MEXICO
The Mexican Congress assembled in the Capital on the first of January, when General Herrera, the President, made his annual address. He dwelt with satisfaction on the relations existing between the United States and Mexico, considering them much more harmonious and mutually advantageous than was anticipated at the close of the war. The financial condition of the country has been somewhat improved by the retrenchment of the Government expenses and the consolidation of the Interior Debt: a revision of the Revenue Laws is strongly advocated as a still further reform in this direction. President Herrera favors the colonization of the public lands by immigrants from Europe; he also alludes with satisfaction to the increase of manufactures and the improved prospects of the silver mines, which last year yielded upwards of $30,000,000.
The two branches of Congress met on the eighth, to count the votes for the election of the President of the Republic. The votes of twelve States were found to be in favor of General Arista. He was consequently declared to be duly elected. On the fifteenth, in the Chamber of Deputies, in the presence of the Mexican Congress, he took the oath of office and made a short inaugural address, in which he alluded to the maintenance of the federal system as necessary to the prosperity of the country, and pledged himself to preserve peace and order at all hazards. The President of Congress, Don Mariano Yañez, replied in a short address of congratulation. Te Deum was chanted in the Cathedral in the presence of the new President, and in the evening the German residents honored him with a serenade and torch light procession. Arista's Cabinet is composed as follows: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Don Mariano Yañez; Minister of Justice, Don Jose Maria Aguirre; Minister of Finance, Don Manuel Payno; Minister of War and Marine, Don Manuel Robles.
Early in January a rebellion broke out in the State of Guanajuato. The insurgents, headed by two brothers named Liceagas, obtained possession of the city of Guanajuato, with the Government arms and ammunition, but were defeated on the night of the 13th by the Government troops under Generals Bustamente and Uraga. Several of the chiefs were executed, and the movement, which was in favor of Santa Anna, was entirely crushed.
The Tehuantepec treaty was ratified on the 25th of January. On the following day, Mr. Letcher, the American Minister, left the capital for the United States, on leave of absence. Señor Lacunza, the Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed Minister to England, and Señor Valdiviesco Minister to France. The Mexican Government has ceded in perpetuity to Don Gayetano Rubio, Don Eustace Barron, Señor Garay, and the firm of Yecker, Torre & Co., the whole of the public lands in the State of Sonora, including the mines, between lat. 30° N. and the Gila River. This grant embraces several millions of acres, and the richest mineral land of the Republic. It is said to have been intended to smooth the passage of a bill abolishing all tariff prohibitions, which have hitherto operated greatly to the advantage of the parties named.
Maj. Barnard's Company for surveying the Isthmus of Tehuantepec reached the town of Minatitlan, on the Coatzocoalcos River, in the steamer Alabama, on the 25th of December. At the last accounts, one party had penetrated a distance of sixty miles into the country, a second was engaged in an examination of the river, and a third had set out for Tehuantepec, on the Pacific Coast.
BRITISH AMERICA.
The lawyers in Lower Canada have been making strikes and holding meetings to protest against the imposition of the new tariff regulating their fees. The Bar of Quebec and of Trois Rivières have struck, declining to serve their clients until the legality of the tariff shall be decided by the Court of Appeals. It has been decided to admit American reprints of English copyright works into Canada, on paying 20 per cent. duty, which is to be paid over by the Custom House to the English authors or proprietors of copyright, who are required to furnish a list of their works. Under this law, American reprints will still be much cheaper than English editions, and popular English authors may therefore look forward to some increase of their revenue. The Imperial Cabinet has also assented to the Post-Office Law, enacted at the last Session of the Canadian Legislature, and establishing a uniform rate of three pence for single letters throughout the British Provinces.
Meetings have been held in Toronto, protesting against the intended removal of the Seat of Government from that city, while, on the other hand, the French members have resolved not to vote the supplies unless it is removed to Quebec in the spring. Lord Elgin, however, has stated that the Seat of Government will be transferred to Quebec at the completion of its two years in Toronto.