Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-27
MEXICO: q / &,

'Aaa N 9aMEXICO..4
SzEG Al G&G5lEF0 or
ThessStaseu OF Affai 70 in the Capital
marque8 ConRines Two Americans
in a DunG6o62lrheD nj plona tic Corps
SrsSuspend tselAsious with lhe Empire
sN-Juare8 the cause Of Diaz,s Delay
SNnIarquez ana the Diplomatic Corps
H--The American Consul the Sole Dis.
.SpenseF OF sProtecsien 90 Foreigners
Especial correspondence Of the New York Herald
NE,sis1 lHirsvGITY OF Mexico, May 5, 1867,
For nineteen days General Porfirio Diaz
has had his army around this city, gradu-
ally tightening the girdle, until the COM
apression begins to produce stiffocation.I On
Wednesday last he reviewed eighteen thou
sand infantry and near six thousand cav
salFys employed on the outer circumference
Aofhis camp. With this force Mexico could
:be,taken in an hour; but in obedience to
president Juarezsi Instructions he {Diazy
does net operate to take the city so much as
the people in 1t, and eliminate by the cap
turee Of certain individuals the leaders OF
future revolution. The design is worthy OF
all praise, though the process is frightfully
telling upon the insiders. - Cessation OF
all outside CONTAMINATION contributions
and forced loans almost hourly falling
upon the population, and far more destruc-
tive than the balls or bombs of the enemy,
are expressions that only raise the curtain
upon the sad picture of the city of Mexico.
The imperial authorities spare no resort,
respect neither age nor sex in their des-
perate measures to sustain, themselves; the
bonds that keep men together lin society
are, rudely broken, and every principle OF
right and Justice violated, by those who
proclaim that they, defend the cause of or
der and property against the goddess party
of demagogues.0 Having exhausted the
antiQuated system of taxation, contribu1
tions and forced loans, the novelty OF a cir
Tcular notifying every man according to his
faneied ability to pay was addressed to cap
italists and merchants. A gentle admoni-
-tion concluded this document to the effect
sthat military pressure would be brought to
bear on those who were backward in pay
ing at the treasuary the daily quotas as
ssigned them. 'isHI asaa-. ;! ''5nlI sssy8 !
~ General Vidaurri, Minister of Finance,
proved inexorable to all remonstrance, and
representations of the cruelty OF this last
device, which at q blow shut up nearly
every establishment, wholesale and retail,
in Mexico. Exasperated at this defiance
of authority and spirit of conspiracy-as
they were pleased to call an act of self
pEeservation-the ministry gave orders to
the Mayor to inquire into the motive OF
closed doors and barred windows through
out the metropolis Ddring this investjga-
tion his Excellency of the Finances de-
-clined any longer to keep a portfolio whose
rdecrees exposed him to the odium and exc
Grafton of both parties; and, TO be Just,
General Vidsurrt has only yielded to the
superior authority of the Lieutenant GEN
ceral, Marquee, wnen he gave orders to put
into execution this last annihilatiDg meas
,.nre., For days the highest tunctionaries OF
1.-The empire were at almost open war. Mar
iquez himself assumed the management OF
the ways and means, while Vidaurri kept
his quarters Theoretically sealed. against all
svisitors. The collection prescribed by the
circular continued, recuSantS were impris-
oned or suddenly disappeared on timely mo-
.tice of a call from the military, the streets
were solitary and an indication of some
fearful disaster appeared on the faces OF
those who burst be caught abroad. sr
During these outrages on the moneyed
classes pressgangs piled their work of seiz-
ing the poorer people and hurrying them
off to the barracks to be put through the
military machine fol, soldier making; in
less than month upwards of 10000 bipeCls
have been levied after this fashion. The
most Indispensable articles of daily con-
sumption are already beyond the reach, at
the present enormous prices, of the labor
ing classes the aqueducts are empty, and
the fountains supplied through them from
oChapultepec and Santa Fe are as dry as
the desert. Still, q population of over 200, :
900 souls, crushed under the weight of un-
just and unusual imports. beset by hunger,
idle, yet without hope for tomorrow,
neither know howSto turn upon their OPP
.pressors, nor have vitality sufficient to look
for remedy against the evils of which they
must perish-so deeply are the habits and
ideas of the old Spanish despotism inter
woven with the Mexican character, that
the last morsel of bread might, under the
guise of authority, be snatched from their
Vstarving families without show of resist
;anee. The Oldest foreign residents, who
ed with Mexican nature, but had never
seen it exposed to so severe a test as the
present, resign their opinions in despair at
.ithe marvellous talent for sufferance and re-
lsignation developed byrecentfacts through
ont this exceptional race. Such endurance
astonishes the more that it is well known
the soldiers and officers of less rank are
but insufficiently paid, though $4,000 are
levied every day-and that something more
than 100000 have been shown for over a
million collected in the period of six weeks.
To all this some inquisitive mind of Mexi-
can energetically inquiries what has been
done with IL? What are we coming to
Here the public spirit working in him with
lofty CONSCIOUSNESS of having performed
duty subsidies into rest and submits calm
ly on the reflection that such are the customs
of the country of which, who knows, each
mans turn may come to take the benefit.
! Here and there has been evipced some
SHOW VI uuulhu dppTcCldllOu vi tlic SdlllDS
tyranny which fUrgets the privations and
moral sufferings of a large city closely be-
sieged. A lady drew and discharged a re-
fvolver at the soldiers who by force at
tempted to open the doors of her house to
extract the daily quota imposed on her
property for the support of a cause she Bit
terly hates. Young, wealthy aud pretty,
the heroine was coEaucted to prison under
"a strong guard, and there expects the pen
salties of having a stronger sense of per-
sonal right than her countrymen at large.
Donnieanor yBeistegui, brother-in-law of
his Excellency the Minister from France,
is confined in the prison of Santiago; a
loan of 100000 was exacted of him as one
of the chief proprietors OF the rich mines
of Real del Monte. Mr.. Beistegufs con-
nection has been of no avail, for the oppor-
tunity to wound and affront the represen-
tative of France is too precious to be idly
thrown away. If he pays, the poor gem
tleman only invites further outrage; he
therefore suffers Imprisonment, and hopes
that Porfirio Diaz will soon take the city
and put him at liberty. In this power of
passive endurance dwells the strength of
the Mexican; with this they drove the
French to madness, and would have driven
their army out of the country. With this
the United States will have to contend if
ever they be so unwise as to med6le direct
Iy in the internal economy OF Mexico. The
quality of resistance which is the Mexican
llfe-persevere-is neither the stolidity of
the ass nor the surly, silent obstinacy of
our African fellow citizens of the South
is a new characteristic evolved by the mix
-ture of the Indian, Spanish and negro
breeds, which has its uses, and merits the
dissection of some Psychologist.
Foreigners have been the mark against
which all this masked battery of spOliation
has been aimed; the bitterest jealousy and
silenthate is ranking in the Mexican heart
toward all strangers, and Americans are