Senate Chamber, Feb. 8th, 1825.
SIR: I received on the morning of the 6th instant your note
of the 5th, in which you make known to me your intention to give the vote of
Missouri to Mr. Adams.
Sinister rumors, and some misgivings of my own, had been
preparing my mind for an extraordinary development; but it was not until I had
three times talked with you, face to face, that I could believe in the reality
of an intention so inconsistent with your previous conversations, so repugnant
to your printed pledges, so amazing to your constituents, so fatal to yourself.
The vote which you intend thus to give is not your own — it
belongs to the people of the State of Missouri. They are against Mr. Adams. I,
in their name, do solemnly protest against your intention, and deny your moral
power thus to bestow your vote.
You have been pleased to make a reference, in one of your
conversations, to my personal wishes in this election. I now reiterate that I
disdain and repel the appeal; and again remit you to the exalted tribunal of
honor and duty.
For nine years we have been closely connected in our
political course; at length, the connection is dissolved, and dissolved under
circumstances which denounce our everlasting separation.
For some expressions which you felt as unkind, in our
conversation on Sunday, I ask your pardon and oblivion. I have a right to give
you my opinion on a point of public duty, but none to inflict a wound on your
feelings, and, in this unexpected breaking of many ties, there is enough of
unavoidable pain, without the gratuitous infliction of unkind words.
To-morrow is the day for your self-immolation. If you have
an enemy, he may go and feed his eyes upon the scene; your former friend will
share the afflicting spectacle.
With sincere wishes for your personal welfare, I remain,*
&c.,
Thomas H. Benton.
_______________
* These letters and my account of the election in the main
are from Parton's Jackson, iii., pp. 61-66.
SOURCE: William Montgomery Meigs, The Life of Thomas
Hart Benton, p. 145
