Democratic banner., 1849-07-23
PUBLISHED BY REaUEsT.)
From the Metropolitan.
To his E~xcelfency the Hon. Austin A.
King.

King.
SIR: When a young man expresses an
opinion, upon a subject about which he has
never thought, and after mature reflection
changes that opinion, he may be sincere
When an old man is called upon unexpect-
eddy to give an opinion upon a question, new
to him, and he answers without reflection,
and afterwards, with full. investigation, coli
ltradicts that answer-his prudence may be
questioned, but his honesty cannot be fairly
impeached. But, sir, when we see a man
who has been in political life for a quarter
Of a century, deliver an opinion upon a sub
ject which has been before the public dur
ing all the time of his political existence
in the most solemn manner, and in writing,
to be placed in the archieves, and bound
with the State papers of his country-and
then see him in six months afterwards, when
some popular leader, who is likely to be-
stow patronage, differs with h~im-change
that opinion, and write a labored article to
disprove it, your Excellency may rest as
Isured that that man is a knave. We can
pity the man who is misled by strong tempta-
tion, or the impulses of a generous nature ;
but cold, deliberate treachery:
ITO be hated, needs but to be SEEM"
When Robert Brinsly Sheridan was taunt-
ed, in ipnuendo, at the table of a nobleman,
with his political profigacy, he pleaded the
temptation to which reduced fortune and
poverty subjects frail human nature, so elo-
quently that he caused tears to come in the
eyes of his listeners, and forced pity from
those who despised him.. When Benedict
Arnold perpetrated his treason he wss COW
cred with the fresh ~laurels of his country,
and his deed showed such mean selishness
and ~depravity of heart, that his misery has
never caused in one single breast any other
emotion than scorn and cold contempt
Sheridan, with all his wonderful gifts, serv-
ed in the decline of life only to "point a NOR
al and adorn a tale;'-Arnold, your Excel
.lency may remember, moped in gloomy mel.
ancioly, until death released him from the
horror he felt at hearing his own name. If
a just Providence has visited such heavy
punishment upon these men, for their SIN
against truth and good faith to their coun-
try, what may not Austin A. King and Thos.
H. Benton expect?
Mr.. Benton is Senator in Congress from
Missouri, and is now in open rebellion a.
.gainst the will of his constituencies and
hopes to make himself President of this
confederacy by treason TO his State!
You, sir, are Governor of Missouri, and
no doubt have the vanity to think that by
repudiating your old principles, and aiding
Col. Benton in his treason, you will be ap-
pointed TO a land office, or perchance some
paltry foreign mission! Both of you view
your present positions, and anticipated pros
poets, with easy consciences for men who
have been hardened in sin, (pardon me, |
had like to have said crime!) in early life,
become strangers to remorse. The exam
pies in history should give you some unea-
siness. The Chaldean monarch was seated
upon his throne in all his glory, surrounded
by his princes and his c%oncubines, when that
mysterious hand wrote upon the wall Of his
palace: "You have been weighed in the
balance, and found wanting" Herod, the
Great, was arrayed in royal purple, and his
proud heart swelled to the adulations which
pronounced him a god, when the breath Of
destruction smote him, and he was consum-
ed by worms. These men had reached their
climax. Theyhad gone from crime to crime.
One, perhaps, commenced with a little theft,
and the other with a small Grgery! How
sudden was their end, and how quick was
their destruction.
Perhaps your Excsllency has arrived at
that philosophy which asks, "What is pat
riotism but a name?" The humble hus-
bandman, who tolls for his daily bread, may
be pardoned for forgetting his country while
he follows the plough, and thinks only of the
blessings of "wife, children, and friends.'
But he who seeks for political Office, must
give his thoughts and acts to the good of
tine public. If he uses his station, as the
baker does his capitals his own property,
and for his personal aggrandizement only
moral law is mutable, and the teachings of
are false, if he is not sooner or later
called to punishment.
Excuse me, Governor, l know that it is
hard to awaken virtue in one who has pros
so long under the smiles Of vice. An
exile from your native State--Missouri con-
political honors upon you. Not re-
spected in private, and publicly insulted for
ungentlemanly practice at the bar-Mis-