The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-01-21
war upon General Taylor.


War upon General Taylor.
The speech of the Senator from Maine,
in support of his resolution calling upon
the PRESIDENT for copies of the charges
against individuals removed from office,
has at length appeared in its revised form.
On careful perusal, we can find nothing
in it that has not been served and re-
served in the columns of the Union news
paper, times innumerable, during the last
six months. 1t is the old story over again.
Mr.. b. F. BRowN, if not the author Of its
doctrines, was one Of the first who under
took to promulgate and enforce them. MIR.
MONTGOMERY, Mr.. THOMPSON, MIR. ENG
LIsH, and score of other martyrs, then
took up the tale, and have been followed
by the ex-Commissioner of Patents, and
the whole train of elected office-holders,
with virulence and indecency that have
created universal disgust.
Mr.. BRADBURY follows but as cleaner
in an exhausted field. When he embel-
lished his discourse, therefore, with flow
ers of rhetoric culled from the rank garden
of the great dismissed, we ought not, per-
haps, to accuse him of plagiarism. We
must take Puf's explanation, in the
Critic, when Sheer suggested that he
thought there was something in Othello
that resembIed line in Puff IS new TRACE
dy. "Gad now you put me in mind on
it," says Puff, 81 believe there is; but that's
of no consequence all that can be said is,
that two people happen to hit on the same
thought, and Shakespeare made use of it
first, that's ALL" We suppose that where
Mr.. BRADBURY comedies in sentiment,
argument, and expression, with the ex-
Commissioner of Patents, all that can be
said is that two people hit upon the same
thoughts, and the ex-Commissioner made
use of them first. But the ex-Comms-
sioner has had some apology for using
disrespectful language and making dis
honorable imputations-an apology that
can be pleaded by no Senator of the United
States. The ex-Commissioner has been
laboring under monomania of exaspera-
ton and animosity, induced by the con-
temptation of supposed personal griefs.
We should not be surprised to learn that
the ex-Commissioner under the influence
Of this personal resentment and hostility,
really believes portion Of what he says,
and employs with good heart the shock
ing epithets which he accumulates daily
upon President TAYLOR. But Mr.. BRAD
BURY has no such excuse. He is not a
mailman; and when he rises on the floor
of the Senate, and uses language injurious
ly rejecting upon the personal honor Of
General TAYLOR, the only living creature
who is harmed or disgraced by it is him
self. The people of the United States
have no sympathy with the defunct and
elected ofhce-holders who have been
whining and bowling through the country
for the last six months. And they have
quite as little sympathy for the men who,
in the teeth OF all that they and their
friends have uniformly said and done for
the last twenty years, raise hue and cry
against President TAYLOR merely for in
vading the Locofoco monopoly of office.
II is a shallow, shabby, and shameless
pretext on which Mr.. BRADBURY relies,
when he araigns General TAYLOR as the
violator of pledges and the breaker Of
promises; when he pettifogs his declara-
ton that he would be the President of the
People, into stringent obligation to keep
all the Locofocos in office, and to under
take the impossible task of carrying on the
Administration by men who were proving
themselves, by their daily acts and writ
ings, his implacaJe enemiesl
The argument of the Locofocos, and Of
Mr.. BRADBURY as their exponent, goes tc
this extent-that, by promising 10 become
President Of the People, General TAY-
LoR pledged himself to keep in Office all
the Locofocos he might find there, to the
exclusion Of the Who's; and to dismis.
no one unless on proof Of a icant of integ
rity, capacity, and fidelity, SO conclusive
and overwhelming that it would satisfy
not only his own judgment but that of .
censorious and partisan majority in The
Senate. This is Mr.. BRADBURY's theory
and because there have been 1000 re-
movals in the Post Office Department
where there are some $1,000 offices-Mr
BRADBURY has the insolence to call upoI
some 'sfriend of the Administration" I,
acknowledge that the alleged 'fpledge
and professions" of General TAYLOR s'hav,
been violated" With the exception o
some half-dozen individuals in othe
branches Of the public service, the onl,
specification made by Mr.. BRADBURY j
of removals in the Post Office; and h
pretends TO think that President TAYLol
violates promises and pledges because h
has permitted one-eighM part Of the Loco
Foco postmasters in the country to be dis