The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-29 00:00:00

MEXICAN BRIGANDAGE.

The Mexican correspondent of the Baltimore
Commercial gives an account of the country,

which, however surprising, is we believe strictly
and literally true. The great institution of Mexico
is brigandage. No Mexican will work if he can
live without it. Respectable employment can
scarcely be had. The professions are limited, the
avenues of promotion outside the army are inacces-
sible to the moderately educated ; therefore men

„must either labour: or enter the bandit profession
;Forty thousaiad soldiers *ere discharged in August

last,,and turned loose upon society, and the great
mass of them went, to reinforce the brigand bawls.
SoCiety, as a whole, does not condenin these high-
w4lnetl. A notoa• robber may in:Mexico be ad-
mitted`to good society and rise to civil distinction

and when the man. abandons the road, his career

on it, if distinguished, is rather a feather in
his cap. Th 3 correspondent recognised a robber
that he had formerly met on the road, in the streets
of the city, and he rose to high rank in the army.
The Government earnestly endeavours to root out
this curse. A force of 20,000 men, and a swarm
of civil enzploOs wage incessant war upon it, and
the weekly list-of slaughtered ladrones as officially
published is appalling. From one to fifteen are
daily executed, yet brigandage is on the increase.
The death penalty, the rattle of musketry, the hun-
dreds monthly swept into robber graves, do not
even check the great national b Isiness of presta-
moing, robbing, and throat cutting. The road
guards have authority to shoot without trial before
a civil tribunal, and they carry it into effect with-

out mercy. The criminal code is almost uniform
in all the States, and so rigid, that stopping a dili-
gence, forcibly entering a building, or taking the
slightest article, is punishable with death ; and the
military can carry it into effect without even a form
of trial. The robbers, however, meet the case with
a nonchalance that argues an utter disreprd for life.

They kill a man without a particle of remorse, and
when the law sends them to execution, there is no
shaking or supplicating, or begging for mercy. The
executions are pure business transactions, the ut-

most good humour prevailing, in which the culpr
is as gay as the rest. Smoking and drinking con
tinue even to the moment of death ; and there is no
repentance, as they recognize no sin in taking what
the world owes them. It is not the bullet or the
halter the bandit fears ; there is more dread to him
in the chain-gang, and more than all in the whip-
ping-post. But though the robbers thus fearlessly
meet their end, a travelling Mexican seldom risks
his life for the property he carries. A couple of
highwaymen have been known to rob a diligence
full of armed men, and even women have made twice
their number of male travellers "stand and deliver."
As a general rule, therefore, the danger to the rob-
bers is not in acting against travellers;in some districts
where they
seldom meet with resistance,while
they are sufficiently strong
to defy the national
troops, and even to plunder towns without the loss
of a man. But they constantly come into collision
with the soldiers ; and in all cases they have proved
their superiority. They are generally mounted, and
work in troops of from five to eight hundred. There
are at present in the field a band of 500, operating
west of Queretaro, on whose banner is inscribed
" Long Live the Empress." Two months ago they
entrapped two new regiments, killing every officer,
enlisting the surviving privates, and thus com-
pletely annihilating both. These work with the
double purpose of supporting themselves and with
a political object. The gentlemen of the road are
generally fine-looking, well-dressed fellows, with an
air of dash, and a gentlemanlike manner. They crave
for jewellery ; rings and diamond pins are eagerly
gathered. In a twinkling their expert hands relieve
a dozen persons of their purses, watches, or shawls.
Then they light their cigars, offer them to the de-
spoiled, and bowing low are lost in the thick under-
growth. The following incident is given of the
politeness of a Mexican robber :—" Once upon a
time, on a journey from Mazatlan on the Pacific,
to Guadaljara, with three ladies, four children, and
an old man of 70 years, in the diligence, a well-
mounted, well-organised troop of ten men over-
hauled uk To show fight under the circumstances
would have been madness. We submitted gra-
ciously, losing money and watches—no more. It
was at a time when the road swarmed with ban-
dits. A view of the situation indicated very clearly
our condition. The next band would take our
clothes and rifle our baggage. The next one, find-
ing nothing else, would take our lives. Indeed,
when a man permits himself to be robbed, it is
necessary to have something to be robbed of. His
person will suffer for his poverty. Our case was
submitted to the robber chief, and the m
old an and
our Spanish spokesman was eloquent and compli-
mentary. He touched the right cord, for the chief
wheeled his horse, ordered his men in front and
rear of us, and motioned the driver to push on. He
remained with us all that day ; drove and talked off
no less than four robber bands, and saw us safely
in the garrita at Guadaljara. Since the close of the
late war I saw on the streets of the capitol this same
robber chief, now an officer, high in rank, in the
national army." It will be readily believed that
the bandits do not always escape unscathed in these
attacks. Their information is perfect as to the
movements, the nationality, and the valuables of
travellers, and they have learned to respect the
property of Englishmen and Americans, as expe-
rience has shown them that they run no slight risk
in attacking parties among whom they are nume-
rous. Some time ago an American and an Englishman,
well armed, took passage in the diligence for Vera
Cruz, and when near Puebla were halted by a
well-mounted baud of seven. As usual, prepara-
tory shots were fired to " bring the diligence to."
In a minute Smith and Lyons were in position out-
side, and as the robbers advanced, opened fire upon
them. Every shot told, and in a very short time
four of the assailants lay dead, and the rest were

fleeing to the chapparel. The diligence was then
driven to Puebla, where the victors were acquitted
and an escort furnished them. The robbers ga-
thered in force on the road for the purpose of
avenging their comrades, and determined to slaugh-
ter every passenger. But the guard was too strong,
and the plucky travellers arrived in safety at Vera
Cruz. Since this encounter few feints are made.
The robbers come up at a gallop, firing into the
coach and at the mules indiscriminately. If pas-
sengers resist and are overpowered no quarter is
shown them. Under the most favourable circum-
stances a refusal to surrender valuables will sub-
ject the traveller to the most brutal treatment.
As a sample of what American or English travel-
lers are to expect who place any trust in Mexi-
cans, no matter how earnest their professions,
the correspondent relates this incident :—" Some
months ago a party of eight —one American
and seven Mexicans—left the capital for Puebla in
the morning diligence. All were armed with re-
volvers. As some of the party carried valuables,
it was agreed, before starting, to resist any attack
made upon them. On the first alarm each man
was to alight, take position as he saw fit, and fight
without orders. Yorke, the American, carried two
of Colt's revolvers. Thirty miles east of the capi-
tal a band of fifteen robbers,issued from the woods,
and immediately opened a heavy fire with pistols
and carbines upon the diligence. Young Yorke
jumped from the coach, as agreed upon, calling
upon his comrades to follow ; and taking his
place between two of the dead mules, killed by
a robber's shot, returned the fire. He stood
there with the fire of the whole pack directed
against him. Eight shots he fired, and then fell
dead. After falling, the fiends rushed upon him,
and literally hewed his body to pieces with 'their
sabres. His eight shots killed three of the rob-
bers, and wounded four more. His cowardly
fellow-passengers delivered up their arms, were
bound, robbed, stripped of their clothing, and al-
most beaten to death. The coach was upset, and
the mules, yet living, driven off. Several of these
bandits have since been apprehended and shot." It
is no wonder that in such a country Maximilian
failed, for there are no producers, and where almost
the only successful trade is thieving, it would be
folly to look for truth, honesty, or prosperity.
Brigand bands, who cared for nothing but the suc-
cessful prosecution of their plundering enterprises,
term themselves Liberals, against Maximilian ; or
Imperialists, against Juarez. The Government,
carrying out the stringent law for the suppression
of highway robbery, lays itself open to the charge
of murdering its political opponents. Since the
fall of the empire, the disbandment of a large por-
tion of the army, and the close of the employment
it furnished, has greatly increased brigandage in
Mexico, and now it is almost impossible to travel
anywhere without being robbed, unless accompanied
by a strong escort. The only remedy for this state
of things is the utter poverty aud starvation that must
supervene on a total cessation of productive labour.
A man whose toil only brings the robber to his
abode will have no heart for work, and when there is
nothing left to steal the profession will not be worth
following. Had Mexico not been a wonderfully
rich country this stage would long since have been
reached. We fear that the only peace for Mexico
is in depopulation ; and the only regeneration will
be, when its great Northern neighbour—sick of its
crimes, and hopeless of its future—treads down be-
neath its heavy battalions all the political and com-
mercial corruption, the robbery and murder, the
cruelty and treachery that since the advent of the
Spaniards, have reigned supreme, and will continue
to curse the land till Uncle Sam decrees that they
shall exist no longer.

TIM ALABAMA CLAIMS.

The question of the Alabama claims has again
been prominently brought before the British public
by the Press. Lord HOBART wrote to the Times
strongly urging the Foreign-office to re-open the
subject, and to concede Mr. SEWARD'S demand that
the whole matter as contained in the correspondence
between the Governments should be submitted to
arbitration. Against this Ilistoricus protests. In
a long and able letter, he supports Lord STANLEY,
and shows from Mr. SEWARD'S own despatches in
the early part of May, 1861, that the position for the
assumption .of which that Minister blames Great
Britain in 1867, had, in truth, then been assumed by
himself and the Cabinet of which he was a member.
Mr. JOHN MORLEY on the same evening published
in the Pall-Mall Gazette a reply to Historieus, and
which was followed next day by another from Lord
HOBART, and most of the daily papers have discussed
the subject in leading articles. No doubt the question
thus ventilated will receive new light, and the public
will be made acquainted with its legal bearings, as
well as with its moral and political aspect. From the
day on which the Alabama escapedtoseiatlof
in a
the
presented itself
present moment the matter has
very simple guise to our mind. It matters little
what may have been Mr. SEWARD'S contradictions,
nor is the course of the then PRESIDENT and his
Cabinet of material impdmi•ptainnnicea,tiefurdtehsepratethheas.n
pegs on which to hang
The essence of the Alabama question lies in
the animus of which it was the most prominent
example, and the precedent which it has so in-
juriously established. Those who wish well to
England and to the United States desire to coun-
teract, the feeling and to remove the precedent.
The in which this can be done is, by a
frank only
waycknowledgment of error and reparation for
the damage. It is in vain for clever writers to pull
Mr. SEWARD'S despatches to pieces—to show that
what he wrote at one date, contradicts what he
wrote at another—for this does not touch the real
point at issue, and is therefore more or less beside
the mark. America, while engaged in a war that
threatened the existence of the Union, is indignant
that England, where she looked for sympathy, met
her with hostility, prematurely recognizing the bel-
ligerent rights of rebels, and allowing armed vessels
constructed in British ports to escape to sea to cruise
as privateers against her commerce, that of a friendly
nation. England freely tendered the rebels the
sympathy, the moral force and the material aid she
could bestow, without openly infringing her neu-
trality and joining in the war as a belligerent. Her
object was to split up a rival power, and to drive
from the seas a commerce then greater than her
own. It is thus the question is regarded in America ;
and we have only to suppose England placed in
similar circum stan ces,and the United States actingt he
same part, to understand the deep indignation Ameri-
cans feel. Imagine the late insurrection in Ireland
momentarily successful, and we may easily realise
the anger of Englishmen if the PRESIDENT hastened
to recognize the belligerents—to proclaim the neu-
trality of the United States—and to permit cruisers
built and armed by her, bearing the commis-
sion of a sham President of a sham Irish Re-
public, to proceed to sea against the commerce
of England. The more desperate the struggle the
greater would be British annoyance. We may
further imagine the commanders of these vessels
elevated into heroes for burning defenceless Eng-
lish merchant ships, and feted at Ameriiciganlanpdortsto;
statesmen predicting the establishment of an Irish
nationality hypocritically imploring E
cease a brutal as well as useless effusion of blood,
and to leave the stricken and oppressed island free ;
actions distorted, victories turned to defeats, atro-
cious measures taken by the rebels represented as
deeds of heroism, while retaliation was denounced as
black crimes,of barbarism, and these spread
England
as true accounts of the conflict. When t
—with her National Debt doubled, with her trade
swept from the seas, with Ireland ruined, and
mourning carried into every home of Great Britain
—had in this desolation maintained the Union, she
would very naturally turn with indignation to de-
mand some satisfaction from the nation at whose
hands she had suffered so much. Would it be any
answer to compare what Lord RUSSELL wrote at
one time and at another ? or what Lord STANLEY
said or did on different occasions? The indisput-
able facts would remain, and England would be jus-
tified intleclaring that the United States had esta-
blished a precedent which could be used fatally
against herself, when the inevitable day of her trial
arrived. Americans are willing to admit that it
was the smaller but more influential portion of

Great Britain that favoured their enemies, the
hearty sympathy of the mass of the English people
being with them. They allow that the hostile
portion was grossly ignorant of the United States,
and of the objects contended for ; that the
war itself let into the British mind a flood of light
on American affairs, which enabled the public more
justly, after the mischief was done, to appreciate
their folly. They are willing to say, " You knew
not what you did, and, though culpably wrong, we
are ready to forgive you, provided you make this
acknowledgment, and, as far as money reparation
to those who suffered can repair the damage, to ac-
cept that reparation." Hitherto England has ob-
jected on a point of honour, asserting at thesame time
that the nation was blameless. Where nations differ,
and the dispute is pressed to a settlement, they
must arbitrate or fight. It is admitted throughout
England that the friendship of the United States is
of more importance than that of all Europe com-
bined. It is admitted that the precedent of the
Alabama is the most fatal that could be established
against England herself. To secure the one and
wipe out the other rests with the British Govern-
ment, and it is a folly second only to that which has
brought the nation into the present trouble, to ne-
glect the opportunity. In private conversation all
intelligent Englishmen admit that they have made
a series of frightful mistakes—that they were alike
wrong in their support of the Southern rebellion
and in permitting such vessels as the Alabama to
proceed to sea, whatever may be their municipal
laws. Where individuals frankly acknowledge this,
why should the nation, composed of these indivi-
duals, refuse to do so ? E very dictate of policy and
expediency prompts to this course, and it is simply
another great blunder added to the many, if any
stupid punctilio be permitted to interfere.
America wants Peace. She has to repair the de-
vastating effects of a fearful contest, which requires
time and repose. England admits that a war be•
tween the kindred nations would be one of the greatest
calamities that could befal mankind. Then why
not repair, iu a spirit of generosity and candour,
her own grievous errors, and thus disarm her ene-
mies, and strengthen the great body of her well-
wishers throughout the United States. America has
reduced her army and navy to the lowest limit, and
even this fact adds to the reasons why the present
is the time for this settlement. Had the demand
been made with an overwhelming force threatening
Canada, there would have been grounds for Eng-
land's punctilio. It is not an armed man who
presses for satisfaction at the sword's point, but a
people who know, from facts too patent to be argued
away, that they have been injured—who ask to
'have the injuries of which they complain, submitted
to arbitration.—Auglo-American Times.

THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL GOSSIP.

Madlle. Schneider has returned to the Varietes.

The Waits is shortly to ba produced at the Standard.

Verdi's poet, Prase, is not dead, as was reported, but
convalescing. Tant mieux. More Trovatores and Tra
viatas.

Our readers will be glad to learn that Madame Arabella
Goddard is rec9vering from her indisposition.
Creve has reached one hundred nights at the Folies
Dramat iques.
The Paris papers give the news of Sivori's return to
Paris after his long ramblings through foreign parts.
A new comedy by M. Dumas ills is in preparation for
the Gymnase. It will be in four acts.

A new drama, entitled The Peep-show Man, by Mr. J. T.
Williams, will shortly be produced at the Surrey.
Madde. d'llautloup, an actress who has attracted some
attention by. her performances at the Luxembourg, has
been engaged for the Varietos.
Astley's Theatre has been taken by a French circus
company, which will shortly open. The pantomime will
be retained as a portion of the entertainment.
A new theatre will shortly be opened in Paris. It will
be .called Le Theatre Villebichot, after the notorious
author of the music to Rien n'est snore pour un sapeur.
The younger Coquelin, whose engagement at the Odeon
terminates in about four months, will then go to the
Comedie, whereat he and his brother will appear in
Amphytrion.

Le Bearnais of M. Radoux is to bo produced at the
Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels. Madame Sallard, of the
Lyrique, will play La Belle Gabrielle.
A new jeune premier, M. E. Abel, has made a guecessfa
debut at the Vaudeville as Armand Duval in La Dame aux
Camelias.

Les Tribulations d'un Temoin, a three-act piece of absur-
dity, by M. A. Decourcelles, is the latest novelty at the
Bouffes. It is followed by line Jolie Bete, a very clever
little vaudeville, in which Madame Dupont is excellent.
La Reine Margot, of MM. Alexandre Dumas and Auguste
Magnet, will follow Arrah-na-Pogue at the Gait& Du-
maine will play Coconas, Laferriere La Mole, Latouche
Caboche, Madame Duverg,er Margot.
Yorkshire is looking up in musical matters. It has been
determined to revive the Bradford Festivals, and a move-
ment is on foot to do the same for those formerly held in
the capital of the county.
Roger, the celebrated tenor, has received from the-Em-
peror of Austria the medal des Arts et des Sciences for his
artistic excellence, and in particular for his rendering. of
Haydn's Seasons.

M. Lafargue, the secretary of the Porte St. Martin
Theatre, has obtained a silver medal for bravery, in stop-
ping a runaway horse, which had placed the lives of
several people in imminent peril.
An attempt has been made to deny that the perfor-
mances of Hernani were interrupted in consequence of
Government interference. Diminishing receipts and the
illness of Madlle. Favart were, it is now said, sufficient to
account for its withdrawal. Credet Judieus Apella.
A one-act vaudeville of M. Lange, Uil Tempete dans va
A rrosoir, has been successfully produced at the Dejazet. Its
plot turns upon an old hinge. It represents the attempt
of a deserted wife to bring back her faithless husband by
exciting his jealousy.

Masqued dancers, singers, &c., are all the rage in Paris•
A masked singer has made her debut at the Dejazet. Re-
port says she is a lady of high rank. Her excessive ner-
vousness on her first appearance bears out such a supPe"
sitiun. She has a fine mezzo soprano voice, which those
who have once heard it are little likely to forget. It
might easily, therefore, lead to her identification.
M. Jules Beer, nephew to the late renowned composer
of the Huguenots (whose real names were Jacob Meyer
Beer) is about to produce an opera called Le Rol des Non"
tagne (libretto by the veteran St. Georges, the Fitzball of
France) at the Theatre Lyrique in Paris. Musical World.
We hear that arrangements have been made with Mr•
Charles Halle to undertake the chief direction of the musi-
cal performances at the forthcoming National Exhibition
of Art Works to be held in Leeds. His band will no doubt
give daily performances, and Mr. Halle himself will per-
sonally conduct special concerts.

[ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Pills.—English winters
are deleterious, inasmuch as sudden changes, frequent fogs,
and pervading dampness sorely impede the vital functions
and conduct to ill-health. The remedy for this disaster
lies in some purifying medicine like these pills, which is
competent to grapple with the mischief at its source, end
stamp it out without fretting the nerves or weakening the
system. Holloway's pills extract from the blood all noxi-
ous matters, regulate the action of every disordered organ.
stimulate tho liver and kidneys, and relax the bowels. 111
curing chest complaints these pills are remarkably effective.
especially when aided by friction of the ointment on its
walls ; this double treatment will insure a certain, steadjr,
and beneficent progress.

Births.
AMES—On the 28th inst., at Eaton-square, Mrs. Henry 31'
Ames, of a daughter.
GRANT—On the 27th inst., at 22, Eaton-squaro, Lady 3.ll°•°'
pberson Grant, of a son.
LEWIS —On the 27th inst., at 56, Westbourne-park-roadt
Bayswater, Mrs. Charles W. Lewis, of a son.
Marriages.
llAwEs—Tuompsos—On the 28th inst., at St. George%
Bloomsbury, Frank S. Hawes, third son of Wm. Havre!'
Esq., of 17, Montague-place, Russell-square, to Mar."
youngest daughter of the late Thomas Thompson, Esci"
of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
MACPHERSON —HARIUS—On the 19th ult., at Umbo.ll
Bengal Presidency, Major Duncan Macpherson,2
Roysl Highlanders (the Black Watch), to Emily
younger daughter of Major-General P. Barris, Bengal
Staff C irps.

Deaths.
GILLETT—On the 24th inst., at 1, Tavistock-place, Bed'
ford:square, Miss Ann Gillett, aged 72.
Ha§mos—On. the 28th inst., at Putney, Sophia Drucev
widow of the lute W. W. Hastings, Esq., aged 70.
LOVERIDGE—On the 27th ins'., at Clarendon Villa, South
Norwood, S. J. Loveridgo, Esq., of 163, Fleet-street.
aged 65.
ROBERTSON—On the 25th inst., at Edinburgh, .
James Macdonald Robertson, formerly of the 25th 'ter
ment of Foot. Chef
WILLIAMinst.,S - On the 28th at 6, Royal-croscent,
tenharn, George E. Williams, Esq., aged 61. r,
WALKER—On the 27th inst., at Bayswater, Job NY 38
aged 22.

------- --- -------rrwoS,
of No. 112,
London : Printed and Published by WILLIA.NI AND._t"' 02,
Strand, in the Precinct of the Se voy, in the Courl'
Strand, Printer, at TRH SUN (Mee, NO tg of
Iliddlesex.—Wednesday, January 29, 1868.