It is natural that an important city like Puebla should not have been passed with contempt; it may be natural that the direct road to it should have been taken; but it could have been passed, its evacuation insured and possession acquired without danger of encountering the enemy in intricate mountain defiles.
Grant discusses the strategic importance of Puebla and the possibility of avoiding conflict in mountainous terrain.
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Commerce, trade, and, above all, the efforts to bring a people widely separated into a community of interest are always benefited by a rapid intercommunication.
Our progress has been great in all the arts--in science, agriculture, commerce, navigation, mining, mechanics, law, medicine, etc.; and in general education the progress is likewise encouraging.
There is no class of Government employees who are harder worked than the Army--officers and men; none who perform their tasks more cheerfully and efficiently and under circumstances of greater privations and hardships.
This begot a spirit of speculation involving an extravagance and luxury not required for the happiness or prosperity of a people, and involving, both directly and indirectly, foreign indebtedness.
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