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A NATIONAL PAPER, PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AN'O SATURDAYS I> -JOHN FEN NO, No. 34. HO Pill FIFTH-STREET, A
[No. 64 of Vol. IV.]
sj* 'v
CONGRESS.
HOUSE or REPRESENTAnrES.
WEDNESDAY, January a.
De bate on Mr. SrgEie's motion for
of the Military
Establishment of the
United States.
In Committee of the Whole. Mr. White
i— Ciair*
Mr. Wadfworth firft noticed Mr.
Steele's statements and calculations.—
These he said, were erroneous, and even
if cone&, the inferences the gentleman
had drawn from them, did not appear to
himjuft. He was fuiprifed the gentle
man (hould so pofitivelv have pledged
himfelf for their accuracy, when they
were so very far from deserving that cha
racter. As the statements of Mr. Steele
had been published to the world he tho't
it right to Hate in what they aie errone
ous.
The great object of that gentleman in
offering his calculations to the House,
was to (hew a prodigious progrefiive en
creafe in the expences of the war depart
ment, since the establishment of the new
government. Fc)r this purpose he had
compared what he Hated as the appropri.
ations of the years 1790, 1791, and
1792, with one another, and with the
sum now called for from that department
for the year 1793.
Mr. Wadfworth proceeded to (hew the
inaccuracy of the gentleman in this at
tempt, by the following llatement.
Mr. Steele stated, that for 1790, the
appropriations for the Quartet-matter's
department amounted to
Whereas the sum appropri
ated was
Omitted by Mr. Steele
For the holpital in the
fame year, Mr. Steels
states r>ooo
Bum actually appropriated 1,250
Omitted
for contingencies in the
fame year, Mr. Steele
states 3,000
-Snm a&ually appropriated 3,750
Omitted
Pay, fubdflence and cloa
thing for 1790, Mr.
Steele llates 126,020
■Sum actually app. 147,100. 8
Omitted
•'Total omiflions for 1790
In the year 1791,
Mr.Steele states the Quar
termafker's department at 25,000
Sum really appropriated 75,000
Omitted
The ho (pita) department 1,635.20
JUally appropriated 5,635.20
Omitted
Contingencies at
Appropriated
Opiittcd
'ay, fubfiilence, and
doatliing, at
jipropriated
ij8,475-8o
331,788.20
Omitted
Total omiffiopa
Omitted
Fay, Subsistence, and
cloathing
Appropriated
Total omiflions for 1791 Dolts. 567,530.72
Fiom the foregoing, the inaccuracy of
Mr. Steele's flatements, and of the calcu
lations founded on them, were evident.
The prodigious rapid cncreafe of the war
department expences did not appear, ynd
the gentleman's saving plan, founded on
the difference of the appropriation for
J792, and the sum estimated for 1793,
proved very trifling indeed, amounting
to a few thousands only.
Mr. Wadfwoith said he did not posi
tively pledge himfelf for the absolute ac
curacy of his statements, but if there were
errors in them he ventured to fay they
were but tiifling.
He next took notice of Mr. Steele's ar
guments relative to the ordnance depart
ment. Fiom what had been said by that
gentleman on this he truly thotight, as he
had exprefied it, that the business boie a
ludicrous appearance . but on further en
quiry, by looking over an account of the
expenditures of the war department, it ap
peared that the large sums appropriated
for the ordnance department, far from be
ing expended in the purchase of cannon,
not one (hilling had gone to that life, it
was all for repairs to arms, See. The state
ment of the gentlemen in this particular
he could not conceive confident with can
dour.
As the gentleman from N. C. relied his
aflertion ofarbufes in the war department,
on the ftatern,entß he had produced, these
aflmioiis, he conceived, he fufSgiently
answered, by ffiewing the statements inif
ftated.
Hollars
15,000
20,000
J,ooo
Mr. Wadfworth referred to parts of the
Secretary at war's reports to (hew that
that officer had been in favour of concilia
tory, and averse to hostile measures with
the Indians, to another part to fhnw hid
opinion where and how militia were effec
tive.
250
He next turned to the causes of the
war. The establishment of a war depart
ment was, in his opinion, by no means, as
had been fuggetled, the cause of the In
dian war, but rather theeffeft. The war
existed before the eftablilhment of the pre
sent government, it is an inheritance from
the old confederation and so is the war
department. The history of its origin
and progtefs was in record and might be
traced by a reference to the resolves of
congress. The war exitted in 1784. A
communication received some years back
from the executive of Georgia would e
vince its exigence and shew its violence.
The executive complained that the fron
tier was too thinly fettled, and some coun
ttes broken up, and ordered out 3000
men to protest it,—since that even the
city of Savannah was, he had heard, so
fenoufly threatened,that the citizens were
obliged to keep guard in it—and this be
fore the prefcat war system.
Neither could the present mode of car
rying on the war be called the creature of
the war department. It was rather the
Prelident s war,—or the war indeed of
the house, the war of the legislature : the
plan was a good one as the experience of
the Prefulent in these wars made him a
proper judge ; it had his approbation and
we know it.
rJ°
21,080. 8
27,080. 8
50,000
4,000
5,000
30,060
25,000
173,312.4 a
»J»,3»»-40
Wednesday, January 9. 1795.
!ji tj/ i?r a.
Mr. Steele stales tftt <^nar
termafter's deprt. at 50,000
Sum really appropriated 120,000
Omitted
Hofyutal department at
Really appropriated
Omitted
Ordnance department at 7,204.64
Appropriated 28,704.64
Omitted «
Contingencies at
Appropriated
»70,374-70
707,405.43
Omitted
253
I * ifitioned fev?ra! Infianoejj >,/
cruelty of the whites towards the- »riilians,
he also Hated the information of Judp-e
Innis, of the depredations of the Indians:
the single diftrid of Kentucky had tall
from 1783 to 1790, 1500 men, women,
and children, killed and taken, with 2000
horses and other property, amounting to
at least 50,000 dollars, and to these lie
attributed the war in which we were in
volved. The hiftoiy of the settlement of
Kentucky, if recurred to, would afford a
series of causes of Indian h»ltilities. Two
hundred persons had annually fallen facri
fices to the Indians in this district.
He .next proceeded to examine the opi
nion advanced of the superiority of militia
over regular forces in an Indian war. He
recurred to history to disprove the opini
on. So early as the year after Braddock's
defeat, he said, Virginia attempted to pro
tect itfelf agaitift the incurlions of the In
by cfULlHaing a number of pofU «-
long their frontier. The Indians, notwith
ftaading, penetrated the frontier, came
-60 miles within it, and drove the inhabi
tants as far as Winchester. In the war
which succeeded the peace of '62, garri
son», 14 or 15 in number,>were ettablifti
ed, to afford the wi/hed for protection ;
they were all captured by the Indians, 3
or 4 excepted. The Pennsylvania fron
tier had been more than once penetrated
notwitbftanding the resistance of the mili
tia. He next cited the instance of Col.
Bouquet's success against the Indians with
only two regiments of regular troops,
which had even been much weakened by
campaign in the Well-Indies.—
These two regiments marched into the
Indian country. At firlt finding 110 sup
port on the frontier, and when arriving at
Carlisle where he expedted to be aided by
stores, troops, See. he found a general pa
nic had taken poffeflion of the frontier—
the counry of Cumberland, through
which he was to pass deserted—the roads
covcred with distressed families; but here
having got together a few pack horses he
stood in need of, he ilill advanced with
the few troops under his command, and
gave the Indians battle. The combat
lalted from one o'clock till night, was re
newed the next morning, continued thro'
the day, and ended with the total rout &
aeftrudtion of the Indian army. Fie then
stationed his force in a commanding fort,
and so effectually restored peace to the
frontier, and spirit to the inhabitants,
that lliey returned to their homes, which
they had abandoned and lent their assist
ance against the foe the next campaign.
With the militia of Virginia and Penn
sylvania he entered the heart of the ene
mje's country, and forced the Indians to
iubmiffion. He cited another instance ef
the success of Indians against militia. The
engagement between 800 militia, under
Gen Herkemer, and 700 Indians, and
others, where a total overthrow was given
to the militia.
T he firft check the troops of the Unit
ed States niet with during the operation
of the present war fyllem he adverted to,
in the expedition under Gen. £larmar. In
that instance the want of vigour in the
militia is acknowledged by their own
commander ; and as to the expedition un
dei Gen. St. Ciair, the regulars were few
and not to be named when compared with
the number of the militia. The advanced
guaid, in this action, composed entirely
of these, not only run off without firing,
but even threw away their guns and per
haps their coats too, which circumllancc
may account for the appellation of coal
men, given to our men by the Indians.
He next took notice of a late instance,
the engagement between Major Adair,
commanding a party of militia, and some
Indians. He expressed his good opinion
of that officer, but the conduit of his men
he wiftied to bring to view ; and this he
etinced from the commander's own letter
wherein he fays, " that the Indians ob
tained their end, the triumph is theirs,"
and in another place, " I will candidly
70,000
6,000
15,000
9,000
arjoo
40,000
50,000
30,000
437.°3<>-7»
[Whole No. 586.]
dity wjrsated the Mi**
St lSfcffty' , toai ir.oi 'itf'ApSfaft'
than neccffity." *> '? '
Mr. Wadfworth then combated the o
pinion advanced, that Indian expedition
by militia, were less expensive than by re
gular troops ; after mentioning several
iafts to the contrary, he inltanced Gene
ral Clark's western expedition which had
cost, he was not prepared to fay how
much, but immetife Turns. He appealed
to gentlemen who had commanded militia
and continentals in the late war to de
clare which appeared to them the moll
efficient troops,—the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Parker) who had spoken
in favour of the resolution before the
house, he fakl, in one instance in the late
war, if be recollected right, had no great "
reaion to boast of Ins companions. He
mentioned, as encroafing the expence,
waft of (lores, inseparable from ex
pet'iiio®: with militia, as well as wjlle J
lives. One regiment of militia will de-
Itroy, m the fame space of time more
than a Brigade of regular troops, as it is
impoflible to introduce discipline among
The settlement of Kentucky, Tie said,
which had been protected by militia, had
colt more blood than the whole American
war, he believed. If the number oflives
101 l in that undertaking could be compu
ted it would make the refle6ting shudder.
Something had been said of the tardy
nature of military operations with regular
troops, and it had been remarked, that
an expedition this year had not been effec
ted. He attributed this to the slowness
of the recruiting service, owing to the
clamour raised against the war by those
opposed to the present system, Besides,
the government had been blamed for not
(hewing pacific dispositions towards the
Indians, and had withheld the war, to
procure peace by treaty—a vain hope,
But leveral attempts had been made on
our part to procure peace. The faate of"
Harding, and others, were melanhcoly e
vidences of this truth : But the certainty
was, as it appeared to him, that the In
dial's must be forced to make peace, they
would not be quiet of choice.
A gentleman fiom Virginia had objec
ted to a refpe&able military eftablilhmenr,
because it would produce an increase of
military among the Britilh and Spaniards,
to the North and South of us This was
no rea lon with him, why the United
States Jhould not make themselves respec
table in the eyes of the Indians.
Some years since, they told us of their
confederacy, and to think of no separate
treaties—to keep on our fide of the Ohio.
We now flatter ourselves with peace, be
cause they have told us they will treat
but in what lanjrunge, and by whom dic
tated, I am forbid to tell, the door 9 were
closed when we received it.
1 tie fame gentleman had also mention
ed those enhlting in our feivice as worth
lets cliaradters : the sweepings of the
streets, &c. They appeared to him as
refpedtable, he said, as the generality of
those who turned out in the American
war.
He made some further observations on
the comparative excellence of regulars and
militia, and brought some further instan
ces into view in support of his opinion.
Abuks, jt had been intimated, had
ciept into our army ; no army could be
totally free from abuses, he observed, and
he gave it as his opinion, that the army
of the United States was as free from them
as most, especially when its diltance from
the feat of government was considered.
He concluded by a recapitulation of
the sentiments he had expressed, and
which should influence him to vote againll
the motion. Efpccially as the system had
been adopted after mature conHderation.
I o change it now would argue that
when it was firll adopted, it was done *
with unbecoming halte, or (hew a great
inilability. The Indians would laugh at
us as inconsistent, and might be inducc4
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