Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 21, ROT-Siam

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off this enormous debt, declining all offers of assistance
and asking no consideration from his creditors except time,
and how nearly he succeeded, is one of the most familiar
chapters in literary history, and would bh one of the
saddest were it not for the heroism of the enterprise. His
wife died soon after the struggle began, and he suffered
other painful bereavements; but, though sick at heart, he
toiled on indomitably, and, writing for honour, exceeded
even his happiest days in industrious speed. If he could
have maintained the rate of the first three years, during
which he completed Woodstock, three Chronicles of the
Canongate, The Fair Maid of Perth, Anne of Geierstein,
the Life of Napoleon (involving much research, and equal
in amount to thirteen novel volumes), part of his History
of Scotland, the Scottish series of Tales of a Grandfather,
besides several magazine articles, some of them among the
most brilliant of his miscellaneous writings, and prefaces
and notes to a collected edition of his novels,—if he could
have continued at this rate he might soon have freed him¬
self from all his encumbrances. The result of his exertions
from January 1826 to January 1828 was nearly £40,000
for his creditors. But the terrific labour proved too much
even for his endurance. Ugly symptoms began to alarm
his family in 1829, and in February of 1830 he had
his first stroke of paralysis. Still he was undaunted,
and not all the persuasions of friends and physicians could
induce him to take rest. “During 1830,” Mr Lockhart
says, “he covered almost as many sheets with his MS. as
in 1829,” the new introductions to a collected edition of
his poetry and the Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft
being amongst the labours of the year. He had a slight
touch of apoplexy in November and a distinct stroke of
paralysis in the following April; but, in spite of these
warnings and of other bodily ailments, he had two more
novels, Count Robert of Paris and Castle Dangerous, ready
for the press by the autumn of 1831. He would not
yield to the solicitations of his friends and consent to try
rest and a change of scene, till fortunately, as his mental
powers failed, he became possessed of the idea that all his
debts were at last paid and that he was once more a free
man. In this belief he happily remained till his death.
When it was known that his physicians recommended a
sea voyage for his health, a Government vessel was put at
his disposal, and he cruised about in the Mediterranean
and visited places of interest for the greater part of a year
before his death. But, Avhen he felt that the end was
near, he insisted on being carried across Europe that he
might die on his beloved Tweedside at Abbotsford, where
he expired on 21st September 1832. He was buried at
Dryburgh Abbey on 26th September following.
A complete list of Scott’s works is given in the Catalogue of Scott
Exhibition, 1871, Edinburgh, 1872. The standard biography of
Scott is that by Lockhart referred to above ; see also Allan, Life
of Scott, Edinburgh, 1834.
SCOTT, William. See Stowell, Lord.
SCOTT, Winfield (1786-1866), American general,
was born near Petersburg, Yirginia, 13th June 1786,
the grandson of a Scottish refugee from the field of
Culloden. He was a student at William and Mary
College in 1805, and was admitted to the bar at Bich-
mond, Yirginia, in 1807. One of the sudden war excite¬
ments of the time changed the course of his life, and he
obtained a captain’s commission in the United States
army in 1808. He served on the Niagara frontier
throughout the war of 1812-15, and became one of its
leading figures, rising rapidly through all the grades of
the service to that of major-general, which was then the
highest. Among other curious testimonials to his valour
and conduct, he received from Princeton College in 1814
the honorary degree of doctor of laws, a distinction on
which he never ceased to look with peculiar satisfaction.
In 1841 he became the senior major-general of the army,
and in 1855, after he had passed out of political life, the
exceptional grade of lieutenant-general was created for
him. His most noteworthy military achievement was
his conduct of the main campaign against Mexico in 1847.
Landing (9th March) at Yera Cruz with but 5500 men,
he fought his way through a hostile country to the capital
city of Mexico, which he captured 14th September, thereby
practically ending the war. His service, however, was
not confined to the army; from 1815 until 1861 he was
the most continuously prominent public man of the
country, receiving and justifying every mark of public
confidence in his integrity, tact, and reasonableness. At
a time (1823) when duelling was almost an imperative
duty of an officer, he resisted successfully the persistent
efforts of a brother officer (Andrew Jackson) to force him
into a combat; and the simple rectitude of his intentions
was so evident that he lost no ground in public estimation.
In 1832, when ordered to Charleston by President Jackson
during the “nullification” troubles, he secured every advan¬
tage, for the Government, while his skilful and judicious
conduct gave no occasion to South Carolina for an out¬
break. In like manner, in the Black Hawk Indian
troubles of 1832-33, in the Canadian “Patriot War” of
1837-38, in the boundary dispute of 1838 between Maine
and New Brunswick, in the San Juan difficulty in 1859,
wherever there was imminent danger of war and a strong
desire to keep the peace, all thoughts turned instinctively
to Scott as a fit instrument of an amicable settlement,
and his success always justified the choice. Such a career
seemed a gateway to political preferment, and his position
was strengthened by the notorious fact that, as he was a
Whig, the Democratic administration had persistently tried
to subordinate his claims to those of officers of its own
party. In 1852 his party nominated him for the presi¬
dency; but, though his services had been so great and
his capacity and integrity were beyond question, he had
other qualities which counted heavily against him. He
was easily betrayed into the most egregious blunders of
speech and action, which drew additional zest from his
portly and massive form and a somewhat pompous cere¬
moniousness of manner. He destroyed his chances of
election in the North. The Southern Whigs, believing
him to be under the influence of the Seward or anti-slavery
wing of the party, cast no strong vote for him, and he was
overwhelmingly defeated in both sections, completing the
final overthrow of his party. In 1861 he remained at the
head of the United States armies, in spite of the secession
of his State, until November, when he retired on account
of old age and infirmities. After travelling for a time in
Europe, he published in 1864 his autobiography, a work
which reveals the strong and weak points of his character,
his integrity and complete honesty of purpose, his inclina¬
tion to personal vanity, his rigid precision in every point of
military precedent and etiquette, and his laborious affecta¬
tion of an intimate acquaintance with belles lettres. He
died at West Point, New York, 29th May 1866.
The Autobiography of Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, LL.L).,
in two volumes, gives the facts of his career at length. For his
defeat in 1852, see Yon Holst’s Constitutional History, vol. iv. p.
171 of the original, p. 206 of the English translation.
SCOTUS. See Duns ScoTUs-and Scholasticism.
SCBANTON, a city of the United States, capital of
Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, on a plateau at the
junction of the Roaring Brook and the Lackawanna river,
162 miles north of Philadelphia. It is the centre of the
great coal-mining district in the country and tlm seat of a
large number of iron and steel works, rolling-mills, blast¬
furnaces, Ac., and extensive factories for the production of