The Hillsdale Standard

Gen. Scott's Letter of Acceptance.

The following is a copy of the letter of acceptance as received through the telegraph at Cleveland. It very likely contains some verbal inaccuracies, but is substantially a true copy;

WASHINGTON, June 24.

SIR:—I have had the honor to receive from your hands the official notice of my unanimous nomination as the Whig candidate for the office of President of the United States, together with a copy of the resolutions passed by the Convention, expressing their opinions upon some of the most prominent questions of national policy.

The great distinction—conferred by a numerous, intelligent, and patriotic body, representing millions of my countrymen—sinks deep into my heart. Remembering the very eminent names which were before the Convention in amicable competition with my own, I am made to feel—oppressively the weight of responsibility belonging to my new position.—Not having written a word to secure this distinction, I lost not a moment after it had been conferred in addressing a letter to one of your members, to signify what would be, at the proper time, the substance of my reply to the Convention; and I now have the honor to repeat, in a more formal manner, as the occasion justly demands, that I accept the nomination with the resolutions annexed. The political principles and measures laid down in the resolutions are so broad that there is little left for me to add. I, therefore, barely suggest, in this place, that should I, by the partiality of my countrymen, be elevated to the chief magistracy of the Union, I shall be ready, in my connection with Congress, to recommend or approve of measures in regard to the management of the public domain, so as to secure an early settlement of the same, favorable to actual settlers, but consistent, nevertheless, with a due regard to equal rights of the whole American people in that vast national inheritance; and also to recommend or approve of a single alteration in our naturalization laws suggested by my military experience, viz: Giving to all foreigners the right of citizenship, who shall faithfully serve, in the time of war, one year on board of one of our public ships, or in our land forces—regular or volunteer—on their receiving an honorable discharge from the service

In regard to the general policy of the administration, if elected, I should, of course look among those who may approve that policy for the agents to carry it into execution and I should seek to cultivate harmony and fraternal sentiments throughout the Whig party, without attempting to reduce its members by proscription, to exact conformity to my views. But I should at the same time, be rigorous in regard to qualifications for office retaining and appointing no one either deficient in capability or integrity or in devotion to liberty, to the Constitution to the Union.—Convinced that harmony and good will between the different quarters of our broad country are essential to the present and future interests of the Republic, and with a devotion to those interests that can know no South and no North I should neither countenance nor tolerate any sedition, disorder, faction, or resistance to the laws of the Union on any pretext, in any part of the land; and I should carry into the civil administration this one principle of military conduct—obedience to the legislative and judicial departments of government, each in its constitutional sphere saving only in respect to the legislative the possible resort to the veto power, always to be most cautiously exercised and under the strictest restraints and necessities. Finally, for my strict adherence to the principles of the Whig party, as expressed in the resolutions of the convention, and herein suggested with a sincere and earnest purpose to advance the greatness and happiness of the Republic, and thus to cherish and encourage the cause of constitutional liberty throughout the world avoiding every act and thought that might involve our country in an unjust war, or impair the faith of treaties, and discountenancing all political agitation injurious to the interests of society and dangerous to the Union; I can offer no other pledge or guarantee than the known incidents of a long public life—now undergoing the severest examination. I consider myself highly fortunate in my associate on the ticket, and with a lively sense of my obligation to the convention and to your personal courtesies, I have the honor to remain, sir, with great esteem, your obedient servant,

WINFIELD SCOTT

To Hon. J. G. CHAPMAN.