History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1Mayer, Brantz
History
History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1
Mayer, Brantz
Mexican War, 1846-1848
This violent and denunciatory language, together with the hint to our
minister to depart, was of course not calculated to allay ill-feeling in
either country. The Mexican congress was not less bitter in its
animadversions, thereby spreading the animosity among the people. It
promptly seconded the wishes of the cabinet, and offered two projects,
both of which asserted the unalienated rights of Mexico over Texas, and
the national resolve to maintain them by force.
Meantime, however, domestic discontent was again brewing. A certain Gen.
Rangel attempted to revolutionize the government, and is said to have
been favored by the partizans of the late administration. The insurgents
seized the palace, capturing the president and three of his ministers of
state; but they were speedily overpowered and the insurrection
suppressed. In June and July of this year all the Mexican papers were
loud in their clamors for vengeance. The minister of war, Garcia Condé,
wrote despatch after despatch; and, with the usual spirit of national
gasconade, denounced our "perfidy," and continually alluded to "the war
which Mexico waged against the United States," in consequence of our
"treachery." On the 16th of the latter month, he despatched to the
minister of foreign relations and justice a note detailing a plan for
covering the national frontiers, and asserted that Mexico would maintain
her rights by force, or fall in the struggle. "She will not consent,"
says he, "to give up one half of her territory from the base fear of
losing the other!"
Patriotic and stirring as are these declarations, they cannot but be
regarded otherwise than as the most inflated bombast when we recollect
that they were made in defiance of the United States, and after a
failure for seven years to reconquer even Texas, feeble as she was. What
just hope could distracted Mexico reasonably entertain of ultimate
victory? Several years before this period, her discreet statesmen and
reflecting citizens privately acknowledged that Texas was lost forever.
Pecuniary embarrassments, political misrule, and repeated revolutions
had still more impaired her national strength, and yet, an obstinacy as
inveterate as it was silly, forced her to make declarations of intended
hostilities which only served to kindle and spread the excitement among
the masses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account