Very faithfully yours,

Richard Rush.

[RUSH TO BUCHANAN.]

Sydenham, near Philadelphia, June 2d, 1846.

My Dear Sir:—

A rumor catches my eye in one of the morning papers that General Scott has claimed of the administration his right to lead our army into Mexico. This may or may not be true. I am little inclined to believe all I see in the newspapers, or the half of it; but I know what is true, viz: That when General Brown died, Scott did claim, in the most objectionable manner, his right to succeed to the command of the army. He addressed a series of letters to the Secretary of War, then Governor Barbour,[[104]] to prove, as he confidently supposed that he did, his alleged right, all of them written in a highly improper tone. One of the members of the cabinet likened them, by a figure of speech, as I remember, to taking the Government by the throat, and demanding its surrender upon his own terms. Being then of the cabinet myself, invited by Mr. Adams from the English mission, where I had been some seven years, (in which country, to give the devil his due, I had observed the military to be always de facto as well as in theory, wholly subordinate to the civil power, above all the supreme executive power), I heard all his letters read, and confess that I was astounded at them. So out of place were they conceived to be as addressed to a member of the cabinet, and thus in effect to the President, that there were those of the body (I am sure there was one) who would have been in favor of striking his name from the army without more ado, and this in the face of the gallant manner in which he did his duty last war in the field, on the mere footing of the spirit of insubordination and dangerous temper for a military man which these letters bespoke. In the end, as you know, Macomb was appointed Brown’s successor, over both Scott and Gaines, for the latter had put in his somewhat imperious claims too, urging it offensively, though in a less degree than Scott. I presume that Scott’s letters are on file in the War Department. The whole history of the affair is curious. It would not do for me to write, or for me to make public, but if ever the opportunity happens to occur to me in conversation, you might be amused to hear some of its details. It came near to breaking Mr. Adams’s cabinet to pieces at the time.

Has not the case occurred for the balancing principle we have been threatened with, and might it not be well to forestall its application? Prevention is better than cure. If we promptly get possession of the Mexican capital, and make them sign a treaty doing us full justice at last, it would be too late for Guizot and company to interfere. They would see too clearly its utter hopelessness. “The burying would have gone by,” as our Judge Yates was fond of saying. It would be the a posteriori argument rather than the a priori. These are crude thoughts, occurring while I write, which, of course, you have all been more fully weighing in Washington; but one more I must indulge in, not crude, which is, that really our whole operations in regard to Mexico, compared to the ultimatum of the French Minister Deffands, which preceded the bombardment of Vera Cruz by Admiral Baudin and the Prince de Joinville, quite naturally remind us of Fontaine’s fable of the beasts who accuse each other of their sins. The lions, the wolves and the bears are pardoned everything, while the lamb is devoured for nibbling a little grass.

I had intended only to mention confidentially those letters of General Scott which, if on file, may be seen by all; but I cannot conclude without congratulating the President and yourself on General Taylor’s victories as equally glorious and pure. They are the former by all the best titles that can be laid to efficient and splendid achievements in arms, with greatly inferior numbers, and the latter from having been gained on our own soil in repelling hostile aggressions, following upon “long continued and unredressed injuries.” A people who have thus deliberately commenced a war upon this patient and long forbearing Republic have surely invited its vigorous recoil upon themselves, whatever the consequences to themselves. Such must be the calm voice of history, pronouncing her judgment on well authenticated facts when party spirit is forgotten.

I remain, my dear sir, very sincerely yours,

Richard Rush.