72 MEXICO. 
I have been so minute in repeating to you the details of this cere- 
mony, not because I deem any account of bows and formal speeches 
interesting to a reader ; but because such a scene has occurred in a 
Repuil/c, before the President of a Republic, and in a National Palace 
surrounded with soldiery, amid the beating of drumsj the braying of trum- 
pets, and all the paraphernalia of a court. Such a detail sounds oddly to 
one wlio — entering a door often opened without a porter — passing through 
no lines of grim guards — amid no military pomp or parade — approaches 
the President of our own more favored land, and finds him seated in his 
plain parlor, by a comfortable grate, habited in neat but homely dress ; 
and ready, without ceremony, to grasp your hand and welcome you to his 
fireside.* 
We left the Palace at one o'clock, and entering our carriage, proceeded 
to pay the customary visits of form to all our friends, on the first of Jan- 
uary. We found numbers of people at home, and left a corresponding 
quantity of cards for those who were engaged in the same duty as our- 
selves. 
It was a pleasure to reach home once more, and to get rid of the stiff uni- 
form in which my limbs had been cased for several hours. Accustomed 
all my life to the plain and easy coat of civil life, and donning gold lace 
that day for the first time, I felt, I suppose, very much the sensations of 
"the hog in armor;" and I was glad after that essay, to find but few 
occasions on which full dress was requisite. 
As the bell tolled for Oracion, Mr. Ellis and myself mounted the car- 
riage once more, and soon reached the Palace. 
In the anteroom, two aids-de-camp of the President met and conducted 
us to the audience-room, now brilliantly lighted with lamps and chande- 
liers. The saloon was sprinkled over with a gay company of officers 
and diplomats in full dress. Santa Anna soon entered from his private 
apartments, and taking a seat near the upper end of the room, his friends 
gathered sociably around him. As soon as all were seated, Mr. Ellis 
presented me privately to him. He took my hand in both of his, and 
with an air of great cordiality and a winning smile, addressed me some 
complimentary words, inviting us to take seats near him. 
The total repose and quietness of the company was precisely what 1 
desired. It afforded me an opportunity to take a sort of mind portrait of 
the Warrior President ; and seated for an hour within the sound of his 
voice, at the distance of a few feet, I had an excellent opportunity to do 
so. His demeanor in conversation is mild, earnest and gentlemanly. 
He uses much gentle gesture as soon as he becomes animated, and seems 
to speak with all his soul, without losing command over himself and his 
feelings. 
I have since seen Santa Anna in his coach, surrounded with guards 
and all the pomp of the military, at the review of 8000 troops ; in church 
