Democratic banner. (Bowling Green, Pike County, Mo.) 1845-1852, 1850-10-30
From the 81, Louis Intslligencer.

IN tH6 course OI tItse t"'' oHtuout Seo'oS
men, on the great questions which for two
years have sgita,ed the country, and to q
serious extent imperiled the Union. '9f
Gen. Cass is Senator from free State
where all the prejudices Of the people are
against slavery, and where the public senti.
ment has for years set powerfully in favor
of the abolition Of slavery by act of Con-
gress, wherever it has been claimed that
Congress has power to abolish it, and in ia.
vor of the prohibition of slavery BY act of
Congress from any territory where it does
not already exist.
Col. Benton is Senator from slave
State, where large portion, perhaps ma
jority of the people, believe that Congress
has 10 right 10 legislste on the subject OF
slavery, to abolish it or exclude it from any
territory or district whatever; and where,I
granting difference ofopinion on this point,
the public sentiment is unanimous, strong,
overwhelming against the exercise, OF the
power, or the attempt to exercise it.
Reasoning from probabilities and most
obvious propensities. one would say at.once
that Col. Benton would be the man to Nand
by the rights. and sympathize with the feel
ings of his own constituents, the men who
for "thirty years" had honored him with
their confidence, their support and their
highest honols-and that he would, by all
his ability, eloquence and influence, try to
stay the invading pillows of abolitionism
and free soilism, which were beating heavi-
ly against southern institutions, and threat
ening by inundation to destroy and extin-
guish them.
And reasoning from the weakness of hu-
man nature and the corrurting influence OF
lofice-seeki one would have supposed
that Gen. Cass would have, yielded TO the
strong biss of northern prejudice, and, TO
save himself, and make strong his political
position at home, that he would have con-
sented to the policy by which the free soil
spirit sought to hem in and ultimately weak
en- and despoil the South. .-.-
The remarkable facts have, however,
been observed, that the course of the two
men has been exactly the reverse of what
public judgment would have predicted
Gen. Cass's constituents, speaking through
the Legislature of Michigan, advised him to
strike the blow against southern pride, rights
and equality, by voting for the Wilmot Pro-
viso. Gen. Csss refused to obey. He di-
rected the minds of the people Of his State
to the injustice and the danger of such q
course. He pleaded for the rights and feel
| ings of the South.
He revived the fraternal spirit which
should ever animate all ports Of the Union
toward the whole, and BY the force Of his
patriotic letters and speeches, he called
back his constituents to their duty, and they
repealed the dangerous instructions and
rallied with their noble Senator, for the
compromise and for the Union.
But what has been the course of Col.
Benton, the representative ofa slave State?
Has he stood up openly and manfully for
southern rights? Has he rebuked the in
soIent and arrogant fanaticism ofthe North2
Has he made himself conspicuous as one Of
the champions OF the Compromise? Has
he been found associated with the eminent
statesmen Of the South, in their patriotic
efforts not to secede or nullify, but to vim
dicate southern rights and establish them
upon just and a firm basis7
The contrary Of all this has been true
He has been silent when it was his duty to
speak; he has affiliated with abolitionists
and free soiIers in their efforts to embarrass
and distract the South; he has grown mar
vellously into favor with those who speak
and write slightingly, not to say scornfully
of southern institutions end southern peo-
Iple. .
In this course he dealt fatal blows to the
moral power of the South, which the South
can alone derive from concert of action and
sympathy of feeling, and at the same time
gladdened the hearts and strengthened the
insane purposes of every fanatical free soil
er and abolitionist in the North. For con-
elusive proof of this we have only to point
to the numerous nominations which prints
of this type have given Benton for the Pres
Iidency.
Gen. Cass ba,tled for the South; or, rath-
er, for the Union, by preserving the rights
Of the South; Col. Benton deserted the
South, distracted southern counsels, ridi-
cuIed southern measures, aided and a..
betted northern sectional fanatics, and
strengthened, ten thousand fold, the free
soiIers of the North.
What a contrast! Cass, the patriot, o..
tye,ronin,. bv his proud indenendence. the