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316 the existence of a large permanent force. There is hardly a single point upon her long-extended line of coast, upon which it would be practicable to disembark an invading army; and were it even landed, such are the difficulties with which it would have to contend upon the ascent to the Interior, from the want of roads, and provisions, and the deadly nature of the climate, that its destruction would be almost inevitable. A month's detention in the Tierra Caliente would be equivalent to the loss of a pitched battle; and, even supposing every natural defence to be successively carried in the shortest possible time, a month would hardly, under any circumstances, suffice to reach the Table-land. There, the struggle would commence anew; and such is the horror entertained at present, of foreign domination, that I am convinced that a levy en masse of the whole population, would be the consequence of any hostile aggression. How formidable this might prove, in a country where the distances are too great to admit of lines of communication being kept up, and where the greatest part of the population are admirable horsemen, and not unaccustomed to partizan warfare, it is needless to point out: but I do not think that the most formidable expeditionary army that Spain could furnish, would have the slightest chance of success.

It might desolate a portion of the country, and throw it back fifty years, in the career of civilization, but few would live to tell the tale, and little encouragement would be given for a second attempt.