Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-02
THE DAYS OF AS AND OF ,s4.
How Zach. Taylor Was Officially In
formed of His Nomination and How

| How Zach. Taylor Was Officially In
formed of His Nomination and How
He Responded.
WASHINGTON, July 29.-Nowadays a
train Of cars is barely sufficient to ac-
commodate those who travel hundreds of
miles charged with the important duty of
informing candidate that he has been
nominated for the Presidency. Long
speeches are made, and the notification
costs many thousands Of dollars. But
TINS is not all. The candidate must write
a letter of acceptance, giving his views
on pretty much every subject he can
tnlnk Of. These journeys, parades,
speech-makings, and long letters are of
comparatively recent origin.
The convention that Nominated Gen.
Taylor met in Philadelphia, June Z. 1913.
Inc Chairman was the Hon. John More
mead, OF North Carolina. On the 10th of
that month Gov. Morehead addressed
Gen. Taylor letter officially notifying
MIN OF his nomination. The distraction
INTO winch the Wing party was thrown
by Gen. Taylor's nomination was not
made less In the ensuing thirty-fve days
by the silence of Gen. TAYLOR, Gov.
Morehead, in reply to inquiries by leading
Whlgs-notably Mr.. Weed-said he had
positively written the General. and he
knew of no reason why the reply was not
forthcoming. Gen, Taylor was such a
crotchety old fellow, and Wing leaders in
general knew so little of him personally.
that 1t was not thought best to stir him
up on the subject. Letters from the old
soldiers were appearing in different quar-
tiers, some of them not altogether Salts
factory to Wing leaders, but not a word
came from him about the nomination. IT
began to look like an indignitv. Mr..
Weed, to whom more than any other man
Gen. Taylor owed his nomination. was
desperate under the suspense. Meetings
were proposed, and one was actually
called IN albany, looking to the repudia-
ZION OF the nomination. When it met.
however, other cOunseIs prevailed. though
the suspense continued,
On July y the Postmaster at Baton
Rouge, where Gen. TAYLOR lived. adj
dressed the Postmaster General a letter.
saying that with the report for the cur
rent quarter from that office two bundles
OF letters were forwarded for the Dead
Letter ONCE, they having been declined
on account of the non-payment of the
postage by the senders. 1t was in the
lucent and non-prepayment time, OF
tne Iorty-elght letters thus forwarded to
the Dead Letter Office, the Baton Rouoe
Postmaster said a majority were adj
dressed to Gen. Taylor, who had declined
TO pay the postage on them and take them
out of the office because his mail ex-
penses had become burdensome. The
General had since become aware that
some of the letters were of Importance
and asked for their return. In due course
the letters were sent back to Baton
Rouge. Among them was Gov. More
head's letter notifying Gen. Taylor of the
action OF the Philadelphia convention.
Gen. Taylor's response was dated July
10, month and five days after the &tter
Oh notlhcatlon was written. 1t hadklain
In the Baton Rouge post office four weeks.
alter Gen. Taylor refused to pay the 10
cents postage.
zen. Taylor's acceptance was cOukfeA
IN respectful terms, in letter not ex-
ceedlng 250 words. He expressed his
thanks for the nomination, said he did NOT
seek 1t, and that il he were elected Presi- |
dent, for which position he did not think |
ne possessed the requisite qualifications.
ne would do his best. He discussed moth |
ing, Iald down no principles, and gave no |
indications what course he would pur-
sue. In this the General cut it too short |
TO satisfy the Wings. He had to write |
another tetter-one of considerable |
Iength-to his friend, Capt. Allison, in |
which he set things right. The author |
snip OF this letter was the subject of no |
little conjecture. If living, ThurIow |
weed and Alexander H. Stephens could |
shed light on the subject.
After that the campaign went ahead |
smoothly and successfully. Although |
Mr.. weed makes no mention of this mat |
Ter IN his book, it was one of the most |
annoying episodes in his eventful life.