The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-07-18

Twill lay before you and them, iii this.
Iolace, one othor glowing paragraph of
| the senatorial speech which has been an
ready sofreel quoted from ins which
Mr.. Barton thus graphically y define oates
THE illistrious deliverer of Calhonn nniacs.;
He is referring to Mr.. Benton as the for.t;
mer conductor ola newspaper: ss;Ss2 'SS22
"The St. Louis Enquirer not then
edited by the public printer censed
theex:P President Adams of attempting
at Ghcnt to bargain the Mississippi for,
some fishing privilege at the Northeast,
and after impressing and rivetting the.
calumny upon the public mind !, Refused
even to publish his triumphant refuta.!
ton! No, sir. Truth has not. YET
even discovered the author Of. the East
Room letter.! His place of residence
became an object Of as much curiosity
and inquiry as the birthplace of Hon.
or. Some located him at Richmond
Virginia-some elsewhere. Public cu-
riosity was on the alert. Our frank.
huntsmcn Of the West, lovers Of Wash
ington and of holy truth, that daughter
of Heaven, sent on earth to cement and
hold together civil society among men,
say (to use their parlance, and draw
my figures from my own country, and
the scenes of my own country that
they tracked this prowler for human,
reputation and civil discord to deep
and dark recess, amidst the vast prairies
of the magnificent valley of the Missis-
sippi, that they fire the prairies, and
ran their line of fire into his retreat un-
til it scorched bis very nose, and enyel-
oped him in smoke; and still he lay sui.
len, and silent, and concealed. And
they had given up the hunt, until he
walked forth again upon the prowl for.
human reputation and civil discord, in
the darkness of night, under the mask:
of sAmericanus,' and committed an
outrage more Aagitious than the first.
He will be hunted again. 1t is pro 6o-.
no publico, that such calumniators and
Catilines should be known; ay, and i'm
paled on high-high as Roman cross
or American pillory could place them,
as warning to our young men to be-
ware of the fate Of convicted calumni-
ator-beware of the fate of an Ameri-
can Catilinc!'
wish heartily that I could now let
MIR. Benton off; but as he sometimes
says, sin order to vindicate the truth
Of history" I must send one or two
more shafts at him. Would any man
believe, who is only familiar with Mr..
Benton's more recent history, that he
was once raving Nullifcr and Seces-
sionist, and an advocate for armed resis-
tance to laws regularly enacted by Con-
gress, in pursuance OF the established
parliamentary formula, and backed and
sustained by the decisions of the Su.
preme Court of the Union? Strange
as these accusations may appear to some
| will sustain both and Immediately, by
irrefragablc proof.
And now for his being at one time
nullifier and scccssionist. It will be re-
collected by you that General Hayne,
OF South Carolina, in the celebrated
controversy between himself and Mr..
Webster, asserted, boldly and fully, all
the extreme doctrines of the nullifying
school then prevailing in his State In
this grand strife Of arms, Mr.. Benton
was actually so closely associated with
the South Carolina champion, that Mr..
Webster thought proper to take very
special notice of their apparent combi-
nation against him, complaining partic-
ularly Of their 'smutual quotation and
commendation," of their "casting the
characters in the drama, assigning to
each his part; to one the attack, to an
other the cry Of onsct," and said ia.
ther:
81 offer myself, Sir, as a match to no
man; [ throw the challenge of debate
at no mans feet. But then, SIR, since
the honorable gentleman has put the
question in manner that calls for an
answer, will give him an answer; and
tell him, that, holding myself to be the
humblest Of the members here, l yet
know nothing in the arm of his friend
from Missouri, either alone or when
aided by the arm of his friend from
South Carolina, that need deter even
me from espousing whatever opinions
may choose to espouse, from debating
whenever | may choose to debate; or
from sIeaking whatever I may see fit
TO sag upon the floor of the Senate"
Mr.. Hayno had cited the Virginia and
Kentucky resolutions of,92 ma b;s load.