Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/271

MEXICO. 233 ferent Corps, which prevents any great mass of troops from being acted upon by the influence of any particular officer ; and in the opposition which public opinion in one State, (acting, of course, in some degree upon the troops resident there), presents to violent innovations in another. This, as long as there exists no cause of complaint common to the whole army, will be sufficient to preserve tranquillity. In the mean time, due attention should be paid to the manly repre- sentations of the Minister of War respecting the mode in which the army is at present recruited, and the greatest pains taken to prevent the ranks from being filled with the scum and refuse of society, with which the States but too often supply the deficiencies in their legal Contingent. The better sort of Mexican soldier is excellent of his kind. He pos- sesses great docility, great powers of enduring fatigue, con- siderable personal courage, and extraordinary readiness in acquiring the manual duties of his profession : such, at least, is the character which I have constantly heard given of them both by their own officers, and by foreigners, who have held any command amongst them : but the bad are bad indeed, and, perhaps, more difficult to manage than any other race of men in existence. Notwithstanding the nominal war with Spain, few countries are so well able as Mexico to dispense with the existence of a large permanent force. There is hardly a single point upon her long-extended line of coast, upon which it would be prac- ticable to disembark an invading army ; and were it even landed, such are the difficulties with which it would have to contend upon the ascent to the Interior, from the want of roads, and provisions, and the deadly nature of the climate, that its destruction would be almost inevitable. A month's detention in the Tierra Caliente would be equivalent to the loss of a pitched battle ; and, even supposing every natural defence to be successively carried in the shortest possible time, a month would hardly, under any circumstances, suffice