Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-09-08
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 richest specimen of
Bullion that ever came from the mind Of
the ''great Missourium." We regret that
We have not room to publish his truly Ben
toniau production.
a fine trait in the old Senator is his de-
votion to his family. In the course of his
speech at st, Louis, he made some refer
ence to that family, and spoke of his wife
as "a wife whom have ncrer neglected"
Some of the papers accidently omitted the
word "never," and it greatly excited the
old man. Just arrived at Washington, he
writes letter correcting the error to the
Republic. In this letter, he says ''The
sentence should read "A scJe scaom Ihape
NEVER neglected;' for that is the fact of
the case, as well as the assertion in the o.
riginal speech and it was some defective
copy, or haste Of composition in the COM
positor which occasloned the omission of
the word 'NEvER'--with me the most valu-
ed word in the whole speech am
extremely tenacious of that word NEVER
IN relation to'negleciing' Mrs. Benton, hav-
ing had her with me during the whole
thirty gears and never neglected her,
the children, or my country, during the
whole time" "Or my country, is faithful
ly and ardently Bentonian. BY the way,
the passage of the speech in which the al
fusion 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 underta-
ker's face as having grown pleasant" q
to him:
II have been through contest TO which
had no heart, and into which | have been
forced, sorely against my will. have not
conducted it like other men. Who, since
it began, has seen me walk the streets of
the city in which live? stand at corner:
Or visit public place: Who has seen
that? No one. Who has seen me talk to
any individual to conciliate his vote? No
one. What have done' Gone forth
when too much assailed to speak to the
masses-thoSe masses always honest, some
times mistaken, but always ready to do JUS
tice. | have spoken the same language TO
all, kindly and deferentally to the good and
mistaken; proudly and defyingly to the
false and wicked; and from the masses and
the repulse of assailants, have always re-
turned to the secuSion Of my own house.
My work has been that of the sick lion
sick at heart-reposing in his lair, only
leaving it when the hunters and their pack
bayed too closely; and then to slaughter or
dispense the assailants and then return a.
gain to the sick bed.
81 have gone through contest to which
l had no heart and into which was for
ced by combinations against life and honor,
and from which gladly escape. What is
a seat in Congress to me' | have sat thir-
ty years in the highest branch of Congress
; have made a name to which | can eX-
pect to add nothIag-and | should only he
anxious to save what has been gained. |
have domestic affections, sorely lacerated
in these latter times wife whom have
never neglected, aud who needs my atten-
ton now more than ever children, some
separated from me by the wide eXpanSe of
T oceans and continents, others by the 81 en-
der bounds which separate time from eter-
nifty. | touch the age which the Psalmist
assigns for the limits Of manly life; and
must be though,less, indeed, if do not
think somewhat beyond the fleeing and
shadowy pursuit Of this life, of all which |
have seen the vanity. What is my occu-
patton Ask the undertaken, that good Mr.
Lynch, whose face, present on so many
mournful occasions, has become pleasant to
me. He knows what occupies my thoughts
and gathering the bones Of the dead
"a mother--a sitter--two sons-a grand
chiid-planting the cypress over assembled
graves, and marking the spot where /, and
those who are dear to me, are soon to be
laid all on the sunset side of the Father
of Floods, the towering city ofSt. Louis on
one hand, the rolling stream Of the Missouri
on the other; and where cemetery of large
dimensions is to be the future metropolis
of numbered generations, These are my
thoughts and cares. and the undertaken
knows them"