No less vulnerable seemed the United States in the Pacific Ocean, where--according to the New York _Herald_--American property worth fifteen or twenty millions was afloat. Should letters of marque be "actively and prudently distributed on the coasts of the Pacific," wrote consul Arrangóiz to his government, "the Americans would receive a fatal blow in the captures [of whalers and merchantmen] that would immediately be made in the seas of Asia, where the naval forces of the United States are insignificant and could not promptly be increased"; and he reported in July, 1845, that owing to the prospect of hostilities the insurance companies at New Orleans were refusing to take war risks. Tornel and the other Mexican leaders counted heavily on the value of this weapon. Our own journals were full of the subject, and could find no remedy. American commerce was defenceless against such an attack, the London _Times_ cheerfully admitted.[5.14] Under these conditions it was most natural to believe that Mexico could make the war "obstinate and tedious," as the London _Standard_ said, and therefore extremely expensive for the United States. She could "with trifling inconvenience to Herself," Pakenham told Calhoun, "impose upon this Country the necessity of employing as large a Naval and Military force as if the War was with a far more powerful enemy." Obviously a great number of warships would be needed to blockade seven hundred leagues of coast and patrol two oceans, and the cost of soldiers could be figured thus, it was thought: During the war of independence in Mexico eighty thousand royal troops and sixty thousand insurgents were supported by that country; its population and resources had since increased; the United States would therefore have to send probably two hundred and fifty thousand men; and the American soldier was very expensive.[5.15] The people of this nation were looked upon as worshippers of the dollar, and it was believed that war taxes would not be endured here long. Consequently, since the United States had no credit--said European journals--the conflict would soon have to end. "The invasion and conquest of a vast region by a state which is without an army and without credit is a novelty in the history of nations," remarked the London _Times_ in 1845. The war losses were expected to reinforce the effect of war taxes. "War with the United States would not last long," wrote Arrangóiz, "because the [American] commerce finding itself attacked on all seas would beg for peace." When the Mexican corsairs have captured a few American ships and the Americans have thrown a few bombs into Vera Cruz, matters will be arranged, predicted _Le Constitutionnel_ of Paris.[5.16] [MEXICO RECKONS ON BENEFITS]