New-York daily tribune., 1854-05-24

e. and tie Virginia and kenfucky Resolutions Of
os and I7g9 vet he selects as the point Of departure
q, Lis preliminary view the war Of u; and in what
80 of this war we observe, in many other parts
<.. book along with some inaccuracies Of fact Gu
20. evidences Of conflict between old commitments
= ,resent views. When, for instance, he writes
.,hat irpressment was the objcct-the main one
,ai,h the insults and ou;ragcs connected with il
.,pd without which there would have been no decls-
- ntion Of war" be makes statement which will
,,tsinly mislead all those OF his readers-no doubt
me st least out Of every ten-who may never have
,,own who may fail to call TO mind, the true origin
THAT contest 1t is certain that if the British had
,.sfned themselves to the old grievance Of the i'm
ssssment Of northern sailors, there never would have
H,a any war The difiiculies which finally termi-
s,sd after five years controversy in the declaration
Jrsr, grew out Of the interference Of Great Britain
9Th the free transport to Europe Of our American
.roduce In fact, We were carried into the not
,behslf Of northern sailors but rather behalf Of
stLern cotton and tobacco. 1t il true that when the
s,r was resolved upon, the inpressment OF our sea
,p was brought in as a make-wcght, aud that, by
,,sl OF the British Orders in Council it was LEFT a.
ar only ostensible ground Of complaint. But the war
A,r the greatest efforts the part of those Young
,,itieisns who were the real authors Of it, having
I'm actually begun, and having domestic oh.
"A. quite as much as foreign ones in view. there
,re a great many other reasons for pro-
! ding with it beside the ancient and chronic
! avance Of impressment. Yielding TO his early
auiments, and adopting the stereotype
,,sses insisted upon, from all pol tical aspirants
,h iron severity by the triumphant authors Of the
rr-.LCugh when we say triumphant we must be un-
Antood as referring ra her to party than to na onl
,sores-Mr. Benton prCnOunces that war neces-
asry" and even " successful and glorious" At the
.ne time, he cOnfesses that those who declared il
vsre obliged to terminate ii by treaty which did
M contain the slightest allusiOn 10 that which, by the
peal of the British Orders, id become it's sole os
vpsibe ground-a treaty into which the government
vy driven by the total ruin of the public finances
xIcb the war bad brought about. Nor did this treaty
hapy means end the matter replace things as they
sod before The arrangement of the public
nces had involved the stOppage of specie payments
"a bad reduced the country to wretched currency
dncOnvertible paper, to escape from which the au
,h,rs of the war undertook to establish National
.Brk. with capital much larger than at all
vssry which Bank in its e'rly days, was so miserI
IJ msmanaged to aggrayate and prOtract the very
rib which il designed to cure, while it after
as,rd became. according to MIR. Benton, dangerous
Dnd corrupt money power, against which 1t required
ID, the energy and courage OF Gen. Jackson to strug
es with success; the falling Bank again dragging
down both the finances and the currency into new con
h,ion. Other results of the war which Mr.. Benton
yu strongly deprecates were the West-POnt Military
Academy which, according to his view, makes our
army one of the most arstocratic institutions in the
world and the scheme of making the United States
naval power, not merely for defense but for aggres-
ZION and conquest-a sink for the annual consumption
If immense sums of the public money, only to keep
Is always on the point of being plunged into wars OF
Questionable necessity and justice, and doubtful re-
ults 10 the same source Mr.. Benton traces back
Internal improvements, tariffs for protection and null
fcaton, all of which he equally disapprovesi while
0 Offset al these evil consequences OF the war;
retty formidable lst,-and to show it necessary
succo seful" aud "gorOus,' lie has nothing to aegc
kept our impunty, since the peace from the outrage
f impresement Near forty years" he excaims,
without case when we not as many days Of
t,ntimes without cases before and ofthe most insult
inc and outrageous nature. The spirit and patriotism
ccording TO Mr. Bentons own statement the Govern
lent was obliged to stop the war, be,ause supplies
,ere not TO be had volunteering for the service,
and standing to the contest in the general wreck OF
the finances and the currency, without regard to
their ow losses and the heroic courage OF the army
and navy the militia and volunteers, made the war
successful aud glorious in spite of empty treasures,
and e,tortcd from proud empire that security,
IN point Of fact which diplomacy coaid not obtain
as a tyeafg stipuiaton." This, take it, is
pecch to Buncombe, intended specially for Mr. Ben
ons back woods subscribers but tappearng as 1t does
n the very second page of his book, it is not cal
ulated to raise in the mind of the intelligent reader
nv great confidence in Mr.. Bentons candor or sound
ess of Judgment, since every reader of tOerablc
must know that if for forty years
asst Great Britain has not impressed one of our sail
RS. neither has she during the period impressed
ne of her own and that for the reason that IN that
me- she has not been engaged IN any naval war, ana
arefore has had no occasion to do so. AS to our
resent inpunty from danger of the violation OF any
our maritime rights that surely is much less due
csny of the achievements of the last war than TO our
focress since that time il wealth and commerce-(a
rngress to which the war proved terrible drawback)
nn consequence of which our good will has become
80 valuable for any commercial nation and especially
reat Britain. 10 risk the loss of IT, We are truly
,rry to find Mr. Benton ndulgng in these exaggerated
nd bravado euOgies on the of lcl2-a war, as he
erywell knows though he drops upon that subject only
,me obscure hints, undertaken by rash Young
merica faction against the judgment OF Madison,
lscon, Randolph, and almost all the sages of the old
epubican party Such unfounded eulogies can only
md 10 stimulate n military and AGGRESSIVE snirit