Smyrna times., 1859-03-24
The Border States of Mexico.

! When it is proposed to acquire the border
States of Mexico, four objections are urged
against the scheme. First, the ickleness and
slight attachment of the Mexican population,
either to the form of Government, or the sub
stance of order. There i, some force in thus
objection, and the strong arm of law would
have to hold the people in check until they saw
that resistance was in vain. That would be at
no distant period, for while the Mexican popu-
latlon are disposed to rebel against a weak ru-
Ter, still they would not contend with power
which they felt must overmaster them at the
end. The second objection is the National
Debt, which is estimated at one hundred and
fifty millions. This would be serious matter
was 1t not answered by the fact that country
which has given to the church alone four hun.
dred millions can al least meet such an ndebt-
edneSs as that named. The next hating point
is the swarms of bandtt which infest the bor-
der provinces. These are the natural cpnse-
quences of weak government, where any
combination OF men can defy the authnr,tlcs.-
But this objection s not lnsuperable. For
while remnants Of these bands might hnger
about their old retreats the power of slrouI
g vernment would extinguish most of that foul
trade, III a very few months; and even whlie
the robbers Continued their nttarlous operations,
they would find themselves go much embarrass.
ed by the determined hostility and vigilance oi
our government, that their depredatIous could
not be carried on to any great extent.
The next and most serious objection is the
urban population inhabItIng 5l23 cites. rowrs
and villages, and for the reason that a country
rich in natural resources is far better, as IA ob.
Ject OF acquisition, ii uninhabi,ed than if IN
hablted by an idle, degenerate population. By
reference to facts and figures 1t appears thai
chihuahua, Sonera and Coahuila-the latter
State bordering on Texas-are liable to tins
objection only in very slight degree. They
but sparseIy settled Chihuahua has an
area Of 1925 square miles and populntlon
of 47,6O0; Sonora has population of $780,
373, residing on l23,466 square miles, while
CoahuiIA has an area of 56,55O square miles,
aud population of 75,3l0. From this state
ment it can be seen that the three border States
of Mexico are among the most sparsely settled
Of all the Mexican States. having in each on
the average only a population of one and
traction to the square mile The border States
of Mexico under the care and control Of per
manent Government, and rejuvcnated by Anne
rlcan enterprise aud genius, would soon be
among the most fertile aud productive portions
OF the Continent, especially in the precious met
als. Once let IN the tide of American explo-
rers aud they will push their Investigations to
to its most remote recesscs within twelve
months; and it would not be strange if some
Of the dreams of Cortez and his campan IONS
should be realized. The histories OF the Span
sh conquest are full of predictions of the mln-
eral wealth OF that whole region. In Caifor.
MIA, those predictions have been more than ful.
filled. May they not be in Chihuahua, Sonora
and CoahuIla !-PennSylranian.