seldom paid. He was turned adrift when no longer wanted. The officers
of the lower grades were but little superior to the men. With all this
I have seen as brave stands made by some of these men as I have ever
seen made by soldiers. Now Mexico has a standing army larger than that
of the United States. They have a military school modelled after West
Point. Their officers are educated and, no doubt, generally brave. The
Mexican war of 1846-8 would be an impossibility in this generation.

The Mexicans have shown a patriotism which it would be well if we would
imitate in part, but with more regard to truth. They celebrate the
anniversaries of Chapultepec and Molino del Rey as of very great
victories. The anniversaries are recognized as national holidays. At
these two battles, while the United States troops were victorious, it
was at very great sacrifice of life compared with what the Mexicans
suffered. The Mexicans, as on many other occasions, stood up as well as
any troops ever did. The trouble seemed to be the lack of experience
among the officers, which led them after a certain time to simply quit,
without being particularly whipped, but because they had fought enough.
Their authorities of the present day grow enthusiastic over their theme
when telling of these victories, and speak with pride of the large sum
of money they forced us to pay in the end. With us, now twenty years
after the close of the most stupendous war ever known, we have writers
--who profess devotion to the nation--engaged in trying to prove that the
Union forces were not victorious; practically, they say, we were slashed
around from Donelson to Vicksburg and to Chattanooga; and in the East
from Gettysburg to Appomattox, when the physical rebellion gave out from
sheer exhaustion. There is no difference in the amount of romance in
the two stories.

I would not have the anniversaries of our victories celebrated, nor