Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/214

180 been kept up for a few hours, and this would have been followed by an assault, probably on the night of the 24th. The powder of the enemy was stored in the cathedral, and the women and children were collected in and near the main plaza. The loss of life which must inevitably have attended the assault, and the consequent explosion of the magazine, would have been frightful. Every principle of humanity demanded that this should be avoided, if possible, and General Taylor and the American commissioners were very willing to be governed by such a consideration, when they found it was impossible to prevent the escape of the Mexican soldiers, with all their light arms and baggage, through the numerous narrow passes in the rear of the city, which they were unable to guard. In his dispatch to the Mexican minister at war announcing the surrender, dated on the 25th of September, Ampudia