The New York herald., 1868-03-22
TIE PRESENT CONDITION OF MEXICO AND
WHAT SHE REQyiREs.

During the last eight years and until recently the
American mind has been diverted from Mexican
affairs; but an attentive observer OF passing events
cannot have failed to note the advancing steps which
Mexico has taken towards the mpregnabe fortress
OF civilization and free government Every nation
has Its horoscope and the events OF the world their
necessary law. There IL no country and no people
on the face Of the globe wherein there are SO many
devations from the common analoges Of nations as
in Mexico and among the Mexicans. To outward
appearances she is a juxtapostion OF loosely con-
nected provinces, politically and professionally i'm
potent In contact with the stirring and ener-
getic elements Of the United States; but to compre
hend these anomalies IL is necessary to consider that
the whole social superstructure OF Mexico is due
to the peculiar geographical surroundings OF her
people.
In Mexico there is q remarkable triunty OF cir
cumstances not only In her SOIL climate and produc-
tons but, corresponding with the natural
divisions Of tho topography, her inhabitants
are distributed over the country as whites,
mestizoes and Indians Yet while these
distinctive separations prevail there Ia no collision
OF the social elements, no war OF races and no
ancient antipathes indulged. On the other hand
there Is blending Of Gastes and enduring current
Of fraternal sympathy, upon which the extremes Of
together
Unlike us, Mexico has no permanent literature
which serves as an exponent of her interior life;
neither has she a widely dinused body Of contem-
pOraneOus hstorians-the press to create exchanges
OF thought and record the ordeal through which she
is unconsciousy passing. She has no other students
Of history than the rustic custodians Of tradition,
who far from becoming lovers of country, are mere
ly lovers Of locality Hence 1t is that the Mexican
never emigrates, and he is instinctively the enemy
Of colonization. But apart from these obstacles to
her advancement We must not fall to notice the
physical difficulties which her topography presents
to the science OF engineering, or how much the
deficiency OF navigabe rivers in Mexico has con-
tributed to retard her civilization and progress
Unthinking people are apt to attempt to establish
parallel between the colonial antecedents Of the
United States and those Of Mexico. But there
concident circumstances in their history, neither
during the struggle for separate nationality at
any subsequent period. The grievances contained In
the American Declaration OF independence sink into
utter insignifcance before the recital of Spanish
crueties In Mexico, and bear no comparison to the
heart-breaking appeals for mercy that ascended to
the throne OF Spain. The American colonies fought
for liberty and the principles OF free governmenthe
MeXcans aimed alone at the annihilation OF their OPP
pressors without thought OF changing their nstitu-
tons. In fact the only parallel that can lie drawn In
the two struggles Is found in the analogy between
the poisoned inheritance of negro slavery in one and
the blighting incumbrance Of the Church in the
other-twn evils that have produced their bitter and
bloody fruits In both countries and left behind the
vexing enigma of national republican existence still
unsolved. If we can answer the question aflirma-
lively for ourselves, Mexico which has been stimu-
lated so long by example, cannot fall to 'pluck
out 10 hear n he mvaprys n
cal events which have been developed since
the overthrow of slavery here shroud the future OF
the United States with such veil OF Lybian dark
ness that are brought to the verge Of the fulfil
ment OF the prophecy of one OF our own historians,
who speaking Of the constitution, says" 1t may
become powerless. Ignorance may misnterpret 1t;
ambition may assail and faction destroy its vital
parts; and aspiring knavery may at last sing its re-
QUEEN on the tomb of departed liberty" In the
minds OF dispassionae here the parallel and the
example cease. Mexico must therefore look in
wardly and discover for herself the means Of pre-
serving her nationarlife. But the question arises
what elements of vitality does she possesss Political
economists have suggested emigration as the sover
eign paIacea for Mexico without taking into account
the difficulties which intervene. Wo who have
profted so largely by the Introduction of an alien
population have had for than three quarters OF
a century an unfailing human reservoir In Europe,
whence a copIous tide Of the most vital social ele-
ments has flowed to our shores-pe0ple who were
our kindred, whose customs, laws language and
traditions were identical with our own, and who, by
living within the same isothermal lines needed no
protracted residence among us to nure them to our
climate. But there exists nowhere for Mexico such
a fountain OF regeneration IL cannot spring from
the Latin race who have ceased to be migrating
people; nor can the Saxon Celtic enigrant, az he
In the torrid zone. The laws and institutions OF
Mexico are based upon the old Roman law, or the
Codigo Justatdao, with many saluiary interpretations
from the Aztecan system, which tradition has pre-
served. They are therefore, essentially anTeutonic
There is no trial by jury, writ OF habeds corpus.
III word there aifnties between the races
Of Northern and Central Europe and the Mexicans,
either In governmental institutions judicial practice
commercial usage, social customs, SOIL climate, pro-
ductions language. In the United States the emi
grant has nothing to acquire; In Mexico, he has
everything learn. Besides all this the most casual
reader OF Mexican history knows that there Is not
one OF the men who initiated or maintained her
struggle for independence but what has been made
to realize THAT the laures which he grew upon
sterile soil that produced other fruit. That there
Ia no gratitude for services, indemnity for sacr
ce no appreciation OF merit, reward for political
Integrity, anu no crown
national vice OF Mexico In this view OF the case
the remedy Is not to come from wholesale aggrega-
tion OF her people.
Another class OF political theorists have insisted
that the redeeming hope for Mexico ensuc from
the overthrow OF the Catholic religion. But they
fail to show how its deeply rooted nculcatons are
be eradicated, and to remember that the sole re-
freshng circumstance In the torn and faded history
OF the conquest OF her indigenous people IL their
conversion to Christianity and their redemption from
the appalling rites Of human sacrifice. Protestant.
ism can never ind by any Of Its accepted means
OF propagation paramount footing upon the soil
OF Mexico. The people may indeed struggle among
themselves to secuarizc the clergy and to curtai
the temporalitcs OF the Church, but they will
never permit It's doctrines and teachings to be
efraced. In accepting the claw OF secularization'
Mexico passed the rubicon Of her destiny, and al
though difficulties may from time to time impede
the completion OF her temple Of political liberty
and beset her advancing steps to the threshold