WASHINGTON, _July 10, 1850_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
A great man has fallen among us, and a whole country is called to an
occasion of unexpected, deep, and general mourning.
I recommend to the two Houses of Congress to adopt such measures as in
their discretion may seem proper to perform with due solemnities the
funeral obsequies of Zachary Taylor, late President of the United
States, and thereby to signify the great and affectionate regard of
the American people for the memory of one whose life has been devoted
to the public service, whose career in arms has not been surpassed in
usefulness or brilliancy, who has been so recently raised by the
unsolicited voice of the people to the highest civil authority in the
Government, which he administered with so much honor and advantage to
his country, and by whose sudden death so many hopes of future
usefulness have been blighted forever.
To you, Senators and Representatives of a nation in tears, I can say
nothing which can alleviate the sorrow with which you are oppressed. I
appeal to you to aid me, under the trying circumstances which surround
me, in the discharge of the duties from which, however much I may be
oppressed by them, I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in
His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite
strength for the task and to avert from our country the evils
apprehended from the heavy calamity which has befallen us.
I shall most readily concur in whatever measures the wisdom of the two
Houses may suggest as befitting this deeply melancholy occasion.