I know not whether poor Mr. O'Reilley *, who, it is well known, was murdered in his bed by his own servant, had been in the habit of sleeping with arms: one thing I apprehend is, that he did not take the necessary precaution of fastening his door: a slight bolt or the appearance of the least probability of resistance might, possibly, have saved his life ; for the gradation betwixt temptation to crime and its commission is, unfortunately, too well known, so small, that, with persons of abandoned habits, they are seldom unconnected.

I am far from wishing to moralize on the execrable act to which I have alluded: my motive is to guard others from the possibility of exposing themselves to so dreadful a catastrophe : another suggestion which I would wish to offer is, that the act itself ought not, in fairness, to be argued as a proof of the general outrageous state of society amongst the people where it was perpetrated : less temptations, whether arising

:

from avarice or revenge, have led to equally deplorable consequences, in the most civi. lized portions of the world. But, whether this horrible event arose from private or political causes, its fatal effects to the unfortunate individual and his agonized relatives render it alike incapable of mitigation or distinction: it makes no difference to the parties whether a man be gathered up to his ancestors by the assassin's dagger, the pestilence of climate, a musket-ball or twenty-four pounder;—but to die in the public service, in whatever mode death may be encountered, claims something more than the solitary tribute of domestic regret.

Of those who have been employed in the business of “ the Recognition of the New Republics of South America,” how many have fallen victims to the duties which they had to fulfil! The journals that have been written by disinterested parties will show the labours and fatigues which they had to encounter, in the mere process of locomotion, to say nothing of the dangers of climate and the obnoxiousness to party revenge* -I should be sorry to seem jocose on so serious a subject; but have often considered that the business required by ambassadors to these states has formed a new æra in diplomacy: they are obliged to evince, equally, physical and mental exertion ;-to combine the activity of the courier with the sedateness of the statesman;-they should possess expansiveness of mind with solidity of occiput, a pliancy of character with obduracy of epidermis, and a delicacy of sensibility with a stomach for the black vomit.

CHAPTER XXII.

Revisit the President.—Difficulty of returning to

England.-Principal families of fortune.--Impediment to relations with Great Britain.-Guatemalian Ladies.-Don José de Valle.-The Archbishop.-Party feeling.

I REPEATED a visit this day to the president: he kindly informed me that he had ordered communications to be sent to the different departments to furnish as speedily as possible the information which I had previously solicited. My departure was arranged for the middle of next month, because I wished to avail myself of a passage home in one of the mercantile vessels which sail, with convoy from Belize, on the 1st of August.

I had heard that proceeding through the Gulf of Florida in a single vessel was, at this time, almost certain exposition to piracy of the most sanguinary nature, and as the journey to the coast would be almost impracticable if I delayed it till later in the season, there was little choice left between returning immediately or remaining in the country until the end of the year. The political state of affairs was at that moment every thing that could be deemed favourable; I was, therefore, induced to adopt the former resolution, and all my arrangements were made accordingly.

In looking over the information I had acquired, I was led to consider the nature and pretensions of the more influential, I mean the richer, classes of society; and having, casually, heard in conversation the ascribed amount of property and fortune which some of them possessed, I took great pains to ascertain the respective interests and fortunes of the rest. For this purpose I made a vocabulary of the names of the leading families in the country; and, after collecting the opinions of persons best informed upon the subject, annexed a statement of their respective properties, the nature of them, and the sources whence they