The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1846-06-13

an eneiny-ever was attempted in any Mex
ican battle; they have all been mere melees OF
mob fights, aud generally terminated by a
charge of cavalry, which is, therefore, the IA
vorite corps with all Mexican officers.
should regard it, from the dimnutvo size of
their horses and the equally dminutive stat
IRE and ieebleness oftheir riders, as utterly
Inefficient against any common infantry.
| said so in conversation with Col. B----n.
an officer who had seen some service, and
had some reputation. was not n little a.
unused at his reply. He admitted that
squares of infantry were generally mpregna-
bile 10 cavalry, but said it was not so with
the Mexican cavalry--that they had one re-
source by which they never had any diff
Guilty IN breaking the square. | was curious
to know what this new and important discov-
cry in the art ofwar was, and waited inpa-
tiently the "push of his one thing" when TO
my infinite amusement he replied-the Lns-
so; that the cavalry armed with lassos rode up
and threw them over the men forming the
squares, and pulled them put, and thus made
the breach. ] remembered that my old nurse
hnd often got me TO sleep when child, by
promising TO catch me sonebrds tho next day
by putting salt on their tails, which Thought
was about as easy an operation MS this new
discovery of the Mexican Colonel 1 had
read of"kneeling ranks aud charging squad
rons," but this idea of lassong squadrons was
altogether new TO me.
The Mexican army, and more particularly
their cavalry, may do very well to fight each
other, but in any conflict with our own or
European troops, it would not be II battle but
a massacre. Frederick the Great who was
the author, in n great degree, of the modern
system of tactics, had three maXims as
to cavalry. First, that a cavalry corps
should never he charged, but should always
make the charge. Second, thut in a charge
of cavalry, they were not going fast enough
unless when halted the froth from the mouth
ofthe horse struck the rider in the face; and
third, which was rather the summing up of
the first two, that the spur was more impor-
tant than the sword. In other words, that
the impulse and momentum of the horse was
Of more consequence than the arms and
blows of the rider. What then must he the
murderous inequality between corps Of a
merican cavalry & an equal number Of Mex
leans? The American corps, from the supe-
rior size of their horses, would cover twice as
much ground, and the obstruction offered by
the MeXicans OH their small and scrawny po-
MES would scarcely cause their horses TO
stumble in riding over them: to say nothing
of the greater inequality of the men them
selves,fi TO one at least in Individual COM
bats, and more than twice that in BATTLE
The infantry would be found even more inn
potent.
The soldiers ofthe Mexican army are gem
orally collected by sending ont recruiting de-
tachments into the mountains, where they
hunt the Indians in their dens aud caverns,
and bring them in chains to MeXco there is
scarcely day that droves of these miserable
and more than half naked wretches are not
seen thus chained together and marching
through the streets TO the barracks where
they are secured and then dressed in n uni |
form made of linen cloth or of serge, and
are occasionally drilled-which drilling con-
sists mainly in teaching them 10 march in
column through the streets. The military
bands are good, and the men learn to march
well-hut only indfferently
well-they put their feet down as if they were
feeling for the place, aud do not step with
that jaunty, erect and graceful air,which is so
beautiful in well drilled troops AS TO the
of well trained troops, like the o.
pening and shutting off gate, or the prompt
and exact execution ofother evolutions, they !
know nothing about them. There is not one
in ten of these soldiers who has ever seen
gun, nor one in hundred who has ever fired
one before he was brought into the barracks.
II is in this way that the ranks of the army
are generally filled up--in particular emer-
gencies the prisons are thrown open, which
always contain more prisoners than the army
and these felons become soldiers
md some ofthem officers Their arms, too
ire generally worthless English lnuskets
which have been condemned and thrown IL
side, and are purchased for almost nothing
md sold to the Mexican Government. Their
powder too, is equally bad; in the last battle
Santa Anna and Bustamente, which
asted the whole day not one cannon ball in
thousand reached the enemy--they gcner-
lily fell about half way between the opposing
lrmies. What would they think of such
lights as we had on the northern lines, when
Miller storned the English battery. or when,
II the language of General Brown, "General
Iessup showed himself to his friends in u
heet of fire." do not think that the Mexi-
ans are deficient in courage; or it might be
more properly said that they are Indifferent
o danger or the preservation ola life which
S really so worthless to the most of them.-
But with the disadvantages to which have
diverted, the reader will not be surprised
hat in all the conflicts with our people, in
which they have been more or less engaged
or the last thirty years, they have always been
defeated so
Great Clock at Strasbur g.
Henry c. Wright i'll recent letter, thus
describes the great clock in the cathedral at
rs..r.s IBID .... ..a t.r. .-sd.
'.The priests and military have retired, and
am now sitting in a chair facing the gigan- ,
ic clocl<-from the bottom TO the top not less .
han one hundred feet, and thirty feet wide ;
nd fifteen deep. Around me are many I
waiting to see the working of this :
lock whcnit strikes the hour ofnoon. Eve Z
y eye is upon the clock. 1t now wants five :
minutes to twelve. The clock has struck, and :
le people have retired except a few whom .
be- sexton with a wand and q sword is con