Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1848-02-04
TAYLOR MEETING IN WILMINGTON.


We have been handed the proceedings of
the Taylor meeting which was held in this
place on Friday evening last, by one of the
Secretaries, with request that we would
publish them. With this request we comply,
especially as we intended sto make some re-
marks upon the meeting and its proceedings
at any rate, and can do so more understand
ingIy, at least so far as our readers are con-
cerned, by giving the proceedings at length.
They will be found in another column.
But first, let US look at the manner in which
this great display was gotup. On Thursday,
the first attempt 10 get up Taylor meeting
was made. That proved total failure, there
being only Is or 20 persons present. The
few who were present, organized and adjourn
ed over TO the next evening, Handbills were
issued, calling on "aN to come" Drums were
beat, flies were blown, and tar barrels were
burned in order to get up the great meeting -
the proceedings of which we publish. The
Taylor enthusiasm required little of the
stimulating influences of the Harrison cam
paign of 40, ere it could be aroused; and even
then it was none OF the largest.
The report sets out by saying that &C it (the
meeting) was composed OF men OF both polit-
cal parties' There were democrats present
but we would like to know of the gentlemen
who drew up the report, how many of our
patty there were who took any part in the
proceedings-how many Taylor Democrats
there were then and there present? None
that we know of.
The report would lead the distant reader to
suppose that it was the emanation OF a meeting
irrespective of parties, when the reverse is
the case. Look at its organization. a whig
President. 4 wing lawyer and stump speak
er acted as chief Secretary. The other Sec
rotary is whig. The committee who framed
the preamble aud resolutions is composed OF
wings with, we believe, one exception. The
speakers during the evening were Messrs
Meares and Loring; the first Il whig lawyer
and whiIom whig candidate for Congress the
second whig Editor We ask the reader il
this organization don't smell kinder one sided
The report adopted by the meeting, and the
speech of Mr.. Meares in its support, present
one of the most singular phases in polite.
Read for example, the following handsomely
rounded sentence which we quote from thu
body of the report:
"That, acknowledging
the utility, in a Republic, of parties moderate
in opposition, and vIeing with each other i'll ;
love of their common country, they cannot bu
feel that when opposition has degenerated in
to faction and zeal, beginning in honest pur
poses, is turned awry and prompts only Il
bitter warfare for office and for spoils; TIT
country which contains these Earring elements
unless some means be found TO reconcile them
5 has touched the highest point of its greatness.
Does the opposition which has degenera
ted into faction,'' mean the wing opposition Il
the present administration ? We presume so
and most heartily do ,re subscribe to the repor
in this ricp. We wot not what else the sen
tence quoted above can allude to. If it doe
mean this, certainly then it comes with sin
gular and peculiar grace from the ardent ad
mirers of Henry Clay, Geo. f. Badger, ct 4
genus omne, not forgetting the 8" faction
which, in the House of Representatives, vote
for that clause" about " unconstituionality,
&c.
Further on in the report, we find the fol
lowing sentence: "Amid the gloom of wal
a distracted government; a bankrupt treasury
they behold star new risen, and gathering il
purest and brightest rays amid the shock an
carnage OF battle" Now we presume, that i
matters OF this kind, the imagination ought t
be permitted a considerable latitude. We pre-
sumo that the gentlemen who penned this elo
quent sentence, had been contemplating tn
foriorn plight of poor unfortunate, outrage
Mexico, and the picture had so worked upo
their imaginations, that irresistably and ur
consciously, it was transferred to the glow
ing page Otherwise it is a riddle Some a
Iowance, however. must be made for the 1igh
of genius.
The most remarkable thing, however, abo'
this movement of the wings of Wilmington
is the total abandonment of all political pril
E ciples, which was openly avowed in the me
ting about which we are speaking. The pri1
cipal speaker-Mr. Meares-a member
the committee who framed that report for Il
, action of the meeting; and who, it is presun
e ed, was, On that occasion, the organ OF II
committee, and of the meeting, denounced,
:; no measured terms, all hackncyed politician
no matter 10 what party they might belon
He distinctly announced his determination
: vote for General Taylor, no matter what h
political sentiments might be; and equal
distinctly, as we understood him, avowed h
z disinclnation to vote for any man who h'
:. been long in political life, whether wing
o democrat ladeed, the speech OF Mr.. Near
al was such, that stranger to him, and 4
t, scene OF its delivery, could not have told
l. wha' political party he belonged. He abus
the pdrt'zans of both parties about equally.
y. IL The whole of this Taylor movement he1
10 and elsewhere, amounts simply to this til
J. the ,yhig party knows and feels tha, il cam