The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1858-04-20
nEATH OF MR. BENTON.
u, Uash;aoton Union, llth inst.

country has long prepared ioi 'o 49, 81,
TT to within single day of his demise, ne contin-
~ " 1abor 1T the great work he had undertaken
tho Condensed Congressional Debates, Which,
MO believe he had nearly brought to close. MS
900 was extreme-we believe ABOUT seFeh'y-n'
= his life had been full of honors, the award OF
his fellow-men: so did he die >tuli OF years. 'he
boon of Providence. -, uohod
His disease was cancer in the bowels. lie nao
endured severe surgical treatment re" mouths
before his death. and obtained temporary reliei'-
His affection returned upon him, however, IN a
more aoorayated FORM and resulted In lingering
and painful death. His intellect renamed uninl-
haired to the end, and he made every arrangement
and prepraration for his demise with Roman 1or'i-
tude. :,
The President hearing of the extreme illness OF
his ancient compeer, called upon him On FRIDAY
evening. The dying statesman declared AFTER
wards his exceeding qualification at the visit. Inc
interview is said to have been protracted. MI.
BENTON is said to have expressed his extreme solcl
tude for the condition of public affairs, and pam
full sense of the imminent dangers which threaten
the country He is said to have exhorted the
President to rely upon Divine support and not up
on that of men, who would deceive him.
Mr. Benton was native of North Carolina
where he was reared His ancestors were among
the leaders of the revolution. The family OF
Harris, from which he descended on the maternal
side were among the early emigrants from North
Carolina who settled in Kentucky, under the name
of Transatlantic colony, and who supporters of
Daniel Boon. It was through this circumstance
that Col. Benton was led to choose the West for
his home when he had grown to manhood and left
the army He established himself at Nashville,
rather than in Kentucky, where he Immediately
rose to distinction at the bar. About the year
1915, he emigrated again. still westward, OF st.
Louis Missouri His senatorial life, which lasted
for the unprecedented period of thirty years. COM
| in hon a ole tod Inv thp
lature of Missouri, anterior to the formal adms-
| sion of that State into the Union. His history
since that event has been intimately interviewer
with that of the country; and for twenty-five years
constituted Of the most thrilling and lllustrl
Gus pages of the history of the democratic party.
| At the beginning of his senatorial career Col.
| Benton sat on the committee (hilltary AT
fairs) with Gen Jackson, of which they were both
industrious and valuable members, General jack
| son being the Chairman. Here was necessarily
renewed that intercourse which had in former
years in Tennessee been most friendly and init
mate but which had received an unhappy inter-
ruption from occurrence which became histOri-
cal. This second intimacy and mutual confidence
and reliance continued thenceforward, is well
known, during the whole of General Jackson's
eventful and conspicuous public service. The ear
ly alienation never alluded to between the two
friends until one two evenings before General
Jackson's final departure from Washington for the
Hermitage in March, 1888, when very solemn
and efecting conversation occurred, the nature of
which we may readily con lecture, but which OF
course has TRANSFERRED.
MIR Benton a determined member of the
opposition to Mr. Adams administration during its
whole term. lie warmly supported General Jack
son for the presidency, and one of the main pillars
of support to his two administrations. 1t is I'M
necessary to specify the occasions ON which he
distinguished himself in his conspicuous parlia-
| ho
cannot be passed without special notice. In this
MIR Benton sustained, aided by few powerful
democratic debaters, among them our now Presi-
dent, the whole brunt of the tremendous attack by
| which General ,Jackson's administration was then
assailed with fury and powerful array of talent
and eloGuence never before or since witnessed in
any Legislative body. His services then rendered
| to the democratic ranked him among the first
lntelIects and statesmen of his age, and have
placed his name among those of our first American
statesmen.
His controversy with Mr. Clay in the famous veto
debate in 1882, affords, perhaps, as striking a
specimen of his powers in the gladation of debate
as any that could be selected. If either knight in
that celebrated encounter Was borne worsted from
the ground it was certainly not the democratic
orator.
The measure upon which he won the largest
degree OF popular eclat was, however, that of the
expunglng resolution, Il measure which he himself
conceived and, without broaching the subject to a
human being moved in the Senate 1t was the
18th of January, 1887, at the close of the
long debate which had occurred on this famous re-
solve, shortly before the was to be TAKEN that
Col. Benton rose in his place, and-addressing
himself to the chair, in the course of brief and
emphatic speech, referring back to the scene which
had been enacted in the Senate chamber three
years before, on the adoption of Mr. CLAWS memoir
able resolution of condemnation upon Gen Jack
son for the removal of the deposits, and to his own
prophecy, then fearlessy hazarded that that reso-
luton should be eapungcd by the people of the
United States from the journal of the Senate-ut-
tered the well-known words which are synonyms
of his name, SOLITARY AND ALONE L SET THIS
| BALI. IN MOTION" ....
We believe that it was in 1851 that Mr. Benton
retired from the Senate. During the last dozen
years, though the mortal part has fingered amongst
the living, yet has the esteem of our generation for
him been chiefly retrospective and been chiefly
concentrated in the historical man as he was in the
pride OF intellect and in the prime of manhood.
These later years of Mr. Benton's eventful life
have been appropriately devoted to registering the
events of those i'll which his intellect and his fame
were at their zenith. His two great historical
works, the Thirty Fears Tew, and the A6ridq
thouOh how IL