Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1852-10-23

| for the doomed twenty.shree ISishnen etaken
home to beexecuted."
Now it appears from the very act Of Cougress
,ghieh Scott pretends he had caused TO be passed,
that prisoners of genuine English descent could
not be selected in the first oin the second instance
The law makes the selection OF the hrst ana sec
ond class. and the first mght INCLUDE Ar,snmen q
naturaized who had gone over to canada and
iuined the British standard, If any such there were
The second class was specified for the purpose Of
making the tory refugees born IN our country VINO
had taken up arms againstit, furnish the next VIC
Tins. And in the last place, the law alowe1 any
British subject wherever found and whether taken
in not, to be put death in retaliation for
the execution of any American citizen, but did not
allow Scott forthwith to make the selection, or to
make it at alI but the President of the U. Sand
unluckily for his long memory, itappears that in
the yerv case of the % prisoners he cites for his
lown-the President did not depute him to act in
the matter at all, but did depute Gen. Dearborn. a
fact shown by that careful collector of news during
1he war, Niles, who quotes in 4th VOL of his Reg
lister, page -238, the following passage from Gen.
Dearborn letter. II have taken measures an rela-
ton to the 90 prisoners WhO are to be PIT in close
confinement
l. Hence it appears that SCOTS attempt to take on
himself the functions of the President of Congress
and of Dearborn, with respect to the retaliatory
measures proves to be a failure from the begin
ming to the end. The whole drama must pass for
fiction, unless he can bring forward some of the
spectators of that remarkable theatrical scene of
which we have in tie autobiography such an inter
esting wood -cut-the % Irish prisoners to a man,
landing on the quay at n. Y. and embracing him.
''Singularly enough it so happened this is the
written account and is the conversational idiom of
Scott himself TSngularly enoughit SO happened
chat the very day of the landing of these old
comrads of Scott on the wharf, their commander
and friend then still suffering from his old wounds,
passed along the quay on foot. He was instantly
recognized by the now liberated prisoners, and
knowing all he had accomplished in their behalf,
| they rushed upon him with cheers, expressing
fervor of affection, gratitude and delight that it is
impossible to describe Their JOY unbounded
as the recognition became mutual. He was seized
and shaken till the mingled pain of his wounds and
the emotions produced by such heartfelt exhibit
Ftion caused even the tear of stalwart manhood to
course unbdden down his cheek How like
novel this reads! and how marvellous are the many
condolences There were upwards of 600 pris-
oners carried to England to to the charge
of treason The % ofScott's drama stuck togeth-
er in going over to England, hung together thro'
all the changes of their imprisonment in that
try and it 'sngularly SO happened after the close
of the war; when they were, liberated, they all
got together On the same ship, reached n. Y. at
particular quay where they landed and it, singu-
Iarly so happened too, that knowing all he had
accomplished in their behalf" that is, that he had
got the law passed to take % OF the genuine Eng
fish in their stead, had taken them prisoners, put
: them in confinement and so delivered them 1.-THE
t Irishmen )-thngs that never happened at N T.,
or ever happened at all. The 90 crushed upon
HIM, . and he was seized and shaken until the pain
of his wounds &c, brought aboutthe catastrophe
of forcing the tear of stalwart manhood To course
: unbidden down his check" Now it must be re-
membered that this wound is itself contradiction
to this story, for the hero not still suffering
: from it after the close Of tie war.
e. Now why is this scene between the IrisLpen
S ane Scott SO deliberately worked up and connected
with such narrative in regard to his establishing
: the retalatory system, and acting with sach zeal
! under. it for the Irish, every word of which is
. shown to be false BY the authentic history Of the
Il country 1t has It's origin IN the same motive
which producedt the following declaration in Scott
letter of March last, in the Irish committee cell
brating St Patrick's day
; perhaps nc. man" says Gen. Scott certainly
no American, owes SO much to the valor and bleod
of Irishmen myself. Many of them marched
and fought under my command in the war OF 1912
t Is; and many 1nore-theusands in the recent
war with Mexico, not one of whom was ever known
! to turn his back upon the enemy or friend
? am, Gentlemen, with very cordial respect.
r WINFIELD. SCOTT.
And yet this man hung whole company of so
Irishmen. called St. Patricks legion, by patoons,
: for deserving his standard and fighting for the
2 Mexicans -''ih the recent aoar ciA MexicoI' No
] doubt these deluded men were justly condemned;
! but there ght be something in the motives of
f their desert n to extenuate their crime They
r deserted to standard to which they were invok-
ed by their religious faith, and they defended it
Il IN the field with courage which extorted praise
: even from their deeply provoked vanqushers-
D They fought after the Mexicans had fed with the
enthusiasm of the crusaders when the Cross was
their only banner. They suffered under SCOTS
E orders the highest penalty that the martial law
could infict. Some four or FIVE of them, and a.
mong them Riley, their leader, from the fact that
they had deserted in time of peace, could not be
brought under the death penalty. These were
E burned in each cheek with hot iron and scourg-
a ed to the last extremity with the cat The rest,
about fifty in number, hung in platoons as al
ready stated. No Communication of sentence was
d allowed, nor was the remarkable fact that Riley
the ringleader and seducer of the rest, was nee
essarily permitted to go Scott Free having desert
ed before the war; suffered to operate in favor of
D the duPes of his more intelligent and command
ing spirit This strange exception only distinguish
es this execution from that sort of Spanish ven
q geance which delights in mass massacre. But
r there is another striking particular which distin-
guishes this military execution en- masses, from any
: other in history Necessity sometimes compels