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WANT OF NATIONALITY AND OF A PEOPLE 



that there was no nationality because there was no People ; for 

 who will dignify with that republican name such discordant and 

 heterogeneous materials of races, characters, politics and purposes. 

 A. People is not a mere aggregation of human beings. A nation, 

 in the true sense of nationality, is only a great family, for whose 

 strength and power it is necessary that all its individual members 

 should be intimately united by the bonds of interest, sympathy and 

 affection. Such a nation may form a government, but it is difficult 

 for a government to form such a nation. And this was the peculiarly 

 fortunate position of our North American states at the period of 

 Independence, for we had no political and social revolution to 

 effect. Our people and our government grew up together. At the 

 close of the war the United States were poor. The military men 

 had enjoyed no revenue from their services but personal honor. 

 They were badly fed, paid and clothed. There was no rich, ready 

 made prize to be seized by ambitious or avaricious men in the 

 gorged treasury of a nation. All were essentially equal because all 

 were equally forced to work for livelihood. There was no recog- 

 nized class in government or society. We were all of one blood, 

 and did not fall into the error of amalgamation with Indians and 

 negroes. We were controlled by reason and not governed by pas- 

 sions or instincts. We had nothing but liberty and space; soil and 

 freedom. Our soldiers were rewarded with land ; but that land 

 was in the wilderness and exacted toil to make it productive ; and 

 thus, compulsory industry diverted the minds of our political 

 founders from those ambitious enterprises, which by the aid of the 

 military have so long degraded Mexico. Conquest and rapid 

 Fruition, — was the maxim of Spain; Occupation and Develop- 

 ment, — the policy of England. The eager Iberian was prompt 

 and headlong in the adventurous life of discovery. The cautious 

 Anglo Saxon followed in his steps, ready to glean and replant the 

 fields that had been hardly reaped of their virgin harvests. 



We have endeavored to analyze candidly the condition of the 

 Mexican republic, and, in performing the disagreeable task we have 

 been guided not only by our own personal observations in the 

 country, but by the argumentative criticisms of native writers 

 Having ascertained the disease it is our duty to seek the remedy 

 The obvious policy of Mexico, under existing circumstances, is te 

 exhibit a firm, constitutional, orderly, peaceful aspect, which, to- 

 gether with her manifold allurements of soil, flimate, and geogra- 

 phical situation, will gradually attract to her shores the eager mul- 



