Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1844-08-22
From The Baltimore Ansrteas.
MR. BENTON'S SPEECH AT BOON
VILE,

by MIN at booHFhse H@' oDSh Fuo'eSN :"
which he dweIs at some length upon the
Texas treaty, and the objects of its con.
triyers. more especially as connected with
speculations 10 Texas lands and Scrip
We quote the following extract:
"Disunion was primary object Of the
treaty; an intrigue for the Presidency
was its secondary object: land speculation
and stock. jobbing were auxiliary objects;
and the four objects together brought It
forward at the time and in the manner in
which it came forward, just forty days be-
fore the Baltimore Convention and at the
exact moment TO mix with the Preslden-
tial election, and TO make dssention, dis
cord, an! mischief between the North and
the South. Mr.. B. said he meant this for
the prime movers and negotiators OF the
treaty, and not for those who supported
the treaty without participating IN the
views of its makers. He had in various
speeches exposed the disunIon scheme,
and the intrigue for the Presidency; he
had not shown the par. which land spec
ulation and stock jobbing acted in concoc-
ting the treaty, and pressing It's ratflca-
ton. He had not noticed this part; but
it was a conspicuous oue, and was seen
by every body at Washington. The city
was a buzzard roost! the Presidential
mansion and Department of State were
buzzard roosts, dehled and polluted by
the foul and voracious birds, in the shape
Of land spectators and stock obbers, who
saw their prey in the treaty, and spared
no effort to secure it. Their own work
was TO supper, the treaty and its friends
to assai its opponenis-to abuse the
Senators who were against ito Witty
them, and lie upon them in speech and IN
writing and to establish a committee,
still siung at Washington, to promote
and protect their interest. The treaty as
sumed ten millions of debt and confirmed
all the land claims under the laws Of Tex
as. The treaty correspondence claimed
two hundred millions Of acres Of land 10
Texas, Of which two thirds are represented
as vacant and claimed as fund out Of
which the debt assumed was to be paid.
VAN and lmpotent attempt at deceptonl
Open and fraudulent attempt to assume
bubble deb, for the benefit o! stock-job.
oers without any adequate consideration
either TO Texas or the United States!-
Texas in all its proper extent in its whole
length and breadth, from the Sabine 10
the west of the Nueces, and from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Red riyer--con-
tains but 1876, 900 square miles, equal 20
S4 millions of acres, and to get the remain.
dor OF The quantity OF 200 millions of acres
they have to count the wild country un-
der tie dominion Of Camanche Indians,
and the left bank of the Rio Grande f ON
head to mouth, all OF which is under Mex.
Jean dominion, and erea: part Of which
has been settled and granted above twG
hundred years. 1t is nonsense to talk OF
Texas possessing vacant land. If there
is any thing vacant, 1t is because 1t is not
worth having. Texas itself has been set
tied at San Antonio, Nacogdoches, and
other places above enc hundred years,
and has been under the dominion Of three
different Governments, each Of which has
been granting away its lands, and that
not by 40 acre and so acre tracts, but by
leagues and parallels of latitude and lon.
gi,ude, and by hundreds Of thousands and
millions Of acres at time. The Kings
Government made grants there from 1920
10 1920; then the States of Coahulla and
Texas, united as one State, made grants
from 1920 TO 1885; when the Texan rev.
olutlon broke out; ard since that Texas
has been granting by wholesale and re-
tail, having a General Land Office at the
seat Of Government, and local one 10
every county, all employed in granting
land, and that TO the Anglo-Saxon race
whose avidity for land is Unsuitable. AZ
ter all this, what vacant land can there be
in Texasl Not an acre worth having; so
that the assumption Of her debt by the
treaty was gIatultous, and without consid
Grafton. And what debt! created upon
scrip and certificates at every imaginable
degree of deprc citation, and now held by
ioLbers, most Of whom have purchased at
two cents, and FIVE cents, and seven cents
IN the dollar, and would have seen their
scrip, where il bore six per cent, worth
upwards Of one hundred cents 10 the dollar
the day the treaty was ratified; and where
II bore ten per cent. interest, as three
millions Of it did, would have been worth
upwards Of two hundred cents to the dol
lar on the day ofthe ratification of The
treaty. And all this TO 90 10 the benefit,
not even Of Texas, but Of SPECTATORS; and
that while the United States refuse, and
rlgh,lu!ly refuse, TO assume the debts Of
their own States. These scrip.holders
were among the most furious treaty men
at Washington, and cannot bear the idea
oil having their scrip scaled as the CONT
mental bills the American Revolution
lis ued under the same circumstances
were scaled, so as to give them back their
outlay and interest, but they want them
funded, as the soldiers certificates were
ia the year 1871, not for the benefit Of
soldiers, but for tho benefit Of iobbers and
members Of Congress, who, by law, turn.
ed two and sixIenee into thirty shillings
in their own pockets, and that to the
amount of millions of dollars. The va
goo land speculation, and the soldiers
certificate speculation, were grainS OF
mustard to the mountain compared TO the
Texas land and scrip s. speculation which
The rejection of the treaty baked"
! How II startes the Locoircos, when