A Reminiscence of Gen Scott.
--At the present time, when
Winfield Scott is aiding and abetting in the enslavement of the people of his native State, the following speech, delivered by him on the occasion of his reception by the Legislature of Virginia, in February, 1858, is not without interest:
‘
Mr. President and Senators: I cannot give expression to the deep emotions of pleasure which I experience at this reception in my native State.
Little did I expect to meet with such honors here, and from you. I find myself in the midst of my countrymen — my dear countrymen — natives of the
State which was the cradle of my first hopes, my first ambition.
In my long career — more remarkable, perhaps, for its length than its brilliancy — I have ever felt the responsibility inherited by my birth.
I have always said, ‘"What will
Virginia say of me?"’ and when, in the course of my public life, I have always remembered, at its most important points, that I bore a portion of her honor upon my shoulders I have said that if I proved recreant I would be doubly damned in her estimation and that of my country.
It was in the school of
Virginia that I imbibed those principles which have guided me through life; and it is by the example of her
Washington and other great
Virginians, that I am inspired with the desire to be remembered by my State.
That desire has been accomplished far beyond my most ranguine expectations.
Honors upon honors have been heaped upon me, and I could not, if I would ever, forget her favors.
At the end of the war of 1812-16 she presented me with the sword I now possess.
She has given my name to one of her counties, and after the lapse of a third of a century, when my little services might be supposed to have been forgotten, she has honored me with a vote of thanks and a gold medal.
I allude to these things in a spirit of gratitude, not of vanity — the time has passed away for that.
I have arrived at that age when the passions are mellowed and the imagination ceases to be fiery and irregular — an age of quiet and enjoyment — and the scenes of this day will fill me with grateful memories, and I will bear its recollections with me to the final resting place, to which, in the course of nature, I am rapidly tending.
With a Virginia heart, I tender all
Virginians my gratitude and affection.
’
