The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-31 00:00:00

THE FRENCH IN'MEXICO,

(From the limes' Correspondent.)
MEXICO, DEC• 16.

In the early part of the month a decree was
published prohibiting all communication with the
ports of the Gulf upon pain of death, and, as the
Legation couriers of friendly and neutral Powers
are included in the prohibition, I was unable to
send you any account of our proceeding by the
French packet. That the French courier should
not have been allowed to start surprised no one,
but the policy of extending such a prohibition to
the couriers of friendly and neutral Powers may
fairly be questioned. The avowed object was to
prevent any intelligence being conveyed to the
French camp; this, however, might have been ac-
complished by merely sanctioning the transmission
of letters to foreign parts, and not allowing any
communication direct with Vera Cruz. To deprive
the Legations of England, Prussia, and Spain of the
moans of communicating with their respective Go-
vernments is rather, .a strong measure. It is the
first time her Majesty's courier has been stopped,
and the inconvenience to mercantile men generally,
who, even in the best of times, have ever considered
this mode of transmission as the only safe one, will
be muc felt.

I informed you in my last that, much to the sur-
prise of every one, Comonfort had come to the rescue
of the Central Government with about 4,300 men.
He has since been appointed Commander-in-
Chief of the Army of the Centre. The force
under his commend may perhaps amount to 8,000
or 9,000 men ; but they are badly paid, badly fed,
and worse armed. His presence in the capital may
act as a cheque upon the extreme republicans, who,
under the veil of patriotism, would gladly rob,
plunder, and murder every foreigner within their
reach; but I doubt whether it can afford any effec-
tual protection to a set of men long tottering to
their fall, condemned by their own misdeeds, and
threatened by a French army of 30,000 men. Ortega
appears to have concentrated all his forces in and
around Puebla ; they are said to amount to 25,000
men ; but I believe that 17,000 is much nearer the
mark. Even these—the flower of the Mexican army
--are in a sad state of disorganisation, and cannot
be relied upon for any operations in the field ; they
make a stand behind walls, but that is the utmost
that can be expected of them, Guadalajara is said
to have pronounced in favour of French interven •
tion, and Dublado is reported to have left Guanax-
uato at the head of 2,000 men, with the view of
again reducing it to obedience. The intentions of
Comonfort and Doblado, whose views are known to
coincide, in thus upholding Juarez and la's party, to
whom they have ever been opposed, have afforded
scope for much speculation. To me they are trans-
parent enuugh—they seek to impose upon the
French by making a show of resistance, and thus
obtain for themselves terms which they otherwise
could not hope for. When the proper time arrives
they will neither of them, in my opinion, be difficult
to deal with.

Up to the present moment the French have not
extended their operations beyond Jalapa and Ori-
zaba; they are still in want of land transport, and
are not likely to march upon the capital until fully
supplied. A large number of mules and waggons
are said to be on their way from the United States.
What Gen. Lorencez could have been about during
his lengthened stay at Orizaba not to have supplied
this deficiency, at least to some extent, is an enigma
to every one. Here the two great questions of the
day are—will Juarez and his party be able
to offer any effectual resistance ? and, what
do the French mean to no when once in
possession of the capital ? That both Mexico and
Puebla are to be defended to the last extremity we
are to be solemnly assured ; but these assurances
have been so often given and so seldom verified that
few attach to them much importance. That Peubla
will be defended, I believe, but that the defence
will he obstinate I much doubt. The troops are
without enthusiasm, the officers without experi-
ence. Ortega, the Commander-in Chief, only four
years back was a practising attorney at Zacatecas.
Is such a man, at the head of such troops, likely to
prove a formidable opponent to General Forey, at
the head of 30,000 French ? To judge by the past,
the French have not a very arduous task before
them ; for, if with 6,000 men they were enabled to
retain possession of Orizaba for upwards of seven
months, and keep their communications open wit
Yera Cruz, it is fair to presume that no very serious
opposition need be apprehended when 30,000 of
the finest troops in the world are brought into the
tieid. Once in possession of the capital the Liberal
party will be deprived of all its resources, and
unable to keep together any considerable body of
men. The contest will then resolve into a species
of guerilla warfare, supported by a few bandit
chiefs. This may give the French some little
trouble at first, but can never become formidable,
from the simple fact that the nation is not heart
and soul in the cause, and that all the wealthy and
respectable portion of the inhabitants are most dci;
cidedly in favour of French intervention. How
the Emperor intends to carry out this intervention
has not transpired; but if he really means to re-
organise and settle the country, it is quite clear
that he must for some time, at least, establish a
purely military Government—the only one which
can contend with the frightful anarchy engendered
by 40 years of continual revolutions, and put
down those numberless petty chiefs who, under
the pretence of ranging themselves under the
banners of one or other of the contending fac-
tions, have become virtually independent of all
authority—rob, plunder, and murder with the most
perfect impunity, and have become the curse of the
country. Until these have been disposed of Mexico
can know no rest.

VERA CRUZ, DEC. 1.

I arrived here on the 30th ult., having left Real
del Monte on the morning of the 16th in company
with a silver conducta bound for Tampico. Having
upon a recent occasion narrowly escaped being sent
to the interior, having little confidence in the for-
bearance of the Mexican Government, and still less
in the protection of her Majesty's Minister, I thought
:t advisable to absent myself from the capital for a
time. The difficulty was how to get down to the
coast. All applications for passports by Orizaba
and Jalapa had been refused, and it was not likely
that the Mexican authorities would be disposed to
make an exception in favour of the 7 itnes' corre-
spondent. I might have gone by way of Acapulco
and Panama, but that would have necessitated a
long detour; or 'might have tried to break through
the Mexican lines, but that would have been at-
tended with much risk, as the military commanders
of this highly civilized country are not over-parti-
cular as to whom they shoot. Ail my difficulties
wire solved, however, by Mr. Auld, the director of
the Real del Monte Company, who informed me
tat 1 was at liberty to avail myself cf the conduata
e
n about to start for Tampico, and who kindly
suppliedrecluire for
with horses, mules, and all that was
iated of 160 a 10 days' journey. Our escort con-
mounted at, men, paid by the company, well
armed ; we had nothing, there-
fore, to fettrlTZeil
170 men, withllirobbers. In all we mustered about
about 300 horses and mules. I shall
not attempt to gv
through which we a
description of the country
scenery of the Sierr:e
pb
.vl4 suffice it to say that the
s teen
beautiful in the ex-
treme, and would have
of perfect had it been
interspersed wit-1 some
stet lack of water e lovely Swiss
felt in all Mexican scener makes itself
y,
we wend our way through a lab For
yrinth%7 days did
mountains
sometimes ascending the highest pea
others
descending
into valleys abounding with te„%t
tree, Dlantana, and every other
.description or
tr.°,
pical fruit. In one day's ride,while winding through
a beautiful valley, we crossed the
stream 63 times.
I need scarcely remark that there were no bridges.
The road, which is nothing more than a mule track,
is impassable during the rainy season. The accom-
modation throughout is wretched in the extreme—
one room in a mud hut is your lodging for the night,
Tat take with you a stretcher to lie down upon, a
"scrape" to cover yourself with, and any little de-
lie' cies you may require on the road. The country
through which you pass merely provides eggs, tor.
tilias, and frigoles, and those to a very limited ex-
tent. On the fifth day we emerged from the moun-
'Wile and entered the Hunstein, a plain whiela ex-