Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1852-09-22

the ohly conmenG 10 De maze upOl
that matter is, that if Gen. Scott done hi
professional duty in satisfactory manner
he has been very satisfactorily renumera
ted therefor,
But the extra pay and allowances, and
the moneys unlawfully withheld by hin
from the Treasury of the United States
which figure in these statements to the
enormous and unprecedented amount Of
forty thousand dollars and upwards
certainly do deserve the comment of the
press, and the attention of the public
Let us glance over the items: ..s.
First, we find that Gen. Scott retains in
his possession without warrant of law,
one sum of $7,885 10. This sum is a
commission of three and half per cent,
which General Scott has appropriated to
himself, on $225.291 as which passed
through his hands from the contribu-
tons, gamblers license, tobacco, &C.,
levied by him in Mexico. During the
war, officers of the army were detached
to act as custom house officers; and emit
tied to commission for such services by
an act of Congress passed March Sd,
1849. But moneys received in the form
of contributions, &C., do not come within
that act. Consequently, the sum Of
81 900 retained by Gen. Scott is not his.
He has no right to it. 1t is withheld
contrary to law. Such is the statement
of Mr.. Conard, the present Wing Secre-
tary of War. Here are his words:
" In applying this act the act of March
3, 1849 to particular cases doubts arose
whether the clause allowing the comp
pcnsation applied to contributions levied
elsewhere than at ports, and in the form
of duties on imports, The opinion of
the Attorney General was solicited on
this question, and on the 18th day of
March last, that officer gave an opinion
in the negative. According to this in
depreciation of the act of March 3, 1849,
General Scott was not authorized by that
act to retain the above sum of 81, $3.50 10,
as the collections or contributions on
which the charge was based were not
made at a seaport, but in the interior"
Now we must be permitted to say that
this is one of the most extraordinary de-
velopments in official history. Here
General Scott is seen to pocket 81, 1886 10
of the peoples money, without one shad-
ow of authority to do so-against the
consent of the Secretary of War, and
against the opinion of the Attorney Gen
eral ofthe United States. He has taken
it unlawfully. The act of the highway
man is in no respect different-save in
Importance. But the highwayman is vo K.
ted lodging in the penitiary therefor
General Scott in the White House.
We next find that he claimed and got
two thousand one hundred and sixty
four dollars seventy nine cents for 'perso-
nal expenses and loss by exchanges in Eu-
rope In 1915, General SCOTT desired to
amuse himself abroad, and got from the
Executive vague and unintelligible
commission to observe the politicel condi-
ton of thiugs-merely with view to
pay his expenses there. He WAS then re-
cciving the pay of brigadter General,
and, to pay his expenses, the government
agreed to let him have the pay of a ma
jor-general while travelling, This favor
was granted in letter from the Secreta-
ry of War, to Gen. Scott, dated June
10, 1916, the following extract from which
will explain the whole matter:
GAS a compensation for the trouble Of
this informal agency, such allowance will
be made from the contingent fund for for
cign intercourse MS will secure you from
any disappointment in the receipt of an
income equal to the pay and emoluments
of Major General. But you will under
stand that beyond that amount, from
whatever fund it may be paid, no COM
pensation is to be expected on your part"
Thus the full pay of major-general
was all that he had right to during that
trip. But when General Scott returns, he
charges the government with
Loss by difference of exchange 81 ,1O5 80
Allowance for sew'ts and horses 1868 OF
2,164 rs
For neither of these charges had he
any legal warrant. AS to the frst--loss
by cxchange-our foreign ministers
whether Ambassador extraordinary or
Resident-and down to the smallest
Charge and Consul-one and all of them
have paid it out of their purse. They do
it now, they did it ia that day, and they
did it before that day,-this charge is
therefore, in every sense of the word an
"extra."
The document named as No. 3 in the
list of those sent in by the Second Audit
or, being an exhibit of the allowances
made to Gen. Scott for services "not in
the line of his duty" contains the follow
ingitems:
1919.
/. Per diem Of six dollars for
288 days while compiling
military work for the Army ST ,428 90
1896
9. Per diem of six dollars
from LIST ofJuly, 1924, to
1st July, 1895, while revi-
sing said work on Infantry
Tactics, $1,000 90
8. For same service from list
Feb. to 3lst March, 1926, 354 90
1889.
a. Pcr diem of eiubt dOlloro