Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/147

Rh Simeon Ramirez. Perdigon accuses Simeon Ramirez and Terrés himself. Alvarez accuses Don Manuel Andrade, and Andrade in turn accuses him. Alcorta accuses the Andrade of the hussars, while he accuses Alcorta;—and in fine, we have before us the letters and despatches of the whole of them—we have before us their actions and skirmishes, from the battle of San Jacinto up to the ignominious capture of Gaona and Torrejon by the Poblano robber, Dominguez."

We have quoted these passages, to prove, by Mexican authority, that our remarks upon the army are not made in a captious spirit or with a desire to undervalue its officers ungenerously.

Bad as had been the organization and conduct of the army, they were not, of course, improved by the results of the war. The morale and the materiel were both destroyed, so that when our troops withdrew during the summer of 1848, little more than a skeleton of the regiments remained to preserve order. This was, indeed, one of the greatest sources of dread to orderly Mexicans, for they feared that when all foreign restraint was suddenly removed, the country would be given up to anarchy. Without men and without means, the government justly apprehended the uprising of the mob, nor were there demagogues wanting to excite the evil passions of the masses by an outcry against the treaty. At the head of this disgraceful movement was General Paredes, who had returned from exile, but had not been trusted by the government during the conflict. The payment of the first instalment of the sum agreed upon in the treaty, however, enabled the authorities to maintain tranquillity, and as soon as comparative order was enforced by a new administration, the army was reorganized under a law passed on the 4th of November, 1848. By this act, the military establishment was greatly reduced, even on paper, and, in 1849, not more than five thousand two hundred, rank and file, were in actual service.

If there were, in reality, no need of an army in Mexico to oppose a foreign enemy, or, to preserve domestic peace, one would still be required to secure the Northern Frontier against the incursions of Indians. From the earliest periods, the Spaniards were vexed by their savage assaults, and, since the establishment of independence, the Mexicans have every year seen their people and property carried off by the robber tribes, whilst their villages, ranchos and haciendas were totally destroyed or partially ravaged.

Mexican engineers have calculated that the new boundary line, following the course of the Rio Grande and the Gila and including