The little volume before us gives a succinct but clear account of the origin of the war, and of the campaigns under Taylor and Scott, based chiefly upon the reports of those officers and other official documents. It must be remembered, however, that this, and indeed, every other history of the war, was published immediately after the establishment of peace, and without that knowledge of thousands of important facts which have since come to light and which is essential to a correct understanding of the diplomatic, political, and military history of that period. Therefore, this, like all other histories of the war written about that time, is necessarily imperfect and untrustworthy. The chief defects in Mansfield’s book spring from several facts. 1st. He was vehemently opposed to the annexation of Texas, and to the acquisition of territory. 2d. He was a warm partisan of Gen. Scott, whose biographer he became. 3d. His style was intensely florid, as will appear from the last paragraph of his book, which we quote. Speaking of the United States and Mexico, he says: “Egypt and her millions, with the famed Valley of the Nile, fade before the broad magnificence, the mighty growth, of those American empires. Even the terrible and far-seeing eagles of Rome grow dizzy and dim in their sight as they look down from the summits of history upon these continental nations, these colossal giants of the modern world. And now this Spaniard and this Northman meet in battle panoply in this valley of volcanoes, by the ancient groves of unknown nations, on the lava-covered soil where nature once poured forth her awe-inspiring flames and the brave Tlascalan once sung of glory and of greatness. Three centuries since, these warrior nations had left their homes beyond the wide Atlantic; two thousand miles from each other they had planted the seats of their empire; and now, as if time, in the moral world, had completed another of its grand revolutions, they have met in mortal conflict. Like the eagle and the vulture, who long had pursued different circles in the heavens, and long made prey of the weak tenants of the air, their circles have been enlarged till they cross each other. They shriek! They fight! The victorious eagle bears the vulture to the earth, and screams forth through the clouds his triumphant song! Has the bold bird received no wound? Has no blood tinged the feathers of his wing? Is there no secret flow of life from the portals of his heart? Will he continue to look with unblenched eye on the blazing glories of the sun?” THE WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO. Illustrated. Embracing Pictorial Drawings of all the Principal Conflicts. By Carl Nebel. With a Description of each Battle by George Wilkins Kendall. D. Appleton & Co. New York. 1851.