The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-20 00:00:00

MEXICO.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS PEOPLE.
The foliowing are extracts (at the preen
Laps. OF p•ecullar interest) from Mr. Jolin Mdcgregor's
Parliamentary volume on the States of Mexico, which
has just been issued by order of Parliament (having been
presented to both Houses by command of her Majesty,
just berore the prorogation).
The Spanish Mexicans are accused of great indolence
of character, occasioned by the abundant means of
subsistence acquired by little industry. They are.
from idleness, addicted to gambling, which is charged
against them as a prevailing vice. Probably no two
men differ from each other so widely in habits and cha-
iacters as the Anglo-Saxon Americans and the Spanish

Americans.
Mr. Mayer says—" The Mexicans are a proud and
sensitive people ; yet, none are more easily subdued by
kindness, none more easily won by a ready disposition
to mingle in their ranks, and treat them with a due re-
spect for their habitudes and their prejudices.
"It seems impossible for them to get rid of the
idea, that European Powers are seeking to obtain their
wealth and territory, and to reestablish the systems
from which they freed themselves by so many years of
revolutionary war ; nor can they (since the Texan war)
divest themselves of the erroneous notion, that the
United States has ever a longing eye on their capital
and country.
" There are but few entertainments given in Mexico, in
comparison with these of other cities abroad,where a lavish
hexopuersndoiftuarseinin vgieiaenvd, ensinliigghatrse, amnidstaamkeunsefmorenthtse f
eo
ire the few
nees
and refinements of genuine hospitality; instead, how-
ever, of these ostentatious displays, there are frequent
re-unions at turtulias, where an hour or two are most
agreeably spent.
" I have already alluded to the extreme of fashionable
life, and its disposition for the theatre; and I do not in-
tend to treat again of the propensity of the ultras to
living thus constantly in the public eye, without devoting
a portion of each day to that domestic intercourse and
reunion which make the comfort and beauty of an Eng-
lish, or American fireside. I speak, however, of that
juste milieu of society, wherein resides the virtue and in-
tellect of a country.
" It was nay good fortune to reside for more than halls
year in a native family, once rich and titled, but broken in
fortunes by the political and commercial vicissitudes of
the republic, and it was there that I constantly witnessed
the most beautiful evidences of filial devotion and pa-
rental love, amounting almost to passionate attachment.
The lady at the head of the establishment, was a person
who had been distinguished for her talents and accom-
plishments in the days when Mexico was adorned with
the splendour of a Spanish court. She would have been
considered highly cultivated in any country; her manners
were excellent; her bearing graceful and courteous, and
a wide circulation in her youth among distinguished
men (both before and during the revolution), and a
ready talent for imparting her recollectioni, made ber
conversation delightful and in' tructive. Besides this,
she possessed a genius for miniature painting and sketch-
ing in crayons, rarely attained by, a female, and worthy
of a distinguished artist. Qualities like these, brought
around her constantly a large and intelligent circle of
both sexes. The change of fortune had by no means
diminished her estimation in society, and the numbers of
fast friends who adhered to her in her comparative indi-
gence, proved their admiration of her talent, and the
constancy of attachment, by the repetition of the most
delicate and disinterested assiduities.
" It was in this Mexican home, and not from the nn-
sympathising distance of the hotel and ball-room (the
scene of most travellers' observation), that I obtained
my insight in'o the structure of Mexican society and
character. Had I kept myself aloof in my own house,
or my own inn, as is the habit of foreigners, I should
have judged from the theatre, the pasts ), the bull ring,
the cock pit, and the (=tuning table, that the women were
but so many painted °dolls, without more education or
soul than was required to languish over a love sick
play, or to ogle, with idle gaze, a favoured cavalier.
I might have supposed, too, that the men were su-
prerm•ly blessed by this dalliance with the sex, and con-
sidered themselves in perfect elysium when they could
divide their attention between their sirens, their horses,
and the card table—but in the privacy of this dwelling,
I learned to estimate the love anti regard between
parents and children ; the beautiful benevolence of
ancient friendship ; the universal respect for genius ;
and, besides, had fr, quent occasion to notice the expand-
ing spirit, ardent patriotism, de ire of cultivation, and
quick lmit, which embellish , the Mexican character.

"There are in Mexico, as in all other countries,
specimens of egotism, selfishness, haughtiness, in-
breeding, and loose morals, both among the men and
the women ; but, although we find these floating,
like bubbles, on the top of society, they must not,
therefore, be considered the characteristics of the
country. A nation in which ' revolutions and counter-
revolutions are events of almost daily occurrence, is
naturally prolific in desperate and crafty political ad-
venturers,' and dissimulation and stratagem may, in
time, form the chief element of the character of such a
people ; yet such, it is hoped, is not to be the corrupting
fate of Mexico.
" The idea that large social entertainments require
great magnificence and lavish expense, deprives the
Mexicans, in their towns, of many of those agreeable
gatherings which fill up so pleasantly our winter nights
and autumn evenings, but it is on their haciendas or
plantations that their hospitality is most distinguished.
Nothing is withheld from you ; their establishments are
placed at your entire control, and the welcome is as sin-
cere as it is hearty and cheerful.
"That they are brave none will doubt who read the
history of their War of Independence, although the bad
discipline (especially of their officers) has prevented the
very eminent exhibition of this quality in their foreign
battles. In fact, regard them in any way, and they will
be found to possess the elements of a fine people who
want but peace and the stimulus of foreign emulation to,
bring them forward among the nations of the earth with
great distinction.
"Their geographical position, however, is very unfa-
vourable for this emulative stimulus. They are placed
among the mountains, on an isthmus connecting two
large continents,' while their territory is washed by two
seas. They are cut off by a large belt of savage country
from us at the north, and the communication with Europe
is both distant and uncertain. They have a small popu-
lation, spread over an immense territory, and want,
therefore, both the constant comparison of the intellect
of other nations, and social compacting or aggregation
among themselves." -
The following is a horrible picture of crime and cri-
minals in Mexico:—
" CRlME.—Passing westward, towards the Passeo
Nuevo from the Alameda, you cross the square in front
of the Accordada, the common prison of the capital. In
the front of one of its wings a low barred window is
constantly open, and within, on an inclined plane, are
laid the dead bodies found daily within the limits of the
city. It is almost impossible to take your morning walk
to the adjoining fields, without seeing one, and fre-
quently two corpses, stretched bleeding on the stones.
These are the victims of some sudden quarrel, or un-
known murder during the night ; and all who miss a
friend, a parent, or a brother, resort to these iron bars
to seek the lost one. It is painful to behold the scenes
to which this melancholy assemblage frequently give
rise, and hear the wails of sorrow that break from the
homeless orphan, whose parent lies murdered on the
stones of the dead house.
" Yet this is scarcely more shocking than the scenes
presented by the living within the walls of the loathsome
prison. A strong guard of military is stationed at the
gate, and you enter, after due permission from the corn-
nianding officer. A gloomy stair leads to the second
story, the entrance to which is guarded by a portal mas-
sive enough to resist the assault of a powerful force.
Within, a lofty apartment is filled with the officers of
the prison and a crowd of subalterns, engaged in writing,
talking, and walking—amid the hum of the crowd, the
clank of chains, the shouts of prisoners, and the eternal
din of an ill-regulated establishment.
" Passing through several iron and wood barred gates,
you enter a lofty corridor, running round a quadrangular
courtyard, in the centre of which, beneath, is a fcunts!in
of troubled water. The whole of this area is filled with
human beings—the great congress of Mi xican crime—
mixed and mingled, like a hill of busy ants swarming
from their sandy caverns. Some are stripped and bath-
ing in the fountain; some are fighting in a corner; some
making bask ts in another. In one place a crowd is
gathered around a witty story-teller, relating the cdv:n-
tures of his rascally life. In another, a group is engaged
in weaving with a hand-loom. Robbtrs, murderers,
thieves, ravishers, felons of every description, and vaga-
bonds of every aspect, are crammi d within this court-
yard; and, almost free from discipline or moral restraint,
form perhaps the most splendid school of misdemeanour
and villany on the American continent.
" Below, within the corridor of the second story—from
which I have described the view of this wretched mass of
humanity—a rather better sort of criminals are kept ;
and yet, even here, many were pointed out to me as
being under sentence of death, who still went about en-
tirely without restraint.
" In one corner of the quadrangle is the chapel, where.
convicts for capital offences are condemned toI solitude
chant ae
and penance, during the last three. days.o of,
_t.
for all
isshc -
rab
prisonersle ;tnargiadt,hae.tr aincerftraoi
of the laws. It is a solemn service
hymn for the victim utirl,e_itd.iosor, uaa.nld. .
of crime for crime. .
" I did not see the prison for women,
front of
but I am told it
is much the same as the one I have Just described.
About one hundred of the men, chained in pairs like
galley slaves, are driven daily into the streets, under a
strong guard, as scavengers ; and it seems to be the
chief idea of the utility of prisons in Mexico, to support
this class of coerced labourers.
" There can be no apology, at this period of general
enlightment in the world for such disgraceful exhibi-
tions of the congregated vice of a country. Punishment,
or rather incarceration, and labour on the streets, in the
manner I have described, is, in fact, no sacrifice—both
because public exhibition deadens the felon's shame, and
because it cannot become an actual punishment under
any circumstances of lepero's life. Indeed, vac object
in existence can the lepero propose to himself ? His
day is one of precarious labour and income—he thieves
—he has no regular home, or if he has it is some mise-
rable hovel of earth and mud, where his wife and chil-
dren crawl about with scarce the instinct of beavers. His
food and clothing are scant and miserable. He is with-
out education, or prospect of improvement. He belongs
to a class that does not rise. He dulls his sense of pre-
sent misery by intoxicating drinks. His quick temrer
stimulates him to quarrel. His sleep is heavy and un-
refreshing, and he only rises to a day of similar uncer-
tainty and wickednes s. What, then, is the value of life
to him, or to one like ;him ? Why toil ? Why.not
steal ? What shame has he ? Is the prison, with certainty
of food, more punishment than the free air, with uncer•
tainty ? On the contrary, it is a lighter punishment.;
and as for the degradation, he knows not how to esta•
mate it.
Mexico will thus continue to be infested with felons