MOONLIGHT VIEW OF PLAZA AND CATHEDRAL.
"As we looked from the tower we agreed with Bishop Haven that never did a city have such an environment. The whole city lay below us spread out like a map; there are few chimneys in Mexico, and consequently there was no smoke to mar the view, and we readily traced the streets and avenues, stippled with the green of the squares and gardens that abound so numerously. We looked over the plains and down upon the lakes, and then our gaze swept to the mountains that surround the valley in a jagged chain that covers nearly 200 miles of distance in its girdling course. The snow-covered peaks of Popocatepetl and his sister and companion, 'The White Woman,' seemed to rise higher than we had before seen them, and added a solemnity to the picture in addition to that which it already possessed. North of the city rises the hill on which is built the Church of Guadalupe, and on the west is that of Chapultepec. As we looked on the latter we thought of the heroic attack upon the fortress by the American army in our war with Mexico, while the former secured our respect as one of the places which are sacred in the eyes of pious Mexicans.
"The $2,000,000 which I mentioned as the cost of the cathedral were for the walls alone; at one time the wealth of the church, in silver and gold and costly pictures, was something almost beyond calculation, but it has been repeatedly plundered, and the aggregate work of the despoilers has stripped off much of its magnificence, but even now it is very rich, and as long as peace continues is likely to remain so. There are six altars, fourteen chapels, and five naves; there are paintings by famous artists of Spain, and there is a balustrade around the choir which is said to weigh 50,000 pounds, and is so valuable that the church authorities refused an offer to replace it with a balustrade of solid silver of equal weight. The balustrade was made in Macao, China, and is of tumbago, a composite of silver, copper, and gold. It was brought to Acapulco, and transported thence on pack-mules to this city.
"We visited the chapels in which the remains of some of the great men of Mexico are buried, notably the chapel of San Felipe de Jesus, which contains the tomb and monument of the unfortunate Iturbide, the first emperor of Mexico. On the monument he is called 'The Liberator,' and we are told that his birthday is remembered and honored, as it justly deserves to be. We haven't yet told you who Iturbide was.
"He was born in 1783, his parents having come from Spain shortly before his birth, and settled at what is now Morelia, in Mexico. He became a soldier, and fought in the wars against the revolutionary movements in the first fifteen years of the present century. In 1816 he went into private life, having been dismissed from the service in consequence of quarrels with men high in power; then he began to dream of securing the independence of Mexico; and when the revolutionary movement became general in 1820, he joined it. He was soon at the head of the army, the revolution succeeded, independence was acknowledged, and Iturbide was proclaimed Emperor May 18, 1822, and crowned on the 21st of the following July.
AUGUSTIN DE ITURBIDE, GRANDSON OF THE LIBERATOR.
"But peace did not follow his coronation. There was a new revolution, with Santa Anna at its head, and Iturbide was forced to abdicate the throne and leave the country. He went to Italy, and afterwards to England; but in 1824 the desire to regain his crown led him back to Mexican soil, where he had been proclaimed a traitor and an outlaw. He landed at Soto la Marina on the 14th of July, and was arrested. Five days later he was shot by order of the military commander; as he fell he assured the multitude that his intentions were not treasonable, and exhorted them to religion, patriotism, and obedience to the Government. And here his body rests, the judgment upon his conduct having been long ago reversed. His grandson now lives in Washington. Maximilian, being childless, chose young Iturbide, the grandson, to be his heir to the throne of Mexico, but there is little likelihood that he will ever ascend its steps; the atmosphere of Mexico does not seem favorable to imperial plants.