in sending fifty thousand men to rob Mexico, and murder her citizens, than to hazard the loss of votes at the approaching elections. The excuse gene- rally made by the Wliigs for supporting the war bill was, that General Taylor and his army were in danger of being destroyed or captured by the Mexicans. The excuse was not only false, but it was palpably ridiculous. The very despatch in which Taylor announced that hostiU- ties had commenced, demonstrated his entire security.
After stating the calls he had made on the governors of Texas and Louisiana for troops, he adds, " This Avill con- stitute an auxiliary force of nearly five thousand men, which will be necessary to prosecute the war with energy, and carry it, as it should be, into the enemy's country.''* So that, at the very moment he Avrote, instead of being in danger of captivity, he was making preparations for ad- vancing into Mexico, and for this purpose, he deemed one- tenth of the force so liberally allowed him by the Whigs, amply sufficient. Seven days after the fifty thousand men had been voted, Taylor, without even waiting for the five thousand for which he had called, entered the city of Metamoras, the Mexican army flying before him.