CHARACTER OF TAYLOR.

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fortune, and to be blessed with an almost perfect constitution. I would to-day prefer his advice in any matter of private interestwould take his opinion as to the value of an estate-would rather follow his suggestions in a scheme where property or capital was to be embarked, would pursue more confidently his counsel where the management of an army was involved, or the true honour of my country was at stake, than that of any other man I have ever known. I regard his judgment as being first-rate at every thing, from a horsetrade up to a trade in human life upon the field of battle.

"3. He is a firm man and possessed of great energy of character. It were a waste of time to dwell upon these traits of his character, for his military career has afforded such abundant examples of his exercise of these qualities as to render them familiar to every citizen who has ever read or heard of the man. In his army they are daily exhibited, and stand conspicuously displayed in every order which emanates from his pen.

"4. He is a benevolent man. This quality has been uniformly displayed in his treatment of the prisoners who have been placed in his power by the vicissitudes of war. No man who had seen him after the battle of Buena Vista as he ordered the wagons to bring in the Mexican wounded from the battle-field, and heard him as he at once cautioned his own men that the wounded were to be treated with mercy, could doubt that he was alive to all the kinder impulses of our nature. The indiscretions of youth he chides with paternal kindness, yet with the decision which forbids their repetition; and the young men of his army feel that it is a pleasure to gather around him, because there they are as welcome as though they visited the hearth-stone of their own home; and they are always as freely invited to partake of what he has to offer as if they were under the roof of a father. His conduct in sparing the deserters who were captured at Buena Vista exhibited at the same time in a manner his benevolence and his judgment. Don't shoot them,' said he: 'the worst punishment I will inflict is to return them to the Mexican army.' When Napoleon said to one of his battalions, Inscribe it on their flag: No longer of the army of Italy,' he used an expression which was deemed so remarkable that history preserved it for the admiration of future ages; yet it was not more forcible as an illustration of his power in touching the springs of human action

6

than is that of General Taylor illustrative of the manner in which he would make an example for the benefit of the army.

"5. He is a man of business habits. I never have known General Taylor to give up a day to pleasure. I have never visited his quarters without seeing evidences of the industry with which he toiled. If his talented adjutant was surrounded with papers, so was the general. And though he would salute a visitor kindly, and bid him with familiar grace to amuse himself until he was at leisure, he never would interrupt the duties which his station called him to perform. When these were closed for the day, he seemed to enjoy to a remarkable degree, the vivacity of young officers, and to be glad to mingle in their society. As a conversationist, I do not think General Taylor possesses great power. He uses few words, and expresses himself with energy and force, but not fluently. His language is select. I would say, however, from the knowledge of the man, that he is entirely capable of producing any thing in the shape of an order or letter which has ever appeared over his signature; and, in saying so much, I understand myself as asserting that he is master of his mother tongue, and can write about as effectively and handsomely as he can fight. Such, then, is the picture of the man-not of the general-who won my esteem. I am not in the habit of eulogizing men, and have indulged on this occasion because I desired to describe to you, with the exactness of truth, those qualities which, combined in General Taylor, made him appear to me as a first-rate model of a true American character. Others will dwell upon the chivalry he has so often displayed, and his greatness so conspicuously illustrated upon the field of battle. I formed my ideas. of the man when he was free from duty, and had no motive to appear in any other light than such as was thrown upon him by nature, education and principle."

NOTE. In the Philadelphia North American and Gazette of November 30th, 1847, is the following interesting description of the swords about to be presented to General Taylor and other officers:—

"Our fellow-townsmen, Bailey and Kitchen, whose establishment is worthy to have been the laboratory of Benvenuto Cellini himself, have just completed three magnificent swords, intended as tributes to the gallantry of three brave officers-Major-General Zachary Taylor, Major-General William O. Butler, and Major P. N. Barber. We have never seen more elegant specimens of taste and skill; and the production of such articles

SWORDS FOR TAYLOR, ETC.

89 fairly entitle Messrs B. and K. to special notice and praise. The first of these splendid weapons, intended for General Taylor, has a gold scabbard, heavily mounted in fine chased gold, and ornamented with three large and beautiful Siberian carbuncles. The hilt is of mother-of-pearl and fine engraved gold alternating, and surmounted with a large and unusually rich Brazilian topaz. The blade is an exquisite piece of work, covered with neat and appropriate devices, among them being the arms of Kentucky, with the motto, United we stand, divided we fall.' On the scabbard is the following inscription:

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Presented by the people of Kentucky to Major-General Zachary Taylor, as an evidence of the opinion of his generalship, gallantry and firmness, in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey.' (We would here state that this sword was ordered before the battle of Buena Vista was fought, which accounts for this brilliant achievement not forming a part of the record here.)

"The sword for General Butler, like that for General Taylor, is made according to the prescribed form of weapon for a Major-General; has a silver grip, is ornamented in the head with a fine Brazilian topaz, and embellished in a style of similar elegance. It contains the following inscription:

"Presented by the people of Kentucky to Major-General William O. Butler, in testimony of his daring gallantry in heading his brave division in the desperate charge against a battery in the battle of Monterey.'

"The sword intended for Major Barber's widow is a steel sabre, gold mounted, with silver grip, handsomely engraved and decorated, and having a pale topaz in the head. The inscription was as follows:

"Presented by the people of Kentucky to the widow of Major Philip Norbourne Barber, in testimony of his services as a patriot and his achievements as a soldier, the chivalry of his life and the glory of his death.'

"These swords were ordered by a committee of gentlemen appointed by Governor Owsley. They are to be in Frankfort at the opening of the next Legislature of the State of Kentucky."

8*

MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM J. WORTH.

GENERAL WORTH was born in the city of Hudson, Columbia county, New York. The first of the name in this country came from Devonshire, England, and settled in Massachusetts in 1642. The general's father followed the sea, was a man of character and capacity; his mother was the daughter of Marshall Jenkins, Esq., one of the original proprietors of the city of Hudson. Worth was educated for, and bred up to mercantile pursuits; but, as he once said to an acquintance, "he was not born to be a merchant;" meaning that his inclinations pointed another way, and that the cast and character of his mind disqualified him for the avocation.

On the declaration of war in 1812, he was a resident of Albany; and though but eighteen years of age, determined at once to enter the service: but unable to get a commission, or impatient of the delay, which those who apply for office sometimes experience, he joined the army as a private secretary to Major-General Lewis, who finding him more inclined to the field than the desk, and having no vacancy in his own family, very kindly recommended him to Scott, who was then at the head of his brigade on the Canada frontier. Scott immediately appointed him his aid and placed him on his staff.

In the active and spirited campaign which ensued, he distinguished himself as a brave and gallant soldier. He was with Scott in the battles of Chippewa and Niagara, where he distinguished himself in a manner that won the entire approval of his able commander. "The family of General Scott," says the commander, Brown, in his official report of Niagara, "were conspicuous in the field, Lieutenant Smith, of the 6th infantry, the major of the brigade, and Lieutenants Worth and Watts his aids." He was rewarded by government [August 19th, 1814] with a captaincy. At the celebrated battle of Niagara he received a severe wound,