The task would be irksome to ourselves, and so heavy and technical, as to afford very little satisfaction to our readers. It is impossible to include in a single volume the opposite qualities of brevity and copiousness, a condensed summary of principles, and an elaborate discussion of the minute details and distinctions of cases. Whoever writes a mere practical treatise, must leave much matter worthy of observation to more exhausting authors. In this age, books to be read must be succinct, and direct to their purpose. The business of commercial life will not stop, while lawyers plunge into folios of a thousand pages, to ascertain a possible shade of distinction in the construction of contracts. If, therefore, there should be any persons disposed to think, that cases and comments should have been given more at large, the true answer is, that such was not Mr Phillips's plan; and that his work is to be judged of, not by its adaptation to other purposes, but by its actual execution of his own design. In this respect it has our hearty approbation, and we sincerely recommend it to all, who are interested in commercial jurisprudence, as merchants, lawyers, and judges. We think, however, that, in a future edition, Mr Phillips will do well to enrich his work with extracts from Valin, Emerigon, and Pothier, upon points, which have not yet received any adjudication, and occasionally to introduce some of their speculative reasonings. We should be glad also to have more full practical information, upon the adjustment of averages and losses, and the items, which are to be admitted or rejected, having had occasion to know, that nothing is more various, uncertain and anomalous, than the modes of settling losses in different insurance offices. Even in the same office, a departure from the principle assumed, as to one subject of insurance, is not uncommon as to another, upon some fanciful notion of its inapplicability. The form of Mr Phillips's Index also might be advantageously changed, so as to make it more easy for consultation, by the use of a larger type, and breaking it up into more paragraphs, with short subordinate titles.

ART. III.-Notes on Mexico made in the Autumn of 1822; accompanied by a Historical Sketch of the Revolution, and Translations of Official Reports on the Present State of the Country; with a Map. By A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES. 8vo. pp. 352. Philadelphia. Carey

& Lea. 1824.

THE author of this volume is understood to be Mr Poinsett, representative in Congress from South Carolina, well known both for his services as a legislator in the national counsels, and for the generous zeal with which he has for many years embraced and supported the cause of South American emancipation. His residence in Chile thirteen years ago, at the dawn of the revolution in that country, as accredited agent of the government of the United States, gave him an opportunity of learning from personal observation the innumerable evils inflicted on the people by the oppressive policy of Old Spain, the causes which roused among them the spirit of resistance, and the tone of feeling and opinion naturally growing out of their situation. His Report to the Secretary of State, which was drawn up and laid before Congress in the year 1818, affords abundant proofs of his vigilance in watching the progress of events, and his industry in collecting information; and, if rumor has told truth, he was not an idle spectator of the scenes that were passing around him.

With these advantages no man was better qualified, probably, than Mr Poinsett, for undertaking the tour of observation and inquiry, the particulars of which are recorded in the work before us. At the present crisis this book is a valuable acquisition to the slender stock of knowledge, which exists in the United States on the subject of Mexico, a country becoming every day clothed with new and increasing interest, and which promises at no distant period to hold an eminent rank among the nations of the earth. The prospects of Mexico were certainly never so good as at this moment. The internal dissensions, which have thrown perpetual and serious obstacles in the way of reform, seem of late to have been subsiding, and a fair hope may now be entertained, that the pillars of government will be erected on a basis, which no future convulsion will demolish, however it may be unsettled or weakened by temporary agitations. The fate of

Iturbide, as just in itself, as it was propitious to the cause of Mexican independence, has relieved the friends of liberty from the chief grounds of alarm, which they have felt in contemplating the civil and political condition of Mexico. An act of the government itself, also, which was passed on the 28th of June last, recognising the whole amount of debts contracted by all the preceding governments, not omitting that under the Viceroys, exhibits a good indication of growing solidity and strength, at the same time it inspires confidence and respect. In short, from the day that the tyranny of the mock Emperor ceased, there has been an evident and substantial improvement in the political condition and prospects of that country.

The present federal system of government, instituted in imitation of the United States, is an experiment. Its success is quite uncertain, and on the whole it may possibly be considered as rather an unfortunate step at so early a stage. The affairs of Venezuela, before the union, went on but very indifferently under this system. The change is probably too great, from such a despotism as has brooded over the South American colonies for three centuries, to so high a degree of freedom as must necessarily be enjoyed under a system of separate, independent confederacies, bound together only by the loose chain of common interest. The Colombians have thought so, at least, and adopted what they call the central form of government, allowing to its fullest latitude the electoral franchise, but concentrating all the legislative powers of government into the hands of a body composed of national representatives. This scheme was eloquently and strongly recommended by Bolivar, in his celebrated address to the Congress of Venezuela, the principles of which are incorporated into the new constitution, now the basis of the Colombian Republic. He acknowledges the superior excellency of the federal plan, however, when the condition of the people will admit of its being carried fully into effect; and it is one which may at any time be engrafted into the central system of Colombia. In alluding to the former constitution of Venezuela, he considers it a miracle that its model in North America has existed with so much prosperity,' a remark, which he would have been less likely to make, had he looked deeply into the history and character of the inhabitants of the United States.

It has been fortunate for Colombia, that her ablest statesmen and firmest patriots have been united in their views of the present form of government. The constitution was adopted with great unanimity, and seems to have been administered with an extraordinary degree of harmony, even in the perilous times of change, and with the burden of a heavy war resting on the nation. Mr Salazar, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Republic of Colombia to the Government of the United States, has expressed himself briefly, but with point and clearness, on this subject, in a letter contained in Mr Rocafuerte's Ensayo Politico, published within the last year in New York. Mr Salazar is decidedly of opinion, that Colombia in its present state is much better suited to the central, than the federative system, yet he hesitates not to say, that the latter as practised in the United States is in itself the best, when the circumstances of the people are such as to allow it to have its free and effectual operation.* But, notwithstanding these views of distinguished Colombians, and the success of their government under its present system, no very sound reason can be urged, why experiments of a better form should not be made at the outset, and thus secure not only the existence of this better form, but also the benefits which may in the mean time be derived from it. A reformation may not be easily brought about hereafter, when it shall be desired, but if the right plan is laid down at first, no reformation will be required. So in regard to the Mexicans, if they can keep clear of civil commotions, and preserve the peace, rights, and property of the people in a tolerable state of security, during the incipi

* Si hubieramos de considerar en si mismo el sistema federativo, i tal como los Estados Unidos lo practican, nuestros votos serían en su favor. Ensayo Polit. p. 175.

Mr Rocafuerte takes the same ground, and says that in the present state of the country, of religious intolerance, and general misery, the federal hydra appears to him the most cruel enemy, which could present itself.' He looks ardently to the time, however, when this enemy may become a friend, and be made to work for the prosperity and happiness of the country.

Los legisladores de Cúcuta han sido mui liberales en sus princípios, i por consiguente mui amantes al federalismo, todos lo descan, i todos aspiran al feliz momento de verlo introducido entre nosotros. ¿Que Americano instruido puede existir, que no sea un ardiente defensor de este complemento de perfeccion legislativa? Pero no se llega á la perfeccion de ninguana ciencia á arte, sin la práctica de sus princípios, que se adquiere con el tiempo i con la experiencia. Ibid. p. 171.

ent movements of their federative machine, the task will every day become less difficult, and the chances will be multiplied of their obtaining by the shortest process a substantially free government. Whether Mexico is in a condition to make this experiment with a just hope of success, time and the energies of the people must decide.

The substance of the present work, as the author gives us to understand, was communicated in letters to a friend at intervals during a rapid journey through the country. It is written in the form of a diary, and thus contains the interest and spirit with which objects are described on the spot, and incidents are narrated as they occur. Mr Poinsett sailed from Charleston on the 28th of August, 1822, in the corvette John Adams, and, after touching for a short time at Puerto Rico, he entered the port of Vera Cruz in Mexico, on the 18th of October following. In this city he was politely and kindly received by the American Vice Consul, accepted an invitation to dine with Santa Ana, a young and brave general, and governor of the place, by whom he was treated in a cordial and hospitable manner. Here he remained three days viewing different parts of the city, and making preparation for his journey into the interior.

Some confusion exists among writers of good authority respecting the origin of the present city of Vera Cruz. It is often represented as having been founded by Cortes, and the first town established by the Spaniards in North America. But this is a mistake. Cortes landed and had a battle with the natives, in what is now called the province of Tobasco, nearly a hundred leagues to the west of the present site of Vera Cruz, and at that place he built a small city named by him Madonna della Victoria, which for many years was the capital of the province. In sailing up the coast from this point, Cortes first disembarked at the mouth of the river Antigua, and here he founded the colony of Vera Cruz, several miles to the westward of the present city, which was not built till nearly a century afterwards.* But whatever may have been

* Clavigero says, that three cities by the name of Vera Cruz were built near the same place on the coast of New Spain. The two first were ancient Vera Cruz and New Vera Cruz, planted on the same sands where Cortes landed. The first was settled by Cortes in 1519, and was called Villarica of Vera Cruz, (Villarica della Veracroce.) The next was settled four or five years after, near the site of the other. And the third, or present city of Vera