The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1845-01-16

Upon the whole the evening spent in manner APP
parentv agreeable TO ALL and Friday next DR. Strong
proposes to repeat his experiments.
written fer the New York Hsrala.l
Notes taken I'm Mexico, by Saint Paul,
r -(Sor APosTLx) .4
The most prominent individual in Mexico un-
doubleday is "Santa Anna" The life OF this per-
son consists of excuses in every degree, both IN
his military capacity, and in his civil He is the
man who placed old Buslamente In the Presiden-
,ial Chair, and Immediately afterwards created
feeling against him, and succeeded, after some
sharp fighting, in displacing that honest old man,
and took possession of the chair, which he has re-
tanned until this day. From the time Santa Anna
was declared President until now, he has been the
most prominent character in Mexico; assuming
dctatora power, and pushing his tools forward to
screen his denominations; by reason of which, he
secures to himself tolerabe appearance to persons
abroad. No one ever governed Mexico before
who has given greater dissatisfaction TO the
foreign and native merchants. His dealings with
them may seem curious, but here they are -
A friend Of mine built large cotton mandatory
near to the city of Mexico. He and some others,
and his ministers, by large brlbes, TO prohibit GER
tain descriptions OF cotton goods coming into the
country, by which they anticipated making large
sums OF money but no sooner were the manufac-
Santa Anna and his ministers were continually
sending drafts for large and small amounts on those
parties, which they were obliged to accept and
oay-if not, or II they demnrred, very slgnif1cant
hints were gwen that their special privileges would
be abolished this had the desired effect. and the
money was accordingly paid OF these and similar
abuses my friend continually complained, and about
monthly experienced. Two commercial houses in
Mexico entered into an arrangement with the late
Government to import cotton wool, for which pr.
vege they paid four hundred thousand dollars, the
time being limited to one year In this speculation
the parties succeeded and IN that short time real
lied an immense amount, by selling cotton which
cost in the N Orleans market eight cts. per ID for
,hlrty-six cents per h. in Mexico. At this present
bat understand he loses by it, which, presume,
is owing to the money which Santa Anna and his
friends exact
Another house in Mexico has the privilege of
importing cotton thread. Tor which they paid two
hundred thousand dollars, and they nave made
much by the operation.
The manner in which these arrangements are
made, is as tollows:-A merchant has cargo of
goods to arrive in few weeks, which will pay q
very large amount of duties TO the government;
the moment he receives advice of the vessels sail.
ing, he goes to the palace and sees Mr.. Trequenos,
Formerly Minister OF Finance) and the following
swell, Mr. Trequenos, I have called to see if
you are In want OF any money: ! have the ship
on her ,ss way Sayi hither, and s yep Nj Ike will
will Calculate the amount this vessels cargo will
have to pay to the custom house, and at once he
says" You must give US - dollars, aud we
will grant you orders on the Vera Cruz Custom
nance and Mr.. President Santa Anna are satisfied
with what thsy receive, and the merchant consid-
srs himself fortunate. However, this kind Of
business is not done without rick, which consists
in the government every now and then stopping
payment OF such custom house drafts when this
takes place, the merchant may whistle for hismoney;
and at this moment every house in Mexico has more
- - 1~c{s~ ~~.k. II
purchased these papers at discount Of sixty.three.
or two-thrds, discount, and they were received at
the Custom house for the value they represented
at what rate the government issued them, can
not say; although it must have been nearly seventy
per cent below par. i may here state that in the
city Of Mexico, there are Government brokers,
through whom the merchants generally make
these arrangements, and who borrow for the GO
viduals are very rich. You will perceive from
What little / have written, how me country hssbe-
come Impoverished; for. not only does, or did,
Santa Anna ompronise for the enormous duties,
payable ON goods imported into Mexico, but the
money he received seldom found its way
into the Treasury consequently, all def
s,snees ,h Were made hw up BY loans which
thirty, and with heavy rate Of interest. Now,
IN this way has Santa Anna governed the country,
until no one will lend them iarthlng, 30 tn y have
recourse 10 most outrageous means in obtaining
money--one day demanding contribution from
the people, another day contributions from the
Church, contributions from manuia cturers, and to
make up the amount they cell national property
hunted up and some use made of
u,-and nothing has been left undone to mpover.
lsh and ruin the country; and what would have
been the end ct this, can hardly say, 4 the peo-
pie had not given vent to their pent up ieel-
ings. and put this tyrant and his wicked min.
listers down. Even now, there will be great
difhculty IN obtaining necessary supply. of
70 carry Try on ne.a
which cannot be thought Of this year
They will have to borrow again from those who
are foolish enough to lend The four millions Of
appeared some time ago. You will remember.
some months since, Santa Anna applied TO Con.
gress for $l0,00O,00O, to enable him to invade
Texas with fifty thousand men. This demand
gress voting four million OF dollars, and aot ten.
These four millions were to be raised by contri-
button from natives and foreigners throughout the
power to enforce it, was sold to some parties for
two millions OF dollars in cash /; 60 the cash has
been received and squandered, and the Texans
may rest in peace; The manner in which this
readers. At Vera Cruz, the Collector mere
ly notified 10 all the INGREDIENTS, that they were
to cali at the Custom house, and pay their
contribution, without stating. the amount they
were to bring, or giving any information about the
terms OF payment. In the case OF the parties not
appearing as ordered, the collector visited them
al their comedies, and on their refusing payment
and denying their liability, he left their house to
return IN few moments with some soldiers, and
then either re ceved the money or he seIzed the
goods in sufficient quantity pay the amount said
to be due What is very extraordinary about this,
IS the fact OF this tax being only partially Levied as
| know several houses who had not paid their
proportions when the Eugenia'" sailed (I2th
December, 1874 They could not account for this
kindness, although they imagined that the Cow
eminent found they were going. too far in seizing
trbutons on them, against which ell the
foreign ministers had very strongly protested
The natives are SO accustomed to these sudden ex-
actions, that until very lately they have given them
come too frequently, the people have pronounced
against their Pre- sident and Ministers. and now they
have the RENE dy in their own hands, and if they
fail to make proper use OF it, themselves alone
will be to blame. Great abuse has been made in
government contracts; when come to write psrti-
cularly on Mr.. Trequenos, they will be explained.