The Charlotte journal. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1835-1851, 1846-06-19

he has persevered in error he converts
into design what was in the beginning a
mistake We are now to have war, as iaI
as the Senator and his party can make II,
upon design, and without pEetexI for he
could not name Frazer's river, which is the
sole object, and would be the instant cause
o! war.
And how does the Senator conduct his
new design! by endeavoring to make me
ffiy.four.forty man; by reading mulila-
ted scraps, cut out from my old speeches,
torn from their context, and made, by mu.
4 tilation and false application, 10 apply to
I "a deg. 40 on the continent, when appl.
ed il to the islands; making IT apply 10
\ New Caledonia, when | spoke il oi the
valley Of the Columbia. had occasion to
cut some of the fifty forties Tor the
simpies' when spoke some days ago, and
must now do II again but first explain The
operation, as it is only understood IN the
West. 1t comes from horse surgery
cutting a horses eyes for the hooks. The
horse is subject to disease of the eye,
something like cataract, which blinds him;
and, when emollient remedies fail, the
knife is applied, the diseased part cut a.
way, and then the animal sees clear. 50
of The simples. The allusion is meiapho-
really 10 the cutting for the hooks, and is
10 make a simpleton see clear 10y opening
his eyes 10 what he did not see before. AK
these caterers for the Senators all these
searchcrs among my old speeches, may
look oul when they ME worth II, for the
operation Of being cul for the sImples. Ol
course, the operation canno, be performed
on Senator.
A line has been cut from one Of my
speeches in which 81 deg. 10 min. is men
toned, without continental prehxed. The
Senator from Michigan grayely paradcs
that line o.day 10 make me an advocate
for 81 deg. 10 min. to the mountains. In
fifty places in the samc speech the eXls-
tencc of such line was denied aud rIdicu
led. Yet the Senator, to deceive people
unacqualnted with the subject, 10 keep up
deiusion, instead ef admitting his own
error, endeavors to make me an accom-.
/ plce in his error Well, if he wants my
authority, he shall have it, and that is, that
there is 20 such line, and never was that
the honest feelings of the people have been
msled, their patriotism excited about
nonentiy, and a war provoked for what
has no existence. | tell him this, il he
wants to quote my authority. Let hun
confess his error, and recant, If he wants
my opinions"
Mr.. Benton then asked-but the ques-
| ton was not answered, and never viii be
why Mr.. Cass had no, stated the ground
Of the American claim to Frdzer's river
d. Upon this point Mr.. Benton made the fol-
lowing remaFks
4 81 have stated the British title, and am
not ashamed nor afraid TO do il, no more
than | should be to state their title to Can.
, ada, and il is as clear in one case as the
, other. The British discovered that river
!, in 1893, settled It IN l-0G, covered IL over
. with establishments from head to mouth,
from IS deg. to 40 deg. and had II So GOV.
cred when We treated with Spain in | $50.
Spain never claimed il, never sold tito US,
never saw nor heard Of the river and all
the statesmen who made the Spanish trea
> ly Immediately yielded Frazer's river &c
Great Britain from head to mouth, from
40 deg. 10 50 deg. IrrcfragibIe document:
prove this and have heretofore shown
them TO the Senate. This is the British
Illte, admitted By Mr.. Monroe eud his Cab.
met in 1923, stated from their acts a few
days ago. Now let the Senator state the
American claim to the same. Let him
only state il. lie does not attempt il. liz
eschews the fatal sound Of FruzsG's river
and of the forty British posts upon ii, hul
still wants the people TO believe it is theirs,
and 20 TO war for ii. | say war for any
attempt on our part to rake the British cs
tablishments on Fraznr's river would be
followed by war as quickly and as Justly
as an attempt to take their towns in Cana.
da. This Is dreadful. We are the Amer.
lean Senate, acting in the eyes Of the pre-.
sent age and Of po,ter,y, and upon great
responsibility. By our acts war may bo
! made and we are bound by every sacret
and human obligation to make no mlsiak,
in bringing about SO gfea, a calamity
War is a calamity in itseIi--a war upon
; mistake is a double calamity bu, a wa
,, upon design, after the mistake is detected
IS calamity for which there is no name
1t rises to the magnitude Of the creates
> crime. | read the treaties which SHOWED
: the mistake. thought 1t very probable
y the ffty.four iortes had never read tht
Russian treaties, and did not know wha
they said. produced the biographies t,
instruct them in Frazef's river, for
thought they were ignorant Of it. | die
all clearly, inteIIiglbly, indispurably.
waited for the result. In fact waiteC
long, and until delay was dangerous, lie
= fore could venture 10 set them right,
y knew the fralIty Of poor human nature, an
'. that, instead OF thanks, resentment woult
- more probably be my reward. Well,
. has come-a personal attack on myself
' reading mutlated scraps, furnished by ca
> lerers, to show me Inconsistent, and ther
= not able TO do it. Not able TO help GU
) their miserable deception even by an,
words cullcd from my nnumerabIe speech
y es, and mutiiated for the purnose md the,