Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/303

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OUTBREAKS DURING THE WAR.

 The war in Mexico.—Fondness for political changes.—Treatment of prisoners by the Mexicans.—Priestly exertions.—Generosity of the Americans.—The cumanche and the priest.—An execution.—A holy father's attempted revenge.

is not to be denied that the first hostilities between Mexico and the United States were characterized by many revolting-cruelties and uncalled-for atrocities—perpetrated for the most part by the soldiers and armed cumanches of the former country. Not to enter into any discussion as to the chief causes of quarrel, it is yet evident that the Mexicans had given their thin-skinned neighbours foundations for complaint. The most haughty and sneering refusals had been tendered to them when accommodations were proposed, and settlement of acknowledged dues demanded. A distasteful assumption of