Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1849-10-13
Benton and his Opponents.

odd Bullion as the Missouri Senator is call
ed, is fighting a desperate battle with his politi-
cal enemies. Stakeholder as he is, he is yet so
far suspected of being anti-slavery in his prin-
ciples and designs as to excite the icrcest wrath
of the advocates of the peculiar institution. We
are far from believing, however, that Slavery is
the principal cause of the difficulty between
him and his opponents. The truth is that Mr..
Benton has long ruled Missouri, as Mr.. Cal
houn has South Carolina, and the younger pol
iticians of his party, being jealous of him, de-
sire to cripple his influence and drive him from
the post he has so long filled. His place at the
public crib is wanted, probably, by more than
one of the ambitious young Democrats, of whom
Missouri has her full share. They judge cor
rcctly enough that nothing can break him down
half as effectually as a storm of pro-slavery f;
and, fortunately for them, Mr.. Benton, in his
anxiety to reach the Presidential chair, by
means of Northern votes, has been guilty of
certain imprudent leanings toward Free Soil,
which the chivalry will be slow to forgive. The
quarrel, however, is interesting on account of
its relations to the Slave question, and because
it serves to draw a line in Missouri between the
friends of perpetual slavery and those who are
inclined to look favorably upon some scheme of
partial, gradual emancipation.
Among Mr.. Benton's opponents is his col
league in the Senate, Mr.. Atchison. When
Mr.. B. went to Platte City, the residence of
Mr.. A., the excitement was tremendous. Mr..
A. was absent, but his friends had made such
preparations for Old Bullion's reception, that
bloodshcd was anticipated. Insults were Law
ished, and violence was commenced, but re-
pressed by the people. One physician, so strong
was his conviction that blood would be shed,
went to the meeting with surgical instruments,
lint and bandages in his pocket. The presence
of a large body of farmers awed the assailants,
and the meeting passed off peaceably. Mr.. Atch-
ison is reported to nave said, publicly, alluding
to the bursting of the great gun on board the
Princeton, al regret that Martin Van Buren,,
Tom Benton, Henry Clay and John Tyler were
not sitting a-straddle oft at the time it bursted. -
This is the spirit of Slavery, as it exhibits itself
whenever and wherever it is assailcd-thc spir-
it of revenge and murder.
Among the most active and unfair of Mr.. BIS
a~ssailants have been Judges Birch and Napton,
which will explain the Colonel's highly-fa-
vored comparison in the following paragraph:
ga conspiracy against an individual is an Of
fence indictable at common law, but / do MOI
mean to indict at common law. In the present
state of our Judiciary, for me to do that would
be something like sueing the devil and trying
the case in hell. l shall arraign the conspira.
tors. now at the bar of the people-next sum
mer at the elections-and the winter after at tn,
bar of the General Assembly. / waive the per
sonal injury to myself, but not that to the pub
lic."
The accounts from Missouri, says the Chica
go Democrat, represent the prospects of Colone
Benton to be getting brighter. The entire Stat
is convulsed, and the ensuing elections will b.
moro exciting than any that have ever taker
place in the State. After speaking in all thu
Northern counties, he has broken ground in tn,
West and Southwest, where the Nullifers arr
most numerous. He is taking bold ground
charging the Southern States with aggressions
on the North, instead of the reverse, as the Null
! lihers proclaim.