Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1852-09-10
Why we Support Gen. Scott.
Extract from the speech of Judge Conrad
at Harrisburg.

Some forty-fve years since youthful stu
dent sat IN the office of q sage Of the Old
Dominion. b. Watkins Leigh, and pondered
on the condition Of his country and the duty
that he owed her. The times were out of
joint. The nations seemed loosened from
their moOrings and were driven and clashing
on the waves Of an almost universal war,
like lcebergs in Il polar tempest Our own
bright land did not escape the storm, Her
flag had been outraged on every sea; her
sons dragged into slavery, and even forced to
raise 4 paracidal arm against their country.
War was inevitable, and at fearful odds-a
war not only fur honor and freedom, but for
existence itself. Was it we'll that he, that
gifted student, every pulse Of whose heart
beat for his country, should nurse her schemes
of tranquil ambition, when such peril and
such a duty invoked him? No; and his
high brow glowed and his quick eye flashed,
as he vowed himself, for life or death, TO the
cause Of his country. BY that resolve was
Winfield Scott-every faculty Of his high ma
ture, every drop Of his noble heart-dedica-
ted to the duties of patriotism Never was
a purer offering laid upon "a holier altar
and for that, that noble resolve and its nobler
iulhlment, do | now claim your admiration
and gratitude.
The gathering clouds soon burst upon our
country. She struggled, but her heart seem
ed, for a time, faint, and her arm nerveless
Calamity followed calamity, until, in the base
surrender of Hull, treason and reproaeh
were added to her affections. Her heart
swelled, her frame quivered with rage and
she shed hot tears of shame and sorrow.
One patriot there was who determined that
the gulf Of shame like that of Curtius,
should be closed, though it entombed him;
and he offered himself a sacrifice. In the
desperate struggle on the heights of Queens
town, death itself seemed to shrink from his
daring. You are the target Of every rifle
cover your uniform with this coat said
kearney TO Scott. Never was the reply;
| will die in my robes l derive this fact
from General kearney himself. Surrendered
by an overwhelming force, Scott thus address
sed his men. Can Greek or Roman story af-
ford parallel? Hull's ignominious surren-
/ DER he said, must be retrieved. Let US,
/ then, die arms in hand. Our country de-
mands the sacrifice The example will not
be lost. The blood of the slain will make
heroes of the living. Who is ready for the
sacrifice" HulPs surrender was retrieved
their gallantry did wipe out the stain-the
first and last--of our country but Scott be-
came the prisoner Of the foe ; and, amid the
perils and priyations of such a captivity, sur
rounded by British tyrants and Indian as
sassins, he filed the first measure of his
sacrifices for his country. For this, | ask
your votes for the patriot, and inquire, in his
/ words at Queenstown, ARE YOU READY?'
Again Scott was free-again at the head of
gallant band of frcemen-and again before
a superior force of the enemy; for his have
| been no holiday achievements every laurel
/ upon his brow has cost death struggle,
/ Lundy's Lane is one of the best fought bat
ties in history. The sun went down upon
the conflict, and the night wore on-the har
vest moon struggling through the clouded
heavens and ftfully lighting up the field
where death was the only reaper; and yet
volley answed volley, deafening Niagara,
and the clash of bayonets and the shrieks
and shouts of the combatants still made
night hideous. Scott was the very spirit Of
the battle-storn. His tall form was seen,
crimson with blood, in every desperate eddy
of the fight, and his clarion voice was heard
above the widest conflict He throttled VIC
tory, and conquered against fate. And when
covered with wounds supposed to be mortal,
ne fell, his last words were orders to charge,