The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1848-02-18
Cen. T'ayIOr's Letter. .EsOp Fa-


This allusiou in Gen. TayIor's letter
TO "the wel-known fable of Esop." has
caused quite demand for the writings
Of that ancient moralist. The scholars
Of the administration are bewildered To
know 20 what fable reference is made
Ii is rumored that Mr.. Marcy has devo.
ted himself to the study Of the English
version Of the fabes,-Of course he is too
Democratict to affect to read them in the
original Greek-but he has declared that
he cannot, willy as be naturally is. and
tutored, as he was, in the school of the
man who furnished many an illustration
iot the sagacity Of the cuuningest of all
animals, the fox-hc declares that he can
not tell 10 which fable Gen. Taylor al.
ludes. Esop wrote for all time, and his
fables have the immortality of truth. 1t
would be easy TO find an application in
several of the fables to the conduct of the
administration towards General Taylor;
but the story oftbe "Wolf aud the Lamb
IS SO we'll known, and is SO peculiarly APP
plicable, that there is no doubt it was to
that the Old General referred, when he
said, 1.-The apparent determination of the
department to place me in an attitude
antagonisticaI to the Government has an
apt illustration in the we'll known fable of
Esop." Here it is; as we find it quoted
to our hand in the American Of this NOR.
ming:
The Wolf and the Lamb.
One hot sultry day, a Wofand Lamb
happened To come just at the same lime
to quench their thirst in the same stream
Of brook that fell tumbIing down The
side of rocky mountain. The Wolf
stood upon the higher ground, and the
Lamb at some distance below him. How
ever the Wolf, having a mind to pick
quarrel with the Lamb, asked him what
he meant by disturbing the water. and
making it SO muddy that he could not
drinkl aud, at The same time, demanded
satisfaction. The Lamb, frightened at
this threatening charge, told him, in a
tone as mild as possible, that with hum
ble submission, he could not conceive
how that could be. since the water
which he drank ran down from the Wolf
to him, and therefore could moi be dis
turbed so far up the stream. Be that as
it may, replies the Wolf, you are rascal.
and | have been told that you used i'll
language concerning me about half year
ago. Upon my word, says the Lamb, the
time that you mention ives before | was
born. The Wolf, finding it to no pur-
pose TO argue any longer against truth,
fell into great p assion, snsrling and
foaming at the mouth as if he had been
mad; and drawing near to the Lamb, Sir
rah, says he, if it were not you, it was
your father, and that is the same. So he
seized the poor innocent, helpless thing,
tore it to pieces. and made meal oft.
But Esop was so bent on painting
his moral" that he never allowed his op-
portunity to pass to inculcate it, and there
fore he said,- as if he had in his eye
this very course of conduct of the ad-
ministration towards General Taylor
"when cruelty and injustice are armed
with power, and determined on oppress-
ion, the strongest pleas of innocence are
preferred in vain, and nothing is more
easy than finding pretences to criminate
the unsuspec,ing victims of tyranny
Aud as this might be supposed 10 include
only individuals, the old moralst adds
this reflection: "How many Of the degen-
crate, corrupt and arbitrary governments
with which the civilized world has been
disfgured, have exercised their venge-
ance upon the honest and virtuous, who
have dared in bad times to speak the
truth"
Could anything be more appropriated
The results of the battle of Buena VISTA
which had taken place before the letter OF
Gen. Taylor reached the department
may have deferred the administration
from attemptiong to pursue the fable to
its catastrophe--but it has, all must allow,
lost none of the force of the original ap-
plication, though Mr. Marcy was not able
to crafty his desire to make a meal" ol
Gen. Taylor.-Bah PatriOt.