southern portion is nearly all prairie, wet and dry alternately. Not more than one-tenth, at the utmost, of Florida is fit for cultivation; and I would not give one good township of land in Illinois or Michigan for every foot of land in East Florida.

The Indian prisoners now admit that they lost twenty in the fight with Colonel Taylor. They had a strong position, and fought well, but were terribly whipped, and have never returned near the ground since."

General Taylor, after a brief furlough, was assigned to the command of the first department of the western division of the army, including the state of Alabama and all the other states on the Mississippi, south of Tennessee and Missouri, with head-quarters at Fort Jesup, in Louisiana. This assignment led to his being intrusted with the command on the Mexican frontier, the field of his subsequent glory.

General Taylor, in an account of the battle of OkeeChobee, took occasion to animadvert severely on the conduct of the volunteers of Missouri, in especial, and, by implication, on the whole class of troops. Monterey and Buena Vista were then unheard-of names, and circumstances justified him fully in speaking as he did of the Missourians. The circumstance, however, excited in Missouri much ill feeling, and an angry discussion ensued, forgotten now or lost in the halo of Palo Alto, La Resaca, Monterey, and Buena Vista.

CHAPTER VIII.

TAYLOR (Continued.)

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Forerunners of the Mexican war-Instructions to Taylor Murder of Colonel Cross-Correspondence between Taylor and Ampudia-Bombardment of Fort Brown-Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

THE origin and justice of the Mexican war has been much discussed. Non nobis tantas componere lites: it may not, however, be improper to refer succinctly to a few of the circumstances which were the forerunners of this war. On the 1st day of March, 1845, Texas was admitted into the American Union, and the two countries at once assumed a hostile attitude.

On the 28th day of May, 1845, Mr. Marcy, the secretary of war, directed General Taylor, then at Fort Jessup, La., to hold his troops in readiness to move into Texas to repel invasion either of the Mexicans or Indians; and in case of hostility by Mexico, to call for any force near him which he might think necessary. He was also ordered to open communication with the government of Texas and the diplomatic agent of the United States, resident near it.

On the 15th of June, 1845, the Hon. George Bancroft, secretary of the navy, and ad interim of war, informed General Taylor that on or about the 4th of July, the people of Texas would have acceded to the Union, and Texas become de facto and de jure one of the United States. He was forthwith ordered to march to the mouth of the Sabine, or wherever he might think it

advisable, within Texas. He was also authorized to Occupy any post on or near the Rio Grande which he might think necessary to repel invasion. General Taylor was ordered not to cross the Rio Grande unless Mexico should make the first attack.

General Taylor soon after received intelligence that, by the formal consent of the republic of Texas, its amalgamation with the United States had become perfect, and on the next day left for the island of St. Joseph's, where he arrived on the 25th of July. In August he moved to Corpus Christi, on the west side of the Nueces, not far from the Gulf, where he remained until the 11th of March, 1846. While at Corpus Christi a party was sent forward to the Rio Grande to reconnoitre the intervening country, and recommended the selection of Punto de Isabel (Point Isabel) as a suitable place for a depot. The correspondence which passed between Taylor and the war department at this crisis, demonstrates that he acted as the agent of the government, under orders, and is by no means responsible for the first outbreak of the war, either in a moral or political point of view. The government had resolved on war, and both by letters to General Taylor, and to the governors of the southwestern states, had declared that it expected a contest, by the activity it evinced in making arrangements for the enrolment of volunteers, &c.

On the 8th of July the secretary of war issued the following explicit order to General Taylor, contained in an official autograph letter, the first part of which, after ordering him to occupy some ports opposite Matamoras and Mier, and in the neighborhood of Loredo, continued:

"In the positions you may take in carrying out

these instructions, and other movements that may be made, the use of the Rio Del Norte may be very convenient, if not necessary. Should you attempt to exercise the right which the United States have, in common with Mexico, to the free navigation of this river, it is probable that Mexico would interpose resistance. You will not attempt to enforce this right without further instructions.

You are requested to report to this department, without delay, what means you may require, if any, beyond those you now possess, to enforce and maintain our common right to navigate this river, as well as your views of the importance of this right in the defence and protection of the state of Texas.

It is not designed, in our present relations with Mexico, that you should treat her as an enemy; but, should she assume that character by a declaration of war, or an open act of hostility towards us, you will not act merely on the defensive, if your relative means will enable you to do otherwise.

Since instructions were given you to draw aid from Texas, in case you should deem it necessary, the relations between that state and the United States have

undergone some modification. Texas is now fully incorporated into our union of states, and you are hereby authorized by the president to make a requisition upon the executive of that state for such of its militia force as may be needed to repel invasion, or to secure the country against apprehended invasion."

The correspondence and interchange of orders and reports between General Taylor and his military superiors and the department are most interesting, but scarcely comport with the plan of this book, belonging more properly to the general history of the nation.

On the 29th of March, General Taylor reached the bank of the Rio Grande, opposite Matamoras, without any resistance. Two dragoons sent forward from the advance did not return, and it was considered doubtful by him if they had not deserted. He immediately set to work to fortify his position, and commenced the breastwork of what was subsequently called Fort Brown.

During all this protocolling and concentration of troops, Mexico had been busy. After protesting at every part of the negotiation between Texas and the United States against the course of the latter, the Mexican minister had left Washington, and all intercourse between the two governments had been destroyed. Many abortive attempts had been made to renew negotiations, and other questions had become involved in the dispute. Bodies of troops had been prepared by the southern republic, and Mexico looked on the aggregation of Texas with the United States as the first step towards a policy which would lead to her dismemberment. The whole nation looked on it as a cause of war, which it seems to have foreseen and prepared for. The conduct of the Mexican republic at this crisis strikingly recalls that of the Moors in Grenada, in the days of Ferdinand and Isabel. Both foresaw war and its consequences, and knew defeat awaited them, but nerved themselves for a contest which had become inevitable. In April, 1846, there were at Matamoras four thousand artillery and infantry, and two hundred horse.

The march of General Taylor from Corpus Christi to Fort Brown, made between the 11th and 28th of March, was of itself a military achievement of no ordinary merit; when he arrived opposite Matamoras, he