CHAPTER IX.
POLITICAL INTRIGUE--BUENA VISTA--MOVEMENT AGAINST VERA CRUZ--SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VERA CRUZ.
The Mexican war was a political war, and the administration conducting it desired to make party capital out of it.

General Scott was at the head of the army, and, being a soldier of acknowledged professional capacity, his claim to the command of the forces in the field was almost indisputable and does not seem to have been denied by President Polk, or Marcy, his Secretary of War.

Scott was a Whig and the administration was democratic.

General Scott was also known to have political aspirations, and nothing so popularizes a candidate for high civil positions as military victories.

It would not do therefore to give him command of the "army of conquest." The plans submitted by Scott for a campaign in Mexico were disapproved by the administration, and he replied, in a tone possibly a little disrespectful, to the effect that, if a soldier's plans were not to be supported by the administration, success could not be expected.