, 1865-07-19

4 Massachusetts Captain Visits Him
at st. Thomas, W. i.

f4f
When the French invaded Mexico, Santa
ArIa was extled for the last TING, aud hc has
chosen st. Thomas for his place OF retirement.
for what possible reason no one can imagtne.
It is not because Of It's climate, which Is hid !;
nor for Its luxuries and galeties, Of which
there are none; nor can It be from motives
Of economy for he Is rich, and Is not mig
sarlly; II is rot because he is among hls
trteuds, for he Is sometimes lisaed when he
appears In the STREETS.
Seldom, however, does he leave his own
grounds. It Is eail By the rirtuous gentle
men In toTn, whose means are not adequate
TO Wholesale Hcenttcusnets, that be has
harem, AID 1t struck me that their hatred Of
him vas partly made up Of envy. had a
curiosity to Ret the man, and accordingly
sent scIrant with note, saEing that the
captain Of the American steamer just arrived
Ius Excel1ency, and asking him At What hour
lie would be olstnsaEed. To this received
reply, couched In tluo Spanish courtesy Of
language. As Translated:
December u, 1854.
DEAR s,n.Iu ,,eplyto your polite not, o. to-
d.y. hsve the pfea.lre To say that, tecozniz!nr
yonr delicate attention, I thaii hxvs the ereassr
estsoE n ,seenx ,oa in this yoar) house At
Witbt at more pvt cu1anty. I subscribe myself,
a1sentvsly' ,onts iai,htn y, Q, IS s.M, NJ. D. .x
1accordiugly presented myself, aecompa.
nicd by one Of our pa*scngert, at the hour
appointed. and was received by his Secretary
III we'll furnished parlor of his modest but
large and commodlous. cne-story house. In
few moments the General came In, Halkipg
60 easily without the did Of a cane that It
which was his natural aud which hts afflicted
leg. Bis carriage was military ind erect, and
be bad tie appearance Of excellent health
aEd conditions He is rather oyer than under
slx feet In height, and does not 4toop at all.
he wore white rantaloous and dress coat
with bras5 buttons, Gotwiths' and
Ing the extreme heat, be Kept
this buttoned up nearly to bis throat, Ia
WAS neatly shayen. and, ev1dently, Just from
his toilet, where the rejavcnating comp3und
Of Batchelder had hlackcned hts hair. His
complexion is rather dark, his eye piercing,
bnt net stern. When In conversation bis fea-
lures were anima I'd, and eTen handsome.
There was nothing In hts phy6loguomy to In
dicate t5rnnt, brute Or tensual!at. He ex-
tended bis hand with great csrdlausy, and by
his aifable manner caused us to feel 20 much
sation. This took an extensive range, COM
mtnclng with affairs at home, which were In
t1oduced bI my handing him some papers
with the last news Of the war. I must n:-
cuse hin Of q little dislngenuousness, for he
declined to converse IN EDg1!sh, from al
thus forced me into Spanish, which spoke
very Imperiectly indeed; but he was kind
enough to utter hts To5dsslowly and distinct
ly, 60 that We might understand all that he
said. PeEhaps 1t was as well, for 1t forced
the burden Of the talk upon him, where he
said, ''tut, from my little wafch.tower Of St.
Thomas, l look all around" Then sweeping
the horizon with his arm, and pointing to the
Northwest. he continued:
~ see thegpeople Of your great Republic
They were once my enemies. Now ls the
time that ! Wish that instead Of fighting
anons Themselves, they and wo were United
to drive European despotism SWAY from
America" And his c1enched fist came down
upon the table, 80 That the whole room rat
tied. Els feelings were clearly with the
North, and be believed that the North would
be finally victorious, bnt that the uaioa
cation under military despotism, "OEer
there In Europe" he continued, as he point
ed to the Northeast, II zee them disputine
and fighting . little. That does not concern
u Us: Ihey h 1lsht aeon: thetr eternal balance
the bIg dc..s and little dogs fght. Down
there IN South America spanlards aud Peru
VANS ere quarrelIng. 1t will not amount to
much. It will soon be settled" And then
he returned to Mexico, discoursins with
mingled sadness and humorous irony upon
l0G GouA4t4ou uA HAANh sutfe. He lOQkEQ
upon the Austro-French empire as very
temporary affair.
): He described his election most amusiugly.
Those French are Eery polite people," said
he; "Very polite, indeed. We talk, you
know, Of every thing, q su disposieion' to our
friends, but ne don't mean that, literally.
They do. That Bazaine told me that steam
voyage would conduce to my health, and be
turnlshed me with steamer. He told me to
60 owhere pleased, but not to come back to
Mexico. That vas the only condition the
pleasant fellow made. "Look here" he
added, his voice, face, manner, everything
changing him to mother man, !" Perhaps I
nay yet haTe the opportunity Of rccprocat
Perhaps he xin reeiproeate. Revolutions
are no new things IN Mexico. "Another
chapter has yet TO be written.n Santa Annn
is not yet too old for the battle Of life. His
si1ty.11e years sit Lightly upon him, and
with his wooden leg he may yet dance ovsr
The graves Of his enemy. I have nothing 10
say Of tie character Of Santa Anna. Tne.e
are better and worse men than be, undoubt-
cdly; but he Is q pleasant gentleman, and
l thank him for bis kind reception and for
two hours Of his agreeable Conversation,
although felt little yexed when heard
afterwards that he understood English
pretty Eell.