Taylor announced to his Governm.ent, that he considered the conflagration of Point Isabel " as a decided evidence of hostilitij.'" To understand the purport of this declaration of opinion, it must be recollected that in his orders of the 13th January, 18.46, he was instructed that, should Mexi- co assume the character of an enemy " by a declaration of war, or any open act of hostility towards us, you will not act merely on the defensive"
On the 28th March, Taylor, without having met with the shghtest opposition, planted his standard on the bank of the Rio Grande. On the Gth April he wrote home that the guns of his battery " hear directly upon the pub- lic square of Metamoras, and tvithin good range for demo- lishing the toivn ; their object cannot be mistaken by the enemy i" and he tells the Secretary of War, "the Mexi- cans still retain a hostile attitude, and have thrown up some works to prevent us from crossing the river."* No declaration of war had been issued on either side, and the * Duviug the progress of this invasion, and while the army was before Metamoras, various letters from the officers found their Avay into the public journals. A few extracts from these will be found instructive. " West of the Nueces the people are all Spaniards. The country is uninhabitable excepting the valley of the Rio Grande, and that contains a pretty dense population, and in no part of the country are the people more loyal to the Mexican Government."
" Camip opposite Mekuiioras, Apnl \9th, 1846. Our situation here is an extraordinary one. Right in the enemy's country, and actually occupying theii* corii and cotton fields, the people of the soil leaving their homes, and we with a small handful of men marching, with colors flying, and drumrf beating, right under the very guns of one of their principal cities, displaying the starspangled banner as if in defiance under their very nose,