Staunton Spectator, And General Advertiser

MEXICO.

The redoubtable Col. R. M. Johnson had probably read the following account of the riches of Mexico, when he tendered his services to plant the Star Spangled Banner on its walls:

"The secular Clergy own a property worth, at the lowest estimation, a hundred million dollars.

"From the centre of the vast Dome of Puebla de los Angeles depends the grand Chandelier—a mass of gold and silver of some tons weight.—To the right of the Altar is a figure of the Virgin nearly the size of life. Dressed in the richest embroidered satin, she displays strings of the largest pearls; round her brow is a crown of gold, inlaid with emeralds, and her waist is bound with a zone of diamonds and enormous brilliants.

"The Candelabras are of silver and gold, and so ponderous that a strong man cannot move one. The Host is one mass of priceless and innumerable jewels.

"In the Cathedral of the City of Mexico is a rail of two hundred feet in length, four or five feet high, and of proportionable thickness, composed of gold and silver, and within it a figure of the Virgin of Remedios, with three petticoats, one of pearls, one of emeralds, and the third of diamonds, worth three millions of dollars. The Church, of Guadaloupe is even richer, and at Loretto the last supper is represented by figures before whom are placed piles of gold and silver plate.

"The gold mine of Guadaloupe in the town of Cosalo is supposed to be the richest in the world. It belongs to Signor Yriasie, who refuses to work it to any great degree of productiveness, because he could not dispose of the immense revenue it would yield, and says his money is safest under ground."