Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/342

292 After leaving Perote, the column under General Worth entered on an open reach of country, at an altitude of nearly seven thousand feet above the level of the ocean, gently undulating, and abounding in the productions of more temperate climes. There were many large plantations of maguey, with its dark leaves and clustering flowers; but there were also waving

wounded abandoned to the charity and clemency of the conqueror. Soldiers who go to fight expecting such a recompense, deserve to be classed among the best in the World, since they are stimulated by no hope of ephemeral glory, of regret, of remembrance, or even of a grave.

"I will not believe that the Mexicans of the present day are wanting in courage to confess errors which do not dishonor them, and to adopt a system of true liberty, of peace, and union with their brethren and neighbors of the north; neither will I believe that they are ignorant of the falsity of the calumnies of the press, intended to excite hostility. No! — public sentiment is not to be created or animated by falsehood. We have not profaned your temples, nor abused your women, nor seized your property, as they would have you believe. We say this with pride, and we confirm it by your own bishops, and by the clergy of Tampico, Tuspan, Matamoras, Monterey, Vera Cruz, and Jalapa, and by all the authorities, civil and religious, and the inhabitants of every town we have occupied.****

"Abandon then, rancorous prejudices, cease to be the sport of individual ambition, and conduct yourselves like a great American nation; leave off at once colonial habits, and learn to be truly free, truly republican, and you will become prosperous and happy, for you possess all the elements to be so.****

"The order to form guerilla parties to attack us, I assure you can procure nothing but evil to your country, and no evil to our army, which will know how to proceed against them; and if, so far from conciliating, you succeed in irritating, you will impose upon us the hard necessity of retaliation, and then you cannot blame us for the consequences which will fall upon yourselves.

"I am marching with my army upon Puebla and Mexico; I do not conceal it; from those capitals I shall again address you. I desire peace, friendship, and union; — it is for you to select whether you prefer war. Under any circumstances, be assured I shall not fail my word — Extracts from the Proclamation of General Scott.