TAYLOR, RICHARD. 



tion was submitted to a popular vote on May 

 18th, when it was adopted by 196,197 to 177,- 

 263 votes. The cantons of Zurich, Bern, Ba- 

 sel Oity, Basel Country, Thurgau, Neufchutel, 

 and Geneva voted against it. 



In December the Federal Assembly elected 

 Dr. Welti of Aargau as President, and M. An- 

 derwelt of Thurgau as Vice-President of the 

 Swiss Confederation for 1880. 



An important decision was given by the Fed- 



eral Council in an appealed case on July 26th. 

 The government of the Canton of Zurich in 

 1878 combined the Reformed and Catholic pri- 

 mary schools in one of its villages. The Cath- 

 olic school officers appealed to the Federal 

 Council against this action as unconstitutional. 

 The Council disallowed the appeal, as the Fed- 

 eral Constitution simply provides that the pub- 

 lic schools shall bo open to children of all re- 

 ligious denominations. 



T 



TAYLOR, General RIOHABD, the only son of 

 General Zachary Taylor, born January 27, 1826, 

 died in New York, April 12th. His ances- 

 tor, James Taylor, emigrated from England in 

 1682, and settled in southern Virginia. From 

 him were descended two Presidents of the Uni- 

 ted States, James Madison and Zachary Tay- 

 lor. Another distinguished scion, Richard Tay- 

 lor, was lieutenant-colonel of the 9th Virginia 

 regiment during the Revolutionary war. He 

 married into the Strother family, and in 1791 

 removed to Kentucky. It was at his home- 

 stead, Springfield, near Louisville, Kentucky, 

 that his grandson Richard Taylor, the subject 

 of this sketch, was born. In the following 

 spring he was taken to New Orleans, and the 

 childhood of ^Richard Taylor was passed there 

 or in frontier forts. His introduction to school 

 life was at Fort Snelling, where he was the 

 only white child in a school of half-breeds 

 taught by a missionary. Soon after he was in- 

 stalled in the family of a life-long friend of his 

 father, William C. Bullitt, with whose sons he 

 attended the school of Robert N. Smith in Jef- 

 ferson County, Kentucky. To that able and 

 rigid instructor he was indebted for the founda- 

 tion of his education. At the age of fifteen he 

 was sent to Lancaster, Massachusetts, to be 

 prepared for admission to Yale College. He 

 entered the junior class in 1843, and graduated 

 in 1845. 



At the opening of the Mexican war in 1846 

 he joined his father, who was in command of 

 the forces on the American frontier. Appoint- 

 ed his private secretary and aide-de-camp, he 

 accompanied him through the campaign. He 

 took part in the battles of Monterey, Resaca de 

 la Palma, Palo Alto, Buena Vista, and others, 

 where his father earned that military prestige 

 which bore him triumphantly into the Presi- 

 dential chair. During this period Richard Tay- 

 lor went abroad. He was received everywhere 

 with the highest distinction, which honors he 

 accepted as intended for his country. His 

 elegance of manner and conversational talent 

 would anywhere, without adventitious aid, have 

 secured his social success. 



He afterward resided for some time near 

 Rodney, Mississippi, on a plantation belonging 

 to his father. In 1849 he removed to a sugar 

 estate, Fashion Plantation, St. Charles Parish, 



twenty miles above New Orleans, on the Mis- 

 sissippi River. In 1851 he married Miss Myr- 

 the Bringier. The family of Bringier de Laca- 

 didre are of noble French blood. They emi- 

 grated to Louisiana, where they possessed the 

 Houmas and other estates, more extensive and 

 valuable than many European pricipalities. 

 The lady whom Richard Taylor married shared 

 with fortitude the fortunes of her husband dur- 

 ing the civil war. Their property was confis- 

 cated after the fall of New Orleans in 1862. 

 While a refugee, escaping before the advancing 

 army with her little ones, they were stricken 

 by scarlet fever. One of her boys died on the 

 way, the other only lived to reach Shreveport. 

 lu 1875 she died in New Orleans, leaving three 

 surviving daughters, her four sons having pre- 

 ceded her to the grave. 



For many years Taylor lived the easy, hos- 

 pitable life of a Southern planter. He was 

 fond of society, a voracious reader, and singu- 

 larly unambitious. Several minor offices he 

 filled with credit to himself and the State, but he 

 was indifferent to political preferment, which 

 was clearly within his grasp. The events of 



1860 roused him from his lethargy. He went 

 as delegate to the National Democratic Con- 

 vention held in Charleston in that year, and 

 endeavored to bind together the discordant ele- 

 ments of the party. After the split in the Con- 

 vention he was a delegate to Baltimore. In 



1861 he was Senator from the parish of St. 

 Charles in the State Legislature, and assisted 

 in framing the act calling a State Convention, 

 which met in March and passed the secession 

 ordinance. Taylor was chairman of the Com- 

 mittee on Federal Relations and Defense, a 

 difficult position under a Governor like Moore, 

 economical of public money and wholly in- 

 credulous of the possibility of war. 



After the investment of Fort Pickens, Tay- 

 lor joined General Bragg at Pensacola. While 

 there he was appointed colonel of the 9th Lou- 

 isiana regiment. Hurried on to Richmond, the 

 regiment arrived on the field the day after the 

 first battle of Manassas. It was placed in the 

 brigade of General Walker, who was soon af- 

 ter transferred to a Georgia brigade. Taylor 

 was passed over the heads of the senior colo- 

 nels and made brigadier-general. He unwill* 

 ingly accepted this promotion, which was un- 



