444 HIS INTEREST IN GENERAL TAYLOR. 



abounding in all tlie comforts of life, raises as to the 

 rank of a 'first-rate power,' and makes us 'respected.' 



" Baron Humboldt said that with one of his own maps 

 before them, the kiiig and his military council had fol 

 lowed General Taylor from his encampment at Corpus 

 Christi, to Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma, through 

 the storming of Monterey, and the bloody scenes of 

 Biiena Yista. They had fought over all his battles, and, 

 with his positions all marked on the map, were then 

 looking for further tidings. The}^ had seen and appre- 

 ciated all his difficulties at Buena Yista. In Prussia war 

 is a science, and according to the leading policy of 

 Europe, to be always ready for war, every male in Prus- 

 r>ia, the highest nobleman's son not excepted, is compelled 

 to serve his regular turn in the army. In the teeth of 

 all settled oj^inions, and as it were, upsetting the whole 

 doctrine of standing armies, General Taylor, with a 

 handful of regulars, and a small body of volunteers who 

 had never been in battle, had stood up for a whole day 

 against a murderous fire, and had finally defeated four 

 times his number. Field-marshals and generals of 

 Prussia, among them veterans who had studied the art of 

 war on the great battle-fields of Europe, were struck 

 with admiration at the daring and skill displayed at 

 Buena Yista; and this admiration, Baron Humboldt 

 said, they expressed without reserve, freely, publicly, 

 and everywhere. Amidst the bitterness and malignity 

 of the English press, it was grateful to hear from such 

 lips, that the leading military men of a military nation 

 did justice to the intrepidity of our volunteers, and to 

 the courage, skill, and high military talents of General 

 Taylor ; while Baron Humboldt's comments upon his 



