The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-09

The departure of the notorious bandit
chief Cortina from the Rio Grande border in
charge of o force of cavalry, en- route for the
city of Mexico, is an event in the history of
that locality the importance of which few
persons unacquainted with his remarkable
career, extending over q period of more than
twenty years, can appreciate. Since 1859 it
has been problem with every one OF the
shifting administrations at the Mexican capt.
tai how to rid the section of this notorious
freebooter, whose catalogue of crimes prob
ably surpasses that of any living man. The
warning of the conflicting parties in that dis
tracted Republic, generally so evenly balanced
as 10 make the possession of every element of
strength desirable has proved his salvation
heretofore, and his present arrest is the
natural result of that strength which has ac-
crued to the government during the long
term of comparative peace which has followed
the downfall of the Empire and the death of
Macmillan.
Cortina is the embodiment of that spirit of
antaRonism between the half-breed Latin aud
Indian OF Mexico and the Saxon of the United
States which existed before the war between
the two republics, and which took shape dur
ing that struggle, when the respective COM
batants became impersonated in the 'Greaser"
and the "Gringo." This antagonism has been
the more marked on the RIO Grande frontier,
where the two races have been in constant
contact, and whore constant incentives to re-
ne we'd bitterness of feeling have not been
tLor o,1 4.
of manhood soon after that struggle was over,
his earliest recollections were of the defeat
and humiliation of his people, over which his
Indian nature was constantly brooding and
to revenge which he seems to have devoted
his life. ~ did not sign the treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo" he said, while
laying siege to the city OF Brownsville in
1859, after numbering several of its more
prominent citizens; and it is not recorded
that the important omission has since been
rectifed. Defeated and driven off ut that
time by combined force OF citizens and tho
few United States troops stationed there he
has since kept up bitter, unrelenting war
upon the persons and property of American
citizens, hundreds of whom lie has caused to
be shot or hung to tree, rs is the peculiar
custom of the country. During this time he
has been q partisan of every cause and of
every faction in Mexico, cons ant to no one of
them long. Secure amid the ranches and
small villages of Northern Tamlulipas, he
has detied the power of both the national and
State governments at intervals as his services
we're required or his demands imperative,
servingas Governor of the State, Mayor OF Mata-
moros, Administrator of the Custom House,
Major General of the Army, or whatever
other position he chose to assume in order to
reward his followers or punish his enemies
He has been the head and front of the cattle
raids into Texas all of which have been
carried on by his immediate followers and
under his immediate directions In arrestng
him in the midst of his retainers and friends,
who comprise large proportion Of the citi-
zeDs OF Matamoros, President Lcrdo has done
what no other head OF The Mexican govern
ment has dared attempt, and has doubtless
prevented grave complications between his
own and the government OF the United States.
1t Is sincerely to be hoped a fitting termina-
ton to his career may be found against the
wall made memorable by the death of Heron,
Vidaurri and others, victims of the hundred
revolutions in Mexico.