MEXICO. 



met with in society, at the houses of the European resi- 

 dents, where of course they behaved with the proper re- 

 serve, staid decorum, and cool nonchalance of civilized 

 and well-bred men : and the greatest attention which we 

 met with during our stay, from any individual — with the 

 exception of one single family connected by marriage 

 with Europeans — was an occasional impromptu invita- 

 tion to come and sit for an hour in an evening, " quite in 

 a family way." This was laughable ; and the more so, 

 as we found that it was the general experience among 

 foreigners of all grades. 



There were those among the diplomatic corps, whose 

 object it has been from the commencement of their 

 residence in this city, to cultivate a friendly and social 

 spirit with the families of natives of so-called education, 

 attached to whatever party they might be ; but a series 

 of the most ludicrous vexations and disappointments 

 showed them the total impossibility — the chimerical na- 

 ture of the scheme ; and we found the society at their 

 houses literally reduced to the superior class of Euro- 

 peans, and half a dozen Mexicans, whose visits to Eu- 

 rope had rendered them a little more susceptible of the 

 advantages of a different state of society, from that af- 

 forded by their own country. 



The European merchants were equally unfortunate, 

 and found in the constant display of jealousy, and in the 

 low T intrigues of their rivals among the natives, no open- 

 ing for a more liberal state of feeling and conversation. 

 Consequently, they kept aloof from each other. 



Then came the lower orders of foreign speculators. 

 All found themselves the subject of jealous hatred in 

 Mexico. " How does monsieur like Mexico V said a 

 garrulous French barber to me, the very morning of 

 my arrival. " Fine streets, fine houses, fine churches, 

 fine clothes ! — but the people — they are all, all, all, from 

 the president to the leper, what toe in France call ca- 

 naille, monsieur" 46 Ma foi, qiCils sont betes ces Mexi- 

 cans" said the Belgian host of a meson at Tacubaya : 

 " all, from the highest to the lowest, are as ignorant as that 



