heart of every American, that nothing but the most energetic measures, supported by an imposing force, can ever eradicate it; for it is to be observed, that even if the arms of the rebels prove unsuccessful, and their plots fruitless, still misery, and a growing consumption, will do that, which neither force nor intrigue may be able to effect.
It is to be hoped that with the troops which I command, the Insurgents will be beaten, as they have been till now, in whatever number they may present themselves; but it is no less certain that this is not sufficient to put an end to the rebellion, but rather tends to prolong its fatal effects.—It acts against us in two ways, by open force, and by increasing distress: the first will be always repelled, the second will reduce us gradually to death's door.
The military force now at my disposal is but just sufficient to garrison the capitals of the Provinces, and to cover the large towns: but, in the mean time, an infinity of smaller towns are left, unavoidably, at the mercy of the banditti: the roads are ours only as long as a division is passing over them; and the Insurgents, who are infinitely superior to us in number, are masters of the largest proportion of the cultivated lands: the consequence is that trade is at an end; agriculture languishes; the mines are abandoned; all our resources exhausted; the troops wearied out; the loyal discouraged; the rich in dismay; in short, misery increases daily, and the State is in danger.
As the armed bands of the rebels are constantly in motion, without any fixed place of residence, and are principally composed of men belonging to the Haciendas, the trapiches, and the mines, used to live in the open air, and on horseback, and accustomed to the transition from vicious indulgence, to frugality and want, they require no regular administration. Without plan or calculation they wander over the whole country, eating and drinking where they can, and robbing, plundering, and devastating all that falls in their way; now uniting in large masses, now dividing into insignificant parties, but always doing us incalculable mischief. It is the facility which this mode of life affords them for satisfying the wants of the moment, and consulting either the caprice of the hour, or the desire of vengeance, that endears to them this predatory exist-
