Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-09-04


brated castle-where Montezuma held his
barbaric court in the surrounding grove of
expresses; where, during nearly three cen
turtles, lived the successive vice-kings OF
Spain, and where Macmillan and Car
lotta made their imperial home-has been
the West Point of Mexico for the training
of her youth in arts OF war. After Cen
ersl Scott had taken the place by storm
and General Bravo had surrendered,
Mexican cadet, only Is years Of age, seeing
the flag of his country in peril-most OF
his comrades having been slain-sprang
up the flagstaff, tore the banner from lis
place, wound it around his body and slid
down, intending to plunge over the preclplce
in order to save the colors from the hands
of the enemy. That act of Mexican bravery
frustrated, the brave boY-with the beloved
banner still wrapped around him, fought
until he was disarmed and actually cut in
pieces by the Americans. Our historical
accounts of the storming of Chapultepec
make no mention of this and similaT Incl
dents, nor does the word "massacne
occur but they admit that the officers had
great trouble in restraining our yalOrous
soldiers from Strengthening the garrison,
Fortv-eight of these school-boys, ranging
in ages from Ii TO 20 years, sons of the
proudest and wealthiest families in Mexico,
lie buried in one grave at the foot OF the
hill Year by year the cadets Of Chapul-
tepec strew flowers upon this saddest OF
sepulchres and it is not to be wondered at
that little love for the United States should
be harbored among the relatives and friends
of the slain.
To quote still farther from the Poet of
the Sierras he writes from the City of
Mexico at is hard to realize that | am
almost daily galloping my horse over bloody
battle-fields where valor fought in other
days But here the very bloodiest fields
in the Mexican war-the bloodiest III our
history, counting the numbers engaged
lie resting in eternal summer. The shall
low pillow, drawn by the patient steer with
a pole over his horns for yoke, turns the
soil over annually, and all goes on as
if the Americans had never come
this way. l was taken TO a ditch to see
where four thousand Mexican soldiers are
said to have been buried No sign Kind and
forgiving mother earth surely received back
her battling children tenderly, unreproach-
fully. l was told by the Mexican who took
me there that the lilies grew little taller
along the borders of the trench, and the
willows have to be cut down oftener there
than elsewhere. But that was all he had
to say about the influence or effect of those
four thousand dead. No bones are seen at
all-nothing. In the corn field where the
Americans fell there is not the slightest
sign. Cattle are feeding on the stubbles of
last years corn, and the grass is green in
spots and you see alfalfa clover knee high
along the cactus hedges where the thorns
protect it from grazing COWS. But, unlike
the battle fields of Europe, the soil here is
so very rich of itself that the additional
strength of few thousand American dead
is not now apparent"
ANOTHER CONFLICT
Between the two republics would be par
ticularly distressing because of the Unequal
ity of it. We do not aspire to q second
contest with our weaker neighbor, which
like the previous one-must manifestly be
a walk-over from the start. Poor Mexico,
in her present impoverished condition,
struggling with heavy debts and many
burdens, would be comparatively easy prey,
should any Government conclude to COM
nit an act beside which the French I" in
tervention" would seem deed of righteous
ness. But though Mexico might readily
be subiugated by our superior force, she
could never be conquered. Think of it-a
total area of more than 100000 square
miles, comprising twenty-seven States and
two Territories, and population of fully
ten million souls. The largest standing
army we could raise would not long be
able to control that hot-blooded, passionate
and uncertain people, with their mountain
ranges for revoluhonists to hide in, and
the vast stretches of fever-haunted coast
regions, which would be sure death to
Northern soldiers. Though Mexico is
weaker than we in point Of wealth and
numbers, her soldiers are among the best
in the world for bravery, discipline and
physical endurance; and it costs far less to
maintain them, because Of their simple
habits OF life, than Uncle Samuefs boys
require.
BY the way, why don't we tackle some
body nearer our size. when we certainly have
as good cause to fight England as Mexico :?
James Gordon Bennett, of the New York
Herald, has just been heavily fined in an
English Court for a libel on Mr. Field, of
New York. In this case, as in that Of Mr..
Cutting, the libel was published on Amer
lean soil, copies being circulated where the
action was brought. This is exactly a
parallel case with our border embroglio !;
then why not pitch into the British lion
as well as poor Mexico
FANNIE 3. WARD.