in politics, or all suspicion of having been
actuated by sinister views and purposes."

The Inaugural Address of President Taylor was redolent with
old-fashioned patriotism, and breathed the very spirit of Washington.
And his subsequent administration, though beset by sectional strifes of
fearful violence, was conducted with wisdom, firmness, equanimity, and
moderation, on great national principles, and for great national ends.
Owing to his profound deference to the co-ordinate branches of
government, and his inability to either dictate or assume, his policy in
reference to some of the exciting questions of the day was not, during
the short period of his administration, fully proclaimed to Congress,
and pressed upon its adoption; but, though a southern man and a
slaveholder, he had deliberately and explicitly declared himself in
favor of the prompt and untrammeled admission of California into the
Union. He was taken away in the midst of the controversy, just as he was
about to submit his views upon the subject to the representatives of the
people. His last public appearance was in doing homage to Washington,
on the birthday of our liberties, and his last official act was adding a
new guaranty to the peace of the world, by signing the convention
recently concluded between our country and Great Britain respecting
Central America. Disease soon did its work. Confronting Death with the
fearless declaration, "I AM PREPARED--I HAVE ENDEAVORED TO DO MY DUTY,"
the old hero succumbed--his first and last surrender.

General Taylor married in early life a lady of Virginia, and was
connected either by affinity or blood with many of the most noted
families of the Old Dominion. His excellent consort, a son, and a
daughter, survive him. In person, General Taylor was about five feet
eight inches in height, and like most of our revolutionary generals, was
inclined to corpulency. His hair was gray, his brow ample, his eye
vivid, and his features plain, but full of firmness, intelligence, and
benevolence. His manners were easy and cordial, his dress, habits, and
tastes simple, and his style of living temperate in the extreme. His
speeches and his official papers, both military and civil, are alike
famed for their propriety of feeling and their chastity of diction. His
private life was unblemished, and the loveliness of his disposition made
him the idol of his own household and the favorite of all who knew him.
His martial courage was only