Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1848-10-19
COM NUMB ALTON.
THE PRESIDEN'F ~.! ottpr Of Hon
Horace Everett.
To the Editor Of The Green Mountain Freeman:
NO. II.

IaSSlHD over MS numerous, duu SOulClllHC'
apparently contradictory letters" on his political
position, shall confne myself to those that have
reference to the question OF slavery
The first attempt, at the South, to nominate
Gen. Taylor for the Presidency, was made by the
Legislature of Louisiana, in April lS47, (fnaIly
negatively His first (pnblished) letter signify
ing willingness to be a candidate, was sent to
the New Orleans Bulletin for publication on the
18th of May ofthe same year, and then said to
have been recently received.
His second-(the Signal letter. is dated the
18th of May 1877. The Editorial" to which
this was an answer, contained four leading "Sea-
timcnts The first was shat his support Of
Gen Taylor for the Presidency should ne0n be
pledged in adUance Of a full knOwlcdgc Of the
principles and views NTH wbich he wouM assume
that responsible station" The converse of this
sentiment is that Gen. Taylor must disclose his
principles fully before he could be entitled to the
support of the people. The last sentiment was
that if elected he a0Ould not vetO the Wtmot Pro-
visO; or in the Is of the "editorial:" "1he
entension over t. continent beyond the Rio
Grande of the Ordinance Of 1857, is an object
too high and paramount to be bq67cd By Presi-
Dental UetOeS."
Gen. Taylor in his answer gives his high opn-
ion and approval of these two sentiments. He
thereby pledges himself to the North-to the
free States-and&o the whole country, that in
due time, he would make known, fully, the prln-
ciples on which, if elected, he would administer
the goycrnment;-and that he would not veto
Il, ,YiImot Proviso. His language is Tin my
oaai,a, d.roct and positive, admitting of neither
doubt nor equivocation,O 81 trust you will par
don me for thus briefly replying to you, which [
do NTH high opinion and decided Cn some pub
locations the word decided" is omtted( approval
0f the sentiments and UiewS embraced IN yOu
editorial"
This letter has been construed at the North
by the Taylor press, believe without exception,
as containing direct pledge on the part Of Gen.
Taylor, that he would not veto the Wilmot Pro-
viso The editor of the Waterman from the
29th of June to this day, has given it this con-
struction. 1t has stood and yet stands as the
text heading to his paper, thus:
'The extension over the continent beyond the Rio
Grande of the ordinance of1787 IS beet too high
and paramount to be bafled by Presidential vetoes.-
Cincinnati Signal.
I trust you will pardon me for thus briefly replying
to you, which do with high opinion and approval
of the sentiments and views embraced in your edito
rial-Z. Idyors anSVer to the editor Of the Signal"
From the position in which General Taylor
had placed himself, can see no ground for
doubt as to the meaning or object OF this letter.
He had determined to run as an independent
candidate. In this very letter he says: "Ln no
case can Ipcrmt myself to be the caadidatelOf
any party" This position he has maintained
ever since In a letter of the Both of JAN 1913
ble." In his letter of the gath of July last
bO Y If nj, ,I,JoFoD
In this position, then, the Signal letter was
taken, and think justly, as an advance upon
the free States 1t was addressed to a Northern
man-and was we'll adapted to influence North
ern opinion in his favor He had no reason to
suppose it would not be published 1t was ad-
dressed to the editor of paper of extensive cir
culation-who was then DESTROYS of having good
grounds for supporting Gen. Taylor; whose very
object in transmitting his editorial was to obtain
in Gen Taylors answer, an approval of its SEN
timents-and good grounds for supporting him.
There was no note of "cOnfdentiaL," or para
graph-"not for the public prints" as found in
some other of his letters 1t was Immediately
published by the editor and copied by the Tay-
lor papers-lnterpreting it as an express pledge
that he would not veto the Wilmot Proviso.-
And so has it been continued to be published for
more than one year, without any public contra.
dicton or rebuke from Gen. Taylor. The same
construction was given to it by members of Con-
gress in their placesand in their published let
tiers. For an example | refer to Mr.. Stewards
letter of the LIST of March 1913.
Gen. Taylor cannot have been ignorant of the
interpretations thus publicly given to the Signal
letter by his friends throughout the whole extent
of the free States. Whatever may have been his
original intent in that letter, he has by his silence
sanctioned and adopted that Interpretation, and
the use made of it by his friends.
What must have been the surprise of his
friends, land of Mr. Stewart in particular to
learn that Gen. Taylor, after having thus for six
months silently acquiesced in the construction
given by them to this letter, had, on the 9Th of
November, l847, in private letter to southern
editor, denied that he ever intended to approve
any of the sentiments embraced in the edto-
rial
Gen. Taylor had an urgent motive for the de-
NAL. Thovgh the Signal letter was making
stair weather' for him 1.-THE North-it was ma
kim foul ,oeather for him at the South. The
editors d the Cass papers, there, were holding
him up, on the evidence of this letter, as being
in f,y " of the Wllmot Proviso. 1t became alb
ro'y necessary to satisfy these editors, that he
wUtrl4 to Southern interests; and to do this, he
r.,ust repudiate the Northern construction of his
Signal letter. And this he did not hesitate to
do In reply to letter from the Tuscaloosa
Monitor, on this very point he answered, on the
9Th of November, lS47. 81 never intended by
my answer to cypress an opinion either in concur
renee Nth or in opposition to any of the uiews
embraced in the editorial to Uhich it refcrs"-
And what does he say he did mean by his (de-
cided) approval Of the sentiments and Uiews in
that editorial? Why simply "to cypress my re-
spect for opinions Which believed to be honestly
entertained, and as long as thus held, my apprO
valof his maintaining Them"
leave it to every intelligent and candid read
er to decide for himself, whether the language o
the Signal letter will admit of the construction
given to it by Gen. Taylor! whether that con
struction is favored by his silence for six months
in an opposite construction? or whether it be no
a direct square-cornered recantation, and repu
diation of the express, plain and unequveca
language and meaning of that letter-preSsec
out by the urging and force of Southern opin