[Illustration: MAP OF
SOUTH AMERICA
TO ILLUSTRATE “THE CAPITALS OF SPANISH AMERICA.” BY WM ELEROY CURTIS]
THE CAPITALS
OF
SPANISH AMERICA
BY
WILLIAM ELEROY CURTIS
LATE COMMISSIONER FROM THE UNITED STATES TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF
CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
Copyright, 1888, by HARPER & BROTHERS.
_All rights reserved._
TO
THE MEMORY OF
CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR
TWENTY-FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
THIS BOOK IS
Dedicated
HIS KINDNESS MADE ITS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE; AND HIS AFFECTIONATE
INTEREST ADDED PLEASURE TO ITS PREPARATION
_Mr. Arthur’s Acceptance of the Dedication._
* * * * *
New York, April 7, 1887.
_William E. Curtis, Esquire, Washington_:
DEAR SIR,--In compliance with your request, I enclose an unsigned
draft of a letter dictated by Mr. Arthur last November. It was
submitted to him a few days before he died, and as he desired to
make no further changes in the text, I was to have a clean copy
made for his signature; but he was fatally stricken before that was
done.
Very respectfully yours,
JAMES C. REED.
* * * * *
November 13, 1886.
MY DEAR CURTIS,--The graceful terms in which you propose to
dedicate your book to me add still another obligation that I may
not be able to repay.
I appointed you Secretary of the South American Commission without
your solicitation, because I knew your ability, energy, and
industry would be felt as they have been in the effort to bring our
Spanish-American neighbors into closer commercial and political
relations with us.
I had given much consideration to the subject, and realized what is
made so clear in the Reports of the South American Commission, that
the future commercial prosperity of the United States required
something to be done to extend our trade with the continent
southward. The Commission, of which you were Secretary and
subsequently became a member, was intended as an initiatory step in
that direction.
In my judgment, it is not only the duty of the United States to
encourage and assist our merchants and manufacturers in the
expansion of their foreign trade, by seeking new markets and
furnishing facilities for reaching them, but there is a higher
achievement in promoting the welfare of our sister republics
through the consistent exercise of every friendly office tending to
secure their peaceable development and national prosperity.
I am sure your “The Capitals of Spanish America” will furnish our
own people with trustworthy and late news about our neighbors to
the southward, and that your graphic pen will make the book as
interesting as it is instructive. I shall await its publication
with very deep interest.
If my strength permits, it will give me great pleasure to act upon
your suggestion,[A] but just now I am hardly equal to the demands
of my private correspondence. With cordial regard,
I am faithfully yours,
----
_To_ WILLIAM E. CURTIS,
Washington, D. C.
[A] To write an Introduction to this volume.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
MEXICO.
THE CAPITAL OF MEXICO 1
GUATEMALA CITY.
THE CAPITAL OF GUATEMALA 60
COMAYAGUA.
THE CAPITAL OF HONDURAS 114
MANAGUA.
THE CAPITAL OF NICARAGUA 138
SAN SALVADOR.
THE CAPITAL OF SAN SALVADOR 171
SAN JOSÉ.
THE CAPITAL OF COSTA RICA 196
BOGOTA.
THE CAPITAL OF COLOMBIA 225
CARACAS.
THE CAPITAL OF VENEZUELA 257
QUITO.
THE CAPITAL OF ECUADOR 298
LIMA.
THE CAPITAL OF PERU 355
LA PAZ DE AYACUCHO.
THE CAPITAL OF BOLIVIA 416
SANTIAGO.
THE CAPITAL OF CHILI 454
PATAGONIA 516
BUENOS AYRES.
THE CAPITAL OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC 542
MONTEVIDEO.
THE CAPITAL OF URUGUAY 591
ASUNCION.
THE CAPITAL OF PARAGUAY 623
RIO DE JANEIRO.
THE CAPITAL OF BRAZIL 660
INDEX 707
ILLUSTRATIONS.
MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA _Frontispiece_.
PAGE
It was used in the Days of Moses 2
A Water-carrier 3
Ruins of the Covered Way to the Inquisition 4
Mexican Muleteer 5
Shops 6
Castle of Chapultepec 7
Tile Front 9
The Tree of Montezuma 10
Prince Yturbide 11
General Grant on a Banana Plantation 15
Church of Guadalupe 19
Iztaccihuatl 20
Ex-President Gonzales 22
President Porfirio Diaz 23
The Dome 25
San Cosme Aqueduct, City of Mexico 27
The Palace of Mexico 29
The Cathedral, City of Mexico 33
Styles of Architecture 35
A Mexican Caballero 38
Noche Triste Tree 41
The Picadors 45
Teasing the Bull 45
The Encore 46
Mexican Beggar 48
On Market-day 51
Sunday at Santa Anita 53
A Mexican Belle 54
Cactus, and Woman kneading Tortillas 55
First Protestant Church in Mexico 57
The first Christian Pulpit in America--Tlaxcala 58
Font in old Church of San Francisco 59
View of Guatemala City 61
Ruins of the old Palace at Antigua Guatemala 65
Alvarado’s Tree 69
Ancient Arches 70
The Old and the New 71
How the Old Town looks now 73
Fragment of a Ruined Monastery 74
José Rufino Barrios 75
Francisco Morazan 77
Church of San Francesca, Guatemala la Antigua 79
One of fifty-seven Ruined Monasteries 81
Façade of an old Church 83
A Remnant 85
Fort of San José, Guatemala 87
Yniensi Gate, Guatemala 89
A Volcanic Lake 91
On the Road to the Capital 93
Tiled House-tops 99
Market-place, Guatemala 101
In the Rainy Season 102
Maguey Plant 103
A Native Sandal 107
Ornamental, but noisy 109
A Conspicuous Landmark 115
The Trail to the Capital 116
A Glimpse of the Interior 117
View of the Capital 118
A Popular Thoroughfare 119
Church of Merced and Independence Monument, Comayagua 120
Rubber Hunters 121
The Pita Plant 122
Harvesting one of the Staples 123
The Floating Population 124
Branch of the Rubber-tree 125
A Modern Town 126
Up the River 127
A Mining Settlement 128
View in Nicaragua 129
An Interior Plain 130
One of the Back Streets 132
Plaza of Tegucigalpa 133
Making Tortillas 134
Indigo Works 135
The Tlachiguero 136
View of Lake from Beach at Managua 139
Corinto 140
Hide-covered Cart 141
An Interior Town 143
The Indigo Plant 144
The King of the Mosquitoes 145
A Mahogany Swamp 148
Internal Commerce 149
How the Peons live 150
A Familiar Scene 152
A Country Chapel 153
The United States Consulate 154
Cathedral of St. Peter, Leon 155
The Pacific Coast of Nicaragua 158
Antics on the Bridge 159
In the Upper Zone 161
Volcanoes of Axusco and Momotombo, from the Cathedral 162
Volcano of Cosequina, from the Sea 163
La Union and Volcano of Conchagna 164
The Fate of Filibusters 165
A Farming Settlement 167
The Quesal 168
Landing at La Libertad 173
En Route to the Interior 175
The Peak of San Salvador 177
The Plaza 179
Spanish-American Courtship 180
A Hacienda 182
Interior of a San Salvador House 183
A Typical Town 185
What alarms the Citizens 186
Yzalco from a Distance 189
Yzalco 191
In the Interior 193
Hauling Sugar-cane 194
Crater of a Volcano 197
Rubber-trees 199
The Road from Port Limon to San José 201
A Peon 203
A Banana Plantation 206
Picking Coffee 209
The Marimba 215
Coffee-drying 217
Don Bernardo de Soto, President of Costa Rica 222
Barranquilla 226
Carthagena 227
Entrance to the Old Fortress, Carthagena 230
Colombian Military Men 233
On the Magdalena 235
Colombian ’Gators 237
Vegetable Ivory Plant 239
En Route to Bogota 241
Sabana of Bogota 243
Santa Fé de Bogota 245
Monument in the Plaza of Los Martirs 246
Plaza, and Statue of Bolivar 247
Going to the Market 249
A Caballero 250
An Orchid 251
Over the Mountains in a “Silla” 253
Natural Bridge of Pandi, Colombia 255
Don Rafael Nuñez, President 256
Waiting for the New York Steamer 259
In the Suburbs of La Guayra 261
Still more Suburban 263
On a Coffee Plantation 267
On a Back Street 269
Interior Court of a Caracas House 273
Spanish Missionary Work 276
Woman’s chief Occupation 277
A Bodega 279
A Glass of Aguardiente 281
A Venezuela Belle 283
The Lower Floor of the House 285
An Old Patio 289
Chocolate in the Rough 293
Separating the Cocoa-beans 294
Puerto Cabello 296
Along the Coast 299
The River at Guayaquil 301
The River above Guayaquil 303
An average Dwelling 304
Guayaquil 305
A Person of Influence 306
A Family Circle 307
Cathedral at Guayaquil, built of Bamboo 308
A Commercial Thoroughfare 309
The President’s Palace 310
The Outskirts of Guayaquil 311
A Business of Importance 312
A Pineapple Farm 313
A Water Merchant 314
A Freight Train on the Way 315
A Passenger Train 316
The Common Carrier 317
Hotel on the Route to Quito 318
Waiting for the Mules to Feed 319
En Route to the Sea 320
Somewhere near the Summit 321
The Altar 323
A Street in Quito 324
Where Pizarro first Landed 325
Equipped for the Andes 327
The Old Inca Trail 329
A Typical Country Mansion 331
A Wayside Shrine 332
Charcoal Peddler 333
Government Building at Quito 335
Court of a Quito Dwelling 336
What the Earthquakes left 338
A Professional Beggar 339
An Ecuador Belle 340
A Hotel on the Coast 343
Customs Officers 346
A Home on the Coast 347
Peruvian Soldier and Rabona 349
Looking Seaward 352
A Boatman on the Coast 354
Lima and its Environs 356
A Peruvian Interior 358
Grand Plaza, Lima 363
A Peruvian Chamber 366
Interior of a Lima Dwelling 368
A Peruvian Palace 369
A Peruvian Belle 370
Watching the Procession 371
The Daughter of the Incas 373
Ruins of the War 375
Interior of the ordinary Sort of House 378
A very Common Spectacle 379
A Peruvian Milk-peddler 381
Mindless of Care 383
View of Cuzco and the Nevado
of Asungata from the Brow of the Sacsahuaman 389
Between Battles, Balls 393
A Warrior at Rest 397
Gate-way to the Andes 399
Henry Meiggs 402
The Heart of the Andes 404
An Inca Reminiscence 405
Cowhide Bridge over the Rimac 407
Inca Ruins of Unknown Age 408
A Settlement of this Century 409
A City of Four Centuries Ago 410
A Bit of Inca Architecture 411
Relic of a Past Civilization 412
Ruins of the Temple of the Sun 413
An Old Settler 414
Fresh from the Tomb 414
Where Peru’s Wealth came from 417
A Peruvian Port 419
The Old Trail 420
Arequipa 421
The Vicuña 424
Lake Titicaca 425
A Street in Cuzco 428
Ruins of an Inca Temple 429
Convent of Santa Domingo, Cuzco 430
What the Spaniards left 431
Where the Guano Lies 432
A Nitrate Mining Town 433
Guano Islands 435
Across the Continent 437
A Station on the Road 438
Chasquis at Rest 440
Chasquis Asleep in the Mountains 441
A Bit of La Paz 442
The Cathedral at La Paz 443
An Ancient Bridge in La Paz 445
A Bolivian Elevator 446
A Bolivian Cavalryman 447
A Home in the Andes 448
Juan Fernandez 450
Cumberland Bay 451
Tablet to Alexander Selkirk 453
The Harbor of Valparaiso 455
Victoria Street, Valparaiso 459
Santa Lucia 467
The Zama-cuaca 469
Exposition Building, Santiago 471
Statue of Bernard O’Higgins, Santiago 474
Patrick Lynch 475
Peons of Chili 477
The “Esmeralda” 481
Inca Queen and Princess 485
Señora Cousino 491
A Belle of Chili dressed for Morning Mass 497
A Solid Silver Spur 505
Over the Andes 506
Mount Aconcagua 507
Uspallata Pass 509
Caught in the Snow 511
Road Cut in the Rocks 512
A Station in the Mountains 513
The Condor 515
Cape Froward (Patagonia), Strait of Magellan 517
Fuegians Visiting a Man-of-war 519
A Fuegian Feast 521
The Signs of Civilization 523
Port Famine 526
Starvation Beach 529
Use of Lasso and Bolas 531
In their Ostrich Robes 532
A Patagonian Belle 533
The Guanaco 539
Patagonian Indians 541
The Harbor, Buenos Ayres 542
The City of Buenos Ayres 545
Loading Cargo at Buenos Ayres 548
Going Ashore at Buenos Ayres 549
A Private Residence in Buenos Ayres 552
The Colon Theatre, Buenos Ayres 554
An Argentine Ranchman 564
The Cathedral of Buenos Ayres 567
The Gaucho 570
General Rosas 573
Palace of Don Manuel Rosas 575
Map of the Argentine Republic 580
Country Scene in the Argentine Republic 584
Juarez Celman, President of the Argentine Republic 587
The City of Montevideo, looking towards the Harbor 591
Harbor of Montevideo 593
Maximo Santos, of Uruguay 595
One of the Old Streets 597
Montevideo--the Ocean Side 603
Scene in Montevideo 608
Gaspar Francia, First President of Paraguay 624
Street in Asuncion 625
Lopez, the Tyrant 626
After the War 627
Asuncion, from the West 628
Asuncion--the Palace and Cathedral 629
Wreck of the Old Cathedral 631
Station on the Asuncion Railway 633
A Visit to the Spring 634
The Paraguayans at Home 635
Paraguay Flower-girl 636
Remains of the Palace of Lopez 637
Interior of the Lopez Palace 639
The Cathedral, Asuncion 640
Market-place at Asuncion 641
A Paraguay Horseman 642
Paraguay Belles 643
Costumes of the Interior 644
An Interior Town 645
Home, Sweet Home 646
The Mandioca 647
Ox-cart on the Pampas 649
Curing Yerba Mate 650
A Siesta 651
A Paraguay Hotel 653
Native Pappoose and Cradle 654
A Hacienda 655
People of “El Gran Chaco” 656
An Armadillo 657
A Ranch on El Gran Chaco 658
Bay of Rio de Janeiro 661
A Street in Rio 662
The City of Rio from the Bay 663
Aqueduct at Rio 665
The Avenue of Royal Palms--Rio 666
The Prettiest Things in Brazil 667
A Brazilian Hacienda 669
The Old City Palace 671
In the Suburbs 672
Cottages in the Interior 673
The Iguana 675
A Brazilian Laundry 676
A Country School 677
Brazilian Country-house 679
Up the River 681
Dom Pedro II. 682
On the Way to Petropolis 683
The Empress of Brazil 685
Dom Pedro’s Palace at Petropolis 687
The Colored Saint 691
Statue of Dom Pedro I. 693
Carrying Coffee to the Steamer 696
Market-place in Country Town 697
“Sereno-o-o-o-o-o! Sereno-o-o-o-o-o!” 699
Slave Quarters in the Country 702
The Political Issue in Brazil 703
Military Men 705
THE CAPITALS OF SPANISH AMERICA.
MEXICO.
THE CAPITAL OF MEXICO.
With the exception of Buenos Ayres and Santiago, Chili, the city of
Mexico is the largest and the finest capital in Spanish America; but
unfortunately the shadow of the sixteenth century still rests upon it.
It wounds the pride of the Yankee tourist to discover that so little of
our boasted influence has lapped over the border, and that the historic
halls of the Montezumas are only spattered with the modern ideas we
exemplify. The native traveller still prefers his donkey to the railroad
train, and carries a burden upon his back instead of using a wagon.
Water is still peddled about the capital of Mexico in jars, and the
native farmer uses a plough whose pattern was old in the days of Moses.
Nowhere do ancient and modern customs come into such intimate contrast
as in the city of Mexico.
The people are highly civilized in spots. Besides the most novel and
recent product of modern science, one finds in use the crudest, rudest
implement of antiquity. Types of four centuries can be seen in a single
group in any of the plazas. Under the finest palaces, whose ceilings are
frescoed by Italian artists, whose walls are covered with the rarest
paintings, and shelter libraries selected with the choicest taste, one
finds a common _bodega_, where the native drink is dealt out in gourds,
and the _peon_ stops to eat his _tortilla_. Women and men are seen
carrying upon their heads enormous burdens through streets lighted by
electricity, and stop to ask through a telephone where their load shall
be delivered.
[Illustration: IT WAS USED IN THE DAYS OF MOSES.]
The correspondence of the Government is dictated to stenographers and
transcribed upon type-writers; and every form of modern improvement for
the purpose of economizing time and saving labor is given the
opportunity of a test, even if it is not permanently adopted. There is
no Government that gives greater encouragement to inventive genius than
the administration of President Diaz, and it has been one of the highest
aims of his official career to modernize Mexico. The twelve years from
1876, when he came into power, until 1889, when his third term
commenced, may be reckoned the progressive age of our neighborly
republic; but the common people are still prejudiced against
innovations, and resist them. In all the public places, and at the
entrance of the post-office, are men squatting upon the pavement, with
an inkhorn and a pad of paper, whose business is to conduct the
correspondence of those whose literary attainments are unequal to the
task. Such odd things are still to be seen at the capital of a nation
that subsidizes steamship lines and railways, and supports schools where
all the modern languages and sciences are taught, and has a compulsory
education law upon its statute-books. In the old Inquisition Building,
where the bodies of Jews and heretics have been racked and roasted, is
a medical college, sustained by the Government for the free education of
all students whose attainments reach the standard of matriculation; and
bones are now sawn asunder in the name of science instead of religion.
[Illustration: A WATER-CARRIER.]
The country within whose limits can be produced every plant that grows
between the equator and the arctics, and whose mines have yielded
one-half of the existing silver in the world, is habitually bankrupt,
and wooden effigies of saints stolen from the churches are sold as fuel
for locomotives purchased with the proceeds of public taxation. What
Mexico needs most is peace, industry, and education. The Government now
pays a bounty to steamships upon every immigrant they bring, and is
importing coolie labor to develop the coffee and sugar lands. Since 1876
there has not been a political revolution of any importance, and the
prospect of permanent peace is hopeful.
The political struggle in Mexico, since the independence of the
Republic, has been, and will continue to be, between antiquated,
bigoted, and despotic Romanism, allied with the ancient aristocracy,
under whose encouragement Maximilian came, on the one hand, and the
spirit of intellectual, industrial, commercial, and social progress on
the other. The pendulum has swung backward and forward with irregularity
for sixty years; every vibration has been registered in blood. All of
the weight of Romish influence, intellectual, financial, and spiritual,
has been employed to destroy the Republic and restore the Monarchy,
while the Liberal party has strangled the Church and stripped it of
every possession. Both factions have fought under a black flag, and the
war has been as cruel and vindictive on one side as upon the other; but
the result is apparent and permanent.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE COVERED WAY TO THE INQUISITION.]
No priest dare wear a cassock in the streets of Mexico; the confessional
is public, parish schools are prohibited, and although the clergy still
exercise a powerful influence among the common people, whose
superstitious ignorance has not yet been reached by the free schools and
compulsory education law, in politics they are powerless. The old
clerical party, the Spanish aristocracy, whose forefathers came over
after the Conquest, and reluctantly surrendered to Indian domination
when the Viceroys were driven out and the Republic established, have
given up the struggle, and will probably never attempt to renew it. They
were responsible for the tragic episode of Maximilian, and still regret
the failure to restore the Monarchy. The Aztecs sit again upon the
throne of Mexico, after an interval of three hundred and fifty years,
and the men whose minds direct the affairs of the Republic have tawny
skins and straight black hair.
[Illustration: MEXICAN MULETEER.]
Several of the aristocrats have left the country and reside in Paris,
receiving enormous revenues from their Mexican estates, which they visit
biennially, but will not live upon. Others are friends of Diaz,
sympathize with the progressive element, and will turn out full-fledged
Republicans when the issue is raised again. The finest houses in Mexico
are unoccupied, and the palatial villas of Tacubaya, the aristocratic
suburb, are in a state of decay. They are too large and too costly for
rental, and the owners are too obstinate and indifferent to sell them.
Perhaps these haughty dons still have a hope of coming back some time to
rule again as they did years ago, but they will die as they have lived
since Maximilian’s failure, impotent but unreconciled.
The beautiful castle of Chapultepec, which was dismantled during the
last revolution, but has been restored and fitted up as a beautiful
suburban retreat for the Presidents of Mexico, was occupied by
Maximilian and Carlotta in imitation of the Montezumas, whose palace
stood upon the rocky eminence. Around the place is a grove of monstrous
cypress-trees, whose age is numbered by the centuries, and whose girth
measures from thirty to fifty feet. It is the finest assemblage of
arborial monarchs on the continent, and sheltered imperial power
hundreds of years before Columbus set his westward sails. Before the
Hemisphere was known or thought of, here stood a gorgeous palace, and
its foundations still endure. Here the rigid ceremonial etiquette of
Aztec imperialism was enforced, and human sacrifice was made to invoke
the favor of the Sun.
[Illustration: SHOPS.]
In Mexican society one meets many notable people; some are remarkable
for talent, or their birth, etc., and others for the strange
vicissitudes of their lives. For example, in an obscure little house
lives a well-educated gentleman who is, by lineal descent from Montezuma
II., the legal heir to the Aztec throne, and should be Emperor of
Anahuac. This Señor Montezuma, however, indulges in no idle dream of the
restoration of the ancient Empire, and quietly accepts the meagre
pension paid him by the Government. In contradistinction to this scion
of the house of Montezuma, the heirs of Cortez receive immense revenues
from the estates of the “Marquis del Valle” (Cortez), live in grand
style, and are haughty and influential. There is also a lineal
descendant of the Indian emperor Chimalpopoca. This young man is a civil
engineer, industrious, and quite independent.
The acknowledged heir to the throne of Mexico is young
[Illustration: CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC.]
[Illustration: TILE FRONT.]
Augustin Yturbide, according to the feelings of the few and feeble
remnants of the Monarchical party; but it may be said to the young man’s
credit that he entirely repudiates their homage, although he is the heir
to two brief and ill-starred dynasties. He is the grandson of the
Emperor Augustin Yturbide, and the adopted heir of Maximilian and
Carlotta. The Yturbide they call “Emperor” was an officer in the Spanish
army when Mexico was a colony, and during the revolution headed by the
priest Hidalgo, in 1810, he fought on the side of the King. But, being
dismissed from the army in 1816, he retired to seclusion, to remain
until the movement of 1820, when he placed himself at the head of an
irregular force, and captured a large sum of money that was being
conveyed to the sea-coast. With these resources he promulgated what is
known in history as “the plan of Iguala,” which proposed the
organization of Mexico into an independent empire, and the election of a
ruler by the people. The revolution was bloodless, and in May, 1822,
Yturbide proclaimed himself Emperor, declared the crown hereditary, and
established a court. He was formally crowned in the July following, but
in December Santa Anna proclaimed the Republic, and after a brief and
ignominious reign Yturbide left Mexico on May 11, 1822, just a year,
lacking a week, from the date he assumed power. The Congress gave him a
pension of $25,000 yearly, and required that he should live in Italy;
but impelled by an insane desire to regain his crown, in May, 1824, he
returned to Mexico, and was shot in the following July.
[Illustration: THE TREE OF MONTEZUMA.]
He left a son, Angel de Yturbide, who came to the United States with his
mother, and was educated at the Jesuit College at Georgetown, District
of Columbia, the Government having given them a liberal pension. There
he fell in love
[Illustration: PRINCE YTURBIDE.]
with Miss Alice Green, the daughter of a modest but prosperous merchant
of the town, and married her. They had one child, the so-called Prince
Augustin, who, when three years old, with the consent of his ambitious
mother, was adopted by the childless Maximilian and Carlotta, in the
vain hope that the act might in a measure increase their popularity
among the Mexicans.
Meanwhile Maximilian’s fate was fast overtaking him. When he saw the
catastrophe was at hand, he determined to save the young Yturbide, and
with the assistance of the Archbishop of Mexico notified Madame Yturbide
that her child would be placed on a certain steamer reaching Havana at
such a date; and it was there the mother was united to him after a
separation of two years. Maximilian and Carlotta had surrounded the
young prince with all the elegancies of royalty, and he retained many of
their royal gifts. His father was then dead, and his mother had sole
charge of his education. He was educated at Washington, where Madame
Yturbide lived in a fine house on the corner of Nineteenth and N
streets. When her son came of age she sold her house and returned with
him to Mexico. His intention was to enter the army at once, but by the
advice of his Mexican friends he entered the national military college
for a course of study before taking his commission. He is a handsome
young man, very quiet and prepossessing. His abilities can scarcely be
judged so far, but he has always conducted himself with great
good-sense. Madame Yturbide is now with him in Mexico. One of the most
promising signs of the permanency of the Republic is the presence in the
party of progress of this young man, whose name represents all the
ancient aristocracy desires to restore. He has inherited two worthless
crests; but, whether from policy or principle, has added his youthful
strength and the traditions that surround his name to the support of the
Diaz administration.
The widow of General Santa Anna is a woman who played a prominent part
in the political tragedies that have succeeded one another with such
great rapidity upon the Mexican stage. Until her death in the autumn of
1886, she was an object of interest to all visitors to the capital, and
always welcomed cordially strangers who called upon her, provided they
would permit her to smoke her cigarettes, and talk about her beauty and
the attentions she had received in the past.
Santa Anna is not so highly estimated in Mexico as in some other parts
of the world where people are not so familiar with his eccentric and
adventurous career. He was a man of remarkable natural abilities, force
of character, energy, and personal courage, but devoid of principle,
education, culture, and mindful only of his own interests. He served all
political parties in turn. She was his second wife, and was only
thirteen years old when he married her, in the fifth term of his
presidency, and when he was trying to set himself up as an absolute
monarch. For twenty years her life was spent in a camp, surrounded by
the whirl of warfare. Her husband was five times President of Mexico,
and four times Military Dictator in absolute power. He was banished,
recalled, banished again, and finally died, denounced by all as a
traitor. She had seen much “glory,” and had received unlimited
adulation, but she hardly ever enjoyed one thoroughly peaceful month in
her life.
It created a sensation in Mexico when the pretty peon girl, Dolores
Testa, was suddenly raised from abject poverty to affluence. The
Dictator ordered all to address his bride as “Your Highness,”
ladies-in-waiting were appointed in order to teach the bewildered little
Dolores how to play her rôle in the great world, and then the President
organized for her a body-guard of twenty-five military men, who were
uniformed in white and gold, and were styled “los Guardias de la Alteza”
(her Highness’s Body-guard). When the President’s wife attended the
theatre these guards rode in advance of and at the sides of the coach,
each bearing a lighted torch. During the performance they remained in
the _patio_ or _foyer_ of the theatre, and then escorted her Highness
back to the palace in the same order. Such was the power of General
Santa Anna in those days that even the clergy bent before him; and when
[Illustration: GENERAL GRANT ON A BANANA PLANTATION.]
his young wife went to mass, the priests, attended by their acolytes,
actually used to leave the cathedral to meet her on the pavement, and
with cross and lighted tapers escort her from her carriage to her seat
within the church, and at the conclusion of the mass accompanied her to
her coach.
Her last days were quite in contrast with the glory of her youth. She
owned a residence in the city and a lovely country-seat in Tacubaya, the
aristocratic suburb; her wardrobes and chests were filled with rich
robes of velvet, satin, and silk, costly laces, and magnificent jewels;
but she was too listless to interest herself in anything. No stranger
who by chance might see her ex-highness at home, with her pretty feet
thrust into down-trodden old leather shoes, and her unkempt hair covered
by a common cotton _rebosa_, could ever, by the greatest effort of
imagination, possibly fancy her to be the same person who once dazzled
Mexico by a display of pomp that exceeded even that of the Empress
Carlotta. Mrs. Santa Anna was an estimable woman, but was almost
forgotten by the generation that once bent before her. Her family plate,
and the diamond snuffbox which was presented her husband when he was
Dictator, and cost twenty-five thousand dollars, were, during the latter
years of her life, and still are, in the National pawn-shops of Mexico,
and his wooden leg, captured in battle during our war with Mexico, is in
the Smithsonian Institute.
The family of the great Juarez, the Washington of Mexico, an Aztec peon,
who overthrew the empire of Maximilian as Cortez had overthrown the
ancient dynasty of his ancestors, live in good style in the city of
Mexico, the daughters being well married, and the son the secretary of
the Mexican legation at Berlin. They all talk English well, and are very
highly educated. Every American who visits their city is handsomely
entertained by them.
But time spent in conjecturing the future of the aristocratic or
clerical party is wholly wasted. No priest, no bishop, is allowed by law
to hold real estate; titles vested in religious orders are worthless;
the Church is forbidden to acquire wealth, and has been stripped of the
accumulated treasures of three centuries. The candlesticks and altar
ornaments are gilt instead of gold, and the heavy embroideries in gold
and silver have been replaced by tinsel. A solid silver balustrade which
has stood in one of the churches since the time of Cortez was torn down
not long ago and taken to the mint, and a chandelier in the cathedral of
Puebla, when it was melted, made sixty thousand silver dollars.
There still stands in the cathedral at Guadalupe, on the spot where the
Mother of Christ appeared to a poor shepherd and stamped her image in
beautiful colors upon his cotton _serape_, a double railing from the
altar to the choir, perhaps sixty feet long and three feet high, which
is said to be of solid silver, with considerable gold. This is the only
one of the remnants of pontifical magnificence which remains
undespoiled, for the superstition which pervades all classes of society
has protected it; but the altars have been stripped of the jewels which
were bestowed by grateful people who had received the protection of the
Virgin, who watches over those in distress, and the veneering of gold
which once covered the altar carvings has all been ripped off. It is
said that an enterprising American offered to replace the solid silver
railing with a plated one, and give a bonus of three hundred thousand
dollars to the Church, but the proposition was rejected.
This Guadalupe shrine is the most sacred spot in Mexico, and to it come,
on the 12th of each December, the anniversary of the appearance of the
Virgin, thousands upon thousands of pilgrims, bringing their sick and
lame and blind to drink of the miraculous waters of a spring which the
Virgin opened on the mountain-side to convince the sceptical shepherd of
her divine power. The waters have a very strong taste of sulphur, and
are said to be a potent remedy for diseases of the blood. In testimony
of this the walls of the chapel, which is built over the spring, are
covered with quaint, rudely written certificates of people who claim to
have been miraculously cured by its use. In the cathedral are multitudes
of other testimonials from people who have been preserved from death in
danger by having appealed for protection to the Virgin of Guadalupe; but
nowadays, instead of sending jewels and other articles of value as they
did when the Church was able to protect its property, they hang up
gaudily painted inscriptions reciting specifically the blessings they
have received. On the crest of the hill is a massive shaft of stone,
representing the main-mast of a ship with the yards out and sails
spread. This was erected many years ago by a sea-captain who was caught
in a storm at sea, and who made a vow to the Virgin that if she would
bring him safe to land he would carry his main-mast and sails to
Guadalupe, and raise them there as an evidence of his gratitude for her
mercy. He fulfilled his vow, and within the double tiers of stone are
the masts and canvas.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF GUADALUPE.]
In the cathedral is the original blanket, or _serape_, which
[Illustration: ISTACCIHUATL.]
the shepherd wore when the Virgin appeared to him, and upon which she
stamped her portrait. It is preserved in a glass case over the altar,
and may be seen by paying a small fee to the priest. Copies of the
Guadalupe Virgin are common and familiar; one can scarcely look in any
direction in Mexico without seeing the representation upon the walls of
a house, or pendent from the watch-chain of a passer-by; but the average
reproduction is a great improvement upon the original, which is a dull
and heavy daub, without any evidences of skill in its execution, or even
the average degree of accuracy in drawing. According to the story, the
portrait was stamped upon the _serape_ or blanket of the shepherd, and
this all Catholics in Mexico devoutly believe; but a close examination
reveals the fact that it is done in ordinary oil colors, upon a piece of
ordinary canvas, and that the pigments peel off like those of any poorly
executed piece of work.
In the ancient town of Guadalupe, in a house near the cathedral, was
signed the famous treaty determining the boundary line between Mexico
and the United States, while in a cemetery on the hill General Santa
Anna lies buried.
The Mexican people, like all the Spanish race, are fond of ceremony, but
the inauguration of their President is not attended with so much display
or interest as is shown on similar occasions on this side of the Rio
Grande. Perhaps it is because the event occurs so often. During the two
hundred and eighty-six years between the fall of the Empire and the
establishment of the Republic, there were but sixty-four Viceroys; but
during the sixty-three years that followed there have been thirty-two
Presidents, seven Dictators, and two Emperors. Although the
constitutional term of the presidency is four years, but two in the long
list were permitted to serve out their time, and they were the last,
which at least shows improvement in the political condition of the
country.
I witnessed the inauguration of President Diaz on the 1st of December,
1884. The ceremonies, which were simple enough to satisfy the most
critical of Democrats, took place in the handsome theatre erected in
1854, and named in honor of the Emperor Yturbide. It is now called the
Chamber of Deputies, and is occupied by the lower branch of the National
Legislature, a body of some two hundred and twenty-seven men. The
Senate, composed of fifty-six members, meets in a long, narrow room in
the old National Palace which was formerly used as a chapel by the
Viceroys. The viceregal throne, a massive chair of carved and gilded
rosewood, still stands upon a platform opposite the entrance, under a
canopy of crimson velvet, but upon its crest is carved the American
eagle, with a snake in its mouth, the emblem of Republican Mexico.
Maximilian hung a golden crown over the eagle; Juarez tore it down and
placed the broken sword of the Emperor in the talons of the bird. The
Aztecs say that the founders of their empire, whose origin is lost in
the mists of fable, were told to march on until they found an eagle
sitting upon a cactus with a snake in its mouth, and there they should
rest and build a great city. The bird and the bush were discovered in
the valley that is shadowed by the twin volcanoes, and there the
imperishable walls were laid which are now bidding farewell to their
seventh century.
[Illustration: EX-PRESIDENT GONZALES.]
The old Theatre Yturbide has not been remodelled since it became the
shelter of legislative power, and all the natural light it gets is
filtered through the opaque panels of the dome, so that during the day
sessions the Deputies are always in a state of partial eclipse. It is
about as badly off for light as our own Congress. The members occupy
comfortable arm-chairs in the parquet, arranged in semicircular rows.
The presiding officer and the secretaries sit upon the stage, and at
either side is a sort of pulpit from which formal addresses are made,
although conversational debates are conducted from the floor. The
orchestra circle and galleries are divided into boxes, and are reserved
for spectators, but are seldom occupied, as the proceedings of the
Congress are not regarded with much public interest.
[Illustration: PRESIDENT PORFIRIO DIAZ.]
The members of both Houses have no regular seats, but sit where they
please. As they have few constituents to write to, they use no desks.
There are some that might be used, but never are. The members vote
themselves no stationery, postage-stamps, or incidentals, as our
Congressmen do, but are paid two hundred and fifty dollars a month
during the two years for which they are elected. Habit and the exercise
of military power have reversed the constitutional relations of the
executive and legislative branches of the Government, and the business
of the Congress sometimes is not to pass bills for the approval or
disapproval of the President, but to enact such legislation as he
recommends. The members of the Cabinet have seats in both houses of the
Congress, participate in the debates, and submit measures for
consideration, but have no vote; and the President himself often
exercises his constitutional right to meet and act with the Legislature.
Very seldom is a law passed that does not come prepared and approved by
the Executive Department, and to oppose the policy of the administration
is usually fatal to the ambition of Mexican statesmen.
In appearance the members will compare favorably with those of our
Congress, and they are far in advance of the average State Legislature
in ability and learning. The first features that strike a visitor
familiar with legislative bodies in the United States is the decorum
with which proceedings are conducted, and the scrupulous care with which
every one is clothed. On certain formal occasions it is usual for all of
the members to appear in evening dress, which gives the body the
appearance of a social gathering rather than a legislative assembly.
Nine-tenths of the members are white, and the other tenth show little
trace of Aztec blood. There is never anything like confusion, and the
laws of propriety are never transgressed. One hears no bad syntax or
incorrect pronunciation in the speeches; no coarse language is used, and
no wrangles ever occur like those which so often disgrace our own
Congress. The statesmen never tilt their chairs back, nor lounge about
the chamber; their feet are never raised upon the railings or desks;
there is no letter-writing going on; the floor is never littered with
scraps of paper; no spittoons are to be seen, and no conversation is
permitted. Extreme dignity and decorum mark the proceedings, which are
always short and silent, and the solemnity which prevails gives a
funereal aspect to the scene.
[Illustration: THE DOME.]
But everybody smokes. The secretary lights a cigarette at the end of a
roll-call, and the chairman blows a puff of smoke from his lips before
he announces a decision. The members are constantly rolling cigarettes
with deft fingers, and the people in the galleries do the same, so that
a cloud of gray vapor always hangs over the body, and in the dark
corners of the chamber one can see the glow of burning tobacco like the
flash of fire-flies. But cigars are never used, nor pipes, and no one
chews tobacco.
Whole sessions pass away with nothing but formal business, such as
receiving communications from the Executives of the States or petitions
from the people, which are rarely acted on. Occasionally a bill is
passed, but it passes almost as a matter of course, some of the members
giving a delicate little wave of the hand to the secretary as he calls
their names by sight, others merely smiling at him, some paying no
attention whatever to him, but none of them taking the trouble to open
their mouths or rise, as the rules require. Weeks and months pass away
without a speech of any kind, or even a point of order.
In the presence of this body, and with a similar indifference, Profirio
Diaz was inaugurated President of the United States of Mexico. He had
been President once before, having seized the government by force of
arms from Lerdo, but was so just and wise a ruler, and possessed the
confidence of the people so thoroughly, that he was allowed to serve out
a full term, being one of the few Mexican Presidents to enjoy that
privilege. He would have been re-elected at the expiration of his
administration but for a constitutional provision prohibiting it. Four
years passed and he was restored to power by the votes of the people
against a man whose administration was a saturnalia of corruption and
extravagance, that ended with a bankrupt treasury and an impoverished
people.
The last days of the term of Gonzales were stormy. His attempt to secure
certain unpopular financial legislation created great excitement, and
the students of the universities, who numbered six or seven thousand,
made a protest which would have ended in violence and assassination but
for the overpowering military guard that surrounded the palace. The
students would have resisted any attempt of Gonzales to prevent the
inauguration of his successor, and kept up a demonstration against the
existing Government until that event occurred.
[Illustration: SAN COSME AQUEDUCT, CITY OF MEXICO.]
It was nine o’clock on the morning that the ceremonies were to occur.
Long lines of bayonets and sabres glittered in the streets around the
theatre, regiments of cavalry and infantry were drawn up in the Alameda
and Plaza, squads of police, on foot and mounted, were marching here and
there. Bands of students yell “_Viva!_” and “_Mira!_” Some were fired
into, and several students wounded. The shops were nearly all closed
early in the day; huge iron padlocks and bolts that would resist a
sledge-hammer for half a day hung on doors that but a few days ago were
thronged with customers, and the few that remained open were merely
ajar, ready to be slammed shut in a minute, and the ponderous bars swung
into place.
The attendance at the theatre was not large, and consisted almost
entirely of officials, foreign ambassadors, and the personal friends of
the President, who, like the members of the Congress, were nearly all in
full dress, but carried revolvers in their pockets for use if the
occasion demanded. In a gilded box over the stage was the wife of
General Diaz, of girlish years and striking beauty, attended by a party
of lady friends and two military officers resplendent in gold lace.
There was no crush, no confusion, but a suppressed excitement and
anxiety, made intense by the recollection that such incidents in the
history of Mexico had been usually attended by war. The outgoing
President was regarded as the enemy of his successor, and the Congress
was about equally divided in its allegiance. The former was not present,
and his movements and intentions were unknown.
The members of the Senate sat in a double row of chairs which had been
placed around the sides of the parquet for their accommodation, and all
of them wore white kid gloves. The members of the Lower House, the
Deputies, sat in their accustomed seats, and their chief officer
presided. Promptly at nine o’clock General Diaz, in full evening dress,
with white gloves, was escorted to the platform by a committee of
Senators, took the oath of office with his back to the audience, and
passed rapidly out of the building. The whole proceeding did not last
more than five minutes, and when the clerk announced that the oath of
office had been taken in accordance with the law, and declared Diaz
“Constitutional President,” the audience quietly left the chamber as if
nothing more than the ordinary routine had taken place.
But the excitement was not abated. The oath had been taken, but the
outgoing administration by its absence from the ceremonies had
intensified the anxiety lest the admission of Diaz to the Palace might
be denied. Accompanied by a committee of Senators and an escort of
cavalry. President Diaz drove half a mile to the Government building,
and to his gratification the column of soldiers which was drawn up
before the entrance opened to let him pass. The plaza which the building
fronts was crowded with thousands of people, who announced the arrival
of the new President by a deafening cheer, and the chimes of the old
cathedral rang a melodious welcome.
[Illustration: THE PALACE OF MEXICO.]
In the centre of the old palace, which stands upon the foundations of
the heathen temple Cortez destroyed, is an enormous court, in which the
President’s party alighted and ascended the marble stairs. The sentinels
which lined the staircase saluted them respectfully, and this omen
relieved their minds. At the entrance of the Executive chamber, where
relics of the luxurious taste of Maximilian still remain, Diaz was
received by an aide-de-camp of Gonzales, who ushered him into the
presence of the retiring administration. Surrounded by his Cabinet,
Gonzales stood, and as Diaz entered stepped forward to welcome him, and
according to the ancient practice, handed him an enormous silver key,
which is supposed to turn the bolts that protect authority. Short formal
addresses were made upon either side, and after wishing the new
administration a peaceful and prosperous term, Gonzales and his
ministers retired.
General Porfirio Diaz, the foremost man in Mexico to-day, and one whose
public career will fill pages in the history of that Republic, is the
representative of mixed Aztec and Spanish ancestry, like all of the
famous native leaders of the last half century. He is tall and dark, his
muscular figure impressing one as the very incarnation of health and
endurance. He has a military, yet nonchalant air, his brown eyes meet
you squarely with the glance of one born to command, and his voice is
peculiarly pleasant as in deep tones he rolls off the musical dialect of
his mother-tongue.
His career, like that of all Mexican leaders, is full of romantic
adventure. He was born in the rich State of Oaxaca, which was also the
birthplace of Juarez, Mejia, Romero, Mariscal, and others famed in
politics and literature. Don Porfirio’s parents designed him for the law
and sent him to the Literary Institute, in Puebla, the City of the
Angels, which celebrated institution has graduated many of Mexico’s most
eminent men. But Diaz, at the age of twenty-four, enlisted as a private
in the National Guard against the government of Santa Anna. Again, in
the so-called war of reform--in 1858 and 1861--he won more substantial
honors than the straps of an officer, and when his country was
convulsed by the French invasion of 1862, Diaz, then a general, took a
prominent part in the struggle. Once during those wars, when a prisoner
at Puebla, he escaped by letting himself down from the tower in which he
was confined by means of a rope spliced out with his clothing. Another
of his numerous hair-breadth escapes was during the bloody struggle by
which he made himself President for the first time. Having captured
Matamoras by daring strategy, he was seized on shipboard by the
Lerdists, and saved himself only by leaping into the sea, assisted by
the connivance of a French captain, whom he afterwards made consul at
Saint Nazaire.