The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-18 00:00:00

TIIE VEXICAN EXPEDITION.

VERA CRUZ, JAN. 9.

The squadron under Commodore Dunlop arrived
here with the Royal Marine force of 700 men, re-
presenting the English contingent in the affair, on
the 6th of January, and two days afterwards the
French squadron, under Admiral Jurien de la
Graviere, arrived with 2,500 men. We found on
our arrival that the Spaniards, to the amount of
6,000 men, had forestalled us, and, after giving the
people of Vera Cruz 36 hours' notice to vacate the
place, had disembarked and established a military
government in the town. The first step of the
Spanish general was to insist on being named Pre-
sident of the Town Council, which the Town Coun-
cil resisted, and retired from the place, together with
about 7,000 Mexican inhabitants. Before leaving
they dismantled Fort San Juan d'Ulloa, leaving
only about eight guns, and withdrew all the horses
and stock from the place, and have proceeded with
the guns to occupy the passes on the road to Mexico.
They have also driven off all supplies from the
neighbourhood, and inflict a penalty on any one
found supplying the place, so that there is now, no
to speak, no market. The step taken by the
Spaniards of disembarking before the arrival of the
other forces is now owned by themselves to have
been a false step. The whole country has been
roused, and great opposition is expected on the
march to Mexico.

Yesterday, the Bth, General Prim arrived, and,
seeing bow matters stood, made a speech to try and
disarm the suspicions of the people by saying he
was come on a peaceful mission to establish order,
but with no hostile intentions, &c. He is said, at
the same time, to have written to the Captain-
General at Havannah for strong reinforcements, as
all appear to agree that the present force is inade-
quate, seeing the new turn affairs has taken. Ad-
miral Jurien de la Graviere intends accompanying
the French force to Mexico.

The English contingent, 700 men, has been sent
out without camp equipage of any kind, or guns,
for the artillery, although the commanding officer
solicited it repeatedly before leaving England. The
refusal was with a view to their not being employed
actively, and not taking any part in the forward
movement. Their enviable position appears
to be to occupy the most pestilential place in the
world, without any hope of participating in the
operations in the field, and at the same time to hear
remarks of no very flattering character on the de-
grading position in which they are placed—the
scavengers, as they are termed by the other two
Powers. This has produced great dissatisfaction
among them.
The Englishhave not yet landed, as the Spaniards
who command the town have only offered them the
Convent of San Domingo for occupation, which on
inspection was found to contain coffins with human
remains in a state of decomposition; and adjoining
the convent is a yard of a loathsome character,which
baffles description. In one corner is a deposit of
human excrement about five yards square and seve-
ral feet thick, perfectly open and uncovered, upon
which a cloud of flies have settled, which, on ap-
proaching the horrible compost, rise in such a dense
mass that you can scarce see through them. It has
been wisely determined by the Commodore not to
laud the force until a more suitable place is provided,
as a fortnight in such a charnel house would lay
them all up with dysentery. The day after to-mor-
row a reconnaissance is to be made in the direction
of the railway station, 15 miles on the road to Ja-
lapa. The object of this move is to secure the rail-
way from being broken up, and find a place to en-
camp the Spanish troops. Several conferences have
already taken place between the Admirals and the
Generals and Sir Charles Wyke, who is also here
from Mexico. Altogether, this expedition is consi-
dered here to have been too hastily formed, without
having had proper information as to the turn things
might take. The Mexicans are in possession of the
country a short distance outside the town, where it
would be dangerous to go without proper escort.
Their new General is a man who has not hitherto
mixed himself up in public affairs, living quietly en
his property, but on the landing of the Spaniards
he immediately placed himself at the head of the
Spaniards.