his Ministers, all the chief courts of justice. It occupies one side of the
square, but is no way remarkable in its architecture. At the end of every
flight of steps that we mounted we came upon lounging soldiers, in their
yellow cloaks, and women in rebosos, standing about. We passed through a
hall filled with soldiers, into the antechamber, where we were received by
several aides-de-camp, who conducted us into a very well-furnished room,
where we sat a few minutes, till an officer came to lead us into the
reception-room, which is a handsome apartment, about a hundred feet long,
and fitted up with crimson and gold, also well lighted. General Bustamante,
now in plain clothes, gave us a very cordial reception.

He looks like a good man, with an honest, benevolent face, frank and simple
in his manners, and not at all like a hero. His conversation was not
brilliant, indeed I do not know apropos to what, I suppose to the climate,
but it chiefly turned on _medicine_. There cannot be a greater contrast,
both in appearance and reality, than between him and Santa Anna. There is
no lurking devil in his eye. All is frank, open, and unreserved. It is
impossible to look in his face without believing him to be an honest and
well-intentioned man. An unprincipled but clever writer has said of him,
that he has no great capacity or superior genius; but that, whether from
reflection or from slowness of comprehension, he is always extremely calm
in his determinations: that, before entering into any project, he inquires
and considers deeply as to whether it be just or not; but that once
convinced that it is or appears to be so, he sustains his ground with
firmness and constancy. He adds, that it suits him better to obey than to
command; for which reason he was always so devoted a servant of the
Spaniards and of Yturbide.

He is said to be a devoted friend, is honest to a proverb, and personally
brave, though occasionally deficient in moral energy. He is therefore an