Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/558

500 Clouds and darkness still hover over her lovely valleys and her snow-capped mountains; yet, blessed, as, we may hope, she will one day be, with a firm, stable, and prudent government, it will be easy for her to redeem the past, and to accomplish a high destiny for the future.

But what have the United States gained by the war? — Its necessary consequence, although not its object, has been, the addition to our territory of a tract of country exceeding 500,000 square miles in extent. The importance of the Bay of San Francisco, and the other harbors on the Pacific ocean, embraced within the limits of the territory acquired, has been heretofore noticed Divers opinions are entertained with regard to the value of the acquisition in other respects, and it will, perhaps, be impossible to reconcile them, until its resources, and productive capacity, are fully developed, under the more favorable auspices which always accompany American industry and enterprise.

Recent travellers give no very flattering description