The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-06-25
A Blot on American History.

In 1845 came the American war and
invasion, when the United States, with
lone fell swOop," as it were, took
from Mexico considerable more than
one half of all its territory-923,8 $50
square miles out of q former total of
l,69O.3l7. 1t is true that payment was
rendered and accepted for about one
thirty-fourth part (the Gadsden pur-
chase) of what was taken, but appro-
priation and acceptance of payment
were alike compulsory. For this war
the judgment of all impartial history
will undoubtedly be that there was no
justification or good reason on the part
OF the United States 1t may be that
what happened was an inevitable out
come of the law of the survival of the
fittest, as exemplified among nations;
and the contrast as seen to-day between
the life, energy, and fierce development
of much of that part of Old Mexico that
became American-Californ Texas,
and Colorado-and the stagnant, power
ty-stricken condition of the contiguous
territory-Chihuahua Sonora, Coahuila
that remained Mexican, are a proof
of the truth of the proverb that 1.-The
tools rightfully belong to those who can
use them" But, nevertheless, when
one stands beside the monument erect
ed at the foot of Chapultepec, to the
memory of the young cadets of the
Mexican Military School-mere boys
who, in opposing the assault of the
American columns, were faithful unto
death to their flag and their country.
and notes the sternly simple inscription,
''Who fell in the North American in
vasiOn;" and when we also recall the
comparative advantages of the contend
ing forceS-the American audacious, in
spirited with continuous successes,
equipped with an abundance of the
most improved material of war, COM
manded by most skilled officers, and
backed with an OVERLOOKING treasury;
the MeXicans poorly clothed. poorly
fed, poorly armed, unpaid, and general
ly led by uneducated and often incom-
petent commanders; and remember the
real valor with which, under such cir
cumstances, the latter, who had re-
ceived so little from their country, re-
sisted the invasion and conquest of that
country; and that in no battles of mod
ern times have the losses been as great
comparatively as were sustained by the
Mexican forces-there is certainly not
much of pleasure or satisfaction that a
sober-minded, justice-loving citizen of
the United States can or ought to find
in this part of the country's history.
And, if we are the great, magnanimous,
and Christian nation that we claim to
be, no time ought to be lost in proving
to history and the world our right to the
claim, by providing, by act of Congress,
that all those cannon which lie scatter
ed over the plains at West Point, bear
ing the inscriptions Vera Cruz"
''Contreras," 'Chapultepcc, "Molino
del Rey," and ''City of Mexico" and
some of which have older insignia,
showing that they were originally cap
tured by Mexican patriots from Spain
in their struggles for liberty; together
with every captured banner or other
trophy preserved IN our national mu-
seums and collections, be gathered up
and respectfully returned to the Mexi-
can people.-Hon. Dauid Il. Wells, in
Popular Science Monthly