Nashville Union And American

Mean Trick of Old Scott.

Since the rout at Manassas, says the Richmond Whig, we have no official evidence of Old Scott's existence. Richardson gave a report of a speech made by him to Lincoln, in which, in a spirit too mean to be characterized, he confessed himself the greatest coward in the world, and the telegraph intimated that he had been superseded in the command of the army, and was busying himself enacting the part of a spy and police agent. He, however, is not dead except to honor and truth. Late Northern papers bring a "General Order" under his signature in which he seeks to make some capital by fabricating a falsehood against the Rebels—charging them with overrunning Mount Vernon. We give his "General Order," and the reply, which it has provoked from the Ladies' Association. It appears that the very crime, which he falsely imputed to the Rebels, has been perpetrated by his own Yankee troops. It will require some charity to believe that he was ignorant of the facts. The general conviction will be, that with a view to turn away the public indignation, which the outrages of his own troops was calculated to provoke, he deliberately and falsely imputed those outrages to others:

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY.

WASHINGTON, July 31, 1861.

It has been the prayer of every patriot that the tramp and din of civil war might at least spare the precincts within which repose the sacred remains of the Father of his Country; but this pious hope is disappointed. Mount Vernon, so recently consecrated anew to the immortal Washington by the ladies of America, has already been overrun by bands of rebels, who, having trampled under foot the Constitution of the United States—the ark of our freedom and prosperity—are prepared to trample on the ashes of him to whom we are all mainly indebted for those mighty blessings.

Should the operations of war take the United States troops in that direction, the General-in-Chief does not doubt that each and every man will approach with due reverence and leave uninjured, not only the tomb, but also the house, the groves and walks which were so loved by the best and greatest of men.

WINFIELD SCOTT.

In answer to this, a responsible officer of the Mount Vernon Association publishes in the Washington National Intelligencer the subjoined card:

Messrs. Editors: The officers of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association are much pained to see in your issue of to-day an order from Lieutenant General Scott containing a statement which they fear will lead to much trouble and misunderstanding—General Scott having been misinformed with regard to the facts.

The statement referred to is that Mount Vernon has been "overrun by bands of rebels," &c.

Since the occupation of Alexandria by the Federal troops, not a single soldier from the Southern army has visited Mount Vernon. It is but justice to say the intruders who refused to accede to the regulations of the Association, heretofore willingly followed by soldiers from both sides, were a company of New York Volunteers headed by their Colonel and other officers.

The Regent is earnest and decided in her requests and directions to those she has made responsible for the preservation of order and neutrality at Mount Vernon, and in the discharge of their sacred duty they have been kindly aided by those at the headquarters of the army. It is, therefore, to them a source of great regret to be obliged to correct such mistakes, as it is much easier to excite than to allay unkind feelings.