The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-08-31
OLD BULLION.

The most peculiar, certainly, if not the most
remarkable man in the United States, is Col.
Thomas HART Benton Of Missouri. AS our
readers know, he has recently been elected to
the House of Representatives from the ST. Louis
District. Immediately after the result was
known, he made speech which was the rich
est specimen of Bullion that ever came from
the mind Of the great Missourium." We re.
greet that we have not room TO publish this truly
Bentonian production. The Examiner, which
has great knack at seizing upon good things,
published it entire on Friday.
A fine trait in the old Senator is his devotion
to his family. In the course of his speech at
St. Louis, he made some reference to that IA
mily, and spoke of his wife as " wife whom
have nerer neglected" Some of the papers
accidently omitted the word "never," and it
greatly excited the old man. Just arrived at
error to the Republic. In this letter, he says:
The sentence should read "a srafe uhom l
haue NEVER neglected." for that is the fact of
the case, as well as the assertion in the origi-
nal speech; and it was some defective copy,
or haste of composition in the composition
which occasioned the omission of the word
"nerer"-with me the most valued word in
the whole speech. ! am extremely te-
nacious Of that word "nerer" in relation to
neglecting" Mrs. Benton, having had her
with me during the whole thirty years." and
never neg Iected her, the children, or my coun-
try, during the whole time. "Or my country" is
faithfully and ardently Bentonian. By the
way, the passage of the speech in which the
allusion to his family occurs, is too entertain
ing to be omitted. 1t occurs in connection
with placid allusion to the close of his life,
in which he represents the underlaker's face as
having grown pheasant to him:
have been through a contest to which
had no heart, and into which | have been
forced, sorely against my will. have not CON
Quoted it like other men. Who, since it be
gan, has seen me walk the streets of the
city in which | live stand of a corner? or WISH,
public place? Who has seen that No one.
Who has seen me talk to any individual to con
ciliate his vote? No one. What have done!
Gone forth when too much assailed to speak
to the masses-thOse masses always honest,
sometimes mistaken, but always ready to do
justice. l have spoken the same language to
all, kindly and deferentially to the good and
mistaken; proudly and detyingIy to the false
and wicked; and from the masses and the re-
pulse of assailants, l have always returned TO
the seclusion of my own house. NV work has
been that Of the sick lion-sck at heart-re.
posing in his lair, only leaving it when the
hunters and their pack bayed too closely; and
then 10 slaughter or dispense the assallants; and
then return again to the sick bed.
l have gone through contest to which
had no heart, and into which was forced by
combinations against life and honor, and from
which gladly escape. What is u seat in Con
gress TO me? | have sat Thirty years in the
highest branch Of Congress-have made
name to which can expect to add nothing
and should only be anxious to save what has
been gained. | have domestic affections, sore-
Iy lacerated in these latter times; wife whom
have never neg lected, and who needs my at.
tention DOW more than ever; children, some
separated from me by the wide expanse of
oceans and continents, others by the slender
bounds which separate time from eternity. |
touch the age which the Psaltnist assigns for
the limit of manly life; and must be thought
less, indeed, if do not think somewhat beyond
the ieetlng and shadowy pursuits of this life,
OF oil which have seen the vanity. What is
my occupation! Ask the undertaken, that good
Dir. Lynch, whose face, present on SO many
mournful occasions, has become pleasant to
me. He knows what occupies my thoughts
and cares-gathering the bones of the dead-a
mother-a sister-two sons--a grand child
planting the CYPRESS over assembled graves,
and marking the spot where l, and those who
are dear to me, are soon to be laid; all on the
sunset side of the Father of Floods, the tow
ering city OF st. Louis on one hand the roll
ing stream of the Missouri on the orher; and
where cemetery of large dimensions is to be
the future metropolis of unnumbered genera.
tons. These are my thoughts and cares, and
the undertaken knows them.