In he has succeeded. Even though Latin Church. Spain, once the the enterprise has not been popular greatest Power in Europe, has for in France, it at least served to at- long been torpid, and, though now tract the thoughts of the French to showing symptoms of revival, will a foreign topic,-it has furnished a never regain anything like its forsubject of conversation and debate, mer position in the world. -and it has, moreover, shut the America the collapse of the Romish mouths of the war-party in France, Church has been still more conspicuand established a solid excuse for ous. On the other hand, the Protesthe Emperor not engaging in a tant and Greek Powers are prosperEuropean conflict until he had got ing and extending themselves. The this Transatlantic affair off his greatest change which is impending bands. These were considerations in Europe the downfall of the of present value which Napoleon Ottoman rule- will bring a vast was not likely to underestimate, extension of power to the Greck though he could not frankly avow Church; and slowly but steadily them. Nevertheless they would the same Church, following the bathave been void of force if the ex- talions of Russia, is spreading over pedition could not have been justi- central, and will soon spread likefied upon intrinsic grounds. And wise over south-western Asia. It it is to the peculiar character of will extend from the Baltic to the those grounds, as illustrative of the Pacific, from St. Petersburg to Petroscope of the Emperor's views, that paulovski. Protestantism has still we desire briefly to draw attention, greater triumphs to show. Accombefore considering what are likely panying the colonies of England, to be the actual results of the en- it has become the dominant faith terprise. in North America — among the The grandeur of a nation depends thirty millions of the Anglo-Saxon upon the influence of the ideas and race, who may be said to hold the interests which it represents, not fortunes of the New World in their less than upon the material force hands, In India, in the Australian which it can exert. England, for world, at the Cape, and wherever example, is peculiarly the represent- England has planted her energetic ative of Constitutional Government colonies, it is the Protestant Church and of the interests of commerce. which reigns supreme. By his inIn Russia, we behold the head, and tervention in Mexico, Napoleon representative Power, of the Greek III. endeavours to arrest the decay Church. France, also, we need of the Romish Church in America, hardly say, is a representative and to check the continuous spread Power. Her monarchs for cen- of the Protestant Anglo-Saxons. turies have borne the title of the The "Empire of the Indies," reared "eldest son of the Church;" they by Spain, and so long a bright gem have been the protectors of, and in the tiara of the Popes, has gone at all events they peculiarly repre- to wreck. Brazil, with its enorsent, the Church of Rome. But mous territory but mere handful the Church of Rome has been losing of people, is the only non-Protesground, alike in the Old World and tant State in America which is not in the New. The great kingdom a prey to anarchy and desolation; of Poland has dropped out of the and a few years ago, the gradual map of Europe, and nearly all its extension of Anglo-Saxon power parts have gone to increase the over the whole of the New World territories of Protestant Prussia, appeared to be merely a question and of Russia the champion of of time. Seizing a favourable opthe Greek Church. The loss has portunity, the eldest son of the not been compensated by an Church now intervenes to repair adequate increase of power in the fallen fortunes of the Papacy the States which adhere to the in Central America, and in so doing to erect a barrier against the tide of Protestantism, and to reflect new lustre upon the, Church of which he is the champion, and with whose greatness that of France is indissolubly connected. These considerations affect the moral, rather than the political, greatness of France; but there are others of a different character which moved Napoleon III. to attempt the regeneration of Mexico. The latter, however, relate to. the same object considered from a different point of view. Europe is remodel ling herself on the principle of nationality. Twenty years hence, the Slavonian race will have experienced a great augmentation of power-partly from increase of population, which is proceeding rapidly in Russia, and partly from a more perfect political organisation and community of action established among the now scattered portion of that family of nations. The Teutonic race is destined to experience a lesser but somewhat similar increase of power. Compelled by disasters which, even in this hour of triumph, may be seen to await them, the Germans will consolidate their strength by unification, and will thereby acquire much greater power than they now possess, even though they lose a considerable portion of their nonGerman territory. In the face of these contingencies, Napoleon III. meditates, has long been meditating, how France is to obtain a commensurate addition to her strength. Centralisation and Organisation are already complete in France; no new strength is to be looked for from these sources. Her population, too-unlike that of Germany and of Russia — is stationary, and even threatens to decline if some new impulse be not communicated to it. How, then, is she to keep her place in the future? Partly, replies Napoleon in his secret thoughts, by incorporating the Rhine provinces and Belgium thereby acquiring at once an increase of population, and a strong and advantageous frontier. Partly also, he hopes, by establishing a league, a community of sentiment and action, between the so-called Latin races of France, Italy, and Spain-in which league France will naturally hold the first place. By his intervention in Italy, he has endeavoured, and not unsuccessfully, to attract Italy to him as a dependent ally. By his intervention in Mexico, he plays a part which will tend to attract Spain likewise; and he trusts to complete an alliance with that country by, ere long, supporting the claims of the Spaniards to the possession of Gibraltar; and also, if an opportunity offers, of effecting a "unification" of the Peninsula by obliterating Portugal (the ally of England) as an independent State. Meanwhile, by regenerating Mexico, he adds to his own renown-shows himself a fitting leader for the future league of the Latin races; and, at the same time, he opens a new field for the commerce and enterprise of France, which may help to save the nation from its social demoralisation and concomitant discontent, and impart to it a new and healthy impulse towards increase of population, without which it will be impossible for France to retain her high position among the Powers of Europe. The cli Mexico is a country well fitted to engage the attention of a great monarch, to justify his efforts on its behalf, and to more than repay them by the results which will attend its regeneration. mate of its central and most inhabited region is perfectly suited to the constitution of Europeans, and especially of the so-called Latin races. The country abounds in mines of the precious metals; and so great are the treasures hidden in its mountains that the mineral wealth of the country is still, comparatively speaking, undeveloped. The soil, too, is remarkably fertile; and owing to its peculiar geographi cal formation, the country yields in perfection most of the productions alike of the temperate and the 1 the un plains, the the strange-looking stems of the cactus, like grotesque vegetable pillars, silent and bending to the wind, rise to the height of twenty feet, gorgeous with scarlet or yellow blossoms.* The air is perfumed by the wild and profusely-growing convolvuli, torrid zones. Extending for 1200 ley beneath. Mexico is rich in inmiles along the seaboard of the digenous plants and flowers. On Atlantic, and 900 miles along the coast of the Pacific, Mexico contains an area three times larger than France, situated between the two great oceans of the world, and presenting in its southern portion a route well fitted to become a highway between them. Mexico contains within herself all the material with their graceful bell-flowers. elements of a great empire. All that is wanted is to regenerate her people to revive in them the energies which they, both Indians and Spaniards, once exerted gloriously in the olden time-and thereby make them fit to profit by the extraordinary natural resources with which they are surrounded. On either side Mexico is bordered by a narrow low-lying coastregion, abounding in heat and moisture, where vegetation presents the full luxuriance of the tropics. The interior of the country, on the other hand, consists of a vast table-land, as level as the sea, of an average height of 7000 feet above the coast; and out of this great plain rise chains of mountains rich in minerals, and lofty isolated peaks, like snow-capped Popocatepetl, the breezes from which cool down the summer heat. Here and there, especially on its outskirts, this great plain is seamed by profound valleys or glens, bounded by precipitous walls of rock; and standing on the temperate table-land, the stranger beholds with amazement the gorgeous scenery of tropical vegetation which opens upon him in glowing colours in the val And the vanilla plant, whose pods yield an expensive luxury, grows spontaneously in the coast-regionivy like climbing the loftiest trees, while its large white flowers, striped with red and yellow, fill the forest with their rare and delicious odour. The coffee-tree is indigenous, and can be most successfully cultivated in the region above the reach of the malaria, on the comparatively temperate mountain-slopes between four and five thousand feet above the sea. The cocoa-shrub also is indigenous, but requires the damp and sultry warmth of the coastregion. In such districts it is amazingly productive. Humboldt, in his Tropical World,' says he never should forget the deep impression made upon him by the luxuriance of tropical vegetation on first seeing a cocoa plantation. "After a damp night, large blossoms of the theobroma issue from the root at a considerable distance from the trunk, emerging from the deep black mould. A more striking example of the productive powers of life could hardly be met with in organic nature." Tobacco, indigo, flax, and hemp grow wild, and amply repay cultivation. "On nearing the towns, vast fields are seen covered with clumps of aloes arranged in the quincunx form, to which the similar plants found in Europe, whether in the open air or in the greenhouse, are not to be compared. This is the maguey, whose juice (pulque) delights the Mexican palate and enriches the treasury. The maguey and the cactus are the two plants characteristic of the Mexican table-land. In uncultivated districts there are immense tracts offering nothing to the eye but aloes and cactus, standing solitary or in scattered groups-a strange and melancholy vegetation that stands insensible to the whistling of the wind instead of replying to it, as do our waving forests, with a thrill of animation. The silent inflexibility of the aloes and cactus might make the traveller fancy, as he loses sight of the villages, that he is traversing one of those countries he has been told of in fairy tales, where an angry genie has turned all nature to stone.”—Chevalier's 'Mexico' (English Edition), vol. i. p. 23. The vegetable productions which presents were brought to him-culsupply the necessaries of life are tivation, aided by irrigating canals, numerous and remarkably produc- overspread the plains and valleys-tive. Maize, which of all the in- populous cities rose in his path. digenous productions of the New There was a well-ordered administraWorld has been of the greatest tive system, and a powerful priestvalue to Europe, yields about two hood. Immense teocallis, or pyrahundred-fold, and on the best culti- midal temples, rose in stages to the vated land five hundred-fold; and height of 100 to 300 feet and morein the coast-region, sometimes three covering so much ground, that the crops of it are raised within the base of one of them, not remarkable year. The banana, the most prolific for its height, was twice as large of all vegetables, likewise abounds as that of the Great Pyramid of in Mexico, and might support a Ghizeh: while from their summits population of unusual density. perpetual fires blazed, lighting the Planted with the banana, a piece darkness of night with strange and of land will yield a weight of fruit lurid gleams. Under the Emperor a hundred and thirty times greater were Caciques, or great nobles (like than if planted with wheat, and the Daimios of Japan), ruling their fifty times greater than if planted provinces in unswerving and devoted with potatoes. Wheat and barley, loyalty to the Emperor. There introduced from Europe, thrive in was a numerous and well-cared for the temperate region, and, owing army, with orders of knighthood to the natural fertility of the soil, resembling those in Europe, — and yield large returns. The sugar (remarkable fact) a Chelsea Hoscane of Mexico, famed for its un- pital or Hotel des Invalides, in rivalled abundance of saccharine which the veterans were cared for matter, is cultivated not only in the at the expense of the state. 'It coast-region, but on the adjoining shall never be said," wrote the mountain slopes, above the noxious grave and circumspect Cortez to influence of the terra caliente. The Charles V., "that I have exaggercotton plant, though yielding its ated facts. I shall do what is pos finest qualities in the moist coast- sible to relate, as well as I can, a few, region, can be cultivated on the of which I have been an eye-witness, higher grounds, especially as the so marvellous that they pass all beMexican plant is capable of resist- lief, and for which we cannot account ing the effects of frost. In truth, to our own selves." the vegetable productions, as well as the mineral wealth of Mexico, are almost unrivalled in the world; and in course of time, when foreign capital has been introduced, and when the population has increased alike in energy and in numbers, it will become a great exporting country, and will rise in prosperity while benefiting the world at large. To know what a country may become, we must know what it has been. When Cortez landed on the mainland of America, he heard from all quarters the fame of a great empire and a magnificent monarch; and when he began his memorable march inland from Vera Cruz, he soon met abundant proofs of the prosperity of the country and the power of its ruler. Superb The wonder of the Spaniards was at its height when, after defiling through the mountain-passes, they entered the valley of Mexico, and saw before them a great basin or plain seventy miles in diameter, bounded on all sides by lofty mountains, and studded with great and populous cities, clustering around the series of connected lakes which lay in the centre of the_valley. Several of those cities, like Tezcuco and Cholula, had a population of 150,000; and the whole valley was richly cultivated. In the centre of the great lake, approached by three causeways from the mainland, rose the capital, Tenochtitlan (Mexico)— the Venice of the New World with 300,000 inhabitants. There were the royal palaces of Monte zuma, one-storeyed, but covering and flowers for the market of the capital, which struck the Spaniards alike with wonder and admiration.* "I think there is no Soldan nor infidel prince known up to this time, who has himself waited upon with so much display and magnificence," said Cortez, when he reached Mexico and beheld the royalty of Montezuma. In the mouth of Cortez the phrase "Soldan" is a sort of superlative. Let us remember, too, that this was written to the Emperor Charles V., the greatest European monarch of his time. There were botanical gardens, too,before anything of the kind had been thought of in Europe- and menageries, and collections of birds. แ Hanging gardens," rivalling those of Babylon, adorned the mountainsides, and the humblest of the people had a passion for flowers. Nor was intellectual cultivation forgotten, and the monarch mingled with and took part in the assemblies of the men of letters, feeling that by so doing he added lustre to his royalty. Their books were collected in libraries, and were written on "Another curiosity existed in the chinampas, or floating gardens, scattered over the lakes. These artificial islets, of fifty to a hundred yards long, served for the cultivation of vegetables and flowers for the market of the capital. Some of these islets had consistency enough for shrubs of some size to grow on, or to bear even a but of light material. They were at pleasure moved to the bank by poles, or were made to move over the waters with their floral treasures by the same means. This spectacle impressed the Spaniards greatly, and, according to Bernal Diaz, made them say that they had been transported into an enchanted region' like those they had read of in the romance of Amadis de Gaul.'"-Chevalier's 'Mexico,' vol. i. p. 31. "The Mexicans had a passion for flowers. They collected together in splendid gardens such as were remarkable for perfume or for brilliancy of colour. To these they added medicinal plants, methodically arranged-shrubs distinguished by their blossoms or their foliage, by the excellency of their fruit or their berries-and also trees of elegant or majestic appearance. They delighted in laying out their terraces and bowers on hilly slopes, where they looked as if suspended. Aqueducts brought thither water from a distance, which overflowed in cascades or filled spacious basins tenanted by the choicest fish. Mysterious pavilions were hidden among the foliage, and statues reared their forms amid the flowers. All the kinds of animals that we assemble in our gardens consecrated to science-such as the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, and the Zoological Gardens of London-contributed to the ornament or curiosity of these resorts of pleasure. Birds were there of beautiful plumage, kept in cages as large as houses; there also were wild beasts, animals of various kinds, and even serpents. Bernal Diaz there first beheld the rattlesnake, which he describes as having castanets in its tail. One of the royal gardens, two leagues from Tezcuco, was formed on the side of a hill, whose summit was reached by an ascent of five hundred steps, and was crowned by a basin, whence, by an effort of hydraulic skill, water flowed in succession into three other reservoirs, adorned with gigantic statues. Cortez also mentions the gardens of a Cacique which were not less than two leagues in circumference."-See Chevalier's 'Mexico,' vol. i. p. 28-30. |