Monday, May 14.
Provisional Army.
The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill for authorizing the President of the United States to raise a provisional army; when, the question being put on the section providing for the calling out 20,000 militia at a time, to be trained and disciplined, it was negatived, there being only 11 votes for it.
This section was objected to on the ground that the constitution has placed the training and disciplining of the militia in the several States, and that Congress had power only "to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasion; reserving to the States respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress."
Mr. Sewall moved to fill the blank in this section with $200,000. He supposed $50,000 or $60,000 would be sufficient for purchasing the accoutrements mentioned; the remaining $140,000 or $150,000 would be ready in the Treasury in case of emergency, for the other purposes of the act. This mode of proceeding was objected to. It was thought by some that it would be best to appropriate only for the purchase of the articles specified, and provide for the whole expense of carrying the act into effect in one sum, either in this law or some other; but it was finally carried as it stands, and the blank was filled with 200,000 dollars.
The last additional section proposed for exempting private soldiers from arrest for debt or contract, during their term of service, was then agreed to.