Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-04-15
DEATH OF THOMAS H. BENTON.

Tie announcement has reached US of the death
of this venerable statesman, in Washington City
on Saturday last, from a cancerous affection of the
bowels.
Albeit he lived beyond the age at which mcr
die with all their honors about them. there arc
many records in the history of his life which
prompt us to keep his memory reverently, and tc
inscribe his name, not ohscurely, among those
that adorned the golden age of the Republic. He
was not o greatman, as We comprehend the word
but the larger portion of his career was a marked
success, and, during his term of years, his name
will be written upon our annals as often as any
other, and in connection with measures bearing
equally upon the great interests of the country.
In later years, he was guilty of grave errors a.
gainst his own section; but as he stoned for them
in life, we can let them sleep with him in death.
The subjoint ~succinct account of Col. BENToN's
political life, we have extracted from the Charles
ton Mercury:
"For nearly forty years Col. Benton has occu-
pied a prominent position in the political affairs of
the country. Presenting himself at Washington,
as a Senator from Missouri, in 1919, previous to
her admission as a State, he took his seat in 0cto-
Der, 1920, and was continued for FIVE successive
terms, ending in 1851, thus completing a senate
rial service of upwards of thirty years-a case
without a parallel in the history Of that body. He
was subsequently elected to the House of Repre-
sentatives from the st. Louis District, where he
served but a single term. During his entire sena-
torial career he took a leading part in originating
o-l 49,, e,,r n nph1in nn1tou md q
ticularly distinguished himselfin the war upon the
Bank of the United States, and in sustaining the
administration ofJackson and Van Buren,.
Subsequent to the defeat of Mr.. Van Buren,, in
the Baltimore Convention of 1914, Mr.. Benton
has shown himself inimical to the South, and to
Southern men, to whom he ascribed that rejection,
and to his Influence may be attributed the partial
detection of Missouri upon the question of slavery.
Since his retirement from Congress he has devo.
ted himself to the compilation and publication Of
his Thirty Years in the Senate Of the United States,
and his Arrangement Of the Debates in Congress.
Of the latter work he had published six volumes,
and was about finishing the seventh, bringing the
debates down to 1850, when death arrested his
career.
Col. Benton was a man of strong and imperious
will, of intense egotism, of large ambition, and Of
unwearied industry. To the last named quality.
much OF his reputation may oe ascrlpeu, IN tue
elaborate reports of his speeches for publication.
1t characterised him up to the closing moments of
his life, as we learn from the Washington Union,
that on the evening preceding his death he was
propped up in bed by pillows, while he was dicta-
ting in whispers to one of his daughters, matter
for the closing volume Of the Debates in Congress.
In all the relations of domestic life, Col. Benton
was irreproachable. A fond and devoted husband.
an affectionate parent, he was the head and heart
offs family circle whose attractions have been the
theme of praise to all who were admitted to the
privilege Of intimacy.