On the 25th May, a brilliant cortége of American cavalry was seen winding along the hills towards Querétaro as the escort of the American commissioners, who were welcomed to the seat of government by the national authorities, and entertained sumptuously in an edifice set apart for their accommodation. The town was wild with rejoicing. Those who had been so recently regarded as bitter foes, were hailed with all the ardor of ancient, and uninterrupted friendship. No one would have imagined that war had ever been waged between the soldiers of the north and south who now shared the same barracks and pledged each other in their social cups. If the drama was prepared for the occasion by the government, it was certainly well played, and unquestionably diverted the minds of the turbulent and dangerous classes of the capital at a moment when good feeling was most needed.
Congress was in session when our commissioners arrived, and on the same day the Senate ratified the treaty, which, after a stormy debate, had been previously sanctioned by the Chamber of
Deputies. On the 30th of May the ratifications were finally exchanged, and the first instalment of indemnity being paid in the city of Mexico, our troops evacuated the country in the most orderly manner during the following summer.
It cannot be denied that the Mexican Government, whose tenure of power was so frail, almost trembled at the sudden withdrawal of our