hands, and, kneeling upon the carcases of their slain foes, implored, in humble formula, forgiveness for themselves and for their enemies. "Over valley and plain the shades of evening had spread themselves; in the barrancas it was already night; but the mountains of the Sierra Madre still glowed in flame color, the majestic, snow-covered peaks blazing, like mighty beacons, in unspeakable glory and splendor. Suddenly flocks of vultures and eagles arose and drew near, their hoarse cries mingling with the groans of the dying and sobs of the wounded, and completing the horrible sublimity of the scene. The last note of the bells tolled out: the Indians arose, gazed at each other for a moment in lowering silence, and then, without a word, threw themselves upon the remaining Spaniards with a rage and rapidity that seemed scarcely human. In a few seconds not one of the dragoons drew the breath of life. To a man they had been strangled and stabbed by their vindictive and pitiless foes." mountains, forests and barrancas, than we had obtained from all the works we had previously read on the subject. But of this more hereafter. We pause to make a final extract of a scene upon the Paseo Nuevo, or public promenade of the city of Mexico. The Paseo, a double alley of poplars, extending from the south-western extremity of the capital to the bridge over the Chalco canal, a distance of a couple of miles, is crowded with the carriages of the Creole ladies, with pedestrians and horsemen. A group of the latter, consisting of Spanish officers, have halted by the side of the road, and are indulging in loud and insolent comments on the appearance of the ladies. black-bearded crew, a fiery little ensign, as he "Carajo! suddenly exclaimed one of the gave his horse the spur, and galloped after a coach containing two ladies, one of whom, judging from the graceful outline of her elegantly dressed form, possessed no ordinary attractions. The young officer's sudden movement drew the attention of his comrades and of the public, and both began, although after a different fashion, to make their remarks upon "Demonio!' cried the officers. it. low, deep tones. "Adelante, Lopez!' cried several officers. "Viva el conquistador!' shouted others, encouragingly. "By my soul, bold as a Navarrese exclaimed one. "Say, rather, saucy as an Andalusian,' rethe honor to be a born Andalusian.' plied another, 'for Don Lopez Matanza has "From the country which the archangel Gabriel himself visited,' laughed a third. Even from such brief scraps as these may be gathered evidence of great power, both picturesque and dramatic. We do not propose to go into further details of the plot of the Viceroy,' which can hardly be said to be brought to a wind-up, excepting as regards certain political manœuvres of Count St. Jago, crowned with complete success. But the common forms of romance-writing, the obligato deaths and marriages at the close of a third volume, may well be dispensed with in this instance. We have here far better than the ordinary routine of story-telling-a living and moving panorama of Mexico passes before our eyes as we turn these pages. The luxury and lavish magnificence of the Spanish rulers, their gilt abodes, and pride of birth, "This witty conversation was suddenly inand inexpressible contempt and loathing for terrupted by a loud scream of indignation and the colored races, or gente irrazionale, as terror proceeding from the carriage in which they called them, the fawning subserviency galloped up with all the external gallantry of the two ladies sat, and to which the ensign had of some of the Creoles, the brooding impa- a Spaniard, and the insolence of a privileged tience of their yoke which others felt, but profligate. For one moment a stillness like rarely dared to show; the stubborn, dogged that of death reigned in the Paseo, whilst thouhalf-breeds; the Indians, gentle and sub-sands of heads were turned, and thousands of missive, till spurred by inhuman cruelties to an outbreak of desperate ferocity; the Leperos, lazzaroni of the New World, halfnaked, and for the most part imbecile, sunk in squalor, filth, and misery; such are a portion of the figures whom Mr. Sealsfield displays upon his well-filled and vivid canvass. Nor is he less successful in his delineation of inanimate nature. From the 'Viceroy,' and from his other Mexican book, South and North,' we have gathered a clearer notion of the scenery and configuration of the country, its lakes and VOL. IX. No. I. 4 necks stretched out, in the direction whence the cry came, and then, as the cause gradually became known, the carriages all stopped, and hundreds round the coach whose occupant had riders and walkers galloped and pressed in been outraged. In an instant the presumptuous officer was surrounded by an innumerable throng, forming a compact mass round him and the carriage. At the same time a murmur arose which at first had a character of timidity, but soon became louder and more threatthe audacious insulter of Mexican womanhood, ening. As yet no hand had been lifted against when suddenly the terrible words 'Down with the tyrants!' echoed through the crowd. A hundred hands were raised, and the unfortu- | nate ensign disappeared from off his horse. The other officers, who had come up in all haste, in vain endeavored with drawn swords to force their way to their comrade. "Señoria, for the mother of God's sake!' exclaimed an old Spanish hidalgo to a colonel, who stood a little apart, absorbed in the contemplation of a brilliant phaëton, which now rapidly ascended the Paseo, and apparently unmindful of what had passed-Señoria! screamed the hidalgo, 'only think what insolence! one of your officers, the very honorable Ensign Don Lopez Matanza, of the regiment of Saragossa, as I believe, condescended to favor the Señorita Zuniga with his attentions, and to offer her a salutation which any countess in Mexico should feel honored to receive, and the shameless girl-' "By my soul, Don Abasalo Agostino Pinto, you are a fool!' replied the colonel, spurring his horse, and dashing into the thick of the crowd, which at the same moment divided, in order to give passage to the phaëton and its four Andalusian horses, and to escape the swords of the six life-guardsmen who preceded the vehicle. Strangely enough, a few seconds saw the crowd dispersed in wonderful order and silence in the side alleys, and the viceroyal equipage was able to draw up unimpeded beside the carriage in which the insulted ladies sat. "What is all this?' inquired one of two ladies who occupied the phaëton. 6 "A piece of gallantry carried rather too far, as I understand,' replied the colonel, and of which my ensign, Don Lopez Matanza, has been guilty.' "The unlucky Spaniard lay behind the fountain, stone dead, his breast pierced with numerous stiletto thrusts. Certain blue marks upon his throat plainly told that he had first been strangled and then stabbed. "They have twisted his neck like a young hound,' cried Don Pinto. "Señores,' said the colonel, softly and gravely, our brother has sought his fate. These despised Creoles begin to discover their shame. Beware of quickening their perceptions.' "Madre de Dios!' murmured a captain; 'in broad, bright daylight, and in the face of thousands, they have throttled him like a dog!' "Such deeds alarm me,' said the colonel; 'they are sparks which may easily grow into a blaze. Once more, señores-prudence!' "A picket of troops that had been stationed a thousand paces off, on the bridge over the Chalco canal, now came up; the colonel gave the necessary orders, and, after seeing the corpse laid upon a bier formed of muskets, rode down the Paseo. The other officers followed the body of their murdered comrade." We have spoken of Mr. Sealsfield's writings in terms of very high praise, and reflection does not induce us to retract one syllable of the commendation bestowed. Maturely considered, our verdict is that he is one of the most remarkable writers of his class now living. His works are invaluable acquisitions to German literature, both on account of their intrinsic worth and interest, and as likely to stimulate a fresher and more natu"We are inexpressibly grieved, dear seño- ral tone amongst the present school of Gerras,' continued the lady, in melodious, but man novelists. He deals in the real and somewhat imperious tones, and intreat you the true, not in mysticism and sickly sentifor a while to consider our carriage as yours. ment. Whilst lauding the merits of his wriAnd whilst she leaned over with enchanting grace towards the ladies, two richly liveried tings, we are not however blind to their deattendants lifted the terrified and half-fainting fects. The former are, a deep knowledge Creole out of her coach, and placed her in the of human nature, character skilfully drawn, phaëton beside their mistress, who bowed to dialogue spirited and dramatic, description the officers, and then, with the gracious smile of a high order, incidents agreeable and ofof a queen, continued her progress along the ten striking. His failings are an utter neg"For a moment the eyes of the colonel fol-ligence in the carrying out of his plots, oclowed the proud beauty, and then turned their gaze upon the Creoles, who again rode, drove, and walked about as if nothing in the least unusual had occurred. Paseo. casional inconsistencies and omissions, such as writers of the present day rarely hazard, and, in some instances, wildness and incoherency of style. At times he seems to throw the reins upon the neck of his imagination, which carries him Heaven knows where, but certainly far beyond the ken of his reader. This is especially the case in his last publication, South and North,' a narrative of an adventurous ramble through Mexico, accomplished by a party of Americans. We refer the reader to the seventeenth chapter for a fine sample of the pow erfully rhapsodical. The travellers bivouac in a swamp, and are attacked by the mus of the orange and citron groves, and finally the lofty fan and date palms, and the splendid banana, all covered with millions of dewdrops that glittered and sparkled like countless diamonds and rubies."-Süden und Norden, vol. i, p. 177. And further on : quito fever. The chapter was written, we of the nopal gardens, then the ultramarine and should think, during a paroxysm of that dis-gold, and green, and white, and bright yellow tressing malady, or under the influence of a pipe of opium. But this same book, although extravagant and of little interest as a whole, contains passages as fine as any thing that Mr Sealsfield has written or that we have read. He is never more happy than in the description of scenery. It is easy to babble about green fields, and the merest scribblers reckon thereupon for fill"From out of the distant background the ing up considerable portions of their drow-silver dome of the star of Mexican mountains towered into the heavens, one vast field of frostsy post octavos, but between such babbling and the vivid picturesqueness, strength of diction, and happiness of expression, which place a fine landscape, an aboriginal forest, the incalculable vegetable luxuriance of a Texian prairie, or the tropical glories of a Mexican barranca, before the reader's eyes in the mellow, sunny coloring of a Claude, or with the savage boldness of a Salvator, lies a chasm both deep and wide. Let us see on which side of the gulf Mr. Sealsfield stands. Hear him describe a sunrise in Southern Mexico: More ed silver, detaching itself from the deep azure Yet one more extract of a similar class: "This valley of Oaxaca has about the same right to be styled a valley that our Alleghanys would have to be called bottoms. We should call it a chain of mountains, although here it is looked upon as a valley, in comparison with the far higher mountains that rise out of it and surround it as with a frame. And truly a magnificent frame they are, with their varieties of light, and shade, and color, here looking like dead gold, then like the same metal in a state of fiery solution, and then again darkening into a deep, rich, golden bronze. Below, the "Wrapped in our mantles, we watched the last stars that yet lingered palely in the heavens. Suddenly the eastern sky grew light, and a bright point appeared, like a fallen star floating between heaven and earth-but yet no star, its hue was too ruddy. We still gazed in silence, when a second fiery spot showed itself in the neighborhood of the first, which now and increased, and became like a flaming grew tongue, licking round the silver summits of the snow-crowned hills, and then descending, as the flames in a burning village creep from roof to walls. And as we looked, five, ten, twenty mountain peaks became bathed in the same rosy fire, which spread with lightning swiftness, like a banner of flames, from hill-top to hill-top. Scarce five minutes had elapsed since the high mountains, wrapped in their dull pale shroud of snow, had shown dim and frosty in the distance, and now both they and their smaller brethren flamed forth like mighty beacons or lava-streaming volcanoes, bringing to our minds, in all its living truth, the word | bright and dark green, and crimson and purple, of Him who said, 'Let there be light, and there and violet and yellow, and azure and dazzling was light. Above, all was bright and glori- white of myriads of flowers, and the prodigious ous day; below, gloomy sullen night. Here palms, far more than a hundred feet high, their and there, floods of radiance were poured in majestic turbans rising like sultans' heads through the clefts of the mountains, and where above the luxuriant tree and vegetable world! they penetrated, a strange contest ensued. And then the mahogany trees, the chicazoThe shades of darkness seemed to live, and potes, and in the barrancas the candelabramove, and engage in desperate struggle with like cactus, and higher up the knotted and mathe intrusive sunbeams that broke and dispers-jestic live oak. A perpetual change of plants, ed them, chasing them up the wooded heights, and rending them asunder like cobwebs, so that suddenly and as by enchantment were disclosed the deep indigo blue of the tamarinds and chicazopotes, lower down, the bright green of the sugar fields, lower still, the darker tints trees, and temperature. For five hours have we ridden, and have changed our climate nearly as often, passing from the tierra templada, the temperate zone, into the tierra caliente and muy caliente, the hot and torrid. Just now we are roasted with heat, the sweat bursting from every pore, as we move through an entirely was, in fact, a surprise, followed, as we have new world of plants and animals. Borax, and always understood, and as other writers on mangroves, and ferns as lofty as trees, and the subject have asserted, by the instantatrees like church towers, springing out of the aboriginal forest far higher even than the coneous and panic flight of the whole of Santa lossal mahogany. And then the exotic ani- Anna's army. On the other hand, he gives mals that we see around us-black tigers-we some laughable instances of their poltroonhave stumbled upon at least a dozen of the cow-ery in previous encounters, when opposed ardly, sneaking brutes-and iguanas, three feet but to a tithe of their numbers. The Dons, long, and squirrels twice as large as those in although numerically and in discipline far the States, and ocelotls, and wild boars, and cojotes-although these latter are to be found superior to the back woodsmen pitted against every where-and grinning apes of every size them, who had little notion of military tacand species. And yonder, standing out white tics, and fought, for the most part, each and bright from the deep-blue heavens and man 'on his own hook,' yet labored under bronze-colored rocks, is the village of Quidri- some disadvantages. Not the least of these covi."-Süden und Norden, vol. ii., p. 184. appears to have been the quality of their ammunition. Charcoal-dust cartridges, and muskets 'made to sell,' both proceeding, we are told, from British manufactures, were picked up and curiously examined by the Texians after a fight upon the banks of the Salado, during which they had had reason to feel astonished at their own seeming. ly miraculous invulnerability to a heavy fire. And as the Mexicans, out of respect for the superior qualities of their opponents' weapons, usually fired at extreme musket-range, and sometimes a trifle beyond, it is no wonder that the Texian loss was reckoned by units, when that on the other side amounted to hundreds.* The cavalry, whose sabres, upon the level prairie, ought to have told with terrible effect against the irregular array of the Texians, behaved with conspicuous cowardice, and when they were brought up to a charge, their officers were picked off, and the men retired in confusion. Similar passages abound in the book whence these are taken. Allowing for the disadvantage of a translation, and the difficulty of rendering the full richness of the original German, they will be admitted to display great descriptive power, as well as a keen perception and poetical appreciation of the beauties of external nature. brandishing their sabres, and torturing their "We saw the officers furiously gesticulating, horses with the spur, till the irritated animals reared and plunged, and sprang into the air, all four feet off the ground. It is fair to say, that the officers showed far more pluck than we had given them credit for. Two squadrons officers; but those who had been spared, had charged us, and lost two-thirds of their nothing daunted by their comrades' fall, used The most conspicuous feature in the 'Cabin-book,' which, as the name hints, contains a string of stories told in the cabin of a steamer, is an animated account of the Texian revolution, its causes, progress, and ultimate triumph. Mr. Sealsfield's narrative of battles and marches could not be more graphic had he himself taken share in them. We know not whether this was the case, although from his evidently erratic and adventurous propensities we should not be surprised to learn that he had made the campaign, and that those are his own adventures that he puts into the mouth of a young American settler in Texas. After a very few skirmishes, the steady courage and terrible marksmanship of the Texians seem to have inspired their antagonists with a wholesome terror; and although the exultation of the former at their early and easy successes was soon damped by their terrible reverses at the forts of Goliad and the Alamo-where thirteen hundred men, the flow"The loss of the Mexicans (during the siege er of the Texian army, were sacrificed-the and capture by the Texians of St. Antonio de Bexar, in December, 1835) consisted in 740 dead, prudence of Houston and the tenacity of his a few men slightly wounded, who marched away soldiers again changed the fortune of the with General Cos, and a large number whose war, and the final victory of San Jacinto hurts were severe, and who remained behind unand capture of Santa Anna established the der care of our surgeons. Our loss amounted to independence of Texas. Conquerors and hospital, and a few others who were not suffisix dead, twenty-nine wounded who went into their partisans do not willingly detract from ciently hurt to prevent their going into quarters the merit of their achievements by taxing in the town. The disproportion is so enormous the vanquished with utter cowardice and in-as to be almost incredible, but in most of the accapacity, and Mr. Sealsfield extols the des- tions of that war, the killed of the Mexicans were to those of the Texians as one hundred to one."perate courage displayed by a portion of the H. Ehrenberg's 'Fahrten und Schicksale eines Mexicans in the abovenamed battle, which | Deutschen in Texas, pp. 73. every exertion again to bring their men to the nents. But all these advantages avail not scratch. At last there appeared a chance of against the cool resolute courage of the their accomplishing it, in a most original and Americans.* It seems the destiny of the thoroughly Mexican manner. They rode on alone for about a hundred yards, then stopped Spanish-American nations, who all in their and looked back at their men, as much as to turn have displayed bravery and soldiership say, Thus far you may come with whole when fighting for independence, to sink, skins.' Then they galloped back again, and that once obtained, into thorough dastards, tried to get the men on. Each repetition of incapable of standing their ground against this manœuvre brought the reluctant dragoons any foreign foe, and retaining but just thirty or forty paces forward, when they again sufficient courage to cut each other's throats halted as by common consent. Again the in domestic broils and squabbles. The officers scampered forward, and then back to their squadrons to persuade them to a further Mexicans are evidently unable to hold their advance. And in this way these valiant fight- own, and if the United States, as a nation, ing men were lured to within a hundred and chose it, and supposing always that Europe fifty yards of our position." would permit such dismemberment, other provinces of Mexico might with little diffi But only to be again repulsed and com-culty be absorbed into the Union. Doubtpletely routed. Considering that Mexican less, the mountains and climate would horsemen, especially those of Santa Fé and bother the Yankees; it would take time to Louis Potosi, are perhaps the finest in the habituate an Anglo-American population to world, and that their sabre blades, albeit Mexican fevers and temperature; but the not forged at Damascus or Toledo, could swamps and miasmata and agues of Louisnot be liable to the same objections as the iana and Florida, are no bad preparation for Brummagem cartridges, such pusillanimity those of more southerly latitudes. Moreon the part of disciplined masses, when over, the love of change and desire to keep opposed in the open field to a mere handful moving, would, we believe, reconcile Amerof riflemen, is truly inconceivable. We ican squatters to the climate of Tartarus should suspect high coloring, but for the itself. For it is not by direct attacks and corroborative evidence afforded by other open hostilities that Brother Jonathan prosaccounts of the war. The military virtues ecutes his schemes of conquest and aggranof the Mexicans appear to be limited to dizement, but by the slower and surer plan prancing on parades, issuing proclamations that has already succeeded in Texas. Emridiculously bombastic, and asserting de-igration to the coveted province is encourfeats to be victories, with an audacity of aged, and goes on till the settlers think lying unparalleled even in the annals of bul- themselves strong enough to refuse obediletins. However superior their numbers, the only battles they can hope to gain are those in which they shall be opposed to greater cowards than themselves. Such it would probably not be easy to find. ence to the laws of the country where they have been unsuspectingly allowed to establish themselves. If force is made use of to subdue the turbulent intruders, they set up a howl of outraged liberty, and shout across To-day, when the United States are the frontier to their kin and cousins; then attempting to vindicate, by the glittering men and arms are forthwith sent to assist but hollow argument of the sword, their un-them in dispossessing the tyrants, who dare justifiable aggression upon a neighbor's ter- to assert their right to their own. This ritory, details of the contest for Texian in- was the case with Texas; this would have dependence acquire fresh interest. They been the case, forty years ago, with Louisafford data whence to judge of the probable isiana, had not its cession by the Spaniards duration and issue of the present struggle. to the French, and its sale by the latter to Not that such data are in reality wanted. the United States, rendered such arbitrary 'There needs no ghost to tell us that the violence unnecessary. But the plan was in degenerate descendants of Spaniards and Indians can never be a match for the pow- America has abundantly confirmed these opin*Since this was written, intelligence from erful offshoots of the Anglo-Saxon race. ions. With advantages of numbers and position The Mexican troops, it is said, have im-that would have enabled men possessed of the proved during the last few years in disci- slightest courage and conduct to annihilate or pline and equipment, their cavalry are noto- capture the whole of General Taylor's army, the riously first-rate horsemen, and the army miniously beaten and dislodged. Greater impoMexicans have allowed themselves to be ignothey can at once bring into the field far out-tency and cowardice were never displayed, even numbers the disposable force of their oppo-by the generals and soldiers of Mexico. |