[From Senate Journal, Thirty-first Congress, first session, p. 443.]
WASHINGTON, _July 10, 1850_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:_
I have to perform the melancholy duty of announcing to you that it has
pleased Almighty God to remove from this life Zachary Taylor, late
President of the United States. He deceased last evening at the hour of
half-past 10 o'clock, in the midst of his family and surrounded by
affectionate friends, calmly and in the full possession of all his
faculties. Among his last words were these, which he uttered with
emphatic distinctness:
I have always done my duty. I am ready to die. My only regret is
for the friends I leave behind me.
Having announced to you, fellow-citizens, this most afflicting
bereavement, and assuring you that it has penetrated no heart with
deeper grief than mine, it remains for me to say that I propose this day
at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in the
presence of both Houses of Congress, to take the oath prescribed by the
Constitution, to enable me to enter on the execution of the office which
this event has devolved on me.