THE UNITED STATES LITERARY GAZETTE. Published on the first and fifteenth day of every month, by Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. No. 1 Cornhill, Boston Terms, $5 per annum, payable in July. REVIEWS. Notes on Mexico, made in the Autumn of 1822. Accompanied by an Historical Sketch of the Revolution, and Translations of Official Reports on the Present State of that Country. With a Map. By a Citizen of the United States. Philadelphia, 1824. 8vo. pp. 359. No. 8. thing susceptible of change. The progress strangers, even those from the Havana and If little is known in this country of the Mr Poinsett proceeded on his journey, without delay, and travelled by night under the protection of six dragoons. The description, which he gives of the vehicles, roads, and places of reception for the traveller, is sufficiently alarming. The various insects armed with stings, constitute alone, in this region, a formidable annoyance. It is impossible, says Mr Poinsett, without experience, to form an idea of the torments of the crawling, skipping, and flying insects of this country :-bugs and worse than bugs, fleas, sancudos, and musquetoes at night, and gnats and xixens in the day. The latter (pronounced hi-hen) is a very small winged insect, that draws blood from the face or hands the instant it alights on them. This it does so dexterously, that the first notice you have of the puncture is a small pustule of blood, which remains visible for some days, while the part becomes inflamed and painful. state of affairs, was the duty of 8 per cent. levied by the commandant of the castle, on the merchant vessels entered. At the Customhouse in the city, another, and a Mr Poinsett arrived on the 21st at Jahigh duty is exacted by the Independents, lapa, a city, which gives its name to the according to a tariff drawn up in haste, well known medicinal plant, that grows in The name of Mexico must be our apolo- and without discrimination between coarse its neighbourhood. This city is a place of gy for this digression. It was impossible and fine goods of the same description. If general resort in the Summer for the innot to think first of M. de Humboldt in con- the goods are to be transported to the cap-habitants of Vera Cruz, who come here to nexion with it. Our respectable country-ital, in conformity of that most extraordi- escape the heat, the insects, and the disman, the author of the work to which we nary monument of Spanish financial folly, eases of the low country. When Mr Poinnow ask the attention of our readers, has they are subject to the alcavala, a further sett passed through this country, almost all drawn liberally from him, and acknowl-duty of twelve and a half per cent. the females of Vera Cruz were at Jalapa, edges the obligation in terms that do honor to escape the dangers which might attend to his candor. Many things, however, in the siege of the Castle. Mr Poinsett here which they coincide, he has doubtless given received the attentions of General Echafrom his own personal observation, since, varri and his suite. though his passage through the country was quite rapid, his perfect command of the Spanish language, and his access to the political leaders in power, gave him great opportunities of inquiry. It is to be borne in mind, moreover, that it is now more than twenty years since M. de Humboldt visited Mexico, and that these twenty years have been nearly all in the highest degree eventful, and productive of change in every Mr Poinsett describes the town of Vera Cruz as compact and very well built, and so extremely neat and clean, that from the examination of the interior, it would be difficult to account for the pestilential diseases, for which it is unfortunately celebrated. On going beyond the limits of the city, however, the cause of these diseases appears. It is surrounded by sand hills and ponds of stagnant water, which, within the tropics, is cause sufficient to produce the black vomit and bilious fever. The inhabitants, and those accustomed to the climate, are not subject to the former disease, but all The next day the journey was continued in a litter, a case six feet long and three wide, with three upright poles fixed on each side to support a top, and curtains of cotton cloth. This case is carried by means of long poles passing though leather straps, which are suspended from the saddle of the mules, and in the same manner as a sedan chair is borne by porters. A mattress is spread at the bottom of the case, on which the traveller reclines. It is, says Mr Poinsett, a very luxurious method of passing the mountains, unless the mules prove unruly, for then the litter is tossed about in a strange manner. This mode of conveyance was exchanged at Nopaluco for for a return carriage, which there overtook them, on its way back from Vera Cruz to the Capital. The construction, and mode of drawing this vehicle, will show at least the infancy of the art of travelling in Mexico. It measured twelve feet from axle to axle, and was drawn by ten mules. from 1690 up to 1802. The other table, Years. 1809 Dollars. 1811 1812 1813 1814 26,172,982 1815 7,042,620 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 9,401,290 8,849,893 11,386,288 12,030,515 10,406,154 than two hundred and fifty yards from the summit, and rising every day. After failing in his attack on the city of Guanaxuato, Mina caused the mathe owners have not funds to renew it. From these chinery of the mine of Valenciana to be burnt, and mines we went to a shaft called Guadeloupe, where we found two malacates in operation. These machines are used to free mines from water, and to draw up the ore. A malacate is a drum of about ten feet in diameter, attached to a vertical spindle, a shaft of fifteen feet long which is shod with steel and turns in steel sockets. Poles project at right angles from the shaft to which the horses are harnessed Two ropes are passed round the drum, and over pullies, supported by poles twelve feet high and about ten feet apart, and leading to the well. As the drum turns, one rope descends, and the other is wound up, and raises a large skin full of ore, or buckets of water, by what the French call a chapelet. At the principal or octagonal shaft, eight malacates were kept constantly The XIIth Chapter contains much inter- at work, night and day. Each malacate was movesting information respecting the Mexican ed by twelve horses, and drew up, by a succession mines. It is not probable that our country and seventy-five quarts) every nine or ten minutes. of buckets, seventy-eight arrobas (nine hundred will ever be greatly enriched by her stores Ninety-five thousand arrobas, or thirty-one thouof mineral wealth, nor, perhaps, is it to be sand eight hundred cubic feet of water, might be hoped that such stores, if they exist, should raised by this means every twenty-four hours. It be discovered. But our readers, though the same court where the malacates were at work, happened to be a sale day (Wednesday), and in we cannot hope to reckon among them any we saw three or four hundred people collected; proprietors of mines, may be amused and in- some exposing the ore to the best advantage, and structed, not only by Mr Poinsett's details of others examining its quality. This mine is now the mining processes, but by the facts which worked by halves-the workmen receiving one satisfy him that neither the wealth nor the half of the profits, and the owners of the mine the morals of the country have much cause for ranging the pieces of ore in paralellograms, compos other. The workmen were busily employed in ar gratitude to those treasures of gold and sil-ed of small circular heaps of ore. They were very ver, which most nations have envied. The next day brought our traveller to Puebla, one of the few cities, of which the location was fixed by the Spaniards. Its position does credit both to their taste and judgment. It is built on the south side of a hill, wooded to the summit. It is surrounded by a highly fertile plain, cultivated with wheat, barley, and Indian corn, and all the fruits of Europe. This plain is bounded by a chain of hills, presenting by turns, cultivated fields and rich forests, and the view is terminated by the volcanoes of Puebla, clothed in perpetual snows. The city itself is compactly and uniformly built. The houses are all of stone, large and commodious. Not one is to be seen that denotes the abode of poverty, and yet, adds Mr Poinsett, "We met more miserable squalid beings clothed in rags, and exposing their deformities and diseases to excite compassion, than I have elsewhere seen." Mr Poinsett justly ascribes this degree of the town of Valenciana, which formerly contained We continued our ride, and soon after entered mendicity, in part, to the indolent habits a population of twenty-two thousand souls; but it arising from the extreme fertility of the is now in ruins, and the population reduced to four soil, and to the number of religious houses thousand. We alighted at the house of the adminwhere alms are distributed to the poor ligent man, but so deaf that he cannot hear the istrador of the mine, who is said to be a very intelHe counted a hundred spires and domes in sound of a cannon; of course, we could not profit Puebla. In fact, beggary seems the hered- by his information. His friends conversed with itary privilege of the Mexicans, and exist- him by signs. He showed us a plan of the mine, ed in the country before the conquest. by which we formed an idea of the extent "Cortes," says Mr Poinsett, "speaks of the and direction of the shafts, galleries, and interior Indians begging like rational beings, as an works. The excavations extend from southeast to north-west, sixteen hundred yards, and instance of their civilization." It is so in eight hundred yards in a south-west direction. many respects, for the virtues and vices of There are three parallels or plains, worked on rama civilized state are necessary to the exist-ifications of the principal vein. The veta madre, ence of an extensive system of mendicity. The population of this city is given by Humboldt at 67,800; but Mr Poinsett was informed by the Intendant, that, according to a census taken in 1820, it amounted only to 60,000. This diminution is probably a fair specimen of that which has taken place throughout the country, since the commencement of the revolution. or mother vein, was here found, not more than careful to place the richest pieces at top, and the fairest side in sight. When all was prepared, the allellogram; and the buyers, after examining the salesman placed himself at the head of the first parquality of the ore, whispered in his ear the price they were willing to give for it. When all had made their offers, he declared aloud the highest made of the sale, and the whole party moved to the bid and the name of the purchaser. A note was next parcel of ore, and so on, until the whole was disposed of. There are two sale days in the week, Wednesday and Saturday; and the weekly sales amount to between five and six thousand dollars. By law, the property of every mine is divided into twenty-four barras, or shares; and few, if any, of the mines are in the hands of a single proprietor. The sales, therefore, always take place; and those who have Haciendas de Plata, send their agents to purchase the ore from mines of which they are visit to-morrow. * * * part owners. These Haciendas de Plata we are to 21st November.-In the morning we were annoyed by the continual crowing of cocks immediately under our window. On looking out I found that at least a hundred of them were tied by one leg, and arranged along the pavement on both sides They have all the same angle (45 degrees), but of the street, as far as I could see. They all bevary in thickness from nine to forty yards. Four long, we are told, to the commandant of the city, shafts descend to these parallels, the first called a great amateur, and are to be exhibited at ChristWe are obliged to pass hastily over the San Antonio, of seven hundred and forty-four feet mas. In all the towns and villages in Mexico, account of the interesting remains of Cho- perpendicular depth-the cost of this shaft was cock-fighting is the favourite diversion of the peolula, and accompany the traveller to Mex-three hundred and ninety-six thousand dollars. ple. Rich and poor, men and women, frequent the ico. Mr Poinsett introduces his observa- and ninety-two feet deep, cost ninety-five thousand issue of a battle between two cocks armed with The square shaft of Santo Christo, four hundred pits, and stake sometimes all they are worth, on the tions upon the Capital with a condensed dollars. The hexagon shaft of our Lady of Gua- slashers. It has been very justly remarked, that sketch of its history. The most important deloupe, eleven hundred and thirty-one feet per the inhabitants of mining districts are generally passages in this sketch, and in the subse-pendicular depth, cost seven hundred thousand dol- improvident and passionately fond of gambling. quent description of the city, have been so lars. San Jose, an octagon shaft, of more than This remark is applicable here only to the owners much quoted in the newspapers, as to make eighteen hundred feet perpendicular depth, and of mines, and those employed in them. Guanaxuthree hundred feet in the direction of the veta mait unnecessary here to extract them. Much dre, which is an angle of 45 degraes, cost one mill-trict. The lands are fertile, and are cultivated to ato is not only a mining, but an agricultural disinteresting information on the state of the ion two hundred thousand dollars. * * * the base of the mountains; and the morals of the coinage in Mexico may be found condensed inhabitants of the country, who are frugal and inin the two tables on pages 62 and 63. The dustrious, form a strong contrast with those of the first table is taken from Humboldt's Essay when the mines were in successful operation, were miners, most improvident and dissipated men, who, on New Spain, and gives a view of the all wealthy and lived extravagantly, and many of amount of the annual coinage of Mexico whom are now in abject poverty. This great work is in some places blasted through solid rock, and in others, walled up with hewn The workmen threw bundles of lighted hay down stone: the masonry is admirably well executed. the shaft, which blazed as they descended, and which we saw fall into the water, now not more We set forth after breakfast to visit a Hacienda de Plata, belonging to the Conde de Valenciana, in the Canada de Marfil. It is a spacious building, divided into three large courts; one for preparing the ores, (patio pa. beneficiar) and the others for horses and mules. The front is two stories high, very neatly built, and forms an excellent dwelling house. From the house, we walked through the first court, where men and mules were treading out masses of mud, and entered a long range of buildings, where there were thirty-five mills at work grinding the ore. This hacienda, in prosperous times, works seventy mills. They resemble bark mills. A circle of about eleven feet in diameter, is paved with stones set up edgeways, and rubbed down to a smooth surface; in the centre of the circle an upright shaft moves in sockets. From this an axle projects and passes through the centre of a millstone that rolls on its periphery-to the end of this axle the traces of the mules that turn it are attached. The first process is separating the ore from the stones and refuse. Women are employed in this work. They throw aside the stones that have no ore, and with a hammer chip off small pieces of ore from those that have a little only on the surface. They perform this operation with great skill and great despatch. The ore is then placed on a thick iron plate, and is pounded by wooden pestles shod with iron, and moved by a horizontal shaft furnished with arms, like the movement of the pestles in our rice mills. Two men stationed, one on each side, draw the ore from under the pestles upon plates that slope down from the top, and are perforated with holes so as to sift the ore as it falls on them. The large pieces are thrown back under the pestles. After the ore is broken into very small pieces, it is put into the mill, mixed with water and ground to an impalpable powder. A small quantity of quicksilver is sometimes mixed with this mass while in the mill. From the mills, the ore, ground to a powder and moistened, is conveyed to the patio pa. beneficiar, the open paved court yard; salt is then added in the proportion of about two pounds to every hundred weight of ore. If the mass which is left untouched for several days, heats too rapidly, lime is added, which, the superintendant told us, cools it; if on the contrary it continues cold, magistral is mixed with it in order to give it the proper temperature. The magistral is a copper ore, or more properly a mixture of pyrites of copper and sulphuretted iron, which is toasted in a furnace, cooled gradually, and then reduced to a powder; a small quantity of salt is afterwards mixed with it. A small quantity of the powdered magistral was put into my hand and water poured upon it. The heat evolved was so great, that I was obliged to throw it away instantly; probably owing to the sulphuric acid acting upon the metals and disengaging heat. The next operation is to add quicksilver to the mass, commonly six times the quantity it is supposed the mass contains of silver. This mixture of ore ground to a fine powder and moistened, of quicksilver, muriate of soda, and the sulphates of iron and copper, is made into an amalgam by being trodden by mules, which are driven round for hours together; or by men, who tread the mass with naked feet. We saw both in one mass; twelve mules were trotting round up to their fetlocks in the mixture-and in another ten men were under stout iron recipients of a bell shape, and the mercury is separated by heat, leaving the silver with a small portion of copper, not enough for the usual alloy. One of the grinding mills, in which quicksilver had been added to the mass, was emptied and cleaned in my presence, in order to get out the amalgam, which is precipitated and lodges in the interstices of the stones, with which these mills are paved. After the floating mass was removed, these stones were scraped and the crevices emptied. The contents were put into a wooden bowl and washed. This amalgam besides silver, contains a large portion of gold. The ore of the mine of Valenciana contains some gold, which unites with the quicksilver, and this amalgam being so much heavier, is more quickly precipitated. The bars of silver made from these cleanings, contain always the largest portion of gold, and are kept apart. On leaving the court yard, we passed through an extensive range of buildings set apart for granaries, and into two large courts where the horses and mules are kept. The whole of this extensive building is of stone. When we take into calculation the costly works at these mines, the expensive process of separating the precious metals trom the ore, the high wages of all the employés, from the administrador to the common labourer, the tax of ten per cent. which is paid to the government, and the very expensive works undertaken on the slightest indication of silver ore, and which are frequently pursued with great ardour to the utter ruin of the undertakers-we shall find, that the whole profits of mining, in New Spain, do not exceed six per cent. on the capital employed. A very intelligent Spaniard in the capital assured me, that he had watched the progress of the mines for the last twenty years, and kept an account, as accurately as he could, of the monies expended in abortive attempts to explore new veins, and that he believed every dollar coined in New Spain, cost the nation one hundred cents. At that time there were one thousand eight hundred workmen employed in the interior of the mine and three hundred men, women and children, employed without in different ways-making a total of two thousand one hundred individuals. The direction of the mine to an administrador, who has under his orders a miner, two sub-miners, and nine master-miners. Almost all the ore is brought up as I have before remarked, by porters, (Tenateros) who receive twelve and a half cents for every hundred and thirty-five pounds of ore they bring up. This class of workmen cost the proprietors, formerly, five thousand dollars a week. There are always three tenateros to one blaster. They carry the ore in leather sacks, with a band across the head, and bending forward they support themselves by a short stick. The stairs are at an angle of 45 degrees, and they walk zigzag, in order, as they pretend, to breathe more freely, by traversing the current of air ob liquely, which enters from without. It will be seen, by what I have already observed, that the state of these mines is deplorable. The expenses of working them, have already been prodigiously augmented by the depth of the shafts and prolongation of the galleries, and it will require a large capital to establish forcing pumps to extract the water. In many instances, it will be impossible to employ steam as the moving power, from the great scarcity of fuel. I had brought a letter of introduction to a reverend Padre, who invited us to visit his hacienda. We walked out there in the afternoon, and were not a little surprised to find it a Hacienda de Plata. We passed through a long narrow building, where there were about twenty mills at work, into the yard, where we found the Father busily engaged suIn 1803, there were employed, in the mining dis-perintending the workmen. He very good-naturedly trict of Guanaxuato, five thousand workmen in ex-showed us the whole process over again. There tracting and amalgamating the ore, eighteen hun- was no treading at that hour; that operation ceases dred and ninety-six mills for grinding the ore, and in every hacienda at two o'clock, but I saw here fourteen thousand six hundred and eighteen mules what I had not seen in the morning. Six women kept to turn the malacates and arastres, and to tread were seated by as many sloping boards, on each of the masses of amalgam. which flowed a small stream of water. A quantity of ore was placed on these boards, and the women were gently stirring it with their hands, letting the water pass slowly off. This process is performed to prepare the ore for smelting, which is only done when it is very rich, or as the miners say, when the ores are polvillos; the inferior sort are called azogues. After being washed in this way until little but the metal is left, they are ground in the manner described, mixed with led ore in powder, and the whole melted together in bars. The lead is afterwards separated from the silver, in a furnace constructed for that purpose. The quantity of silver extracted by quicksilver, is, to During that period, the mine of Valenciana produced twenty-seven thousand dollars a week; three thousand one hundred individuals were then employed, and the weekly expenses were seventeen thousand dollars. for In 1802, the ore of the mine of Valenciana, sold $1,229,631 Expenses of extraction, 944,309 $285,322 Divided among the proprietors. In nine years this mine yielded. . $13,835,380 And the expenses of extraction during that period were 8,046,063 $5,789,317 Taking an average of the whole amount of ore extracted from these mines, one hundred pounds of ore contains three or four ounces of silver. The thousand marks of silver, and sixteen hundred mean produce of several years gives six hundred following each other and treading up to their an- This process is repeated every other day until a perfect amalgam is made, when it is conveyed into large vats filled with water. In the centre of the vat there is an upright shaft, furnished with arms and turned by mules, so as to stir up the ore and mix it well with the water. It it left to subside, and the water is let off gently, carrying with it a portion of earth, and leaving the amalgam, which is precipitated: this process is repeated until the amalgamation is freed from all extraneous matter. It is then moulded into triangles, which are placed mines of Guanaxuato, produced one hundred and In thirty-eight years, from 1766 to 1803, the sixty-five millions of dollars in gold and silver. By a table of Humboldt, it appears that the produce of the mine of Valenciana was, In 1800 $1,480,933 Expenses 977,314 In 1801 $1,393,438 991,981 In 1802 that extracted in this manner, as three and a half who has attracted so much notice in recent The following account of the personage and lead them to think that Iturbide was Mexican politics, will interest our readers; somewhat prematurely pronounced a Wash$1,229,631 ington. 944,309 I was presented to His Majesty this morning On alighting at the gate of the palace, which is an extensive and handsome building, we were received by a numerous guard, and then made our way up a large stone staircase, lined with centinels, to a spacious apartment, where we found a brigadier general stationed to usher us into the presence. $503,619 $401,457 $285,322 To form some idea of the enormous expense of working this mine, it will be sufficient to remark, that the wages of miners which were from fifty cents to a dollar a day, masons and other workmen, He is about five feet ten or eleven inches high, stoutly made and well proportioned. His face is oval, and his features are very good except his eyes, which were constantly bent on the ground or averted. His hair is brown with red whiskers, and his complexion fair and ruddy, more like that of a German than of a Spaniard. As you will hear his name pronounced differently, let me tell you that you must accent equally every syllable, I-tur-bi-de. I will not repeat the tales I hear daily of the character and conduct of this man. Prior to the late successful revolution, he commanded a small force in the service of the Royalists, and is accused of having been the most cruel and blood-thirsty persecutor of the Patriots, and never to have spared a prisoner. His official letters to the viceroy substantiate this fact. In the interval between the defeat of the patriot cause and the last revolution, he resided in the capital, and in a society not remarkable for strict morals, he was distinguished for his immorality. His usurpation of the chief authority his exercise of power arbitrary and tyrannical. has been the most glaring, and unjustifiable; and With a pleasing address and prepossessing exterior, and by lavish profusion, he has attached the officers and soldiers to his person, and so long as he possesses the means of paying and rewarding them, so long will he maintain himself on the throne; when these fail he will be precipitated from it. The general character of the population of Mexico may be seen in the following extract. The emperor was in his cabinet and received us plains of the Genessee Country, has began to The only difference between them is, that the cawith great politeness. Two of his favourites were pour forth, through her canal, into almost cique does not work at all. By a law passed since with him. We were all seated, and he conversed with us for half an hour in an easy unembarrassed every market on earth. Mr Poinsett states the revolution, they are declared, together with all manner, taking occasion to compliment the United that the coarse cotton cloths of the United the castes, to be possessed of the same rights as the whites. The tribute is abolished: but they will States, and our institutions, and to lament that States are in great demand in Mexico, for be, as a matter of course, subject to the alcabala, they were not suited to the circumstances of his their superior strength and durability; and or tax on the internal commerce, from which they country. He modestly insinuated that he had whenever the tariff of the country is so rewere heretofore exempt. This declaration will yielded very reluctantly to the wishes of the peo-vised as to levy a duty on an article in pro- produce no alteration in the character of this class ple, but had been compelled to suffer them to place the crown upon his head to prevent misrule and portion to its value, the manufactures of of the population. Measures must be taken to educate them, and lands distributed among them, bethe United States will become an important fore they can be considered as forming a part of anarchy. article of commerce. The native manu- the people of a free government. factures of Mexico have diminished one The titled nobility are white Creoles, who, sahalf during the progress of the revolution, tisfied with the enjoyment of large estates, and with and their annual product has sunk from the consideration which their rank and wealth con fer, seek no other distinction. They are not reeight million dollars, at which it is given markable for their attainments, or for the strictness by Humboldt, to four million. This fact of their morals. The lawyers, who, in fact, exershows how different is the character of the cise much more influence over the people, rank contest now going on in that country, from next to the nobles. They are the younger branches that of our own revolutionary war. Our of noble houses, or the sons of Europeans, and are remarkably shrewd and intelligent. Next in immanufactures of every kind sprang up with portance are the merchants and shop-keepers; for great rapidity during the revolutionary the former are not sufficiently numerous to form a struggle, and but for the abundance in separate class. They are wealthy, and might poswhich foreign fabrics were furnished by sess influence, but have hitherto taken little part our privateers, would even then have reach-in the politics of the country-most probably ed a good degree of maturity. That no from the fear of losing their property, which is in a tangible shape. The labouring class in the cities common obstacles were allowed to check and towns includes all castes and colours; they are the spirit of manufacturing is sufficiently industrious and orderly, and view with interest plain from the first essays at making what is passing around them. Most of them read; shears out of old iron hoops. nails, which were literally cut by a pair of and, in the large cities, papers and pamphlets are hawked about the streets, and sold at a cheap rate is composed, in the same manner, of different castes. to the people. The labouring class in the country They are sober, industrious, docile, ignorant and superstitious; and may be led by their priests, or masters, to good or evil. Their apathy has in some measure been overcome by the long struggle for independence, in which most of them bore a part; but they are still under the influence and diwithout any property in the soil; and cannot be expected to feel much interest in the preservation of civil rights, which so little concern them. The last class, unknown as such in a well regutated society, consists of beggars and idlers-drones, that The character of the Indian population, which to lose, are always ready to swell the cry of popu prey upon the community, and who, having nothing exceeds two millions and a half, remains very lar ferment, or to lend their aid in favour of impemuch the same as that of the lower class of natives rial tyranny. The influence of this class, where is described to have been at the time of the con- it is numerous, upon the fate of revolutions, has quest. The same indolence, the same blind sub- always been destructive to liberty. In France, mission to their superiors, and the same abject mis- they were very numerous; and the atrocities which ery are to be remarked. The forms and ceremo- disgraced that revolution, are, in a great measure, nies of their religion are changed, and they are to be ascribed to this cause. In Mexico, these perhaps better pleased with the magnificence of people have been kept in subjection by the strong the catholic rites than with their former mode of arm of the vice-regal government; but it is to be worship. They take a childish delight in forming feared, that they will henceforward be found the processions, in which they dress themselves most ready tool of every faction. The priests exercise fantastically: and the priests in many parts of the unbounded influence over the higher and lower orcountry have found it necessary to permit them to ders in Mexico; and, with a few honourable exolic ceremonies. They were oppressed and trod- perhaps, be altogether correct, to consider the inmingle their dances and mummeries with the cath-ceptions, are adverse to civil liberty. It may not, den under foot by their emperor and caciques; and fluence of the clergy as confined exclusively to the ever since the conquest, they have been oppressed upper and lower orders of society, but, certainly, by laws intended to protect them. For the most a very large proportion of the middle class are part, they are distributed in villages, on the most exempt from it. Unfortuuntely, too many, who barren and unproductive lands, and are under their were educated in the forms of the catholic church, own caciques, who are charged with the civil gov- have emancipated themselves from its superstitions ernment, and with the collection of the tribute, a only to become sceptics and infidels. tax of about two dollars on each male from ten to fifty years of age. It is difficult to describe, accurately, a nation composed of such various ranks, and of so many different castes as that of New Spain. The most The following sketch is necessary to important distinction, civil and political, was found-rection of the priests. They are merely labourers, complete the picture of this mushroomed on the colour of the skin. Here, to be white, royalty. Paid a visit this morning to the Prince of the Union, the father of the emperor, a respectable old man, upwards of eighty years of age. He is simple in his manners, and must find his honours very burdensome. We were presented at the same time to her Imperial Highness, his daughter-a plain good sort of a woman, dressed in a dark striped calico gown. I could scarcely restrain a smile, when I gave her the "tratamiento" (highness) due to her rank. These people can have no idea, how ridiculous this miserable representation of royalty appears to a republican. was to be noble; and the rank of the different casts The excursions of Mr P. in Mexico and the neighborhood, furnished him with a great fund of various observation, on the condition, manners, and pursuits of the people, and on the appearance of the country, to which it would be vain to attempt to do justice by any abstract. The chapter on Commerce, Manufactures, Revenue, Population, and Military force, will be read with interest at the present day, when the revolution is opening to the commerce of the world the sources of Mexican wealth. We think our author entirely right in differing Our limits do not permit us to accomfrom Humboldt on the possibility that the The castes, that is to say, the mestizos, descend-pany Mr Poinsett on his return from MexMexicans may hereafter undersell us, in ants of whites and Indians; mulattoes, descendants ico to the coast at Tampico, nor to make of whites and negroes; samboes, descendants of bread corn, in the markets of the West Indies. negroes and Indians-are scattered over the coun- any use of the valuable historical sketch of In addition to the causes mentioned by Mr try as labourers, or live in the towns as artisans, the revolution, and documents contained in Poinsett, we may add, that whatever suc-workmen or beggars. There are some Indians, the Appendix. For these, and much intercess attend the struggle for independence, esting and important matter contained in the whole frame of society in Mexico must the body of the work, at which we have undergo vast improvements, before the pronot glanced, we must refer to its pages ducts of her lofty table lands will rival in themselves. They will, even to the general cheapness those which New York, from the reader, reward a perusal; and to those who have accumulated property, and some few of From the cacique, or whose inclination or duty inclines them to become well acquainted with the rising states placed to the south of us on this continent, they are indispensable. The Recollections of Jotham Anderson, Minister of the Gospel. Boston. 1824. 12mo. be good; and kindness enough to show him favour by way of anticipation. mine, how greatly would the obedience of the young christian's pilgrimage be facilitated, and its peace ensured!-I love to dwell on the memory of that honoured woman My earliest recollection of her is in the act of teaching me to pray,-when she every evening took me on her knees, and clasping my little hands, made me repeat after her my childish petitions. Methinks I still see the beautiful expression of her maternal eye, and feel the kiss, full of affection and piety, with which she closed OUR readers will wish us to say no more of the service. At such times, she would explain to publications on controverted topics in the-me the purposes of prayer, and teach me to love the good Being, who gave me father and mother, ology, than to state the subjects of which and made me happy. It was her practice also, to they treat, and to estimate their literary seize the moments when my young heart was overmerits. We cannot enter into a minute flowing with cheerfulness and good will, to remind examination of their arguments, nor at- me of the Father above, and direct my gratitude to mind from bigotted and exclusive senti Pp. 118. the him. Thus his image became associated in my tempt to defend the cause of any party; thoughts, will all that was gladsome and delightful; but we will endeavour to promote free and with every satifaction and every enjoyment. It humble investigation, fairness and good was mingled with all my remembrances of matertemper, and, as literary reviewers, to ren-nal fondness; and the love of God grew upon same branch with the love of my parents. I der to every man his due. loved to speak of him, and to him, in the innocent sought to please him, I feared to offend to him, I openness of my young heart, and to regard him, in all respects, as I did my parents. Thus there was nothing of severity, or gloom, or dread, in my early religious feelings. It is not necessary for the reader to believe that the writer of this book is named Jotham Anderson, nor that he is, as he tells us, three score and twelve years old; but it may be necessary to state, that more than a year ago, some one wrote these Recollections for the Christian Register, and published them weekly in short numbers. They are now collected, and, with slight alterations, made into a book. It embraces several objects, of which the general one is stated to be the promotion of "personal religion." The particulars will be disclosed, as we proceed with a regular discription of the work. Jotham Anderson, a clergyman in a country town, is now far advanced in life; and having no children to inherit that portion of wisdom which he has made his own, and that personal character, which, as a man, he would love to have perpetuated, he has resolved to bequeath to the public some important observations, which he has made during his long pilgrimage. His father was a clergyman in one of those obscure country villages, where, sixty years ago, a mild sort of Arminian orthodoxy was found living in simplicity and in peace. The storms and whirlwinds of controversy were unknown; their religious atmosphere was redolent of social love; they dwelt, every man under his own vine and his own fig-tree, having none to molest or make them afraid;" and he who feared God and kept his commandments, was regarded as one who neglected no point of religious duty. There are other parts of the first chapter equally interesting and valuable; and we must here remind our readers that it is one of the principal objects of the book, to show the importance of adopting this method in giving religious instruction to children. We are not quite sure, however, that our own feelings on this subject, do not make us give the book credit for something more than it contains. The salutary effects of this method on his own character is a theme on which the author dwells in all the fulness of gratitude. It will naturally be asked whether, in describing his own religious character, there is no display of self-complacency. We answer in honesty-there appears a little-though but little of this fault." The object of this part of the book, is to show the writer's views, and the views of Unitarians, as a body, in relation to conversion, and what are termed "revivals of religion." It his opinion, and is stated as the result of Anderson's observations, that revivals are attended by more evil than good." Another object of this part of the book, is to show that an intimate acquaintance with the private character of persons of different religious sentiments, is the most effectual method of preserving the ments and feelings; this is certainly not only true, but a most valuable truth. We come now to the college life of Mr Anderson. Here his religious principles tion of literary eminence. But Heavenwere nearly subjected under the tempta never more kind than in inflicting chastisements-suffered his efforts to overcome his health, and reduced him to that state, in which, if ever, we value the things which regard our eternal welfare. His bodily and his mental disease were however both cured: and on returning to his studies, he learned from experience a most important fact, that the service of the Lord is not inconsistent with any thing that can really promote even our temporal happiness; for he now performed his tasks with greater ease, because uninfluenced by the anxiety of personal motives; and actually attained to higher literary rank than he before expected, without making it the ruling object of pursuit. After leaving college he prepared for the ministry with his father. He was then sent twenty miles from home, with a letter of introduction to Mr Carverdale, one of those venerable clergymen, who, having devoted a long life to the high and holy office of turning many to righteousness, show in their last days, that the fires of eternity are kindled within, and seem already to radiate their warmth and living light. On the following day Mr Anderson preached his first sermon, and Mr Carverdale administered the sacrament, which was his last labour, as he died on the following evening. His mother died when he was in his thirteenth year, and from that time his father faithfully discharged the double duties which devolved upon him. Previous to going college it became necessary to teach a school for a short time; and this necessity brought a severe trial of the strength of his religious character. He was exceedingly bashful, knew little of society, was thirty miles from home, and was expected for the first time to act as a This part of the volume contains the seman. He found himself in the midst of a rious reflections of a young man on comCalvinistic society in the season of a "re-mencing the work of the ministry; devival.” The influence produced on his scribes the character of this venerable pamind by all the circumstances of the agi- triarch, his instructions to the young mintated scene around him, and by the zeal ister, and their influence in after life; the displayed for his conversion, is very natu- manner of his death, and the lively sense rally portrayed. He was not prepared to of his worth manifested by his parishioners. give a reason for the hope that was in him, In a literary view, these descriptions are I cannot remember the time when I had not a nor to oppose the doctrines which were eminently beautiful. We have seldom sense of religion, and a fear of God; and I have now declared essential. But before allow-read the expression of any sentiments with no doubt that it is owing to my early and habitual ing himself to depart from the doctrines in more pleasure, and never have found our impressions, which became interwoven in my soul, as a part of its very fabric, or constitution, that I which he now found that he had been edu- minds less willing to admit, that what we We are unhave enjoyed such quietness and steadfastness cated, he resolved to examine the Scrip- read was not literally true. throughout a long pilgrimage. Little do parents tures faithfully: and this examination con- willing to abridge these chapters, but we consider, while they are forming their infants' firmed his belief in his former opinions. His have not room to insert them entire, and hearts and characters upon other principles, and teaching them to act by other motives, how diffi- associates, a few excepted, treated him our readers must be satisfied with a short. The ninth chapter describes cult they render a subjection to religious motives coldly, and regarded him with distrust or extract. afterward, and how they subtract from the sum of aversion. There were, however, some who him administering the sacrament of the suptheir religious enjoyment! Were all mothers like | had hope that he would at some time or other per. His mother was one of the best of Heaven's best blessings; and her character and instructions form some of his most pleasing and most important Recollections. They are so happily expressed, that we cannot but extract a part of them. |