contested battles soon followed, in which the
invaders, though suffering most severely, came
off victorious. In one of these, three thousand
one hundred Americans met and defeated
fourteen thousand Mexicans, leaving,
however, seven hundred of their comrades dead
upon the field. The final attack was upon
the city itself, and by the 14th of September,
Santa Anna had fled; the city of the
Montezumas was in the hands of Brother Jonathan,
and the stars and stripes waved on the
national palace of Mexico.

General Taylor never entirely forgave the
Commander-in-Chief for taking from him the
best part of his force, and he contended that
had Scott threatened Vera Cruz only, and so
divided the attention of Santa Anna, leaving
the army at Monterey in its full force to
march thence upon the capital, Mexico would
have been taken at a less cost of time
and blood than was ultimately expended on
the conquest of the place. So also thought a
large section of the American people, and
though another commander actually took
possession of the capital, Taylor was popularly
regarded as the real hero of the Mexican war.
This feeling was strengthened when the series
of quarrels began between Scott and his
companions in arms, and between that general
and the American Minister, Mr. Trist, deputed
to arrange a treaty between the two countries;
and when Scott left the army in charge of
General Butler to return in disgust to the
United States, there was no officer in all
Mexico, whose reputation could stand in
competition with that of "Old Rough and Ready,"
as Taylor was now called. He was looked
upon as the one heroic leader of the successful
war.

Bayard Taylor, after his stay in the city of
Mexico, says he does not believe that Mexican
enmity has been increased by the war, but
rather the contrary. During all his stay in
the country he did not hear a bitter word
against the Americans. The officers of the
United States' army seem to have made friends
everywhere, and the war, by throwing the
natives into direct contact with foreigners,
greatly abated their former prejudices against
all not of Spanish blood. The departure of
the American troops is declared to have been
a cause of general lamentation amongst the
tradesmen of Mexico and Vera Cruz. Nothing
was more common to me (continues the
traveller) than to hear Generals Scott and Taylor
mentioned by the Mexicans in terms of entire
respect and admiration. "If you see General
Taylor," said a gentleman to his namesake
Bayard, "tell him that the Mexicans all
honour him. He has never given up their
houses to plunder; he has helped their
wounded and suffering; he is as humane as
he is brave, and they can never feel enmity
towards him."

Not without contest and difficulties, but still
by a considerable majority, General Taylor
was in November, 1848, rewarded for his
many years' services by being installed in the
highest position his countrymen had in their
gift. They made him President of the United
States, and his term of office in that capacity
commenced in March, 1849, under the favourable
impression created by the following
straightforward declaration:—

"I intend that all new appointments shall be
of men honest and capable. I do not intend to
remove any man from office because he voted
against me, for that is a freeman's privilege; but
such desecration of office and official patronage as
some of them have been guilty of to secure the
election of the master whom they served as slaves
is degrading to the character of American freemen,
and will be a good cause for removal of
friend or foe. The office of the government
should be filled with men of all parties; and as I
expect to find many of those now holding to be
honest, good men, and as the new appointments
will, of course, be whigs, that will bring about
this result. Although I do not intend to allow
an indiscriminate removal, yet it grieves me to
think that it will be necessaiy to require a great
many to give place to better men. As to my
cabinet, I intend that all interests and all sections
of the country shall be represented, but not, as
some of the newspapers will have it, all parties. I
am a whig, as I have always been free to acknowledge,
but I do not believe that those who voted for
me wish me to be a mere partisan President, and I
shall, therefore, try to be a President of the American
people. As to the new territory, it is now free,
and slavery cannot exist there without a law of
Congress authorising it, and that I do not believe
they will ever pass. I was opposed to the acquisition
of this territory, as I also was to the acquisition
of Texas. I was opposed to the war, and, although
by occupation a warrior, I am a peace man."

His subsequent conduct tended to realise
the hopes created by this opening avowal.
But a life of hardship and an age verging
on sixty years, prepared him, but indifferently,
to meet the renewed exertions required by
his new position. Resigning the panoply of
the general to assume the garb of the President,
he gained a respite from the toils of war
to accept the still more soul-wearying contests,
jealousies, and responsibilities of civil government.
With soldierly determination,
however, he addressed himself to the task, and,
like a true hero, fell with harness on his
back. He was born on the 9th of November,
1786—he died on the 9th of July, 1850. His
last words were:—"I am prepared. I have
endeavoured to do my duty." May all deathbeds
be consoled by the truthful utterance of
such a sentiment.

Monthly Supplement of "HOUSEHOLD WORDS,"
Conducted by CHARLES DICKENS.
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The Number, containin a history of the past month, was
issued with the Magazines.