Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-09-02
MExICo,s WAR STRENGTH.
Able to Keep 100000 Men 10 the Field
W S Excellent Fighters. s

Ahie to Keep 100000 Men in the Field
Excellent Fighters.
Should the United States be compelled
to whip Mexico into compliance witt
her International obligations. we woult
find the task y much more difficult on,
than people appear 10 suppose. Som,
OF our military men and others who
may be looked upon rs leaders of public
opinion laugh to seorn the idea that til,
sister Republic could offer any consider
able resistance to an American armed
force, and IN support of their opinion,
they are fond OF repeating the fact tha
Gen. Scott captured the City of Mexico
with field force of about 1000 men
People who think that such an under
taking could be successfully attempted
now are quite astray in their calcula
tons. When the American army occu
pied Mexico it had only to deal with the
thoroughly unpopular. corrupt, and
tyrannical Dictator General Antonio
Lopez dc Santa Ana. So very much
Disguised were the Mexieans with the
ruinous rule of this despot that the ma
jority of them looked upon the Invading
Americans rather in the light of friends
and deliyerers from bondage than oil
national enemies. This condition il
now changed altogether. Mexico has
fought her way to Federal Consttu
ton. She defeated the French invading
army of about 5000 men. She speed.
ly put down the lnonarchical conspiracy
to establish an empire within her bord-
ers, and has succeeded wonderfully dur.
ing the last ten or fifteen years in con.
soldating her political institutions and
III organizing most efficient, we'll
equipped army.
Mexico contains at the present time a
population of over eleven millions. Ii
Is true that seyen-tenths of this popula-
ton are composed of docile Indians OF
half-breeds. but it must not be forgotten
that this same class of people furnishes
most excellent fighting material. They
can live on the smell of an oil rag,
march almost Incredible distances, sui
fer all sorts of hardships uncomplain-
ingly, and are, as a general rule, fear
less of death. If Mexico could apply to
her people the same principles of mill
tary organization that are applied in
Germany, France, ami some other Eu-
ropean nations, she could place IN line
an army of not less than 100000 fight
ing men. The financial resources of
the country would not. however. admit
OF the calling 10 arms of more than one
half of this number of men at one time.
Thus. while the resisting power of Mexi-
co might be set down at about SOC, 900
men, to be employed successfully, as
occasion might require. she could hard
y by her greatest effort place in cam
paign at any one period over 100000
soldiers. During the wars with France
and with Maximillian the Government
of Juarez had under arms $4,000 poor
ly-cquiprod troops; but this was at a
period when the old Church party had
mt least 30, 900 Mexican men under arms
in the service of France and of the Arch
duke Maximillian. This shows that
even in those days, when scarcity of
arms, and not u lack of men, afforded
an inadequate measure of Mexico's
fighting power. she had arrayed under
one or the other Of the contending
parties an aggregate OF $4,000 men.
The army OF Mexico is organized in a
method analogous to that of France. 1t
is in four divisions, each under the COM
mand of u General of Division. a rank
that corresponds to that Of Maior-Gen-
eral in the American service, the high
est grade that can be attained in the
Mexican army. Some of the best known
Generals of Division are Poriirio Diaz
President of the Republic; Mariana Es-
cobedo. the conquerer of Maximillian;
Ramon Corona. Felipe b. Berriozabal,
Sostenes Rocha, Pedro Hinojosa, the
Minister OF War; Manuel Gonzalez, ex-
President; Geronimo Trevmo. Jose Justo
Alvarez, lgnacio Aniillon, and dozen
OF others, more or hess Some of these
general officers, such us Soslencs Rocha.
Jose Jllslo Alvarez, and lenacio AntiI-
Ion, are graduates of the Cbapultepec
National Military Academy. while the
others attained their rank through long
continued and distinguished services.
Escobedo is now on the retired list, and
Corona and Gonzalez are not on very
cordial terms with the present Govern
ment Porfirio Diaz is by far the most
brilliant and successful commander that
his country can boast of. he is revo-
lutionist by profession and prediction,
and somewhat Of n tyrant by nature
Some of his operations in and around
the City Of Pucbla during the last days
of Maximillian's reign were of such
character. although on Il smaller s.ale.
as to enttle them 10 be compared with
those OF Bonaparte's first Italian cam
pasgn.- ]. Herald.