University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER IX.

April 10th.—To-day I devoted to packing up such things
as I did not require, and sending them to New York. I received
a characteristic note from General Scott, asking me to
dine with him to-morrow, and apologizing for the shortness
of his invitation, which arose from his only having just heard
that I was about to leave so soon for the South. The General
is much admired by his countrymen, though they do not
spare some "amiable weaknesses;" but, in my mind, he can
only be accused of a little vanity, which is often found in
characters of the highest standard. He likes to display his
reading, and is troubled with a desire to indulge in fine writing.
Some time ago he wrote a long letter to the "National
Intelligencer," in which he quoted Shakespeare and Paley to
prove that President Buchanan ought to have garrisoned the
forts at Charleston and Pensacola, as he advised him to do;
and he has been the victim of poetic aspirations. The General's
dinner hour was early; and when I arrived at his modest
lodgings, which, however, were in the house of a famous
French cook, I found a troop of mounted volunteers of the
district, parading up and down the street. They were not
bad of their class, and the horses, though light, were active,
hardy, and spirited; but the men put on their uniforms badly,
wore long hair, their coats and buttons and boots were
unbrushed, and the horses' coats and accoutrements bore evidence
of neglect. The General, who wore an undress blue
frock-coat, with eagle-covered brass buttons, and velvet collar
and cuffs, was with Mr. Seward and Mr. Bates, the Attorney-General,
and received me very courteously. He was interrupted
by cheering from the soldiers in the street, and by
clamors for "General Scott." He moves with difficulty,
owing to a fall from his horse, and from the pressure of increasing
years; and he evidently would not have gone out

if he could have avoided it. But there is no privacy for public
men in America.

But the General went to them, and addressed a few words
to his audience in the usual style about "rallying round," and
" dying gloriously," and "old flag of our country," and all
that kind of thing; after which, the band struck up "Yankee
Doodle." Mr. Seward called out, "General, make them play
the 'Star-Spangled Banner,' and 'Hail Columbia.'" And so
I was treated to the strains of the old bacchanalian chant,
" When Bibo," &c., which the Americans have impressed to
do duty as a national air. Then came an attempt to play
" God save the Queen," which I duly appreciated as a compliment;
and then followed dinner, which did credit to the
cook, and wine, which was most excellent, from France,
Spain, and Madeira. The only addition to our party was
Major Cullum, aide-de-camp to General Scott, an United
States' engineer, educated at West Point. The General underwent
a little badinage about the phrase "a hasty plate of
soup," which he used in one of his despatches during the
Mexican War, and he appealed to me to decide whether it
was so erroneous or ridiculous as Mr. Seward insisted. I
said I was not a judge, but certainly similar liberal usage of
a well-known figure of prosody might be found to justify the
phrase. The only attendants at table were the General's
English valet and a colored servant; and the table apparatus
which bore such good things was simple and unpretending.
Of course the conversation was of a general character, and
the General, evidently picking out his words with great precision,
took the lead in it, telling anecdotes of great length,
graced now and then with episodes, and fortified by such
episodes as—"Bear with me, dear sir, for a while, that I
may here diverge from the main current of my story, and
proceed to mention a curious—" &c., and so on.

To me his conversation was very interesting, particularly
that portion which referred to his part in the last war, where
he was wounded and taken prisoner. He gave an account of
the Battle of Chippewa, which was, he said, fought on true
scientific principles; and in the ignorance common to most
Englishmen of reverses to their arms, I was injudicious
enough, when the battle was at its height, and whole masses
of men were moving in battalions and columns over the table,
to ask how many were engaged. The General made the
most of his side: "We had, sir, twenty-one hundred and seventy-five

men in the field." He told us how, when the British
men-of-war provoked general indignation in Virginia by
searching American vessels for deserters in the Chesapeake,
the State of Virginia organized a volunteer force to guard the
shores, and, above all things, to prevent the country people
sending down supplies to the vessels, in pursuance of the
orders of the Legislature and Governor. Young Scott, then
reading for the bar, became corporal of a troop of these patrols.
One night, as they were on duty by the banks of the
Potomac, they heard a boat with muffled oars coming rapidly
down the river, and soon saw her approaching quite close to
the shore under cover of the trees. When she was abreast
of the troopers, Scott challenged "What boat is that?"
"It's His Majesty's ship 'Leopard,' and what the d—is
that to you? Give way, my lads!" "I at once called on
him to surrender," said the General, "and giving the word to
charge, we dashed into the water. Fortunately, it was not
deep, and the midshipman in charge, taken by surprise by a
superior force, did not attempt to resist us. We found the
boat manned by four sailors, and filled with vegetables and
other supplies, and took possession of it; and I believe it is
the first instance of a man-of-war's boat being captured by
cavalry. The Legislature of Virginia, however, did not approve
of the capture, and the officer was given up accordingly.

"Many years afterwards, when I visited Europe, I happened
to be dining at the hospitable mansion of Lord Holland,
and observed during the banquet that a gentleman at table
was scrutinizing my countenance in a manner indicative of
some special curiosity. Several times, as my eye wandered
in his direction, I perceived that he had been continuing his
investigations, and at length I rebuked him by a continuous
glance. After dinner, this gentleman came round to me and
said, 'General Scott, I hope you will pardon my rudeness in
staring at you, but the fact is that you bear a most remarkable
resemblance to a great overgrown, clumsy country fellow of
the same name, who took me prisoner in my boat when I was
a midshipman in the "Chesapeake," at the head of a body of
mounted men. He was, I remember quite well, Corporal
Scott.' 'That Corporal Scott, sir, and the individual who
addresses you, are identical one with the other.' The officer
whose acquaintance I thus so auspiciously renewed, was
Captain Fox, a relation of Lord Holland, and a post-captain
in the British navy."

Whilst he was speaking, a telegraphic despatch was brought
in, which the General perused with evident uneasiness. He
apologized to me for reading it by saying the despatch was
from the President on Cabinet business, and then handed it
across the table to Mr. Seward. The Secretary read it, and
became a little agitated, and raised his eyes inquiringly to the
General's face, who only shook his head. Then the paper was
given to Mr. Bates, who read it, and gave a grunt, as it were,
of surprise. The General took back the paper, read it twice
over, and then folded it up and put it in his pocket. "You
had better not put it there, General," interposed Mr. Seward;
" it will be getting lost, or in some other hands." And so the
General seemed to think, for he immediately threw it into the
fire, before which certain bottles of claret were gently mellowing.

The communication was evidently of a very unpleasant
character. In order to give the Ministers opportunity for a
conference, I asked Major Cullum to accompany me into the
garden, and lighted a cigar. As I was walking about in the
twilight, I observed two figures at the end of the little enclosure,
standing as if in concealment close to the wall. Major
Cullum said, "The men you see are sentries I have thought it
expedient to place there for the protection of the General.
The villains might assassinate him, and would do it in a moment
if they could. He would not hear of a guard, nor any
thing of the sort, so, without his knowing it, I have sentries
posted all round the house all night. This was a curious
state of things for the commander of the American army, in
the midst of a crowded city, the capital of the free and enlightened
Republic, to be placed in! On our return to the sitting-room,
the conversation was continued some hour or so longer.
I retired with Mr. Seward in his carriage. As we were
going up Pennsylvania Avenue—almost lifeless at that time
—I asked Mr. Seward whether he felt quite secure against
any irruption from Virginia, as it was reported that one Ben
McCullough, the famous Texan desperado, had assembled
500 men at Richmond for some daring enterprise: some said
to carry off the President, cabinet, and all. He replied that,
although the capital was almost defenceless, it must be remembered
that the bold bad men who were their enemies were
equally unprepared for active measures of aggression.