The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-08 00:00:00

MEXICO.

The following is an extract from the letter of a gentle-
man, whose social position is the best guarantee of the
correctness of his statement. The letter arrived by the
last packet, addressed to an English Nobleman :
" The French fleet will in a few days commence its
operations—they will be murderous in a way they little
expect. If you wish rapidly to judge of the prospects
of the expedition, a few words will enable you to do so.
The difficulties are two-fold—physical and moral. Men
change, above all, the Mexicans ; therefore, let us speak
of the physical difficulties. This is the healthy season
at Vera Cruz—that is to say, that men do not die, as
at other seasons, in three days, but they contract fevers,
which. in fourteen days generally extinguish the last spark
of life. A heaviness and singular oppression drops
from the clouds on those not so fatally attacked. To
speak of minor evils, hardly has a shower fallen on the
rich alluvium that forms the soil, than all its particles
decome instinct with life, and myriads of horrible millioneth
animalcula3 are brought to life. Amidst these may be
mentioned the nigua, one of many, a small circular ani-
malcule which enters the feet and legs, and there in-
creasing, destroys the flesh. Thus do we see the inhabi-
tants of the sea-shore constantly deprived of their toes,
amputated to get rid of this small destructive burr-like
enemy. Even from the trees torments drop upon you,
like the pica-pica—a dust which produces such irrita-
tion of the skin that for a moment you cannot refrain from
scratching the part. Such are a few of those endemic
evils, of which the proof is, that even the native troops are
kept away from Vera Cruz as much as possible ; of the
whole Mexican army scarce 2,500 men are left in the town
even at the time when an attack is immediately imminent,
the rest being established from etape to etape, extending
to the first hill that soars above the deadly lowland plague at
Xalapa. Let me add that Vera Cruz consists principally of
the magazines of foreigners—English, American, and
French—scarce four or five are Mexican, therefore,
when the bombardment begins, the natives, or the allies
of France, will be the principal sufferers. If the
French wish to rise up to the Hesperian regions,
the blessed table land of Mexico, they will die on
the journey if they bring not from Havannah mules in
large numbers, a difficult and most expensive resource,
one which the Spaniards, in their last invasions, were
obliged to resort to. The conveyance of heavy artillery is
impossible. Witness the portions of steam and hydraulic
engines from England which still strew the roads since the
South American mining bubbles of 1825. As to moral ob-
stacles, when once the French cannon has been discharged,
and Mexicans killed, all the parties in the country for once
will unite against the French. No Ministry could exist for a
fortnight with other opinions (and these will run the risk of
being hung and quartered) who will consent to concession
to the French. Santa Anna, now playing Cincinnatus at his
country house, and Pedraza, the most active and warmest of
the ultra-liberals, and at the same time the most influential
man in opposition in the country, are both of them as full of
demonstrations oratorical against the French as Busta-
mente himself, the head of the Legislature. A temporary
revolution is the only hope left to the French to obtain
conditions satisfactory to the amour propre of their nation,
and on visionary promises to leave the fatal shores to which
full surely they will never return. How extravagant are
the pretensions of the French merchants here, you will
easily see, when I tell you that they have deposited an in-
ventory of their goods, and their value, with the President
Bustamente, to be returned in case of pillage ; their esti-
mate is 50,000,000 of piastres. The merchants aforesaid
are mostly dealers in noveautes, wigs, pomatum, and other
such valuable commodities."—Mortiing Post.

From the New York Journal of commerce, Nov. 23.)

IMPORTANT FROM MEXICO.
By the arrival of the United States ship Vandalia at New
Orleans, from Vera Cruz, which place she left on the 27th
ult., bringing the following interesting intelligence respec-
ting the operations of the French squadron. The French
Admiral had prevented the British packet from entering
Vera Cruz.

(From the New Orleans Transcript of Nov. 15.)
By the arrival of the United States sloop of war Vanclalia,
of the South West Bar, we are much indebted to the polite-
ness of a gentleman, passenger on board, for letters from our
correspondent at Vera Cruz, dates to 26th ult., and Tam-
pico to 4th inst., from which we gather the following in-
formation :

The French Admiral Baudin had arrived at Vera Cruz
with two 60-gun ships, and was daily expecting the Prince
de Joinville in the Creole, with a reinforcement of bomb
vessels and steamers.

An officer has been sent to Mexico with the final de-
mands of the French Government, which, if not imme-
diately complied with, the Admiral was prepared to enforce.

CORPORATION REFORM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR—In a report of the proceedings of the Court of Com-
mon Council, given in The Sun yesterday, I find the follow-
ing laconic notice :—" Mr. Bradfield having complained of
being charged a fee of IL 3s. 6d. on presenting a petition,
the same was ordered to be refunded." And is this all? No
reprimand for an attempt at imposition—no order that the
charge for the future shall be discontinued—not even a Corn-
mittee of Inquiry, nor the usual mode of whitewashing a city
delinquent or defaulter—a reference to the Finance Commit.
tee ? Here some person or persons arc convicted of putting
into the City Treasury, or their own pockets, money which
does not belong to them, and though the practice has been car-
ried on for years, and was but the other day described by
the Lord Mayor as " most scandalous," yet it is passed
by as a matter of common occurrence. How can the Corpo-
ration-ridden citizens of London suppose the Corporation will
reform itself, when one of its functionaries, charged by the
Lord Mayor with getting money in a scandalous manner, is
only ordered to refund the amount pro hac vice 5' Not even
one Liberal Member raised his voice against the practice, and
the conclusion therefore must be come to, that the offence was
so venial, compared with the great mass of corruption to be
removed, that it did not require censure, or that the Reform
party forget their principles when you touch their self-interest.
Would Mr. Bradfield apply his " boring power" to all the
other departments of this great Corporation, and show how
the half million a year is expended, he would produce some-
thing blacker still than he has yet discovered in the coal trade.
Dec. 7, 1838.
CENSOR.

ERRATUM.—In an article on the Coal Trade,
which appeared in The Sun yesterday, for Mr. Stannen
read 11.1 r. Hannen.
Yesterday morning a fire broke out on the premises
of Mr. Morrison, warehouseman, Bread-street, Cheapside,
but was got under without doing much damage. The pro-
perty is insured.