The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-10 00:00:00

ITlOrning

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1846,

However much the Americans may feel disposed to
congratulate themselves upon their warlike achieve-
men& in the territories of Mexico, they will unques-
tionably discover that an independent and republican
nation cannot be dismembered so readily as they have
appeared to imagine. They will discover that the
very vastness of the spoil of their preceding victories
will prove an almost insurmountable encumbrance to
the prosecution of their enterprise, and that the na-
tionality of even the most sluggish population may
be enkindled by the repetition of flagrant aggressions.
As we conjectured, the Government at 'Washington
has expressed considerable dissatisfaction at the
leniency of the stipulations entered into with Am-
ruin& Who the conquered soldiery of Monterey
themselves regarded as indicative of the pusillani-
mity of their vanquishers, the Cabinet of the
United States considers to be an unnecessary
leniency. Nor are the advantages derived from
the latest triumph of General TAYLOR of such a cha-
racter as to be compensative of so many magnificent
concessions. Even, accqrding to the opinion of the
American journalists, the army under the Com-
mander-in-Chief will be compelled either to proceed
further into the country, and realise yet more brilliant
successes, or to starve at Monterey. Every additional
achievement on the part of the invading forces neces-
sitates some immediate and superior advantage. The
greater the annexations consequent upon American
prowess, the more imminent the peril of the:American
legionaries. If the victories are splendid, they are
sanguinary; if cities and provinces are taken, the con-
querors are surrounded with so many the more em-
barassments.
Meanwhile the Mexicans themselves are roused into
valour by incessant and gigantic injuries; they are
compelled to attempt the expulsion of their assailants,
from the circumstance of their very existence as an
independent population being threatened ; they are
driven into a formidable concentration by the en-
croachments of their unprincipled invaders. Much
has been written about the effete and effeminate so-
ciety of Mexico ; the people of those fruitful and
enormous regions have been incessantly derided for
their inactivity ; it has even been whispered, that
cowardice ranks among the most conspicuous of the
national characteristics. All these aspersions have,
without doubt, received some colouring of reality
from the narrative of Mexican history. There is
an undeniable torpor in the disposition of the po-
pulation ; instead of a social advancement there
has been for years a gradual but perceptible retro-
gression. Commercial activity was a thing unknown
to the republic, notwithstanding its numerous and
superb ports upon the Atlantic and Pacific, and not-
withstanding the periodical spasms of mercantile en-
terprise in the markets of Vera Cruz. Even when
the frontiers were threatened by formidable arma-
ments in the United States, even when the force
commanded by General TAYLOR had made alarming
advances in the Rio Grande, even when California
was seized and New Mexico subsequently wrested
from the more southern Government, the Mexicans
persisted in their phlegmatic taciturnity, the brand of
patriotism still remained in its scabbard. Throughout
all these reverses, however, and in spite of this un-
propitious continuance of sluggishness, we have en-
tertained a conviction that the Mexicans would ulti-
mately evince their devotion to the cause of national
liberty. Our expectations were in some measure
realised even in the discomfiture experienced by
General AMPUDIA j the battlements of Monterey
witnessed the chivalrous daring of the Mexican citizens
—that daring was eminently unsuccessful, it is true,
but it was nevertheless evinced, and even acknow-
ledged by the extraordinary terms of the capitulation.
Mexico, is however, at last becoming conscious of
the grievous peril by which her Government and
her children are encompassed. The dormant en-
Viusiasm of the Mexicans is being elicited; their
love for fatherland is displaying itself in a manner the
most vigorous and effective. A levy of thirty thou-
sand men has been ordained by the Supreme Council
jf the capital, and the intelligence of that ordonation
in Puebla has been welcomed with more than mere idle
acclamations. The champion ;;of :his country—he
whom it has been hitherto the fashion to revile, but
whose valour and disinterestedness have long claimed
our admiration—has been received in the city of
Mexico with a joy befitting the appearance of one so
illustrious by his former patriotism.
Previous to his entrance into the metropolis,
S;_NTA ANNA dispatched a letter, dated " Ayotla,
one o'clock, A.m.," to the Mexican Minister of War.
That document is consonant in its magnanimity with
the conception we have throughout formed of the dis-
position and character of this noble soldier.
lts manliness is conspicuous, and its daring
demands our most emphatic commendation.
,Ifter referring with exultation to the recurrence of
the " anniversary of the glorious cry of DOLORES,"
he speaks with enthusiasm of the country—the be-
loved of his heart—and with reverence of the autho-
rity which has resigned the destinies of that great
country to his guidance, that authority being. as he
himself explicitly declares, " the will of the sovereign
people." We have repeatedly heard of the selfish-
ness of the policy of SANTA. ANNA; what could be a
nobler vindication than the following ?
" Your Excellency will at once perceive how great an
error I should commit in assuming the supreme magis-
tracy, when my duty calls me to the field to fight
against the enemies of the republic. I should disgrace
myself if, when called to the post of danger, I
should spring to that of power! Neither my loyalty
nor my honour requires the abandonment of interests so
dear to me. The single motive of try heart is to offer
my compatriots the sacrifice of that blood which yet
runs in my veins. I wish them to know that I conse-
crate myself entirely to their service as a soldier ought
to do, and am only desirous further, to be permitted to
point out the course by which Mexico may attain the
rank to which her destinies call her."

Well does he subsequently remark that, in marching
against the enemy and declining to accept of power,
he is giving a distinguished proof of the sincerity of

his sentiments. He declares, that notwithstanding
the ominous advances made by " a perfidious and
daring enemy," and in opposition to the vigour of
"a treacherous faction," he is prepared to assume the
supreme military command in this dangerous and
critical juncture. SANTA ANNA is fighting for no
bauble; he is ambitious of neither a garland of straw-

berry leaves, nor a marble mausoleum in a minster.
lie goes forth to battle for the freedom of his native
land; and, instead of availing himself of the good
opinion of his fellow-citizens and of the confusion of

political affairs, for the purpose of investing himself
with the chief authority, he unsheaths his sword and
seeks glory where it could alone be found by a
Mexican general, namely, in the van of the defending
army. " I will die fighting," says this brave pa
triot ; " I will die fighting, or lead the valiant Mexi-
cans to the enjoyment of a triumph to which they
are alike entitled by justice, by their warlike charac-

ter, and by the dignity and enthusiasm which they
have preserved of a free nation." He will only tarry
for a moment in the, metropolis, to embrace his

friends, to press them hastily to his heart, and
then, says he, " I will set out for the seat of war,
to lend my aid to serve my country, or to perish

among its ruins." With an aroused nation even the

picked warriors of the United States will find it

somewhat difficult to cope, especially among the

mountainous fastnesses cf Mexico, and especially with

a captain so unyielding and heroic as ANTONIO LOPEZ

DE SANTA ANNA.

The accounts from Ireland are of a mixed charac-
ter, but, happily, the balance of the intelligence is in
favour of that afflicted country. We have news of
further and most disgraceful outbreaks in different
localities. For these we were not unprepared. Look-