Newspaper Page Text
No. 3 Vol. Vl.]
CITY OF MEXICO.
Extracts from notes on Mexico, made in 1822, by
a citizen of the United States. 1 vol. octavo
just published.
The appearance of the country about
indicates its having been formerly
overflowed- It is marshy, and can only be
passed on causeways raised with stoue two
or three feet above the level of the plain.
The like of Tezcuco is salt, and by exper
iments made by Baron Humboldt, is found
to contain more of the muriate of soda than
the Baltick sea. In the dry season the
country in the immediate vicinity of the
city, is covered with a crust of efflorescent
salt.
The new city, which was commenced in
1524, is built on piles. The streets are
sufficiently wide, and run nearly north and
south, east and west, intersecting each other
aright angles ; they are all well paved, &
hare side walks of flat stones. The pub
lic?); squares are spacious, and surrounded
by buildings of hewn stone, and of very
good architecture. The publick edifices
an d churches are vast aod splendid, and the
private buildings being constructed either
of porous amygdaloid or of porphyry, have
an air of solidity, and even magnificence.—
They are of three and four stories high,
with flat terrace roof 9, and many of them
are ornamented with iron balconies. The
houses of Mexico are ail squares, with open
courts, and the corridors or interiour piaz
zas are ornamented with enormous China
vases, containing evergreens. They are
not so Aell furnished as our houses in the
United States, but the apartments are more
lofty ami spacious, and are better distribu
ted. The entrance leads through a large
gate into an inner court, with the stairs in
front of the gate. The best apartments,
which are generally gaudily painted, are
frequently on the second 9tory above the
ground floor-
Our large cities are many of them neat
er than Mexico, but there is an appearance
of solidity in the houses, and an air of gran
deur in the aspect of this place, which are
wanting in the cities of the United States.
With us, however, a stranger does not see
that striking and disgusting contrast between
the magnificence of the wealthy, and the
squalid penury of the poor, which constant
ly meets bis view in Mexico. I have des
cribed the palaces of the rich—the abode
of poverty does not offend the eye. It is
beueatb the church porches, in miserable
barracks in the suburbs, or under the cano
py of heaven. There are at least tweuty
thousand inhabitants of this capital, the pop
ulation of which does not exceed one hun
dred and fifty thousand souls, who have no
permanent place of abode, and no ostensi
ble means of gaining a livlibood. After
passiog the night, sometimes under cover,
B'i'netimes in the open air, they issue forth
in the morning like drones, to prey upon
the community, to beg, to steal, and in the
last resort to work. If they are fortunate
enough to gain more than they require to
maintain themselves for a day, they go to
the pulqueria, and there dance, carouse,
and get drunk on pulque and vino mezeal, a
brandy distilled from the fermented juice
of the agave. Around and under the pul
qseras are open sheds covering a space of
frSm forty or fifty to a hundred feet ; men
and women may be seen in the evening,
stretched on the ground, sleeping off the ef
fects of their deep potations. These peo
ple, called by Hwnboldt saregates and gua
c. iuangos, are more generally known by
the name of teperos. They are for the
most part Indians and Mestizos, lively and
extremely civil, asking alms with great hu
mility, and pouring out prayers and bless
ings with astonishing volubility. They are
most dexterous pickpockets, and I heard
some instances of their slight ot hand, that
surpass the happiest efforts of the light
fingered gentry of Paris or London.
From what I have said of the Leperos of
Mexico yon will compare them to the laze
jroni of Naples. The comparison will be
favourable to the latter, who work more
readily, steal le9s frequently, and are sober.
We walked through the market place,
and 1 was surprised to see it so well fur
nished. The markets of Philadelphia and
New York display butcher’s meat in great
quantity and better quality, but here we
saw game in abundance. Wild ducks, birds
of various sorts, venison and hares, and the
profusion and variety of fruits and vegeta
bles, were greater than I had seen in any
market in Europe or America. The fol
lowing are the prices of some articles, and
what I understood to be the usual rates :
Beef, 28 ounces, 12 12 cents—mutton and
veal, 12 12 cents per pound—eggs, 25
cents a dozen —fish from the lakes, about 9
or 10 inches long, one dollar per pound.—
Fowls from 50 to 75 cents per pair ; pig
eons, 25 cents a pair ; turkeys, from 75
cents to a dollar each ; peaches, fifty cents
a dozen ; pears 75 cents ; the tuqa, (fruit
of the cactus) twenty five cents ; alligator
pears 50 cents ; oranges 33 3-4 ; tnamies
do. grapes 33 3-4 cents per pound ; pine
etudes 12 1 2 cents each.
The fruits of the tropicks are raised a
short distance from the city, and the vege
tables & fruits of Europe are cultivated on
the borders of the lakes Xochimilco and
Chaleo, by the Indians, who bring theta to
THE MISS 10 NARY.
market in canoes, ornamented with flowers.
Tha stalls are set out with flowers which
are in great demand by all classes, to adorn
the shrine of some saint, the patron of the
house, or to grace a festival. The markets
are filled with stalls, and the paths through
it are very narrow, and obstructed by a
crowd of Leperos, whom I was cautioned
not to touch, for their blankets swarmed
with vermin. The streets surrounding the
market are filled with earthern ware for
cooking, and other domestick purposes.—
The Indians every where make earthen
pots very neatly, aod the people here use
them instead of iron or copper vessels.
From the market we walked to the Al
ameda, a publick walk or rather park, laid
out in lines, diverging from different cen
tres, and planted with a variety of trees.—
The roads are wide enough to admit the
passage of carriages, and it is much fre
quented on Sundays and festivals. There
is a fountain in the centre of the Alemeda,
which is supplied with water from the great
acqueduct leading from Santa Fe to the city.
The water is carried along in trenches,so as
to water the plants and trees, & is then dis
charged into the lake. This acqueduct
which passes close by the Alemeda, is 33,-
464 feet in length, supported on arches of
stone and brick plaistered over. The wa
ter is brought from the springs of Santa Fe
near the chain of mountains that separate
the valley of Mexico from that of Lerma k
Toluca. Another acqueduct, 10,826 feet
m length, conducts the water from Chapol
tepee to the city. The arches of this ac
quednet, of which there are 904, are 9 feet
6 inches apart, and the columns four feet
thick. The width is about 6 feet 6 inches.
The column of water is 2 feet 3 inches
wide, and 2 teet deep. The water of Cha
poltepec is, l believe, the best: that of
Santa Fe is said to contain a large portion
of the carbonate of lime.
The Wickedness of an Infidel: or the awful
Story of William Beadle.
From President Dwight’s Travels in New Eng
land and New-York.”
Wethersfield is remarkable for having
been the scene of a crime, more atrocious
and horrible than any other which has been
perpetrated within the limits of New Eng
land, and scarcely exceeded in the history
of man. By the politeness of my fiiend,
Col. Belden, 1 am enabled to give you an
authentick account of this terrible transac
tion, taken from the records of the Third
School District in Wethersfield. I shall
not, however, copy the record exactly, but
will give you the substance of every thing
which it contains.
William Beadle was born in a little village
near London. In the year 1755, he went
out to Barbadoes, with Governor Pinkfold,
where he stayed six years, and then return
ed to England. In 1762, he purchased a
small quantity of goods, and brought them
New York, aad thence to Stratford in Con
necticut, where he liveJ about two years.
Thence he removed toDerbv,where he con
tinued a year or Dvo,&theu to Fairfield Here
he married Mi9s Luthrnp, a lady of respect
able family, belonging to Plymouth in Mas
sachusetts. In 1772, he removed to Weth
ersfield, and continued in this town about
ten years, sustaining the character of a
worthy honest man, and a fair dealer.
In the great controversy which produced
the American Revolution, he adopted Amer
ican principles, and characteristically ad
hered with rigid exactness to whatever he
had once adopted. After the continental
paper currency began to depreciate, almost
every trader sold bis goods at an enhanced
price. Beadle, however, continued to sell
his at the original prices, and to receive the
depreciated currency in payment. This
money he kept by him until it had lost its
value. The decay of his property render
ed him melancholy, as appeared by several
letters he left behind him, addressed to dif
ferent persons of his acquaintance.
By the same letters, and other writings,
it appears, that he began to entertain de
signs of the most desperate nature three
years before his death, but was induced to
postpone them by a hope that Providence
would, in some way or other, ebaoge his
circumstances for the better, so far as to
make it advisable for him to wait for death
in the ordinary course of events. But eve
ry thing which took place, whether of great
or of little importance, tended, he says, to
convince him, that it was his duty to adopt
the contrary determination. During all
this time he managed his ordinary concerns
just as he had heretofore done. His coun
tenance wore no appearance of any change
in his feelings or views, and not one of his
acquaintance seems to have suspected that
he was melancholy. The very evening
before the catastrophe, to which I have al
luded, took place, he was in company with
several of his friends, and conversed on
grave and interesting subjects, but without
the least appearance of aoy peculiar emo
tion.
On the morning of December 11, 1782,
he called up a female servant, who slept
in the same room with his children, and was
the only domestick in bis family, and direct
ed her Cos arise so softly a9 not to disturb
the children. When she came down, he
gave her a note, which he had written to
Dr. Farnsworth, his family physician, and
Os all the dispositions and habits* which lead to po'Hteal prMperuV RaSrion and nr
, *y> Religion and Morality ate indispensable eup^orlsj—
MOUNT ZION, (HANCOCK COUNTY, GEORGIA,) MONDAY, JULY 5, 1824.
told her to carry it, and wait till the physi
i cian was ready to come with her ; inform
ing her at the same time, that Mrs. Beadle
had been ill through the night.
1 After the servant had gone, as appeared
by the deplorable scene presented to the
eyes of those who first entered the house,
he took an axe, struck each of his children
once, and his wife twice, on the head; cut
their throats quite across with a carviog
knife, which be had prepared for the pur
pose ; and then shot himself through the
head with a pistol.
Dr. Farnsworth, upon opening the note,
found that it announced the diabolical pur
pose of the writer; but, supposing it im
possible that a sober man should adopt so
horrible a design, concluded that he had
been seized by a delirium. Dr. Farnsworth,
however, hastened with the note to the
Hon. Stephen Mix Mitchell, now Chief
Justice of the State. This gentleman real
ized the tragedy at once. The house wa9
immediately opened, and all the family
were found dead in the manner which has
been specified.
I kuew this family intimately. Mrs. Bea
dle possessed a very pleasing person, a fine
mind,&her children were lovely&promising.
Beadle in his writings, which were numer
ous, professed himself a deist, and declared
that a man was, in his opinion, a mere ma
chine, unaccountable for his actions, and in
capable of either virtue or vice. The idea
of Revelation he rejected with contempt:
at the same time, he reprobated the vices
of others in the strongest terms, and spoke
of duty, in the very same writings, in lan
guage decisively expressive of his belief
in the existence of both duty and 9in. The
Jury of inquest pronounced him to be of
sound mind, and brought iu a verdict of mur
der and suicide.
The inhabitants of Wethersfield, frantick
with indignation and borrour at a crime so
unnatural and monstrous, and at the sight of
a lady and her children, for whom they had
the highest regard, thus butchered by one
who ought to have protected them at the
hazard of his life, took his body, as they
found it, and dragged it on a small sled to
the bank of the river, without any coffin,
with the bloody knife tied upon it, and buri
ed it, as they would have buried the carcass
of a beast, between high and low water
mark.
The corpses of the unhappy family were
the next day carried, with every mark of
respect, to the church, where a sermon was
preached to a very numerous concourse of
sincere mourners. They were then inter
red iD the common burying ground, and in
one grave.
Mrs. Beadle was 32 years of age, and the
eldest child about 15. Beadle wa9 52 years
of age, of small stature, and of an ordinary
appearance. He was contemplative, pos
sessed good sense, loved reading, and de
lighted in intelligent conversation. His
manners were gentlemanly, and his disposi
tion hospitable. His countenance exhibit
ed a strong appearance of determination;
yet he rarely looked the person, with
whom he was conversing, in the face, but
turned his eye askance, —the only suspi
cious circumstance which I observed in bis
conduct, unless a degree of reserve and
mystery, which always attended him, might
merit the name of suspicious. Such as be
was, he was cheerfully admitted to the best
society in this town; and there is no better
society.
Colonel Belden adds to bis account the
following note:
“ This deed of borrour seems to have
been marked by the indignation of Heaven
in the treatment of the body of the perpe
trator. The ground, in which he was first
buried, happened to belong to the township
of Glastenbury, although lying on the wes
tern side of the river. The inhabitants of
Glastenbury, thinking themselves insulted
by the burying of such a monster within
its limits, manifested their uneasiness in
such a manner as to induce the selectmen
of the town of Wethersfield to order a re
moval of the body. Accordingly, it was re
moved in the Digbt, secretly, and by a cir
cuitous route, and buried again at some dis
tance from the original place of sepulture.
Within a few days, however, the spot where
At was interred was discovered, it was re
moved again in the night, and buried near
the western bank of the river in Wethers
field. The following spring it was uncov
ered by the freshet. The flesh was washed
from the bone 9. At this season, a multitude
of persons customarily resort to Wethers
field, to purchase fish. By these and vari
ous other persons, in the indulgence of a
strange, and 1 think, unnatural curiosity,
the bones were taken off, and scattered
through the country.”
Pride was unquestionably the ruio of
Beadle. He was, obviously, a man of a
very haughty mind. This passion induced
him when he had once determined that the
paper-currency would escape a deprecia
tion to continue selling goods at the former
prices, after the whole community had, with
one voice, adopted anew rate of exchange.
Under the influence of this passion he re
fused to lay out bis money in fixed proper
ty, although prudence plainly dictated such
a measure. When he saw his circumstan
ces reduced, so as to threaten him with a
necessary and humiliating change in his
style of living, pride prompted him instead
of making new exertions to provide for his
family, to sit down in a sullen hostility
against God and man, and to waste the whole
energy of his mind in resentment against his
lot, and in gloomy determinations to escape
from it. He doated upon his wife and
children. His pride could not bear the
thought of leaving them behind him, with
out a fortune sufficient to give them undis
puted distinction in (he world.
A gentleman, who had long been a friend
of Beadle, offered him letters of credit, to
any amount which he should wish. Os this
his friend informed me personally. Pride
induced Beadle to refuse the offer.
In these charges 1 am supported by Bea
dle’s own writings. He alleges this very
cause for his conduct, and alleges it every
where, not in so many words, indeed, but in
terms which though specious, are too ex
plicit to be misconstrued.
Beadle, as 1 have observeJ, denied the
existence of a Divine Revelation ; yet he
placed a strong reliance upon dreams, as
conveying direct indications of the will of
God—so strong as to make them the direc
tories of his own moral conduct in a case of
tremendous magnitude. He appears, by
his writings, to have been long persuaded
that he had a right to take the lives of his
children, because they were his children ;
and therefore, in his own view, his proper
ty, and to he disposed of accordiog to his
pleasure; i. e. as 1 suppose, in aoy manner
which he should judge conducive to their
good. But he thought himself unwarranted
to take away the life of his wife, because,
being the child of another person, she was
not in the same sense his property, nor un
der bis control. This you will call a strange
current of thought; but the manner in
which he removed bis scruples was certainly
not less strange. His wife, under the influ
ence of very painful impressions from his
extraordinary conduct, particularly from
the fact, that he continually brought an
axe, and other instruments of death, into
bis bed-chamber, dreamed frequently, and
in a very disturbed manner. One morning
she told him, that in her sleep, the prece
ding night, she had seen her own corpse
and the corpses of her children, exposed in
coffiins iD the street; (hat the sud shone od
them for a loog time ; and (hat they were
ultimately frozen. This dream made a
deep impression on Beadle’s mind. In his
writings be mentions it as having solved all
bis doubts, and as a direct revelation from
HeaveD, that it was lawful for him to put
his wife also to death!
We have here a strong proof of the pro
priety with which infidels boast of their ex
emption from superstition and credulity.
Had this man possessed even a little share
of the patience and fortitude of a Christian ;
had he learned to submit to the pleasure of
God with resignation; had that humility,
which is so charming a feature of the Chris
tian character, formed any part of his own ;
he might even now have been alive, and
might, in all probability, have seen bis chil
dren grow up to be the support and joy of
bis declining years.
He died worth three hundred pounds
sterling. The farmers in Connecticut were,
at an average, probably, not worth more,
at the same period. Every one of them,
at least every one of them whose property
did not overruu this sum, might, therefore,
with equal propriety, have acted in the
same manner. What would become of the
world, if every man in it, who was worth no
more than three hundred pounds sterling,
were to murder himself aod family!
I think you will agree with me, that we
have here a strong specimen of the weak
ness of infidelity, and of the wickedness to
which it conducts its votaries.
MISSIONARY.
From the Boston Recorder.
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Extracts from a letter, written by Rev. Wil
liam Richards to a friend inJVorthampton.
Honoruru, May 26, 1823.
Very Dear Sir , —From these heathen
shores, I send my thoughts across oceans
and continents, and thus am compelled to
travel a distance of eighteen thousand miles,
before I meet with any of the companions
of my earlier years. Still I find it quite as
easy to think of friends, as when they were
at the distance of only a few hours ride.
Often have we, when walking (he deck of
our ship, looked away towards the land of
our fathers, with emotions never to be des
cribed. Many a pleasant hour have we
spent in repeating the names of those
friends we have left, and many a tear has
dimmed our eyes while recounting their
kind offices. Often in the day time do we
look upon the sun, and at night upon the
stars, and delight to reflect that they are
the same which shone upon us while with
you, and the same which still shine upon
our parents and beloved friends, whom we
expect to see no more. But though I thus
speak of dear absent friends, you will not
think us discontented. It is far otherwise.
Could you sit with us but for an hour, you
would perceive that we are happy.
I will mention a few of the many things
which we daily see and bear, calculated to
animate all our hearts. On Sabbath morn
ing, two weeks ago, oue of the principal
[Price $3 50 per ann.
women, a Princess of authority, came very
early to meeting, and called at the mission
house. On being told it was early, she re
plied, “yes, but God was in my thoughts,
HDd so I came.” While she was standing
in the spaceway, some of the female mis
sionaries came. She put her arms around
them and said, you have left your good
mothers in America, and have come here
to do us good. You have no mothers now
—1 will be your mother. The Princesses
have often been heard pleasantly disputing
with each other which should be the moth
er of the missionaries.
I will give you, as nearly as I can, an ac
count of the conversation which Mr. Ellis
had a day or two ago, with one of the old
priests “Do you suppose,” said Mr. E.
“ *hat you shall live in another world when
your body dies?” “No” said the priest,
“I do not—when I die I shall go to noth
ing, shall I not?” “ No,” said Mr. E. “you
will certainly live for ever. Your body
will go to the dirt, but your soul will live.
When you were priest and used to pray, did
you not think there was another world?”
“Yes, but I now think l should go to the
dirt.” “Did you think all good and bad
men would go to one place ?” “ Yes, I
thought there was but one place, and every
body must go there.” “ But suppose you
have one good chief, that loves all his peo
ple, never steals, never lies, never kills any
one, and you all love him; and you have
another bad chief, that takes away from the
people all their money, and all their food,
and goes to war, and every body hates him;
do you suppose that both these chiefs would
go to one place?” At this the priest turned
bis head, and appeared in a deep study.
At length he said, “ why we never have
any such good chiefs here; we are all bad,
very bad; I think we shall all go to one
place.” “ No,” said Mr. E. “we shall not
go to one place ; if you will come to our
meetiog we will tell you about the two
worlds.” “ Mitai,” said the priest, “ 1 will
come.” Since this conversation he has
been constant at meeting, and says the new
religion is very good.
I will give yon another dialogue, which
passed between the King on one part, and
Tamuanu Kohamanu, on the other. I must
first inform you, that Reboriho is often in
toxicated, and sometimes on the Sal bath.
All the chiefs are opposed to his drinking,
and do not hesitate to express their feelings
to him. They were speaking together re
specting the observance of the Sabbath.
The company said, ‘we shall be a happy
people, when we all observe the Taboo
day, and when we all go to meeting.’ ‘Yes
we shall,’ said the king, ‘and we all Shall
do it very soon.’ But the people must all
leave off their work, they must bring no
more wood and grass.” ‘ That they shall
do. I will give the word, and they shall all
keep the Sabbath, and shall all’ learn to
read and write.’ ‘ But you must first set
the example yourself, and the people will
follow.’ ‘ 1 will set the example, 1 will keep
the Sabbath, and my people shall keep it
too.’ ‘ Then you must lay aside your bottle
and drink no more rum.’ ‘That 1 will do’
by and by I will drink no more.’ Similar
dialogues are very common. The Kiug is
a very amiable and sensible man ; he pro
bably never even thought of its being a
crime to get intoxicated, until the missiona
ries told him. He is fast improving in ve
ry many respects, and we feel a strong con
fidence that be will yet become virtuous.
We receive many interesting visits from
him, and from the chiefs and their wives
They appear exceedingly pleased with the
general information we give them. The
other day several of them were at my boo*e
We told them respecting the bridges across
our rivers in America. They were ex
ceedingly interested i D the account,hut still
appeared to have an imperfect idea of them.
We told them also, that there were river*
in America, as wide as from here to Knw
ahii, and as loog as from here to the Mar r
quaesas. They raised their hands in aston
ishment, and laughed very heartily, but
could hardly credit us.
Another letter,dated October 23,1823, (it
being the fourth anniversary of the mission,)
meotions that they expected to publish,
within a few days, an edition of twenty
hymns, which hundreds of the natives would
be glad to read, as soon as the work could
be put into their hands. Within two years
from the date of the letter they hoped to
be able to print 20,000 copies of one of the
Gospels. Ka-o-poo-olahue, mother of the
King, and the friend and helper of the mis
sion, died about six weeks before the date
of the letter. She is believed to have
been a Christian indeed. She died at La
hioah, where Messrs. Richards and Stewart
have since taken their station, and “ with
stammering toDgne” begun to teach in the
language of the natives -Duriog the months
of July and August, Messrs. Thurston, Bish
op, Goodrich, and Ellis, surveyed, to some
exteut, all the inhabited districts of the pnn
cipal island,Owyhee; and,in the course of
the tour, preached 130 different limes, the
gospel of free salvation. The population
of Owyhee is estimated at 85,000. That
of all the Sandwich Islands unitedly, at 160,-
000—leaving more than 16,000 inhabitant*
to the charge of each of the nine Missiona
ries, now labouring among them* Id view
*f these facts, the Missionaries earnestly