Character Of Santa Anna

ueneral Santa Anna is now fifty-fbu years of age. He is about five feet len inches high, with a finely proportionec person. Mis complexion is of an olive cnst, but not indicating any mixture o; blood, although I believe he is not of pure Castalian lineage. I do not know that I have everseen a more striking anc finely formed hcad and face ; thcre i& scarce'.y a fea' ure or a point on either, that Spurzheim or Lavater would dcsire to change. I rcmember to have heard a distinguished American statesman remark when Santa Anna was in Washington that he hul rarely seen a face indicative n a higher degree of talent, firrnness and benevolence ; nnd when I say as I do,that think that his face is not an inaccurate ndex to the volume of his character, I )eg the reader not to start and lay down he book befure he has read a few inci!ents which I propose to nárrale, and for most of which I vouch, as they have )assed under my own observation. I am veil a'.vare that I should better satisfy the nassof readers both in this country and n Mexico, by speaking in a different vein of ihe now fallen man ; but il would bc both unjust and ungrateful in me to do so. I trust that I may without impropriety say, that the history of my mission will show that I never stooned to flatter General Santa Anna when at the height of his power, neither can I find il in my heart to traduce him now. He has at different times, at my instnnce, releascd f rom imprUonmontmorc than two hundred Texan prisoners, and has so often afforded me that highestof all happines, that of making others happy, that Isiiouja oe gratined to know that in lus present fallen siate any thing which I mny write ofiiim hasgiven him one momeni's gratification. I sliall not, ho wever, be betrayed by this desire into writing one line which my own delibérate judgment does not approve. Mr. Poinsett liad nn interview with General Santa Anna in 1622. He saw and judgcd of him free fiom the fjlse glare of high position and extended repur tuiion. Santa Anna was then only aColonel of a regiment. Mr Poiiiseít was particularly struck with his high boarng and pulished manners. Mad. Calueron de la Barca bears the Sume testimony to the grace, ea:c, naturalne&s of his mauners, and thonghtfulness and repose which are so striking in his countenance ; and on tais subject there is no aiithoritv so conclusivo as thatof a well-bred and accornplished lady. I have seen no countenance except that of General Jaclcson, whose range of expression was so great, where there was so grent a difTerence between the quiet expression of the face when at rest and in a gentle mood, and its terrible ferocity when highly cxcitod. The mildness of the lamb and the fierceness of the enraged tiger would not much too strongly exprcss this diíFercnce. - Such is his character, by nature, kind and aíFectionate, but subject to bursls of passion ficry and fierce. He is a Spaniard ; a race which, with its many noble traits of character, is every where regarded as more than ordinorily sanguinary ; pcrhaps not more so by nature ihan others. f bey have been from the earliest period engaged in civil wars, and civil wars are every where sanguinary to a proverb. - That between the Goths and the Moors lasted forcight hundred years, and there were elements in that protracted contest calculnted to increase even the charactcristic ferocity of civil wais. It was a religious war, and more even than that, it was a war of races. The civil war between the mother country and Mexico, in which Santa Anna was bred, was not the best nossiblc school for lessons of clemencv. Noqviarter was srenemlly tho luw oí;hat war, at least on the part of Spain, and almoat the only law which Spain respected. It would be strange ïnderd, ifone bronght up in sucli a school shou'd nöt havo coiomitted some acls nnt strictly contormable to our notions. Yet, I beliovc, hi uiili the excepiion of his conduct in Texas, and the order for decimating the Te.xan prisoners of Mier, his chaiactor is freo from stain in this particular; whÜM bis militry carear has been illustrated by many neis of noble clemency which vould do honor to any commander.