Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1849-07-02
COL. BENTON.

When we read the late speech Of COL Benton,
delivered in Jefferson City, and found that he
had deliberately gone over to the Free Soil party.
we regarded his fate sealed, SO far as Missouri
was concerned. We were aware Of the great in
1uenCe which he exercise over his constituents
and that, for period Of nearly thirty years, he
had been virtualythe dictator Of the State. We
were aware too that this unchallenged domino
ton, for so long time, had, naturally enough,
engendered dogmatism, selfconceit, arrogance
and impracticabiIity and that many who recog-
Missed him as political leader, whose endorsement
was necessary to their own advancement, ne
vertheless hated him and would gladly see
his power overthrown. All these people were
prompt to avail themselves Of the not unexpected,
but yet bold and decided step he took in ranging
himself in the ranks of those considered as most
hostile to the vital interests Of the State he rep
resentS and Of the South in general, with which
she is united in sympathy and feeling and with
which she has always acted. They broke ground
at once against him, and were Joined bv many
who were really his friends, but who, from a
sense Of public duty, found themselves compell-
ed TO abandon their favorite 1t was not TO be
expected that he did not foresee the clamor to
which his conduct would give rise, or that he
would succumb 10 it for moment. He met the
unbounded abuse poured out upon him with I'M
daunted air, and lost no opportunity, not merely
OF defending himself, but Of becoming the assaii-
ant. As we said, we did not doubt that he
would be speedily whelmed under the waves of
popular Indignation. We now doubt whether
this is to be his fate. The indications are alto
gether in his favor, and there is reason to believe
by the force Of party organization and his own
indomitable spirit that he will be sustained by the
people Of the State.
He has already the two most influential Demo
ocratic Journals Of the State, the St. Louis Union
and Jefferson Inquirer, besides other less known,
on his side. All the ofice-holders about the SCI
OF Government, and others who, with them, con-
troll the politics Of the State, are clamorous in his
behalf and espouse Free Soil views with great
enthusiasm. The Jefferson Inquirer, the Demo-
cratic organ, published at the seat of Government
says:
The grounds assumed by Col. Benton in his speech
tenable-the Position he occupies upon the question
Of slavery, is the position that will be Occupied by the
people Of the whole Union and did not hesitate TO
say this before he made this mastery speech''
The resolutions offered by Mr.. Jackson in the
Legislature Of Missouri-pretty much to the eff
feet Of those passed by our General Assembly
and the passage Of which was the immediate &C.
casion Of this pronunciamento of Col Benton. are
stigmatised by the St. Louis Union as "anti-re-
publican and dangerous in their character" OF
course, all the Calhoun, or ultra Southern, views
Of the slavery question are repudiated. Col.
Benton, we have good reason to believe, will tri-
umph in the present contest and maintain his as
cendency-nay, like every unsuccessful rebel
ion the present cutlery will but strengthen his
power.
As an interesting passage in the politics of
State, this emeue deserves notice. But we refer
to it for other purposes. We have, in the ready
reputation of all their heretofore cherished
principles, another illustration of the absurdiy of
claiming for the Democratic party more trustwor-
thiness than the Wing party, in regard to the Pc
culiar institutions of the South. These Missouri
apostates, who, at the bidding of Benton and by
the force Of party pressure, have gone over to
Free Soilism, were, six months ago, lust as rabd
in their denunciations OF the Wings of the South
for their lukewarmncss in behalf of Southern
rights, as any of the patent Cass Democrats of
Virginia, whose sentiments find opponents in the
Richmond Enquirer and our neighbor, the Re-
publican. We do not say that our Democrats
would, with like alacrity, betray the South
though, ifhe receive the nomination of a Nation
al Convention, they will support Benton. The
moral we wish to draw from this Missouri defec-
ton, and 10 inculcate upon the Democrats of Vir-
ginia,is simply this-that events are daily demon
strating the holowness of the pretensions, set up
by the Democracy,to exclusive zeal and fidelity
in behalf of Southern rights; that excess of pro-
ID 10.