Daily American telegraph., 1852-08-17
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH.
From the Henderson (Ky.) Courier.l
General Scott as a Statesman'

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From the Henderson (Ky) Courerl
General Scott statesman'
GA military man, from the very nature OF his
vocation, is unfit for civil post. !, IS
no pallation of this ruinous Wing pohey that
Washington and Jackson were elected Tor they
were statesmen by intuition, study, and practice
Democratic Banner.
If your military man were mere bully, whose
reputation depended on the number of heads and
limbs which he cut off with his own sword, 1t
would be true. But we aver that il requires
precisely the same talents and the same mental
operations to conduct n long and complicated
campaign as it does to conduct the civil affairs OF
a nation What are necessary in either case
Judgment, forecast, prudence, energy, ana a
mind comprehensive of general principles, as wen
rs the ten thousand details to which these prln-
ciples are to be applied.
We repeat then that TO control the operation
of an army and to provide against the accidents
and arduous difficulties of great national war
a war of invasion, like that of Mexico, in which
great country is to be conquered; or war OF de-
fence, like that of the Revolution, in which great
country is to be saved-requires and absolutely
demands the highest order Of administrative and
executive talent, such as renders man fitted to
WELD the civil destinies of nation. But you
tell US that Washington and Jackson were states
men by intuition, study, and practice. Suppose
they were. How did the people know it? How
did the convention which formed the constitu-
ton know that Gen. Washington was fitted for
the difficult and responsible position Of president
of that body? They justly conceived that the
same administrative talent which he had mani
tested throughout the long and doubtful contest
of the Revolution would fit him for the highest
civil post. The people of the country endorsed
the Judgment of the convention by electing the
same George Washington the first President of
the United States. Yet this man. whose spirit is
invoked as the tuteary god of the nation, who
is called the Father of his Country, was found
upon the trial to be not only first in war, but first
in peace, and his memory now lives first in the
hearts Of his countrymen.
1t comes with a bad grace from the Democratic
party to blame us for wishing to elevate to the
Presidency the most distinguished military chief
tain Of the age, on the Western or the Eastern
continent. What did the people know of General
jackson but that he was the successful leader o.
our forces at the battles Of Horse Shoe Bend anG
New Orleans? He had fought for the people
he had fought well--he had triumphed over theil
great enemy; and, as the reward of his patriotic
services, the people conferred upon him the high
est honor in their gift. But you tell us that " il
is highly probable that General Scott knows little
nothing of the duties of statesman" Thenit is
highly probable that with the increased expert
ence of forty years he now knows less of sucl
duties than when at the close of our last struggle
with Britain, he offered the civil post of Sec
rotary of War by the great Madison, and when
he was scarcely thirty years of age. Was Mr.
Madison a fool? He knew General Scott-he
knew him to possess a mind which was fully ca
pable of discharging the arduous duties OF this
high Office.
Why did General Jackson send him to South
Carolina as q pacifcator, when that rebellious
State was about to sever the bonds OF our Union
and declare itself independent of the federal
government? Did he not believe that he possessed
q capacity equal to the most important occa sions
and to the adjustment of difficulties of civil ma
ture and of the most delicate kind Why did
Van Buren, Ia man once honored by the Democ-
racy, then spit upon, and now honored again be-
cause he supports Gen. Pierce) send General Scott
to the New York border in the Canadian difficult
ties? Why did Mr.. Tyler send him to Maine
when the boundary question seemed almost GER
tain to involve the nation in a bloody war with
Great Britain? These are questions which can
not be answered in the presence Of sensible men
In any other way than by a full admission of the
civil and administrative abilities of General
Scott-such as fit him for the Office for which he
has been nominated, anu to which we entertain
no doubt just and patriotic people will elect
him. 1t will be the eliminating point of his
greatness. 1t will be triumph, not of arms. 1t
will be unstaned with blood. 1t will be the tri-
umph of the generous feelings of the nation over
party animosities and the low appeals of dema-
gogues.