Class Jt L 
 
 Book 
 
 £ L 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 OF 
 
 GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR, 
 
 THE 
 
 PEOPLE'S CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENCY, 
 
 WITH 
 CONSIDERATIONS IN FAVOR OF HIS ELECTION, 
 
 The position of Zachary Taylor, as a candidate for the Presidency, necessarily cre- 
 ates in the minds of his countrymen a desire, not less universal than anxious, to learn 
 something beyond what is already known to thein of his early life and past histoiy 
 The more enduring monuments of his fame — his extraordinary successes in Mexico, 
 are every where familiar, and every where appreciated. Palo Alto,.Resaca, Monterey, 
 and Buena Vista, are as household words, presenting a series of victories unexampled 
 in the career of nations, the least of which establish imperishable renown as a military 
 chieftain. In considering these, the long service, iron will, and indomitable energy by 
 which the scientific knowledge was attained which shone so conspicuously on those 
 hard-fought battle fields, have been too much overlooked. It is to supply to some ex- 
 tent this omission, and to bring out more prominently to public view the more beautiful 
 elements of his nature, which have so endeared him to the people, that has induced the 
 writer to attempt a sketch of his life and public services. Much, however, as he ad- 
 mires the mm, he will not, as is often the custom, sacrifice truthfulness to indulge in 
 indiscriminate praise or high- wrought eulogy. The name of Zachary Taylor needs no 
 such adventitious aids ; it stands in full relief on the annals of his country, associated 
 with whatever is glorious in war, or commendable in peace. It is pure and untarnish- 
 ed, freed from the gilded arts and ambitious schemes through which, unfortunately for 
 the age, most men advance to power and greatness. He was designed for high pur- 
 poses, and those great occasions, which it is said make great men, have only developec 1 
 his resources. He was no less the hero — although the number of his admirers was few- 
 er—at Fort Harrison than at Palo Alto and Resaca ; no less the hero at the battle ol 
 Bad Axe, and the fiercer conflict of Okee-cho-bee, than at Monterey and Buena Vista, 
 When he appeared in the fullness of his glory, and electrified the world with the extent 
 of his capacity. His prudence in council, decision in action, and fortitude and firmness in 
 danger ; and, above all, his humanity, hi6 benevolence, his strict integrity, and single- 
 ness of purpose, were then, as now, the bright spots in his character. All who knew 
 him loved him, and none approached him without beiug struck with his goodness and 
 virtues. He needs, therefore, no eulogy. His character frames its own eulogy ; and 
 the more it is tested the brighter it will shine. To love him, it is only necessary forhia 
 countrymen to know him, not alone as a soldier, but as a man and a citizen. It in to 
 afford them this knowledge— knowledge which is to prove not less grateful to them tha a 
 profitable to the R epublic— that this brief narrative of facts is presented. 
 
 Printed at the office of the u Evening National," New Orleans, La. 
 
 ' 
 
E+tz 
 .$1*11 
 
 Ilia BJRTH AND IAKF.VTACK, WITH 1JCCIDK.VI* OP Ills BA&LY TOLTH. 
 
 Zaehary Taylor wn borti iu the county of Orange, Virginia, in 1784; and is now 
 sixty-four year* of ag«. Ilia father, Richard Taylor, was a Colonel of the Revolution, 
 and served counpicuously during that long and doubtful struggle, much of the time with 
 General Washington, who always held bin iu high enteem. His moet important service, 
 although he sjaa in many of the bloody battles of those stirring times, watt at Trenton, 
 where he Mgnally hided the commander-in-chief in the brilliant achievement which 
 accomplished so much towards the establishment of American independence. In 1785, 
 when Zachary was lees than a year old, he emigrated to.Keutucky, known then as the 
 "Dark and Bloody Ground*" He there filled many prominent positions in civil life; was 
 one of the trainers of the present State Constitution ; for several years a Representa- 
 tive in the Legislature, and a member of the Electoral Colleges that voted for Jefferson, 
 Madison, Monroe, and Clay. 
 
 It was from such a father that Zachary Taylor received hie early training, and his 
 youth win spent and character formed amid the danger and toil of a frontier life. Hie 
 education, as the advantages now so generally afforded the youth of the country, were 
 not within his reach, was necessarily limited — practical, rather than finished or class- 
 ical. All the learning of schools he acquired was under the pupilage of Mr. Elisha 
 Ayres, of Norwich. Connecticut, a private tutor in his father's family. He did not fail, 
 however, to improve his natural abilities by diligent application. His temperament was 
 ardent, yet he was, nevertheless, persevering, and his thoughtful observation quickly 
 taught him fully to estimate his powers before tasking them, and then to pursue to the 
 end whatever he undertook. He thus overcame all difficulties, and disciplined his mind 
 for the sterner trials of manhood, in which he has since been 60 admirably tested. Man- 
 ly independence, united with engergy and firmness of the first order, a modest demeauor, 
 and an active intellect, were the leading characteristics of the boy, and these fixed that 
 destiny which has made the man the beloved of a nation and the admiration of the world. 
 His ENTRANCE INTO THE ARMY. 
 
 Inheriting in a great degree the spirit of his father, the mind of Zachary Taylor 
 naturally inclined to the military profession. It was not, however, until the capture of 
 the frigate < Ihesapeake, by a British cruiser, in peaceful waters, had aroused the nation- 
 al indignation and rendered war inevitable, that he seriously determined to become a 
 soldier. Animated, then, bv the loftiest feelings of patriotism, he procured a commis- 
 sion from President Jefferson, and entered the army on the 3d of May, 1808, as a lieu- 
 tenant ,ii the 7th Infantry. Contrary to his ardent wishes, during the first four years 
 of bis service do opportunity for distinction presented itself. His hie, however, was far 
 from fdie. H time was assiduously devoted to schooling himself in tho science of war; 
 and, in t'i persevering industry and tireless energy which marked his boy- 
 
 hood d I and sustained him. Early in 1812, after having been profitably en- 
 
 I onder General Harrison in his expedition against the Miami Indians, Lieutenant 
 Taylor was promoted to a captaincy by President Madison. At the commencement of 
 the'.. ■ t Britain, which was formally proclaimed on the 19th of June, ;n 
 
 il, at . in command of Fort Harrison, s rude stockade, of little strength, »t- 
 
 ■jateaoatbi a bash, near Torre Haote, in the present state of Indiana. His force 
 was SJboot fifty men, but th< most of them wer.' worn down by sickness and fatigue. 
 lull mdilion, "nth only twenty men fit forduU, he was attacked, on tho 
 
 •tfi of September, by a body of ueurly fifteen hundred Indians. But weak as he was, 
 
 ud slender ..« In* re^>urces,"he showed himself .very way equal to the occasion. 
 
 Mil. DEFENCE OF FOET HARRISON.* 
 
 About 1 1 rftfloeb 'i night, the attack on the Fort commenced, and Captain Tayk*- 
 
 bassK an invalid, was iwakened from his bed by the alarm gun of a seutiuel. He 
 
 istantly sprang out, and ordered tlm men to thoir posts. A moment after, the cryofnro, 
 
 atw-fl by Hi- burning of the lower blockhouse containing tho contractor's property, 
 
 • ...nrriJTii) lor upr,|,wW lor ^rneral circulation. It cannot bej "J****" 
 wlUi»i-r.ii Unerlpuooo'aayol bis battlss will fce attemp to d. Intuit will be arjia^i ae 
 
 ,;-*., t>r > Mb pfMSTTS 'Jf I WuCl-r of lUe publication. 
 

 which had been fired by the Indiaus, threw all into eonfueion. The men were so frit.'.t , 
 sued that two jumped the picket*, vainly hoping to escape, while their companions g !fl» 
 up all as lost The youthful commander's presence of mind did not forsake him. A * ■ 
 the raging of the flames, the crackling of burning timbers, the howling of the Indians, so 
 shrieks of the women and children who had sought his protection, he alone, of that T... 
 tie garrison, was firm and undaunted. His ready foresight discovered that, by throw- 
 ing off the roof of the barrasks adjoiningthe blockhouse, to which theflames hud spread, 
 he might save the buildings, ou which the fate of his command depended ; for these 
 barrack walls formed a principal part of his defences. His men, convinced of the prac- 
 ticability of his plans, worked with alacrity aud accomplished what was necessary. 
 This success so encouraged them that all his orders were soon cheerfully obeyed. In- 
 spired, indeed, with his self-possession and coolness, they worked incessantly, mid not 
 only extinguished the fire which was several times communicated to tho barracks, but 
 with a temporary breastwork closed the gap, during the night, which had been made in 
 the works by the burning of the blockhouse. 
 
 The Indians did not slacken their fire for seven hours, during which a shower of bul- 
 lets and arrows was poured into the Fort, and yet Captain Taylor's loss, except one of 
 the men who was cut to pieces outside of the pickets, was only one killed and two 
 wounded. Although severely repulsed, the enemy remained in sight .throughout the 
 day succeediug their second attack, but apparently with no disposition to renew it. On 
 the 16th of the month, a reinforcement, as opportune as it was unexpected, of several 
 companies of rangers and Indiana volunteers, came to Captain Taylor's relief. Ad- 
 vised of this increase of its strength, although greatly incensed at their disgraceful de- 
 feat, and eager for revenge, the Indians made no further attempt to take Fort Harrison. 
 Its defence, all the circumstances reviewed, was certainly a masterly performance, and 
 exhibited the highest grade of military talent. It was not, however, as a simple act of 
 gallantry that it deserved, as it received, the full commendation of the country —this 
 was awarded even more to the excellent results it produced. It checked, for a while, 
 at least, the insolence, and cooled the ardor, of the merciless foe that British intrigue had 
 excited to raise the war-cry against tho infant settlements on the frontier. It taught 
 them that notwithstanding the spells and incantations of their celebrated Prophet, they 
 were not invincible. In this respect it was warmly appreciated. It drew from Gener- 
 al Hopkius the highest tribute that language could bestow. His despatch of November 
 27, 1812, to Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, contained the following remark : "Tho 
 firm and almost unparalleled defence of Fort Harrison, by Captain Z. Taylor, has rais- 
 ed for him a fabric of character not to be increased by my eulogy." — (Niles' Register, 
 vol. Ill, p. 267.) The manner in which it was estimated by the Government was ap- 
 propriately recorded in the followiug brief announcement, taken from vol. III. of Niles' 
 Register, p. 180 : " The President has been pleased to confer the brevet rauk of Major 
 on Captain Z. Taylor, for his gallant defence ot Fort Harrison." 
 
 This was the first brevet rauk conferred by President Madison in the war of 1812, is 
 bow the oldest in the urmy, and consequently an honor of rare value ; the more 
 so as its recipient was at the time but twenty-eight years of age. Although, 
 during the subsequent operations in that quarter, Major Taylor was not placed where 
 he could acquire much distinction, he was always at his post, and always efficient. He 
 served under Gen. Hopkins in his movements against the various hostile Indians, by 
 which their towns were destroyed, their resources cut off, and their strength crippled. 
 How well he bore himself may be best understood from Gen- Hopkins' official report, in 
 which he spoke of him as "rendering prompt and efficient aid in every instance." 
 THE BLACK HAWK WAR— BATTLE OF THE BAD AXE. 
 
 After the close of the war in 1815, Major Taylor was stationed, successively, at va- 
 rious important military posts in the West. At all of them he was tho faithful soldier 
 and finished disciplinarian, prompt in the discharge of his own duties, and scrupulous in 
 exacting similar consideration from his subordinates. Until 1832, when the Sac aud 
 Fox Iudians, headed by the far-famed Black Hawk, made war on the citizens of Ilb= 
 Bois, little was heard of him beyond the sphere of his immediate occupation. The 
 
coutmand of th<« regular troops engaged in suppressing those hostilities was assigned 
 j,mi he having been previously promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. The hard- 
 ships and privations of the campaign (chiefly under General Atkinson, although Gen- 
 eral Scott was promptly in the field, and assumed the control) were extremely arduous, 
 but t'oloii. I T.iylor shared them equally with the rawest private in the rauks. The 
 ouly battle of much moment was that of the Bad Axe, fought August 2d, 1832, in 
 which he was particularly distinguished. lie had great influence, also, in bringing the 
 war to a successful termination; and ou the 27th of August, Black Hawk and the 
 Prophet were delivered to him, by the agent, Mr. Street, for safe-keeping. 
 
 ( >ii the death of Col. Morgan he received the appointment of colonel in tho first regi- 
 ment of Infantry. He was then at Fort Crawford, on the Upper Mississippi river. He 
 there acted as Indian agent for several years, and, by his prudence and tact, gained a 
 strong influence over the tribes of that distant region, who knew, and always spoke of 
 him, as the " Big Chief." 
 
 THE FLORIDA WAR— BATTLE OF OKEE CHO-BEE. 
 
 The Seminole war, in Florida, next demanded his services. He was ordered there 
 in 1836, try Gen. J -?ksou,and, although he was on furlough at the time, the call of 
 tlii' Government wa* , romptty obeyed. His command consisted of a separate column 
 o" some six hundred men, a part of them volunteers. His efforts to meet the enemy 
 were indefatigable, but fruitless, until the 25th of December, 1837, when he reached 
 ths vicinity of Aligator, John Cohiia, and Coa-coo-chee, all fierce warriors, with a 
 for:e of at least seven hundred picked and skilful marksmen. Their position was 
 Bt" >ngly fortified in a dense hammock, where they held every advantage, and were con- 
 fident of success. A low swamp protected their front and one flank, and lake Okee- 
 cno-bee guarded the other. Thus advantageously posted, they defied Col. Taylor, and 
 rather challenged the engagement. He was made of sterner stuff than to be deterred. 
 The danger to be encountered nerved him more firmly, and he determined, in his own 
 language, "at once to indulge them as far as practicable." 
 
 The only approach to the enemy was through the swamp, in the mud of which 
 the soldiers sank knee-deep, as they advanced to the attack. The fire of the In- 
 dians completely swept the pass and added tenfold to the difficulties. The en- 
 gagagement was opened by the volunteers. A murderous fire, made more terific 
 by the yells of the Bavagee, greeted them from the thickets and tree-tops. They 
 stood it bravely for a while, but when their gallant leader, Colonel Gentry, fell, 
 unrestrained by the steady discipline of the regulars, they wavered and finally retreat- 
 ed. The Sixth Infantry,' which did terrible execution on the right flank, seconded by 
 tho First, led bv Col. Taylor in person, and by the Fourth, promptly took their place. 
 The enemy's fire, still warm and well directed, did not shake these, although they 
 fought hand to hand, and disputed every inch of ground. A panic now seized them in 
 turn, they wereaoonin disorder, and,aftera contest of three hours, driven from their 
 hold. Thus ended the battle of ( >kce-cho-bee, the hottest and most latal ol that 
 tediou-, protracted, and inoiie V -wasting war. 
 
 ! id ol < lol, Taylor throughout was gallant in the extreme. He was every 
 
 i„ the thick* si of the fight. Wherever the bullets fell fastest, and dange. was 
 „ rp;i ., ,, and teaching them by example. Heeucoufaged all, 
 
 an ,i i,;, ,„,.. d new life into the drooping and weary. W here he stood, 
 
 coufidi nee rei rued i and Ins calm and steadfait look, lit up by the wildncss and excite- 
 maotofthe un gave the beet assurance of victory. 
 
 Mr. ]\,ui-.cii, tl,. u S.rreturv of War, in his communication to Con- 
 
 i-ol. T.u lor. while tho "General Order" of Major General 
 
 is conduct iu purauiugthe enemy, and bringing him into action 
 
 rviug of high commendation."— (Niles' Register, vol. XLII1, /<■ 4010 A f afur - 
 
 ther compliment to the value of bis services, he was made a Brevet Brigadier-General. 
 
 Tho report of Gen, Jeoup the Secretary of War, of July 7th, 1KW, of his opera- 
 while commanding the army in Florida, made nleo the most honorable mention 
 Of hie name That officer, who, it it proper to state, was and is now politically opposed 
 to him, remarked that — 
 
"Gen Taylor was directed to proceed from Tampa Bay, open a road in nearly an eastern direc- 
 tion infitbe heartof the country, establish a post at Pease Creek, another on the Kissimmee and 
 attack the enemy in that quarter. He came up with the enemy on the 25th December, attacked 
 them and in one of the best fought actions known to our history, gained a complete victory, though 
 with great loss of officers and men." 
 
 The war was now virtually at an end, as the Indians were so weakened by the result 
 of the battle as not to be able to summon any serious force to the field again. Until 
 March, Gen. Taylor — so we shall henceforth call him — was fixed at Fort Bassinger, 
 .on the Kis-sim-mee, when he took the command of the more frontier posts. A month 
 later, the entire command devolved on him — Gen. Jesup returning to Washington to 
 resume his duties as chief of the Quartermaster's department. His activity and cau- 
 tion were not lessened, however, by recent occurrences. All the energy of his inven- 
 tive mind and ripe experience were devoted to the promotion of peace and reconciliation. 
 And he succeeded. He was thus occupied until 1840, when, at his own request, he 
 was relieved by Gen. Armistead, and subsequently placed in command of the Southern 
 division of the army. 
 
 THE ANNEXATION OF TEXAS— ARMY OF OCCUPATION. 
 
 The joint resolution for the annexation of Texas to the United States became a law 
 on the 1st of March, 1845. This was not the immediate cause of the war with Mexico, 
 but it was the inductive to measures on the part of the Administration which made the 
 war inevitable. Its existence was formally recognized by Congress, and the whole 
 people, its opponents as well as its advocates, rallied at once to the country's standard. 
 It is not important, neither is it necessary in this place, to fix its responsibility on any 
 particular individual in the government. Its events, and not its origin, engage our 
 attention. The name of Zachary Taylor, however, will always loom up foremost 
 among the many brave men, whose military prowess and success have crowned with 
 honor the American arms during its prosecution and continuance. 
 
 On the 28th of May, 1845, anticipating that Texas would accede to the terms of an- 
 nexation, Mr. Marcy, Secretary of War, addressed Gen. Taylor, who was then stationed 
 at Fort Jesup, in Louisiana, a ''confidential" letter, in which he was directed to put 
 "the forces under his command, and those which might be assigned to it," in a position 
 "where they might most promptly and efficiently act in defence of Texas," should it 
 become necessary. The protection of Texas from "Indian incursions," and "foreign 
 invasion," whenever her Congress should assent to annexation, was the ostensible foun- 
 dation for this order. It was succeeded by another, marked "confidential" also, from 
 Mr. Bancroft, acting Secretary of War, dated June 15th, 1845. That was somewhat 
 more explicit. It first advised Gen. Taylor that on the 4th of July, or very soon there- 
 after, the proposition, for annexation would very probably be ratified by the Texan 
 Convention, and then instructed him forthwith to advance with the troops to the mouth 
 of the Sabine, or such other point on the Gulf of Mexico, or its navigable waters, as 
 might be most convenient for an embarkation for the western portion of Texas. Intel- 
 ligence of the favorable action of the Convention was soon after received by General 
 Taylor at New Orleans. He left that city on the next day, with a part of his force, 
 and arrived on the 25th of July, at St. Joseph's Island. Early in August he fixed him- 
 self at Corpus Christi, within the acknowledged limits of Texas, aud there he remain- 
 ed until the 11th of March, 1846. Here a question of fact arises, having an important 
 beating on the future as well as the past, which it is proposed to settle by an impartial 
 appeal to the record. It is whether Gen. Taylor is responsible for — 
 THE MARCH TO THE RIO GRANDE? 
 The administration had been so frequently assailed for the advance of the army from 
 Corpus Christi, while the question of boundary between our Government aud that of 
 Mexico was still unsettled, that it became necessary in its defence, to fix on General 
 Taylor the responsibility of a measure which, in the judgment of thousands, produced 
 the war. The order for the advance was dated, " Washington, January 13, 1846," 
 and was as follows: 
 
 Sir . I am directed by the President to instruct you to advance and occupy with the troops under 
 your command, positions on or near the east bank of the Rio del Norte, as soon as it can be «onve- 
 
aietXry deoe, wrth rWVrvcc* to |hBM9J*BNMl tbe r^u^b; «WL )oo_r mcvktnrovr- mn-: btmnk 
 
 • • • • • • * j.' 
 
 .*__-.. „ W - L - MARCY, 
 
 Bn*a*m Genera] Taylor. t^treUryof War. 
 
 It hubMn repeatedly averted that General Taylor advised and approved this move- 
 ment, and in the Executive "Organ," tho Union of June 18th, the same unwarranta- 
 ble assertion was paraded before the public, with all the gravity of history. The baeie 
 on which it reals, in hw despatch from Corpus Christi, of October 4th, 1845, iu which 
 he said : 
 
 u ll will bo recollected that tbe instructions of June 15, issued by Vr. Bancroft then Acting Secreta- 
 ry of Wax, direcli d me 'to select end occupy on or k«»r the Rio Grande such a site ks will cousirt 
 » uh the health of the troops, and will be best adapted to repel Invasion,' " fcc. brazoa Santiago is 
 the nearest entrance to the mouth of the Kio Grande; and (total l«ah«l. within thiit entrnnce, and 
 twent)-one mile* from Malntuoras, would have tilled more completely than any other position the 
 conditions imposed by the Secretary. Hut we Bad BO ailillery. engineer force or appliances, and 
 but a moderate amount of infantry; and the occupation of Point Isabel, under these circumstances 
 and with at lea*t the possibility of resistance from the Mexican-, might have compromised the safety 
 •f ike command. 
 
 "For these reasons, our position thus fur has, I think, been the best possible; but now that the 
 entire force will soon he concentrated, it will be a question whether Tin vikw.' or Cuvkiinmist 
 Spill be best carried out by our remaining at this point. It is wilh great deference that I make any 
 mgge*uon on topics thai nmy become matters of delicate negotiation; but IF ora GovKKNMKKT.in 
 atttlirg the question of boundary makes the line of the Rio Grande an ultimatum. 1 cannot doubt 
 that the settlement will be greatly hastened and facilitated by our taking possession at once of one 
 or two -unable points on or quite near that river." 
 
 * * * * * * * . * 
 
 44 Mexico having as yet made no positive declaration of war, or committed any overt act of 
 hostiUtiea, / do n»t feel at liberty, under my instructions, riRTUiamv those of July tfth, to make 
 a foneard movement to the lit v Grande, without AlTUORlTY/rom the War Department." 
 
 If this advised the Administration at all, it is somehwhat singular the advice wae 
 not accepted. The very policy, which it is contended was positively urged, was, it 
 seems, not determined on for more than three months afterwards. Now, that the 
 intention always was to occupy some s : te on the Rio Grande is apparent, not only from 
 the " instructions" of June 15, the language of which General Taylor quoted, but from 
 other 4l instructions," which he had before him when he penned this despatch. On the 
 30th of July, 1845, Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of War, wrote to him in these words : 
 
 "The Rio' Grande IS claimed to be the boundary between the two countries, and up to this 
 boundary vou are to extend your protection, only excepting any porta in ihe actual occupation of 
 Mexican forces, etc. It is expected ihat. in selecting the establishment for your troops, you tcill 
 tf/prvaoh as near rut boundary link— the Rio Grande — as prudence will dictate." 
 
 In view of these instructions, succeeding each other at intervals of a month, what was 
 General Taylor's position ? He had been distinctly told, first, that the point of 
 hie " ultimate destination" was tho western frontier of Texas, on or near the Rio Grande 
 del Norte ; and secondly, that he should approach as near that river, " as prudence 
 would dictate." He thought this meant semelhing; and, accordingly, he deemed it 
 proper to inform the Department that he should have fulfilled all its conditions but for 
 the want of the necessary war material, and the fear, under those circumstances, of 
 n compromising the safely of the command." But, said he, " now that the entire force 
 will soon be concentrated," if you still intend that I shall " select and occupy" a posi- 
 tion on the Rio Grande — if you intend to make lhatiyour ultimatum " in settling the 
 question of boundary," and wish me " to extend protection" to that river — why, then it 
 will bo for tho Government to determine " whether its views can be best carried out 
 by our remaining at this point." This was at best a hypothetical proposiliou, commit- 
 ting General Taylor to no particular course, and designed, it is moat probable, to learn 
 precisely what the views of the Government were ; and yet it is seiied on in vindication 
 of the conduct of the Executive. To prove yet more conclusively that the President 
 did not act iu tho mailer by the advice of t.eneral Taylor, it is only requisite U> read hie 
 despatch of the 7th of November, 1845. He then said : 
 
" The communication from the Secretary of War, dated October 19, was received and ackn«w4- 
 edeed on the Jet and 3d instant. I purposely deferred a detailed reply to the various petals eav 
 bracea in that communication, nntil I could receive an answer to mine of October 4th, which 
 covered at least in part, the same ground. The intelligence from Mexico, however, f of Mr. SKdeM'a 
 mission '] tend i u modify in some degree the views expressed in that communication, [of October 
 4 | Tk« position now occupied by the troops [Corpus Christl,J may perhaps be tA* lust while negotia- 
 tions are pending, or, at any rate, until a disposition shall be manifested by Mexico to protract them 
 unreasonably. Under the supposition that such may be the views of the Department, I shall make 
 no movement from this point, except for the purpose of examining the country, until further in- 
 structions are received." 
 
 This reached Washington fully a month before the order of January 13, 1846, for 
 the adrance of the army, and, as will be seen, completely changed the opinion he had 
 expressed in his despatch of the 4th of October. When that was forwarded he had 
 no knowledge of pending negotiations, nor had we a Minister in Mexico. At this later 
 date he had heard that Mexico had consented to receive a Commissioner. He, there- 
 fore, modified his views, and, lest his silence on that head might be misconceived, ex- 
 pressly declared that while negotiations were pending he should make no forward 
 movement, "except for the purpose of examiuing the country, until further instruc- 
 tions were received." Negotiations were, for aught the Department knew, in progress 
 when the " further instructions" of January 13, 1846, were issued. At all events, the 
 fact of the refusal by Herrera's Administration to receive Mr. Slidell, was not known at 
 Washington until the 23d of the month — ten days subsequent to the date of the ordw. 
 This is the official acknowledgment of Mr. Buchanan, the Secretary of State. Bat 
 again : the action of Herrera was not regarded as a filial rejection of Mr. Slidell, and he 
 was, consequently, instructed to renew the offer for negotiation. As soon as the power 
 of Paredes was established, he did so ; nor was it until the 18th of March that all hope 
 vanished, when he demanded his passports. There is nothing, therefore, in the history 
 of the act, to sut>tain or justify the assertion that the order to march into disputed 
 territory was either urged or approved by General Taylor ; nor yet that the rejection of 
 Mr. Slidell was in any degree therewith connected.* 
 
 THE 8th AND 9th OF MAY, 1846. 
 We shall pass over the intermediate events between the 11th of March, 1846, when 
 General Taylor set out for the Rio Grande, and the 28th of the same month, when he 
 arrived on the east bank of the river, where Fort Brown now stands. On the 12th of 
 April, two weeks after, he was summoned by Ampudia, the commander-in-chief of the 
 Mexican forces, to break up his camp and retire beyond the Nueces. To this sum- 
 mons he replied, on the same day, that his instructions would not permit him to retro- 
 grade from the position he then occupied. The crisis had new come, and a collision 
 between the two armies was unavoidable. Information was received on the 24th — 
 General Arista having superseded General Ampudia in command — that twenty-five 
 hundred Mexicans had crossed the river, with a view to cut off all communication be- 
 tween Fort Brown and Point Isabel, where General Taylor had established a military 
 depot. The next day, Thornton and Hardee's command, which had been sent out to 
 roconnoiter, was surprised aud captured. On the 1st of May, General Taylor left h« 
 entrenchments opposite Matamoros, to open the communication and procure supplies. 
 He arrivad at Point Isabel the next day, and left on the 7th to relieve Fort Brown, 
 which was assailed with a heavy aud destructive cannonading in his absence. The 
 spirit and determination with which he began that march is to be gathered from hk 
 despatch to the Secretary of War. Then it was he said, " If the enemy oppose my 
 march, in whatever force, I shall fight him." Never was resolution better kept. At 
 noon, on the 8th, the Mexican troops were discovered occupying the road at Palo Alto. 
 Gen. Taylor immediately halted to refresh his men, and form a line of battle. When all 
 was ready, about 2 o'clock, his column advanced in the direction of the enemy. They 
 were soon opened upon by the Mexican batteries, when they halted aud deployed into 
 line, while the fire was returned by the whole of the artillery. The action then became 
 general, and was maintained for five hours, with unabated vigor on both sides, when the 
 
 * For all this correspeadeoee, see vol. VL Executive Documente, first Session 29th Co^r*ss' 
 
 Doe, 19J, 
 
 U 
 
8 
 
 enemy weir driven from tho field. Such was the reeult of the battle. That little 
 army, of scarce tweuty-two hundred men, had beaten three time* its number. But its 
 work was uot yet over. It had fresh perils to encouuter, BDd bivouacked on the field 
 at night, to march to fiercer battle and win richer laurels on the morrow. The superior 
 strength of the Mexican*, and the boldness with which they had disputed the road, 
 gave every reason for alarm A council of war was held, and conflicting opinions ex- 
 pressed. While some were for fulling- hack on Point Isabel, and others for intrenching 
 on the spot, a third party, with General Taylor, preferred to advance. He remembered 
 that he had promised succor to his camp, and thereforo resolved to push onward, fight 
 the euemy in whatever force he might appear, and thus redeem his pledge. 
 
 About three o'clock, on the 9th, the enemy were met within three miles of Fort 
 Brown, at Resaca de la Palma. The position was well chosen, and nothing but 
 as the desperation of American valor, and the unshaken resolution and eminent effi- 
 ciency of its General, could have saved our army from total destruction. The battle 
 was long and bloody, and signalized by achievements as bold as any recorded of mod- 
 em warfare. The Mexicans fought with extraordinary bravery to retrieve their 
 reverses of the previous day, but fortune was against, them. The iron hail from our 
 artillery, the impetuous charge of the invincible dragoons, and the steady onward tread 
 of the infantry, were too much for human flesh and blood long to endure. Aud, chiv- 
 alrous veterans as they were, the Mexicans, although they stood as six-thousand tosev- 
 senteen hundred, wore finally compelled to yield before the superior discipline and cour- 
 age of the American soldiery. They fled leaving all their baggage and camp equipage 
 behind, in the utmost disorder, to the river, in which many were drowned in their efforts 
 to cross to Matamoras. 
 
 The news of these victories spread with unbounded enthusiasm throughout the Re- 
 public. Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, linked with the name of their hero, were on 
 the lips and in the hearts of the people. And well they might be. Never were victo- 
 ries more complete, won at greater disadvantage, or less anticipated. The latest tidings 
 from the army were sad: and ominous of disaster. Gen. Taylor was reported to be 
 hemmed in by a force seven times greater than his own, with only a few days provi- 
 sions, and no hope of succor. Public anxiety was intense ; sorrow was in every coun- 
 tenance ; and few dared to hope for his safety. Suspense was agonizing, aud the stem 
 inquiry, " Who has ihus exposed brave men to such perilous odds? who has sacrificed 
 them?" 6tirred the blood of millions, even as the blast of the war trump. Well was it, 
 too, those evil forebodings were not realized ; well was it, for the men in power, that 
 gsueral Taylor beat back the battle-storm which howled around him. In another 
 event theirs would have been a fearful reckoning. The blood of the slaughtered 
 would have stained their skirts, and cried to Heaven for vengeance ; and the tears of 
 the widow, the orphan, and the childless have been their heritage. Such mockery as 
 that of the Government paper, with its " we trust our soldiers are safe," and its insidu- 
 ous attempts to cast censure on General Taylor for not having sooner called for volun- 
 teers to reinforce him, would hot have appeased the popular indignation. — (<See Wash- 
 ington Union, May 9, 1846.) " What mean you by calling for volunteers?" would 
 have been the seasoning question. What ware your orders ? What authority did you 
 give General Taylor besides that of calling on certain States for reinforcements when 
 Mexico " should declare war or commence hostilities by crossing the Rio GrRude!"* 
 That wah the extent of hie authority, and that authority he promptly exercised tho 
 moment circumstances justified it. Such, then, was the condition of things when the 
 President's war message of the 11th of May, 1H4G, was communicated to Congress. 
 That body shared the general excitement; and alarm was visible in all its actions. — 
 There was one man, however, who seemed not to have caught the popular infection. 
 He (-poke words of cheering ; nay, more, he hpoke prophetically. He said : " I have 
 great confidence in General Taylor, the officer commanding the forces on the Rio 
 Grande, and am fully persuaded that, m forty-eight hours after the date of the last 
 
 • MarcyV letter to General Taylor, ol August 23d, 1845. vol. VI. Executive Documents l" - . 
 Pew. 'Mh <V, n .. doc 190, 
 
advices, it will be found that he had whipped the Mexicans, driven them across the 
 river and was then in Matamoros. I may be wrong but that is my speculation."* 
 
 The speaker kuew his man— knew that he was equal to any crisis. Hence his con- 
 fidence. Had the whole country known him as well, public confidence would have 
 been quite as strong. He has that confidence now ; and the nation may safely lean 
 on him in the hour of danger, whether the danger spring from trouble in war, or misrule 
 and usurpation in peace. 
 
 THE STORMING OF MONTEREY. 
 
 Had General Taylor been timely furnished with a ponton train, the Rio Grande 
 would have been crossed, and the successes of the 8th and 9th of May followed by 
 the instant capture of Matamoros. He was, however, compelled from this cause to 
 wait a week before it could be attempted, and in the mean time Gen. Arista had escaped 
 with the remnant of his forces. With the aid of such small boats as could be collected, 
 the river was crossed on the 18th, and the city taken possession of without firing a gun, 
 by surrender. Here again were delays, because of the want of troops, supplies and 
 the means of transportation. These prevented him from improving the advantages 
 •already gained and gave the Mexicans time to recruit another army to dispute his fur- 
 ther progress. Had it been possible for him to have marched immediately to Monterey 
 and assailed it, while the garrison and inhabitants were yet stupified from the alarm of 
 recent defeats, he would probably have taken it with little or no resistance. But he 
 was held at Matamoros in comparative inactivity until the 5th of August — nearly three 
 months after the signal results at Palo Alto and Resaca — waiting for reinforcements. 
 By the end of June he had troop3 enough, but no effective means of transportation. 
 He finally marched from Camargo, the secoud point of delay, on the 7th of September, 
 and arrived in twelve days after at Walnut Springs, where he encamped on the morn- 
 ing of the 19th. The city of Monterey was now in full view before him. On three 
 Bides it is surrounded by lofty mountains, while an open valley spreads out on the other. 
 Thick stone walls, combining all the strength of the Spanish style, with ditches and 
 bastions, and strung with cannon, formed its fortifications. Every street was barricaded, 
 and every house a citadel, whence death was to welcome the advancing foe. The 
 Bishop's Palace, an extremely strong and well fortified place, was on one side, on the 
 other heavy redoubts, and in the rear a river. It was garrisoned by ten thousand men, 
 and its population supplied some three thousand efficient volunteers. The strength of 
 General Taylor was less than seven thousand, when with such an undertaking before 
 him it should have been full fifteen thousand men. From this description of the city 
 and the immense disadvantages of his condition some impression may be had of the 
 extent of the victory at Monterey. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th the siege was opened at the west end of the city by the 
 second division of the army under Gen. Worth, and on the 21st the first and volunteer 
 division under the immediate command of General Taylor, took positiou on the east. 
 For three days it was maintained with appalliug slaughter to both beseiged and beseigbrs, 
 the advantages all the while steadily increasing to the latter. All in that gallant army, 
 men and officers, volunteers and regulars, did well ; all showed that they were soldiers 
 and knew their duty. One man among them, and he their commander-in-ch'ef, was 
 however, most conspicuous. He felt his responsibilities to them and to his country, 
 and, heedless of the entreaties of his staff, he stood always in front, the balls whistling 
 over his head and ploughing the earth around him— regardless the while of danger. 
 Hie presence acted like a charm ; every one felt its influence, and everyone was excited 
 to greater energy and daring. Their General was in their midst, and that was enough 
 to steady faltering columns, and push on shattered regiments and broken companies. 
 The dying and dead were strewn in mangled heaps around him, but he, that noble Old 
 Hero, shielded by the mighty arm of Providence, moved unharmed throughout that 
 trying scene, which witnessed the last hour of so many of the dauntless and brave, * 
 
 * Mr. Crittenden's speech on the War Message, p. 828 Long. Globe 1st Sees. 29th Congress. 
 
10 
 
 THE CAPITULATION— ITS PROPRIETY. 
 
 E&rry en the morning of the 34th of September, just a* preparations were ma- 
 king for a renewal of the assault, a flag of true* announced Colonel Moreno, Um 
 bearer of a n>«e*age from Ampudia t# the " General in chief of the American army." 
 The proposition was, that the Mexiessi general should be permitted to evacuate the 
 city and its fort , " taking with him the ftrsontl and materiel" of war which remaiued. 
 Gen. Taylor immediately atatod his unwillingness te accede to his wishes, and proposed 
 other terms, to which he required an answer by 12 o'clock in the day. Before the 
 hour arrived, Ampudia informed Gen. Worth, at whose quarters he was to meet Gen 
 Taylor, if he wiahod, that he was ready for the interview. They met, and he adhered 
 to the terms which he had proposed, which Gen. Taylor again declined, remarking, 
 among other things, that "he felt he had the city in his hands." A commission of 
 three from each side was subsequently named to adjust the terms. This, after much 
 complaint and equivocation on the part of the Mexicaus, resulted in a capitulation, the 
 particulars of which, as they are generully known, it is unnecessary to state. Honora- 
 ble iu the highest acceptation, it reflected credit on the nation, and spoke volumes in 
 commendation of those engaged in its perfection. It lessened, certainly, the exasperation 
 of defeat, to the enemy ; and clothed the conquest of arms with the beautiful and more 
 potent charm of magnanimity. It did more : it stayed the march of destruction and 
 carnage, and prevented the horrors incident to the assault and sacking of a city, over 
 which the heart of humanity has too often mourned, even in this advanced age of civili- 
 zation. It acknowledged the rights and obligations of Christian nature, which had 
 been otherwise outraged, and put our soldiers in possession of Monterey, imbued with 
 human feelings, and not brutalized with passion, and eager for booty and reveuge. 
 
 Notwithstanding these high considerations in its favor, the Administration at Wash- 
 ington did not approve it, and on the 13th of October, Mr. Marcy, the Secretary of 
 War, wrote lo Gen. Taylor " to give the requisite notice that the armistice is to cease 
 at once, and that each party is at liberty to resume and prosecute hostilities without 
 restriction." In vindication of his conduct, Gen. Taylor replied to Mr. Marcy, ou the 
 8th of November. His reply was a clear exposition of the whole transaction, and placed 
 it high above doubt or cavil : 
 
 " The force (said Oen. Taylor) with which I advanced on Monterey was limited, by causes beyond 
 my control, to about li,000 men. With this force, as ever} military man must admit who has seen the 
 ground, it was entirely impossible to inrcst Monterey so ctoscly as tojirevent the escape of Die garrison. 
 Although the main communication with the interior was in our possession, yet one route was open 
 to the Mexicans through the operations, and could not be closed, as were also other minor tracks 
 and passes through the mountains. Had we, therefore, insisted on more rigorous terms than those 
 granted, the result would have been the escape of the body of the Mexican force, with the destruc- 
 tion of its artillery and magazines ; our only advantage being the capture of a few prisoners of war 
 at the expense of valuable lives, and much damage to the city. The consideration of humanity xnui 
 present in my mind, during the conference which led to the convention, and ovtioeighad, m my judg- 
 ment, the doubtful advantages to be gained by the resumption of the attack upon the towu. This 
 conclusion has been confirmed by inspection of the enemy's position and means since the surrender.' 
 " At the date of the surrender of Monterey, our force had not more than ten days' rations, and even 
 now, with all our endeavors, we have not more than Iwentv-th e. I II I'. T I SK OF FIGHTING 
 
 AND BEATING I'HK ENEMY is among THE LEAST DIFFICULT THAT WE KNCONNTBR 
 — the great question of supplies necessarily controls all the operations in a country like this."* 
 
 These viewa were fully endorsed by the American Commissioners, Col. Jeflersou 
 Davis and Gen. Worth; and, whatever objections they may have met wit!, heretofore, 
 the general voice of the country has since unequivocally approved them. 
 THE LIEUTENANT-GENERAL. 
 
 The letter of Mr. Marcy, to which we have alluded, was the prelude to bolder attacks 
 on the reputation of Gen. Taylor. He had grown too fast and too strong in the afieo- 
 tions of the people, not to provoke the jealousy and distrust of the political intriguers 
 entrusted with the destiues of the nation. Something was, thereforo, to be done to chock 
 hi* ring fortunes. Accordingly ou the 25lh of December, 18-16, when Congress ww 
 scarcely three weeks In session, the President sent iu bis meesugo requiring the appoint 
 
 *Wm Mr. Marry, k«Ur,ia,J Geo. TariorN reply, see Doc. 196, 2d iwesioa 19th Congress, »o*s*»« 
 It. Exec. Voc 1 *. 
 
11 
 
 meet ot "a. General Officer to take command of all our military force* in the field." 
 Th« •peoial object in view, as subsequent developments disclosed, was to lift over his 
 head into the chief command of the army a mere civilian, whose whole military expe- 
 rience had been acquired as an officer of the recruiting service in the last war with 
 Great Britain. Monstrous as this proposition was in infamy and injustice, although the 
 President's supporters in the House of Representatives treated it in the beginning with 
 open contempt, they were finally brought, by the force of party drill and Executive 
 patronage, to regard it as of singular merit and necessity. On the 9th of January, 1847, 
 after three abortive attempts on the part of Mr. Jacob Thompson, of Mies., to engraft 
 it on the bill to raise an additional military force, it was put down by a decided majority. 
 The end, however, had not come; the darling project of the President was not to be 
 abandoned without further struggle for supremacy. Two days after, it found a sponsor 
 in the Senate, in Mr. Dix of New York, who reported a bill from the Committee on Mili- 
 tary Affaire, " to appoint a Lieutenant-General to command the military forces of the 
 United States during the war with Mexico." But thanks to the independence of that 
 body, subserviency to the Presidential will was not there considered a virtue, and it fell 
 once more dead on the hands of its projectors. On the 15th, a motion was made to lay 
 the bill on the table, which prevailed. To test the seinse of the Senate, the yeas 'and 
 nays were called, and resulted as follows: 
 
 Yb as - Messrs. Archer, Badger, Berrien, Butler, Calhoun, Cilley, Thos. Clayton, John M. Clayton, 
 Crittenden, Corwin, Davis, Dayton, Evans, Greene, Huntington, Jarnagin, Johnson of Louisiana, 
 Johnson, of Maryland, Mangura, Miller, Morchead, Pearce, Phelps, Simmon*, Upham, Webster, 
 'Woodbridge, and Yulee— 28. 
 
 Na.ys— Messrs. Allen, Ashley, Atchison, Bagby, Breese, Bright, CASS, Chalmers, Dickinson, 
 Dix, Fairfield, Hannegan, Houston, Niles, Rusk, Sevier, Sturgeon, Turney, aud Westcott— 21. — 
 Senate Journal, 2d Sess. "9th Congress, p. 104. 
 
 There is one feature in this vote which at this juncture, deserves a special notice. 
 That ordinary men, unskilled in the arts of war, should have consented to supercede a 
 victorious chieftian with one of their own number, although unpardonable in itself, 
 should not, perhaps, excite such wonder, but that Gen. Lewis Cass, who assumes to 
 be a military man, and whom his friends so stoutly proclaim the " Hero at Hull's sur- 
 render ;" that he should be guilty of such violent wrong, is indeed a melancholy proof 
 of human fatuity and meanness. That single vote, trifling as he may have thought it, 
 will be the funeral knell of his ambition. 
 
 Until the 24th of February, nothing more was done, when Mr. Boyd, from the Com- 
 mittee on Military Affairs in the House of Representatives, reported a bill (Sen. No. 
 160) " making provision for an additional number of General officers, &c," with an 
 amendment, authorizing the President to appoint " any officer of the rank of Major 
 General, whether of the regular army or volunteers, to the chief command." Thie 
 amendment was the Lieutenant-Generalship under a new .name, and as such it pre- 
 vailed in the House by a vote of 112 yeas, to 87 nays. — Cong. Globe, Qd Sess.29th 
 Cong, page 527. 
 
 The Senate defeated it again, and on the 3d of March the second Committee of 
 Conference on the disagreeing votes between the two Houses performed the last 
 solemn rights of its interment— (Senate Journal, page 286-7.) The motive for 
 this foul, shameless and persevering attempt to dismiss, humiliate, and disgraoe 
 General Taylor, makes a chapter in the history of the 29th Congress too interesting 
 to be lightly passed over. The more certainly to expose its^true character to the 
 country, it is proper in this connection to bespeak public attention to the subjoined 
 extracts from the speeches of the most forward in behalf of the President's recom- 
 mendatiou : 
 
 "5*2* BOt follow [said Mr. Jacob Thompson] that because he [Gen. Taylor] is entitled to rank 
 «? t. J >ravest of tne brave,' because when he meets the enerev three to one he can put him to 
 •wght. thai, therefore, he is thebest fit tea for the command." ***** 
 
 " Mo«t of Napoleon's Marshal's were pre eminent in the field, yet none of them was a Napo- 
 ieoa In more than two hundred battles did the prowess and unrivalled chivalry of Murat shine 
 tortu most conspicuously. Yet he never was capable of conducting a campaign, and judging from- 
 results, each <U I regard Oen. Taylor."* 
 
 * Speecfc Ho. of Reps. Jan 9, 1847, Oon. Globe, 3d sewion 90th Cong., page 156. 
 
12 
 
 This summary disposition of hie military qualifications, by one whose promotion 
 surely, has never extended very far, was heartily concurred in by a still more experienced 
 judge of the requisite fitness to command, Mr. Ficklin, of Illinois. That witness 
 before the Congressional court martial, gave it as his deliberate opinion, that "he had' 
 not prosecuted the war with vigor," and that "it was his own fault that he was not 
 eight weeks sooner at Monterey." Ponton trains, with him, were trifling inventions at 
 best — the Mexicans should have been, pell-mell, pursued " into the river," after their 
 flight at Resaca de la Palma. And wheu informed that men, who had gone without 
 food for thirty hours, were in no condition for such work, he gravely inquired " why 
 they did not eat before tho battle !"* 
 
 It was reserved for others; however, to give the finishing touch to these well-digested 
 and valuable essays on the science of war, and happily, most happily, was the task 
 executed. " To place a Democrat at the head of the army " was regarded by Mr. 
 Wick as of vital importance to the6i essful prosecution of the war, while Mr. Brink- 
 erhoff, looking, as he thought, far uito the future, as positively insisted that it was 
 unfair and unjust to the Executive " to make his rivals and opponents his agents," 
 when he had so many and such loyal friends, ready to second his policy, and to rank 
 General Taylor also. Such sentiments as these, in view of their application, cannot be 
 too loudly censured ; and yet, it must be confessed, on the whole, they are rather calcu- 
 lated to excite merriment than anger. We shall not, therefore, undertake to speak of 
 them in this place, as they may seem to deserve. It will answer the purpose quite as 
 well to introduce the opposite remarks of a gentleman, who, though differing in politic* 
 with Gen. Taylor, yet had the manliness to sustain him from the invidious, not to say 
 cruel assaults of his enemies. Speaking to this question, Mr Holmes, of South Caro- 
 lina, expressed himself in the House of Representatives on the 3d of March, 1847, 
 as follows: 
 
 "And because Gen. Taylor, who had never thought of the Presidency, or ol" running the race 
 to obtain it, but whose whole life had been spent in camps and in the Held, who had won victory 
 after victory, and added more to the national glory than tiny man now living, happened, unfortu- 
 nately, to be cursed with the name of " Whig," he must be superseded, and publicly dishonored 
 and disorac ed.- Congressional Globe, '2d se> sion, ii9£A Cougres$, p. 570. 
 
 THE LETTER TO GENERAL GAINES— THE OLD ARMY ORDER. 
 
 While the partisans of the Administration were thus busy in pressing Congress to 
 create the oflico of Lieutenant General, the Administration itself was not idle. The 
 wily Secretary of War, Mr. Marcy, was quite as industriously playing his part in the 
 game of censure and circumvention. A private letter from Gen. Taylor to his old friend 
 and companion in arms, Gen. Gaines, dated at Monterey, November 9th, 1846, had 
 found its way into the newspapers. That letter was a plain, straight-forward state- 
 ment of events at Monterey, and the circumstance which led to and justified the capit- 
 ulation which the Administration had condemned. That, however, was not its sole 
 offence. It differed with the administration as to the proper plans to be observed iu the 
 war, and questioned the expediency of conquering a peace, with a view to territorial 
 acquisition. It could not, therefore, be tolerated by tho high dignitaries, who were in- 
 tent on any thing else than "giving up the country" which was or might be subdued. t 
 The presumption of Geueral Taylor had now reached its climax, and required a prompt 
 and decided reprimand. Wherefore the following letter was forthwith despatched to 
 him from the War Department : 
 
 * Speech Ho. of "Reps. Jut.0, 1^-17. Cong. Globe 2d (session 29th Cong., p. 154. 
 
 t the following la the paragraph In the letter to General Gaines, winch especially galled the Ad- 
 
 ministr.ilniii : 
 
 " If wu ure 'in thelangtmge of Mr. Polk and Gen. Beott,) under the necessity ol " conquering a 
 peace," and thai by taking the capital of Ihctcountry, we moat go to Vera Cruz, t;ike that place, 
 and then niar.-h on U> the eft) of Mexico. To do so in any other direction I consider out of the 
 •question. Hut, admitting thin we conquer a peace by doing so— say at the end of the next twelve 
 months— will the amount of blood and treasure whloh must be expended in doingso ba compen- 
 sated by the samel I think not -uptcially if the country we subdue is to be riven up; and 1 Im- 
 agine there are but few individuals in our country who think of annexing Mexico to the Vn*<:4 
 States.". 
 
 
13 
 
 "War DrrARTMKNT, Washinoton, January 23, 1347. 
 
 " Sin : I deem it proper to send to you a letter (token from a newspaper) which first appeared in 
 the " New York Morning Express," and has since, as a matter of course, been transferred to many 
 other journals. I learn from Gen. Gaines that the letter is genuine. This information, I am assured, 
 he had previously given to others. As the letter was not marked " confidential," he adjudged that 
 circumstances existed which justified the publication of some part of it, though he expresses an 
 opinion that it was not written with such a view. 
 
 " It will in a short time be in possession of our enemy, and coming, as it does, from the General 
 to whom the conduct of the war, on our part, was confided, it will convey most valuable informa- 
 tion to the Mexican Commander, not only in relation to our present line of operations, but as to the 
 new one, which alone, in your opinion, can be taken with a prospect of success, if an attempt is to 
 be made on the city of Mexico. 
 
 " The disclosure of your views as to the future operations of our forces, accompanied, as it is, 
 with your opinion that the fruits of the war, if completely successful, will be of little worth to us, 
 will, it is greatly to be feared, not only embarrass our subsequent movements, but disincline the ene- 
 my to enter into negotiations for peace. With particular reference to these effects, the publication is 
 most deeply to be regretted. 
 
 "The 650th paragraph of the General Regulations of the Army, published March 1, 1825, de- 
 clares that " Private letters or reports relative to military marches and operations are frequently 
 mischievous in design, and always disgraceful to the army. They are therefore strictly forbidden, 
 and any officer found guilty of making such report for publication, without special permissieh, or 
 of placing the writing beyond his control, so that it finds its way to the press, within one month after 
 the termination of the campaign to which it relates, shall be dismissed from the service. 
 
 "This paragraph was not included in the compilation of the General Regulations, published in 
 1841, but is deemed peculiarly applicable to a state of war, and the President has directed it to ba 
 republished, and the observance of it strictly enjoined upon all officers. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. L. MARCY, 
 
 " Major General Z. Taylor, U. S. Army, in Mexico. Secretary of War.™ 
 
 Doubtless it was considered a clever performance of the Secretery to rebuke General 
 Taylor for " disinclining the enemy to enter into negotiations for peace," and the re- 
 newal of an old order, the very existence of which was comparatively unknown to the 
 service, to characterize his conduct as " mischievous and disgraceful," must have 
 struck him as a masterpiece of tactics. The Secretary did not know his man, else his 
 temerity would not have been so great, nor yet so fatal. He received an answer, which, 
 if it did not, should have mantled his cheek with shame. It is inserted here, because, 
 in this business, Gen. Taylor should speak for himself: 
 
 "Headquarters Army or Occupation, J3gua Nueva, March 3, 1847. 
 
 Sir : — I have had the honor to receive your communication of January 37th, enclosing a news 
 paper slip, and expressing the regret of the Department that the letter copied in that slip, and which 
 was addressed by myself to Major General Gaines, should have been published, 
 
 "Although your letter does not convev the direct censure of the Department or of the Pres- 
 ident, yet, when it is taken in connexion with the revival of a paragraph in the regulations of 
 1825, touching the publication Of private letters concerning operations in the field, I am not permit- 
 ted to doubt that 1 have become the subject of Executive disapprobation. To any expression of it, 
 coming with the authority of the President, I am hound by my duty, and by my respect for his 
 high office, patiently to submit ; but, lest my silence should be construed into a tacit admission of 
 the grounds and conclusions set forth in your communication,! deem ii adiuy which I owe to my- 
 self to submit a few remarks in reply. 1 shall be pardoned for speaking plainly. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " In the absence of proof that the publication was made with my authority or knowledge, I may 
 be permitted to say that the quotation in your letter of the six hundred and lifiieth paragraph of the 
 superseded regulations of 1815, in which the terms " mischievous" and "disgraceful " are employ- 
 ed to characierize certain letiers or reports, conveys, thoutrh not openh , a measure of rebuke, 
 which, to sny the least, is rather harsh, and which many may think not warranted by the premises. 
 Again : T have carefully examined the letter in question, and I do not admit that it is obnoxious t* 
 the objections urged in your communication. I sec nothing in it which, under the same circumstances. 
 I would not write again. To suppose that it will give the enemy valuable information touching our 
 past or prospective line of operations, is to know very little of the Mexican sources of information, 
 or of their extraordinary sagacity and facility of keeping constantly apprised of our movements. 
 ******** 
 
 ''In conclusion, I would say that it has given me great pain to be brought into the position in 
 which I now find myself with regard to the Department of War and the Government. It has not 
 been of my own seeking. To the extent of my ability, and the means plated at my disposal, I 
 have sought faithfully to serve the country, by carrying out the wishes and instructions of the Ex- 
 ecutive. But it cannot be concealed that since the capitulation of Monterey the confidence of the 
 Department, and I too much fear of the President, has been gradually withdrawn, and my consi- 
 deration and usefulness correspondingly diminished The apparent determination of Vie Depart- 
 ment to place me in an attitude antagonistical to the Oovernment has an apt illustration in the well 
 known fable of JEsop. BUT I ASK NO FAVOR, AND I SHKlNK FROM NO RESPONSIBl- 
 
14 
 
 LfTY. Whila eatratted with the rviuinaod in ihU^arter I shall continu* f> devote all my e*u?r- 
 •**•» t* vbt- puMie good, looking for wy reward u> il«j coBscinuxaesc of pare motive* and toe fina x 
 verdlctAC Impartial history. 
 
 '• I am. sir, very respectfully, yeur obedlant larrant, Z. TAYLOR 
 
 " Hon. W. L. Mmcv, Maj. Cm. V. 5. A. dmtrmndine n 
 
 u Secretary of War, rFashingUm." m ' 
 
 Tbu* ended the correspondence, the Secretary having no inclination to say more on 
 (be subject, to one who " asked no favors, aud shrank from no responsibility." 
 THE VOTE OF CENSURE. 
 
 SeJf-reepect, if not a decent regard for public opinion, it might be supposed, would 
 have counselled the Administration, especially as their artifices had, in every instance 
 recoiled on themselves, to de6i6t from further attempts to destroy General Taylor in 
 the estimation of the countiy. But no, he had too deeply offended their self-conceit* 
 and too plainly exposed their bungling, ill-assorted conceptions of war and its policy, 
 to escape any wound that malevolence could inflict. A Lieutenant-General, to dis- 
 place him, did not seem likely to succeed, and hence it was determined to censure 
 him by a formal vote of Congress. Here, too, the conspirators failed ; a factious 
 Senate stood in their way, and for the third time bade them back. How this was- un- 
 dertaken will presently be seen. 
 
 On the 30th of January, 1847, the following joint resolution of thanks, i»troduced 
 on the preceding day, by Mr. Cocke, of Tennessee, wa6 under consideration iu the 
 House of Representatives : 
 
 '• Resolved unanimously by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of Jime- 
 •rtca in Congress assembled, That the thanks of Congress are due, und «re hereby tendered, to Major 
 General Zach try Taylor, and, through him, to the brave officers and soldiers, both of the regular 
 army and volunteers, under his command, for their courage, skill, fortitude, and goi d conduct ia 
 storming the city of Monterey, defended at it wan. by a force more than double their number, and 
 protected by the strongest fortifications, which resulted in a most brilliant victory to our army, and 
 reflected imperishable honor upon our army. 
 
 " Resolved, That the President be requested to cause to be struck a gold medal, with devices em- 
 blematical of this splendid achievement, to be presented to Gen. Taylor, as a testimony of the high 
 sense entertained by Congress of his judicious and distinguished conduct on that memorable 
 occKsion. 
 
 " Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause the foregoing resolu- 
 tions to be communicated to General Taylor, and, through him, to the army uuder his command.' ' 
 — Cong. Globe, 2d session '29th C-ongress, page 203. 
 
 This resolution was unexceptionable, and opposition to its passage came as unexpect- 
 ed as it was unjustifiable. It happened, however, that partisan violence was baser 
 than it was accredited ; aud while there was one man so steeped in prejudice as to 
 offer, there were more than a hundred to vote for the 1 amendment, to which we are 
 about to refer. That amendment was the handiwork of Mr. Jacob Thompson, of Mis- 
 sissippi, in these words : 
 
 * Provided^ That nothing herein contained shall be construed into an approbation of the terms 
 of the oajntuJation of Monterey."— Cong. Qtobc, 2d session SOfA Congress, page 985. 
 
 Thus tho resolution, as amended, was a resolution of censure, aud not of thanks — an 
 insult, and not a compliment. 
 
 On the 3d of February the resolution was taken up in tho Senato, when Mr. 
 Speight moved to strike out tho proviso. A debate ensued, which, if characterized, as 
 K certainly was, by the honorable feeling and sense of justice of some, yet more fully 
 developed the deep-rooted hostility of the dominant party towards Gen. Taylor, " the 
 rival and opponent," as Mr. Brinkerhoff would havo it, of the President ! His conduct 
 was, nevertheless, ably sustained, and the capitulation dofended mainly on the ground 
 of iU humanity 1 The speech of Mr. John M. Clayton was so beautiful in itself, and 
 so pertinent to the occasion, that a brief extract is altogether appropriate hero j especi- 
 ally as Mr. Bagby uttered the atrocious sontiment, that " we had nothing to do with 
 the blood of foreign women and children, and that it was no concern of ours HOW 
 MUCH Or IT WAS SHED." (Niks' Register, vol. 71, page 357.) Mr. Clay- 
 ton used this language : 
 
 •• Neither General Taylor, uor any other General that ever lived, could control an enraged and 
 •nbridled toldiery in the storming of a sacked city. All huiirnn experience provW, th»« ' n »« cn * 
 
15 
 
 time of blood, pillage and oonflaaraUon Inevitably attend the fate of a city thin taken; bath pantos 
 are alike disgraced and dishonored by the aceiiaiai'ated horrors of the scene. I say, therefore, that 
 from the bottom of my soot, I thank the brave, generous, and merciful commander of the Aami 
 oan troops. I thank hlin, sir, not only for his gallantry and skill, hit courage and bravory— but, eou» 
 nently. and above all other considerations, as an American Senator, 1 thank him for his humanity I 
 I honor him because he thought of, and spared, feeble and unoffending woman, in that hour of her 
 utmost peril. I honor him because he spared tottering age and helplsss infancy ; and I glory that 
 an American General has shown himself thas alive to the best feelings of the human heart,"— 
 Cong, Glvbe, 2d session 291A Congress, page 317. 
 
 The vote on the adoption of Mr. Speight's motion to strike out the proviso resulted m 
 follows : 
 
 Ybas.— Messrs. Archer, Badger, Benton, Berrien, Butler, Calhoun, Chalmers, Cilley, Thomas 
 Clayton, John M. Clayton, Corwin, Crittenden, Davis, Dayton, Evans, Fairfiield, Greene, Houston, 
 Huntington, Jarnagin, Johnson, of Maryland, Johnson, of Louisiana, Mangum, Miller, Morehead, 
 Pearce, Ru«k, Simmens, Soule, Speight, Upham, Webster, and Woodbridge— 33. 
 
 Nats— Messrs. Allen, Ashley, Atchison, Atherton.Bagby, Breese, Bright, CASS, Dix, Haanegan, 
 Niles, Sevier, Sturgeon, Turney, and Tulee — 15.— Cong. Globe, 2d session 29«A Congress, peg* 
 318. 
 
 A substitute for the resolution was then moved by Mr. Webster. It was : 
 
 " That the thxnks of Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to Major General Zachary Tay- 
 lor, his officers and men, for the fortitude, skill, enterprise, and courage which distinguished the 
 late brilliant military operations upon the Rio Grande. 
 
 It was adopted by the following vote : 
 
 Ybas. — Messrs. Archer, Badger, Berrien, Butler, Calhoun, Cilley, JohnM. Clayton, Thomas Cray- 
 ton, Corwin, Crittenden, Ddvis, Dayton, Evans. Greene, Huntington, Jarnagin, Johnson, of Mary- 
 land, Johnson, of Louisiana, Mangum, Miller, Morehead, Pearce, Simmons, Upham, Webster, and 
 Woodbridge.— 26. 
 
 Nays,— Messrs. Allen, Ashley, Atchison, Atherton. Bagby, Benton, Breese, Bright, CASS, Chal- 
 mers, Dix, Fairfield, Hannegan. Houston. Niles, Rusk, Sevier. Soule. Speight, Sturgeon, Turner, 
 Westcott, and Yulee — -23 — Cong. Globe,2d sessionS&th Congress, page 318. 
 
 The resolution in this form was subsequently passed uuanimously, Gen. Lewie 
 Cass and his coadjutors being either ashamed or afraid to show their hands further. 
 And on the 1st of March, after being several times amended in its transit between the 
 two Houses, it passed Congress minus the disgraceful proviso. 
 
 THE WITHDRAWAL OF HIS TROOPS. 
 
 About the middle of November, 1846, an expedition against Vera Cruz and the Castle 
 of San Juan d'Ulua was determined on, which, if successful, was to open a new line of 
 operations on the Capital of Mexico. The command of this expeditiou wa3 assigned 
 to General Scott. As soon as his orders were received, that distinguished officer wrote 
 to General Taylor from the city of New York, under date of 23d Nov. He said : 
 
 " 1 am not coming, my dear General, to supersede you in the immediate command os the hoe 
 of operations rendered illustrious by you and your gallant armv. My prooosed theatre is different. 
 ********** 
 
 "But. my dear General, I shall be obliged to takef:om you most of the gallant afficers and mat, 
 (regulars and volunteers) whom you have so long andso nobly commanded. 1 am afraid that 1 shall, 
 by imperious necessity— the approach of yellow fever un the Gulf coast— reduce you for a time to 
 stand on the defensive. This will be infinitely painfifi to you, and, for that reason, distressing 
 tome. But I rely upon your patriotism to submit to the temporary sacrifice with cheerfulness. 
 No man can better afford to do so. Recent victories place you on the high eminence ; and I even 
 flatter myself that any benefit that may result Jo me, personally, from the unequal division of 
 troops alluded to, will lessen the pain of your consequent inactivity."— Vol. 4 Exec. Docs. Id S«e#» 
 29«A Congress, Doc. 119, p. 93. 
 
 That was the first information, and that not official, General Taylor had of the inten- 
 tion to divest him of a portion of his troops. On its face it appears to have been tho 
 voluntary act of Gen. Scott ; but there is ample evidence at hand, notwithstanding the 
 discretionary powers with which he had been clothed, that he acted under the instruc- 
 tions of the War Department. The following extract from a letter of Mr. Secretary 
 Marcy to General Taylor, dated October 22, 1845, is, therefore, deemed pertinent to 
 this part of our narrative : 
 
 '•I informed you. [wrote the Secretary,] la my last despatch, that in connection with an invasion 
 orTamaulipas and attack on Tampleo, an expedition against Vera Cruz was then under adnse- 
 msnt. Upon a more full consideration of the subject, It Is believed that Vera Cra« may betaken 
 
16 
 
 sj»d having possession of that city, ihe Castle of **n Juan d'lllua might probably he reduced or 
 compelled In surrender. II" the expedition could go ivrlh without the object being known to the 
 enemy, it ll uiepoaed that lour thousand Keops would he sufficient to the e nterprize, receiving as 
 Ihey would the co-operation of our naval forces in the Gull, but at least fifteen hundred or two 
 tkeusand of thnii should be of the regular army, and under Uie command of officers belt calculated 
 for such an undertaking. In lookup lit Ihe disposition of the troops, it appears to be scarcely pos. 
 sible to get the requisite number of regulars without draietng some of those now with you at Monte- 
 rey, or on the wuy to that place.— Vol. 4 Eiec. Docs., 'id Sets. 29tA Cong. Doc. 1 19, a. 87. 
 
 On the 3d of January, General Scott addressed another letter to General Taylor, in 
 which, after advising him that " ho should consider himself continued in the command 
 he had so long and honorably held," he staled that every thing in his undertaking de- 
 pended on drawing " about 5000 regulars and volunteers" from his command. 
 
 The command of General Taylor, who had already made a forward movement 
 towards Victoria, was of course greatly diminished, so much, indeed, as to reduce it, as 
 was then believed " to the strict defensive." His position was consequently embar- 
 rassing, and oven perilous. He had received no order ou the subject, nor yet any inti- 
 mation oilier than from the letters of General Scott, that such a movement was con- 
 templated, lie might, therefore, have refused with groat propriety to make any 
 detachment from his force without positive authority from the proper DoparLiueut. Still 
 he did not hesitate, and all the requisitions of General Scott, whom he presumed to be 
 seconding the views and wishes of the Government, were promptly complied with. 
 That he was keenly sensitive, of the wrong to which he was the victim, there can be 
 no question, for, in all its parts, it was without palliation or parallel. The whole thing 
 was unjust, unnecessary and indefensible ; and, with the ample means at the disposition 
 of the Department, should never have been thought of, much less countenanced. And 
 yet, uujustto him, and hazardous to his command, as it undoubtedly was, thus to strip 
 him of his troop, there are those who dare assert that it had, in every respect, General 
 Taylor's sanction. A more wilful misstatement is seldom uttered. He never sanc- 
 tioned it, nor did he submit in silence ; ou the coutrary, he was justly indignant at the 
 ill-treatment and indifference to which he was subjected. His foelings had been grossly 
 outraged, and the courtesies oftlffe service indecently disregarded by his superiors, who, 
 instead of notifying him of their wishes, made General Scott, indirectly, the medium of 
 communication, upon whose shoulders they intended the odium and responsibility to 
 re6t. He, therefore, spoke plainly what he thought, as tho following letters, one to 
 Gen. Scott and the other to the Adjutant General, will show : 
 
 '• HiAD-Q.rtARTKRS Army or Occupation, 
 
 Camp near Victoria, Mexico, January 15, 1847. 
 
 Sir.— In a communication addressed this day io your siarT-ollicer, 1 have replied to so much of 
 your letter of Ihe Gih instant, and its enclosures, as relates to points in detail ; but there are olhej 
 and grave topics embraced in those communications, to which 1 deem it my right and my duty to 
 reply directly. 
 
 " The amount of force to be drawn from this frontier, and ihe manner in which it is proposed to 
 draw it. bad nevet i u 1 1 \ come to my know edge until yesterday, though hinted >it in your note of 
 Novcmb'-r 25. Had > ou, General, re ieved me at once of the whole command, and unsigned me to 
 duty under your order, or allowed me io retire from the tje I ti , be assiin d thai no complaint would 
 have been heard from me ; but while alnio„tevery man of my regular force and hili'the volunteers 
 (now in respectable di-cipline) are withdrawn lor distant service, it seems tha' I am expected, 
 with les< than a thousand regulars and a volunieer force, partly new levies, to hold a defensive 
 line, while ■ large army of f n ■ -ri- than Iwrnly thousand men is in my front. 
 
 " I upeiik only ol a delcnsive line ; for the Idea Di Besoming nil'.-nsive operations in the direction 
 of San Luis by March. or even M iy. With such troops as rim then be at mv disposition, is quite 
 too preposterous to be entertained for a moment. After ail thai I h ivk written to the Department 
 on the ucb operations, I find li diffleult to believe that i am seriously expected to un- 
 
 dertake tin in with the extraordinarily limited means at my disposal. 
 
 u / eannnt BUSWsdsrSf nil the object uf the arrangement* HuHcaUd m your litter*. I feel Uiat 1 
 hare lost the confin- i . nrrnment, or it would net have suffered me to remaii, up to this 
 
 time, itrnor,.^ lion , with to vitally affecting interests committed to my charge. Hut, 
 
 however much I may feel PKRSON ALLY M 'li 1'il'IKM AND OUTRAGKI) at the coursfiyursued, 
 unprecedented, at least m our history, I trill carry out. in good faith, white Irrmntii in Mexico, the 
 nines of the (/nn rami nt. though I may be sacrificed m the effort. » « * 
 
 " I have the honor to be, General, your obedient servant, 
 
 '/.. TAYLOR, 
 Mnjor General, United Slates Army, Commanding. 
 ' Major General Wintield flcolt, 
 
 '•• piiuiHiidiag U. S. Army, Rrasos Island, Texas." 
 
17 
 
 " Hbas Quarters Army of Occtpation, 
 
 Camp near Monterey, January 27, 1847. 
 
 Sir ,_My despatch, No. 5, has advised you of the measures taken to meet Major-General Scott's 
 requisition for troops, and, as nearly as practicable at this time, of the amount and description of 
 force left under my orders in this part of Mexico. Having fulfilled my duty in carrying out what 
 Ibelieved to be the wishes of the Gover .mem, I now beg leave to invite the attention of the De- 
 partment to several points of grave interest to myself, and not without importance in their bearing 
 upon the public service. I have, therefore, to request that this communication may be laid 
 before the Secretary of War and by him be submitted to the President of ihe United States. 
 
 M I will first speak of the extraordinary reserve manifested by the Department of War in not com- 
 trunicating to me the intentions of the Government —at least with regard to the withdrawal of so 
 large « portion of my command. Had I not been deemed a safe repository of its purposes, I might, 
 at any rate, have been instructed to hold the troops in readiness for detachment. A special 
 messenger, despatched from Washington when the employment of Major General Seott was deter- 
 mined upon, would have reached me at the very latest by ihe 8,h of December— in time to sus- 
 pend the movement on Victoria, to spare a portion of the army including myself, a long and 
 expensive march of 400 miles, and to prevent the murder of a young officer with important des- 
 patches, now in the hands of the enemy. But, up to this moment, Ihave not recciveda syllable 
 fmn the Department of War on this subject— niy only advices being a semi officii! letter from 
 Major General Scott in New York, dated November 25, and received by me December 24 ; his 
 instructions of January 3, received January 14;andhis letter of December 20, from NewOrleans, 
 received January 16. All these delays and accidents would have been avoided by the employment 
 of a special messenger,and I can hardly believe that the occasion was not deemed important 
 enough to warrant that course. 
 
 "Having been placed in command of the army, and charged with the operations against Mexico, 
 by the orders of the President of the United States, had 1 chosen to be punctilious, 1 might have 
 •reclined to make any detachment from my force without the same authority expressly communi- 
 cated ; but believing that Major General Scott was possessed of the views ana wishes of the Go- 
 vernment, I had no hesitation ia complying to the fullest extent with his call for troops, and should 
 have done so equally had it placed me under the necessity of abandoning all that has been gained 
 in this quarter. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the troops he has required have been 
 promptly placed in position for embarkation, and that no delay whatever has occurred in carrying 
 out his instructions as soon as received. ********** 
 
 " While exercisine a command which, it is well known. I never sought, it has been my constant 
 aim toperformmy whole duty, WITHOUT FEAR AND WITHOUT FAVOR. The best interests 
 of the service and the country have been my guide, and will continue to be while I remain in 
 command, however limi ed may be my force, or embarrassing my situation; but from the course 
 which the department has pursued in the above particulars, / am constrained to believe that I ne 
 longer possess the confidence of the Government. I can only regret that the President did not think 
 proper, while withdrawing so large a portion of my command in the manner above indicated, to relieve 
 me from a position where I can no longer serve the country with that assurance of confidence and sup- 
 port 90 indispensable to success. 
 
 M I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Z TAYLOR, 
 
 Major General U. S. Army, Commanding. 
 
 "To the Adjutant General of the Army, Washington, D. C.*" 
 
 These letters need no comment, they speak for themselves, aud are the best proof that 
 eould possibly be furnished of the cold neglect and rank injustice the Department meted 
 oat to the victor of Palo Alto, Resaca and Monterey. 
 
 THE FIELD OF BUENA VISTA. 
 
 Five months elapsed between the storming of Monterey and Gen. Taylor's encamp- 
 ing at AgoaNueva, in the interval of which, on the 17th of November, Saltillo was 
 taken without resistance. With only five thousand men at his command, it was sup- 
 posed he ought " not to make any detachments exeept for reconnaissances and defence," 
 beyond Monterey. Such wa6 the wish of the Government, of which he was advised 
 by Gen. Scott, on the 25th of January, from Brasos Santiago, when he was asked to 
 evacuate Saltillo. He, however, understood his position, and its difficulties, better than 
 to retrograde. He, therefore, replied to Gen. Scott'6 suggestions from Agua Nueva, on 
 tho 17th of February, as follows: 
 
 ** I consider the occupation of that city, or rather a position in its front, as essential to the due 
 defence of the line which I am now reduced to hold. I have, therefore, established a camp at 
 this point, eighteen miles in advance of Saltillo, and shall concentrate here all the troops in front, 
 except a small garrison left in that city. It is my purpose to hold this position, unless I am POSI- 
 TIVELY ORDERED to fall back by the Government at Washington, to which my views and 
 the position of affairs here are fully communicated." — Executive Doc 56, 1st Session 30th Con- 
 grets p. 352. 
 
 Thus matters stood until the morning of the 21st, when, the army being still encamped 
 
 * These letters are to be found at pp, 52, 290, Exec. Doc. No. 56, l«tSess. 30th Congress. 
 
18 
 
 at Agna Nueva, the enemy, more than twenty thousand strong, under General Santa 
 Auna,t was reported to be advancing, and Gen. Taylor immediately fell back upon 
 Bueua Vista, which from its great natu.«il advantages lie had previously selected as 
 his battle-ground. The clouds of dust that rolled in the dtstuuee towards Agua Nueva, 
 on the morning of the 22nd, signalled his marching columns. The army was quickly in 
 the field, and as soon as the approach of Santa Anna was known to him, Gen. Taylor 
 pushed forward to the point where he intended to wait the attack. In choosing this, 
 the same comprehensive judgment and unerring tactics were exhibited, which charac- 
 terized his dispositions at Resaca de la Palma, and forced success against such odds at 
 Monterey. Soon after the line of battle was formed, and all made ready for his attack, 
 the enemy came up in dense array. Instead, however, of forcing au engagement at ouce, 
 a messenger was sent to demand an unconditional surrender- -an invitation which Gen. 
 Taylor politely declined to accept.* 
 
 The enemy still forbore the attack, as he awaited the arrival of his rear column to con- 
 centrate his forces. The action commenced at half-past four o'clock iu the afternoon, 
 between a body of volunteers posted on the extreme left of the American line, and some 
 fifteen hundred of the enemy's light troops. The skirmishing continued until dark with 
 trifling advantage to either side, when ou- men retired, the Mexicans remaining in pos- 
 sessiou of the heights where they had been deployed to turn our left. The Americana 
 bivouacked that night without fires, and lay on their arms, on what was to be the next 
 day a ghastly field of carnage. The first gun on the 23d was fired at day-break, and 
 then the firing was kept up without cessation, until darkness closed in, and stopped the 
 effusion of blood. Of the battle itself, no adequate description can be given ; it was 
 such a succession of brilliant advances and disastrous retreats, where regiment after 
 regiment engaged and drove back five times its number, until the enemy, reinforced by 
 fresh troops, rallied, and by the power of overwhelming strength, in turn compelled a 
 temporary retreat. 
 
 About 2 o'clock in the day, after a series of desperate encounters — for the battle 
 throughout partook more of this character than one of a general engagement — when the 
 right wing of tho Mexicans had been entirely cutoff, und fonjr thousand lancers and 
 infant the mercy of Bragg's battery, the fire of their artillery suddenly ceased, 
 
 and four officers, under protection of a flag of truce dashed into the American lines, and 
 inquired for General Taylor. One oi them, an aid-de-camp to Santa Anna, was con- 
 ducted to his presence, wheu he courteously stated that he had been " sent by his excel- 
 lency Gen. Sauta Auna, to inquire what Gen. Taylor wanted." The auswer wa6, he 
 only wanted " General Santa Anna and the Mexican army to surrender." This 
 proved a ruse to gain time, but for which the battle would have been quickly 
 ended, ;:nd the. terrible slaughter which afterwards occurred, in which our loss was so 
 severe, hav< been prevented. By this manoeuvre Santa Anna was enabled to extricate 
 his right wing, and reinforce himself with a heavy body of both infantry and cavalry. 
 
 'i:, the [.'ricions permission of our Exeoitive, Gener:ii i returned froui exile at 
 
 i, and landed with hi* suite at Vera Croi August 16th, 1 : 'hhi event, there is every 
 rensi" • li brought about by the aseaoy of Alexander Slidell Mackenzie, the desident 
 
 etvlni: solar and coBntenanee to tn^ ■ cret overtures, Be (his as it may, the authenticity of tbe 
 annexed precious Utile document, generally known m "Santa ^nnaV pass'* without which 
 he eould i "i have passed out blockade, is nut to !><• questioned: 
 "[raiVATi a*i> coifriDnrnit ] "Nan Dupartxcnt, May 13, 1846. 
 
 boWtoDORi: H Santa Anna -ndeavors to enter the Mexican ports, you will allow biai to pass 
 freely. R ipectfolly yours, GEORGE BANCROFT, 
 
 i ommodora Datid CokNIR. Commanding Home Squadron."— Executive Document, No. 35, 
 Ion, :i>ith i lonfress, p. 5. 
 • The reply to tin- summons to surrender ii a handsome specimen of the " Rouph and Beady'* 
 
 modefruf corresiK coca. Here it i 
 
 " IlKADyi »ri irs Army (if i >r. i rv rios. JVW Ru, na ftsla, Pebruary 33, 1847. 
 "Bn In reply to your note of this date, summoning mu to surrender my forces at discretion, I 
 beg leave tosay that I decline acceding to your request. 
 
 •' With higli respect, I am, sir, vour obsil.ent servant, Z. TAYLOR. 
 
 Major General V 8. A. Commanding. 
 " Henor General A, 1» Lorsx di Sahta Akna, 
 
 i 'osumund. r in t'l. if, La Kii*tulanda " 
 
19 
 
 Once more, then, he brought his whole force to bear against our lines, to crush them if 
 possible by overpowering numbers. It came with the shock of a thunderbolt, and both 
 armies fought with unusual desperation. Our men were as one to five, but their lack 
 of numbers was made up by their almost superhuman valor. The infantry did all that 
 infantry could execute under circumstances most favorable, but the artillery was the 
 main reliance in that death-struggle for victory. No matter what frightful masses 
 were hurled against them, no matter whether infantry or cavalry charged, they rose with 
 the crisis, and threw them back, stunned and lifeless, beneath the steady, unceasing 
 Maze of their well-manned batteries. Thrice did they change the fortunes of the day, 
 and iu tbe last terrific charge, when the Mexicans had driven back the infantry and 
 were sweeping along like an avalanche, and defeat seemed certain, a shower of grape 
 arrested their progress, and snatched victory from the very grasp of despair. 
 
 The battle now raged for nearly ten hours, when, after the last scene of carnage and 
 slaughter, beth parties seemed willing to cease the contest. Night soon closed iu, and 
 General Taylorslept once more, with his exhausted troops, on the field of battle, ready, 
 if necessary, to resume the bloody conflict on the coming morrow. Advised to fall 
 back, he merely said " we will feel them in the morning ;" but when the sun rose 
 again the Mexicans were gone, and their dead and dying left to the compassion of their 
 enemies. 
 
 Thus was the greatest battle on record, perhaps, gained by less than five thousand 
 troops, nearly all of them volunteers, against twenty-one thousand — a well-appointed 
 and well-disciplined army. Those tweuty one thousand, led on, too, by oue among the 
 ablest Generals of his day — a man, odious and infamous as he may bo, no less remark- 
 able for energy of character than quickness and fertility of conception. And this man, 
 who marshalled that embattled host, flushed with the anticipation of easy victory, waa 
 the very man who left his exile and returned to Mexico, at least under the connivance 
 of our President, to raise armies and crush the " northern barbarians," as he called 
 them, whom the same President had sent there to defend the flag of the Union. It 
 mattered not ; there was with that Spartan baud one whose clear head and steady hand 
 grasped every difficulty and made them invincible. The odds were frightful, and at 
 times the stoutest hearts quailed ; but whenever his form was seen amid the roar and 
 shock of battle, hope came back and their spirits rose ; for such was the mora! power of 
 his name, and such the confidence of his men in General Taylor, that so long as he 
 was safe, all felt "there was no such word as fail." Fully to appreciate him on that 
 occasion his whole position must be reviewed and the result of his victory looked to, in 
 connection with subsequent operations in the war with Mexico. It will be recollected 
 that he was indirectly ordered to fall back and take his position at Monterey. This was 
 understood to be the intention of the Government ; he was of a different opinion. He 
 readily foresaw that if he retreated to Monterey, he was to be shut up there, to defend 
 a doubtful seige, and thereby lose every advantage which had been secured from the 
 time the first blow was struck on the Rio Grande. He felt it was safest, after all, to 
 meet than to flee the threatening storm ; he therefore picked his ground and 6tood to 
 stake every thing on the issue, be the hazard what it might. His determination, not- 
 withstanding the manner in which his force had been icduced, was to fight and con- 
 quer ; he did both. And the night before that memorable battle, when his enemies 
 at home were straining all their energies to raise a Lieutenant-General to command 
 him, and to insult and humble him with their votes of censure, he, anticipating what the 
 morrow might bring forth, writing to a personal friend, thus expressed himself: 
 
 "This may be the last communication you will receive from me. I have been stripped by the 
 Government of regular troops, and reduced in volunteers, and thus stripped, and at the mercy of 
 the foe, have been expected by my country to retreat or resign. But I shall do neither. I care 
 not for myself, but feel deeply for the noble soldiers who are about to be sacrificed by their country , 
 We shall stand still and give them battle, relying on a just Providence for a right result." 
 
 Such was the spirit that swayed his noble soul, and had he faltered then, had he 
 receded one slop, ruin inevitable would have been the consequence. The safety of his 
 ■own command would, perhaps, have been compromised ; the public stores and war 
 appliances in the valley of the Rio Grande captured or destroyed ; Gen. Scott's landing 
 
20 
 
 at Vera Crua frustrated, and his advance on the capita] of Mexico long postponed, if, 
 indeed, it had not been rendered hopeless. He saw this at a glance, and his purpose 
 was fixed. And where was he on that battle-field ? Where the battle waxed hottest 
 and the blows fell thickest, there he was, glass iu hand, calmly surveyiug the move- 
 ments of the enemy, and weighing the chances of the day. At one time the whole 
 Mexican battery seemed to open on the commanding height where he had stationed 
 himself. Seeing his exposed and perilous situation, his staff implored him to retire, but 
 he heeded them not. At auother, when the death-sped iron hailed around him, he 
 coolly remarked, " these balls are becoming excited." Again, when the 2d Kentucky 
 regiment, which had been ordered to support a hard pressed column, was obliged to 
 cross a ravine, and in avoiding the gullies, presented at a distance all the. appearance of 
 confusion and disorder, he cried out, iu the fulness of grief, " that will not do, that is 
 not the way for Kentuckians to behave .'" But in a few moments they had crossed 
 the rugged places and were ascending the slope of the valley with the measured tread of 
 war-worn veterans. On they moved until they reached the crest of the hill, vhere they 
 met the enemy and delivered their fire with such deadly aim that he was soon in precipi- 
 tate retreat. As they emerged from the valley his countenance gradually relaxed itt» 
 bitterness of expression, and his feelings were wrought higher and higher as they pushed 
 along to the work of death. And when the Mexicans were seen flying before them, his 
 enthusiasm had reached its topmost bound, and, unable longer to restrain it, he shouted 
 again and again, " hurra for old Kentucky !" On auother occasion, when the crisis 
 was uot less imminent, he rode up where Bragg's battery was planted, ana said, in a 
 tone as calm as if he were making some casual remark, " A little more grape, Captain 
 Bragg." And once more, when that gallant officer told him it would be impossible to 
 hold his position unless he was quickly reinforced, he as calmly replied, " I and Major 
 Bliss will reinforce you.'" It was by such conduct as this he aroused the drooping 
 spirits of his soldiers, and inspired them with confidence and hope, but for which the 
 battle, which is said to have been three times lost to him, could never have beeu finally 
 won.* 
 
 Here, as on the Rio Grande, the eyes of the whole nation were fixed on him, and every 
 heart in the land trembled, in gloomy expectation of his defeat. Excitement and suspeuse 
 were again at their utmost verge. The withdrawal of his troops, and his consequent 
 exposure to defeat, stirred the populace with a tumult of indignation, and curses loud and 
 deep struck the ears, if not the hearts, of their rulers. News of Santa Anc a's advanoe 
 came one d ty , while another rumored the total rout and destruction of Gen. Taylor's army 
 The only consolation to be had was from the " Government organ," which, although it 
 took good care to blame him, in anticipation of disaster, gave assurance that, 
 *' when next heard from, he would be found safely posted with his command in 
 Monterey." This uncertainty did not long hang over the couotry. In a few 
 days the glad tidings from Buena Vista relieved the dreadful suspense, and men once 
 more bro.iihed freely. All were satisfied, then, that it was imposssible to beat him, and 
 the reply of his aid, Mr. Crittenden, to Santa Auua, that " Gen. Taylor never surren- 
 ders," became a national motto. 
 
 A SOLDIER BY PROFESSION, AND YET A MAN OF PEACE. 
 
 We have now followed General Taylor through his battles, and have seen that, from 
 the rising of his star at Fort Harrison, to its glorious culmination at Hueua Vista, the 
 banner of the Republic, under his guidance, has always been borne in triumph. In 
 this respect, if in no other, his career as a soldier may properly receive the gralulatioaa 
 of all his countrymen. But, although war — wheu patriotism demanded, or his superi- 
 ors willed it — has been his trade, Peace has ever been the first wish of his heart. He 
 is emphatically a man of poace, and there are uoue, whatever their prejudices, more 
 averse to war, or more auxious to hold in check that lust of dominion and love of hu- 
 man slaughter which have uufortunateley seized the ago iu which we live. That these 
 are his feeling!, it is impossible to doubt, unless his word, a thing uot likely, ie to paai 
 
 ♦ 6«Mnl TtJ lor rctx-ived two balls during the- day ; one passed through the ulee're of hie coat, 
 and thu other through the froiU. 
 
21 
 
 for nothing. Ho has no concealments on this point, but speaks his opinions, as he al- 
 ways does, frankly ; let us see to what extent they have carried him. At a dinner giy- 
 en him by the city authorities of Lafayette, in his own State, he declared, in response 
 to a complimentary toast, that — 
 
 "The joy and exultation of the greatest victories were always, after the heat and excitement 
 of the battle, succeeded by feelings of poignant sorrow and pain ; and that war, after all, w<u 4 
 (treat calamity, and Ms the greatest glory toko could terminate it." 
 
 And alluding to the war, from which he had then recently returned, he further re- 
 marked : 
 
 "TVie object nearest to his heart had been to bring the war to a speedy termination— to restore 
 peace and am,ity between two neighboring Republics, which had every motive to cultivate mutual 
 good-will, and which he would much prefer to sec vieing with each other in the arts of peace Cfefll 
 contending on the field of battle." — JWV&s' Register, vol.13, p. 337. 
 
 Again : In a letter to the Hon. Truman Smith, of the House of Representatives, 
 dated Baton Rouge, March 4th, 1847, he said : 
 
 •'I need hardly reply to your concluding inquiry that I am a peace man, and that I deem a state 
 ef peace to be absolutely neeessary to the proper and healthful action of our republican institutions. 
 On this important question I freely confess myself to be the unqualified advocate of the principles 
 so often laid down by the Father of his Country, and so urgently recommended by him in his Fare- 
 well Address to the American people. Indeed, I think I may safely say that no mm can put a More 
 implicit faith than I do in the wisdom of his advice when he urged upon us the propriety of always 
 standing upon our l oton soilS " 
 
 The sentiment here so admirably expressed is in perfect harmony with his letter of 
 April 22d, to Captain J. S. Allison, of New Orleans, wherein he wrote : 
 
 " My life has been devoted to arms, yet Hook upon war, at all times and under all tireumstancee, 
 as a national calamity, to be avoided if compatible with national honor. The principles of 
 our Government, as well as its true policy, are opposed to the subjugation ok other nations, aim) 
 
 THE DISMEMBERMENT Of OTHER COUNTRIES by Conquest." 
 
 What more could be required of him ? What more explicit declarations than these, 
 " I am a peace man," and I look upon war, at all times, and under all circumstances, 
 as a national calamity," could the greatest ultraist on these subjects ask ? The guar- 
 anty is full and positive, that he does not think with many of the high-mettled soldiers 
 of the peace establishment, that " the hearts of the people should be prepared for 
 war," nor yet that it is the true policy of the country " to swallow " this piece of ter- 
 ritory, or annex that province, uuder the supposition that " it would not hurt us." Hia 
 is quite a different policy ; he would wish to unite the whole country in the bonds of in- 
 dissoluble brotherhood, aud to make peace and its blessings the first study, as it surely 
 is the first glory of every enlightened people. He is for " holding with a steady grasp 
 the catalogue of private aud public duty the country has given us, that our examples 
 may be worthy of imitation by the rising generation, soon to occupy our places and fill 
 our stations in life." — Speech at Plaquemine, Louisiana, in May last. 
 
 HIS HUMANITY AND KINDNESS OF HEART. 
 
 Familiar as he is with human suffering, General Taylor's heart is filled with the ten- 
 derest sympathies, and quickens to the noblest impulses. It were difficult, indeed, to 
 decide whether he is more remarkable for gallant bearing in the field, or kind attention 
 to the eick and sorrowful. To hia own soldiers he has ever stood in the relation of a 
 father, caring for their wants, and relieving them. This is natural, perhaps, but, to 
 his honor be it spoken, the wounded Mexicans found in him also a friend and comforter, 
 while the Mexican dead, generally abandoned by the retreating army, were never left 
 unburied. An eye-witness, writing after the battle of Buena Vista, and describing its 
 incidents, stated that " he had collected all the wounded Mexicans who were left by 
 eheir army, and put them in the hospital." It was to such lessons of practical virtue, 
 ot much after the teaching of the good Samaritau, that the venerable Catholic prelate, 
 Bishop Blanc, alluded in his speech after the service in the Cathedral, at his public re- 
 oeption in New Orleans, when he warmly extolled and thanked him " for the humani- 
 ty with which he conducted the war." 
 
 Desertions, during the war in Mexico, were not unfrequent, and, in order to main- 
 tain discipline in the army, it was sometimes necessary to inflict the penalty of death ; 
 
22 
 
 but, throughout his whole campaign, not a drop of his soldiers' blood was shed by his 
 order. He had no military executions — no judicial hanging. If his men fell they fell 
 in battle ; he governed by moral suasion and the force of example. Witness the man. 
 ner in which he dismissed the deserters who were captured in one of the battle*. When 
 they were brought before him, looking them intently in the face, he exclaimed : "These 
 are not my soldiers, they are Mexicans ; my 6oIdieis never desert ; send them back to 
 the Mexican army !" The celebrated rebuke, by Napoleon, of u battalion which had 
 incurred his displeasure, " Inscribe it on their flag, 'No longer of the army of Italy,'" 
 was not more forcible in touching the springs of human action. But it was not for the 
 mere purpose of influencing the rest of his army that General Taylor acted. He was 
 prompted by the highest considerations of humanity. He knew that those men were 
 only to be savrd in that way, and he had no wish, even under the sanction of a court 
 martial, to 6hed their blood. 
 
 His kindness of heart is proverbial in the army, but never was it more practically 
 illustrated than when, at some time during his stay at Camargo, he was descending the 
 Rio Grande on a small steamer. The boat was very much crowded by officers aud 
 army contractors, and a number of discharged sick soldiers, who were on board, were 
 consequently consigned to the deck, a part of a western steamboat most uncomfortable 
 to the traveller, when in perfect health. As soon as he heard it, he cleared the cabin of 
 its passengers, and transferred their berths to the sick and disabled. The night passed, 
 and in the morning there were many inquiries for the General, who was nowhere to be 
 eeen. At length one of the servants mentioned that there was a man, wrapped up in 
 a blanket, sleeping on the deck. The officers repaired to the spot, and " the man 
 wrapped up in the blanket " proved to be General Taylor. Yes ! th^re slept 
 the conquering hero, whose fame was not his country's, but the world's, while 
 his berth was occupied by the common soldier. What a picture for the eye of the 
 christian and philanthropist ! Were it necessary, many other instances o( the promp- 
 titude with which he seeks to assuage the distress of his fellow-man could be stated . 
 But for want of room we forbear. 
 
 HIS MORALITY AND TEMPERANCE. 
 
 Although not a member of any religious society, General Taylor is a strictly moral 
 man — moral in his thoughts and moral in his actions. For all that is truly religious 
 and truly christian, he has the highest veneration ; but there is nothing sectarian, or 
 bigoted, or intolerant iu his nature. His is that religion which is broad enough to unite 
 all men, whatever their difference of opinion, as brethren in the service of a common 
 master, and seeking a common salvation. He behoves the rights of conscience to be 
 inviolable, and that all should be therein protected, uo matter what their creed, or the 
 altars at which they worship. And, if he can avoid it, he never breaks the Sabbath — 
 proper respect for which he regards as essential to the good order and regularity of so- 
 ciety. It is said of him also, by the chaplain of the post, that he was regular and at- 
 tentive at religious service, and that whenever he preached at Fort Jesup, whoever 
 else was absent, General Taylor was always in his place. He has been charged with 
 profanity, but the charge is not true. He is not a profane man. Those who know him 
 well, and have seen him tried by circumstances the most provoking, have never heard 
 an oath escape his lips. He swears not, from principle, and his practice is as good as 
 the principle 
 
 ft, He ia not only a moral man, but he is a temperance man. He belongs to no society T 
 has never taken the pledge, hut is none the less the frieud and observer of temperance. 
 He never drinks liquor of any kind himself, but leaves it toothers to drink or not as 
 they please. He conforms to the custom of the army and keeps a side-board at the 
 •ervioe of his friends, but he pledges them all in pure cold water. 
 
 HIS MODESTY AND UNASSUMING MANNERS. 
 
 Thero is iu General Taylor, what belongs to few men of his position, a singular blend- 
 ing of modesty with greatness. His despatches, even if we had no knowledge of the 
 man, would clearly attest the modesty of his nature. Their style is altogether unpre- 
 tending, and Uiey deal with facts and events as if the writer was in nothiug identified 
 
23 
 
 with them, except as a historian. The plan of battle, the position of the troops, the 
 battle itself, and its result, are narrated with such precision that the reader may almost 
 grasp the whole at a glance. And then the bravery of the men and the gallantry of 
 the officers are warmly commended, while he, whose great mind has directed and con- 
 trolled every thing, is entirely hidden from the view. He is just so in the private circle; 
 he speaks of the deeds of others and not his own ; and his opinions, although he freely 
 expresses them on any subject which may be the topic of conversation, are given with 
 the diffidence of one who has never mingled in the busy scenes of life. And yet they 
 are always sensible and to the point, and none are entitled to or receive more uniform 
 uoosideration. 
 
 In his manners he is plain and unassuming — accessible to every one. The hum- 
 blest are equally welcome with the highest in his presence, and both leave it equally 
 charmed with his simplicity and frankness. He has no fondness whatever for show, 
 and has seldom been seen in full uniform. And in the field there is nothing about hia 
 quarters to distinguish them as those of a Major-General. The same lack of preten- 
 sion and ostentation is noticeable there. Entitled by his rank to a marquee, he uses a 
 soldier's tent. No guard stands before it, nor is it remarkable for its furniture. There 
 is, indeed, nothing studied or artificial about him. He is all natural, aud does nothing 
 for effect. What he 6eems in the camp, he is at home in the bosom of his family, plain 
 in his dress, simple in his habits, and cordial in his manuers. In all the relations of life, 
 he is the same ; he never changes, no matter how men or fashions change. He moves 
 along still in his quiet way, indifferent to every thing but duty, aud the consciousness of 
 having performed it. 
 
 HIS NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 The battles of " the^Sth and 9th of May," 1846, were scarcely known in the coun- 
 try before General Taylor's name was connected with the Presidency. The first pub- 
 lic demonstration was made in New Jersey, in the same month, and, by a happy coin- 
 cidence, the battle field at Trenton, whore his father had stood shoulder to shoulder with 
 Washington, was the place of meeting. From that day, the tide of popular enthusi- 
 asm set strong in his favor, and his name vffea hailed with delight in every section of tho 
 country. From the extreme North to the extreme South, embracing every class and 
 every clan, he was held up as the candidate of the People. Political differences were 
 discarded, and the power of the politicians, trampled down by the masses, was too feeble 
 to resist him. H« had taken the hearts of the people by storm, and time and cir- 
 cumstances, as they increased the measure of his fame, only served to bind them more 
 closely to him. He was theirs, aud they Ivere his, and nothing could break his hold on 
 their affections. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when the Whig National Convention met at Philadel- 
 phia ; and his nomination by that body has not changed the relation in which he stood 
 to the people. He is still their candidate, and, if elected, will assume the Presidential 
 office under no other obligation than such as the constitution prescribes. This line of 
 conduct he has already marked out as his rule of action ; and there is no influence, 
 however potential — no interest, however commanding, which can ever iuduce, much 
 less compel him to swerve from it. His resolution is fixed, immutable. The Philadel- 
 phia Convention, although it nominated him as a Whig, did no more than ratify tho 
 will of the people. Without distinction of party, they had declared their determination, 
 at all hazards, to support him ; and the Convention, recognizing the right of the people 
 to make their own Presidents, aud the honesty, incorruptibility, aud worth of him on 
 whom the choice had fallen, acquiesced in that decision. The great masses who have 
 no interest in politics, and whose only anxiety is for honest, impartial government, had 
 rallied to the support of a Whig, aud the Convention, acting in a spirit of compromise 
 aud conciliation, and knowing him to be a Whig, cordially adopted him as the candi- 
 date of the Whigs of the Union. It is useless, therefore, to coutend that he has re- 
 versed his decision aud become the candidate of a party, after declaring that he would 
 not be considered otherwise than as the candidate of the people. He has never held 
 but one language ; and let the Executive minions assail him as they may, let the u&r- 
 
34 
 
 row-mrnded and crafty denounce him as they dare, they can never convinoe the sturdy, 
 invincible mawws that Znchary Taylor has cousonted to become "an instrument in the 
 band* of designing men." They know the worth of such statement*, they kuow that, 
 whoever else may bend and bow, come sunshine or storm, "Ac never svrrmdersh 
 Hie position from first to last, was well stated by Judge Saunders, in the Convention, 
 and without another word, in justice to his friends, we embody it here : 
 
 " General Taylor (said Judge Saunders) has takes no part in bringing his name before the 
 American people, in connection wiih the Presidency, nor does be present his name 10 this Con- 
 vention asa candidate. Hit friends throughout the country, rather discouraged than encour- 
 aged by him have placed him prominently before the nation as worthy of filling the place once 
 occupied by the Father of his Country, and General Taylor, from a sense of duty, has assented to 
 the nomination. 
 
 •He considered himself in the hands of his friends who have honored him with their choice 
 He has publicly and repeatedly stated that they might withdraw him wheneve r they thought the 
 Lnterestsof the country, in their opinion, r< quired it. He does not consider that, under the cir- 
 cumstances in which his name has been brought forward, that it would be proper in him to with- 
 draw himself. ?uch has been bis position sinre he assented to the use of his name, subsequent 
 to the capture of Monterey, and such is his position now. 
 
 "Oh behalf of the delegation of Louisiana. I will lurther state that General Taylor desires 
 ft to be understood that, in his opinion, his friends vbo come into this Convention are bound to abide 
 by its decision, and to sustain the nominee •■'■heart and soul"— that General Ta} lor recognizes in his 
 friends in this Convention those who have the right to withdraw his name and will cheerfully ac- 
 quiesce in such withdrawal 
 
 "General Taylor, we are also authorised to say, will hail with entire satisfaction the nomina- 
 tion, by the Convention, of any other than himself.being persuaded that the welfare of our coun- 
 try, requires a change of men and measures in order to avert the downward tendency of our na- 
 tional affairs. 
 
 "In making this announcement, the delegation of Louisiana wish it to be distinctly under- 
 stood that itinvo/res no inconsistency on the part of General Taylor. 
 
 "In case the choice of this Convention shall fall on another than General Taylor, and his 
 friends in thl» Convention withdraw him, it will be their act, and not his, but in which he will 
 cheerfully acquiesce; and by the act of uniting with this Convention, his friends wilhdraw his 
 ■ante from the canvass unless he be the nominee of the Convention. 
 
 "And we deem it proper to assure the Whigs of the Union that we desire the nomination of 
 General Taylor and his elevation to the Presidency on no other than broad national grounds ." 
 
 HIS FITNESS FOR HIGH CIVIL STATION. 
 
 It is objected to General Taylor by his opponents, that he has no fitness for civil sta- 
 tion. This is not so; he has all the intellect and all the learning necessary to grace 
 the highest. His whole military life gives evidence of this. No man, if he had not 
 mind, and mind too of the first order, could have produced such splendid results. He 
 is not, perhaps, as quick as some, nor can he show to such advantage ; but lie has that 
 within him, strong common sense, and a sound judgment, which alone are valuable in 
 practical life. He has proved, wherever put, equal to any emergency, and never in the 
 course of hie long and eventful career, has he made a mistake or committed a blunder. 
 All his public duties have been rigidly fulfilled, and whatever has been required of 
 him has been done not only to the satisfaction of the country, but done as no one else 
 could doit. Examine the history of his undertakings and achievements as you will — 
 view them as a combination or in detail, and they evince far reaching sagacity aud the 
 gieatest ability. Whoever comes in contact with him is in a moment impressed with 
 this conviction. The Rev. Mr. McElroy, one of the Catholic chaplains who was with 
 him on the Rio Grande, than whom there is no better judge of human capacity, says, 
 " be has more real sturdiness of intellect, and more honesty of purpose " than almost 
 any man he ever knew. And Gen. Persifer F. Smith, who differs with him politically 
 but knows him well, writing to a friend under date of Mexico, April 8, 1848, pays the 
 following compliment to his churacler : 
 
 "General Taj lor's mil iiary exploits (said he) are not the causes of his popularity; they are 
 •nly the occasion for the display of h\s soundjudgment, energy of character lofty and purr sense 
 of jutti**, and incorruptible honesty. He has a» much reputation for v»bat he has wrulen as for 
 * bat he has don*, l.ei nu»e even where the compos iimn is m t his own, the sentiments, motives 
 aad feelings art; and everything he says, as everything he does, is marked by the purity and lofti- 
 ness of his own character. 
 
 "1 have never heard of any one, however corrupt or base himself that after five minutes oon- 
 versaUon with General Taylor, hi' dared to propose, or even hint at, any thing dishonest or 
 
 EEL E- 
 
■MM 
 loftiness 
 
 25 
 
 And no intercourse in the ordinary course of common life can give the true idea of the 
 «' hi, rh\racter. 1 remember your asking me, at the time he was put iu command at 
 fvir'™Trrhri s ti whether he was equal to the circumstances, 1 told you of his sound judgment 
 SjCxhaustlble energy, as 1 had learned them in Florida, but I did not then estimate properly 
 themher and higher points of his character. In the campaign on the R.o Grande, / saw lu*. 
 tried under all circumstances, and he always came outpure gold.' 
 ***** 
 
 -As soen as General Taylor was furnished by events with the opportunity te display his charac- 
 ««f you^e that it was estimated properly at once, and I come back to the truth of the proposition 
 I started with, that I believe people will always properly measure great men. 
 
 But, say our astute politicians, " he acknowledges his own unfitness for the Presi- 
 dency' and this, of itself, should present an impassable barrier to his election.' What 
 would they have him say ? Would they have him claim greater capacity than others, 
 and thus become, as is somewhat the prevailing fashion, the trumpeter of his own merit? 
 This may accord with their notions of propriety, but it does not suit the people. 1 hey 
 Mke to see a man, whatever his ability, and however eminent his distinction, manifest 
 books little modesty, for they perfectly understand that the most noisy are not usually 
 the most deserving, and that true greatness is seldom heralded by vanity and self-con- 
 ceit It is well, perhaps, for petty aspirants, emboldened by the events of the last four 
 yeare,to consider themselves of all men specially designed to wear the mantle of the ear- 
 lier Presidents of the Republic ; for, measured by the proper standard, they will find 
 they are in the desperate condition of being enamoured of themselves without a rival. 
 General Taylor is not of their order. He kuows the responsibilities of the Executive 
 office, and feels how much is expected and should be accomplished in its wise aud just 
 administration. He therefore distrusts his powers, fearing that an honest zeal for the 
 public welfare may fall short of the public expectation. And in this he has a notable ex- 
 ample—Washington himself. That great man, in reply to Mr. Thompson, who bore 
 him the intelligence of his first election, said : 
 
 "While I realize the arduous nature of the task which is imposed upon me, and FEEL MY 
 OWN INABILITY to perform it, I wish that there miy be no reason for regretting the choice; 
 for, indeed, all I can promise is only to accomplish that which can be done by an honeit zeal. — 
 K*A tol. Sparks, p. 460. 
 
 A month later, writing to General Schuyler, he repeated the sentiment : 
 
 "It is only from the assurances of support which I have received from the respectable and wor- 
 thy characters in ev^ry pirt of the Union, thai lam able to overcome the diffidence which I have /A° 
 MT Off Jf ABILITIES to execute my great and important trust to the best interest of our country. 
 An honest zeal and unremuting attention to the interests of ihe United Staes. are all I dare pro- 
 ■kiae."— 10th Vol. Sparks, p. 2— where will also be found a similar letter to General Wayne. 
 
 This is precisely what General Taylor says, and were he to say less, he would lose 
 much of the general esteem he enjoys ; for no man who would approach such a high 
 calling in any other than a spirit of humility and diffidence should be honored with it, 
 because he would be least likely to adorn it. 
 
 HIS POSITION BEFORE THE COUNTRY— HIS RESEMBLANCE TO 
 
 WASHINGTON. 
 
 As a candidate for the Presidency, Gen. Taylor stands on elevated ground. He is the 
 representative of a great national party, which aims at the good of the couutry through 
 the agency of a well-regulated, conservative government. He knows no sectional feei- 
 ng, and acknowledges no sectional interest. His heart is with the Union, and all his 
 hopes and all his wishes are for its integrity and preservation. He regards the Presiden- 
 cy ae the highest honor within the gift of a free people, and as such, if they demand his 
 •ervices, is willing to accept it, but on no other condition. He is a Whig in principle — 
 a Whig without concealment, but he recognizes no other platform beyond a close 
 observance of the Constitution, and an honest devotion to the best interests of the whole 
 people. He is no partisan, and nothing will lead him to do a mean thing, or prompt 
 him (o tolerate what he believes to be wrong. He cannot be called a sectional can- 
 didate, because he received in Convention votes from every State in the Union. The 
 South may claim him as a citizen, but he belongs neither to the North nor the South. He 
 kae BOTer had any home but under the flag of hie country, and is. therefore, the child 
 
 i 
 
96 
 
 of the Republic. He has party attachments, bu» it is as an American, deeply, fervenlry 
 enlisted in whatever is promotive of the national prosperity, or beneficial to the State*, 
 that he i« known to his countrymen. 
 
 Whoever is contrasted with Washington must suffer more or less in the com- 
 parison, yet it may be safely said that General Taylor, in more respects than one, 
 closely resembles him. Like Washington, he is plain, direct, and honest- simple in 
 his tastes and republican in his habits. And like him, he is brave and just, and gener- 
 ous and humane, fie is certainly not as great as Washington, but, as we have jest 
 shown, he has all his modesty. The resemblaneo does not stop here. Washington, 
 declined to give any pledges, aud announced his intention "to go into the chair of 
 State under no pre-engagement of any nature or kind whatever."* General Taylor 
 has repeatedly declared, that if elected at all he must be uutrammeled with all obliga- 
 tions "except those which the Constitution and the high interests of the nation at larjre 
 most seriously and solemnly demand." Washington was truly an Americau President, 
 and had neither cliques nor factions to influence or control him. General Taylor avows 
 his intention to be in all things " the President of the country and not of a party." 
 Washington regarded I he people as the source of power, aud it was a principle with 
 him to acquiesce in the decision of their representatives, unless the measure presented 
 for his approval clearly involved a violation of the Constitution. t Geueral Taylor as 
 fully believes that "the personal opinions of the individual who may happen to occupy 
 the Executive chair, ought not to control the action of Congress upou questions of do- 
 mestic policy," and that "the will of the people ought to be respected." Washington, 
 although violently and wrongfully denounced, was too manly and magnanimous to nse 
 his office to prostrate his libelers. General Taylor pcsitively affirms that, as Presidout 
 of the United States, he will have "no private purposes to accomplish," and "no enemies 
 to punish." Washington, in his Farewell Address, warned us in the most solemn man- 
 ner against "the baneful effects of the ppirit of party generally'' and admoished us 
 *hat, from its very excess, " the effort of public opinion ought to he to mitigate 
 and assuage it." General Taylor tells us this same spirit " has divided us too 
 much as a people," and that he will have no " party projects to build up," and no 
 party schemes to encourage or promote. Washington always distrusted the pa- 
 triotism of those, who would oudeavor to weakeu the bonds of the Union, and 
 appealed to us to "discountenance whatever may suggest even a suspicion that 
 it can in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frown upon the first dawn- 
 ing of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble 
 
 * The letters from which the extracts below are taken, are to be seen in vol. 9 of Sparks' collec- 
 tion of his writings: 
 
 •'To Benjamin Harrison: "To Bekjamiw'Li 
 
 a If it she ild be mj inevitable fate to admin- " Should i| bi come inei itablj necessary for me 
 later the Government, (for Heaven knows that ne to go into the chair of Governi tent, I hare deter- 
 event can m lees desired bj me, and that no mined to go free from, all tngogemonu of ANY 
 earlbh cottaideralion short of so general a call, NATUBE whets,.. 
 together with a tUsirt to reconcile ton tending pur- •• llr/i March, 1 i89. 
 tut as far u in me lies, could again bring mi into 
 
 public life, I will go into tin chair under no pre- 
 
 nLMMMftiOPANl NAM RB OR KIND what- 
 evtrT <Mh March, r,.-.L" 
 
 T When General Washington was called to act on a bill chartering the tirst Bank of the United 
 
 States, in 17JU, bit mind was a rlainl) In doubt us to the power ingrese to charier such an 
 
 nstitutton. He therefore required the written opinions oi the several members o bis Cabinet. 
 rhe ni.uiiiin of Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary ol Btate, aversetaalt was to the charter, on eoasUa- 
 tional ground*, mm |he following advice, which was the principle thai determined Uie President 
 to approve the bill: 
 
 "It must be added! however, aaid Mr. Jefferson.) that, unless the President's mind, on a view 
 
 • I I thing, wbieb is in - ihfl bill, U tolerably clear tk.it it is unauthoriied by 
 
 onHitUtum if the jrro and con hang- so even as to balance his judgment, a just respect for 
 the wisdom of the J.rgislature would nati rally incline Tim bai.an. ic in favor or thkir opin- 
 ion* • ItUehiefl] forcasee where they arecleerta rotated by error, ambition, or m.ereet, that the 
 .i, in.. a baa placed a check in the negative ol me t-residonL"— Lejrisiutw and ixx-umeniary 
 
 History of the bank of the United States, p. V4. 
 
27 
 
 the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."— (Farewell Addre*s ) Gen. 
 Taylor, as we have already stated, "knows no sectional feeling and acknowledges no 
 eectional interest" He is for the Union as it is, and regards the geographical distinc- 
 tions of parties as Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western, as fatal alike to the 
 happiness of the people and the permanence of free institutions. Fiually, like Wash- 
 ington, it was by deeds of arms he was first distic guished ; like him he was raised by his 
 own native strength and of his own merit, from the ranks of the people ; and, even a« 
 Washington was^ Providence has watched over and shielded him from the perils of bat- 
 tle thatflike him, he might be preserved for great ends— to redeem a nation Washing- 
 ton established. 
 
 WHAT MAY BE EXPECTED OF HIS ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 In General Taylor's election, a new era will dawn on the country. Moderation 
 and forbearance will be the essential elements of his administration. Meu will not, as 
 now be proscribed for opinion's sake, but the standard of public appointments, both 
 jorei'gn and domestic, will be elevated, by the dismissal of those official incumbent* 
 who have attained preferment as the price of partizanship, without regard to merit. 
 His recommendations to Congress will not be too infallible to be questioned, nor yet too 
 sacred to be touched. There will be no Presidential party to defend and support measures, 
 merely because they have the sanction of his name, but freedom of thought will be tolerat- 
 ed, and nocomplaints entered if Congress be pleased not to adopt his views. Their powers 
 and duties will be regained, and the pride of the nation no longer humbled with the degrad- 
 ing reflection that the Representatives of the people have become the mere registers of the 
 Presidential will, and the cringings', .ves of Executive power. The kingly prerogatives, 
 claimed, within a few years past, as of Executive authority defined by the Constitution, 
 will fall before the higher prerogative of the people, and while every department will be 
 restrained within its appropriate limits, no branch of the Government will bo guilty 
 of usurpation. The will of the majority will be obeyed, and not crushed by the veto, 
 nor yet thwarted by the corrupting influence of Executive patronage. The rights 
 of the miuority will also be respected; and the odious doctrine of holding men to- 
 gether by "the cohesive power of public plunder" entirely repudiated. The peace 
 of the country will be preserved, and all systematic efforts to favor the seizure and 
 annexation of Yucatan, Jamaica, or Cuba, whether the achievement is to be bloodless 
 or not, indignantly frowned down. A domestic policy will be inculcated also, which, 
 based on peace, shall advance the prosperity of the country, in the development of un- 
 told and inexhaustible sources of wealth and power. Duties will be laid on foreign 
 imports to raise revenue sufficient, first to support the Government, and, secondly, to dis- 
 cbarge the public debt without burdening the people. And at the same time rival interests 
 will be harmonized, and American labor adequately protected from ruinous competition 
 with the pauper labor of Europe. Again, the improvement of the lakes, rivers and har- 
 fcors, necessary certainly to the success of the commerce and the safety of the navy of 
 the country, will be prominent among the reforms which the people may inscribe 
 in the list of Executive duties. That all these things may and will be accomplished 
 under General Taylor's Administration, if the peopie will them, there cannot be a 
 a reasonable doubt. His letter to Captain Allison is plain on all these points. It is as 
 follows : 
 
 " Baton Kougk, April 22, 1348. 
 
 * Dear Sir : My opinions have recently been so often misconceived and misrepresented, that I 
 deem it due to myself, if not to my friends, to make a brief exposition of thorn upon the topics k> 
 which you have called my attention. 
 
 "I have consented to the use of my name as a candidate for the Presidency. I hare frank ly avow- 
 ed my own distrust of my fitness for that high station ; but having, at the solicitation of many of my 
 countrymen, taken my position as a candidate,! do not feel at liberty to snrrender that position until 
 my friends manifest a wish that 1 should retire from it. 1 will then must gladly do so. 1 have no 
 private purposes to accomplish, no party projects to buildup, no enemies to punish— nothing to 
 serve but my country. 
 
 a I have been very often addressed by letter, and my opinions have been asked upon almost every 
 question that might occur to the writers as affecting the interests of their country or their party. I 
 have not always responded to these inquiries, for various reasons. 
 
 U I eoafees, whilst I have great cardinal principles which will regulate my political life, 1 am no 
 
28 
 
 snffiticnUy familiar with ail the minute details of political legislation to give solemn nu.^, ,_ 
 wort my influence, if I were President, to carry out KL, or d,feft thut mc^ur^ "ft™ £%££ 
 meuC. I hold bo opinion which I would not readily proclaim to mv Bumbled counTryme^ ^ 
 crude impressions upon matters of policy, which may be right to-day and wrong to-morrow '£? 
 
 £ rha W the bC 1 t te8t ° r fitnc88 A r offlM "- ° ne who t™™ 1 be trusted w&tj£d£L<M 
 be confided in merely on account of them. jwugtie, caancn 
 
 "I will proceed, however, now to respond to your inquiries. 
 
 cases 
 
 his veto, is a high conservative power ; but iu my opinion should never be exerci-ed exrent in 
 of clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration bv £mir«ii~i 
 deed, I have thought that for many years past the known opinions and wishes of the'KxecuUw h*». 
 exercised undue and injurious influence upon the legislative department of the Government ^and 
 
 ments of Government, and acquiesced in by the people. 
 
 "Third— Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improvement of our great highways, 
 nvers, lakes, and harbors, the will of the people, as expressed through their representatives in C»» 
 gress, ought to be respected and carried out by the Executive. 
 
 "Fourth— The Mexican war. I sincerely rejoice at the prospect of peace. My life has been devoted 
 to arms, yet I look upon tear at all times, and under all circumstances, as a national calamity, Ube 
 avoided if compatible with national honor. The principles of our Government, as well as its trite 
 policy, are opposed to the subjugation of other nations and the dismemberment of other countries 
 by conquest. In the language of the great Washington, ' Why should we leave our otrn to stand 
 on foreign grounds In the Mexican war our national honor has been vindicated, amply vindi«at©d j 
 and in dictating terms of peace we may well afford to be forbearing and even magnanimous to omr 
 fallen foe. 
 
 '• The*e are my opinions upon the subjects referred to by you, and any reports or pubheationsj 
 written or verbal, from any source differing in any essential particular from what is here written, are 
 unauthorized and untrue. 
 
 " I do not know that I shall again write upon the subject of national politics. I shall engage in 
 no schemes, no combinations, no intrigues. If the American people have not confidence in me, 
 they ought not to give me their suffrages. If they do not, you know me well enough to believe 
 me when I declare I shall be content. 1 am too old a soldier to murmur against such high authority. 
 
 "ToCapt. J. S. Allison. Z. TAYLOR." 
 
 Thau thin, we need no better or safer chart to guide us. It points to the rights of 
 the people, and assure* the country that the Government will be brought back to its 
 original simplicity and purity ; that wiser counsels will prevail in its administration, and 
 more benificent measures result from its action. 
 
 THE DUTY OF THE PEOPLE. 
 Through their agency and not his, General Taylor is before the people, a candidate for 
 their suffrages- He is, therefore, their candidate and they must sustain him. He is their 
 candidate, because they were for him, when the politicans were against him. He is 
 their candidate, because he was nurtured in their bosom, and grew up under their care. 
 He is their candidate, because his sympathies are all w?th them, and his interests their 
 interests. He is their candidate, because his election will be the vindication of their 
 principles, and restore to them the right now so dangerously abused by selfish dema- 
 gogues, to choose their own rulers. Ho is their candidate, because he appeals to their 
 intelligence, confides in their honesty, and acknowledge* their voice in the Government 
 which they have established. He is their candidate, because the Constitution, as con- 
 strued by Washington and his compatriots, will be his guide. He is their candidate, 
 because the best interests of his whole country, fettered by no sectional feeling, and 
 bounded by no geographical division, will be his first wish and his last aim. Standing 
 m this position, he challenges their support ou every principle of right and duty. Men 
 ■of all parties, whatever their past bickerings, may shake hauds and unite under his ban- 
 ner, the broad, free banner of the country and its Constitution. All he has promised will be 
 fulfilled, and he has promised all the fair and reasonable could desire. He will " dare to 
 do right," and his word is worth all the pledges and all the promises, even though they 
 were piled mouutain high, scheming politicians could make in a lifetime. His pledge 
 of an honest heart and an upright will is above their power to give, and hence their sw* 
 sort to resolutions never to be kept, and "platforms" to meau one thing now, and 
 
2» 
 
 another hereafter, just as party or self may justify or require. The friends of General 
 Taylor — the People — must, therefore, be up and doing. There must be " neither sleep 
 to their eyes, nor slumber to their eye-lids" from this until the election in November, 
 for, weak as his opponents are, they are, nevertheless unscrupulous and watch faL 
 The watchman's cry of " all's well" must neither delude nor enervate — the triumph is 
 not to be celebrated until the victory be won. The Republic is in danger, and strong 
 arms and stout hearts must defend it ; but let these be true, and the spoilsmen and cor- 
 ruptionists, who have so long preyed oh its vitals, will be put down forever. Buena 
 Vista will be fought ugaiu, perhaps, but with the General who " never surrenders," 
 and always fights the enemy " in whatever force he meets him" if the volunteer corpa 
 of the People keep up the "grape" the struggle will be over, even before the trembling 
 columns of the enemy can be brought into line. It should be recollected, however, 
 that the battle is to decide great issues, and must be gained. A brave, gallant fight, 
 without success, will not answer. To fail, will be to loose all that is valuable in a free 
 Government, or advantageous to a peace loving people. It will justify war at the 
 mere caprice of the President ; will degrade the character of Congress, deny to the 
 majority the right to govern, and make the " Oue-mau Power" supreme and dictatorial 
 against the popular will. To avert these calamities, the people must rouse and to 
 arms ! There must be no faltering in their ranks. The march to victory and to free- 
 dom should be steady and onward. Even now their enemies are broken and disordered, 
 and one sweeping charge is only necessary to crush them. Courage, then, brave hearts, 
 and be ready for the conflict ! Your General is in your midst, and the eyes of the 
 world are on you in this, your struggle against corruption, and misrule, and usurpation- 
 Stand fast and remember hia famous declaration to Wool at Buena Vista, " We can't 
 be beat when all pull together." Let the same high resolve and unconquerable wiH 
 which sustained him there, animate you now, and the day is ours ! " Stand firm," a« 
 he did, and give them battle — " stand firm, and rely on a just Providench bos 
 
 A RIGHT RESULT !" . 
 
A SKETCH 
 
 Of THE 
 
 LIFE OF MILLARD FILLMORE. 
 
 The hi<rtory of Millard Fillmore, our candidate for Vice President, affords a usefu 1 
 leason, at showing what may be accomplished in the face of the greatest obstacles, by 
 intellect, aided and controlled by energy, perseverance and strict integrity. 
 
 His father, Nathaniel Fillmore, is the son of one of like name who served in the 
 Freuch war, and was a true whig of the Revolution, proving his devotion to his coun- 
 try's cause by gallantly fighting as Lieutenant under General Starke, in the battle of 
 Bennington. He was born at Bennington, Vermont, in 1771, and early iu life removed 
 to what is now called Summer Hill, Cayuga county, New York, where Millard was 
 born, January 7, 1800. He was a farmer, and soon after lost all his property by a 
 bad title to one of the mititary lots which he purchased. About the year 1802, he 
 removed to Sompronius, now Niles, and resided there till 1819, when ho removed to 
 Erie county, where he still lives, cultivating a small farm with his own hands. He was 
 a6trongand uniform supporter of Jeffersou, Madison and Tompkins, and isatrue whig. 
 
 The narrow means of his father deprived Millard of any advantages of education 
 beyond what were afforded by the imperfect and ill taught common schools of the 
 ooanty. Books wore scarco and dear, and at the age of fifteen, when more favored 
 youths are fur advanced iu their classical studies, or enjoying iu colleges the benefits of 
 well furnished libraries, young Fillmore had read but little except his common school 
 books and the bible. At that period he was sent into the wilds of Livingston county, to 
 learn the clothier's trade. He remained there about four months, and was then 
 placed with another person to pursue the same business and wool carding in the town 
 where his father lived. A small village library that wan formed there soon after gave 
 him the first means of acquiring general knowledge through books. He improved the 
 opportunity thus offered : the appetite grew by what it fed upon. The thirst for knowl- 
 edge soon became insatiable, and every leisure moment was spent in reading. Four 
 years were passed in this way, working at his trade, and storing his mind, during such 
 hours as he could command, with the contents of books of history, biography and travels. 
 At the age of nineteen he made an acquaintance with the late Walter Wood, Esq., 
 whom many will remember as one of the iriost estimable citizens of that county. Judge 
 Wood was a man of wealth and great business capacity ; he had au excellent law 
 library, but did little professional business. He soon saw that under the rude exterior 
 of the clothier's boy, were powers that only required proper development to raise the 
 possessor to high distinction and usefulness, and advised him to quit his trade and study 
 law. In reply to the objection of a lack of education, means and friends to aid him in 
 a course of professional study, Judge Wood kindly offered to give him a place in his 
 office, to advance money to defray his expenses, and wait until success in business 
 ehould furnish the means of re-payment. The offer was accepted. The apprentico 
 boy bought his time, entered the office of Judge Wood, and for more than two years 
 applied himself close to business and to study. He read law and general literature, and 
 studied and practised surveying. 
 
 Fearing he should incur too largo a debt to his benefactor, he taught school for three 
 months in the year, and acquired the moans of partially supporting himself. In the 
 fall of 1821 he removed to the county of Erie, and the next spring entered a law office 
 in Buffalo. There ho sustained himself by teaching school, and continued his legal 
 studies until the spring of 1823, when he was admitted to the Common Pleas, and com- 
 menced practice in the villago of Aurora, whero he remained until 1830, when lie 
 again removed to Buffalo, and has continued to resido there ever since. 
 
 His urst entrance into public life was iu January, 1829, when he took his seat as a 
 member from Erie county, to which office he was ro-electcd two following years. 
 
 Hie talents, integrity and assiduous devotion to public business, soon won for him the 
 confidence of the House in au unexampled degree. It wat a common remark among 
 the members, " if Fillmore says it u right, we will vote for it" 
 
 J 
 
31 
 
 The most important measure of a general nature that came up during his eervie© 
 in the Stato Legislature was the bill to abolish Imprisonment for debt. In behalf of 
 that great and philanthropic measure, Mr. Fillmore took an active part, urging with 
 unanswerable arguments, its justice and expediency, and, as a member of the com- 
 mittee on the subject, aiding to perfect its details. That portion of the bill relating to 
 Justices' Courts was drafted by him, the remainder being the work of John C. Spencer 
 The bill met with a fierce, unrelentig opposition at every step of its progress, and to 
 Millard Fillmore, as much as to any other man, are wo indebted, for expunging from 
 the statute book that relic of a cruel , barbarous age, Imprisonment for debt. 
 
 He was elected to Congress in the fall of 1832. The session of 1833-4 will long bo 
 remembered as the one in which that system of politics, known < nder the comprehen- 
 sive name of Jacksonism, was fully developed. He took his seat in the stormy session 
 of 1833-4, immediately succeeding the removal of the deposits. In those days tho 
 business of the House and debates were led by old and experienced members — new ouee, 
 unless they enjoyed a wide spread and almost national reputation, rarely taking an ac- 
 tive aud conspicuous part. Little chance, therefore, was afforded him as a member of 
 the opposition, young aud unassuming, of displaying those qualities that so eminently 
 fit him for legislative usefulness. But the school was one admirably qualified to mora 
 fully developo and cultivate those powers which, under more favorable circumstances, 
 have enabled him to render such varied and important services to his country. As he 
 has ever done in all the stations he has filled, he discharged his duty with scrupulous 
 fidelity, never omitting on all proper occasions any efforts to advance the interests of 
 his constituents and the country, and winning the respect and confidence of all. 
 
 At the close of his term of service he resumed the practice of his profession, which he 
 pursued with distinguished reputation and success until, yielding to the public voice, ho 
 consented to become a candidate, and was re-elected to Congress in the fall of 1836. 
 The remarks above made in relation to his service in the 23d Congress will measurably 
 apply to his second term. Jacksonism and the Pet Bank system, had in the march of 
 the "Progressive Democracy," given place to Van Burenism and the Sub-Treasury. 
 It was but another step towards the practical repudiation of old republican principles, 
 aud an advance to the Locofocoism of the present day. In this Congress Mr. Fillmore 
 took a more active part than he did during his first term, and on the assembling of the 
 next Congress, to which he was elected by a largely increased majority, he was assign- 
 ed a prominent place on, what, next to that of Ways and Means, it was justly antici- 
 pated, would become the most important committee of the House— that on Elections. 
 It was in this Congress that the famous contested New Jersey case came up. It would 
 swell this brief biographical sketch to too great a length to enter upon the details of that 
 case, aud it is the less necessary to do so inasmuch as the circumstances of the gross 
 outrage then perpetrated by a party calling itself republican, and claiming to respect 
 the State rights, must yet dwell in the recollection of every reader. 
 
 The prominent part which Mr. Fillmore took in that case, his patient investigation of 
 all its complicated, minute details, the clear convincing manner in which he sets forth 
 the facts, l he lofty and indignant eloquence with which he denounced the meditated 
 wrong, all strongly directed public attention to him as one of the ablest men of that Con- 
 gress, distinguished as it was by the eminent ability aud statesmanship of many o! its 
 members. Public indignation was awakened by the enormity of the outrage, and in 
 that long catalogue of abuses aud wrongs which roused a long suffering people to action, 
 and resulted in the signal overthrow of a corrupt and insolent dynasty in 1840, the New 
 Jersey case stood marked and conspicuous. 
 
 On the assembling of the next Congress, to which Mr. Fillmore was re-elected by a 
 majority larger than was ever before given in that district, he was placed at the head 
 of committee on Ways and Means; the duties of that station, always arduous andre- 
 sponsible, were at that time peculiarly so. 
 
 Anew administration had come into power and found public affairs in a state of the 
 groatest derangement. Accounts had been wrongly kept, peculation of every kind 
 abounded in almost every department of the Government, the revenue was inadequate 
 
32 
 
 U> meet the ordinary expenses, the already large existing debt was rapidly swelling in 
 magnitude, commerce and manufactures were depressed, the currency was deranged 
 the baoks were embarassed, and general distress pervaded the community. To bn^e| 
 order oat of disorder, to replenish the National Treasury, to provide means that would 
 enable the Government to meet the demands against it, and to pay off the debt, to re- 
 vive the industry of the country, and restore its wonted prosperity ; these were the 
 taskj devolved upon the committee of Ways and Means. To increase their difficulties 
 the minority, composed of that party that had brought the country aud Government 
 into such a condition, iustoad of aiding to repair the evil they had done, uniformly op- 
 posed almost every means brought forward for relief, aud too often their unavailing 
 efforts were successfully aided by a treacherous Executive. But with an energy and 
 devotion to the public weal, worthy of all admiration, Mr. Fillmore applied himself to 
 the task, and sustained by a majority whose enlightened patriotism has rarely been 
 equalled, aud never surpassed, succeeded in its accomplishment. 
 
 The measures he brought, forward and sustained with matchless ability, speedily re- 
 lieved the government from its embarrassment, and have fully justified the most san- 
 guine expectations of their benign influenco upon the country at large. A new and 
 more accurate system of keeping accounts, rendering them clear and intelligible, was 
 introduced. The favoriteism and peculatiou which had so long disgraced the Depart- 
 ment, and plundered the treasury, were checked by tho requisition of contracts. 
 
 Commerce and manufactures revived, and prosperity and hope ouce more smiled 
 upon the land. The country has too recently emerged from the disasters of Mr. Van 
 Bnren's administration — it yet too keenly feels the suffering it then endured, and 
 loo justly appreciates the beuificent and wonderful change that has been wrought, 
 to render more than an allusion to these matters necessary. The labor of devising, ex- 
 plaining and defending measures, productive of such happy results, was thrown chiefly 
 on Mr. Fillmore. It was nobly sustained by his patriotic fellow whigs ; but on him, 
 nevertheless, the maiu responsibility devolved. 
 
 After his loug and severe labors in the committee room — labors sufficiently arduous to 
 break down any but one of an iron constitution — sustained by a spirit that nothing could 
 conquer, he was required to give his unremitting attention to the business of the House, 
 to make any explanation that might be asked, aud be ready with a complete and trium- 
 phant refutation of every cavil or objection that the ingenious sophistry of a factious 
 minority could devise. All this, too, was required to be done with promptness, clear- 
 ness, dignity and good temper. For the proper performance of these varied duties, few 
 men are more happily qualified than Mr. Fillmore. At that unfortunate ago, when the 
 physical and intellectual powers are displayed in the highest perfection, aud the hasty 
 impulses of youth without any loss of its vigor, are brought under control, of large 
 experience in public affairs, with a mind capable ot descending to minute details, as well 
 am conceiving a grand system of national policy, calm and deliberate in judgment, self- 
 possessed and fluent in debate, of dignified presence, never unmindful of the courtesies 
 becoming social and public intercourse, and of political integrity unim, eachable, he was 
 admirably fitted for the post of leader of the 27th Congress. 
 
 In 1844 he was selected as the whig candidate for Governor in New York, but, in con- 
 sequence of the Barnburners and Old Hunkers uniting their support upon the late Silas 
 Wright, he failed to be elected. Confident, however, that he would commaud the 
 strongest vole in New York, the whigs again selected him as their candidate for Comp- 
 troller, in 1847, and succeeded in electing him by an unprecedented majority. 
 
 Such was the boy and such is the man whom the whigs present as their candidate for 
 Vice President In every station in which he has been placed, he has shown himself 
 " honest, capable, and faithful to the Constitutiou." He is emphatically one of the 
 people. For all that ho has aud is, he is indebted under God to his own exertions. Born 
 to an inheritance of comparitive poverty, ho struggled bravely with difficulties that would 
 have appalled and crushed a less resolute heart Nobly has he won his laurels, and 
 Wng may he live to enjoy them. 
 
 L6!K