The Madisonian. (Canton, Miss.) 1850-1855, 1850-10-31
substanco Of Franklin Smiths romark
in reply 20 Gen. Foote'S personalities,
Oct. Dist 1850.

ia reply 20 Gen. Foote's personalities,
Oct. Dist 1850.
Fellow citizens; l have just been told BY
my friends for I did not hear that part Of
Gen. Foote'S remarks-that be took occa-
sion, both at the beginning and conclusion
Of his speech, to comment on the proceed
ings ola meeting, held in this place, last
Spring, condemnatory Of bis course on the
slavery question. Ia doing so, | am told,
he spoke Of me in a strain OF great irony
that he alluded to the fact Of my receiving
a captains commission from Mr.. Polk, and
afterwards |denouncing, upon these Court
House steps, the man by whom ! had been
honored with the appoiutment-that he
dwelt with peculiar emphasis and taunt up-
on my gallant services in the late war
with Mexico. Had it not been for this
course Of injustice, on the part Of General
Foote, towards so humble a citizen as my
selC-had he not indulged in personalreaec-
lions and sneaking %insinuations in regard
to me, | should not now have obtruded my
self upon your attention. Crushed by mis-
fortunes and borne down by disease, feel
no desire 10 enter the arena Of debate; but,
thank God, | have health and strength
enough to raise my voice in vindication OF
myself and my native land-health and
strength enough to denounce the recreant
who would assail the one or betraY the
other.
Why has this political weaIher-cock and
heartIess renegade thought proper TO make
nv services in Mexico-whether valiant
or otherwise-tht subject OF remark? No
man has ever heard me, either in public or
private, set up any claim to distinction or
consideration for military achievements,
whether real or fancied. On the contrary,
| have always,'and on all occasions, whelh-
er the subject was understood or not, pur-
posely disclaimed any participation in those
glorious battles, by which the first Mlssls
sippi riAes' covered themselves with lau-
rels, and gave honor and immortality TO
their leader and their State. Mine was a
staff appointment. Broken down with dis
ease, | was separated from Col Davis and
his command, and assigned a different post.
God knows it was not a want of courage
that kept me from Monterey and Buena
Vista; and that my reviler knew full well,
when making his covert nsinuations-after
enduring the sulTerings and hardShips oil
the campaign, it would have been a relief
to have been on these glorious fields, and
10 have participated in the stirring events
ofbatlle. But mine was that hard destiny
the destiny Of thousands, howeyer-to
experience all the miseries Of war with
out reaping any Of its @laurels-
I Fellow citizens, this is the bitterness of
the whole slavery question. That as much
oil Southern blood and treasurcshould have
been expended to obtain these Mexican ter
ritories-that SO many brave sons Of the
South should have suffered and died along
the Rio Grande 10 uphold the American
flag and MAINTAIN the honor of the Ameri-
can name-lhat the bones Of our brethrcp
should have been buried, un-cofined, in
sand a foot deep, thence 10 be dug up by
wolves, and thus made to undergo, as it
were a double death and massacre-that so
many of US, more unfortunate than the
honored dead, should have contracted d.
seases in that fatal service, from which we
are destined never to re%cover-tbat we,
men of the South, after all 1his and more,
should not only be robbed ofthe territories
thus acquired, but be scofIed at and
tainted by one Of our W Senators!-
This is, indeed, "the fend's arch mock,
the spite of helI:r that a Southern Sem
ator should not only have gone over 10 the
Yankees, to aid them in depriviug US OF
our rights; but that he should even twit US
ard denounce US as a shallow-miDded, fac
ti6us, and aspiring demagogues," for daring
to protest against his treachery! This is
the climax Of our misery; and there needs
but one step more to render our degrada-
ton perfect: that is, to submit 10 such
fraud and vilidny!
But, who is the man that sneers at my
services in Mexico, and taunts me with the
hardest fate that could befall human ma
ture? II is the Honorable Henry s. Foote
Of the American Senate-a man, who has
sold himself, body and breeches, to the
plunderers Of the Norlh-a trader, who has
battered away the vital interests and the
dearest right Of trusting constituency for
the empty promise Of Federal Office. At
our meeting last Spring, | denouced him as
a nolitician M lonoer uorfhv Of o,a oon6.