New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-07-13
our LOST OPPORTUNITY.

OUR LOST OPTOhICNII1.
I'm the light of the thrilling and glorious
news now coming from Mexico the true
st,tesman-such a statesman, for instance, as
Mr. Senator Chandler, OF Mr.. Representative
Shanks-may well weep over Americas lost OPP
portunty. We see in the enlightened Repub-
lie of Mexico the operation of what MIR.
George Wilkes calls irresistibly ciyiliz-
eng principles. The retrospect Is hu-
initiating, but, nevertheless, Christening. IL
is not pleasant to learn Irresistible civilization
from Mexico; bat we cannot forget what
might have been our position II we had ioi-
lowed this illustriOus example-ior th''l
" American 1--WE quote the stately rhetoric oil
Mr. Wilkcs) "must bc cold indeed who is not
"touched with generous emotions at beh0ldlhg
" the devoted men who have been the defenders
" of these principles victorious ut last IN the
" inst punishment of Maximilian.'
If Gen Grant, for instance, had possessed the
sapacity as well as the military genius OF Esco-
bcdo, nc would not have wasted so mucil time
over Richmond. The capture OF QueretarO
shows that our great commander Is ignorant OF
an essential element of war He should have
sent some practical sutler into the town, and
purchased il. 1t would have been cheap at mil
lion of dollars--and there were no doubt many
needy Rebels who would have sold ont at half
the money There is no triumph more vulgar than
war, and orr Saxon nature too often yields to the
degrading instinct Ofiighting. How much nobler
nav more how much more economical ana III
keeping with orr commercial genius rs na-
ton, TO see written under ON trophies ut
Washington, purchased wholesale, for mil
lion of dollars, 10y that renowned tradcSman,
"U. S. Grant, Having thus taken the town.
we should have at once ordered a court martial
A dozen subaltcns might have been censurcd.
In America IA well rs Mexico it is well known
that we have no lawyers so wise ana mercuul
as the Junior officers Of the army. Davis should
have been arraigned, and with him Lee, and
Johnston, and Longstreet and Beaurcgard,
and all their captains They should have been
allowed q hours for their defense. With n
court properly selected, there could he no
doubt of the result and carly in the morning
succeeding, Mr.. Davis and his generals would
have been led out TO Shockoe Hill and shot
The spectacle Of two or three hundred gene
rails of the Rebel army, their persons purchased
by the judcious expenditure of Il moderate
sum of money, CALAMITY shot by sergeant's
guard, would have gone down to posterity rs
the most glorious event in our history. Our
children would not only rejoice over the "r-
"rcsistibly civizing' effect of such n spectacle,
but upon its amazing chcapness, and our orators
would dwell for innumerable Fourths of July
upon the patriotism and cheapness of our vic
tory over rebellion.
Having thus disposed of the officers of the
Rebellion, and taking all the departments of
the Confederacy, succeeded in shooting some
5000 or 1000 Rebels, we might have proceeded
to take the money and confiscate the property.
There should have been a judicOus system Of
forced loans. All foreign merchants should
have been made penniless for the purpose Of
showing our contempt for what Mr.. Wilkes calls
"the combined cohorts of monarchy and treason
The churches should be pillagcd on general
principles. We know no reason for this except
that glorious Mexico teaches us that pillaging
a church is " irTesistibly civilizng." We should
have made an example of the nuns. We nad
with rapture how that superb citizen, Selor
Juan Jose Baz, under the command of the gal
liant Citizen Gen. Porlirio Diaz, and carrying
out the orders of His Excellency Citizen-Prsi-
dent Benito Juarcz, ordered the nuns to disco
cupy the converts of Mexico within AZ hours,
and that $50 pestiferous, malignant, blood
thirsty nuns whose sex and vocation
are a menace to every free country, were turned
out of their homes The spectacle of $50 nuns,
armed with their deadly crucifx and beads, and
carrying reasonable and infammatOry prayer
books, marching out Of their gray old con-
vent gates, is so "irTesistibly civlizing" that
we can scarce restrain our wrath when we think
what an opportunity Grant. and Sherman, and
Sheridan disregarded. Mexico may well taunt
us with these purposeless and unmanly warriors,
and point with pride TO her Senior Juan Jose
Baz, and her Citizen General Escobedo, who will
never want q foeman so long as nuns are TO
fight, and will always capture city when it is
to be bought for money.
We have spoken of conflscation! Alas for
the purblind craftsmanship that lost this
golden opportunity. There was so much in
the South 20 confscate-and we lost it all.
There were Confederate bonds, and iron-cads
that would not sail, and gray shoddy and land.
The one thing that we need in this country is
land Certain malignants tell us that we have
more to give away than the whole nation
could cultivate if every man, black and white,
were TO go to farming. 1t is also said by the
same pusllanimous creatures that II nine-tenths
of the land in the South were to be gwen
away our soldiers would not take 1T unless
compelled by q mandamus of the Supreme
Court. These insinuations indicate spirit OF
a - Il. hot lanlr