The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1866-05-05
FROM MEXICO.

letter From Gen. Early.
We clip the following important let
ter from .he columns Of the New York
News:
HAVANA, April 1G, 1866.-SIR: |
have just returned from Mexico, after
u sOjourn Of three months in that
country. Having received from Nir-
ginia several letters Of inquiry in regard
to the prospects for amigrants to Mex
leo, and having learned that many per-
sons desired to cmigrate, | will state,
through your columns, the result ofmy
own observation and the information
received from others on whose judg
mcnt | could rely. must state, in the
first place, that my personal observa'
ton Of the country was confined 10
what | saw in passing and repassing
over the stage route from Vera Cruz
to the city Of Mexico; the greater part
Of my time having been spent in the
latter city. The lands in the Cordoya
district and about OrZaba, through
which the stage route passes, are I'M
questionably rich, and intelligent gen
tlemcn, who had seen other parts Of
the country, informed Inc that there
were other districts in which the lands
were very productive BY the proper use
Of capital and labor But colonists
will have many difficulties to encounter
in all Of them. There has been no sys-
tematic effort to survey or ascertain the
locality of the public lands, until that
recently made under the superintcnd-
ence of Gen. Magruder, Chief Of the
Land Office. All the lands at Cordova
which have been surveyed as public
lands have supplied but small number
of colonists.
Land titles in Mexico are in very
unsettled condition, and but few men
know the boundaries OF their own
lands. SO uninformed is the govern
ment itself in regard to the lands to
which it has claims that, in making a
contract with Gen. Hardeman, Of Tex
as, for the survey of the public lands in
Durango, the whole risk and expense Of
discovering those lands have been
thrown on him, and he is to receive
compensation only in the event Of his
being able to find and survey the lands,
the Government not even undertaking
to furnish him protection against guer-
rillas and robbers, while he is engaged
in fulfilling his contract. The lands
offered by private individuals in alter,
nate sections to colOnists, so far as
am informed, are in remote districts,
where the Liberals, or Dissidcnts, as
they are called, have control, and the
Government can afford no protection.
The very highly colored accounts Of
the country and its resources which
have been published, and the expecta-
tons of large influx of emigrants
which have been excited, have caused
proprietors having lands for sale to III
crease enormously the prices asked for
them, and many persons who have re-
Gently arrived in the country have been
unable to procure lands, either from the
Government or from private individ-
uals. The legitimate consequence of
all this has been, that many are return
ing in a great state Of dissatisfaction,
while others, who relied on the delusive
promises of aid from the Government,
find themselves not only without the
means of obtaining lands, but Of re-
turning to their former homes. 1t is
exceedingly difficult for those who have
succeeded in getting lands to procure
labor to put them in state of cultiva-
ton, as the native population cannot
be relied on for that purpose. All idea
of procuring assistance from the Gov
ernment must be abandoned by those
who desire to emigrate to the country.
have no doubt that Mexico has re-
sources which, under stable govern
ment and with capital and labor sulli-
cient, are susceptible of a very consid-
erablc development; but those who go
there expecting to find the beautiful and
fruitful land which is described in some
of the published accounts, will be
doomed. to as sad disappointment as
that experienced by the old Spanish
conGuerer5 in their search for the IA
bled Eldorado. On the railroad, which
is being constructed from Vera Cruz
to the City of Mexico, practical and ex-
perienced engineers, contractors and
mechanics, may find employment, but