general and personal, who, in our last operations in front of the enemy, accompanied me, and communicated orders to every point and through every danger. Lieutenant-colonel Hitchcock, acting inspector-general; Major Turnbull and Lieutenant Hardcastle, topographical engineers; Major Kirby, chief paymaster; Captain Irwin, chief quartermaster; Captain Grayson, chief commissary; Captain H. L. Scott, chief in the adjutant-general's department; Lieutenant Williams, aid-decamp; Lieutenant Lay, military secretary; and Major J. P. Gaines, Kentucky cavalry, volunteer aid-de-camp; Captain Lee, engineer, so constantly distinguished, also bore important orders from me, (September 13,) until he fainted from a wound and the loss of two nights' sleep at the batteries. Lieutenants Beauregard, Stevens, and Tower, all wounded, were employed with the divisions, and Lieutenants G. W. Smith and G. B. McClellan, with the company of sappers and miners. Those five lieutenants of engineers, like their captain, won the admiration of all about them. The ordnance officers, Captain Huger, Lieutenants Hagner, Stone, and Reno, were highly effective, and distinguished at the several batteries; and I must add that Captain McKinstry, assistant quartermaster, at the close of the operations, executed several important commissions for me as a special volunteer.

Surgeon-general Lawson, and the medical staff generally, were skilful and untiring, in and out of fire, in ministering to the numerous wounded.

To illustrate the operations in this basin, I enclose two beautiful drawings, prepared under the directions of Major Turnbull, mostly from actual survey.

I have the honor to be, sir, with high respect, your most obedient servant,

WINFIELD SCOTT.

The Hon. WM. L. MARCY, Secretary of War.

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On the morning of the 18th of September all was quiet. MEXICO, the capital of the ancient Aztecsthe seat of the Spanish-American empire in Americahad passed from Aztec and from Spaniard, to the AngloAmerican-the Northman of the Goths, the Saxon of Germany, the Englishman of America—the same bold, hardy, energetic, ingenious, invincible, ambitious, and adventurous being, whose genius the forms of civilization cannot confine, and to whose dominion continents are inadequate ! In what hour of time, or limit of space, shall this man of the moderns—this conqueror over land and seas, nations and governments-find rest, in the completion of his mighty progress? Commencing his march in the cold regions of Scandinavia, no ice chilled his blood—no wilderness delayed his steps-no labor wearied his industry— no arms arrested his march—no empire subdued his pow

er.

Over armies and over empires-over lands and over seas-in heat and cold, and wilderness and flood-amidst the desolations of death and the decays of disease—this Northman has moved on in might and majesty, steady as the footsteps of Time, and fixed as the decrees of Fate!

How singular-how romantically strange is this-his wild adventure and marvellous conquest in the valley of valleys! How came the Northman and the Moorish Celt here to meet, and here to battle, in this North-American valley? Look at it! Inquire! Ask yourself how they came here? Are they the citizens, by nature, of this continent? Are they the aborigines of these wild and wonderful forests? Never! How came they then to be contending for the lands and groves of those whose children they are not?

In the beginning of the 16th century, Hernando Cortez

landed on the coast of Mexico, and, at the head of Spanish troops, marched on to the conquest of Mexico, over whose effeminate inhabitants the Spaniard has, for three hundred years, held undivided dominion. Not many

years after, the Anglo-Saxon landed on the coasts of the northern Atlantic. He, too, marched on to conquest. The native citizens of the forest disappeared before him. Forests, mountains, and Indians, were ineffectual to oppose him. From the banks of the St. Lawrence to the Sabine of Texas, he is a conqueror over nature. In the south, the natives die, or become slaves to the Spaniard. In the north, they fade and perish before the AngloAmerican. The one spreads his empire from the Gulf of Mexico to the far shores of California;, the other, from the hills of St. Francis to the mountains of Oregon. Both extend over breadths of land, and power of resources, unknown to the widest empire of antiquity. Egypt, and her millions, with the famed valley of the Nile, fade before the broad magnificence, the mighty growth, of these American empires! Even the terrible and far-seeing eagles of Rome grow dizzy and dim in their sight, as they look down from the summits of history upon these continental nations-these colossal giants of the modern world! And now, this Spaniard and this Northman meet, in battle-panoply, in this valley of volcanoes, by the ancient graves of unknown nations, on the lava-covered soil where nature once poured forth her awe-inspiring flames, and the brave Tlascalan once sung of glory and of greatness! Three centuries since, these warrior nations had left their homes beyond the wide Atlantic. Two thousand miles from each other, they had planted the seats of their empire; and now, as if time in the moral world had com

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pleted another of its grand revolutions, they have met in mortal conflict. Like the EAGLE and the VULTURE, who had long pursued different circles in the heavens, and long made prey of the weak tenants of the air, their circles have been enlarged till they cross each other. They shriek! They fight! The victorious eagle bears the vulture to the earth, and screams forth through the clouds his triumphant song! Has the bold bird received no wound? Has no blood tinged the feathers of his wing? Is there no secret flow of life from the portals of his heart? Will he continue to look, with unblenched eye, on the blazing glories of the sun? Hid in the eternal. decrees of God, is the life of nations; and not till He has drawn away the curtains of time, will mortals know the secrets of His will in the government of nations.

CHAPTER XIV.

Siege of Puebla.-March of Santa Anna.-Desertion of his troops.-March of Rea-Battle of Huamantla.-Santa Anna's resignation.-Peña y Peña President.-Negotiations for peace.-Treaty signed.—Ratifications. -The Treaty.-Territory acquired.-Losses of the army.-Names of officers killed.-Conclusion.

THE military events which closed on the 18th of September, with the capture of the city of Mexico, closed also, with the exception of some incidental and minor engagements, the war with Mexico. To all practical intents, Mexico was conquered. From Santa Fé in the north to Tampico in the south,—from the Rio Grande to the shores of the Pacific,-from the heights of the Sierra Madre to those of the Sierra Nevada,-the troops and navy of the United States held every position which, either in a military or commercial view, was valuable or accessible to the channels of business and population. Henceforward, the chief movement of our troops was the advance of reinforcements, which, had they been earlier, had been useful, but were now too late to aid the victorious army, or share in the glory of its achievements. Collateral movements were made, and two or three small skirmishes took place which were honorable to our arms. But the burden and battle of the war was past. The victory was won, and the question of the day was, "When and how shall peace be made ?”

Santa Anna, who had been driven out of Mexico by