hoofs. "_Los Yanquies_!" is
the cry, and every neck is stretched to obtain a glimpse of the six
thousand bemired and begrimed soldiers who are marching proudly to the
Grand Plaza. On him especially is every eye intently fixed, whose
martial form is half concealed by a splendid staff and a squadron of
dragoons, as he rides, with flashing eye and beating heart, to the
National Palace of Mexico. But six months before, Winfield Scott had
landed on the Mexican coast; since then he had stormed the two strongest
places in the country, won four battles in the field against armies
double, treble, and quadruple his own, and marched without reverse from
Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico; losing fewer men, making fewer
mistakes, and creating less devastation, in proportion to his victories,
than any invading general of former times. Well might the Mexicans gaze
upon his face!

(1847) FAMINE IN IRELAND, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy

From the fact that its immediate cause was the almost complete failure
of the potato crop, due to the rot, the great Irish famine is known as
the "potato famine." The crop that suffered so was that of 1845, and the
famine began in the following year and reached its climax in 1847. It is
estimated that by this calamity two hundred thousand persons perished.
Many compensating features in connection with this appalling distress
have been pointed out. Some writers friendly toward Ireland have
declared that the famine proved one of the greatest blessings to the
country; that it hastened free trade, better drainage of the island, and
the passage of the Land Improvement Act; that it relieved the
overcrowded labor market, led to more scientific farming, and in other
ways produced changes that have been of lasting benefit. But though all
this be true, the misfortune itself gave to modern history one of its
most harrowing chapters.

The population of Ireland in 1845 is supposed to have been nearly nine
millions. The manufactures were small, and the people depended on the
potato crop, and had no other resource in time of scarcity. For several
years the potato yield had been abundant, the country was comparatively
prosperous, and the temperance movement led by Father Mathew promised a
happier future. A great harvest was expected in 1845, but almost at a
single stroke this expectation was blasted; for although the crop was
large the greater part of it was destroyed in the ground, and the
potatoes that were gather