Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/560

502 with sheep and cattle; and large quantities of hides are annually prepared for exportation. Oranges, limes, figs, olives, grapes, apples, and peaches, grow thriftily, and yield abundantly. The gardens attached to the Old Roman mission establishments, at Yerba Buena, San Luis Rey, and San Diego, are fairly choked up, with the fruit-trees and shrubbery, that have been suffered to grow, for many years, unchecked and unpruned. The climate of the territory is mild and equable; the winters are rainy; and, though the summers are dry, there are heavy dews to cool the air and moisten the grounds.

The pecuniary considerations growing out of, or connected with the war, lose much of their importance, however, when we consider its other results. The ability of the country to vindicate her honor and maintain her rights — her great capacity for war, either offensive or defensive, — has been signally demonstrated. The tendency of this will be, to increase, in an eminent degree, the respect and deference paid to our government by other nations. Called upon, at brief notice, to raise and equip a large army, — this was accomplished; and, under such circumstances, we entered into a contest with a people not unpractised in "war's vast art," or unacquainted with the improvements of modern