The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-03 00:00:00

etentikti

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1846.

. From the first moment the Republican Government
of the United States turned a covetous glance to-
wards Texas, Mexico was doomed to misfortunes and
anxieties which have no parallel even in her own pre•
ceding history. Her liberties were threatened, her
frontiers were transformed into practising grounds
for the cavalry of Tennessee and Kentucky, from her
Mountainous passes were to debouch the regiments of
her American invaders. Grievances, however, were not
only rendered unavoidable to the Mexican population
by the shameleSs seizure and annexation of Texas,
but a multiplicity of disasters, a deplorable
effusion of blood, an interminable anxiety and
a lavish expenditure of specie became the ne-
cessary recompense of the spoilers. The scheme
of territorial aggrandisement which was thus
developed has been the incubus of the one republic
and the curse of the other. Conceived in villany, it
has been prosecuted in woe. What does Mr. WEB-
STER, of Massachusetts, say of this predatory expedi-
tion ? Why, he says thi, ; in a vast assemblage at
Boston he says this : " The great objection to this
war is that it is illegal in its character!'' Aye, illegal.
Cavil as Mr. President POLK may about the
expediency of the undertaking, vituperate as he may
upon the faithlessness of his Spanish American
neighbours, repudiate as he may all insinuations as to
the avarice of his administration, the illegality of
the Mexinn war is a fact that burns too brightly to
be extinguished. It beacons the indignation of other
countries. It inspires in every generous mind the
deepest sympathy with a people whose vices and
whose sluggishness would otherwise have only ex-
cited disgust and derision.

And what, in Heaven's name, have been the advan-
tages which the Government of the United States has
proposed to itself for all this waste of life and of

revenue ? The annexation of Mexico to the
Republic created by the genius of FRANKLIN and the
integrity of WASHINGTON is manifestly impossible
There is nothing whatever homogeneous in the nature of
the two countries ; on the contrary, there is everything
antagonistic. They could never coalesce, they could
never even hope to coalesce. Mexico must be utterly
depopulated, and subsequently colonised by staunch
citizens of the United States, before there could be
any submission in that enormous country. The army
of General TAYLOR would have to penetrate beyond
the Rio Grande to the most southern extremities of
Mexico, slaughtering every human being it might
encounter, men, women, and children, indiscrimi-
nately, if the Executive seriously intended the sub-
jection of those regions. It is conceivable enough
that our brother of America would willingly behold
a territory so capable of profitable cutivation,
so gigantic in its extension, situated in so
central a position in this terraqueous globe,
commanding the two great oceans, studded upon its
marine boundaries by such admirable inlets and har-
bours, joined to the noble land of which he himself
is a denizen. It is conceivable that he should be am-
bitious to behold those pinnacles which had been
formerly adorned with the standard of the heroic
CORTEZ, flouted by the star-spangled banner. It is
even conceivable that he should yearn for the
prosperity of the agriculture and the commerce
of Mexico, provided the riches resulting therefrom
tended to the emolument of his original home. All
these aspirations are conceivable enough, because they
would be most in accordance with the national vain-
glory and individual self-esteem which are so
conspicuously the characteristics of the men of
the United States. It is incredible, however,
how a Government can trifle with the repu-
tation of a people entrusted to their guidance
and protection, as the Government of Mr. Polk has
done since its first establishment to the present
moment, but especially in this Mexican invasion !
The scorn of civilised Europe is accounted as nothing
when weighed in the brazen balance of their avarice.
The members of that Administration are obdurate to
all the pleadings of the popular voice; they are indif-
ferent to the obloquy which is inevitable on the ful •
fitment of their unconscientious policy. They boldly
adventured upon the subjugation of Mexico, and the
result of that movement has been—large draughts
upon the public purse,painful marches of the American
soldiery, the double disgrace of their naval forces at
Alvarado, a bloody and unprofitable victory under
the walls of Monterey, the precarious occupation of
California and New Mexico, and a prospect of the
I most discouraging obstructions, to their further ad-
Ivancement, both from man and from nature.

On the departure of the last intelligence from the
Western Continent, General TAYLOR still continued
at Monterey, fearful of proceeding into the interior
from the probability of a scarcity of shelter and pro-
visions—the cottages being burnt, the crops bring
destroyed, and the villages evacuated, by their in-

habitants, in that direction. The Commander-in-Chief,
General SANTA ANNA, had hastened from the capital to
obstruct the progress of the invaders, or, as lie himself
intimated in his memorable manifesto, to drive them
ignominiously beyond the frontiers, or to die fighting.
It is distressing, however, to reflect that, in conse-
quence of the apathy of his countrymen, that patriotic
chieftain was accompanied on his departure
by merely 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry, and was
furnished with a military chest containing only
27,000 dollars. With these and the remnant of the
forces of Ameunia, he will have to defend Saltillo,
providing General TAYLOR has the temerity to pro-
ceed there forthwith, or, in case of discomfiture at
Saltillo, to fall back upon San Luis Potosi, and re-
pulse the enemy under the protection of its fortifica-
tions. We should feel infinite trepidation as to the
effects which such a disparity of numbers would have
upon Mexico were we not inspired with a confidence
in the invincible power of true patriotism, and in the
invulnerable character of even a small band of men
fighting for the liberties, the independence, the
integrity, and the very existence of their common
country.
" lieu pietas ! Heu prisca fides ! invictaque hello
Dextra! non illi quisquam se impune tulisset
Obvius arnaato."
With fidelity to their national cause, with con-
fidence in the sacred nature of their office as de-
fenders of their native land, with a stern
employment of their military capacities, they
may triumph over the most monstrous dis-
proportion of numbers. LEoNIDAs is not the only tes-
timony that these miracles of warfare are possible.
SANTA ANNA is clearly animated by a high
ambition, an ambition which the most de-
pressing circumstances will scarcely abate. In the
face of the whole world he has proclaimed
his determination to be true to Mexico—
to be staunch in his patriotism—to conquer
or to die. He has staked everything upon the issue
of this war—his name, his fame, his fortune, his re-
putation, his intellect, his life. He has abandoned
everything to lead his countrymen to battle. He
has forsaken the safety of his seclusion at Havannah,
he has neglected the allurements to self-aggran-
dizement_,which have been presented to him by the
confusion of Mexican affairs ; he has rejected the
supreme command as President, he has thrown aside
all the baubles of office, and despised all the decoys
of ph'sical enjoyment, to march upon the invaded
frontiers in the simple capacity of a soldier. The
Mexicans must rouse themselves from their ignoble
torpor, and repay the generosity and magnanimity of
SANTA ANNA by their limbs and their money. De-
cisive measures must be taken, otherwise Mexico may
be afflicted by years of misfortune.

A short while since considerable anxiety existed
in various parts of the kingdom in favour of opening
the ports for the admission of foreign corn ; and at
that time it was not unnatural that a large portion of
the public should have manifested an eager desire to
press upon the Government to effictuate their wishes.
But, though the desire was a natural one, it did not
follow that it would have been, therefore, sound
policy on the part of the Executive to have abolished
the fleeting remnant of protection. Those who me-
morialised the Minister for instantaneous free trade in
grain were, a few weeks back, environed by specious
circumstances of apprehension, which certainly justi-
fied them in bringing their views prominently under
the notice of the Premier. The belief was then very
general that throughout Europe the late harvests were
very thin, that with respect to our own, quantity and

quality considered, it was below the average, and tha

the prices of corn, which had risen so rapidly at home,
would continue to increase. Moreover, we were ex-
porting corn to France; and it was further conceived,
that the extreme destitution of Ireland could not
be safely met in any other way than by
throwing our ports open- to the introduction of
every species of grain, free of duty. Happily, how-
ever, these fears have, in a great measure, turned out
to be groundless. In America, on the shores of the
Baltic, in most of the provinces of France, in Bel-
gium, and in Egypt, the crops of the current year, it
is- now ascertained, have been most prolific. To
France we some time since ceased to export, and
never should have exported at all, had not that
country, like our own, been seized with a fallacious
panic. Bread is already lowered in price, and by the
extraordinary measures of the Parliament and Go-
vernment combined, the worst feature of the
whole, the direful exigency of Ireland, has been
prevented reaching the fearful height to which it was
anticipated it would attain. Still, notwithstand-
ing we have been thus statistically and otherwise
relieved from serious misgivings, others of our coun-
trymen have been unable to shake off their despon-
dency. Accordingly, a deputation from the citizens of
London waited upon Lord JoHN RUSSELL, about
three weeks since, to urge the opening of the ports.
His Lordship assured them that this step should be
taken, if demanded by any "extraordinary neces-
sity." Dissatisfied with this answer, another deputa-
tion from the same quarter attended upon Sir GEORGE
GREY yesterday, for the purpose of presenting,
through the Right llon. Baronet, a memorial to her
MAJESTY for trade in foreign corn, duty free. The
meniorialists alleged that they hal ceased to repose
confidence in the Premier, because, in his celebrated
letter to the electors of London, in November, last
year, he had advocated the abolition of all duties on
corn, but now declines to sanction their immediate
extinction. Mr. CHARLES COCHRANE, who was the
spokesman, harped upon this letter, and inasmuch as
Lord JOHN RUSSELL last autumn advised large de-
monstrations to be got up in favour of opening the