Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1847-02-20
SPEECH OF SENATOR BENTON.

SPEECH OF SENATOR BENTON.
Mr.. Benton asked the indulgence Of the
Senate TO make an exposition Of the circum-
stances under which the President had pro.
posed the appointment Of lieutenant gen.
era to command the army in Mexico, and
with which appointment his name had be.
come connected. 1t had been minated,
he said, on the floor of the Senate-hypo-
thetically, to be sure, but not the less intel
ligibly, and forcibly on that account--that
there might be an Interior and covert design
in the proposition nothing less than de-
sign on the part of the President to appoint
his successor. The Senator from North
Carolina, (Mr. Badger0 in his speech on the
acknowledgement bill had INDUCED in that
hypothesis; and as no supposlt!on could be
more uniounded, or more injurious TO the
President or to the public service, or could
descend from a higher source, and as he
(Mr. Benton) happened to be in possession
of all the facts necessary to the vindication
of the President, he desired to make an ex.
position which would show the supposition
to be unlounded, and would save the Presi
dents character and the public service from
the injury they would suffer if the. intima-
ton was allowed to 90 out uncontradicted
from the floor of the Senate. He asked
leave, for as the bill for the lieutenant gene.
raj was laid upon the table, and as he would
not have it taken up, (and you'd not speak
TO it if it was,) and as he did not choose 10
commi, the irregulari,y of hanging speech
on some irrelevant bill, he must throw him
self upon the indulgence of the Senate for
leave to make the exposition Of facts which
the case required, and which the intimations
Of the Senator from North Carolina render
ed necessary. Leave was given, and Mr.
Benton proceeded:
feel myself called upon by the remarks
of the Senator from North Carolina Mr.
Badger TO vindicate the President from the
unconstitutional and dangerous design which
the hypothe teal observations Of that Sena
tor would attribute to him; and shall do so
in the simplest form Of narrative, repeating
to the Senate all that has taken place be-
tween the President and myself in relation
to this appointment, and thereby enabling
the Senate and the people to judge of the
justice OF the accusation. 1t was the begin.
ing of the month Of September last. and in
the moment that | was about sitting out to
the west, the President sent for me and in
formed NE that he had done so for the pur-
pose of offering me high appointments
He named it. 1t was the mission to France,
then becoming vacant by the return of the
gentleman, Mr.. King, Of Alabama, so long
an ornament to this chamber. | declined
the appointment, and for reasons which had
induced me to decline high appointments
from Presidents Jackson and Van Buren,.
Mr.. Polk was kind enough to ask me 10 take
time to consider; but | answered him that
there was no need for time, that the answer
would still be the same, after any length OF
consideration; and so, with thanks for the
honor he had done me, the appointment to
the French mission, was definitely declined.
This was the beginning OF September last I;
so that, at the time, 1t is certain that the
President could have had no such design as
has been attributed TO him by the Senator
from North Carolina-no design to make
me his successor by virtue OF military leafs
to be performed on the low lands of the re.
public Of Mexico. On the contrary, fer
tile imagination-such as the Senator from
North Carolina so happily possesses--might
have seen, or thought he saw, in this pro.
posed appointment, sort OF political de-
Notwithstanding like an exiting and
burying in foreign cour,-for purpose
the very reverse OF what the Senator from
North Carolina has supposed. | say an in
ventive imagination might have seen, or
thought it saw, all this. Possessing no such
Imagination, saw no such thing. And ia
king The offer in the sense in which it was
made, as eminently honorable in itself, and
a signal evidence OF the Presidents conf
dence in me, and good will for me, | made
HIM my thanks for it privately, as now do
publicly; and the affair was dropped. This,
repeat, was in the beginning oil September
last-only three months before the meeting
Of Congress; so that, at that time, it is quite
clear the President had no such nomentous
and fearful design as the Senator from North
Carolina has al,ri buted TO him. Up to that
time-up to the first day OF September, in
the year l846--the republic was safe. I'M