The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-12-15

which the American accounts leave us wholly unac-
people and territory or to dictate the terms Of
Ia well known that the country contains an snor
perty Of the church and partly mains Of the for
mer splendor OF the viceroyslty Of New Spain. Mr..
Thompson gives the following account Of the wealth Of
"Ths clergy do not for obvious reasons desire that
quite enough Exhibited to strs. the S.hoSsp vs
wonder The FIRST object that presents itself eutsr
ing the cathedral Is the altar near the centre Of tn:
silver and covered with q profusion OF ornaments Of
pure gold On each side Of this altar balustrads
enclosing space about feet WIDE and 100 feet long
The bslusters about feet high and inches thick
in tho largest part the hsndrA from to g inches
or feet apart human images beautifully wrought,
and about feet high. All Of these-the bslustrsde,
silver and copper more v.usSi. than silver Wss
told that offer had been made to take this balustrade
Workmanship, Of pure silver and to give half million
OF dollars besides. There Ia much more OF the Same
all on It ss a. @
through the building. either side there different
paintings statues vases huge candsseks walters and
thousand other articles, made OF gold and silver
as % .. IN
and closets What must 1t be when all these arc
brought out with the immense quantities Of precious
this is only OF the churches Of the city of Mexico
there are 90 and 80 Others some OF them
We do not mpute to the officers in command Of the
American forces base intention Of punderng the
my on the contrary General Scots orders Of the day
have prescribed respect for the private prop
hs % ., IN. But
lswess Independence Of the adventure Joined
IT, and the ussges Of war; We shall certainly consider
an unprecedented event II this enormous booty
capes from pags and It is not unlikely that to avoid
the horrors and losses Of private captures the wealth of
prize Of Such Of the precious metals has.
probably fallen into the control of any conQueror
ps Of the d ss TO ar tn
American accounts Of the capture Of Mexico though
publish another place narrative drawn up BY eye
Witness Of the attack But It is by improba
BILE that this campaign will end like great raid into the
the rejection Of their and alarmed BY tho Isolation
of their army will have to Of violence
which they WOULD hAvs been ashamed to employ the
earlier stages the war So true it is that every sue
successive step these transactions has been gull
ty and dsgraosfu than that which preceded 1t.
[From the London Times Nov. Is
1t very difficult to imagine that there can be any
class of persons who could with subtraction the in
Of war in Mezico They who only wish to Gee such boot
less carnage brought to termination will ind kind
who nvoiunt.ry sympsthss with An assrisysd and In
vaded nation, Of what character may be- will
while q. who are Interested in national credit
Of people sprung from the same stock With ourselves,
must lament that i has been sued by suoh .rootiss
the consequences Of their FIRST unjust aggression The
inevitable horrors Of city taken BY storm have been a
miserable rishmsn hanged In sody for desorting the
coors which they had attached themselves We have
wish disguise the fact that and above the
due and foRtutous aggravson lent to every incident OF
war In a season Of profound and general peace this
act OF General Scotts may assume deeper dye from
which might alleged justify it. No doubt dsssron,
the most emphatc OF all military crimes, becomes .
more formidable contingency and demands more severe
treatment in an army or on expedition where the
temptations are unusually great and the restraints
| usually small. The American army, on this occasion,
been described heterogeneous aggregate OF half
the nations Of Europe, and 1t is certain the oons
tuition Of the population, that such must to large
be the with considerable expedition sent
out by the United States Excepting amongst the de-
scendants Of 10000 Puritans who the
States OF England It would be dicult to define tho
distinctions already subssting between the northern
and southern eastern and western States are still fur
Sasrv fto% y. nsrs Of nrons % oxns =,
local militia there be found but little spontansty
Of union and under such conditions it may be mourn
bent q commander to secure by the of exam
pie that fidelity which he hardly expect from sug
gestions Of patriotism Yet, after all such consdsra
tons, must conviction that this act, which
for Wholesale and discriminating cruelty may mstoh the
most barbsrous rigors Of past wars, does brand
deeper stigma than any 1T before. A party
of miserable creatures, disposssssed of homo or
lone they might have done contractor and lees
cd their sinsws to the work Of they would have
constitutional instability deserved the indulgence they
might perhaps have claimed for II themselves but do
think that the sernest demands Of the occasion might
have been satisfied with less than wanton and un
reenting butchsry. Even Id the rude barbarism Of .
|
Gscia Catalonia. Tho poor wretches been placed
In front Of the Mexican lines partly whose nds
seized as the battle went against them tried and con
demned No lots were cast forlorn Communication or
,hpsdsns Of destination Allowed -Four w:rs allowed
grudgngly permitted to escape through loophols In
the law and punished only with such nniotions
short Of death could be devised by disappointed
court. The rest were taken In heap to the eAlows
under which they kept standing for hour or
two, till the flag they had deserted flying the
walls Of ChRputepec when they all swung OF to-
gsther the stars and stripes into the ARR After
this revolving example Of meodramstic msssscre by
preme authority, the reader win be surprised to
learn that tho execution Of such resolves has since
| been taken, with characteristic prompttuds, into
the hands of the troops themselves One Of our
papers sta ttithat oomrsde recognising dessrtsr
To the trouble Of courtmartial pitched him 1t
once into mill aume where he was crushed to pisees
by the wheel" II the scc1entabity for such sbomins
lions - these falls to one side or the other according 70
the justice Of the parties must have ugly
reckoning before them, and which IL yet far rom
closed there any conclusion In which all sides
now agreed II Ia that neither bloodshed conquest
have step towards peace. or this fact the Csbi-
net of Washington now appears fully oognisant, and
that precise prsdicament which we portrayed two
months ago lie Is now in Mexico with force which
battles, in which perhaps reduced by fourth. In
the city he Is encompsssed by Of savage fpros
practice would assasinste his whole army in q twelve
month His communications are so far safe, that no
ssa that there il Tree intercourse between any two Of
them The American intelligence itself states that the
road from cruz 10 or MEXICO could only
kept open by solid column of infantry from the gates
OF city to those Of the otbern Nothing but the
of enterprise amongst the Mexcsns permits the
gsrrsons 4 single yards patrol beyond their posts.
Even at Vera Cruzths base Of oper ations-ths mms-
dats Of the city only kept free strong
dstachmsnts and Suspicious Is the aspect Of things
within the walls that Colonel Childs, the other day
sent sixty bombs fAeetousy described ss native Anne
ricans amongst the habtations Of the
oa the late infections TO their minds Meantime, the
Mexican Congress assembling at ousrstaro, and with
laudabe resolve OF adding faults Of commission to
those Of omission, has proclaimed its unsnimi in IA
OF prosecuting the that nothing has been
effected beyond change Of positions with this advsn-
tage for the Mexicsns-thst they are somewhat moro
impalpable even than before. General Scott may i'd
vance to ueretaro he has advanced to Mexico but
his phantom foe will ind fresh metropolis In every pro-
vince till the invader has neither forces eufcient TO
keep his conquests strength remaining to pursue
| them.