Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1852-05-06
Gen. Scott and the Wing Party


OF all scenes which have ever been record
ed. that which recently occurred in the House
of Congress, exposing the proceedings of the
wbio caucus, is probably that which the public
will regard as unparalleled for the display of
ludjcrous pretension and unworthy profession.
General Scott himself furnishes the best COM
ment upon it in the following letter written
about year ago; .t
WASHINGTON, March &c, 1851.
SIR:-I have received your letter, (marked
tconfdential,'' y in which, after committing the
error of supposing me to be "fully before the
country as the wing candidate for The preslden-
cy,' you proceed to interrosate me on many
points of grave public interest.
Permit me to say that, considering we shall
probably have wing candidate for the presl-
dency through National Convention, and that
l cannot be its nominee, except by the force OF
the unsolicited partiality of large masses OF my
countrymen-
Considering, also, that if my character or
principles be not already known, it i00uld be
idle to- attempt to supply the deficient impression
by mere paper professions of wisdom and viz
tue made for the occasion
And considering that, If l anslOer your que
ries, l must go on and answer others already
before me, as well as the long series that would
inevitably follow, to the disgust Of the public
will beg permission TO close this acknowl-
edgment of your letter by subscribing myself,
with great respect, your obedIent servant,
WINFIELD SCOTT.
-, esq, Harrisburg, Pa.
P.S. must add that write and say moth
ing on public subjects which am unwilling 10
see published. w. D.
The great wing party which humbugged the
country by putting an honest old soldier into
the Presidential chair-a soldier who declared
that he knew nothing about the political inter-
ests of his country, and who in few short
months came very near involving us in all the
horrors of civil war-that same party now dis
closes the intention of making the same exper-
iment by bringing forward man who is GER
tainly superior to Gen. Taylor in the vanity
which would make civil power in his hands
unsafe, if not dangerous and destructive
There can be no better proof of this fact, than
the conceit which controlled General Scott
ries for fear of disgusting the public-a senti-
ment which, if it proceeds from any intelligent
perception of the nature of our institutions, is in
direct conflict with their spirit and character;
for all must admit that there can be no political
responsibility TO the people if they are not to
know the principles and views of public policy
which are to guide the Chief Magistrate they
are called upon TO elect.
The editor of the Washington Union re-
CARDS the above letter of General Scott, as the
most appropriate key to the present revelations
of wing thought, because of all the letters
which have emanated from its author unaided
by political wire-workers, it is probably the
most creditable and the most characteristic
His Condemnation letter-his Native
American leiter-hs subsequent letter of re-
cantation, and all his early correspondence,
show very clearly that if he speaks his own
thoughts he is in danger of misleading, if not
of disgusting, the public. But is not the de-
sign to put such a man in the highest Office now
known to the world exactly in keeping with
the old Federal ideas of his party? Is not
such design the natural result of the theory
of the elder Adams that the people were not
fit TO be entrusted with power, and that the
British was model government because its
nominal monarch was but the instrument by
which the rich and the ,ceH born made the peo-
pie their he.Uers Of ,Uood and dra,rers Of ,rate'