hat
you will use them to the best advantage.

"The objects which it is desirable to obtain have been indicated,
and it is hoped that you will have the requisite force to accomplish
them. Of this you must be the judge when preparations are made and
the time for action arrived. Very respectfully,

"Your obedient servant,

"W.L. MARCY, _Secretary of War_.

"_General_ WINFIELD SCOTT."

General Scott was impressed with the belief that Mr. Marcy, the
Secretary of War, and Hon. Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, the
Secretary of the Treasury, had the fullest confidence in his ability,
and favored giving him the substantial direction of the war. He was
also impressed with the kindness and confidence extended to him by
President Polk, but on his arrival in New Orleans he was shown a
letter from Alexander Barrow, then a Senator in Congress from
Louisiana and a personal friend of General Scott, informing him that
the President had asked that the grade of lieutenant general be
established in the army, and that on the passage of such an act by
Congress it was the intention of the President to confer this rank,
and consequently the command of the army, upon Thomas H. Benton, then
a Senator from Missouri. This was a great shock to General Scott, and
he attributed it to political motives. He reasoned this way: "Scott is
a Whig; therefore the Democracy is not bound to observe good faith
with him. His successes may be turned to the prejudice of the
Democratic party. We must, however, profit by his military experience,
and if successful, by force of patronage and other helps, continue to
crown Benton with the victory, and thus triumph both in the field and
at the polls."

He reached the Brazos Santiago, near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in
Christmas week, and proceeded from there to Camargo, where he expected
to meet General Taylor, but, by some mismanagement or delay, his
notification to General Taylor did not reach the latter.

A confidential dispatch from General Scott to General Taylor was
opened, read, and freely discussed at headquarters at Monterey. A
duplicate was sent forward, but the party in charge of it was killed
at Villa Gran and the dispatch delivered to General Santa Anna. Taylor
had made a movement toward Tampico, and hence did not receive the
first dispatch delivered at Tampico. In the later dispatch General
Scott had written him that he might have his choice of two
armie