SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

TRAVELS,

Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. By George F. Buxton, Esq., mem, ber of the Royal Geographical Society, the Ethnological Society, &c.&c dfurrai. Flamm, The Peasant and Ills Landlord. By the Baroness Knorring. Translated by )4,.7 Hewitt. In two volumes Beatky. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE,

Rollo and his Race; or Footsteps of the Normans. By Acton Warburton In two volumes Benlky,

MR. RUXTON'S ADVENTURES IN MEXICO AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Ma. RUXTON is a member of the Geographical and Ethnological Societies, and formerly served in the British Army. In July 1846, he is found at Southampton, on board a West Indian steamer bound for Vera Cruz; at which place he arrived in safety, and proceeded to the city of Mexico. After lingering there a little time, he started on a journey Northwards; proceeding along the high lands of the Andes, till they almost impercept. ibly pass into the Rocky Mountains. In the vicinity of the latter he wintered at the fort of some American traders and trappers, situate on tie upper part of the Arkansa river ; and in the spring journeyed across the Prairies, in company with an'American waggon-train, to the frontier sta- tion of Fort Leavenworth. From this post he made his way without difficulty by steam and coach to New York, via the Lakes and the Hudson.

The route of Mr. Buxton from Mexico, we may state for those who wish to trace it on the map, was through Durango, Chihuahua, Santa Fe, and the valley of Taos—for although the city of Taos is marked on the maps there is no such town. From this valley, which lies in the Rocky Mountains, he proceeded onward till he struck the Rio Colorado or Red River of California; and then crossed that part of the' Rocky Mountains which separated him from the extensive central plains that begin the so- called valley of the Mississippi at its extreme 'Western limit. The latter part of this journey was made in winter ; and the traveller's sufferings from cold and fatigue in the snow and snow-storms of the mountains were terrible : but he pushed on doggedly and boldly ; reached the foot of the range in safety at last, and, striking the Arkansa, found the settlement where lie wintered.

We are not informed of Mr. Ruxton's precise objects in undertaking so long and fatiguing a journey, in a country never very settled or safe, and now involved in all the confusion of war, more especially at a season not well adapted for travelling in New Mexico or the region beyond its boundaries. It does not seem that geography was his aim, for we hear of no instru- ments, no observations : there is a little more of ethnological subjects in some remarks upon the ancient (and, as Mr. Ruxton conceives, the mo- dern) Aztecs, the governing race whom Cortes overthrew ; and these topics would have been more fully treated had not the elaborate manu- scripts of the traveller been destroyed in a river. Still, his first object does not seem to have been scientific. The determined pushing on with a single servant, or by himself alone, in spite of wars or rumours of wars, Indian excursions, or the terrific wintry weather in the highlands of New Mexico, California, and the Rocky Mountains, smacks more of duty than philosophy. His powers of subduing opposition by talismanic papers have been much talked of: but we see only an instance or two of this kind when he was enabled to proceed Northwards against the general orders of the Governor of Chihuahua; for whom, however, he carried despatches to the Americans. His letters world have availed little against the Indians ; they do not appear to have been required by the Americans; who, indeed, are themselves so accustomed to ramble about for health, sport, or profit, that they probably consider it a privilege inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race.

However, no matter what Mr. Ruxton's objects were; he is a capital traveller. Apparently an old campaigner, certainly experienced in many countries, he is a true citizen of the world, and makes himself at home anywhere,—excepting Santa Fe, where the refuse of the Yankee volun- teers added to its native population produced a ne plus ultra of society. In daylight he is always " wide awake"; and he seems to sleep with one eye open, unless now and then after a day of tremendous fatigue. His endurance is great : he is a good shot and a keen sportsman, with the kindness towards animals which often distinguishes the cavalry soldier or the sportsman who does not bet upon their capabilities : the horse Panchito, that carried our traveller from Mexico to Fort Leavenworth, and the mules that followed like well-trained dogs, form a perfect dra- matis persona; of themselves. These qualities, however, would be of little avail to the reader unless they could be presented ; and for that pur- pose Mr. 'Luton has sufficient literary abilities. He has a quick eye for the characteristic traits of things or persons, and a sly sense of the hu- morous ; he tells a story very well; and his style, without any striking quality, is lively, rapid, and buoyant. Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains is a capital book, alike attractive for its narrative of travel with its hardships and incidents, for its pictures of scenery and society, for the direct information it imparts as to Mexico, and the inci- dental glimpses it gives us of the Americans and their armies in Mexico. Years ago such a work would have appeared in quarto, and been hailed with a sort of awe; not long since as a costly octavo, though it would not have been half so dear as many of that family we have fallen in with; now it forms a volume of Mr. Murray's "Home and Colonial Library," and may be bad for five or six shillings,—though the volume would have been still cheaper and better with a skeleton map. Of the Mexicans Mr. Ruxton gives a very bad character. Licentious, treacherous, lazy, dishonest, cowardly, cruel, and bloodthirsty, with a state of society totally disorganized, they would seem to be ripe for de- struction, and that destruction deserved : of the United States Americans he speaks highly, without being altogether blind to their defects. His general judgments are not always supported by facts. We do not alto- gether mean his facts, fur as regards the Mexicans they support the con- elusions; but the public facts. The Mexicans, weak in person, badly armed, indifferently disciplined, and not well officered, as he describes them, have stood up against the American armies in several pitched battles, and fought in a manner which rendered the victory doubtful, and would probably have secured success with better arms and more skill in their use ; and such men can scarcely be by nature so contemptible as Mr. Raxton paints them. It is true that he allows them a " brutish in- difference to death "; but this is not a sufficient stimulus against active danger in a novel shape, if it be a stimulus at all. Except a crack regi- ment at Vera Cruz, wretchedly armed, and so ragged that Falstaff would not have marched through Coventry with them, Mr. Ruston saw little of the Mexican troops. He, however, fell in with a part of the American army on his journey to Santa Fe ; and his remarks on that, both volun- teers and regulars, are interesting. " The volunteers' camp was some three miles up the river on the other side. Colonel Doniphan, who commanded, had just returned from an expedition into the Navajo country, for the purpose of making a treaty with the chiefs of that nation, who have hitherto been bitter enemies of the New Mexicans. From appearances no one would have imagined this to be a military encampment. The tents were in a line, but there all uniformity ceased. There were no regulations in force with regard to cleanliness. The camp was strewed with the bones and offal of the cat- tle slaughtered for its supply, and not the slightest attention was paid to keeping it clear from other accumulations of filth. The men, unwashed and unshaven, were ragged and dirty, without uniforms, and dressed as and how they pleased. They wandered about, listless and sickly-looking, or were sitting in groups playing at cards, and swearing and cursing, even at the officers if they interfered to stop it, as I witnessed. The greatest irregularities constantly took place. Sentries, or a guard,. although in an enemy's country, were voted unnecessary; and one fine day, during the time I was here, three Navajo Indians ran off with a flock of eight hundred sheep belonging to the camp, killing the two volunteers in charge of them, and reaching the mountains in safety with their booty. Their mules and horses were straying over the country; in fact, the most total want of discipline was ap- parent in everything. These very men, however, were as full of fight as game- cocks; and shortly after defeated four limes their number of Mexicans at Sacra- mento, near Chihuahua.

"The American can never be made a soldier; his constitution will not bear the restraint of discipline, neither will his very mistaken notions about liberty allow him to subject himself to its necessary control. In a country abounding with all the necessaries of life, and where any one of physical ability is at no loss for profitable employment,—moreover, where, from the nature of the country, the lower classes lead a lite free froni all the restraint of society, and almost its conventional laws,—it is easy to conceive that it would require great inducements for a man to enter the army and subject himself to discipline for the sake of the trifling remu- neration, when so many other sources of profitable employment ant open to him. For these reasons, the service is unpopular, and only resorted to by men who are either too indolent to work or whose bad characters prevent them seeking other e mployment

" The volunteering service, on the other band, is eagerly sought, on occasions such as the present war with Mateo afferds, by young'men even of the most respect- able classes; as, in this, discipline exists but in name, and they have privileges and rights, such as electing their own officers, &c., which they consider to be more consonant to their ideas of liberty and equality. The system is palpably bad, as they have sufficiently proved in this war. The election of officers is made en- tirelya political question, and quiteirrespective of their military qualities; and, knowing the footing on which they stand with the men, they, if even they know how, are afraid to exact of them either order or discipline. Of drill or ma- nionvering the volunteers have little or no idea. Every man on his own hook ' is their system in action; and, trusting to and confident in their undeniable bravery, they' go ahead,' and overcome all obstacles. No people know better the ad- vantages of discipline than do the officers of the regular service; and it is greatly to their credit that they can keep the standing army in the state it is. As it is wetly. composed of foreigners—Germans, English, and Irish, and deserters from the British Army—they might be brought to as perfect a state of discipline as any of the armies of Europe; but the feeling of the people will not permit it; the pub- lic would at once cry out against it, as contrary to Republican notions and the li- berty of the citizen.

" There is a vast disparity between the officers of the regular army and the men they command. Receiving at Westpoint (an admirable institution) a military edu- cation by which they acquire a practical as well as theoretical knowledge of the science of war, as a class they, are probably more distinguished for military know- ledge than the officers of any European army. Uniting with this a high chival- rous feeling and most conspicuous sallantry, they have all the essentials of the officer and soldier. Notwithstanding this, they have been hitherto an unpopular class in the United States; being accused of having a tendency to aristocratic feel- ing, but rather, I do believe, from the marked distinction in education and cha- racter which divides thorn from the mass, than any other reason. However, the late operations in Mexico have sufficiently proved, that to their regular dicers alone, and more particularly to those who have been educated at the much-decried Westpoint, are to be attributed the successes which have everywhere attended the American arms; and it is notorious that on more than one occasion the steadiness of the small regular force, and particularly of the artillery, ander their command, has saved the army from most serious disasters."

' For the reason of the war with Mexico, and the sudden acceptance of the proposals for the Oregon boundary, Mr. Ruxton assigns a cause which, if he really is "in the secret," seems curious enough. President Polk had determined to fight for Oregon, and knew he must be prepared for hostilities. To raise forces avowedly for a war with England, would not, however, have been allowed; the rational party was too strong for that. The Mexican war was therefore got up as a sort of screen, under cover of which he could prepare additional forces ; flattering himself that Mexico would succumb at the first shot, and thus would war become po- pular.

"As soon, however, as the list of killed and wounded on the fields of Palo Alto. and Resaca de la Palma reached Washington, President Polk saw at once the er- ror into which he had fallen. It became evident to him that all the resources of the country would be required to carry on the war with one of the most feeble powers in the world, and that the sooner he pulled his foot out of the hot water, which at the temperature of 54° 40' was likely to scald him, the better for him and his country; ter it naturally occurred to him that, if such a scrimmage as the Mexican war gave him considerable trouble, an affair with such a respectable ene- my as England was likely to prove anything but an agreeable pastime; and hence the very speedy acceptance of Lord Aberdeen's ultimatum, and the sadden settle- Meat of the Oregon question."

Of the Mexican war Mr. Ruxton's prognostics are unfavourable ; and on reasonable grounds—the nature of the country, and the character of the people. All, however, turns upon this last point. If the Mexicans Possess the obstinacy of the Spaniards, and determine to resist, or rather net to submit, the war of the Peninsula may be repeated in Mexico. Na

poleon occupied Madrid as the Americans have done the city of Mexico ; the Emperor collected round his puppet king some of the grandees,— which General Scott has not yet been able to do ; and he occupied nearly the whole of Spain with overwhelming forces,—which the Yankees are a very long way off doing in Mexico. Yet Napoleon scarcely ever had the dominion of any district not actually in possession of his troops ; and he really lost the country because it was impossible to make the "war maintain itself," and equally impossible to supply his ar- mies with necessaries and money. The resources and armies of Napoleon bear about the same relation to the available means of the United States for aggressive warfare and their present forces as the population and cultivation of Spain did to that of Mexico at present ; if, indeed, the comparison is not in favour of Spain. As regards extent and difficulty of country to be occupied, Spain could offer no com- parison with Mexico, any more than in the cost of transporting provisions and other necessaries thither from the States. Unless, therefore, the Mexicans succumb, or the Americans can contrive to patch up a decent peace with some semblance of authority, they seem likely to find out, as we did in Afghanistan, that in a modern war battles are not everything.

We must refer the reader to the volume for pictures of manners and scenery, sporting adventures and hardships, with the other incidents of travel in a half-barbarous country or an all but uninhabited region like the Rocky Mountains or the Prairies. A few passages bearing some re- lation to the topics we have just touched upon are subjoined.

MEXICANS ON AMERICANS.

I had a large pot of soup kept always on the fire, to which the half-starved Americans [who had lost their way in a desert district near the town of Gnajo- quills, and some of whose party had perished, Mr. Buxton having rescued most of the survivors] had acceaa whenever they felt inclined; and, as I was sitting at the door, several of them passed into the house, brushing by the mnehac.hais without the usual con su licencia,' much to the indignation of the ladies. It is a general impression amongst the lower classes in Mexico, that the Americans are half savages, and perfectly uncivilized. The specimens they see in Northern Mexico are certainly not remarkably polished in manners or ap- pearance, being generally rough backwoodsmen from Missouri. They go by the name of " burros"—jackasses; and have the reputation of being infidels, who worship the Devil, &c. I was trying to explain to my female friends that the Americans were a very civilized people, and a great portion of them of the same religion as their own; but they scouted the idea: the priests had told them the contrary, and now they saw with their own eyes that they were burros.

"Ni saludan las mugeres l" indignantly exclaimed a dark beauty, as a conclusive argument—they do not even salute the women when they pass—as, just at that moment, a Missourian, six feet high in his mocassin, stepped over her head as she sat on the sill of the gate.

"Ni saludan las mugeres," she repeated; "you see it yourself. Ah, no, poi Dios, son burros, y muy in vergiinzas"—they are jackasses, and entirely with- out slams. " Valgame Dias, quo hombres tan fieros1"—what wild men they are • • • • I was here [Ohnaqui] made welcome by the Indian family, who prepared my

supper of frijoles and atole, the last the dish of New Mexico. * •

1 he patrons of the family seemed rather shy of me at first, until, in the course of conversation, she discovered that I was an Englishman. " Gmcias a Dios," she exclaimed " a Christian will sleep with us tonight, and not an American I." I found over all New Mexico, that the most bitter feelings and most determined hostility existed against the Americans; who certainly in Santa I'd and elsewhere have not been very anxious to conciliate the people, bat, by their bullying and overbearing demeanour towards them, have in a great measure been the cause of this hatred, which shortly after broke out in an organized rising of the Northern part of the province, and occasioned great lost of life to both parties.

AMERICAN IMPROVEMENT.

I meat say, that since a former visit to the States, made three years ago, I perceived a decided improvement, thanks to the Trollope and Boz castigation, en the manners and conduct of steam-boat travellers, and in the accommodations of the boats themselves. With the exception of the expectorating nuisance, which still flourishes in all its disgusting monstrosity," a stranger's sense of decency and decorum is not more shocked than it would be in travelling down the Thames in a Gravesend or Herne Bay steamer. There is even quite an arbi- trary censorship. established on the subject of dress and dirty linen; which is, since it is passively submitted to by the citizens, an unmistakeable sign of the times. As a proof of this, one evening as I sat outside the cabin reading, a young man, slightly "corned," or overtaken in his drink, accosted me abruptly.

"Stranger, you haven't are a clean shirt to part with, have you ? The darned [hiccup] capen says I must go ashore bekase my 'tarnal shirt ain't clean."

And this I found to be the fact; for the man was actually ejected from the saloon at dinner-time, on his attempting to take his seat at the table in a shirt which bore the stains of julep and cocktail.