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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