Ordered, That a bill, or bills, be brought in pursuant to the said resolution; and that Mr. Sloan, Mr. Fisk, and Mr. Dana, do prepare and bring in the same.
Monday, January 27.
Detachment of Militia.
An engrossed bill authorizing a detachment from the Militia of the United States was read the third time.
Mr. Tallmadge, of Connecticut, said he had never recollected an instance, since he had been honored with a seat in that House, when a question of equal magnitude with the present, had passed on, from the report which was first made, to the third reading of the bill, and there had scarcely been a remark submitted to the House to elucidate or justify the measure. We have before us a bill of no trifling import; it provides for organizing, arming, and equipping, a military force of one hundred thousand men, and it appropriates two millions of dollars to enable the Government to bring this force into the field. Now this bill contemplates some serious intentions on the part of the Government, or else it is a solemn mockery, a mere political farce. At any rate, we shall hereby, if the bill passes into a law, lock up two millions of dollars in the Treasury, which must remain appropriated and sequestered from any other use, however urgent and pressing the calls of our country may be from any other quarter. Under the present aspect of this bill, as it has been presented to my mind, I shall be constrained to give it my unequivocal negative, unless some gentleman shall be able to remove my objection against its final passage. I, therefore, take the liberty to call on the honorable chairman of the committee, who reported the bill, (Mr. Varnum, of Massachusetts,) to state to the House the reasons which induced him to submit the bill now under consideration, and to request of him, for my particular information, to answer the two following queries, viz:
1st. What special objects are to be answered by the passage of this bill?
2d. What effect will such a law have upon the militia systems of the different States in the Union?
I make these inquiries of the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts, who reported this bill, from a knowledge of the high station which he holds in the militia of that State; and from a hope that he has fully weighed all the relative bearings of this bill, with the advantages and inconveniences thence resulting, that he may be able to confirm the wavering, and to satisfy those who doubt respecting the provisions of this bill.
In the public Message of the President of the United States, communicated to Congress on the third of December last, we are informed that spoliations are committed on our commerce, and our seamen are impressed on the high seas; while aggressions and insults are offered to the citizens of the Territories of Orleans and the Mississippi, by the regular officers and soldiers of the King of Spain. Some of these injuries may admit of peaceable remedy, but some of them are of a nature to be met by force only, and all of them may lead to it.
From the fullest examination I have been able to make of this public document, (and I lay no claim to private communications,) I can discover but one point on which this great military force can be brought to bear. Is it possible, then, Mr. Speaker, (and I do hope that the honorable chairman will give us an answer to the inquiry,) is it possible, I say, that an apportionment must be made on all the militia of the United States, from Georgia to the District of Maine, that the President of the United States may be enabled to repel an invasion, or chastise an insult offered to our citizens within the district of Orleans? If this be not the object, the inquiry returns with redoubled force—what is it? Or, are we to conclude that all this parade and expense is to form an army on paper, and to hold out to the world the high sense we entertain of our national honor and dignity, and the promptitude and vigor with which we are ready to defend it? Can it be possible, sir, that gentlemen can be serious in offering this preposterous parade of military defence, when the recommendation of the President, and the voice of our country, call so imperiously for something more efficient? Will the European powers believe that you are in sober earnest, when they shall read the provisions of this bill? Will the people of our own country be satisfied with this kind of military farce? The former, I am persuaded, will not be deceived by it; the latter cannot fail to be disgusted with this pitiful parade. Whatever may be my opinion of the military defence which our present circumstances call for, it is hardly proper for me now to discuss that question. If the difficulties and objections which so forcibly press upon my mind can be obviated, notwithstanding my general doubts of the efficacy of this measure, I shall vote for the bill on your table.