The North Carolinian

A COSTLY SPEECH.-The speech delivered by Col. Benton in secret session of the Senate against the nomination of Gen. Kearney, has proved for the country a costly piece of rhetoric. By a late regulation of Congress, matter of this kind is paid for, when published in the National Intelligencer and Washington Union, at the rate of $7 50 per column. Col. Benton's speech, it is computed, occupied about fifty columns in each paper, which brought the aggregate charge to seven hundred and fifty dollars for one speech. The people of the United States pay a high price, at all times, for Congressional rhetoric, but this is paying for the piper at a rate shaming every other public expense, even for the pleasure of listening to the music of Mr. Benton's eloquence. The speech has been truly denominated "a weak, washy affair," and the editors of the above named journals felt no doubt happy when relieved of the leaden weight by which such an harangue encumbered their columns, however ample the money equivalent.-Charleston News.