MEXICO.

A correspondent from Mazatlan, writing under date of February 6th, states the following: Old General Lozada has again taken up arms. Having failed in his efforts to convince President Lerdo of his peaceful intentions, he summoned his notables to his capital of San Luis on the 15th of last month, and there it was resolved to call the Indians to arms, and, forming three divisions, to begin the offensive before the federal troops could be readied. As the District of Nayarit is organized more or less like the military frontiers of Austria, with every inhabitant a soldier, provided with a rifle and corresponding ammunition, the mobilization of that army did not take long, and by the 21st there were already 20,000 men ready to take the field. Lozada himself took command of 10,000 and marched on Guadalajara; Colonel Gerónimo went with 5,000 toward Zacatecas, and Colonel Martinez with another equal force toward the frontier of the State.

But before the campaign began, Lozada gave orders to seize provisions, powder, lead, and other campaign materials, and to arrest all whom he considered his enemies; of these, none fared worse than Mr. Machara, a wealthy merchant of Tepic. Orders were given to shoot him, but finally Lozada agreed to release him upon payment of $100,000. All that the victim was able to raise, with the help of the house of Barron, was $50,000, but at the last hour no arrangement had been concluded.

Although we have no direct news, we have heard that General Corona met Lozada near Guadalajara and defeated him; that does not mean much, however, because in his stronghold, the mountains of Alica, he will be invincible.

The great importing houses of this city find themselves in a state of great agitation on account of the arbitrary acts of the authorities, who, instead of protecting commerce, have tried to make merchants the victims of their political weaknesses.

A year ago General Donato Guerra, then chief of the revolutionary forces, imprisoned some of the leading merchants because they refused to pay their share of a forced loan, while the customs house obliged them to pay duties on imported goods, which they did under protest. When General Rocha restored legitimate authority, he requested a loan of $80,000, which was paid without hesitation; but not satisfied with this, he again demanded payment of the aforementioned duties, ending by accepting promissory notes from the respective houses in case the courts of justice should uphold his claim. An appeal was made to Mexico City, and the President decided that one third of the said duties should be paid. This seemed unjust to the importers, however, since the amnesty decree pardons even those who took up arms against the Government. They protested again, but the collector paid no heed to it, and instead ordered the arrest of several of the said importers, forced open the doors of their shops, removed the locks, and put on new ones. While the houses of standing are made to suffer in this manner, the poorer classes are victims of the depreciation of the copper coinage, in which they are obliged to receive their wages, while their rents and provisions are payable in silver or at an enormous premium.

The copper coinage, although issued by the Government to the sum of $200,000, has ceased to be legal tender, and yet no provision has been made to redeem that currency.

The extraordinary tax levied years ago as a federal impost, and intended solely for the war of intervention, has been kept in force to this day, and the only concession that has been made is that it may be paid in copper coin to facilitate its retirement: few have taken advantage of the opportunity.

The municipal Treasury is exhausted, and for more than six months the public school teachers have gone unpaid. The law recently passed by the Legislature of this State to create a sinking fund to extinguish the copper coinage will meet with much resistance. Others have proposed issuing paper money notes in exchange for the copper, and the best plan seems to be to reduce its value by fifty percent, so that the "cuartilla," of a nominal value of 3 cents, would be reduced to 1½ cents.

But it is not only the federal and municipal authorities who lie open to criticism: the members of the Supreme Court of Justice are known to be persons devoid of all character; a fact demonstrated by the verdict of a jury called to try a libel suit which the Supreme Court had brought against Don Luis Rivas for having used, in one of his publications, the following language: "The conduct of the members of the Supreme Court has been villainous, vindictive, wretched and infamous, base, unjust, cowardly and shameless, and as such I denounce the crimes of which they have made themselves guilty by their acts." Strong as such language is, the jurors unanimously signed their verdict of acquittal, further naming some of the judges as not legally worthy of their seats. This shows that freedom of the press is the bulwark upon which Mexicans may hope to realize their plans of reform.

Luis Terrazas, Governor of the State of Chihuahua, has requested a loan of $75,000 to cover the expenses of the State while it was occupied by Donato Guerra: except for Hidalgo, all the cities submitted to their respective quotas. More than forty paymasters have been expelled from the army because their accounts did not balance, though we do not know whether through ignorance or fraud.

A telegraph line is to be built from here to Guaymas and Ures via Culiacan and Alamos.

Orders have been given for all ships loading at San Blas to withdraw, and although Lozada forbids anyone to leave the State of Jalisco, hundreds have come here seeking shelter.