Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-08-23

to the delegation Of Louisiana-a partisan
delegation--full power to represent him
in the whig convention, and that the state
ment made in that convent.o by Judge:
Saunders, was in fact Gen. Taylor's own
statement, made by his authority, and
sanctioned by his ''entire, full, and
unequivocal appreciation BY that state
rnent it appears that when he said ssthe
people alone were authorized to withdraw
his name from the canvass" he meant
s'his friends in that convention" When
he said that he would not be "party can
didate," he meant that he authorized sshis
friends in 'hct cc---crtion'' Is Il ''.'fng,
his name t. },e canvass, Ia less ha
should be, ieea,. sile wtAl ia,..gg.
When he SAID .l.isi he-4ssoaiG nos y .lll raw
no matter who might be the partfs nomi.
nees, he n cant thai be woul3 authorize
s'his friends IN that convention ts with
draw him, unless hs should be the wlig
nominee. slAei. nc declared lnat ne
would refuse the acceptance Of any nom
ination, unless he should be cleft free of
all pledges, and permitted to maintain the
position of independence in which the
people and his own sense of duty had
placed him. he reserved to himself the
right of authorizing the Louisiana wing
delegation to override his sense of duty
and the will of the people, and to destroy
his position and independence altogether
When he declared that he would yield to
no call that did not come from the spon-
taneous action and free will of the nation
at large, and void Of the slightest agency
of his own" he did not mean to preclude
himself from the "agency of his wing
friends, or to refrain from assisting the
Spontaneous action and free will" of the
wing convention, by representations
through the Louisiana delegation. When
he declared that if the whig party desir-
ed to vote for him, they must do SO son
their own responsibility, and without any
pledges from him." he intended nothing
more than to say that he would make
pledges through his friends to withdraw,
if not nominated, and that they might vote
for him on the responsibility Of those
pledges! And allthi is said, done, ratifi-
ed, and adopted, without excuse or palia-
ton, other than the assurance on the part
Of the Louisiana delegation that ''it is their
act, not his and that they ''wish it to be
distinctly understood that it involves no
inconsistency on the part of Gen. Taylor.r'
We have been educated in the plain
school, which teaches that what man can
not do directly he cannot do indirt city;
that what a, man does through others, he
does himself. In our support of Gen.
Taylor we have dealt plainly and expect
ed plain dealing. We have used no sub
terfuges and made no mental reservations.
Metaphysics and casuistry were not part
Of our contract. We meant what we said.
as we said ii; we supposed that Gen. Tay-
lor did the same. On this principle of
constructions we now stand. The act of
the Louisiana delegation we treat as Cen
eral Taylor's act. 1t is his, in its length
and breadth. Consistent or inconsistent,
in good faith or bad iailh-fair or fal, e:
it is all his. We regard it is an aban-
donment CT every pledge on which he has
yet been called to act. We deem it de-
sertion of his position, palpable and
unequivocal. We are satisfied that, hav-
ing derived the benefit of independent
principles and organization in their effect
upon the wing convention, he abandoned
them, at the eleventh hour. for what he
then believed to be more valuable ALI
ance. Finding him thus unreliable in one
thing we know no reason for surprising
we can reply on him in any thing. His
pledge to substitute the constitution for
party creed, in his administration, is for
tilted and can be fortified by no stronger
faith than that which has gone with the
pledges we have shown to be broken
The ground, then, Of our adherence hav-
ing fallen from under us, our advocacy
falls with it. AS frankly as we support
ed him, we now abandon his support
We have withdrawn his name from the
head OF our columns. Others may, if
they please, support his election as
choice of evils. We can no longer honestly
advocate him, and we should perpetrate a
fraud were we to pretend the contrary.
We have said these things our readers
will believe, far more in sorrow than in
anger. We have no private griefs-no
modification save the profound one of hav-
ing failed in an honest effort to serve
the best interests of the country. The
position of General Taylor, if honorably
maintained, and his election upon the high
ground of manly and patriotic indepen-
dence, we regarded as fraught and to be
fraught with incalculable national bless
ings. His abandonment of that position, we
look up as national calamity proportion
ally heavy. For General Taylor indivi-
dually, we entertained the profoundest
respect and venaration. Our pain and
are bitter in finding that
our standard of him was higher than his
standard of himself. What we could not
control, we should, under ordinary cir
cumstances have contented ourselves with
simply lamenting. But having helped to
m!slead others while we were deceived
ourselves we have felt it our duty to UNI
deceive them, so far as this exposition has
gone. That done, we shall, others will
pursue theirs.