The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1848-06-24


fine health, whose thoughts are rot turned
upon his personal appearance, and who has
no point about him TO attract particular atten
ton. In his intercourse with men, he is
free, frank and manly, he plays off hone of
the airs OF some great men whom have
met Any one may approach him as neat
ly as can be desired, aid the more closely
his character is examined the greater beau
ties ii discloses.
a. lie Is an honest man. I do not mean
by that merely that he does not cheat or
lie. mean that he Is man that nev-
er dsssembles, and who scorn all dis
gulses. He neither acts part among
his friends nor assumes to be what he is
not. Whenever he speaks you hear
what he honestly believes: and whether
r'ght or wrong, you feel assurance that
ne has expressed his real opinion. His
dealings with me have been of a most
varied character, and have never heard
his honest name stained by the breath of
the slightest reproach.
~ ne 'sa ma" Of rare and good judge
men,. ny no means possessed of that
brllliancy OF genius which attracts by its
flashes, yet like meteor, expires even
while you gaze upon it; by no means
possessing that combination OF talent
which penetrates instantly the abstru-
sest subject, and measures its length and
breadth as ifby intuition, Cen Taylor
yet has that order of intellect which
more slowly but quite as surely masters
all that 1t engages, and examines all the
combinations of which the subject is sus
ceptible. When he announces his con-
illusions, you feel confident that he well
understands the ground upon which he
plants himself, and you rest assured that
the conclusion is the deduction of skill
and sound sense faithfully applied to the
matter IN hand. 1t is this order of mind
which has enabled him, unlike many of
the officers of the army, to tend to the
wants of his family, by SO using the
means at his disposal as to surround HIM
self in his old age with a handsome pri-
vate fortune and to be blessed with an
almost perfect constitution l would
this day prefer his advice in any matter
OF private interest-would take his opin
ION as to the value of an estate-would
rather follow his suggestions in scheme
where property or capital was to be EN-
barked, would pursue more confidently
his counsel where the management of an
army was involved, or the true honor
OF my country was at stake, than that of
any other man have ever known. II
regard his judgement as being first rate
at.every thing from horse trade up to
a trade in human life upon the field of
battle.
90 He is affirm man and po ,sessed Of great
energy ofeha'ae'er. 1t were a waste of
time to dwell upon these traits of his
character,for his military career has af-
torded such abundant examples of his ex
srcise OF these qualities as to render
them familiar to every citizen who has
ever read or heard of the man. In his
army they are daily exhibited, and stand
conspicuously displayed in every order
which emanatcs from his pen
''4 He Is a beneuolent man. This quail
ty has been uniformly displayed in his
treatment of the prisoners who have
been placed in his power by the vicissi-
tudes OF war. No man who had seen
him after the battle of Buena Vista as he
ordered the wagons to bring in the Mex
lean wounded from the battlefield, and
heard hun as he once cautioned his men
that the wounded were to be treated
with mercy, could doubt that he was
alive to all the kinder impulses of our
nature. The indlscreion of youth he
chldes with paternal kindness, yet with
the decision that torbids their repetition,
and the young men of his army teol That
1t is pleasure to gather around because
there they are as welcome as though they
visited the hearth-stone of their own
home; and they are always as freely in
vited to partake of what he has to offer
as ii they were under the roof of father.
His conduct in sparing the desertcrs who
were captured at Buena Vista exhibited
at the same time IN manner his benev
olence and his judgement. Don't shoot
them,' said he: 'the worst punishment !
will intlict is to turn them to the Mex
lean army When Napoleon said to one
of his battalion, 'Inscribe it on their flag:
No longer of the army of Italy, he used
an expression which was deemed so re-
markable that history preserved 1t for
the admiration Of future ages; yet it was
not more forcible as an illustration of his
power in touching the strings of human
action than is that of General Taylor il
lustrious OF the manner in which he
would make example for the benefit Of
the army.
"5. He is a man Of business habi,.. 1
never have known General Taylor to
give up a day to pleasure. I have never
visited his quarters without seeing evil
dences of the industry with which he