The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1848-07-22
Gen. Taylor's Position.

zen. layior occupiesa q curious posi-
ton in relation to his party, his ,princi-
Piles, and even to himself. At first, he
declared himself to be Of no party--oi
no dsfnits priaciplss-indeed, no poll.
ticiaa at all. He declared that he would
accept no nomination from any party,
bur would be the candidate of the peo-
pie only;--and that he would run,
whether he was the nominee of the
whig convention or not. Next, he a.
verred that he was Of Jeffersonian pol
tics; then, that he was Of the Clay
faith; and, finally, that he would ad-
minister the government according to
the principles Of Washington, Jefiel-
son, Adams, and Madison!
AS the whig convention approached,
and the magnet began to draw with
more attractive power, he declared his
great political principle to be, TO aban-
don virtually the veto power, to suffer
himself to be controlled in his action
by Congress, and to sanction whatever
measures they would adopt-bank, Ia
riff and all. Then, we have the Lou
isiana delegation pledging him to the
convention to abide by their decision,
IA party decision of course.) and to "a
bandon all his pretensions il they pre-
terred any other nominee. Next, we
hear Of his having denied giving any
authority 10 the Louisiana delegation
to exercise any such power; and final
ly, sending in a card to the ratification
meeting OF New Orleans, recognizing
the authority and pledges of that dele
cation.
We can make nothing Of all this Sc
ries of letters, Of all the changes, both
in regard TO party nomination and to
his political principles. We know not
where to find him. The last revela-
tions, however, certainly more and more
oppose his first original independentPo-
sitlon. He writes to MIR. lredell, of
North Carolina, that he "feels proud of
the support Of the wings in Raleigh,
Gratifying the (iis) nomination for the
presidency by the Natioaal Wing Con.
vention." The Charleston News fur
nishes an extract of letter recently
written, since his nomination in PhIa-
delphia. This puts him rather "bock
again." :or he says:
1"My former declarations are those
only which govern me, and which !
now repeat-ihat it is not my purpose
to accept the ,ohig nomination on a
true ,ohig platform. or upon any plat
form that is not based upon my own
repeated declarations
Next we have recent revelation
10 a relatively in the Louisville Journal
from Baton Rouge. which puts him on
the Philadelphia platform:
''It appears was nominated by the |
Wing National Convention, which met
at Philadelphia on the 7th Of the pres
ent month, as their candidate for the
presidency at the coming election. 1
can truly say it is not a matter of ex.
ultation, however much may fee graf
ifed at the compliment paid me by so
highly intelligent and pure body as
that convention. No one can appre-
ciate the compliment more highly Than
lido; yet,had they named one of the dis
tinguished civilians who were before
them instead of myself, it would have
met my most cordial approbation."
Last of all, we have more givings-
out in the Baltimore Argus of yester-
day morning, running thus:
THAT LETTER. We have it from an-
questionable authority, that letter was
yesterday received from Gen. Taylor,
by one of the "independent electors"
in reference TO the Generals accept
ance Of the Philadelphia nomination..
The purport of the letter is said 10 be
any thing but satisfactory 10 the ''inde-
We have also been assur-
I'd that the General requests that the
etter may mol be published. His mod
,sty, no doubt, induced him TO make
his request; but we trust that his
friends, for this reason, will not with
lold the letter from the public eye
General Taylor asks no lavors, and
shrinks from no responsibility" Come,
Messrs. Pitts, Collins, & Co.; let US
nave the letter-the letter.
But with all his modesty, with all his
cordial disposition to assign the dlstln-
guished compliment to some one else,
we never find the Generals m odesty
him so far as to waive the
nomination altogether. On the contra
~, when il appeared slipping from his
grasp, we see him declaring that he
would run in spite Of the whig conven-