H. OF R. Military Services. FEBRUARY, 1816. It has been observed, in the course of this debate, that the disbanded officers have acquired a great deal of military information; that by making this provision for them, they will be enabled to perfect their military education, and, in the event of another war, would make valuable officers. Perhaps I have not the same confidence in making good and valuable officers by education that some gentlemen have. You cannot make a military commander as you can make a cobbler. He must be formed by the plastic hand of nature herself. An honorable, ingenious, and enlightened gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. HULBERT,) Some time since, in debate, on the bill to establish an additional Military Academy, (which he advocated with great zeal and ability,) embellished his speech and undertook to illustrate the position which he assumed, by quoting the old maxim, "That an army of hares commanded by a lion was superior to an army of lions commanded by a hare." Be it so. I should doubt making a lion of a hare by any course of education that could be taken. It requires a combination of rare qualities to make an able commander. Those qualities actual service alone can develope. Much as our hopes were rested upon our old experienced officers at the period when war was declared, and for some time thereafter, our egregious disappointment will never be forgotten. Without intending a reflection upon any particular officer, it is with pain that I say that many of them at the trying moment were found want was enviable, the situation of the soldier wretched, deplorable. I would not make a donation of land to the officer, without making a similar donation to the soldier; and I do not think either entitled to it. I doubt the right of the Congress of the United States to make such a disposition of the public lands. It has been too common a practice under almost all governments to reward a few at the expense of the many. Let us not, if possible, fall into this error. If we are to exercise our charity, let us find fit objects; for ill-directed or misplaced charity, is worse than no charity at all. Hitherto the Congress of the United States has provided only for the widows and children of such officers as may have been killed in battle. The humane and laudable object of this bill is to make provision for the widows and children of such non-commissioned officers and privates as may have died in your service. It is worthy a great and magnanimous people. The best feelings of the human heart must be enlisted in their favor; I therefore regret that the proposed bounty to the disbanded officers should be ushered into this House in company with the claim of the widow and orphan. They stand on very different ground. It is contended that the disbanded officers were taken from lucrative professions, from profitable agricultural and commercial pursuits, that their business has been deranged and cannot be resumed to advantage. Sir, one, two, or three years' service will not disqualify a man for the pursuits of civil life. The disbanded officer who cannot resume his civil pursuits was unfit to be honored with a commission; the coun-ing. try is under no obligation to support him. The meritorious disbanded officer, in resuming business, will have considerable advantages over others in the same line of business; his military services will have enlisted the sympathies of the people on his side, and consequently command their friendship and support. Pass the section of the bill now under consideration, and, my word for it, your militia is disgusted, great vio-eration. Amongst other things your militia want lence will be done to public sentiment. It is arms-though they are, in my opinion, superior considered in the light of a charitable donation; to any troops in the world, it is not to be disall who held commissions during the late war are guised that they are in a most wretched situincluded; the great mass of the community will ation. They know nothing of the musket and not be able to perceive that because a young gen- bayonet until they are called into service. For tleman (worthy as he may be) may have worn the first time those arms are put into their hands. epaulets for a few months or a year, that he is, They are dissatisfied with the musket, because therefore, an object of charity. Sir, he stands they are acquainted with the rifle and know its on very different ground from that of the super-efficacy. They should be habituated to the use annuated, war-worn officer or soldier. This Government is founded (as I remarked on a former occasion) on the affections of the people; their feelings, their wishes must be consulted. It is no reproach to them that they would be opposed to the proposed grant of land to the officers. Select meritorious objects, and you will find no limit to the bounty, to the gratitude of this peoMr. EASTON said, he entertained the highest ple. The Legislature of the State which I have regard and respect for the honorable, the chairthe honor, in part, of representing on this floor, man and members of the Military Committee has forwarded us a memorial in behalf of the who reported the bill now under discussion, and widow and orphan. As well as I recollect, it is if the honorable members of the committee had stated to have passed both branches of the Legis-gone a little farther they would have been entilature unanimously. iled to more of his respect. The distinguished heroes who shone with such resplendent lustre at the closing scene, and who "have filled the measure of their country's honor," were unthought of at the commencement of hostilities. The resources of your country could, in my opinion, be better applied, than in the way contemplated by the section of the bill under consid of those arms on which they have to depend in battle. It takes some time to reconcile a militiaman to arms with which he was unacquainted, and which he has not been used to handling. I shall vote for striking out the section; the rest of the bill I do most sincerely hope and trust will receive the unanimous support of the House. FEBRUARY, 1816. Military Services. H. OF R. ravian towns? The militia. Who terrified and beat a veteran army, greatly superior in number, at Plattsburg on the 18th of September, 1814, and gave military fame to Macomb? The Vermont and New York militia. Who expelled the British veteran foe from before New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815, immortalized the hero Jackson, and crowned their country with everlasting glory? It was the brave and hardy sons of the West-the militia and volunteers. And what were these glorified Generals at the commencement of the war; they, most of them, were of the militia? Sir, this is, or ought to be, a Government of equal rights-equal protection should be extended to all, and equal and exact justice measured out to all alike. How had the war borne in its operation upon the people of this nation? It would be found that certain portions of the people had made money during the war-Pittsburg, Carlisle, and other places in Pennsylvania; also, in certain parts of the State of New York, and other States to the South, had made money by the war, while the frontiers had suffered incalculable losses, whether that frontier was on the Atlantic or in the interior. The war had raged upon the Niagara frontier, upon the seacoast, and in the Northwest. On the Niagara frontier, the people had been plundered, and their houses burned by the enemy; many had lost everything they possessed. Portions of the seaboard had also been ravaged, and the inhabitants plundered of their property, and their persons violated; while, on the Northwest frontier, the people had been shot dead in their fields, their houses burned, property robbed, I have heard, Mr. Chairman, said Mr. E., a great deal about national glory upon the floor of this House: I, too, love national glory-not only national glory, but also love national justice. He considered the present question, whether a donation of lands should be granted to the disbanded officers of the Army as altogether a question of policy. He had, at an early period in the session, offered a resolution instructing the committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the expediency of paying to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, of the militia, army, and rangers, who served in the late war, interest on the sums due to them, from the time they ought to have been paid, until they should be paid. He under stood it had been reported against; had the inquiry been as to its justice, instead of its expediency, he believed it could not have been reported against; he thought the nation should be just before it was bountiful. If the committee had reported in favor of the payment to the army and militia what was in truth due to them, and also in favor of granting a bounty in land to the officers and privates of the militia, we should then have had the question of justice, as well as policy, before us. He, for one, was not for giving donations to the disbanded officers, and withholding what was justly due to the militia. He thought such a measure was neither just nor politic. The officers of the army had sought, with great competition, to procure commissions in the service of the country, while many of the militia, some of whom were equally meritorious and would have made as good officers had they have been commissioned, have been forced into the service by a draught, others had volunteered, and greatly dis-and many left without a cent to give support or tinguished themselves in their country's cause. succor to the agonizing widow and helpless orMr. E. said, he had heard, with great pleas- phan. And was this nation to give to the rich, ure, glory in high-toned and very eloquent strains to disbanded officers, to the aristocratic branch of poured forth, and very properly bestowed upon the community, who sought with eagerness the Jackson, Brown, Scott, Ripley, Macomb, Gaines, honor of holding your commissions, and the truly Porter, Miller, and the long list of heroes who had unfortunate to remain wholly unprovided for? helped to fight the battles of the country; they He wished not to be understood as being opposed justly merited all that could be said in their to this donation; as a matter of policy to the offipraise, and he was not disposed to detract in the cers, he thought it should be granted, but not unleast from the merit, the praise, or the honor, to til relief should be extended to such as had been which they were so justly entitled; he would not ruined by the war; the militia and army paid pluck one solitary feather from their cap of fame. what was due to them, and the like bounty in He would however ask, how was this glory ac- lands extended to the militia. Equal rights do quired? Who acquired it for them? While he not exist where justice is not measured out to all was not disposed to eulogise mortal man, he could alike; individuals who have loaned to the Govnot forbear to bring into view before the commit-ernment, always have been paid interest; and tee the merits of the militia. He recollected, when quite a youth, a respectable old lady from the neighborhood where he lived had made a visit into Vermont; on her return, she was asked how she liked the settlements and the people? She observed, smilingly, that they lived in log cabins in the woods, and at every house she saw more children than panes of glass in their windows. It is to these hardy sons of America that a portion of this glory ought to be ascribed. Who defeated the British at Sackett's Harbor? Who helped to gain the successive battles of Chippewa, Niagara, and Erie ? The militia. Who defeated General Proctor's army at the Mo14th CoN. 1st Sess.-32 what is the withholding from the militia, rangers, and others employed in your service, sums really due to them, but a forced loan? If you provide for these disbanded officers, why not make provision for the militia, the great bulwark of our liberty, the ark of our political safety? Does not sound policy dictate this course? To whom will you look, and to whom will posterity look, for the delence of the country, in case of another war, if it be not to the militia? Let any member of this honorable Committee figure to himself the situation of a frontier-man, a ranger, in the war upon the Western frontier. He enlists, because his family, his country, liber ty, and property, everything held dear and sacred, is endangered; he scorns to fly, he expects pay, because it is right, and he cannot serve without it. He goes in debt, supplies his own provision, horse, and clothing; he marches not into the open field to meet in broad day-light a civilized enemy, but, in the wide wilderness, to combat with the rifle, the tomahawk, and scalping-knife, leaving his defenceless family behind, at home, expecting every night to be slaughtered by the ruthless and relentless savage foe, who creep from their hiding places, make their attack in the dark, by surprise, and, unless successful, are off through the thicket with all the rapidity of the deer. The savage hunts the ranger as he would hunt the doe. Wet and cold are the days, and dismal are the nights he has spent in his country's cause. Peace is proclaimed-it brings glad tidings to every honest heart. The ranger and the militiaman return, they expect payment, every body supposed they long since would have been paid, without if they cannot discharge their debts. Their certificates for pay more worthless than Philadelphia bills in New York, or New York bills in Philadelphia were, during the war. They must dispose of them at a discount, or the bailiff sells their property or confines them in prison. Similar has been the fate of many an honest husbandman. The militia of that portion of the country which he had the honor to represent, had defended the country before and during the whole war. We were without regular troops; it is true there were ten companies of rangers for three Territories, but those were taken from the militia of that country, and the few regular troops did little more than perform garrison duty. The country was greatly harassed during the whole war, and he could here give a long catalogue of barbarous and bloody murders committed, which he forebore to detain the Committee to relate. The militia, the independent farmers of the West, when the colonization of the Western country was threatened by the British veteran forces at New Orleans, and hordes of blood-thirsty savages, headed by British myrmidons and emissaries, were pressing upon the settlements in the North, they, the people of the West, the father and the son, the aged and the infirm, rallied around the standard of their country, and did march, and would again march, at the point of the bayonet, to spill the last drop of blood sooner than the tyrant of the ocean, the destroyer of mankind, the spoiler of free trade, and the deadly enemy of all free Governments, should have gained a foothold in this happy land of liberty and equal rights. The honorable chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, (Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky,) says they have not neglected the militia, in his opinion, if I understood him right; and undertakes to prove this position, by stating that Congress have given a donation of land to the widows of the late John Allen, and Captains Hart and Hickman; that we have embraced the cases of widows and orphans. Certainly, providing for the widows and orphans of the deceased, is not FEBRUARY, 1816. providing for the militia themselves. Make liberal and generous provision for the militia; reward those whose interest it will be to rally around the standard of the country, and to meet the invasion of the enemy as they would trespassers upon their own personal concerns, and you will never be forced to resort to conscriptions. On the contrary, if you grant extra bounties to such professional gentlemen as have given up the practice of the law, worth five thousand dollars a year; to commercial men who have quit their pursuits, worth ten thousand dollars a year, as stated by an honorable gentleman, and the exclusive advocates of disbanded officers, who, with such lucrative professions and employments, have a competency to return to; while you withhold relief to such as have been ruined by the war, and refuse to reward your militia, who have gained you most splendid victories, fought the battles of the country, preserved the honor of the nation-soldiers composed of farmers, American husbandmen, fresh from their fields, separated from their families, firesides, and homes, who, upon the sound of their country's alarm, have marched to its standard, and met the invasion of the mercenary enemies to the rights of man, to liberty, and a free Government; forced them to retire with great slaughter, and crowned this nation with immortal glory-withhold, I say, a reward to this meritorious class of the community-put them off with the honorable thanks of the nation-bestow bounties exclusively upon disbanded officers, and in all future contests, as in the late war, you will have officers by thousands, but few soldiers, to fight the battles of this beloved country. Messrs. CANNON, Ross, MCKEE, and WILLIAMS, supported the motion, and opposed the grant of land to the disbanded officers. Messrs. SMITH of Maryland, JACKSON of Virginia, and WILDE, were adverse to the motion, and in favor of awarding the bounty proposed in the bill. The motion to strike out the section was finally agreed to-ayes 74, nays 60. On motion, of Mr. DESHA, the 2d section of the bill was so amended as to confine the land bounty to those soldiers, above forty-five and under eighteen years of age, who enlisted "for five years or during the war." On motion, of Mr. JACKSON of Virginia, a new section was added to the bill for the purpose of guarding, as far as possible, the bounty from falling into the hands of speculators, by prohibiting the transfer of right thereto, until after the patent has issued. The Committee then rose, reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again. FRIDAY, February 16. Mr. SERGEANT presented a petition of sundry inhabitants of Montgomery county, and of the Northern Liberties of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, praying that the mails may not be transported or opened on Sundays. Mr. EASTON presented a resolution of the Legislature of the Territory of Missouri, requesting that some provision may be adopted to afford relief to settlers on public lands in that Territory, who have been ordered to remove therefrom by the proclamation of the President of the United States, of the 12th December, 1815.-Referred to the Committee of the Whole on the bill relating to settlers on the public lands. Mr. JEWETT submitted the following resolution; which was read and ordered to lie on the table: H. OF R the enemy that the mill of the petitioner had furnished PETITION OF EDMUND DANA. Mr. YANCEY also made a report on the petition of Edmund Dana; which was read, and the res Resolved, That the President of the United Statesolution therein contained was concurred in by the House. The report is as follows: be requested to cause to be laid before this House, a statement of all expenses which have been incurred in the City of Washington, under the authority of the United States, for erecting edifices of any kind, and for repairing and ornamenting buildings of any kind, and for improving the streets and squares of the city, and for all other purposes of ornament and improvement, (excepting the navy yard and its buildings and improvements,) designating, as specifically as the nature of the case will admit, the years when the several expenditures were incurred, the purposes to which they were applied, and the funds out of which the same were paid or appropriated, distinguishing between such payments as were made out of the Treasury of the United States, and such as were made out of the proceeds of the sales of the public property within the District of Columbia, or out of other district funds, or donations received and also a statement of the amount of the funds derived from the sale of lots, and other public property within the City of Washington, and of the probable value of the public property remaining on hand. The bill from the Senate, entitled "An act to increase the pensions of Robert White, and Jacob Wrighter," was read the third time, as amended, and passed. Ordered, That the title be "An act to increase the pensions of Robert White, Jacob Wrighter, John Young, and John Crampersey." PETITION OF WILLIAM FLOOD. Mr. YANCEY, from the Committee of Claims, made a report on the petition of William Flood, which was read; when Mr. Y. reported a bill for the relief of William Flood; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. The report is as follows: That the petitioner states that, during the late war, he acted in the capacity of a clothing sutler to the different posts and regiments of the third military district; that he opened shop in the different garrisons for the sale of such articles of clothing as suited the convenience of the officers and soldiers; and that, having given credit to many of the soldiers for such articles as they purchased, he has lost many of his debts by the death and desertion of his debtors, and by some of the soldiers having been discharged on account of their being minors. He asks of Congress to pass a law authorizing him to receive the wages which may be due from the Government to such deserters, deceased and discharged soldiers. The committee are of opinion that he is entitled to no relief from Government. If he has made contracts with the officers or soldiers, he must look to them to comply with the same; the Government cannot interfere to settle such accounts. The committee recommend to the House the following resolution: Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioner ought not to be granted. MILITARY SERVICES. The House then resolved itself into a Commit tee of the Whole, on the order of the day; and the Committee proceeded to consider the bill further to provide for military services during the late war. Mr. BRADBURY offered the following amendment to the second section of the bill: "That if any non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, of the regular Army, shall have died while in the service of the United States, leaving a widow, or, if no widow, a child or children under fourteen That the petitioner owned and occupied a valuable years of age, such widow, or, if no widow, such child or children shall be entitled to receive half the monthly dwelling-house, together with a valuable mill and other pay to which the deceased was entitled at the time of outhouses, on the west side of the river Mississippi, his decease, for and during the term of five years, upon previous to the month of December, 1814; on the 27th the same terms and conditions, and under the same of that month, the plantation of the petitioner was rules, restrictions and conditions as are provided by law taken possession of by Brigadier General David B. for the widows and children of non-commissioned ofMorgan, under an order from General Andrew Jack-ficers, musicians, and privates, of the regular Army, son, then commanding the United States troops in New who have been killed or died of wounds received in Orleans and its vicinity, and the houses occupied by battle." the officers and troops under his command. On the morning of the 8th of January, 1815, General Morgan was attacked by the enemy, forced from his position, and the houses of the petitioner, together with his mill and timber, at the same time destroyed by the enemy. It appears to the committee, from documents accompanying the petition, that the property was destroyed on account of its being occupied by the troops of the United States, and for the purpose of preventing barracks being again erected for the defence of New Orleans. No other buildings at that place, or in the neighborhood, were destroyed; and it was known to After a few remarks from Mr. BRADLEY, in support of his motion, and by Mr. DESHA and Mr. JOHNSON against it, the amendment was disagreed to; and Mr. JOHNSON moved to add the following to the second section of the bill: And be it further enacted, That in case of the death of a soldier of the regular Army, the widow shall, in all cases, be considered as one of the heirs, with the child or chidren of said regular soldier; and in all such cases, the said widow shall have her election to take for herself and child or children the five years' half pay, in lieu of the land bounty and the three months' pay now allowed by law to the heirs and representatives of said decedent. Before this proposition was decided on, a motion was made, and carried, to lay the bill on the table. CANADIAN REFUGEES. The Committee proceeded to the consideration of the bill for the relief of certain Canadian refugees who entered the American service during the late war. A motion was made by Mr. WEBSTER, when the bill was last under consideration, to strike out the first section, being the first question for decision. On this motion a very animated, and, from the argument introduced, a very interesting debate took place. The bill was advocated with much zeal by Messrs. CUTHBERT, and ROBERTSON ; and as warmly opposed by Mr. Hulbert. FEBRUARY, 1816. What is it that makes us admire those instances of conduct recorded in history, where the proffered assistance of treacherous men has been indignantly refused? Let me take a single and familiar instance. What is it that makes us admire the conduct of the Romans, in spurning the proposition of the physician of Pyrrhus, who offered to poison his master, and thereby free the Romans from a most powerful and dreaded enemy? It is that noble and exalted principle in our nature which inspires us, nay, which constrains us, to love great and generous actions wherever we find them. It is that self-same principle which ought, at this moment, irresistibly to impel us to stamp with abhorrence the bill now before the Committee. It is one of the noblest traits in the character of Lord Thurlow, that, when he was Chancellor of England, he refused to dishonor the great seal of that nation by placing it to the grant of a penThe following is the substance of the remarkssion to the infamous Arnold. And shall the seal made by Mr. HULBERT, at different times, on this bill, while it was before a Committee of the Whole. of this enlightened and virtuous Republic be stamped upon this foul iniquity, this palpable treason? Shall traitors carry with them this Mr. HULBERT said: I can never consent, Mr. high testimony of your approbation? Sir, while Chairman, to give my vote in favor of the bill you extend your bounty to these faithless foreignwhich is now under consideration. My cool anders, you corrupt the hearts of your own people. deliberate judgment, and all the feelings of my You teach them that fidelity is no virtue, and heart, are utterly opposed to it. that treason is no crime. What must they think of the political morality of that Government, which, in one law, denounces against its own citizens the awful punishment of death, for desertion, and in another law, in force at the same time, gives a high reward to the subjects of a crime? It does appear to me that such proceedings have a manifest tendency to confound all notions of right and wrong, and to annihilate the very distinctions between vice and virtue. Without meaning to question, in the slightest degree, the purity of intention of any gentleman who has had an agency in reporting this bill, or has in any way given it his support, I must say, that I think it is founded on principles which are wholly inconsistent with the doctrines of moral-foreign nation for having been guilty of the same ity, and the dictates of justice and sound policy. Sir, what does this bill propose; what are its objects? Let me examine, in the first place, its most exceptionable and odious provision-I mean that which relates to those inhabitants of Canada, who, in the late war, owing allegiance to Great Britain, deserted to your standard, and fought against their own Government. If you adopt this part of the bill, you sanction one of the foulest and most detestable crimes that can be perpetrated by a human being; a crime that strikes deep at the foundation of all Governments, and of civilized society-you sanction treason. Nay, you go a frightful distance beyond this; you embrace the traitor, and give him a rich reward for his crime. Sir, a nation is styled a moral person; and I do think that we, as the Representatives of this nation, ought never to adopt any measure which, in our private capacity, we would not cordially approve. Surely we are not sent here to legislate against the dictates of our own consciences, and the best feelings of our hearts. Let me ask, then, is there a single person in this honorable committee who would, upon any consideration whatsoever, in private life, encourage and reward a villain for the commission of a base and infamous crime? No, sir. Then let us instantly condemn and reject the proposition before us. In principle it is perverse, in example it would be dangerous. Gentlemen say they can find precedents in the history of our own Government, to justify this measure. Sir, precedents avail nothing against principle; they can never justify anything radically wrong. If it can be shown that you have heretofore done anything like that which is now proposed, I pray you to repent of the sin you have done, and sin no more. The honorable gentleman from New York, (Mr. THROOP) has compared the case of these deserters to the glorious cause of the American Revolution. Need I vindicate your country against this unmerited charge? Shall I offer to show that the illustrious founders of your liberties were not deserters, were not traitors? No, I will not thus degrade them; I will leave their vindication to your own heart, to the hearts of the American people, and to impartial history. Sir, the honorable Speaker, (Mr. CLAY,) in the fervor of his attachment to this bill, has pronounced a high eulogium on the character and conduct of the late Colonel Wilcox, commander of the corps of Canadian volunteers. He has praised in the highest strains of admiration the imputed virtues of this man, and has ranked him among the most exalted patriots of the earth. He has even censured, with no little severity, the op |