SUFFERINGS INFLICTED ON MEXICO BY THE WAR.
The extreme feebleness of Mexico, arising from the io^no- ranee and superstition of her inhabitants, was aggravated by the vast extent of her territories. This great extent, by rendering it difficult to collect a formidable force at any extreme point, rendered her whole frontier accessible to the invader. In about four months after the com- mencement of hostihties northern Mexico, from Tampico on the Atlantic to St. Diego on the Pacific, was a con- quered country.
The smallness of the forces by which the various con- quests were effected, attests the helplessness of the Mexi- cans, and the vigor of their enemies. In a little more than twelve months, the American standard waved over the famous castle of Vera Cruz, and the capital of the Repubhc was garrisoned by American troops. From that capital a corps of one thousand men could probably have traversed the Republic in every direction, through a hostile, but almost unresisting population. After the cap- ture of Thornton's party, which General Taylor announced as the commencement of hostihties, not a battle, not a skirmish occurred in ^hich the Mexicans were not de- feated, no matter how vast their superiority in numbers.
The ancient promise, " ten shall chase a thousand," seemed to be verified in the marvellous success of the Ameri- can arms.* In ordinary cases, an invading army is neces- * In the battle of Brazito, the American force under Col. Doniphan was less than five hundred ; that of the enemy, 1200 sarily confined to a narrow track, and is restrained by fear' of the enemy from dividing itself into detachments. But the unhappy Mexicans found the invaders spreading them- selves over the country in