Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1853-09-15
From the New York Evening Post.
COL. BENTON'S HISTORY.
Purchase of Florida and Cession Of Texas
AMMO 1921. JAMES MONROE, PRE-
SIDENT.

Twas a member at the bar at St. Louis,
in the then territory of Missouri, in the
year 1918, when the Washington City news
paper made known the progress of that trea-
ty with Spain which was signed on the 22d
day of FEBRUARY following, and which, in
acquiring Florida, gave away Texas. l
was shocked at it-at the cession of Texas,
and the new boundaries proposed for the
United States on the south west. The ac-
QUESTION of Florida was desirable object,
long sought, and sure to be obtained in the
progress Of events; but the new boundaries,
besides cutting off Texas, dismembered the
valley Of the Mississippi, mutilated two of
its noblest rivers, brought foreign domn-
ion, and it non-slaveholdihg, to the neigh
borhood of New Orleans, and established a
wilderness barrier between Missouri and
New Mexico-t0 interrupt theft trade, Sc
parate their inhabitants, and shelter the wild
Indian depredators upon the lives and pro-
perty Of oil who undertook to pass from one
to the other. was not then in politics,
and had nothing to do with political affairs,
but saw at once the whole evil Of this
great sacrifice, and instantly raised my voice
against it in articles published in the ST.
Louis newspapers, and in which were Civ
en-, in substance, all the natural reasons
against giving away the country, which
were afterwards, and by SO many tongues,
at the expense of war and an hundred mil
lions, given toget it back. denounced the
treaty, and attacked its authors and their
motives, and imprecated woe on the heads
Of those who should continue to favor it.
"The magnificent valley of the Mississip-
pi is ours, with all its fountains, springs and
floods; and woe to the statesman who shall
undertake to surrender one drop of its wa
ter, one inch Of its soil, to any foreign
power"
In these terms l spoke, and in this spirit
l wrote, before the treaty was even ratified.
Mr.. John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of
State, negotiator and ostensible author of
the treaty, was the statesman against whom
my censure was directed, and l was GER
tainly sincere in my belief of his great cul-
pability. But the declaration which he af-
forwards made on the floor of the House,
absolved him from censure on account of
that treaty, and placed the blame ON the ma
jority in Mr.. Monroe's cabinet, southern
men, by whose vote he had been governed
in ceding Texas and fixing the boundary
which so much condemned. After this
authoritative declaration, l made, in my
place in the Senate, the honorable arnende
to Mr.. Adams, which was equally due to
him and to myself.
The treaty was signed on the anniversary
Of the birthday of Washington, and sent
to the Senate the same day, and unanimous
ly ratified on the next day, with the gener-
al appreciation Of the country and the warm
applause of the newspaper press. This
unanimity Of the Senate, and applause of
the press, made no impression upon me. |
continued to assail the treaty and its authors,
and the more bitterly because the official
correspondence. when published, showed
that this great sacrifice of territory, rivers,
and proper boundaries, was all gratuitous
and voluntary on our part-''that the Span
ish government had offered us more than we
accepted" and that it was our policy, and
not hers, which had deprived us of Texas
which lay between the large country, in ad-
dition to Texas, which lay between the Red
river and Upper Arkansas. This was an
enigma, the solution of which, in my mind
strongly connected itself with the Missouri
controversy then raging, (lsl9,) with its
greatest violence, threatening existing poll.
tical parties with subversions, and the I'm.
ion with dissolution. My mind went there
to that controvcrsy-for the solution, but
with misdirection of its application. !
blamed the northern men in Mr.. Monroe:
cabinet: the private papers of General
! Jackson; which have come to my hands, en-
I able me to correct that error, and give mt
an inside view Of that which | could only
see on the outside before. In a private
, letter from Mr.. Monroe to General Jack
son, dated at Washington, May 23d, lS2(
more than one year after the ratification
of the treaty, written TO justify it, and evi
dent!y called out by Mr.. Clay's attacks up
an it-are these passages:
"Having long known the repugnance wit
e which the eastern portion Of our Union, o
o rather some Of those who have enjoyed it
confidence, for do not think that the pee
. pie themselves have any interest or wish {
y that kind, have seen its aggrandizement
K the West and South, have been decided
of opinion that we ought to be content wit
Florida for the present, and until the ubli
n opinion in that quarter shall be reconcile
n to any further change. l mention thes
,e circumstances to show you that our difitcu
ties are not with Spain alone, but are like
wise internal, proceeding from varior
% causes, which certain men are prompt
(, seize and turn to the account Of their ow
lie ambitious view"
IS This paragraph from Mr.. Monroe S lie
a. ter lifts the curtain which concealed the s.
= cret reason for ceding Texas-that seer
'e which explains what was incomprehensib
a -ojir having refused to accept as much {
IN Spain had offered. Internal difficulties,
was thus shown, had induced that refusa
and these difficulties grew out of the repu
G. nance of leading men in the northeast TO S
bo the further aggrandizement of the Uni
' upon the South and West. This repu
g. nance was then taking an operative from
as the shape Of the Missouri controversy; ar
as an immediate consequence, threaten