Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-08-31
A SOLDIERS WoRD--A SOLDIERS
HONOR

Among those who follow the profession of
arms, faIsehood is considered the worst and
most unbecoming of all vices, and falslfca-
zion of soldiers honor stamps him at once
as the vilest of the vile, as one that an honor
able man cannot associate with without con-
tamination. This is not of recent date, but
has ever been so, since the days of chivalry :;
and SO highly is the word of a soldier held,
that when backed by his pledge of honor, il
is regarded by our laws equally binding as
the oath of the citizen, if not indeed more so,
and though this be the fact in government
of equal laws, yet SO highly does the warrior
hold his word, that no complaints 10 our
knowledge have ever been made of this dis
tinction.
The private citizen, having an account TO
settle with the government, has 10 sustain it
by his own oath and by other testimony. The
army officer renders his account, and instead
OF going before justice OF the peace, and
making oath to IFS correctness, and then get
ting the proper officer under the seal OF the
court, or the great seal of the State, to certify
that the person by whom the oath was admin
lstered was an acting justice of the peace, du-
y commissioned and qualified, he merely GER
tiies its correctness upon his honor, and the
law deems that sufficient proof, and there has
scarce been an instance on record OF false
account being thus represented.
Gen. Taylor is soder-his life has been
passed in camp; and beyond the duties Of
soldier. he has frequently acknow lodged him
self grossly ignorant. Having never voted
when he became a candidate for the first office
in the gift of the people, it became necessary
to interrogate him in relation to the course he
would pursue If elected President, and he
promptly replied that he was not party man
would never lend himself to party schemes :;
and if elected, he had no friends TO reward, no
enemies to punish These pledges were freely
given, and so often were they reiterated that
they became sort of by-word among the
people
That these pledges gained General Taylor
votes, no one can doubt-that they secured
for him the vote of Pennsylvania, without
which he would have been defeated, is equal
" clear General Taylor was a soldier, and
knowing how dear soldier held his honor,
he duped democrats, who, by oting for him,
supposed they would more clearly show their
belief in the justice of the war with Mexico,
never for one moment supposing he would for
felt soldiers word--a soldiers honor.
AS soon as Gen. Taylor was inaugurated
he called round him the most bitter and ultra
wings as his cabinet ministers, and system
| of prescription, reckless beyond parallel, has
been carried on, and is sanctioned by this Sol
der President, who stood pledged against it.
| Is a man who acts thus entitled to any re-
spect If yet il the army, under the rules of
honor which guide officers in their intercourse
with each other, he would be secuted as un-
worthy of companionship, because he had for
feited that which soldier holds most dear,
his pledged arord.
Such is the situation of the man intrusted
with the high Office of President OF the United
States. He obtained the sufrages OF the peo-
pie by protesting to be what he was not, aud
so strong and overwhelming is the proof
against him, that not one OF the journals which
laud his administration, dare join issue on the
facts we have stated, and attempt to prove
him guiltless Of the high charge daily and
hourly preferred against him. What spec
tacle for such an intelligent and moral people
is this A man elevated 10 the highest office
in the world-one who had risked his life in
battle, and whose military fame has been
sounded throughout the whole civilized world,
surrendering himself to the Ewings and Col
lamers and the other reckless men around him,
and giving up his pledged word-forfeiting a
soldiers honor, at their bidding, merely for
the sake of furnishing men who stood by him
when surrounded by the enemy, while the
mass of his present supporters, and the mass
of those he is now rewarding, were advoca-
ting the policy of refusing him and the brave
men he commanded, the supplies necessary ia
e" ,ut tnem, while in the country OF the en-
emy-Ohio Statesman.