The Arkansas banner., 1849-01-02
The BalssvIlIt EssI., sn lnathronl.ms.

How diiierently the same audience underStanf the same speech! This is strikingly verified by al article in late -aamber flhs BassvilIe Eagle, fl
 which our aeighbOr comes down on Major flOnr
 noy l" like thousand of bnck,e shost his speech O eondoIence 10 hls democratic brethren, delivered a meeting held at the capitol just after the news o Gen. TayIor's election. Our neighbOr seems t' have understood ghoncstiy, no dOubt) the Major t have said that the Lexington spsech of MT. Ga, had cooled the srdOr and parayred the energies O
 our gallant little army in Mexico, at the battle o l Buena Vistn so that the arm of his noble soi
 hung neTyeless at his side refusing to shed Mexican kiaed--lf as his fatheE had deciarrd. that boos
 would have made him murderer. In tone o
 eSultalioH-thlnking to detect ah inconsistency u I inc speech of the member from Desha-onr neigh
 bor of the Eagle exclaims how could such a state of Things have existed, when the Lexington speech
 of Mr. Clay was delivered long afier the battle o
 Buena Vistai Now, we hsened 10 every word ihai fell frenl the lips of the Major, upon tue occasion alluded to- and our recollection is, that he did Bot even refer tO the celebrated Lexington speech Gan our eoafere have forgotten that the Major observed (alIuding to Gays speech at New Orleans. and his subsequent change of opuions,l that this grea' change had come cver the spirit of lis Ssesaas err tlis gallant boy, al the head of his noble troop hct passed the confines of our State that the son foot had not yet been permitted to press the soil o Mexico, ere the |" old man eloquent" his father had arrayed himself on the Mexican side of the question: ani
 IT there Is one political fact more certainly known than another, 1t is that Mfr Clay had expressed his opposition to the war with Mexico long, long be fore the Lexington speech This was well known in Kentucky, while tho whigs iu other parts of the Union we're denouncing it as n base islander, and to prove it, cited his speech st New Orleans. In order to extrca,e himself and his friends from this embarrassment. the Lexington speech became ne- ccssary, to " define his posion.' ftwas his dirge- note for with 1t all his chances for the nomination melted away, like frost-work in the morning ray" Thus il was not (as we understood) the Lexington speech, but the whole course of (" the great embodiraent,'' not only before tho battle of Buena vista but before the central division of the army had reached Mexico, that the Major as- serted had exercised this baneful influence upon a portion of eur soldiery.
 The same article of the Eagle makes a slight ms take of four millions, in one little item. Major Flournoy did not state that, when the whigs came into power under Gen. Harrison, they increased the national debt eighteen millions of dollars in three months; but that. at the expiration of MT. Van Burcn's term of office, tho national debt was not quite four millions; and that, in less than three months after the wligs into opower, It amounted to eighteen miIlions--and this, think, can bc shown by the public records.
 To the denuncaiory part of the article. We have naught to say Our neighbor Is certainly entitled to his own opinions about the merits of the speech, but protest against his mistaken recollections. We like to justice done; and, in that spirit, we arc willing to admit that, 10 tastes, and es- peeialy to trhg tasfes that speech really bitter; but was there not some extcnualion? The Major is man of hnpulsve nature; he feels strongly and deeply, and, when called upon to be severe, he has no bowels of eempassion." Although he may nave as devoted friends in the whig ranks in his own he is arden,ly altached,o his pary that party had just been subjec. to complete defeat; and the stand which he then occupied had been used. few nights before, by whig orator, who went out of his way to ride, rough-shod, over all democracy. With this feeling at his heart, and these facts fresh in his memory, was it any wonder that he pitched into "Tayiordom' like thousand wild.cats' When he commenced, we thought he was inclined 10 temper justice with mercy, but in little while it was very evident that " the horses could not be held any longer without breaking something and from that lime. he very justly, but al the same time with a cutting courtesy, left nothing of whggery but mere grease spot