GENERAL VIEW OF MEXICO, PAST AND PRESENT. SKETCH OF THE CAREER OF SANTA
ANNA.
Ancient Mexico.--Its extent.--Its capital.--Its
government.--Its sovereigns.--The last of a series of
American Monarchies.--Some evidences of this.--Great
antiquity of some of the ruins.--Population of Mexico.--Its
government as a colony.--The Revolution.--Its
leaders.--Iturbide.--Distracted state of the country.--Santa
Anna.--His public career.--Pedraza.--Guerrero.--Barradas at
Tampico.--Defeated by Santa Anna.--Bustamente.--Pedraza
again.--Santa Anna made President.--Revolt of Texas and
Yucatan.--Battle of San Jacinto.--Santa Anna a
prisoner.--Released, returns in disgrace.--Out again.--Loses
a leg.--Dictator.--President.--Put down by
Paredes.--Banished.--Probable result.--The Press.--Departure
for home.
Hanging Judas Iscariot in effigy, eighteen centuries after he had hung
himself in despair for his treachery, and raising a monumental tablet to
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, seemed to me to be somewhat incongruous
amusements. But these Mexicans will have their way, however strange it may
be. Leaving them to choose for themselves, in these matters, I propose,
before taking leave of Tampico, to give a brief sketch of the history and
present condition of Mexico, and of the career of the singular man, who has
acted so prominent a part in the revolutions which have recently convulsed
that unhappy country.
The ancient Mexico was comprised within much narrower limits, than those
which now bound the Republic. Yet, owing to the remarkable formation of the
country, beginning with its low plains, and tropical valleys along the sea
board, and gradually ascending, plateau above plateau, into the region of
perpetual winter, it embraced every variety of climate, and yielded almost
every production, that was known on the face of the earth.
In the midst of one of the most beautiful and luxuriant plateaus, situated
midway between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and measuring a little more
than two hundred miles in circumference, with lofty, snow-crowned walls on
every side, stood the Queen City, Tenochtitlan, now called Mexico, the
metropolis of the Aztec empire, the seat of civilization, of art, of
luxury, of refinement--"the Venice of the Western world." It was founded in
the early part of the fourteenth century, and soon became the seat of a
flourishing empire, and the central point of power to a triad of nations.
Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, bound together by a league of perpetual
amity, which was faithfully maintained and preserved through a long period
of unexampled warfare, subdued to their united sway, all the neighboring
tribes and nations of Anahuac. In process of time, the power and influence
of Mexico overtopped that of its confederates, and Tezcuco and Tlacopan
became little better than tributaries to the central empire of the
Montezumas.
The government of this ancient empire was an absolute monarchy, and was
maintained in a style of truly Oriental pomp and magnificence. Their
monarch supported his state with all the proud dignity, and stately
ceremonial of the most refined courts of the old world. His attendants were
princes, who waited on him with the most obsequious deference. The form of
presentation was much the same as now prevails in the royal saloons of
Europe, the subject never presuming to turn his back upon the throne, but
carefully stepping backward to the door, in retiring from the royal
presence. Whether this circumstance is sufficient to prove that Europe was
peopled from Mexico--an opinion gravely put forth, and sturdily maintained,
by at least one old writer--I shall not now stop to inquire.
The body-guard of the sovereign was composed of the chief nobles of the
realm, who, like the great feudal lords of Europe, held sway over extensive
estates of their own, and could call into the field, at any moment, an
immense army of subject retainers. The royal palaces were extensive and
magnificent, and comprised apartments, not only for the private
accommodation of the royal household, but for all the great purposes of the
state--halls of council, treasuries for the public revenue, etc. etc.
Mexico was indeed a city of palaces, interspersed with temples and
pyramids, rivalling in splendor and luxury, as well as in extent, many of
the proudest capitals of the Old World.
This splendid monarchy, which was probably at the very acme of its glory,
when discovered and overturned by the remorseless invaders from Spain, was
the last of a series of powerful and highly refined dynasties, that had
successively flourished and passed away, in the beautiful regions of
Central America. Two mighty oceans on the east and west, two mighty
continents on the north and south, and embracing, in the singular
arrangement of its slopes and levels, all the climates and productions of
both and of all, it seems to have been, for ages, we know not how far back,
the theatre of all the art, the seat of all the power, the centre of all
the refinement and luxury, of the western hemisphere. There are some
remarkable works of art, and wonderful traces of ancient civilization in
South America, as well as some singular remains of a once numerous and
powerful people in the north. But the Isthmus was the Decapolis of Ancient
America. "The tabernacles of its palaces were planted _between the seas_,
in the glorious mountain." Here was its Babylon, its Nineveh, its Thebes,
its Palmyra. And here, splendid in ruins, with no voice to tell of their
ancient founders, or of the millions who once thronged their busy streets,
they still remain, an instructive but painful lesson on the instability of
human affairs, the brevity of a terrestrial immortality.
I have said that Mexico was the last of a series of splendid monarchies
that had flourished, and passed away, in Central America. The evidences of
the truth of this statement are too numerous, and too clear, to admit of a
doubt. The ruins of extensive and magnificent cities, which abound on every
side, like the sepulchres and monuments of the departed, are the melancholy
memorials, which cannot be gainsayed, of the gigantic power and fruitful
resources of the Past. Palenque, Copan, and many more in the south--Uxmal,
Chi-chen, Ticul, Kabah, Mayapan, etc., in the central regions of
Yucatan--Panuco, Cerro Chacuaco, and others without a name, in the
north--these are but a part of the remains of ancient grandeur that lie
buried under the soil, and hidden in the almost impervious forests of this
luxuriant clime. Their name is legion. Some of them were deserted and in
ruins at the period of the Spanish Conquest, and are occasionally spoken of
by the historians of that day with wonder and amazement. Some were
evidently occupied by other races than the builders, inferior in taste and
refinement, if not in physical power; and some, though not then in utter
ruins, were, as at the present day, waste and without inhabitant,--
Desolate, like the dwellings of Moina,--
The fox looked out of the window,
The rank grass waved round its head.
In the remains of these ruined cities, there are not only the evidences
derived from their different degrees of dilapidation and decay, to prove
that they originated in different and far distant ages, but others which
show them to be the works of distinct races of people. The plan and
architecture of the buildings, the style and finish of the ornamental
parts, the forms and features of the sculptured heads, differ as widely as
those of Egypt and Greece, and as clearly prove the workmanship of
different periods, and different artists. Some writers have undertaken to
trace in these ruins, evidences of three distinct ages of American
civilization. Without entering into an argument on the subject, I would
simply remark, that, whether three, or five, or more, no conclusion seems
to my mind capable of a more perfect substantiation, than this, that these
ruins extend far back into the remotest ages of antiquity, and form a
continuous chain of connection between the earliest settlers in America,
and the Toltecs and Aztecs, of whom we have something like authentic
history. I go farther, and say that this chain is probably complete in its
parts, though the links are separated, and cannot now be brought together
again. They are all there, but so scattered and confounded together, that
he who attempts to assign them a place and a date, or to build a theory
upon their apparent relations to each other, will probably soon find
himself "in wandering mazes lost," and rather amuse, than convince or
instruct his readers.
These statements are, for the most part, drawn from the most reliable
sources, and confirmed, as far as I have had opportunity, by my own
observation. I shall take the liberty to regard them as facts. Intending to
refer to them in the concluding chapter, and to draw from them some
inferences in support of the opinions I have formed respecting the origin
of the ancient American races, and the probable epoch of the ruins I have
had the pleasure to explore, I shall make no further comment upon them
here; but proceed to a brief epitome of the present condition of the empire
of the Montezumas.
The population of Mexico is as mixed and various as that of any other
portion of the globe. It includes, at least, seven distinct races. First,
the Europeans, or foreign residents, called Chapetones, or Gapuchins.
Secondly, Creoles, or native whites of European extraction. Thirdly, the
Mestizoes, the offspring of whites and Indians. Fourthly, Mulattoes, the
offspring of whites and blacks. Fifthly, the Aboriginal Indians. Sixthly,
Negroes. Seventhly, Zamboes, or Chinoes, the offspring of negroes and
Indians. There is also a sprinkling of Chinese and Malays, and natives of
the Canaries, who rank as whites, and are known by the general name of
Islenos, or Islanders.
While Mexico remained a colony of Spain, from the conquest in 1519, till
the Revolution in 1810, all the power and influence, and nearly all the
wealth, was confined to the first class. The revolution transferred it to
the second, and expatriated the first. And this was almost its only result;
for it does not seem to have been attended with any of the ordinary
blessings of freedom to the common people, either in lightening their
burdens, or elevating their moral condition.
The government of the colony was that of a Viceroy, the proud servant of a
proud master in Spain, and amenable only to him for his acts. The people
had no voice either of council or remonstrance. It was passive submission
to absolute power. Whether that power became more severe and oppressive, in
the early part of the present century, than it had been, or whether the
increased numbers, wealth and ambition of the Creoles induced a desire to
take the power into their own hands, or whether it was the mere contagion
of rebellion and independence, diffusing itself over a continent reserved
as "the area of Freedom," and separated by wide oceans from the despotisms
of the Old World, it is not easy now to decide. The struggle was long and
severe. Monarchy held on to the golden mountains of Mexico with a desperate
though feeble grasp. Independence was declared, by the congress of Mexico,
in 1813, but it was not finally and fully achieved until 1829, when the
Spanish residents were expelled from the country.
The contest for independence, as is usually the case, brought out the
patriotism, talent and genius of the native population. Several of the
leaders distinguished themselves in the eyes of the world. Among the most
prominent were Guerrero, Hidalgo, Moreles and Victoria.
In 1820, the Viceroy, who was still struggling to support the tottering
throne, commissioned General Iturbide, who had been successful in several
engagements with the Creoles, to reduce them to submission. Iturbide was
born to be a traitor. No sooner was the army placed at his control, than he
betrayed his trust, joined the cause of the revolutionists, and proclaimed
Mexico independent. This was in 1821. A congress assembled in 1822, to form
a constitution. But Iturbide, traitor to the cause he had just adopted,
caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor, under the title of Augustin the
First. Opposed by a powerful and resolute party, rendered desperate by
their success hitherto, this self-constituted Emperor was compelled to
abdicate in the course of a year, and retire to Europe, the proper theatre
for legitimate tyrants. Returning to Mexico in 1824, with a view, as was
supposed, to avail himself of the distractions of the country, to assert
anew his claims to the imperial dignity, he was seized and shot, as soon
as he had landed.
From the first outbreak of the Revolution to the present time, Mexico has
been torn and distracted with internal wars. The long struggle for
Independence, was succeeded, as soon as that end was achieved, by other and
more bitter struggles for personal or party ascendency. A constitution was
adopted in 1823. The government established by it, is a confederated
Republic, modelled in most respects, after that of the United States--a
government exactly suited to make an intelligent and virtuous people happy,
but not adapted to a community composed of restless, unprincipled,
ambitious factionists, on the one hand, and an ignorant, bigoted rabble, on
the other. Faction after faction has arisen, plan after plan has been
proposed, adopted, and instantly discarded for another, till it has become
as difficult to say what is, or has been at any particular period, the
actual government of Mexico, as to predict what it will be to-morrow. If
the intelligence of the people had been such as to justify the
comparison,--if there had been more real patriotism, more sincere love of
liberty among the principal actors in these bloody dramas, one might say,
that the Florentine Histories of the middle ages had been re-enacted in
Mexico. How different the struggle, both in its manner and in its results,
in our own blessed land. But let us not triumph over our less favored and
weaker neighbors. Let us rather devoutly thank heaven that our fathers
loved liberty more than power, and laid broad and deep the foundations of
intelligence, virtue and religion,--not superstition, and a bigoted
devotion to forms, or a blind submission to ecclesiastical authority, but
the religion which recognizes God as supreme, and all men as equal,--on
which to raise the glorious superstructure of rational freedom. Let us see
to it, that, while we enlarge the superstructure, we do not neglect the
foundations.
It was during the temporary ascendency of Iturbide, that Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, now more notorious than illustrious, became a conspicuous actor
on this turbulent stage. He was a native of the department of Vera Cruz.
Here, without enjoying any adventitious advantages of birth or family, he
succeeded, by his talents and industry, in securing great local influence,
and gradually rose to wealth and power. Except Bolivar, there is, perhaps,
no one among the many distinguished agitators of Spanish America, whose
career has been signalized by so many extraordinary vicissitudes of good
and evil fortune, or who has rilled so large a space in the eye of the
world, as Santa Anna.
On the promulgation by Iturbide of the plan of Iguala, (February 24, 1821,)
Santa Anna, at the head of the irregular forces of the neighborhood,
succeeded by a _coup de main_, in driving the Spaniards out of Vera Cruz,
of which he was immediately appointed governor. The Spaniards, however,
still held the castle of San Juan de Ulloa, from which they were not for a
long time dislodged; and, of course, Santa Anna's position was one of great
importance.
Meanwhile, differences arose between Santa Anna and the Emperor Augustin,
who had come down to Jalapa to direct the operations against the Spaniards.
Santa Anna repaired to Jalapa to confer with Iturbide; and, being treated
harshly, and deprived of his command, immediately left Jalapa, hurried back
to Vera Cruz, in anticipation of the intelligence of his disgrace, raised
the standard of revolt, and, by means of his personal authority with the
troops of the garrison, commenced hostilities with the Emperor. Thereupon
Guadalupe Victoria, whose name was endeared to the Mexicans by his previous
unsuccessful efforts in the revolution, and who was living concealed in the
mountains, emerged from his hiding place, called around him his old
republican companions in arms, expelled Iturbide, and established the
Mexican republic with a federal constitution, in imitation of that of the
United States.
Santa Anna, who, by first taking up arms, had contributed so largely to
this result, thinking himself not duly considered in the new arrangements,
sailed from Vera Cruz with a small force March 1823, and landing at
Tampico, advanced through the country to San Luis Potosi, assuming to be
protector of the new republic. But not possessing influence enough to
maintain himself in this attitude, he was compelled to submit to the
government, and to remain for several years in retirement at Manga de
Clavo.
The termination of Victoria's presidency, however, in 1828, enabled Santa
Anna to re-appear on the stage. Pedraza had been regularly elected
President; on hearing of which, Santa Anna rose in arms, and by a rapid
march, seized upon and intrenched himself in the castle of Perote. Here he
published a plan, the basis of which was to annul the election of Pedraza,
and confer the presidency on Guerrero. But, being successfully attacked
here by the government forces, he was compelled to flee, and took refuge in
the mountains of Oajaca, to all appearance an outlaw and a ruined man. The
signal of revolution, however, which he had given at Perote, was followed
up with more success in other parts of the country.
Pedraza was at length driven into exile, Guerrero was declared President in
his place, and Santa Anna was appointed to the command of the very army
sent against him, and to the government of Vera Cruz, and after the
inauguration of Guerrero, April 1829, he became Secretary of War.
While these events were in progress, the Spanish government was organizing
its last invasion of Mexico. Barradas, the commander of the Spanish forces,
landing at Tampico, July 27, 1829. Santa Anna was entrusted with the
command of the Mexican troops, and at length compelled the Spaniards to
capitulate, September 11, 1829, which put an end to the war of
independence.
Guerrero had been in office but a few months, when another revolution broke
out. The Vice-President, Bustamente, gathered a force at Jalapa, and
pronounced against Guerrero, December 1829, who was at length taken
prisoner, and executed for treason; Bustamente assuming the presidency.
Santa Anna, after feebly resisting, had at length joined, or at least
acquiesced in, the movement of Bustamente; and remained in retirement for
two or three years, until, in 1832, he on a sudden pronounced against the
government, compelled Bustamente to flee, and brought back Pedraza from
exile, to serve out the remaining three months of the term for which he
had been elected to the presidency.
In the progress of events, Santa Anna had now acquired sufficient
importance to desist from the function of President maker, and to become
himself President. This took place in May, 1833. His presidency was filled
with pronunciamentos and civil wars, which produced the consummation of the
overthrow of the federal constitution of 1824, and the adoption, in 1836,
of a central constitution.
Though most of the Mexican States acquiesced in the violent changes, by
which they were reduced to mere departments, under the control of military
commandants, Texas on the northeast, and Yucatan on the south-east, refused
to submit to the military dominion of whatever faction of the army might
happen to hold power in the city of Mexico: and Santa Anna at length took
command in person of the army organized for the reduction of Texas. The
battle of San Jacinto, the capture of Santa Anna, his release by Houston on
conditions, which he afterwards refused to fulfil, his visit to this
country, and his subsequent return to Mexico, are events familiarly known
in the United States.
When Santa Anna marched on Texas, first Barragan, and then Coro, exercised
the functions of the presidency for a while, until, under the new
constitution, Bustamente, having returned from exile, was elected
President; the temporary unpopularity of Santa Anna, and his retirement in
disgrace to Manga de Clavo, having left the field open to the friends of
Bustamente.
Sundry _pronunciamentos_ followed; of which, one of the most dangerous,
headed by Mejia, gave to Santa Anna the opportunity of emerging from his
retirement. He vanquished Mejia, and caused him to be shot on the field of
battle. This exploit gave to Santa Anna a new start in public affairs; so
that when the French Government, in 1838, resolved to punish Mexico for its
multiplied aggressions on the subjects of France in Mexico, and proceeded
to attack Vera Cruz, the command of the Mexican troops were committed to
Santa Anna. On this occasion he received a wound, which rendered the
amputation of one of his legs necessary; and his services, at this time,
seemed to have effaced, in the eyes of the Mexicans, the disgrace of his
defeat at San Jacinto.
Santa Anna took no part in the unsuccessful movement of Urrea against
Bustamente, in 1840; but in 1841, there broke out a revolution, commenced
by Paredes, at Guadalajara, into which Santa Anna threw himself with so
much vigor and zeal, that Bustamente was again compelled to flee, and the
plan of Tacubaya, with the agreement of La Estanzuela, was adopted; in
virtue of which, the constitution of 1836 was abolished, and Santa Anna
himself was invested with the powers of dictator, for the purpose of
re-constituting the republic.
Under these auspices, and amid all the calamities of a protracted but
unsuccessful attempt to reduce Yucatan to submission, (for Yucatan at
length made its own terms,) a new constitution was adopted, June 13, 1843,
entitled, "Basis of Political organization of the Mexican Republic," and
Santa Anna was elected President.
Santa Anna resigned his dictatorship, and entered upon office as the new
President, in January, 1844; but before the expiration of the year, Paredes
again pronounced at Guadalajara, and this time against Santa Anna. The
chief ostensible causes of this movement, were various administrative
abuses committed by Santa Anna and his ministers, and especially an
abortive attempt of his administration to raise money for an expedition
against Texas. When the revolution broke out, Santa Anna was at Magna de
Clavo, the presidency being provisionally held, during his absence from the
capital, by Canalizo. Instantly, on hearing the tidings of the movement at
Guadalajara, Santa Anna, in open violation of one of the articles of the
new organic basis, was placed in command of the army, and rapidly traversed
the republic, from Jalapa to Queretara, with all the forces he could raise,
to encounter Paredes. But the departments which he had left behind him
speedily revolted, not excepting even Vera Cruz; and though his faction in
the capital, including Canalizo and the ministers, endeavored to sustain
him by proclaiming him dictator, their efforts were vain. He was compelled
to retrograde, and at length was routed, and obliged to surrender himself a
captive to the new administration, headed by Herrera, which has released
him with the penalty of ten years' exile.
Defeated, banished, and in disgrace with the world, it is still difficult
to determine what will be the ultimate fate of this hero of half a score of
revolutions. He is now, or, more properly speaking, he was when last heard
from, living in luxurious retirement, on one of the most splendid estates
in Cuba, a few miles from Havana. With immense wealth at his command,
ambitious as ever of power, he is but waiting a favorable opportunity to
thrust himself again into the quarrels of his ill-fated country. Money will
accomplish any thing there, good or evil. And if, through any of his
emissaries, he can once more gain access to the army, one year's income
from his rich estates will buy them over to a new revolution, and the
exiled dictator will once more place his wooden foot upon the necks of his
conquerors, and of the people. This may be his position before the
expiration of the present year. It may be, before the ink is dry which
records the peradventure. It may be, at this very moment. "_Nous verrons ce
que nous verrons._"
Of literature, properly speaking, there is none in Mexico. There are a few
scholars and learned men, in the church and at the bar. But their presence
is not felt, their weight is not realized, in any estimate we attempt to
make of the national character.
Veytia, a native of Puebla, who flourished about the middle of the last
century, has done much to illustrate the early history of the nations of
Anahuac; tracing out, with great patience and fidelity, the various
migrations of its principal races, and throwing much light on their history
and works. He was an industrious able critic, and though but little known,
deserves the highest credit for his valuable contributions to ancient
American literature.
Clavigero, a native of Vera Cruz, a voluminous and elaborate writer on the
same subject, whose works are well known and highly approved, has rectified
many of the inaccuracies of foreign writers, and done much to concentrate
the scattered rays of native tradition, and give form and substance to
previous antiquarian researches.
Antonio Gama, a native of Mexico, and a lawyer, was a ripe scholar,
distinguished for patient investigation, severe accuracy, and an impartial
desire to arrive at the truth, without reference to a preconceived opinion
or theory. He was a thorough master of some of the native languages, and,
to an extent as great as the nature of the case admitted, of the native
traditions and hieroglyphics. These, together with their systems of
arithmetic, astronomy and chronology, he has illustrated with uncommon
acuteness and ability. His works are but little known, but of great value
to those who would follow a safe guide amid the labyrinths of antiquarian
lore.
Other worthy names might be added to these. But let these suffice to show
that there is nothing in the climate unfavorable to letters. It is a rich,
a glorious field; but, trampled by tyranny, or convulsed with revolutions
and civil wars, there has scarcely been a moment, during the present
century, when the scholar, however much disposed to retirement, could close
the door of his study, and feel himself secure from interruption. It is
hardly fair, therefore, to measure the literary capacity of Mexico, by its
present fruits, or to judge of her scholars by the issues of the Press in
such turbulent times.
There are but few newspapers in the country, and these are not conducted
with the most consummate ability. The bombastic, bragadocio style, with
which they are often inflated, if it be not intended for carricature,
might almost vie with Baron Munchausen's happiest specimens of that kind of
composition. The comments of the government organ, published at the
capital, are often extremely bitter upon every thing which relates to the
United States. In some remarks respecting the monument commemorating the
battle of Bunker Hill, the editor observes,--"The people of Boston make
much ado about its completion"--and then adds,--"if Mexico should raise
monuments for all such _trivial_ occurrences in her history, the whole
country would be filled with them." A little farther on, speaking of the
Peninsular War, he says,--"they may do--but Wellington never yet knew what
it was to face a breast-work of Mexican bayonets."!!! Alas! for Wellington,
and the glory of British arms! What was Waterloo to San Jacinto!
On preparing to leave Tampico, I experienced considerable difficulty, and
no small expense in procuring the necessary passports. Stamps, for permits
of baggage, were required. My baggage had to undergo a very annoying
examination, with a view to the discovery of specie that might be concealed
therewith, which pays an export duty of six per cent. To such a provoking
extent is this examination carried, that the insolent officers thrust their
hands, like Arabs, into the bottoms of your pockets, in pursuit of your
small loose change.
I took passage in the Mexican schooner Belle Isabel, for New Orleans, in
company with twenty other passengers. We embarked in the river, and, though
hoping for a short passage, it was with sensations of discomfort,
amounting almost to consternation, that I ascertained, after every thing
was on board, that water and provisions had been laid in, sufficient only
for a passage of forty-eight hours. After protesting to the American
Consul, and lodging my complaint with the Captain of the port, against the
villainous purpose of the master and consignee of the vessel, to put us
upon allowance, and experiencing much delay, some further supplies were
sent on board. We remained in the river some time, being unable to pass the
bar, in consequence of the shallowness of the water in the channel. The
annoyances experienced from the vermin, with which the vessel abounded, and
the motley character of the passengers, made up of negroes, mulattoes, and
Mexicans, rendered my position quite intolerable; and even sickness, which
filled up the measure of my troubles, was a not unwelcome excuse for
parting with such disagreeable associates.
This affords me a favorable opportunity, and I embrace it with heartfelt
pleasure, of paying, in part, a debt of gratitude to Captain Chase, the
American Consul at Tampico, and his accomplished and kind-hearted lady,
who, during a severe and protracted illness, attended me with a kindness
that will not soon be forgotten. The tender and patient attentions, which
they bestowed upon a sick countryman, in a strange land, were such as might
have been expected from a brother and sister, and were rendered doubly
valuable to the recipient, by the full hearted cheerfulness and benevolence
which characterized them. God bless them both! May they never want a friend
and comforter in any of the trials that may fall to their lot.
More fortunate in my next attempt to leave Tampico, I secured a passage in
the Pilot Boat Virginia, and, after a short and agreeable voyage, arrived
at the Crescent City on the 8th of June, satisfied, for the present, with
my adventures, and glad to greet the kind faces of familiar friends, and
share the comforts which can only be found at home.
_At home!_ yes, here I am once more, in my own quiet home, having performed
three voyages by sea, embracing a distance of some two thousand miles,
besides sundry rambles and pilgrimages in the interior, and all this, with
only two "hair-breadth 'scapes by field or flood"--scarcely enough, I fear,
to spice my narrative to the taste of the age.