Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-09-23
PERSONAL CHARACTER OF GEN. TAYLOR.


an intimate personal acquaintance with General
TAYLOR. twas written at the request OF friend,
who has placed it in our hands for publication. 1t
accords with all our own impressions of the Gene
rails character, and with the opinions of all whom
we have heard speak Of him from persona know
ledge. We are not at liberty to name the writer,
but we can state that he is gentleman widely
known for his picty and talents, whose name, if
given, would command universal confidence in the
truth and sincerity of his statements. With that
conscientousness which distinguishes him. he has
been careful not to give too high colorirg to- his
portrait, for in private note he says al fear |
have not made what you wished, but was afraid
10 let my heart pour its trcklings out of the end of
my pen, lest my eulogy should have made readers
disrust me as too partial ..
LOUISIANA, SEPTEMBER i, S4S.
Ny DEAR SIR: Ii affords me pleasure TO comply
with your request that would communicate to you
the opinion which personal acquaintance with
General TAYLOR has induced me to form of his
character. think know him well; and, without
reference to recent public events, both in Mexico
and at home, which have placed him conspicuously
before the country, shall speak of the traits which
distinguish him as man. As you well know, l
keep aloof from the strife of parties; the heat and
dust of the political arena have no charms for me
and You must therefore take my estimate of the
Generals character as being that merely of an
humble individual, who, with some opportunities
OF observation, has contemplated the man, without
associatng him with either the battlefield or Pre-
sidental chair.
have been sometimes not little amused by the
question, very seriously propounded, whether Gen.
' cIa
doubt not that his sottbriguet Of :" Rough and
Ready : has, on this point, created mistake While
with the Army, and especially in the field, he lived
las learn from friends who were with him. very
much as MS soldiers did all had something to do
more important than studying the graces Of the
toilet. His external appearance, therefore, was
rough enough; and | think it quite probable
that at Palo Alto or Buena Vista he might, as 10
the outward man, have been mistaken for one of
his baggage teamsers. have seen him at his own
home, when he reminded me Of plain honest
New England farmer, in his working dress. But
rough in any other sense than that of accom-
modatng his apparel to his employment, he is not.
| have seen him, in his military undress, receive
officially the City Authorities and various Deputa.
tons in New Orleans, and his department on these
occasions was unaffected, modest, and dignified.
He has the element of all true courtesy in the kind
brave, he has yet much of the sensbility and ten
derness of woman's nature when he looks on hui
man suffering. | remember that when he was re-
ceiyed in New Orleans on his return from Mexico
with all the honors that the State and City could
offer, he seemed insensible 10 the tribute rendered
TO himself, in his apprehension that, among the
thousands who crowded around the triumphal pro-
cession, some OF the women and children might
probably be injured. 1t is possible that General
TAYLOR may be ignorant of some of the points of
etiquette, purely conventional, established by what
is called the fashionable world. | have rot, how
ever, observed in him any such want of knowledge,
and both in manners and feeling, should call him
gentleman. ~.
He is no! a man of many words: this may result
in part from the fact that he has slight impedi-
in his utierance, iii is very slight, however y
but more, | apprehend, from the natural modesty
Of his disposition. He is man Of thought and
action, rather than of speech. When, however
he does speak, he expresses himself in few words,
wel-chosen, and always to the point. In the fami-
liar intercourse of private friendship he is less re-
served and, in such circumstances, his character
will be most highly appreciated.
As to his intellectual powers, his mind is far above
the common order. It's distinguishing characleris-
tic is sound judgment. should not deem it either
brilliant rapid in its exercise but it is acute and
discriminating. Of all the men whom have known
none has been more conspicuous than Gen. TAYLOR
for /" doing his own thinking" Possessed of
strong clear head, he reasons himself into his con-
illusions, and they are invariably marked by good
practical common sense. You will naturally In
qure what are his attanments how far he has fur
nished himself with material for thought! And
here again las in the case of his manners) great
mistake prevails. General TAYLOR possesses far
more information, derived from actual st,1dy, than
hundreds of those who write disparagingly of his
His studies have been chiefly in
history. ] have been told by some of his officers,
who served with him for years on our Western
frontier that all his leisure there was devoted TO
reading history and that the history of our own
country had received his particular attention this
believe is true. j remember having seen some
weeks ago, a newspaper paragraph, in which the
writer traced resemblance to WASHINGTON in
General TAYLOR. | was not aware that such a re-
semblance had occurred to others, but it had made
a strong impression upon me long ago. The truth
Is that General TAYLOR long since fixed his
eyes on General WASHINGTON the model Of all
that was truly great and good he has studied his
character thoroughly, and doubt if there be an in
cident OF Washington's life, with which he IL not
familiar. lie certainly is like him in the possession
OF the same calm deliberate exercise Of judgment,
and the same infexibe integrity Of purpose. ] \
never knew man whom believed, in the broadcast
sense OF the word, to be more perfectly honest than
General TAYLOR.