Letter from Lewis R. Price to his Aunt. Dan has been an invalid from September...

Letter from Lewis R. Price to his Aunt.

Dan has been an invalid from September last year up till June this year - he contracted a bad malady, a kind of marsh fever & ague from which he only recovered at the last date. He is now well. In January Lewis had news of his being very ill at a town on the coast to the South of Vera Cruz about 100 miles off. He secured the services of a French physician & arrived in time. Lewis remained there a week & brought him back with him to Vera Cruz.

"Our poor Mexico has been in a very disturbed state for some time. Santa Anna was never able to establish his dictatorship firmly throughout his reign - some part or other of the Republic has always been in a commotion. At length public opinion became so very stronger, and the bands of armed partisans so numerous - that he had to fly the country but up to the last moment he deceived his adherents with assurances that he was not going away - His departure which was from this part left the place in a very unsettled state - the troops ceased to be obedient to their officer, and several officers lost their lives in their attempt to restrain them. The men availed themselves of the night to make attacks, and for a week the town was in a very unpleasant state - just when one was going to bed they began to fire, and of course kept us awake till 12 or 1 o'clock. In this absurd way some 40 or 50 men were killed or wounded, and three poor women. The place is quiet now - but I think we have only seen the beginning of a long struggle - though I do not expect any trouble in this town".

Lewis sends his sympathy on the deaths of Mrs, Turner & Mrs. Edwardes.

He trusts James will not have to go to the Crimea "it is a soldiers business to fight certainly - and honor and promotion can only be gained in the field but the mortality from other causes than fighting has been so frightful than one cannot see without much anxiety any friend going to such a place. What an awful sacrifice of life has the war occasioned - and by the time this reaches you, of the expected attack on Sebastopol has taken place what a far greater one will have occurred. It seems agreed on all sides that the war is likely to be a long one - the preparations making are an evidence of it & I really do not see how it is to terminate - Russia will be loath to grant the only conditions England and France can either with dignity or safety admit - I should say a military life was altogether more suited to the tastes of Price Harrison than to a Barrister - though an ensign of 40 is rather an anomaly - if opportunity offers he may work himself up to a good position in the line supposing the war to continue - I was at school with Owen Tudor, his father then occupied Buchan House at Shrewsbury - we were good friends. You say nothing of David Jones - I wonder he has not gone down to the Crimea as an amateur. The wandering kind of life would suit him - and I think he would not dislike the fighting."

Note written down the side "What an incomprehensible match for Miss Proctor.

Written from Vera Cruz.