The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1850-11-29
COL. THOS. H. BENTON.

| COL. THOS. H. BENTON.
This gentleman, once the acknowledged
head and front of the Democratic party, an'
whose devotion to principles was heio VI
as worthy of the imitation Of all the Jesse
lights, seems to have worked himself p'ett!
low down in the estimation Of his torme
friends and admirers, and instead OF being
rs was once the case. the subject OF then
high wrought enlogics, is now regarded a.
n proper mark for their shafts OF sarcas"
and ridicule. What has wrought this grea
chnnge! The friends OF former days de
nouncs him as a traitor and renegade;
while he denounces them as having desert
ed the leading principles Of the party
Who is right in the matter. and who wrong
we hive no business to determine, One
thing, however, is quite evident: Mr.. Ben
toms political days are fast drawing to
close. Like many other Statesman. sell
has been the controlling motive, and the
Presidency the glit,ering object of his am
bilion. In lis Efforts to attain the dizzy
eminence he has stumbled, and falls, as Lu.
offer fell. never TO rise again.
Mr.. Benton recently made speech at
St, Louis, which is handled in very caus-
tic manner BY some of the Democratic
prints, among the number the Washington
Union. the editor Of which paper once re.
uarded the "Great Solitary" as the bright
est star in the Democratic armament. The
following - an extract from Mr.. Rllchie's
article:
"a, last the speech Of Col. Benton in ST.
Louis. which has been for some weeks pro.
claimed by sound of trumpet and defiance Of
herald to be in preparation, has been deliv.
cred. and an authentic copy Of the same has
been received. 1t is not report. but, like
most of Col. Bcnton's ertemporary flashes
Of eloquence, was written and printed be-
forehand. 1t is long and elaborate enough
to contain something; but we have searched
in it vaioly for one great principle, one no"
Bile sentiment, one vigorous display of argu-
ment. 1t is all in the Thinks | TO my
self" style. IL is all taken up with what
Col. Benton did and did not do what his
enemies said and did not say-wi,h few
cold glanccs at his friends. "Soli,ary and
alone" he set the ball in motion. and soli.u.
~ and alone he rolled it along. 1t is inter-
arded with stale jokes and aloe Miller an
ecdotes"-so old that the memory of man
runneth not to the contrary of their exis-
tence. He administers a fresh dose Of his
"sarsa parilla speech"-tskes a turn in the
''omnious"-makes awful wry faces at 'nul.
liication"-,ills furiousIy at Mr. CIuy-
pickles up the tariff of 1912 and Thomas
Richie in the stage box, with an air hole
in the button, and adds the feat Of sending
poor John Box Brown in the box of the
stage from Charleston TO Boston incognito.
without changing horses, stages. or mails
then, to wind up with an overpowering
rhetorical flourish. after locking and strap
ping The tariff of 1912 and ourself in the
boot of the "Omnibus,' he suddenly rcsur>
reefs US to the dignity Of a "dcck passcn.
.er" Such is the staple Of Col. Behton's
! specch-very much like Hamlcl's reading
words-words; and his peroration is spe.
cinen OF his patroniziDg arts, in which he
"rours you as gently as any sucking dove"
Poor Nick Bottom, the weaver, is no,chere
when Col. Bentdn is about"