SENATE.] Increase of the Army. The Indians heretofore were remote from each other; they were divided among themselves, and the different tribes at war with each other. They were in the immediate vicinity of your most populous States, and generally surrounded by a very dense white population, always at your service. They were wholly undisciplined, and armed only with war clubs and bows and arrows. In this condition, your arms, your superior numbers of whites and Indian allies, and your discipline, have always enabled you to conquer them in detail, when fighting against you alone, and unsustained by the exertions of other savages. But in no instance have you ever triumphed over them, notwithstanding your great advantages, without the loss of much treasure and hundreds of valuable lives. What is their situation now? They are located thousands of miles from this Capitol, and hun. dreds of miles distant from the nearest points from which relief to the frontier settlements could be brought in the event of war. They have been taken from the immediate vicinity of Georgia, Alabama, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and the Carolinas, and located together upon the borders of the weakest and most remote States in the Union. They have the mighty Mississippi between you and them-a formidable barrier of itself; and that being passed, you then have a country between them and you (some two or three hundred miles in extent, before you reach their settlements) but thinly settled, and, on that account, without roads or subsistence for your troops. Being thus remote from a superior force, and almost inaccessible, are they less formidable now than they ever were before? The country they inhabit abounds in wild horses and buffalo. They may be said to be inexhaustible. They will never want cavalry or subsistence; and, if you defeat them upon our frontiers, they have but to retreat, and retreat, through the common desert in their rear, where you can never follow them to the Rocky Mountains, to California, to the Pacific itself. From these inaccessible retreats, they can repeat their incursions whenever your troops are disbanded or drawn from the frontiers. [FEB. 16, 1837. them to the frontiers of my State, in chains and in handcuffs, has not, in my judgment, soothed their tempers or annihilated their spirit of revenge. It was the leading policy of that distinguished Indian warrior who fell in arms against you at the battle of the Thames to unite all the Indian tribes in a general war against you. He was then unable to accomplish his object. Should a similar spirit appear upon our frontiers now, when the various tribes are united in friendship, and live together, with the manifold advantages their position gives them, where we have neither population nor military force to oppose them successfully, where they are armed and disciplined, and irritated to the highest pitch, there is no one who can estimate the consequences he might produce, or calculate the loss of life, of property, of trouble and expense to the people of the United States. Shall we throw aside the lessons of experience, and leave things as they now are? Or shall we not guard effectually against them, as becomes us, by building forts, opening roads, and increasing the army large enough to protect our own citizens? I, for one, answer in the affirmative. Remember, Mr. President, that you placed those Indians upon our frontier, not only without our consent, but against our strongest remonstrances. My constituents have ever maintained that you had no right thus to expose them to the caprices of an Indian population; but you have done so. You cannot retrace your steps, but it is in your power to afford them some compensation, by giving them your protection. That they have asked; that they now ask. I receive communications nearly every mail, calling my attention to the situation of our frontier. I hope the Senate will not consider it a sufficient answer to the application of my constituents to tell them that Kentucky and Tennessee were settled without the aid of troops of the United States; and that, therefore, like them, they must defend themselves and their property. When those States were settled, the United States were unable to afford them the necessary protection; and if protection could have been afforded, protection they would have had; and, in that event, those early settlers would have had no use for block-houses; they would have had fewer murders to weep for, and less property to lament the loss of. These Indians, thus placed upon our frontiers, are better armed than even our population. In compliance with the terms of our treaties with them, we have given each warrior his gun, his powder and lead, steel, iron, and blacksmiths. To some we have given, in addition, In regard to my constituents, I can assure the Senate swords, tomahawks, and scalping-knives. These In- that they are brave, hardy, and patriotic, and idolize the dians, thus armed, have learned your discipline. They institutions of their country. A regiment of them are have been trained in your army as privates and as offi- now in your service; and, whenever their services are cers. They have seen much service with you in the wanted, they will be the first to afford you their assistfield. At this time they are all united and friendly with ance, and the last to withhold it from you. They caneach other. Without calling to their assistance, what not conveniently follow their private pursuits and at the they can at any time obtain, the aid of the Pawnees and same time guard the frontier, even if they were able to Camanches, and the other tribes that inhabit that coun- do so; and, if they were able to guard it, would you pay try, they can raise an army, well disciplined and well them for their services? No, sir. If their settlements armed, that would be not only truly formidable, but an are invaded, and their property destroyed in war, will over-match to your present army and the disposable forces you pay them for it? No, sir. If they are overpowerof the frontier States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mis-ed and murdered, will the State be satisfied by being souri. At this time we have peace in that quarter of the country, and I most sincerely pray that a different state of things may never exist there. But what is our security? Does it exist in the fact that they are broken down and dispirited? Do they appear to be more so now than when Black Hawk and his followers rung the war-whoop upon the frontiers of Illinois? than when he burnt their dwellings, plundered their property, massacred the inhabitants, and produced a panic throughout that whole State? Do they appear to be more broken down now than did the Creeks to the citizens of Alabama and Georgia? more so than Oceola, with his five or six hundred naked, unarmed followers did to the people of Florida? No, sir; they are still the same cunning, indomitable people; they despise your policy, and openly defy your power. And your transportation of many of told that this Government is powerful, and will redress the injuries inflicted upon her citizens? No, sir; it will not satisfy the State. She values the lives of her citizens beyond all price. I am aware that the increase to our army will cost us some money. What of that? Can it be so well expended upon any thing else? And, besides, is money to be balanced against the life and quiet and property of my constituents? I would not give the life of the humblest among them for all the paltry trash in your Treasury. I shall vote for the bill, and shall conclude by asking the yeas and nays upon its passage. Mr. TIPTON again addressed the Senate, and went into a number of details of the late Indian wars in the West, all going to show the necessity of having both an armed force and suitable agents, in order to control the Indian tribes. The question was now about to be put, and Mr. SEVIER had demanded the yeas and nays, which were ordered; when [SENATE. roam the plains of Upper Asia; but others, it is to be apprehended, will become predatory bands, mounted on the fleet steeds of the prairies, with the open plains for their Mr. LINN rose to reply to the charge which he under- marauding grounds, and the mountains for their retreats stood as having been made on various occasions against and lurking places. Here they may resemble those the people of Missouri, of having plundered and oppres great hordes of the North, Gog and Magog, with their sed the Indians on their border. Mr. L. said he had bands,' that haunted the gloomy imaginations of the personally resided for twenty-six years in the State of Prophets. A great company and mighty host, all Missouri, and knew that this charge was wholly un- | riding upon horses, and warring upon those nations founded in truth. Nothing could be further from the which were at rest, and dwelt peaceably, and had gotten fact. There was not a man in either Missouri or Wis- cattle and goods."" consin who did not possess too much sense to attempt Mr. L. said he had just received a letter from an into plunder Indians. They all knew that at that game telligent individual, who was in circumstances to judge, they were very sure to come off losers: for the Indians who stated that there were strong reasons to believe that could beat all the white men on the face of the earth at a communication had been opened with the Indians of stealing. No; the people of Missouri had never robbed the great prairie region, and that efforts were on foot to or trampled on these natives of the forest. All the in-effect a union with them against the United States. It juries in the case had been perpetrated by Indians upon the peaceable white settlers and their families. The Indians had been represented as a poor, spiritless, downtrodden race, ignorant of their own rights, and continually imposed upon by the whites. Nothing could be more opposite to the truth. A deal of trash of this kind had been uttered in the course of this debate, by those who onght to know better. No people on the face of the earth were keener sighted, or more fully awake to their rights and interests, than the North American Indians, one and all. No one could have acquaintance and personal intercourse with them, and not know they were shrewd in an unusual degree. The Black Hawk war was to be traced entirely to the fraud practised by that chief and his followers in the execution of the treaty. He had openly insulted General Gaines, and threatened his soldiers; and Gaines, to comply with the general peaceful policy of the Government, had been obliged to buy him off. But he returned again the next year; and this would ever be the course of Indians, notwithstanding any engagements they might enter into, unless they saw a military force prepared to enforce a compliance with their promises. Mr. L. claimed from this Government protection for his constituents. The people of Missouri had a right to demand it. It was in vain for gentlemen to talk of there being no darger to be apprehended from a body of 150,000 Indians, collected on their immediate frontier, who were in reach and might be in communication with 150,000 more, inhabiting the vast prairies of the West. "On these extensive plains a new state of things was likely to grow up. It is to be feared that a great part will form a lawless interval between the abodes of civilized man, like the wastes of the ocean and the deserts of Arabia; and, like them, be subject to the depredations of the marauder. Here may spring up new and mongrel races, like new formations in geology, the amalgamation of the debris' and abrasions of former races, civilized and savage; the remains of broken and almost extinguished tribes; the descendants of wandering hunters and trappers; of fugitives from the Spanish and American frontiers; of adventurers and desperadocs of every class and country, yearly ejected from the bosom of society into the wilderness. We are contributing incessantly to swell this singular and heterogeneous cloud of wild population that is to hang about our frontier, by the transfer of whole tribes of savages from the east of the Mississippi to the great wastes of the far West. Many of these bear with them the smart of real or fancied injuries; many consider themselves expatriated beings, wrongfully exiled from their hereditary homes and the sepulchres of their fathers, and cherish a deep and abiding animosity against the race that has dispossessed them. Some may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude and migratory people (half shepherd, half warrior) who, with their flocks and herds, was all trash to talk about their being a broken-down and powerless race. Never had they been more fierce, never more bent on war; and the only hold which the Government had upon them was through their annuities. The great tribes, to whom large annual payments in money had been guarantied, would not go to open war with this Government, lest their annuities should be forfeited; but there were some smaller tribes not so restrained; these were not unlikely to commence a hostile movement; and, the moment they should do so, there were multitudes of the young warriors from the larger tribes ready and eager to join them. It was in this way that Black Hawk had become formidable. And this state of things would inevitably and necessarily continue until those tribes should become civilized. It was a noble design, and, properly pursued, would succeed; but never until the warlike habits of the Indians were broken, and they were converted into agriculturists. So long as they should be left unawed by a military force, and at liberty to butcher each other, the benevolent design intended in their removal could never be accom. plished. Mr. L.. said he had himself travelled through their settlements; he had observed their condition; and, in the neighborhood of Fort Leavenworth, he had found fields cultivated, houses built, school-houses erected, workshops opened, the loom going, young Indian boys, from sixteen to eighteen years old, learning the mechanic arts, and some of them as good workmen as could be found any where. Here the Indians were perfectly peaceable; and, beholding a controlling force in their presence, and before their eyes, had abandoned their warlike habits, and were beginning to cultivate the arts of peace. Let but this system be carried out, and the same results would follow throughout the Indian country. Was it not worth an experiment? Did we not owe it to these people thus to secure to them a fair start in the course of civilization? This once secured, their progress would afterwards be certain. Only keep down the tomahawk for a few years, and interest and experience would convince these people of the advantages of peace and civilization. But leave them to their own savage nature, refuse to the white settlers any military defence, and these Indians, whenever their resentment should be awakened, could at any time make an irruption into our settlements, burn, scalp, slay, and butcher, without mercy, and then retreat to their swamps and deserts before any force could be collected to resist them. It required no spirit of prophecy to foretell, with great certainty, the recurrence of scenes of this character on our frontiers, if the Government should neglect to erect forts, and, after they were erected, should be unable or unwilling to garrison them. And, when the blood of helpless women and children had thus been shed, would not those Senators feel bitter remorse, who, by opposing a measure so necessary and so salutary as that now before the Senate, had, to a certain extent, made themselves sharers in that blood? Mr. L. had repeatedly heard it said that Missouri would find ample compensation, in the vast expenditure of public money on her borders, for the evils that might grow out of the congregation of such fiery and discordant tribes of Indians on her borders. She wanted wealth from no such sources. The God of nature had been most bountiful to her; and all her population earnestly desired was to be left in peace to cultivate the blessings so lavishly showered on them. Washed on the east by the "Father of Waters," some of those tribtaries inosculate with the silver lakes of the north; divided into nearly equal parts by the mighty Missouri river, whose sources lie hid in the recesses and caves of the Rocky Mountains, where silence loves to keep her long millenium of unbroken repose; a rich virgin soil; mountains pregnant with mineral wealth; extensive plains and noble forests, much reason bas she for rejoicing, but let ber rejoice with modesty. Mr. CALHOUN made some remarks in rejoinder. He was understood as saying that his remarks had been intended to refer only to the Southern Indians, and not to those on our Northwestern border. The Senator from Missouri had represented the Indians in his neighborhood as far advanced in civilization, yet was demanding troops to protect his constituents against their ravages. Mr. LINN explained. What he had said about advanced civilization referred not to the body of Indians on the frontiers generally, but to those only who were in the vicinity of Fort Leavenworth; and his argument had been, that, if similar forts should be distributed at short distances along our frontier, the same effects might be hoped for on a wider scale. Mr. PRESTON went into a course of general remarks upon the bill, approving its provisions so far as related to the increase of the rank and file of the army. He dwelt on the deficiency of troops in Florida, the defenceless state of our fortifications on the seaboard, the broken state of the regiments, and the consequent inefficiency of our military force. He thought we might expect an occasional brush with some of the Indian tribes, though nothing like a general or permanent Indian war was at all likely to happen. In Texas, too, should the struggle be prosecuted by Mexico, it would be very desperate in its character, and might be expected unavoidably to extend itself more or less across the line into our own territory; in addition to which, it was not improbable that attempts would be made on both sides to enlist an Indian force. All these were reasons with him for believing that the numerical force of our army ought to be aug. mented. As to that part of the bill which related to an increase of the staff, though he had been opposed to it at the last session, it had been only because he wished the department to point out the mode in which it should be arranged. This had now been done; and as the service here was suffering, by taking officers from their duties in the department to perform active duty in the field, he was satisfied that the staff also needed to be augmented. Mr. CLAY inquired of Mr. P. whether he believed that an increase of the army on paper would secure an actual increase of its numbers in the field? If the army, when nominally containing but 6,000 men, could not be recruited, how was it likely to be filled up when nominally 12,000? Mr. PRESTON replied, that all history had shown that there was generally a fixed relative proportion between the number of an army on the rolls and in actual service. It was probable that the same proportion would still continue; and though the army, as augmented, might not be full, it would be much larger than if the proposed enlargement by law did not take place. [FEB. 17, 1837. Mr. BENTON went into some explanation as to officers who had been taken from the bureau and ordered into active service; and insisted that this very fact supplied a strong argument why their number should be increased. After some further explanations and replies on this part of the general subject, the debate closed. The bill was amended, on motion of Mr. MOORE, by striking out the 19th section, (requiring dismissed cadets to pay a sum to the Government;) and the bill was then passed, by yeas and nays, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Clayton, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Fulton, Grundy, Hubbard, King of Alabama, Linn, Lyon, Nicholas, Niles, Norvell, Parker, Rives, Robinson, Sevier, Strange, Tallmadge, Tipton, Walker, Wall, White, Wright-26. NAYS-Messrs. Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Ewing of Ohio, Kent, King of Georgia, Knight, Moore, Prentiss, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson--13. On motion of Mr. WHITE, The Senate went into the consideration of executive business; after which, It adjourned. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17. GENERAL SCOTT. The resolution offered by Mr. PRESTON, calling on the President for a copy of the proceedings of the late court of inquiry at Frederick, in relation to the Florida war, being under consideration- Mr. PRESTON said there was a strong impression on the public mind that the result of the late court of inquiry at Frederick was not only exculpatory, but exceedingly honorable to General Scott. Mr. P. exulted in the honor which had accrued to the country by that general, and it was with deep regret that he saw the President did not share in these favorable sentiments. Looking at the late letter of the President on the subject, Mr. P. believed that if any case had ever been presented in which it was necessary for Congress and the country to know what had been done, this case was eminently such. Since June last, the reputation of General Scott had undergone a severe canvass. He was then superseded in his command of the army of Florida, by means of the letter of a subordinate officer under his command to the editor of a newspaper in Washington city. The manner of his conducting the war was made the subject of investigation, and he was arraigned before a court. The subordinate officer who had accused him was successively advanced from the situation he then occupied till he was in the chief command in the very war from which he had been the instrument of removing General Scott by these extraordinary means, and was at the head of better and more numerous troops. General Scott's character (M. P. said) was a historical one; and, whatever it was, it had been fairly won. In justice to him, in justice to us and to our national character, he ought to be vindicated from any accusations which he had not merited. The result of the court of inquiry (Mr. P. said) had been made known to the country; and it therefore struck him as highly desirable that the proceedings of the court should be spread not only on the journal of the court, but publicly on the journals of Congress. The letter of accusation had been published in the Globe, and, as far as General Jesup's sentiments would go, pub. lic opinion was pre-occupied seven months ago. The opinions of the President also, in opposition to the views of the court martial, had been made known to the world. Under these circumstances, Mr. P. thought it very desirable that Congress should have something on the other side of the question, so that they might be able properly to make up their opinions, first, between Generals Jesup and Scott, and then between the court martial and the President of the United States. The President had thought proper to publish his dissent from the result of the court martial, and thus the seal of secrecy was to a certain extent broken on the proceedings of the court. The whole truth ought to be known on the subject; and if it should then appear that a great injury had been done, Mr. P. would have the vengeance of the people fall where it ought to fall. Mr. CRITTENDEN said he concurred in the views of the Senator in relation to General Scott, and he felt much sympathy for him in the wrongs which he had suffered. But he understood that the official proceedings of the court martial had been resumed, and that it was not therefore in the President's power to send them. Mr. WRIGHT moved that the resolution be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, that they might obtain the papers, if they could be obtained; but he was confident they were not in possession of the President. Mr. PRESTON considered such a reference unnecessary, as a direct call from the Senate ought to answer every purpose. He suggested that there might be copies of the proceedings here, though the original had been returned. He regretted if it were not so, as in that case there would not be time for any action of Congress at this session. Mr. BENTON declared it a usurpation for either branch of Congress to call for papers of this kind till the result had been entirely made up by the authorities constituted for that purpose. It would also forestall the public judgment; and, if such a resolution should pass, it would seem as if the Senate were not wide awake; or, at best, it would indicate that they were in doubt whether the proper authorities had completed their action on the subject. Mr. PRESTON repelled this charge. General Jesup and the President, he said, had already forestalled the public judgment; and the just order of inquiry now demanded that the main facts of the case should be publicly known. Mr. CUTHBERT observed that nothing could possibly be more unfortunate for the army than a readiness on the part of Congress to mingle up questions of military discipline, and the standing and conduct of military men, with the strifes of party politics. Nothing could be more utterly at war with all those high and chivalrous feelings which ought ever to distinguish the soldier. Mr. C. should greatly regret that Congress should now hastily rush into such a practice. The investigation of this subject they could commence whenever they please; but, when commenced, it could not be terminated with the same facility. What the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. PRESTON] chiefly objected to was, that the President should publish a part of the finding of the court. It was not in the opinion of the President that the error lay. His friend would not assert that the President erred there. The President did not err. The uniform practice on the part of courts of inquiry was first to furnish an abstract of the evidence submitted to them; then their reasoning upon that evidence; and finally their sentence in the case. But here the court had pronounced a bare acquittal. Such a form of proceeding was not for the advantage of General Scott himself, in whose favor the sentence had been given. General Scott, if he understood his own interest, should desire an abstract of the case, presenting the facts as they were proved, so that he might fully establish his innocence, or might authorize his country to pronounce & different verdict from the court, according as the case might be. There was another point in this case which ought not [SENATE. to be overlooked; and that was the extreme irregularity of the court in referring to the conduct of General Jesup. Although the conduct of that officer was never submitted to them for examination and judgment, they had pronounced a most bitter and unmeasured censure upon him. This alone formed a sufficient ground for the President returning to them their report. It was most unfortunate for the army that a spirit of faction seemed to have taken possession of even its officers, from the highest to the lowest. They seemed unconscious of that delicacy of honor, that reserving pride, which formed one of the highest distinctions of the true soldier. An officer possessed by the right spirit would never choose to lift that veil which covers, with a sacred and proper secrecy, whatever belonged to the conduct of a superior. But we were called daily to witness a spirit the reverse of this. It was a spirit which every man who loved his country, and felt for the character of the army, ought promptly to discourage. Mr. BENTON said he had looked slightly into this case, and he understood the court of inquiry to have been directed to report the facts. Sometimes courts of this character delivered simply their opinion, without giving the facts; sometimes they reported the facts alone, without expressing any opinion; but here they were required to do both-not merely to express an opinion un the conduct of General Scott, but to return the facts on which that opinion was founded. The paper put forth by the President objected to the finding of the court, because the facts were not reported, and because he wished to examine them for himself. The disapproval is not of the opinion expressed by the court, but of their omission to give the facts of the case. He thought it would be an act of usurpation, should the Senate, in this stage of the business, attempt to interfere and forestall public opinion, before the President had expressed his judgment either one way or the other. The Presi dent had, as yet, expressed no opinion of the officer, but only of the course pursued by the court. Mr. PRESTON said that he agreed entirely with the honorable Senator from Georgia [Mr. CUTHBERT] in the regret expressed by him at the factious spirit which seemed to prevail in the army. The spectacle was truly a melancholy one. Our military defenders seemed to be possessed, throughout, with a spirit of rivalry and of mutual hostility. It might present a curious question, should the causes be investigated which had led to this state of things. The whole of this affair in relation to General Scott bad originated in such a spirit. It had been occasioned by a direct attack of a subordinate officer against his superior in command, who was at the time acting with him in the field. It assailed his military character, and disapproved and opposed his plan of the campaign. The communication in which it was contained had been forwarded, not to the Department of War, but to the editor of the Globe newspaper, to be by him presented privately to the President of the United States. The President, with his characteristic frankness, instead of holding this as a secret communication, immediately made it public, and placed it on the files of the Department. What could more strikingly exhibit the spirit which has been so well described by the Senator from Georgia? There seemed, throughout the army, to be a want of subordination on the part of its officers; and Mr. P. thought it the duty of Congress to assert the obligations of military authority. In this case, the causes of the failure of the campaign in Florida had been under investigation by a court of inquiry, and, as a part of the testimony in the case, the letter of General Jesup had been referred to. The court declared that, in their judgment, the allegations contained in that letter against General Scott are without foundation; and they express, with some freedom, their opinion of the accuser. This, Mr. P. believed, was common in courts martial. But, all this apart, admitting that that portion of the report was supereroga tory, was the President to cut out of this report so much as made against General Scott, and yet were the Senate to be told that the proceeding was still private and inchoate? It was not private. The President had published it to the world. Was he to select just so much as he pleased, and keep back the residue? Was what ever made against an officer to be published, while that which was in his favor was withheld from publication? The President complained of the court for not having reported facts; but Mr. P. insisted that the court had reported facts of the utmost importance. He here quoted the report, to show that the court had declared that there had been no improper delay on the part of General Scott. This, surely, was one important fact. Then, that the earliest measures had been taken to provide arms, &c., for the troops. Here was another important fact. That, on his arrival, he had found the men almost utterly destitute of all which they ought to possess. This was another fact. Then, that arms had been distributed to the volunteers. This was another. That the plan of General Scott had been well devised; and so on. Here were facts detailed as fully as in a special verdict. court had referred to the testimony as fully establishing them, and had thereupon acquitted General Scott. Their report was a direct assertion of facts, and of all the leading and prominent facts in the case. The President, having published this report, and accompanied it with his dissent, he was utterly precluded from saying that the matter was still private, incomplete, and before the court for investigation. If, indeed, he had not given publicity to this document, his dissent would have been in the nature of an interlocutory decree, and it might have still been said that the affair was before the court; but, having chosen the other course, this plea could no longer be offered. The Mr. P. said he had entered with reluctance upon this subject. He had waited to see whether some one more competent to do it justice would not take it up, until a motion was made to go into executive business; he then could no longer refrain, as well from a personal feeling of friendship to General Scott as from a regard to the public good. Mr. P. was determined that officer should neither be crushed by a direct blow, nor undermined by indirection. He lamented the position in which General Scott was placed, and he lamented every moment's delay which stood between him and a full acquittal. Mr. RIVES observed that the question was not now on the final adoption of the resolution which had been offered, but simply on the reference. The only anxiety | he felt in reference to the matter was, that the course taken should be the most proper one, and should best insure to General Scott a full measure of justice. As to the opinion of the President on the merits of the decision, or the merits of the proceedings themselves, he should not enter into any discussion, because he deemed it premature. The Senate bad not the necessary lights on which to proceed. The only question they had now to decide was, what was the proper course to be taken with the resolution? He did not wish the Senate to adopt any act which should prove nugatory. If it was true that the proceedings had been remitted to the court to be remodelled, and were not in the possession of the Executive, then the adoption of the resolution would be nugatory, and could lead to no result. He thought that that fact presented a proper subject for the preliminary inquiry of a committee. Mr. R. said that he agreed in opinion with the chairman of the Military Committee [Mr. BENTON] in thinking that it would be a violation of rule, and a usurpation of power, should the Senate ask for the proceedings of the court of inquiry [FEB. 17, 1837. before the final judgment of the President thereupon had been given. He thought, too, that the language of the resolution was a little too strong; but of that he did not pretend to be so good a judge, as it was rather a question for military gentlemen. He asked whether any case existed in which the opinion of a court martial had ever been called for till its final consummation by the President. He was, indeed, aware that there was a peculiarity in this case, from the fact that the opinion of the President had been expressed before the proceeding was finally closed. How far that might take the case out of the general rule, he was not prepared to say, unlearned as he was in military affairs. He hoped he had not been betrayed into too ardent an expression of the feelings he cherished towards General Scott, whose character he considered as forming a prominent part in the history of the republic, as well as of the moral riches of that Commonwealth it was his honor to represent. He could entertain no doubt, whatever might be the personal opinion of the President, that public sentiment would do General Scott ample justice. In the mean while, Mr. R. had no wish to mix up a military question with the fleeting contests of party, and his main solicitude was to prevent this. But a little delay would be incurred, should the Senate delay its action on this subject, as the proceedings had been remitted to the court, not for the purpose of having additional evidence taken, but only that the evidence now in possession of the court should be collated, and the conclusion deduced from the facts of the case. Full and complete testimony must have been already taken, and the digesting of it could occupy but a few days. The whole would then be returned to the President, and Mr. R. felt assured that no unreasonable delay would afterwards be suffered to take place. The reputation of General Scott was of too durable a material to be affected by this short delay. While Mr. R. yielded to none in patriotic and personal solicitude to vindicate that officer from every unjust charge against him, he was anxious that course should he pursued which should most readily evolve the unbiased opinion of the whole nation upon his character and conduct. It seemed to him most proper, especially as the Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. PRESTON,] who had moved the resolution, was himself a member of the Military Committee, that the resolution should be referred to that committee. considered this as the course which would best consult the permanent fame of General Scott, and, in that belief, should vote for the commitment. He Mr. CUTHBERT observed that it was by no means an uncommon thing that mere personal considerations should operate to retard debate, but, in his own case, he had no desire that this should happen. The Senate were fully capable of understanding what had been already said, and there could be no need to repeat it. He was willing that the resolution should take either of the courses which had been proposed. He had no objec tion to its being referred, and he was willing that it should be laid upon the table. He had risen now to offer but a single observation. The Senator from South Carolina had taken up the paper containing the finding of the court, and, reading one sentence after another, had asked, is not this a fact? and is not this a fact? Mr. C. replied, no. It was the expression of an opinion deduced from a mass of facts. It stated the opinion of the court, and nothing more. Was this good ground for such a report as the President demanded? His friend was of opinion that, in respect to General Jesup, the court had done nothing but what they were warranted to do. Mr. C. thought in this he erred. Was it the practice of courts to deliver strong opinions of censure on the character of witnesses who testified before them? He believed not. General Jesup had ap |
