AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 Edited by 
 
 Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. 
 
JLbc amcrican Crisis Biootapbies 
 
 Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the 
 counsel and advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of 
 the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Each lamo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price 
 $1.25 net; by mail, $i.37- 
 
 These biographies will constitute a complete and comprehensive 
 history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of readable 
 and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation 
 of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below. 
 An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is to be im- 
 partial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southern subjects and 
 Northern writers to Northern subjects, but all will belong to the younger 
 generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war- 
 time prejudice. The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as 
 the great event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, it 
 is now clearly recognized to have been. 
 
 Now ready : 
 Abraham Lincoln. By Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer. 
 Thomas H. Benton. By Joseph M. Rogers, 
 
 In preparation : 
 William T. Sherman. By Edward Robins. 
 John C. Calhoun. By Gaillard Hunt. 
 Daniel Webster. By Prok. C. H. Van Tyne. 
 Alexander H. Stephens. By Louis Pendleton. 
 John Quincy Adams. By Brooks Adams. 
 John Brown. By W. E. Burghardt Dubois. 
 William Lloyd Garrison. By Lindsay Swift. 
 Charles Sumner. By Prof. Franklin S. Edmonds. 
 William H. Seward. By Edward Everett Hale, Jr. 
 Frederick Douglass. By Booker T. Washington. 
 Jefferson Davis. By Prof. W. E. Dodd, 
 Robert E. Lee. By GuY Carleton Lee. 
 David G. Farragut. By John R. Spears, 
 Judah P. Benjamin. By Pierce Butler. 
 Thaddeus Stevens. By Prok. J. A. WooDBURN. 
 Andrew Johnson. By Waddy Thompson. 
 
 To be followed by: 
 Henry Clay Edwin M. Stanton 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas Jay Cooke 
 
 U. S. Grant Wade Hampton 
 
 "Stonewall" Jackson 
 
O^^^a^ 
 
 <^^ 
 
AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES 
 
 Thomas H: Benton 
 
 by 
 JOSEPH M. ROGERS 
 
 Author of " The True Henry Clay," etc. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
THE Lif'^RY OF 
 CONGfitSS. 
 
 Two OoDtM Received 
 
 M*R 2 1905 
 
 ^^ Oown«nt Entry _^ 
 
 •opy A. 
 
 Copyright, 1905, by 
 
 George W. Jacobs & Company 
 
 Published February, igo^ 
 
 E 
 
 O 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 > 
 
 
 Chronology 
 
 7 
 
 I. 
 
 Youth and Education 
 
 15 
 
 II. 
 
 Early Political Interests in Mis 
 
 
 
 SOURI 
 
 28 
 
 III. 
 
 Entry into the Senate . 
 
 39 
 
 IV. 
 
 Finding His Place . 
 
 55 
 
 V. 
 
 Jackson's Eight Arm 
 
 68 
 
 VI. 
 
 The War on Nullification . 
 
 111 
 
 VII. 
 
 The National Bank 
 
 134 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "Old Bullion" 
 
 169 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Oregon Question 
 
 . 194 
 
 X. 
 
 Slavery Agitation and Texas 
 
 . 212 
 
 XI. 
 
 The War with Mexico . 
 
 . 231 
 
 XII. 
 
 The Compromises of 1850 
 
 . 245 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Missouri Repudiates Benton 
 
 . 269 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Friendships and Characteristics 
 
 . 283 
 
 XV. 
 
 Orator and Author 
 
 . 322 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The End 
 
 . 343 
 
 
 Bibliography .... 
 
 . 350 
 
 
 Index 
 
 . 352 
 
CHRONOLOGY 
 
 1782 — Thomas H. Benton born at Hillsborough, N. C, March 
 14th. 
 
 1790— Death of his father. 
 
 1798 — Removes with his mother to the wilderness of Tennessee 
 to become a cotton planter, 
 
 1811 — Elected a member of the Tennessee legislature. 
 
 1811 — Admitted to the bar in Tennessee. 
 
 1812 — Colonel of militia, but no active service. 
 
 1813 — Brawl with Andrew Jackson. 
 
 1813 — Appointed lieutenant-colonel in the regular army. No 
 active service. 
 
 1815 — Eemoves to St. Louis to continue the practice of the law 
 and edit the Missouri Enquirer. 
 
 1817 — Duel with Lucas in which latter was killed. 
 
 1820 — Elected United States Senator after having aided at 
 Washington in securing the Missouri Compromise. 
 
 1821 — Marries Elizabeth McDowell of Virginia, and takes his 
 seat in the Senate. 
 
 1824 — Supports first Clay and then Jackson for the Presidency. 
 
 1826 — Appears as the mutual friend of Clay and Randolph in 
 their bloodless duel. 
 
 1828 — Supports Jackson for the Presidency. 
 
 1831 — Attacks the Whig measure renewing the charter of the 
 National Bank, and declares for gold as a standard of 
 values. 
 
8 CHRONOLOGY 
 
 1832 — Unsuccessfully fights recharter, but prepares the way for 
 Jackson's veto of the bill. 
 
 1833 — Refuses to support the Compromises and conciliate the 
 nullifiers. 
 
 1834 — Secures the passage of the bill establishing the specie 
 standard. 
 
 1837 — Secures paasage of resolutions expunging from the records 
 of the Senate the vote of censure passed upon President 
 Jackson. 
 
 1842— Fights Clay's new bank bill. 
 
 1843— Narrowly escapes death in the explosion on board the 
 Princeton. 
 
 1845 — Opposes the immediate annexation of Texas as tending 
 to reopen the slavery question and is tricked by Tyler. 
 
 1847 — Rejection of bill to make Benton lieutenant-general and 
 the principal commander in the Mexican war. 
 
 1850 — Oppases the great compromises. 
 
 1850 — Defeated for his sixth terra in the Senate because of his 
 refusal to bow the knee to the slaveholders in Missouri. 
 
 1851 — Closes his career in the Senate after thirty years of use- 
 fulness. 
 
 1852 — Elected to the House of Representatives from a St. Louis 
 district. 
 
 1854 — Defeated for relection to the House because he would not 
 sacrifice his principles to the Know Nothings. Death of 
 Mrs. Benton. 
 
 1856 — Defeated as an independent candidate for governor of 
 Missouri. 
 
 1858 — Dies at Washington from cancer, April 10. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 The fame of Thomas H. Benton has suffered 
 almost total eclipse. This is the more to be regret- 
 ted because he was one of our most substantial 
 statesmen, in merit and achievement outstripping 
 many whose names are more familiar. He sat for 
 thirty consecutive years in the United States Senate, 
 a record never reached before the Civil War, and 
 since then seldom surpassed. Much of this time 
 he was a commanding figui-e, sometimes dominant 
 and always useful. Over all of his contemporaries 
 he had the advantage of a clearer view of the great 
 problems of the age, because unvexed by ambition : 
 in uprightness and purity of character he was ex- 
 celled by none. The names of Clay, Webster and 
 Calhoun are household words and their careers are 
 well known. Benton served longer than any one of ~^ 
 them, is responsible for more sound legislation than 
 all of them put together, yet only the student of 
 history knows anything about him. 
 
 This is due to a number of causes. The Senate 
 in his day was not a forum where enduring fame 
 
10 INTRODUCTION 
 
 was created, unless by that exceptional oratory 
 which he did not possess. He spoke oft^n and ou 
 nearly every question of the day, but his words are 
 no longer remembered. The great triumvirate al- 
 ready mentioned owe their reputations less to actual 
 work in the Senate than to outside political activ- 
 ity, each striving long and unsuccessfully for the 
 presidency. More potent is the fact that Benton 
 died just before the Civil War. That great conflict 
 stands as a barrier across the history of the country. 
 It brought more or less enduring fame to some war- 
 riors and civilians, but shut out forever many sound 
 statesmen. Benton died fighting for the preserva- 
 tion of the Union : had he lived five years longer 
 he must have become still more conspicuous and 
 have remained to fame as one of the most striking 
 figures in our national life. His political career 
 began with the passage of the Missouri Compromise, 
 and practically closed with its repeal. He ever 
 denied that there was any cause for civil war, and 
 gave up his seat in the Senate, almost as dear to 
 him as life itself, because he would not bow the 
 knee to the slaveholdiug oligarchy which had 
 finally gained political control of his beloved Mis- 
 souri. One word would have saved that seat and 
 prolonged his life, but he would not utter it. He 
 
INTEODUCTION 11 
 
 was the first conspicuous martyr to the Union 
 cause. 
 
 It is to the extraordinary career of this man that 
 these pages are dedicated. No one can have a cor- 
 rect perspective of the history of the country with- 
 out some appreciation of the position of this un- 
 compromising advocate of the Union during the 
 thirty years' growth of the slavery issue in politics. 
 Webster and Clay were compromisers seemingly for 
 the sake of preferment. Calhoun was the arch-nul- 
 lifier. Benton was a bulwark of uncompromising 
 unionism from a slave state for almost forty years, 
 and when he died the nation lost one of its truest 
 servants, one of its best men. 
 
 It would be idle to impute perfection to Benton. 
 He was exceedingly human and had many defects. 
 He was not a brilliant genius but, what was better, 
 a sound statesman. His abilities were conspicuous 
 and he was offered many positions in the Cabinet, 
 in the diplomatic corps and elsewhere, but he re- 
 fused them all. The only place he coveted was at 
 the head of the army for which he was thrice 
 scheduled, but fortunately the post was never be- 
 stowed upon him. Imperfectly educated in the 
 schools, by ceaseless industry he became a widely 
 read scholar, though somewhat inclined to pedantry. 
 
12 INTRODUCTION 
 
 He had tremendous passions ; in his youth he en- 
 gaged iu brawls and in early manhood killed his 
 antagonist in a duel, an event which marked a 
 change in his life. It has been common to speak 
 of him as a Western statesman, indicating that his 
 sectionalism limited the range of his views and ac- 
 tivities. He is so reckoned by writers who speak 
 of Clay and Webster as national statesmen. This 
 is a grave mistake. Much of the legislation origi- 
 nated or endorsed by these two giants was either 
 sectional or transitory. Benton was more truly a 
 national legislator. His nickname," Old Bullion," 
 stamps him as the father of the sound currency sys- 
 tem of this countrj', while his land policy was more 
 truly national than that of some of his opponents, 
 as will develop later in these pages. 
 
 These introductory words are written to stimulate 
 the interest of the untutored reader who may think 
 it hardly possible that Benton is worthy of study. 
 As the series of biographies, of which this is one, 
 is to deal with the men who first and last figured in 
 the great conflict over African slavery we may say 
 here, what the following pages are expected to 
 demonstrate, that Benton was one of the most im- 
 portant factors in the contest. Those who give 
 Clay unstinted praise for his love of the Union — so 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 great tliat his dead bones kept Kentucky from se- 
 cession, — seem to forget that in Missouri Benton, 
 though dead, also kept his state in the Union at a 
 most perilous time. The loss of Missouri in 1861 
 would have been an almost fatal blow to the Union. 
 That it was finally preserved was due in no small 
 measure to the bitter war that Benton waged so 
 long against disunionists, and though his personal 
 fortunes and his life were swept away in the contest 
 before the clash of arms, his spirit survived to 
 conquer. 
 
 Lastly it should not be forgotten at a time when 
 the nation has so recently celebrated the centennial 
 of the Louisiana Purchase, that Benton was the first 
 as he was the greatest of the statesmen that have 
 arisen west of the Mississippi, and that the devel- 
 opment of the Purchase, the acquisition of the 
 Pacific slope and the construction of the first trans- 
 continental railway are due more to his influence 
 than to that of any other single man. 
 
THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 YOUTH AND EDUCATION 
 
 Even if interesting it would be foreign to the 
 purpose of this work to dwell long on the youth of 
 Thomas H. Benton. It was not different from that 
 of thousands of other men in an age which was 
 crude as to civilization, but potent in building up 
 masterful character. Of Benton's ancestry, on his 
 father's side, little is known. "We shall see later 
 how under unusual circumstances John Randolph 
 furnished him with a crest and putative family tree 
 establishing his connection with the landed gentry 
 of England. But Benton cared for none of these 
 things. He went back no farther than his grand- 
 father, who settled in North Carolina. 
 
 His father, Jesse Benton, a loyalist in the Revo- 
 lution, secretary to Governor Try on, was a promi- 
 nent lawyer in Hillsborough, Orange County, North 
 
16 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Carolina, where Thomas was born March 14, 1782, 
 the eldest of a family of eight children. Jesse 
 Benton who was a man of unusual scholarship, 
 well-read in five languages, died when Thomas was 
 only eight years old. He left some property in 
 what is now North Carolina, but his chief asset 
 was a large tract in Tennessee (then a part of North 
 Carolina), whither the family eight years later re- 
 moved. 
 
 To his mother Benton always gave the credit of 
 his success in life, and in so far as it could be 
 attributed to any one other than himself, the appre- 
 ciation was just. She was born Ann Gooch, of a 
 good Virginia family and was a remarkable woman. 
 She was a Eoman mother in the best sense of the 
 term, looking upon the education of her children 
 as the prime duty of her life and nobly carrying 
 out her plans. Perceiving the natural abilities of 
 Thomas, she early destined him for a public career 
 and her greatest joy in later years was to see him 
 become one of the leading statesmen of the country. 
 She herself long remained a beautiful woman and 
 Benton was very proud of her. No sacrifice for her 
 comfort was too great, and in her great age she truly 
 said that no mother ever had a more devoted son. 
 
 Thomas, who at eight was learning Greek, was 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 17 
 
 early sent to a grammar school and for a time to 
 the University of North Carolina, a feeble institu- 
 tion according to modern standards ; but before he 
 had completed the course the family removed to 
 the wilderness of Tennessee where his mother be- 
 lieved the children would have greater opportunities 
 in life. 
 
 The "Widow Benton's Settlement" consisted of 
 3,000 acres, and a claim on some 40,000 acres in the 
 wilderness twenty -five miles south of Nashville on 
 the very frontier of the Indian country and along 
 the great war trail which the aborigines followed in 
 war paint when attacking the whites or other native 
 tribes. In those days pioneering involved rela- 
 tively less courage and self-sacrifice than now, but 
 at best the task was a severe one from which Mrs. 
 Benton never flinched. Her settlement was made 
 on a considerable scale. Slaves cleared the forests, 
 tilled the soil, erected the household dwellings, a 
 log schoolhouse and a rude church which itinerant 
 Methodist clergymen used occasionally. Mrs. Ben- 
 ton abandoned the Episcopal for the Methodist 
 Church, which almost alone kept the lamp of relig- 
 ion burning on the frontier. Thomas continued his 
 education as best he could, reading widely, study- 
 ing law and teaching. 
 
18 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Responsibilities were early laid on his shoulders. 
 Soon after his father died, his mother gave him one 
 of the babies and told him he must be a father to it 
 and serve as the head of the family. Eight loyally 
 did he carry out the injunction. He was devoted 
 to his sisters and their refining influence was noted 
 all through his life. In his old age his grand- 
 childien one evening were complaining that they 
 could not sing well as the guitar was out of tune. 
 The septuagenarian took the instrument, tuned it 
 properly and handing it back, said, '' I always used 
 to play and sing with my sisters and I have never 
 forgotten how." He was passionately fond of 
 music and missed no opportunity to hear the best 
 singers until his wife's illness led him to give up all 
 public amusements. 
 
 Five of the eight Benton children died of con- 
 sumption. Thomas was supposed to be certain of 
 the same fate, but at the outbreak of the War of 
 1812 he became imbued with the martial spirit and 
 at once entered upon a regimen which resulted in 
 complete cure and which is so close to that recom- 
 mended by physicians to-day as to be worth re- 
 peating : ''Open air night and day. Abundant 
 perspiration from steady exercise. Bathing and 
 rubbing always, if possible, in sunshine. Simple 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 19 
 
 food regularly taken and to forget yourself in some 
 pursuit." It is said that lie induced many to follow 
 this regimen, and like himself they were cured of the 
 disease. 
 
 Cotton planting was one of the chief industries 
 of Tennessee. At the start most of the Benton plan- 
 tation was devoted to this produce, as was customary 
 at that time. One year an early frost ruined the 
 crop. Never thereafter would Benton risk all his 
 fields in one staple, and labored most unsuccessfully 
 to get his neighbors to adopt rotation. 
 
 In 1807 he wrote to a friend saying: "I am 
 become a right man of business, and want advance- 
 ment wherever it can be found." Just why he 
 lacked advancement in Tennessee is not easily 
 understood. He was in prosperous circumstances, 
 but it is probable that he preferred law to planting, 
 and thought Tennessee a poor field for that pro- 
 fession. The country was crude and litigation not 
 extensive, while there were already at Nashville 
 several prominent lawyers. 
 
 The first autobiographic glimpse we get of him is 
 in his description of the life and services of Jack- 
 son.' He tells us he was seventeen when he first 
 
 'Thomas H, Benton, "Thirty Years' View of the United 
 States Senate," Vol. I. 
 
20 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 saw sitting on the bench the man with whose for- 
 tunes in later years his own were to be closely 
 linked. He did not make Jackson's acquaintance 
 until the latter had left the bench and Benton was 
 practicing at the bar to which he was admitted in 
 1811. He was junior counsel in a case involving a 
 friend of Jackson's, and freeing his man was warmly 
 complimented by the former j udge, who at this time 
 lived at the "Hermitage" and supposed himself 
 retired from public life. At the outbreak of the 
 War of 1812 Jackson was elected major-general of 
 the militia by one majority. On what small things 
 do great events sometimes depend. Had not that 
 one vote been available Jackson might have died a 
 respected planter, known as a man who had once 
 been a judge and an Indian fighter and for nothing 
 else except a violent temper. His ambition for ap- 
 pointment to a post in the regular army met an 
 unexpected obstacle when Harrison and Winchester 
 were selected from the West, and he was passed 
 over by the administration. It was young Benton 
 who suggested to Jackson that the thing to do was 
 to raise a brigade and practically force the nation 
 to accept it. 
 
 Benton had the pen of a ready writer and was 
 vain in youth and even afterward of his coraposi- 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 21 
 
 tions. It occurred to him that it would be a good 
 idea for Jackson to issue to the troops an address, 
 which would attract the attention of the national 
 authorities. He wrote such an address and took it 
 to Jackson to read and sign, if he chose. He found 
 the doughty general by the kitchen fire with his 
 adopted son, less than two years old, and a lamb 
 between his knees. Jackson explained to his 
 visitor that the little boy had cried because the 
 lamb was out in the wet, so he had brought it in 
 and they were having a sort of "family party." 
 This was a case of the lamb and the lion lying down 
 together, and it throws a side-light on the character 
 of Jackson which is interesting. The address was 
 signed, Jackson eventually got his place in the 
 service and Benton was for a time his aide-de- 
 camp. 
 
 Acting upon his own advice Benton also raised a 
 regiment and among his corporals was a long, lank 
 young man named Sam Houston of whom the country 
 was to hear much and who was the colleague and 
 closest friend of Benton in his last years. It was 
 never called into active service, much to his regret, 
 for he was anxious for military adventure, and to 
 the end of his life thought he would have made a 
 good soldier, outranking both Scott and Taylor. 
 
22 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Later on in the War of 1812 he was appointed a 
 lieutenant-colonel in the regular army and started 
 for Canada, but peace came too soon for him even 
 to see a battle. 
 
 It was during this period (September 4, 1813) 
 that he came into collision with General Jackson in 
 a way that interrupted their friendly relations for 
 many years. It is commonly said that Benton 
 fought a duel with Jackson, but, more properly 
 speaking, the affair was a barroom brawl. Benton's 
 brother Jesse had been involved with William 
 (afterward General) Carroll in an "affair of 
 honor" in which Jackson had seconded the latter. 
 In the angry dispute which followed, Thomas 
 Benton, though then serving on Jackson's staff, 
 espoused his brother's cause and the result was a 
 fracas involving the four above mentioned persons 
 and some others. Jackson struck Jesse Benton 
 with his horsewhip and was promptly shot in the 
 shoulder. In the general meUe which followed, 
 knives, pistols and clubs were used, Jesse Benton 
 receiving serious wounds, while Thomas was 
 knocked down-stairs. It was long before the ani- 
 mosities thus aroused were assuaged. 
 
 After the War Benton resolved to remove to St. 
 Louis, which was then a small village, but pros- 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 23 
 
 pects seemed brighter there than in Tennessee. He 
 had already served a term in the legislature of the 
 latter state, where two conspicuous pieces of legis- 
 lation were placed to his credit.' He reformed the 
 antiquated judiciary laws, and secured the right of 
 trial by jury to slaves. The latter was his first 
 public act in relation to an institution with which 
 he was to be prominently identified for the next 
 fifty years. 
 
 In 1815 he arrived in St. Louis, opened a law 
 office and began the publication of the Missouri 
 Enquirer, which became a bold and vigorous news- 
 paper. Now thirty-three years old, he was coura- 
 geous, self-reliant, and well equipped for the 
 ordinary practice of the law. As land titles were a 
 conspicuous subject of litigation, owing to the vague 
 and overlapping grants under Spanish and French 
 rule, he began the study of the subject with that 
 tireless industry and talent in grasping first prin- 
 ciples which characterized his whole life. He be- 
 came an accomplished Spanish scholar, acquiring 
 knowledge which was of great value to him later 
 when we had our troubles with Mexico ; delved into 
 dusty manuscripts ; and in a few years became the 
 leading land lawyer of the state, winning, for those 
 •Benton's "View." 
 
24 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 days, enormous fees which were judiciously in- 
 vested, so that after he entered public life and gave 
 up absolutely his law practice, these savings were 
 practically all he had aside from his meagre salary. 
 In youth he was grave in demeanor, though quick 
 to perceive and resent an affront. Owing to his 
 mother's request he never used liquor or tobacco 
 and did not gamble. This was astonishing in an 
 age and in a section where these practices were 
 scarcely looked upon as vices. His reputation for 
 morals and good breeding was blemished, however, 
 by his pugnacious disposition. An aged Georgian 
 some years ago stated that in his youth in Tennessee 
 he frequently saw Jackson and Benton with cocks 
 under their arms engaged in a favorite pastime of 
 that region. ' As Benton denies, with some warmth, 
 that Jackson ever kept game-cocks, it would seem 
 as if he wished to deny the imputation on his own 
 account. But in one respect he was notable. 
 Dueling was much in vogue in those days, though 
 declining in the East since the death of Alexander 
 Hamilton. Before he was elected to the Senate, 
 Benton never failed to call out his man on occasion 
 or respond to a call from another. The climax was 
 reached in 1817, when articles in his newspaper and 
 » Col. A. K. McClure, " Recollections of Fifty Years." 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 25 
 
 harangues at the bar, couched iu that vigorous, 
 intemperate language for which he later became 
 famous, brought on a duel with a young United 
 States District Attorney named Charles Lucas. 
 
 According to the latter, the affair started in 1816, 
 in a case before a jury in which he and Benton 
 were on opposite sides. The lie was passed and 
 Benton sent a challenge, but Lucas declined on the 
 ground that he had been sustained by the verdict 
 of the jury in the case, and he did not consider the 
 controversy as coming within the code. Thereupon 
 Benton is accused of using very bad language 
 about Lucas to his face and behind his back, so the 
 young man finally challenged. They fought on 
 Bloody Island, iu the Mississippi, at ten paces, and 
 both were wounded, Lucas severely, Benton very 
 slightly. Neither party was satisfied, and Benton 
 challenged to another meeting. This was arranged 
 to take place at ten feet. The men fired simulta- 
 neously and Lucas fell. Benton then expressed re- 
 gret and asked forgiveness, to which Lucas at first 
 replied, "O Benton, you have persecuted me and 
 murdered me. I do not and cannot forgive you." 
 Later, however, when nearly gone, Lucas said, ''I 
 can forgive you, I do forgive you," and died. 
 This was on September 27, 1817, the blackest day 
 
26 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 iu Beuton's life. He destroyed all the papers con- 
 nected with the duel, which is unfortunate, as those 
 of his opponent have been preserved. Although 
 we may well suppose that he had some provocation, 
 his propensity for fighting was such as to make the 
 blame rest largely on his shoulders, especially as he 
 was ten years the senior of Lucas. The fatal out- 
 come of the affair had such an effect upon him, 
 however, that he never again went to the "field of 
 honor." 
 
 It can be said that Benton was loose and violent 
 in the expression of his views, and that whatever 
 his virtues, consideration for others never belonged 
 in his repertory. A contemporary and friend says 
 that as editor of the Missouri Enquirer, Benton was 
 "careless in the use of strong language, and was 
 frequently led into fierce altercations and disputes ' ' 
 because he thought so strongly and wrote so un- 
 qualifiedly. These traits were characteristic of him 
 during most of his life. He was incautious and 
 violent, but never affected by ignoble motives. 
 Though he did not fight again, he remained a be- 
 liever in the code and was esteemed the highest au- 
 thority on those complicated points of honor which 
 it involved. Often in later life he was called upon 
 to draw some fine distinction or to give some opin- 
 
YOUTH AND EDUCATION 27 
 
 ion, and though, he always counseled peace, he can- 
 not be said to have done very much to overthrow 
 the institution by his example, however much he 
 regretted and inveighed against the evil. 
 
 Hereafter Benton's career was to be national. 
 His equipment was naturally good, and by inces- 
 sant study of literature, men and events, he per- 
 fected it as much as circumstances would allow. 
 He had followed the development of American 
 civilization from the '^Old North State" through 
 Tennessee, and now was to become a constructive 
 statesman, the greatest who has hailed from beyond 
 the borders of the original territory of the United 
 States. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 EARLY POLITICAL INTERESTS IN MISSOURI 
 
 The unusual condition whereby Missouri was 
 admitted to the Union, familiarly known as the 
 Missoui'i Compromise, was the first act of Congress 
 to restrict the territorial extension of African 
 slavery after the re-enactment of the Ordinance of 
 1787, which forever prohibited slavery in the 
 Northwest Territory. It long remained a fruitful 
 source of political and moral contention and its 
 repeal, followed by a declaration of the Supreme 
 Court in the Dred Scott case in 1857, that it was 
 from the beginning unconstitutional, was an active 
 agent in bringing on the Civil War. 
 
 The history of Missouri does not belong to this 
 work, but a glance at it is necessary to understand 
 Thomas H. Benton. The country was originally 
 explored by French missionaries, and was long in 
 control of Spain or France, during which time al- 
 most the sole occupation of the settlers was trading 
 in furs with the Indians. After the purchase of 
 Louisiana, St. Louis, at the mouth of the Missoui'i, 
 
EAELY POLITICAL INTEEESTS 29 
 
 became the business centre for the upper portion of 
 the territory and in the divisions which followed, 
 the northern section was gradually advanced 
 through the three grades of territorial rank to the 
 highest. The population increased rapidly after 
 the Lewis and Clark expedition, sent out by Presi- 
 dent Jefferson in 1803 to secure information regard- 
 ing [our new dominions. These explorers were 
 absent for two years on a journey that took them 
 to the head waters of the Missouri and to the far 
 northwest "where rolls the Oregon." The fur 
 trade grew and after there were 20,000 inhabitants, 
 application was made (in 1818) for the admission 
 of Missouri to the Union, the boundaries being 
 those of the present state minus the extreme north- 
 western portion called the Platte Tract which was 
 added later. The early administration of the terri- 
 tory had been not altogether happy and the con- 
 fusion over land titles was great, until Congress 
 tardily passed a law to confirm the French and 
 Spanish grants. This action was taken largely 
 through the influence of Benton after he reached 
 the Senate. 
 
 There was delay over the admission of the state 
 because of the slavery question. In the North the 
 restriction of the evil was becoming both a moral 
 
30 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 aud a political issue. How many statesmen were 
 moved by each consideration it is hard to deter- 
 mine, though it cannot be denied that some of the 
 most violent restrictionists said openly that it was 
 principally a matter of jjolitics. New England had 
 fought desperately against the puixhase of Louisi- 
 ana because it seemed to involve a redistribution 
 of political power. There was undoubtedly some 
 growing moral opinion on the extension of slavery, 
 and as the Ohio line was fixed as its upper bound- 
 ary by the Ordinance of 1787 it was not unnatural 
 that Northern people should desire to see that line 
 extended. The South' s objection was that it got so 
 small a share of the new territory. When the first 
 Missouri bill appeared in Congress, Tallmadge, of 
 New York, ofifered in the House an amendment as a 
 condition precedent to admission specifying "that 
 the further introduction of slavery or involuntary 
 servitude shall be prohibited, except for crime, etc., 
 and that all [negro] children born within the state 
 after the admission thereof, shall be free at the age 
 of twenty-five years." This amendment passed 
 the House and was rejected by the Senate, Congress 
 adjourning without final action. The subject be- 
 came a dominating one in politics. Alabama was 
 admitted with slavery, Arkansas was soon orga- 
 
EAELY POLITICAL INTERESTS 31 
 
 uized as a territory with slavery, but the great 
 struggle centred in Missouri. 
 
 When Congress met in December, 1820, the 
 House still favored restriction but the Senate was 
 against it. Some of the ablest statesmen of the old 
 Federalist school thought the proposed restriction 
 wrong, particularly as slavery already existed in 
 Missouri, and was rapidly growing stronger : the 
 limitation therefore seemed an unnecessary and 
 onerous hardship. The greater portion of the Mis- 
 souri whites came from Kentucky, Tennessee and 
 other slave states. In 1820 there were 66,000 peo- 
 ple in the state of whom 10,000 were slaves. The 
 local sentiment of Missouri which in earlier times 
 had been somewhat favorable to restriction changed 
 under Benton's leadership and the constitutional 
 convention was, with a single dissenting vote, 
 unanimous for unrestricted slavery and went far- 
 ther, aiming to prevent the residence of free negroes 
 in the state. Congress was now greatly embar- 
 rassed. At this time there was an exact numerical 
 balance between the free and the slave states. To 
 admit Maine (formerly a part of Massachusetts) as 
 a free state and virtually compel Missouri to 
 abandon slavery meant a vital disturbance of that 
 perfect balance which Southern statesmen were 
 
32 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 coming to thiuk more and more essential to the 
 preservation of the Union. By this time the mask 
 was thrown ofi", and the restrictionists openly 
 avowed that their object was political power, 
 though there were many earnest anti-slavery peo- 
 ple both in and out of Congress. A new bill to ad- 
 mit Missouri was rejected by the House, largely on 
 the alleged ground that the provision as to free 
 negroes was unconstitutional, and partially because 
 many members objected to that provision which 
 forbade the legislature to interfere at any time in 
 the matter of slavery. This last provision was the 
 work of Benton who was equally opposed to slav- 
 ery agitation and slavery extension, as he repeated 
 nearly every day of his life until the end. As 
 slavery existed in Mis.souri he did not at that time 
 care to interfere with it, though later he was the 
 leader in a movement for gradual emancipation. 
 
 The Senate favored admission and the House was 
 still against it, when Henry Clay came to the front 
 with his first compromise. It was effected solely 
 through his agency, though curiously enough he 
 always denied being its author. He offered a reso- 
 lution in the House for the appointment of a select 
 committee to confer with a similar one from the 
 Senate to devise a plan to meet the existing situ- 
 
EAELY POLITICAL INTERESTS 33 
 
 ation. These committees framed a compromise by 
 which Missouri was admitted with slavery on con- 
 dition that tlie restriction as to free negroes should 
 be inoperative (a provision which was in any event 
 clearly unconstitutional) ; but the rule was made 
 absolute that thereafter no state created out of the 
 Louisiana Purchase north of thirty-six degrees and 
 thirty minutes, the southern boundary of Missouri, 
 should be admitted with slavery. As a corollary, 
 Maine was admitted as a free state, indeed could 
 have been admitted on no other terms, as Massa- 
 chusetts would have allowed her to depart only to 
 preserve the balance which was a part of the 
 political program. Slavery agitation in politics 
 was then hushed for a decade. It can be said that 
 the Missouri Compromise, which was to a great 
 extent the work of Benton, came to be looked upon 
 by the people with the same sacredness as the 
 Constitution itself. Every attack upon it met with 
 resistance from the South as well as from the North. 
 In fact it was a Southern measure and it boded ill 
 for the South that it was later willing and anxious 
 to repudiate it. 
 
 Thus Missouri entered the Union under very 
 unusual circumstances. The state was young, re- 
 sourceful and growing rapidly. With the Missis- 
 
34 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 sippi marking one border and the Missouri flowing 
 across it, comuiimicatiou by natural means was 
 more ample than in any other state. Agriculture 
 was the chief industry' of course, but fur dealing was 
 still profitable. The salt springs were a source of 
 wealth, the lead mines were being worked largely, 
 and with the remarkable increase in the number of 
 steamboats, commerce was growing rapidly. The 
 outlook for the future was therefore excellent. Few 
 realize what an enormous state in wealth and popu- 
 lation Missoui-i is to-day. St. Louis and Kansas 
 City are well-known marts, but with the people as 
 a whole there is ignorance of the present power and 
 riches of the state which the Louisiana Purchase 
 Exposition has only partially removed. In 1900 its 
 rank was fifth in population, but the density was 
 only about one-half that of Illinois and one-third 
 that of New York. Its undeveloped area largely 
 exceeds that of any of the states which outrank it in 
 population, and its total area is greater than that 
 of any one of them. 
 
 When Benton arrived in St. Louis he perceived 
 the potentialities of Missouri and saw the lines 
 along which its development must proceed. He 
 did not possess the " glorious gift of imagination" 
 but he had intelligence and was confident of the 
 
EAELY POLITICAL INTEEESTS 35 
 
 future. He threw himself into the fight for what 
 seemed to him the correct policy on slavery with 
 such vigor that he became in a few years the 
 dominating power, and was soon chosen one of the 
 state's first senators, receiving four re-elections. 
 
 The first senatorial contest came at the time of the 
 application of the state for admission into the 
 Union in 1818, and Benton, who was a newcomer, 
 was not one of those selected. At the next election, 
 he was nominated for the office by State Senator 
 Boone, who was a son of the renowned Daniel 
 Boone, the pathfinder of Kentucky. Daniel had 
 been a friend of Benton's father and the act of the 
 younger Boone in forwarding his interests Benton 
 never forgot. 
 
 It was not until the last moment, however, that 
 Benton expected to be the choice of the legislature. 
 He had been in the state for so short a time that his 
 candidacy was not taken very seriously by himself 
 or any one else. Indeed, his election was in a way 
 accidental. The legislature met in a tavern in St. 
 Louis in 1820 and David Barton, the most popular 
 man in the state, was elected on the first ballot 
 almost without opposition. For the second senator- 
 ship there were several candidates, the most promi- 
 nent being Judge Lucas, whose son had been killed 
 
36 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 by Benton in the duel already described. After 
 many ballotings which led to no result and in 
 which were apparent no " corrupt intriguas, manip- 
 ulations and slush money" according to an eye- 
 witness, Senator Barton was consulted as to his 
 choice of a colleague. He picked out Benton who 
 at once gained a commanding lead, but still for a 
 long time there was no election. One friend of 
 Benton was sick, but even if he were present 
 another vote was needed. The last man to be 
 whipped in was Marie Philip Le Due, who had said 
 he would lose his right arm rather than vote for 
 Benton. The story, as told in Switzler's " History 
 of Missouri," ' is that he was interested for himself 
 and others in the old French and Spanish land 
 grants. It was shown to him that while Lucas by 
 his decisions had been opposed to those claims, 
 Benton as the most successful land attorney in the 
 territory had defended them ; a vote for Benton was 
 a vote for the grants. This decided him and he 
 changed his mind and kept his arm. Before the 
 la.st ballot was cast four stalwart negroes bore the 
 sick member already mentioned on a stretcher to 
 the hall, where he voted for Benton and was carried 
 back to die. This was Benton's only serious con- 
 ' q. V. with complete ficcount of duel and election. 
 
EARLY POLITICAL INTERESTS 37 
 
 test until 1850 wheu he lost his seat. For the next 
 four terms Missouri re-elected him without more 
 than a formal vote. 
 
 Before leaving for the Senate he gave up all his^ 
 many and valuable clients involved in land grants, 
 for he was determined to secure legislation on the 
 subject. As he favored the validation of the claims 
 he considered it improper to have monetary in- 
 terest in the matter, nor would he recommend to 
 his clients any lawyer to take his place in looking 
 after their affairs. In this as in every matter 
 affecting his financial interests he was throughout 
 his life the soul of honor. He might have become 
 very wealthy without the slightest infraction of 
 modern moral and financial standards, as his infor- 
 mation was not only always early but his con- 
 viction about the future of the country was deeper 
 than that of any of his contemporaries. Lest it 
 should be said that he was affected in any way by 
 personal interest he avoided even the appearance 
 of evil.' 
 
 It may seem extraordinary that a stranger should 
 
 have made such rapid progress as had Benton in 
 
 five years. Under any circumstances he must have 
 
 forged rapidly to the front but he arrived in Mis- 
 
 1 Roosevelt, " Life of Thomas H. Benton." 
 
38 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 souri at what is now termed the *' psychological 
 momeut." The territory was yearuiiig for state- 
 hood, the population was miscellaneous in every 
 respect and was rapidly growing and needing 
 leadership. Through his newspaper, on the stump 
 and at the bar Benton made himself felt from the 
 start. He was courageous, self-reliant and ener- 
 getic. He had a sort of audacious wit and a not 
 over-refined satire which delighted the people of his 
 section. He led the fight for unrestricted slavery at 
 a time when the opposition seemed likely to win. 
 His personality soon began to dominate the politics 
 of the whole territory and his election as a senator 
 was a just reward for his many services. 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 
 
 When in 1821 Benton took his seat in the Sen- 
 ate of the United States, he was thirty-nine years 
 of age and had passed almost exactly one-half the 
 years allotted him. Of those remaining, thirty 
 years were to be spent in the Senate, two in the 
 House, a few in writing and his last days in an 
 effort to stem the tide of disunion. 
 
 Soon after his election he married Elizabeth 
 McDowell, who was of a distinguished Virginia 
 family. Four daughters and two sous were born of 
 this union. 
 
 Upon his entry into the Senate he assumed the 
 manners of the older time. In speech, except under 
 excitement, he was dignified; in deportment, some-^ 
 what stilted; and it must be confessed there was an 1 
 air of egotism about him that was not entirely/ 
 pleasing. He had been as carefully trained as cir- 
 cumstances allowed, and his sudden rise to fame 
 may have given him an unduly exalted idea of his 
 own importance. His equipment may seem de- 
 fective, viewed by modern standards, but he was 
 
40 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 L 
 
 ^indoubtedly above the intellectual stature of most 
 \statesmen from the West, and he grew steadily. 
 His industry was untiring. He devoted the hours 
 which others spent in carousing, to the study of 
 public matters until he became a mine of informa- 
 tion and his practical wisdom was almost pro- 
 verbial. He represented his constituents more satis- 
 factorily than a man apparently better equipped. 
 /He was a sound lawyer, and although he assumed an 
 / aristocratic and, after a time, a patronizing air, he 
 I was on the whole a simple-hearted man, and in 
 I after years many coming young statesmen owed a 
 ygreat deal to his kindness. 
 
 Much of the time for a year before he was per- 
 mitted to take his seat, he had been at the national 
 capital, and was thus made familiar with the pecul- 
 iar conditions which then existed in national 
 politics, at this time entering upon a new era. 
 Monroe, who was just beginning his second term, 
 was the last of the Eevolutionary "Fathers" to be 
 President, the last with ambitions in that direction. 
 { The coming group of statesmen were Americans in 
 the sense that their education had been gained under 
 the national flag, though some years were to elapse 
 before one born an American citizen should be 
 chosen chief magistrate. 
 
ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 41 
 
 Monroe entered on his second term considerably 
 embarrassed. Three members of his cabinet were 
 candidates for the succession ; John Quincy Adams, 
 John C. Calhoun, and William H. Crawford. He 
 resolved to be absolutely neutral and carried out 
 this policy to an extraordinary degree, — in fact 
 greatly overdoing the matter since his own admin- 
 istration was interfered with by the rivalries in his 
 official family. He would have done better to dis- 
 miss them all and let them settle their differences 
 beyond the limits of the public service. 
 
 John Quincy Adams was the natural successor 
 according to the ethics of the time, which made the 
 Secretary of State a president in waiting. Every 
 president after Washington had been at the head of 
 the department of foreign affairs with the excep- 
 tion of the elder Adams. The younger Adams was 
 the best equipped man of the three by reason of his 
 experience and was ambitious for promotion. 
 From the age of fourteen he had been more or less 
 active in the public service, was a ripe scholar and 
 a sound statesman. Much of the credit of Monroe's 
 administration was due to his successful manage- 
 ment of foreign affairs at a time when they were 
 peculiarly difficult. 
 
 Calhoun, as Secretary of War, was still young 
 
42 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 and a Dational figure. It is a strange fact that he 
 and Adams were close friends, and that the Massachu- 
 setts statesman, who was far from being sympathetic 
 as a rule, was warmly drawn to his young colleague 
 from South Carolina, having had at one time a 
 thought of asking him to run with him as vice- 
 president until it was known that he was ambitious 
 for higher honors. 
 
 William H. Crawford, of Georgia, was the poli- 
 tician par excellence of the times, the first to 
 work himself into great prominence as a ''ma- 
 chine" politician, in the present meaning of the 
 term. He had a giant frame, a well-trained in- 
 tellect and personal magnetism of an extraordinary 
 kind. He drew men to him, not so much by his 
 principles or his views on public questions, as by 
 his personal characteristics and promises of sup- 
 port. So great had been his influence that it was 
 even proposed that he be a candidate for president 
 in 1820 against Monroe, but this he refused to do 
 on the ground that Monroe was entitled to a second 
 term and probably also because he knew that he 
 could not have won had he entered the race. He 
 was less of a statesman than either Adams or Cal- 
 houn, but he had had broad experience in political 
 affairs, and was taking advantage of that growth 
 
ENTEY INTO THE SENATE 43 
 
 of democracy which, beginning under Jefiferson, 
 was now rapidly extending. 
 
 Somewhat to anticipate the course of events, it 
 may be said here, and in this connection, that two 
 other candidates soon appeared in the field, Henry 
 Clay and Andrew Jackson. 
 
 Henry Clay was a man of unbridled ambition, 
 who had been awaiting his chance, and it now 
 seemed the time for him to enter the lists. He had 
 quarreled with Adams at Ghent ' and though cog- 
 nizant of his abilities held him personally, by 
 reason of his Puritanism, in rather low esteem. 
 Clay was soon launched as a candidate, but he had 
 a comparatively small following, in spite of his 
 career in the Senate and the House, of which he 
 had been the Speaker during nearly the entire 
 period of his membership. He looked to getting the 
 support of those who should prove unavailable, 
 rather than to building up an active constituency 
 of his own. He naturally counted on a good deal 
 of favor in the West, but he was soon eclipsed by 
 the rising star of Jackson. 
 
 Andrew Jackson is one of the most peculiar men 
 in all our history. Defectively educated, reared in 
 a rude school, he had little experience in public 
 
 ' Adams' Diary. 
 
44 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 affairs of the uation except as a soldier, in which 
 capacity he developed a positive geuius for success 
 with iucideutal talent for getting into trouble with 
 the civil authorities. He was, however, the expo- 
 nent and the embodiment of the rising tide of 
 American democracy as opposed to the culture, 
 education and experience of the older communities. 
 
 It is difficult for us in these days to estimate the 
 excitement and disgust caused among statesmen of 
 the old school by the announcement that he had 
 determined to enter the contest. Up to this time 
 service in civil affairs was considered a »uie qua non 
 for preferment. It is true that Washington's 
 military services were his chief claim to the 
 gratitude of the country, but he was in a class 
 by himself. All others had risen gradually and 
 had earned their promotion. 
 
 The singular fact about these five candidates was 
 that they were all Republicans, alleged followers of 
 Jefferson. Adams had been a Federalist and was 
 almost ostracized in New England for adhering to 
 the new order of things. The rest were and had 
 alwaj's been Democrats, as we now understand the 
 term, though it did not come into general use until 
 after the election of Jackson. None of them could 
 raise any especial banner of principles ; none had a 
 
EXTEY IKTO THE SEI^ATE 45 
 
 distinct political program to announce as opposed 
 to the others, though Clay and Adams were the 
 most liberal in their views of the Constitution. 
 In time Calhoun withdrew to accept second honors, 
 but the other four fought the contest to its end, and 
 the rivalries thus engendered occupied most of the 
 political activities of Monroe's second term, all 
 legislation being variously viewed as it affected the 
 candidacy of one or all of the aspirants. 
 
 Benton's entrance into public life was coincident I 
 with this centrifugal condition of politics, and it \ 
 inhered to his advantage that he hitched his wagon ^ 
 to the Jackson star very early in his career. We 
 have seen that he had been embroiled with this 
 soldier in youth, but the very bitterness of their early 
 antagonism seems to have cemented more firmly 
 their later friendship, which is one of the most im- 
 portant in all our history, since it resulted in enters 
 prises of great pith and moment. 
 
 The issues which were before the country at the 
 time Benton took his seat in the winter of 1821 
 were many. The country had passed through a 
 severe financial crisis ; the government could not 
 raise sufficient ordinary revenue for its expenses ; 
 banks generally, outside of New England, had sus- 
 pended specie payments ; the public lands were 
 
46 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 sold on unfavorable terms stimulating unfortunate 
 speculation and discriminating against the actual 
 settler ; the country was aroused over the Texas 
 question, Monroe, on the advice of the southern as 
 well as the northern members of his cabinet, having 
 failed to embrace the opjDortunity to annex that 
 territory ; internal improvements caused vexation 
 of spirit ; the slavery extension question was not yet 
 entirely forgotten; while the South American revo- 
 lutions were making it apparent that we must soon 
 take an important stand in that part of the world. 
 These things were giving Monroe and the people a 
 good deal of food for thought while the politicians 
 were studying them for their own purposes. 
 
 J It is to Benton's credit that from the very start 
 he made a stand in favor of a sound currency, 
 — for coin rather than notes of any kind. Be- 
 fore he took his seat, Congress had been obliged 
 to cut down expenses wherever possible, especially 
 in reference to the army, navy and fortifications, and 
 even then it was compelled to borrow a large sum of 
 money to carry on the government. The land bill 
 
 iof which Benton was one of the chief instigators, 
 changed our whole policy on that subject. 
 
 (Before this time land had generally been sold in 
 large tracts and on credit. Too confident invest- 
 
ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 47 
 
 ors would buy large lots, make small initial pay- ' 
 ments and then fail later ; so that it was often 
 necessary to give extensions or to withdraw 
 patents, in which case litigation resulted and the 
 titles were clouded. Benton's policy was to sell the 
 laud for cash at a maximum of $1.25 an acre ; to give 
 preference to the actual settler ; and to let those who 
 had made small payments on large lots concentrate ] 
 them on smaller sections and secure a complete title, i 
 This policy he had preached in his newspaper, on ' 
 the stump and in the lobby, while he was waiting to ; 
 get his seat in the Senate. Though the measui-e 
 seems to have been devised originally by Crawford, 
 and was introduced before Benton became a member, 
 he was active in aiding its passage and after get- 
 ting his seat his energy never abated until he ) 
 secured the pre-emptive right of the settler to his 
 lands, a measure that has perhaps been of more 
 value to this country than any other dealing with j 
 public property. It made settlement easy and the 
 forests soon rang with the axes of the sturdy pio- 
 neers who pushed westward to get the new lands, 
 picking out the rich prairie fields where a liviug i 
 came from a mere tickling of the surface of the * 
 soil. 
 One result of this liberal policy of the govern- 
 
48 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 ment M'as that iu a short time suflicieut revenue was 
 obtained to pay off the entire debt and leave a 
 large surplus iu the Trt^asury. The country grad- 
 ually recovered from its financial depression and 
 the service of the United States Bank in assisting 
 in this work was one of the questions soon to be in- 
 jected into national politics, and a subject on which 
 Benton had most positive convictions. 
 
 As an expansionist, Benton was utterly unfettered 
 except by practical conditions. He lamented the 
 loss of Texas, and was ever foremost in explaining 
 to the "effete East" that the possibilities of the 
 West were unlimited. Though he represented 
 Missouri directly his eyes were constantly turned 
 toward the West, and especially the Northwest. 
 
 He advocated the construction of a military road 
 to New Mexico which was finally accomplished, and 
 was instant in season and out of season in urging 
 the government to secure a firm hold on the Oregon 
 country.' Astor had founded a trading post there 
 and the Lewis and Clark Expedition had given the 
 United States a title to the country that only needed 
 to be strongly pressed against the shadow^' claims 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 This territory, however, was of about as little 
 •Beuton's "Thirty Years' View." 
 
ENTEY IKTO THE SENATE 49 
 
 interest to the nation at large as is Greenland at the 
 present day, it being the general opinion that it 
 involved too much money to hold what no one 
 would ever desire except as a hunting-ground for 
 fur-bearing animals. Such seeming short-sighted- 
 ness is not to be wondered at so much when we 
 consider that in Benton's first term there were not 
 over one hundred thousand white persons west of 
 the Mississippi. Benton, however, did not hold 
 any such view. He seems to have had the eagle 
 eye of prophecy. What he wrote in 1822 now reads 
 almost like recorded history. He foresaw the ex- 
 pansion of the country, though he could not antici- 
 pate its swiftness or the exact causes which were to 
 bring it about. He therefore put all his immense 
 energies into the task of saving Oregon and finally 
 succeeded. In one of his first speeches he urged that 
 the Pacific coast of this country was soon to become 
 neighbor to Asia and advised sending ministers to 
 the Emperors of China and Japan, a proposal that 
 was then considered almost as humorous as it would 
 be now to advocate sending one to Mars, ' He fairly 
 made the hair rise on some of the older senators' 
 heads by predicting that in a century there would be 
 as many persons living west of the Eocky Mountains 
 'Benton's "View," Vol. I. 
 
50 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 as then inhabited the whole United States. That 
 prophecy has not yet come true but it" is measiu"- 
 ably near realization and it may be that per- 
 sons now living who kneAv Benton will see the 
 day. 
 
 He did not think it possible at that time, how- 
 ever, to extend the boundaries of the country di- 
 rectly to the Pacific. As easy communication with 
 the Oregon country could not be maintained, since 
 the Rocky Mountains were our uatiu'al barrier, 
 his idea was to hold it, believing that in time 
 there would be erected an independent state which 
 would become an ally of this republic and perhaps 
 eventually join the Union. Before long, wlu-n the 
 "iron horse" had greatly changed social con- 
 ditions, he foresaw that the Rocky Mountains need 
 not be the natural obstacle he had earlier assumed 
 they would be, and to no one is the construction of 
 the first transcontinental railway due so much as to 
 him. 
 
 While the measures which have been mentioned 
 were national in scope and redounded to tlie bene- 
 fit of the whole country, Benton, in urging their 
 adoption, was not without regard for the interests 
 of Missouri. That state was then the outpost 
 of the frontier./ Her territory extended farther 
 
ENTEY mTO THE SENATE 51 
 
 west than that of any other state, and as the coun- 
 try expanded she was the first to come into touch 
 with the new territories, whereby she soon enjoyed 
 a vast increase in her trade. 
 
 One of the crying abuses of the West was the 
 monopoly of salti There were saline springs in 
 Missouri withheld from sale by the government and 
 leased to politicians and their favorites on terms 
 which created an odious monopoly. It may seem , 
 a small thing in this day, but salt was a burning 
 question in politics for one hundred years. It 
 entered into the very first tariff bill and was fiercely 
 fought over in the McKinley Bill a century later; 
 since which time it seems to have lost much of its 
 importance, owing to changes in commercial and 
 other conditions. In the early part of the nine- 
 teenth century it was a very expensive article of 
 everyday life. Transportation was costly. In a 
 rude country where every farm was a sort of 
 microcosm, salt was necessary to preserve the meat 
 put down for winter use, and was one of the very 
 few things the settler could not do without. In 
 making salt more plentiful and cheaper, by securing 
 the adoption of the rule that the springs should be 
 sold to the highest bidder without corrupt par- 
 tiality, Benton not only performed an act of states- 
 
52 THOMAS H. BEKTON 
 
 manship but endeared himself to his constituents 
 in a way that his generation never forgot. 
 
 Although a free-trader, especially in the later 
 years of his life, he was sagacious enough in the 
 perfection of tariff bills always to work for the 
 interests of his own constituents, as in demanding a 
 duty upon lead. 
 
 His ideas were also turned toward the develop- 
 ment of river navigation in Missouri, and he was 
 willing to vote money to clear the snags and sand- 
 bars from the Mississippi, which he was pleased to 
 regard as a national highway, when he was opposed 
 to digging a canal or building a turnpike. 
 
 It is easy to say that this was because Missouri 
 was interested much in the one and very little 
 in the other, and undoubtedly there is a good deal 
 of truth in the statement. We all of us very 
 clearly see things we desire to see, and it was no 
 strain on Benton's reasoning powers to argue 
 that the natural highways of commerce which 
 largely appertained to the whole nation were in a 
 difiereut category from roads running through in- 
 dividual states. Indeed when he came to advocate 
 the construction of the great road to New Mexico 
 he replied to all charges of inconsistency by saying 
 that the proposed improvement went entirely 
 
ENTEY INTO THE SENATE 53 
 
 through federal territory and did not touch any 
 state. This may now seem to us a narrow reason- 
 ing but it sufficed at a time when men were de- 
 lighted to make a fetich of the Constitution and be- 
 lieved or acted as if they thought that the country 
 were made for that instrument and not the re- 
 verse. 
 
 Considering the times in which he lived, Benton 
 was a man of great liberality of view. He was emi- 
 nently practical and ever tried to impress upon his 
 fellows that the imaginations of their hearts were 
 too continually evil, and that many of the woes they 
 anticipated could come only because they were con- 
 stantly expected. As a rule he labored in vain. 
 The man who had decided that the Constitution 
 meant such and such a thing was not to be turned 
 from his course, even if the Eepublic fell, especially 
 when he could see that his interests lay on the side 
 of his interpretation. And it often came to pass 
 that his interests unconsciously guided his direc- 
 tion of thought. When churchmen in New Eng- 
 land and elsewhere fell into the most violent con- 
 troversies over the exact meaning of some text of 
 Scripture, dividing families, separating old friends, 
 and arousing bitternesses of the most intense sort, 
 it is not to be wondered at that the politicians de- 
 
54 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 voted days aud nights to a study of the Constitu- 
 tiou either to discover what it actually meant, or to 
 prove that it meaut the specific thing they desired 
 it to mean. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 FINDING HIS PLACE 
 
 When in the last Monroe administration Ben- \ 
 ton was obliged to take sides on the great question I 
 of the succession, he decided first in favor of Clay. J 
 He was a relative of Mrs. Clay and he had a 
 great admiration for the Kentucky statesman who 
 was moreover the candidate par excellence of the 
 West at the outset. No sooner was Jackson in the 
 field than Benton redoubled his efforts, since he 
 had not yet become reconciled to that early antag- 
 onist who still carried in his arm the bullet of his 
 brother, Jesse Benton. As fate would have it, Ten- 
 nessee had a vacancy in the Senate, and Andrew 
 Jackson was chosen to fill it. When he arrived 
 to take his seat in the body of which twenty odd 
 years previously he had been a member for a short 
 time, the only vacant chair was beside Benton. 
 This was at first embarrassing to both and except 
 for the most formal recognition they remained un- 
 conscious of each other's presence until they were 
 chosen to serve on the same committee. Then 
 
56 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Jackson opened the way to more informal inter- 
 course which Benton at first stiffly refused. But 
 both were men of innate courtesy, and it was not 
 long until they had exchanged cards and established 
 social relations, at length becoming the warmest 
 friends in politics which this country has ever 
 known.' 
 
 This condition of affairs did not at the time affect 
 the position of Benton as to the presidency. He was 
 in favor of Clay so long as the latter had a chance 
 to win. It soon appeared, owing to the peculiar 
 political treacheries of the time, that Clay was 
 fourth on the list (though he would have been third 
 had promises been kept), and was therefore consti- 
 tutionally eliminated from the contest. 
 
 Benton then turned his attention to Crawford, 
 
 but that statesman had been attacked by paralysis 
 
 and it was evident that he could not win in any 
 
 /event. As between Adams and Jackson, he pre- 
 
 I ferred the latter both because he was a western man 
 
 1 and because the sentJToenJLof^Mfissouri was in his 
 
 favor. The contest was settled in the House of Kep- 
 
 resentatives and here the vote of that state was 
 
 cast by John Scott who was its sole representative. 
 
 This member, under the influence of Clay, had gone 
 
 * Parton'a " Life of Andrew Jackson." 
 
FINDING HIS PLACE 57 
 
 over to Adams, much to the displeasure of Bentou. 
 He threatened Scott to no advantage and Missouri 
 voted for Adams who was elected. It was quite 
 natural that Clay should cast his influence in the 
 Massachusetts man's favor, seeing that in general 
 the two were more nearly in political accord than 
 any other combination of candidates. Out of that 
 contest flowed the dominating currents in politics 
 for many years to come. ' 
 
 The fact that Adams' election was so warmly 
 contested rendered his position weak, but he pro- 
 ceeded to make the situation worse by naming 
 Clay for Secretary of State, thus originating the 
 '' Corrupt Bargain" story which followed Clay so 
 long as he lived and which at least once defeated 
 him when nominated for president and perhaps 
 twice prevented him from getting the nomination 
 when he could have been elected. 
 
 In order to make Adams unpopular a trick was 
 resorted to which was ignoble but suf&cient for the 
 purpose required. Long after it was known that 
 Clay's influence would be cast for Adams, but be- 
 fore the final vote, an anonymous letter appeared in 
 a Philadelphia newspaper announcing that a corrupt 
 bargain had been made whereby Clay would be- 
 * Parton's " Jaokaon." 
 
58 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 come Secretary of State. Clay was perfectlj'^ sin- 
 cere in his denunciation of this statement and in 
 his announcement that he would call the author of 
 the libel to the "field of honor." Very soon, IMr. 
 Kremer, a member of the House from Pennsylva- 
 nia, announced himself as the signer of the letter; 
 but Clay was so thoroughly convinced that it was 
 X^repared by others much higher in the councils of 
 the Jackson party that he refused to accept such a 
 subterfuge, and declined to challenge the Pennsyl- 
 vanian. Under the code of the times this act put 
 Clay at a disadvantage, and it is hard to see under 
 the circumstances how he later consented to accept 
 the post and thus appai-ently carry out the exact 
 terms of the bargain. ' 
 
 Adams lacked common sense or he would never 
 have made the ofler. Clay was too high strung to 
 refuse it, though he accepted against his inclinations 
 and only at the earnest advice of his friends. Both 
 were conscious of innocence in the matter and 
 were too proud to stoop to conquer public applause 
 by seeming to run away from a libelous publica- 
 tion. When the nomination of Clay was sent into 
 the Senate it wjis confirmed, but it set the seal of 
 disapproval on the administration. After that 
 ' Niles' Register : 1825, 
 
FINDING HIS PLACE 69 
 
 there was no possibility that Adams could succeed 
 himself, and little chance that Clay could escape 
 condemnation, as in fact he did not. 
 
 Benton was not one who believed in the story of 
 the corrupt bargain by which Clay was said to have 
 bartered his votes for the premiership. Clay told 
 him early in the contest that he favored Adams, 
 and Benton gave this information currency in the 
 newspapers and in conversation. Hereafter the 
 great Missourian followed the Jackson star and 
 succeeded in most of his political undertakings so / 
 long as it was in the ascendant. This was not so , 
 much because he was dominated by Jackson as be- 
 cause in those jiarticular lines in which he was most 
 interested Benton was able to dominate the Demo- 
 cratic leader. The two men were diametrically 
 opposite in most respects and yet there were points 
 of contact in their natures which served to make 
 the dual alliance of great import to the country. 
 
 Benton was now beginning to find his true place 
 in the Senate. He was vain of his oratory for 
 very insufficient reasons and customarily had his 
 speeches printed for circulation in Missouri. His 
 first check came from the venerable Rufus King, 
 then in his last years in the Senate, who had served 
 his country for five decades and was, with Nathaniel 
 
60 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Macon, a survivor of the Revolutionary period. 
 
 This arch Federalist came over to Benton one day 
 •after he had made a bitter speech against the 
 jChesapeake canal appropriation (which Monroe 
 /later vetoed) and spoke to him with the authority 
 land tenderness of a father. He remarked that 
 
 while he had watched Benton's rising powers with 
 
 interest and admiration, and believed he had a 
 
 f ' 
 
 ' great future before him, his attitude of assumed 
 
 i 
 
 ; authority and defiance sat ill upon the older mem- 
 bers. This rebuke was given with such dignity 
 and real concern that it touched Benton's heart 
 at once and he wrote his wife fully of the incident, 
 saying that he would not publish the speech which 
 had been criticised and would endeavor to amend 
 
 I his temperament. He succeeded partially, though 
 it was not until many years later that he mellowed 
 and assumed toward the younger members of the 
 Senate the same attitude which King had adopted 
 toward himself. ' 
 
 At the opening of Congress in the December of 
 Adams' administration the Senate was found to be 
 strongly opposed to the President. This was largely 
 the result of the bitterness which arose from the 
 settlement of the election and the appointment of 
 • Benton's" View." 
 
FINDING HIS PLACE 61 
 
 Clay. The House was on the side of Adams, show- 
 ing that so far as the popular will could be ex- 
 pressed, the people were with him, although the 
 situation changed at the next election and Adams 
 never was able to secure from Congress that legisla- 
 tion which he so greatly desired. 
 
 The first matter of great public moment con- 
 cerned the Panama Congress, the subject of so 
 many brilliant expectations, though it turned out to 
 be so complete a fiasco. The intention of the 
 South Americans who originated the idea was to 
 call a meeting of representatives of all the American 
 republics in an attempt to bring about closer com- 
 mercial and political relations, provide for the com- 
 mon defense against foreign aggression, and estab- 
 lish certain rules among themselves which in so far 
 as the contracting parties were concerned should 
 have the effect of international law. This was a 
 brilliant conception, one which appealed to the 
 imagination of many Americans and to no one 
 more than to Secretary Clay. Adams of course 
 was in favor of the enterprise because when he was 
 Secretary of State he had been largely responsible 
 for the promulgation of the Monroe Doctrine. 
 Viewed as an abstract proposition it seemed to have 
 everything to commend it, but in an age when there 
 
62 THOMAS II. BENTON 
 
 were no railways, telegraphs, cables, or ocean steam- 
 ships, there were more difficulties to overcome than 
 appeared on the surface. 
 
 In the first place, few of the Latin republics were 
 firmly established. There was little educated intel- 
 ligence among the people and already the revolu- 
 tionary spirit which has continued to this day had 
 begun to manifest itself. The possibility of the na- 
 tions agreeing to anything that should be respected 
 by all, or which recalcitrants could be compelled to 
 respect, seemed to practical minds very small in- 
 deed. Moreover there were many who felt that the 
 Monroe Doctrine must not be pushed too far. 
 Benton believed (and affected to think that Adams 
 took the same ground) that we never had done and 
 never could do mori; than protect our own borders 
 from European colonization, but this narrow inter- 
 l)i'etation is absurd since it needed no special mes- 
 sage of the President to state such a proposition. 
 
 The crisis was reached when the names of dele- 
 gates to the Panama Congress were sent to the 
 Senate by the President. This action i)recipitated a 
 fracas of large dimensions. In the debates which 
 followed it is fair to sujjpose that some of the oppo- 
 nents of the administration believed they were talcing 
 the only logical ground, but it is certain that politics 
 
FINDING HIS PLACE 63 
 
 had a great deal to do with the matter. Objection 
 was entered at once that the President had no right 
 to make such nominations without the previous 
 authorization of Congress and information was 
 asked as to the nature of the proposed mission and 
 the subjects that the delegates from the United 
 States would be likely to discuss. The President 
 replied in a dignified letter stating that commercial 
 relations, contraband and neutral goods in war, 
 foreign aggression, the relations with Cuba, and 
 such matters were to be treated. 
 
 The peculiar fact about this answer was that it 
 eliminated one subject which had been named by 
 the South Americans and which had caused great 
 excitement all over the United States — namely the 
 status of Haiti. At that time the negro republic 
 had been in existence for some years but there had 
 never been any but commercial relations between it 
 and us. We had some trade but no consuls or min- 
 isters were sent by either nation to the other. 
 Indeed the slaveholders were filled with fear when- 
 ever they thought of the horrors of the negro re- 
 bellion whereby Toussaint L'Ouverture drove out 
 the French with such terrible slaughter and estab- 
 lished a government. There was constant apprehen- 
 sion that such an experiment might be repeated in 
 
64 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 this country. The South and Central Americans 
 were moved by no such considerations. There were 
 negroes and mulattoes among the generals and 
 statesmen of those countries and they were consid- 
 ered to be on an equal footing with those of proud- 
 est Castilian blood. The Latin republics were will- 
 ing to enter into relations with Haiti and this very 
 fact made many of the senators from our Southern 
 states look askance at the proposition. 
 
 Benton delivered a speech at this time in which 
 he called attention to the omission in Adams' letter 
 and denounced a congress to be held in Panama 
 where matters pertaining to the interests of the 
 United States should be discussed, — that could not 
 be discussed in Washington. ' It cannot be said that 
 in this matter Benton acted with his usual sound 
 judgment. He unintentionally took exactly the 
 course which he later so roundly denounced in others, 
 — that of stirring up sectional strife on the slavery 
 question. Benton, however, was deeply engrossed 
 in politics and was willing to do anything reasona- 
 ble to drive the administration to the wall. 
 
 The debate finally produced nothing of impor- 
 tance but the duel between Clay and Eandolph. 
 In this duel Benton acted as the mutual friend of 
 
 'See chapter on " Benton as Author and Orator," poaaim. 
 
FINDING HIS PLACE 65 
 
 both and an arbiter in all matters pertaining to the 
 code. It was a bloodless affair and a reconciliation 
 followed. Eandolph had desired Benton to act as \ 
 his second but under the code the relationship I 
 of the latter to Mrs. Clay made it impossible./ 
 Eandolph, to show his appreciation of Benton's 
 services, had made for him a gold seal on which 
 was engraved a crest furnished by the obliging Col- 
 lege of Heraldry in London and said to belong to 
 the family. Benton laughed at the crest and an 
 alleged family tree of distinguished membership 
 but wore the seal until his death. 
 
 The Panama Commission was finally authorized, 
 but it was more than sixty years before such a Pan- 
 American Congress met and then it did so in Wash- 
 ington where much less was accomplished under 
 happier auspices than was proposed in 1825. 
 
 During Adams' entire administration there was 
 no other thought on the part of the opposition than 
 of making Jackson president in 1828. Clay was 
 eliminated ; Calhoun was content for the present 
 with the vice-presidency, seeing that the Jackson 
 wave was rising, and hoping to succeed him. Clay 
 was of course in favor of his chief but the fight 
 against Adams was concentrated and bitter. The 
 election was a foregone conclusion. Jackson 
 
66 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 easily won the electoral college and his showing in 
 the popular vote was very respectable. Had 
 Adams refrained from appointing Clay, had he 
 been possessed of a more engaging personality, had 
 he been less disposed to lecture Congress collec- 
 tively and the members individually, he might possi- 
 bly have been reelected ; though on the whole it seems 
 certain that the march of democracy was so rapid 
 that his reelection was never for an instant possible. 
 The growth of the West, the unfettering of restric- 
 tions on voting in the Eastern states, the belief in 
 the righteousness and power of pure democracy — 
 all joined to make Jackson the candidate and se- 
 cured his election. 
 
 This was one of New England's darkest hours. 
 Twice she had seen her presidents rej ected. The first 
 time John Adams, one of the greatest of her sons, 
 was discarded for Jefferson who was considered an 
 atheist, a revolutionary, and a dangerous man gen- 
 erally. The New Englanders had indeed seen the 
 country barely survive the shock of his administra- 
 tion for Mr. Madison's war was its direct inherit- 
 ance. Now another Adams met a similar fate and 
 they could scarcely believe that civilized government 
 would withstand the blow resulting from the pro- 
 motion of a backwoods militia general to the presi- 
 
FIXDIXG HIS PLACE 67 
 
 dency. With all his faults Jefferson was a gentle- 
 man ; here was a man who was rude, almost bar- 
 barous. 
 
 Benton had no faith in such pessimism. He was 
 a democrat at heart and with all his personal van- 
 ity he expected to see democracy rise triumphant 
 on the ruins of federalism, Eastern formalism and 
 the prejudices of the old republicans. None re- 
 joiced more than he when Jackson won and to no 
 person during his eight years of incumbency was 
 the hero of New Orleans more beholden than to the 
 man whom he had earlier met in deadly combat in 
 a street brawl. ' 
 
 ^ Koosevelt's " Life of Benton." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 
 
 "The reign of Andrew Jackson" lasted from 
 1829 to 1841. During the last four years Van 
 Buren was in the White House and his career was 
 a stormy one ; but the whole period was dominated 
 by Jackson's policies and, so far as the triumvirate 
 of Clay, Calhoun and Webster permitted, Jackso- 
 nian legislation was enacted. It was during this 
 period that Benton's most serious work was done. 
 During most of the time he was Jackson's right 
 arm and led the Jacksonian interest in the Senate, 
 though for a while it was a minority as against the 
 triumvirate. In this era Benton was intimately 
 connected with four great matters of public policy. 
 They were : 
 
 Nullification and the Tariff, 
 Destruction of the National Bank, 
 The Specie Standard, 
 The Distribution of the Land Surplus. 
 
 There were many other issues of minor kinds but 
 
JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 69 
 
 these were the most important and they furnished 
 the material for political discussion until the Mexi- 
 can War brought forward new ones. 
 
 Benton originated only one of the policies of the 
 administration, but he fought out all of them in the 
 Senate. Without his aid Jackson would have soon 
 come to grief. Although he was a devoted follower 
 of his chief, Benton never claimed to be his mouth- 
 piece and rather resented such a notion, for he de- 
 clared that he was independent and wished it to be 
 understood that he decided every question on its 
 merits. This disguise was thin as in those days a , 
 man must be either for Jackson or against him ; he •' 
 could not be lukewarm. It was as a fighter that 
 Benton excelled. He never equivocated, never 
 compromised, never became discouraged by defeat. 
 
 At the outset of the administration Benton was 
 much distressed over Jackson's high-handed deal- 
 ing with the patronage. In these days we are apt 
 to consider that ''Old Hickory" was the greatest 
 foe of civil service reform that ever lived ; that he 
 was the originator of the principle, if not the ex- 
 pression, 'Ho the victors belong the spoils." This 
 is true only in the sense that he overrode all previ- 
 ous traditions and made more changes than all his 
 predecessors combined. It must not be understood, 
 
70 THOMAS H. BEATON 
 
 however, that he was ruthless in his decai)itation8. 
 In the departments involving the judicial functions 
 of the nation, even as touching land commissions 
 and the like, he made almost no removals and only 
 then for cause. Benton did his best to show that 
 Jackson was not so bad as he was painted, but with 
 no great success, since the changes which he made 
 created as much excitement as if a president to- 
 day by administrative order were to revoke all the 
 civil service rules and oust every man possible. 
 
 An incident may be related. The collector at 
 Salem was General Miller, a Federalist whom Jack- 
 son had marked for dismissal. He had nominated 
 his successor. Benton heard this news with great 
 agitation and approached the President at once, 
 asking if he knew who this General Miller was. 
 He did not. 
 
 " He is the hero of Lundy's Lane," said Benton. 
 
 "The man who when asked to take a battery 
 said, 'I'll try'?" 
 
 ''The very man." 
 
 "By the Eternal !" shouted Jackson as his fist 
 came down on the table, "that man shall be in 
 of&ce as long as Jackson is President," and the 
 order for dismissal was at once revoked. 
 
 The incident is instructive as showing Benton's 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AUM 71 
 
 desire to keep the service intact and in explaining 
 the fiery temperament of Jackson. This was an 
 age when nepotism was largely practiced. Benton 
 in all his public life never asked an office or a pub- 
 lic contract for a member of his own family. He 
 was a rugged believer in maintaining the integrity 
 and independence of the civil service and disliked 
 having anything to do with recommending men to 
 positions, even when there were vacancies to be 
 filled. 
 
 Before taking up the subjects which proved to be 
 tlie greatest in Benton's career and so influential in 
 politics for more than thirty years, it is well to ob- 
 serve that he became an ardent foe of the Navy. 
 He believed, of course, in a moderate establish- 
 ment, but asserted as many of his successors have 
 done to this day, that a large navy is simply an in- 
 centive to international broils, and that in any event 
 we could not depend upon it in case of war. This 
 indicated a rather narrow view of the subject, con- 
 sidering that it was the despised Navy that had 
 won most of the honors in the late war, in which . 
 Benton had figured most inconspicuously. But he 1 
 was alarmed at the tremendous cost of the fleet, and \ 
 being a rigid economist, always singled it out for i 
 retrenchment whenever possible. In his many ' 
 
 i 
 
72 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 speeches he was w illiug enough to admire exhibi- 
 tions of personal valor, but he did not consider the 
 establishment necessary on the basis favored by the 
 majority. This seems to have been a fault of his 
 training and experience. Benton was not commer- 
 cial in instinct, nor did he until late in life come at 
 all in contact with those forces in the East which 
 were so potent in national development. Even 
 then it was with constant surprise that he discovered 
 that manufactm-ing and shipping were not neces- 
 sarily tinged with a peculiar selfishness and a lack 
 of patriotism. 
 
 It was on somewhat different grounds that he at- 
 tacked the Military Academy at West Point. He 
 was never tired of branding this institution as ex- 
 pensive and as training young men in a way that 
 \ was contrary to existing theories. It was alleged 
 that the soldier was born, not made. This notion 
 has long been abandoned, but in Benton's day 
 there was some justification for it since the Academy 
 was a new institution, feebly administered. Ben- 
 ton had grown up on the frontier ; had served under 
 Jackson whom he considered the greatest general 
 of the age; was familiar with the careers of the 
 Clarks, Harrison and others who had sprung from 
 the soil and made good military records. His 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AKM 73 
 
 argument was weak in that it failed to recognize that 
 a good man is made better by training. As we shall 
 see later he was willing and anxious to command 
 all the armies of the country, in spite of the fact 
 that he had never been in a battle in his life. 
 
 Though Benton talked long and often concerning 
 the l!^avy and West Point, he never succeeded in 
 impressing his fellow members with the worth of 
 his suggestions, and these can hardly be made rail- 
 ing accusations against him. 
 
 The first crisis in Benton's political career came in 
 the contest over nullification, and strangely enough 
 he was for a time allied with the forces which 
 were attempting to establish that doctrine, always so 
 hateful to him. It need hardly be said that in this 
 he was unconscious of the aid he was giving them, 
 and it was but a short time before the scales felL 
 from his eyes. Benton seems to have been a guilefi 
 less sort of person. Conscious of the rectitude of \ 
 his own views, he was loath to attribute any sinister J 
 designs to others. Considering his later career it is/ 
 astonishing to find him early in the Jackson ad- 
 ministration a supporter of the views of Hayue and 
 Calhoun, utterly failing to note the trend of events. 
 Little has been said thus far of the growth of the 
 views of the ultra-slavery men for the very reason 
 
74 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 that to understand the career of Benton, we must 
 follow him in his ignorance. Now that he was to 
 have his eyes opened it is necessary to give some 
 account of the political situation in the winter of 
 1829-30. 
 
 We have seen how Calhoun retired from the con- 
 test for the presidency with apparent gracefulness, 
 and there were those who supposed he had elimi- 
 nated himself from the struggle for the succession. 
 This was by no means the case. Under the circum- 
 stances Jackson seemed a desirable stop-gap and 
 Calhoun and his friends were perfectly willing to 
 have him serve a term while they perfected their 
 plans a little better. Jackson was an old man and 
 far from vigorous. He had at first no idea of ac- 
 cepting a second nomination. His beloved wife 
 was dead, his health was poor and he was content 
 to enjoy the distinguished honor for a single term. 
 But for the nature of the opposition it is not likely 
 that he would have entered the lists a second time. 
 An arrogant man in some respects, he was gentle in 
 his demeanor toward friends and was more cultured 
 than his enemies supposed. He could stand almost 
 anything but imputations against his honor or in- 
 tegrity, or an attack upon the motives of his public 
 actions. He loved a fight in secret as well as in the 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT ARM 75 
 
 open, and was no mean antagonist as all his oppo- 
 nents had discovered ; but he had no love for the 
 devious ways of politics unless he was forced to 
 employ them on his own account. At his inaugu- 
 ration he was well affected toward Calhoun, and it 
 was some time before he discovered that the South 
 Carolinian was not so true a friend as he thought. 
 
 Politics for their own sake employed more of the 
 attention of public men in that day than now. 
 There was a lust of power and an ambition for 
 preferment that now tend to disappear. For 
 personal profit politicians and statesmen contend 
 vigorously, but there is less direct striving in the 
 open for the presidency and other honorable offices. 
 Calhoun had lost his earlier frankness of manner 
 and surrendered his liberal views on national ques- 
 tions. He was becoming less and less a national 
 statesman, more and more a speculative philoso- 
 pher, and his mind was more exclusively turning 
 toward the interests of the South, — toward cotton 
 and the peculiar institution of slavery. On the 
 whole, he was a better man than the North for many 
 years was willing to believe. He devoted the 
 best twenty years of his life to expounding and 
 propagating the doctrine of nullification which was 
 only, so far as he would admit, a purely intellectual 
 
76 THOMAS H. BEI^TON 
 
 and moral denial by the states of the right of the 
 Federal government to infringe on their reserved 
 rights. He did not believe in forcible resistance to 
 national authority — so he said — but unless this 
 was emploj'ed his theories fell to the ground. 
 Academic opposition in statecraft is silly, and 
 though to the last Calhoun professed himself a 
 Unionist he developed a school of politicians who 
 were ready to carry his doctrines to their legitimate 
 and practical conclusion. Even Jefferson Davis 
 twenty years later called nullification absurd, and 
 admitted that the only alternative was revolution 
 which he tried as a last resource. 
 
 Much of the difficulty which now arose, and 
 which continued for a generation and more, was 
 due to the fact that there were in this country two 
 separate and distinct civilizations. The Xorth com- 
 prised a number of states which were republics in 
 the best sense of the term. The towns or townships 
 were as a rule pure democracies and the state gov- 
 ernments rested upon the just consent of the 
 governed, affected only by the political machina- 
 tion of the age. As perhaps neither party was in 
 the latter respect any better than the other there 
 occurred as a rule that "cancellation" of fraud, im- 
 position and undue influence which is requisite to 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT ABM 77 
 
 maintain anything resembling a pure and righteous 
 government. When all or a preponderating portion 
 of the fraud is on one side a decadence follows rap- 
 idly ; but in the North this was on the whole less 
 noticeable, certainly less continuous, because of the 
 intelligence of the people, the general use of the 
 franchise and the fact that towns were so important 
 in the entire scheme of government. 
 
 In the South where the county system prevailed 
 politics had a di£ferent aspect. The franchise was 
 nominally extended to white freemen, but as a mat- 
 ter of fact was controlled by the large planters 
 in much the same way as the British suffrage had for 
 centuries been controlled by the great landowners 
 of England. Even the "poor whites" seldom at- 
 tempted any direct interference in politics. The 
 great slaveholder had, besides his black flock, a 
 body of retainers which he could depend on as cer- 
 tainly as the feudal lord of the Middle Ages. While 
 it was customary for the leaders of the Southern party 
 to berate the men of the North for their subserviency 
 to trade, their desire for wealth and their anxiety 
 for laws favorable to private interests, the truth is 
 that the mind of the South was wholly occupied 
 with economic questions. Cotton and slavery were 
 the things which were largest in their horizon and 
 
78 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 their opinions on these subjects came to affect their 
 views of everything else. This is not singular. 
 The North was similarly engaged in trying to pro- 
 mote its own interests, and the difficulty came from a 
 ditference in temperament and a divergence of opin- 
 ion as to what was really the best national policy. 
 Cotton was fast becoming king. Even under the 
 crude system of cultivation which prevailed, large 
 fortunes were being accumulated, and the planter 
 was anxious to extend his estates, increase the 
 number of his slaves and assume a sort of hege- 
 mony in his section. 
 
 Except in the cotton belt, and there in only 
 minor degree, slavery was not in its outward as- 
 pects the horrible institution that it seems to us 
 now, or as it seemed to the Northern people at that 
 time. That the negroes as a rule were little above 
 the brute was the common belief, and much of the 
 treatment was brutish as compared with that ac- 
 corded white men. But all things are relative, and 
 if the negro suffered much physical pain, was un- 
 derfed and overworked, according to Northern 
 standards, it must not be assumed that the system 
 was altogether bad in its economic phases, since 
 self-interest led masters to treat their slaves as well 
 as their cattle. Had the negro been more enlight- 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 79 
 
 ened, had he been used to better things, had he 
 possessed a spirit of independence and had slavery 
 sat upon him like a galling yoke, the suffering 
 would have been greater ; but in that case the sys- 
 tem would not long have existed since he would 
 have successfully revolted against his master. ' 
 
 It is of interest to digress here and tell of a move- . 
 ment inaugurated by Benton in Missouri in 1828, 
 which came very near doing away with the Missouri 
 Compromise. Though slavery had increased in 
 that state, it was found that it interfered to some 
 extent with immigration, and there were plenty of I 
 arguments in favor of gradual abolition. These J 
 were endorsed by Benton, who at the time of the/ 
 admission of the state had been the boldest of anti-/ 
 restrictionists. Perceiving that morally and eco- 
 nomically emancipation would be for the best inter- 
 ests of the country, Benton and a large number of 
 the leading men of Missouri met in conference and 
 agreed upon a policy of gradual emancipation by 
 constitutional amendment, which would have led 
 the way to similar action in other border states. 
 The plans were carefully prepared and it seemed as 
 if the clouds might lift from the country, when 
 there occurred one of those incidents which seem 
 
 * Fanny Kemble, " Two Years on a Georgia Plantation." 
 
/ \\- 
 
 80 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 more like fiction than real history. The Missouri- 
 ans heard with dismay that Arthur Tappan, the 
 merchant prince and philanthropist of New York, 
 had entertained colored people at his private table. 
 That ended the matter. No further move was made, 
 and the subject was dead for many years afterward.' 
 
 All institutions based on immoral or uneconomic 
 conditions are timid and suspicious. Slavery was 
 the corner-stone of the Southern system of industry 
 and commerce, and that it was unsafe was freely 
 admitted, except in partisan debate. It must be 
 increasingly safeguarded, explained and apologized 
 for with the result that the slave owner was angered 
 and embittered, because he thought that he was 
 being constantly assailed by those who pretended 
 to be holier than he. Such criticism is one of the 
 most difficult things in the world to endure with 
 equanimity and self-possession, and forbearance 
 was not the chief virtue of the South. Now it is 
 not true that at this time there was any excess of 
 individual virtue on the part of the North. Most 
 Northern people who went South became slave- 
 holders. Most Southern men carried on business 
 with the North and the alliance was close. It is 
 true, however, that for the advantage the South may 
 
 ' " History of Missouri," American Commonwealth Series. 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 81 
 
 have had in the way of human slavery, and in its 
 increased political power, which was gained by 
 counting three-fifths of the slaves, the North felt 
 that it should enjoy protection to its industries. 
 The North was more shrewd and adventurous, far 
 more successful in business, and the westward ex- 
 pansion of the population was constantly inuring 
 to the benefit of the free states. 
 
 So long as the Virginia dynasty was in power the 
 South had no fear. Monroe had, however, proved 
 intractable to some extent and the younger Adams 
 was utterly opposed to the Southern policies. See- 
 ing that the South had been in control of the gov- 
 ernment practically the whole period of our na- 
 tional existence and that Jackson himself was a 
 Southern man and a slaveholder, it is peculiar 
 that the dread of any should have been aroused 
 over the loss of political authority. That fear was 
 less influential in shaping coming events than the 
 desire of particular Southern leaders to gain place 
 and power, and they affected to believe many things 
 which made their conduct more or less necessary 
 and which were most of them miserable ghosts. 
 
 The actual fact was that Calhoun desired the 
 presidency, and his many friends wished to partici- 
 pate in the distribution of the patronage. This 
 
82 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 was not for financial reasons, since emoluments of 
 office were then very small, but because of lust of 
 power. It was peculiarly true that Southern men 
 loved promotion, because of their political institu- 
 tions which in the aggregate developed an office- 
 holding class and reduced the ordinai'y voter to a 
 subordinate place. 
 
 The sectional question was soon to make its ap- 
 pearance in Congress in a very virulent form. The 
 matter of the public lands was ever dear to Benton 
 and anything that affected them was certain to receive 
 his immediate attention. He had not at this time 
 succeeded in securing all of the legislation for which 
 he labored, but his ten years had resulted in a much 
 more liberal policy than formerly. Under his 
 ^system the individual homesteads were rapidly 
 growing in number in all parts of the West. The 
 stream of emigration was flowing constantly toward 
 the setting sun, and most of the foreigners who came 
 to this country hastened to secure the cheap and 
 good lands. At the same time New England was 
 being constantly denuded of its younger people 
 who went West on parallels of latitude. The 
 South was slower to take advantage of its op- 
 portunities but the border states, especially Ken- 
 tucky, were filling up Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 83 
 
 Here was a condition which made some of the 
 New England leaders groan. The youth and 
 strength of the section were going West and it was 
 evident that the relative importance of the East 
 would soon be lost. It is strange that there was no 
 confidence in the institutions which these young 
 people had absorbed at home, no belief that New 
 England principles would be carried to the far 
 West. On the contrary there was a feeling that 
 while there had long been a North and a South, there 
 would now be also a West, and a three-cornered 
 contest was certain to ensue in which the older 
 states were likely to be worsted. This situation 
 was not to be contemplated with equanimity for a \ 
 moment, and the outcome of the opposition to the 
 new order of things was a resolution offered by 
 Senator Foot, of Connecticut, to the effect that the 
 sale of public lands should be restricted to those in 
 the market and that the office of the public sur- 
 veyor should be abolished. This meant relegating 
 the whole of the unsurveyed public domain to 
 chaos, — taking it out of any possible political affili- 
 ation for the immediate future. It was to be an 
 artificial barrier placed across the pathway of de- 
 velopment for the benefit of the older Eastern states. 
 The motive of the resolution was largely political, 
 
84 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 but the author could uot have imagiued the results 
 which were to follow. The debate opened at once 
 and lasted for a long time, during which nearly 
 everything but the land question was taken up in 
 detail. 
 
 ^/Benton, ever impetuous and more than ready to 
 speak, was the first to take the floor. He opposed 
 /the resolution not only with all the logic and prac- 
 / tical wisdom of which he was possessed but with 
 ) more physical energy and objurgation than at first 
 ; seemed necessary. He raged up and down the semi- 
 i circular chamber and talked in most extravagant 
 language. He spoke not only against the principle 
 Of the resolution, but he gave some vivid pictures 
 of the actual results of the existing policy by 
 which the national debt was being extinguished 
 and plenty was being cast over a smiling land. 
 Here he was in his element and his abilities as an 
 actor stood him in excellent stead. He was more 
 vociferous than may have been required, but in 
 truth he was as earnest as an apostle and sincerely 
 anxious to denounce any restriction upon the ex- 
 tension of the country. He saw nothing in the 
 whole matter but an attack on the "West of which 
 he believed himself to be the leading exponent. 
 > It ought to be said that the government survey 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 85 
 
 by townships, sections and *' forties" was an instlK 
 tution the value of which can hardly be over-esti- \ 
 mated in considering the growth of the United \ 
 States. It was the climax of labor saving invention 
 as applied to population extension and to have re- 
 jected it at this time would have resulted in worse 
 disasters than even Benton imagined. The princi- 
 ple of least resistance never worked to better ad- 
 vantage than in this method of distributing the 
 public domain. 
 
 While Benton, '' in a fine frenzy rolling," was at- 
 tacking this resolution, Calhoun sat in the chair wait- 
 ing for a political vantage point. It came sooner 
 than he had anticipated, and from an unexj)ected 
 quarter. The subject of slavery had been injected 
 into the debate, — sure to be the case when territory 
 was involved. In a brief speech on the subj ect, Web- 
 ster, without that preparation which he ought to 
 have had, announced that the doctrine of freedom of 
 territory was a Northern one ; that the Ordinance of 
 1787, by which slavery was forever prohibited in 
 the Northwest Territory, was introduced and car- 
 ried by Northern votes alone. This was a singular 
 lapse upon the part of the ''descended god," who 
 was beginning to feel that the aegis was in his 
 rightful possession. It was due to carelessness and 
 
86 TUOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 misappreliensiou which lasted for many years, and 
 by which New England men, without much contra- 
 diction, constantly ascribed all the political virtues 
 and accomplishments of the nation to their own 
 section. We can scarcely blame New England for 
 this, since she was so little disputed at the time; but 
 history has not been able to sustain all the claims 
 so largely and vociferously put forth in her behalf. 
 In asserting therefore that freedom in the Northwest 
 Territory was a Northern measure, Webster made 
 a mistake, but a natural one. This gave Benton 
 the opportunity he sought, and he delved into 
 history and musty records with more enthusiasm 
 and love of detail than Webster could ever com- 
 mand. In a second speech he showed that Webster 
 was entirely wrong ; that the proposition emanated 
 from Jefferson ; that at the last it was unanimously 
 adopted ; and that the South was as much entitled 
 to credit for the measure as the North, perhaps in 
 the last analysis to greater credit. To this Webster 
 answered not a word either in the way of explanation 
 or apology. It is probable that he was convinced, 
 but those were not the days when a man felt it 
 incumbent upon him to admit that he was in the 
 wrong. 
 K the discussion had gone no further we should 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 87 
 
 never have heard of it in history. That it was 
 extended and widened was due to the fact that 
 Calhoun saw a chance at this point to exert him- 
 self in favor of his particular propaganda. This 
 was entirely legitimate ; criticism must lie only 
 against the methods used. The debate had intro- 
 duced the matter of free and slave states, and that 
 was enough for the purposes of the Calhoun party. 
 They were sufficiently shrewd to see that Southern 
 political control could come only by attaching to , 
 the Southern interest a portion of the growing ' 
 West, which was the disturbing factor in the ' 
 political balance. The injection of the question of 
 the restriction of land sales made an issue which 
 was not only revolting to the West, but seemed \ 
 almost providential to the followers of Calhoun. \ 
 Here originated the idea of the coalition between ' 
 the South and the West, which figured so largely in 
 the debates and more or less in actual politics for a 
 long time to come. Calhoun was represented on 
 the floor by Eobert Y. Hayne, also of South 
 Carolina, a man of many resources intellectually, 
 of engaging personality, and devoted to his chief. 
 There were men in that Senate of more intellectual 
 and moral power than Hayne, but they have been 
 forgotten, while he is remembered because of the 
 
88 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 contest which has lastingly linked his name with 
 that of Webster. This young man took up the 
 gauntlet and made some references to nullification 
 in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798, 
 looking upon them as charters of more importance 
 than the Constitution, since they were supposed to 
 have been the work of Jefferson and Madison 
 respectively, men whose opinions were then held in 
 the highest esteem by a great majority of the elec- 
 tors of all sections. 
 
 This introduction of the term "nullification " into 
 the debate was not fortunate for the slavery propa- 
 gandists. It roused the sleeping lion in Webster, 
 who cared less for mere technicalities than for broad 
 principles. To him nullification was maddening, 
 and in desultory debates he expressed his views in a 
 way that seemed to require an extended reply. This 
 was supplied by Hayne, not so much on his own 
 account, as in his capacity of mouthpiece of 
 Calhoun, whom he consulted at every stage of the 
 contest and from whom through the long debate he 
 nightly drew inspiration. 
 
 It is generally agreed that Hayne discussed the 
 subject in question before the Senate in an ad- 
 mirable manner. But neither he nor any one 
 else could be confined to the matter of limiting the 
 
JACKSOK'S EIGHT AEM 89 
 
 sales of public lands, and must needs run off into a 
 discussion of the whole subject of politics past, 
 present and future. HI fared it with this Eoderick 
 when he brought up the subject of nullification 
 as laid down in the aforesaid Eesolutions of 1798, 
 and worse when he introduced the matter of the 
 Hartford Convention, which seemed a particularly- 
 fitting weapon with which to attack a New England 
 senator. JSTow the truth is that the Hartford Con- 
 vention, though not officially representing New 
 England, had just enough official status to make it 
 seem formidable at the time it met, New England 
 was disaffected regarding the War of 1812, and 
 though doing her share in the field, there was a 
 feeling of revolt in the whole section that was well 
 manifested in the Hartford Convention. It was 
 most fortunate for New England that before that 
 body was enabled to lay its propositions before 
 Congress news came of the peace. After that there 
 were somewhat fewer than forty very respectable 
 men of New England who were only too glad to 
 court oblivion. The serious student must admit that 
 if the war had continued in a disastrous way for a 
 year longer the Hartford Convention might have 
 reassembled and recommended dissolution in some 
 way or other, and there is much reason to believe 
 
90 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 that this might have been the result. At least a 
 most violent disturbance would have ensued. For- 
 tunately none of these things happened, and in the 
 joy over the cessation of hostilities the obliquity of 
 New England had been for the time forgotten. ' 
 
 When Hayne brought up the matter he expected 
 that Webster would not only apologize for his sec- 
 tion but attack the South. That godlike statesman 
 was too shrewd for this. In a long and earnest 
 speech he attempted to keep the subject within 
 bounds, and to uproot the notion that there was 
 anywhere in the North an idea of separation or 
 that there were actual warring and conflicting inter- 
 ests which were to be affected by the legislation pro- 
 posed. These earlier speeches were on both sides 
 a mixture of the academic and the practical. Hayne, 
 taking the initiative, managed to make a fine im- 
 pression because he had the popular side on 
 the main question. He returned to the attack. 
 There was a degree of formality and imperson- 
 ality in debate in those days which deceived no one 
 as to the intent of the participators. The contest 
 was becoming warm and it was now Calhoun against 
 Webster. In a colloquy during Hayne' s speech 
 Webster tried to corner him, to find out whether 
 ' Henry Adams, " History of the United States." 
 
JACKSON'S RIGHT AEM 91 
 
 he considered nullification justifiable on the ground 
 of the Hartford Convention. Hayne was too wary 
 to be caught in such a trap and evaded the issue. 
 He could not claim any actual legislative sanction 
 for the Eesolutions of 1798, and if he avowed that 
 nullification was the foundation stone of the Hart- 
 ford Convention, it was likely he would be thrown 
 out of court by a repudiation of that unofficial and 
 of&cious assemblage which all New England was 
 anxious and in good position to renounce. Hayne 
 parried the thrust, but proceeded to attack New Eng- 
 land for her recreancy in the late war, and to show 
 in general how much more the nation owed to the 
 South than to the North. It was a brilliant speech, 
 a clever presentation of a specious argument, but 
 it had the fatal defect of trying to prove too much. 
 It was characteristic of the magnitude of Web- 
 ster's appreciation of the whole subject and its de- 
 tails that he refused to be drawn into any contro- 
 versy over patriotic bookkeeping. He had no mind 
 for settling petty balances by weight of sword or 
 glory. He came to the task with a brain stored full 
 of the richest imagery and was dominated by the 
 broadest patriotism. It should be said in all hon- 
 esty that Webster was to a great extent the product 
 of his environment. We can believe that if he and 
 
92 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Calhoun had been exchanged in their cradles the 
 individual result would have been very different. 
 Both were intellectual giants and both had primarily 
 the interests of their own sections at heart. It may 
 be that Calhoun would never have attained to the 
 majestic intellectual stature of Webster in any 
 case : it is also doubtful whether Webster could 
 ever have reduced the whole question of national 
 government to Calhoun's basis. But on the 
 whole it may be said that the two men repre- 
 sented two sectional ideas, although it was the 
 good fortune of Webster to be greater than his 
 party, while Calhoun was his party. Webster had 
 many limitations but when he was stirred to the 
 depths he was no section's candidate, no man's ad- 
 herent ; he saw before him but one star in the 
 horizon, and that was the Union, which he pursued 
 and loved and adored, and well had it been for his 
 fame had that been the sum of his ambitions. At 
 this time he seems to have been devoid of personal 
 avSpiration and, aside from the defense of his own 
 section, was actuated solely by patriotic motives. 
 His final reply to Hayne which was dragged from 
 him under duress and earlier than he wished re- 
 quired that he state once and for all the position of 
 the people of the North in relation to the growth of 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 93 
 
 the republic, their views on slavery as a political 
 asset and on nullification as a measure tending to 
 national bankruptcy. He was obliged in this case 
 to eliminate much that had been discussed and to 
 ignore entirely the original subject of debate, 
 which as he humorously said was the only one that 
 had not been taken up in the whole controversy. 
 
 With great shrewdness and with a loftiness of 
 mind that is admirable to contemplate Webster 
 went to the marrow of the real contention that had 
 arisen. He refused to uphold the Hartford Con- 
 vention, and declined absolutely to enter upon any 
 encomiums upon Massachusetts or the rest of that 
 sisterhood. Eather did he prefer to spend his 
 time in lauding the early patriotism of South Caro- 
 lina, and in complimenting her sons who had done 
 so much to establish national liberties. Turning 
 from any specious discussion of events, he lifted the 
 whole plane of debate into one so high that it could 
 not but inspire his opponents. His plea was for a 
 nation composed of states and not for a number of 
 states loosely confederated as a nation. He held up 
 the Union in a sense which no human mind had 
 before conceived and no human voice had ever por- 
 trayed. He painted a picture which ever since has 
 been unfading, and he erected the temple of the re- 
 
94 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 public on foundations which are still lasting. Prac- 
 tically every good American now living has been 
 brought up directly or indirectly upon the teachings 
 of Webster on this occasion, but it should not be 
 forgotten that at this time there was scarcely any 
 man who did not love his state beyond the nation. 
 
 "Webster closed with that peroration which is still 
 written in letters of gold, and which served thirty 
 years later to unite many states for the defense of 
 the nation, words which in their rich imagery and 
 in their practical application have few parallels in 
 all literature: — 
 
 "While the Union lasts, we have high, excit- 
 ing, gratifying prospects spread out before us, 
 for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not 
 to penetrate the veil. God grant that in my day, 
 at least, that curtain may not rise ! God grant 
 that on my vision never may be opened what lies 
 behind ! When my eyes shall be turned to be- 
 hold for the last time the sun in heaven, may I not 
 see him shining on the broken and dishonored 
 fragments of a once glorious Union ; on States dis- 
 severed, discordant, belligerent ; on a land rent with 
 civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal 
 blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
 rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 95 
 
 now kuown and honored throughout the earth, still 
 full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming 
 in their original lustre, not a stripe erased or 
 polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its 
 motto no such miserable interrogatory as ' What 
 is all this worth 1 ' nor those other words of 
 delusion and folly, ' Liberty first and Union after- 
 ward ' ; but everywhere, spread all over in char- 
 acters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, 
 as they float over the sea and over the land, and in 
 every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
 sentiment, dear to every true American heart, — 
 Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and in- 
 separable! " 
 
 It is remarkable that after Benton had listened 
 to this magnificent burst of eloquence, which 
 really expressed his own views, he rose and 
 ridiculed it with that rather coarse sort of wit in 
 those days characteristic of his speeches. He felt 
 that here was a chance for invective and without 
 the slightest fear he called those closing sentences 
 of Webster's mere painted pictures, balderdash 
 and manufactured sentiment gotten up for the pur- 
 pose of home consumption. Benton was sincere in 
 this. In all this time he could not perceive that 
 Calhoun and his party had a deeper purpose, and 
 
96 THOMAS H. BE^sTON 
 
 to defeat the Foot Resolutiou he was willingly led 
 into things which he afterward regretted. Excerpts 
 from his remarks are worth quoting. They form a 
 strange auti-climax to Webster's peroration. He 
 said : 
 
 "Among the novelties of this debate, is that 
 part of the speech of the Senator from Massachu- 
 setts which dwells with such elaboration of declam- 
 ation and ornament, upon the love and blessings 
 of union — the hatred and horror of disunion. It 
 was a part of the senator's speech which brought 
 into full play the favorite Ciceronian figure of am- 
 plification. It was up to the rule in that particular. 
 But, it seemed to me, that there was another rule, 
 and a higher, and a precedent one, which it vio- 
 lated. It was the rule of projjriety ; that rule 
 which requires the fitness of things to be consid- 
 ered ; which requires the time, the place, the sub- 
 ject, and the audience, to be considered ; and con- 
 demns the delivery of the argument, and all its 
 flowers, if it fails in congruence to these particulars. 
 I thought the essay upon union and disunion had 
 so failed. It came to us when we were not pre- 
 pared for it ; when there was nothing in the Senate 
 nor in the country to grace its introduction ; noth- 
 ing to give, or to receive, effect to, or from, the 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 97 
 
 impassioned scene that we witnessed. It may be, 
 it was the prophetic cry of the distracted daughter 
 of Priam, breaking into the council, and alarm- 
 ing its tranquil members with vaticinations of the 
 fall of Troy : but to me, it all sounded like the sud- 
 den proclamation for an earthquake, when the sun, 
 the earth, the air, announced no such prodigy ; 
 when all the elements of nature were at rest, and 
 sweet repose pervaded the world. There was a 
 time, and you, and I, and all of us, did see it, sir, 
 when such a speech would have found, in its de- 
 livery, every attribute of a just and rigorous pro- 
 priety ! It was at a time, when the five-striped 
 banner was waving over the land of the North ! 
 when the Hartford Convention was in session ! 
 when the language in the capitol was, ' Peaceably, 
 if we can ; forcibly, if we must ! ' when the cry, out 
 of doors, was, ' The Potomac the boundary ; the 
 negro states by themselves ! The Alleghanies the 
 boundary ; the western savages by themselves ! 
 The Mississippi the boundary, let Missouri be gov- 
 erned by a prefect, or given up as a haunt for wild 
 beasts ! ' That time was the fit occasion for this 
 speech ; and if it had been delivered then, either 
 in the hall of the House of Representatives, or in 
 the den of the Hartford Convention, or in the high- 
 
98 THO^IAS H. BENTON 
 
 way among the bearers and followers of the five- 
 striped banner, what efl'ects must it not have pro- 
 duced ! What terror and consternation among the 
 plotters of disunion ! But, here, in this lojal and 
 quiet assemblage, in this season of general tran- 
 quillity and universal allegiance, the whole per- 
 formance has lost its effect for want of affinity, 
 connection, or relation, to any subject depending, or 
 sentiment expressed, in the Senate ; for want of 
 any application, or reference, to any event impend- 
 ing in the country." 
 
 I It is needless to say that Benton often regretted 
 this speech. In vain did some of his friends tell 
 him that not only was he mistaken about the nature 
 of the existing controversy, but that nullification 
 mas to be brought forward as a live issue and the 
 [President attacked because of alleged usurpations 
 of ofl&ce. Benton was hard-heiided and optimistic. 
 He thought Calhoun was actuated simply by a lit- 
 tle excess of zeal so that he might curb the New 
 Englanders. On the whole when the debate was 
 \over, and the Foot Resolution had been buried, 
 Benton was congratulating himself that affairs had 
 turned in his favor, and was still unconscious that 
 Jackson was really the object of the objurgations of 
 the senatorial clique. Indeed, it was not until 
 
JACKSON'S RIGHT AEM 99 
 
 April when the customary dinner in honor of Jef- 
 ferson's birthday was given that he learned the 
 truth. 
 
 That dinner had been planned long in advance. 
 Calhoun had determined to drive Jackson into a cor- 
 ner. The latter was to give a toast, and while he was 
 hardly expected to say anything radical, he was to lis- 
 ten to other toasts by so many imj)ortant men setting 
 forth the Democratic doctrine, that he would feel 
 overpowered by the authorities ranged against 
 him. In fact, this backwoodsman, having served 
 his purpose, was to be tossed aside, and the real 
 gentry and statesmen of the South were once more 
 to assume control. 
 
 Benton went to this dinner in perfect guileless- 
 ness. He arrived early and was surprised to find 
 that he had come to a caucus rather than to a feast. 
 When some of the invited guests learned of the 
 plan they left in high dudgeon. Most of them, 
 however, were privy to the scheme, but were com- 
 pletely disconcerted at the last moment when the 
 President was asked for a toast and offered the 
 memorable words : 
 
 ' ' Our federal union — it must and shall be pre- 
 served." 
 
 This, as has been frequently said, was like the 
 
 LwfC. 
 
100 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 ghost of Bauquo appearing at Macbeth' s banquet. 
 It disconcerted all and especially Calhoun who 
 tried to evade the sentiment by proj)osing a toast 
 in which the rights of the states were made para- 
 / mount. The scales had now fallen from Benton's 
 eyes, and for the first time he appreciated that there 
 was a serious movement on foot which had for its 
 purpose the elevation of the cotton-planters to 
 power. He had been loath to believe their purpose, 
 but when the fact was too plain to ignore, he took 
 up the fight in behalf of Jackson and the Union. 
 
 Jackson had been suspicious from the first; in 
 fact he was by nature as suspicious as Benton was 
 confiding and optimistic. In making up his cabi- 
 net Calhoun's friends had been given conspicuous 
 representation. It was evident that a rearrange- 
 ment must come, and Jackson only awaited the 
 time when it would best suit the political exigen- 
 ,cies of the occasion. 
 
 It so happened that another element was injected 
 into official life which made the problem easier of 
 solution, without bringing about party disaster. 
 Mrs. Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War, was 
 objectionable to the other women of the official 
 circle and was ostracized. Jackson tried to force 
 Mrs. Eaton's social recognition. Van Buren, Sec- 
 
JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 101 
 
 retary of State, as a widower also did his best to 
 effect this object. He made himself Mrs. Eaton's 
 escort at social ceremonies, and every friend of 
 Jackson of the male sex endeavored to pay her at- 
 tention, and if possible give her social position. 
 Their eiforts were entirely ineffectual. In the end 
 the cabinet must break up, and the three friends of 
 Calhoun were dismissed. Eaton and Van Buren 
 also left, the latter being made Minister to England. 
 The cabinet was completely reconstructed, Benton 
 refusing a seat in it. This experience had a marked 
 effect on Jackson. Throughout the remainder of 
 his two terms his cabinet ministers were as a rule 
 mere clerks, and were seldom admitted into the 
 close circle of his political friends. He had a 
 '' Kitchen Cabinet," to the members of which he 
 unburdened himself ; they with him arranged every 
 move on the political chess-board. Calhoun and 
 his party were deposed and denied further official 
 favors, but it was soon seen that this was not 
 enough. It was necessary for the administration 
 to take an aggressive attitude and go farther. 
 Calhoun and his friends believed themselves 
 strongly entrenched and had no idea that they could 
 be entirely displaced. A lesser man than Jackson 
 would have met the fate which was prepared for 
 
102 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 him at the table of his enemies, but the "Eagle 
 of Tennessee ' ' was not to be caught off his guard. 
 He knew little, it is true, of the wiles of politics 
 and had figured little in national affairs ; but he 
 had a profound knowledge of human nature, was a 
 born warrior and took up the gage so promptly 
 that it almost took away the breath of his enemies. 
 This was his manner of doing it. The press of 
 the day was in many respects feeble compared with 
 that of the present time. The newspapers were few 
 and the news service was weak in comparison with 
 modern standards, but they had an influence not 
 less important than now. The fact that there were 
 so few journals made the power of each more com- 
 manding than in later years. In those dajs the 
 administration newspaper at the capital had a 
 strong position because it was acquainted with the 
 inner secrets and could give the key-note to cam- 
 paigns in advance. In addition the public printing 
 was valuable enough to make the owner almost 
 a fortune in a single term. At this time the Tele- 
 graph was the official organ in Washington, and its 
 editor had joined forces with Calhoun in what w^as 
 supposed to be a coalition that would completely 
 submerge the Jacksonians. The plan was long 
 kept a secret, and many newspapers throughout the 
 
jackso:n"'s eight aem 103 
 
 country had been pledged to join the combination. 
 Duff Green, editor of the Telegraph, revealed the 
 scheme in an effort to secure the adherence of one 
 of Jackson's friends, then in Washington, who was 
 going to Kentucky to conduct a newspaper in favor 
 of the Calhoun forces. The latter not only refused 
 but brought the plot to the attention of Jackson 
 who made up his mind instantly that he would 
 have a newspaper of his own. 
 
 In looking around for an editor he was recom- 
 mended to secure Francis P. Blair, an occasional 
 contributor to the Argus, of Frankfort, Kentucky, 
 who wielded a pen with much vigor and logical 
 force. Mr. Blair was a man of wealth and position 
 in Kentucky, who had no desire to leave his planta- 
 tion and his snug official berth ; but seeing that 
 Jackson needed friends and that the fight was to be 
 vigorous, he abandoned his home, moved to Wash- 
 ington and established the Glohe as an administra- 
 tion organ, which soon came to be the most influ- 
 ential newspaper the country had ever known. He 
 found in Benton a warm coadjutor. The latter 
 wrote for him frequently and gave him much infor- 
 mation as to the progress of events at the capital. 
 Blair became a member of the Kitchen Cabinet, 
 was one of the notable men of his day, and con- 
 
104 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 tinued to wield an influence in politics for many 
 years. 
 
 When the Senate met in the winter of 1831-2 
 the rupture between Calhoun and Jackson became 
 complete, their relations being embittered by the 
 publication of documents on both sides. Jackson 
 was vehement enough when there was no par- 
 ticular occasion for it, but when aroused he be- 
 came a perfect demon. If it had not been for 
 the coalition which Calhoun formed against him; if 
 the theory of nullification had not been pushed 
 so hard ; if the President had been allowed to 
 conduct his administration in peace and to have 
 retired gracefully and with honor, much of our 
 history would now read differently. Because 
 Calhoun despised Jackson and ignored him as 
 a man of no political strength, the old warrior 
 made up his mind that he would not only be a 
 candidate for re-election but would put Calhoun out 
 of action altogether if he could. Just how much 
 Jackson was moved by personal considerations, and 
 how much by those of patriotism will never be 
 known, and it is not essential for the purposes of 
 this narrative — only the results are of importance 
 and they are striking in the extreme. 
 
 At this session of the Senate, the first coalition be- 
 
JACKSOX'S EIGHT AEM 105 
 
 tween Clay, Webster aud Calhoun was made for offen- 
 sive and defensive purposes. Each of these men was 
 ambitious for the presidency ; each feared the others, 
 and there was not only no love lost between the 
 members of the triumvirate, but there were years 
 when they were scarcely on speaking terms with 
 one another. It suited their purposes, however, to 
 combine against Jackson, being content when he was 
 slain to fight among themselves for the spoils — a 
 situation which never came to pass, for all of them 
 were killed politically in one way or another by 
 the man whom they despised, aided by Thomas Hy^ 
 Benton. 
 
 Benton's leadership became masterful in the war \ 
 that was made on the confirmation of Van Buren as J 
 Minister to Great Britain. / 
 
 Up to this time there had been little trouble 
 about the confirmation of ministers when the posi- 
 tions were established by law. There had been 
 some wrangling over the question of sending any 
 ministers at all to certain posts, some undignified 
 behavior in making up the mission to Ghent, but 
 nothing further. Van Buren had gone to London 
 and was serenely enjoying his position, little sup- 
 posing that war was being made upon him at home. 
 Benton was amazed at the coalition and took up 
 
10() THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 the fight with all possible energy. The objections 
 to Van Buren were childish, and only audacious 
 spleen could account for their recognition among 
 any body of liberal-minded men. It was consid- 
 ered necessary, however, to strike at Jackson 
 through Van Buren, and almost two months 
 were consumed in giving specious reasons for his 
 rejection. Indeed some of the friends of the trium- 
 virate who had little personal interest in the matter, 
 became alarmed and frequently expressed their 
 doubts as to the value of the policy. Calhoun was 
 firm and said of the expected rejection of Van 
 Buren : "It will kill him, kill him dead. He will 
 never kick, never kick." 
 
 Unable to prevent rejection Benton succeeded in 
 putting every man possible on record. In the long 
 list of speakers against the minister are to be found 
 tlie names of nearly all the brilliant men of the 
 Senate. Webster, Clay, Ewing, Clayton, Freling- 
 huysen, Poindexter, and Hayne were the leaders, 
 but there were others. Though the majority was 
 ample, there were several occasions when just 
 enough of the coalition members left the Senate 
 chamber to give Calhoun a chance for the casting 
 vote on some proposition connected with the mat- 
 ter, which he did in order to inform Jackson that 
 
JACKSON'S RIGHT ARM 107 
 
 lie was his arch-enemy. Immediately after the 
 final vote was taken Benton remarked to Moore, of 
 Alabama, his next neighbor : 
 
 "You have broken a minister and elected a vice- 
 president." 
 
 When the situation was explained to hii^i Moore 
 exclaimed : ' ' Why didn' t you tell me that before I 
 voted and I would have voted the other way." ^ 
 
 Benton's words proved more than true, for Van 
 Buren became president also. Such was the rec- 
 ompense that came from giving loyal service to V 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 When rejection was certain Benton wrote a long 
 letter to Van Buren in which it was suggested that 
 he become the Jacksonian candidate for the vice- 
 presidency, and this seems to be the first mention ^^ 
 of the idea. The letter is full of Bentonian warmth,/ / 
 and these few sentences are worthy of reproducl/ 
 tion : * / 
 
 " You doubtless know what is best for yom-self, 
 and it does not become me to make suggestions ; but 
 for myself, when I find myself on the bridge of 
 Lodi, I neither stop to parley, nor turn back to 
 start again. Forward, is the word. Some say, 
 make you governor of New York : I say, you 
 ^Benton's "View." 
 
108 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 have been governor before ; that is turning back. 
 Some say, come to the Senate in jjlace of some of 
 your friends ; I say, that of itself will be only 
 parleying with the enemy while on the middle of 
 the biidge, and receiving their fire. The vice- 
 presidency is the only thing, and if a place in the 
 Senate can be coupled with the trial for that, then 
 a place in the Senate might be desirable. The 
 Baltimore Convention will meet in the month of 
 May, and I presume it will be in the discretion of 
 your immediate friends in New York, and youi* 
 leading friends here, to have you nominated ; and 
 in all that affair I think you ought to be passive. 
 'For Vice-President,' on the Jackson ticket, will 
 identify you with him ; a few cardinal principles of 
 the old Democratic school might make you worth 
 contending for on your own account. The dynasty 
 of '98 [the Federalists] has the Bank of the United 
 States in its interests ; and the Bank of the United 
 States has drawn into its vortex, and wields at its 
 pleasure, the whole high tariff and Federal internal 
 improvement party. To set up for yourself, and to 
 raise an interest which can unite the scattered ele- 
 ments of a nation, you will have to take positions 
 which are visible, and represent principles which 
 are felt and understood ; you will have to separate 
 
JACKSON'S EIGHT AEM 109 
 
 yourself from the enemy by partition lines which 
 the people can see. The dynasty of '98, the 
 Bank of the United States, the high tariff party, 
 the Federal internal improvement party, are 
 against you. Now, if you are not against them, 
 the people, and myself, as one of the people, can 
 see nothing between you and them worth contending 
 for, in a national point of view. This is a very 
 plain letter, and if you don't like it, you will throw 
 it in the fire ; consider it as not having been writ- 
 ten. For myself, I mean to retire upon my profes- 
 sion, while I have mind and body to pursue it ; but 
 I wish to see the right principles prevail, and 
 friends instead of foes in power." 
 
 When Van Buren heard of his rejection he took it 
 calmly and came home to realize how true was the 
 statement of one of his British friends that it is 
 often good for a public man to be made the subject 
 of an outrage. The people as a rule are sensible 
 and quick to resent injustice. 
 
 Benton was disgusted with the whole affair and 
 though he had achieved the leadership of his 
 faction he had made up his mind to retire at the 
 end of his term and resume the practice of law. 
 This idea he was obliged to abandon because of 
 the urgency of public affairs, and he continued 
 
110 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 three more terms iu his seat, haviug many occa- 
 sions in his long career to see the truth of his para- 
 phavSe of the words of Madame Roland : 
 
 "Oh politics! how much bamboozling is prac- 
 ticed in thy game !" 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 
 
 The tariff, a mischievous question at so many- 
 periods in our national history, precipitated the 
 first great contest between the North and the South 
 concerning the fundamental nature of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 Henry Clay, the father of the protective tariflf 
 system, had succeeded in securing the passage of an 
 act in June, 1832, which its friends freely declared 
 was the most scientific ever devised. It was alleged 
 that the duties had been so skilfully adjusted that 
 the Northern manufacturer got protection only 
 where it was needed to meet foreign competition 
 and in the proper percentage, while the consumer 
 would get many things much cheaper. Even in 
 paying for protected goods it was argued that he 
 would to some extent take money out of one pocket 
 merely to put it in another through the increase of 
 wages and of general prosperity. 
 
 The manufacturers had not been entirely satisfied 
 with the tariff — they never are — but they had little 
 
112 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 reason to complain of this bill since its duties were 
 the highest that had ever been assessed and the pro- 
 tective feature the most prominent. 
 
 The Southern people on their side believed that 
 the exactions of the new measure were not only un- 
 reasonable but also unconstitutional. They were 
 the more opposed to protection because it seemed 
 to them that their market for cotton was disadvan- 
 tageously affected by the system. The planter 
 thought that he received less than he should for his 
 staple, while what he must buy was enhanced in 
 price through the tariff. 
 
 The real causes for grievance on the part of the 
 South were the impoverishment of the soil which 
 led to a smaller cotton crop ; the evil and waste of 
 slavery ; and the indolence of the people, induced 
 by such a system of service. 
 
 The soil of the Southern states, which by nature 
 was well adapted to the raising of cotton was 
 gradually becoming poorer. The fact that the 
 average yield per acre was declining had been 
 borne in on the planters in a way that troubled 
 them deeply. It was a time when chemistry had 
 liardly yet become a science ; when the knowl- 
 edge of the functions of nitrogen as a plant food 
 was very imperfect ; and when so little was 
 
THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 113 
 
 known of the manifestations of nature in repro- 
 ducing her kind that men could not take hold of 
 those simple principles which have since resulted 
 in more or less of a revolution in agriculture. It 
 was undeniable, however, that the crop was declin- 
 ing, or at least the net receipts of the plantations 
 were growing less, and a scapegoat must be found 
 to explain the result. Clay's tariff served this 
 purpose. 
 
 The statement made by the Whigs that the coun- 
 try had never been in a more prosperous condition 
 than in 1832 was correct. Cotton went out by the 
 shipload, and the South had the advantage of pro- 
 ducing a crop that could be turned immediately 
 into money. In every centre there were " factors " 
 who had, in this country and abroad, principals 
 ready to advance money on crops at usurious rates, 
 but the planter seldom considered this fact. He 
 knew that he had one of the great staples of the 
 world and that it was sure to bring him large re- 
 turns. 
 
 The Southerner was never of that practical turn 
 of mind characteristic of the New Englander who 
 had to watch and pinch and squeeze to make a 
 living, and all the time felt the necessity of accu- 
 mulating a surplus. He lived in x^rincely style, 
 
114 THOMAS H. BEATON 
 
 entertained regally, and was more apt to find in 
 political conditions than elsewhere the reason for 
 any decline in his income. 
 
 Ck)uld Yankee ingenuity, thrift, intelligence and 
 wisdom have been transplanted to the Southern 
 cotton-fields, there would have been wealth beyond 
 compare in a section where the people lived in a 
 style which in the large was destructive of the best 
 interests of economy. 
 
 We need only to read contemporaneous accounts 
 of life in the Carolinas and Georgia to see how 
 artificial was the civilization which prevailed 
 there.' On every estate there was an imposing 
 mansion, and visitors from the North or from Eu- 
 rope marveled at the fact that what were elsewhere 
 considered the necessities of life were ignored in 
 that section. The men lived according to their 
 standards in a comfortable style, kept a good table, 
 a fine stable, bet heavily on horses and cards, gave 
 notes without hesitation and paid them with much 
 grumbling. The Southern man was always opti- 
 mistic until he was personally pinched. He spent 
 with freedom the money he borrowed, and found 
 
 * Fanny Kemble, "Two Years on a Georgia Plantation" ; 
 Harriet Martineau, "Travels" ; De Tocqueville, "Democracy 
 in America," etc. 
 
THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 115 
 
 that the time of reckoning came much sooner than 
 he expected. This is a mild statement of the case 
 based on contemporaneous records which were 
 kept by the Southern people themselves. They en- 
 joyed the world and thought that the earth and the 
 fulness thereof was for them ; the worst of it was 
 that they had so hearty a contempt for people with 
 different ideals, and for those who were forced by 
 circumstances to follow a very different scheme of 
 life. 
 
 The Southern congressman as a rule was a lawyer 
 or a planter. His mind was stored with a priori 
 views of the Constitution, while he was devoted ab- 
 solutely to his ideas as to the practical conduct of 
 public affairs. That cotton occupied the largest 
 place in his esteem is not surprising, because it was 
 the chief industry of the section to which he be- 
 longed. The Northern man may have been a protec- 
 tionist or the reverse, may have been a slavery or 
 an anti-slavery man, but he had that immense ad- 
 vantage which comes from actual contact with all 
 sorts and conditions of people. It is not surprising 
 that the good-natured Southerner who lived on a 
 great plantation worked by slaves whom he ac- 
 corded tolerable comforts, came to look upon the 
 slavery system as economical and benevolent, — 
 
116 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 even holdiug it to be sauctioued by God and the 
 Constitution. He looked upon life according to 
 his environment as nearly all men do and he was 
 quick to perceive anything that touched upon his 
 own peculiar relation. It is only strange when he 
 complained because the New England or the Pennsyl- 
 vania manufacturers asked for some privilege, such 
 as the new tariff law, that he could not see he 
 already had an offset guaranteed him in the Con- 
 stitution. Now the Constitution had recognized 
 slavery as a fact and had given the slaveholder an 
 immense political predominance by specifying that 
 three-fifths of his slaves should be counted in 
 making up representation in Congress and in the 
 electoral college. As a matter of fact, the owner of 
 500 slaves in South Carolina cast votes representing 
 301 persons, while the employer of 500 men in the 
 North cast only his own vote, so that the Southerner 
 enjoyed a tremendous advantage. But his dispo- 
 sition was such that he considered this a right and 
 not a privilege. 
 
 We can see clearly in these days that, even apart 
 from the institution of slavery, there was a great 
 fault in the whole Southern system. There was 
 lack of thrift, of economic perception, and a tend- 
 ency to spend freely in advance rather than to 
 
THE WAE ON^ NULLIFICATION 117 
 
 accumulate and invest. The actual result was that 
 those esteemed rich were often poor, and nearly all 
 of the cotton planting leaders felt that they had a 
 grievance. 
 
 In no state were the South' s animosities on the 
 tariff question aroused so deeply as in South 
 Carolina. Calhoun, supported by Hayne, took up 
 the cause of his state, and the South generally, with 
 eagerness. 
 
 Much of Calhoun's opposition to the new tariff is 
 often ascribed to his political reverses. The fact 
 is that he was a bitterly disappointed man. When 
 Congress met in December, 1832, the gloom of 
 despair had settled over him and his school of cot- 
 ton statesmen, in common with most of Jackson's 
 enemies. Their defeat at the presidential election 
 in November had been crushing. There were many 
 explanations but none of them was satisfactory to 
 the disappointed leaders. The truth is they had been 
 outgeneraled by Jackson and Benton and they had 
 appealed to the country on a platform that had been 
 rejected. The South Carolina leader was not only 
 eliminated as a candidate for the presidency, but 
 was fast becoming politically marooned, and that he 
 could never stand. He therefore resigned the vice- 
 presidency, and was sent to occupy a seat in the 
 
118 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 Senate where he could take a more active part in 
 afi'airs. 
 
 Hayne, on the floor of the Senate, had done 
 his best to show how the cotton planters would not 
 quietly accede to a protective tariff, but in vain. 
 The time for action seemed to have come, and Cal- 
 houn was prepared to test his academic theory of 
 nullification to the last extremity. 
 
 A convention of the state of South Carolina was 
 called (following the process by which states are 
 admitted to the Union), and it was solemnly resolved 
 not only that the Tariff of 1832 was null and void, but 
 also that the law of 1828, which had been submitted 
 to for four years, was equally null. The governor 
 was called upon, and the legislature authorized 
 him to take such forcible measures as would carry 
 out these resolutions and refuse payment of taxes to 
 the Federal government after February 1st. 
 
 This was nullification. Theoretically it meant 
 no forcible resistance, but considering the author- 
 ization, it was reasonable to suppose that force 
 would be used if necessary. There was something 
 sublime in the audacity of this step on the part of 
 one of the sisterhood of states. To be sure it had no 
 effect that can be likened to that which such action 
 would produce to-day after a civil war has deter- 
 
THE WAE OX NULLIFICATION 119 
 
 mined the relations of nation and states, but even 
 then it was viewed with alarm by the other mem- 
 bers of the Union. It is true that almost every 
 state had many times, through its leaders, threat- 
 ened disunion, unless its own view as to the policy 
 to be pursued in some particular crisis were ac- 
 cepted; so it is hard to say that up to this date any 
 one section had been more to blame in this matter 
 than another. 
 
 It was the first time, however, that resistance 
 was openly asserted, and that it must be forcible, if 
 not ridiculous, was apparent on all sides. There 
 was a spirit of bravado and something of insolence 
 and ignorance in throwing down the gage which 
 had immediate application in the prospective 
 refusal of the South Carolinians to pay the duties 
 levied under the existing tariff law. If this were a 
 threat, it was promptly met ; if it were a menace, it 
 proved harmless. 
 
 Jackson was as fearless a man as ever lived, and 
 when his cause was just he was thrice armed. He 
 prepared for the emergency as became a soldier and 
 an executive, thus showing more discretion than 
 might have been expected of a son of thunder. He 
 collected a sufficient number of regiments at easy 
 striking distance, sent a war vessel to Charleston, and 
 
120 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 thither despatched General Scott, the hero of Luudy's 
 Lane, a Virginian and a patriot. Then he issued a 
 proclamation which told the people of the recreant 
 state exactly what they might expect. 
 
 It appears from contemjiorary history that Jack- 
 son wrote the original of this document with a 
 great steel pen, and that his Secretary of State, 
 Livingston, modified it sufficiently to meet the 
 diplomatic needs of the occasion. Even as toned 
 down it was a vigorous paper. To Congress Jack- 
 son reported the matter in a dignified way, and pro- 
 ceeded to prepare for eventualities. Just what 
 would have taken place had South Carolina stood 
 her ground can never be known. It was at this 
 juncture that Jackson is reported to have sent word 
 to Calhoun that if he tried to execute any such 
 scheme as he proposed he would hang him higher 
 than Haman, and there is little reason to doubt that 
 he would have gone to such a length if occasion had 
 seemed to require it. He had hanged British sub- 
 jects on much slighter provocation. As a matter 
 of fact South Carolina had indulged in a " bluff" 
 and her leaders decided that they would take no 
 steps in the matter until the first of February, thus 
 offering opportunity for a compromise." 
 ' Sumner, " Life of Jackson. 
 
 »> 
 
THE WAE ON mJLLIFICATION 121 
 
 It is a common impression that on this occasion 
 there was no sort of compromise and that South 
 Carolina surrendered under duress in the most hu- 
 miliating manner. Well would it be if such a fact 
 could be recorded. The situation was a vexatious 
 one. Jackson, though he was prepared for it, did not 
 wish a conflict any more than the mildest man in 
 the country. In his annual message to Congress he 
 took no backward step in his determination to sup- 
 port the laws, but referred to the tariff as a matter 
 which had occasioned the controversy. There is no 
 doubt he felt that in some respects the measure he 
 had so recently signed contained matters concern- 
 ing which there was just ground of complaint. 
 
 When Clay arrived upon the scene he was not 
 the jaunty, defiant leader of six months before. 
 He had lost his battle for the presidency. Though 
 he never swerved in his love for the Union he did 
 not wish the nation to try the experiment of civil 
 war unless it was necessary and was ready to hedge 
 on the tariff question. 
 
 Intense was the indignation of the manufacturers 
 all over the country when they learned that Clay 
 seemed disposed to falter on this subject. The 
 recent law was in general beneficial to them, and 
 already many had prepared to take advantage of its 
 
122 THOMAS H. BP:XTOX 
 
 provisions by enlarging their manufactories. That 
 their late champion should now show signs of weak- 
 ness was to them maddening and to many beyond 
 belief. It was an inherent weakness of Clay that in 
 times of stress he lacked that clear vision which 
 was essential to his own good. It is true he might 
 have thought that the country had declared against 
 him and that he owed little to those who had re- 
 fused to support him, or even to the manufacturers 
 themselves who had supported him in vain. This 
 however does not seem to have been a very control- 
 ling motive in his action. What he desired was 
 peace and he was willing to have it come on almost 
 any terms, certainly on terms which did him no credit 
 as a political economist or as a constitutional lawyer. 
 One of two courses was open : to do nothing and let 
 the President deal with the matter in his own way, 
 or else effect some sort of a legislative compromise 
 which would preserve the national honor and at the 
 same time remove the cause of the aggravation. The 
 latter alternative was adopted after many confer- 
 ences in which Benton had an active part. He did 
 not appear as a leader in any of the legislation 
 which followed, that place belonging naturally to the 
 tariff men who directly or indirectly had been re- 
 sponsible for the outbreak. Any compromise satis- 
 
THE WAE O^ NULLIFICATION 123 
 
 factory to them was likely to meet with no opposi- 
 tion anywhere. 
 
 Clay drafted the bill. His proposal was gradu- 
 ally to reduce the duties for eight years, then cut 
 them down sharply in two years until they reached 
 a maximum of twenty per cent., a rate which was to 
 be maintained thereafter. Perpetually from that 
 time forward the tariff was to be for revenue only. 
 To the manufacturers this proposal was about as 
 comforting and sensible as cutting off the tail of a 
 dog an inch at a time to save him pain. 
 
 The passage of the measure was effected in an un- 
 usual way. As a revenue bill it must originate in 
 the House, where it had long been debated with 
 little progress. Clay presented a copy of it to 
 Calhoun who now found himself in a very pre- 
 carious and unhappy situation. He had threat- 
 ened that his state would nullify the acts of the 
 Federal government unless it changed its policy. 
 Jackson had sternly rejected all suggestions of com- 
 promise on the subject of nullification, announcing 
 that the laws were to be maintained at whatever 
 cost and the talk of arresting Calhoun for high 
 treason, and the threat of hanging him became 
 louder and louder. There was no doubt that Cal- 
 houn would have been arrested at the first overt act, 
 
124 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 and he had no desii-e to become a political martyr ; 
 while if he did not proceed in the course he had 
 laid down for himself and his state, he must make 
 a humiliating surrender. Clay at this time was not 
 on speaking terms with Calhoun and after an inter- 
 view which was rather painful, a plan was agreed 
 upon whereby it was to pass. After being worked 
 over in secret in this way, the compromise bill was 
 suddenly sent to the House. By a parliamentary 
 device it was substituted for the bill under discus- 
 sion and was at once passed without debate. This 
 was an extraordinary proceeding and met with the 
 disapproval of mauj'of the friends of the measure who 
 felt that so important a bill ought not to be dealt with 
 in any such subterranean manner. John Quincy 
 Adams voted against it because he was a pro- 
 tectionist and because he felt that no sop ought to 
 be thrown to South Carolina, so long as she main- 
 tained her rebellious attitude. In this position he 
 had many supporters, but the end of the session 
 was near and the majority were anxious for any 
 way of escape from a danger that was so men- 
 acing. 
 
 In the Senate the measure had already been dis- 
 cussed in the form of a resolution which Clay had 
 offered, and now that the bill itself had arrived the 
 
THE WAR ON NULLIFICATION 125 
 
 debate raged warmly. Webster was particularly 
 displeased, and because it was foreseen that such 
 would be his attitude, Clay and Calhoun had not 
 taken him into their counsels. Calhoun, having 
 begun his career as a protectionist, was no^7 work- 
 ing for a reduction of duties, declaring that the 
 policy was unconstitutional. The Tariff of 1816 
 for which he had voted was avowedly protection- 
 ist in principle, and in endeavoring to revert to 
 that measure as a purely revenue bill he was in- 
 consistent. If a forty per cent, tariff is an out- 
 rage calling for revolution, and a twenty per cent, 
 tariff is perfectly legitimate, there must be a 
 dividing line between the two somewhere, and it 
 would be interesting to know where Calhoun drew 
 it and on what theory he did so. As a matter of 
 fact his claim that protection was unconstitutional 
 was under the circumstances absurd. The cause of 
 distress was deeper than the tariff and, as was 
 pointed out in the debate, would endure long after 
 that question was disposed of. 
 
 Benton's position in this matter was logical and 
 ought never to be lost sight of. He believed that 
 the Union was a permanent institution f that the 
 nation had the power within itself to protect itself, 
 and must do so at any cost. He had no particular 
 
126 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 love for a high tariff at this time, and it is evident 
 from what he said and wrote that he had begun to 
 lose faith in the doctrine of protection. Without 
 absolutely repudiating his views he had modified 
 them somewhat as the following extract from one of 
 his speeches indicates : 
 
 ' ' The fine effects of the high tariff upon the pros- 
 perity of the West have been celebrated on this 
 floor : with how much reason, let facts respond, and 
 the people judge ! I do not think we are indebted 
 to the high tariff for our fertile lands and our navi- 
 gable rivers ; and I am certain we are indebted to 
 these blessings for the prosperity we enjoy." 
 
 While Benton was therefore personally glad 
 enough to have the duties reduced, he would not 
 countenance a measure which was nothing more 
 or less than a surrender of sovereignty to the 
 threats of a single state and, as a matter of fact, 
 to a few persons in that state. He denied that 
 there was any reason for South Carolina's com- 
 plaint. It seemed monstrous that her leaders should 
 consider that the South had been ill-treated by the 
 North when, with two exceptions, every president 
 had been chosen from the South, and the two ex- 
 ceptions were New England men, who alone had 
 been refused re-election. The Missouii Compro- 
 
THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 127 
 
 mise, which Calhoun was now beginning to attack 
 and repent of, was really a Southern measure, and 
 had been endorsed by him and his political friends. 
 The failure to secure Texas from Spain when it 
 was possible to do so, was the fault of no man more 
 than Calhoun, who was in the cabinet at the time, 
 and had agreed with Monroe that it would be better 
 to avoid the appearance of a desire to extend the 
 domain of slavery. 
 
 Benton was a practical man and had little sym- 
 pathy with Calhoun or his theories. If there was 
 any real or just cause of complaint he was in favor 
 of having it threshed out and decided man to man 
 by a majority ; while Calhoun openly said that a 
 majority was despotic, and that it often became 
 necessary for a minority to nullify its actions. 
 What sort of a government could be maintained on 
 such a basis perhaps Calhoun imagined better than 
 we can, although we shall see that nearly twenty 
 years later he actually suggested some such system ' 
 for the United States. 
 
 Benton continued to assert that there was nothing 
 to compromise, that the proposed measure was a 
 surrender and not a compromise, and that the 
 nation would suffer in dignity by its course. In 
 this position he had the support of Webster. 
 
128 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 Whatever Webster's faults he was always a na- 
 tional man, and apart from his desire to have the 
 protective principle retained he could not support 
 a bill which was in effect a quasi -endorsement of 
 the doctrine of nullification. He was in truth a 
 supporter of Jackson on the general subject of pre- 
 serving the union, and very glad was the old war 
 horse to have such a champion. 
 
 The President's position in this time of legisla- 
 tive stress seems to have been quiescent. He 
 waited for the compromise to pass but exhibited 
 little visible interest in the debates. 
 
 The rearrangement of votes in the course of 
 a year illustrates the changing character of our 
 politics and shows on how slight a basis the alleged 
 principles of the times were established. If the 
 Tariff of 1832 were essential and desirable in 
 every way in June, it is hard to see why it should 
 be destroyed both as to details and to principle 
 in the following February. Moreover the curious 
 situation resulted that many of those who voted for 
 the new bill (including Clay who was its foremost 
 champion), insisted that it was still strongly pro- 
 tectionist while others supported it because it looked 
 toward free trade. In fact the vote in both houses 
 on this measure was made up very differently from 
 
THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 129 
 
 that of the previous summer aud caused Benton 
 and others to wonder where was the profound 
 principle in tariff-making which had been so sol- 
 emnly endorsed and was now so suddenly aban- 
 doned. 
 
 When the manufacturers found that there was no 
 recourse but to accept the biU, they did so with the 
 best possible grace, but succeeded in securing many 
 administrative amendments which helped them 
 materially. They were determined, however, that 
 there should at least be an endorsement of the 
 doctrine of protection. There were those who 
 would have preferred a fight to the end then and 
 there, to determine whether a protective tariff was 
 constitutional or not ; but as this was not to be the 
 policy, they insisted that Calhoun and the rest of 
 the nullifiers should not only vote for the bill as a 
 whole, but for those administrative details which 
 were particularly nauseous to them. Indeed, partly 
 as a protective measure and partly for the purpose 
 of compelling the nullifiers to declare their prin- 
 ciples, the duty on one kind of woolen cloth was 
 raised very considerably to sixty per cent., and this 
 change they must endorse. There was much method 
 in this course, for if the nullifiers voted for the bill 
 they could never say that it was unconstitutional 
 
130 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 without accusing themselves of sacrificing principle 
 to policy, which was exactly what they were trying 
 to make the people believe they would never do. 
 Benton has left a careful record of the transaction. 
 Clayton, of Delaware, took in hand this part of 
 the program — the humiliation of Calhoun — since 
 Clay was felt to be in a delicate position on the 
 subject. The session had only two more days of 
 life when the ultimatum was delivered to the nul- 
 lifiers, and it brought them to the verge of despair. 
 It was treatment which they had not expected. It 
 would take from them the claim to victory which 
 they had hoped to set up, and few were disposed to 
 vote for the bill, though wishing it to pass. Cal- 
 houn tried in vain to have himself excepted from 
 such galling terms, but Clayton was inexorable. 
 He spent one entire night in debating whether 
 he should accede to the demand, finally concluding 
 to do so for the very good reason that if he did not 
 he must be responsible for civil war, and at that 
 time there were few states disposed to follow the 
 leadership of South Carolina. He could not igno- 
 miniously surrender, so he agreed to vote but 
 sought to salve his conscience and explain his 
 position to the public, especially to his constituents, 
 by putting on record the reasons for his action. 
 

 THE WAK ON NULLIFICATION 131 
 
 This movement was speedily cheeked ; at the last 
 he gave his unqualified assent to the bill and the 
 crisis was passed. 
 
 It is well to consider for a moment what would 
 have happened had Benton been given his way at 
 this point in the nation's history, and the whole 
 difference could have been brought to its final issue. 
 Benton was now aware that there was a spirit of dis- 
 union in the South. He saw clearly that slavery 1/ 
 was at the bottom of it, and it made him hate that 
 institution more than ever, though he remained a 
 slaveholder all his days. His position for a quarter 
 of a century was that there was actually no danger 
 to the slave interest from the North, that all the talk 
 about the need for compromises was ridiculous ; and 
 he repeatedly challenged the radicals of the South 
 to show where there had been a single invasion of 
 their rights. To such demands he could get no 
 categorical answer. Every time Calhoun and others 
 discussed the subject it seemed necessary for them 
 to go back to the beginnings of history and 
 trace the whole principle of government to the 
 present time, when the main point was usually be- 
 fogged or absolutely lost in the mazes of intricate 
 argument which these orators loved to employ on 
 all occasions. By the time they reached the Eeso- 
 
132 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 lutions of 1798 most of their hearers were tired 
 and few even read their speeches wheu printed. 
 It was becoming a fixed principle of belief in the 
 minds of a growing number of senators, that unless 
 the Union were extended so that there should 
 always be exactly as many slave states as free states 
 the country must certainly go on the rocks. 
 
 In vain did Benton say that if it did go on the 
 rocks it was because the Southerners would delib- 
 erately send it there. They would have nothing 
 but their bond and that was the predominance of 
 the slave interest in the politics of the nation. 
 Well might it have been had Jackson and Benton 
 fought the question to a conclusion then and there. 
 If it had come to war '' Old Hickory " would have 
 been at the front; would have overrun South 
 Carolina before the statesmen of that section could 
 have completed one of their fine spun arguments. 
 Then the subject might have been settled for all 
 time. Almost twenty years later another Southern 
 Union-loving and warrior president, Zachary 
 Taylor, was in the White House, and he too wished 
 to try conclusions with the South, but once more 
 Clay and Calhoun had their way and left a heritage 
 of civil war to posterity. 
 
 With the Compromise went a land distribution 
 
THE WAE ON NULLIFICATION 133 
 
 bill which was to compensate the manufactur- 
 ing communities in some measure for the loss of pro- 
 tection. It was greedily accepted by nearly all the 
 states. This measure was a part of the bargain for 
 reducing the tariff but with his characteristic in- 
 dependence Jackson disposed of the bill by a 
 pocket veto. 
 
 At the same time this measure was grinding 
 through Congress, a "Force Bill" was being pre- 
 pared for the assistance of the President in collect- 
 ing the revenue and in better maintaining national 
 authority, so that his hands would be strengthened 
 for future wants, even if the new power should not 
 be necessary for immediate use. 
 
 In the debates on the "Force Bill," Benton 
 boldly declared that the Union was and must 
 be perpetual. At another time he said: "It \ 
 was to get rid of the evils of the old confederacy 
 that the present Union was formed ; and having 
 formed it, they who formed it undoubtedly under- | 
 took to make it perpetual, and for that purpose had / 
 recourse to all the sanctions held sacred among men I 
 — commands, prohibitions, oaths." 
 
 From this position he never deviated though in 
 the end it cost him his seat in the Senate which he 
 so long had graced. 
 
CHAPTEE Vn 
 
 THE NATIONAL BANK 
 
 The war on the Bank of the United States, com- 
 monly known as the National Bank, was a rallying 
 point in American politics for fifteen years. It 
 ended not only in the death and bankruptcy of 
 that institution, but in the failure to charter a sim- 
 ilar establishment. Originally the question was 
 one of general policy, but it soon became personal. 
 Jackson fought the bank with all the energy and 
 determination with which he had swept the Indians 
 from the face of Georgia. It was Benton who took 
 charge of the contest in Congress, and he was 
 obliged to bear the brunt of the opposition from 
 the most prominent men inside and outside of the 
 Senate who favored the institution. 
 
 Just what Jackson thought of the bank when he 
 reached Washington in 1829, is a little obscure, but 
 it would seem that he had no decided convictions one 
 way or the other. His animosity grew as he dis- 
 covered that his enemies were its friends. ' The bank 
 
 ' Carl Scburz, " Life of Henry Clay." 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 135 
 
 had seven years yet to run, and there was no necessity 
 for bringing up the question of recharter. Jack- 
 son referred to it in his first annual message in a 
 rather equivocal way, although indicating his op- 
 position on the ground of its unconstitutionality, 
 and the fact that it had failed to establish a uni- 
 form and sound currency. The Supreme Court of 
 the United States had already decided that a fed- 
 eral bank was constitutional, but Jackson always 
 claimed that he had sworn to obey the Constitution 
 as he understood it and not as others interpreted it 
 for him. 
 
 The bank men were disturbed over Jackson's po- 
 sition, especially as he intimated that if a bank 
 were necessary at all it ought to be a strictly federal 
 one and not a private institution. Benton was not \ 
 consulted by Jackson on this point, but he was dis- 
 posed to go much further than the President. He 
 did not want any bank; favored gold and silver 
 as money, and paper only as state banks could fur- 
 nish it in desired quantities and when based on 
 specie, — in short the condition that exists to-day. / 
 The pro -bank men were quite willing to wait until 
 after the elections of 1832, hoping first that Jackson 
 would not be a candidate, or, if he were, that he 
 would be defeated. Benton foresaw that if there 
 
136 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 were any delay, the question would drop out of 
 politics for the time being and that before the pub- 
 lic mind had been educated up to his aIcw, the re- 
 charter would be effected. 
 
 In February, 1831, he concluded to force the 
 contest. He introduced a resolution to the effect 
 that it was not expedient to recharter the bank, 
 j and on this subject delivered a set speech in which 
 / his whole position in finance was set forth. He 
 ' could not argue against the bank without offering 
 a substitute, and he boldly proclaimed that gold 
 was needed and not paper ; that plenty of gold was 
 being mined in the world, that there was much in 
 this country and, what was of more importance, 
 that our constantly increasing balance of trade 
 \ would bring us all the precious metals we needed 
 1 for currency. This speech is more convincing to-day 
 1 than when it was delivered. The whole proposition 
 Iwas then so startling to most persons that they could 
 pot accept it. They laid stress on the fact that the 
 country had been in great trouble after the first 
 bank was not rechartered and that the second was es- 
 tablished as a necessity. Benton's argument was 
 largely on the general policy and was not much de- 
 voted to actual existing conditions or the conduct 
 of the bank itself, though he did declare that it 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 137 
 
 had failed of its purposes. His general position 
 may be summed up in the following extract from 
 his speech : 
 
 ^'I am willing to see the charter expire, without 
 providing any substitute for the present bank. I 
 am willing to see the currency of the federal gov- 
 ernment left to the hard money mentioned and in- 
 tended in the Constitution ; I am willing to have a 
 hard money government, as that of France has been 
 since the time of assignats and mandats. Every 
 species of paper might be left to the State authori- 
 ties, unrecognized by the federal government, and 
 only touched by it for its own convenience when 
 equivalent to gold and silver. Such a currency 
 filled France with the precious metals, when Eng- 
 land, with her overgrown bank, was a prey to all 
 the evils of unconvertible paper. It furnished 
 money enough for the imperial government when 
 the population of the empire was three times more 
 numerous, and the expense of government twelve 
 times greater, than the population and expenses of 
 the United States, and, when France possessed no 
 mines of gold or silver, and was destitute of the ex- 
 ports which command the specie of other countries. 
 The United States possess gold mines, now yielding 
 half a million per annum, with every prospect of 
 
138 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 equaling those of Peru. But this is not the best 
 dependence. We have what is superior to mines, 
 namely, the exports which command the money of 
 the world ; that is to say, the food which sustains 
 life, and the raw materials which sustain manufac- 
 tures. Gold and silver is the best currency for a 
 republic ; it suits the men of middle property and 
 the working people best ; and if I was going to es- 
 tablish a working man's party, it should be on the 
 basis of hard money : — a hard money party, against 
 a paper party," 
 
 Immediately after Benton closed this speech 
 Webster called for a vote and it was taken with the 
 result that there were twenty senators against the 
 bank and only twenty-three in its favor. Not a 
 speech had been made for it and indeed there was no 
 man in the Senate who was able to make an adequate 
 reply to Benton. When Webster saw the coming 
 storm, he wrote to Clay saying that he was needed 
 in the Senate, and urging him tx) accept election. 
 He arrived that fall ready to take up the cudgels 
 against Benton. Claj' seems never to have had a j ust 
 estimate of Benton's powers as a financier, though 
 he crossed swords with him many times in debate. 
 Clay had a wonderful imagination and could make 
 figui'es and statistics and dry-as-dust details most 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 139 
 
 entertaining to his audience. Benton had no such 
 gifts, but he could prepare a logical argument and 
 one that could not well be overthrown. 
 
 He took up the task manfully and it may be said\ 
 that he is responsible for the eventual result. Jack- \ 
 son could not well have vetoed the measure had he I 
 not felt that Benton was able to support him, — that / 
 Benton had so enlightened the people on finance/ 
 they would not be alarmed over the prospect of see^ 
 ing the bank disappear. 
 
 Early in 1832 the bank sent a memorial to Con- 
 gress asking for recharter. It had been delayed for 
 some time because there were a few Democrats, 
 close friends of Jackson, who did not like to quarrel 
 with him, and yet favored the institution. It there- 
 fore took a good deal of caucusing to bring them 
 together. The memorial was received by both 
 Houses at the same time, and the preliminary votes 
 as to the committees to which it should be referred 
 showed in each case a good majority for recharter. 
 Benton was able to hold his own against Clay or 
 any one else in the Senate, but upon him was im- 
 posed the added duty of conducting the contest in 
 the House. He chose a new member, Clayton of 
 Georgia, to whom he supplied ammunition and in 
 this way carried on a double war when it would 
 
UO THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 have exhausted an ordinary man to look after the 
 matter in one house.' Clayton delivered a strong 
 speech from data furnished him by Benton in which 
 twenty-two counts were made against the bank, 
 as to its insufficiency and undesirability in general, 
 as well as to its specific misdeeds. In fact he 
 asserted that it had violated its charter in many 
 ways and was abusing its privileges, robbing the 
 people and defrauding the government, Mhile he 
 insinuated also that it was not in a sound con- 
 dition. Clayton closed by asking for a committee 
 of investigation to go to Philadelphia and ex- 
 amine the books. This brought on rather pre- 
 maturely a discussion of the whole subject in which 
 members on both sides were wrought up to great 
 excitement. As the bank had a majority in the 
 House it was first determined to vote down the 
 proposition to investigate, but pretty soon it was 
 seen that this would be bad policy, since it might 
 indicate that there was something to hide. The 
 an ti -bank people said it was strange that an insti- 
 tution which had asked Congress for an extension 
 of privileges was unwilling to have its affairs in- 
 vestigated. McDuffie, who as chairman of the 
 Ways and Means Committee, was the majority 
 'Benton, "Thirty Years' View." 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 141 
 
 leader on the floor, saw this aud finally a committee 
 was agreed upon. Benton however was cheated of 
 the opportunity he desired. The Speaker, instead 
 of following the usual rule, making Clayton as mover 
 of the resolution the chairman, took another course. 
 He appointed a committee of seven members of 
 whom three were strong bank men, and three strong 
 anti-bank men, while the seventh was the good-na- 
 tured Johnson, of Kentucky, reputed slayer of 
 Tecumseh, who did nothing at all but sign the ma- 
 jority report. 
 
 There were three reports. The majority in their 
 report spoke strongly against the bank ; indicted it 
 for many violations of its charter ; accused it of being 
 onerous and burdensome to the people instead of the 
 blessing it professed to be ; asserted that by the 
 establishment of many branches, drafts were used 
 as currency, that excessive rates were charged for 
 money, and that it had shown great favoritism to 
 Congressmen and officials favorable to recharter 
 while toward others it had been usurious and 
 unaccommodating. The first minority report was 
 a general defense of the bank, while John Quincy 
 Adams submitted a report of his own which was 
 more judicial than either of the others. In this 
 paper he pointed out certain defects, suggested a 
 
142 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 number of remedies and favored recharter under 
 proper restrictions. 
 
 Benton maintained the war with great obstinacy 
 for five months. Seeing that the bill would pass 
 he used every possible means to effect delay and 
 attacked every paragraph, offering all sorts of 
 amendments which were voted down. The subject 
 was discussed daily, and Benton enjoyed attacking 
 "Webster and Clay for changing their positions in 
 the matter. When Clay was in the Senate in 1810 
 he had voted against the recharter of the first bank, 
 commonly called Hamilton's, and had made the 
 first important speech of his public career against 
 it. He had declared such an establishment uncon- 
 stitutional and it made him writhe as Benton re- 
 peated his arguments and approved them. In those 
 days political consistency was more of a virtue 
 than at present. Clay got out of the matter as best 
 he could by making a good many excuses, finally 
 admitting that he had been wrong in the first in- 
 stance. Benton then turned on Webster and quoted 
 that leader's speeches when the present bank was 
 chartered. Webster had opposed the measure and 
 made several very exhaustive speeches in which he 
 declared the bank unnecessary and likely to result 
 in great corruption and disturbance of business. 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 143 
 
 The Missourian compelled him to eat his words. 
 Benton himself was in no such position. He had 
 opposed the bank from the very first moment he 
 entered the Senate ; had sought in vain to compel it 
 to pay interest to the government on its deposits ; 
 and had tried to correct its policy in many ways 
 but with no success. 
 
 The arrogance of the bank's advocates was ex- 
 asperating to Benton and his followers. The men of 
 wealth, influence and social position felt that they 
 had affairs in their own hands. Moreover Nicholas 
 Biddle, president of the bank, was a man of many 
 abilities and possessed the fatal gift of literary 
 composition. He wrote letters when he should not 
 have done so and talked too frequently for one who 
 was a petitioner for favors. He and his friends 
 acted too much as if recharter was a right unde- 
 niable ; a sort of ownership of the country was 
 assumed which was offensive to all democrats, while 
 to Jackson it was maddening. 
 
 On the final vote the bank mustered twenty-eight 
 votes and the opposition twenty. In both ranks 
 there were men from every section of the country, so 
 that no territorial considerations affected the meas- 
 ure. In the House there was a majority of twenty- 
 two and the bill went to the President at almost the 
 
144 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 same time as the new tariff bill. Clay expected 
 that Jackson would sign both bills, or that if either 
 was vetoed it would be the tariff since the President 
 was not professedly a high protectionist. Jackson 
 did exactly the opposite. He signed the tariff bill, 
 thereby securing the vote of Pennsj^lvania, and 
 vetoed the recharter bill in a message which was a 
 campaign document quite as much as a state paper. 
 He denounced the monopoly and all its misdeeds in 
 vigorous language and asserted not only that the 
 bank was unconstitutional, but that it had also be- 
 come such a monster of iniquity that the safety of 
 the people required its destruction. WTiat was 
 gall and wormwood to Clay was the fact that Jack- 
 son followed seriatim Clay's speech against re- 
 charter of the first National Bank, using his argu- 
 ments and almost his language. 
 
 This opened the floodgates of oratory once more. 
 Up to this time the bank men had largely confined 
 their debates to matters affecting details and had 
 left to Benton most of the general argument. The 
 campaign now demanded some key-notes and they 
 were issued by Webster, Clay and others. Jackson 
 was denounced as a foe of the country, a wreaker 
 of destruction on the business interests and the 
 laboring men, and Webster even went so far as to 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 145 
 
 express a fear that the country was finally done for. 
 Benton must take up the cudgels for Jackson as 
 usual, though he had some support from others. 
 He replied to every statement of the opposition 
 with logic and with confidence in the future. In 
 the course of this debate he had an encounter with 
 Clay that nearly led to serious results. Clay was 
 bitterly disappointed over the outcome, as it was 
 the death knell to his hopes of the presidency. 
 Seizing upon Benton as the author of his misfor- 
 tunes he proceeded to berate him in a manner more 
 befitting the stump than the dignified forum of the 
 Senate. To this, however, Benton could make no 
 objection since he himself had been a conspicuous 
 offender in this respect in times past. Clay, who 
 could not accuse Benton of inconsistency in legis- 
 lation, made much of the fact that in his youth he 
 had fought Jackson and later had become his cham- 
 pion. He also asserted that in the campaign of 
 1824 Benton had said many things derogatory to 
 Jackson to the effect that the latter was little better 
 than a murderer, a cowardly braggart, and that dirks 
 and pistols would be constantly in evidence if he 
 were elected. This was at a time when Benton was 
 warmly supporting Clay's candidacy on the stump 
 in Missouri. 
 
146 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 Such action was short-sighted in Clay, for he 
 ought to have known Benton Avell enough by this 
 time to see that he would not run away from his 
 own career. Benton acknowledged the fact that 
 he and Jackson had quarreled in youth. He 
 said : 
 
 " It is true, sir, that I had an affray with General 
 Jackson, and that I did complain of his conduct. 
 We fought, sir, and I hope we fought like men. 
 When the explosion was over there remained no ill- 
 will on either side. I repeat, sir, there is no 
 'adjourned question of veracity' between me and 
 General Jackson standing over for settlement. If 
 there had been, a gulf would have separated us as 
 deep as hell." 
 
 Benton then denied he had ever said in Missouri 
 that, if Jackson were elected, members of Congress 
 would need to guard themselves with dirks and 
 pistols. This he declared was a calumny that had 
 been secretly circulated, and he attacked Clay bit- 
 terly for using it, intimating that as he had fathered 
 it he might as well take the consequences. 
 
 Things were now becoming warm. Clay also 
 denied that there was any adjourned question of 
 veracity between him and Jackson touching any 
 subject whatever, Siiying that the President had 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 147 
 
 attacked him aud had not made good bis case. 
 Taking up tlie dirk question once more, he asserted 
 that Benton had used the expression, and turning 
 on him asked defiantly : 
 
 " Can you look me in the face, sir, and say that 
 you never used that language outside of Missouri ?" 
 
 '' I look, sir, and repeat that it is an atrocious 
 calumny ; and I will pin it to him who repeats it 
 here." 
 
 Whereupon Clay in excitement cried out : 
 
 "Then I declare before the Senate that you said 
 to me the very words." Here Benton in great 
 excitement shouted, "False! false ! false !" members 
 got up from their seats and the fever heat was rising. 
 Continuing, Clay said : "I fling back the charge 
 of atrocious calumny upon the senator from Mis- 
 souri." ' 
 
 The situation now became so intense that a per- 
 sonal encounter was narrowly averted. Clay was 
 called to order, but demanded to be heard and the 
 debate as to the parliamentary status of the affair 
 permitted hot blood to cool a little on both sides, 
 whereupon each apologized to the Senate, but not 
 to the other. It was an unfortunate passage at 
 ai-ms and it bore bitter fruit in later years. All 
 » Beuton, " Thirty Years' View." 
 
148 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the oratory of the disappointed bank men could 
 not revive the recharter question, and the ses- 
 sion closed with Jackson's star in the ascendant 
 in spite of his numerical minority in Congress. 
 
 In the presidential cami)aigu which followed 
 much was made of Jackson's veto and bitter were 
 the anathematizations showered upon him by the 
 Clay men. 
 
 Jackson made up his mind soon after his re- 
 election that the National Bank should not live out 
 its allotted term of years. That he had some good 
 reason for his antipathy is undoubted, but it does 
 not appear that the situation was as bad as he and 
 Benton attempted to show. It was sufficient, how- 
 ever, that, after the war began, some of the partisans 
 of the bank had attacked Jackson personally, im- 
 pugned his motives and furthermore had used bank 
 money in the effort to defeat him for re-election. 
 Jackson himself could scarcely have asked his 
 enemies to pursue a policy better suited to his 
 purpose. 
 
 In his original memorandum on the matter of re- 
 charter prepared by Benton for use in the House it 
 was intimated that the financial condition of the 
 bank was not sound. Later on he openly charged 
 that it was insolvent. The facts seem to be that the 
 
THE XATIOXAL BANK 149 
 
 bank was normally able to meet all its obligations, 
 but that it had been led by the war upon it into a 
 course of action which weakened its position. It 
 had greatly extended its loans to show the public 
 how essential it was to business prosperity. Had 
 recharter been effected it is likely the bank would 
 have fully recovered from the losses which ensued 
 from too confident extensions of credit. There was 
 a great lack of judgment in permitting its affairs to 
 develop into such a condition. 
 
 The officers had at first refused to locate a branch 
 at St. Louis because it might help Benton's position. 
 Then when they thought the branch might injure 
 him it was established, and Benton charged that it 
 was active in trying to break his influence in poli- 
 tics, though the effort was fatal. 
 
 The law creating the bank had permitted the 
 government to cease depositing public moneys in 
 the institution when the Secretary of the Treasury 
 should so order. This possibility was open, but no 
 one of the bank's officers seems ever to have thought 
 that such a thing would be attempted. As a rule, 
 all Secretaries of the Treasury, of whatever political 
 affiliations, had been favorable to the bank because 
 it was so admirable an engine of finance for the 
 government, and there was no available substitute. 
 
150 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 The bauk meu imagined that Jackson would never 
 undertake to overrule his secretary in such a mat- 
 ter and felt confident in any event that it would 
 be impossible, because the government was a heavy 
 stockholder and could scarcely afford to ruin its 
 own investment. 
 
 All this argumentation was very fine and very 
 convincing to reasonable and experienced men in 
 finance, but it argued little knowledge of the char- 
 acter of Jackson. The man who was ready and 
 perhaps anxious to hang Calhoun was not afraid of 
 Nicholas Biddle. ' No sooner was the session ended 
 than Jackson prepared to strike the blow which 
 had long been meditated. The bank was doomed, 
 but it suited his purposes to wait until the last mo- 
 ment before giving any intimation of the matter. 
 As Secretary McLane was favorable to the bank, 
 opportunity was made of a vacancy to promote him 
 to the secretaryship of state. To the Treasury was 
 assigned William J. Duane, son of the vitriolic 
 editor of the Aurora which had been the favorite 
 organ of Jefferson. Duane accepted the post with 
 some reluctance and agreed that if the deposits 
 
 ^ The report that Jackson threatened to haug Calhoun, in 
 the sense that personal violejice was intended, is apocryphal. 
 Jackson's idea was to have Calhoun convicted of treason. 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 151 
 
 were to be removed, he would either sign the order 
 or resign to permit some more accommodating 
 officer to perform the task. In fact, he does not 
 seem to have believed that such a thing would be 
 attempted. It was, however, already determined 
 on.' Jackson always prepared his policies in con- 
 sultation with the members of his "Kitchen 
 Cabinet " before conferring with his official advisers. 
 He consulted with Blair, editor of the Glohe, who 
 was favorable to the move ; Amos P. Kendall, who 
 was at first doubtful ; and Major Lewis, one of his 
 secretaries, who was willing to do anything his chief 
 ordered. Kendall was sent on a secret mission to 
 sound the state banks of the country on the matter 
 of accepting the national deposits. Jackson had 
 supposed they would jump at the opportunity but 
 the very reverse was the case. Bankers are pro- 
 verbially cautious and those officers who were ap- 
 proached first, being those of the soundest institu- 
 tions, were chary about the matter since heavy 
 security was desired, and the fact that the National 
 Bank was to be attacked in so extraordinary a 
 manner, was not a good augury for the business 
 future of the country. Kendall did succeed in 
 making some arrangements, which in the end proved 
 ' Schouler, " History of the United States." 
 
152 THOMAS H. BENTOX 
 
 most unsatisfactory, but they were sufficient for 
 Jackson's purposes. Returuiug suddenly and un- 
 expectedly from an Eastern tour the President 
 found to his dismay that although Duane had twice 
 been sounded by a member of his " Kitchen Cabi- 
 net" he was averse to removing the deposits. 
 Jackson who ill-brooked opposition at any time 
 was furious and ordered his Secretary to sign the 
 order or resign, as he had promised. Duane, who 
 was em-aged, both because he thought the policy bad 
 and because he found all the business of his depart- 
 ment was being conducted in a closet without his 
 knowledge, declared that he had been badly treated, 
 that he was absolved from his promise, and refused 
 to do either. That settled Duane' s position at once. 
 He was summarily dismissed. Attorney -General 
 Taney was made Secretary of the Treasury and the 
 order was promptly signed. Benton was in Vir- 
 ginia at this time, ignorant of the action taken, but 
 he endorsed it fully. 
 
 *'I felt an emotion of the moral sublime at be- 
 holding such an instance of civic heroism," said 
 he. "Here was a president, not bred up in the 
 political profession, taking a great step on his own 
 responsibility from which many of his adversaries 
 shrunk." 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 153 
 
 That the order made a sensation can well be 
 imagined and the officers of the bank were filled 
 with dismay. Its condition was now really worse 
 than they dared admit and they were struck in a 
 vital part. Actually there was no removal of money 
 in the vaults but the receipts as they came in were 
 deposited in the state banks and all orders on the 
 treasury were cashed at the National Bank so that 
 the deposits rapidly disappeared. Well had it been 
 at this time if Biddle and his directors had shown a 
 spirit of humility. On the contrary they were an- 
 gered by the action of the President and entered 
 upon a course which made their complete ruin all 
 the more certain. Biddle drew up a letter in which 
 " Andrew Jackson," as he was styled without refer- 
 ence to his title, was denounced for issuing ' ' a pre- 
 tended order" removing the deposits, the whole 
 being couched in a witty and bitterly sarcastic vein 
 calculated to impress the ignorant reader with the 
 fact that there had been no legal action in the 
 premises. After that there was no rest for the 
 bank so long as Jackson or one of his partisans was 
 in power. The contest for recharter was renewed 
 with more bitterness than ever, but with no suc- 
 cess. Jackson again showed his consummate leader- 
 ship by the fact that not even a majority could 
 
154 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 be mustered iu Ck)ugress for the bank, in spite of 
 the fact that it was supposed to have used a large 
 corruption fund. 
 
 When Congress reassembled Jackson reported his 
 action and justified it, recommending that the 
 87,000,000 of stock held by the government be sold. 
 That trouble was at hand was evident from the 
 fact that the bank had not paid some national bonds 
 when due though supposedly it had plenty of fed- 
 eral money and a large surplus. Instead it had 
 secured from the holders an extension, and for this 
 suspicious circumstance the bank gave a reason 
 which satisfied its friends only. 
 
 The bank men in Congress were furious, particu- 
 larly Clay and Calhoun, who had their own private 
 grievances against Jackson as well as their belief 
 in the utility of the institution. The triumvirate 
 which had been broken by the nullification affair 
 was now reorganized, and the fight on Jackson was 
 renewed with enthusiasm, bitterness and not very 
 much wisdom. These giants could never satis- 
 factorily account for Jackson's popularity and suc- 
 cess. The very last concession they would make 
 was that he had larger abilities or greater political 
 wisdom than any one of them. It is always humil- 
 iating to be defeated by one who is considered in 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 155 
 
 every way au inferior and Jackson was not at all 
 particular about the feelings of his enemies. It is 
 perhaps correct to say that Jackson went to intoler- 
 able lengths in his animosities and that he was often 
 malicious ; but as a rule he was forced into his at- 
 titudes and those who wished to escape his wrath 
 should not have been so willing and even anxious 
 to get in its path. 
 
 On this occasion (the session of 1832-3) Clay 
 counted up his followers in the Senate and found a 
 good majority. As there seemed to be no way in 
 which the President could be compelled to undo 
 what he had done the only weapon left was censure. 
 Jackson must be made odious to the public. For 
 this purpose Clay introduced a resolution of cen- 
 sure on the President for his action in removing the 
 deposits. This was utterly unprecedented and of 
 course made ''Old Hickory " furious. The flood- 
 gates of oratory were opened again and in the 
 course of a very extended debate the whole subject 
 of the administration and its financial policy was 
 threshed over. The foes of Jackson made much of 
 the fact that there had been a sudden and very 
 serious decline in business prosperity in the last 
 few months and attributed it directly to the action 
 of the President. The defenders of the administi-a- 
 
156 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 tion were put on the defensive in this respect for 
 the "hard times" were undeniable. 
 
 Benton who made above thirty speeches in this 
 debate insisted that the "hard times" were arti- 
 ficial and had been deliberately brought about by 
 the bank to show its power. In this view he may 
 have had some slight justification but there was 
 none for the lengths to which he carried the argu- 
 ment. No one free from partisan prejudice could 
 deny that distress was to some extent the re- 
 sult of the President's action. It is manifest that 
 no bank could stand such a sudden constriction of 
 its resources without disaster. Dui-ing the previous 
 contest, as has already been noted, the institution 
 had very greatly extended its credits and it is said 
 that some sixty members of Congress were borrow- 
 ers or were retained as counsel. When the blow 
 fell the bank could do nothing but call in its loans 
 as they matured. In many cases the borrowers 
 were unable to pay promptly and this brought 
 about a great disturbance of business. Although 
 the state banks had the money that might have 
 been in the National Bank and were urged bj^ the 
 Secretary to be liberal in discounts, especially to 
 merchants in foreign trade, such readjustments of 
 credit are not easily made. While the condition of 
 
THE NATI0:N^AL bank 157 
 
 the country at no time bordered on panic there 
 was great restriction in business and no little 
 distress. 
 
 The net result of the winter's campaign against , 
 Jackson was the passage of the resolution of censure \ 
 by the Senate, to which the President replied in a ' 
 vigorous paper declaring that the action of that 
 body was illegal and void, and defending himself 
 with as much dignity as possible from the asper- 
 sions upon his character. Thereupon the Senate 
 passed another resolution to the effect that Jack- 
 son's reply was improper and out of place. 
 
 The effect of the resolution was far from being 
 what the triumvirate had expected. Once more 
 the people sided with Jackson, because they saw in 
 this plan to humiliate him not an attempt to main- 
 tain national dignity, but an effort of disappointed 
 statesmen to get even with a successful rival. 
 Benton at once announced his intention to work for 
 an expunging resolution, and he finally succeeded. 
 In fact, had the friends of the bank kept quiet 
 Jackson would have come out of the affair with 
 little credit, since there appeared to be nothing that 
 justified his action in withdrawing the deposits; 
 certainly there was no occasion for so radical a 
 measure. It was another of those cases in which 
 
158 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Jackson was happier iu the wrath of his friends than 
 in the value of his own acts. 
 
 Moreover a curious situation now developed. 
 W^ebster prepared a bill which extended the 
 charter of the bank for six years and took from it 
 the exclusive monopoly it had so long enjoyed ; 
 while it was arranged that the national deposits 
 should be restored gradually so as not to embarrass 
 the state bank depositories. Benton was not vio- 
 lently opposed to this plan. The measuie was 
 agreeable to a majority in both Houses and there is 
 reason to think that Jackson would have signed it 
 if the resolution of censure had not been passed. 
 Most unexpectedly neither Clay nor Calhoun would 
 support the measure, though it was understood to 
 have the approval of the directors of the bank, who 
 thought it much better to take half a loaf than no 
 bread. Clay still asked for twenty years and Cal- 
 houn favored twelve. In this situation no legis- 
 lation was possible. Some of the old enemies of the 
 bank voted for Webster's motion, while most of its 
 old friends were against the measure. Benton here 
 appeared as a quasi -champion of the bank and 
 Clay as its bitterest foe, and after this there never 
 was a chance of any legislation whatever iu its 
 favor. The triumvirate succeeded, however, in 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 159 
 
 defeating the confirmation of Jackson's nominees 
 for bank directors as provided by its charter and of 
 Taney for Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 The notice Benton had immediately given that 
 he would move for an expunging of the resolutiory 
 of censure against the President was no idle threatt/ 
 It was introduced regularly at every session and was 
 made the basis of many of his speeches in which he 
 again and again went over the whole history of the 
 bank and its crimes until it is no wonder that his 
 colleagues were tired of the subject and devoutly 
 wished he would drop it. In his way he was as 
 persistent as Jackson, and so it came to pass that in 
 the last months of that President's administration, 
 after the Senate had so changed its membership as 
 to contain an administration majority, the resolu- 
 tion expunging the original resolution of censure 
 was passed by a vote of twenty-four to nineteen/ 
 This was one of the sweetest triumphs of Benton's 
 life. It was in a sense mere brutum fulrnen, for the 
 original resolution was one in which a simple 
 opinion had been expressed. It had no official 
 significance, but it rankled in Jackson's breast and 
 Benton was set on righting the injury. The night 
 on which this deed was accomplished was one of the 
 most famous in the history of the Senate. In vain 
 
160 THOMAS II. BEATON 
 
 did the giants of the triumvirate protest against 
 expunging. They had none of that masterful air of 
 a few yejxrs previous, when they were able to con- 
 trol the Senate. They now took lofty ground in 
 justifying their position, and moved not a whit. 
 By this time the people had so far vindicated 
 Jackson once more as to elect as his successor 
 Van Buren, whom he had personally singled out 
 for the honor. 
 
 Benton had made up his mind that the resolution 
 should pass on that day (January 16, 1837), no matter 
 what the consequences, and he held his followers in 
 leash so that they could not escape even had they 
 wished. Aware that human nature is very weak 
 and prone to err when not properly sustained bj' 
 food and drink, he had a committee-room close at 
 hand well -stocked with hams, tuikeys, rounds of 
 beef, pickles, wine, coffee and everj'thing that 
 could tempt the appetite, so that his men should 
 not stray away. The triumvirate had imagined 
 that it was possible to postpone action, but now 
 that they were at bay they made their ^•aledicto^ies 
 on the subject, and others who saw that the end 
 was near, refused longer to carry on the contest. 
 When the resolution passed, Benton moved to 
 carry it into immediate execution, which was 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 161 
 
 accordingly done. The secretary of the Senate 
 opened the record and di-ew a black border around 
 the offending resolution and across its face wrote 
 the words, '' Expunged by order of the Senate this 
 16th day of January, 1837." ' At this announce- 
 ment the galleries broke out into hisses. There had 
 been so much excitement over the matter, and some 
 of the speeches of the evening had been so bitter 
 that many of Benton's friends believed he was 
 about to be assaulted by roughs in the gallery whom 
 they considered partisans of the bank. Some of 
 these friends left the room and brought in pistols, 
 while Mrs. Benton, who feared that her husband 
 was to be assassinated, had come into the Senate 
 chamber, resolved to suffer the same fate if neces- 
 sary. There is no good reason to believe that an 
 assault was intended, certainly it was not inspired 
 by any one in a position of authority ; but in those 
 days the mob had begun to feel its power, a state of 
 things for which Jackson was in no small measure 
 responsible, and every precaution was taken to 
 protect Benton. The latter had no fear, and when 
 the presiding officer gave the order to have the 
 galleries cleared he interfered and said with some 
 show of bravado : 
 
 ^ Devens, "Our First Century." 
 
162 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 '' I hope the galleries will not be cleared, as 
 many innocent persons will be excluded, who have 
 been guilty of no violation of order. Let the 
 rufiians who alone have made this disturbance be 
 punished. Let them be apprehended. I hope the 
 sergeant-at-arms will be directed to enter the gallery 
 and seize the rulliaus, ascertaining who they are in 
 the best way he can. Let him apprehend them and 
 bring them to the bar of the Senate. Let him seize 
 the bank ruffians. I hope they will not now be 
 permitted to insult the Senate as they did when it 
 was under the power of the Bank of the United 
 States, when ruffians, with arms upon them, in- 
 sulted us with impunity. Let them be taken and 
 brought to the bar of the Senate. Here is one just 
 above me, that may be easily identified, one of the 
 bank ruffians ! ' ' 
 
 The sergeant-at-arms went to the gallery, seized 
 the ringleader and brought him to the bar, at which 
 his colleagues left the gallery in haste. The man 
 was allowed to go after vainly pleading for a chance 
 to explain. This ended the disturbances, and the 
 solemnities of the occasion were not again interftired 
 with. 
 
 Thus the long contest was closed and Jackson 
 showed his appreciation of the service by inviting 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 163 
 
 all the expungers and their wives to a dinner where 
 Benton took the post of honor, since the President 
 was too weak to attend ; and a merry time was had 
 toasting Jackson and the Jacksonians. ' 
 
 Meantime the bank recharter question died. In 
 the Whig administration of 1841-5, under the 
 leadership of Clay, two bank bills were passed 
 and both were vetoed by Tyler. The bank secured 
 a Pennsylvania charter and soon went into in- 
 solvency. Our present national banks established 
 during the Civil War have no likeness whatever to 
 the two institutions which were so long factors in 
 national politics. They more nearly represent in 
 their actual business relations the state banks of 
 the Jacksonian period, though the latter had no 
 federal supervision and were frequently un- 
 sound. 
 
 His contest in behalf of the expunging resolution \ 
 
 was Benton's last important personal service to / 
 
 ' During the angry debates over censure, Jackson had the 
 Benton bullet, received in the Tennessee brawl, extracted from 
 his slioulder. There is some doubt whether Jesse or Thomas 
 Benton fired the shot. Jackson's latest biographer states that it 
 was Thomas and that Jackson offered him the bullet as a 
 souvenir, which was declined. Other biographers affirm that 
 it was .Jesse. Thomas says nothing about it, and it is prob- 
 able that in the mSUe no one knew certainly who fired the 
 shot. 
 
L64 THO:\rAS H. BENTON 
 
 Fackson, aud it practically concluded a political 
 (alliance that is one of the strangest in our history. 
 It is impossible to overestimate the service which 
 Benton rendered his chief. Jackson's defects were 
 so many and so radical that unless he had been sus- 
 tained by strong men he must necessarily have suf- 
 fered in popular estimation and might never have 
 be^n re-elected. It was his good fortune to have at 
 his right hand a man who served him with a de- 
 votion and an unselfishness which have seldom been 
 equaled. Benton owed nothing to Jackson for his 
 election or continuance in ofBce at any time. He 
 nevtr asked a personal favor of him, refused many 
 honors which were offered him, and was never even 
 a member of his '' Kitchen Cabinet." Moreover at 
 \a time when Jackson was surrounded by a set of 
 sycophants and ofBce-seekers, men who crooked the 
 pregnant hinges of the knees that thrift should fol- 
 low their fawning, and who succeeded admirably 
 in filling their pockets with ill-gotten gains, Ben- 
 ton had clean hands. In all this saturnalia of po- 
 litical jobbery and robbery of the public, he took 
 , no part and never gained a penny. 
 
 In the partnership the advantage was all Jack- 
 son's except what inhered to Benton in his con- 
 sciousness of duty done. Benton was no prude and 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 165 
 
 did not set himself u^) to be better than the rest of 
 mankind. He liked politics but he played the 
 game in a large way and would not be turned from 
 a chosen course by any considerations. In one of 
 the last panegyrics which Benton dedicated to 
 Jackson, his final speech on the expunging resolu- 
 tion, the senator from Missouri said : 
 
 ''Great is the confidence which he has always 
 reposed in the discernment and equity of the Amer- 
 ican people. I have been accustomed to see him 
 for many years, and under many discouraging 
 trials ; but never saw him doubt, for an instant, 
 the ultimate support of the people. It was my 
 privilege to see him often, and during the most 
 gloomy period of the panic conspiracy, when the 
 whole earth seemed to be in commotion against 
 him, and when many friends were faltering, and 
 stout hearts were quailing before the raging storm 
 which bank machination and senatorial denunci- 
 ation had conjured up to overwhelm him. I saw 
 him in the darkest moments of this gloomy period ; 
 and never did I see his confidence in the ultimate 
 support of his fellow -citizens forsake him for an 
 instant. He always said the people would stand by 
 those who stand by them ; and nobly have they 
 justified that confidence ! That verdict, the voice 
 

 16G THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 of millions, which now demands the expurgation of 
 that sentence, which the Senate and the bank then 
 pronounced upon him, is the magnificent response 
 of the people's hearts to the implicit confidence 
 which he then reposed in them. But it was not in 
 the people only that he had confidence ; there was 
 another, and a far higher Power, to which he con- 
 stantly looked to save the country and its defend- 
 ers, from every danger ; and signal events prove 
 that he did not look to that at high Power in 
 vain." 
 Although long in the minority in the Senate, 
 yfeenton always fought manfully and doggedly. A 
 /visitor at this i)eriod refers to him as a '^ gnarled 
 / oak," It hardly seems a happy simile, though it 
 / must have had some application in the fact that he 
 stood unbending in the storm of opposition to 
 Jackson. Others called him a "wild buffalo." A 
 man of less stamina would have succumbed : one of 
 less courage and devotion would have abandoned 
 the contest many times. Benton did not love a fight 
 for its own sake but he never avoided one, and 
 when once engaged in it he followed as far as pos- 
 lible the advice of Polonius. 
 
 With his increasing influence and power as his 
 faction got into conti-ol he lost none of his vanity, 
 
THE NATIONAL BANK 167 
 
 > 
 
 which after all was of a very harmless sort. He 
 seemed to feel the weight of the country ou his 
 shoulders aud never underestimated his abilities in 
 any direction. He sat in the Senate during every 
 hour of the session, watching every movement and 
 nagging the opposition in a way that was not al- 
 ways dignified or pleasant. Still that was an ac- 
 cepted part of the proceedings at the time and was 
 indulged in by nearly all of the leaders on both 
 sides. 
 
 Benton's tendency to talk on all occasions in-; 
 creased as he felt himself to be the mouthpiece of the j 
 administration and as has been said he was not al-' 
 ways a pleasing speaker. He was dogmatic, imper- 
 ious and so devoted to wild western manners, it is 
 related, that he usually spoke to empty galleries 
 and often to empty seats in the chamber. ' This 
 did not discomfit him in the least. He spoke for 
 those outside the Senate though he often criticised 
 others for doing the same thing. He contributed to 
 the Globe with a trenchant pen and inspired Blair 
 in much that the latter wrote. His energy knew no^ 
 bounds and to this and the fact that he was stead- 
 fast may be attributed much of the success he 
 achieved, for he was a sound rather than a talented^ 
 '" Reminiscences " of Ben Perley Poore. 
 
168 THOM^^ H. BENTON 
 
 man. He was able to accomplish so much more than 
 many of his more brilliant contemporaries because 
 he allowed nothing to interfere with his work, and 
 his industry received its reward. 
 
CHAPTER Vm 
 
 ''old bullion" 
 
 If in these years Benton's sole task had been to \ 
 kill the National Bank the achievement would J 
 have been of little credit to him. His main purpose \ 
 was to establish gold and silver as the standards J 
 of value in the nation. This he did but not until 
 the country had passed through fiery trials. State 
 banks were not all sound but they managed 
 for a time to thrive for the reason that busi- 
 ness, which had been dull, revived after the N'a- 
 tional Bank had lost the deposits. It was evident 
 to Benton that the situation was far from satisfac- 
 tory and that something must be done to improve 
 the currency. It is much to his honor and greatly 
 also to the credit of the many leaders who opposed 
 the President's bank policy that some remedial 
 legislation was enacted. Benton had always op-^ 
 posed any sort of national paper currency and be- 
 lieved that coin only should be used, asserting in- 
 deed that it alone was constitutional money. 
 
 Banking at this time was scarcely a science 
 
170 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 except with a few of the larger institutions. In 
 fairness to the National Bank, in spite of polit- 
 ical attacks upon it, it should be said that it well 
 maintained its credit through most of its career. 
 It is true that in the early management there had 
 been looseness which required a new administration, 
 but the system was now so excellent that it was 
 called the Gibraltar of American credit. The banks 
 of New England, New York and Pennsylvania as a 
 rule maintained specie payments except in times of 
 great distress. But as one moved South and West 
 the bills of state banks were accepted only accord- 
 ing to a depreciated scale. The merchant found 
 great difficulty in doing business when there were 
 in circulation so many kinds of bills of such 
 varying value and in addition such large num- 
 bers of counterfeits. The most indispensable book 
 in any business house was the ' ' Counterfeit De- 
 tector " with a table giving the scale of exchange at 
 which bills were received in various places. 
 
 Others were equally affected. The farmer who 
 sold his grain had to scrutinize with the greatest 
 care the notes offered him and not infrequently 
 sustained heavy losses. The worst sufferer of all 
 was the wage-earner who worked for an unscrupu- 
 lous employer. The latter would often purchase 
 
''OLD BULLION" 171 
 
 depreciated notes aud pay his hands in these at face 
 value, any refusal to accept them being met with 
 dismissal. One of the largest of American bank- 
 ing houses was established by a German portrait 
 painter who roamed from one section of the coun- 
 try to another and found in buying and selling 
 bank notes a greater profit than in painting pic- 
 tures. 
 
 Bad as was the condition of the currency at this 
 time there was no denying the fact that it had been 
 a great deal worse during those years when there 
 had been no National Bank. Even Madison had 
 been obliged to admit that fact and those strict 
 constructionist Democrats who had looked upon 
 Hamilton's first bank as a monster of iniquity were 
 compelled to permit the establishment of a second. 
 If the partisans of the bank had been more honest, 
 more adroit and had seemed to have less personal 
 interest in its fortunes, the result would have been 
 better for the recharter movement. Clay and Web- 
 ster were correct in pointing out the great advan- 
 tages that had accrued through its operations. 
 They believed that the country would never be 
 able to get along without it and doubted whether 
 any alternative could be supplied sufficient for the 
 public needs. It was generally agreed that it 
 
172 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 would be a good thing if the nation were on a 
 specie basis, but to most business men the obstacles 
 iseemed insurmountable. 
 
 Benton appears to have missed the essential idea 
 that, in business, credit is as important as money, and 
 that under proper restrictions credit money is ab- 
 solutely essential to prosperity. He did not under- 
 stand that when coin formed so small a part of the 
 money supply of the nation it would be a difiicult 
 task to get it into circulation. Gresham's law that 
 bad money drives out good had been tested in this 
 country. Coin and the best notes were hoarded 
 while every one got rid of depreciated or doubtful 
 notes or bad coin at the first opportunity. At this 
 time we had scarcely any gold in the country be- 
 cause the standard of fifteen to one established by 
 Jefferson had proven to be an incorrect ratio. The 
 true ratio was less than sixteen to one and there it 
 long remained. To get gold into circulation Ben- 
 ton secured the passage of laws fixing the ratio 
 at sixteen to one, though he preferred the exact 
 fraction. A branch mint was established at New 
 Orleans and through his efforts gold coins were 
 restored to the currency of the country. Benton's 
 ''mint drops," as they were called, were very pop- 
 ular. They aided Jackson in the fall elections and 
 
"OLD BULLION" 173 
 
 were the first gold coins which many of the people 1 
 had ever seen. Even the ardent friends of the bank / 
 could not fail to see that gold was the best money, if / 
 enough of it could be secured, and in a short time 
 the country did have a large amount of it in circu,' 
 lation, since it came back from Europe under the 
 new ratio which overvalued it. 
 
 Being scientifically incorrect one of the results of 
 the change of ratio was to send abroad some of the 
 silver, which alarmed the administration. In its 
 efforts to bring silver into use again it refused de- 
 posits to banks which emitted notes of a smaller de- 
 nomination than five dollars, though it could not 
 prevent a large number of these from being issued 
 by other banks. Coin was popular and but for the 
 crash that soon came the country might have passed 
 over to a specie basis sooner than even Benton ex- 
 pected. 
 
 The measure which was more effectual than air, 
 others in bringing coin into common use was the; 
 celebrated specie circular which required that public j 
 lands should be paid for in hard money. This was, 
 a radical step and though eventually it would hav0 
 been a most necessary one, it came at a rather in- 
 opportune time as was soon manifested. The ne* 
 cessity for this order lay in the fact that land sales 
 
174 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 were now amounting to about forty millions a year, 
 and, under the policy by which state bank notes 
 were accepted in payment, there had been a great 
 deal of speculation. Banks were springing up all 
 over the country; the earlier total of five hundred 
 was soon doubled. There was a craze for this 
 sort of enterprise and even if the banks had been 
 established on a sound basis there was no need 
 for so many. As a matter of fact many of them 
 were the flimsiest sort of financial structures, erected 
 under loose general laws or charters granted by too 
 accommodating legislatures. It seemed easy to 
 print money and get rich and for a time there en- 
 sued a fictitious prosperity. 
 
 Under an act of Congress the Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury was given discretionary power in receiving the 
 notes of banks for public lands, but up to this time 
 he had never interfered in the matter. So long as the 
 notes were actually redeemable in specie little dam- 
 age was done, but with many banks this was an un- 
 certain quantity, and they were liable to break under 
 any unusual stress. The fact that such an enormous 
 business was done in purchasing lauds with notes 
 bought at a discount showed how hollow was the pre- 
 tense of the system of specie payments which the gov- 
 ernment maintained. Still the evil was one that was 
 
"OLD BULLION" 175 
 
 not 80 great until the craze for new banks broke out 
 and the people engaged in land speculation. Much 
 of this paper was in fact irredetiiuable and when the 
 land sales amounted to five millions a mouth it was 
 evident that there was danger lest the lands would 
 be lost to the government, owing to the prospect of 
 its being unable to redeem much of the currency 
 paid for them. Benton endeavored to secure the 
 passage of a law requiring coin to be used in pay- 
 ment for lands. This was a total failure partly be- 
 cause the people were still wild over paper money 
 and partly, as Benton asserted, because so many 
 members were actively engaged in land speculation 
 on their own account. 
 
 In 1836 he again proposed to the President that 
 specie alone be accepted in payment for land and 
 though '■'■ Old Hickory " was not a great financier he 
 endorsed the plan. He discovered that his cabinet 
 was strongly opposed to the measure so he called 
 them in session, and had Benton in an ante- room 
 where he wrote out the executive order which was 
 signed at once to the disgust of the members of the 
 cabinet, the wrath of land speculators and the dis- 
 tress of many honest purchasers. In the end it 
 jjroved a salutary measure. As it was, the injury 
 bad been so great that much of the currency re- 
 
176 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 ceived from the sales turned out to be absolutely 
 worthless. 
 
 /J The financial measures of Benton, for they were 
 his and his almost alone, proved to have more last- 
 ing value than any other legislation of the time. 
 It is true that if the bank had been rechartered we 
 might have had no panic of 1837 but that is one of 
 those hypothetical statements made by politicians 
 for political effect, the truth of which can well be 
 I doubted. Even the bank might have gone down 
 \ and certainly would have done so had it not mended 
 I its ways. It is also quite unlikely, even if it had 
 I remained sound, that the prosperity- of the country 
 \ could have continued Avithout the periodical depres- 
 sion. We have had panics in this country about 
 every twenty years with a regularity that cannot be 
 laid entirely at the door of legislation, though they 
 may have been to some extent induced by it. The 
 truth is that there is in the optimistic, reckless 
 American spirit a tendency to speculation that can- 
 not be embed, no matter how fair the warning or 
 how grave the former experience. 
 
 It was certain that we could not indefinitely con- 
 tinue on a paper basis and the fact that Benton was 
 the first to foresee the need of coin and to fight un- 
 til he attained success stamps him as one of the 
 
''OLD BULLION" 177 
 
 great constructive statesmen of the age. In this 
 work he had the support of some of the friends of 
 the bank, but Clay was adamant to the last, oppos- 
 ing not only the new standard but the establishment 
 of branch mints. It is greatly to be regretted that 
 so enlightened a statesman as Clay, one so potential 
 for good in the country, should at various times 
 have allowed personal spleen or misguided judg- 
 ment to stand in the way of progress. 
 
 Benton, however, was not to escape without much\ 
 censure for his acts. As coin came into circulation \ 
 the poorer classes were benefited, but there were \ 
 many who found their profits diminished by the \ 
 process and there were others who saw in the meas- \ 
 ure a fatal blow at the bank. Benton was dubbed I 
 "Old Bullion" and given other titles in derisioax^ 
 which finally came to be badges of honor. By his 
 new currency law and the executive order the 
 Democratic party was eventually divided into two 
 factions, the "Hards" and the "Softs," and 
 though the distinction was at first on a question of 
 finance it finally came to have local applications 
 quite distinct from the currency. 
 
 Directly and indirectly it is clear that Jackson's 
 war on the bank brought much disaster, although 
 it was practically not anything like as great as 
 
178 THOMAS H. BE^s'TON 
 
 was attributed to his action; and it can becoufideutly 
 asserted tliat we should not have escaped some 
 set-backs if Jackson had been the most ardent 
 supporter of the institution which it was his chief 
 delight to attack. Looking back over the nearly 
 seventy years which have elapsed since that time 
 we can see that whatever errors may be attributed to 
 the administration the establishment of the specie 
 standard is one of the most beneficent in our his- 
 tory. 
 
 / The specie standard is the most enduring monu- 
 /ment to Benton. It cannot of course be claimed 
 / for him that he is responsible for the legislation of 
 I recent years, but it can truthfully be said that with- 
 I out the legislation which he secured our present 
 I standard might never have been established, or 
 I would have been attained with greater difB- 
 Iculty. To the pioneer always belongs the credit 
 land what others might have done is of less con- 
 sequence than the fact that Benton actually did put 
 coin into general circulation where formerly there 
 was only paper, much of which was depreciable 
 and some of it valueless. 
 
 It would seem as if some happy genius had pre- 
 sided over the politicnl destinies of Andrew Jack- 
 sou. His enemies said that he had good luck and 
 
''OLD BULLION" 179 
 
 certainly it would seem more than a mere coinci- 
 dence that he had no sooner left the capital after 
 installing his successor and presenting him with his 
 cabinet than the greatest financial crisis in our his- 
 tory up to that time confronted the country. 
 Already there had been mutterings of the storm, 
 but now it broke in all its fury and conditions were 
 deplorable. Banks suspended specie payments, 
 many went into bankruptcy, business men failed, 
 industry of every sort contracted ; there was 
 disti-ess from one end of the country to the other 
 and the wail that arose was well-nigh unanimous. 
 The government lost millions in the state bank 
 depositories which failed and this was the hardest 
 blow at Benton's policy. 
 
 As Jackson had received the benefit of prosperity, 
 whether responsible for it or not, the administra- 
 tion now had to suifer for evil times and was held 
 guilty of all that had occurred. Van Buren had 
 been a staunch Jackson man so that he could not 
 escape censure even if he had so desired. No ad- 
 ministration ever started out under more unfavor- 
 able circumstances. The Whigs had no difficulty 
 in indicting the administration and the Democratic 
 party in general, and laid the blame to the following 
 causes : Failure to recharter the bank ; removal 
 
180 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 of the deposits ; the specie circular ; maladminis- 
 tration of financial affairs ; deposit of money in 
 banks which failed ; the tariff compromise ; de- 
 falcation of public officials. 
 
 There is no doubt that these were contributing 
 causes but it would be diflBcult to prove that they 
 were the only factors, or that these measures 
 were all of them vicious in all of their workings. 
 It was a difficult task for the supporters of the ad- 
 ministration to explain the situation. They could 
 not do so with general satisfaction. Nothing ex- 
 cuses ''hard times." Benton, however, went man- 
 fully to the task, feeliDg his own conscience pretty 
 clear. In February when the storm was seen by him 
 to be impending he knew that something must be 
 done and for the purpose invited the president-elect, 
 then vice-president, into a committee room to dis- 
 cuss the matter with him. As Benton was really 
 responsible for most of the financial legislation of 
 the Jackson administration it was natural that he 
 should desire to give what aid he could and he ex- 
 pected to be well received. On the contrary as soon 
 as the subject was opened Van Buren remarked : 
 
 *' Your friends think you are a little exalted in 
 the head on the subject." 
 
 This statement angered Benton and he said no 
 
<'OLD BULLION" 181 
 
 more but left the room, muttering to himself, " You 
 will soon feel the thunderbolt." Later he regretted 
 his exhibition of temper but it is doubtful if he 
 could have had much influence with Van Buren in 
 any event. This i s a side-light on B enton's char- 
 acter and exhibits the temper of the times. Busi- 
 ness was^l~fMt ' time moving under fair skies and 
 few looked for stormy weather.^ 
 
 After the panic began Benton made many 
 speeches in the Senate. He referred to the charges 
 against the Democratic party and answered them 
 seriatim. He attacked the bank as the Red Harlot 
 and asserted that it and other banks had purposely 
 brought on the crisis to hurt the administration. 
 This was no new idea of his. He had thought the 
 same thing a few years before and nothing in Ben- 
 ton's career is quite so unsatisfactory as this opin- 
 ion which he so often reiterated. Banks do not 
 commit suicide. It is possible that at times the 
 Bank of the United States did go outside its normal 
 sphere of activity to bring pressure to bear on poli- 
 tics, and even may have done a good deal that is dis- 
 creditable ; but to blame it and the other banks for 
 bringing on a crisis to ruin the government for polit- 
 ical reasons and necessarily ruin themselves is not 
 ' Benton's "Thirty Years' View." 
 
182 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 logical and shows how prejudiced Beutou had be- 
 come against the institution which he had fought 
 so long. On the other hand it cannot be said that 
 the failure to recharter the bank was alone or even 
 largely responsible for its o>vn failure or the panic 
 which ensued, though this act did something to 
 disturb business conditions. 
 
 As to the removal of the deposits the only direct 
 influence of that policy in bringing about the panic 
 was in the rearrangement of business which ensued, 
 since the money was still available for public use. 
 As a matter of fact in the end it did not advantage 
 these banks, for they failed almost without excep- 
 tion, and very little was ever recovered by the gov- 
 ernment. If the National Bank had retained the 
 deposits it might have weathered the storm, but 
 the management had now become so reckless that 
 it is not safe to say the country would have been 
 better off in the end. 
 
 The bitterest attack was on the specie circular. 
 It is ti-ue that this circular had made necessary the 
 use of an immense amount of specie, but according 
 to Benton, under the operation of his own l;'gisla- 
 tion, the fund had increased in a few years from 
 twenty millions to one hundred millions. It had 
 acquainted the people with hard money. Depre- 
 
"OLD BULLION" 183 
 
 ciated bank notes were no longer the principal 
 medium of exchange. The worst that can be said 
 of this order is that it was premature. The same 
 results might have been attained gradually, but 
 that it was a proper principle is evidenced by the 
 fact that it survived until the Civil War. 
 
 Of the defalcation of many of Jackson's officials 
 there is no doubt whatever and no defense. At 
 no previous time had the public service been so 
 disgracefully debauched, but this scandal had noth- 
 ing to do with the panic. Benton asserted with 
 truth that much of the misery of the time was due 
 to the fictitious prosperity that had come from the 
 sudden expansion of paper currency. There were 
 now in the country a thousand banks which issued 
 currency, and few of them had anything like the 
 proper reserve in coin, — many of them had not 
 proper assets of any kind. The people had gone 
 wild in speculation and had run deeply into debt. 
 Merchants had imported enormous amounts of 
 foreign goods in anticipation of good times so that 
 when the banks suspended. May 10th, the whole 
 fabric went to the ground at once. And with it went 
 for the time being the fortunes of the Democratic ; 
 party. 
 
 Benton did his best in this crisis. He supported 
 
184 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the admiuistratiou and made many speeches. In 
 spite of distress, in spite of the fact that at the next 
 election the administration would lose the House, 
 no change was made, except through the establish- 
 ment of the independent treasury system by which 
 the government was completely divorced from 
 banks of any sort. The country had gone over 
 completely to a specie basis. This was the triumph 
 of Benton's policy. For this he had contended for 
 nearly twenty years, and even if it be granted that 
 he had in some cases acted too precipitately and 
 taken positions that were too radical, it is certain 
 that the object was worthy of great sacrifice. 
 
 These were not altogether pleasant days for the 
 great Missourian, though he fared better than some 
 members of his party. Since he was known as the 
 father of the system of specie payments and was 
 called a '' gold bug," the blame of much of the dis- 
 tress was laid upon his shoulders. He was now 
 dubbed ''Old Humbug," and lampooned bitterly. 
 All sorts of imitation money were issued on which 
 the rude pictures sought principally to assail the 
 Democratic party and Benton in particular. Many 
 of these were sent him accompanied by insulting 
 letters, and they seem to have moved him to more 
 or less anger ; but he never for a moment wavered 
 
"OLD BULLION" 185 
 
 in his belief that he had acted properly in all legis- 
 lative matters, laying the hard times at the door of 
 the bank, the politicians and, in some measui-e, to 
 the land sui'plus bill which he had bitterly op- 
 posed. 
 
 Benton's championship of cheap lands for the 
 settler brought him into conflict constantly with 
 those congressmen who opposed the motion to dis- 
 tribute among the states the surplus from sales. 
 Here he came into further antagonism with Clay. 
 The elections of 1836 were approaching and the 
 Whig party was in a state of discouragement. 
 Clay was not a candidate, and had announced that 
 he never would be again, which was a useless and 
 untrue declaration since he thrice more was 
 tempted. The compromise tariff of 1833 settled 
 that subject for the present, since to have disturbed 
 it would have once more aroused the sleeping lion 
 in Calhoun and the nullifiers. Internal improve- 
 ments had been abandoned even by Clay. The 
 bank charter could not be extended except under 
 circumstances which seemed unlikely to exist. 
 The Whigs had fixed on no candidate, which was 
 singular, since several states had favorite sons ; but 
 uo attempt was made to consolidate in favor of any 
 one, the intention being to await the result of the 
 
186 THO:\rAS H. BEXTON 
 
 elections. Clay considered that he ought to per- 
 foiju a service for the party, and at the same time 
 execute a long cherished plan. The sales of public 
 lands had increased so rapidly that after the debt was 
 paid the surplus promised to be so great that some- 
 thing must be done with the money. Clay, as we 
 have seen, secured the passage in 1833 of a law dis- 
 tributing the surplus from land sales, as a part of 
 his tariff compromise scheme. The states desired 
 the money and it was natural they should consider 
 that it belonged to them since it was an asset fast 
 disappearing. If the money were not needed by 
 the government what could be more proper than to 
 give it back to the people ? 
 
 There was much dissension over this bill and its 
 passage was delayed until nearly the last hours of 
 the session of 1833. Before this time it had not 
 been customary to pass such important measures so 
 near the end of the session, since the President was 
 accustomed to consider them well and seek the ad- 
 vice of his cabinet. Jackson was opposed to the 
 measure which was brought to him in the room at 
 the capitol used by him when he signed appropria- 
 tion bills now for the first time delayed in passage. 
 Benton called on the President and they counseled 
 together over the bill. The matter had been 
 
"OLD BULLION" 187 
 
 threshed out so thoroughly in Congress that that 
 body was disposed to stand by its action as Jack- 
 sou well knew. He hesitated to veto the bill at 
 once for fear it would be passed over his head. He 
 asked Benton to look over the Senate and see how 
 the members stood. When the latter returned he 
 advised that there was danger for which reason 
 Jackson took no action and thus the bill fell by the 
 first "pocket veto" in our history. 
 
 At the next session Clay in high dudgeon 
 attacked the President for his course, and Ben- 
 ton as usual defended Jackson, pointing out 
 that the Constitution evidently intended that 
 the President should have ten days in which 
 to consider a bill. The remedy which Con- 
 gress had at hand, he said, was to pass the bill in 
 time. This was sound sense but it has never be- 
 come a fixed principle of action and many meas- 
 ures have suffered the same fate because of the tend- 
 ency to delay so much important legislation until 
 the closing hours of the session. Clay made a great 
 speech on the veto and its abuses in which he paid 
 his compliments to Jackson and Benton and that 
 was all that came of the incident. 
 
 In every succeeding session some such plan for 
 the distribution of the surplus was proposed but 
 
188 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Benton opposed it to the last. In 1836 just before 
 the presidential election Clay came to the front 
 once more with a sm-plus distribution bill. Origi- 
 nally it was a deliberate proposal for disposing of 
 all the surplus in the treasui-y exceeding five mil- 
 lions of dollars, which was considered a sufficient 
 working capital. In spite of Benton's resistance 
 the measure passed and went to the House where 
 it met with unexpected opposition. There were 
 members in plenty anxious for the money, but it 
 was hard for many of them to convince themselves 
 that the payment would be constitutional. It was 
 in derogation of so much they had striven for in 
 the past that a majority could not be mustered for 
 the biU. At this juncture a measure dealing with 
 I the regulation of the public moneys in the state 
 ' banks was being discussed in Congress and some 
 ; one conceived the notion that the two might be 
 consolidated in a way that would salve the con- 
 sciences of the strict constructionists. The money 
 as received was deposited in the state banks and 
 now it was proposed that the surplus be ''de- 
 posited" with the states according to their Con- 
 gressional representation. On its face this meant 
 I that the Federal government might call for the 
 money whenever it pleased. As a matter of fact 
 
 ! 
 
*'OLD BULLION" 189 
 
 no such call was ever contemplated even by those 
 who devised the trick to save themselves from cen- 
 sure. When the bill in this shape came back to 
 the Senate, Benton attacked it furiously. He seems 
 to have been the one sane man in finance in this entire 
 period and he explained in advance exactly what 
 was likely to happen. But the spirit of cupidity 
 had been aroused and, with plausible reasons for 
 every one, the bill passed, Benton mustering in 
 opposition only a few votes besides his own. 
 Jackson signed the measure and this is said to have 
 been his only important political act which he 
 afterward regretted. It is likely the bill would 
 have been passed over his head in any event but 
 that consideration probably did not influence Jack- / 
 son so much as his fear that a veto might unfavor- 
 ably affect the candidacy of Van Buren. This is 
 one of the occasions when he did not consult 
 Benton, who afterward thought that the President 
 might have been induced to veto the measure if he 
 had asked the advice which some of his nearest 
 friends were willing to give. 
 
 The money was to be paid in four quarterly 
 instalments. The first was paid in specie, the 
 second with difficulty in lawful money, the third in 
 depreciated bank paper and the fourth was never 
 
190 THOMAS II. BEXTON 
 
 paid at all ; for by this time the panic had come 
 aud the government so far from having any sur- 
 plus faced a deficit. Under the circumstances one 
 might suppose that the states would have been 
 satisfied with the largess of 829,000,000, but ou 
 the contrary, and in spite of hard times, they de- 
 manded the fourth instalment as a right, making 
 desperate elforts to compel its payment though 
 without success. To this day that sum stands on 
 the books of the Federal government against the 
 states ; legally it is a claim but it is of course 
 worthless. 
 
 The use made of the money shows how absurd 
 and vicious was the law and fully confirmed Ben- 
 ton in all he had said. Some of the states divided 
 the money pro rata among the inhabitants, which 
 meant nothing more or less than putting it into 
 immediate circulation, as the amount per capita 
 was very small. Others gave the money to the 
 counties which employed it more or less extrava- 
 gantly either in new enterprises or in reducing tax- 
 ation. Still others used it as a nucleus of an immense 
 fund for internal improvements, — for building 
 railways, canals and the like, most of which were 
 started on the assumption that the distribution was 
 to continue for many years. When the collapse 
 
"OLD BULLION" 191 
 
 came some of the states found themselves with 
 enormous debts aud no resources. Probably there 
 has never been expended in this country a similar 
 sum of money for which there was so little return. 
 It was a bad principle and it worked ill for the 
 reason that people seldom appreciate what comes 
 to them too easily. Like the money the gambler 
 wins, it is soon spent and often most unwisely. 
 
 Benton as Chairman of the Military Committee / 
 of the Senate had asked that this large sum be de- 
 voted to fortifications. It had been estimated that 
 one hundred millions could be expended in this man- 
 ner with worthy results. Benton had also wished 
 the price of lands reduced to the settler and j 
 brought forward for the first time, it seems, a home- 
 stead law by which any man or woman might 
 obtain one hundred and sixty acres of the public do- 
 main by living on it for five years and investing a 
 certain amount of labor and money in the improve- 
 ment of it. This was so wild a scheme that, with 
 his insistence on the use of gold for currency, his 
 killing of the bank, his attacks upon all kinds of 
 paper money and his proposal now to give away 
 land, many considered Benton a fit candidate for a 
 lunatic asylum. Yet every one of these things in 
 time came to pass and it may be said truly that the 
 
192 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 cift of public lands to the industrious poor of this 
 
 /country has had more to do with our rapid national 
 
 / development than any other single policy which 
 
 / has been adopted. After the Civil War hundreds 
 
 / of thousands of young men rushed into the West to 
 
 / take up the new lands and became the backbone of 
 
 I that section. Benton was the father of the cheap 
 
 J land system, and it is curious that Clay almost 
 
 j invariably opposed him. Clay felt that it was bet- 
 
 ' ter to keep up the price and distribute the surplus 
 
 while Benton truly believed that wealth is largest 
 
 in the country which has the greatest number of 
 
 prosperous inhabitants. 
 
 During the summer of 1837 he failed to make his 
 customary tour of Missoui'i on the stump because 
 his aged mother was very ill and he could not be 
 persuaded to leave her bedside ; but he wrote many 
 long letters to his constituents in which he ex- 
 plained his position. In these months his name 
 was suggested in various parts of the country for 
 the presidency or the vice-presidency and he re- 
 ceived many invitations to complimentary public 
 dinners at Cincinnati, Louisville and elsewhere. 
 All these he declined. He had never accepted such 
 kindnesses but once or twice and then only at his 
 home. To Tammany Hall which offered him a 
 
"OLD BULLION" 193 
 
 diuuer and suggested the vice-presidency he wrote 
 that he had no ambitions in either direction and 
 that be favored the renoniination and re-election of 
 Van Buren.* 
 
 He was shrewd enough, however, to see that the 
 fortunes of his party were waning. WTien Ten- 
 nessee, against the warning of "Old Hickory," 
 gave an overwhelming majority to the Whig ticket, 
 almost breaking Jackson's heart, it brought home 
 to Benton a consciousness that the administration, 
 even if as able and puie as he believed, was not 
 likely to retain a hold on the people until the resto- 
 ration of prosperity. This would return slowly. 
 Although the Eastern banks as a rule resumed 
 specie payments within a year, the disturbance of 
 business had been so great that the country at 
 large, which continued to hurl anathemas at Van 
 Buren, recovered very gradually. It was solemnly 
 charged that hemstitched linen dish-cloths were 
 used at the White House in a time of great public 
 distress. Van Buren failed to get his second term ; 
 the prize which Clay had so dearlj'^ longed for was 
 snatched from him by a parliamentary trick at the 
 Whig Convention, and Harrison was nominated and 
 triumphantly elected. 
 
 ' Niles' Register. 
 
CHAPTEE IX 
 
 THE OREGON QUESTION 
 
 There was much of interest during the ad- 
 ministration of Tyler, who followed Harrison in the 
 "White House upon the President's early death, in 
 which Benton bore a conspicuous part. Webster 
 who had remained in the cabinet to complete the 
 treaty with Lord Ashburton for the adjustment of 
 several accumulated differences with Great Britain, 
 and was unceremoniously relieved of his place as 
 soon as he had performed that task, was striving to 
 adjust all the various unsettled difficulties between 
 the two governments. When Lord Ashburton came 
 to this country on a special mission it was felt that 
 no one except Webster was equal to the work in hand 
 but, according to the view of Benton, the Massa- 
 chusetts statesman was clay in the potter's hand. 
 
 We had several grievances and Great Britain only 
 one. The Canadian boundary along the Maine 
 frontier, according to the British view, should be set 
 back to give a tolerably direct road to Halifax. 
 With that fine disregard of geography with which 
 treaties dealing with unknown territory are made, 
 
THE OEEGOX QUESTION 195 
 
 it so happened that we gained more by the actual 
 survey than was expected and really more than 
 was just to Canada. Our strategic position, how- 
 ever, was excellent and a wiser diplomatist than 
 Webster would have used this advantage in trade. 
 For instance, we desired a definition of the Oregon 
 boundary line but Great Britain refused to take 
 the matter up at the time, preferring to trust to 
 some accident in the future. This was a mistake 
 which Benton perceived. Although he was not 
 one of the extremists, he was enough of a public 
 man to know that this was the time for a settlement 
 of a question which was to be entirely omitted from 
 the treaty. We had a quarrel induced by an 
 attack upon our sovereignty during the Fenian 
 troubles in Canada, culminating in the affair in 
 which the Caroline was seized, fired and set 
 adrift to sweep over ]^iagara Falls. This question 
 Great Britain refused to consider. We had a 
 claim, which was small in Webster's eyes, for the 
 value of slaves shipwrecked on British islands and 
 set free. Benton resented this view, maintaining 
 that they should not have been liberated ; they did 
 not reach free soil in any normal way. He saw that 
 if such a precedent were established there would 
 be much irritation between the two countries over 
 
196 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the slavery question, iu which view he was entirely 
 correct. This subject was omitted from the treaty. 
 Great Britain had never formally agreed that she 
 would not impress our seamen and although the 
 grievance was an old one, Benton thought it should 
 be settled at once to avoid disagreements in the 
 future. This was not done. Indeed, all that was 
 accomplished, outside of the rectification of the 
 Canadian frontier, was the establishment of an ex- 
 tradition system and an agreement to participate 
 in the suppression of the slave trade. 
 
 It may seem strange that Benton should object 
 particularly to the last provision, seeing that he 
 considered the slave trade odious. He took the 
 position that, under the circumstances, since we 
 had received nothing in the treaty from Great 
 Britain, we should not have agreed to a clause 
 to carry out which would cost us millions. He 
 thought Great Britain was not the country to grow 
 suddenly virtuous on the slavery question, since 
 her earlier career had been one in defense of the 
 institution. She had fastened the evil upon this 
 country in spite of many early efforts to get rid of 
 it. In this position Benton does not appear to 
 very great advantage. Of course it was a part of 
 his general plan to prevent agitation. He foresaw 
 
THE OREGON QUESTIOI^ 197 
 
 that the agreement would lead to friction but in 
 this case his wisdom was open to question, since 
 the suppression of the slave trade had become an 
 absolute necessity owing to the boldness of the 
 slavers who had no hesitancy in running cargoes 
 into Cuba and even into this country by con- 
 nivance with public officials. 
 
 Financial affairs also attracted much of Benton's 
 attention, for the government was again running 
 behind in its receipts. It was difficult to borrow 
 money on easy terms and resort was had to 
 treasury notes. Benton was the watch- dog of the 
 treasury in those days though he seems to have 
 had the usual experience of such self-constituted 
 officials, achieving only moderate success. The 
 establishment in all respects was small as com- 
 pared with that of modern times yet some ex- 
 penditures seemed to Benton extravagant and he 
 never ceased to decry appropriations when he 
 thought them useless. As we have seen he desired 
 the Navy reduced in size and the West Point 
 Academy abolished. When the telegraph was in- 
 vented it seemed to him that in conjunction with 
 the railroad the art of defense would be so perfect 
 that we could do very well with a small army and 
 almost no navy. 
 
198 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 When a train could reach the seacoast from St. 
 Louis in sixty hours, he thought that such rapid 
 disposition of forces made it unnecessary to have a 
 large army, as he considered mobility superior to 
 numbers. In a sense this view was correct but the 
 Civil War demonstrated the weakness of the theory. 
 
 One of the minor subjects of expense which he 
 attacked was the coast survey. He thought 
 this work should be undertaken by the officers 
 of the Navy, instead of by a body of salaried 
 men in civil life who seemed to him to be pro- 
 tracting the task unnecessarily. Here again Ben- 
 ton erred. The task is not yet completed, although 
 the services of the men engaged in the work have 
 been notable. 
 
 Benton never had much appreciation of a large 
 diplomatic service and though his eyes were con- 
 stantly fixed on the Far East, he had his own ideas 
 as to the methods to be employed if commerce were 
 to be secured with that part of the world. When 
 Caleb Cushing was sent as special envoy to the Em- 
 peror of China and negotiated a treaty under most 
 extraordinary circumstances, amounting almost to 
 duress, Benton did not hesitate to attack him bit- 
 terly. He alleged that much more could ha^e been 
 achieved if greater courtesy and tact had been em- 
 
THE OEEGOX QUESTION 199 
 
 ployed, in which view he was probably correct, as 
 a train of troubles followed the first treaty, the 
 scars from which have never yet been healed ; 
 but he made more of the alleged derelictions of 
 Gushing than now seem to have been justified. 
 Benton's principal fault was that he could not easily 
 be moderate in his denunciation of what he consid- 
 ered wrong and when his auger fell upon an indi- 
 vidual whom he felt had in any way violated 
 national honor, the force of his displeasure was ter- 
 rible in its expression. His temper was shown 
 during many of the debates when he appeared as 
 the champion of Tyler, the renegade Whig whom 
 the real Whig leaders assailed vigorously. 
 
 When the second tariff veto message reached the 
 Senate in 1842, the floor and galleries were crowded. 
 On conclusion of the reading a storm of hisses 
 broke forth followed by applause. This was an 
 unusual breach of the decorum of the Senate and 
 Benton vehemently condemned the outrage. Of 
 course he was delighted with the veto but he would 
 have been as ready to attack his own friends as his 
 enemies for hissing. He immediately called the at- 
 tention of the chair to the situation and the presi- 
 dent pro tern, rapped for order. This did not satisfy 
 Benton, as he thought the raps should be on the 
 
200 
 
 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 
 offenders' heads and not on the table. In an im- 
 passioned speech he demanded that the rufl&ans who 
 had hissed and whom he accused of being friends 
 of the old bank should be brought before the bar 
 of the Senate. For the moment this incident 
 eclipsed the veto message in interest as several 
 senators interposed, saying they had not heard the 
 hisses and thought Mr. Benton was mistaken. 
 That gentleman became aroused and made another 
 fiery onslaught on his foes, alleging that he had dis- 
 tinctly heard them and that such conduct was an 
 outrage on the President as well as the Senate. 
 
 It would appear from the testimony of other 
 senators who were present that the hisses could not 
 have been very loud or long and that Benton was 
 probably unduly alert on this occasion. His mo- 
 tion to have the offender brought to the bar of the 
 Senate was resisted and Buchanan undertook the 
 role of peacemaker. He had heard a slight hiss 
 but thought the matter a trifling one and felt cer- 
 tain that Benton would withdraw his motion, 
 wh<'reupon that Senator cried out : ''I never will, 
 so help me God." 
 
 The discussion was prolonged for some time and 
 finally the man was discovered by the sergeant-at- 
 arms and brought to the bar where he apologized 
 
THE OREGON QUESTION 201 
 
 aud Benton, considering that the dignity of the 
 Senate had been restored, permitted him to go. 
 
 The incident may be considered a not very im- 
 portant one but it is interesting as showing the 
 manner in which Benton believed j)ublic business 
 should be conducted. He had been the object of an 
 assault on a somewhat similar occasion a few years 
 before when the expunging resolution was passed 
 and he was determined to put an end to it. 
 
 Benton's earthly career was almost ended by the 
 explosion of the gun Peacemaker on board the 
 U. S. S. Princeton. The trip of this vessel down 
 the Potomac in February, 1844, was a gala event. 
 President Tyler was on board with Miss Gardiner, 
 whom he was soon to marry, and most of the 
 members of his cabinet as well as many dis- 
 tinguished visitors were in the party. One of 
 the events of the day was the firing of the great 
 cannon that was so inappropriately named. There 
 was some flaw in its construction or the charge was 
 too heavy, and after a number of shots had been 
 fired the gun burst, killing two members of the 
 cabinet, one of the naval officers, and Mr. Gar- 
 diner, the President's prospective father-in-law. 
 
 Benton took a great deal of interest in the jour- 
 ney and as the table had no pleasures for him, he 
 
202 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 busied himself in examining every feature of the 
 boat and the gun. Undoubtedly he would have 
 been among the slain had not one of the officers, 
 knowing his interest in the subject, said to him that 
 he could get a much better view if he would mount 
 a gun carriage directly behind the Peacemaker and 
 thus watch the course of the ball. This he did and 
 was saved, though for a moment it was supposed 
 that he was numbered among the victims. His own 
 description of his experience at that moment, though 
 cumbersomely written, is graphic. He says : 
 
 "I saw the hammer pull back, heard a tap, saw 
 a flash, felt a blast in the face, knew that my hat 
 was gone ; and that was the last I knew of the 
 world, or myself, for a time, of which I can give 
 no account. The first that I knew of myself, or 
 anything afterward, was rising up at the breach of 
 the gun, seeing the gun itself split open — two sea- 
 men, the blood oozing from their ears and nostrils, 
 rising and reeling near me — Commodore Stockton, 
 hat gone and face blackened, standing bolt upright, 
 staring fixedly upon the shattered gun. I heard no 
 noise — no more than the dead. I only knew that 
 the gun had burst from seeing its fragments. I 
 felt no injury, and put my arm under the head of a 
 seaman, endeavoring to rise and falling back. By 
 
THE OEEGON QUESTION 203 
 
 that time friends had run up and led me to the 
 bow — telling me afterward that there was a super- 
 natural whiteness in my face and hands — all the 
 blood in fact having been driven from the sur- 
 face. 
 
 For myself I had gone through the experience of 
 sudden death, as if from lightning, which extin- 
 guishes knowledge and sensation and takes one out 
 of the world without thought or feeling. I think 
 I know what it is to die without knowing it — and 
 that such a death is nothing to him that revives. 
 The rapid and lucid workings of the mind to the 
 instant of extinction, is the marvel that still as- 
 tonishes me. I heard the tap, saw the flash, felt 
 the blast, and knew nothing of the explosion. I 
 was cut off in that inappreciable point of time 
 which intervenes between the flash and the fire — 
 between the burning of the powder in the touch- 
 hole, and the burning of it in the gun. No mind 
 can seize that point of time — no thought can meas- 
 ure it ; yet to me it was distinctly marked, divided 
 life from death — the life that sees, and feels, and 
 knows — from death (for such it was for the time) 
 which annihilates self and the world. And now is 
 credible to me, or rather comprehensible, what per- 
 sons have told me of a rapid and clear working of 
 
204 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the mind in sudden and dreadful catastrophies — as 
 in steamboat explosions and being blown into the 
 air and have the events of their lives pass in review 
 before them, and even speculate on the chances of 
 falling on the deck, and being crushed, or falling 
 on the water and swimming ; and persons recovered 
 from drowning, and running their whole lives over 
 in the interval between losing hope and losing 
 consciousness." 
 
 This tragic event had a very considerable effect 
 on politics, as the two cabinet vacancies were filled 
 by men who up to this time had not been con- 
 sidered for the posts, one of them being Cal- 
 houn, 
 
 \Yhen the Presidential election was coming on 
 Tyler's enemies were determined that his am- 
 bition to succeed himself should not be gratified. 
 Calhoun perceiving that he could not be nomi- 
 nated if the convention were held in December, as 
 was expected, manoeuvred so that it was postponed 
 until the spring of 1844. The Whigs were induced 
 to take the same course. Van Buren was the can- 
 didate of a large majority of the Democrats, and, 
 if instructions had been followed would have been 
 nominated, but the two-thirds rule was adopted 
 and after having disposed of all the candidates, 
 
THE OEEGON QUESTION 205 
 
 one by one (Calhoun having withdrawn before this 
 time), James K. Polk, the first "dark horse " in the 
 history of the presidency, was nominated. Great 
 was the grief of the old stalwart Democrats, but as 
 Polk could not be accounted a party to the affair, 
 he was absolved from blame. 
 
 Although the Oregon boundary was omitted from 
 the Ashburton treaty, the subject was kept alive 
 by an exchange of notes. Calhoun had agreed to 
 extend the line along the forty-ninth parallel to 
 the Pacific, expecting the proposal to be accepted ; 
 but when the British desired the Columbia Eiver, 
 he withdrew the offer. During the campaign of 
 1844 the country was in a state of wild excitement 
 over this northwestern boundary question. The 
 Democratic convention had announced that the 
 latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes was 
 the very lowest we would take and throughout the 
 campaign the party slogan was ' ' Fifty-four Forty 
 or Fight." It was senseless, as such campaign 
 cries are likely to be, for of those who prepared 
 the party platform or raised the cry, not one 
 had any intimate knowledge of the subject. 
 It was a species of jingoism and at that time it was 
 always safe for a party leader to rouse the people's 
 passions against Great Britain by talking of real 
 
206 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 or fancied wrongs. The country was unduly excited 
 over the subject and the prospects of war were by 
 no means remote. 
 
 President Polk in his inaugural address took 
 strong ground and in his first message announced 
 that "fifty -four forty" was our line and must be 
 maintained. As the subject was then under nego- 
 tiation this was not a diplomatic announcement. 
 As a matter of fact, Polk was preparing for the 
 Mexican War and did not desire a difiSculty with 
 , Great Britain at the same time. The more he 
 \ looked into the subject the more convinced he was 
 that his own protestations and those of his party in 
 favor of "fifty-four forty" had not a leg to stand 
 in, but he was not disposed publicly to admit his 
 I inistake. There was one man in public life at this 
 time who was not afraid to say what he thought 
 ind that man was Thomas H.Benton. He urged the 
 \ president not to persist in a course which certainly 
 liieant war and to take a position which in the 
 Uyes of the world could not be maintained. For 
 ||wenty-five years Benton had studied the Oregon 
 uestion. It will be remembered that he succeeded 
 n saving that country to the Union when many 
 ished to let it go. There was no living man who 
 new so much about the subject and it was natural 
 
THE OREGON QUESTION 207 
 
 that the President should turn to Benton though 
 they were not then on intimate terms. 
 
 Now developed one of the most curious of polit- 
 ical situations. Benton stood up manfully and de- 
 nounced the extremists. He said the claim could 
 not be sustained. At this statement the press all \ 
 over the United States again became furious against 
 him. Probably no man in history has been more 
 vilified than he was at this time. He was called 
 a coward, a renegade, a friend of Great Britain, 
 and all sorts of insinuations were leveled against 
 him, except that he had any personal interest in 
 the matter or was guided by financial or other 
 base considerations. That charge was never 
 brought so far as can be discovered, and if made 
 it would have been palpably untrue. But the flood- 
 gates of malice were turned loose against him and 
 a common thief could not have been so much 
 abused. During all this storm Benton stood firm. 
 It must have wounded his vanity but he never 
 changed his course. There were a few Democratic 
 senators willing to express an opinion of the same 
 sort, but there was another coterie of irreconcilables 
 who continued to sympathize with the President 
 and justify his extreme position. 
 
 Polk was now in the attitude of the man in the 
 
\ 
 
 208 THOMAS H, BENTON 
 
 embrace of a bear who wanted some one to help 
 him let go of the brute. In this dilemma he again 
 sent for Benton and asked his aid. Benton told 
 him frankly that he should accept the offer of the 
 forty-ninth parallel which Great Britain had just 
 made. To do anything else would make war inev- 
 itable ; moreover the line was the only proper one. 
 Polk asked Benton to see what the Whigs would do. 
 Perhaps this was the first time in our history that the 
 opposition was canvassed with a view to enlisting 
 it on the side of the administration. Benton said 
 that he believed he could secure enough senators to 
 ratify the treaty, and in fact he did so after making 
 a speech so logical and so full of information that 
 no man who had not ulterior motives could resist 
 its appeal. 
 
 / Another difficulty had arisen. Polk, feeling that 
 he was committed on the other side and that he 
 could not afford to do what he shovdd because of 
 political considerations, was in a quandary when 
 Benton proposed that he adopt the constitutional 
 method of asking the advice of the Senate on the 
 subject. This would break the fall. Polk did so 
 and thereupon his organ, the Union, attacked Benton 
 bitterly day after day, at the very time that he was 
 ti'ying to carry out the President's wishes. A 
 
THE OEEGON QUESTION 209 
 
 smaller man would not have submitted to such \ 
 treatment, but Benton sought results and did not \ 
 care for methods. He desired a peaceful and hon- \ 
 orable settlement and by means of his great influ- J 
 ence over the Whigs and those Democrats in the / 
 Senate who were tractable, in 1846 the treaty was / 
 confirmed. ■> 
 
 It is difficult for us at this day to appreciate how 
 much moral courage was required of Benton in this \ 
 matter. Partisanship is less intense now than at \ 
 that time, and a change of party affiliation more \ 
 readily condoned. No man but Benton could have | 
 withstood the wrath of the public and the opinion ^ 
 of no other man.that the treaty was just^could have 
 been made to prevail. 
 
 Benton's interest in Oregon had now become per- 
 sonal in a peculiar sense. There was in the regular 
 army at this time a dashing young lieutenant, a 
 topographical engineer, named John C. Fremont. 
 As Benton had four beautiful daughters and Miss 
 Jessie was the acknowledged belle of Washington, 
 it was natural that Fremont should be a visitor at 
 the house, where he soon became more than a cas- 
 ual friend. If Benton had known that the young 
 man was laying siege to the heart of his daughter, 
 it is certain Fremont would have been ordered to 
 
210 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the most distant post in the laud. He liked Fre- 
 mont, for the young officer had made a trip to 
 Oregon with an exploring party and had brought 
 back an immense amount of information concern- 
 ing the country. He was meditating a second, 
 which had been authorized by the War Department 
 engineers. Naturally Benton desired to learn much 
 from the young man and it soon became a case of 
 Othello, Desdemona and Brabantio. Miss Jessie 
 well knew that her father would never consent to 
 her marriage to a poor lieutenant, so the young 
 couple eloped. Terrible was the wrath of Benton, 
 as his daughter had suspected. At first he thi-eat- 
 ened all sorts of punishment but when his rage had 
 cooled, his daughter managed, as pretty and intelli- 
 gent girls usually will, to overcome his opposition 
 and peace was restored in the family, though Ben- 
 ton was long in forgiving Fremont and perhaps 
 would not have done so at all had the latter not 
 been made the subject of persecution. 
 
 Fr6mont now hurried off on his second expedi- 
 tion for he learned there was some likelihood that 
 it would be postponed. He had only twenty-five 
 men and with these he hastened to a post in west- 
 ern Missouri, leaving his wife at her father's home 
 in St. Louis. Fr^^mout's suspicious were correct. 
 
THE OREGON QUESTION 211 
 
 When the War Department found that he had 
 requisitioned a mountain howitzer, it became 
 alarmed, fearing that the expedition would lead to 
 unfortunate consequences as it looked to be military 
 rather than scientific. Orders were at once de- 
 spatched for his recall and he was charged person- 
 ally with the cannon he had taken. The mail was 
 forwarded to St. Louis, where the young and am- 
 bitions wife took the precaution to open it and dis- 
 creetly kept the letter of recall. Thus Fremont got 
 away. This time his explorations were of more 
 notable value. On his return he was complimented 
 and brevetted, and soon prepared for a third expe- 
 dition which had more serious consequences. 
 
 Senator Benton upheld his daughter Jessie in all 
 she had done in this matter, though she was wise 
 enough not to tell him until the young man was 
 well out of his reach. * 
 
 ' See Jessie Benton Fremont's sketch of her father's life. 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 
 
 During Jackson's administratioDS the subject of 
 slavery had been injected prominently into the 
 Senate. As Benton frequently had occasion to 
 remark, he was opposed equally to slavery agita- 
 tion and slavery extension. He wished that things 
 should be left as they were and on all occasions 
 tried to smother discussion of a subject which was 
 becoming more and more important every day, 
 because of the acts of men both North and South. 
 The pioneer anti-slavery society in the country 
 was composed of Friends who were accustomed to 
 meet yearly, passing resolutions and occasionally 
 petitioning Congress on the subject. Usually their 
 petitions were received and laid on the table with- 
 out further action ; but in Jackson's second term 
 both House and Senate were besieged by petitions 
 not only from Friends and other organized societies 
 but from hosts of individuals, all bearing upon one 
 or another phase of the slavery question. These 
 rapidly increased in ininibor after the nullification 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 213 
 
 threats of Calhoun and his coterie. If the North 
 thought that slavery was the cause of all the 
 trouble, so did the South. The question at issue 
 was whether more concessions should be made to 
 the slave-power or whether the evil should be re- 
 stricted wherever possible. The agitation which 
 was started at this time, lasted for thirty years and 
 resulted in the emancipation of the slave under 
 most extraordinary circumstances. Nothing is 
 more certain than that manumission would have 
 been delayed for a long time, in the end probably 
 being gradual, had not the ill-advised friends of 
 slavery forced the issue at a time that they thought 
 they were smothering it. The Abolitionists were 
 just as radical and thus a crisis was reached. 
 
 The postmaster-general having refused without 
 warrant to carry through the mails certain news- 
 papers containing diatribes against slavery which 
 were declared to be '' incendiary," a bill was intro- 
 duced making it a penalty for any postmaster or 
 other Federal employee to forward such matter. 
 This was a setting up of a public censorship that 
 would have led to serious results. The bill was 
 warmly endorsed by Calhoun who made speeches 
 on the subject, in which he returned to his favorite 
 topic of nullification and his prophecy as to the 
 
214 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 breaking up of the republic unless the South 
 could have its own way in the matter. 
 
 One cannot but have a certain amount of sym- 
 pathy for Calhoun who felt so deeply on this sub- 
 ject and was doubtless as sincere as he was able. 
 As a study in political pessimism his character is 
 without an equal in our day. One trouble with 
 him was that he assumed to speak for the whole 
 South and all the slave-owners, whereas at this time 
 he represented only a faction. If Calhoun could 
 have kept silent, the bill might have passed ; but as 
 he must renew his threats against the Union, there 
 were those who would not follow him a step. Even 
 Clay was dissatisfied with his own part in the 
 previous compromise whereby South Carolina had 
 been conciliated by a reduction of the tariff. Web- 
 ster who had opposed the compromise and Benton 
 who had also vigorously fought it, saw in Calhoun's 
 conduct a justification for their action. They 
 knew that he would never be satisfied and they did 
 not intend to try to pacifj^ him any further. 
 
 Benton deprecated the extreme views and meas- 
 ures of the Abolitionists and in many instances 
 jave them much less credit than they deserved. 
 
 [is sympathies were with the slaveholders, in 
 )eaceful possession of their legal rights, but he 
 
SLAVEEY AGITATION AND TEXAS 215 
 
 may have been biased too much in their favor. 
 One thing is certain : he altogether failed to see 
 how impossible it was to suppress slavery agitation. 
 He was continually crying peace, but there was no 
 peace since in the controversy both sides were de- 
 termined upon a war of extermination. In the 
 postal censorship debate he had an angry colloquy 
 with Calhoun in which the latter was censured for 
 conjuring up ghosts to frighten the people. As to 
 Calhoun's report on the bill Benton makes this 
 comment, written many years afterward, — indeed 
 after the last great comj)romise of 1850 had been 
 effected : 
 
 ''The insidiousness of this report was in the as- 
 sumption of an actual impending danger of the 
 abolition of slavery in all the slave states ; the 
 destruction of $950,000,000 of property -, the ocean 
 of blood to be shed ; the war of extermination be- 
 tween the two races and the necessity for extraor- 
 dinary means to prevent these dire calamities; 
 when the fact was, that there was not one particle 
 of any such danger. The assumption was contrary 
 to fact ; the report was inflammatory and disorgan- 
 izing ; and if there was anything enigmatical in its 
 conclusions it was sufficiently interpreted in the 
 contemporaneous publications in the Southern slave 
 
216 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 States which were open iu their declarations that a 
 cause for separation had occurred, limited only by 
 the conduct of the free states in suppressing within 
 a given time the incendiary societies within their 
 borders. This limitation would throw the respon- 
 sibility of disunion upon the non-slaveholding 
 states failing to suppress these societies." 
 
 Fortunately there were other Southern men be- 
 sides Benton who opposed Calhoun, among them 
 Henry Clay, King of Georgia, and Leigh of Vir- 
 ginia. The bill was confused with the petition of 
 the Friends for the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia and the debates which ensued 
 covered the whole ground. 
 
 When it came to a vote on the bill Calhoun and 
 his party saw that they were beaten, but they re- 
 solved to prolong the contest. Van Buren, the 
 Vice-president who was slated for the Democratic 
 nomination to succeed Jackson, was singled out for 
 attack. By leaving the Senate in precisely the re- 
 quired numbers at various times while the debate 
 was in progress, it was necessary for Van Buren 
 to cast the deciding vote. When it came to the 
 vote on engrossment the Vice-president was not 
 in his seat, having retired behind the chair. Cal- 
 houn was angry when he saw the chair empty and 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 217 
 
 in a voice betraying his agitation, he cried out that 
 the sergeant-at-arms must seek the Vice-president 
 and bring him to the Senate. This was a petty 
 performance, utterly unworthy of the man or the 
 occasion. Van Buren, who was one of the most 
 imperturbable of statesmen, calmly came forward 
 and gave his casting vote for the engrossment. 
 Calhoun hoped that this act would hurt Van Buren 
 in the North, but it did not in the least. 
 
 Benton had wearied of Calhoun's conduct and 
 never ceased to inveigh against it, but he still in- 
 sisted that there was no danger of serious sectional 
 dispute. When the time came he was one of the 
 sturdiest opponents of further compromise, but 
 again he was outvoted by the radicals on both sides 
 of Mason and Dixon's line who thought they knew 
 so much better than he what was for the common- 
 weal. 
 
 One reason that led Benton to believe there was 
 no desire on the part of the North or the South to 
 interfere with the rights of slaveholders was that 
 at this very session (1836-7) he had succeeded in 
 having the limits of the state of Missouri extended 
 at the extreme northwest so as to include a strip of 
 very desirable land between the Missouri River 
 and the former bouudai-y, — an alteration of that 
 
218 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 meridian which now bounds the greater part of the 
 state ou the west. This was a body of land about 
 the size of Delaware and in that section forever 
 dedicated to freedom by the Missouri Compromise. 
 To Benton's gratification there was only the feeblest 
 objection to the extension and with it went slavery. 
 He frequently pointed to this circumstance in after 
 years to show that the North had no desire to act 
 unfairly and it is a pity there were not enough en- 
 lightened men to see that this was the case. The 
 fact is that Benton was unblinded by prejudice in 
 the matter while sooner or later most people be- 
 came so imbued with their private views that they 
 did not seek the truth, nor would they accept it 
 when it was pointed out to them. This was dis- 
 heartening to Benton who was optimistic almost to 
 the last day of his life. 
 
 At this session Michigan and Arkansas applied 
 for admission as states although for neither of them 
 had Congress passed enabling acts ; and their ap- 
 plications were therefore considered premature. 
 Special committees were appointed in the Senate to 
 consider each petition. That of Michigan, the free 
 state, was submitted to a committee of which Benton 
 was chairman and that of the slave state to a com- 
 mittee headed by Buchanan, so that here at least 
 
SLAVEKY AGITATION AND TEXAS 219 
 
 there could be no fear that slavery would be un- 
 justly treated by the North in the Senate. Benton 
 with his usual liberality, especially toward the 
 "West, reported that the haste of Michigan was not 
 a matter of moment, that she was entitled to ad- 
 mission and the bill passed easily. Arkansas was 
 admitted by a still larger vote. Clay and four other 
 senators being the sole opponents. In the House 
 some excitement was caused by John Quiucy 
 Adams' opposition to a clause in the constitution 
 of Ai'kausas that seemed to make impossible the 
 freeing of any slave. Adams said that he had his 
 personal views about slavery but felt it his duty to 
 permit Ai-kansas to enter the Union as a slave 
 state. His amendment requiring a change in the 
 constitution, failed to pass, although it was the 
 subject of an all-night struggle. 
 
 It was in this debate that Adams made the omi- 
 nous statement not much thought of at the time but 
 afterward remembered. He said that Congress in 
 time of peace had no right to abolish slavery, by 
 implication giving it as his opinion that the slaves 
 could be emancipated in time of war, a discovery 
 usually credited to President Lincoln. 
 
 During the Van Buren administration the angry 
 contest between the Abolitionists and the slave- 
 
220 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 holders over the right of petition took place in the 
 House of Representatives. In the Senate it had be- 
 come the accepted rule to receive such petitions in 
 silence unless some member took occasion to offer 
 remarks upon the subject and bring on one of those 
 altercations which Benton so greatly desired to 
 avoid. In the House John Quincy Adams gained 
 his title of "the old man eloquent" by his 
 championship of the right of these petitioners to 
 be heard. We shall obtain an entirely erroneous 
 idea if we suppose that by the constitutional right 
 of petition was meant simply the right to send 
 documents to Congress. What was intended was 
 the reference of such petitions to a committee 
 which would make a report on the subject. The 
 so-called " gag-law" was simply a resolution phys- 
 ically to present these petitions to Congress when 
 no further attention would be paid to them. Over 
 this subject the contest raged and though the slave- 
 holders won, Adams kept up the struggle against 
 the system until it was later sensibly modified. 
 
 Benton sat silent through these debates. He 
 maintained that discussion was the worst possible 
 means of suppressing the evils complained of and 
 thought the fears of Calhoun were all ghosts. He 
 saw that no sooner was one position taken to meet 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 221 
 
 the objections of the Southerners than they shifted 
 their ground and made new demands. Calhoun 
 who had supported the Missouri C!om promise, 
 again assailed it as an evil measure which was 
 certain, if persisted in, to ruin the country. This 
 contention of Calhoun's was becoming exceed- 
 ingly galling to Benton, who knew that there 
 was no danger of Northern interference with the 
 slavery system, no matter how many petitions 
 of individuals or societies were sent to Congress. 
 He foresaw too, if Calhoun continued to assert 
 that the slave states would sooner or later secede, 
 that the North would arise and take some radical 
 action. Benton frequently referred to the words 
 of Madison who in the last year of his life, at 
 the age of eighty-eight, with unequaled knowledge 
 of our history, gained by personal contact, sol- 
 emnly stated that while Calhoun and his group 
 might really mean no harm by their threats, they 
 were undoubtedly educating a set of younger men 
 in their beliefs who would go to further lengths 
 and would unite the whole South on some critical 
 occasion when nullification would be the first step, 
 secession and separation the last. 
 
 The Texas question had not been allowed to 
 slumber since Monroe, at the North's behest, re- 
 
222 ' THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 fused to accept this great territory from .Spain. 
 BentOD was enraged over the action and denounced 
 Monroe for it until he found that all the members 
 of the cabinet had concurred in the decision. He 
 still believed that it was a tactical error and one 
 that must be corrected sooner or later. His old 
 friend, Sam Houston, who had been a corporal in 
 his regiment in the War of 1812, had mystified and 
 astonished all his friends after his election to the 
 governorship of Tennessee in 1826, by suddenly 
 disappearing under circumstances which have 
 never to this day been satisfactorily explained.' 
 Going to Texas which was then a Mecca for 
 Americans, especially if they had got into difficulty 
 at home, he soon engaged himself with the revolu- 
 tionists who waged perpetual war against Mexico, 
 a republic in name and a despotism in operation. 
 At the battle of San Jacinto, Houston won a com- 
 plete victory over General Santa Anna and Texas 
 thereafter asserted her independence. In this terri- 
 tory could be seen several potential slave states. 
 Under existing conditions there was only one more 
 slave state in view, Florida, but she made such slow 
 progress in population and was the scene of an 
 
 'See " Recollections of Fifty Years," by A. K. McClure, for 
 one accouut of this disappearance. 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 223 
 
 Indian war so long aud bloody, that her admission 
 was likely to suffer long postponement. 
 
 In 1836 a proposal was made for the annexation 
 of Texas but that state was still engaged in fighting 
 Mexico aud had not asked the privilege. In 1838 
 the Texans made formal application for statehood 
 although the war continued in a desultory way. 
 As the administration was not ready for war with 
 Mexico, the subject was given very little considera- 
 tion and was laid on the table in the Senate by a 
 decisive vote. Benton, in spite of his belief that 
 we should have held Texas, was not willing to fight 
 for it now, especially as such action would reopen 
 the slavery question. His constant hope of quell- 
 ing this agitation is creditable to his heart but not 
 to his head, since if there were one thing that could 
 not be suppressed it was this very subject which 
 propagandists on both sides were discussing in- 
 cessantly. 
 
 In Tyler's administration the question came for- 
 ward once more, and in a more ominous way. The \ 
 President was scheming for re-election and his chief 
 issue was Texas. He had played the Whigs false 
 aud the Democrats were willing to use him as a- 
 tool but he still believed that he was to be his owu 
 successor. Texan annexation he thought would 
 
224 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 secure him a "solid South" while Northern 
 Democrats would come to his supi)ort, assuring 
 him the victory. 
 
 The first movement in this direction was the 
 publication of a broadside in a newspaper, stating 
 that Great Britain was about to annex Texas and 
 seize Oregon, when she would have this nation en- 
 compassed on all sides. The article was adroit, 
 seemingly based on genuine information, cunningly 
 calculated to alarm the American peojjle and 
 carefully concealing the underlying slavery ques- 
 tion. Benton had no faith in such news. He be- 
 lieved that Calhoun was the author of the article 
 or at least had inspired it. At this time Calhoun, 
 made Secretary of State through the Princeton dis- 
 aster, was a candidate for the presidential nomina- 
 tion. His whole soul was in the Texas annexation 
 scheme but he perceived that it was surrounded 
 with many difficulties. A more ingenious ruse was 
 never invented in politics than that which was pre- 
 pared and carried out to secure Texas. From the 
 first Benton was considered an important factor in 
 the affair but as he was a foe of Calhoun it was 
 necessary to approach him diplomatically. This 
 was done through the medium of Senator Brown, 
 of Tennessee, an old companion, who came to Ben- 
 
SLAYEEY AGITATION AND TEXAS 225 
 
 ton with many warm expressions of friendship and 
 congratulated him on the fact that at last Texas 
 was to be joined to the Union. Benton was no man 
 to be captured with soft words. To Brown's suav- 
 ity he replied : 
 
 "Texan annexation as now planned is on the 
 part of some an intrigue for the presidency and a 
 plot to dissolve the Union ; on the part of others 
 a Texas scrip and land speculation, and I am 
 against it." 
 
 This was a severe blow to the Southern men and 
 it was seen that haste must be made to commit 
 Jackson to annexation. By means of clever 
 diplomacy, by playing on the old man's patriotism 
 and his vanity, the ruse succeeded and Jackson de- 
 clared strongly for the treaty of annexation, much 
 to the disgust of Benton and many of "Old 
 Hickory's" stoutest friends. Jackson perceived, 
 when it was too lat«, that he had unwittingly 
 aimed a blow at the renomination of Van Buren 
 and sought in vain to counteract the effect of his 
 action. 
 
 Then came a most surprising development. Al- 
 though the letter alleging that Great Britain was 
 about to annex Texas had no official standing 
 whatever, the English government was induced 
 
226 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 to take note of it and Lord Aberdeen, British 
 Foreign Secretary, wrote a despatch in which an 
 emphatic denial was given to the rumor. This was 
 proper enough but his lordship made a most ex- 
 traordinary blunder by announcing in the course 
 of his despatch, that ''Great Britain desires, and 
 is constantly exerting herself to procure, the gen- 
 eral abolition of slavery throughout the world." 
 
 It was true that his government had nothing 
 whatever to do with American slavery and would 
 never interfere in our domestic affairs, but the an- 
 nouncement set the country aflame. Calhoun and 
 his followers were beside themselves with rage. 
 The Abolitionists welcomed the statement and it 
 was an invitation to continue their propaganda. 
 After the signing of the treaty in April, 1844, to 
 annex Texas suddenlj^ and by stealth, Secretary 
 of State Calhoun, proceeded to reply to Lord 
 Aberdeen in a despatch which must have amazed 
 that dignified gentleman. It was a stump speech, 
 addressed to the American people and contained 
 data which was of no interest to Great Britain — in- 
 deed it was hardlj'^ comprehensible in England. It 
 was an argument for slavery and its extension and 
 contained an alleged compilation of statistics show- 
 ing how much better morally, spiritually and phys- 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 227 
 
 ically were the slaves than the free blacks. The 
 document had its uses in forwarding the Texas 
 matter, but the trick was discovered and exposed 
 by Benton who proceeded, as he said, to ''pull the 
 devil from under the blanket," meaning Calhoun. 
 
 Benton's position was now very peculiar. He 
 was opposed to the annexation of Texas by the 
 treaty which had been secretly and underhandedly 
 negotiated only to fail by a decisive vote in the 
 Senate. He felt that no such important treaty 
 should be carried through without legislative 
 action and some consideration for Mexico. In 
 these days it is easy for us to say that Mexico was 
 still sovereign over the disputed territory and that 
 the Texan affair was a conspiracy from beginning 
 to end. If there had been a good government in 
 Mexico, if there had been a proper administrative 
 supervision of Texas from the Mexican capital, 
 there might be something in this contention. But 
 this was not the case. 
 
 The discussion proceeded after the election of 
 Polk. Although disappointed because of Van 
 Buren's defeat in 1844, Benton had felt called 
 upon to support the party candidate in this cam- 
 paign. Polk was an open and avowed annexa- 
 tionist but with some reserve since he desired to 
 t 
 
228 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 respect the rights of all who were involved in the 
 contest. 
 
 At the session of 1844-45, the Senate objected to the 
 first annexation proposal which was fathered by the 
 House and which was that Texas should come into 
 the Union simply by a resolution of Congress to that 
 effect. This was an unprecedented course. The 
 Senate contained some members opposed to an- 
 nexation on any terms and very few were favor- 
 able to this new suggestion since it seemed certain 
 to result in war. There was no guarantee that 
 Mexico would be satisfied with the boundary lines 
 as they were fixed by Congress though this dispute 
 was supposed to be provided for in the bill. It was 
 alleged by senators of all parties that a matter of 
 this sort required not only legislative action but 
 diplomatic negotiation so that there should be an 
 understanding among the three nations involved. 
 Benton took the lead and introduced a resolution 
 to the effect that annexation should be arranged for 
 wholly by negotiation. The Senate favored this 
 idea but the end of the session was now at hand 
 and unless something were done speedily the matter 
 must go over to the next Congress which was what 
 the cooler heads preferred. 
 
 Senator Walker, of Mississippi, soon to enter 
 
SLAVERY AGITATION AND TEXAS 229 
 
 upon a more distinguished career, now came for- 
 ward with a proposal that the propositions of the 
 House and the Senate be joined so that the 
 President could take his choice. This was an 
 extraordinary compromise, one that never could 
 have been agreed to except that President-elect 
 Polk was in town in conference with the leaders 
 of the party and anxious to have something 
 done. He announced that if the bill were passed 
 in its dual form he would take the Senate's advice 
 and send out a commission composed of able men, 
 rei)resenting all shades of opinion on the subject. 
 Benton agreed to this and after canvassing the Sen- 
 ate and House it was found that the measure could 
 pass. It is true, the suggestion was offered that 
 Tyler might at the last moment act on the annexa- 
 tion question himself. This idea was resented with 
 indignation by members on both sides of the cham- 
 ber who considered such a suggestion an imputation 
 not only upon the President but upon the high 
 office which he filled. When all possible guaran- 
 tees seemed to be given, the Senate passed the bill 
 with much reluctance and by a majority of only 
 two votes. The House concurred and on Saturday, 
 March 1, the measure went to the President and 
 the senators were considering who should execute 
 
230 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the delicat^ commission. On Monday, when Con- 
 gress met for its last legislative day, great was the 
 surprise and anger of many members to learn that 
 the '' impossible infamy" had taken place, that 
 Tyler had sent a commissioner to negotiate for the 
 annexation of Texas according to the House plan 
 and that Polk would be relieved of all responsibil- 
 ity in the matter. 
 
 The rage of the Senate knew no bounds and Ben- 
 ton was almost beside himself. He had been the 
 unconscious instrument by which the country had 
 taken over a war. Had he supposed for a moment 
 that Tyler would act with such precipitancy and 
 against the manifest wish of Congress, the bill 
 would never have reached the President. The 
 fraud, as Benton said, was "prolific of evil and 
 pregnant with bloody fruit." 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 THE WAR WITH MEXICO 
 
 Benton, as we have seen, made no concealment 
 of his belief that the war with Mexico was conceived 
 in sin and born in iniquity, but like so many others 
 of a similar opinion he found no recourse but to 
 support the government after the contest had been 
 begun. He always accused Calhoun of being the 
 author of the war though that statesman was 
 actually opposed to it, little supposing that his 
 piece of trickery (for Calhoun is alleged to have 
 led Tyler into it), would produce a clash of arms. 
 South Carolina's great leader thought the Mexican 
 government would dispose of its interest in Texas 
 for a. lump sum. 
 
 In Benton's view the war was the result of a con- 
 spiracy : 
 
 '' On Sunday the second day of March — that day 
 which preceded the last day of his [Tyler's] author- 
 ity — and on that day, sacred to peace — the council 
 sat that acted on the resolutions, and in the dark- 
 ness of the night, howling with the storm and bat- 
 
232 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 tling with the elements as if Heaven warred upon 
 the audacious act (for well do I remember it), the 
 fatal messenger was sent off which carried the se- 
 lected resolution to Texas." 
 
 This passage refers to Tyler's precipitate action 
 in securing Texas when it was intended that Polk 
 should negotiate for it on the basis of the Senate's 
 bill. The messenger accomplished his mission but 
 there was another task which was esteemed of 
 more importance. Negotiations had been opened 
 with General Santa Anna, the one-legged ex- 
 dictator of Mexico, who had been in and out 
 of power many times, and was now in exile. 
 The plan was that as soon as the war should 
 open, Santa Anna would be allowed to pass through 
 the American lines and enter the City of Mexico 
 where he was to counsel peace, Mexico receiving 
 her douceur in a large sum of money. The first 
 part of the program was carried out. Santa Anna 
 reached Mexico by our own connivance but instead 
 of being our friend, turned against us, raised the 
 standard of Mexico, called the populace to his sup- 
 port, and conducted the war to the end with con- 
 siderable ability in spite of his constant defeats. 
 
 Congress did not vote the two millions asked of it 
 to buy off Mexico, and in the next Congress Polk 
 
THE WAK WITH MEXICO 233 
 
 called for three millions to be emj)loyed secretly. 
 There was opposition to such underhand use of 
 money and any possibility of voting it was removed 
 when David Wilmot, a member of the House from 
 a northeast Pennsylvania district, offered the pro- 
 viso bearing his name, which became the rallying 
 point in politics for many years, and embodied the 
 idea upon which the Eepublican party was essen- 
 tially founded. This Proviso was to the effect that 
 slavery should not be permitted in any territory 
 secured as a result of the appropriation. It started 
 the flames of slavery agitation once more, much to 
 the disgust of Benton. He saw that this was what 
 Calhoun desired, since it gave him an issue on 
 which to continue his nullification propaganda. 
 
 Benton, as usual, saw no occasion for forcing the 
 contest. He said there was no reason for the Proviso 
 as there was no slavery in the territory in question 
 and it would be time enough to settle the matter 
 when it came up in concrete form. He did not suc- 
 ceed in suppressing the Wilmot idea, as it remained 
 the most potent suggestion in regard to slavery re- 
 striction which had yet been offered. It also had 
 for its effect the birth of the Southern doctrine that 
 Congress had no right to legislate respecting slav- 
 ery in the territories. This was a proposition so 
 
/ 
 
 A 
 
 234 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 contrary to fact and to the former beliefs of Cal- 
 houn, that it was long ere Benton could be con- 
 vinced that a stand was to be made on this theory. 
 He had now some ten years more of public life and 
 to the last he fought this proposition which was not 
 only false in principle but was, as he said, '* a 
 damnable heresy." 
 
 This issue marked a crisis in his political life. 
 Hitherto he had fought with much success against 
 the agitation of the slavery question and had been 
 able to impress Northern and Southern statesmen 
 
 I with his view that there was nothing to agitate. 
 He still maintained this position in public but 
 
 ! it is easy to see that he was not well convinced 
 of the truth of his theory. As he saw the dis- 
 ciples of Calhoun increase in numbers his heart 
 began to fail him. He would not support the 
 
 \ Wilmot Proviso but he gave no countenance to the 
 \|iullifiers. 
 
 We must be just to Benton. He may have failed 
 to discern the signs of coming storm, to realize that 
 the battle must be fought between those who were 
 on the side of the Proviso and those who thought 
 with Calhoun that Congress could not legislate at 
 all on slavery. He may have lacked that percep- 
 tive quality which he usually possessed in looking 
 
THE WAR WITH MEXICO 235 
 
 at public questions. Or he may have seen the 
 danger clearly enough, hoping that his policy of 
 repression would finally win. As a matter of fact, 
 we know that the outcome was not what he had ex- 
 pected and that the contest between the two elements 
 in the country continued to grow fiercer, with a 
 single temporary interruption, until the Civil War. 
 
 Perhaps it was too much to expect that a man of 
 more than sixty who had so long fought for the 
 integrity of the Union would change his views 
 easily. It can be asserted without fear of contra- 
 diction that there never was a moment when he did 
 not strive to do his whole duty as he saw it, and 
 that as he became older his determination grew 
 stronger to smite the monster of nullification. 
 
 When Congress met again Benton was once more 
 called into conference with the President, who ad- 
 mired him and respected him though the two 
 men had no political affiliations. Polk had deter- 
 mined on a campaign of "masterly inactivity." 
 By this time Taylor had fought the battles of Palo 
 Alto and Resaca de la Palma, had crossed over to 
 Matamoras and had taken Monterey. The news of 
 the first bloodshed had inflamed the country and 
 Congress at its late session had provided for an 
 increase of the army and some volunteers. Polk 
 
236 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 had sent to Congress the lying message in which 
 he declared that the war had been inaugui-ated by 
 Mexico tlirough the shedding of American blood 
 on American soil. Though knowing that it was 
 false, Congress voted him men and money and Ben- 
 ton had spent a vacation at home heartsick over 
 the situation. He was convinced, however, that if 
 there was to be a war it had better be a short and 
 aggressive one. He was not of those who relied 
 upon the promises of the administration that there 
 would be no war, or that, after hostilities had 
 begun it would last from sixty to ninety days, or 
 foui* months at the most. Benton was perhaps the 
 ripest Spanish scholar in the country. He was bet- 
 ter versed in the history of the Spanish -American 
 states than any man in public life and had no illu- 
 sions on the subject. He knew that the military 
 spirit was aroused in Mexico and in spite of the 
 fact that there was so large a proportion of our 
 people who believed the war unjust, it was certain 
 there would be no lack of men on our side to up- 
 hold the banners of the nation. 
 
 He was therefore much chagrined when Polk 
 showed him his annual message and asked his views 
 concerning that portion which dealt with the war. 
 It exasperated Benton to find that the idea of the 
 
\ 
 
 THE WAR WITH MEXICO 
 
 President, supported unanimously by his ca 
 
 was to do nothing, wasting time in negoti 
 
 the real expectation being that Mexico co 
 
 *' bought off." Benton, as requested, replied li a \ 
 
 letter in which he made strong objections to the pro 
 
 posed plan of ''masterly inactivity." His poli^, \ 
 
 as outlined therein, was to attack Vera Cruz, captSe 
 
 it and send an army on the road to Mexico Citj, 
 
 following the route taken by Cortez centuries befor 
 
 To do this there must be another call for volunteer 
 
 as it was neither practicable nor popular to rai 
 
 regulars hastily for the purpose. 
 
 Polk was much impressed by this proposal an^ 
 invited Benton to a cabinet meeting where the 
 whole plan was considered carefully and rejected. 
 The Secretary of War had been telling the gover- 
 nors of the States that no more volunteers were 
 needed and he did not wish to change his policy. 
 Benton finally had his own way, much to the annoy 
 ance of the cabinet, and the plan to prosecute the 
 war actively was adopted. This was exactly what 
 General Scott wished. He himself desired to go 
 forward and fight his way to the Mexican capital. 
 He was at the head of the army and it was natural 
 and right that he should have the place, but Taylor 
 had achieved so much success that he could not 
 
238M THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 welj be superseded. This was the situation in a 
 military way, while political considerations were 
 of miuch more importance. Taylor was a Whig 
 and already there had been talk of making him a 
 candidate for the presidencj'. Scott also heard the 
 
 Mzzing of the Presidential bee and the admiuis- 
 ition was perfectly well aware that the war would 
 I yield a candidate who would in all probability suc- 
 } ceed at the polls. It was maddening to think that 
 1^1 "Whig might profit by the Mexican victories and 
 ^■*olk was anxious to have a Democrat take the 
 ■leadership if possible. As there was no Democrat 
 p in the army of the necessary qualifications the 
 \ thought arose in the President's mind that Benton 
 i would be the man for the place.' He had been a 
 colonel of volunteers in the War of 1812 and a 
 lieutenant- colonel in the regular army when he had 
 actual rank ahead of either Taylor or Scott. It 
 does not seem to have been Polk's idea that Benton 
 should command upon the battle-field, but he was to 
 go to the front as lieutenant-general and exercise 
 an oversight over the two contending armies, and 
 particularly to make the treaty of peace when the 
 fighting had come to an end. Benton rather ex- 
 
 * In some accounts it is stated that Benton waa the first to 
 make the suggestion. 
 
THE WAK WITH MEXICO 239 
 
 pected to stay in Washington and deal with grand 
 strategy only. 
 
 It is really singular to think that he should ever 
 have entertained such a proposal. It is true that 
 he was commonly called "Colonel" Benton and 
 was proud of the very little experience he had in 
 war, though none of it was gained in actual combat. 
 But that he was not trained in the art of war every 
 one knows and that he would have developed com- 
 petency seems most improbable. It was here that 
 the vanity of the man appeared. He loved the 
 pomp and circumstance of war and was desirous of 
 popular applause of all kinds. He would have 
 loved to come home as the conqueror, ready to take 
 the presidency. And it is certain that this plan 
 would have been carried out had not some of his 
 own party opposed the project, among them Bu- 
 chanan, who in the elevation of Benton saw death 
 to his own ambitions. Others who ought now 
 really to have aided Benton, or refrained from op- 
 posing him, succeeded in killing the measure, so 
 that he never wore the three stars he coveted and 
 we can rejoice that he did not, since his true fame 
 could not have been enhanced by waging a war to 
 which he was sincerely opposed in principle. 
 Later he was nominated and confirmed a major- 
 
240 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 general but, after some curious backing and filling 
 on the subject, declined the service. 
 
 Taylor was left on the Rio Grande, Scott fought 
 his way to Mexico City and the war ended with the 
 rape of Mexican territory as far West as the Pacific 
 coast for which we paid an enormous sum to salve 
 the national conscience. 
 
 The war had many peculiar phases. One inci- 
 dent in which Benton was peculiarly interested was 
 the behavior of his son-in-law Fremont. On his 
 third exploring expedition he dismissed topography 
 from his mind and started off on his own account 
 to capture California for the nation before he 
 knew that a war with Mexico was in progress. 
 Ostensibly he began operations in behalf of the 
 local "patriots" who were all Americans, con- 
 ducting a kind of revolution like the Texans, but 
 he knew that the war was sure to come and saw 
 that a British squadron was ready to seize the 
 country. Therefore he took the initiative and won, 
 gaining a good deal of rather cheap glory, as it 
 proved in the end, while he might have been 
 hanged had things turned out differently. As it 
 was, when Fremont reached home he was court- 
 martialed. Though Polk did not sustain the sen- 
 tence of dismissal the young man resigned from the 
 
THE WAE WITH MEXICO 241 
 
 army, later to enjoy a brief and spectacular career 
 in politics and in the Civil War, after which he was 
 forgotten for a generation. 
 
 Eegardless of the morals of the contest it must be 
 said that it rounded out our boundaries to their 
 natural limits, the more so because railway trans- 
 portation was fast developing and California was 
 by no means so remote as twenty-five years before, 
 when Benton supposed that the Eocky Mountains 
 were our natural barrier. 
 
 It is noteworthy that although the country was 
 divided on the issue of waging the war there was 
 little objection to taking the unholy spoil. Whigs 
 united with Democrats in voting all the money that 
 was needed and though the Wilmot Proviso in one 
 shape or another came up forty times in Congress 
 it never passed both houses and the only result was 
 a party shibboleth for the rising generation. It 
 was all very well for Benton to say there was no 
 danger, but there was danger. K'othing could now 
 prevent a culmination of the issue. Calhoun was 
 more convinced than ever that Congress had no 
 right to legislate concerning slavery in the terri- 
 tories ; that it was a national institution, carried by 
 force of the Constitution wherever that instrument 
 held sway ; that any attempt to interfere with it 
 
242 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 was certain cause for a disruption of the Union. 
 And by this time he had gathered around him a 
 number of young men who not only held his doc- 
 trines, but were willing to see them carried to their 
 legitimate conclusion. 
 
 It had now become plain that Tajlor would be 
 the candidate of the Whig iJarty in 1848 and that 
 his chances of election were good. To prevent this 
 result the administration resorted to all kinds of 
 expedients. It recalled Trist who made the treaty. 
 It recalled Scott from the field by a subterfuge. 
 Polk and his advisers had done well from a prac- 
 tical point of view. They had re-established the 
 independent treasury system ; enacted a new low 
 tariff law which was bringing in a good deal of 
 revenue ; floated loans at an advantageous rate and 
 had been successful in the field in every encounter. 
 Yet the administration could not command the 
 support of the people, as they were determined to 
 have "Old Zach," who had done so much of the 
 fighting and whose victory at Buena Vista was one 
 of the most notable in our annals. 
 
 Clay was disgusted at this manifestation of love 
 for a military candidate, for once more the fires of 
 ambition were burning in him. He was thrust 
 aside for a man without civil experience. The 
 
THE WAE WITH MEXICO 243 
 
 convention did not even adopt a platform. Taylor 
 beat Clay, Scott, and Webster, and all the defeated 
 men were so much disgruntled that they never re- 
 covered from the experience. Clay and Webster 
 gave their adhesion only at the last moment, after 
 the strongest expressions of disapproval of Taylor's 
 candidacy. 
 
 The Democrats were doomed to defeat from the 
 very beginning. At the regular convention there 
 was a contest over seating the delegates from 
 New York state. A bolt followed and led to the 
 famous Free Soil Convention which nominated 
 Van Buren. Cass was nominated by the regular 
 Democracy. He maintained a neutral position 
 on the slavery question after the convention had 
 voted down some radical proposals from the 
 South. Benton greatly deplored this split in the 
 party and did not ally himself with the Van 
 Buren men, though most of his personal friends 
 were in that faction and it is probable that he ad- 
 hered more closely to .their view than to the other^ 
 Indeed, from this time forth Benton was a manl 
 without a party and his retirement from public life ^ 
 was caused by his refusal to take sides at a time 
 when such action was imperative. 
 
 It is evident from the temper of his letters and 
 
244 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 (speeches that he was beginning to lose hope of con- 
 verting the Calhoun party, and the rest of his life 
 was devoted to preserving that Union he loved so 
 much and had served so long and well. 
 
 There is pathos in his complaint that the Demo- 
 cratic party by adopting the two-thirds rule usurped 
 popular powers, but as a matter of fact he objected 
 to conventions as they were conducted, just as he 
 continued to the last to inveigh against the method 
 of electing the president and vice-president. He 
 labored for a change in the system with a devotion 
 and energy that were worthy of greater success. In 
 fact, Benton had only one more great r61e to enact 
 and his work in the Senate was done. 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 
 
 Benton's last stand was made in the first session 
 of Congress which met under Taylor and never did 
 he appear to such splendid advantage. The clouds 
 of disunion were lowering and many felt the time 
 had come when an accommodation could no longer 
 be made between the two sections of the country. 
 The immediate cause of dissatisfaction was the fact 
 that California, which had rapidly increased in 
 population under the stimulus of the gold dis- 
 coveries, had held a convention and applied for 
 admission as a state. In the convention there was 
 only one vote for slavery. The result was dis- 
 heartening to Calhoun and his school because they 
 saw in our newly acquired territory ample room 
 for enough states, with Texas dismembered, to 
 keep up that equilibrium of free and slave com- 
 monwealths, declared by them to be absolutely 
 essential to the preservation of the Union, which 
 they were determined to destroy if such a relation 
 were not maintained indefinitely. 
 
 The Whigs who had been so joyous over the 
 
246 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 election of Taylor soon found there were many 
 flies in the ointment and when Congress met in 
 December, 1849, distrust and fear ruled. In the 
 rearrangement of personal views over the question 
 of slavery extension old political lines had been 
 sadly broken. In the House only ninety-five 
 members had been re-elected and the division on 
 party lines was so close that a small number of 
 independents held the balance of power in choos- 
 ing a speaker. Winthrop was set aside and after a 
 long contest which greatly delayed the business of 
 the session Cobb, of Georgia, was elected by a 
 plurality when it was found impossible to obtain a 
 majority for any candidate. 
 
 By general agreement of all historians, the 
 Senate which met that year was the most distin- 
 guished legislative body that ever sat in America. 
 To read the names is to us what it was to the 
 Greeks to call the roll of their commanders who 
 went forth to capture Troy. ' 
 Benton was the oldest of all in point of service 
 
 ^but he was soon to disappear. Though there was 
 a bitter three-cornered contest over the senatorship 
 in Missouri, he remained at "Washington and at- 
 
 [ tended to his duties like a Roman. Every word he 
 * Blaine's "Tweuty Years in Congress," 
 
THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 247 
 
 uttered was scrutiuized and he never faltered for | 
 an instant in tlie devotion to those principles which y 
 he had championed for thirty years. * 
 
 Here sat for the last time the members of the 
 great triumvirate, men whose like has never been 
 known in our history before or since ; men whose 
 transcendent abilities had in every case been pros- 
 tituted to ambition. Of this combination it was 
 said that they were "always in rivalry, invincible 
 in union, and terrible in opposition." Clay had 
 come back at the earnest behest of Kentucky to 
 make one more effort to save the Union. He was 
 old and feeble ; the cough which finally resulted in 
 his death annoyed him greatly and he had to be 
 helped up and down the marble steps. Webster 
 sat in his seat very seldom. He was engaged in 
 arguments before the Supreme Court and was 
 nursing a grievance. He had denounced the 
 nomination of Taylor as one not fit to be made. 
 Long coveting the honor for himself, to see a 
 backwoods colonel suddenly elevated to the 
 chief magistracy was more than his proud spirit 
 could bear. He gave no sign of his purposes for 
 some time. Calhoun was on the verge of the 
 grave but as defiant as ever. The edifice of seces- 
 sion which was being reared so that all could be- 
 
 \ \ 
 
 s\ 
 
248 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 hold it, was his own work and though he was not 
 to see it completed he had able lieutenants who 
 were to carry nullification into secession and civil 
 war. 
 
 These were the four great men of the Senate and 
 in many respects Benton towered above them all. 
 
 /in moral courage and self-sacrifice he was easily 
 superior ; in patriotism the equal of any. No 
 siren voice could charm him from devotion to the 
 Union and the laws. He was willing to meet de- 
 feat rather than deviate, compromise or equivo- 
 \ cate ; while the other three were willing to do 
 \almost anything to avoid the crisis which im- 
 pended. 
 
 Of the younger men there was Seward, who was 
 to speak the sentiments of a coming age and an- 
 nounce his '^ higher law," so shocking to Benton 
 and the older men. There was JeJBferson Davis, 
 son-in-law of the President and his strongest polit- 
 ical foe, the man who was to preside over the Ck)u- 
 federacy through its brief and stormy existence. 
 Douglas was a Northern trimmer to be overthrown 
 at last by Lincoln. Corwin and Chase sat for Ohio, 
 two of the ablest men that state ever produced and 
 both ambitious. Sam Houston, the Union -loving 
 liberator of Texas, was the handsomest man in the 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 249 
 
 body and by some esteemed the finest-looking man 
 in America. From Michigan came Cass, ''Old 
 Dough Face," so often a candidate for the presi- 
 dential nomination. Bell, of Tennessee ; Hale, of 
 New Hampshire ; and Hannibal Hamlin, were soon 
 to be better known in politics as contestants for 
 high honors, Virginia sent Mason and Hunter, 
 later to be distinguished officers under the Con- 
 federacy. King, of Alabama, soon to be elected 
 Vice-president ; Soule, of Louisiana, who tried to 
 pick a quarrel with Spain ; Berrien, of Georgia ; 
 Butler, of South Carolina, whom Sumner attacked ; 
 Davis, of Massachusetts ; the Dodges, father and 
 son, who sat for Wisconsin and Iowa ; and the 
 redoubtable James Shields, who started to fight a 
 duel with Lincoln — these are but a few of those 
 who held high inquest over the state of the Union 
 and made the Compromises. 
 
 The membership of the House was less distin- 
 guished but it contained many men of first-rate 
 abilities who were later to become known to fame. 
 
 The Senate had plenty of time to think over mat- 
 ters while the House spent weeks in electing a 
 speaker. When the President's message was finally 
 received it was found to be a patriotic document. 
 Taylor desired peace but he was determined to 
 
250 THOMAS H. BEJ^TON 
 
 have it by fighting if necessary and made this bold 
 announcement. He recommended the admission of 
 California as a free state, independent of any other 
 considerations. This was the chief issue of the 
 hour and on it Benton's mind was long made up. 
 In a sense he was the father of California. He had 
 spoken for the Pacific coast when some of his col- 
 leagues were mere boys. He had aided his son-in- 
 law, Fremont, to make his buccaneering expedi- 
 tion to the Southwest, and as he had stood by the 
 young man when he was disgraced, it was no small 
 joy to see him returning as one of the new 
 senators-elect. If the California case had been 
 opposed to Benton's ideas of legality Fremont 
 would have met a Koman antagonist in the aged 
 senator, but fortunately they were at this time in 
 political accord. 
 
 Why should California not be admitted, asked 
 Benton? She had the requisite population and 
 was rapidly growing, while the wealth in her mines 
 was fabulous. Slavery was not wanted by the 
 people, and the system could not have been made 
 available to any great extent even if desired. Why 
 not admit her ? 
 
 The answer of Calhoun and his associates was 
 that it was robbery of the South to make Call- 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 251 
 
 fornia a free state even if she desired to be free. 
 Callioim had personally forced the Mexican War 
 for the express pui-pose of slavery extension and 
 did not propose to be deprived of the fruit. More- 
 over there were other things to be considered. How 
 about the territories of Utah and New Mexico (then 
 including Ai'izoua) ? How about the claim of Texas 
 to a vast amount of territory which the administra- 
 tion had not allowed ? How about a fugitive slave 
 law, now that the one in existence had been ren- 
 dered practically nugatory in places where the 
 local opposition to slavery was strong ? Xo, said 
 Calhoun, we will not settle California's status with- 
 out considering these other things. 
 
 It was useless for Benton to talk to Calhoun and 
 he found the new school of Whigs, soon to become 
 the founders of the Republican party, not much 
 more tractable. They wished the slave trade sup- 
 pressed in the District of Columbia. They had no 
 desire for a stringent fugitive slave law and were 
 opposed to any extension of slavery in the terri- 
 tories where the evil had not existed previously, 
 making their stand upon the Wilmot Proviso. 
 Nevertheless there were many who were perturbed 
 over the situation and eager for some way out of 
 danger. It was to Clay that all looked for a plan 
 
252 THOMAS H. BENTOX 
 
 of harmony. His long experience as a eoniiiro- 
 miser was such that if he could not solve the great 
 problem, all were willing to believe it impossible 
 to do so. 
 
 Late in January, 1850, Clay brought forward his 
 plan, after he had consulted with Calhoun and 
 Webster who had yielded assent. There were 
 "five bleeding wounds" in the Eepublic and he 
 proposed to dress and heal them in this fashion : 
 
 First. California to be admitted with her free 
 constitution. 
 
 Second. Territorial governments to be erected 
 in Utah and New Mexico, leaving the matter of 
 slavery to be settled at the time of admission as 
 States. 
 
 Third. Texas' impossible claims to be bought 
 off with millions of money. 
 
 Fourth. A more stringent fugitive slave law 
 under federal supervision to be enacted ; slavery 
 not to be abolished in the District of Columbia 
 without the consent of Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 Fifth. The slave trade to be practically abolished 
 in the District of Columbia. 
 
 Upon these propositions Clay made a two days' 
 speech which was perhaps his greatest effort, though 
 a dozen orations have been given that distinc- 
 
THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 253 
 
 tion. The Senate was crowded to hear him. The 
 old man shook off his weight of years and spoke for 
 hours with all the energy and abandon of youth, all 
 the silvery tones of his manhood's prime, and all 
 that depth of devotion to the Union which was the 
 guiding star of his life. Almost half a century be- 
 fore he had entered the Senate, the youngest man 
 who ever sat in that body. Xow in his age he was 
 beseeching the people once more to compose their 
 differences and live in peace. His eyes gleamed 
 with unnatural fire, his lips seemed touched as with 
 coals from the altar. Men wept as he begged and 
 pleaded with them, and when he concluded women 
 rushed in and smothered him with caresses and 
 kisses. This was. one of the most effective speeches 
 ever made in the chamber. It brought over to his 
 side many who wavered and who in the end made 
 up a majority. It seemed as if the physician had 
 at last been found to heal the wounds and men's 
 hearts were beating lighter, even if there were mis- 
 givings over the value of the plan. 
 
 Benton was not in the least deceived. He saw 
 there was an element that desired secession and 
 would be satisfied with nothing short of this unless 
 given complete control of the government in per- 
 petuity. He believed the Compromises would not 
 
254 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 satisfy any party in interest and was convinced that 
 they would no sooner be put in operation than fric- 
 tion would result. In his first speech in reply to 
 Clay he indulged in plain speaking and no little 
 sarcasm. What he predicted came to pass and 
 some of his words deserve to be remembered : 
 
 "It is a bill of thirty-nine sections — forty, save 
 one — an ominous number ; and which, with the two 
 little bills which attend it, is called a compromise, 
 and is pressed ujion us as a remedy for the national 
 calamities. Now, all this labor of the committee, 
 and all this remedy, proceed upon the assumption 
 that the people of the United States are in a miser- 
 able, distracted condition ; that it is their mission 
 to relieve this national distress, and that these bills 
 are the sovereign remedy for that purpose. Now, 
 in my opinion, all this is a mistake, both as to the 
 condition of the country, the mission of the com- 
 mittee, and the efficacy of their remedy. I do not 
 believe in this misery, and distraction, and distress, 
 and strife, of the people. On the contrary, I be- 
 lieve them to be very quiet at home, attending to 
 their crops, such of them as do not mean to feed 
 out of the public crib ; and that they would be 
 perfectly happy if the politicians would only per- 
 mit them to think so. I know of no distress in the 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 255 
 
 country, no misery, no strife, no distraction, none 
 of those five gaping wounds of which the senator 
 from Kentucky made enumeration on the five 
 fingers of his left hand, and for the healing of 
 which, all together, and all at once, and not one at 
 a time, like the little Doctor Taylor, he has pro- 
 vided this capacious plaster in the shape of five old 
 bills tacked together. I believe the senatoi: and 
 myself are alike, in this, that each of us has but 
 five fingers on the left hand ; and that may account 
 for the limitation of the wounds. When the fingers 
 gave out, they gave out ; and if there had been five 
 more fingers, there might have been more wounds 
 — as many as fingers — and, toes also. I know 
 nothing of all these 'gaping wounds,' nor of any 
 distress in the country since we got rid of the Bank 
 of the United States, and since we got possession 
 of the gold currency. Since that time I have heard 
 of no pecuniary or business distress, no rotten cur- 
 rency, no expansions and contractions, no deranged 
 exchanges, no decline of public stocks, no laborers 
 begging employment, no produce rotting upon the 
 hands of the farmer, no property sacrificed at 
 forced sales, no loss of confidence, no three per 
 centum a month interest, no call for a bankrupt 
 act. Never were the people — the business doing 
 
256 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 and the working people — as well off as they are to- 
 day. As for political distress, '■it is all in my eye.^ 
 It is all among the politicians. Never were the 
 political blessings of the country greater than at 
 present : civil and religious liberty eminently en- 
 joyed ; life, liberty, and property protected ; the 
 North and the South returning to the old belief 
 that they were made for each other ; and peace and 
 plenty reigning throughout the land. This is the 
 condition of the country — happy in the extreme ; 
 and I listen with amazement to the recitals which I 
 have heard on this floor of strife and contention, 
 gaping wounds and streaming blood, distress and 
 misery. My opposition to the extension of slavery 
 dates further back than 1844— forty years further 
 back ; and as this is a suitable time for a general 
 declaration, and a sort of general conscience de- 
 livery, I will say that my opposition to it dates 
 from 1804, when I was a student at law in the 
 state of Tennessee, and studied the subject of 
 African slavery in an American book — a Virginia 
 book — Tucker's edition of ' Blackstone's Ckjmmen- 
 taries.' And here I find the largest objection to 
 the extension of slavery — to planting it in new 
 regions where it does not now exist — bestowing it 
 on those who have it not. The incurability of the 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 257 
 
 evil is the greatest objection to the extension of 
 slavery. It is wrong for the legislator to inflict an 
 evil which can be cured : how much more to inflict 
 one that is incurable, and against the will of the 
 people who are to endure it forever ! I quarrel 
 with no one for supposing slavery a blessing : I 
 deem it an evil : and would neither adopt it nor 
 impose it on others. Yet I am a slaveholder, and 
 among the few members of Congress who hold 
 slaves in this District. The French proverb tells 
 us that nothing is new but what has been forgotten. 
 So of this objection to a large emancipation. 
 Every one sees now that it is a question of races, 
 involving consequences which go to the destruction 
 of one or the other : it was seen fifty years ago, and 
 the wisdom of Virginia balked at it then. It seems 
 to be above human wisdom. But there is a wisdom 
 above human ! and to that we must look. In the 
 meantime, do not extend the evil." 
 
 It was a terrible blow to Benton that he could 
 find few to agree with him. He complained that 
 every one seemed blinded to the truth. When 
 it came Calhoun's turn to give his support to 
 the Compromises, Benton watched eagerly, for he 
 felt that much depended on his exact position. 
 Calhoun, now on the brink of the grave, was able 
 
258 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 to appear in the Senate, but obliged to have a 
 fellow Senator read the speech he had prepared. 
 He sat like a disembodied spirit reviewing the 
 deeds of the flesh as he watched the effect of his 
 words on his audience. He evidently had little 
 faith in the Compromises, but assented to them 
 since he was at heart loyal to the Union, or pro- 
 fessed to be so, and certainly did not desire war to 
 come in his time. It was a dismal wail he poured 
 forth, asserting that the South had been maltreated 
 and misused and that before long self-preservation 
 would demand a complete change of relations be- 
 tween the two sections. 
 
 Calhoun said in part : 
 
 "I have. Senators, believed from the first that 
 the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not 
 prevented by some timely effective measure, end in 
 disunion. The agitation has been permitted to pro- 
 ceed, with almost no attempt to resist it, until it 
 has reached a period when it can no longer be dis- 
 guised or denied that the Union is in danger." 
 
 After diagnosing the danger and attributing all 
 trouble to the agitation on the part of the North 
 begun in 1835, when the abolition excitement first 
 became prominent in New England, resulting in 
 riots and Southern protests, he continued : 
 
THE C0MPR0:MISES of 1850 259 
 
 " It [the UnioD] cannot then be saved by eulogies 
 on it, however splendid or numerous. The cry of 
 'Union, Union, the glorious Union,' can no more 
 prevent disunion than the cry of ^ Health, health, 
 glorious health,' on the part of the physician can 
 save a patient from dying." And further on, as a 
 reply to the President's repetition of Washington's 
 farewell address, Calhoun said there was "nothing 
 in his [Washington's] history to deter us from 
 seceding from the Union should it fail to fulfil the 
 objects for which it was instituted." Continuing, 
 he said: "Indeed, as events are now moving, it 
 will not require the South to secede to dissolve the 
 Union." 
 
 Benton was dismayed, for it proved to him what 
 he had been asserting all along : that the Compro- 
 mises were a hollow sham ; that they did not satisfy 
 the South, which felt that it had been giving up too 
 much, and certainly would not satisfy the North, 
 which thought it was being deprived of its rights. 
 Benton went to see Calhoun to find out what was 
 the new adjustment at which he had hinted, and 
 discovered that it was nothing more or less than a 
 scheme for the election of two presidents, one to be 
 chosen by the free and the other by the slave states. 
 No legislation then should be valid unless it be 
 
260 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 signed by both of them. Beuton felt that the old 
 man must be iu his dotage to make such au extra- 
 ordinary proposal which never could have been 
 adopted, and if it had been, would have broken 
 down at the first trial. In a few days Calhoun was 
 dead and his plan was never publicly advocated. 
 
 Webster now came forward to pledge his ad- 
 herence to the Compromises. He had deliberated 
 long before doing so, but considered them essential 
 to the perpetuity of the Union, though he was 
 obliged to violate some of his strongest principles 
 and to belie much of his career. In his famous 7th 
 of March speech he reached his political nadir. 
 Where now that Olympian voice which spoke for 
 the Union more than twenty years before ? Where 
 now that confidence in the people and the demand 
 for ^'Liberty and Union, now and forever," as 
 against the heresies of nullification ? Alas, the 
 godlike Webster had changed. He had become 
 distrustful, and in his zeal for the Compromises he 
 struck a blow at New England which horrified and 
 pained the moral element beyond expression, call- 
 ing forth from Whittier his famous poem entitled, 
 "Ichabod." 
 
 Then other senators rose to speak. Each man 
 seemed to feel that the Compromises were not ex- 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 261 
 
 actly what they should be and wished for some- 
 thing else, but most of the leaders were willing to 
 make the trial. 
 
 Several times during the debate Benton came 
 into angry collision with Clay over features of the 
 bill. Clay charged that Benton had been opposed 
 in the previous summer to the admission of Cali- 
 fornia, or at least he had heard so. Benton set 
 him right on this matter, but not until much bad 
 temper had been exhibited on both sides. Clay 
 accused Benton of trying to lecture him and denied 
 that the Missourian was a fit preceptor or that he 
 (Clay) could learn anything from him. The state- 
 ment produced a laugh which calmed the pertui'bed 
 spirits for a time. Both men were imperious, dog- 
 matic and in dead earnest. Clay could not forgive 
 Benton his victory in the matter of the bank and 
 Benton could not but have been envious of the 
 wonderful persuasive powers and the eloquence 
 possessed by Clay. 
 
 Later in the debate a more serious encounter 
 occurred. Foote, of Mississippi, though Northern 
 born, was the greatest fire-eater in the South. He 
 was a small, swaggering man, who made a great 
 deal of noise in debate and displayed a spirit of bra- 
 vado that disgusted nearly every one in the Senate. 
 
262 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 He carried a pistol, and ou one occasion when he 
 was having a warm altercation with Benton the 
 latter advanced toward him. Foote believed, or 
 pretended to believe, that he saw Benton put his 
 hand in his pocket, and thereupon drew his loaded 
 weapon on the Missourian. This was the greatest 
 indignity the Senate had ever known and a tre- 
 mendous /urore ensued. Benton demanded that the 
 coward shoot, asserting that he was not afraid of 
 braggarts. He was greatly excited, perhaps un- 
 necessarily so, but the conduct of Foote was 
 despicable and Benton was determined not to show 
 the white feather. Foote was compelled to apolo- 
 gize, but Benton never forgot the insult. 
 
 Curiously enough, once more under a Whig 
 administration, Benton was the chief supporter of 
 the President. Taylor had set his face against the 
 Compromises and urged his friends to stand firm 
 on the subject. Benton had no particular love for 
 Taylor as an individual, but greatly admired the 
 patriotic stand he had taken and in this case he 
 was supporting him against the leaders of his own 
 party. Benton's political orphanage was now 
 complete. All this time California was waiting 
 and found little consolation in the fact that all the 
 sins of omission and commission on the subject of 
 
THE COMPROMISES OF 1850 263 
 
 slavery as viewed by North and South were to be 
 loaded on her back. Fremont chafed because his 
 term was short and in the end he served only a 
 few days. In Benton's attempt to save the Union 
 by defending the laws, his warmest ally was 
 Houston, who went as much contrary to the wishes 
 of the Texans, as Benton did to those of the 
 Missouriaus. Houston was a man of much the 
 same calibre as Benton and they were the warmest 
 friends. Even in these days when Houston wrote 
 to Benton he always signed himself ' ' your friend 
 and subaltern." 
 
 To perfect the bill. Clay had secured a grand 
 committee of the Senate of thirteen members, 
 representing numerically but not otherwise the 
 original thirteen states. They reported the measure 
 which was intolerably long and contained all of 
 Clay's "plasters." It soon developed that while 
 a majority favored compromise, the bill could not 
 pass and even if it did, it seemed certain that 
 Taylor would veto it. That contingency was re- 
 moved by his sudden death, which for a time 
 caused the suspension of all business. Fillmore, 
 who became President, was agreeable to the Com- 
 promises and the debate continued. When the 
 voting began the sections one after another were 
 
264 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 rejected until there was nothing left but a bill 
 for the erection of a territorial government in 
 Utah. Clay's work seemed a failure and the old 
 man retired in disgust to the seashore where he en- 
 deavored to compose his mind over the disaster. 
 
 Benton had early observed that the bills could 
 pass separately if not joined together, and that was 
 the plan finally adopted. California was admitted 
 under her constitution by a decisive vote. Ten 
 senators immediately offered a protest which they 
 wished to have placed on the journal. This paper 
 expressed disapprobation of what had been done 
 and predicted that the country would soon be dis- 
 membered if the Senate persisted in such legisla- 
 tion. The chief grievance of the protesters was 
 that California had not been divided on the 
 Missouri Compromise line and the southern half 
 given to the slavery-men. 
 
 Benton immediately attacked not only the matter 
 of the protest but the proposal to spread it on the 
 records. He now had the Southerners in a corner. 
 For years Calhoun had been contending that slavery 
 was a national institution concerning which Con- 
 gress had no right to legislate ; that it must exist in 
 all national territory and when statehood was 
 reached the people could choose for themselves, 
 
THE COMPROMISES OP 1850 265 
 
 whether they would have it or not. He evidently 
 forgot that he himself in his earlier years had ad- 
 mitted the power of Congress to act in the matter 
 and that he had on many occasions in the Senate 
 and in the cabinet advocated this view. K he had 
 not forgotten it, he ignored his former position and 
 had now educated a new school to his later beliefs. 
 And here were his disciples complaining that Con- 
 gress had not done the very thing they had so 
 strenuously asserted it had no power to do. Davis 
 had announced early in the debate that slavery 
 was supported by the laws of God and man and 
 was sanctioned by the Bible ; that he would take 
 the Missouri Comi;)romise line to the Pacific and 
 not an inch less. He was obliged to take less 
 but he signed the protest which was nothing else 
 than a threat to break up the Union. 
 
 Benton's speech was in part against the legality^, 
 of such a protest and in it he gave the Senate the \ 
 benefit of his erudition, quoting copiously from \ 
 ancient precedents and citing the uniform practice 
 of the British House of Lords. When he came to 
 a denunciation of that portion of the paper which 
 contained a threat of disunion he rose to heights of 
 real eloquence. Benton said in part : 
 
 *'It is afflicting enough to witness such things 
 
266 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 out of doors ; but to enter a solemn protest on our 
 journals, looking to the contingent dissolution of 
 the Union, and that for our own acts — for the acts 
 of a majority — to call upon us of the majority to re- 
 ceive our own indictment, and enter it, without 
 answer, upon our own journals — is certainly going 
 beyond all the other signs of the times, and taking 
 a most alarming step in the progress which seems 
 to be making in leading to a dreadful catastrophe. 
 '■ I>issohition'' to be entered on our journal ! What 
 would our ancestors have thought of it? The 
 paper contains an enumeration of what it char- 
 acterizes as unconstitutional, unjust, and oppress- 
 ive conduct on the part of Congress against the 
 South, which, if persisted in, must lead to a dis- 
 solution of the Union, and names the admission of 
 California as one of the worst of these measures. 
 I cannot consent to place that paper on our jour- 
 nals. I protest against it — protest in the name of 
 my constituents. I have made a stand against it. 
 It took me by surprise ; but my spirit rose and 
 fought. I deem it my sacred duty to resist it — to 
 resist the entrance upon our journal of a paper 
 hypothetically justifying disunion. If defeated, 
 and the paper goes on the journal, I still wish the 
 present age and posterity to see that it wae not 
 
THE COMPEOMISES OF 1850 267 
 
 without a struggle — not without a stand against the 
 portentous measui'c — a stand which should mark 
 one of those eras in the history of nations from 
 which calamitous events flow." 
 
 The protest was not received. It must have been 
 a malicious joy to Benton that Atchison, his col- 
 league in the Senate, who opposed him in all mat- 
 ters concerning the extension of slavery, had signed 
 the pai^er and was not allowed to see it go on record. 
 
 The next bill in the group to receive serious con- 
 sideration was the fugitive slave act. Benton's 
 plan was to make a few amendments to the existing 
 law in order to give jurisdiction to the federal au- 
 thorities ; but the radicals insisted on a new law 
 and in the end it satisfied no one, as in fact such a 
 measure could not under the conditions which then 
 existed and which were presently to become so 
 much worse. Benton made an effort to have the 
 bill perfected but it failed to suit him and he did 
 not vote for or against it, in which position he was 
 joined by twenty other senators. 
 
 The rest of the compromise bills passed without 
 much trouble and were signed by the Whig presi- 
 dent who thereby made hisrenomination impossible. 
 
 This practically ended Benton's career in the 
 Senate. During the next short session which closed 
 
268 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 his term, little of importance was done but already 
 he had seen enough signs to know that the Com- 
 promises were not worthy of the name and that 
 they were certain to fail in establishing that per- 
 manent basis of peace which their authors fondly 
 ! believed they would. He derided them as no com- 
 promises at all but surrenders, and insisted that 
 disunion was coming unless the people would arouse 
 themselves to the gravity of the situation. He 
 Ifound little consolation anywhere, ffis was a voice 
 crying in the wilderness and when he left the Sen- 
 ate it was with a feeling of despondency that grew 
 as he saw the plans of the South develop. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MISSOURI KEPUDIATES BENTON" 
 
 There is one more act of Benton's life in Con- 
 gress to which attention must be particularly di- 
 rected. No sooner had California fallen into our 
 hands, owing largely to his son-in-law's aggressive 
 action, an event which he said would have occurred 
 regardless of the Mexican War, than Benton began 
 planning for transportation facilities. Though a 
 foe of marine subsidies, he saw that here was a case 
 in which federal aid must be given. He was largely 
 responsible for establishing the pony express which 
 at first was looked upon as a chimera ; then the tel- 
 egraph line ; and still more important the railway 
 running directly to the coast, of which idea he 
 was the real originator. This scheme was too large 
 for the people and many of his best friends used to 
 sigh mournfully and lament his declining intel- 
 lectual powers. It was regretted, too, that his great 
 career was to be blighted by his continual advocacy 
 of a project which was deemed too ridiculous for 
 
270 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 consideration — and this within twenty years of the 
 completion of the line. 
 
 Indeed, if we consider the character of the op- 
 position he met at the time, it would seem that 
 he was looked upon as a mountebank. During 
 his first term in the Senate things were said concern- 
 ing his attitude which would have deeply wounded a 
 less sensitive man. If a Senator to-day should an- 
 nounce that Alaska is destined to have a population 
 of thirty millions and to become an important factor 
 in American civilization, he would make far less 
 of a sensation than did Benton eighty years ago. 
 The statesmen at Washington looked upon him, 
 not as a seer and prophet, but simply as one who 
 desired to aggrandize the West at the expense of 
 the rest of the country. All his talk about civili- 
 zation west of the Eocky Mountains was considered 
 rhodomontade for home consumption. They had 
 found by experience that Benton had an astonish- 
 ing way of opening the public purse for the benefit 
 of his section, and they thought that he had a purely 
 / personal interest in the discussion. This was wrong, 
 I Although Benton as a rule had as little of the imag- 
 l inative quality as any Senator, except when he al- 
 lowed it to run riot through the classics, it is cer- 
 lin that he did foresee the future of the West as no 
 
MISSOUEI REPUDIATES BENTON 271 
 
 other man in the country. He was no wild enthu- 
 siast or selfish sectionalist ; he was a tireless student 
 and a most intelligent observer of events. He had 
 been studying the railway question since the first 
 locomotiv^e was used. He had been thinking of the 
 Pacific coast and fighting for it when most of his 
 contemporaries were wearied at the very mention 
 of the subject and devoutly wished that Oregon and 
 Benton were at the bottom of the Pacific. At a 
 time when there were no diplomatic relations be- 
 tween this country and the Far East, and when we 
 had only claims to Oregon and not a port on the 
 Pacific, he had the courage to direct the minds of 
 the people to that section and, while pointing west- 
 ward, to make the statement which sounded so 
 visionary in the ears of his hearers : 
 
 "There is the East : there is the road to India." 
 It is diflBcult to say when the thought of a trans- 
 continental railwaj' first publicly appeared, but it 
 did not assume a definite form until after the Mex- 
 ican War, when we gained so much new territory 
 and discovered that it was rich in gold. Then the 
 subject was talked about with enthusiasm but with 
 very little practical sense. Indeed for some years 
 it was believed to be impossible to surmount the 
 Eockies, and the Gadsden purchase of a strip along 
 
272 
 
 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 the New Mexico- Arizona border was made simply 
 to provide a route for a raili-oad below tlie mountain 
 ranges. 
 
 It was not long, however, before engineers in- 
 sisted that a road could be built straight across the 
 country and Benton was one of the first to be con- 
 verted to that view. He was anxious to get at the 
 exact facts, and in the end he knew more about the 
 subject than any one else. From his son-in-law, 
 Fremont, he learned a great deal concerning the 
 topographical featui-es of the country and he was 
 the first to insist that the route should be to the 
 North, following the path of the bufialo. He said 
 that the buffalo was the best engineer, because he 
 found that the great herds when going North for 
 the winter crossed the upper passes, following the 
 line of least resistance, and he insisted that their 
 route be followed. If his advice had been taken 
 millions which have since been expended in recti- 
 fying early mistakes might have been saved. 
 
 Benton never believed in direct government aid 
 for the railroad. His idea was that a land grant 
 would be sufRcient, and in his day indeed there was 
 little thought of construction on any other terms. 
 He proposed to give the road a liberal right of way 
 and his first speech on the subject dealt with the 
 
 /. 
 
MISSOUKI REPUDIATES BENTON 273 
 
 value of the grant to the building corporation. As 
 a matter of fact, this scheme was chimerical and the 
 road was never built until the nation had furnished 
 practically all the funds in addition to a much 
 more liberal land grant than Benton had suggested, 
 and thirty years elapsed after the completion of the 
 work before the government's money was repaid. 
 
 Benton took a natural coui'se in all the debates 
 which preceded construction. There were many 
 interests to be conserved. Chicago wished what- 
 ever trade advantages might come from the con- 
 struction of the line, while Benton was naturally anx- 
 ious that St. Louis should maintain its supremacy. 
 It happened in the end that no government aid was 
 extended to a road on the eastern side of the Mis- 
 souri and the terminus was fixed at Omaha ; but not 
 until Benton had done his best in behalf of St. 
 Louis and had pointed out that at the mouth of the 
 Kaw would be built one of the greatest cities in the 
 country, a prediction which Kansas City to-day 
 verifies. 
 
 Benton went into the railroad question with that 
 determination and energy which characterized him 
 in all emergencies in his career. He talked re- 
 peatedly to the Senate and to any individual who 
 would listen to him. He spoke in St. Louis and 
 
/ 
 
 274 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 other parts of Missouri ou the subject. There is 
 some reason for believing that he hoped to turn the 
 thoughts of the people from slavery and allied 
 questions to that of Western expansion, but in this 
 he failed. 
 
 If it be asked exactly what Benton accomplished 
 in legislating for the transcontinental railway, the 
 answer may do him grave injustice. He intro- 
 duced many bills looking to surveys and govern- 
 ment aid and spoke often on the subject. It can 
 be fairly stated that he was responsible for the first 
 surveys, though he left the Senate before anything 
 of importance was accomplished. 
 
 His speeches on this subject are entertaining. 
 They are florid, and full of what he considered 
 poetic fancy and prophecy, but one can see that he 
 understood the coming glories of the far West bet- 
 ter than any of his contemporaries, and if the 
 American people forgot much of his language, 
 they at least remembered his general position. 
 When after the war the government took up the 
 subject earnestly, nearly every speaker in Congress 
 referred again and again to his words. It was laid 
 up against him, it is true, that the route of the 
 buffalo which he proposed was not feasible, since it 
 ran through a country where there was too much 
 
MISSOUEI EEPUDIATES BEXTON 275 
 
 winter. Benton had sharply criticised the engi- 
 neers who had selected the central route, declaring, 
 as proved trne, that it crossed a wilderness of alkali 
 beds, while his own was not only through the best 
 country in the West, but led directly to the port 
 that was certain to become a great station on the 
 road to China. Even at a much later day it was 
 said that no wheat could be raised in the latitude 
 of the Dakotas as it was too far north, a statement 
 that sounds strange in face of the fact that millions 
 of acres are being bought by Americans much far- 
 ther north in Canada and a transcontinental rail- 
 way is being constructed still nearer the Arctic 
 Circle than the Canadian Pacific. Here was another 
 example of the fact that Benton had studied actual 
 conditions and knew whereof he spoke, while others 
 who hastily glanced at the subject called him a 
 dreamer of wild and mystical views. 
 
 It was during the Mexican War that he found the^ 
 sentiment of Missouri drifting farther and farther 
 away from him, and into the control of the nulli- 
 fiers and the disciples of Calhoun who were soon 
 to become open secessionists. Atchison, his col- 
 league, had become the dominant power in the 
 state. They diflFered radically on every point con- 
 nected with the slavery question, and met each 
 
276 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 other in Missouri as the leaders of two distinctly 
 antagonistic factions. 
 
 . The crisis came when Claiborne F. Jackson 
 (later the governor who tried to carry the state into 
 , secession) offered in the state senate a set of resolu- 
 tions which declared slavery to be a national insti- 
 / tution. In effect they were an endorsement of nulli- 
 fication and of secession, having no other purport 
 than to prei^are the people of Missouri for the 
 separation that was already contemplated. These 
 resolutions were passed and became the dominating 
 issue in state politics. They were practically of 
 the same tenor as the resolutions which Calhoun 
 had offered in the United States Senate not long 
 before and which Benton had opposed with all the 
 earnestness of his nature. Calhoun seemed to be 
 surprised at this opposition and said he had ex- 
 pected Benton, coming as he did from a slave- 
 holding state, to support the resolutions. Benton 
 \ replied that it was impossible for Calhoun to have 
 \ expected anything of the sort. "Then," said Cal- 
 houn, " I shall know where to find the gentleman." 
 To which Benton replied in words that ought to be 
 upon his tombstone : 
 
 *'I shall be found in the right place— on the side 
 of my country and the Union." 
 
MISSOUEI REPUDIATES BENTON 277 
 
 These so-called Eesolutions of 1847 did not pass 
 the Senate but they formed a kind of Magna Charta 
 for the secessionists and it was of them that Benton 
 remarked : 
 
 "As Sylla saw in the young Csesar many Ma- 
 riuses, so do I see in the Calhoun resolutions many 
 nullifications." \ 
 
 Benton took the stump in Missouri against the 
 Claiborne Jackson resolutions. He denounced nul- 
 lification and secession and was firm for the preser- 
 vation of the Union at any cost. When the elec- 
 tions were over, it was found that the legislature was 
 divided into three tolerably equal groups : Benton- 
 ians, anti-Bentouians(both Democratic factions) and 
 Whigs. The contest for the senatorship was long 
 and stubborn. The two wings of the Democracy 
 fought each other more bitterly than they did the 
 Whigs, and in the end members of both factions 
 voted for Geyer, the Whig candidate, and elected 
 him. 
 
 Benton did not consider this defeat irretrievable J 
 He had no notion of giving up public life and be- 
 lieved that in the next contest he could regain his 
 seat, in which opinion he was mistaken. He took 
 ill-fortune philosophically and was soon elected to 
 represent a St. Louis district in the House, though 
 
/ 
 
 ^78 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 he failed of re-electiou because he would uot make 
 terms with the Kuow Nothings who were then 
 active factors in politics. Benton did not believe 
 in their policies or their methods and once more 
 faced defeat rather than compromise his own views. 
 In fact, by this time Benton was scarcely a Mis- 
 sourian. He had been in the state very little in the 
 last ten years of his service in the Senate and had 
 gotten out of touch with the people. The rising 
 generation had not the reverence or respect for him 
 that their fathers had had. 
 
 Benton was sadly missed in the Senate. Indeed 
 he had been there so long that it seemed impossible 
 there could be a Senate without him. Even those 
 who had been most bitter in their denunciation of 
 him and his views, greatly regretted the turn of 
 fate which lost him the seat he had so highly 
 honored. Like many other men he was most 
 appreciated when he was gone. He was a main- 
 stay for many of the Senators. He would do the 
 work for them with alacrity. K any difficult task, 
 involving great research, were necessary, the more 
 indolent members cheerfully left it to Benton, who 
 never failed them and whose reports had the au- 
 thority of law. 
 
 Missouri never dishonored herself so much as in 
 
MISSOURI REPUDIATES BENTON 279 
 
 dispensing with the services of her greatest citizen, 
 a fact which she understood when it was too late. 
 Benton could not have prevented the war. His 
 work was done. But he could have been of great 
 assistance in the trying days before Sumter fell, and 
 there is little reason to doubt that he would have 
 survived until that period had Missouri continued 
 to delight to honor him. 
 
 One of his last official duties in the Senate was to 
 welcome the young Sumner, who had been chosen 
 from Massachusetts as a Free Soiler. Benton warmly 
 grasped the young man's hand, but assured him 
 that he had come to the Senate too late. All the 
 great issues and all the great men were gone ; there 
 was nothing left but snarling over slavery, and no 
 chance whatever for a career. There seems a little 
 of the spirit of bravado, and perhaps a tinge of 
 bitterness, about this, coming as it did when he 
 was just passing off the stage.' 
 
 His single term in the House of Representatives 
 was notable because of the fight he conducted un- 
 availingly against the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise. If he was committed to one thing more 
 than another, it was this Compromise, to effect 
 which he had done so much just before his en- 
 ' Blaine's "Twenty Years in Congress," 
 
^280 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 trance to the Senate, and which he had striven to 
 maintain during the remainder of his life. It was 
 in the first flush of Democratic triumph after the 
 election of Pierce and the defeat of Scott and the 
 Whig party that the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise was determined upon. For many facts 
 here given the writer is indebted to several in- 
 formants who were in Washington at the time, and 
 who were not only Benton's personal friends, but 
 constant witnesses of the scenes which were enacted 
 in those stormy days. 
 When the motion was introduced, Benton raged 
 
 ke a lion. He was easily the most conspicuous 
 an in the House. Now well past seventy, his 
 
 eonine form made an impression not only upon 
 visitors but upon members of all parties. He was 
 particularly careful of his dress and loved the 
 admiration that was unsparingly bestowed upon 
 him. He still expected to return to the Senate, and 
 Jooked upon his experience in the lower House as a 
 rather amusing incident in his career. Whenever 
 it was known that Benton would speak — and he 
 spoke often — the galleries were crowded. With a 
 voice growing weak with age, but with energy 
 unabated, the old parliamentary warrior fought to 
 the last. He even exaggerated some of his manner- 
 
MISSOURI REPUDIATES BENTON 281 
 
 isms and in fact almost essayed the role of an 
 actor as lie raged up and down the aisles, or paced 
 the open space in front of the speaker's desk. In 
 these later years his wit was more acute, his humor 
 more genial. Regardless of party affiliations, the 
 members gathered around to hear him. Some of 
 them had not been born when the Missouri Com- 
 promise was passed. Most of those reckoned to be 
 his contemporaries were boys in school when he was 
 already a Senator. He was wont to emphasize this 
 fact, and it made him none the less popular. Mem- 
 bers applauded him to the echo, laughed at his wit, 
 turned pale under his invective — for on the matter 
 of the repeal, his language was vitriolic and his 
 denunciation terrible. 
 
 Now that the members of the triumvirate were all 
 dead, Benton was considered the most remarkable 
 man in either branch of Congress, and had he for a 
 moment bowed the knee to Baal, he still might 
 have died in harness. But he was as implacable 
 toward the Know Nothings who ended his career in 
 the House as toward the pro-Southern men who un- 
 seated him in the Senate, and so he lost his office. 
 This would have discouraged most other men, but 
 Benton resolved on one last effort. He still believed 
 that Missouri would be true to the Union and in 
 
THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 1856 ran for governor on an independent Demo- 
 cratic ticket. In spite of his great age and de- 
 clining health, he made a tremendously active 
 campaign, speaking in every section of the state, 
 sounding aloud his doctrines of loyalty to the 
 Union and denouncing nullifiers and secessionists 
 unsparingly. It was in vain ; the people no longer 
 knew his voice or heeded it. 
 
 Thus ended the political career of Thomas H. 
 
 \ Benton. No more independent spirit ever sat in 
 the Congress of the United States, none that was 
 truer to duty and none having in general a better 
 comprehension of public affairs. 
 
 \ 
 
CHAPTEE XIY 
 
 FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 In spite of his long public life, Benton was not a 
 man of many warm friendships. His austerity of 
 life, his devotion to study and in the latter part of 
 his career, his wife's illness, kept him from that 
 close touch with men which others of his day en- 
 joyed. Moreover he had an independence of spirit 
 which, joined to his vanity, made him unapproach- 
 able except after long acquaintance. In the latter 
 part of his life, when old friends were gone, he made 
 few new ones, though maintaining an air of affa- 
 bility toward all. / 
 
 In the beginning of his career he seems to have 
 been drawn close to John Randolph, of Roanoke, on 
 the basis probably that difference in characteristics 
 leads to mutual appreciation. The most brilliant 
 part of Randolph's career had passed before Benton 
 came on the stage, but the old man seemed so much 
 drawn to the younger one that, as we have seen, he 
 desired Benton to second him in the duel with Clay, 
 though their acquaintance must have been brief. 
 It was becoming more and more evident to all that 
 
284 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 there were times when Kandolph was mentally un- 
 balanced and on the occasion of a personal call, 
 Benton resolved to sound him to see if he had any 
 suspicion of such a thing. Eandolph was very fond 
 of quoting a quatrain dealing with imbecility and 
 Benton asked him if the lines could possibly have 
 any application to himself. The elder replied: "I 
 have lived in di-ead of insanity." This was enough 
 to give Benton a cue to what he had long suspected 
 of the man of whom it was Siiid on one occasion : 
 "He has wasted enough intellectual jewelry this 
 evening to equip many speakers for great orations." 
 Notwithstanding the political dilferences between 
 himself and Eufus King, last of the original Feder- 
 alists, Benton greatly admired him. He thought 
 that he paid much more attention to the aged man's 
 advice than his career indicates. Benton was at- 
 tached to the old social order and though he always 
 voted against the Federalists he seems to have 
 greatly rt^spected many of them. Another subject 
 of his admiration was Macon, "the last of the 
 Eoraans," whose career was perhaps the longest of 
 any man who ever sat in Congress. Jefferson Ben- 
 ton met but once, when he went to Monticello for 
 the purpose, coming away with an enlarged opin- 
 ion of the man. On that occasion they were dis- 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 285 
 
 cussing internal improvements and Benton was ask- 
 ing advice about a survey for a road through 
 Georgia to Louisiana. Jefferson told him that such 
 a survey had been made and indicated where in 
 Washington he would find a map of it. On return- 
 ing, Benton found it just where Jefferson had said it 
 was, with the result that a large expense and much 
 time was saved to the government. 
 
 Though professing to accept the political philos- 
 ophy of Jefferson, Benton deviated from it very 
 widely. It would be more correct to say that he 
 was a Jacksonian in politics, though he would have 
 preferred the statement that Jackson was a Benton- / 
 ian. The intimacy between these two leaders of the / 
 new Democracy was not so close as one might im- / 
 agine. Benton was no sycophant, seldom went toj 
 the White House unless asked to do so and though! 
 he fought Jackson's battles, it was not so much be- \ 
 cause they were Jackson's as because he made them \ 
 his own. It appears that they did not confer very 
 freely on public matters, — not so much as Ben- 
 ton would have desired at some times ; but this was ,' 
 probably due to the temperaments of the two men. / 
 Benton could not belong to any man's ''Kitchen 
 Cabinet" and when he acted in emergencies it was / 
 largely on his own initiative. He fought for years 
 
 / 
 
286 THOMAS H. BEXTON' 
 
 for the expunging act and his victory touched ^' Old 
 Hickory" deeply; but he seldom sent for Benton 
 to consult him on public matters of grave impor- 
 tance, and apparently never showed him his an- 
 nual messages before forwarding them to Con- 
 gress, since Benton frequently mentions the omission. 
 / Benton did not care for mere show of power. He 
 'desired the power itself and this he exercised on the 
 floor of the Senate. He was many times offered cab- 
 inet positions by Jackson and other presidents but, 
 though he would have made an excellent executive 
 ofl&cer, he constantly refused. Even when the pres- 
 idency was dangled before his eyes he declined to 
 consider himself in connection with the office. He 
 seldom attended public dinners, which were more 
 of an institution then than now. Clay delighted to 
 be dined and to be called upon to speak. Benton 
 I usually declined in a letter which expressed his 
 I views with more force than good diction. His 
 \ aversion to attentions of this kind was proverbial 
 \ and this trait served to estrange him sometimes 
 'from those whom he might better have sought to 
 propitiate. 
 
 ^His relations with the members of the triumvirate 
 varied from time to time. Sometimes he was on 
 terms of the warmest intimacy with Clay and his 
 
 
FEIEXDSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 287 
 
 family. There had been an estrangement between 
 them for a while previous to the duel with Randolph, 
 and the night before the meeting Benton went to see 
 Clay in the hope that something might arise to make 
 an accommodation possible. Clay received him 
 kindly and in the presence of his family they dis- 
 cussed matters of general import, but no opening 
 came as Benton had hoped, and he went to his home 
 saddened over the prospect of seeing Clay fall the 
 next day. 
 
 When the fight over the bank came on, Benton 
 and Clay exchanged many bitter words and at 
 times came almost to blows ; but after Clay made 
 his so-called farewell speech in 1842, there was a 
 restoration of good feeling. That speech was one 
 of the most notable in the annals of the Senate 
 and at its conclusion many members were in tears. 
 Benton dryly remarked that he thought there was 
 only one man in the world who could successfully 
 make such a demonstration and he hoped none 
 would attempt to repeat it unless a second Henry 
 Clay api)eared, of which he was skeptical. 
 
 At first he was on terms of friendship with Cal- 
 houn and had a great admiration for his abilities 
 as well as for those of Hayne. He did not under- 
 stand the drift of the coalition which these two 
 
288 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Carolinians were trying to effect between the West 
 and the South, and it was long before his eyes 
 were opened. As soon as he discovered the nulli- 
 fication plans of Calhoun, he broke with him po- 
 litically and personally except for the most formal 
 recognition. 
 
 "With Webster he seems always to have been 
 friendly. There were times when the members 
 of the triumvirate, though working together, were 
 not on speaking terms with one another and must 
 therefore conduct negotiations through an out- 
 side party. Sometimes Benton was the emissary, 
 though oi)posed as a rule to their course. 
 
 For Van Buren he appears to have had the warm- 
 est affection of his career. They were long together 
 in the Senate and when Van Buren was Vice-presi- 
 dent, Benton was very close in his intimacy, which 
 was finally broken by Van Buren' s repulse of him 
 just before his inauguration as president. Their 
 unhappy relations were not of long continuance, 
 however, and they soon became warm friends 
 once more. Benton was greatly disappointed 
 when Van Buren was defeated for the nomination 
 of 1844, but when he was chosen as a presidential 
 candidate by the Free Soil Democracy in 1848, 
 would not support him, as he did not believe in a 
 
FEIEI^DSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 289 
 
 political party formed for the agitation of the 
 slavery question. 
 
 For twenty-five years Benton was more or less in 
 contact with John Quincy Adams who opposed 
 pretty nearly every measm-e which he supported ; 
 yet when Adams died Benton was one of the two 
 men in the Senate selected to deliver a eulogy upon 
 him. On such occasions Benton was always at his 
 best. He was a man of deep sentiment and at 
 these times it overflowed. He was in many re-\ 
 spects like Adams in the purity of his life, devo- 
 tion to duty and the freedom of his career from 
 scandal ; but intellectually the men were of differ- 
 ent types. Benton made a brief address on Adams's 
 career, which was one of the best ever given, show- 
 ing how the man of blood and iron could appre- 
 ciate the scholar and the gentleman. 
 
 One of his earliest friends was Hugh L. "White, 
 of Tennessee, from whom Benton received his law 
 license. White was one of the extraordinary men 
 of his time, being second in ability to hardly any 
 man in the country. When Benton was a member 
 of the legislature of Tennessee he succeeded in 
 having passed a bill to rearrange the judiciary of 
 the state on a modern basis. The question of the 
 chief justiceship was one which gave party leaders 
 
290 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 no little concern. All desired White but feared 
 he would not accept it, as he had already refused 
 pretty nearly every gift the people could offer and 
 was only in the beginning of his career. Upon 
 Benton's going to him he secured his consent, and 
 he was elected without opposition. For many 
 years White and Jackson were close friends and 
 when the former came to the Senate he was warmly 
 received by his early pupil. Benton soon found, 
 however, that his friend was not an unalloyed sup- 
 porter of Jackson and in the fight for the expung- 
 ing resolution White was aligned against him. 
 Finally the legislature ordered White to vote for 
 the resolution and he resigned rather than do so, 
 becoming a candidate for the presidency against 
 Van Buren in 1836. Benton alleges that this mis- 
 take of his life was due to the fact that he had just 
 married a new wife, who had been a boarding- 
 house keeper and, having social ambitions, now 
 wished to be mistress of the White House. When 
 White was defeated his wife was distressed beyond 
 measure, while he himself was much chagrined and 
 died, as Benton believed, of disappointment. 
 
 With Buchanan he had had friendly relations 
 for many years though not always one of his warm 
 admirers. In 1856 when he supported him, as 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 291 
 
 against his own son-in-law, not one word was said 
 in derogation of Benton's conduct because of his 
 known fidelity to principle. Such an exhibition is 
 almost unparalleled in American politics yet it was 
 consistent with Benton's whole course through life. 
 He may have been wrong in his judgments on some 
 occasions but he never hesitated to follow his con- 
 victions no matter where they led him. At an in- 
 teresting point in his career he was badly needed 
 on the stump in Missouri. His aged mother was 
 then very feeble and her death was expected at any 
 moment. He declined to make speeches or to take 
 any other part in politics during the whole summer. 
 It is gratifying to note that this filial duty was re- 
 warded, for in spite of his absence, the elections re- 
 sulted as he wished. 
 
 Considering how uxorious he was, how fond of 
 the family circle and how passionately he loved his 
 children, it is difficult to understand his devotion 
 to the dueling code. This was another exhibition 
 of his Eoman firmness, for although he refused to 
 accept or to issue challenges while in the Senate, 
 believing it inconsistent with his duty, there is not 
 the slightest reason to doubt that he would have 
 done so under other circumstances, and have gone 
 to the field with composure, even if he knew that 
 
292 THOMA>S H. BEXTOX 
 
 he were to fall aud leave his wife and four beau- 
 tiful daughters unprotected. His was the character 
 of a Curtius or a Jephtha. Even when the Graves- 
 Cilley duel ' made it apparent that something must 
 be done to stop the practice Benton Man not satis- 
 fied with the law that was passed. He hated dueling 
 even if he had killed his man at ten feet, but he 
 believed that there was no substitute for it to keep 
 men up to the highest standards of honor. He 
 thought that the use of the bowie-knife and the re- 
 volver, which became very frequent as the contest 
 over slavery grew more bitter, was due to the fact 
 that dueling had been made a crime ; he therefore 
 was not satisfied to see the code abolished. 
 
 He was so high an authority on the subject that 
 his opinion was frequently invoked when affairs of 
 
 'Jonathan Cilley, of Maine, and William J. Graves, of Ken- 
 tucky, l)oth members of Congress, fought a duel in l^^oS, at 
 Bladensburg (near Washington), under peculiar circumstances. 
 James Watson Webb, a New York editor, commented severely 
 upon a speech by Cilley, and eventually sent the latter achallenge 
 by the hand of Graves. Cilley declined and in the end Graves 
 made the quarrel his own, challenged and was accepted. Rifles 
 were used and at the third fire Cilley was killed. From start to 
 finish it wa.s considered that the duel was one of extraordinary 
 atrocity. It of course could not have taken place under normal 
 ethical coTiditions ; even under the code the affair should have 
 been accommodated without lo.ss of honor to those concerned 
 and it never should have proceeded under any circumstances 
 beyond the first exchange of shot«. As a result a very .severe 
 law was pas,sed which it was expected would suppress dueling 
 at Washington. 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 293 
 
 honor were to be fought and sometimes he was able 
 to compose them. One of the last acts of his life 
 was to settle a dispute for James B. Clay, a son of 
 Henry and then a member of the House, who was 
 involved in an affair with a member from New 
 York. A meeting seemed inevitable. This was 
 deplored by every one because the death of either 
 combatant would certainly result in a still further 
 inflaming of the people on the subject of slavery. 
 In this dilemma it was finally arranged that Benton 
 should act as arbiter and after careful considera- 
 tion he gave it as his opinion that under the code 
 there could be no meeting. The principals and 
 their friends acquiesced, as did also the public, 
 though nothing less than Benton's great authority 
 could have accomplished the happy result. 
 
 It has seldom happened in a career so long as his 
 that no charge of inconsistency could be brought 
 against him. That is not the highest tribute, as 
 many great men have radically changed their views 
 without losing public respect; but in Benton's case 
 there was no change. He was always for sound 
 money and against the bank ; always for cheap 
 lands and against distributing the surplus among 
 the states ; always against lavish appropriations for , 
 internal improvements ; always against slavery ex- 
 
294 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 'tension or agitation ; and always unqualifiedlj' for 
 the Union. When he saw Missouri drifting away 
 from his position, he not only did not go with the 
 tide, but he strenuously fought the secession spirit 
 and in the end was willing that a Whig should suc- 
 ceed him, rather than one of the state-rights' Dem- 
 ocrats of the Davis- Atchison school. And this was 
 at a time when one word on his part would have 
 kept him in the position he so much desired to 
 hold. His was a sort of firmness not common in 
 those days or since. Clay said that Benton had a 
 hide like a hippopotamus, which was another way 
 of saying he was inflexible. Clay had good reason 
 to fear Benton, for though the latter was not to be 
 compared with the former in originality of concep- 
 tion, brilliancy of execution or elegance of diction, 
 yet in practically all their encounters the eventual 
 result was that Benton won and Clay lost. If Clay's 
 own skin had possessed more of the quality of the 
 hippopotamus's, it might have been better for his 
 success. 
 
 Benton's first great disappointment in life was 
 over the failure of Congress to pass the bill creat- 
 ing the grade of lieutenant-general in the army so 
 that he could go to Mexico and carry on the war. 
 Why Benton should have wished to wear gold 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 295 
 
 braid and set squadrons in the field, unless he 
 thought it would lead him to the White House, 
 it is difficult to understand. Though he did map 
 out the campaigns in the large, it was hardly 
 to be expected that he could execute them with 
 the promptness and thoroughness of Taylor or 
 Scott; yet in his Memoirs he affects superiority 
 to both. When his friends interfered and killed 
 the bill as it neared final passage, Benton felt the 
 blow keenly, but cherished no resentments over 
 th^ matter. 
 
 r^hSi he grew older he used to be very fond of 
 taking new senators by the hand and instructing 
 them in the manners and customs of the chamber. 
 He assumed a patronizing air but with great 
 dignity. He was a very large and heavy man and 
 his pompousness was so quaint that it was well re- 
 ceived by the budding statesmen who in time 
 found that Benton could be, and frequently was, of 
 real service to them. He never failed to answer a 
 request of the sort. 
 
 In getting a proper estimate of Benton's attitude 
 toward society, it should be remembered that he was 
 by birth and family connections an aristocrat 
 while his early training and temperament had 
 made him a man of the people. He owed his 
 
296 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 name to the fact that his mother had grown up in 
 the family of her uncle, Colonel Thomas Hart, who 
 was the father of Mrs. Henry Clay. Colonel Hart 
 was one of the wealthiest and most aristocratic 
 men in America and the family connection always 
 aided Benton. In his contact with equals Benton 
 ever seemed a trifle arrogant : toward those whom 
 he considered inferiors he was kind, even if occa,- 
 sionally condescending. 
 
 / Although Benton professed to be a pronounced 
 /Democrat of the Jefferson school, in some things 
 I he was a Federalist. His father had been a Tory 
 ^and he had grown up in Tennessee in a rude school 
 but in later life he became more and more con- 
 servative in many of his views. Not only was he 
 a great stickler for the decorum of the Senate, but 
 on all occasions he was likely to be rather cold 
 in his conversations with any but his intimates. 
 Senator Eufus King gave him an idea that made a 
 profound impression on his conduct. After Ben- 
 ton had delivered a speech in which he had in- 
 veighed against Great Britain and monarchies in 
 general. King liad a serious talk with the young 
 man, explaining that such views were too radical. 
 King had been born a subject of a British sovereign 
 and had always professed loyalty up to the time of 
 
FEIE:^^DSHIPS AK^D CHARACTEEISTICS 297 
 
 the troubles just preceding the Revolutiou. He 
 said it was a mistake to suppose that a man could 
 not be loyal to a monarch and still have notions of 
 individual and social liberty. This was in no dis- 
 paragement of American democracy ; it was given 
 as a fact which could not be ignored. Benton 
 often thought of what King told him and it gave 
 him a more liberal idea of European statesmen 
 than he had previously held. 
 
 It seems hardly possible that Benton's narrow 
 views on some questions could have been main- 
 tained had he lived much longer. He was an 
 ardent believer in state-rights, but when the 
 chief tenet of the Calhoun school became nullifica- 
 tion, it met his instant and unyielding disapproba- 
 tion ; yet as that was perhaps the legitimate result 
 of the extreme views of the state-rights men, we 
 may suppose that Benton would have found it 
 difficult to say exactly where he drew the line. As 
 he grew older and the younger school of Southern 
 statesmen came on the stage, he found himself 
 more and more isolated. By the time the Whig 
 party was dead, he was really more of a Whig 
 than a Democrat, but he could not become a Re- 
 publican. 
 
 His views on slavery were those of many others 
 
298 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 of his generation. Though hating the institu- 
 tion, he kept slaves even in the District of 
 Cohimbia. One of the things that sank bitterly 
 into his soul was the agreement of this country to 
 maintain a squadron on the African coast to sup- 
 press the slave trade. He detested that trade but 
 thought this government ought not to be called 
 upon to do police work ; that Great Britain, which 
 was responsible for the introduction of slavery into 
 the United States, and had lately taken such an 
 interest in abolishing it the world over, ought to 
 carry the burden. Benton must have known that 
 the trade was still flourishing, and that annually 
 thousands of slaves were being smuggled into this 
 country, but it was a part of his laissezfaire policy 
 to ignore real conditions and let the Southern peo- 
 ple ha-v^e their own way. This was impossible as he 
 later found out to his cost. 
 
 At a time when the nation was fairly prosperous 
 [and the states were burdened with debt, an effort 
 was made to have the Federal government as- 
 sume all the debts of the states. Many of them 
 had defaulted on their bonds and there was great 
 indignation in Great Britain because of the losses 
 to investors. Benton set his face resolutely against 
 this idea and fought the measure to its death. He 
 
FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 299 
 
 believed, aud rightly, that the precedent would be 
 an evil one ; that the payment of state debts by 
 Hamilton was purely for expenses incurred in the 
 war of the Revolution and was in no sense on a 
 par with the present proposal. He opposed all 
 such jobbery aud all sorts of extravagance angered 
 him, while as a foe of monopoly he would have 
 been terrified at many things which have hap- 
 pened since his day. ] 
 
 He kept his financial affairs to himself, but he 
 appears to have used up most of his substance by 
 the time he died. It is a little strange considering 
 his opportunities that he never made more effort to 
 accumulate property. While he had worked hard 
 in youth and the family had comparatively little 
 ready money, they had a good deal of property, 
 and he might have gained much if his ambitions had 
 been in that direction. Apparently he was very 
 generous toward his brothers and sisters, who prob- 
 ably received more than their shares of the estate. 
 He left the plantation in early manhood, first, for 
 the army, which did not bring him the fame he 
 sought, and then for the law in which he was more 
 successful. It was usual in those days for the sons 
 who received an education to be content with that, 
 which may be the reason that when he reached St. 
 
300 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Louis he had only four hundred dollars in his 
 pocket, though that was a much larger capital than 
 the same sum would be esteemed in these dajs. 
 He occasionally bemoaned the fact that he had not 
 more money to invest in lands in the West, which 
 he was certain would be very valuable in the near 
 future. His son-in-law, Fremont, was at one time 
 thought to be a millionaire mine owner, but the 
 mines contained little or no gold. His favorite 
 daughter, Mrs. Fremont, spent her last years in ab- 
 solute poverty, being supported by the quiet bene- 
 factions of friends who deceived her in thinking 
 the money came from some old investments. From 
 her father she appears to have received nothing. 
 
 In his dealings in financial matters Benton was 
 exceedingly conscientious. He abhorred debt and, 
 as we have seen, desired that good money only be 
 used. At one time he refused to take his senatorial 
 pay in notes, though they were perfectlj^ good, and 
 insisted on " the hard or a protest," which he wrote 
 across the face of the draft. He did protest and the 
 matter was settled so that he actually got the gold, 
 but the incident was not very forceful as a prec- 
 edent until after his whole plan of specie pay- 
 ments had been worked out. 
 
 Benton's religious sentiments were very deep and 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 301 
 
 he was a constant attendant on public worship. He 
 was orthodox in his views and was a great student 
 of the Bible, which he revered. When in anger, 
 according to a very peculiar habit of the time, 
 he would swear "like a trooper," but the prac- 
 tice was never laid up against him. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that in youth he 
 was something of a musician and throughout his 
 life was fond of singing. His daughters were 
 educated with great care and on Sunday evenings 
 he delighted to hear them sing and sometimes 
 joined them at the piano. He went to concerts 
 until his wife was taken ill, and after her death he 
 seems only once to have revoked his rule about 
 going to public amusements when Jenny Lind 
 visited Washington. Outside of music he exhib- 
 ited little fondness for the fine arts and had almost 
 no recreation, except horseback riding, of which 
 he was very fond. In Washington he rode about 
 on a spirited black charger, proud of the sensation 
 his appearance created. On these occasions he was 
 likely to be accompanied by a granddaughter. 
 
 In his family life he was exceedingly happy and 
 few public men have ever spent so much time at 
 home. His affection for every member of his 
 family amounted almost to a passion. He fairly 
 
302 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 worshiped his wife and daughters aud no sacrifice 
 for them was too great. Considering how arrogant 
 he could be, how stubborn he always was, and how 
 passionate in early life, his conduct in the family 
 circle was remarkable and all that the most 
 capricious could desire. During his wife's long ' 
 illness he showed a tenderness and chivalry toward 
 her on all occasions that was generally and favor- 
 ably commented upon. 
 
 Their family life was clouded not only by her 
 long illness, but by the death of their two sons^ 
 early in life. Both of these were lads of promise, 
 ■whom the Senator expected would wear his mantle. 
 The eldest, Eaudolph, was named for his father's 
 friend ; the younger, James McDowell, named for 
 his grandfother, is said to have had an unusually 
 sweet disposition and his death almost broke the 
 Senator's heart. It has been said elsewhere that his 
 favorite daughter married against his wishes and 
 the same is reported of her sisters. Of these, 
 Eliza married William Carey Jones ; Sarah, Rich- 
 ard Taylor Jacob ; and Susan, Baron Gauldree 
 Boilcau, of the French Legation. In his old age 
 Benton found much comfort in his grandchil- 
 dren, of whom there were many. None of his 
 domestic afflictions were brought to public atten- 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTEEISTICS 303 
 
 tion, and he never complained, though they were 
 as iron to his soul. It was a peculiarly hard fate 
 that one who abjured all of that public social 
 intercom-se, so common in his day, should be 
 denied in the home he loved so much the highest 
 measure of domestic bliss. He gave small dinners 
 to intimates, which were highly esteemed, but his 
 hospitality was not lavish, both because he did not 
 enjoy that sort of thing and because he could not 
 afford it. Much of the time his wife could not pre- 
 side at the table, and on some occasions when 
 she did her husband had to do practically all the 
 honors, yet never with the slightest embarrass- 
 ment. He had a colored cook who was famous 
 for her skill and in his later years to have dined 
 at Benton's was considered a high honor by the 
 younger men in Congress, who had come to look 
 upon him as a sage. 
 
 Benton was in Washington at the time of his 
 brother Jesse's encounter with Carroll, which led 
 to the Jackson imbroglio and he at once flared 
 into a heat of passion, becoming an uncompromis- 
 ing partisan of his brother without waiting to 
 hear what his old chief and friend. General 
 Jackson, had to say about the matter. When 
 the encounter came he rushed into it in a spirit 
 
s 
 
 364 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 inore befitting a Highlaud Scottish chief of the 
 i sixteenth century than a lawyer and legislator of 
 the nineteenth. His affection for Jesse continued 
 through life, though the latter seems to have been a 
 man of much smaller calibre. Benton at one time 
 even relaxed in his determination never to ask 
 office for his family so far as to endorse a nephew's 
 claims, though apparently he did not make the 
 original application. 
 
 He was always ready to talk about health to any 
 one who would listen to his views, and seeing how 
 he had been snatched practically from the jaws of 
 the grave by his own severe regimen, he had some 
 reason for the faith in his practice. He was daily 
 rubbed down by a negro servant with a horse 
 brush, which would have almost made a Spartan 
 quail. He began this in youth when fleeing from 
 consumption and kept it up until the end, although 
 it must have taken a very stoical mind to submit to 
 its tortures. It has been noted that he lived an 
 abstemious life at his mother's request, and when 
 she died it was a terrible sorrow to him, though 
 she was then very old. 
 
 In his heart he was generous, and almost too 
 confiding for his own good. Any injustice made 
 him boil with indignation. When two of the 
 
FRIENDSHIPS AKD CHARACTERISTICS 305 
 
 officers of the Somers were hanged at the yard-arm 
 for alleged mutiny, one of them being Spencer, 
 son of the Secretary of the Navy, Benton spent 
 mouths investigating the evidence, and his opinion 
 was that no mutiny was intended aud that the 
 court-martial of the officers was couducted not to 
 get at the truth but to protect the offenders. 
 
 As he fell farther and farther away from his 
 party he lost the respect of none. He would have 
 nothing to do with Anti-Masomy or Know Noth- 
 iugism, aud it was the followers of the latter idea 
 who were finally responsible for his overthrow. 
 He made a constant and unavailing effort his life 
 long to confine national political discussion and 
 action to a narrow range of subjects which he 
 deemed coustitutioual. He was not enough of a 
 seer to perceive that this was impossible. He 
 could not understand the temper of the times 
 and when anti-slavery ideas began to be injected 
 into politics he was out of his element, though 
 always the most upright and moral of men. 
 
 Much comment has been made by historians as to 
 Benton's inflexibility on public questions and his 
 refusal iu defeat to acknowledge error. They seem 
 to think that his long arguments on the constitu- 
 tionality of public questions smelled more of the 
 
306 
 
 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 lamp of the student than of a broad acquaintance 
 with the Constitution or the exact conditions of 
 public policy. It is true that niauj' of his speeches 
 are very difficult reading in these days, but one 
 must look at them in the spirit of the time in which 
 they were uttered. His opposition to the bank as 
 unconstitutional, in the face of a Supreme Court 
 decision upholding it, is by some laid up against 
 him. This is unfair. The bank which he fought 
 was not the institution of Hamilton which had been 
 under review by the courts, and in any event there 
 were circumstances wliich made it entirely proper 
 for him as a legislator to hold to his view. He had 
 been hostile to the institution from the very begin- 
 ning, and it is believed that he had much to do 
 with finally forming Jackson's opinions on the sub- 
 ject. It is true that Jackson had always been op- 
 posed to the bank which in the "West was esteemed 
 an odious monopoly; but what Jackson thought as 
 a private citizen and what course he would take as 
 President were different considerations. Historians 
 have threshed over an immense amount of straw to 
 try to prove that Jackson came to Washington 
 ready to smite this Apollyon, but the evidence is at 
 least inconclusive. In a brief time he did go into 
 opposition, but this was partly due to the place 
 
FRIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 307 
 
 held by the bank people in partisan politics and 
 also to the influence of Benton, whose views on 
 finance were generally correct, and who was in this 
 particular more than usually well acquainted with 
 actual economic conditions. What Benton saw 
 most clearly was that the West was growing with 
 enormous rapidity under the stimulus of cheap and 
 fertile lands. In his day, when civilization was less 
 complex and the natural resources of the country 
 proportionately larger, it was much easier than now 
 for an energetic, frugal set of farmers to achieve 
 what was considered a competency. And because 
 they did get along so well with so little money, 
 Benton adjusted many of his theories in finance to 
 their situation. 
 
 It has been previously stated that Benton was not 
 a man of vivid imagination. In one respect this 
 view must be modified. He saw more clearly than 
 any of his contemporaries the futui^e of the great 
 Northwest, and his imagination ran riot in his ef- 
 forts to paint its glowing prospects. After elimi- 
 nating his quotations from Horace and some rather 
 involved efforts at apotheosis, we find that he had 
 a pretty correct view of the potentialities not only 
 of the West of his day but of the far West and North- 
 west, and the far East. 
 
308 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 In his many speeches on the land question or the 
 Oregon boundary, he constantly referred to that 
 great section beyond the Kocky Mountains which 
 even then was beckoning. And though in the very 
 interesting life of Marcus Whitman, who did so 
 much to save Oregon, we find that it was Ben- 
 ton's colleague. Dr. Linn, who introduced Whit- 
 man to President Tyler, thus securing a temporary 
 reversal of the administration's policj^ in regard to 
 Oregon, it seems very likely that Benton was his 
 sponsor in this affair. 
 
 Whitman arrived in Washington in 1843 at the 
 precise time that Webster had ignored the Oregon 
 question in the treaty with Great Britain, as pre- 
 viously related. Webster along with many others 
 was convinced that Oregon was of little use to any 
 one and felt that its remoteness made it impractica- 
 ble for us to press our claims upon the section, cer- 
 tainly if any risk of friction with Great Britain was 
 involved. Tyler entirely agreed with Webster, 
 though it is commonly supposed that the principal 
 reason for his willingness to let Oregon go was his 
 hope that Great Britain would thereby be induced 
 to acquiesce in his plans for the annexation of 
 Texas. Whitman labored with Webster and Tj'ler 
 and certainly accomplished much, — just how much 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 309 
 
 has been open to dispute. There seems, however, 
 to be no reason to doubt that either Tyler or Web- 
 ster, or those speaking for them, agreed that if 
 Whitman would lead a caravan across the plains 
 and up the Missouri to Oregon, thus demonstrating 
 its accessibility, our claims to the country would 
 be kept alive and pressed at the suitable time. 
 Whitman kept his promise as did the administration. 
 Dr. Linn was in perfect accord with Benton but 
 temperamentally his opposite, and was in better 
 favor at the White House. It is impossible, how- 
 ever, not to believe that the change in the Oregon 
 policy of the administration was largely due to the 
 influence of Benton who was practically the only 
 important man in Washington to defend that dis- 
 tant country against all assaults. On one occa- 
 sion he said: "This ample, rich and elevated 
 mountain region is deemed, by those unacquainted 
 with the farthest West, to be, and to be forever, the 
 desolate and frozen dominion of the wild beast and 
 the savage. On the contrary, I view it as the fu- 
 ture seat of population and power, where man is to 
 appear in all the moral, intellectual, and physical 
 endowments which ennoble the mountain race, and 
 where liberty, independence and love of virtue are 
 to make their last stand on earth." 
 
310 THOMAS H. BEXTOX 
 
 This was drawing the long bow with a vengeance 
 and indeed statements similar to these rather injured 
 than helped his cause. There were some practical 
 men in that day who were willing to learn but they 
 were little affected by perfervid oratory in which 
 there was a good deiil of obvious overstatement. 
 
 It thus came about that he made enemies by say- 
 ing too much of a country so far away and taking 
 too little interest in Texas which was near at hand. 
 Benton's views on the last-named question were al- 
 most exactly those of Henry Clay at the opening of 
 his canvass in 1844, but he lacked the facility of 
 Clay in explaining his position. 
 
 Clay, as a candidate for the presidency, wrote 
 the famous Raleigh Letter (so called from the 
 place of writing it) in which he announced that he 
 was favorable to the annexation of Texas only in 
 case Mexico, Texas and the United States were 
 agreed upon the proposition, to the end that it be 
 accomplished without injustice to any one and in 
 consonance with national honor. It made an im- 
 mense sensation and if Clay had never modified 
 the statements therein contained he would probably 
 have been elected President. Because Benton 
 agreed to the sentiments expressed in this letter, 
 he was by some esteemed a Clay man, though he 
 
FEIENDSHLPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 311 
 
 gave his acLheieuce to Cass. Benton was not ac- 
 customed to writing letters on matters of national 
 policy except to his constituents, preferring to dis- 
 cuss great measures in the Senate ; and though it is 
 not likely he would ever under any circumstances 
 have written such a document as the Raleigh Let- 
 ter, because he did not like to discuss matters re- 
 lating to slavery when they could be avoided, it is 
 certain that if he had taken such a stand nothing 
 could have moved him from it. Unfortunately, 
 Clay, finding the Raleigh Letter uuj)opular in the 
 South, took advantage of a slight change in the 
 situation and wrote to a Southern friend tw^o letters, 
 known as the Alabama Letters, in which he seemed 
 to hedge very decidedly on the position taken in 
 the Raleigh Letter. In consequence he was accused 
 by the Abolitionists of blowing hot and cold, of de- 
 siring to be an anti-slavery man in the North and a 
 pro-slavery man in the South. This was not just to 
 Clay but the result was his defeat. Benton hated 
 the Abolitionists as much as Clay did, but he was 
 so constituted that he never could have taken a 
 strong position on any subject and modified it later. 
 For this reason the relations thereafter between 
 him and Clay were anything but pleasant. 
 
 Enough has been related in this narrative of the 
 
312 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 uncompromising nature of the man so that it is 
 scarcely necessary to comment at length upon it. 
 Among all the great enmities of his life — and there 
 were many — that against Jackson seems to have 
 been the only one that was ever fully repented of 
 and forgotten. There were occasions when he was 
 with difficulty kept out of duels with Clay and 
 others, in spite of his resolutions on the subject ; 
 and though at times he would be on speaking 
 terms with his opponents and observe an ordinary 
 degree of courtesy toward them, he nursed his 
 wrath, which broke out on the next occasion with 
 greater virulence than before. K "earth has no 
 rage like love to hatred turned," the exact reverse 
 seems to have been true in regard to his relations 
 with Jackson. The bitterness which he for years 
 felt toward him is in strange contrast with his later 
 admiration and is the one feature of his whole 
 career which seems contradictory. One can only 
 believe that if his imperious nature could have 
 been touched in the right spot on other occasions 
 and in other relations, the result would have been 
 beneficial to all concerned. 
 
 Certainly it was quite as much his mannerisms 
 as the principles he espoused, that started the op- 
 position to him at the last. There seems little 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 313 
 
 doubt that if he had been more tactful, he could 
 have overcome his political enemies in Missouri 
 and secured the sixth election to the Senate. iTact 
 was not one of his qualities and he had been spoiled 
 for any semblance of diplomacy in politics by the 
 singular successes of his early career. \ There were 
 many times when the positions he took, as on the 
 Oregon question or Texas annexation, were ex- 
 ceedingly unpopular at home and he was severely 
 criticised by the press and denounced in public 
 meetings even by those who had been his former 
 partisans. On many occasions he had seen his 
 position justified by time and he counted rather 
 too much on this. He seems never to have reflected 
 that his continued residence in Washington had 
 made him a stranger to the rising generation in 
 Missouri, and he overestimated the effect which his 
 many services and acknowledged abilities had upon 
 the people. When he declared that ''the slavery 
 question was like the plague of frogs which ap- 
 peared everywhere from the scullery to the nuptial 
 couch," he at least underfstood how important and 
 wide-spread the issue had become. He insisted 
 either on ignoring or smothering it when such 
 things were impossible. At the time when Atch- 
 ison, Claiborne F. Jackson and other radical pro- 
 
314 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 slavery leaders, were active in every part of Mis- 
 souri, stirring up opposition, not so much because of 
 personal antipathy to Benton, but because he stood 
 in the way of their cherished plans, he took the 
 matter altogether too calmly. He would refuse re- 
 quests to speak and at times seemed rather cavalier 
 in replies to his constituents. He evidently looked 
 upon himself as their shepherd and considered it 
 their duty to follow him without question. 
 
 This was a temperamental fault which in so 
 strong a nature as his could not be overcome. It 
 seems probable that if he had waited a few years in 
 Missouri before going to Washington he would 
 have been more closely identified with the people 
 and the state, and might have kept a closer hold on 
 their affections at the last. He did have some dif- 
 ficulty at first in making the people see that he was 
 the sort of senator they wished ; for as has been 
 noted his election was accomplished with difficulty 
 in the face of bitter opposition and under circum- 
 stances which long rankled in the breasts of his op- 
 ponents. If he could have come into close personal 
 contact with his constituents in 1845-50, he might 
 have achieved success without sacrificing principle. 
 That was not to be and argues a Benton that did 
 not exist. » 
 
FiUEXDSHIPS AND CHARACTERISTICS 315 
 
 It is difacult to speak of Benton's vanity m any 
 detail without doing the man an injustice. Egotism / 
 clothed him as with a garment. At times it was so- 
 noticeable as to detract greatly from his usefulness. 
 It undoubtedly acted as a bar to whatever ambi- 
 tions he had for the presidency. And, indeed, it 
 is a little difiicult to understand on what grounds 
 his vanity was based. Physically he was a remark- 
 able man, six feet tall, well-built and with an enor- 
 mous head and striking face such as no one ever 
 saw without remarking upon. But though Benton 
 was rather vain of his looks and always dressed 
 with scrupulous care his appearance was not the 
 chief cause of his egotism. His vanity was centred 
 largely upon his knowledge of men and events in 
 American history. His memory seems to have been 
 very retentive as to facts. To him dates were an 
 open book and such was the cast of this faculty that 
 he could remember the very page of a volume on 
 which was recorded what he wished to look up. 
 He was a great student of maps and frequently con- 
 founded those who tried to impose bogus drawings 
 on the Senate. In this respect he seems to have 
 had no superior in his time, not even that great 
 scholar, John Quincy Adams. But his erudition 
 must be looked upon in a comparative light and 
 
316 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 viewed according to the standards of his age rather 
 than our own. Although his learning tended to 
 pedantry he was for his age and times much more 
 of a scholar than his mannerisms indicated. 
 
 It is not possible to compare the intellectual 
 power of Benton and Webster: there is almost 
 exclusively a contrast. Yet, because Benton could 
 remember dates and facts, could answer almost 
 instantly any question propounded to him on 
 any public question, there is no doubt that 
 he looked upon himself as much superior to 
 Webster. 
 
 The last fifteen years of his life were lived almost 
 constantly at Washington where he had a fine home 
 filled with many valuable books and manuscripts. 
 Books were less numerous then than now but they 
 were more carefully read. Benton was more omniv- 
 orous than discriminating in his reading which seems 
 to have been largely that of history and biography 
 and very little of helles lettres. Considering how 
 much he read, it is astonishing that he was not able to 
 absorb something of the style of the great mas- 
 ters ; but he never did, even in the remotest 
 degree. He loved to air his learning in the Sen- 
 ate, using Latin and Greek phrases more as a 
 freshman than as a scholar, though it is certain 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 317 
 
 that he did have a tolerable acquaintance with the 
 classics. 
 
 Wherein he failed was as a speculative philoso- 
 pher. He ignored or despised the arts of the school- 
 men. Although he never used any of the classic 
 models in his speeches, there is some reason to be- 
 lieve that he looked upon himself as the American 
 Burke. He much overestimated the effect which 
 his utterances had on the public. He believed 
 that the attention of the American people was 
 centred on "Benton," as he was wont to speak of 
 himself in a high, impersonal fashion, much more 
 so than the situation warranted. 
 
 His attacks on Calhoun were at times modeled, 
 as he thought, on the orations of Cicero against 
 Cataline, yet there was not the slightest resem- 
 blance between them except in the intense patriot- 
 ism which characterized both. Indeed, Benton 
 lived so much apart from men in his intellectual 
 activities that he became largely divorced from the 
 society which surrounded him, and in time he began 
 to look upon his isolation as due to his own pre- 
 ponderating imijortance. There is no doubt of this 
 and many instances might be multiplied to show 
 how he felt, as for instance, his belief that every 
 American would buy his "Thirty Years' View." 
 
318 THOMAS H. BEXTON^ 
 
 But it would be wrong to bring forward this feature 
 of his character too prominently. He had so many 
 virtues that his petty vanities and his egotism were 
 not objectionable to his peers, once they came to 
 understand the man. It is evident that he was 
 little given to introspection in which he differed 
 greatly from Adams. He was impulsive and dog- 
 matic, and seemed anxious only to get facts from 
 his associates, caring little for their views. In his 
 later years he was greatly irritated over opposition 
 to himself in Missouri. He would not permit the 
 slightest interruption in his public speeches to con- 
 stituents and when any was attempted would pro- 
 ceed in his lordly manner to pour vitriol upon the 
 devoted head of his opponent. It cannot be said 
 that on these occasions he displayed discretion or 
 that he was always right. He used abuse instead of 
 argument and at times indulged in language which 
 was neither refined nor justifiable. This habit grew 
 as he saw that the people of Missouri were turning 
 from him at a time when he looked upon himself 
 as the most important man in the country and one 
 whom liis state could not do without. These faults 
 brought about his own undoing. 
 
 His hatred of dictation was such that he never 
 would attend a caucus of any kind. He considered 
 
FEIEXDSHLPS AND CHAEACTEEISTICS 319 
 
 that it was undemocratic and subversive of justice, 
 and that it relegated the power really to a minority 
 as was often the case when a bare majority of the 
 majority were able to control legislation. He also 
 had a distrust of national conventions, which did 
 not appeal to his sense of fitness. He liked the 
 older method of nominations by resolutions of mass 
 meetings, or of legislatures, or possibly of state or 
 county conventions. The two-thirds rule was par- 
 ticularly obnoxious to him especially after 1844 
 when it killed Van Buren whom he was anxious to 
 see nominated. 
 
 Another annoyance was the established custom\ 
 of allowing members to pair on any question. This \ 
 was putting a premium on absence from Congress \ 
 and to him seemed little less than a crime. In his j 
 early days the compensation of a member was eight I 
 dollars a day — about twelve hundred dollars a year. / 
 Many members could not give up their time entirely ^y 
 for such a sum and found it convenient to pair and 
 go home. Benton made it his proud boast that he 
 was in the Senate every day from the opening to 
 the close of the session unless detained by illness, \ 
 and he was insistent that others should be as faith- 
 ful as he. 
 
 All great men have their strong individualities. 
 
320 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 It would be hard to pick out a man in all our Ms- 
 tory who has in any respect resembled Benton. 
 He stood alone among all his peers and cared very 
 little for the approbation of other men — certainly 
 not enough to change the current of his thoughts or 
 take any action that would be contrary to what he 
 deemed the plain duty before him. It would be 
 idle to say that he was without faults or limitations, 
 but it is nothing less than the truth to assert that 
 he was one of the most remarkable of American 
 statesmen. His record of public service has per- 
 haps been as important for good as that of any of 
 the great characters in our history. Had it been 
 his good fortune early in life to have come under 
 the refining influences of the best culture of America 
 it would have greatly improved him, though it 
 might by the same token have made it impossible 
 for him to achieve the career which he has left to 
 posterity. Benton was undoubtedly one of the most 
 forceful men of his age but owing to many circum- 
 stances he has left smaller impress upon the public 
 mind than many of his associates, who were not 
 only less virile but who accomplished less for the 
 country. As was remarked in the opening chapter 
 of this volume, he died just before the outbreak of 
 the Civil War and there was such a plethora of dis- 
 
FEIENDSHIPS AND CHAEACTERISTICS 321 
 
 tinguislied men arising out of that conflict that 
 Benton's name has sufi"ered undeserved eclipse 
 which is now being removed under the searching 
 light of historical investigation. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 OEATOE AND AUTHOR 
 
 That Benton's memory survives at all is due 
 largely to the monumental work, "Thirty Years' 
 View of the United States Senate," which he com- 
 pleted shortly before his death. There is scarcely 
 a single book of its kind that is so valuable to the 
 historian or student, but it is very little read by 
 any one else. When Benton lost his seat in the 
 Senate he began this work and completed it with 
 incredible rapidity. He collected private papers 
 from Jackson and others. He had always been 
 careful to preserve his own, so that the first volume 
 contains a most authoritative commentary on 
 many of the important events in our history. 
 This he wrote with his own hand but it is a most 
 curious composition. He did not appear openly 
 on the title page as its author and a portion of it 
 is written in the third person. At other times he 
 freely uses the first personal pronoun. Again he 
 speaks of himself as *'the author of this View" or 
 as "Mr. Benton." While for the most part the 
 record is chronological, there are very important 
 
OEATOR AND AUTHOR 323 
 
 lapses in it aud many things are introduced in 
 an unusual manner. 
 
 He was at work on his second volume when his 
 house and all its valuable contents were burned. 
 He started to work again philosophically but he 
 frequently laments the loss of the papers, and the 
 second volume, which ought to be the more im- 
 portant of the two, is therefore less so than it 
 should be. His remarkable memory made it pos- 
 sible for him to utter statements on his own author- 
 ity and these must be accepted as facts, though the 
 original documents would have been priceless. 
 The volumes were issued some years apart and were 
 widely read at the time, though he expected for 
 them a much greater circulation than they obtained. 
 Now it is possible to purchase them for a small 
 sum at second-hand book stores. 
 
 Benton's intention was to make this work an 
 argument as well as a history. Didactically it 
 was devoted to showing that there was no fear the 
 North would interfere with slavery ; that it never 
 had done so ; that Calhoun was wrong in saying 
 that it had or would do so ; and that the South 
 Carolinian himself in his earlier and better years 
 had entertained liberal views on the subject. Per- 
 haps Benton's hope was that he could prove nullifi- 
 
324 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 cation so absurd historically, and personally as 
 regarded its followers, that it would be possible to 
 stem the rising tide of rebellion. He devoted 
 much space to showing that Calhoun had ac- 
 quiesced in the refusal to take Texas in 1818 and 
 succeeded, though the papers he sought had been 
 abstracted from the files of the State Department. 
 Still he told his story so circumstantially and with 
 such an array of corroborative evidence, that there 
 is no longer a doubt of its truth. He made the 
 mistake of supposing that the Southern people after 
 the Compromises of 1850 desired any such proof. 
 They were bent upon a cotton empire of their own 
 and were not to be convinced against their will. 
 
 The unfortunate part of the work is that it ends 
 very abruptly and just at the time when he might 
 have given us much that would now be interesting 
 and helpful. He refused to continue it with much 
 detail after the Compromises of 1850, evidently 
 hoping that an agreement could be reached and 
 having no desire needlessly to wound the feelings 
 of any person. He omitted a good many thiugs 
 that he might have told us. In the book there is 
 very little that is personally offensive regarding 
 any man. It is appeal and not invective. Later 
 on he prepared for a new edition a slight biograph- 
 
ORATOE AND AUTHOR 325 
 
 ical sketch of himself which throws little light on 
 his career, and is mostly devoted to his public 
 policy with which every one was already familiar. 
 
 As a rule Benton wrote very badly. He never 
 mastered the simplest rules of composition. Some- 
 times his sentences contain two hundred words, and 
 are so full of dependent clauses that the meaning is 
 vague. He delighted in veiled allusions, and in 
 reading the book there are times when it is diificiilt 
 to understand whether he is speaking for himself 
 or not. He wrote many short appreciations of the 
 great men he had known and was fond of obituary 
 comments. His fine vein of sentiment was often 
 spoiled by a bungling manner of expression. 
 
 Benton's other great work was an abridgment 
 of the Debates in Congress from the beginning 
 down to 1850. This was a colossal undertaking, 
 calling for untiring industry and no little judg- 
 ment. It comprises many volumes and is still 
 a standard work, though it loses much from the 
 fact that in early times speeches were not re- 
 ported verbatim but in the present Hansard style 
 of the British Parliament, in which the sense and 
 the language for the most part are preserved, with- 
 out verbal accuracy. This immense task was com- 
 pleted in about a year and without assistance. 
 
326 THOMAS H. BENTOX 
 
 Indeed he never employed a clerk until in his 
 last days. His penmanship was very florid, given 
 to flourishes but perfectly legible. 
 
 His only other book was an argument against 
 the Dred Scott decision. This was a political 
 tract and his last literary effort, some of it be- 
 ing dictated when he was too weak to speak above 
 a whisper. It was a strong paper for the times. 
 It completely demolished the Taney theory that 
 slavery was a national institution, penetrating by 
 virtue of the Constitution wherever that instrument 
 had effect. What angered Benton most was the 
 declaration that the Missouri Compromise was un- 
 constitutional on the ground that Congress had no 
 right to legislate against slavery in the territories. 
 It is true that at this time the Missouri Com- 
 promise had been repealed bj^ Congress and the 
 decision was of no practical effect so far as that 
 legislation was concerned ; but as slavery still ex- 
 isted and the status of some of the territories was 
 not yet fixed, Benton was alarmed. He saw that 
 the result of this opinion, — for it was that rather 
 than a decision, as the Dred Scott case had been 
 dismissed on a technicality and there was no oc- 
 casion for the obiter dicta which followed — would 
 be to make the South much more bitter and that 
 
OEATOR AND AUTHOR 327 
 
 the North would resist its expression of reseutinent 
 by every possible means. He had lived to see the 
 Border War burst out in its fury just beyond the 
 confines of Missouri ; to see Senator Atchison, his 
 colleague, become the leader of the radical pro- 
 slavery party ; and he wrote for posterity his pro- 
 test against the heresies of the school of nullifiers 
 who had now become almost open secessionists. 
 
 This work created much attention at the time it 
 was issued, but pretty soon the war came on and 
 with it the whole slavery question was eliminated. 
 To-day it is still one of the ablest treatises on the 
 whole subject, though interest in it is academic 
 rather than practical. 
 
 During his career Benton published, in pamphlet 
 form, many of his speeches which he circulated ex- 
 tensively. Aside from the works already men- 
 tioned, his literary efforts were confined to his early 
 editorship of the Missouri Enquirer, which was 
 more vigorous than polite, more strenuous than 
 elegant in style. He frequently contributed to the 
 Globe, but did not sign his articles. He wrote 
 many letters to his constituents and others and was 
 especially strong in stating his views when invited 
 by political bodies to address them, although their 
 invitations were almost invariably declined. His 
 
328 THOMAS H. BE^s'TOX 
 
 greatest speech outside of the Senate and Missouri 
 was in Faneuil Hall, in Boston, not long before his 
 death. 
 
 We have seen that Benton was vain of his oratory 
 and without much reason. He spoke incessantly 
 and his set speeches were prepared with great care. 
 Here again we see the faults of his style. He lacked 
 the power of concentration and generally was not 
 lucid. In matters pertaining to finance he was at 
 his best, for here he dealt with cold facts ; but when 
 he let his imagination have free rein, he was likely 
 to wander. He never tired of calling up the his- 
 tory of Greece and Kome for examples and prece- 
 dents or warnings. Though this was a custom of 
 his age, he certainly exceeded any normal limit, 
 and it is doubtful if those who read his speeches 
 were greatly edified by his display of historical 
 knowledge. When worked up to a high pitch of 
 feeling, Benton was seldom choice in the use of 
 language, but in the revision of his speeches he 
 eliminated many of the things which would have 
 been more interesting than some that were allowed 
 to stand. 
 
 His voice was strong but his throat weak, often 
 bleeding freely after a long speech. "Wlien he had 
 an important address to make, he would sometimes 
 
ORATOR AXD AUTHOR 329 
 
 keep almost absolute silence for three or four days. 
 In the melee of forensic debate, he would often 
 become so husky that he could scarcely be heard. 
 His throat affection was a result of his early tend- 
 ency to tuberculosis. If in early youth he could 
 have come under the care of a good teacher of 
 elocution, he would have been greatly benefited. 
 He was likely to confound noise with impressive- 
 ness. Clay's voice was one of the most perfect in 
 history. So clear was it that it was said people in 
 the gallery could hear perfectly when he spoke to a 
 neighbor in a whisper, at the same time that Benton 
 was making the chamber resound with his voice. 
 
 It is essential to a proper understanding of 
 Benton that a few brief extracts be given from his 
 speeches and writings since they well exhibit his 
 cast of mind. As preserved, the speeches are 
 almost destitute of that wit for which he was far- 
 famed. The reason for this is that he considered 
 such exhibitions as purely temporary in effect and 
 liable to misconstruction when read. 
 
 In 1824 he made the first of many speeches in 
 favor of a change of the method of electing presi- 
 dent and vice-president, a subject that was dear to 
 his heart, though he could seldom keep an audience. 
 He had a plan which was scarcely better than the 
 
330 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 one now employed. It was to have a direct election 
 in each Congressional district, the vote in such dis- 
 trict counting as one electoral vote for the man who 
 received the largest number of popular votes. This 
 entirely eliminated the votes based on senatorships 
 and was opposed by the smaller states which were 
 naturally averse to suffering any loss of power. 
 
 In the course of a very long argument in which 
 he went ovxr a great deal of history this occurs : 
 
 "Of the twenty-five centuries that the Eoman 
 state has existed, to what period do we look for the 
 generals and statesmen, the poets and orators, the 
 philosophers and historians, the sculptors, painters, 
 and architects, whose immortal works have fixed 
 upon their country the admiring eyes of all suc- 
 ceeding ages ? Is it to the reigns of the seven first 
 kings ? — to the reigns of the emperors, proclaimed 
 by the praetorian bands? — to the reigns of the 
 Sovereign Pontiffs, chosen by a select body of 
 electors in a conclave of most holy cardinals? Xo 
 — we look to none of these, but to that short inter- 
 val of four centuries and a half which lies between 
 the expulsion of the Tarquins, and the re-establish- 
 ment of monarchy in the person of Octavius Caesar. 
 It is to this short period, during which the consuls, 
 tribunes, and praetors, were annually elected by a 
 
OEATOR AXD AUTHOR 331 
 
 direct vote of the people, to which we look our- 
 selves, and to which we direct the infant minds of 
 our children, for all the works and monuments of 
 Roman greatness ; for roads, bridges, and aque- 
 ducts constructed ; for victories gained, nations 
 vanquished, commerce extended, treasure im- 
 ported, libraries founded, learning encouraged, 
 the arts flourishing, the city embellished, and the 
 kings of the earth humbly suing to be admitted 
 into the friendship, and taken under the protection, 
 of the Roman people. It was of this magnificent 
 period that Cicero spoke, when he proclaimed the 
 people of Rome to be the masters of kings, and the 
 conquerors and commanders of all the nations of 
 the earth. And, what is wonderful, during this 
 whole period, in a succession of four hundred and 
 fifty annual elections, the people never once pre- 
 ferred a citizen to the consulship who did not carry 
 the prosperity and the glory of the Republic to a 
 point beyond that at which he had found it." 
 
 This is not very consequential. It is not very 
 well done and not altogether true. There are col- 
 umns of such talk which seem to have very slight 
 connection with the subject in hand. Clay would 
 have illuminated it by talking very briefly of his- 
 tory and paying a good deal of attention to existing 
 
332 THO:\rAS H. BENTON 
 
 conditions, while "Webster in a few Miltonian sen- 
 tences would have expressed much more than there 
 is in pages of Benton's efibrt. 
 
 When called upon to speak without preparation 
 Benton often made a better showing. Then he had 
 no time to look up precedents or concoct long 
 sentences. We have already seen how vigorously 
 he opposed the Panama mission in which Claj- was 
 so much interested, and in a speech of some warmth 
 he had this to say on a burning topic : 
 
 " Our policy toward Hayti, the old San Domingo, 
 has been fixed for three and thirty years. We 
 trade with her, but no diplomatic relations have 
 been established between us. We purchase coffee 
 from her, and pay her for it ; but we interchange 
 no consuls or ministers. We receive no mulatto 
 consuls, or black ambassadors from her. And 
 why ? Because the peace of eleven States in this 
 Union will not permit the fruits of a successful 
 negro insurrection to be exhibited among them. It 
 will not permit black consuls and ambassadors to 
 establish themselves in our cities, and to parade 
 through our country, and give to their fellow 
 blacks in the United States, proof in hand of the 
 honors which await them, for a like successful 
 effort on their part. It will not permit the fact to 
 
OEATOR AND AUTHOR 333 
 
 be seen, and told, that for the murder of their mas- 
 ters and mistresses, they are to find friends among 
 the white people of these United States. No, this 
 is a question which has been determined here for 
 thi'ee and thirty years ; one which has never been 
 open for discussion, at home or abroad, neither 
 under the presidency of General Washington, of the 
 first Mr. Adams, of IVli'. Jefferson, JVIr. Madison, or 
 IVlr. Monroe. It is one which cannot be discussed 
 in this chamber on this day ; and shall we go to 
 Panama to discuss it ? I take it in the mildest sup- 
 posed character of this Congress — shall we go there 
 to advise and consult in council about it ? AVho are 
 to advise and sit in judgment upon it? Five na- 
 tions who have already put the black man upon an 
 equality with the white, not only in their constitu- 
 tions but in real life : five nations who have at this 
 moment (at least some of them) black generals in 
 their armies and mulatto senators in their con- 
 gresses ! ' ' 
 
 This is better. It is direct, incisive and states 
 openly what others had thought but had feared to 
 express. 
 
 Another interesting example is given in his 
 tribute to Jefferson who had just died : ''He was 
 no speaker, but a most instructive and fascinating 
 
334 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 talker ; and the Declaration of Lidependence, even 
 if it had not been sistered by innumerable classic 
 productions, would have placed him at the head of 
 political writers. I never saw him but once, when 
 I went to visit him in his retirement ; and then I 
 felt, for four hours, the charms of his bewitching 
 talk. I was then a young senator, just coming on 
 the stage of public life — he a patriarchal statesman 
 just going off the stage of natural life, and evidently 
 desirous to impress some views of policy upon me 
 — a design in which he certainly did not fail. I 
 honor him as a patriot of the Revolution — as one 
 of the founders of the Republic — as the founder of 
 the political school to which I belong ; and for the 
 purity of character which he possessed in com- 
 mon with his compatriots, and which gives to 
 the birth of the United States a beauty of par- 
 entage which the genealogy of no other nation can 
 show." 
 
 The personal note in this is rather fine and the 
 sentiment is not badly expressed. In writing of 
 men, Benton always appeared to better advantage 
 than when discussing principles. 
 
 He made innumerable speeches on the subject of 
 cheap or free lands for the poor. No man under- 
 stood the question better than he but he was not 
 
OEATOR AND AUTHOR 335 
 
 always happy in his arguments. The following ex- 
 presses his whole philosophy : 
 
 ''Tenantry is unfavorable to freedom. It lays 
 the foundation for separate orders in society, an- 
 nihilates the love of country, and weakens the spirit 
 of independence. The farming tenant has, in fact, 
 no country, no hearth, no domestic altar, no house- 
 hold god. The freeholder, on the contrary, is the 
 natural supporter of a free government ; and it 
 should be the policy of republics to multiply their 
 freeholders, as it is the policy of monarchies to mul- 
 tiply tenants. We are a republic, and we wish to 
 continue so : then multiply the class of freeholders ; 
 pass the public lands cheaply and easily into the 
 hands of the people ; sell, for a reasonable price, to 
 those who are able to pay ; and give, without price, 
 to those who are not. I say give, without price, to 
 those who are not able to pay ; and that which is 
 so given, I consider as sold for the best of prices ; 
 for a price above gold and silver ; a price which 
 cannot be carried away by delinquent officers, nor 
 lost in failing banks, nor stolen by thieves, nor 
 squandered by an improvident and extrava- 
 gant administration. It brings a price above 
 rubies — a race of virtuous and independent la- 
 borers, the true supporters of their country, and 
 
336 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 the stock from which its best defenders must be 
 drawn." 
 
 The ideas here expressed are admirable. They 
 are those which the country finall}- adopted to its 
 infinite gain. But there is an awkwardness of ex- 
 pression which is notable and as this speech had the 
 benefit of at least two revisions in type after it was 
 delivered, it can be seen that the fault lay in Ben- 
 ton's fundamental lack of literary style. In fact, 
 of all the many speeches that he made in Congress, 
 there is hardly one that is ever quoted in these 
 days, — indeed hardly a single expression is remem- 
 bered. This is the more remarkable because he 
 spoke so often and his constant hammering at a sub- 
 ject usuallj' resulted in success. On the contrary, 
 people to-day continue to read the speeches of Web- 
 ster, Clay and Calhoun, and remember their words, 
 though as a matter of fact these statesmen often 
 lost their measures and failed in their contentions. 
 
 We have seen that Benton opened the debate on 
 the Foot resolution in which Webster and Hayne 
 had that greatest of forensic duels. Foot's resolu- 
 tion of inquiry into the desirability of stopping the 
 survey of public lauds and thus taking them out of 
 the market was concurrent with one in the House 
 which looked to a division of the proceeds of land 
 
ORATOR AND AUTHOR 337 
 
 sales among the states. There are a few sentences 
 in this opening speech by Benton that are worthy 
 of remembrance. He was the only speaker who 
 kept to his text in that debate, and the following 
 exti-act shows the moral fibre of the man as well as 
 his views on the subject : 
 
 "I will vote for no such inquiry. I would as 
 soon vote for inquiries into the expediency of con- 
 flagrating cities, of devastating provinces, and of 
 submerging fruitful lands under the waves of the 
 ocean. I take my stand upon a great moral prin- 
 ciple : that it is never right to inquire into the ex- 
 pediency of doing wi'ong. 
 
 "The proposed inquiry is to do wrong; to inflict 
 unmixed, unmitigated evil upon the new States and 
 Territories. Such inquiries are not to be tolerated. 
 Courts of law will not sustain actions which have 
 immoral foundations ; legislative bodies should not 
 sustain inquiries which have iniquitous conclusions. 
 Courts of law make it an object to give public sat- 
 isfaction in the administration of justice ; legislative 
 bodies should consult the public tranquillity in the 
 prosecution of their measures. They should not 
 alarm and agitate the country; yet, this inquiry, if 
 it goes on, will give the greatest dissatisfaction to 
 the new States in the West and South. It will alarm 
 
338 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 and agitate them, and ought to do it. It will con- 
 nect itself with other inquiries going on elsewhere 
 — in the other end of this building — iu the House 
 of Eepresentatives — to make the new States a source 
 of revenue to the old ones, to deliver them up to a 
 new set of masters, to throw them as grapes into the 
 wine press, to be trod and squeezed as long as one 
 drop of juice could be pressed from their hulls. 
 These measures will go together ; and if that resolu- 
 tion passes, and this one passes, the transition will 
 be easy and natui-al, from dividing the money after 
 the lands are sold, to divide the lands before they 
 are sold, and then to renting the land and drawing 
 an annual income, instead of selling it for a price 
 in hand. The signs are portentous ; the crisis is 
 alarming ; it is time for the new States to wake up 
 to their danger, and to prepare for a struggle which 
 carries ruin and disgrace to them, if the issue is 
 against them." 
 
 Outside of his speeches on financial measures this 
 excerpt is perhaps equal to anything that Benton 
 has preserved for us. It is true that in the course 
 of the debate he was deceived as to the intentions 
 of Hayne and Calhoun, but his position was sound 
 and he consistently adliorcd to it through his whole 
 career. But when the slavery question was intro- 
 
ORATOR AND AUTHOR 339 
 
 duced, he returned to the subject in another speech, 
 still supposing that Calhoun was as anxious as him- 
 self to allay any feeling on the subject and to pre- 
 serve the Union. He took the course not unusual 
 in those days, of attacking the Abolitionists and 
 making them responsible for the agitation, though 
 on this point also he was soon to be undeceived. 
 He said: 
 
 '' I can truly say, that slavery in the abstract, has 
 but few advocates or defenders in the slaveholding 
 States, and that slavery as it is, an hereditary in- 
 stitution descended upon us from our ancestors, 
 would have fewer advocates among us than it has, 
 if those who have nothing to do with the subject 
 would only let us alone. The sentiment in favor of 
 slavery was much weaker before those intermed- 
 dlers began their operations than it is at present. 
 The views of leading men in the North and the 
 South were indisputably the same in the earlier 
 periods of our government. Of this our legislative 
 history contains the highest proof. The foreign 
 slave trade was prohibited in Virginia, as soon as 
 the Revolution began. It was one of her first acts 
 of sovereignty. In the convention of that State 
 which adopted the federal constitution, it was an 
 objection to that instrument that it tolerated the 
 
S40 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 African slave-trade for twenty years. Nothing that 
 has appeared since has surpassed the indignant de- 
 nunciations of this traffic by Patrick Henry, George 
 Mason, and others, in that convention. 
 
 "Sir, I regard with admiration, that is to say, 
 with wonder, the sublime morality of those who 
 cannot bear the abstract contemplation of slavery, 
 at the distance of five hundred or a thousand miles 
 off. It is entirely above, that is to say, it affects a 
 vast superiority over the morality of the primiti\e 
 Christians, the apostles of Christ, and Christ Him- 
 self. Christ and the apostles appeared in a prov- 
 ince of the Eoman empire, when that empire was 
 called the Roman world, and that world was filled 
 with slaves." 
 
 There is not much eloquence in this speech, but 
 from it we learn what were his views as to the 
 Abolitionists. 
 
 One more example of his manner of composition 
 must suffice. It is the opening of the chapter on 
 the downfall of the National Bank in his "Thirty 
 Years' View." As he was perhaps more respon- 
 sible than any man for having slain this "dragon," 
 he naturally was much elated and attempted to de- 
 scribe it in his very best vein. "We have here per- 
 haps the most characteristic example of his style, 
 
ORATOK AND AUTHOE 341 
 
 when he is auxious to make a favorable impression, 
 and of course he fails lamentably : 
 
 " When the author of the ^neid had shown the 
 opening grandeur of Rome, he deemed himself jus- 
 tified in departing from the chronological order of 
 events to look ahead, and give a glimpse of the dead 
 Marcellus, hope and heir of the Augustan empire ; 
 in the like manner the writer of this View, after 
 having shown the greatness of the United States 
 Bank — exemplified in her capacity to have Jackson 
 condemned — the government directors and a secre- 
 tary of the treasury rejected — a committee of the 
 House of Representatives repulsed — the country 
 convulsed and agonized — and to obtain from the 
 Senate of the United States a committee to proceed 
 to the city of Philadelphia to ' wash out its foul 
 linen ' ; — after seeing all this and beholding the 
 greatness of the moneyed power at the culminating 
 point of its domination, I feel justified in looking 
 ahead a few years to see it in its altered phase — in 
 its ruined and fallen estate." 
 
 It will be noted that this is a single sentence and 
 about as awkward a one as an educated man could 
 write. 
 
 It remains to be said that although Benton had 
 many faults as a writer and a speaker, he was 
 
342 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 much more successful than many of those who 
 were greatly his superiors. The "Thirty Years' 
 View" will be remembered and read by those who 
 seek to learn the history of the times involved, 
 when most other books of the period have been 
 lost sight of. And in spite of the lack of style, or 
 perhaps because of the peculiar style of the work, 
 it has an individual flavor that is not at all dis- 
 pleasing. The book bears on it the stamp of the 
 man, is so completely a revelation of his thoughts, 
 as well as a narrative of his deeds, that we could 
 not wish it different. It might be a finer literary 
 composition but it would not be so vital, so per. 
 sonal — would not be Benton. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE END 
 
 There is something beautiful in contemplating 
 the last seven years of Benton's life. At an age 
 when most men are willing to retire from activity, 
 he fought the hardest political battles of his life and 
 lost them all but one. Such reverses would have 
 embittered a lesser man ; but he was made of 
 sterner stufT and to the last was hopeful. When 
 his beloved home, containing all his records and 
 literary treasures, was burned in February, 1855, he 
 looked on with composure and was afterward taken 
 by his daughter Jessie to her own house near by, 
 where she records : ' ' Neither of us had slept, but 
 he made me lie down and we talked calmly together 
 as only those who love one another can talk after 
 a calamity." It is interesting to note that when 
 Congress heard of the disaster, it immediately ad- 
 journed as a mark of its respect and sympathy for 
 him. 
 
 His wife died in 1854, and for four years more 
 Benton strove with the political stars in their 
 courses. The last two years of his life showed a 
 
344 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 constant decline in physical powers, but he labored 
 to the end to complete his literary work. 
 
 Two years before his death he suspected that his 
 trouble was cancer. Without comniuuicating his 
 fears to any one, he carefully read up the disease 
 and for a long time noted the symptoms, which he 
 reported to the physicians. They found his diag- 
 nosis to be correct. He was so cheerful that they 
 hoped for a while that he might live, but even 
 Benton's indomitable spirit at length began to fail. 
 He had said as a young man when attacked by 
 consumption: "If it had been a battle, I would 
 have had some chance, or even in a desperate duel. 
 But for this there is no chance. All was fixed and 
 is inevitable. ' ' He probably had the same view of 
 death in his old age. He disliked the thought of 
 dying in his bed, for the fighting spirit remained 
 strong to the last. Always a man of deep religious 
 feeling and constant in his Christian duties, he now 
 devoted much attention to putting his spiritual 
 house in order. The end came at his Washington 
 home, April 10, 1858. He had especially re- 
 quested that Congress take no note of the event ; 
 it did, however, adjourn and many notable men 
 paid tribute to his personal and civic virtues. 
 
 It is pleasing to note that a reaction came and 
 
THE EI^D 345 
 
 the people of Missouri who had thrice in recent 
 years rejected him, now did their best to atone for 
 their insult and neglect. The funeral in St. Louis 
 was the most notable event of its sort that has ever 
 taken place beyond the Mississippi and was rivaled 
 in the West only by the demonstrations over Clay 
 a few years before at Lexington, and later by 
 the funeral obsequies of Lincoln. Business was 
 entirely suspended in St. Louis and the cortege 
 was reported to be two miles long, as every sort of 
 civic and military association participated. The 
 body was laid at rest in Bellcfontaine Cemetery 
 where his sons had already been buried with 
 other members of the Benton family. The contem- 
 poraneous accounts of the funeral indicate that this 
 unanimous expression of grief and sympathy was 
 genuine in spite of the fact that both city and state 
 had so lately rejected his services. Benton's rugged 
 honesty appealed to all and the funeral orations 
 and addresses, of which there were many then and 
 soon afterward, indicate how deep was the hold 
 which Benton had upon the people whom he had 
 served so long. Some of the finest tributes came 
 from those who had fought him hardest in the 
 political field and who were finally responsible for 
 his fall. 
 
346 THOMAS H. BEXTON 
 
 A handsome monument was erected in one of the 
 St. Louis parks. The heroic statue surmounting it 
 faces the West and the index finger points to the 
 setting sun. Beneath is the inscription taken from 
 one of his speeches: "There is the East: there is 
 the road to India." 
 
 Even in death and defeat Benton was a victor. 
 There can be no doubt that his was the potent voice 
 that held Missouri in the Union against all the 
 desperate efforts to drive her into secession. There 
 were those who remembered the old man eloquent, 
 those who had heard him in that famous campaign 
 of 1856 when he went up and down the state plead- 
 ing for the Union. If Missouri had joined the 
 Confederacy, the contest would have been longer 
 and more difficult, though no student of history can 
 believe that eventually there would have been a 
 different result. Of those who in and out of season 
 raised their voices against all threats or suggestions 
 of disunion ; of those who loved to smite secession 
 wherever it lifted its head, no man was more ardent, 
 more continuous in his labors, more uncompromis- 
 ing and more effectual than Benton. 
 
 When the time came, he was found where he 
 predicted he would be, — on the side of his country 
 and the Union. Though his majestic soul had 
 
THE EKD 347 
 
 taken flight to its Maker, his principles survived 
 to conquer. 
 
 The effort has been made in these pages to draw 
 a portrait of a largely -forgotten man and to set him 
 properly in his historical niche. It is likily some 
 will think too much is claimed for one whose name 
 has left such slight impress on the popular mind. 
 But there has been no purpose in this sketch to 
 magnify his virtues, or to exaggerate the services 
 which he so nobly performed. In saying that he 
 was the most comprehensive statesman of his time 
 it is not denied that there were others who in mere 
 intellectual ability were his superiors ; certainly 
 there were those who exerted more direct influence 
 on men in and out of politics, those whose voices 
 were more forceful on many public questions. But 
 Benton is to be judged not solely by what he did 
 but also by what he aimed to do. We owe to him 
 Oregon, California, the cheap land system that has 
 enriched the country so rapidly, the specie stand- 
 ard, the transcontinental railway lines, and a debt 
 that can never be repaid in keeping alive the fires 
 of patriotism at a time when it required tremen- 
 dous self-sacrifice to renounce his party. Benton 
 was the first martyr to the slavery cause since he 
 was as surely struck down by the slave power as 
 
348 THOMAS H. BENTON 
 
 Charles Sumner and he deserves much more sym- 
 pathy than the latter, who had in a sense provoked 
 the attack. 
 
 That Benton was often too dogmatic, that there 
 were occasions when he mistook stubbornness for 
 principle, that he might at times have been more 
 genial and less arrogant, we do not deny. These 
 are the faults which show the strong human side of 
 the man, though his frailties were not those of his 
 age or those of most of his colleagues. They do 
 not render the portrait less attractive. On the 
 contrary, we can but admire the man who in turn 
 was called an Apollo, a "wild buffalo," and a 
 ''gnarled oak," and whose career was one of sin- 
 gular success and unparalleled usefulness. 
 
 It is only fitting that a man so eminent in his 
 time, whose principles for the most part are as 
 sound to-day as then and the advantages of whose 
 legislation we are now enjoying, should be remem- 
 bered gratefully. This is neither the time nor the 
 place for comparisons, but it is probable that there 
 stands to-day on the statute books of the country 
 more wise and sound legislation that can fairly be 
 ascribed to Benton than to any other man who ever 
 sat in Congress ; while his name is not connected 
 with a single act of personal dishonor, or a single 
 
THE END 349 
 
 unworthy piece of legislation. This is a record fit 
 to be the epitaph of one of the greatest men of the 
 age. 
 
 Or, if an epitaph be needed, could a better one 
 be found than the prophetic words in which he 
 stated his position to Calhoun ? — 
 
 ' ' I shall be found in the right place — on the side 
 of my country and the Union." 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Considering how large a place Benton occupied on the 
 national stage for thirty years, it is surprising that there are 80 
 few books dealing directly with his career. The principal 
 source of information is his own large work in two volumes 
 entitled, "Thirty Years' View of the United States Senate," 
 1854, et seq., and a new edition, with index, published in 1893. 
 Besides this, there is but one volume devoted to Benton's life ; 
 viz., Theodore Roosevelt's ''Thomas H. Benton," American 
 Statesmen Series, 1886. In the same Series are several volumes 
 -which contain much that bears on Benton or the political in- 
 terests with which he was connected; viz., Schurz's "Clay" 
 (1887) ; Von Hoist's "Calhoun" (lfc62); Stevens' "Gallatin" 
 (1883) and Lothrop's '"Seward" (1896). In most volumes of 
 history dealing with the period from 1820 to 1850, as well as 
 in reminiscences of statesmen living at that time, there will be 
 found references to Benton, but not nearly so many as one 
 would suppose. This is partially accounted for by his inde- 
 pendent spirit which led him to keep aloof from combinations, 
 and by the fact that socially he was almost a recluse. Of the 
 works consulted in preparing this volume, the following are a 
 few of the more importtiut: — 
 
 James G. Blaine. Twenty Years in Congress, 1884. 
 
 John Quincy Adams. Diary, 1874, et seq. 
 
 LuciEN Carr. History of Missouri, American Common- 
 wealth Series, 1888. 
 
 John Bach McMastkr. History of the People of the 
 United States, 1883, et seq. 
 
 James Parton. Life of Andrew Jackson, 1860. 
 
 Ben: Pkrley Poore. Reminiscences, 1886. 
 
 James Ford Rhodes. History of the United States from 
 the Compromises of 1850, 1893, et seq. 
 
 James Schoulee. History of the United States, 1880, et 
 $eq. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 351 
 
 W. F. SwiTZLER. Illustrated History of Missouri, 1879. 
 
 Richard W. Thompson. Personal Recollections of Sixteen 
 Presidents, 1894, 
 
 H. Von Holst. Constitutional History of the United States 
 (translation), 1876, et seq. 
 
 Thurlow Weed. Autobiography, 1883, 
 
 Henry Wise. Seven Decades of the Union, 1871, 
 
 The above list is far from exhaustive. In addition, Niles' 
 Register and the Debates of Congress have been freely con- 
 sulted. There has been much recourse to political pamphlets 
 and broadsides and to a very large range of literature in which 
 Benton is occasionally mentioned, though not with much de- 
 tail. Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont wrote a brief sketch of her 
 father as an introduction to the autobiography of her husband. 
 The author also desires to acknowledge the aid of Colonel 
 A, K. McClure in giving not only many personal incidents but 
 an historic setting of Benton, whom he well knew in the latter's 
 last years. 
 
 Note. — Just as this book was passing through the press, a 
 biography of Benton by William M. Meigs appeared, and ac- 
 knowledgment is made for the use of a few personal incidents 
 ooncerning him, not elsewhere pabliahed. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, on slavery, 
 '22(J. 
 
 Abolitionists, radical views 
 of, 213; hated by Benton, 
 214; mentioned, 220 ; ap- 
 prove of Lord Aberdeen's 
 letter, 22t) ; attacked by 
 Benton, 339. 
 
 Adams, John Quincy, candi- 
 date for presidency, 41 ; 
 elected, 57 ; on compromise 
 tai'iff, 124 ; supports bank, 
 141 ; on Arkansas' admis- 
 sion, 219 ; on right of peti- 
 tion, 220 ; Benton's eulogy 
 on, 289. 
 
 Alabama, admitted with 
 slavery, 30. 
 
 Alabama Letters, The, 311. 
 
 Ancestry of Thomas H. Ben- 
 ton, 15. 
 
 Anti-Masonrj', opposed by 
 Benton, 305, 
 
 Anti-slavery societies, friends 
 in, 212. 
 
 Arkansas, territory orjjanized 
 with slavery, 30; admitted 
 as a state, 218. 
 
 Army service of Benton, 21. 
 
 A.shburton, Lord, makes treaty 
 with Webster, 194. 
 
 Atchison, David, senator, 267; 
 opposes Benton, 275, 327. 
 
 Banks, jjeneral suspension of 
 in 1837, 179. 
 
 Bank-note currency (state), 
 depreciation of, 174. 
 
 Bank of the United States, see 
 National Bank. 
 
 Barton, David, elected sena- 
 tor, 35. 
 
 Benton, Ann Gooch, mother 
 of Thomas, 16 ; educates 
 Thomas, 16; removes to 
 Tennessee, 17 ; establish- 
 ment of, 17 ; loses five chil- 
 dren, 18. 
 
 Benton, children of Thomas 
 H., 302. 
 
 Benton, Jesse, father of 
 Thomas. 15 ; death of, 16 ; 
 friend of Daniel Boone, 35. 
 
 Benton, Jesse, brother of 
 Thomas, quarrel with Jack- 
 son, 22 ; love of Thoma.s for, 
 304. 
 
 Benton, Jessie, marries John 
 C. Fremont, 209; poverty 
 of, 300. 
 
 Benton, Thomas H., family 
 tree, 15 ; ancestry, 15 ; 
 birth, 16; father dies, 16; 
 education of, 16, 17; his 
 love of music, 18, 299 ; 
 cured of consumption, 18, 
 19 ; cotton planter, 19 ; first 
 meets Jackson, 20; writes 
 address for Jackson, 21 ; 
 aide-de-camp to Jackson, 
 20; colonel, 20; goes to 
 Canada in regular army, 
 
INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 21 ; quarrel with Jackson, 
 
 22 ; removes to St. Louis, 
 22 ; legislative experience in 
 Tennessee, 23 ; edits En- 
 quirer, 23 ; law practice, 23 ; 
 habits, 24 ; duel with Lucas, 
 25 ; as an editor, 26 ; sena- 
 torial election, 35 ; defends 
 unrestricted slavery in Mis- 
 souri, 38 ; enters senate, 39 ; 
 marries Elizabeth McDow- 
 ell, 39 ; early senatorial 
 experience, 45 ; financial 
 and laud policy of, 46 ; 
 views ou Texas, 48 ; views 
 on Oregon, 49 ; views on 
 
 . salt monopoly, 51 ; views 
 on internal improvements, 
 52 ; supports Clay for presi- 
 dent in 1824-5, 53 ; recon- 
 ciled to Jackson, 56 ; sup- 
 ports Jackson for presidency, 
 56; did not believe "cor- 
 rupt bargain ' ' story, 59 ; 
 rebuked by King, 59 ; views 
 on Monroe Doctrine, 62 ; 
 discusses the Haiti question, 
 64 ; conduct in duel be- 
 tween Chi}^ and Randolph, 
 64 ; as Jacksou's right arm, 
 68 ; as a civil service re- 
 former, 71 ; against oflfice- 
 seeking relatives, 71; 
 against West Point, 72 ; 
 first views of nullification, 
 73 ; opposes the Foot Reso- 
 lution, 84; reply to Web- 
 ster, 86; opposes Webster's 
 views in reply to Hayne, 
 95 ; at nullification dinner, 
 99 ; declines cabinet port- 
 folio, 101 ; fights the tri- 
 umvirate, 105 ; supports 
 Van Buren, 106 ; writes to 
 
 Van Buren, 107; opposes 
 the compromise UuiS of 
 1833, 125 ; loyalty to the 
 Union, 133; wars on na- 
 tional bunk, 135 ; attacks 
 Clay and Webster on bank 
 policy, 142; replies to Clay 
 concerning Jackson matter, 
 146 ; stari.s expunging cam- 
 paign, 157 ; secures passage 
 of resolution, 160; attacked 
 by roughs, 161 ; writes for 
 the Globe, 167 ; specie stand- 
 ard secured, 172; prepares 
 specie circular, 175 ; defends 
 Jacksou's policy, 180; re- 
 pulsed by Van Buren, 180 ; 
 blames bank for panic, 181 ; 
 opposes laud surplus distri- 
 bution, 189 ; favors fortifi- 
 cations, 191 ; mentioned for 
 presidency, 1 92 ; ou Caro- 
 line affair, 195 ; on slave 
 trade su ppressi on, 196; 
 " watch-dog of the treas- 
 ury," 197; views on electric 
 telegraph and railways, 197; 
 dislikes Gushing, 198 ; on 
 Oregon boundary, 206 ; 
 views on slavery agitation, 
 212 ; opposes Calhoun's fed- 
 eral mail bill regarding 
 abolition newspapers. 214 ; 
 against slavery agitation, 
 215 ; opposes Texas annex- 
 ation, 225 ; favors Walker 
 compromise, 228 ; opposes 
 Wilmot Proviso, 233 ; his 
 Mexican War policy, 237 ; 
 nominated lieutenant-gen- 
 eral, 238 ; not confirmed but 
 made major-general, 239 ; 
 supports Cass, 243 ; remains 
 iu Washington during sena- 
 
364 
 
 INDEX 
 
 torial fight in Missouri, 246 ; 
 supports Califoruia'a claims, 
 250 ; opposes Clay's Com- 
 promises of 1850, 253 ; al- 
 tercation with Clay, 261 ; 
 assaulted by Foote, 261 ; 
 supports Taylor, 261; op- 
 poses protest of radical 
 slavery men, 265 ; estab- 
 lishes pony express and 
 telegraph and favors trans- 
 continental railway, 269 ; 
 Missouri drifts from Ben- 
 ton, 275 ; he opposes Jack- 
 son resolutions, 276 ; Cal- 
 houn's slur on Benton and 
 reply, 276 ; defeated for 
 sixth term, 277; elected to 
 House, 277; opposes Know 
 Nothings, 278; opposes re- 
 peal of Missouri Compro- 
 mise, 280 ; his speeches in 
 the House, 281 ; talk with 
 Randolph, 283; advice from 
 King, 284; visit to Jeffer- 
 son, 284 ; regard for Macon, 
 284 ; relations with Jack- 
 son, 285 ; dislike for public 
 dinners, 286 ; visit to Clay, 
 286; relations with Web- 
 ster, 288; relations with 
 Clay, 294 ; opposes payment 
 of state debts, 298 ; uses up 
 fortune, 300 ; some character- 
 istics of, 301 ; death of sons, 
 marriage of daughters, 302 ; 
 his love for the West, and 
 especially for Oregon, 307 ; 
 views on Texas annexation, 
 310 ; his egotism, 315 ; his 
 scholarship, 316 ; literary 
 work, 322 ; weak throat, 
 328 ; extracts from his 
 speeches, 330 ; last years. 
 
 343 ; religious views, 343 ; 
 
 death, 344; funeral, 345; 
 
 final estimate of, 346. 
 Bell, John, a senator, 249. 
 Berrien, John M., a senator, 
 
 249. 
 Biddle, Nicholas, president of 
 
 National Bank, 150 ; attacks 
 
 Jackson, 153, 
 Blair, Francis P., edits the 
 
 Globe, 103. 
 Boone, son of Daniel, nomi- 
 nates Benton for senate, 35. 
 Buchanan, James, mentioned, 
 
 200; Benton's relations 
 
 with, 290. 
 Butler, Andrew P., a senator, 
 
 249. 
 
 Canadian Boundary, dis- 
 cussed, 194. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, candidate 
 for presidency, 41 ; vice- 
 president, 65 ; nullification 
 views of, 73 ; change in po- 
 litical views of, 75 ; aspires 
 to presidency, 81 ; defends 
 nullification, 99 ; war on by 
 Jackson, 101, 104 ; opposes 
 tariff of 1832, 117 ; agrees to 
 compromise, 123 ; attacks 
 Van Buren, 216 ; works for 
 Texas annexation, 224 ; re- 
 ply to Lord Aberdeen, 226 ; 
 last appearance in the Sen- 
 ate, 247 ; last speech, 257 ; 
 death, 260 ; reference to, 
 250, 251, 264. 323, 324 ; at- 
 tacks Benton, 276. 
 
 California, explored bj' Fre- 
 mont, 240 ; applies for ad- 
 mission, 245 ; Benton favors 
 admission of, 250, 252 ; ad- 
 mitted, 264. 
 
INDEX 
 
 355 
 
 Caroline Affair, 195. 
 
 Carroll, General William, duel 
 with Jesse Benton, 22, 
 303. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, presidential can- 
 didate, 243 ; a senator, 249. 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., mentioned, 
 248. 
 
 Chicago desires railway ter- 
 minus, 273. 
 
 Cilley, Jonathan, see Graves- 
 Cilley duel. 
 
 Clay, Henry, presidential can- 
 didate, 43 ; quarrels with 
 Adams, 43 ; favored by Ben- 
 ton for president, 55; re- 
 lated by marriage to Benton, 
 55 ; supports Adams, 57 ; 
 Secretary of State, 57 ; 
 "corrupt bargain" story, 
 57 ; supported by Benton, 
 59; duel with Randolph, 
 64 ; supports Adams, 65 ; 
 effects Compromise of 
 1832-3, 121 ; summoned by 
 Webster to Senate, 138 ; de- 
 preciates Benton, 138 ; bank 
 policy of, 142 ; attacks Ben- 
 ton, 145 ; secures Senate 
 censure of Jackson, 155 ; 
 attacks Jackson 's pocket 
 veto of land surplus bill, 
 187 ; favors land surplus dis- 
 tribution, 187 ; loses nomina- 
 tion in 1840, 193 ; loses nom- 
 ination in 1848, 242 ; last 
 election to the Senate, 247 ; 
 Compromises of 1850, 252 ; 
 last great orations, 252 ; al- 
 tercation with Benton, 261 ; 
 disgust over failure of first 
 attempt at Compromises of 
 1850, 264 ; likes dinners, 
 286; Benton's relations 
 
 with, 294; the Raleigh and 
 Alabama letters of, 310. 
 
 Clay, James B., Benton pre- 
 vents duel of, 293. 
 
 Clayton, John M., senator, 
 part in Compromise of 1833, 
 130. 
 
 Clayton, of Georgia, repre- 
 sentative, supports Benton, 
 139. 
 
 Cobb, Howell, elected speaker, 
 246. 
 
 Compromises, Missouri, 33; 
 of 1832-3, 122; of 1850, 
 255 (whole chapter) ; see 
 also Missouri Compromise. 
 
 Consumption, Benton's cure 
 for, 18. 
 
 "Corrupt Bargain," origin of 
 phrase, 57. 
 
 Corwin, Thomas, mentioned, 
 248. 
 
 Cotton in politics, 75, 112. 
 
 Cotton planting in Tennessee, 
 19. 
 
 Crawford, William H,, candi- 
 date for presidency, 41, 42 ; 
 land policy of, 47. 
 
 Gushing, Caleb, disliked by 
 Benton, 198. 
 
 Davis. Jefferson, on nulli- 
 fication, 76 ; a senator, 248 ; 
 on extension of Mi-ssouri 
 Compromise, 265. 
 
 Davis, John, a senator, 249. 
 
 Distribution of land surplus, 
 see Land Surplus. 
 
 Dodge, Augustus Caesar, a 
 senator, 249. 
 
 Dodge, Henry, a senator, 249. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., men- 
 tioned, 248. 
 
356 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Dred Scott Decision, Benton's 
 hook on, 3;.'6. 
 
 Duane, William J., Secretary 
 of Treasury, 150 ; dismissed, 
 152. 
 
 Duels, Jesse Benton and Jack- 
 son, 22; Thonuis H. Ben- 
 ton with Lucas, 2r> ; between 
 Clay and Kaudolph, 64 ; 
 Benton's views on, apropos 
 of Graves-Ciiley meeting, 
 292 ; prevents James B. 
 Clay from lighting a duel, 
 293. 
 
 Eaton, Mrs. John H., so- 
 cially ostracized. 100. 
 
 Enquirer, The Missouri, edited 
 l)y Benton, 2:i, 327. 
 
 Expunging Kesolution, intro- 
 duced, 157 ; passed, 160. 
 
 Faneuil Hall, Benton 
 speaks in, 328. 
 
 Fenian outbreak, mentioned, 
 195. 
 
 " Fifty -four Forty or Fight," 
 canii)aign slogan, 205. 
 
 Fillmore, Millard, president, 
 263. 
 
 Foote, Henry S., as.saults Ben- 
 ton. 261. 
 
 Foot Kesolution debated and 
 buried, 83-98, 336. 
 
 Foot. Senator, offers resolution 
 concerning land sales, 83. 
 
 Force Bill, passed, 133. 
 
 Fremont, John C, marries 
 Jessie Benton, 209 ; explo- 
 rations of, 211 ; in Cali- 
 fornia, 240 ; a senator, 263 ; 
 tells Benton about Orejion, 
 272; reputed wealth, 300. 
 
 Friends, The, in anti-slavery 
 work. 212. 
 
 Fugitive Slave Law, intro- 
 duced by Clay, 252. 
 
 Funeral of Benton, 345. 
 
 Globe, The, administration or- 
 gan, 103; written for by 
 Benton, 167, 327. 
 
 Gold Standard, see Specie 
 Standard. 
 
 Gravcs-Cilley duel described, 
 292. 
 
 Green, Duff, editor of the 
 Telegraph, 103. 
 
 Habits of Thomas H. Benton, 
 24. 
 
 Haiti, our relations with, 63, 
 332. 
 
 Hale, John P., a senator, 249. 
 
 Hamlin, Hannibal, a senator, 
 249. 
 
 Harrison, William Henry, in 
 army, 20 ; elected pre.sident, 
 193; dies, 194. 
 
 Hart, Colonel Thomas, uncle 
 of Benton's mother, 296. 
 
 Hartford Convention, men- 
 tioned, 89. 
 
 Hayne, Robert, mentioned, 
 73 ; speech on Foot Ke.solu- 
 tion, 87 ; relations with 
 Benton, 287, 338. 
 
 Houston, Samuel, corporal 
 under Benton, 21 ; in Texas, 
 222 ; a senator, 248 ; op- 
 poses Compromises of 1860, 
 263. 
 
 Hunter, Robert M. T., a sen- 
 ator, 249. 
 
 Indian Trail, near Benton 
 settlement, 17. 
 
INDEX 
 
 367 
 
 Internal improvements, Ben- 
 ton's view of, 50-54 ; men- 
 tioned in letter to Vaai 
 Bureu, 108. 
 
 Jackson, Axdeew, Benton's 
 first meeting with, liO ; 
 elected major-general of mi- 
 litia, 20 ; quarrel with Jesse 
 and Thomas Benton, 22 ; 
 candidate for president, 43 ; 
 elected to the Senate, 55 ; 
 reconciled to lien ton, 56 ; 
 elected president, 65 ; sup- 
 ported bj' Benton, 68 ; re- 
 tains General Miller, 70 ; 
 some characteristics of, 74 ; 
 disconcerts Calhoun and the 
 nullifiers, 99 ; war on Cal- 
 houn, 101 ; against nulli- 
 fication, 119 ; threat to hang 
 Calhoun, TiO ; pocket vetoes 
 land surplus bill, 133 ; lights 
 the National Bank, 134 (all 
 of chapter) ; vetoes bank re- 
 charter, 144 ; signs tariff 
 bill, 144 ; has deposits re- 
 moved from National Bank, 
 152 ; censured by Senate, 
 155 ; signs specie circular, 
 175 ; retires, 178 ; favors 
 Texas annexation, 225 ; re- 
 lations with Benton, 285. 
 
 Jackson, Claiborne F., reso- 
 lutions of. 276, 313. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, Benton's 
 visit to, 284. 
 
 Johnson, Richard M., on bank 
 committee, 141. 
 
 Kansas City, future pre- 
 dicted by Benton, 273. 
 
 Kendall, Amos P., in Kitchen 
 Cabinet, 151. 
 
 King, Rufus, advice to Ben- 
 ton, 59 ; remarks on mon- 
 archy, 2U6. 
 
 King, William R., a senator, 
 249. 
 
 Kitchen Cabinet, of Jackson, 
 101. 
 
 Know Nothings, opposed by 
 Benton, 278, 281, 305. 
 
 Kremer, Congressman, charges 
 Clay with "corrupt bar- 
 gain," 68. 
 
 Land sales, favored by Ben- 
 ton, 46 ; opposed by New 
 England, 82 ; speculation in 
 with depreciated currency, 
 174 ; cheap prices for, 185. 
 
 Land surplus distribution, 
 mentioned, 68 ; pocket ve- 
 toed, 132, 187 ; passed, 189. 
 
 Land survey, importance of, 
 84, 
 
 LeDuc, Marie Philip, supports 
 Benton, .36. 
 
 Lewis and Clark expedition, 
 29. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, mentioned, 
 249, 
 
 Liud, Jenny, Benton goes to 
 hear, 299. 
 
 Linn, Dr.. senator from Mis- 
 souri. 308. 
 
 Literary works of Benton, 
 322. 
 
 Lucas, Charles, killed by 
 Benton in duel, 25, 
 
 Macon, Nathaniel, friend 
 
 of Benton, 60, 284, 
 Madison, James, on National 
 
 Bank, 171 ; on secession, 
 
 221. 
 
358 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Maine, admitted as a free 
 State, 33 ; frontier dispute, 
 194. 
 
 Mason, James M., a senator, 
 249. 
 
 Massachusetts, defended by 
 AVebster, 93. 
 
 McDowell, Elizabeth, marries 
 Thomas H. Benton, 39. 
 
 McDuffie. Chairman, favors 
 bank, 140. 
 
 Mexican War, 231 (whole 
 chapter) ; Benton's policy 
 on, 237. 
 
 Mexico, position as to Texas, 
 227. 
 
 Michigan admitted, 218. 
 
 Miller. General, retained by 
 Jackson, 70. 
 
 Mintage laws, new, secured by 
 Benton, 172. 
 
 Mississippi River, improve- 
 ment of favored by Benton, 
 52. 
 
 Missouri Compromise, passed, 
 33 ; attacked by Calhoun, 
 126 ; attempt to extend, 
 264 ; repeal of, 279. 
 
 Missouri, early history of, 28 ; 
 contest over admission, 30 ; 
 early popialation of, 33 ; 
 Benton's view of, 34 ; boun- 
 daries extended, 217 ; on 
 the slavery issue, 276 ; hon- 
 ors Benton in death, 344. 
 
 Mis.souri Kiver, improvement 
 of favored by Benton. 52. 
 
 Monroe Doctrine, Adams's 
 views on, 62 ; Benton's 
 views on, 62. 
 
 Monroe, James, president, 40. 
 
 Nashvillk, Tenn,, men- 
 tioned, 17 ; bar of, 19. 
 
 National Bank, mentioned, 
 68, 108; Jackson's war on, 
 134 (all of chapter) ; re- 
 charter vetoed, 144 ; de- 
 posits removed, 152 ; fails, 
 163; recharter and panic, 
 179 ; Benton's description of 
 its downfall, 34(i. 
 
 Negro, see Slavery. 
 
 New England, dissatisfaction 
 over defeat of Adams, 66 ; 
 emigration from, 82 ; op- 
 poses land sales, 83 ; in War 
 of 1812. 89; thrift in, 113. 
 
 New Mexico, road to advo- 
 cated by Benton, 48 ; as a 
 territory, 251, 252. 
 
 North Carolina, birthplace of 
 Benton, 16. 
 
 Nullification, mentioned, 68; 
 Benton's first contact with, 
 73 ; called absurd by Jeffer- 
 son Davis, 76 ; Hayne's 
 speeches on, and Webster's 
 reply, 87-95; upheld by 
 Calhoun, 99 ; in South Car- 
 olina, 111. 118; opposed by 
 Jackson, 119. 
 
 "Old Bullion," nickname 
 
 of Benton, 169, 177. 
 " Old Humbug," nickname of 
 
 Btnton, 184. 
 Oregon, Benton's views on, 
 
 48 ; boundary dispute, 195 ; 
 
 negotiations over, 205. 
 
 Panama Congre-ss, discussed 
 
 in Senate, 61. 
 Panic of 1837, described, 179. 
 "Peacemaker," explosion of 
 
 gun, 201. 
 Pierce, Franklin, president, 
 
 280. 
 
INDEX 
 
 359 
 
 Pooket veto of land surplus 
 distribution by Jackson, 
 133, 187. 
 
 Polk, James K., nominated, 
 205 ; on Oregon, 206 ; on 
 Texas annexation, 229 ; war 
 message, 235 ; adopts Ben- 
 ton's policy, 237. 
 
 Princeton, The, U. S. S., Ben- 
 ton injured on, 201. 
 
 Railways, Benton's views 
 on in relation to war, 197 ; 
 and to trans-contiuental 
 railway plans, 269, 274. 
 
 Raleigh Letter, The, 310. 
 
 Randolph, John, furnishes 
 Benton family tree, 15 ; duel 
 with Clay, 64 ; friendship 
 of Benton for, 283. 
 
 Recharter of National Bank, 
 see National Bank. 
 
 Right of Petition, Adams' 
 battle for, 219. 
 
 St. Louis, Benton removes to, 
 22; branch bank at, 149, 
 210; desires railway termi- 
 nus, 273; monument to 
 Benton in, 346. 
 
 Salt, Benton against monopoly 
 of, 51. 
 
 Santa Anna, General, negoti- 
 ations with, 232. 
 
 Scott, Winfield, mentioned, 
 21 ; in South Carolina, 120 ; 
 in Mexican War, 237, 240 ; 
 defeated for presidency, 280. 
 
 Secession, talked of, 221, 
 
 Senate, U. S., Benton elected 
 to, 36 ; re-elections, 37, 
 
 Seward, W. H., a senator, 
 248. 
 
 Shields, Jamea, a senator, 249. 
 
 Slavery, in Missouri, 38; de- 
 fended by Benton, 38; 
 gradual emancipation fa- 
 vored by Benton, 79; op- 
 posed to slavery, 256, 298. 
 
 Slavery in politics, 75, 116; 
 connection with Texas an- 
 nexation, 212 ; as to seces- 
 sion, 221; Lord Aberdeen's 
 views, and Calhoun's reply, 
 226. 
 
 Slaves, owned by Mrs. Ben- 
 ton, 17; Benton gets jury 
 trial for in Tennessee, 23; 
 Southern view of, 78. 
 
 Slave Trade, Benton's views 
 on, 196; in District of Co- 
 lumbia, 251, 252; speech 
 on, 339. 
 
 Somers, alleged mutiny on, in- 
 vestigated by Benton, 305, 
 
 Soul^, Pierre, a senator, 249, 
 
 South Carolina, praised by 
 Webster, 93; passes ordi- 
 nance of nullification, 118, 
 214, 
 
 Specie Circular, written by 
 Benton. 175, 180. 
 
 Specie standard, mentioned, 
 68 ; favored by Benton, 169, 
 178. 
 
 Spencer, see Somers. 
 
 Sumner, Charles, welcomed by 
 Benton, 279 ; mentioned, 
 348, 
 
 Taney, Rogke B,, removes 
 deposits. 152 ; triumvirate 
 defeat and confirmation of 
 appointment as Secretary of 
 the Treasury, 159. 
 
 Tappan, Arthur, dines with 
 negroes (as reported), 80. 
 
360 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Tariff, mentioned, 68, 108; in 
 nuUificiition affair, 111; 
 compromise tariff, r_'3; tar- 
 iff of 1832, signed by Jack- 
 son, 144 ; vetoed by Tyler, 
 199. 
 
 Taylor, Zacharv, mentioned, 
 21. 132; in Mexican War, 
 23.5 ; candidate for pre.si- 
 dency, 238 ; president, 255 ; 
 death, 263. 
 
 Telegraph, The, official organ, 
 102. 
 
 Telegraph, electric, Benton's 
 views on, 197- 
 
 Tennes.see, lands in, owned by 
 Jesse Benton, 16 ; carried 
 by Whigs, 193. 
 
 Texas, Benton's views on loss 
 of, 48 ; Calhoun's early po- 
 sition as to, 127 ; agitation 
 over slavery, 212 ; Houston 
 
 in, 2 
 
 ooq 
 
 annexation sug- 
 
 gested, 223 ; rumor that 
 Great Britain desired it, 
 224 ; claimed by Mexico, 
 227 ; Walker's compromise, 
 229 ; action of Tyler on, 230; 
 claims to territory, 251, 252; 
 Benton's views on in 1844, 
 310. 
 
 Triumvirate, mentioned, 68, 
 105, 157, 158, 160, 247, 281. 
 
 Tryon, Governor, mentioned, 
 15. 
 
 Tyler, John, becomes presi- 
 dent, 194 ; sujiported liy 
 Benton, 199; defeated for 
 nomination, 204 ; on Texas 
 annexation. 230 ; views on 
 Oregon, 308. 
 
 Union, The, Democratic news- 
 paper, 208, 
 
 Utah, in Compromises of 1850, 
 251, 252, 264. 
 
 Van Bdbex, Maktin, men- 
 tioned, 68 ; as Secretary of 
 State kind to Mrs. Eaton, 
 100 ; sent to England as 
 Minister, 101 ; oppoi?ed by 
 triumvirate, 105 ; Vice- 
 President, 107 ; snubs Ben- 
 ton, 179; president, 179; 
 defeated for re-election, 193 ; 
 defeated for nomination, 
 204 ; trick played on by 
 triumvirate, 216; Free Soil 
 candidate, 243; Benton's 
 fondness for, 288. 
 
 Walker, Senator, Compro- 
 mise on Texa.s, 228. 
 
 Webb, James Watson, chal- 
 lenges Cilley, 292. 
 
 Webster, Daniel, speech on 
 Foot Resolution, and reply 
 to Hayne, 85, 8^95; op- 
 poses Compromise of 1832-3, 
 125 ; favors National Bank, 
 138 ; writes to Clay to come 
 to Senate, 138; modified 
 bank bill, l.">8; dealings 
 with Lord Ashburton, 194; 
 in Supreme Court practice, 
 247; Seventh of March 
 Speech, 260 ; relations with 
 Benton, 288 ; attitude in 
 Oregon case, 308. 
 
 W^est Point Academy, opposed 
 by Benton. 72. 197. 
 
 Whig Party, oppose-s Jackson's 
 policy. 179; carries Tennes- 
 see, 193; elects Harrison 
 president, 193. 
 
 W^hite, Hugh L., a senator, 
 289. 
 
INDEX 361 
 
 Whitman, Marcus, trip to never passed, 241 ; proviso 
 
 Washington, 308. mentioned, 251. 
 
 Wilmot, David, member of Winchester, General, in army, 
 
 Congress offers proviso, 233 ; 20. 
 
V 68 
 

 
 
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