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SANTA ANNA AT VERA CRUZ.

You have urged me in every letter I have received from you since my arrival in this country to give you some description of what I see every day-in fact, some idea of the "domestic manners" and conduct of the Mexicans. My not having complied hitherto with your natural request, is not the result of idleness or want of observation on my part, but of my wish to give you a more correct account of this country and its inhabitants than we have found in many even printed descriptions of this and other countries.

Remember how we have laughed in former years at the absurd bavardage we read concerning those countries with which we were acquainted-"General Pillet's description of England and the English," par exemple, or "Ninety Days in the North of Germany"-and do not wonder that I am somewhat chary of exposing my opinions of Mexico and its inhabitants even to your eyes.

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I have now, however, been years here, and may, without presumption, you the result of my observations. I speak the language, tant soit peu, intelligibly, and also understand perfectly all that is said in my presence, whether to me or to others, and that is one point gained. I doubt much, however, whether our accomplished friend and teacher, Señor A. de Villabos, would find my Mexican accent that pure Castilian which he was so anxious his pupils should acquire.

A history of my short residence in this country, were I able to write it, must of necessity be interesting, for it might contain an account, by an eye witness, of most of the great natural or political afflictions which can befal a nation or individuals. I have seen several revolutions, I know not how many different administrations, earthquakes, hail-storms, and murders, with death and sickness in the family of which I form a part; and now a war is going on-in a remote portion of the republic, it is true-which, however, threatens to approach nearer and nearer, and which, as many well-informed persons believe, will end in the utter extinction of Mexican nationality.

I believe that the English newspapers keep you tolerably au courant du jour concerning political events, which, besides, lie beyond the sphere of my observation, and I will content myself with giving you an account of what I myself have seen and observed. My first impression of the people here was most unfavourable. The dread of personal violence during our transit from the coast to the capital, with which we were inspired at Vera Cruz, was, it is true, sufficient to make me look with unfavourable eyes upon all that came before me. On meeting our friends this dread of course ceased, but not the unfavourable first impression. I was struck, and almost annihilated, by the excessive violence with which the different members of our family testified their pleasure at meeting me; and this violence, this noise (as offensive to me now as then), is the most striking peculiarity in the women of Mexico. All they feel, be it joy or sorrow, fear or hope, is expressed with such loud voices, such positive screaming, such gesticulation, that poor I, timid even at home, have not yet learnt to bear the infliction without annoyance, and a kind of

indefinite apprehension. I ought not, perhaps, to have attributed this violent manner to the "ladies" only, for I am told that the gentlemen are quite as violent and unreasonable when in any way roused. To bear out this assertion I will give you an anecdote, for the perfect truth of which I can vouch, having heard it from one of the parties concerned.

A general in the army, a man of education and of considerable rank under the old régime, on entering the family room in the morning to breakfast, found his daughter scolding (not very vehemently) his only son. He inquired the reason, and was told by the young lady that her brother had broken a china plate. "Has he?" said the father, and, without another word, he seized, one after another, the different pieces of china on the breakfast-table, smashed them against the ground, and when none were left to destroy, he proceeded to the kitchen, and there resumed the work of destruction, until not one piece of china or earthenware was left whole in the house. Near the end of this operation the lady of the house returned from mass, and, on inquiring the reason of what she saw, was told by her husband to go and replace the broken things by new ones, he giving her ample means to do so. "Now, Juan," he said, turning to his son, 66 if you again break a plate you will not be scolded." If you do not believe this story I shall not wonder, because to us Europeans who consider that to regulate the expression of our feelings is a duty indispensable to decency, such exhibitions are incredible. repeat, however, that I have told the story in all its simplicity, without adding one particle, and upon the best authority, one of the principal actors in the scene being my informant. Indeed, no Europeans can have an idea of the violence or the ill-temper which is shown by the members of families to each other, and I now almost doubt whether we know what ill-temper is in Europe.

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The ladies of Mexico are handsome, at least they are considered so by most of the gentlemen here. They have beautiful dark hair and eyes, small and well-shaped feet, and a somewhat graceful tournure; but the greater number of those I have met with are unintellectual, and have an uncultivated mind. Their capriciousness is beyond description. Query? Is it this caprice which attracts the men? A second reason for my dislike of the Mexican ladies generally is, that in their attire elegance and splendour go hand in hand with untidiness and even dirt; a necklace of pearls or diamonds is seen together with ragged collars, satin dresses with dirty gloves, or hands without any, &c. Indeed, I have never yet seen a Mexican lady perfectly well dressed, either at home or en grande tenue. You will say that my description, however true, is not very amusing; and to meet this censure in the best way I can, I will postpone further accounts of character, and give you an account of General Santa Anna's triumphal entry into the capital. He caused us to wait his arrival many days, to give time, it is said, for the re-erection of his statue, which during his disgrace had been treated with every indignity, and for the re-interring his leg which had been cast forth from its place of rest in the fury of the people against him. The same enthusiasm which had caused them to do this, now made them erect triumphal arches, make fountains play, and adorn their houses with wreaths of flowers, &c., to greet the arrival of the object of their former detestation. At length the glorious day came. We had ringing of bells innumerable, firing of

cannon, and crowds of people in the streets, but no cheering, no vivas, the crowd was solemn and silent. Three triumphal cars (or shall I say carts?) opened the procession. The first looked like one of Punch's show-boxes on an enlarged scale, and in it on the seat, probably intended for the hero of the day, sat a lad. The second was made to look as if it were borne by clouds (they were exquisite, such as you see at the minor theatres), and contained a fat lady fantastically attired, elegantly reclining after the fashion of Les poses plastiques, intended as a personification of Mexico. The third car, in the shape of an omnibus, was likewise borne by clouds made of calico, and was occupied by three-and-twenty boys, dressed in scarlet jackets and white trousers, emblematic, I presume, of the provinces of the republic. (By-the-by, how many of these have been subtracted by those greedy Yankees, who swallow half-a-dozen provinces at a mouthful, and are ready for more immediately afterwards?) In the background stood a man with a barrel-organ, and two boys dressed like soldiers, firing their guns at intervals over the heads of the people. Is it likely, think you, that these last-named three personages were to represent the warlike and the musical spirit of the Mexicans? I can give you no other interpretation.

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Now followed General Santa Anna himself, in a really handsome open carriage, in a travelling-dress, looking around him with a sneering smile. His features are intellectual and rather interesting, but by no means expressive of good nature. Indeed, I am told he is, like Natas in "Hauff's Memoirs of Satan," amiable, but malicious,-the German terms, as you know, are much more pointed than the English.

In this description I have "naught extenuated, nor set down aught in malice;" but if you do not believe this, it will not offend me, as I amsure that none but an eye-witness can have an idea of the strange inconsistencies, the mixture of the sublime and ridiculous, which meet one here at every turn, and which prevail in great things as in small. Since this memorable day we have seen nothing more of our hero, and to-day he has left the capital at the head of an army to meet and conquer the enemies of the republic. Whether he will fulfil the splendid promises he has made, remains to be seen.

In my next I will give you, as a companion to this entry of Santa Anna, the account of a procession headed by the late President Herrera, on the festival of the Independence, at which I was present. Until then, adieu.

LORD CASTLEREAGH'S TRAVELS IN THE EAST.*

VISCOUNT CASTLEREAGH's notes of his travels in the East have been published in the hope of contributing to the aid of the sister island. They needed not so charitable a purpose to obtain a kindly reception. Their own merits would have insured it. For they are replete with new impressions, and are especially characterised by an honest, straightforward manner, and great power of lively, graphic description.

Arrived at Alexandria, the inevitable first impressions were narrow streets and dirty crowds-camels and donkeys-and every one pushing his neighbour. "The stranger," his lordship justly enough remarks,

A Journey to Damascus through Egypt, Nubia, Arabia Petræa, Palestine, and Syria. By Viscount Castlereagh, M.P.; with Illustrations from Original Drawings. 2 vols. Henry Colburn.

July.-VOL. LXXX. No. CCCXIX.

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"should beware of stopping to look at some lazy old Turk smoking his pipe or saying his prayers in the middle of his shop. He will be hustled or run over by animals of every variety of colour, dress, and form." Lord Castlereagh's first visit appears to have been to Boghos Bey. "We found," he says, "a wooden staircase, white-washed walls, without any appearance of state or comfort, a low, small door, and close to it a plainly dressed old man, whom I nearly fell over. This was Boghos Bey."

After animadverting upon the foolish isolation of Alexandria and Beyrout, by quarantine regulations, Lord Castlereagh started up the Atfah canal, was introduced at the station of the same name, to the remnants of the plagues of Egypt, and upon the Nile to a plague not mentioned in olden times, an imperturbable Rais and a rascally crew. Arrived at Boulak the scene was of a more mixed character.

Imagine a small court containing a half-starved ostrich, looking like a spectre, a monkey, a lynx, donkeys innumerable, camels, dromedaries, Arabs, couriers, dragomen, waiting to be hired; and in the midst of all, various specimens of the John Bull tribe, starting for India, by way of Suez, in Mackintoshes, straw hats, pea-jackets, and every variety of costume. I must not forget a bevy of ladies in green veils and poke bonnets, waiting to be shut into boxes like diminutive sedans, to be jolted across the Suez desert, or looking in utter despair at the broken-down donkeys on which they were to trust themselves, if they preferred a quadruped to a packing-case. In spite of all the noise, crowds, and scramble, we found capital rooms, and good accommodation for this country, where, in general, you have four walls, a stone floor, and a divan, as your stock of furniture.

Lord Castlereagh's first remark on arriving at Cairo is, upon that oftreiterated subject, the worse than improper manner in which our country is there represented. In one capacity representing the interests of their country, in another that of the overland transit company, and in another that of cashiers for Messrs. Briggs & Co., consuls, with so many objects in view must occasionally find duty and interest at stake, nor have they the means or station necessary to make themselves respected by the authorities.

"Their information," says Lord Castlereagh, "is rarely as good as that which the French obtain, and France is infinitely more alive to all that concerns this country-has ten-fold the influence that we possess, and endeavours in every way to injure our interests. If she could prevent our communications with india, she would desire nothing better." There can be no doubt about this, and the day is not far distant, unless this false system of economy at home is altered, that the Anglo-Indians will be driven for communication to the line of the Euphrates.

We differ with our fastidious traveller as to the total absence of female forms among the Nubian slaves, but not so as to Cairo by night being a more lovely sight than the same city by daylight.

Our evenings are long and tedious. The city seems asleep at nine o'clock, and, but for the barking of the dogs, there is complete silence. The deep shadows are so well-defined, and the buildings so picturesque, by moonlight, that I advise any one who wishes for a pleasing delusion to stroll out after sunset in this climate. In the day, all the dirt and misery are too readily distinguished; at night, things are blended together in fantastic and pleasing shapes, and minaret and mosque, gable and porch, harem and cottage, harmonise together in the yellow refulgence which is cast over all.

Lord Castlereagh travelled en grand seigneur. Six or seven camels were necessary to carry the stores, chairs, beds, tables, trunks, crockery wine, beer, prepared viands, pots and pans, to the boat. The third day upon

the river, they gave chase to a large boat, which had run into Captain Lyon's craft, and carried away her mizen. The culprits were caught, and very properly made to pay the damages. Such resolute conduct does much to uphold the English character in the East. By the fifth day, the never-failing and characteristic sulkiness and obstinacy of all Raises, had attained such a climax in the person of Rais Ali, that they took him before a bey, whom they accidentally met with at Colosaneh, but, as might be expected, to no purpose.

Lord Castlereagh makes the usual mistake, in supposing that it is the Christian monks of the "Mountain of Birds" who swim across the river for alms. They are poor Christians who dwell under the protection of the convent. Near Ombos the boat was upset, and every thing on board, although afterwards recovered, was wetted and soiled. The party themselves were only accidentally extricated by a boat belonging to Mr. Lyall, an English traveller. At the cataracts our travellers also experienced the usual annoyances of bribery and knavery.

On their return, many of those wondrous monuments of antiquity which adorn the banks of the Great River, were visited more in detail. It is not our purpose here to criticise notes originally written for private circulation, but it is impossible to accompany our travellers to temples like that of Abou-Simbal, and not feel how much would have been added to their enjoyment if they had been aware of the historical questions contained in the numerous designs and figures painted many curious more especially in the great hall of that ruin. A good detailed vade mecum, for the traveller on the Nile appears to be much wanted, and might be added to Mr. Murray's guide books.

At the tombs of the queens, behind the palace of Medineh Habu, an Englishman had amused himself by collecting a heap of mummies and setting fire to the awful pile. This disgraceful achievement had blackened and partly destroyed one of the most curious of these abodes. was the one supposed to have contained Taia, the black queen of AmuIt noph III., and her image was the principal object upon the walls.

Sunrise was, as usual, witnessed from the base of Memnon's statue. The destruction carried on by antiquaries in the valley of the kings, was properly commented upon, and Captain Basil Hall was met near Siyut. The pasha of this latter city insisted upon presenting Lord Castlereagh with a giraffe. In spite of the trouble, expense, and inconvenience, he could not well refuse the present, from which he was, however, soon relieved by word being brought to him, after departure, that the animal had made its escape. The object of the present was accomplished, the civility was shown, the servants received presents, and Lord Castlereagh was too wise to investigate the transaction any further.

At length, bidding a long adieu to the glorious old river, so full of beauties, but so disagreeable to navigate, the party again threaded their way amid the narrow, but swarming streets of Cairo. admirable panorama now exhibiting in Leicester Square (to which, if Mr. Burford's they have not already seen it, we recommend our readers to pay a speedy visit,) supersedes all descriptions of this wonderful city, of which Lord Castlereagh justly remarks, the more it is examined, the more it is to be appreciated and admired.

At every step some picturesque object strikes the eye. The long, narrow streets which the sun is scarcely allowed to penetrate, with lattice rising upon lattice, old-fashioned and picturesque gables and rafters, decked with fantastic 2 B2

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