The Daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1845-1850, 1847-03-15
Gtle DatIp &pp.
ORCEST TER:
MONDAY, MAR CHI 15, 1S47.

Coz. BENTON. The appointment of Col. Ben
ton to the office of Major General, and his subse-
quent refusal to accept the appointment, has
caused much remark and speculation. His inor-
dinate ambition, graspng at the whole command
of the armies of the country, with the power of
deciding upon war or peace, and his equally in
ordinate vanity, have been made alike conspicu-
Gus by this event. The Baltimore correspondent
of the Boston Atlas, make the following remarks
upon the subject
You see that Major General Benton has backed
OUT He insisted that he should have the whole
conduct of the Mexican war contided to him
that the negotiation for peace should be under his
control-and that he should go forth from Wash
ington with all the power the President could
confer in him. Mr.. Polk quaied under these ex.
traordnary demands-he hesitated- equivocated,
indeed as is his wont-and then said he would
consult the Cabinet. They were consulted, and
they were unwilling to take the responsibility of
recommending all that Gen Benton insisted he
should have. Then came storm. The new
Major General attacked Mr.. Marcy in his office.
and those who saw Mr.. Benton as he marched
in cooked hat and with arms folded--up Pennsyl-
vana Avenue, say it was military in the highest
degree. Poor Mr.. Marcy was contounded with
the manner of his entrance into the war office,
and they say has not recovered from the constcr-
nation into which he was thrown, by what NAV
be called military charge, Major General Ben.
ton made upon him. And yet this was nothing
like the entrance into the White Housed
The charge of Gen. Worth on the Bishops
Palace, at Monterey, was nothing, as a military
display, compared to it. The august air, the
measured tread, the cooked hat, and the arms
crossed on the breast, were all perfect in them.
oil nd he ~.
the vestihnle and tue winding stairs, sho wed
Singleness and hxedness OF purpose, which
evinced the highest military skill. 1t will not
do, after this, to question Mr. Benton's military
tactics; and though he has ceased to be Nj aior
General, and sunk down into ssplain Master Ben
ton" somebody must get out picture of his
march into the White House and il it have the
effect Of frightening the Mexicans only half as
much as it did Mr.. Polk, the war may thencefor-
ward be considered at an end
But. coming back to the every day view of
this affair, was there ever such an absurd scheme
undertaken by any government, as was this OF
making Mr.. Benton Lieutenant General of the
United States Army, and Minister Penipoten-
tlary and Commissioner Extraordinary to Next
co A man so vain that he can scarcely refrain
from speaking OF his sef-sufficiency for all things,
on all occasions-of temper so uneven, that no
man feels sale of his friendship for an hour and
OF splrlts SO Iomlslng, that Tor Whatever
he may have suggested, he will cavl for the
most inmaterial part as for the most material
whose whole spirit is uncompromising that
there is no accommodating it-how is it possible
for such man to accomplish any thing in bring
ing about peace with such nation as Mexico
where personal pride is their distinguishing and
hereditary characteristic We NAV hope, now
that we have got clear of Mr.. Benton, that Mr.
Polk will fall upon some other person. whose
good sense and honorable desire TO see the.diter-
ences between the two countries accommodated,
may secure US peace-a peace honorable to
Mexico as well as to ourselves, and stay the she'd
ding of blood, ana stop the fearful waste OF blood
which is now going on.