The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-09 00:00:00

IiIAXIMILI.I2V IN MEXICO.

(From the Anglo-American Tunes.)
The New Monthly Magazine, which gave in its
June number a paper on Russian-America, favours
its readers in its July issue with another on Mexico
under Maximilian. The thoughts of the periodical
are fixed on the United States while discussing the
ice-bound, barren land of rocks to the North, and the
wealth of fertile soil teeming underground with
mineral riches, of the country to the South. The
colossal Republic that lies between these lands of
glaring contrast is far more attractive to the
reviewer than the hunting grounds of a fur-
trading company, or the scene of human de-
generacy, which is all that makes Mexico at
present of any interest in the world. " There can
be no question of the ulterior views entertained by
the partisans of the Monroe doctrine in the United
States in thus giving their support to the party of
anarchy in Mexico as opposed to that of peace and
order." Thus writes the New Monthly, and any
American can tell instinctively what the next sen-
tence is—." It is that the country may fall to pieces,
and that they may gather it up within their
grasp, fragment by fragment. There ought not to
be either ignorance of, nor indifference to, the fact
that the Mexican question constitutes with that of
British America the basis of a new order of things
which is about to arise in the New World. It is the

" Question of the 'West," which is of infinitely
more serious impOrt than the " Question of the
East." The United States constitute the American
Colossus, just as Russia constitutes the Asiatic
Colossus. Mexico, as a " sick man," has nothing
to envy Turkey. Maximilian, left alone, would
unquestionably have given a good account of his
rebellious satraps and plundering pachas of
the West, but, backed by the United States,
they have become successful partisans. The aim
and objects of the Monroeists are as openly
avowed at Washington as are the Oriental projects
of the Muscovites at St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The Americans not only foresee the absorption of
all North and Central America by the annexation
of Mexico, but also of the Empire of the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans. The acquisition of Russian
America, of the Alutian Islands, and of the North
Pacific Ocean, is thus shown to be a step in a
given direction towards a long foregone result."
And a very good step too, as we hail the ad-
vance of the Americans towards the realisation
of their darling project the oneness of the
North American Continent. The dream of the
Monroeists is a splendid vision, which we fully be-
lieve, some, will wake to find a reality. But what
we cannot see is why Europeans should view with
such jealousy the growing might of the great Re-
public. The opinions of the New Monthly may be
gathered from the following paragraph :
" Viewed in this light, it will be understood how
any support given by Europe to Maximilian's em-
pire would have become the means of averting a
future Crimean war upon a vast scale, and of post-
poning that war in the New World, and that formid-
able struggle for the supremacy at sea which must
inevitably one day arise between the Old and the
New World, and which at present the timidity and
irresolution of European Governments serve rather
to hurry on than to postponl for an indefinite pe-
riod."
We discuss this question in our leading columns,
and as we can scarcely afford space for the extracts
from the interesting article before us, we will not
here allude to it further.
The following account of the fortress taken by
the Republicans on the Ist June is given :—" Cha-
pultepec, besieged and devastated by the rebels, in
which we find, as in common in Mexico, the Orien-
tal word teppeh, a bill,' is a chateau built on the
summit of an isolated hill by the Viceroy Don Mat-
teo de Galva, and it was the Emperor Maximilian's
habitual residence. Tradition says that the Aztec
kings had a palace at the same place, and some dis-
coveries have been made which give colour to the
tradition. In the park there is an aged cedar, of
phenomenal dimensions, which bears the name of
Montezuma. The building, half palace, half for-
tress, had been converted into a military school, and
when Maximilian first fancied the palace both it and
the park were in a sad condition, most of the wood
in the latter having been cut down on the approach
of the Yankees in 1847 ; but Maximilian set to
work with characteristic energy, and in two years'
time he made it a residence worthy of an emperor.
The place could now be approached by good roads,
the park was adorned with pavilions, statues, and
flower beds. Chapultepec was indeed admittedly a
little marvel.
The city of Mexico is solidly constructed, inter-
sected by long, wide streets, and encumbered with
convents and churches, built on a lake very much
exposed to inundations. This lake—Texcoco—is
the only one of five which is below the level of the
city ; but as it receives the waters of all the other
lakes it is liable to floods, and at these times the
capital is laid under water. Many works have been
carried out to do away with this inconvenience;
among the most remarkable of which is the canal of
Hurketoca, constructed by Surrigarry in 1807, but
which, like everything else, has been allowed to fall
into decay and ruin. Of all the works undertaken
—canals of dessication and embankments to pre-
serve the city—none have been kept in good condi-
tion. One of the first public acts of the Emperor
Maximilian was to adopt proceedings by which this
inconvenience would be for ever abated, and the
lake so far drained that it was anticipated twenty
square leagues of rich alluvial soil would be gained
to agriculture, which would more than repay the
expenses of dessicatior .
The houses in Mexico are very pleasant to dwell
in, and are well suited to the climate. They have
always a yard or garden, with a gallery running
round it, decorated with flowers and enlivened with
birds. The rooms are large, clean, and well-fur-
nished, and the whole is pretty, cool, comfortable,
and well-aired.
But the streets were iu an execrable 001494 ;