Gazette and sentinel., 1860-02-18
Miles Taylor and his Douglas Man
ifeSto.


To The Hon. lIi5cs Tdglor, Member Of Can
groys from the Scaoad District Of Lonis-
lara.
WORTHY SIR: In the issue of the
True Delta Of the 4th inst. | find a let
ter addressed by You To the Hon. Louis
Bush, of ~L.afourchc, on the all-ahSori-
iug subject Of who shall be the nominee
uI the Charleston Convention for Pre-
sidcnt of the United States; and as you
say Won have no conccalmcntS from the
public. | take the liberty now Of express
ing my surprise and regret that You
. had not, at an earlier day, come TO TINS
! conclusion. as, by 50 doing, You would
! have spared me, M of your fcllOw-cit-
liens and supporters, the modification
and regret of having aided you to the
position you occupy in the Congress OF
the nation.
1t is well known to you, my dear sir,
that if | entertained a bitter hostility to
any political! opinion or principle land
YOU know my hoStilitics are not passive
or moderately it was against Mr.. Doug
lass Squatter Sovereignty doctrine, OF
the right of a Territorial Legislature 50
To- lcrislate as To drive out from the Ter
ritorv. while it remained in such condi-
ton. and continued the common proper
" of all the States. the slave property
of citizens of the United States, 10y un-
friendly enactmcnts; or otherwise. l
repeat. sir. that YOU we'll knew this; for,
previous to y0ur election, mad the hon
or of a visit from You At my house, III
the Parish of II. Mary. on which coca
sion | expressed to You, in the most en-
phatic manner. my uucompromi>InE hos
tilitv To Senator Douglas and his terri
torial doctrines, and especially to his
nomination by the Charleston COnven-
ton. So emphatic was |. that am con
| lidcnt | went so far as to say Ia You that
this was a s:ue ana nm with me in my
support of any man for public Office; ami
that ! would not support any man who
was i'm the least tincturcl with that. to
me. offensive doctrine; that | would not
aid in the election of my own brother or
father To- lcgiSlatc for the South, did he
differ with me in a doctrine which, in
my conception. was 80 vital to the intc-
rests and rights OF the Southern States.
| aAp intimatcd to You that public ru-
NOR had charged you with Douglas pro.
/ clivitics, and that some friends of mine
had stated distinctly that You sympa-
thizcd with the Douglas movement i'll
! New Orleans. led on blythe True Delta,
published in that city; and hence my de-
I termination to know most certainly and
I surely your sentiments and opinions On
the subiectMNaw,s SIR, in order to do
you hlIjustice, l win cndeavor to con
fine myself as nearly as possible to the
very language You used IN answer to
me; and will remark, that my memory
serves me well, as the conversation oc-
Cured in the midst of my family, mem
bers of which have, more than once
since that time, defended you from the
charge of being friendly to Douglas and
his doctrines, from the recollection of
the words you then used, and who be-
lieved with me, from your frank and
explicit manner, that you would not de
ceive one who made this the all in all Of
his support of or opposition to any man
seeking the post of representative IN
Congress. And now for your answer.
You commenced by ~ridiculing the
pretcnsiOns, or the probability, Of his
(Douglas's) chances for nomination or
election as President, by stating to me
what you had said to his friends more
than a year previous, that so sure as he
commenced lctter-writing, it would be
fatal to his chances for either nominal
ton or elections; that, in fact, such was
the fate of all lettcr-writing aspirantS
for the Presidency, and ~instancing the
cases of Gen. Scott and Mr.. Clay. Sc
condly, You stated that Mr.. Douglass
Squatter Sovereignty doctrines were
wrong in fact, and would be wrong in
practice. Thirdly, that the old practice
of the Government was that Congress
had a veto on all wrong and uncOnstitu-
tional acts Of Territorial Legislatures,
and that the Government or Congress
would and should come back to that
practice; and that the final arbiter was
the Supreme Court of the United States.
With these avowals on your part, |
went TO your support, sincerely and con-
iidcntly believing that you were quite
as much opposed to Mr.. Douglas as my
self; and | think that, without egotism,
| can say that | contributed much, very
much, 10 your nomination at Thibodaux,
where | was a delegate, and friendly to
your election, as it is well known that