The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-02-21


Northern frontier States of Mexico we have
Of the progress of the revolution
lists in that distracted country which warrants
the opinion that before the lapse Of many
weeks President Juarez, driven from the
''halls of the Montezumas," will be on the trail
of his illustrious predecessor, General Don
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, 'beeenaersto dc
la patria," heading for the island Of st.
Thomas. How is he to resist the gordon Of
revolutionary forces closing around hime
General Trevino, then commander in Northern
Mexico, telegraphs to General Quiroga, near
the Rio Grande, that he Is moving on San
Luis Potosi with twelve thousand men, and
would take the city Immediately, whence.
with his military supplies and reinforcements
gained from this important victory, he would
push right on to the city Of Mexico. Mean
time reinforc ements and some heavy artillery
are coming down to Quiroga from Monterey to
assist him in his attack on Matam0r0s, which
is held only by small force of the adherents
of Juarez.
With the capture of Matamoros all tho
northeastern section Of Mexico, from San
Luis Potosi to the Rio Grande, will be i'm
possession of the revolutonists. At the same
time in the Northwest, in the State of Sinaloa,
which is on the Gulf of California, the revo-
lutionary General Marquee has defeated the
government forces under Pesquiera, capturing
their artillery, arms and ammunition. All
these reverses to Juarez, following that at
Zacatecas, turn over more than half of the
territory of the republic (such as 1t is) into
the hands of the revolutionists. And yet
again, nearer to the national capital, Porfirio
Diaz is gathering strength q rebel force Of
two thousand men Is in the field in Jalsco,
and General Magma has pronounced against
Juarez in Colima. So we conclude that be-
fore the expiration Of many weeks Juares
will be driven out of the Mexican government,
and that some revolutionary leader, most
likely Diaz, will take his place.
And then? Why, then we shall have 3
Cabinet, new distribution of the spoils, cleo
tions for new President, say Daz, and
new Congress; then meeting of the new
Congress-, then q new tax levy and then
another revolution and all this before the
present one is relieved of its fighting factions.
And so among these fighting factions they
keep it up all the time. One revolution runs
into another in the capital, while in the dis
tant States the fighting factions are still
engaged in hunting and driving each other
from the field. OF course, In the midst OF
this continual ferment, there Is no security to
the citizen or the stranger in life or property.
Hghwaymen flourish, and flourish most on
the most profitable lines of travel industry
is Frustrated, trade is suspended and all the
vast and varied resources of one of the very
richest countries in the world lie dormant or
are wasted from these incessant civil broils
and wars. As Milton says Of the wars of the
Saxon Heptarchy, that they were as senseless
as the squabbles of so many kites and crows
in the air, we may as truly say of these Mexi-
can revolutions. They settle nothing and
they signify nothing but fighting To be sure,
the battles betwe en- these hostile Mexican fac
tions are not very bloody. They are, in
fact, omparatively and ridiculously harmless
to the combatants but they keep the whole
country in pretty much the savage condition
of Paris under the reign of the Commune.
And still the question recurs, how can
these evils of sister republic (such as 1t is(
be remedied2 And still the answer is at hand,
only by the decisive measures on the part Of
the United States of armed Intervention and
annexation. On the plea of law, order and
the general interests of humanity and civiliza-
ton, Napoleon established his imperial pro-
tectorate over Mexico; on the plea of the
Monroe doctrine We convinced him that he
was Sin the wrong shop" and he left it. In
the responsibility for law and order in Mexico
falls upon us. Half a century of revolutions
has proved that the Mexicans cannot govern
themselves the fearful and scandalous revo-
lutionary crimes and disorders established in
that country have reduced it to condition
which has less than the claims of land OF
savages to respect as an Independent Power.
All savage countries are considered the lawful
spoil of civilized States, and the Mexicans, in
the broad political view Of the law OF nations,
are savages and we cannot afford much
longer, in regard to Mexico, to play the part
of the dog in the manger. We all regard the
ultimate annexation of that fine country as
manifest destiny" and in this view the policy
of waiting until those unfortunate people shall
have destroyed themselves is a mean, cruel
and cowardly policy.
What, then, is our true policya 1t Is the
simple policy of Napoleon In the cause Of civil
izatiou and humanity-the policy of military
protectorate. Send down General Sheridan
across the Rio Grande, with an army Of fifteen
or twenty thousand men, and let pronuncia-
nsiento 20 before him among the Mexicans in
vitiug them to the equal rights and the pro-
lection of the United States, and without REIN
forcements from this side his army will be-
continually stranQthened on his march To thu