23 



CHARACTERISTICS INDIFFERENCE. 



faults of his character may be fairly attributed to the want of edu- 

 cation, early self-restraint and the disordered political state of his 

 country which has produced a bad effect upon social life. With 

 quick and often solid talents, the Mexican citizen is not devoted, 

 early in his career, by thoughtful parents, either to intellectual pur- 

 suits or to that mental discipline which would regulate an impulsive 

 temperament or fit him for the domestic, scientific, or political po- 

 sition he might attain in other countries, under a different social 

 regime. He recollects that in the best days of the colony his 

 family had been distinguished, powerful and rich, and he finds it 

 difficult, in his present impoverished state, to forget this traditionary 

 position. Accordingly, he acts upon the memorial basis of the 

 past, as if it were still within his grasp or control. This renders 

 him thriftlessly improvident. Mexicans still speak of the epoch 

 when they or their parents "swam in' gold, " or dispensed ducats 

 to the dependants on whom they now reluctantly bestow coppers. 

 Besides this, their indolent indifference, which almost amounts to 

 Arab fatalism, makes them not only subservient to the past, but 

 idolators of a hope which is quite as fallacious. According to their 

 belief, better times are continually approaching. Something, they 

 imagine, will shortly occur to improve their broken or periled for- 

 tunes. " Paciencia y harajar," — " patience and shuffle the 

 cards, " is a maxim on the lips of every one who is overthrown by 

 a revolution, loses his friends, incurs censure, or finds himself 

 starving for want of a dollar. If you enquire as to their prospects, 

 their friends, their interests, or, indeed, in regard to almost any 

 subject that requires some reflection for a reasonable reply, — they 

 answer with the habitual — " Quien Sabe ! " — " who can tell ! " 

 which in the vocabulary of a common Mexican is the — " quod 

 erat demonstrandum " of any social or political problem. 



Such qualities and habits do not prepare a nation for resolute ac- 

 tion upon progressive principles. We consequently find, throughout 

 Mexico, an universal predisposition to dependence upon others, or to 

 a blind reliance upon chance. The drum and the bell which ring 

 forever in our ears in Mexico, apprise us that immense numbers 

 who possess sufficient influence to introduce them into the army or 

 the church, repose comfortably under the protection of those two 

 eleemosynary institutions. Such is, moreover, the case in all the 

 administrative departments of the government. Indeed, the state 

 seems only to be constitutionally organized in order to supply the 

 wants of those it employs, or to found a genteel hospital in which 

 intriguing idlers are supported either at the expense of industrious 



