indulgence, or an avaricious devotion to the rapid acquisition of fortune, absorbed the whole time of these planters, who lived in almost utter seclusion amid the lonely wastes of their large territorial possessions. The planter who resides in a populous nation, or who is enabled to visit easily the capitals of commerce, literature, and art, is a man, who, from his personal independence, culture, and wealth, is usually in our own country to be envied for the peculiar privileges which his station affords him. But in Mexico, the position and education of the planter, if he lives constantly on his estate,—which is not universally the case,—are altogether different from those of the North American land-holder. The Mexican possesses few or none of those social and intellectual qualities that have been cultivated by the North American in the best colleges and circles of his country; nor does he enjoy equal facilities of intercommunication between the cities or rural districts of Mexico. The immense size of his plantation which sometimes extends several leagues in length and breadth, necessarily disperses instead of congregating a populous neighborhood. "He is master of all he surveys,—he is lord of the fowl and the brute," but his dominion is a solitary and cheerless one. Few, and irregular posts rarely bring him the news of what occurs in the great world. Visits are seldom and ceremoniously paid. He must find within himself the constant springing source of vivacity and of an ambitious desire for progress, or he must subside into mere animal existence. The latter is unfortunately in most instances the natural result, and it is therefore not at all astonishing to find Mexican planters or their mayordomos devoting all their energies to the maintenance of the servile system we have described, whilst their statute-book and constitution profess to have abolished slavery.
Whilst such is the effect upon the character of the master or his representative, it is natural to suppose that the character of the servant will be equally degraded by the want of those new ideas with which the constant refreshing intercourse of society ventilates the mind. The Indian knows no world but that bounded by his horizon. Slavery, when