SOLON ROBINSON, 1848 155 



Visit to General Zachary Taylor 



[Daily Cincinnati Gazette, January 4, 1849'] 



Baton Rouge, Dec. 15, 1848. 



My old Friends. — I have just made a visit to the "White 

 House," in which resides that good old man we have 

 selected to bring about a much needed reform in affairs 

 at Washington. I found Gen. Taylor, not exactly in 

 camp, but dwelling in a small house of as humble pre- 

 tentions as himself, in the garrison here.^ 



As well as I was satisfied before, I am more so since 

 I have become personally acquainted with him, and some 

 of his immediate neighbors. 



None except the bitterest Locofocos speak of him in 

 anything but terms of deep respect for his excellent char- 

 acter, and in full satisfaction of his commanding abilities 

 and talents for the office of President. 



Gen. Taylor told me that he was already overwhelmed 

 with applications for office : so much so that it occupied 

 all his time not necessarily devoted to business, to read 

 the numerous letters, many of which are long and tedi- 

 ous, so that it is quite out of his power to give answers. 

 "Besides," says the Gen., "I am not yet President, and 

 when I am, let these applications be made through the 

 proper departments, and if it is wished to remove an in- 

 cumbent, let it be shown that he does not answer the 

 Jeffersonian standard for an office-holder, and that the 

 applicant does ; for as far as lies in my power, I intend 

 that all new appointments shall be of men honest and 

 capable. I do not intend to remove any man from office 

 because he voted against me, for that is a freeman's priv- 



' This article appeared in the Logansport Telegraph, January 13, 

 1849, under the heading "Correspondence of the Cincinnati Ga- 

 zette." 



' General Taylor had been placed in command of the southern 

 division of the western department of the Army in 1840. His home 

 at Baton Rouge was a simple cottage consisting of three or four 

 rooms, inclosed under galleries, and had been originally erected for 

 the captain commandant when the post belonged to Spain. How- 

 ard, Oliver Otis, General Taylor, 76-78 (New York, 1892). 



