rine,, and that free communication with the interior did not exist, it was evident that she could only be effectively assailed at the centre of her resources. Partial operations in the north, however successful, could not be expected to enforce the submission of Mexico and obtain concessions from her. In a confidential letter of Marcy to Taylor, dated July 9th, the suggestion is made that the main invasion might take place at some point on the coast, as Tampico or in the vicinity of Vera Cruz, and Taylor is asked his views. Although the government cannot as yet be said to have formed any definite plan, it is evident from this communication that it began seriously to consider what might be the best means of promptly bringing the war to an end. Taylor, however, could express no opinion as to the practicability of an expedition against Vera Cruz, or the amount of force that it might require, while he considered an expedition against the capital directed from Tampico to be out of the question, owing to the impracticable character of the routes. Moreover, he was equally indefinite in additional remarks which he made relative to operations from the Rio Grande, and stated that it must be determined by actual experiment whether a large force could be subsisted beyond Monterey.[1]
When it is borne in mind that the war men at Washington had to contend against the captious spirit and interference of the commander-in-chief, against the indiscreet and unwarranted proceedings of the commander at New Orleans, and against the antagonism of the opposition party, while at the same time they obtained no suggestion of any value from the commander in the field, it cannot be denied that their difficulties in the formation of a war plan were considerable. But the cabinet soon realized the fact that Taylor's experimental movements, with no more definite object than to test the capacity of the northern
- ↑ Consult this correspondence in Id., 333-9.
