The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-29 00:00:00

(5111111114

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 1847.

Mexico continues to be desolated, not merely by
its infamous invaders, but in a very particular and
lamentable:imanner by internal dissensions. The
Aztec Empire appears to be crumbling away as much
from the disastrous anarchy caused by its own
traitorous children as from the vigorous assaults of
its unprincipled neighbours. Instead of banding to-
gether for the protection of their common country,
for the vindication of their collective rights, and for
the maintenance of the national liberty, the Mexicans
are literally conniving at the movements of the in-
vading armies. Formerly they have been accused of
pusillanimity, now they may with equal reason be
scorned for their perfidious conduct in the abandon-
ment of the barriers of fatherland. The vast ma-
jority of the citizens of that magnificent republic—
that republic which Nature has qualified to be the
pivot upon which the commerce of an entire hemi-
sphere should turn, whose soil is fruitful beyond the
fruitfulness of must tropical territories, whose shores
are washed by the surges of the Atlantic andthe Pacific, whose eastern and western limits
are indented by noble harbours, whose surface
is diversified by mountain and plain, by wold and
valley, by prairie and dingle, whose pastures are
irrigated by plenteous and fructifying streams, whose
highroads are intended to be the channels of commu-
nication between the two great continents of America
—the vast majority of the citizens of that magni-
ficent republic are showing themselves incompetent to
appreciate the blessings of national independence, or
to assume the protection of their national heritage.
Hitherto the free populations of Europe have regarded
the progress of events in Mexico with interest, if not
with consternation. The enemies of that ruthless
spirit which strives at all hazards to assure to its
possessor the bloody spoil of territorial aggrandizement
—the enemies to that damnable spirit which has repeat-
edly been the accursedsequence of despotism, but which
has now-a-days become the incompatible incitement of
a federative constitution, have looked heretofore with
abhorrence upon the southward progress of the Ame-
rican soldiers through the Rio Grande, and with sym-
pathy upon the straggling defence made by the Mexi-
can forces. If circumstances similar to those which
have recently transpired, and which have just reached
us by the arrival of the Hibernia steam-ship, be re-
newed with much frequency in Mexico, all the gene-
rous sympathies of the lovers of civil liberty for its
inhabitants will evaporate, and the various provinces
will in time be portioned out as the rewards of a
lawless expedition.
ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA has been re-
ceived in the capital with yells, with hisses, with
execrations ! He has been stoned in the streets like
a malefactor ! For what ? For risking his personal
safety by entering his agonised land, through the
blockading squadron of its enemies ! For abandoning
the secure quietude of the Havannahs for the stormy
perils of a beleaguered state ! For refusing the Pre-
sidentship when he had only to stretch forth his
hand and grasp the sword of a Dictator ! For
voluntarily accumulating on his own head the ven-
geance of the advancing legions, by becoming
the soldier and the captain of his native
country t For accepting the onerous responsibilities
of government when it was most peculiarly sur-
rounded by internal and external dangers--when it
was directly menaced by the uplifted brand of the
United States, and by the mines of the treachery, and
conspiracy, and disguised insubordination of its own
citizens ! SANTA ANNA has experienced the
fickleness of democracy as strikingly as ever did
MILTIADES, Or TWEMISTOCLES, Or ARISTIDES, or
ALCIBIADES, or EPAMINONDAS. Having :mortgaged
Ms own personal estates for the prosecution
of the war in defence of Mexico, SANTA ANNA
is stoned by its ungrateful and insensate popu-
lation. The great ISABELLA I. of Spain pawned
her jewels to furnish COLON with the means
of carrying into effect his project for the discovery of
a New World. For the defence of a portion of that
new world SANTA ANNA has pawned his patrimony,
and has since been reviled by the descendants of the
subjects of that great ISABELLA.

In a communication addressed on the 13th of May
to the Moxican Minister of War and Marine, Presi-
dent SANTA ANNA alludes thus to the supposition
that the United States were deceived in admitting
him through their blockading squadron in the expec-
tation of his abandoning the republic to their pos-
session :—" Indeed, most excellent Sir, the United
States did deceive themselves when they dreamed that
I was capable of betraying my country. Before this
should happen I would prefer to be consumed by fire,
and my ashes should be scattered so that not a single
atom were left." "would to Gov," he exclaims in con-
tinuation, " would to GOD the Mexicans would open
their eyes to discover the poison in the golden
chalice that the perfidious SCOTT proffers !" But, no :

:he patriot who endeavours to animate them with

some faint sense of that love of country which burns
in his own bosom is scorned, is hissed, is stoned.
" GOD and Liberty !" his battle cry, is drowned
in the din of a cowardly and licentious rabble.
Instead of meeting with co-operation he is compelled
to resign the office of President. He endeavours to
fortify the outposts of Guadaloupe, of Perion, and of
Mijicazingo—he is prevented by the contumacious
opposition of the inhabitants. Everywhere the sha-
dow of a dreadful destiny impends over the plains of
California and tho mountains of Mexico. The phan-
tom of a .N2mEsis seems to lead onwards the armies
of the United States, and to foretelj the doom of a
splendid republic and a degraded race.

We have already pointed out the vast distinction
between the principle of the measure introduced by
Lord GEORGE BENTINCK and that brought forward
under the auspices of her MAJESTY'S Government for
an advance to certain railways in Ireland, the second
reading of which was last night carried by a majority
of 113 in the House of Commons. The Noble Lord
the Member for Lynn and his supporters still con-
tinue to assert the identity of these principles, and to
rail against the inconsistency of those who, by an
overwhelming majority, rejected the former pro-
position, while they give their support to the more
moderate and reasonable one now sanctioned by the
House. We should not be so much astonished at
these petulant outbreaks if they proceeded only from
the camp of the Protectionists, but we confess that
we are surprised indeed at finding some of the Liberal
Members—persons who are generally more clear-
sighted and intelligent—joining in the same ridiculous
assumptions, and becoming the accusers of the Minis-
terial policy. The Premier fully and completely
vindicated the justice and the expediency of the
course adopted, and thoroughly refuted one of the ar-
guments so loudly urged against the measure. He
showed. that the advance was
because they pr
d n t
had the 600,0001,p a ose
Pnd should
devise some
means of
ied
spendingef it, but be-
cause, being thoroughly
convinced
u t:
the benefits that
such an expenditure would confer on the n
they were enabled to sanction it to that
extent rwith-
out inconvenience to the national Exchequer, and
without disturbance to the money market.
A large
and lavish outlay would involve the necessity of the
State again becoming a borrower, and would, to a
certain extent, expose the Cabinet to the imputation
of being guilty of a breach of faith towards those per-
sons by whom the last loan of 8,000,000/. was advanced
—it would occasion mischief more than equivalent for
the benefits that could be derived, even under the