Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1843-11-14
.Wm. c. Rives, Esq.
LETrER FROM col. BENTON.

Subjoined, extract from letter, written oy 20
lionel Benton, to Committee of citizens of Howard
county, Missouri, in reply to invitation TO visit the
people Of that county 1t is characterised by the force
which distinguishes all the productions of that able Sc
nator In the Introductory paragraphs of the letter,
which have omitted, Colonel Benton remarks, that,
ain twenty three years service, he has had no changes
to account for, Inconsistencies to reconce-tha ne
has .provded no Office or contract for any Of his rea
lons and has refused everything that has been offered
10 himself"
"A notice, in detail of all the topics which your let.
ter contains would require too much space tor this orei
answer but there two of them, which, from tnef
daily bearing the daily business of the people, and
the trouble they still give U.s. demand from me WORD
support of what you say; speak OF National BANK
and the Paper Currency. One might suppose that
after the great Bank had been repudated by It's great
est champion 'obsoiete idea-after its explosion
had shown To be "a lchiied sepuehre filed ach dead
men bones and cM c0rrupti0n-atter the equalization
of exchanges shows 1t was not necessary to their reso
atIon-after the introduction of more than one nun
bred millions Of gold and silver shows that it was mol
wanted mandatory oil paper currency the
reduction of interest 10 four or five per cent per annum,
in the cities where people paid one and half per cent
per month, while the great Bank and all her Branches
stood among them-after all this, and so many condem
nations Of the institution at the elections, it might
been expected that the question at rest, and
the country rele we'd from it's agitation But not so the
fact. The ghost Of the monster still stalks upon the
land. The old Federalsts of the Hamiltonian School
now forty years ago, still follow 1t as the leading
star of their policy and many good citizens, lin other
| respects, good Dpmocrats,) who were mised into a
supposed necessity for it in the times of suspended
Banks, deprecated paper money, deranged paper e1-
changes, and gold OF silver, have not yet recovered
from the deusive idea then taken up Hence, the
question OF National Bank still be subject o
political contest The strongest efforts Of the Federal
sts will be made for its chief advocate united
exertions will be directed against him, who the most
formidable day of Bank power, (Mr. Van BUREN, had
ItLo
which your letter has quoed--suncom promising hos
uIity to a National Bank Great IS the debt of graft
tude which the country owes 10 General Jackson tor
his opposition to this Bank Vast are the evils she
would have inflicted upon if her disastrous career
had not been stopped To say nothing of political
evils in the shape of corruption carried into all the
and fountains of liberty-into the press, the
elections, the Legislative Has-to say nothing of hav
ing power in the country stronger than the Govern
ment, and which governed the Government, and put
up, and put dnwn the price of all property, produce
and labor, as it pleased, and which itself subordi
the policy of the Bank of Engand-to say no.
thing of such evils from which he has saved u.s. he has
also saved the people, and the Treasury of the United
States, from the loss of the hundred millions of dol
lars which has fallen upon it's stockholders and note
holders, upon the local Banks which il has swallowed
up the States it has swinded, and the foreign capital
lists it has cheated. The hundred millions of loss which
has fallen upon these parties, would have fallen upon
the people, and the Treasury OF the United States had
Il
order for the remorat Of the deposites
"Mr. Van Buren,, the friend and successor Of Gen
Jackson has paid the price of his incorporating
hostility to this institution; for il was the chief agent
Of his overthrow in the election of 1870 1t was that
Bank which made the SUSPENSION and created the dis
and furnished the principal part of the for
the carousas and frauds which dsgraced that election
ard he is the selected object against which all
the old adherenis Of the Bank direct The n,ated
energies of all their power.
"The reform of the currency has been felt TO be q
sacred duty by the Democratic party, and much ha.
! been done by the Jackson and Van Buren, admnsira
tons to accomplish it. The gold standard has been cor
rected and that metal restored circulation; the laws
against the circulation of various foreign silver coins
have been repealed, and the importation of silver has
vastly increased; the mint has been branched and nov
gives the South and West the benefit of lis coinage
The National Bank has been put down. which collect
ed frem the States and shipped to England forty-two
millions of hard dollars in twenty years. the lndepend
ent Treasury established which made the divorce
between the Bank and the State, and brought gold
and silver to the United States from sll foreign
tries and distributed it through the whole Union, BY
making it the sole currency of the Federal Treasury
and the sole money of receipt and payne in all pay
mens to and from the Federal Government.
"Wlshlng you, gentlemen, all happiness and pros
perity, remain your obliged fellow. citizen,
! "THOS. H. BENTON"