m &BZ&U J?w A tJAHOXAL PAPER, PUBLISHED VVK DN ESP AYS AND SATURDAY* KY JOHN FENKO, No. 34, NORTH FIFTH-STREET, PHILA DtLPH I.V [No. 65 of Vol. IV.] f)J vjjjt.. (mm CONGRESS. WEDNESDAY, January 1. DsbAtb on Mr. Steele's motion for the Reduction of the Military Establishment of the United States. In Committee of the Whole. Mr. White in the Chair. Mr. Clark observed that by the debates this day, it would appear as if it was de signed to dilband the whole army, and to give up the whole western country ; but this is by. an mMDs the cafe; the object is merely to reduce the number of the re giments, not to dismiss a single man. He supposed three thousand men would be fufficient to contend with 1200 Indians; the effect of the motion would be to (lop recruiting ; —it is said the President is em powered to disband the troops when he thinks the public service will admit of it; but this is a point of delicacy ; the law provides for railing five regiments, the re cruiting therefore will go on, unless per haps the Legiflatuie (hail take some lleps to prevent it. He therefore suggested the idea of an address to the President of the United States on the fubjeft. Mr. Parker said, he was in favour of the motion. It had been observed, he said, that the President had it in his power to disband the regiments; but he observed it i wag not known what his sentiments are 1 on the fnhicdi. and therefore it. may be_, highly pinker for this House to express its opinion. Mr. Parker then fuppwted his former affettion, that militia was su perior to regular troops, especially such as can now be obtained ; the belt men cannot be* obtained, the war is unpopular ; and ihetefore such men as turned out in defence of the liberties of the country cannot be enlisted. He adverted to vari ous expeditions against the Indians, be ginning with Biaddock's defeat. He no ticed several actions during the late war with Great-Britain, beginning with Btir goyne's capture. He gave the militia the principal credit for many ps our principal and most brilliant fucccffes. He said, he had no idea of a speedy peace with the In dians ; but he exceedingly reprobated the present fyfttm of prosecuting the war. H« wm (or reducing the regular establish ment to a number fufficient to gauifnn the forts on the frontiers, and to give the Prelident powertocall militia in such num bers as he may think proper, and to strike the enemy where the bed profpeft of suc cess may appear. Mr. Boudinot, after remarking that the present difcuflion was merely a repe tition of the various observations which had been offered in the firft deliberations on the befl mode of carrying on the Indian war, said the majority determined on the mode which had been adopted—For his part he had been in the minority ; but the the sense of the majority mull be fub witted to; he therefore exceedingly doubted the eligibility of deviating from the system, and thus betraying an inlla bility in the public councils. He advert ed to tl»e existing Rate of Indian affairs, the dnpofition recently discovered by them to treat, and imputed the alteration in the hoftilc appearance to the arrange ments made by the United States to pro secute the war: he therefore exceedingly doubted the expediency of weakening the public force at this crifij. He noticed the interference with, and encroachment on the Executive, which would be the con fequeni-e if the measure (liould be adopt ed. Tiie encrcafed expences occalioned by the addition to the regular troops were fully cuulidatcd at the time wben 'I'H"!?' n .ff to i ftVM'awri Triiimrity For ever keep theii opposition on foot, by bringing forward the bulinefs in various (hapes ? He enlarge ed on the ill policy of adopting the pro pofitiou at the present moment, and said, he hoped that nothing would be done to derange a system which had becu the. re sult of so much deliberation; on (lability and firir.neCs, the eventual measures now pur Cuing to bring about a peace, appear j to be Cufpended. r* Mr. Willis opposed the motion. He said he had been originally against railing the additional regimeuts ; but the mo tion, he conceived, went to such a re duction of the defenfive force of the fron tiers, as would leave them in a very ex ppfed (ituation indeed. No gentleman would fay, he prelumed, that two regi ments would be fufficient to garrison all the posts on the extensive frontiers of the He had always be<»n of opinion that volunteers and militia were the bed species of force to be employed against the Indians; but tho' he had been opposed to the system adopted, yet he now considered himfelf as differently situ ated, and that it was a different cop.fi deration to oppose a law before it is pas sed, from continuing that opposition after it is enadted : he hoped therefore, that the motion would not be agreed to. Thursday, Jan. 3, 1793 Mr. Steele, after adverting to the state ments offered by the Gentleman from Connedticntj and observing that they dif fered from those which he had laid before the House, said, in oider to remove eve ry prejudice to the motion, he had been induced to make from motives of regard to the public good„ he (hould now more particularly refer to the documents from -wltewee-he had drawn his information.— Mr. Steele then refeied particularly to the several a£ts of appropriation—to prove the jultnefs of his (tatements ; after he had gone thro' with these, he obfeived, that from hence it mud appear incontior vertible, that the sums itated to have been appropriated for thewat department, were in fadt so appropriated—whether the sums were expended or not, it re mains for the gentlemen who controvert those (tatements to (hew. He then (hew ed that the whole sums were expended, and monies called for to supply deficien cies. Mr. Wadfworth rose to explain—he observed that he believed the gentleman's statement just now delivered by him was accurate—he did not mean to controvert it. In hrsobfervations yesterday, he had reference to the statement offered by the gentleman in his fpecch when he brought forward his motion which had been pub lifhcd, and the accuracy of which, the gentleman had not denied ; it was that statement, Mr. Wadfworth said he meant to controvert, and not the one now offered by Mr. Steele. Mr. Clark said he could not conceive for what purpose this debate was spun out to such a length ; he thought ihe business might be very soon fettled by proceeding to filling up the blanks in the motion : he disapproved of the compari sons which had been made between the militia and the regular troops ; they had both, at different times, behaved well, aud both had perhaps been to blame. Mr. Milledge rose in opposition to the motion—he called the attention of the House to the extenfivenefs of the fron tiers of the country, particularly of the State of Georgia : he noticed the con duit of the Indians particularly on the frontiers of that (late ; —the citizens of Georgia adopted the constitution of the United States, in hopes of deriving ef fectual prote&ion from the Union ; have they received that proteflion ? A treaty has been formed with the moll formida ble tribe on the frontiers—we have been ainufed with expectations of their fulfil ing the coirtraft on their part—but their their treatment of Mr. Seagrove may Saturday, January 12, 1 795- 257 so».i tSuK stto uwi"' l ' lent to running the permanent line.—. Mr: Milledge then noticed the treache rous conduct of the Indians on fcveral oc cafious, and from the txtenfivenefs of the frontiers, being more than 1500 miles in extent—theirexcecdingly eipofed situati on, &c.—He argued that the force ori ginally intended to be raised, was so far from being too great, that it is not ade quate to the objtft; he was therefore opposed to the motion. If any of-the of ficers of government have embezzled the public money, or have been guilty of abuses, said Mr. Milledge, the way is open plain to bring them to account, and he (hould not think, that any member of the legislature, knowing of such abuses, who did not bring them before the public tribunal, did his duty : He concluded by faying, that as a defender of the rights of his conitituents, by affording them aU t£g m the- of "the go vernment, he should vote againlt the mo lion. Mr. Findley. Sir, how far tlie army is to be reduced,being a blank in the motion before you, does not come directly under debate, and the re is a difference of opinion a mong the gentlemen who i'uppoi't the resolution ; the gentleman who moved it, exprefled a design of re ducing it to two regiments, and a gentleman from New-Jersey (Mr. Clark) proposes to reduee then) to three, or to difcliarge none actually enlisted ■, at any rate the principle is open to debate. J he difcuflions with refpedl to the expenditure of the revenue, and the comparative merits of the regu lar forces and the militia, have been nifficiently difcuiled ■, nt lf»0 «s tar asnhey relate to the quellion under conftderation, therefore 1 fliall pass those fubjeifts at this time with only one remark. From the oblervarious of the gen tleman who moved the refo)ution,t> e firft and great objetft is, by disband ing a great proportion of the ariny, I o obtain money for the redemption, of the redeemable part of the pub lic debt. 1 agree with him that this is an important and desirable ohjetft, but we differ in this—that 1 take it to be a secondary object. I consider the defence of the union to be supe rior to every other consideration ; it was the firft realon for forming the government, and claims the firlt pi o vifion aud earlielt attention from those who govern. However, the arguments which have been deduced from the origin, the management and inisfortunet of the war claim my partioular atten tion. ] hat the war exifled previ ous to theprefent government is no more denied ; thai it was the off spring and remains of the war with Britain is confirmed by fads which will lung be had in melancholy re membrance : but iince the com mencement, it mult be acknowledg ed that the war has changed its com plexion, the carnage and depredati on have been much extended, and the reientment and union of the sa vages greatly increased. Mow that has happened is a proper fubjecl of enquiry. Gentlemen in support of the iefolution have pretty plainly implicated the war department as the source of these evils. Let it be observed as one excellence of our government, that all officers, civil and military, are f'ubjert to legal trial and punifhuieiu ; there is *no officer so dignified in the United States as to be out of the reach of legal responsibility ; —and if, there fore, there is delinquency, let it be aliened boldly and examined to ef fect. It is the members of the le giHature only that are out of the reach of trial and punilhincHt ; up on these we have no hold, except [Whole No, 587.] op iiS fhor cii;.r:«-fer, {heir roiuTi ence aild their imeieU:. his tlieje giflature that is oft he most fuprenie (overcign powtr. ') hough I do not appear as 1 lie :"N|vr>cate of any other department, yet it is to the conducts and neglects of the le giflai lire that J now call the attenti on of the coin mil tee ; it is from that quarter that we can dtaw the molt ufeful cautions for our deciiion of this queition, and our future con duct ; and it is more generous for ns to examine and improve upon our own faults in the firft instance. I haxe already observed that the new Congieft found the uniun in a state of war. What exertions were made to pro cure peace, or grant protection, is a very iiatnrai enquiry, One regi ment was employed by (he old Congress to fgr.ard t!jfronsier ; though this whs a force infuffieienc for !he purpose, yet it i 3 to be con sidered tlmt the then government had not the command of revenue, and the individual States had com petent powers,and the command of their own revenue ; the enemy was not combined, nor so much df the frontier diltrerted. But did this most pre/ling object obtain the ear liest attention of Congress, or the fii A provision ? No it did not. An ill defined law was enai'ted,empow. ering the President to call out the militia, before any militia law of Congress existed ; the conftquence was that though they could not be compelled, yet a number of thole who were called upon went to the Miami villages with General Har niar ; with thole and his own regi ment, tie arrived at, and dell toyed those villages, and if he had had but two regiments of good permanent troops with the aliiltance of a few chosen militia, he could have secu red a lodgment there, notwithdand ing the misforttines of his fkirinifli ing parties ; and peace would have been the prqbable confeqtience ; but as the rime of fei vice of the mi litia had cxpited, if he had been ever so fortunate he mult have re treated as he did ; thus the sava ges were ex;reinely irritated, the lignal given for union, and a great extent of frontier formerly in sup posed security became the object of more than a common degree of sa vage vengeance. In this diftrefling (ituation of our affairs, the next Itep taken by Congress was to enact a law for railing a second regiment, and to enlist levies for fix months at two dollars a month, andjcloath ing designed for to last half the year ; just fufficient to take them to the wilderness, there to starve with cold in the molt inclement sea son of they ear. The fatal catastro phe in which this campaign ended need not beiepeated, there is no danger of its being forgot ; that ic has encrealed the union and cou rage of the Indian;), and encoura ged them to treat with the most in dignant insolence our overtures of peace, is evident front the fate of the brave men who fell with the flags i for whose families we have been jult making provision. Per haps it may be said, as has at least been reported, that Congress 011)3' enacted into laws the plans recom mended by the war department ; how true this is in all the instances to which I have alluded I know rot ; but at any rate it is no apology. We have no right to calt our legislative responsibility upon the Executive department—this power for which our character is exclufivrly refpon fi'ole,cannot be transferred without a breach of trufl. And for liielir objects there was no other iitforma tion necefl'ary but what was pofc feffed by the lloufe. Congress knew »
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