'Twere well, if his external change were all ;
But with his clumsy port, the wretch has lost His ignorance and harmless manners too.
To swear, to game, to drink, to show at home By lewdness, idleness, and Sabbath-breach, The great proficiency he has made abroad :
To astonish and to grieve his gazing friends ; Td break some maiden's and his mother's heart-^ To be a pest, where he was useful once.
Are his sole aim, and all his glory now."
There is little reason for believing that Ameiican soldiers are more or less addicted than others to vice and outrage. The conduct of the soldier is governed more by discipline than by national character. A large portion of the American force in Mexico consisted of a class improperly called volunteers, since, where there is no conscription, every enlistment is voluntary. These volun- teers, being enlisted for a short period, and being permitted to choose their officers, their discipline was probably less perfect than that of the regular army ; and hence it is, that the journals of the day have teemed with accounts of their atrocities.
Of the 50,000 volunteers called into service, none per- haps have afforded a more instructive commentary on military patriotism and morality than the Massachusetts Regiment. These men belonged to a State surpassed by none for the intelligence, industiy, and orderly deportment of its citizens. They had, moreover, responded to the official assurance of the Governor of the State, that it was the dictate of patriotism and humanity to save blood and money by voUmteeriiig to slioot Mexicans.^' Passing by, therefore, the conduct of volunteers from other States, we shall confine our notice to these reputed descendants of the Puritans. j" Although nothing has been heard of their martial achievements, a few extracts from the jour- nals of the day will prove that they have attracted a large share of the public attention.