New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-02-16
THE SCOTT IND DAVIS CORRESPOND
ENCE.


of nation we must lay bare the moral bers of its
representative men. We must get behind the GAL
yanized actor in technical duties the sober mask of
merely correct professional bearing, the unitoned
phases Of ordinary social requirements, into the
inner life, the penetralia Of the domestic world, aud
then We begin to arrive at truth regards the COM
ponens of history men. Books written like Iryings
Washington give little idea of the man, separated
and apart from his public duties aud his company
manners 1t s the fashion Geographically to puff;
to follow the de mortuis doctrine. The biographer
| sets out with making his subject saint or hero,
| not man. Truths of persons are the want Of the
| age. The world after all, is generous. 1t would
think better of great by seeing his ttleness.
| 1t wishes to know how he diced and Grabbed drank
and swore; looked into Tartarus, but did not fall
| in. The laws Of God were made before Washing
tons and Websters and the truth, the whole truth,
| and nothing but the truth, about men, is what is
desired nation that requires to be saved by the
seccharine swndles of biography as they are apt TO
be written, is not worth preservation. Deliver US
from the exoterc blinds and halter, and give US the
esoteric microscope and telescope We wish, il Is
true, to see far; but we wish, likewise to close.
| We are partial to Orion, the Milky Way, aud The
Bears Great and Little; but We find the laws of all
these all their dynamics aud ineffabeness, in the
merest drop of water.
This mode Of veneerng the coarse but strong
grained 6bers Of men over with asbinng and rotten
sentimentalsm and good nature has not antiquity to
recommend it. TIE good old Book tells the truth
| about men. Hence, apart from its sacred char.
acter, its tough hide against the tooth OF time.
IfAbrabam was pous, he did not behave like
gentleman when he drove Hsgar and Ishmael into
the wilderness. II Moses was patriotic. he COM
mtted homicide on the Egyptian. If David sang
| like an angel and fought Like grisly bear, he
| behaved like l,cherous coward and villain
| toward Uriah and his wife. Peter cursed and
! swore, and denied his Master Paul the Great
play ed the fool and prosecutor the larger part Of
| his life. So, too, XenOphon and Homer, how real
ard sturdy are their portraits Of their old heroes
| and old blsckeuards. They give smashing blows
with tongue and sword. They do everything with
will. If lost TO grace, they are saved to
reality. They are men. And beDisons, too, for
| the same sturdy reasons, on Gibbons head. If his
style be stately SO is the Parthenon, the Coliseum.
But be gives US the blisterDg facts reg .rding his
| men. And when the facts become too strong for
| Saxon, we get them in dead-tongued notes. Thus
| his characters come down like giants through all
the centuries. They are preserved in Attic salt
not in American sugar. We learn the old times,
ss they were, from the men representing the
pstioD. We find that the poet spoke the truth
when he shrieked:
| Qua divitibus gems accepti..ima nostrs,
Nee pudor obstabit. Non pO..um ferre ouihes,
Grscsm urbem. qusmvis quota porto fscis Aches'
| Jampridem syrus In Tiberim deau1it OrOntes
| 1T insuam, 81 mores lbcne cnordAs
| Obhquss, necnop geniilia tympans secum
| VeIt, ct ad Circum jussss prostrare puenas.
| 1t ceTomalico fert niceeTis COLO"
| We are moved to make these congratulations from
having read volume of $40 mortal pages, being
the "Messsge from the President Of the United
Estates, communicating in compliance with reso-
| "lutiops Of the Senate of December % and 80,
"lo56, certain information respecting the pay and
"emolument of Lieut<nant-Genera Scott. Read
land referred to the Committee on Military A.
| fairs, Feb. L. 1857" This document is dewy-
| fresh, and slab and good OK roasted whole.
Here We have in plain Congressional print as
"jOlly liDgual setto as Shakespeare could have
| desired for the overture Of sword fight beswlxt
Richmond ard Richard, or Hector and Achilles.
We welcome this volume. II is so real. II is
such contribution TO our history. We learn how
Generals and Secretaries talk TO one another when
eff parade. DO We think any the worse Of General
Scott for his ohurgations Not st all: he is Of
such good stature in etiquettes measurement that
he can afford 10 lose few inches and vet be tall.
Do we think any less of Jefferson Davis, No:
for tSat would be difficult. II appears that Lieut..
General Scott claimed "a further allowance" Of
S5,4S5 az FIVE per cent commission for receiving
aid disbursipg military contributions in Mexico to
the amount Of 1892 600, being that Of two receipts
~ Capt. NJ NJ. Clark, Assistant Qusrtermaster, of
August, 1850 and February, 1855. The claim laid
before the Secretary of War aud the President was
returned to the Treasury Department, Endorsed as
follows:
The within differs that ordinarily presented when
oeI tails satisfactorily pubic pl,eed
IN hs hands in this. that genera Scott tburlE
ooer and OBTAINED the without Competent
authority BY giving h, receipts an Assistant
who had public FUNDS in 81. hands dbcreu-nf Auee-
C the Pre.deut JEFrN DAVIS secretary Of Wa"
My decision the percentage be so.el Gen Scott
eerped That decision 10 the following words, Wit
In the Of General Scot's s hereby an
thoIized TO retain the entire sam Of sslss Cd w
40 BE- instituted against General the recovery f the
Of money referred 70 IN the within letter a. hsyus
beer received BY nm from Capt Clark Assistant Qsa
eEusser United States Army n August 1880 ard 10 F-br