The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1851-11-05
9.
From the Portland Eastern Argus, Oct. IA
Gen. Scctt's Letter.

We mentioned a dav or two since that Gen
Scott had written n letter to somebody in Penn
sylvania, declining to give his opinions on ih,
gre at questions of the day. The letter itself il
! so remarkable that we deem it worth while t,
place it on record in our columns
! @ "WAsuINGroN, March %, 1851.
SIR; have received you letter (marked "con.
fdential'') in which, after committing the errtr
of supposing me to be .s!ul, before the coutry
as the whig candidate for the presidency, = you
proceed To nterrogate me on many points OF
grave public interest
Permit me to say that, considering we shall
probably, only have whig candidate for the
presidency through the national convention.
and that cannot be the nominee except by the
! force Of the unsolicited partaty of large mass
ies of my countrymen-
Considering, also, that if my character or
principles be not already known, it would now
be idle to attempt to supply the deficient infor
nation by mere paper professions of wisdom
and virtue, made for the occasion .fa
And considering that, if | must 90 on, and
answer others already before me, as well as the
long series that would inevitably follow, to the
disgust of the public
/ beg permission to close this acknow ledge
ment of your letter by subscribing myself, with
great respect, &c.
WINFIELD SCOTT.
P. S. | must add that write and say nothing
on public subjects which am unwilling to see
published"
The General he's no more mercy on the En-
glish language than upon the enemy in the heat
OF battle. We wonder that while he was pen
ming the above, the ghost of Lindey Murray
had not appeared and called for .squar,er.''
He talks of "mere paper profess ions of wis
dom and virtue, and declines furnishing them
to his correspondent. We doubt, however,
whether an honest, straight forward, manly ex-
preston upon the various exciting topics o. the
day, and upon which the two great parties
divided, would have been particularly henous
offence. Time was when General Scott had
penchant for letter writing. His pen was ready
al minutes warning upon any subject. Bat
he has burned his fingers so often with 'shasty
plates Of SOUP that we presume he has deter
mined hereafter TO keep silent; or--which is
more likely such men Seward having ta-
ken him in keeping, and, knowing his leak,
ness, have ordered him to be mum. Very like
ly it is a renewal of the commtteeship that
Gagged poor old General Harrison.
s.There is but one step from the sublime to
the ridiculous" and General Scott has taken
that sep. #
General" writes correspondent, sthe com
Uni,n: as you are a candidate for til, PIE st2n
cy, will you say what your opinion of those
measures is a.ts..g- ..s# s5- t-..s1 r....4 aar
"No, sir" responds the General. '.Look to
my character or principles.
''Well, will you be good enough to tell us
what you think of The fugitive slave law or the
tariff? You see, General, we want to know
for arhat as well as for ,chom we vote Neither
your past "character nor principles eniighten
on these points
''Sir, con-sid ering sundry objections, shall
answer nothing" aaa tea
This game of stupidity has been played by
two whg generals with success, and third one
thinks he win in the same way. He will
find himself mistaken.
He shows excellent good sense, by the way,
in one paragraph for he says if he were to an
swer the queries put to him, it would be s'to tie
disgust Of the public" We have not the slight
est doubt of it.
His postscript is magnanimous. Having de-
clined saying anything, he boldly avows that he
is perfectly willing to have what lie writes and
says published Exquisite