The Herald

Gen. Santa Anna.—The Pioneer left our harbor yesterday morning, and dropped down to Hampton Roads. It was the intention of Capt. Tatnall to have gone down on Monday afternoon, as the bark was ready for sea, and 4 o'clock was named as the hour at which Gen. Santa Anna would go on board. As he had kept himself housed while on shore, no opportunity had been afforded to the citizens to gratify the curiosity which possessed large numbers of them to see the Mexican Chief; but they were resolved to have a look at him, and for that purpose a pretty large number gathered in front of his boarding house, about the hour appointed for his departure. In doing so, however, they defeated their object; for it seems, the appearance of so large a multitude, though for the most part composed of the orderly and respectable classes of our population, suggested to him the presence of danger—at least we must presume so—and he declined leaving the boarding house till the next morning, or till the crowd had dispersed. We learn that he went on board at ten o'clock at night, a barge from Town Point.
This timidity of Santa Anna speaks him any thing but the hero he has been cracked up for. The repeated assurances given him by the town officers, and other respectable citizens, that the object of the persons assembled without, was only to gratify an innocent curiosity to see him; and that having seen him they would go quietly away, without offering him any incivility, ought to have sufficed to calm the apprehensions of a courageous spirit, and even to have determined him to exhibit his person to the populace more conspicuously even than he could have done in passing from the house to the carriage. We can vouch for it that if he had done so, not the slightest attempt at violence, indignity, or breach of decorum in any shape, would have been manifested.
We were among the few who were ushered into his presence: and a first glance at his person and features, gave us a more favorable impression of the man, than we had imbibed from the leading incidents of his history. There was certainly nothing ferocious or repulsive in his countenance, which was placid, and rather expressive of mildness. His complexion is similar to that of most European Spaniards, with a good, if not particularly striking set of features. He is about five feet 9 inches in height, straight, and well proportioned.
What prompted him to visit Washington, what was the nature of his conference with the President, and what is to be his reception on his landing in Mexico, are beyond our ken.—Norfolk Herald, Feb. 1.