At the same time, we fully recognise-that-the -Americans must keep
a considerable force of armed men in . the country to meet the risk—though we think it is a very remote one—of internal troubles, and, much more, to prevent raidings by brigand bands on the Mexican frontier. One must never forget how long that frontier is, -or the fact that, though on one side are anarchy and brutality unspeakable, on the other are rich and highly civilized communities which are unable to protect .themselves. Mexican raiding -bands .might easily penetrate for a distance of some thirty or forty miles beyond the frontier. But this means that a huge, if narrow, belt of country, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific, might be exposed to horrors which one shudders to think of. No doubt there is a good deal of bluff in regard to German intrigues in Mexico.' We do not doubt, however, that a good many German adventurers have of late got into Mexico, and that they have the command of a great deal of money, a commodity much in demand among the leaders of the Mexican banditti.
Previous page
