The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1847-11-18
THE PRIoE OF THE wan.

When the bill, legalizing the monstrous
ialsehood, that war existed between the u.
States and Mexico, by the act of the latter
power, went TO the Senate for its concur
renee, a movement was made and carried, to
refer so much OF the bill as related to this
false declaration to the Committee on Fo-
reign Affairs, while the rest of the bill was
sent to the Committee on Military Affairs,
with the distinct understanding in the Sc
nate, that while the supplies should be voted
without delay for the extricaton of Taylor
and his gallant army from peril, time might
be afforded for delberation upon the question
Of absolute war against Mexico.
II will be remembered that this nnder-
standing was violated by Mr. Benton, the
Chairman Of the Military Committee, who Of
his own mere motion, reported back the war
bill to the Senate, and thus precipitated the
question Of absolute and unconditional war
into the midst of the Senatorial body, cou-
pied with the question Of voting the supplies
for the relief Of the army, then supposed to
be in most dangerous position.
We have recently heard this conduct of
Mr.. Benton, on this occasion, accounted for
on this wise
That, pending the consideration of that
portion Of the war bill which was referred to
the Military Committee, Mr.. Benton was
advised by the Executive, that, in the con-
templated arrangements for increasing the
army, his son-in-law, then Lieut.. Fremont,
should be created Lieutenant Colonel; and
that Immediately after the receipt of this com
munication from headquarters, the Senator
from Missouri made the report he did, and
| thus drove the Senate into concurrence with
| the House. bill
If this charge against Mr.. Benton be true,
The elevation Of Mr.. Fremont pas the price
Of the ,oar-for it is well known, that had
the understanding of the Senate been faith
fully complied with by Mr.. Benton, the
House bill would never have passed with the
lying preamble which the Administration pre-
pared to hide its own wicked and unconsti-
tutional acts from the public eye.
| Every man, said the corrupt Walpole, has
his price. His equally corrupt successor in
the American Chief Magistracy has acted
with triumphant success upon this maxim in
his relations with his own party men. That
Mr.. Benton is capable Of being influenced
in his public conduct, by the advancement of
himself and those he has an interest in, we
are fully prepared to believe, ever since his
tergiversation upon the Texas question. He
defeated the Tyler Treaty by arraying against
it the truth, and yet when the same object
was to be attained by Resolution of Con-
gress, he deserted his post and went for it,
when, by adhering to his position, he could
have saved the country from annexation and
tits train Of associations. His course upon
this question, we have also recently heard
explained, which, if true, does not elevate
him in our estimation. 1t is said that his
opposition to the Tyler Treaty arose from
the fact that Mr.. Tyler sent to the Senate
the documents in relation to the trial of Col.
Brant, and that having revenged himself up
on Mr.. Tyler, he had no further motive to
oppose annexation Be this as it may, the
fact Of his regeneration is on the record, and
that is enough to condemn him for deserving
the public interests His going to war with
Mexico, because Mexico asserted her right
to the country between the Nueces and the
Rio Grande, an assertion, the truth of which
he triumphantly sustained in his speech
against the Tyler Treaty, has long since
prepared the public mind to attribute to him
the most impure motives. If the explana-
ton now gven--and It is rife of late in the
political circles of the Metropolis be not
true, It bears the undoubted impress Of veri-
simlitude.
/ l..