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Letter from Zachary Taylor to Gen. Peter Sken Smith, July 6, 1847.

HEADQUARTERS, ARMY OF OCCUPATION,
July 6, 1847.

* * * I can only say with all candor, that if elected to that office it must be by the spontaneous will of the people at large, and without agency or pledge on my part in any particular. If ever I fill that high office it must be untrammeled with party obligations or interests of any kind, and under none but those which the constitution and the high interests of the nation at large most seriously and solemnly demand.

I do not desire the Presidency, and only yield thus far my assent, to be considered a candidate in the same proportion in which it is desired by the people, irrespective of party.

Z. TAYLOR.

Gen. Peter Sken Smith, Philadelphia.