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PLEASE CIRCULATE. 


REASONS GOOD AND TRUE 

V . FOR SUPPORTING THE NOMINATION OF 

GENERAL ZACHARY TAYLOR. 


Letter from John Davis, in reply to an 
invitation to attend a Whig meeting at 
Worcester, to ratify the nominations of 
the National Convention: 

Washington, June 23, 1848. 

Gentlemen: Your favor came to me 
yesterday, but my duties in the Senate 
were such that I could not reply until to¬ 
day. I should be gratified to comply with 
your request to be present at the ratifica¬ 
tion meeting of to-morrow, but it is out of 
the question. You will pardon me, never¬ 
theless, in expressing my great satisfaction 
to observe that the people of Worcester, 
that good old Whig town, are not inatten¬ 
tive to passing events. The crisis is un¬ 
deniably eventful, the dangers besetting 
our pathway imminent, the prayers of the 
virtuous and the entreaties of the suffering 
are raised from all quarters, urging every 
patriot to make a serious, an earnest effort 
to rescue the liberties of the people from 
the perils which threaten them. Let us 
look at our posture and see what is de^ 
manded of us. 

In 1845, when the present Administra¬ 
tion entered upon its duties, the Republic 
was in a state of peace with all the world, 
and the people enjoying a degree of pros¬ 
perity and happiness almost unparalleled. 
What a change has come over us in this 
brief space of time—brought on either 
wholly or chiefly by the overshadowing 
influence of the one-man power. It is a 
sad but fearful illustration of the great af¬ 
flictions which may be brought upon the 
country by the abuse of that power, even 
in feeble hands. The President has, by 
his own will, and against the express pro¬ 
visions of the Constitution, plunged the 
Union into a war with a neighboring re¬ 
public, by which multitudes of our citizens 
have perished, our revenues, needed for 
domestic purposes, have been wasted, and 
a great public debt has been created to ab¬ 
sorb our future resources. 

While the Constitution has been thus 
wrested for abuse of power, and the rev¬ 


enues have been squandered to acquire 
territory by conquest, laws made for the 
benefit of the people by large majorities of 
Congress have been defeated by a perverse 
use of the veto, and the people have been 
denied the right to spend a dollar of their 
own money to repair their highways for 
trade and commerce. 

Under the revenue law of 1842, (the 
black tariff, as the enemies of American 
industry are pleased to call it,) our finan¬ 
ces became prosperous, our sunken credit 
was restored, our business revived, the 
hammer and the shuttle were again heard 
in unison with the cheerful songs of the 
laborer—and light hearts with strong arms 
gave unexampled prosperity to our indus¬ 
trial pursuits. 

In the judgment of the present Adminis¬ 
tration, a policy which produced these ben¬ 
eficial results was inexpedient, and war for 
the conquest of territory, and laws which 
would encourage foreign labor, while they 
bankrupted our own, were more desirable 
and suited to the taste of the Democracy. 
The law of 1842 was therefore repealed— 
and war, subtreasury, and free trade were 
substituted. Thus the laborer has been left 
to struggle against not only foreign com¬ 
petition, but a tide of opposition from his 
own Government. 

In this state of things the Presidential 
Election returns to us; and shall we now 
by a great and united rally rescue the 
country from its perils and restore the days 
of prosperity! 

The Democrats have placed before the 
people Mr. Cass, who is the avowed ex¬ 
ponent, and who has been the chief advo¬ 
cate of the present system. His opinions 
prove but too clearly that, if elected, we 
have nothing to anticipate but an aggrava¬ 
ted state of the present policy. 

The Whig Convention, after a fair con¬ 
test among the friends of the several can¬ 
didates, nominated, by a large majority, 
Gen. Taylor, as their candidate. But with 
the result some discontents are said to ex¬ 
ist, which are supposed, however, to arise 


J. & G. S. Gideon, Printers. 




chiefly from sectional feelings. I trust, 
however, that in the indulgence of such 
sentiments no one will lose sight of the 
condition of the country, or of the perils 
which beset us, in a contest upon a ques¬ 
tion whether our candidate shall come from 
this or that; ide of a geopraphical line. 
The Constitution spreads over the whole 
countiy—our interests extend over the 
whole, and our duties are co-extensive 
with both. The wise, the virtuous—those 
whose efforts to live are made fruitless by 
vicious legislation—and those who are de¬ 
nied all right to their own money—all look 
to the approaching election, and earnestly 
hope for the redemption of the country. 

The action demands a united, harmo¬ 
nious crisis of all the strength of the Whigs 
to place success beyond doubt; and I 
trust that a calm consideration and a dis¬ 
passionate review of our condition as it is, 
and as it will be if we fail, will allay dis¬ 
content, and avert the pernicious conse¬ 
quences arising from distracting our friends 
and impairing our strength. I sincerely 
hope that patriotism may prevail over and 
assuage disappointment, and that we may 
not, under any circumstances, be left to 
deplore a defeat, which cannot fail to be a 
barren victory to those who cause it, if it 
shall be brought about by Whigs who aban¬ 
don their standard. 

I am, gentlemen, one of those who co¬ 
operate with the Whig party, and have 
through all its trials been anxious to pre 
serve it entire, under the belief, that 
through the blessing of Divine Providence, 
its strength in numbers and moral power 
will be sufficient to protect the country 
against the mad schemes of ambition which 
assail us. 

I desire also to see an honest, sound, 
capable Whig, and none other, in the chair 
of State—a magistrate who will be content 
with the power confided to him by the 
Constitution—one who will not seek to 
dismember foreign territory by conquest, 
or to annex it to the United States—one 
who will follow the prudent example of the 
earlier Presidents in a sparing use of the 
veto—one who will not cherish a prefer¬ 
ence for foreign labor and capital over our 
own—in a word, one whose heart is de¬ 
voted to the country, not to selfish ambi¬ 
tion. 

Such in my belief is Zachary Taylor. 
It has not been my privilege to know or 


hold intercourse with him, but still I do 
not feel that he is a stranger, or that his 
merits and qualifications are unknown. 

The word Whig, employed in its com¬ 
mon signification, implies all that we re¬ 
quire of a candidate, for he who wears it 
honorably is in principle an exponent of 
the fundamental views of the party. Gen. 
Taylor says, in his letter of the 22d of 
April last to Mr. Alison, “I am a Whig.” 
He makes also as strong a declaration in 
a previous letter to Mr. Ingersoll, dated 
Aug. 3, 1847. I believe I may safely add 
to this that no man here, friend or foe, 
and there are many who know the Gener¬ 
al well, questions the fact of his being a 
Whig. I deem, therefore, the evidence 
on this point to be entirely satisfactory. It 
is equally clear that he is a brave, fearless 
soldier, not only respected but beloved for 
his manly, benevolent character by all 
who have served under him. 

He is not less distinguished for his firm¬ 
ness, his humanity, his justice, his mode¬ 
ration, and his good sense. 

Of his firmness he has given too many 
signal proofs to leave it questionable; and 
notwithstanding he has been in the army 
nearly forty years, and the latter part of 
that time in Florida and in Mexico, as 
Commander in Chief, under circumstances 
demanding the most severe police, yet I 
have never seen or heard of any complaint 
against his humanity, or his administration^ 
of justice. If any one has been oppressed, 
or wronged, or has felt so much aggrieved 
as to make complaint, it has escaped my 
observation. 

While he expects and requires of every 
man the performance of his duty in cir¬ 
cumstances of peril, yet he condemns and 
rebukes anything like an unnecessary ex¬ 
posure of life, and hence it is that officers 
and men put the greatest confidence in his 
prudence and wisdom. 

Those who best know him not only bear 
willing testimony to these traits of charac¬ 
ter, but they accord to him a sound, calm, 
discriminating intellect—a mind distin¬ 
guished for its straight-forward common 
sense. 

No man can be fully known until tested 
by a fair trial of his merits; but these high 
moral qualities constitute a good founda¬ 
tion for faith, and give good assurance that 
he who possesses them will not fail. 

I might advert to other avowals con- 



3 


tained in his correspondence, and espe¬ 
cially in his letter to Mr. Alison, but it 
would carry this letter into too great length. 
It is evident from that letter, that if elect¬ 
ed, his purpose is to leave Congress to 
settle questions of domestic policy, and to 
circumscribe the Executive power to the 
limits assigned to it by the Constitution; 
believing, as he declares he does, that it 
has of late been greatly and unlawfully 
extended. “Upqp the subject of the tariff, 
the currency, the improvement of high¬ 
ways, rivers, lakes, and harbors [he de¬ 
clares] the will of the people as expressed 
through their representatives in Congress 
ought to be respected and carried out by 
the Executive.’’ He also says, again, 
“the principles of our Government, as well 
as its true policy, is opposed to the subju¬ 
gation of other nations and the dismem¬ 
berment of other countries by conquest.” 
These are principles which I believe the 
great Whig party will most cordially ap¬ 
prove. But the whole letter is before you 
and will speak for itself. 

It has been objected that he is a military 
chieftain, and it is true that few men in 
any age or nation have achieved a more 
brilliant and enduring fame than his. With 
some five thousand men, chiefly volun¬ 
teers and new recruits, he routed the reg¬ 
ular Mexican Army of 20,000 men, com¬ 
manded by their most distinguished gene¬ 
ral and best tactician. This victory, won 
against such fearful odds, and by new, un¬ 
disciplined troops, is honor enough. It 
proves, too, how great, how abiding and 
implicit was the confidence of the troops 
in their gallant commander. Neverthe¬ 
less, I would as an example prefer the se¬ 
lection of a candidate from civil life. But 
experience proves that the profession or 
employment of a candidate has little con¬ 
nexion with his fitness. Washington was 
a soldier, Polk a lawyer. The names in 
juxtaposition suggest the whole argument. 
One loved peace, the other war—the one 
adhered to the Constitution, the other vio¬ 
lated one of its most important and wisest 
provisions—one said, “why should we 
quit our own to stand on foreign ground,” 
the other sought new territory by conquest. 

This proves, what all of us know, that 
professions are nothing, while sound prin¬ 
ciples and honest purposes are everything. 
I care not from what walks of life a man 


comes if he brings with him an honest 
heart and a capable head. There is secu¬ 
rity in that, but none in the intrigues of 
hackneyed politicians. 

But, gentlemen, I fear I have carried 
this communication to an unreasonable 
length, and will therefore close by observ¬ 
ing that I have been long of opinion that 
General Taylor could be elected by a uni¬ 
ted exertion of the Whig party. I have 
thought it probable that he would be the 
nominee, and have therefore sought infor¬ 
mation concerning him, and I am happy 
to be able to assure you that all who best 
know him speak of him in terms that 
would do honor to any man. I therefore 
entertain a decided opinion that, if elect¬ 
ed, he will administer the Government in 
a manner creditable to himself, and satis¬ 
factory to the country. I have the further 
pleasure in assuring you that the nomina¬ 
tion gives very great satisfaction in almost 
all the places from which intelligence has 
been received, and there is the best reason 
to believe that the doings of the Conven¬ 
tion will be ratified by a majority of votes 
in the United States. 

I am, with great respect and regard, 
your obedient servant, 

J. DAVIS. 

A. H. Bullock, T. Kinnicut, G. T. 
Rice, esqrs., Committee. 


Letter of Mr. Truman Smith, of Connec¬ 
ticut, to the Hon. Daniel Gott , of the 
House of Representatives , on the import¬ 
ance of supporting the nomination of 
General Zachary Taylor for the Presi¬ 
dency, in reference to the past , present , 
and prospective political condition of the 
two Houses of Congress. 

Washington City, July 10, 1848. 
Dear Sir : In reply to your favor of 
this day’s date, informing me that it is the 
wish of some of your constituents that I 
should attend a Whig ratification meeting, 
to be held at Syracuse on the 15th instant, 
for the purpose of responding to the nomi¬ 
nation of General Zachary Taylor as a 
candidate for the Presidency, and of Mil¬ 
lard Fillmore as a candidate for the Vice 
Presidency, I regret to be obliged to in¬ 
form you, that my public duties, as a 
member of the House, and also of an inu* 




4 


portant committee, will not justify me in 
being absent from my seat for so long a 
period as will be required to perform the 
proposed journey. Nothing could afford 
me higher satisfaction than to have an op¬ 
portunity to meet and commune with your 
patriotic and intelligent constituents on the 
existing posture of public affairs, and it is 
possible that such an opportunity may be 
presented in course of the present season, 
and in such case I shall take great pleasure 
in making the acquaintance of your politi¬ 
cal friends, and in communicating to them 
my views on the important questions in¬ 
volved in the approaching Presidential 
election. In the mean time, I beg leave to 
avail myself of the occasion to state briefly 
the considerations which should induce all 
good Whigs to give to the nominees of the 
Philadelphia Convention a warm and cor¬ 
dial support. I venture to affirm, that if 
the entire case could be presented to the 
Whig mind of the country, there would 
not be among our friends two opinions on 
the subject. I do not understand that 
there is in Western New York, or else¬ 
where, any, the least, objection to Mr. Fill¬ 
more as a candidate for the Vice Presiden¬ 
cy. Having for several years been asso¬ 
ciated with that gentleman as a member 
of the House of Representatives, and dur¬ 
ing one Congress as a member of an im¬ 
portant committee, I can bear testimony 
to his superior abilities and to those admi¬ 
rable qualities of the head and heart which 
have made him a general favorite of the 
Whigs of the Union. With respect to 
General 1 Taylor I would observe, that it is 
not a matter of surprise that doubts should 
have been felt in many quarters as to the 
propriety of making him our candidate for 
the highest office in the gift of the Ameri¬ 
can people. I am confident, however, 
that the more his character and qualifica¬ 
tions for the Presidency are studied, the 
more our friends will be convinced that 
the National Convention acted wisely in 
bringing forward his illustrious name. I 
am sensible that General Taylor has had 
little experience in civil life, but he pos¬ 
sesses a truly enlightened mind, a large 
fund of vigorous common sense, a charac¬ 
ter for rectitude that is without a blemish, 
a degree of prudence and discretion such 
as few men have exhibited, and a firmness 
of purpose and a resoluteness of will 


which are as far removed from headlong 
rashness on the one hand, as they are 
from a blind indulgence of passion or pre¬ 
judice on the other. But I wish to dwell 
particularly on the high sense of justice 
which has ever marked his conduct. I 
have so much confidence in this attribute 
of his character, that I would unhesitating¬ 
ly commit to his decision the irritating 
question which the result of the late de¬ 
plorable war with Mexico has thrust on 
the country, and which is not without dan¬ 
ger to our glorious confederacy, though I 
believe General Taylor will in fact leave 
such question exclusively in the hands of 
Congress. 

Washington himself was from the Souths 
and yet, who would not be willing to con¬ 
stitute him the arbiter of any question aris¬ 
ing between different sections of the Union. 
It would be presumptuous in me to speak 
of any man as being a Washington, but I 
cannot deny myself the pleasure of repeat¬ 
ing a remark addressed to me not long 
since by one of the leading statesmen of 
the Whig party, (Hon. John Sergeant, of 
Philadelphia,) that in the life, character, 
and conduct of Gen. Taylor he thought 
he saw more of the spirit of Washington 
than in any other man now living. In¬ 
deed, if we shall fail to seize the present 
auspicious moment to place at the head of 
our Government a truly great and good 
man, I shall despair of ever seeing another 
administration constituted on that high 
basis of disinterestedness, public virtue, 
and genuine patriotism which character¬ 
ized the course of the earlier Presidents- 
But whether the convention did or did not 
make the best selection possible of a Can¬ 
didate for the Presidency, in reference to 
character and qualification, certain I am 
that their choice was right in view of all 
the circumstances of the case; or, in other 
words, I believe that Gen. Taylor is the 
only man whom the Whig party could 
elect, and at any rate he is the only can¬ 
didate who would be likely to give us an 
ascendancy in the two Houses of Congress- 
In some remarks which I felt it to be my 
duty to submit to the public not long since, 
I suggested, under this head, that “the 
influence of the name and character of 
General Taylor will be quite certain to 
give us a Congress whose views of public 
policy will accord with those of the Whig, 


5 


party. In this respect he can do more for 
the country than any man now living. 
Few of those who undertake to pronounce 
so peremptorily on the question of the Pre¬ 
sidency have given this subject any con¬ 
sideration whatever. While I am free to 
admit that Mr. Clay ought to have been 
elected President long ago, yet I think it 
certain that if he could now be brought 
successfully into the field he would have 
the two Houses of Congress to thwart and 
embarrass him dcring the whole of his 
Presidential term. Any man who will 
consider the condition of the representation 
in both branches of Congress, from the 
northwestern, western, and southwestern 
States, must admit the truth of this remark. 
I want a Whig President, a Whig Senate, 
and a Whig House of Representatives, and 
Gen. Taylor being strong in those parts of 
the Union where we are weak, will favor, 
in a high degree, so desirable a consum¬ 
mation.” 

I take leave in this place to enter into 
some details on this important subject. 
The States referred to in the foregoing re¬ 
marks are Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wis¬ 
consin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, 
Georgia, and South Carolina, in all four¬ 
teen States. All of these, with the excep¬ 
tion of Wisconsin, were represented in the 
last Congress by sixty-one members, of 
whom fifty-three were Radicals or Loco¬ 
focos, and only eight were Whigs; or, in 
other words, the majority against us from 
those States was forty-jive! Wisconsin 
has recently been admitted into the Union, 
and these fourteen States are in the present 
House represented by 63 members, of 
whom forty-nine are Locofocos and 14 on¬ 
ly are Whigs'! and the majority against 
us is thirty-five ! 0f the above States 
all but Iowa are represented in the Senate 
of the U. S., and from Iowa we should be 
certain to have Democratic Senators with 
any other man as our candidate than Gen. 
Taylor. The thirteen States represented 
in that body occupy twenty-six seats, of 
which twenty-four are filled by Locofo¬ 
cos, and only two by Whigs, (Mr. Berrien, 
of Georgia, and Gov. Johnson, of Louisi¬ 
ana.) If we had, by our nominations, 
thrown Iowa into the hands of our oppo¬ 
nents, then at the next session those States 
would have been represented by 26 Dem¬ 


ocratic Senators and two Whig Senators. 
Majority against us from the above States 
twenty-four !! 

Now, I ask you, sir, for one moment to 
contrast this state of things with the condi¬ 
tion of the representation from this same 
quarter of the Union in the 27th Con¬ 
gress—that patriotic and noble Congress 
which, notwithstanding it was so much 
thwarted by treachery in high places, so 
fully illustrated and proved how much Whig 
principles and a Whig Congress can do 
for the prosperity of our common country. 
In the first place, we must put out of the 
case four of these States, to wit, Florida, 
Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin, which have 
since been admitted into the Union, and 
this reduces the number of Senators from 
twenty-eight to twenty—of whom two 
from Michigan, two from Indiana, two 
from Louisiana, one from Mississippi, one 
from Georgia, and one from South Caro¬ 
lina, were Whigs; or, in other words, in 
the 27th Congress the parties in the Sen¬ 
ate from these States stood 9 Whigs to 11 
Democrats—majority against us only 2!— 
It, in the 27th Congress, the above States 
had been represented in the Senate as at 
present, there would have been in that 
body a large majority against us, and all 
our measures of amelioration and reform 
would have utterly failed. In the House 
of Representatives, these ten States were,, 
in the same Congress, represented by thir¬ 
ty-nine members, of whom twenty-four 
were Democrats, and fifteen Whigs—ma¬ 
jority against us only 9! Of the Senators 
and Representatives from the four new 
States, all, with a single exception, (Mr. 
Cabell, of Florida,) are Locofocos; and, 
more than all the augmentation of the 
strength of these States, under and by vir¬ 
tue of the census of 1840, has been a gain 
to the Democratic party; while the Whig 
and Conservative portion of the country has 
by the operation of the same census, lost 
ground. The other sixteen States of the 
Union, to wit, Maine, New Hampshire, 
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Vir¬ 
ginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Ken¬ 
tucky, and Ohio, are, in both branches of 
the present Congress, largely Whig. In 
the Senate, the parties stand 19 Whig Sen¬ 
ators to 12 Democratic Senators. Mr.. 



6 


Hale, of New Hampshire, not belonging 
to either party, is not counted. In the 
House, from the same States, the parties 
stood, at the commencement of the pre¬ 
sent session, 101 Whig members to 64 
Democratic members, with Mr. Tuck, of 
New Hampshire, and Mr. Levin, of Penn¬ 
sylvania, who occupy positions in some 
degree independent of both parties. A 
slight change has since occurred in the re¬ 
lative strength of parties. These sixteen 
States comprise at least seven-tenths of 
the whole population of the Union, and 
yet the great advantages which we obtained 
therein for our principles and our cause in 
the present Congress have been beaten 
down by the ascendancy of the Radicals 
in the other 14 States of the Union. A 
majority in the Senate of seven in our fa¬ 
vor is turned into a majority of 15 against 
■us, not counting Mr. Hale, and our majori¬ 
ty of about 40 in the Plouse is nearly annihi¬ 
lated. In addition, it should be recollect¬ 
ed, that,we are on the eve of another census, 
when what is now the Radical section of 
our Union is to take a further increase of 
power, and the Conservative partis to un¬ 
dergo a further diminution; yet there are 
some Whigs who are unwise enough to 
take it for granted that we could elect any 
man President whom we might be pleased 
to nominate, and that, being elected, we 
should have the control of the Government 
in all its departments. Neither the one nor 
the other of these propositions is true—■ 
and those who choose to amuse themselves 
with such dreams will awake to the reali¬ 
ty, on trying the experiment, and will be¬ 
gin to understand the true political condi¬ 
tion of the country when the census of 
1850 comes' to go into operation. In the 
facts here presented may be found the 
powerful consideration which induced 
many of the members of the late Conven¬ 
tion to favor the nomination of General 
Taylor. Were they to blame for acting 
with circumspection, and for taking accu¬ 
rate observations on the latitude and lon¬ 
gitude of the party? Are they to be cen¬ 
sured for desiring a real rather than a nom¬ 
inal control of public affairs? For my part 
I would not permit myself to take a mo¬ 
ment’s interest in a contest which looked 
only to the ascendancy of the Whigs in 
the Executive department of the Govern¬ 


ment, and a consequent general scramble 
for spoils. 

Some, perhaps, maybe disposed to inquire 
why the Whig cause and Whig principles 
are received with so little favor in the North¬ 
west, West, and Southwest? The answer is 
obvious. It is because the demagogues in 
that part of the country have succeeded in 
persuading the masses that we are hostile 
to their interests. Nothing can be more 
false than this imputation, which I can 
prove by an appeal to the record. But for 
this and other reasons, I have long been 
convinced that it is indispensable that we 
should put our cause under new and more 
popular auspices, and that by a liberal, 
just, and wise course of action, disabuse 
the public mind in the section under con¬ 
sideration of the false and injurious notions 
to which I refer. The former we have 
fortunately done by nominating Gen. Z. 
Taylor as a candidate for the Presidency, 
and if we elect him, as I doubt not we 
shall, nothing will remain for us but to 
convince our fellow citizens of the West, 
Northwest, and Southwest, by liberal legis¬ 
lation on the subject of the public lands, 
and on harbor and river improvements, 
that we are their true friends, in or¬ 
der to give us a permanent ascendancy 
in the Government. For my part, I 
am resolved that the public lands shall no 
longer be a great corruption fund, to be 
used by demagogues for mischievous 
political purposes; and I intend hereafter 
to vote liberal appropriations for such ob¬ 
jects as shall appear to be useful or im¬ 
portant to the West. In conclusion, I 
will only add, that General Taylor is 
well known to the people of the West, 
Northwest, and Southwest. He has spent 
his whole life in their midst; they are fa¬ 
miliar with all the noble and generous at¬ 
tributes of his character. A multitude of 
them have, under his lead, rushed to the 
field of battle, and have fought, bled, and 
triumphed in the cause of their country. 
He has the entire confidence of the 
masses; and no arts of party leaders, or 
violence of an unscrupulous press, can 
prevent them from yielding a hearty sup¬ 
port to the good man who now upholds, 
and will carry triumphantly forward, the 
glorious standard which bears our proper 
legend, “The Union of the Whigs for 


7 


the sake of the Union.” We can not 
only elect General Taylor, but we can sus¬ 
tain his administration when elected, and 
thus we can secure to the country all 
the substantial benefits of a Whig vic¬ 
tory. I know that there are those who 
are endeavoring to sow dissentions among 
us—men who took an active part in the 
enactment of the Texas iniquity; who 
have waded ankle-deep in the blood pro¬ 
fuse' v shed in a war, which, to say 
the least of it, w'as wholly unnecessa¬ 
ry; who have gone the whole figure 
for wresting from Mexico her worthless 
territory at the point of the bayonet, only 
to lay the foundation for a quarrel be¬ 
tween different sections of the Union on 
the question, whether it shall be slave or 
free; and who, after spending a whole life 
in profound subserviency to the South, in 
the full enjoyment of place, power, and 
patronage, all at once, when they find 
themselves in “ the private station,” 
arouse as from a profound lethargy, and 
exclaim, “ Where are the rights of the 
North!” I shall enter into no such poli¬ 
tical companionship, but shall continue 


to look steadfastly to the union of the 
sound conservative and patriotic feeling 
and principle of all sections of the Confed¬ 
eracy, as the only means of effecting 
whatever of good I expect for our beloved 
country. Let Whigs everywhere, then, 
rally in support of the Philadelphia nomi* 
nations, with the full assurance that vic¬ 
tory is ours if we choose to accept it. In 
Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore we 
have candidates entirely worthy of our 
confidence; and we of the eastern and 
middle States, so far from objecting to the 
former on the ground that he is from the 
South, ought on our bended knees to 
thank the Giver of every good for raising 
up a man so pre-eminently qualified to 
“rule the hour,” and who can say to the 
great leviathan of modern radicalism, “I 
will put my hook in thy nose, and my 
bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee 
back by the way by which thou earnest.” 

With sentiments of high respect, I have 
the honor to be, truly, your friend, 

TRUMAN SMITH. 
For the Hon. Daniel Gott, 
of the House of Representatives. 


appendix. 


General Taylor's character , as drawn by the Reverend 
Mr. Lamb, one of his chaplains. 

“At the conference of the Congregational and 
Presbyterian ministers of Hillsboro’ county, N. H., 
assembled on the 14th of June, the Rev. Mr. Lamb, 
who was formerly a chaplain in the army under 
General Taylor, at Fort Jesup, said that the open¬ 
ing for him to do good in the army was through 
General Taylor, and through the General’s influ¬ 
ence a temperance society was formed, by means 
of which 660 drunkards were reformed ; that the 
I General told him that it was all a sham for a man 
I to pretend he could not stand the damps and heats 
of the South without spirituous liquors. General 
Taylor was a total abstinence man, and the only 
. commanding officer who did not drill his troops on 
the Sabbath. Mr. Lamb also stated that General 
Taylor attended his church regularly, and used no 
: profane language. Mr. Lamb closed by saying 
! that he was no politician, nor did he wish his re- 
i marks to be viewed in a political light; he merely 
made them to show how the way for doing good by 
tracts, by the temperance cause, and by the preach¬ 
ed Word, was opened by General Taylor.” 

The Rev. Mr. L. mentioned in the fol- 
! lowing article from the Worcester (Mass.) 
f True Whig, is the Rev. Mr. Lamb above 


referred to, who is well known to have 
been several years a chaplain in the U. S. 
Army. I am told by several members of 
Congress from Massachusetts, that Joseph 
White, who has had an agency in bringing 
the opinions which Rev. Mr. L. entertains 
of the political and moral character of Gen¬ 
eral T. before the public, is a deacon of 
the Baptist church, and one of the most 
respectable citizens of the county of Wor¬ 
cester. It is a source of much satisfaction 
to me to find my own convictions as to the 
excellence ot General Taylor’s character 
confirmed from so high a quarter. If he 
is not entitled to the support of the people 
of the free States, on political grounds,, 
then let him be set aside; but shall his 
just claims to the respect and confidence 
of all as a noble-minded, generous, patri¬ 
otic, just, and truly virtuous man, be 
spurned and repelled, mainly on account of 
sectional prejudice ? I cannot but believe 
that those who shall permit themselves to 









8 


be controlled by so ignoble a motive will 
be feio; and those who will feel that our 
country is one and our people one, and 
that our destiny must and will be one, will 
be many; and that, co-operating with the 
friends of good government in other sec¬ 
tions of the Union, they will, by a vigorous 
and united effort, aid in throwing off the 
evils (“whose name is legion’’) which 
now infest the body politic, and contribute 
to the solid prosperity of the country, and 
the true glory of our free institutions, by 
elevating to the Chief Magistracy a man 
who possesses the spirit, and is capable of 
treading in the footsteps of the earlier 
Presidents. 

From the Worcester True Whig. 

The writer of the following note, Deacon Joseph 
White, formerly of West Boylston, now of Win- 
chendon, has long been favorably known in this 
county. He showed to us the original letter from 
Rev. Mr. L., which we publish below. We do 
not here give the name of the clergyman, though it 
has, as we perceive, already gone forth to the pub¬ 
lic in connexion with some remarks which he made 
at a late meeting of the association of clergymen of 
which he is a member. 

Our readers will here find the testimony of this 
highly respectable and devoted minister, coinciding 
with the multiplied proofs from various quarters, 
where General Taylor has been personally known, 
concerning his pure and lofty character. In all that 
constitutes a man of worth he is not only above re¬ 
proach, but he deservedly holds a rank for charac¬ 
ter among the noblest men the country has produc¬ 
ed. The more we learn of him, the better he stands. 
His friends invite scrutiny, because with forty 
years of public life now spread before his country¬ 
men, he can stand the test. 

Winchendon, June 29, 1848. 

To the Editor: The author of the following 
communication is a highly respected clergyman, 
now pastor of an orthodox church in a neighboring 
town, and for six years officiated as chaplain in the 
United States army under General Zachary Tay¬ 
lor. He kindly sent me the following letter in an¬ 
swer to some inquiries proposed by me respecting 
the character, views, and habits of General Tay¬ 
lor, and knowing that you are ready to publish 
facts, I submit them to you for the information of 
the public. 

Yours, respectfully, 

JOSEPH WHITE. - 

-, June , 1848. 

Sir : You are no doubt aware that I held the of¬ 
fice of chaplain in the United States army about 
six years, being stationed at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, 
and that, while at that extreme southern post, I 
was in daily acquaintance with Brigadier General 
Taylor. 

I presume it is on this account that you propose 
to me some questions touching the views of that 


distinguished individual. I am willing to reply, 
not because I am a politician, or have any personal 
interest in his nomination for the Presidency, but 
because I am laid under lasting obligations to that 
honest, noble-hearted man, and I w r ould gladly cor- 
rect some of the gross mistakes that are now afloat 
concerning his character. ... 

In politics General Taylor is a Whig —in religion 
strictly orthodox; but in neither is he extreme, 
maintaining his well-formed opinions with the calm 
decision which he manifested on the field of battle. 

With regard to slavery, and extension of terri¬ 
tory, I assure you that, neither for a slave market, 
nor any other object, was General Taylor in favor 
of conquest and annexation. He was not in favor 
of receiving Texas into our Union, nor in favor of 
the recent war with Mexico. The only evidence 
of his being in favor of slavery, that I ever saw or 
heard of, was the fact that he (lid what every man 
at the South must do, if he would have servants, 
viz: either own or hire slaves. I do well remem¬ 
ber that a part at least of the colored people living 
in his family could read well, and were very pious. 

I never heard a word from the General in favor of 
the slave system ; but, on the contrary, his decided 
preference for the institutions and customs of the 
North. 

It is a pity that General Taylor should be made 
out a pro-slavery man because his Government 
keeps him at the South, or for the wrong ot allow¬ 
ing his plantation to be on the Mississippi, instead 
of the banks of the Connecticut. We are allowed 
to hang no man upon an inference. 

I assure you that, if elected, he will do more for 
■peace and emancipation than any Northern man 
would be allowed to*tio. 

General Taylor maintains on all occasions the 
habits of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks, 
and to this he has ascribed his robust health amid 
the swamps and campaigns of Florida and Mexico. 

I would also assure you that nothing could be more 
unjust and untrue than the assertion that he is a 
profane man—it is false altogether. He is a bright 
exception to the common practice of profaneness 
in the army. 

General Taylor is the decided friend of Christi¬ 
anity and Christian institutions. He was a regular 
attendant on public worship in the garrison, accom¬ 
panied by his accomplished lady and daughter. 

Mrs. Taylor is a lady of fine appearance and 
agreeable manners, and a consistent professor of 
religion. As a family they appeared to observe 
the Sabbath strictly as a religious duty. 

The General took a deep interest in the welfare 
of all under his command. No man ever had the 
confidence of troops more than he, and it was not 
his courage, kindness, and discipline alone, but his 
interest in the temporal and spiritual welfare of the 
men, that endeared him to the army. Of the more 
than six hundr.ed men—reformed drunkards—once 
at Fort Jesup, allowed the benefit of the library, 
reading room, and every privilege consistent with 
military life, many obtained their discharge before 
entering Texas, and returned to their friends and 
homes ; and those, with all that shared with their 
commander in conflict and victory, will ever re¬ 
member him and love him. 

Yours, truly, &c. 


P D 92 



























































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