The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-04-23
THINGS IN YucArAS.

The late intelligence from Yucatan, informing
US OF the somewhat novel disposition the Yucatecos
make OF their Indian prisoners Of waT--that OF
shipping them off TO Cuba and selling them III
slaves--recalls an idea which we have several
times expressed in regard to the possible fate ii
the white - p ni.h races in Mexico and Sou h
America an1 Of the semi-civilized Indian races
which, in SO many places, have risen in revolt and
are now struggling withthe Creoles not merely fol-
independence, but for mastery.
In all parts Of Mexico, north and south, in liis
hot coast lands of Sonora and Yucatan, and on the
mountain plateaux of San Luis and Oajaca, ant
beyond the limits Of Mexico, ia the northern
States Of Central America, more particularly il
Guatemala, this conflict ID now going on, and al
ways with one general result. unfavorable to thu
whites The northern States Of Mexico are now
as we have on prev ious occasion remarked, III,
hunting grounds Of our fercest American savages
the Camancbes and Apaches, who drive Mexican
cattle as they would drive the wild 5isons of tht
plains, and slaughter Mexicans as they slaughter
Mexican sheep. We have seen the condition o.
things ih Yucatan, where, scarcely year ago, the
whole peninsula was in the hands of the Indians
and the whites driven 10 the sea, in such utter ex
tremty Of helpessness and despair. that they
were seeking by political agents, at one and the
same time, TO give themselves and their country
away to the United States and several different
European powers-any one that would take them
at the sole price Of protection against their de.
stroyers- regiment of American volunteers
moved equally by humanity and the offer of land.
and bounties proceeded to their aid, defeated ant
severely chastised the Indians, driving them bach
into the forests, recovering the towns and cnltiva
ted lands--to be rewarded with that sort Of ingra
fitude and perfdy which seem the established cha
racteJis Of The most degenerate Of the Creole
races. The volunteers have retired, and the Yu
catecos, now carrying on the war on their own &C.
count with dispirited foe, conduct il on that pr.
ciple and according TO that system which cannot
end otherwise than in terminating the Indians by
goa5ing them TO the fury Of revenge, and. thereby
IN renewing the former state Of things in which
the Indians were the vctors and they the defeated
party
There is, 10 all this, the infatuaton Of perfec,
fatality. 1t was to this very system Of making
slaves Of their prisoners of war, and shipping them
of to Cuba, attempted in former days, that The
Mexcans OF the northern provinces owe the ruiz
Of their country, and the unrelenting barbsrism Of
the northern lndians-a fact remarked by Captain
Pike, when in Mexico, as far back as 1907. Speak.
ing Of an attempt to ensaye the Apache prisoners al
home an attempt which failed from their s'uncon-
querable attachment to liberty" always prompting
them TO make their escape, he says, "tbey 1.-THE
Spaniards) adopted the mode Of sending them to
Cuba; which the Apachcs no sooner learned than
they refused 10 give or receive quarter; and in no
instance, Che adds,) have there b. any taken
siutC peiiou, WActi OF
knocked down and everpowered."
1t is not TO be supposed that the Mayas Of Yucca.
tan have less Of Indian yindictiven-ss in them than
the Apaches. We know, in fact, that they have
if that can be considered possible--a great dea
more. They are natives-red men-sith all the
ferocious instincts Of the Aboriginal American
and they add an energy beyond that Of the wild
Apaches, from the fact Of their being Of the old
civilized race Of Southern Mexico and Central
America-nen who remember that their fathers
were kings and princes, builders Of temples pyrd-
mids, and cities Of stone, and owners Uf the land
on which their blood was shed, and themselves re-
duced for a long time to bondage; men, too, who
have tried their sire lgth with the descendants Of
their enslayers, and found themselves, in courage
energy, and every warlike attribute, their superb
ors. We may calculate the effect of the new sys-
tenn upon their minds from knowing its effect OF
the minds Of the Apaches; we may Judge the ca
lamitous consequences it will entail upon Yucatan
from those il has inflicted, amid hood devastation
and general depcpulation, in Northern Mexico
Phil North american, AprR l6.