The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-11-17

gallons annually. 1t is used for lights, caulking
vessels, and preserving wood FROM insects.
The climate especially in the hill country, is con.
sidered healthy. II has 240 miles of seacoast.
The whole empire 10 rich in vegetable productions.
Botsnists have found l6 900 species of new plants
growing there. Among the most valuable is the
teakwood Bsmboos were found twenty -four inches
in circumference. and species of bean, with rich
scarlet flowers, and twenty feet high The animals,
wild and domestic are similar to those in the nd
Joining provinces of British India The houses are
built most commonly of bamboo, and thatched.
Their boats are canoes, or dug OUTS" made from
large trunks Of teakwood. Their means of defence
consist in the of rusty muskets. sold to them by
the English, with war boats, armed at the proWs
with Elk or nine FOUNDER in each They will yield
like reeds to the blast before the superopower Of the
English. They possess 900 slaves, taken from the
Samese, ], 900 from Anam, and 5000 from China.
They short and Stout with olive colored skins,
and coarse black hair; and, like other tropical
Asatics, slothful, until excited. Although devo-
tional in their religious duties, they said to be
much addicted to Icing and cheating. Their religion,
as everybody knows, Is idolatrous Buddhism They
have a corrupt and barbarous judicature, founded
upon the " Institutes of Menu" which were, we
believe, translated by Sir VIM jones' and which are
of great purity and antiquity.
The food of the peasants consists of rice, fish,
with fruits and vegetables Of various kinds. Aui-
NAL food is prohibited by Buddhism. Their
manufactures are rude, and the servile labor
chiefly performed by females. Their import and
export trade amounts to about $4,000 600 per
annum. They some years ago exported foar.
teen million pounds cotton, valued at $l,000,-
GOO. Their chief trade is in silks, cotton, and
teak wood Their chief internal trade is with
China. Their trade by sea Ii mostly with the
English. Their government is perfect despotism.
The King is assisted by y sort of council Of state,
consisting of four ministers. The tenth of all pre-
ducs ia claimed as tax. Imports at Rangosn
pay l2a per cent, and exports five per cent. The
Chinese pay 5000 rupees year for the privilege of
working certain mines. The King also claims
wrecks and the effects of strangers dying in the
country Education is low, though they possess some
knowledge Of astronomy, and nearly all Burmese
can, in their own way, read and write.
The grounds upon which the British government
in India have predicated this war, are very similar
to those on which their other Indian wars have been
commenced.
In this case they have not complained that the
Burmese have invaded friendly territory, but that
English subjects have been badly treated by the
King and people Of Burmah; that English traders
and merchants wcro insulted, despoiled, and i'm
prisored, without sufficient cause and were denied
redress; and that when Englishmen visited Burmah
in official capacity, they nsuted and driven
out-hencs war, invasion, and annexation became
-" inevitable,' with the acquisition of gold and
silver mines, and teakwood forests included,
Perfectly right! We will never take half as
much from Cuba or Mexico before we shall proceed
on similar campaign Of civilization and annoxa.
tion. There is nothing like steam, gunpowder, and
types in modern civilization.
The order Of the day is annexation, and if
England the great Mogul ofannexationists, calls
black we will call her backer than the darkest wall
Of Egypt, filed with water from the river Of Styx.
We are strong believers in annexation. The French
are trying their hand in Algeria; the Russians in
Circassia and Tartary; the English in India by
Wholesale; and the United States, although hereto
fore quite modest, intend Of these days. to 60
ahead on this continent, the opinion of the rest of
the world, and of England in particular, to the
trary notwithstanding.
MEXICAN INJUSTICE TO AMERICAN MERCHANTS
We publish to-day much interesting matter in re-
lation TO the present condition of the neighboring
republic of Mexico, which confirms everything we
have recently said in respect to its disorganized
condition, and to the impending disruption which
threatens its political and social existence But
one subject in this mass OF information deserves
especial notice, from its SO deeply affecting tho
rights and property of such Of citizens as may
have any commercial relations with that miserable
country.
1t appears that an American Citizen named
Speyers imported, in October, 1851, large quantity
of merchandise into the port of Matamoras, on
which he discharged all the custom house fees and
duties, under the existing tariff. On sending them
into the interior, however, they seized by the
Mexican authorities, in Monterey, under the pretsxt
of their being contraband and subsequently they
were declared coniscated, notwithstanding that tho
owner was furnished with all the necessary papers
and documents from the custom house in Mata-
moras. portion of these goods were afterwards
restored to Mr.. Speyers, but the remainder, con.
sstisg of more than fifteen hundred bales, have
been since detained and are still in the hands of
the authorities
Mr. spcysrs lodged formal protest against this IN.
just and illegal detention of his property, and applied
for redress and protection to the United States ega
III reply that it was almost impossible to prevail on
the Mexican government to take any measure tor
the distressed condition Of the mercan
tile interests-that the subject Of admitting those
prohibited goods was still under adyisement, and
that importers must either adopt the terms proposed
by the government or re.export their merchandise,
an alternative which be considered mere mockery
Of justice. subsequent communication, received
by Mr.. Speyers FROM tn secretary Of the legation,
attempts to console him for his losses by stating
that the Mexican government was in q nest
wretched state, having neither money nor credit,
and that the country was in state of convulsion.
Thus the matter remains, the wronged merchant
being unable to obtain the restoration Of his pro
rcrty, much ets any remuneration for the injury SO
Illegally inflicted upon his business.
The reason which the Mexican authorities assign
for conscating this propertv is that IL Ia contra