The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-05 00:00:00

THE CONDITION OF MEXICO.

From Mexico the following mercantile letter fur-
nishes the latest particulars of the financial and
general condition of that Republic :
" Nothing of great importance has taken place
here since my last. The country remains in the
deplorable condition previously described. The
oldest residents in Mexico declare that they
never knew such a complete stagnation, nor
such an absolute want of safety on the high
roads, which are now literally in the possession
of e numerous bands of robbers which
infest them in every direction. The Pronunci-
ados have adopted a new way of raising money,
calculated to interfere very materially with the
course of agriculture, and which consists in carry-
ing off the managers of the large farms (or haciendas)
peculiar to the country, and keeping them in
durance till a handsome ransom is paid for them.
The Government forces had lately an encounter
with the rebels near Puebla, and remained masters
of the field, the latter having suffered, morbover,
a very severe loss in killed and wounded.
" The Congress continues its .sessions, exclusively
taken up with the most frivolous questions.
" Great complaints are to be heard among the
mercantile classes, in consequence of the awfu di-
mensions the smuggling system has lately reached,
thus destroying the equilibrium of trade, and caus-
ing serious losses to the fair-dealing merchant. Far
from seeking to check this evil, the Government
connive at it, and allow their officials to indulge in
the most disgraceful fraud and dishonesty with per-
fect impunity. _

" The second instalment due to Mr. Barron by
way of damages fell a few days Mince, and was
paid over to him as punctually as the first, thus
showing practically that a
where there is will
there is a way.' Other British claims are treated
with the usual neglect ; for long experience has
proved that no Mexican Government will ever
pay its debts unless it is actually forced to do
so. While they all plead their inability to meet
their pecuniary engagements, the old system of
extravagance and peculation is kept up in great
style. As a trifling instance I may allude to large
sums of money just laid out to provide for the
printing of voluminous reports (Gr memoirs) in
each of the Ministerial Departments, made up of
trashand imposture, and the real object of which is
a jobbing transaction with the printers thus
patronized.
" Comonfort was installed on the Ist inst. as
constitutional President of the Republic, with all
the usual pomp and ceremony."

PRECAUTIONS TAKEN IN FRANCE AGAINST
THE INTRODUCTION OF YELLOW PATER
PROM LISBON.

Information has been received from Brest that,
as a precaution against the importation of yellow
fever, all ships arriving there from Lisbon are put
into quarantine, and the particular circumstances of
each ship reported to the Minister, in order that he
may determine the number of days she shall be
detained before being admitted to lib7e
The first ship coming utithr this re
La Meuse, great screw transport ulation was
, whi g pratique.
ch sailed from
St. Louis, Senegal, with 186
invalids, most of whom
were ill of dysentery, uremia, marsh fever, and
pulmonary complaints. On the Gth of November
La Meuse put into the Tagus and anchored under
Belem Castle, where she remained until the 9th,
and then sailed for Brest without having commu-
nicated with the shore. During her passage from
Senegal to the Tagus four men had died on board ;
between Belem and Brest she lost four more, and
on the 15th inst. one man died in Brest roads ; Lut
no case of yellow fever had occurred on board this
ship. The Minister, under these circumstances,
directed that she should be released from quaran-
tine on the 19th, when ten days would have ex-
pired from the day of her departure from the
Tagus. This decision is conformable to the inter-
national sanitary convention (now carried out
in
Fiance), which stipulates that when no case of yel-
low fever occurs during the last ten days of passage
on board of a ship coming from a country where
yellow feer prevails no quarantine is inflicted.
The late presence of yellow fever at Lisbon has
caused great precautions to be taken in all the
ports of France, not only against the present
danger, but for future contingencies, it being now
considered as certain that yellow fever may be-im-
ported and. become epidemic in latitudes which
hitherto were supposed to be exempt from this risk.
The great and increasing extension of this dreadful
malady is taking along the coasts of America, and
in places where it. was totally unknown 15 or 20
years ago (the Brazils and the River Plate), are
thought fully to justify the precautions.
All the lazarettoes in France, which have been
lying in a state of comparative neglect for several
preparing for the reception of in-
elier, the inspector-general of sani-
vyaeaiirdss,. are
Dr. nowm
tarty services in France, is going round the ports
where quarantine may be performed. A few weeks
ago he arrived at Blest, and visited the lazaretto
in company with the local authorities. This build-
ing is on the island of Treberon, in Brest Bay,
seven miles from the town. A year ago it was in
a state of ruin, but has now been entirely rebuilt.
There are four wards, fitted up with 120 iron bed-
steads, and capable of holding more than double
that number ; also more than a proportionable
number of officers' and passengers' rooms and
lodgings, and offices for the medical and com-
missariat departments ; all the bedding and other
furniture being kept ready in.dry stores at Brest,
whence they can be sent to Treberon at an hours'
notice.

THRARICALS IN HONOUR 07 THE
PRIAGESS RoYAL'S MARRIAGE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—rn most of the journals of to-day appear
the particulars of the theatrical performances to
tAke place at Her Majesty's Theatre ontheocoasion
of the marriage of the Princess Royal. It is there
stated that Mr. Mitchell has received the co-opera-
tion of Mr. Webster, Mr. Buckstone, Mr. Phelps,
Mr. Robson, dsc., in forwarding his views. I think
it due to myself to state, that I believe I was the
first London manager who, by letter and in person,
offered that gentleman every co-operation and
assistance in my power, placing unreservedly at his
disposal my dramatic company and the resources of
my establishme
As an obvious act of discourtesy is dOne to my.
self by the announcement in question, and as it
might lead my numerous fri nds—the public—to
believe that I had not leen equally willing with
my brother managers to assi,t in the general object
and f stivities on the occasion in question—that I
lose not a moment in waking this statement, Which
I shall feel obliged,if you will find room for in your
journal.—l am, &c.,
Jan. 4.

E. T. SMITS.

A LEAF FROM THE "PEZRAOE."

The following is not a bad illustration of "How
to do it," as practised by the Upper Ten :
The Marquis of Normanby—Our Minister at
Florence, and high in Austrian favour.
The Earl of Mulgrave
(son of the above peer)--
Just appointed Governor of Nova Scotia. (?)
The Hon. Charles Kip, C. B. CJlonel in the
army (brother of the marquis)—Keeper oflher Ma-
jesty's Privy Purse, and Treasurer of the Household
to the Prince Consort, His son, Charles—Page of
Honour to the Queen (which will soon procure the
boy a commission in the Guards, worth 1,2001.)
his son-in-law, Captain Sayer, Deputy-Assistant
'Quartermaster-General at the Horse Guards.'
The Ron. Edmund Phipps (second brother of the
mar
cluis)—Commissioner of Encumbered Est i tea in
the West Indies (usually resident in Italy).
The Hon. Augustus Phipps (third brother of the
marquis)—Rectorot Eu-t n-cum Bainham,Suffolk,
and Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen.
Here we have an entire family excellently pro-
vided for at the public expense. It is indeed time
for a now Reform Bill.