The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-10-28
The Great Contest OF ls4s,

The Great Contest OF ls4s.
Who is to be next President? Will General
Cass be elected Will General Taylor be success.
full? Who will carry. Pennsylvania and Ohio
What is the state of the question ? How are the
parties organized? These questions appear to be
the principal topics of enquiry and discussion at
all our public places, crowded hotels, street cor
ners, and cross roads, throughout the country. In
twelve days the contest will be decided. E,om
this hour, up to the 18th of November, the politi-
clans, and vast masses of the people, will scarcely
talk or think of anything else. Both the great
parties are warming up the subject, and all the
principles and passions, which can guide or anil
mate the people, will be appealed to by the orators
and Journalists until the contest is determined
LISA conte ST substantially between Gen Cass and
Gen. Taylor. The free soil movement, under Mr..
Van Buren,, performs simply the office of vibrat.
ing element, tending In some small degree to aid
the one or the other, according to the geographi-
cal point it operates in. The free soil movement
helps Gen. Taylor in New York, and in some
parts of New England, and also in PENNSYLVANIA.
on this side OF the Allegheny mountains but in
Ohio, and elsewhere in the West, and also in
Massachusetts, the free soil question probably
gives some aid to General Cass. 1t is eyi.
agitation of the Wilmot provlso by Mr.. Van Buren,
that is operating in different parts of the North.
ern States to neutralze ITSELF and that, in fact the
contest between General Taylor and General Cass
will be more determined by the absolute friends
OF both, than by the relative diversion of third
movement. In other respects the contest wakes
warm between the gre at parties. The enthusiasm
at first manifested, under the auspices of John
L r
subsidies, and divides itself between the two lead
ing parties which support General Cass, on one
side, and General Taylor, on the other We are
persuaded that though the free soil party, as a
party has arrived its highest point of develop.
ment and In this election must stand still or even
diminlsh-yet, that the free soil principle, or
the restriction upon the extension of slavery, has
prevailed to an extraordinary extent in both the
old parties the tree States In tact the prlnci-
pie Is already successful, while the party is on the
way to Its tomb.
General Taylor was first placed before the peo-
pie OF this country as candidate for the Presl-
dency, through the columns of the Ney York
Herald, in May, 1916, far in advance of all other
journals, or of any nomination or suggestion
of his name, from any other quarter That
nomination took place on the day after the re-
ceipt of the news from the Rio Grande, giving
the general results Of the battles successfully
achieved by his bravery and skill. The conductor
of this journal, some years ago, formed personal
acquaintance with General Taylor, and resided
under the same roof with HIM for several weeks,
in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. The General
had Just returned from the Florida war, and was
reposing himself in that delicious neIghborhood,
after having successfully finished the campaign in
the everglades, against the Seminole Indians In
daily intercourse OF some continuance the writer
of these lines formed the highest opinion of the
ssgacIy, intelligence, dignity, modesty, and pow
erful mind, possessed by Gen. Taylor. He found
IN him those llneaments of character which are
attributed to General Washington On the first
receipt of the news from the Rio Grande, his re-
collections of this intercourse, and the impressions
produced on his mind, prompted HIM at once to
declare that here was a man who would command,
probably to an extent equal If not superior to all
other living heroes, or statesmes, the sympathy and
suppor Of the American people. Acting on such
impulses and recollectIons, and his personal
knowledge of General Taylor's character
we put his name before the people; and,
IN such brief space of time in only abou
two years and six mo nths he is now in his present
position, one oil the Stro INCEST candidates that ever
has been placed In this position, since the age of
Washington up to the present day. General Cass
has been eight years a candidate. General Harrl-
son was for seven years candidate before he was
elected General Jackson, also, was seven years In
the field before he was elected We do not take,
In this reckoning, the nomination of Mr. Polk,
which was a surprise in every point of view on
the party which put HIM forward, and on the peo-
pie who elected him.
We are now within few days of the great
contest and according to all appearances, General
Taylor has, without doubt, the vantage ground.
Yet, II cannot be denied, that some of the tech
ncal results OF the recent State elections, and
calculations which are based on them, may give
encouragement TO the friends OF General Cass to
hope for his success and for the defeat Of General
Taylor The greatest strength of General Taylor,
however, consists, not in the apparent strength of
the wing party, which has taken him up at late
hour, but IN the popularity Of his character, and
the elements Of strength which the enthusiasm at
tached TO his name brings into the field, Joined
with the assistance and aid of the independent
masses in the different parts of the country. The