Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/364

358 employed by the United States in Mexico from April, 1846, to April, 1848, consisted of 54,243 infantry, 15,781 cavalry, 1,789 artillery, and 25,189 recruits; making a total of 96,995 men. The total number called out by the government exceeded 100,000 men. The number that actually served in Mexico exceeded 80,000 men, not all called out at the same time, but in successive periods. At the close of the war, according to the adjutant general's report, there were actually 40,000 in the field. *** The so-called improvements of warfare, in the opinion of men, justify the continuance of warfare on the ground that the destruction of life and the infliction of suffering have been undiminished by the new devices. God save the mark! Killing men is not a trade susceptible of improvement; the experiences of the Mexican war show that neither side dispensed with the horrors of ancient practices.

"The gain in territory by the United States was immense, comprising a surface of 650,000 square miles. From the mines alone it is computed that precious metals have been extracted to the extent of $3,500,000,000. Besides this, we must remember the vast wealth of Texas, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

"The loss in money to Mexico will never be ascertained. *** And yet, unhappy as the results were for it, one must acknowledge that its honor was maintained. The treaty represents, indeed, its great misfortune, but does not involve perpetually ignominious stipulations, such as many another nation has submitted to at the will of the conqueror."

A bitter dose is this that Mr. Bancroft has prepared to go down to posterity as the history of that war. But in accepting his faithful research, and reluctantly admitting the truthfulness of his assertions, a part of the public, at least, will attribute his severe criticisms of President Polk to a wide difference of political opinion.

It is not the writer's intention to cast any reflections upon President Polk or his administration, or to arouse bitter feeling in the survivors of that struggle. No one more upholds the bravery and