Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1856-11-22
BENTON'S LAST SPEECH.

BENT0NS LAST SPEECH.
The last speech of this once great but now sim.
ply odd and eccentric old man, was made at st.
Louis just prior to the election. The old Roman
Senator has outlved his day and is now more an
object of curiosity than ofinterest. And yet there
is certain racness in all he writes and says that
pleases US to read after him. The following ex.
tracts from his recent speech are decidedly Bento-
MAN:
sFellow citizens 1t has occurred to me frequent
ly to apply to myself an expression which one of
the soldiers of the Emperor Napoleon was accus.
toned to use to me, when talking of the campaigns
that they had made. He said that during the cam
paigns under that great General, that the constant
expression was, ''let US make haste; let US finish
this battle and begin another; let US make haste
and finish fighting the Prussans, and go and fight
the Austrians; let make haste and fight the Aus
TRANS, that we may go and fight the Russians"
Thus it was: succession of combats, and making
haste to get rid of one fight that they might rush
into another. That seems to be the course of my
political life all the time am getting rid of
| thing to go to something else. To look only at
this summers work, can only say that was last
| year in haste to finish my Thirty Years View in
| time to come to Cincinnati to begin this work-to
| Missouri to finish it; and when it was over, hur
| ried to Washington to commence q colossal work.
| Nothing less than the abrdgement of the Debates
in Congress-the debates from 1889 to the present
| dsy-so as to bring them down to the present and
| future generations, records of the wisdom of our
| forefatbers. went back to commence the abridge.
ment of that great work, and in the time that
have been absent have done much. l have sb
| ridged the AID ninistration of Washington, eight
| years; the Administration OF John Adams four
| years; and am two years deep in Jefferson's Ad.
ministrston. The publishers are far advanced with
| the first volume-mysef so far in advance of the
publisher and his workmen, that felt free to run
off for while, and engage in the conclusion Of the
| campaign in Missouri. 1t was in the forenoon of
Thursday last that sent off to the publishers the
| last nstalment of the copy that they needed for
the volume in the press at four and half o'clock
the same evening threw myself into the cars
| and coming night and day, three nights and two
| days, without rest or Sleep and muf1ng myself up
in a corner of the seat so that was scarcely found
out by the telegraph wires printers that were OF
| the road and who would tell the news before ar
rived, Cheers brought my own news with me-
| and when / speak to you of that three nights and
two days without rest and without sleep, in which
| made the travel from Washington City to this
place, 1 do not tell it for the purpose of making
| an excuse for the imperfections of my speech.
| do not want to make you believe that have suf-
fered so much in this hasty travel that l can't do
| as well | would. feel as fresh at this moment
or when l arrived here, as when set out and l
could have done no better had l come By the most
| gentle stages.
| FREMONT
Next is Mr.. Fremont, standing near to me, in a
relation dear as it could be to menot to be my own
child. He has had an eVentful life-great difficult
ties great dangers, great trials to undergo stood
by him in every one of them as father would
stand by a child. Long continued applause)
Nor, gentlemen, did he ever have need, th at
did not administer to him, to the extent of my
means. There are persons BOW on this platform,
that know that spared nothing which could
raise and deliver him, in order to carry him through
the eventful life in which he was engaged. WARM
applause) All that, was paterna all that, was na-
ture-nature setting, nature speaking, nature at
liberty to obey ITS most cherished feelings
(Cheers) At last be has permitted himself to be
put up as candidate for the P esidenoy of the
United States. | knew it long before you did,
long before anybody did, and there are persons on
this platform that knew what was my conduct
that as father speaks to child in a room by him
self, at the hearth, there my warning voice was
given against it, cloud applause.) All advice all
my remonstrances were useless, for in the first
place / who had had near and close view of the
American Presidents: l, who have seen all the
Presidents in the Chair-from Madison to the pres.
ent day. who have seen them all in the chair,
and been intimate with many of them-I, who
have received from the lip2 of many of them,
while they were sitting there, the OVERLOOKING ex-
pressions of their own hearts-1, who have seen
all this, who have been near enough to see the in
side view of them, did not happen TO have that
high opinion of the enjoyment of that place which
great many people have. 1t never appeared to
me to be the place that would not wish to see
any good man in, in preference to myself or any of
my family. l never saw the day in which 1 did
not prefer to see any good man there than any one
of my connexion and far more than be seen
there myself l could at least have been tried
for this place could have been nominated for
the place, on soma occsaions. l putt down as
soon as it was mentioned to me, because had no
inclination for the thing itself. | knew good men
who l preferred for it to myself, and therefore
made way for those good men. | have never seen
the time from Mr.. Msdisons Administration to the
present one in which these were not my views
it was therefore repugnant to my feelings to see
him become candidate, even if be was candi-
date on national views but knowing from the
beginning, knowing from the first that Mr.. Free
mont was to be the candidate of sectional party,
l told him from the beginning that it was impos-
sble that could support any such nomination.
Cheers No matter what came, ne must be ma
tionsI, he must have vision that could look over
the Union. He must not be on a dividing line, he
must not be on one side or the other of adiy"Gog
line, be must As4ca- must take ground publicly
against him. All this was said many months, al
most half year, before the public knew he was a
candidate, and from this have never departed.
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