The War with Mexico, Volume 1 (of 2)

by Justin Harvey Smith

I. MEXICO AND THE MEXICANS

(To the sources mentioned below may be added a residence of more than a year in Mexico, during which the author met people of numerous categories and made every possible effort to understand the national traits.)

[1.] Physical Mexico. U. S. War Dept., Monograph. Bureau of Amer. Republics, Mexico. Encyclopædia Britannica, “Mexico.” Numerous books of travel mentioned in note 8.

[2.] Population. The census which served as a basis for the elections of 1841 and some later years gave the population as 7,016,000 (Dublán, Legislación, v, 152, gives the figures by states). The American governor of Jalapa, Col. Hughes, [257]wrote, Jan. 28, 1848, that according to “authentic Mexican official documents” the population was about 7,500,000, of whom 2,500,000 were under seventeen years of age, 500,000 were over sixty, and 300,000 were idlers, beggars, etc., incapable of work. The population of the United States in 1840 was 17,069,453. Observador Judicial, 1842. Consideraciones, 5. Journal des Débats, Sept. 9, 1847. [261]Mémoire. Macgregor, Progress, i, 317. Ward, Mexico, i, 28. Mora, Obras, i, 54. México á través, iii, 19; iv, p. vii. Relaciones, circular, Aug. 9, 1847. [82]Decree, Dec. 16, 1847. Diario, May 4, 1847, claimed 8,000,000.

[3.] Racial divisions and characteristics. México á través, iii, 18–21. Humboldt, Essai Polit., i, 367, 381, 411–6; ii, 1–4, 9, 45, 48–52. [52]Poinsett, no. 166, March 10, 1829. Mayer, War, 13, 16. Commerc. Review, ii, 165–76. Consideraciones, 5–7. García, Conquista, 4, 370–2, 397. Thompson, Recolls., 7. Poinsett, Notes, 161. [13]Hervey, Description of Mexico. [261]Mémoire. Löwenstern, Le Mexique, 166, 174–89. Mora, Obras, i, 54–6. Cuevas, Porvenir, 12–14. [178]Davis, diary. [162]Conner to wife, Mar. 4, 1846. Diccionario Universal (Mexicanos). [13]Morier, no. 10, Feb. 10, 1825. Eco del Comercio, Mar. 22, 1848.

Technically the child of a Spaniard and an Indian was a “mestizo,” the child of a Spaniard and a mestizo was a “castizo,” and the child of a Spaniard and a castizo was a “criollo” (creole); but “criollo” came to include all these classes and also pure whites born in Mexico. As very few Spanish women went to Mexico, the mixture of blood was practically inevitable. As is well known the Spanish blood itself is a singular mixture. Hence the Mexican was naturally peculiar.

[4.] The class divisions. Otero, Cuestión, 37, 47–51. [13]Morier, no. 12, Feb. 10, 1825. Lerdo de Tejada, Apuntes, i, 232. 26lMémoire. Humboldt, Essai Polit., i, 391–5, 400–1, 429–31; ii, 40. Poinsett, Notes, 162. Constituent Cong. of Mex., Address. Consideraciones, 18, 19. Mora, Obras, i, 54–6. Paredes, Papers, 136. [52]Poinsett, no. 166. México á través, iii, 18. Löwenstern, Le Mexique, 188–9.

[5.] Church, army, civil service. Mayer, War, 20–1, 132. Otero, Cuestión, 38–46, 59, 60, 71–3. Mora, Obras, i, pp. vii, xcvii-cxviii, ccxlvii; ii, 122–8. [261]Mémoire. Löwenstern, Le Mexique, 38, 94, 117–28. Humboldt, Polit. Essay (London, 1811), i, 231–2. México á través, ii, 896; iii, 23; iv, 149, 447, 639. Zavala, Revoluciones, i, 37. Macgregor, Progress, i, 637, 642. Thompson, Recolls., 41, 53, 101–3, 169–74. [52]Poinsett, nos. 2, 12, 36, 55, 166 (May 28; Aug. 5, 1825; Feb. 18; Aug. 26, 1826; March 10, 1829). Consideraciones, 6, 7, 12, 26–30, 37, 39–42. [13]Ashburnham, Oct. 3, 1837; July 26, 1838. Semmes, Service, 14–5, 21. [11]Martin, Feb. 1; July 20, 1827; Dec. 25, 1828. [11]Cochelet, June 6; Nov. 20, 1829. Correspondant, April 15; July 15, 1846. Calderón, Life, i, 337, 408. [13]Hervey, Description. Picayune, April 22, 1843. Bocanegra, Memorias, i, 32. Tornel, Reseña, 19–21, 84. [11]Despatch to the French govt., about June, 1823 (anon.). [13]Morier, no. 13, Feb. 10, 1825. [13]Morier and Ward, no. 1, April 10, 1825. [13]Ward, no. 37, Apr. 29, 1826. [13]Pakenham, nos. 17, Jan. 30, 1830; 25, Feb. 26, 1841; 77, Aug. 29, 1842. [13]Bankhead, nos. 73, Aug. 29, 1844; 56, Apr. 29, 1846. Memoria de ... Relaciones, Dec., 1846. Richmond Enquirer, Dec. 30, 1845. Mobile Commerc. Register, Aug. 9, 1845. Veracruzano Libre, Dec. 27, 1845. Revue de Paris, Dec., 1844. Memoria de ... Guerra, Nov. 7, 1823, 17, 18. Balbontín, Invasión, 75, 77. Id., Estado Militar, 58. [375]Perry to J. Y. Mason, Nov. 16, 1846. Búlnes, Grandes Mentiras, 182. Rivero, Méx. en 1842, 25, 137–9. Ward, Mexico, i, 307–17, 330–40. London Times, Nov. 11, 1845.

According to Otero, an able editor and statesman, the income of the Church represented in 1829 a capital of $127,000,000, besides the buildings, etc., used for worship and for the housing of ecclesiastics; and practically none of its property was taxed. Of its wealth, large for any period but huge for that day, $18,000,000 were invested in city and country real estate; and consequently there was an army of agents looking after Church interests in all quarters, and a great number of proprietors and financiers were closely associated with the clericals. One may say, reported a French diplomatic agent, “that religion does not exist [in Mexico], for its influence is nowhere felt”; and in truth, as an ardent Roman Catholic said in Le Correspondant of Paris in 1846, that country needed to be evangelized anew. Trist: “The lazy, ignorant, and stupid monks, whose views do not extend beyond the round of purely animal enjoyments, and include no esprit de corps save pecuniary greed mixed with an idol worship fanaticism” ([52]no. 18, Oct. 25, 1847). Ramírez, México, 219: Christianity merely gross idolatry here. The Mexican church stood naturally in opposition to the government, for both claimed the right of ecclesiastical patronage. The influence of the Church was lessened by Leo XII, who exhorted the Mexicans to return to Spain (México á través, iv, 149).

[350]Weber: “If the Mexican soldier has something to eat, he eats it; if not, he goes without. That is all.” Diario, May 20, 1847: The army has been burdened with enough generals and field officers for the army Napoleon led against Russia. (24,000 officers) Duflot de Mofras, Explor., i, 20. ($21,000,000) [52]Slidell to Buchanan, Jan. 14, 1846. Negrete, Invasión, iv, app., 400. Eco del Comercio, Mar. 22, 1848. [11]Martin: The army belongs to the first who “gives it money or promises it plunder” (Dec. 25, 1828). [13]Doyle, no. 81, Oct. 30, 1843. Don Simplicio, July 19, 1846. Nacional, Jan. 19, 1848.