MEXICO.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 343, 1 February 1861, Page 4

MEXICO.

( Front the Times' Correspondent.) City of Mexico, October 15. The English Government has at length taken a step which, with due regard to its own dignity, it ought to have taken months and months back; it has directed Mr. Mathew to demand his passports and hreak off all diplomatic relations with the Chprch faction ruling in the city of Mexico, The Wmw given, a.re good and sqffiqfen.t^.the.

constant recurrence of forced loans in spite of the repeated remonstrances of her Majesty's Government, the outrages committed on British subjects, the utter disregard of treaties and international law, and the perpetration of atrocities which render it impossible for any nation having a due regard for its own character and dignity longer to hold diplomatic intercourse with a faction which had forfeited all claim to be ranked among civilized communities. It may be that the threat held out by Mr. Murphy in London some months back,," that he would not answer for the lives and property of Englishmen if the Legation were withdrawn," may have influenced the British Government in deferring as long as possible this extreme measure. There is not, however, an Englishman throughout the republic who does not approve of the course now adopted, and who would not sooner run some little personal risk than see his country dishonored by having a representative accredited to a faction tainted by every possible crime and abomination. Englishmen have nothing to fear at the hands of the constitutional party, who have ever treated them with consideration and respect; it is from Mr. Murphy and his party that violence is to be apprehended, and it will be from them, if anything of the kind should occur, that reparation will have to be exacted. That Mr.' Mathew has more than once pressed this course upon his Government is known full well, and in view of the massacre at Tamtaya, the tortures systematically applied by Cobas in Oaxaca, of the outrages almost daily practised upon British subjects, and of the insults hourly heaped upon himself, how was it possible,for an English gentleman and a British representative conscientiously to recommend any other? His loss to our little community will be severely felt. He has ever stood boldly forward in defence of his countrymen, and, the check which he has exercised once withdrawn, it is to be apprehended that a faction no longer restrained by his presence, who have ever avowed their hatred to Englishmen, and who have violated every law, both human and divine, will not be overscrupulous in their mode of procedure. Every means will be taken to insure the safety of the bondholders' money now deposited in the Legation by placing it under the immediate charge of the Consul; but as the houses of these functionaries in Zacatecas, St. Louis, and elsewhere, have upon more than one occasion been violated by the chiefs of the church faction and by Miramon himself, it is not to be supposed that the latter will hesitate to avail himself of means so immediately at hand should his necessities be pressing.

Sad deeds have of late been, perpetrated within the'very precincts of the capital. Mr. Lander, a gentleman of the highest respectability, who refused to contribute to a forced loan, was thrown into solitary confinement, and subsequently removed to a dungeon one and a-half j^ard long, and one wide, filled with loathsome excrement, the stench from which was so great that he could only preserve his existence by breathing through the keyhole. Another person, who made a pathetic appeal to Miramon to grant the country peace, was dragged to prison and sentenced by Miramon himself to receive 500 lashes at daybreak the following morning. When 350 had been administered Miramon was informed that the man was dying. " Let the remainder," he said, "be given on the the dead body; my order "must be carried out." But a still more horrible tale remains to be told. "A poor woman, endeavoring to favor the escape of her husband taken by the pressgang to serve as a soldier, was ordered to receive 300 lashes; although in the family way, these lashes were administered without pity or remorse; the poor Creature gave birth to a stillborn child and died in the most excruciating agonies." This monstrous deed, committed 'within the very precincts- of the palace, is too horrible to dwell upon. May the name of Miramon and of Concha, his wife— for she is no better than a she tigress—be so indelibly impressed on the memory of main woman, and child, in every civilized community as to ensure to those miscreants the punishment they deserve should they dare at any future period to take refuge in Europe!

The prisons are filled to overflowing, and the disappearance of persons, never more to.be heard of, is of daily occurrence. In fact, language fails to depict the horrors to to which the inhabitants of the city of Mexico are now subjected, and it is a matter of grave reproof to Senor Pacheco, the Spanish Ambassador, that he still continues to recognise and support a faction which is' a disgrace to the age in which we live. Whatever may be the motives which have actuated this gentleman, certain it is that he has systematically opposed himself to every arrangement that has been suggested by her Majesty's Charg6 d'Affaires, and that he is now urging the church party to the prolongation of a contest which will entail upon the country much additional misery and bloodshed.

The last accounts received from Guadalajara states that Ortega, the constitutional General, made his appearance before that city with 15,000 men on the 23rd of last month; that four days were consumed in conferences with Castillo the chief of the church faction; that active operations commenced on the 28th; and that by the 4th of this month Castillo had been driven within the last line of his defences, which are described to be of a formidable nature. As the very existence of Mexico would seem to depend upon the taking of this city, the last stronghold of the church faction in the interior, we are all anxiously looking forward to the next advices from that quarter. Should Orteg;a fall in the attempt the present state of anarchy may continue for an indefinite ppriod; should he succeed he will then be^ at liberty to direct all his forces upon. tho,«apital» when

there will be some chance of his bringing this ruinous and murderous contest to an end by the utter discomfiture and, it is hoped, annihilation of a faction which foil the last 40 years has been the curse of this unhappy country. ■• < Mr. Mathew has addressed a most ener-l getic remonstrance to Miramon against! these atrocious proceedings.