Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-07-28
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REMARKS OF SENATOR PETIT,
OF INDIANA,
ON MIR. BENTON,S LETTER.


OF INDIANA,
ON MIR. BENTONS LETTER,
In Senate, Monday, July "a, 1854.
Mr. PETIT said:
Mr.. President, ask the indulgence of the
Senate to allow me few minutes to reply to a
letter which has been in circulation in the pa
peers. ! hope there will be no objection.
The PRESIDENT. If there be no objec-
ton, the senator will proceed.
There was no objection.
Mr.. PETIT. Mr. President, ask the in
diligence and attention OF senators for few
moments, while / call to their notice most
remarkable letter, which is going the rounds
of the newspapers. 1t is as follows:
WASHINGTON, Saturday, June II, 1854.
SIR: Your letter has just been received, in
forming me that Mr.. PERTH, in public speech
in your town, stated that was the hrst man 10
break the Missouri compromise-that had aslaw
pa ssed by Congress, annexing 10 the State large
territory, &c. Sir, your senator is great liar
and dirty dog, ialsifylng public history for a
criminal purpose. The Missouri compromise line
was not piokatSd in annexing the Platte country.
Both parties TO the compromise agreed TO it, the
free States being unanimous There were not
even yeas and nays upon IT, The general assem-
bly, Of Missouri requested it, We applied TO the
members personally and individually for their con
sent, which they gave; and without their consent
no movement was made or would have been
made. The journals prove this. There is a full
account of il in my "Thirty Years View in the
chapter headed Extension ofthe Missouri boun-
dary"-also in my late Nebraska speech it is
briefly alluded TO, and that is probably all that the
dirty dog knew about it, and which he fasified to
answer his criminal purposes. | send you some
Of my Nebraska speeches, and ] hope you will
ind the chapter in the Thirty Years. and see
that this change in the line was asked boon
from the northern States, and by them granted in
in spirit of kindness, and in way 10 prove that
they would not suffer snt-slavery feelings to pre-
vent them from doing act of great favor to the
State of Missouri, and for which all Missouri was
thankful at the time, and / am still. Mr.. PETIT
must feel that his cause is vainous when he
can thus stand up before his constituents TO falsy
public history, and 10 justify his own violation Of
the Missouri compromise, by telling a lie upon
me Respectfully
THOMAS H. BENTON.
JAMES HOWE, Esq; Lafayette, Indiana.
This letter is as ridiculous as it is strange
as absurd as it is low, course and vulgar. II
Mr.. BENTON can make any one believe that
am liar, he will have done that which no one
who intimately knows me does, can, or will be-
lieve. | have always sought after and endea-
vored to speak the truth in all things. / love
her name, cherish her form, and adore her sub
stance, and would not willingly pervert or
pollute either. He who is devoid of sincerity
and truth, is without the necessary helm to
guide him safely over the dangerous sea oflife,
and will inevitably become prey to counter
winds and currents, and must strand upon its
shoals or wreck upon its rocks.
Mr.. President, if do not establish, beyond
cavil, that Colonel BENTON is wicked and
malicious falsi6er Of truth, or an imbecile and
dotard, will, in all future time, submit to the
epithets he has applied to me.
On the 18th of June last was at home, La
fayette, Indiana, and made speech to large
collection of my immediate constituents and
heighbors. The speech turned principally upon
the Kansas and Nebraska act, and the Missouri
compromise. showed that the act of 1920
was not the real compromise or terms upon
which Missouri came into the Union but that
il was DIR. Clay's resolution, year afterwards,
that was entitled to that honor or appellation.
] showed that the act Of 1920 was not com.
promise or compact in the sense in which its
friends contended for it but that it was mere
act of Congress, subject as any other act, to
repeal by the present or any other Congress, as,
in their judgment, expediency should justify or
require.
BESToy's speech of April %, 1854, in the
House of Representatives, had been largely
circulated, and was much appealed TO then (;
and those who heretofore had been heard a
thousand times TO say that he was thief Of
money stolen in North Carolina, and secreted
in his cravat, and that he had, under the pre-
tense Of an honorable duel, committed cold
blooded murder-that Of Lucas-and that he
had been guilty of all the crimes known to the
black catalogue of infamy, were now the loudest
and most boisterous In singing his praise, and
referring to his speech. To show that Mr..
BENTON was not reliable, and that he could not
safely be followed, and that the act Of 1920
was not sacred compact that could not be
be altered, changed or violated, said that
Colonel BENTON had, in 1886, sixteen years
after its passage, procured the passage OF
another act Of Congress changing, altering, re-
pealing, abrogating, and rioLdting, pro tdnto,
tho act of 1920, called the Missouri compro-
mise, and read the following act and procla-
nation:
An act TO extend the western boundary of the
State Of Missouri TO the Missouri river.
Be IL enacted By The Senate and House of Repre.
SsnfafipsS Of The Uuned States Of America ia Con-
yyssS assembled That when the Indian title 10 all
the lands lying between the State Of Missouri and
the Missouri river shall be extinguished the ju-
tue State Of Missouri, and the western boundary
of said State shall be then extended 10 the Mis-
sour river, reserving TO the United States the
original right of soil IN said lands and OF disposng
Of the same: PT0Uided That this act shall moi
take effect until the President shall, by proclama.
tion declare that the Indian title 10 said lands has
been extingushed shall il take effect until the
State Of Missouri shall have assented 10 the pro-
visions Of this act.
Approved JKne 2, 1896.
(Unaed States Statutes, rot s. p. 81
Proclamation issued by the President Of the
United States, under the act Of June 7, 1896:
by The P,e1dsm o,rthe United States of America.
PROCLAMATION.
Whereas, by an act Of Congress OF the 9Th OF
June, 1886, il was enacted that when the Indian
title 10 all the lands lying between the State Of
Missouri and the Missouri river should be ertin.
guished, the jurisdiction over said land should be
ceded by the said act TO the State Of Missouri and
the western boundary Of said State should be then
extended 10 the Missouri river, reserving TO the
United States the original right Of soil in said
lands, and OF disposing Of the same and whereas,
IL was in and by the said act provided that the
same should not take effect until the President
should, by proclamation, declare that the Indian
title 10 said lands had been exfinguished nor until
the State OF Missouri should have sssented TO the