with our assistance, they might have resisted. Now, it was certainly important, with a view both to the honour of the country and the real facts of the case, that the noble Earl should point out to the French Government what those facts were, and should do what he could to undeceive the people of France respecting those facts, which, as far as he could understand, were of the precise character indicated by the noble Earl. The public misaj-iprehension in Finance was, however, likely/ to be very much strengthened by the language addressed by the French Government to the Chamber. Mr. Fitzgerald said it had been wittily observed of a certain person that nothing became him so well in life as his going out of it, and he thought the same observation might be applied to the conduct of Her Majesty's Government in relation to Mexico ; for the only satisfactory point about it was that, in spite of themselves, they had been forced to withdraw from further interference. He did not say that the Government could have avoided all interference. On the contrary, not only with reference to repeated outrages iipon British subjects, but also with reference to the removal of a large sum of money from the British Legation, it was impossible that the Government could avoid taking some decided steps. But he did find fault with the manner in which they had fulfilled that duty. The hon. gentleman had told the house that the Government had from the first D D 2 404 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. declared they would not be parties to any interference in the internal affairs of Mexico, but his complaint was that they had entered into a convention with France and Spain when, if they did not knoAv that the object of both France and Spain was to interfere actively in the internal affairs of Mexico, the British Government were almost the only persons who were ignorant of the fact. For years refiigees from Mexico had constantly represented to the British Govern- ment and to the French Government that the only means of restoring order in that country was by the active intervention of Eiu-opean powers and the establishment of a monarchical form of government. Had Her Majesty's Government no warning of those views being held by the French Government ? M. Thouvenel, in one of his despatches, said, ' We do not wish to interfere ; but we think that the presence of our forces there will give that moral support to the monarchical feeling which we believe to exist, and that there will be a chance and opportunity for the establishment of a new and regenerated Government.' It was idle to say, when Almonte was constantly coming to this country, and communicating with the Government and with public bodies, and after the language of M. Thouvenel — it was idle to say that the Government had not a distinct warning that it was the intention of the French Government to interfere in the internal affairs of Mexico, and possibly to establish a new form of government. It was stated in the convention that they were not to interfere with the wishes of the Mexicans in the establishment of any form of government; that was not language that could be used if it had been expected that the form of government then existing would continue POSITION OF ENGLAND. 405 to exist, but it showed that it was contemplated that the appearance of foreign troops might cause a revolution, and possibly a change of government. Everyone must have been aware of the object of France and of Spain, and it was made plain by the speech of Seiior Collantes in the Spanish Chambers, that the object of interference was to establish a monarchical form of government. His hon. friend had truly said that the last thing for an English government to do was to attempt by force of arms to collect bad debts, or debts contracted with British subjects who had entered upon speculations with their eyes open, knowing the at- tendant risks, and guarding themselves against those risks by larger profits. That had been the principle upon which successive governments had acted ; and although the Government with which he had been connected had used its good offices to endeavour to obtain justice for the Mexican bondliolders, yet in the very last despatch written by them upon that subject, they laid it down that the claims of the bondholders were in the nature of private claims, and could not be enforced by arms. His hon. fi-iend had said that the claims of the bondholders were not the object of our interference; but it was a curious fact that the first convention made by Sir C. Wyke, the ratification of which was refused by the Mexican Parliament, had refei^ence solely to the claims of the bondholders, and to no other claims ; and yet it was said that our interference was to obtain redress for grievances, and to stipulate for the due performance of the conventions. He thought the noble lord at the head of the Foreign Department had committed a mistake in his conduct when ratification of the convention 406 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. was refused by the Mexican Parliament. The terms of the convention were objectionable, for by it British consuls were not only to collect money, and to apply it in payment of the claims of British subjects, but they were also to be made agents for the subjects of every foreign country having claims npon the Mexican Government. Another stipulation was that the endorsement of British officers should be requisite to give validity to secuiities to be issued by the Mexican Government. There was another matter of grave complaint against Her Majesty's Government, and that was that they should have entered into this convention to enforce the pecuniary claims of each of the powers who were parties to the convention, without knowing in the slightest degree the nature, character, justification, or anionnt of the claims which they had undertaken to assist in enforcing. (Hear, hear.) They were told that the claims of the French Government Avere for a com- paratively small amount — he thought 40,000/. Avas named; and yet we afterwards found that, without knowing what we were about, we had committed ourselves to the enforce- ment of claims which Lord Eussell had spoken of as the most extravagant, the most extortionate, and the most unjust. (Hear, hear.) The French Government had since claimed ^15,000,000, and if Ave were not committed to the enforcement of that claim, it was OAving to circumstances which Ave had not foreseen, and not to our Avisdom in making tlie convention. (Hear, hear.) The pi-escnt position of afliurs Avas as unsatisfactor}'^ as possible, and only one thing could be said for it — that it Avas better th;m Ave could have e.xjicetcd some time ago. But that the POSITION OF ENGLAND. 407 Govornnient should have given British arms to enforce certain clainivS, that they should have thought it necessary to enter into a solemn convention, and that they sliould be represented in the expedition by a force of 700 marines, seemed to him to be placing this country in a relation to foreign powers utterly beneath her dignity and honour. (Hear, hear). He thought his noble friend was under a misapprehension when he said that the treaty with the United States Government had been refused. He believed it was still under consideration, and he was of opinion that it would be a dangerous thing for this country to lend its sanction, even indirectly, to such a treaty. He hoped that his noble friend's suggestion that we might form another treaty with Mexico of a more satisfactory character than that which had lately been attempted, Avould be realised, and he hoped also that we shoiild not be found by the side of France in enforcing a change of government on a friendly people, or on the side of Spain in any schemes for the recovery of her ancient supremacy in Mexico, and, still less, that we should be placed by the conduct of Her Majesty's Government in opposition to the Liberal party in an inde- pendent nation, thus giving a chance to the enemies of freedom and of liberal institutions in that country of again raising their heads and of establishing what he believed would be one of the vilest governments that ever disgraced a country. (Hear, hear). In the sitting of the Spanish Congress of June 11, the Minister of Foreign Affairs replied as follows to the interpellation made by M. Olozaga 408 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. on the policy of the Government with regard to Mexico : — The acts of the Government have been censured by M. Olozaga with a degree of acrimony even surpassing that of foreign critics. He woidd have us beHeve that the war in Afi'ica prodviced a deep impression in the country, while the expedition to Mexico passed almost unnoticed. I think, liowever, that the entry of the Spanish troops into San Juan d'Ulloa made some little sensation, as you must all remember. The Mexican expedition was a necessity, not only because it was earnestly solicited by the IMexicans residing in Europe, and especially by those in Paris, but also because there exists in those regions a republic Avhich threatened the Mexicans with absorption. Hence the expedition combined in 1859. The object ivas, therefore, the maintenance of the interjrity of the Mexican territory. When M. Olozaga asserts that Spain had a concealed motive for undertaking that expedition, and insinuates the exist- ence of a secret convention, I cannot but ask him whether he thinks the Government would not, after the conferences of Orizaba, have been anxious to render that convention public? But no convention has ever existed, except that of October 31. "What was the origin of that convention? Spain could not go alone to Mexico ; we could not do otherwise than act conjointly witli the two other powers. The refusal to satisfy the claims of Spanish, French, and English creditors, the murder of sul)jccts of the three States, menaces and violence towards their representatives, made inteiwention in Mexico a duty, but intervention with- POSITION OF ENGLAND. 409 out any after-thought of putting the least restraint vpon the inhabitants of that republic as to their internal affairs. The convention was clear. The obligations of the powers signing it were well defined, especially on the point of not directly interfering in the internal affairs of Mexico. Onr intention was to propose a svispension of hostilities between the conflicting parties in Mexico. Why ? Because we hoped, that by adopting a determined mode of election, an assembly Avonld be formed capable of giving the country a stable government. Was not that a noble object? Would it have been worthy of three great powers to go to Mexico merely to obtain satisfaction for grievances? To realise these ideas the Government began by giving instruction to its plenipotentiary. Does M. Olozaga find anything myste- rious in the instructions ? Does not every line express the thought of Spain, that the integrity of the Mexican territory must be maintained ? With respect to the despatch of October 21, in ivhicli the French Ministry broaches the question of erecting a throne for a foreign prince in Mexico, what was the answer of the Government? Why, actuated by its attachment to dynastic interests and the honour of the country, it replied that Spain Avould not be pleased to see that throne occupied by any but a Spanish prince. We are told that this answer was long delayed. It is true that we had been before indirectly apprised of the existence of a ivish to establish a monarchy in Mexico ; but the Govern- ment had no official knowledge of the fact, and the treaty made no allusion to any such matter. On the contrary, it plainly stated that the expedition was not going to Mexico to make any change in the Government by force, and the 410 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Queen's Government always insisted tliat the independence of the Mexican people should be respected in their political movements for reconstituting their Government. How then can M. Olozaga have entertained the thought that we were going to Mexico to establish a monarchy for an Austrian prince ? Among the many absurd rumours which have been current, was one to the effect that the Spanish Government originated the idea of a monarchy in Mexico. When the question as to Avhat form of government would best suit Mexico was under consideration, the Queen's Government expressed a preference for monarchy, but insisted on the necessity of leaving that p)oint to be freely decided by the Mexicans themselves. We have always declared that we Avould take no part in forcibly establishing a government opposed to the freely-expressed will of the country. I am astonished that M. Olozaga should throw doubts on the conduct of the Governor-General of Cuba. When the expedition Avas ready, the Government informed the friendly powers of the step it was taking with regard to Mexico. This communication led to the signing of the convention ; but when the Government was able to notify this fact to General Serrano, and send him instructions Avith the royal orders appointing the chief of the expedition and recommending him to delay its departure, it was too late : the expedition had ah-eady sailed. On receiving the despatches the Governor-General sent off a steamer, which he hoped would be in time to prevent the squadron from going to Vera Cruz. This hope was disappointed. Nothing was done, however, contrary to the treaty of October 31, nor was there any motive of mistrust in the dejtartui'e of POSITION OF ENGLAND. 411 the expedition. Nothing in M. Olozaga's speech has asto- nished me so much as his blaming the appointment of the Count de Eeuss to the command of the expedition. At the meeting of the plenipotentiaries at Vera Cruz, the question was started as to whether the claims of the three powers ought to be jointly and collectively supported. That question was brought forward in consequence of the demand of the French 2^f^»-U^otentiary for the payment of a sum of ^13,000,000, being the amount lohich the house of JecTcer ^ Co. hud lent to Pr-esident Miravion. The English plenipotentiary objected to that claim, and, as General Prim could not interfere in the matter, it was resolved to adopt the plan of sending a collective note to the Mexican Government, recommending it to constitute itself in a proper manner in order to extricate the country from the condition in which it was then placed. General Prim admitted that he had departed from his instructions, which were restricted to declaring that a collective note should be presented, specifying the claims of the three powers. The Spanish Government had declared that the collective note was not in conformity with his instructions, and still more that it was a useless act, as the answer would be that no government could be more stable than that of Juarez. The only inconvenience of such an act consisted in delaying the consequences of the expedition. The Government thought that the means of concihation ought not to go so far as to alloAv the Mexican Cabinet to abuse the indulgence !-hoAvn, and that consequently more energetic measures should be had recourse to in case conciliatory means did not give an immediate result. The Spanish 412 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Government had done everything that was worthy of its dignity and its patriotism, and it obtained what it was above all most anxious for — that the Spanish soldier should he hiown in Mexico for what he really was, and not as he appeared through the medium of the sad events which took 2')lace when the American Repuhlic were striving for their independence. At home, meanwhile, parties were doing all they could to discredit the Cabinet of Madrid, but they had not succeeded. The confidence of populations ema- nated from the acts of governments, and from the qualities of the individuals forming part of them, and the services rendered to the sovereign. Such confidence was seen to have prompted every act of the long negotiations which led to the convention of October 31. Those acts showed that the Government was fully decided not to sacri- fice the interests and honour of the country, and not to permit the blood of a single Spanish soldier to be shed, except for the glory and honour of the Spanish people. M. Rivero expressed himself very severely against the Spanish Ministry, and still more so against General Prim. The withdrawal of the Spanish troops, he said, is a disgrace to the Spanish nation. Why did they leave Mexico, and why do they not return there ? Such conduct humiliates Spain in the Island of Cuba, and dishonours her. It constitutes the most complete abandonment of Spanish interests in America. POSITION OF ENGLAND. 413 M. Eios Rosas pointed out the contradictions -which existed between the diplomatic documents and the language made use of by the Ministry. M. Coellio went still farther, and said : I shall in the first place declare that I disapprove the conduct of General Prim, because I had great confidence in him, and his nomination had led me to hope that he would have re- turned to his country covered with laurels. In presence of those formal accusations, the attitude of M. Calderon Collantes is more and more embarrassed. In the sitting of the 13th, he confined himself to saying to M. Eivero he would reply on a future day. The history of the proceedings of our Minister, Sir C. Wyke, prior to bis removal, is simply this, — that behind the back of our Allies, the French, with whom the intervention had been signed, and in direct opposition to their Minister, he concocted a separate convention with Mexico, which the Congress immediately refused to ratify, and compelled the Minister Zamacona, who signed it, to resign. And no wonder; for every British resident cried aloud against such a convention, well knowing the evil it would lead to. (I do not reckon as British those individuals who are always ready to lick the dust off the shoe that spurns them.) The complaints against this convention were these : — 414 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. 1. It proposed a sudden and violent reduction of fifty per cent, on the tariff, friglatening the little sense they had out of the few Mexicans who understand trade ; and particularly remembering that the last time we tried our hand at forcible interference in the Dimlop convention, we insisted on thirty per cent, being restored, which they had deducted on discount — an inconsistency which told, of course, with great reason against us iu the debate. 2. The bona fide claims of British subjects, for thirty years deprived of all reparation for insult, outrage, and murder, were completely ignored. 3. The only reparation for the national honour, so long set at nought by the duplicity, the breaking of every solemn engagement, and the outrage on the British Minister and his seal, in the robbery at the Legation, was money ! money ! money ! giving rise to a foul accusation, ap- parently too well founded, that Englishmen in Mexico will sell everything, even to their national honour. 4. Of the five millions claimed, but a small portion consisted of bona fide British claims, the greater part being foisted, under not very creditable circumstances, into British protection, without any shadow of right. 5. Under the circumstances, and at the time, it was utterly useless to make any treaty at all. G. In this, as in every other case. Sir C. Wyke had not condescended to take the slightest notice of the existence of any Englishmen but himself in Mexico, or to take the counsel or ask the opinion of those whose interests were so vitally at stake; but in this, as in everything, treated them with hauteur. POSITION OF ENGLAND. 415 And as Mr. Fitzgerald pointed out, as well as the British residents, the treaty never mentioned the reparation due for thirty years of robbery and murder. As to the chances of French occupation of Mexico, of course the capital will be at their mercy ; but they will be little advanced by that. The history of the Spanish race has shown, over and over again, that they are little likely to succumb, as a nation, by the hostile occupation of their cities. The whole of the mother-country was overrun by Napoleon in the Peninsular War, but the whole population was in arms in every mountain fastness and forest ; and it Avill be so in Mexico. The nature of the country, its utter impracticability for military manoeuvres, the vast, tracts of mountain, forest, and desert, the total absence of reads, the entire destitution of forage, and the climate, above all, will inevitably wear out even the strength of French armies. Add to this the gross injustice of their cause, the hatred of the nation, and their distance from any base of opera- tions, make the chimera of a permanent French settlement ridiculous. Add to all this the jealousy of America at European interference on their soil, and there is enough to appal any sober statesman who looks at the causes and consequences of this 416 NOTES IN MEXICO, IS61-62. irruption into a country which has nothing iu common with the destinies of the French empire. It is a costly bkmder ; and it is perfectly evident the Mexicans so regard it, for on May 9 last D obi ado put forward an appeal to the nation, which in sub- stance amounts to the same. The manifesto begins by referring to the advance of the French army into the interior without any declaration of war. This step is attributed to the false information given to the French Government by interested persons, who induced the French to make an attempt on the sovereignty of Mexico, in spite of the engagements entered into with their two allies in the convention of London. France is accused of having acknowledged the Mexican Govern- ment by the convention of Soledad according to the constitution of 1857, which the Mexicans had con- solidated, after a struggle of three years, and they did not stand in need of any foreign intervention. The French offered no excuse for breaking the con- vention, and set at nought their solemn engage- ments. England and Spain preferred leaving to France the entire responsibility of breaking up the alliance, and retracting from their engagements. Under the pretext of protecting the Mexican people, the French have exhibited an evident desire to set POSITION OF ENGLAND. 417 up a government of their own, and that at a moment when the Mexican people had established a govern- ment according to the constitution, in Article 41 of which it is provided that ' the will of the people is, that they be formed into a republic, which shall be representative, democratic, and federal in its cha- racter, composed of free and sovereign States, as far as concerns its internal administration, yet of States united by a confederation established upon the prin- ciples of this fundamental law.' Neither more nor less (continues the manifesto) is now meant than the destruction of the will of the Mexican people, and the substitution of a system that would lead to the destruction of the Republic, and give to one nation a supremacy over others in their foreign relations. Few who care to read the events of the French history of the last ten years, can fail to perceive how completely the Emperor has won his marvellous success by the most accurate and careful knowledge of all he is in contact with, whether men or nations. He has used England for his own purposes with the most delicate perception. He has never offended our prejudices or wounded our extravagant self-love, for he knows our strength and takes advantage of our weakness. The interest which England ought E E 418 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. to take in the welfare of Mexico, is one of those points which our statesmen ought to make heard thoroughly in his councils. Not only as a country rich and useful for the commerce of the world beyond calculation, but, politically and socially con- sidered, affording one of the most interesting spec- tacles of a people emerging from barbaric government and priestly chicanery to a free and constitutional liberty, Mexico demands our sympathy and support. A firm representation of the duties and ties which bind us in relation to Mexico would gain for us ten- fold more than the alliance we have escaped, where success would have been more humiliating than failure. WTien the French armies have proved their supremacy we can safely interpose. We have but little to ask, and the settlement would not be difficult. "We ought first thoroughly to sift the claims urged by British and soi-disant British subjects. Most of them will be found utterly untenable. It is idle to say the Mexican Government have ratified them. It is a fraud to plead that English ministers and the Foreign Office has endorsed them. More shame to us ; for when we say to Mexico, pay us what you owe us, or we will attack you, it deeply concerns our national honour to see clearly that the debt we claim should be honestly due. There is POSITION OF ENGLAND. 419 another question, too. How has it fared with the real and bona fide claims for loss and reparation to outraged British subjects amid all this chicanery? Of course, they have all gone to the wall. These last ought to be our first consideration. Our course seems quite clear. First, all claims of bona fide reparation to individuals should be paid at once and in full. They amount to ^2 1,000,000, on file; they may very probably be reduced to 12 or 15, and will form no difficulty. Next, the robberies of go- vernments, viz., Laguna Seca, Legation, the Tam- pico Conducta, &c. &c. And, lastly, a fair and just arrangement of the other matters. The great thing we have to do is to overthrow the common idea prevalent among the Mexicans, that murder, robbery, and insult to En lish individuals, and even to the English nation, in the person of the Minister and his seal, may all be fully atoned and compensated by money. This the public prints assert, and with great apparent reason ; and this damning accusation it should be our first care to rebut. Such an accusation there is too much reason to fear is well-founded upon the past and present ex- perience of diplomatic arrangements in Mexico. It is one which our Home Grovernment would do well to clear us of by actions as well as words. E E 2 420 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. Fleets are no use : what do the Governors of S. Luis Potosi or Zacatecas care for the presence of men-of-war at Vera Cruz ? Perfect redress must be obtained by a cure of the evil, not by any affectation of punishment. Obtain as full and perfect a satisfac- tion as you can desire for the past, and in a few months you will have a fresh crop of grievances of the same character, and perhaps worse, against which you have at present no possible guarantee. We want not only redress for all evils, but security and guarantees for the future. To do this nothing more is required than sufficient support to an able national government to make its decrees respected and its authority undisputed. There is no way left by which England can safely and profitably build up trade and commerce with Mexico, except through the Liberal party. A liberal treaty once concluded, and a good understanding established between the two nations, we shall find in Mexico a magnificent field for our enterprise, in- dustry, and capital. The principles of liberty will be there developed under our fostering care, and that down-trodden people will eventually rise up our faithful friend and ally. On the other hand, the success of the Church or Monarchical party will seriously compromise the well-being of the United POSITION OF ENGLAND. 421 States ; for in case the faction now represented by France obtains control of the Kepublic, a policy will be inaugurated which must bring us into hostile collision, not only with Mexico, but with one or more of the great powers. APPENDICES. APPENDIX I. From the year 1535 until the year 1821, when Mexico obtained her independence, the country was governed by sixty-one viceroys, whose terms of service extended over a period of 286 years, giving to each viceroy rather more than four years. Among these Spanish rulers there would occasionally be found one of benevolent disposition and liberal ideas. But it must be conceded that, in the main, the Spanish rule in New Spain was one of iron despotism, in which priest and soldier bore an equal part, until several millions of human beings, the constitutional elements of whose character were gentleness and docility, rose against their oppressors with the determination of driving them from the land. An obscure native cure, of the Indian village of Dolores, in the province of Guanajuato, named Miguel Hidalgo, headed the first Mexican revolution, which broke out in 1810. Under the cry oi Death to the Gachiipins, and the 424 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. belief that their religion Avas endangered by the French (Joseph Bonaparte being then on the Castilian throne), the natives rallied tinder Hidalgo, and for a season Avaged a sanguinary and snccessfiil conflict against Spaniard and Creole. This revolutionary priest was finally captured and shot, July 27, 1811. A guerilla warfare followed, which in 1812 came to a head under Morelos, another native cure, who, aided by INIatamoras, one of the same class, followed in the footsteps of Hidalgo, and continued the contest against the loyalists until November 1815, when this really great chief was betrayed into the hands of the Spanish General Concha, at Tesmaluco, province of Puebla. Morelos was sent to the capital, tried, and condemned to be shot. He was taken to the hospital of San Cristobal for execution, December 22, 1815. After dining, he bound the handker- chief around his head, kneeled, and ejaculating, 'Lord, if I have done well Thou knowest it,' gave the fatal signal to his executioners, and thus calmly and heroically the soldier- priest met his fate. Matamoras had previously been taken prisoner and shot by Iturbide, who here made his first appearance on the stage, a zealous loyalist. The death of Morelos did not subdue the spirit of revo- lution. Rebel chiefs appeared at various points. Among them was that indomitable and daring patriot Guadalupe Victoria, of whom mention was first made as a soldier under Morelos. Xavier IMina appeared as a revolutionary leader in April 1817, and at the head of a brave band, principally ■ North Americans, met with so much success, as to bring against him the combined efforts of the loyalist forces. APPENDIX. 425 Mina was betrayed by a friar, taken prisoner, and shot, by order of Viceroy Apodaca, in November 1817. From 1810 to 1821 a sanguinary and cruel war was waged throughout INIexico. It commenced a war of castes, the native against the Sjianiard. Up to this period, Spain had rigidly adhered to the policy of placing all civil power in the hands of native Spaniards. No one born in Mexico was allowed to participate in the administration of the government of the country in the slightest degree. The Gachupins were the kings and nobles of the land. The Creoles even, descendants of the Spaniards, members of their own families, were, under the universal system of de- gradation, made to feel an inferiority of birth and the iron heel of the oppressor. But at the commencement of the revolution under Hidalgo, the Creoles were found fighting side by side with the Spaniards. The spirit of liberty, however, became infectious, and by degrees this interme- diate class went over to the insurgents, and joined them in their efforts to conquer the common enemy. This, with the operation of the constitution given to Mexico by the consent of the Cortes of Spain, in 1812, which pi'etended to relieve the people of their grievances, and did in reality curtail the power of the viceroy, so alarmed Apodaca, the incumbent of that office in 1821, that he resolved to restore the absolute power of Spain, and to this end proposed to Iturbide, a Creole of elegant person and polished manners, to head the loyalist army then on the west coast, and proclaim the restoration of the absolute authority of the King of Spain over Mexico. Iturbide assumed the leadership of the army, but, under 426 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. the influence of the clergy, who were beginning to fear that the Cortes of Spain would encroach ujjon their enor- mous property and revenues, the Creole leader, instead of proclaiming anew the power of Spain, brought forth, in February 1821, that famous document known as the Plan of Iguala^ the first article of which declared as follows : The Mexican nation is inde^oendent of the Spanish nation, and of every other, even on its own continent. By this act, Mexico virtually became independent of Spain. Iturbide assumed imperial power in 1822, under the title of Augustiu I. His reign was brief The following November, General Garza headed a revolt in the north, and Santa Anna, who was then Governor of Vera Cruz, first made himself prominent, by pronouncing against Iturbide. The Emperor Iturbide abdicated and fled from the country, and on attempting to return, July 1824, he was captured and shot. The Congress of the country had annulled the acts of the Emperor, April 8, 1823, and in October 1824 the repub- lican constitution was published. In consequence of this constitution. General Victoria became the first President of Mexico, on the 10th of the same month and year, and remained in power until April 1, 1820. During this period three pronunciamientos took place. The first in 1824, when a general of the name of Lobato attempted a revolution against the Spaniards em- ployed by the Government. Second, in 1827, when General Montano headed a revolution against the Freemason So- cieties and Mr. Poinsett, United States Minister in Mexico at that time. Both these, however, were put down APPENDIX. 427 by the Government. Third, in 1828, a more important pronunciamiento took place in Jalapa, and continued at Perote and Oajaca. At the same time, another broke out in the city of Mexico. Tliis proved disastrous; and is known by the appellation of Acordada. On April 1, 1829, General Guerrero became President, but retired from government on December 18 of the same year, in order to take command of the army, and march against General Bustamente, who had taken up arms against the Liberal party, to which Guerrero belonged. From December 18 to the 31st of the same month, the government was pro- visionally in the hands of Senores Bocanegra, Velez, Quin- tanas, and Alman, at which date General Bustamente, as Vice-President, took possession of the government, which he held till August 14, 1832, when he was obliged to take command of the army, as General Vasquez, and other officers at Vera Cruz, had pronounced against him. From August to December 1832, the government was in the hands of a President interino, General Muzquiz, and passed on December 24, 1832, into the hands of the constitutional President, General Gomez Pedraza, who retired, however, on April 1, 1833, when the Vice-President, D. V. Gomez Farias, took his place. During that time the revolution had gained ground, and General Santa Anna was named constitutional President on June 17, 1833. He took the reins of power, but being obliged to head the army in order to attack Texas, January 1835, he left the government during his absence in the hands of two Vice-Presidents, first to Seiior Farias, and then to General Barra-c., Commander- in-Chief of the Spanish Forces in Mexico. Having received the chief political and military com- mand, attending to the special circumstances in which this country is found, and decided to punish with all the severity of military law, whoever, in whatever manner, proceeds against the public order, personal security, or the property of pacific inhabitants, — I order the fol- lowing : — 1. The city and other points occupied by the Spanish troops are declared in a state of siege. 2. A permanent military commission shall be established to take cognisance of all classes of offences. APPENDIX. 451 3. Faults and offences of ordinary character will be dealt with summarily. 4. All persons who have in their possession arms of any class whatsoever, shall deliver them to the chief of the guard of the city, Avithin twenty-four hours from the publication of this decree. Vera Criiz : December 17tli, 1861. Vera Chuzans, — The Spanish troops that occupy your city bring no mission of conquest nor interested views. They are brought here solely by the duty of exacting satisfaction for the non-compliance with treaties, and for the violences committed against our fellow-countiymen, as well as guarantees that such outrages will not be repeated. Until these objects be attained here, and where else it is led by the course of events, the Spanish army will know how, with its rigorous discipline, to preserve, at all costs, the public tranqixillity ; and to punish Avith severity the disturbers of public order, submitting them to the military commission, which will be appointed to judge all delin- quents. Vera Cruzans, — you have no cause of alarm ; you know the Spanish soldier, and your attitude itself demon- strates it. Dedicate yourselves to your labours, and believe that it will be the greatest satisfaction to this army, after ftilfilling the mission with which the Queen has charged it, to return to our country with the assur- ance of having merited your esteem. December 17th, 1861. 452 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1S61-G2. Decree, closing Port of Vera Cruz, and calling on States for contingents for the Sovereign War. The Constitutional President has been pleased to direct to me the following decree : — Benito Juarez, Constitutional President of the Mexican Eepublic, to the inhabitants of the same, greeting. The Spanish forces having occupied the port of Vera Cruz, and, by the same act, hostilities having begun be- tween the Republic and Spain, in use of the ample faculties with which I am invested, I have thought proper to decree as follows : — 1. The port of Vera Cruz is closed from the 14th instant to foreign coasting trade. 2. All INIexicans who join the Spaniards with arms in their hands, or in whatever manner favour their cause, are declared traitors to their country, and shall be punished as such. 3. The time conceded by the law of amnesty of December 2nd to the reactionists, to take advantage of the in- dulgence offered by Government, is extended for fifteen days more ; and is made applicable to all Mexicans, except those who, in tlie judgement of Government, are not open to receive it, to which end examiiaation shall be made in each particular case. 4. Tlic Governors of States arc authorised to dispose of tlie revenues belonging to the general Govern- ment, witliin tlieir respective governments, to the APPENDIX. 453 end that, with the utmost expedition, may be put in march the contingent of armed force assigned in this decree. states Men Federal district .... 3,000 Chihuahua 2,000 Guerrero 2,000 Oaxaca 3,000 Guanajuato 3,000 Jalisco 3,000 Zacateeas . 3,000 S. Luis Potosi . 3,000 Mexico 3,000 Miehoacan 3,000 Puebla 3,000 Vera Cruz 3,000 ; Neuva Leon "» Coahuila J 2,000 Tamaulipas 2,000 Durango 2,000 Yucatan 2,000 Tabasco 2,000 Aguas Calientes 1,000 Queretaro 1,000 Colima 1,000 Tlascala 1,000 ] Baja California 1,000 Sonora . 1,000 Sinaloa 1,000 addition to the ce ntinge nt, Ai tide I ), at a point designated, as occasion serves, by the Government, the Governors will place tinder arms all the national guards disposable, providing [^such extraordinary 454 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. measui'es as may be necessary for the procuring resources for their maintenance. 7. The Spaniards resident ■will remain under the protec- tion of the laws ; and only punished, under the same when, abusing the generosity of Government, they afford aid to the invaders. I order it to be published, printed, circulated, and duly complied with. Bexito Juarez. To Citizen Manuel Doblado, Minister of Foreign Belations. I communicate the same to you for your compliance, and the conseqiient ends. God and Liberty. Mexico: December 17th, 1861, Doblado to the Governor of Vera Cruz. Secretary of State Department of Foreign Eelations. The citizen President, to whom I have given a copy of the communication directed to you by the Commander of the Spanish naval forces, and the one you sent to that chief in reply, has ordered me to say that you follow punctually the instructions given by him beforehand for the case which has now arrived of tlie open commencement of hostilities on the part of Spain ; and that it be now left to the military action of General Ui"aga, Commander-in-Chief of the Mexi- APPENDIX. 455 can army, to proceed in his sphere in conformity with the provisions akeady made. Far will it be from the govern- ment of the Republic to direct itself to a chief who, throwing aside all the formalities of the rights of nations, commences by demanding the delivery of the city. The ciy of war that the whole nation has spontaneously uttered marks out to the Government the path it should follow ; and it will not be the citizen President who will recede before a foreign invasion, — and with all the more reason, when in this case Mexico does no more than repel force by force, using its own most unquestionable right. I inclose to you, by order, a copy of the decree and circular to-day, remitted by exjiresses to the Governors of States, recommending you to second, wdth all the energy and activity demanded by the circumstances, the plans of Government, by the faithful execution of which the Presi- dent does not doubt the invasion, which threatens to destroy our liberties and oui- independence, wdll be effectually re- pulsed. LiBEUTY AND EeFOEM. Mexico: December 17tli, 1861. 456 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. APPENDIX in. Extracts from Diplomatic Correspondence. The treaty called Mon Almonte, was signed at Paris on September 26, 1859, by Don Juan N. Almonte, in the name of the rebels who occupied the city of Mexico, but could not represent the Mexican Eepublic, because they had risen in revolt against the constitution of the country, and were evading the observance of its laws to such degree that the constitutional government of the Eepublic, which had been lawfully elected by the people, and had not ceased to exist for a single instant, was sojourning for the time at Vera Cruz ; was recognised, strengthened, and upheld by three-quarters of the Mexican territory, and an immense majority of the INIexican people, and had been acknow- ledged as the sole government of Mexico since April 1859, by the United States. The circumstance of the non-resi- dence of the Government in the city of Mexico, which had been before, and is now again, the capital of the country, and that the rebels were acknowledged as the- government of the Republic by three or four European powers, could in no way change the nature of the rebelUon, nor cause the fundamental laws of Mexico to lose their power. The representative of the constitutional government at Paris protested repeatedly against the conclusion of the APPENDIX. 457 convention, before and after it was signed. The Govern- ment of Mexico also solemnly protested against it as soon as it had notice of its conclusion, and in anticipation had formally declared that the rebels lacked the authority to pledge the nation, and that settlements which might be made Avith them would be null and of no avail. Protest against Sir C. Wyhe's Convention. The principle of allowing any outrages to be committed for nothing more or less than a certain price, is sui-ely too dangerous a one to be tolerated by England. The sacred character of international treaties would by this means be entirely destroyed ; and it is not merely the lives and property of English residents in Mexico, but of those in remote countries all over the world, that would be ex- posed to dangers which our Government is bound to ward off and protect us from, instead of tolerating them with comparative impunity. English miners, merchants, and colonists would, in one word, find themselves in a Aveaker and more difficult position than the natives of almost any other nation. Surely this cannot be the state of things which an English cabinet can take any pride in creating or countenancing, nor can it be expected that British subjects can quietly and passively wait for such a result to be produced : and it is therefore that we wish, through you, to impress tipon Her Majesty's Government that no arrange- ment should be entered into which does not embrace full 458 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. reparation for every just British claim, whatever may have been its origin, atonement for the violation of treaties, and ample guarantees for the future secm-ity of persons and property of British subjects resident within the Republic. Mr. Seward to Mr. Corwin : April 6, 18G1. A CONDITION of anarchy in ]\Iexico must necessarily operate as a seduction to those who are conspiring against theintegrity of the Union, to seek strength and aggrandise- ment for themselves by conquests in Mexico and other parts of Spanish America. Thus, even the dullest observer is at last able to see Avhat was long ago distinctly seen by those who are endowed with any considerable perspicacity, that peace, order, and constitutional authority, in each and all of the several republics of this continent, are not ex- clusively an interest of any one or more of them, but a common and indispensable interest of them all. This sentiment will serve as a key to open to you, in every case, the purposes, wishes, and expectations of the President in regard to yoiu* mission, which, I hardly need say, he considers at this juncture perhaps the most in- teresting and important one within the whole circle of our international relations. APPENDIX. 459 Mr. Coricin to Mr. Seward: J'wne 22, 1861. The great want of this Republic is that public opinion which is so omnipotent with us, and this again arises from the want of an enliyhtened j^cople. Hence, in the last forty years, Mexico has passed through thirty-six different forms of government ; has had sevezaty-two, or rather, up to this time, has had seventy-three presidents. Still, I do not despair of the final triumph of free government in Mexico. Progress has been made. The signs of regene- ration, though few, are still visible. Had the present Liberal party enough money at command to pay an army of ten thousand men^ I am satisfied it could suppress the present opposition, restore order, and preserve internal peace. These once achieved, the leaders of this party would adhere to the written constitution and enforce obedience to law ; and industry, secure in its rewards, would soon take the place of idleness and crime. Educa- tion of the right kind begins to be felt as a necessity, which in time would, under such auspices, expel from the minds of the people religious superstition, and make the supre- macy of either religious or political despotism impossible. I am persuaded that the pecuniary resources to effect these objects at this time must come from abroad. This country is exhausted, as might be expected, by forty years of almost uninterrupted civil war. She looks now, and has looked for some time in vain, for help from other nations. 460 NOTES IN MEXICO, lS6:-62. >S7r C. Wyl:e to Earl Russell: Oct. 28, 18G1. As the interest due on the French convention is a mere trifle in comparison to ours, I have strongly iirged this Government to satisfy the just reclamations of the French Legation with respect to its suspension, and they have assured me that they will use their best efforts to come to some satisfiictory arrangement of this question with M. de Saligny. Mt\' Schiirz to Mr. Seicard. Legation of the United States : Madrid, November 7, 1861, Sir, — In my despatch No. 29, dated October 15, 1 gave you some information concerning the movements of General Miramon. The statement that he would sail for Mexico from Cadiz has proved incorrect. He did, indeed, go to Cadiz with that intention, but for some reason, Avhich I have not been able to ascertain, he returned to Madrid. Here he was received by General O'Donnell, and several other public men, with great distinction. He aj^peared publicly in O'Donnell's staff at the late field manoeuvres of the garrison of Madrid. I am informed he will soon go to Paris, and then sail for Mexico. That there is an imdcr- standing between him and the leading men of the Spanish Government as to the object of the expedition against Mexico, can hardly be doubted. I am, sir, your obedient servant, C. SCHUUZ. APPENDIX. 46 1 Mr. Seward to Mr. Corwin: Dec. 5, 18G1. In accordance with the instructions contained in your first despatch on this subject, I made an arrangement with tlie Government of Mexico for a loan of ^5,000,000, payable in monthly instalments of one half million per month, and secured by the pledge of all the public lands, mineral rights, and church property. In addition to this I agreed, on behalf of the United States, to make a further loan of ^4,000,000 (making in all ;^9,000,000), to be paid in sums of one half million every six months, and to be secured in like manner as the ,^5, 000, 000. Since the rejection of the English treaty I have not felt at liberty to complete this arrangement, and shall await further instruc- tions. Should the three Euroj^ean powers referred to take possession of the Mexican ports, and then offer to relinquish all claims upon this country in consideration of the pay- ment of the interest upon their debts, and the securing of the payment of the principal, I shall feel at liberty to renew my propositions, unless otherwise instructed. Proclamation of the Allies to the Mexicans. Vera Cruz : January 10, 1862. Mexicans, — The representatives of England, France, and Spain fulfil a sacred duty in giving you to xmderstand their intentions from the moment that they trod the ground of your Eepublic. The faith of the treaties broken by the various governments which have succeeded each other 462 ^•OTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. among you, and the individual seciirity of our citizens, continually menaced, have made necessary and indis- pensable this expedition. They deceive you who would make you believe that behind onr pretensions, as just as they are legitimate, come enveloped plans of conquest and restorations, and of inter- fering in your politics and government. Three nations who accepted in good faith and acknow- ledged your independence, have the right to expect you to believe them animated by no coAvardly intentions, but rather by others more noble, elevated, and generous. The three nations that we come representing, and whose first interest appears to be satisfaction of grievances inflicted upon them, have a higher interest, and one of more general and beneficial consequences ; they come to extend the hand of friendship to a people to whom Providence has been prodigal of all its gifts, and which they behold with grief wasting its forces and extinguishing its vitality through the violent power of civil wars and of perpetual convulsions. This is the truth, and those charged with the expression of it do it, not with the voice of war and threats, but that you yourselves shall Avork out your own good fortune, in which we are all concerned. To you — exclusively to you, without intervention of foreigners — belongs the task of constituting yourselves in a permanent and stable manner. Your labour will be the labour of regeneration, which all will respect, for all will have contributed to it, some with their opinions, others with enlightenment, and all and everyone with their con- science. The evil is great, the remedy urgent. Now or APPENDIX. 463 never can you make your prosperity. Mexicans ! listen to tlie voice of the allied powers, anchor of salvation in the destroying tempest through which you are rushing. Deliver yourselves up to their good fiuth and righteous in- tentions. Fear nothing from restless and turbulent spirits, which, should they show themselves, would be cowed by your firm and decided attitude. Meanwhile we shall preside over impassively the glorious spectacle of your regeneration, guaranteed through order and liberty. So will it be imderstood, w^e are sure, by the suj^reme Government, to which we address ourselves ; so will it be understood by the enlightened of the country, to whom we speak ; and, as good patriots, you will all agree to the laying down of your arms, and that reason alone shall be put forward, which is the power that ought to triumph in this the nineteenth century. Charles Lennox Wyke Dubois de Saligny Hugh Dunlop El Conde de Eeuss. E. JUEIEN DE LA GrAVIERE Mr. Conviii to Mr, Seward: February/ 18, 18G2. M. DoBLADO, the Minister of Foreign Relations, left here on Friday morning (the 14th instant) to meet the foreign commissioners at Soledad, a small village about thirty miles from Vera Cruz. The object of this meeting is to agree, if possible, on certain points preliminary to treaties settling the claims of each power. In a conference with M. Doblado, the night before his departure, he informed me that the points he should insist on were — 464 ?sOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. First. The recognition by each and all of the three powers of the present Government of Mexico. Second. A pledge not in any event to attempt a dis- memberment of the present territory of Mexico. Third. A pledge not to interfere in the domestic Govern- ment of Mexico, or make any elFort to change the existing fundamental laws of the Republic. These propositions seem to me to embody precisely the engagements entered into by these powers with each other in the ti-eaty which has been published by themselves ; and if there be no secret understanding behind the treaty, I doubt not M. Doblado will succeed in securing the proposed preliminary arrangement. Senor la Fuentc to M. TJwuvenel. Paris: March 7, 1862. Monsieur le Ministre, — It is not till after a long delay, and in consequence of the obstacles Avhich the direct cor- respondence of this legation with the Mexican Government has met with, that I have received the instructions sought by me of the President on the subject of my rule of conduct towards the Government of the Emperor. liis excellency has not only approved of the act whereby I suspended diplomatic relations with the French Govern- ment — relations which itself had rendered impracticable — but has even acknowledged the justice of my observations on the dii^houour whicli would have accrued to the llepublic in maintaining in this country a legation compelled to listen APPENDIX. 465 in silence to insults the most atrocious, and declarations the most humiliating, to the Government and people of Mexico ; a legation which could effect nothing towards restoring the good rmderstanding which had been entirely destroyed, Avhen peace became impossible by the resolution formed to overthrow republican institutions in Mexico, and substitute in their stead a monarchy for the benefit of a foreign prince. Such a design was fully apparent before it had been con- firmed by the ofScial documents recently published in Paris and London. On becoming convinced of the truth of this rumour I should have at once have had the honour of demanding my passports of your excellency, had I not been restrained from doing so by the laudable hope that my Government still cherished of being able to effect a con- vention with M. de Saligny, and later by the proclamation issued by his excellency the President, in consequence of the iniquitous invasion of the territory of the Republic made by the Spaniards, in violation of all the rules of the law of nations. By this public act his excellency offered to accede to all reasonable propositions made by the aggressors, while he bound himself to resist by all possible means such as were tmjust or humiliating to the Republic. This policy proved to me that, even to the last, my Government left the way open to negotiations. It was not for me to close it by any act of mine. But the rule of my ofScial conduct is now fixed, and, in conformity with the express orders of my Government, I hereby declare to your excellency that I break up the Mexican Legation in France, and the protection of the natives of Mexico is confided to the good offices of hia H H 466 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. excellency M. Galvez, Minister of Peru at the court of the Emperor of the French. I shall, therefore, be obliged to you, M. le Ministre, to fiu-nish me with passports to quit France for myself, my second secretar}^, M. Marcelino Orozco, and the members of my family. From respect to justice and the dignity of my Govern- ment, I have to make a few remarks concerning this deter- mination, which has been so long justified that it may appear rather tardy than precipitated. France has deemed it right to employ force against Mexico. From tliis time diplomacy has nothing to do with this question. Nevertheless, if it be demanded what was the cause of the commencement of hostilities, it may be replied that the motives openly enunciated are neither the just nor the true ones, and that beyond them must be sought the prime mover of this rupture. From the beginning M. de Saligny assigned as a motive for breaking off relations with the Mexican Government the law which decided to suspend for two years the payment of the foreign debt. But the Mexican Government did not deny its obligations ; it only postponed the fulfilment of them under the pressure of an imperious necessity, acknowledged by aU, even by M. de SaHgny, as is proved by his despatches addressed to yo\ir excellency. It did not have resource to the suspension of payments till all the sources, ordinary and extraordinary, of the public wealth were utterly exhausted — a fact Avhicli is also clear from the above despatches. It did not come, in short, to this hard extremity till after it had olTered to its foreign creditors an APPENDIX. 467 arrangement which these last deemed satisfactory, and which was not carried into effect, for the sole reason that obstacles were interposed by M. de Saligny in the name of tlie French creditors — a fact which shows that he Avas resolved at all hazards to keep in his own hands the power of breaking with the Mexican Government. The abrogation of this law was the sole condition imposed by M. de Saligny for resuming diplomatic relations with the government of the Republic. It was, then, necessary to proceed to such extremes, and to exercise such rigour in treating with a nation ruined by civil war. "Wliat mighty interest Avould France have in the payment by instalments of less than ^200,000, the amount of her acknowledged debt ? Is it thus that she has acted towards other nations who are very far from finding themselves in a situation so deplorable as that of Mexico ? And would it not have been preferable, more in conformity with the principles of justice and equity, to allow a little breathing to a friendly power engaged in the work of its social regeneration, and in the extermination of brigandage, a work of profound interest alike to natives and foreigners ? For what purpose could it be judged right to rekindle the flame of the civil war, disastrous to the commerce and interests of French subjects in Mexico, with the view of overthrowing the Government, and ruining its praise- Avorthy undertakings? Such animosity, from pecuniary motives, against an exhausted nation, has in it something so excessive, so unusual, that one must imagine other reasons in order to justify the expedition. If any credit is to be attached to recent official reports, Avhat was due to French H H 2 468 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. subjects, and of whicli the paj-ment "was resem-ed by the law of suspension, originated in the repai'ation of injuries committed against their persons and interests. But no one knows better than your excellency, M. le Ministre, that our debt to France has been paid by the government of ]\I. Juarez, even when France was acknow- ledging M. Miramon as President of Mexico (a situation, perhaps, unique in history, where the title and honour of the Government are accorded to one party, while the expenses are charged on another). You know that in the midst of a civil war kindled by the Government acknow- ledged by France, the constitutional President, M. Juarez (the head of the unacknowledged government), has paid the French debt with a punctuality, that even this payment was so advanced that there wanted not more than about ^200,000 to cancel the debt, and that, consequently, the constitutional Government deserved some little commenda- tion when, yielding to an insurmountable and evident necessity, it suspended payment for a time. And even if there were some grievances at the bottom of this debt in favour of France, it would still be imdeniable, from the considerations above enumerated, that this suspension was no reason for pushing things to such extremities. But let me be allowed, also, to represent to you, M. le Ministre, that the debt in question, comprising according to conven- tions and posterior declarations every kind of responsibility, even affairs of agiotage^ it was neither loyal nor just to assign as a sole source of its iniquities and injuries. May I be permitted, M. le Ministre, to express my astonishment at learning from you that the Government of APPENDIX. 469 the Emperor lias millions to claim from that of Mexico. But under what title ? On what proofs ? No one knows of them. No disciission can take jDlace on this subject, from want of precise clata^ and yet the war begins. My Government denies having contracted with M. de Saligny the verbal engagement of which that Minister speaks, on account of the ^40,000 of the convention Penaud ; and this is not the first time that contradictious have arisen in the relations of M. de Saligny with the Mexican Govern- ment. I should wish to suppose that M. de Saligny 's prejudice against that Government are not to be taken into account, and have already had the honour of pointing out to your excellency those ^^rejudices which, if they show themselves so strongly in his correspondence with you, are brought into still bolder relief in his correspondence with the Mexican Government. I am bound to suppose that his assertions are deemed by you worthy of credit, as are those of my Government by me ; but it results from them that Mexico can no longer cultivate friendly relations with this Minister, seeing that these are no longer possible when one of the two parties has brought against the other a charge of falsehood. In such a case, your excellency must know, the simple consideration due to the Government of a friendly power demands the removal of the Minister. Nevertheless, it is true that when it is desired to put an end to all friendly relations, and by a rupture and war, peaceful considerations are out of season. In these documents other motives are assigned for this war, based on the insecurity of French subjects residing in Mexico, and M. de Sahgny has forwarded a list of twenty- 470 NOTES IN MEXICO, 18C1-62. three outrages committed on their persons and property during a sjjace of about nine months. One "word on the subject of this list. The greater part of the crimes pointed out can only be imputed to reactionary bands, against whom the Government are actively engaged in war. In the relation of these excesses, there is clearly wanting one essential fact, the detail of the circumstances, which might entirely alter the case. It is not known from what sources the Minister derives his information, a fact not without importance in a question of acts committed at such great distances. There is not the shghtest proof, the vaguest indications that the Mexican Government has been required to afford satisfaction in cases where it was due, according to the law of nations, and it is not even pretended that it has ever refused it. There is nothing to authorise such a supposition, while the Government has ever shown its disposition to do what is right in claims of this nature. In a difference so deplorable I Avill never weary in in- voking the principles and usages which guide the inter- national relations of all nations with regard to the crimes in question, although I may, perhaps, perceive that these usages have been cast aside in the case of Mexico. Never- theless, it is not only a right but a duty to protest against the employment of force as a substitute for reason and justice. These last may sometimes make themselves heard even in the councils of governments who disregard them. At all events, they exalt the character of a nation which can recognise and fight for them. Tlius, then, M. le Ministre, such rules and such usages being admitted, it is clear that in using its best exertions, as the Mexican APPENDIX. 471 Government is doing to prevent and punish such crimes, no government incurs the responsibihty of them or loses in reputation by them, nor can the weight of war be cast upon it on account of them. "With what justice can a govern- ment be accused of violating the laws of lumianity, when the nation over which it rules, being distracted by civil Avar, certain misdeeds are perpetrated within its territory against the security of natives and foreigners ? Assuredly the Italian Government was not subjected to such harsh qualifications nor to such hostile proceedings on account of the barbaroiis and cruel brigandage of Naples, sustained by the reactiona,ry faction and combated by the Government, as is the case in Mexico. In France, even, where the nation enjoys profound peace, and where the Government exercises a power which enables it to act as it pleases, and with all the apropos of the moment, have we not just seen a long series of crimes brought to light, committed by a single individual for eight years ? Furthermore, M. de Saligny's despatches prove that the Government had provided with promptitude for the safety of the inhabitants of the capital, a subject which had before given rise to complaints. With regard to the attempt made on the life of M. de Saligny, which is made to figure among the causes of the war, I have the honour to inform your excellency that the judicial enquiry, an account of which I remitted to you, fully explains the error into which that minister has fallen, and shows that the fancied cries of death were in reality acclamations in favour of France, and in reprobation of assassins of foreigners. The groups whence these cries 472 KOTES IN MEXICO, 18G1-62. issued were composed of Mexicans and Frenchmen reci- procating fi-iendly sentiments. Who could ever have imagined that from all this would have arisen accusations and motives of war ? Eeally, M. le Ministre, Avhen I call to mind the calumnies, as atrocious as absurd, that many journals in France, in England, and in Spain have permitted them- selves to put on record against Mexicans, their society, and their government — when I see that in France, even in the high regions of power, my Government is denounced as unscrupulous, and my countrymen as barbarous — when I find the good will and friendly cries of the latter towards France used against them in the bill of indictment — I can- not but entertain a conviction that national antipathies are to be found rather in Europe than among the inhabitants of Mexico. I have two observations to make on the subject of this pretended attempt at assassination. From your despatches, already published, it ajipears that you attach no credit to the investigation and the judicial sentence Avhich I had the honour to communicate to you. Nevertheless, evidence taken before the tribunals is surely the best mode there, as elsewhere, of arriving at the truth, both in cases of this nature and of all appertaining to a ci-iminal jurisdiction. 'I'he Government could not but abide by the issue, and were bound to accept the verdict, which they have every reason to believe was a true one. The second remark I have to make is, that your des- patches say : ' Under other circumstances we should have demanded also a fall enquire/, atid, in the event of failure, APPENDIX. 473 suitable reparation. In the present state of affairs .... ive can only add this fact to all those which impose upon us the necessity of having recourse to the emploijment of harsh measures against Mexico.'' So, then, a matter, which, according to your oAvn confession, deserves to be en- quired into — a matter, the truth of which remains to be substantiated, you do not hesitate to enumerate among the motives of yovir resentment and your hostilities. On this occasion, M. le Ministre, I think I give a rare instance of moderation by forbearing to comment on these words. The revolutions of Mexico are cast in the teeth of the Government. Wliy, then, be silent about others still more disastrous and bloody ? Was it on account of the enormity of the Avrongs which had given rise to them, and the great- ness of the benefit produced, when they were suppressed ? Now, I have the firm persuasion that few nations in the world have suflfered so large an amount of evils as the Mexican from foreign domination, and few are the re- joublics that have had to sustain, like ours, such cruel combats on the part of the privileged classes. With oru* revolu- tions we have achieved the national independence ; the liberty of slaves ; the destruction of our clerical military oligarchy, which multiplied seditions and menaced inces- santly the existence of the Republic ; the liberty of con- science ; civil maiTiage ; the amelioration of the civil condition of foreigners, who have been placed on an equality Avith Mexicans ; civil and political liberty ; the elevation and fraternisation of races which had long been kept in a state of abject degi-adation and even in perpetual antagonism by the Spanish Government. And, since it is a question 474 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. of intervention and of importing into Mexico a foreign monarchy, it is certainly not improper to add tliat we reckon among the benefits derived from our revolutions the establishment of republican institutions. Mexico loves them as dearly as France can love her empire ; and to maintain the Republic Ave have made and are prepared to make eA^ery kind of sacrifice. Anarchy and misgovernment — such are the gratuitous charges brought against Mexico, and which serve as a theme for the expedition of the allied powers. But these recriminations refer rather to the political intervention than to the avowed motive of the triple alliance — that is to say, to the demands for reparation for guarantees, since this re- paration and these guarantees might be accepted by the Mexican Government, and the war would then be without object. But this language is clearly used to prevent an arrangement with the Mexican Government. Indeed, Admiral Jurien de la Graviere has affirmed, if I am rightly informed, that it is useless to treat with anarchy. Moreover, before all things, the Mexican nation has taken upon itself to reply to these charges. The war is at an end, leaving at most on the vast territory of the licpublic three or four reactionary bands, feeble and incessantly pur- sued, and not even the shadow of that great party is seen which was said to be favourable to intervention and the foreign monarchy. The States of the Mexican confedera- tion Avhich were described as disagreeing with the Federal Government furnish a contingent larger than that which Avas required of them ; the majority of the rebel cliieftains have given in their adhesion to the Government, and are APPENDIX. 475 soliciting for the lionom* of fighting against the invaders of tlieir comitry. Mexico has risen like one man to defend its liberties. No, M. le Ministre, I repeat, none of the causes as- signed either explains or justifies the violence of aggres- sion, and even had the law for the suspension of payments, which is said to have worn out the patience of France, not been passed, Mexico would have met with no better treat- ment at her hands. This is not a mere supposition ; it is an incontrovertible truth, demonstrated by facts anterior and posterior to that law. That law, indeed, Avas not in exist- ence when M. de Saligny, even before being accredited to the President, permitted himself to begin his functions by treating the Mexican nation with a contempt of which there is no example on record, and personally embarrassing the action of the local authorities, under the pretext of protecting the sisters of charity, whom no one was attacking, who are not French, and with whom the French nation has nothing to do. This law did not exist when the same Minister threatened the Government and nation with certain ruin, if the propositions of M. Jecker were not adhered to — a stock -jobbing afiTair concluded between him and the so-called government of M. Miramon. It was then, as I have already stated to your excellency, that M. de Saligny wrote to the Minister of Foreign Afi'airs, that, knowing he was protected by France, M. Jecker felt that he could attempt anything. This law was not passed when your excellency, in our first interview, informed me that your government had come to an understanding with that of England to treat Mexico with rigour ; and you may 476 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. remember tliat you assigned (in explanation of these threats and of the agreement entered into by the two States, and of that aiFair of Jecker, and other financial arrangements proposed by M. de Saligny and refused by ^lexico) motives which assuredly have nothing in common with the law of nations and duties of humanity, which the Government of Mexico is accused of violating. This law Avas not then in existence, and your excellency op- posed to my regular and official reception reasons which you subsequently were not able nor wilhng to sustain. Since the promulgation of this law, your excellency has formally refused to listen to the exjilanations that I was desired by my Government to oiFer to that of the Emperor, as if the moments consecrated to giving, at least, an appear- ance of justification and love of peace were to France an intolerable sacrifice of time. Since the adoption of this law, the Government of the United States has offered to that of the Emperor to pay the interest of the French debt of Mexico, and as that debt does not produce any interest, and was to be paid by instalments, the interest offered by the cabinet of Washington was a reasonable compensation for the delays in the payment of that part of the debt due, and a gratuitous benefit on Avhat remains to be paid ; but the Government of the Emperor refused the arrangement. If this law were indeed the true cause of the rupture and hostilities, why, instead of being suspended by its abroga- tion, were wai-like preparations increased? Since its abrogation an essential change has taken place in the policy of the allied powers against the Kej)iiblic. Wrongs, satisfactions, and guarantees, are now secondary APPENDIX. 477 considerations, and the real motive is revealed. It is, in , fact, a question of political intervention in Mexico, having for its object to force upon her as king a foreign prince. This revelation exjjlains everything. The French Govern- ment did not desire peace with Mexico. For a long time that Government, either through its head or by its agents, has not uttered a word, nor written a line about the Eepublic, that was not inspired by anger and contempt, and this in defiance of reason and decorum. Such is the peace it left to Mexico — a miserable peace; and, whatever may be said to the contrary, it is Mexico and not France that has given reiterated proofs of an exemplary patience. The sympathies of France have for a long time been reserved for that ephemeral Government which holds sway in Mexico, which she hastened to acknowledge, and sup- ported with efficacy, leaving, as a charge to the present Government, the liabilities which, even when just, could not be imputed but to its adversaries. But for this pro- tection, the civil war in Mexico, with all its horrors, would not have been thus prolonged. Her sympathies still remain with the partisans of this faction in Mexico, as well as with its agents who come to Paris to conspire against their cormtry, and to press the French Government to invade it, as the discontented Greeks did at Susa and the French emigrants at Coblentz. It is evident, M. le Ministre, that in order to cover the political intervention and the importation of a foreign monarchy into IVIexico, by means of the combined expedi- tion, it is pretended that force is not to be employed, but that the wishes of the Mexicans are to be consulted and 478 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. respected. A proclamation lias also been issued by the allied poAvers, inviting the Mexicans to proceed at once to the work of their political regeneration. But even suppos- ing this deference for public opinion to be sincere, who does not see clearly that this manifesto, emanating from the combined forces, is already the commencement of a political intervention ? What has become of the respect due to the sovereignty and independence of nations, with this act calling in question and submitting to the ballot a govern- ment which Mexico has chosen by the universal suffi-age of her citizens ? This illegal summons is not only an inter- meddling in the affairs of a nation, but a flagrant incitement to rebelHon, to which a favoiir, a support, is granted that does not lessen the offence from its being only of a moral character ; but I do not hesitate to add that from assent and sympathy they must pass to the use of violence, since the march of the expedition on the capital is already decided upon, and the ultimatum would thus be of such a nature that it could not be accepted ; besides, as the chiefs of the invading forces might qualify at pleasure the national will, it would be they who would impose upon Mexico the form and constitution of the government. "We saw, in 1814, the powers allied against France protesting, after the invasion, that they did not interfere in the question of the national Government. Then, also, petitions and official deliberations appeared, which seem to be of a spontaneous character, in favour of the Bom-bons, and the Allies seemed to yield to public opinion ; but, your excellency knows better than I, France never suffered herself to be deceived by these appearances, and for her the restoration was still the act of the foreigner. APPENDIX. 479 Mexico would as little be persuaded of the forbearance of the Allies in any change of her Government brought about through the presence and the manifestations of a foreign force. It was necessary to suppress history, to disregard proofs innumerable, and belie daily relations, to arrive at the con- clusion that the Government of Mexico is an vmscrupulous government, and the country 'barbarous;' and yet this is done in some of your official documents. It was necessary ; for in what other manner could the enormous outrage be justified, which is about to be committed upon us in open violation of the great principle of non-intervention, which was regarded as one of the most precious conquests of the new laAvs of nations ? This law has been violated by the commencement of hostilities and the occupation of Vera Cruz, in the name of the three powers allied against Mexico, without any demands having been made on Govern- ment, these being reserved for a later period. It is not jDOSsible that a cause can be just, or wear the semblance 'of justice, when its defenders have recourse to such means. What is the reason of these infractions and these wrongs pei-petrated deliberately and without necessity ? The Aveakness of Mexico. But she is not so weak as was Spain in the time of Napoleon I. Mexico may be conquered, but she cannot be subdued ; nor will she be conquered without having given proofs of the courage and virtues that are denied her. Mexico, after having shaken off the monarchical dominion of Spain — a dominion secular and deeply rooted ; Mexico, Avho woidd not have even her liberator for a king; Mexico, in short, who has just emerged victorious from a servile revolution against the remnant of an oligarchy which 480 NOTES IN MEXICO, 1861-62. was Aveigliing on her democracy — will never accept, at any price, a foreign monarchy. This monarchy it will be very difficult to create, still more difficult to maintain. Such an enterprise Avill be ruinous and terrible for us, but it will not be less so for its promoters. Mexico is weak, without doubt, in comparison with the powers that are invading her soil ; but she possesses the consciousness of her outraged rights, the patriotism which will multiply her eiForts, and the high convictions that, in acquitting herself with honour in this perilous struggle, it will be given to her to preserve the beautiful continent of Christopher Columbus from the cataclysm with which it is threatened. I protest aloud, M. le Ministre, in the name of my Government, that all the evils that shall ensue from this unjustifiable war, caused either directly or indirectly by the action of the troops and the agents of France, will fall exclusively on the responsibility of its Government. For the rest Mexico has nothing to fear, if Providence protects the rights of a people who maintain them with dignity. I have the honour, &c. De la Fuente. LONDON Pli;NTED Br SPOTTISIVOODI? ATTD CO. 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