Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-07-26


TAr1.oR is by Col. HuMrHREY MARSHALL.
Democrat Of Kentucky. We commend
it to the attention Of all who desire to know.
from unprejudiced testimony, something
Of the old Generals character:
My service in Mexico frequently bro
me near to Gen. TAYLOR. and | was in
dustrious i'll my examination of the actu-
al character of the man whenever oppor-
tunity was presented. have no motive to
deceive you, and you must take the inn
pressions received for what they are
worth. II desired to express in the few
est words what manner of man Gen.
TAYLOR is, should say, that in his man.
ncrs and his appearance he is one cef the
common people Of this country. He
might be transferred from his tent at Mon
be remarked among this crowd of respec
table old farmers man at all dlstn-
guished from those around him. Perfect
| ly temperate in his habits; perfectly plain
in his dress; entirely unassuming in his
manners, he appears to be an old gentle
man in fine health, whose thoughts are not
turned upon his personal appearance. and
who has no point about him to attract par
ticular attention. In his intercourse with
men, he is free. frank. and manly, he plays
! off no airs, like some great men whom
have met. ANY one may approach him as
nearly as can be desired, and the more
closely his character is examined the
greater beauties he discloses.
l. He is an honest man. | do not
mean by that merely that he does not
cheat or lie. mean that he is man
that never dissembles and who scorns all
DISCUSSES. He neither acts a part among
his friends for effect. nor assumes to be
what he is not. Whenever he speaks you
! hear what he honestly believes, and, wheth-
err right or wrong. you feel assurance that
he has expressed his real opinion. His
dealings with men have been of most
varied character, and have never heard
his honest name stained by the breath Of
the slightest reproach.
| g. He is Il mano Of rare good judgment.
By no means possessed of that brilliancy
of genius which attracts by its flashes, yet.
like the meteor, expires even while you
. look upon it; by no means possessing that
combination of talent which penetrates
| instantly the, abstrusest subject, and meas
ures its length, and breadth as if by in,ui-
ton, Gen. Taylor yet has that order of in
tellect which more slowly but quite as
surely masters all that it engages, and
examines all the combinations of which
the subject is susceptible. When he an
nounces his conclusion. you feel conf
dent that he we'll understands the ground
upon which he plants himself. and yet
rest assured that the conclusion is the
deduction Of skill and sound sense faith
fully applied to the matter in hand. 1t is
this order of mind which has enabled him,
unlike many other officers Of the army,
to attend to the wants of his family, by so
using the means at his disposal, as to
surround himself in his old age with
handsome private fortune and to be bles-
sed with an almost perfect constitution
| would to-day prefer his advice in any
matter Of private interest; would take his
opinion 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 ar
my was involved, or the true honor of my
country was at stake. than any other man
| have ever known. | regard his judg-
ment as being first-rate at every thing,
from horse trade up to a trade in human
life upon the field of battle.
8. He is a firm man and possessed of
-
waste of time to dwell upon these traits OF
his character, for his military career has
afforded such abundant examples of his
exercise of these qualities as to render
them familiar to every citizen who has ev-
er heard or read Of the man. In his ar
my they are daily exhibited. and stand
conspicuously displayed in every order
which emanates from his pen.
HI ;S n benproIeuf ,n0n This
quality 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 or.
+ dered the wagons to bring in the Mexican
. wounded from the battle field, and hearC
him as he at once cautioned his own mer
that the wounded were to be treated witt
mercy. could doubt that he was alive Il
all the kinder impulses of our nature
The indiscretions of youth he chides will
: paternal kindness, yet with, the decision
which forbids their repetition, and tn
young men Of his army feel that il is
pleasure to gather around him; becaus
they know they are as welcome as though
thew visited the hearth stone of their owl
home. and they are always as freely invi
, ted to partake Of what he has to offer q
if they were under the roof of a father
f.. His conduct in sparing the deser,ers VIII
were captured at Buena Vista exhibited a
the same time in q remarkable manner HI
d benevolence and his judgment. don
shoot them,'' said he, 'the worst punish
: ment will inflict is to return them to tn
Mexican army" When Napoleon sal
to one Of his battalions, ''Inscribe it o
their flag, No longer Of the army ofltaly
he used an expression which was deeme
50 remarkable that history preserved II fe
j. the admiration of future ages; yet 1t wa
not more forcible as an illustration of h
J. power in touching the springs Of huma
,. action, than is that Of Gen. T1ylor illu:
= trative of the manner in which Gen. Tia,
lor would make IN example for the benel
Al IF tho army