The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-23 00:00:00

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TO CORRESPONDINTS.
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LONDON, FRIDAY, JULY 23.

Tilt present condition of that great borrower from
England—the Republic of Mexico—is curimis and
important. If not in the violent agonies of dissolution,
that State is seen in process of painless extinction.
National life is almost out. There is in the capital the
framework of a government remaining ; there is a
President still ; there was a Congress • few weeks
ago. But between the governmental heart of
the Republic and its provincial members there
is little or no circulation ; little or no re-
sponse; little or no sympathy. There is a
central government without authority, without
power, without means pecuniary or military, almost
without hope. The capital is half in ruins; the ports
are dilapidated; the roads are unsafe; the mines are
unprofitable; the army is disbanded; the old soldiers
have become highway robbers; and rifting a dili-
gence hue become so ordinary a danger of travelling,
that when two young English gentlemen resisted
and successfully repelled one of these attacks, general
surprise was felt and expressed at their audacity.
Worn out by a diagram war into which she
rashly rushed, by heavy payments for an inglorious
peace, and by the loss of a province which might have
compensated her even for these disasters ;—having
• boundary dispute with an ambitious neigh-
bour still unsettled—with apprehensions by
no means unfounded of further aggressions—
with wronged and defrauded debtor* clamour-
ing far payment of their just demands on
her sea-coast, and with a race of savage Indians dis-
quiet:ng her other frontiers, and penetrating into
her interior, Mexico is, indeed, in a helpless plight.
These, however, are calamities, and difficulties, and
embarrassments, out of which nations have risen and
recovered, either by the imported vigour of their
rulers, or the inherent force of their people. And
could tither of these qualities of renaissance be dis-
covered in Mexico, we might hope for its resuscitation.
But though President ARISTA may have honesty,
be has few other elements of greatness; public men
of repute or expectation besides him there are none;
and, worse still, the people of Mexico have sunk into
the slough of despond. In spite of Aiusra's en-
treaties, the Congress has dissolved without provid-
iag for the ordinary support of the government;
and though ARISTA may proclaim a Dictatorship—
invited by such Congressional want of patriotism—
even that apparently inevitable refuge for Mexico
can form no remedy where atrophy is so universal
and central authority so weak.
Yet, shorn of Texas and deprived of California, the
republic of Mexico still includes one of the fairest
and richest portions of the earth. Though far from
fully peopled, it has population enough in numbers
to constitute a powerful state; and if its re-
maining mineral wealth be now insignificant
when compared with the boundless riches
of what were a few years since its Pacific
provinces, it has nearer the surface of its
fine soil riches readily and easily . won by
the truest sources of all national prosperity—syste-
matic and intelligent industry. What Mexico
wants is not territory, capabilities, or even popula-
rity; it wants men with energy, courage, and enter-
pure to wield and to make its fortunes. And its
real difficulty is how to create these out of its pre-
sent inhabitants. The fault is not in the star., but
in themselves, that they are thus.
The truth seems to be that the old Spanish ele-
ment in the character of the population of Mexico
his yielded and given way to the Indian
and Agee element ; and:that, in this hybrid admix-
ture, a long continuance of misgovernment—a meow
ion of revolutions—a degradation of national, sad a
demoralisation of individual, character, have done
their worst—until society itself is in danger,
Mexico, without governmental force or security—
without central unity or localised strength—now
lies a tempting prize to an ambitious neighbour.
whose appetite has already been whetted and re-
warded by large and profitable slices of its territories.
Before the lest war, Europe might excusably in-
dulge in debits, and Meeks' as to the military
power of Lira pommel Mexico. It eau now do
so no lows. Magda le widierat an army, and almost
without the mom finking see ; with the beet she
cesli get briber she b as match for the United
States eggemnively Mimi Her safety and iade-
pendenee an a seas weak net on her ability to mid
an mask, bet es the arra sense which mew
restrain "wombed amelt. But, on the
other bal. her di si as a nation invitees
the rola of her plslatba so individuals; and an
their weal =puse and their prospects lower, a
desire he plasm es a sialeMay dindake.
Who the Imeme radiant that nab.
Mien le the on, an
isTiet
Amebas rate ve tbe
of everypepriater and plaint in irld the
fate of Make will ant hag retails Aad
mum the et this base sea be &sad by
the of a nOmijoesemeet—lbe &slim
of his.. destiny airselly Min* en the
Mouitan indepnihmee ROM item later-
▪ eatmoun we needful ; for extend agency is
prtsetly imam It is in vain to talk d maintain-
ing the present territorial arrangement and balance
of true-Atlantic power • idle to rave shoat United
States ambition and untiorality. The semeneise et
Texas proves bow worthless aim sea milliame an
these. If the Mexican guerillas* bad the
sad the strength to meet the ezialkig=
is its history, Mexico mold maintaia lie pa-
:eon amongst satires; eibeivise it will Olt
lea aa easy prey. The sepley is overrea
Mie, oomph aad hew phethood in law
boob we a mat d Nom
thistst per as does lep tailpho the Pm
and IR l_he swiely et the elimulL Sub a
step et Ma White • lie
boa to
ems the tad is ravel ile Wall
Bet to de waft is he 11141 sad
pew ibee i 1 the do-melee policy gummed by
the ode
gewasmet. it in sweet Ihei the
iatrodaslits piled States swim, timid at
awe dliehitikeelieset all
we qt. to eaellegeesy".=
law wig slim% avert-

Viz annul =Wags et the Agricultural &mistime
—just now spoke thde ssason—are vsey in-
teresting to way pssgis who know little or whin
about ateisalturo. Ara sign of the timeo—ossz
gestive arum mimes facts in the history of
civilisation and pogroms, they are intend*/ to
woe who, as STDIUT Stalin said, do net know a
from a bird—• pig from a lock— a piano* hem
a dorm Isms of craw of num-
bet the istradostisa of thrashing and tho
dal suip=sod bad pasaisa• =tisk susuld in
MI" dadvist•- thus days thresh
log maims wars paintett—at least in am
amentisc—bles and scarlet, no invariably as
farm us :--tbsso are midditoipd pospis
=us who reussalser how, os shildtwo, thr7
oat of the wishes umminst dap, in market
tows, and saw, either a basting mob following •
y Threshing WAIN with threats sad curses, or
of
throwing about dm hies and scarlet
frapecnts sf some machine which they had bass
wall inuring that the prsem. Weald'
illiei to demand damages, nor any melistratatm
punish the offence. Those were in this %it
the war, when the King was claimed by the
tarsi interest as their own peculiar sovereign, nod
was called FARM= GEORGE. Those were as dap
when the manufacturers were very low; ihealpi
markets closed to them ; taxes at boos. !nosing
heavily upon them; and the agricultural inter=
looking down upon them as an inferior order of
society. The distinction between the two orders
wes almost like a difference of race ; and the
landed interest regarded a connexion with
manufacturers, in business or in pleasure—about
mortgagf.s or at provincial h as the white
inhabitants of American cities regard the intrusion of
mulattoes into their churches and their public walks.

Who could then have believed the difference that
half a century would make P Lest week's show at
Lewes, if preseated to PAM= (imams in a
glass, would have seemed like • glimpse into snot
planet—from the change in the moral aspect of the
business, even more than in the mechanical.
The steps by which ma • change hie esta-
blished itself are distinctly marked is the retrospest,
however little they could be anticipated. At the time
we have spoken of, there were few districts in Eng-
land in which the agricultural population did not out-
number the manufacturing oadessamereiaL But,aftcr
the peace, when the world to apes its avenues
to our commerce, the great tigp hem which can
never stop till the two shamee—hen SWUM till re-
cently—shall have become completely amalgamated.
As manufactures increased, and esmiNION it coarse
rose, young men and maidens palmed ever from the
one class to the other, and altered *dr proportions
every day. A farmer in the LAWN, would still
count (and his household as beicmgiag to him) with
the agncidtural class; but, for ens son who might
remain with him on the farm, then might be two
absent on very different beams t for one daughter
who managed his dairy, there might be two
married to shopkeepers or artisans. The Cum-
berland statesman might be clinging to his
paternal acres, though they were mortgaged ;
but his sons were not, as formerly, on the fells
with the cattle, nor his daughters at the loom,
weaving the grey homespun for family use. The
lads were shopmen in the next city, or weavers in
the Yorkshire towns ; and the girls were at service,
or in the cotton mills of Lancashire. In the next
generation, this migration told upon the numbers;
and every census presents us with evidence of the
continuous diminution of the agricultural population,
not positive but comparative—not in itself, but in
proportion to other classes.
- - -

- -
Before this fact was fully recognised,—and it
seems to have been little noticed till the League
made a prominent exhibition of it—a change was
creeping over the notions of some people, who had
no love of change—a conviction that it was a very
good thing for farmers to live near manufacturers,
however little they might like such company
in their neighbourhood. The rural districts
were of old the loved abode of the farmer ;
a district where he might look abroad to the
verge of the horizon, over noble breadths of wheat
on the levels, and swells of oats on the uplands, and
scores of acres of roots where grain had been before,
and was to be again ; with meadows and copses
between, and no roofs but scattered oars of thatch,
and no smoke but the blue thread which showed
where the labourer's kettle was boiling. Now, the
strange spectacle was seen of a fanner here and there
sitting down within sight of tall chimnies, or within
hearing of the railway train which was going from
one group of tall chimnies to another. The reasons
for such a change of taste must be strong; and they
I were strong. The farmer has no more liking for
fluctuations of fortune than the tradesman. He found
that the vicissitudes of farming were much reduced
by sitting down near a market, where there were
always tens of thousands of people buying food.
He found that an unlimited supply of manure,
within easy reach, went far to compensate for
the sight of tall chimnies. lie found that
it was no bad thing for his land to grow less wheat
and more mutton, beef, butter, and poultry. This is
now so plain and familiar, that it is with surprise•
that we remember how recently the late Sir R. FELL
made that address to the Tamworth farmers which
was called one of his most telling speeches—pointing
out to them the advantages they enjoyed from their
being so near Birmingham and other manufacturing
towns.

Meantime, the agitation of agricultural subjects
was making farmers of not a few manufacturers.
This has been an all-important change for agricul-
ture. The activity, enterprise, economy, and constant
vigilance which are indispensable in manufacturing
pursu►ts, are precisely the qualities in which our
farmers require, or did till lately require, example
and stimulus. Year by year we see the
accelerated progress of the changes, under
which the farmer becomes, from the anx-
ious or careless waiter upon the seasons, the
skilful and active manufacturer of food. Hs is learn-
ing to keep his books like a merchant. He is learn-
ing to compose his soils as the dyer composes his
dyes. He is learning to select his ingredients, and
his seeds, and his cattle, as the manufac-
turer purchases his stock-in-trade. He is inducing
his labourers to value his labour-saving machines,
showing them how St. Bwithin may be evaded for
the hay, and many a damaging storm for the wheat,
by the use of machines which mow and reap as much
in an hour as human arms could lay low in a day.
Science is entering into the business at ssedtime, and
skill at harvest, while there is ample room for industry
all the year round.
And how is it with the labourer P The show-
rooms at Lewes and other agricultural displays
may tell. A glance round the implement mom is
enough for those who have been there. Those who have
not will learn with more pleasure than surprise that
more men are already employed in the implement
manufacture than have ever been alleged to be dis-
placed by the use of machinery on the land. There
is more produce ; and there will be more and more
yet. The occupation of the cultivator is raised and
ennobled by the introduction of science into all its
parts. The demand far rural labour is on the in-
crease, and the quality of the labour is rising; the
rustic—once almost as dull as the clod he trod on—
being now wanted as • skilled workman, command-
ing the implements which do for him his former
work. The skilled operative of the field is growing
into fellowship with the skilled operative of the
factory ; and the bread mark of distinc-
tion between the agricultural and the manu-
facturing class is fading away. Artisans are
already indistinguishable, in point of dignity or
clamifioation, whether they are village blacksmiths
risen into importance as agricultural implement
makers, or humble town carpenters who have made
their fortunes by improvements in mules or looms.
Their employers will ere long be indistinguishable
too, as manufacturers of whatever is neemaary,
whether food or clothing. When the open-air spirit
of farming has penetrated among the manufacturers,
and the old English geniality infects them, from
their intercourse; with the rural clone, as markedly
as their scientific and economical virtsss are v
ing among the tillers of the soil, there will be a rub-
bing out of a column or two in our statistical works,
an obliteration of one division in the future census,
and, we may hope, an effacing of jealousy and
rivalry between what have been too long called the
hostile interests of country and town—of laud and
manufactures.