Rambles by Land and Water Part 8

The suggestion, that the water which const.i.tutes this stream, is derived from the Pacific, forced by its superior elevation there, through a subterranean pa.s.sage, across or under the Isthmus, is certainly original, and ingenious. But, to my view, it is liable to as many objections, as the old one which it is intended to displace. It is indeed, as the writer says, a bold conjecture, having nothing to support it, except the volume of water required for the constant supply of the great stream, and the asphaltic ebullition, which first suggested the theory, and gave rise to the discussion. Both these circ.u.mstances, I imagine, can be disposed of in a very satisfactory manner, without resorting to the supposition of this mysterious communication between the two great oceans.

It is, in my view, a serious objection to the above-named theory, that there is no evidence whatever, on the Pacific coast, of any such submarine discharge of its surplus waters, as is here supposed. The natural, and almost inevitable effect of such an offlet would be the formation, at the place of discharge, of a mighty whirlpool, another Maelstrom, whose wide sweeping eddies would gather into its fearful vortex, and swallow up in inevitable destruction, whatever should venture within the reach of its influence. Whether such a phenomenon exists on that coast, I do not know; but it certainly is not described in any geography, nor laid down on any atlas, which has ever fallen under my notice.

Another objection, almost, if not quite as fatal to this "bold conjecture,"

is the fact, that upon the established and well known principles of hydrostatic pressure, a discharge, such as is here supposed, could not long continue without reducing the two oceans to the same level. The immense volume of the discharge which requires such a conjecture to account for it, would surely, in the long course of ages, exhaust the surplus in the Pacific, and then the stream would cease to flow. So that the fact of the Pacific still maintaining its elevation, would seem to be conclusive evidence that no such equalizing communication exists.

It may be further argued against this new theory, and it seems to me with great plausibility, that the appearance of the "chapote" on the surface of the inland lakes, demonstrates the inconclusiveness of the main inference, on which the theory is based. Wherever the supposed subterranean pa.s.sage may be, the volcanic fires, which are supposed to heat the water, and to furnish the asphaltic element, must necessarily lie below it; while the pa.s.sage itself must, with equal certainty, lie below the bottom of the lakes. Now, if the asphaltic ebullition finds its way up through the lakes, would it not, certainly, and from necessity, carry the water along with it?

And should we not expect to find a jet of salt water in the midst of the lake, or such an infusion of salt as to change the character of the lake?

If it be replied to this, that the level of the lake is higher than that of the sea, another, and equally formidable difficulty will result. For, as water must always find its level, through the same opening by which the asphaltum rises, the water of the lake would inevitably leak out, and lose itself in the mighty current.

While, therefore, I am, equally with the writer in the Merchants' Magazine, dissatisfied with the old theory of water from the south, forced into the Gulf by the trade winds, and compelled to find a northern outlet--which, from the nature of the case, the formation of the land, and the ordinary phenomena of the seas where it is held to originate, appears, at the first blush, absurd and impossible. I am constrained to say that his "bold conjecture" deserves no better name than he has given it. My own view of the case is, that the true cause of this singular phenomenon must be sought in the bottom of the Gulf itself--in a perpetual submarine volcano, which, like a gigantic cauldron, is for ever sending up to the surface its heated currents, mingled with bituminous ebullition from the heart of the earth. I have taken some pains to examine the water in the immediate vicinity of these asphaltic bubbles, and have found it always considerably warmer than in any other part of the Gulf. It did not occur to me then, to compare it with the known temperature of the stream, after it is formed into a current; but I have no doubt that it will be found so to agree, as to afford substantial confirmation to these views.

Neither the ebullition here spoken of, nor the idea of submarine volcanoes in the Gulf, is intended to be presented as any thing new. The former was observed, and commented upon, by several of the early voyagers, who followed in the track of Columbus, more than three hundred years ago. It was then attributed to the existence of volcanic fires beneath the bed of the ocean. The latter is an opinion long since put forth, by some shrewd observer, I know not whom, in whose mind the insuperable objections to the old theory created a necessity for another and a better. Whether it is the true one, it is perhaps impossible for human sagacity to say. But that it is far more plausible, and more consistent with all the known facts in the case, than the other, I think, cannot be denied.

The insects in this region are inconceivably numerous and annoying,--so much so, that I was actually compelled to relinquish my researches; not however, until I had very little reason to antic.i.p.ate any thing more of interest.

Thus defeated, I changed my course; and, turning the head of my canoe towards home, was once again in Tampico, but apparently not in the same city, of that name, which I had so recently left, to perform my pilgrimage to the cities of the dead.

The place was enveloped in deep mourning. The shops were closed, colors were hanging mournfully at half-mast, and the officers of the Mexican army were engaged in suspending effigies in various parts of the town, on which the zealous population might vent their pious spite. It was Good Friday; and the effigies thus exposed to the brunt of a well meant, but harmless popular indignation, were intended as representatives of Judas Iscariot.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XII.

GENERAL VIEW OF MEXICO, PAST AND PRESENT. SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF SANTA ANNA.

Ancient Mexico.--Its extent.--Its capital.--Its government.--Its sovereigns.--The last of a series of American Monarchies.--Some evidences of this.--Great antiquity of some of the ruins.--Population of Mexico.--Its government as a colony.--The Revolution.--Its leaders.--Iturbide.--Distracted state of the country.--Santa Anna.--His public career.--Pedraza.--Guerrero.--Barradas at Tampico.--Defeated by Santa Anna.--Bustamente.--Pedraza again.--Santa Anna made President.--Revolt of Texas and Yucatan.--Battle of San Jacinto.--Santa Anna a prisoner.--Released, returns in disgrace.--Out again.--Loses a leg.--Dictator.--President.--Put down by Paredes.--Banished.--Probable result.--The Press.--Departure for home.

Hanging Judas Iscariot in effigy, eighteen centuries after he had hung himself in despair for his treachery, and raising a monumental tablet to Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, seemed to me to be somewhat incongruous amus.e.m.e.nts. But these Mexicans will have their way, however strange it may be. Leaving them to choose for themselves, in these matters, I propose, before taking leave of Tampico, to give a brief sketch of the history and present condition of Mexico, and of the career of the singular man, who has acted so prominent a part in the revolutions which have recently convulsed that unhappy country.

The ancient Mexico was comprised within much narrower limits, than those which now bound the Republic. Yet, owing to the remarkable formation of the country, beginning with its low plains, and tropical valleys along the sea board, and gradually ascending, plateau above plateau, into the region of perpetual winter, it embraced every variety of climate, and yielded almost every production, that was known on the face of the earth.

In the midst of one of the most beautiful and luxuriant plateaus, situated midway between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and measuring a little more than two hundred miles in circ.u.mference, with lofty, snow-crowned walls on every side, stood the Queen City, Tenocht.i.tlan, now called Mexico, the metropolis of the Aztec empire, the seat of civilization, of art, of luxury, of refinement--"the Venice of the Western world." It was founded in the early part of the fourteenth century, and soon became the seat of a flourishing empire, and the central point of power to a triad of nations.

Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, bound together by a league of perpetual amity, which was faithfully maintained and preserved through a long period of unexampled warfare, subdued to their united sway, all the neighboring tribes and nations of Anahuac. In process of time, the power and influence of Mexico overtopped that of its confederates, and Tezcuco and Tlacopan became little better than tributaries to the central empire of the Montezumas.

The government of this ancient empire was an absolute monarchy, and was maintained in a style of truly Oriental pomp and magnificence. Their monarch supported his state with all the proud dignity, and stately ceremonial of the most refined courts of the old world. His attendants were princes, who waited on him with the most obsequious deference. The form of presentation was much the same as now prevails in the royal saloons of Europe, the subject never presuming to turn his back upon the throne, but carefully stepping backward to the door, in retiring from the royal presence. Whether this circ.u.mstance is sufficient to prove that Europe was peopled from Mexico--an opinion gravely put forth, and st.u.r.dily maintained, by at least one old writer--I shall not now stop to inquire.

The body-guard of the sovereign was composed of the chief n.o.bles of the realm, who, like the great feudal lords of Europe, held sway over extensive estates of their own, and could call into the field, at any moment, an immense army of subject retainers. The royal palaces were extensive and magnificent, and comprised apartments, not only for the private accommodation of the royal household, but for all the great purposes of the state--halls of council, treasuries for the public revenue, etc. etc.

Mexico was indeed a city of palaces, interspersed with temples and pyramids, rivalling in splendor and luxury, as well as in extent, many of the proudest capitals of the Old World.

This splendid monarchy, which was probably at the very acme of its glory, when discovered and overturned by the remorseless invaders from Spain, was the last of a series of powerful and highly refined dynasties, that had successively flourished and pa.s.sed away, in the beautiful regions of Central America. Two mighty oceans on the east and west, two mighty continents on the north and south, and embracing, in the singular arrangement of its slopes and levels, all the climates and productions of both and of all, it seems to have been, for ages, we know not how far back, the theatre of all the art, the seat of all the power, the centre of all the refinement and luxury, of the western hemisphere. There are some remarkable works of art, and wonderful traces of ancient civilization in South America, as well as some singular remains of a once numerous and powerful people in the north. But the Isthmus was the Decapolis of Ancient America. "The tabernacles of its palaces were planted _between the seas_, in the glorious mountain." Here was its Babylon, its Nineveh, its Thebes, its Palmyra. And here, splendid in ruins, with no voice to tell of their ancient founders, or of the millions who once thronged their busy streets, they still remain, an instructive but painful lesson on the instability of human affairs, the brevity of a terrestrial immortality.

I have said that Mexico was the last of a series of splendid monarchies that had flourished, and pa.s.sed away, in Central America. The evidences of the truth of this statement are too numerous, and too clear, to admit of a doubt. The ruins of extensive and magnificent cities, which abound on every side, like the sepulchres and monuments of the departed, are the melancholy memorials, which cannot be gainsayed, of the gigantic power and fruitful resources of the Past. Palenque, Copan, and many more in the south--Uxmal, Chi-chen, Ticul, Kabah, Mayapan, etc., in the central regions of Yucatan--Panuco, Cerro Chacuaco, and others without a name, in the north--these are but a part of the remains of ancient grandeur that lie buried under the soil, and hidden in the almost impervious forests of this luxuriant clime. Their name is legion. Some of them were deserted and in ruins at the period of the Spanish Conquest, and are occasionally spoken of by the historians of that day with wonder and amazement. Some were evidently occupied by other races than the builders, inferior in taste and refinement, if not in physical power; and some, though not then in utter ruins, were, as at the present day, waste and without inhabitant,--

Desolate, like the dwellings of Moina,-- The fox looked out of the window, The rank gra.s.s waved round its head.

In the remains of these ruined cities, there are not only the evidences derived from their different degrees of dilapidation and decay, to prove that they originated in different and far distant ages, but others which show them to be the works of distinct races of people. The plan and architecture of the buildings, the style and finish of the ornamental parts, the forms and features of the sculptured heads, differ as widely as those of Egypt and Greece, and as clearly prove the workmanship of different periods, and different artists. Some writers have undertaken to trace in these ruins, evidences of three distinct ages of American civilization. Without entering into an argument on the subject, I would simply remark, that, whether three, or five, or more, no conclusion seems to my mind capable of a more perfect substantiation, than this, that these ruins extend far back into the remotest ages of antiquity, and form a continuous chain of connection between the earliest settlers in America, and the Toltecs and Aztecs, of whom we have something like authentic history. I go farther, and say that this chain is probably complete in its parts, though the links are separated, and cannot now be brought together again. They are all there, but so scattered and confounded together, that he who attempts to a.s.sign them a place and a date, or to build a theory upon their apparent relations to each other, will probably soon find himself "in wandering mazes lost," and rather amuse, than convince or instruct his readers.

These statements are, for the most part, drawn from the most reliable sources, and confirmed, as far as I have had opportunity, by my own observation. I shall take the liberty to regard them as facts. Intending to refer to them in the concluding chapter, and to draw from them some inferences in support of the opinions I have formed respecting the origin of the ancient American races, and the probable epoch of the ruins I have had the pleasure to explore, I shall make no further comment upon them here; but proceed to a brief epitome of the present condition of the empire of the Montezumas.

The population of Mexico is as mixed and various as that of any other portion of the globe. It includes, at least, seven distinct races. First, the Europeans, or foreign residents, called Chapetones, or Gapuchins.

Secondly, Creoles, or native whites of European extraction. Thirdly, the Mestizoes, the offspring of whites and Indians. Fourthly, Mulattoes, the offspring of whites and blacks. Fifthly, the Aboriginal Indians. Sixthly, Negroes. Seventhly, Zamboes, or Chinoes, the offspring of negroes and Indians. There is also a sprinkling of Chinese and Malays, and natives of the Canaries, who rank as whites, and are known by the general name of Islenos, or Islanders.

While Mexico remained a colony of Spain, from the conquest in 1519, till the Revolution in 1810, all the power and influence, and nearly all the wealth, was confined to the first cla.s.s. The revolution transferred it to the second, and expatriated the first. And this was almost its only result; for it does not seem to have been attended with any of the ordinary blessings of freedom to the common people, either in lightening their burdens, or elevating their moral condition.

The government of the colony was that of a Viceroy, the proud servant of a proud master in Spain, and amenable only to him for his acts. The people had no voice either of council or remonstrance. It was pa.s.sive submission to absolute power. Whether that power became more severe and oppressive, in the early part of the present century, than it had been, or whether the increased numbers, wealth and ambition of the Creoles induced a desire to take the power into their own hands, or whether it was the mere contagion of rebellion and independence, diffusing itself over a continent reserved as "the area of Freedom," and separated by wide oceans from the despotisms of the Old World, it is not easy now to decide. The struggle was long and severe. Monarchy held on to the golden mountains of Mexico with a desperate though feeble grasp. Independence was declared, by the congress of Mexico, in 1813, but it was not finally and fully achieved until 1829, when the Spanish residents were expelled from the country.

The contest for independence, as is usually the case, brought out the patriotism, talent and genius of the native population. Several of the leaders distinguished themselves in the eyes of the world. Among the most prominent were Guerrero, Hidalgo, Moreles and Victoria.

In 1820, the Viceroy, who was still struggling to support the tottering throne, commissioned General Iturbide, who had been successful in several engagements with the Creoles, to reduce them to submission. Iturbide was born to be a traitor. No sooner was the army placed at his control, than he betrayed his trust, joined the cause of the revolutionists, and proclaimed Mexico independent. This was in 1821. A congress a.s.sembled in 1822, to form a const.i.tution. But Iturbide, traitor to the cause he had just adopted, caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor, under the t.i.tle of Augustin the First. Opposed by a powerful and resolute party, rendered desperate by their success. .h.i.therto, this self-const.i.tuted Emperor was compelled to abdicate in the course of a year, and retire to Europe, the proper theatre for legitimate tyrants. Returning to Mexico in 1824, with a view, as was supposed, to avail himself of the distractions of the country, to a.s.sert anew his claims to the imperial dignity, he was seized and shot, as soon as he had landed.

From the first outbreak of the Revolution to the present time, Mexico has been torn and distracted with internal wars. The long struggle for Independence, was succeeded, as soon as that end was achieved, by other and more bitter struggles for personal or party ascendency. A const.i.tution was adopted in 1823. The government established by it, is a confederated Republic, modelled in most respects, after that of the United States--a government exactly suited to make an intelligent and virtuous people happy, but not adapted to a community composed of restless, unprincipled, ambitious factionists, on the one hand, and an ignorant, bigoted rabble, on the other. Faction after faction has arisen, plan after plan has been proposed, adopted, and instantly discarded for another, till it has become as difficult to say what is, or has been at any particular period, the actual government of Mexico, as to predict what it will be to-morrow. If the intelligence of the people had been such as to justify the comparison,--if there had been more real patriotism, more sincere love of liberty among the princ.i.p.al actors in these b.l.o.o.d.y dramas, one might say, that the Florentine Histories of the middle ages had been re-enacted in Mexico. How different the struggle, both in its manner and in its results, in our own blessed land. But let us not triumph over our less favored and weaker neighbors. Let us rather devoutly thank heaven that our fathers loved liberty more than power, and laid broad and deep the foundations of intelligence, virtue and religion,--not superst.i.tion, and a bigoted devotion to forms, or a blind submission to ecclesiastical authority, but the religion which recognizes G.o.d as supreme, and all men as equal,--on which to raise the glorious superstructure of rational freedom. Let us see to it, that, while we enlarge the superstructure, we do not neglect the foundations.

It was during the temporary ascendency of Iturbide, that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, now more notorious than ill.u.s.trious, became a conspicuous actor on this turbulent stage. He was a native of the department of Vera Cruz.

Here, without enjoying any advent.i.tious advantages of birth or family, he succeeded, by his talents and industry, in securing great local influence, and gradually rose to wealth and power. Except Bolivar, there is, perhaps, no one among the many distinguished agitators of Spanish America, whose career has been signalized by so many extraordinary vicissitudes of good and evil fortune, or who has rilled so large a s.p.a.ce in the eye of the world, as Santa Anna.

On the promulgation by Iturbide of the plan of Iguala, (February 24, 1821,) Santa Anna, at the head of the irregular forces of the neighborhood, succeeded by a _coup de main_, in driving the Spaniards out of Vera Cruz, of which he was immediately appointed governor. The Spaniards, however, still held the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, from which they were not for a long time dislodged; and, of course, Santa Anna's position was one of great importance.

Meanwhile, differences arose between Santa Anna and the Emperor Augustin, who had come down to Jalapa to direct the operations against the Spaniards.

Santa Anna repaired to Jalapa to confer with Iturbide; and, being treated harshly, and deprived of his command, immediately left Jalapa, hurried back to Vera Cruz, in antic.i.p.ation of the intelligence of his disgrace, raised the standard of revolt, and, by means of his personal authority with the troops of the garrison, commenced hostilities with the Emperor. Thereupon Guadalupe Victoria, whose name was endeared to the Mexicans by his previous unsuccessful efforts in the revolution, and who was living concealed in the mountains, emerged from his hiding place, called around him his old republican companions in arms, expelled Iturbide, and established the Mexican republic with a federal const.i.tution, in imitation of that of the United States.

Santa Anna, who, by first taking up arms, had contributed so largely to this result, thinking himself not duly considered in the new arrangements, sailed from Vera Cruz with a small force March 1823, and landing at Tampico, advanced through the country to San Luis Potosi, a.s.suming to be protector of the new republic. But not possessing influence enough to maintain himself in this att.i.tude, he was compelled to submit to the government, and to remain for several years in retirement at Manga de Clavo.

The termination of Victoria's presidency, however, in 1828, enabled Santa Anna to re-appear on the stage. Pedraza had been regularly elected President; on hearing of which, Santa Anna rose in arms, and by a rapid march, seized upon and intrenched himself in the castle of Perote. Here he published a plan, the basis of which was to annul the election of Pedraza, and confer the presidency on Guerrero. But, being successfully attacked here by the government forces, he was compelled to flee, and took refuge in the mountains of Oajaca, to all appearance an outlaw and a ruined man. The signal of revolution, however, which he had given at Perote, was followed up with more success in other parts of the country.

Pedraza was at length driven into exile, Guerrero was declared President in his place, and Santa Anna was appointed to the command of the very army sent against him, and to the government of Vera Cruz, and after the inauguration of Guerrero, April 1829, he became Secretary of War.

While these events were in progress, the Spanish government was organizing its last invasion of Mexico. Barradas, the commander of the Spanish forces, landing at Tampico, July 27, 1829. Santa Anna was entrusted with the command of the Mexican troops, and at length compelled the Spaniards to capitulate, September 11, 1829, which put an end to the war of independence.

Guerrero had been in office but a few months, when another revolution broke out. The Vice-President, Bustamente, gathered a force at Jalapa, and p.r.o.nounced against Guerrero, December 1829, who was at length taken prisoner, and executed for treason; Bustamente a.s.suming the presidency.

Santa Anna, after feebly resisting, had at length joined, or at least acquiesced in, the movement of Bustamente; and remained in retirement for two or three years, until, in 1832, he on a sudden p.r.o.nounced against the government, compelled Bustamente to flee, and brought back Pedraza from exile, to serve out the remaining three months of the term for which he had been elected to the presidency.

In the progress of events, Santa Anna had now acquired sufficient importance to desist from the function of President maker, and to become himself President. This took place in May, 1833. His presidency was filled with p.r.o.nunciamentos and civil wars, which produced the consummation of the overthrow of the federal const.i.tution of 1824, and the adoption, in 1836, of a central const.i.tution.

Though most of the Mexican States acquiesced in the violent changes, by which they were reduced to mere departments, under the control of military commandants, Texas on the northeast, and Yucatan on the south-east, refused to submit to the military dominion of whatever faction of the army might happen to hold power in the city of Mexico: and Santa Anna at length took command in person of the army organized for the reduction of Texas. The battle of San Jacinto, the capture of Santa Anna, his release by Houston on conditions, which he afterwards refused to fulfil, his visit to this country, and his subsequent return to Mexico, are events familiarly known in the United States.

When Santa Anna marched on Texas, first Barragan, and then Coro, exercised the functions of the presidency for a while, until, under the new const.i.tution, Bustamente, having returned from exile, was elected President; the temporary unpopularity of Santa Anna, and his retirement in disgrace to Manga de Clavo, having left the field open to the friends of Bustamente.

Sundry _p.r.o.nunciamentos_ followed; of which, one of the most dangerous, headed by Mejia, gave to Santa Anna the opportunity of emerging from his retirement. He vanquished Mejia, and caused him to be shot on the field of battle. This exploit gave to Santa Anna a new start in public affairs; so that when the French Government, in 1838, resolved to punish Mexico for its multiplied aggressions on the subjects of France in Mexico, and proceeded to attack Vera Cruz, the command of the Mexican troops were committed to Santa Anna. On this occasion he received a wound, which rendered the amputation of one of his legs necessary; and his services, at this time, seemed to have effaced, in the eyes of the Mexicans, the disgrace of his defeat at San Jacinto.

Santa Anna took no part in the unsuccessful movement of Urrea against Bustamente, in 1840; but in 1841, there broke out a revolution, commenced by Paredes, at Guadalajara, into which Santa Anna threw himself with so much vigor and zeal, that Bustamente was again compelled to flee, and the plan of Tacubaya, with the agreement of La Estanzuela, was adopted; in virtue of which, the const.i.tution of 1836 was abolished, and Santa Anna himself was invested with the powers of dictator, for the purpose of re-const.i.tuting the republic.