The spoils of the
Church would have rewarded the soldiers; immigration would have poured
into the country, and his name and fame have been commensurate with
time. Everything invited him to the act; he could not or would not see
it--he had but one idea, 'This will make me President!' and a lifetime
of glory and power was sacrificed for the empty hope of four years
filling the Presidential chair."
It was a grand conception, but he seemed to take no account of the
difficulties which would have interposed. He assumed that the United
States would have been content with the great outrage, and have
sanctioned the act; and that European nations would have immediately
recognized the new empire. I knew him well enough to know that he would
have attempted the enterprise and braved the consequences; but doubt
whether he or Scott had the talent for the accomplishment of such an
undertaking. General Quitman was one of the unfortunates who received a
portion of the poison prepared for some victim or victims at Washington
upon the inauguration of Mr. Buchanan. It was not immediately fatal,
but he never fully recovered from it, and in a few months after sank
into the grave.
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