Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 2 (of 2)Curtis, George Ticknor
History
Life of James Buchanan, Fifteenth President of the United States. v. 2 (of 2)
Curtis, George Ticknor
Buchanan, James, 1791-1868
General Scott has quarrelled with General Wilkinson—he has quarrelled
with General Gaines—he has quarrelled with General Jackson—he has
quarrelled with De Witt Clinton—he has quarrelled with the
administration of John Quincy Adams—he has quarrelled with the people
of Florida to such a degree that General Jackson was obliged
reluctantly to recall him from the command of the army in the Seminole
war—he has quarrelled with General Worth, the Marshal Ney of our
military service—he has quarrelled with General Pillow—he has
quarrelled with the gallant and lamented Duncan—and unless report
speaks falsely, he has quarrelled with General Taylor. Whenever any
military man has approached the rank of being his rival for fame, he
has quarrelled with that man. Now, I shall not pretend to decide,
whether he has been in the right or in the wrong, in all or in any of
these quarrels; but this I shall say, that a man possessing such
forethought, discretion and calm temper as the Presidential office
requires, might and would have avoided many or most of these
difficulties. A plain and sensible neighbor of mine asked me, in view
of these facts, if I did not think, should General Scott be elected
President, he would play the devil and break things?
General Scott is, beyond all question, suspicious, when the President
of the United States, above all other men, ought to look upon events
with no prejudiced or jaundiced eye. No man ever exhibited this trait
of character in a stronger light than he has done towards the
administration of Mr. Polk. He was selected by the President to lead
our armies in Mexico, with my humble though cordial assent. The
political life or death of the administration depended upon his
success. Our fate, both in the estimation of the present times and
throughout all posterity, depended upon his success. His defeat would
have been our ruin. And yet he most strangely conceived the notion,
that for the purpose of destroying him we were willing to destroy
ourselves. Hence his belief of a fire in the rear more formidable than
the fire in the front. Hence his belief that, jealous of his glory, we
did not exert ourselves to furnish him the troops and munitions of war
necessary for the conquest of Mexico. Did unjust and unfounded
suspicion ever extend thus far in the breast of any other mortal man?
The admirable and unanswerable letter of Governor Marcy, of April 21,
1848, in reply to his complaints, triumphantly vindicates the
administration of Mr. Polk against all these extraordinary charges.
Let any man carefully and dispassionately read that letter, and say,
if he can, that General Scott, in self-control, temper and
disposition, is fit to become the successor to General Washington, in
the Presidential chair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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