d in various directions, suitable for drives, in addition to
the grand paseo leading to the city, which also owes its construction
to his taste and liberality. The drives about the castle are shaded by
tall, thickly-set trees of various sorts, planted within the last twenty
years.

Chapultepec is now improved in part for a military school, the "West
Point" of Mexico, accommodating a little over three hundred cadets, who,
coming from the best families of the country, here serve a seven years'
apprenticeship in acquiring a sound education and a thorough knowledge
of the art of war. The course of studies, it is understood, is very
comprehensive, and to graduate here is esteemed a high honor from an
educational point of view. Several of the professors who are attached to
the institution came from the best European schools. We were shown
through the dormitories of the cadets and other domestic offices, where
everything was in admirable order, but it was a disappointment to see
the lackadaisical manner of these young gentlemen on parade, quite in
consonance with the undisciplined character of the rank and file of the
army. The pretense of discipline was a mere subterfuge, and would simply
disgust a West Pointer or a European soldier. These cadets were somehow
very diminutive in stature, and their presence was anything but manly.

This is justly regarded as classic ground in the ancient and modern
history of the country. It will be remembered that the steep acclivity,
though bravely defended, was stormed and captured by a mere handful of
Americans under General Pillow during the war of 1847. In the rear of
the hill, to the southward, less than two miles away, is the field
where the battle of Molino del Rey--"the King's Mill"--was fought, and
not far away that of Churubusco, both contests won by the Americans, who
were under the command of General Scott. Lieutenant Grant, afterwards
General Grant and President of the United States, was one of the first
to enter the fortified position at the taking of Chapultepec. Grant, in
his memoirs, pays General Scott due honor as a soldier and a strategist,
but expresses the opinion that both the battles of Chapultepec and
Molino del Rey were needless, as the two positions could have been
turned.

Any civilian can realize the mistake which Scott made. The possession of
the mill at that juncture was of no consequence. Chapultepec was of
course to be carried, and when our troops were in pos