ntry beyond the settlement of San Patricio and Corpus
Christi, till within a few miles of the del Norte, is a perfect desert,
one hundred and sixty miles wide by the route pursued by General Taylor,
as stated by himself, and near one hundred and twenty miles in a
straight line.

The only settled part of it is along the left bank of the del Norte, and
but a few miles in breadth. This belt was settled, inhabited, and
occupied exclusively by Mexicans. It included the town of Loredo; and
Mexico had a custom-house at Brazos, north of the mouth of the river.
Till occupied by the American arms it had ever been, and was at the time
when invaded by General Taylor, a part of the Department of Tamaulipas,
and subject to the jurisdiction of the Prefect of the Northern District
of that department.

In the course of the war between Mexico and Texas, incursions had been
occasionally made by each party into the territories of the other. A
Mexican officer had, once or twice, obtained temporary occupation of San
Antonio, within the limits of Texas; and the Texans had on one occasion
taken Loredo itself, and more than once had carried their arms, not only
to the left bank of the del Norte, but even beyond that river. In both
cases the aggressive parties had been repulsed and expelled. The last
Texan expedition of that kind took place in December, 1842, and
terminated in their defeat at Mier.

That the country, adjacent to the left bank of the river, was
exclusively in the possession of the Mexicans, was well known to our
Government.

When General Taylor marched to the del Norte, he issued an order (No.
30), translated into the Spanish, ordering all under his command, to
observe with the most scrupulous respect the rights of all the
inhabitants, who might be found in peaceful prosecution of their
respective occupations, as well on the left as on the right side of the
Rio Grande. No interference, he adds, will be allowed with the civil
rights or religious privileges of the inhabitants.

In June, 1845, General Taylor had been directed to select and occupy, on
or near the Rio Grande del Norte, such a site as would be best adapted
to repel invasion and to protect our Western border. But on the 8th of
July following, the Secretary of War (Mr. Marcy) addressed the following
letter to him.

"This Department is informed that Mexico has some military
establishments on the East side of the Rio Grande, which are, and for
some time have been,