Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: SANTA ANNA.]
MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION;
WITH
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN THAT COUNTRY
DURING PARTS OF THE YEARS 1851-52-53-54,
AND
HISTORICAL NOTICES OF EVENTS
CONNECTED WITH PLACES VISITED.
BY
ROBERT A. WILSON.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1855.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.
TO
THE AMERICAN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES
Are Respectfully Dedicated.
PREFACE.
The custom of mingling together historical events with the incidents of
travel, of amusement with instruction, is rather a Spanish than
American practice; and in adopting it, I must crave the indulgence of
those of my readers who read only for instruction, as well as of those
who read only for amusement.
The evidence that I have adduced to prove that the yellow fever is not
an American, but an African disease, imported in slave-ships, and
periodically renewed from those cargoes of human rottenness and
putrefaction, I hope will be duly considered.
The picture of inner convent life, and the inimitable gambling scene in
the convent of San Francis, I have not dared to present on my own
responsibility, nor even that of the old English black-letter edition
of Friar Thomas, but I have reproduced it from the expurgated Spanish
edition, which has passed the censors, and must therefore be considered
official.
I have presumed to follow the great Las Casas, who called all the
historians of the Conquest of Mexico liars; and though his labored
refutation of their fictions has disappeared, yet, fortunately, the
natural evidences of their untruth still remain. Having before me the
surveys and the levels of our own engineers, I have presumed to doubt
that water ever ran up hill, that navigable canals were ever fed by
"back water," that pyramids (_teocalli_) could rest on a foundation of
soft earth, that a canal twelve feet broad by twelve feet deep, mostly
below the water level, was ever dug by Indians with their rude
implements, that gardens ever floated in mud, or that brigantines ever
sailed in a salt marsh, or even that 100,000 men ever entered the
mud-built city of Mexico by a narrow causeway in the morning, and after
fighting all day returned by the same path at night to their camp, or
that so large a besieging army as 150,000 men could be supported in a
salt-marsh valley, surrounded by high mountains.
In answer to the question why such fables have so long passed for
history, I have the ready answer, that the Inquisition controlled every
printing-office in Spain and her colonies, and its censors took good
care that nothing should be printed against the fair fame of so good a
Christian as Cortez, who had painted upon his banner an image of the
Immaculate Virgin, and had bestowed upon her a large portion of his
robbery; who had gratified the national taste for holy wars by writing
one of the finest of Spanish romances of history; who had induced the
Emperor to overlook his crime of levying war without a royal license by
the bestowal of rich presents and rich provinces; so that, by the favor
of the Emperor and the favor of the Inquisition, a _filibustero_,
whose atrocities surpassed those of every other on record, has come
down to us as a Christian hero.
The innumerable little things about their Indian mounds force the
conviction on the experienced eye of an American traveler that the
Aztecs were a horde of North American savages, who had precipitated
themselves first upon the table-land, and afterward, like the Goths
from the table-lands of Spain, extended their conquests over the
expiring civilization of the coast country; and this idea is confirmed
by the fact that the magnificent Toltec monuments of a remote
antiquity, discovered in the tropical forests, were apparently unknown
to the Aztecs. The conquest of Mexico, like our conquest of California,
was in itself a small affair; but both being immediately followed by
extensive discoveries of the precious metals, Mexico rose as rapidly
into opulence as San Francisco has in our day.
The evidence that I have presented of the inexhaustible supplies of
silver in Northern Mexico, near the route of our proposed Pacific
Railroad, may be interesting to legislators. These masses of silver lie
as undisturbed by their present owners as did the Mexican discoveries
of gold in California before the American conquest, from the inertness
of the local population, and the want of facilities of communication
with the city of Mexico.
The notion that the Mormons are destined to overrun Mexico is, of
course, only an inference drawn from the exact parallel that exists
between the circumstances under which this delusion has arisen and
propagated itself and the history of Mohammedanism from its rise until
it overran the degenerated Christians of the Eastern empire.
From want of space, I have been obliged to omit much valuable original
matter procured for me by officers of government at the palace of
Mexico, to whom, for the kind attention that I have upon all occasions
received from them, I heartily return my most sincere thanks.
R. A. WILSON.
Rochester, September 1st, 1855.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at Vera Cruz.--Its appearance from the Steamer.--Getting
Ashore.--Within the City.--Throwing Stones at an Image.--Antiquity
of Vera Cruz.--Its Commerce.--The great Norther of 1852.--A little
Steamer rides out the Tempest.--The Vomito, or Yellow Fever.--Ravages
of the Vomito.--The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships.--A
curious old Book.--Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls
him there.--Life in a Convent.--A nice young Prior.--Our Monk finds
himself in another World 15
CHAPTER II.
An historical Sketch.--Truth seldom spoken of Santa Anna.--Santa
Anna's early Life.--Causes of the Revolution.--The Virgin Mary's
Approval of King Ferdinand.--The Inquisition imprisons the
Vice-King.--Santa Anna enters the King's Army.--The plan of
Iguala.--The War of the two Virgins.--Santa Anna pronounces for
Independence 30
CHAPTER III.
Incidents of Travel.--The Great Road to the Interior.--Mexican
Diligences.--The Priest was the first Passenger robbed.--The
National Bridge.--A Conducta of Silver.--Our Monk visits Old Vera
Cruz.--They grant to the Indians forty Years of Indulgence in
return for their Hospitality.--The Artist among Robbers.--Mexican
Scholars in the United States.--Encerro 39
CHAPTER IV.
Jalapa.--The extraordinary Beauty and Fertility of this
Spot.--Jalap, Sarsaparilla, Myrtle, Vanilla, Cochineal, and Wood
of Tobasco.--The charming Situation of Jalapa.--Its Flowers and
its Fruits.--Magnificent Views.--The tradition that Jalapa was
Paradise.--A speck of War.--The Marriage of a Heretic.--A
gambling Scene in a Convent 52
CHAPTER V.
The War of the Secret Political Societies of Mexico.--The Scotch
and the York Free-Masons.--Anti-Masons.--Rival Classes compose
Scotch Lodges.--The Yorkinos.--Men desert from the Scotch to the
York Lodges.--Law to suppress Secret Societies.--The Escoces, or
Scotch Masons, take up arms.--The Battle.--Their total Defeat 68
CHAPTER VI.
Mexico becomes an Empire.--Santa Anna deposes the Emperor.--He
proclaims a Republic.--He pronounces against the Election of
Pedraza, the second President.--His Situation in the Convent at
Oajaca.--He captures the Spanish Armada.--And is made General of
Division 73
CHAPTER VII.
In the Stage and out of the Stage.--Still climbing.--A moment's
View of all the Kingdoms of the World.--Again in Obscurity.--The
Maguey, or Century Plant.--The many uses of the Maguey.--The
intoxicating juice of the Maguey.--Pulque.--Immense Consumption
of Pulque.--City of Perote.--Castle of San Carlos de
Perote.--Starlight upon the Table-land.--Tequisquita.--"The Bad
Land."--A very old Beggar.--Arrive at Puebla 79
CHAPTER VIII.
Pueblo.--The Miracle of the Angels.--A City of Priests.--Marianna
in Bronze.--The Vega of Puebla.--First View of the Pyramid of
Cholula.--Modern Additions to it.--The View from its
Top.--Quetzalcoatl.--Cholula and Tlascala.--Cholula without the
Poetry.--Indian Relics 88
CHAPTER IX.
A Ride to Popocatapetl.--The Village of Atlizco.--The old Man
of Atlizco and the Inquisition.--A novel Mode of Escape.--An
avenging Ghost.--The Vice-King Ravillagigedo.--The Court of the
Vice-King and the Inquisition.--Ascent of Popocatapetl.--How
a Party perished by Night.--The Crater and the House in
it.--Descent into the Crater.--The Interior.--The Workmen in
the Volcano.--The View from Popocatapetl.--The first White that
climbed Popocatapetl.--The Story of Corchado.--Corchado converts
the Volcano into a Sulphur-mine 101
CHAPTER X.
Texas.--Battle of Madina.--First Introduction of Americans into
Texas.--Usurpation of Bustamente.--Texas owed no Allegiance to
the Usurper.--The good Faith of the United States in the
Acquisition of Louisiana and Texas.--Santa Anna pronounces
against Bustamente.--Santa Anna in Texas.--A Mexican's
Denunciation of the Texan War.--His Idea of our Revolution.--He
complains of our grasping Spirit.--The right of the United States
to occupy unsettled Territory.--A few more Pronunciamientos of
Santa Anna.--The Adventures of Santa Anna to the present Date. 113
CHAPTER XI.
From Puebla to Mexico.--The Dread of Robbers.--The
Escort.--Tlascala.--The Exaggerations of Cortez and Bernal
Diaz.--The Truth about Tlascala.--The Advantages of Tlascala
to Cortez.--Who was Bernal Diaz.--Who wrote his History.--First
View of Mexico. 122
CHAPTER XII.
Acapulco.--The Advantages of a Western Voyage to India.--The
great annual Fair of Acapulco.--The Village and Harbor of
Acapulco.--The War of Santa Anna and Alvarez.--The
Retreat.--Traveling alone and unarmed.--The Peregrino
Pass.--Quiricua and Cretinism.--Chilpanzingo.--An ill-clad
Judge.--Iguala.--Alpayaca.--Cuarnavaca. 132
CHAPTER XIII.
California.--Pearl Fisheries.--Missions.--Indian
Marriages.--Villages.--Precious Metals.--The Conquest of
California compared with that of Mexico.--Upper California under
the Spaniards.--Mexican Conquest of California in 1825.--The
March.--The Conquest.--California under the Mexicans.--American
Conquest.--Sinews of foreign Wars.--A Protestant and religious
War.--Early Settlers compared.--Mexico in the Heyday of
Prosperity.--Rich Costume of the Women.--Superstitious
Worship.--When I first saw California.--Lawyers without Laws.--A
primitive Court.--A Territorial Judge in San Francisco.--Mistaken
Philanthropy.--Mexican Side of the Picture.--Great Alms.--City of
Mexico overwhelmed by a Water-spout.--The Superiority of
Californians. 142
CHAPTER XIV.
First Sight of the Valley of Mexico.--A Venice in a mountain
Valley.--An Emperor waiting his Murderers.--Cortez mowing down
unarmed Indians.--A new kind of Piety.--Capture of an
Emperor.--Torturing an Emperor to Death.--The Children paying the
Penalty of their Fathers' Crimes.--The Aztecs and other
Indians.--The Difference is in the Historians.--The Superstitions
of the Indians.--The Valley of Mexico.--An American Survey of the
Valley.--A topographical View.--The Ponds Chalco, Xochimulco, and
Tezcuco were never Lakes. 167
CHAPTER XV.
The Two Valleys.--The lake with a leaky Bottom.--The Water could
not have been higher.--Nor could the Lagunas or Ponds have been
much deeper.--The Brigantines only flat-bottomed Boats.--The
Causeway Canals fix the size of the Brigantines.--The Street
Canals.--Stagnant Water unfit for Canals.--The probable
Dimensions of the City Canals.--Difficulties of disproving a
Fiction.--A Dike or Levee.--The Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Map of
Cortez.--Wise Provision of Providence.--The Fiction about the
numerous Cities in and about the Lake 176
CHAPTER XVI.
The Chinampas or Water Gardens.--Laws of Nature not set
aside.--Mud will not float.--The present Chinampas.--They never
could have been floating Gardens.--Relations of the Chinampas to
the ancient State of the Lake in the Valley 186
CHAPTER XVII.
The gambling Festival of San Augustine.--Suppressed by
Government.--The Losses of the Saint by the Suppression of
Gambling.--How Travelers live in the Interior.--A Visit to the
Palace 192
CHAPTER XVIII.
Visit to Contreras and San Angel.--The End of a brave Soldier.--A
Place of Skulls.--A New England Dinner.--An Adventure with
Robbers--doubtful.--Reasons for revisiting Mexico.--The Battle
at the Mountain of Crosses.--A peculiar Variety of the
Cactus.--Three Men gibbeted for robbing a Bishop.--A Court upon
Horseback.--The retreat of Cortez to Otumba.--A venerable Cypress
Grove.--Unexpectedly comfortable Quarters.--An English Dinner at
Tezcuco.--Pleasures unknown to the Kings of Tezcuco.--Relics of
Tezcuco.--The Appearance of the Virgin Mary at Tezcuco.--The
Causeways of Mexico 196
CHAPTER XIX.
The Streets of Tacuba.--The Spaniards and the Indian Women.--The
Retreat of Cortez.--The Aqueducts of Mexico.--The English and
American Burying-grounds.--The Protestant President.--The
rival Virgins.--An Image out of Favor.--The Aztecs and the
Spaniards 208
CHAPTER XX.
The Paseo at Evening.--Ride to Chapultepec.--The old Cypresses
of Chapultepec.--The Capture of Chapultepec.--Molina del
Rey.--Tacubaya.--Don Manuel Escandon.--The Tobacco Monopoly.--The
Palace of Escandon.--The "Desierto."--Hermits.--Monks in the
Conflict with Satan.--Our Lady of Carmel 219
CHAPTER XXI.
Walk to Guadalupe.--Our Embassador kneeling to the Host.--An
Embassador with, and one without Lace.--First sight of Santa
Anna.--Indian Dance in Church.--Juan Diego not Saint Thomas.--The
Miracle proved at Rome.--The Story of Juan Diego.--The holy Well
of Guadalupe.--The Temple of the Virgin.--Public Worship
interdicted by the Archbishop.--Refuses to revoke his
Interdict.--He fled to Guadalupe and took Sanctuary.--Refused to
leave the Altar.--The Arrest at the Altar 229
CHAPTER XXII.
The old Indian City of Mexico.--The Mosques.--Probable Extent of
Civilization.--Aztecs acquired Arts of the Toltecs.--Toltec
Civilization, ancient and original.--The Pyramid of
Papantla.--The Plunder of Civilization.--Mexico as described by
Cortez.--Montezuma's Court.--The eight Months that Cortez held
Montezuma.--What happened for the next ten Months.--The Siege of
Mexico by Cortez.--Aztecs conquered by Famine and Thirst.--Heroes
on Paper and Victories without Bloodshed.--Cortez and Morgan 242
CHAPTER XXIII.
The new City of Mexico.--The Discoveries of Gold.--Ruins at
Mexico.--The Monks, and what Cortez gained by his Piety.--The
City of Mexico again rebuilt.--The City under Ravillagigedo.--The
National Palace.--The Cathedral.--A whole Museum turned
Saints.--All kneel together.--The San Carlos Academy of
Arts.--Reign of Carlos III.--The Mineria 259
CHAPTER XXIV.
The National Museum.--Marianna and Cortez.--The small Value of
this Collection.--The Botanic Garden.--The Market of Santa
Anna.--The Acordada Prison.--The unfortunate Prisoner.--The
Causes of that Night of Terror.--The Sacking of the City.--The
Parian.--The Causes of the Ruin of the Parian.--Change in the
Standard of Color.--The Ashes of Cortez 271
CHAPTER XXV.
The Priests gainers by the Independence.--Improved Condition of
the Peons.--Mexican Mechanics.--The Oppression they suffer.--Low
state of the Mechanic Arts.--The Story of the Portress.--Charity
of the Poor.--The Whites not superior to Meztizos.--License and
Woman's Rights at Mexico.--The probable Future of
Mexico.--Mormonism impending over Mexico.--Mormonism and
Mohammedanism 280
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Plaza of the Inquisition.--The two Modes of human
Sacrifice, the Aztec and the Spanish.--Threefold Power of the
Inquisition.--Visit to the House of the Inquisition.--The
Prison and Place of Torture.--The Story of William Lamport.--The
little and the big _Auto da Fe_.--The Inquisition the real
Government.--Ruin of Spanish Nationality.--The political Uses of
theInquisition.--Political Causes of the Bigotry of Philip II.--His
eldest Son dies mysteriously.--The Dominion of Priests continues
tillthe French Invasion 292
CHAPTER XXVII.
Miracles and Earthquakes.--The Saints in Times of Ignorance.--The
Eruption of Jorullo.--The Curse of the Capuchins.--The
Consequences of the Curse.--The unfulfilled Curse.--The
Population of the Republic.--Depopulation from 1810 to 1840.--The
Mixture of Whites and Indians not prolific.--The pure
Indians.--The Meztizos.--The White Population.--Negroes and
Zambos.--The Jew and the Law of Generation.--The same Law applies
to Cattle.--It governs the Generation of Plants.--Intemperance
and Generation.--Meztizo Plants short-lived.--Mexico can not be
resuscitated.--She can not recover her Northern Provinces 304
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The Church of Mexico.--Its present Condition and Power.--The Number
of the "Religios."--The Wealth of the Church.--The Money-power
of the Church.--The Power of Assassination.--Educating the
People robs the Priest.--Making and adoring Images.--The Progress
downward 319
CHAPTER XXIX.
Causes that have diminished the Religios--The Provincials and
Superiors of Convents.--The perfect Organization.--The
Monks.--San Franciscans.--Dominicans.--Carmelites.--The
well-reputed Orders.--The Jesuits.--The Nuns.--How Novices are
procured.--Contrasted with a Quaker Prison.--The poor deluded
Nun.--A good old Quaker Woman not a Saint.--Protestantism felt
in Mexico 330
CHAPTER XXX.
The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico.--The Finances and
Revenue.--The impoverished Creditors of the State.--Princely
Wealth of Individuals 348
CHAPTER XXXI.
Visit to Pachuca and Real del Monte.--Otumba and Tulanzingo.--The
grand Canal of Huehuetoca.--The Silver Mines of Pachuca.--Hakal
Silver Mines.--Real del Monte Mines.--The Anglo-Mexican Mining
Fever.--My Equipment to descend a Mine.--The great
Steam-pump.--Descending the great Shaft.--Galleries and Veins of
Ore.--Among the Miners one thousand Feet under Ground.--The
Barrel Process of refining Silver.--Another refining
Establishment 352
CHAPTER XXXII.
A Visit to the Refining-mills.--The Falls and basaltic Columns of
Regla.--How a Title is acquired to Silver Mines.--The Story of
Peter Terreros, Count of Regla.--The most successful of
Miners.--Silver obtained by fusing the Ore.--Silver "benefited"
upon the Patio.--The Tester of the Patio.--The chemical Processes
employed.--The Heirs of the Count of Regla.--The Ruin caused by
Civil War.--The History of the English Company 362
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Toluca.--Queretaro, Guanajuato, and
Zacatecas.--Fresnillo.--"Romancing."--A lucky Priest.--San Luis
Potosi.--The Valenciana at Guanajuato.--Under-mining.--A Name of
Blasphemy.--The Los Rayas.--Immense Sums taken from Los
Rayas.--Warlike Indians in Zacatecas. 372
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Sonora and Sonora Land Speculators seeking Annexation.--Sonora
and its Attractions.--The Abundance and Purity of Silver in
Sonora.--Silver found in large Masses.--The Jesus Maria, Refugio,
and Eulalia Mines.--A Creation of Silver at Arizpa.--The Pacific
Railroad.--Sonora now valueless for want of personal Security.--The
Hopes of replenishing the Spanish Finances from Sonora blasted by
War.--Report of the Mineria.--Sonora.--Chihuahua 382
APPENDIX.
A. Mineria Report on the Mineral Riches of Sonora 391
B. Report on the Mineral Riches of Chihuahua 398
C. Report on the Mineral Riches of Coahuila 400
D. Report on the Mineral Riches of Lower California 402
E. The Remains of Cortez 405
MEXICO AND ITS RELIGION.
CHAPTER I.
Arrival at Vera Cruz.--Its appearance from the Steamer.--Getting
Ashore.--Within the City.--Throwing Stones at an Image.--Antiquity of
Vera Cruz.--Its Commerce.--The great Norther of 1852.--A little Steamer
rides out the Tempest.--The Vomito, or Yellow Fever.--Ravages of the
Vomito.--The Vomito brought from Africa in Slave-ships.--A curious old
Book.--Our Monk arrives at Vera Cruz, and what befalls him there.--Life
in a Convent.--A nice young Prior.--Our Monk finds himself in another
World.
It was a stormy evening in the month of November, 1853, when the noble
steamship _Texas_ cast anchor in the open roadstead of Vera Cruz,
under the lee of the low island on which stands the famous fortress of
San Juan de Ulua. Hard by lay a British vessel ready to steam out into
the teeth of the storm, as soon as the officers should receive from us
a budget of newspapers. We were too late to obtain a permit to land
that evening, so that we lay tossing at our anchors all night, and
until the sun and the shore-boats appeared together on the morning
following.
VERA CRUZ.
The finest view of Vera Cruz is from the harbor; and the best time to
look upon it is when a bright sun, just risen above a watery horizon,
is reflected back from the antiquated domes and houses, which are
visible above the old massive city wall.
Soon we were in one of the canoes alongside, and were quickly
transported to the mole, on which we landed, among bales of cotton and
bundles of freight that encumbered it. The iron gate of the city was
now opened, and we passed through it, mixed up in the crowd of
bare-footed "cargadores" or porters, who were carrying upon their backs
bales of cotton, and depositing them in various piles in front of the
custom-house. How quietly and quickly these cargadores do their work!
and what great power of muscle they have acquired by long application
at this laborious calling!
[Illustration: VERA CRUZ.]
What a contrast does this city present to New Orleans, which we had
left only four days before! Instead of the noise and bustle of a
commercial emporium, all here is as quiet and as cleanly as a
church-yard. Even the chiming of bells for the dying and the dead,
which so incessantly disturbs the living by night and day in the season
of the "vomito" or yellow fever, is no longer heard, for it is the
healthy season--the season of "Northers." The only noise is the little
bells upon the necks of the donkeys, that are carrying about kegs of
water for family use. The chain-gang have completed their morning task
of cleansing the streets and gutters, and as they are led away to their
breakfast, a clank now and then of their chain reminds the traveler
that crime has been as busy here as in more bustling cities. Morning
mass is over, and bonnetless women of low and high degree are returning
to their homes; some wearing mantillas of satin, black and shining as
their raven hair, which are pinned by a jeweled pin upon the top of
their heads; others, more modern in their tastes, sport India shawls;
while the common class still cling to the "rebosa," which they so
ingeniously twirl around their heads and chests as to include in its
narrow folds their arms, and all above the waist except the face.
Priests appear in black gowns, and fur hats with such ample brims that
they lap and are fastened together upon the top of their heads. The
armed patrol, in dirty cotton uniforms, and soldiers in broadcloth, are
returning from morning muster; for in this hot climate the burden of
the day's duties is discharged before breakfast. Under the arches
(_portales_), and in the open market-place, men and women are driving a
brisk trade, in the most quiet way, in meats, and vegetables, and
huxter's wares. Nature has denied to the butcher of hot climates the
privilege of salting meat, but he makes amends for this defect by
cutting his tough beef into strips, which he rubs over with salt, and
offers to sell to you by the yard. Vera Cruz is now as venerable a
looking town as when I was here before, although the houses, and the
plastered walls, and tops of the stone churches seem to have had a new
coating of Spanish white within a few months. But the malaria from the
swamps in the time of the vomito, or the salt atmosphere driven upon it
by the Northers, soon replaces the familiar dingy hue. The battered
face of the stone image, at the side of the deserted church, has
received a few more bruises since I was last here; for the marriageable
young misses still most religiously believe that a stone thrown by a
fair hand that shall hit the image full in the face, will obtain for
the thrower a husband, and an advantageous settlement for life. This is
a small city, or the poor image could not have endured this kind of
bruising for two hundred years.
The first Spaniard that landed here was Grijalva,[1] in 1518, in a
trading expedition fitted out by Valasquez, Governor of Cuba. He was so
successful in his traffic with the natives, as to obtain, in exchange
for a few trinkets, $14,000 worth of gold dust. His success so
encouraged Valasquez, that he fitted out a much larger expedition the
following year, the command of which he gave to Hernando Cortez, of
whom we shall have occasion to speak more at large hereafter. Cortez,
at first, landed on the island of Ulua, in front of the site of the
present city. But when he commenced his conquest he transported his
boats to the mouth of the river Antigua, where he founded his intended
city, a little way below the place where the national bridge now
stands, and gave it the name of the Rich City of the True Cross (Villa
Rica de Vera Cruz); and there it was where he destroyed his little
vessels. Ninety years after the conquest of Mexico, the Marquis De
Monterey removed the port back to Ulua, and founded the present city of
Vera Cruz. It was at first built of wood, but having been several times
burned down, it was at length built of its present material--a porous
stone full of animal remains, obtained from the bottom of the harbor.
This stone, when laid in and covered over with cement, forms a very
durable building-material. The castle, which stands upon the island of
Ulua, is now fast going to decay.
COMMERCE OF VERA CRUZ.
As a fortification it is no longer of great value,[2] although it is
computed that more than $16,000,000 was expended in its erection. In
fact, its only present practical advantage is derived from the
light-house which stands upon one of its towers.
This town, although it has been the terror of seafaring men for the
last three hundred years, has, for a like period of time, enjoyed an
enviable commerce. Nearly three-fourths of all the silver that has been
shipped to Europe from America during that long period has been sent
from this port, besides the other productions of the country, such as
cochineal, vanilla, wood of Tobasco, sarsaparilla, and jalap. To all
this we must add that all the trade of Spain with Japan, China, and the
Philipine Islands, was carried across Mexico from Acapulco, on the
Pacific, to be shipped from Vera Cruz to Spain. During the long period
we have named, this was the only port on the Atlantic side where
foreign commerce was allowed; and this was restricted to Spain alone,
and to a single fleet of merchant ships that came and went annually,
until about fifty years before the Mexican independence, when free
commerce was allowed with all the Spanish world. From a history of the
commerce of Vera Cruz, just published at Mexico, I find that its annual
average did not vary greatly from $12,000,000 importations against
$18,000,000 exportations. The extra $6,000,000 being about the annual
average of the royal revenue derived from New Spain, as this country
was then called. Silver constituted the bulk of this $18,000,000, both
in weight and in value. During the last fifty years of Spanish
dominion, this commerce, extended, as we have said, to all Spanish
possessions, was monopolized by a company of merchants styled the
Consulado of Vera Cruz. Under the management of this company it
averaged as high as $22,000,000. The revolution broke up this monopoly,
and almost annihilated the commerce of this port, but it rapidly
revived after the Spaniards were driven out of the castle, and from
this time it has gone on increasing, until now it amounts to
$26,000,000; the imports and exports being equal, as there is now no
King's revenue. This commerce is now carried on principally with the
United States, since the establishment of a line of steamers to New
Orleans. The most important article of importation is raw cotton, for
the supply of the great manufactories in the interior of Mexico. The
silver goes principally to England, and is drawn again in favor of the
cotton purchaser. There is also a large import trade in agricultural
implements, steam-machinery for the sugar-mills and the silver mines,
besides heavy importation of silks and wines from France and Spain.
With this hasty notice we are compelled to quit a subject which is the
theme of a most interesting volume.
A NORTHER.
The first time I saw Vera Cruz was during the great Norther of 1852. I
was then returning homeward from the city of Mexico. A fierce Norther
was blowing, and the harbor was filled with shipping that could not
bear up against such a tornado. I stood among the anxious multitude,
watching the symptoms of the rising storm. We looked intently at the
heavens as they gathered blackness, and saw far off toward the horizon
the clouds and the waves mingling together into one great vaporous
mass. Now and then we were tantalized by brief intervals of bright
skies; but they were again quickly overcast and shrouded in by more
intense darkness, while the temperature fell to a degree of chilliness
unusual in this latitude. The howling of the wind was terrific. Where
we stood we were near enough to see, or at least to catch glimpses of
what was taking place on board the shipping. All extra anchors that
could be got out were soon thrown into the sea. But to little purpose;
for a coral bottom is but a poor holding-ground in a Norther. One after
another the vessels began to drag toward the shore; and even the castle
itself seemed at times as though it would be torn from its rocky
foundations and dashed upon the town, so violent was the tempest. The
terror of those on land was hardly describable as they saw the shipping
dragging around toward apparent destruction to both vessels and crews.
Now and then a vessel held a little by some new obstacle that the
anchor had caught hold of, but soon the resistance gave way, and then
it moved on again, approaching the shore, whither all now were tending,
except a few that occupied a good holding-ground in the lee of the
castle and island. All did not drag at once, or drag together; but one
by one their power of endurance gave out, and one by one they came
dragging on, when they had no longer any help, and little hope, if the
storm continued. "It can not last long," the spectators would mutter,
rather in hope than expectation, for the only chance for the safety of
the vessels was in the lulling of the tempest. Yet it did continue
against the constant predictions of all, and momentarily increased in
violence. Hope seemed to give way to despair as vessel after vessel
approached the land; and as they were dashed into pieces men held their
breath, while the hardy seamen were struggling in the waves toward the
beach. One staunch vessel, without cargo, was carried broadside on, and
her crew leaped out of her, and ran off in safety. Many single
shipwrecks have caused greater destruction of property, and immensely
greater loss of life; but here was the individual struggle of each
separate mariner, made in the very sight of those who could render no
assistance, but must stand idle spectators. Here strong swimmers were
rendered powerless by the tempest, and were perishing from exhaustion
in vain efforts to swim ashore.
From this scene of disaster we turned to look back upon a more equal
contest going on between two of the elements: a small steamer--a little
crazy thing, it seemed, almost ready to be blown to pieces; but it was
gallantly facing the tempest, and riding out bravely against the
combined force of wind and waves. But she mounted the waves, one after
another, without any difficulty, though held by but a single anchor, as
the strain on her cable was eased away by the action of her
paddle-wheels, which were kept in motion by an engine of the smallest
class ever put into a river boat. This was said to be the most violent
Norther that had visited Vera Cruz in a century. It destroyed sixteen
vessels, and caused the loss of thirteen lives; and yet so small an
amount of steam-power was fully able to bear up against the dreaded
fury of a Norther, and to insure the safety of the vessel.
THE BUCCANEERS.
Vera Cruz, like almost every other Spanish American seaport town, has
its traditional tales of the horrors committed by the buccaneers, or
filibusters. The history of the buccaneers, their origin, their fearful
exploits of blood, the terror that their name even now inspires in the
minds of all Spanish Americans, are too well known to demand a
repetition here, though we may give the substance of their story, by
saying that they had their origin in a laudable effort to avenge the
gross wrongs inflicted by the Spaniards upon the honest traders of
other nations, while trafficking with the native inhabitants of
America, within the region which the Pope, as the representative of the
Almighty, had bestowed upon the King of Spain, to conquer and subdue
for the benefit of the Church. Elizabeth of England raised the question
of the validity of the title of the King of Spain derived from so
questionable a source, and insisted that he had no rights in America
beyond those acquired by discovery, followed up by possession. But the
King of Spain was too good a Catholic to have his right called in
question, and when a heretic ship was caught among the West Indies, the
avarice of priests and officials, and their holy horror at the approach
of heresy to these regions, were exhibited in their dealings with the
cargo and the unhappy crew. The inhuman treatment that the Spaniards
inflicted upon honest traders aroused men to reprisals; and all ships
venturing into these seas went fully armed. Private war was the natural
consequence of Spanish cruelty and injustice; and the superior prowess
of the Dutch and English soon made sad havoc with the plunder which the
Spaniards had wrung from the natives for a hundred years and more.
The filibusters finally degenerated into pirates and robbers, and the
treasure ships ("galleons") of Spain, and the towns upon her American
coasts, were the victims of their depredations. The fury of the
buccaneers was mainly directed against the monks, and when they sacked
a town, they never failed to pay an especial visitation to the
convents. When Vera Cruz was sacked they showed their contempt for the
clergy by compelling the monks and nuns to carry the plunder of the
town to their private boats; thereby grieving these "holy men" most of
all, if we may believe the old chronicles, because they could have no
share in the rich plunder loaded upon their own backs.
The second day after our arrival in Vera Cruz a fellow-passenger, who
had been sick all the voyage, died of the yellow fever, which he had
contracted at New Orleans, or on the Mississippi; which was probably
the first time that a person ever died in Vera Cruz of vomito that had
been contracted in the United States.
THE VOMITO.
This is a fitting place to speak of this disease and of its ravages,
which we witnessed before leaving New Orleans. It was the time for the
frosts to make their appearance when I left New York, and with the
expectation of seeing the ground covered with this antidote to the
fever, crowds were returning from the north, though the marks of the
pestilence were still visible along our route. It had followed the main
stream of travel far northward, and now, as we ventured upon its track,
it seemed like traversing the valley of the shadow of death. Terror had
committed greater ravages than the pestilence; the villages and cities
on our route were half deserted; stagnation was visible in all
commercial places; and when we reached New Orleans this strange state
of things was doubly intensified: it looked more like a city of the
dead, or a city depopulated, than the emporium of the Mississippi
valley. A stranger might have supposed that a great funeral service had
just been performed, in which all of the inhabitants remaining in town
had acted the part of mourners. The city itself had been so thoroughly
cleansed, that it might challenge comparison with one of the most
cleanly villages of Holland, while its footways seemed almost too pure
to be trod upon. Nothing appears half so gloomy as such a place when
deserted of its principal inhabitants.
This disease was unknown in America until the opening of the African
slave-trade. It is an African disease, intensified and aggravated by
the rottenness and filthy habits of the human cargoes that brought it
to America. It was entirely unknown at Vera Cruz until brought there in
the slave-ship of 1699.[3] In like manner it was carried to all the
West India islands. When the negro insurrection in San Domingo drove
the white population into exile, the disease was carried by the
immigrants to all the cities of the United States, and even to the most
healthy localities in the interior of Massachusetts. Old people still
remember when New York was so completely deserted that its principal
streets were boarded up, and watchmen went their rounds of silent
streets by day as well as by night. The fever of the present year can
be traced directly to this accursed traffic. Slaves had been smuggled
into Rio Janeiro, who brought the disease in its most virulent form
from Africa. In that city it was carrying its hundreds to the grave,
when a vessel cleared for New Orleans, having the disease on board.
This vessel disseminated it in the upper wards of the city, while at
the same time there arrived from Cuba another vessel which, from a like
cause, had caught the vomito at Havana, and from this second vessel the
disease was disseminated in the lower wards of New Orleans. It was the
meeting of these two independent currents of the fever in the centre of
the city, on Canal Street, that caused that fatal day on which three
hundred victims went to their long homes. Such were the fruits of this
offspring of an inhuman trade in a single city, in a single day.
FRIAR PAGE.
I learn from the preface of a book in the Spanish language, which I
purchased at Mexico, entitled "The Voyages of Thomas Page," that a
Dominican monk of that name, the brother of the Royalist Governor of
Oxford under Charles I., was smuggled into Mexico by his Dominican
brethren, against the King's order, which prohibited the entry of
Englishmen into that country. As a missionary monk he resided in
Mexico, or New Spain, as it was then called, eighteen years. On his
return to England he published an account of the country which he
visited, under the title of "A Survey of the West Indies." This being
the first and last book ever written by a resident of New Spain that
had not been submitted to the most rigid censorship by the Inquisition,
it produced so profound a sensation, that, by order of the great
Colbert, French Minister of State, it was expurgated and translated
into French by an Irish Catholic of the name of O'Neil. From this
expurgated French edition the Spanish copy now before me was
translated. From this Spanish edition I had made the several
translations that are found in this, and the following chapters. I have
since found a black letter copy of the original, printed at London, in
1677; but I have concluded to use the translations, as furnishing a
more official character to the picture therein drawn of the grossly
immoral state of the clergy, and of the religious orders. As it is from
actual observation, and has the sanction of the censorship, it must be
of more value to my readers than any account of personal observations
that I might write. This is my apology for copying the most interesting
portions of a long forgotten book.
"When we came to land," says our author, "we saw all the inhabitants of
the city (Vera Cruz) had congregated in the Plaza (public square) to
receive us. The communities of monks were also there, each one preceded
by a large crucifix. The Dominicans, the San Franciscans, the
Mercedarios, and the Jesuits, in order to conduct the Virey (the
Viceroy) of Mexico as far as the Cathedral. The Jesuits and friars from
the ships leaped upon the shore more expeditiously than did the Virey,
the Marquis Seralvo, and his wife. Many of them (the monks) on stepping
on shore kissed it, considering that it was a holy cause that brought
them here--the conversion of the Indians, who had before adored and
sacrificed to demons; others kneeled down and gave thanks to the Virgin
Mary and other saints of their devotion, and then all the monks
hastened to incorporate themselves with their respective orders in the
place in which they severally stood. The procession, as soon as formed,
directed itself to the Cathedral, where the consecrated wafer[4] was
exposed upon the high altar, and to which all kneeled as they
entered.... The services ended, the Virey was conducted to his lodgings
by the first Alcalde, the magistrates of the town, and judges, who had
descended from the capitol to receive him, besides the soldiers of the
garrison and the ships. Those of the religious orders who had just
arrived were conducted to their respective convents, crosses, as
before, being carried at the head of each community. Friar John
presented (us) his missionaries to the Prior of the Convent of San
Domingo, who received us kindly, and directed sweetmeats to be given to
us, and also there was given to each of us a cup of that Indian
beverage which the Indians call chocolate.
"This first little act of kindness was only a prelude to a greater one.
That is to say, it was the introduction to a sumptuous dinner, composed
of flesh and fish of every description, in which there was no lack of
turkeys and capons. All set out with the intent of manifesting to us
the abundance of the country, and not for the purpose of worldly
ostentation.
A NICE YOUNG PRIOR.
"The Prior of Vera Cruz was neither old nor severe, as the men selected
to govern communities of youthful _religious_ are accustomed to be. On
the contrary, he was in the flower of his age, and had all the manner
of a joyful and diverting youth. His fathership, as they told us, had
acquired the priory by means of a gift of a thousand ducats, which he
had sent to the Father Provincial. After dinner he invited some of us
to visit his cell, and there it was we came to know the levity of his
life. It exhibited little of the appearance of a life of penance and
self-mortification. We expected to find in the habitation of a prelate
of such an establishment a most magnificent library, which would
furnish an index of his learning and of his taste for letters. But we
saw nothing more than a dozen old books lying in a corner, and covered
with dust and cobwebs, as if they had hid themselves for shame at the
neglect with which the treasures they contained had been treated, and
that a guitar should be preferred to them.
"The cell of the Prior was richly tapestried and adorned with feathers
of birds of Michoacan; the walls were hung with various pictures of
merit; rich rugs of silk covered the tables; porcelain of China filled
the cupboards and sideboards; and there were vases and bowls containing
preserved fruits and most delicate sweetmeats. Our enthusiastic
companions did not fail to be scandalized at such an exhibition, which
they looked upon as a manifestation of worldly vanity, so foreign to
the poverty of a begging friar. But those among us that had sailed from
Spain with the intent of living at their ease, and of enjoying the
pleasures which riches would produce, exulted at the sight of such
great opulence, and they desired to establish themselves in a country
where they could so quickly win fortunes so secure and abundant.[5] The
holy Prior talked to us only of his ancestry, of his good parts, of the
influence which he had with the Father Provincial, of the love which
the principal ladies and the wives of the richest merchants manifested
to him, of his beautiful voice, of his consummate skill in music. In
fact, that we might not doubt him in this last particular, he took the
guitar and sung a sonnet which he had composed to a certain _Amaryllis_.
This was a new scandal to our newly-arrived _religious_, which
afflicted some of them to see such libertinage in a prelate, who ought,
on the contrary, to have set an example of penance and self-mortification,
and should shine like a mirror in his conduct and words.
"When we had satiated our ears with the delicacy of music, our eyes
with the beauty of such rich stuffs of cotton, of silk, and of
feathers, then our reverend Prior directed us to take from his
dispensaries a prodigious quantity of every species of dainties to
allure the taste or satisfy the appetite. Truly we seemed in another
world, by being transported from Europe to America. Our senses had been
changed from what they had been the night and day before, while
listening to the hoarse sounds of the mariners, when the abyss of the
sea was at our feet, and when we drank fetid water, and inhaled the
stench of pitch. In the Prior's cell of the Convent of Vera Cruz, we
listened to a melodious voice accompanied with an harmonious
instrument, we saw treasures and riches, we ate exquisite
confectioneries, we breathed amber and musk, with which he had perfumed
his sirups and conserves. O, that delicious Prior!"
[1] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 102.
[2] Esterior Comercio de Mexico. M. M. Lerdo de Tegido. Mexico,
1853.
[3] Apuntes Historicos de Vera Cruz, p. 129.
[4] Called, in the Spanish translation, "The most holy
Sacrament;" but in the English original, "The bread God."
[5] These missionary monks were on their way to Manilla and the
Spanish East Indies by the road across Mexico.