exempted from the accursed scouro-e of war. A bomb had descended throuofh the roof, and, after landing on the floor, exploded, sending some twenty already mangled wretches, to the *' ' sleep ihbi knows no waking.' "
The following is an extract from a Mexican account, written amid the ruins of the city. " The enemv, in accordance with his character, selected a barbarous mode of assassinating the unoffending and defenceless citizens, by a bombaiWment of the city in the most horrible man- ner, thr'owing into it four thousand one hundred bombs, and an innumerable number of balls of the largest size ;
directing his shots to the powder magazine, to the quarter of hospitals of charity, to the hospitals for the wounded, and to the points he set on fire, where it -was believed the public authorities would assemble with persons to put it out ; to the baker's houses designated by their chimneys, and during the night raining over the entire city, bombs, whose height v/as perfectly graduated with the time of explosion, that they might ignite in falling, and thus cause the maximum of destruction. His first victims were women and children, followed by whole famihes, perishing from the eff'ects of the explosions, or under the ruiiis of their dwellings.
" At the second day of the bombardment, we were without bread or meat, reduced to a ration of beans, eaten at midnight beneath a shower of fire. By this time, all the buildings from La Mercede to the Paeraguia, were reduced to ashes, and the impassable streets filled with ruins and projectiles. The third day the enemy alternately scattered their shot, and now every spot was a place of danger. The principal bake-houses no longer existed no provisions were to be had."
The details we have given of this bombardment, afford us some intimations of the sufferings occasioned by the assaults upon the cities of Monterey and Mexico.'*^ We enter into no particulars of the battles fought in Mexico.