Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1847-03-25

BENToNIANA.-We published in our
last paper the letters which passed between
PRESIDENT Polk and the Hon. Thomas
II. BENTON, on the occasion Of Mr.. BIS
declining to accept the appointment OF
Major General in the U. S. Army, which
had been conferred on him by the Pres-
dent and Senate, near the close of the
late session Of Congress. Mr.. Benton
declined accepting these military honors,
not from any distrust of his military ca
pacity or experience, which never seems
to have occurred to the new fedged
General, nor from any apprehension that
the people of the United States might
have their doubts on those subjects, but
for the very modest and sufficient reason,
that the terms laid down by him to Mr..
Polk as Indispensable conditions" Of
his acceptance, had not been complied
with by that accommodating functionary.
These terms, gentle readers would you
believe it, were nothing less than the fol-
lowing that the supreme command Of
the army in Mexico be Immediately con-
ferred on Mr.. B.-involving the re-
call and degradation Of SCOTT, TAYLOR,
BUTLER, and PATTERSON, every one Of
them, remember, his seniors in rank, to
say nothing of the services of the two
former in many well fought field and
secondly, that he, the said Thomas H.
Benton, be invested with full powers, TO
negotiate peace with Mexico, on terms
to be previously settled by Mr.. Polk, thus
comforting on the same man military and
diplomatic authority, which no one ever
dreamed of concentrating in hands Of
even the matchless purity and strength
of WASHINGTON himself Mr.. Benton,
be it remembered, was never in battle
in his life, (unless the fight between him
self and brother, and GenPs Jackson and
Coffee, in the streets of Nashville, will
pass for general engagement, has no
sort of diplomatic experience or TACT
and so far as we ever heard, never set his
foot within the limits Of Mexico, and has
therefore no personal knowledge Of the
people or country, to be dealt with. Mr..
Benton was Colonel Of Infantry in the
late war with Great Britain, but unfor-
tunately as we have understood, never
saw any active service. He was assigned
to the command of recruiting rendez.
vous in some district Of the west, and
terminated his military career in this very
snug but uninstructive department some
where near the close Of that memorable
contest. On the strength Of these valua-
BILE and redoubtable services, and having
read, as he says, Humboldfs great work
on Mexico some twenty years ago, and
having crowded his head, also, with all
the military treatises he could find in the
Congressional Library,-since he has had
the honor to serve as Chairman of the
Military Committee of the Senate,-he
now modestly proposed to unfrock Genls
Scott and Taylor, and Butler, and Pat
terson, and to march, in grand style,
with the Marshars baton in one hand,
and Vattel and Wheaton in the other,
into the very heart of Mexico, there to
dictate to the trembling Santa Anna the
terms and conditions of peace All honor
to the new Napoleon, and to the magnii-
cent conceptions, which swell his bosom,
as he struts through Pennsylvania avenue
into poor Mr.. Marcy's ante-chamber, and
unrolls before his eyes the formidable
programme, which we have hastily delin-
eated But, alas, for these new blown
honors, which are so soon to perish -
Mr.. Marcy is non-committal and ambigu-
Gus Mr.. Polk is willing, but cowardly;
and after days debate, and with divided
councils, reluctantly tells the great Gen.
eral, that the difficulties in his way are
indeed insuperable, and that the indis-
pensable conditions" have not been ac-
cepted! Whereupon Gen. Benton, in
short note addressed 10 the Adjutant
General, declined accepting the appoint
ment conferred on him, and forthwith
made public his correspondence with the
President, with which our readers have
already been furnished .
II Thus endeth the first act Of the Grand
farce of "the Pacifcation with Mexico"
Il-Exit, Mr.. Polk on one side,-and Old
Bullion on the other.
The Steamer "PERRY" has been paint
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