CONCLUSION.

WHILST I was engaged in writing the last chapter, I received through the newspapers the intelligence of another revolution in Mexico. Machiavelli remarks of the Republic of Florence at one period of its history, that a revolution every five years was a necessary part of the system. Without a radical reform, revolutions in Mexico must unavoidably occur at much shorter periods.

Another profound remark of the same great man, whose character presented the strange paradox of the apologist and the instructor of tyrants, whilst his life was a martyr. dom to liberty, is "that every revolution contains the seeds of another and scatters them behind it." In Mexico, these seeds have been sown broadcast over the land, and sprout spontaneously. Whoever may be at the head of the government, and however wisely and honestly it is administered, there can be no well grounded hope that revolutions will not be constantly repeated without many and radical reforms. Such administrations there have been in Mexico, but I have great fears that they are not likely to occur again: whatever may be the checks and guarantees provided in the constitution, those in power are practically under no restraint,-and how pure soever the feelings and purposes with which they enter into office, the temptations

are too many and too powerful to be easily resisted; but, as things now are, there are difficulties which no degree of virtue or talents can surmount. It is not possible to raise a sufficient revenue to support such an army, church establishment, and civil list, with a population so poor, so indolent and unproductive. The experiment of establishing free institutions upon a permanent basis in Mexico, is full of difficulties, they may yet be overcome, but the task is a herculean one. The population consists of ignorant Indians, debased by three centuries of worse than colonial vassalage, and the Spanish oppressors of these Indians ; and it is hard to say which condition-that of the oppressors or the oppressed-most disqualifies for a just appreciation of the great principles of civil liberty, and a firm and resolute purpose to establish free institutions. No people has ever established or long maintained a free government without an enthusiasm, a romantic and self-sacrificing enthusiasm in the cause of liberty, that Greek feeling by which men were taught that they were born for their country. There is more of this feeling in Mexico than is generally supposed, and more than might be expected considering the demoralizing influences to which the country has so long been subjected, the greatest of which has been the constant succession of revolutions; but I greatly fear that this feeling is not often to be found in high places.

General Paredes is now at the head of the government. That he is brave and patriotic I have never heard denied ; but his whole life has been spent in the camp, and he must be deficient in many of the qualities which are demanded by his present responsible position. He must want the necessary reading and information to lay the foundations of a government wisely adapted to the peculiar circumstances and condition of Mexico, and, besides this, he has

always been suspected of a strong leaning towards monarchy as the form of government best suited to his countrymen. He has, however, passed a portion of his life in this country, where he must have learned something both of the theory and practical workings of free institutions; may he profit by the information thus acquired, and use it for the good of his country, his mission is a high one, and I hope that he may execute it worthily. It was beyond doubt in the power of Iturbide to have established a republican government in Mexico, which would have been permanent. Deep and lasting is the execration which he deserves for not having done it; let General Paredes profit by his example. If he would hearken to the counsel of one who sincerely desires the welfare of Mexico, and who entertains for him individually feelings of kindness and respect, I would advise him to call around him men of known and unquestionable probity and patriotism, qualities much more important than high talents. Such men there are in Mexico. Gomez Farrias, Pedraza, Bustamente, Almonte, if called to the administration, would give assurance to every one that its purposes were pure and patriotic. Let him not inquire into past political opinions or party divisions, the present crisis is one of too portentous importance to think of such things for a single moment; let the army be immediately reduced to not more than five thousand men, the privates would rejoice to be released from a service into which they were carried by force, and let the officers be disbanded and made to go to work of some sort, and for the first insurrectionary word or act let them be garroted, not shot, that would be too good for them. The army of the Vice-Regal government did not exceed ten thousand men; can it be that a despotism is less a government of force than a Republic? If the army was thus reduced and

other reforms made, the burden would not be so heavy as to require that the laws should be enforced by the bayonet, or else the experiment of a republic might as well be abandoned at once.

If there is anything true in the science of political economy-if any proposition not mathematical is susceptible of demonstration, it is that the productive labor and resources of Mexico are inadequate to the maintenance of such an army, civil list, and church establishment. And with the Mexican people the only panacea for evils of all sorts is a new revolution. Without this and other reforms, nothing is more certain than another revolution before two years, probably before one, and those now in power will be hurled from their places. All the civil wars of the Roman empire after the time of Julius Cæsar, originated with the generals of the army. This must be so in Mexico, and even in a greater degree from the inherent and constitutional tendeney of the Spanish race to civil wars. But for those wars Spain would have been at this day the most extensive and powerful empire in the world. The army of Mexico has never done anything else than to make revolutions. There is no single good which it has accomplished. What use has Mexico for a standing army? No foreign power will ever invade her. There is no motive, not even that of plunder, to do so, for they are so impoverished that they have nothing but the wealth of their churches, and surely no civilized enemy would take that. They have fears that we will assail them. I believe that those fears are groundless, but if they are not, what earthly resistance could Mexico offer? A feeble woman and a strong man armed would inadequately express the inequality of such a contest. Her impotency and helplessness are her best protection. They talk as they have done for years of invading Texas. No

such thing was attempted before the annexation of Texas to this country; and an invasion now only excites a smile whenever it is spoken of. Not one man of sense in Mexico either desires or anticipates such a thing. The real cause of the last revolution was not, as was professed, because the government of Herrera was opposed to invading Texas, but because Paredes very much preferred to such an invasion to return to Mexico and achieve a much easier and more bloodless triumph over his own government. So it will always be an army may commence the march, but long before it arrives on the frontier of Texas there will be a new pronunciamento, and it will return and overthrow the government; for three months is quite long enough to make any administration unpopular. We shall then have another series of patriotic proclamations and high-sounding promises to reconquer the revolted province, as it is still called. General Paredes has just returned from the Texas frontier, and no one knows better than he does that it would be impossible to induce a Mexican army of fifty thousand men to cross the line, and if they did and there were ten thousand Americans there to meet them, not a Mexican would escape except as a deserter.

When Charles I. of England had never liked the Catholic

There is another and equally indispensable reform which I have little hope will be made-the curtailment of the revenues and the power of the priesthood, and the free toleration of all religions. Without this I have no hope whatever for the country. visited Spain he said that he religion, but that he had never detested it until he had visited a Catholic country. I do not choose to say that, but I will say that the prevalence of that religion to the exclusion of all others, and the power of the priesthood as it exists in Mexico, are, in my judgment, incompatible with