Newspaper Page Text
AMERICAN ADVOCATE.
NO. IX ]
POLISHED EVERY THURSDAY;
Morning, by George W.J
Wheeler £s? James Clarke,
AT THREE DOLLARS A YEAR
QJJE IN ADVANCE.
COKGBESS.
SPEECH
fIP ‘*” ‘ : j
Os Mr, Conner of Massachusetts.
(Concluded.)
The honorable gentleman from
South Carolina, for whose abiii
ties, Mr. C. said, he the
highest respect on a former pc
casion. when the bill for establish
ing Milttan y Academies was be-
fore the House, seemed to think
that the cadets of those schools,
by training the militia, 1 *r a short
time, would render them equal to
regu|ar troops; and the honora
ble gentleman alluded to Gen
Scot’s brigade on the Niagara fron
tier, which he supposed to have
consisted principally of recruits,
winch had been but for a short
time in service. He said that
G.;n. Scott’s brigade, and that of
Gen, Ripley, which co-dperated
with him, which brigades const!
tuted the division cl General
Brown, had received a large ac* j
cession of recruits, a short time
previous to the commencement cf!
operations. That the regiments |
composing those brigades hadj
been for two years in service, &c
by fro quant engagements, and!
constant exposure to hardship h
clanger, had acquired, in a great
measure, the discipline and firm
ness of veterans.. Mr C. said,
that it was well known to military
men, that when recruits are ar
ranged to veteran skeletons of re
giments, consisting of officers and
staff, non-commissioned officers
snd staff, and but a small part of
its complement of privates, they
soon acquire the discipline and
skill, to which the honorable gen
f.leman from South Carolina al
luded. ‘ This, perhaps, could be
better illustrated by an allusion to
the human frame: the skeleton
was the bones, the nervec, and
the muscles—the recruits were
the flesh and blood. If the for
mer had acquired consistency h
strength, the latter would impart
health and vigor, though but of
recent origin. He said, that in
his humble opinion, the interests
of the country would have been
much better consulted, and the
expense would not have been ma
terially great* r, if the military
% peace establishment had been or
ganised on this principle. We
should then, in the event of hos
tility, have been able to display a
formidable column on any point,
that would at once carry terror to
the bosom of the enemy, and se
cure from depredation an exten
sive inland frontier. Mr. C. re
marked, that he was far from be-
LOUISVILLE, THURSDAY APRIL 11, 1816.
bng disposed to withhold from the
[western militia, that tribute to ‘
their valor, which had been so u
niversally paid them. No one
held in higher estimations, the pa
triotism with which they took the
field—the patience with which
they endured privation, and the
intrepidity they exhibitted in ac
tion. No one had a greater re
spect, than himself, for a people,
who, when pressed into war, are
fitted by occupation, climate and
nature, for deeds of chivalry and
daring enterprize. But he ap
pealed to those honorable gentle-1
men from the west, to know,’
whether if the discipline, subor
dination and experience, of veter-
an-armies, had been super*deed
to their valor *nd perseverance,
Kentucky would have mourned
so many of her sons cut off by
surprize find massacre, ana per
ished by disease ? Whether, in
fact, the same exertions, the same
privations, would not have en
sured’ the reduction of Upper Ca
nada, and carried conquest to the
walls of Quebec.
Mr. C. thought that very un
necessary and groundless appre
hensions were entertained in this
country, with regard to the dan
ger of a military establishment.
[He denied that the military ever
j destroyed ti e l iberties of iscoun*
I try : it was only when the liberty
| and virtue of a country were ex
tinct, that the military usurped
power* it was only when the
great foundations of government
and morals were broken up—-
when liberty was a sound and
virtue a name-—it was when con
tending factions hadimbrued their
hands in each other’s blood, and’
when the government became rot-,
ten to the heart. It was in this
unhinged, this corrupt, this de
based state of things alone, when
the military would attempt to u-J
surp the functions of govern. *
menu It was immaterial, lie said,
whether it was the head of an ar
my, or the head of an armed fac
tion, who should be guilty of this
usurpation. If a military were
not already in existence, one
would be created for the occa-j
sion. He remarked, that per- j
haps it would be more lor thej
interests of the people, (if any j
thing could be for the interests
of the people) under such cir
cumstances, that they should set
* #
de down early into despotism,
than wade through seas of blood,
and arrive at last to the same re
sult. Mr. C, asked, whether
there were liberty or virtue in
England, when Cromwell drove
o
out his canting and hypocritical
parliament ? Whether there were
liberty & virtue in France, when
Bonaparte clothed himself with
consular power l Had not, said
Mr. C. as a preparatory step to
this usurpation, angry factions
previously embattled themselves
against each other on its plains* i
and flitted away in succession,
like the blood-stained spectres of
Macbeth ? ‘ Rome, he said, was
a military and free nation for
centuries. It had nearly all that
time powerful armies in the field.
But Rome, at las% by that inevi
table process of decay, to which
all natrons, as well as individuals,
are subject, became corrupt. I ;
Was a mere come st of faction—
its liberty and virtue were no
more-—it was a struggle for pow
er between Sylla and Marius—
between Caesar and Pompey; h
lit appeared of little consequence
which should prevail. it is
str nge, indeed, sir, said Mr. C
tha. we should harbor such dis ;
real forebodings of an army, of- j
fleered from among our own citi
zens, and at the beck and dispo
sal of government, and still view
with listless apathy, and uncon-
Cfßgihe over-grown veteran ar
my of a nation, by nature and cir
cumstances inimical to us, and
which could be borne to our
shores on the wings of the winds.
He said, by nature inimical to us •
he meant that nature had placed
the two nations in such geograph
ical, political and commercial re
lation, as to produce that rivalry,
of course enmity; otherwise,, he
believed there was neither natur
al love or enmity between nations.
Oder in t dam metuant , he said, v/as
ia bad maxim for an individual
lit was that cf a tyrant; but it was
a very safe one tor a republic in
its relations with foreign powers.
Mr. C. observed that he be
lieved no one truth was better es
tablished in that unerring school
of wisdom, experience, than that
large masses cf untutored levies
i (individually heroes if you please)
I 1 in an open country, without
works, could be easily defeated h
dispersed by one third the num
ber of veterans.. How .often had
it been witnessed on the plains of
India, that great armies, biu
without military skill, of fifty or
a hundred thousand men, sup
ported-by a numerous artillery,
had been totally routed and scat
*
tered by five or ten thousand vet
erans. And yet these natives of
j India* he said, these Sepoys, when
officered and organized, were said
| to exhibit more dauntless bravery,
more unyielding, vigorous, phleg
matic firmness, than the British
veterans in that country. Which
then, asked Mr. C. is the sound
tst policy, to expose your terri
tory to be ravaged, yotu cities to
be pillaged, and sacked, and per
mit rapine and conflagration to
do their worst work; or (o estab
lish the foundation of such a mil
itary force as would on emergen
cy be suddenly enlarged to pre
vent these evils— not, as the hon.
gentleman from Virginia said, to
emblazon the glory of our coun
try in blood, but to prevent the
glory of the enemies of our coun -
try being emblazoned in the blood,
of our citifcbns i It was this glance
at some of our foreign relation ,
his conSction of the necessity of
preparation, the expediency of
rapidly reducing the public deb* ts
the ruinous impoiicyof diminish*-
mg the army, the necessity cf aitg*
meriting the navy, which would
influence him in voting substan
tially for the taxes proposed by
the honorable the chairman of the
committee of Ways and Means.
Mr C said, he revered the pre
cepts of Washington not ostenta
tiously, but sincerely ; that great
man was never for prostrating the
defences of the country, and per
mitting the wild beasts cf the id*
rest, or Europe, to enter and sa
tfoie themselves in our beautiful
pastures. He was for keeping
up a regular but not oppressive
system of taxation, and retaining
a military and force pro
portioned to our means and the
exigencies cf the times. Mr. C,
said, that in the course cf the ob
servations he had the honor tj
make on this floor, lie had sever
al times alluded to the prospect of
collision a t some future time with,
a natic with whom we are nov*
at peace. The minister of a.
monarch, sir, said Mr. C would
5 not find it necessary or politic to
promulgate these opinions; but
the people are our sovereign; we
are their ministers ; this hall h
the cabinet chamber for consulta
tion, and here we are bound free.*
ly to disclose our views and o
pinions, although we should pc
overheared by Europe,
BONAPARTE.
r
A gentleman who has lately
returned from St. Helena, h who
was frequently with Bonaparte,
describes him as in the highest
spirits, even to a degree of jollity*
He. says, that he wants dignity,
but fairly swaggers about the isl
and as if he had made It his own
lor life* When the gentleman
v as coming away, and mentioned
his destination to another part o£
the world, the ex-emperor ex
claimed, u What sir, and leave
such a fine island as this ?” He
talked about India, and shewed
the most complete and detailed
knowledge of* its affairs. He
knew all the petty princes, their
situation, opposite interests, the.
names of the principal bankers,
merchants, he. in our settle
ments. He was as much cm fait
on the subject as if he had pass
ed his life there. Being asked
his opinion of Lord Wellington,
he said, 44 He is a good ger era!,
but slow.—l should put three
hundred thousand men in action
while he was thinking of it-**
Me rides at a prodigious rate,
and sets off full gallop the in
stant he is mounted, leaving
the cavalcade who attend him*
at a good distance behind.
(Loudon £as\
LVol. L