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Selections: Speech Of Mr. Giddings, Of Ohio: Upon The Propos...

Selections: Speech Of Mr. Giddings, Of Ohio: Upon The Propos... image Selections: Speech Of Mr. Giddings, Of Ohio: Upon The Propos... image
Parent Issue
Day
8
Month
August
Year
1842
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Mu. Chairman: - rhe question now pentlíntr befare the committfce is one thnt properly admita of a widfi range of debate. Gentlemen vvho hiive Hpoken before me have availed themselvc-s oí" their legitímate privilegié, and have spoken upon almost every f-ubjcct connected with the army, or wliich has a hearing1 npon the propriety of its reduction. - The protfiction ofour southwcstern frontier against the india ns) the protection of our fiorthern and nnrtheastern frontier; our Atlantic seubonrd; our system of ibrtifications; our foreign relations; spoliations npon our Africnn commerce by Great Biitain: the'righlo searcli; the Creóle caí-e; and the Florida vvar, have all been nlluc'ed to, nnd some of them dwelt upon a? great length. It is, howovcr, my intention to confine my remnrks to two or three of the subjeets mcniioned. I intend to notice some points relatirjg to the protection ofour frorrtiers, the Florida war, and the Creóle cnse. (A voice, You will nlso tonch upon slavery.) Mr. Giddings: Yf?, Mr. Chnirman, with God's hlèësing, I sha'! make some incidentn] alhisions to thnt before I sit down. It is not my inlention to travel over groind that has been occnpied by those vho have irono before nor to repeat the able argumenta odvanccd by geniJeman who srem to hnve arrived at the same conclusions with myself.H is cnquestionably our duty to reduce the irmy, so fnras it cnn postúbly be done with a flue regard to the interests of tho nation . To reücve our Treasnry frorn the expense of $2,000.000 nnnnally, is surely an object of no mail imporfance at the prespnt time. The rospect is, that no tariif ill be pas(?ed at his sessinn which will produce revcnue sufficien) to meet our current expenses for the joming two years. Re!renchrnent of the acMimulation of a debt, dunner that period, is he only alternative offered to us. The present party in power, during the campain of 1840, pledged them.selves to the reduction of our national expcnditures. That pledge mustue redeemed. We are bound, by onr legislution here, to fulfi] our promkes made at home. In decid ing upon the propriety of the n mond mem proposed by the gentlemen Irom Tennessee (Mr. Johnson) we are naturaljy led to inquire, lor what purpose do we m ed io retain in service the whole of our present müitRry loice? The propoeitron is tu reduce the anny to the basis of 1821. This will opérate to discharge ubout one-third of our present army, vvhich consists of twelve thousand fije hundred men, and will probably save us ubout one-fourth of its present expenses. J nm of opmion that an army sufficient for the purposes ot 1821 would be more than will befoiind nccessary for soine years to come. Our relations with the Indinn tribes of the bouthwest luid West are more pacifie than they were in 1821. At that time the Creeks, the Oberokee?, and other bands, who resided in Mi.-sissippi, Georgia, Alabama, nnd Florida, gaye us mach tronbie, ond required u We mihtary foren to restrain them f rom open vvur with our peofje. They were then surrounded by our seiilements, and, from iheir constant intercoube with the whiles, wero liable to that infinite train of contiictmg interest which has }cng kept up an almost constant warfare upon that persecuted peooJe. Those tribes are now permanen'tlv settled in the terriiory alioled to tliem west of the Mississippi. The icfrard themselves established ni a country whfah is to be the repidence of their descendanb in all coming time. They have, to a certain extent, forsaken the habita and emiiIoytucitfB of savae lifo, and turned their aciention to agiiculLure aim the iechan ie arte. They have regular governments and established Javs. They are located bctwecn oiir sctUe;neni.s and the wilder tribes of tlie outhweöt. They understand far better than we do the bet mode of conti olling those savoges bevond them, and they fonn a better prottction to our settlements than an army of our ovn could do; yet gentlemen rei'er to the number oi' those people as an argument for retaining (ie whole of our army in service.- I regard t leir siluation and character as a strong aigument whv the urmy should be reiuced.Aa these people progress in civilization and refincment, the necessity of retaining any military force on that fronlier will diff-inisliand I tliink the urae will soon come wbrn we may safely leave our settlements in that región entirely to the proteotioii of those ïriendly Indiuns, But suppose, for the present, we allow to that, tnd uur western frontier the whole mihtury foren cmployed there for the last year, we may nevertheless make ihe rednetion proposod by the amenbment. Ascording to the official returns, made ia December lust, there were, in the whole western military district, more ihun two thousand troops; of these, six hundred and. fortv were stationed at Detioit, Fort Gratiot, ai d Alackinac. A few years Í was in Fort Mackinac.ond found tiere a sergeant and I believe only live men. The public propeny appea.-ed to be well taken care of. und every thing properJy attended to. I be- .ieve they ansnered evcry purpose that wouldi have been attained by a forcé ui" five huudred ! men. The situation of these forts is such' that they have become entirelv useiess as a i protection against Indians - that pcoplc have retircu lar bevond their infltience. Tliere can now beno object in keeping such a íorce', tliere. Five of the six hundred troops now in I these fortiiications can, I thiníc, be withárawn] without any detriment whatever to the service. I am a ware that these forts are near the Cinada line, and that some gentlemen ! have spoken of the military force necessary to! be kept up on that frontier for the purpose1 of pntection. On the whole line of our I Canadnn border there are now stationed morel than eijhteen hu. dred men. Between threei and four hundred are stationed at Buffnlo, in the Strtte of Jev York, and a great number at Hancock barracks, in the Srate of Maüié, and nearly as many at Madiion barracks, near j öackett's Harbor. It would give me i sure to hear some gentleman describe the j jenefit which the natiori receives f rom these ' troops. We pay them wages, clotne and f eod ! nem; and sir, whut do we receive in return?! Uur people on the Canadian frontier are as much in the habit of friendly iutercourse with their neighbors on the olher side of the line is they are wijh those of other States. -Ne.rly two huiulred miies of the no'thern orders of Ohio is separatedjfrom Canada only by Lake Ene; oor people anci tliose of Cutíala are constantlj crossjng and recrossing the nke; a regular trade and constant intercoure s Jíept np between us. Our people would as oon ask protectim against their good iriends ofPennsj-lvaniaas against the peuple of Canada. Úu our vvhole froniier we never had a fort nor a conipany of troops in time of peace, unless it were for tlie recruiting' serice; nor do we ask for eithei. Tlie ony possible henetiL they could be to us in time of ace would be the raarkfit which they would j 'urnish to our people.In the dorker ages of the world, a standing army was deewed necessary to the protec-j ton of every Government even in times of i peace. The character of every nation was then estimated ili proportion to the inimber of troop:; it supporled. Wur was considercd highjy honoruble, and the glory of a nation wis measured by i!s military achievcments. - Strangera were considered enomiee, nnd privaie propeity was regarded as the legitímate prize of captor, and pneoners were held as sin ves. That dny h;ts patsed. Cornmerce, wiih its lich blessings, has demonstuted to piankind the advantnges of a friendly intercuurse bet ween nations; and Christianity, wiih ils mild precepls, has taught us te regard the peopie of other naiions as inends, entitled to the riglits of hospitaijty. And, Air. Chairman, we do so regord them. Gentlemen have poken of troopa to proteel our northern frontier arid our Atlantic seabord in the same terms Jn which they have spoken of protecting our western frontier igainst the wild savages living iipon the prairies of that región . ís this a just comparigon? [s tliere no difference between the Cumanche [ndians and our frionds in Canadii? Sir, we io more want troops north of us to protect is tlian we want them abuve us for that pur)ose. Shonld we be unfortunstcly involved n war, we must then act as circumstance? shaÍJ reqnire. liut no one apprehended such i state of things at present. God grant that t m&y be long erO we come ogain in'conflictwith our nothern neighbors. Sir, for one I um free u 6ay that I discover no necessity lor retaining troops upon Dur northern fronHer, except to (nkc charge of nnd preservo the public property in the fortification, aoll, perhaps, a few to act as military poÜce, a.s wusdone in the autumn of 18S8. " 1 m fljlly of opinión that fifteen lnindrcd of the troops now eniployed opon lliat frontier may bp wilhdrnwn without any detriment to our nutional or piivate interests. The 6ime arguments apply with still greater force ns to the troops oh the seaboard. The on]y nccessity wliich exists for retaining troops thoro ia to lake charge of and preserve the public property within our forlificutions. Accordmg to the returns made in December iast, there were then located at ten diftbreut fortifications on oursenboard, including Weet Point, between fourteen and fifteen hnndred troops. That force cannot be necessory for the preservation of our public property. fc?ir, why ore those troops to be retuined there? Wliat benefit, is to result to the nation by continuing theiu in service? 1 nm aware that gentlemen reler to the Teport of the commanding genera!, who estimatet tho proper r.u nber of troops in times of peace to be not far trom snventy-five to each forlification- making in all about three thousand upon our Atlantic coast. Thut officer has assigned no reason why that number bhould be kept in those fortifications. He hos not informed us of the objocts to be attained by it, nor the business in wiiich they ehould be emphiyed. Il is true the gentleman frotn Maine (Mr. PèssferfDEN) has told us tliat it was necessary to have in each fort a sufficient number of troops to perform military evolutions and keep up n knowledge ol military gcience. I ain not convineed that the military science is to be retainedor impvoved b) a captain or lieutenat with a company of seventy-five men shut up within the walls of a foit. Wo huve long supportcd ihe military academy at West Point for the benfit of military ecience. We thero keep in our empluy approved and scientifiq teachers lo instructouryoung men in the ecience of war. Wo must rely upon that insti!ution instead of garrisonod troops to keep up and improve our military scieuce.Oí' the fourteen hundred troops in that district, occupying ten fortifico tions, we may discharge one thousand, and still lonve forty in eneh fort now occupied, whjle one-fourili of that nuniber would uppear to n.e abundantly sufficient to íake charge of the public property. Let the others be discbarged frotn service and emp'oyed in useful oceupations to increass the national wealth, instead of being supporter] at the national expense. I arn aware 'Jiat sorae gentleman have spoken of those forfications, and that we have expended some twenty millions iji erecting them. That money I regard us lost, or nenry so. Such are the improvemonts in the inode of carrying on wariike operations that forts have becoine of very Jittle use. I beheve they will be generally abundoned within Ihenext twenty years. J havo not, however, time to enfer upon Ihis part of the argument. [ have siated that we have such forte on the frontier of Ohio, nor do we wish them. [A voice vas heard saying, You want hprhors ]Yes, Mr. Chnirmau, we want harbors to ; protecl our sailors and our property from i tempests and slorme. We have contributed i our portions of the public revenue; vo have eustained by our votes a navy abundantly competent to protect our commerce on every ! sea; we cheerfully yield our support in favor ofan ariny competent to all llie purposes required of it; we have voted millions to erect íorts on our Atlantic coast, while our property is lost and thelivea of our snüora sacrificeci upo our lakes tor the want of a t'ew liundred thousand dollars (o iinprove our harborg. SSir, the Whig Represent atives of Ohio Jiave f'or the last four years fciistained all these interests, while the commerce of o:ir lakcs Una been abandoned to its fate. Indeed, we have been unable to obtain an approprialion even to preserve the public Works ! h ere from. destruction and ruin, while we have millions to catch the fuiritive arlayès in Florida, as I have shown on a Ibrmer occasion. This, sir, lcads me to a considernlion of the propriety of retaining the ormy in service f'or the purpose of carrying on '.he "Florida war."It is now more than a yenr sincc I callee the at tention ol tlns House and of the natioi to the origin of this war. I then stated tha its remote cause was to be found in the Indian Spring1, in IG21, by which we extortec froru the Creek Indiáns $250,000 as an indemnity to tlie tluveholders of Georgia fo runaway slave: who liad found an asyJum auiong the Creek Indians prior to 1302. Upoi inquiry, aud,as VVirt, late Attorney Gene ral, informa ue, after ullowing tö the osvnerof cach slave two or thrte timos his value, it wos found that the whoje amount duo the slaveholders under that treatv was only . 101,000, lea ving in the hands of our Government $149,U00 belongin to the Creek Indiana. The owners oilfugitive sla ves, who had already received two or tliree times their real vnlue,tilioned Congress to granl to them this latter sum as a Airther compensation for their loss; and a report was actualiy mode by a connniUee of ihis House Bdvising a división oflhtit aniount among the petitioners ''as a compensa twn jor the qffspring which the tcuuld have borne had Ihey rtmamed ivith their oicners.'' Congréss, ho wever, refused to yield it upto them upon that precif-e piincipjc, but paid it to tliem by wny of interest. Tbia payment took place ín 1834, after the Creck Indians had moslly gonc we;.t of the Mississippi. The fngitive slaves had gnerally inlerniarried vvitli the Seminóles und removed iiuo the peninsula of Floriila, where Ihey had long re.idtd willi their children, and in fiome inetances their grnnd cliildren.The Crceks, fiuding that iho whole sum of 8250,000 liad been paid to tlie elaveholders, begnn to tbink the treaty was a purcbnee of the elavis, and that Ihose wívoí, and children, nnd grand children, oftlie Srminoles, were their legitímate property. They sent agente to Florido to domaud possessjon of tht'm, which wasrernsed: but the Executivc iniited upon their arrival west of the WissisBJppi to the territory aesigned to the Creek Indians. To go thcre 'would bo a voluntary suriender of iJieir wiyes and children to the Creeks as slaven. Wc, f-ir, had placed theru in tliis unpleasaiit situation by lending our national ifluence to extort frons the Creeks a compenection for fugitivo slaves. Yet, having brought obout this stalc of things by our own actior, the Exccutive Jnsisted upon their removal. Our troops were employed to coinpol tlipm to emigrate, and ihcrëby surrender their wivcs and children into elavêry. Thue have our troops been empluyed for ihe benefit of elavery.and agkinst libcrtyand therights of man. Sir, I wonld not rc;am an army in service Tor sucli objects. Had the Executive tiun aeen compelied to nsk Congress to raise an irniy for the pnrpose of comraencing tht war, the whole expense and disgrace ofthat unforlunate contest wouM have heen saved.- I say this trom the cunsiderntion that this war sliicrallyan Executin, war. ]t haa commenoed, cnrried on, suspended, renew und continued by the Execucive. Congress me liad no other pcu-ticipation in the m;iUer than to ftirnish iunds. Tné pnople of Florida sent their peti.ion to General Jncltson, in which, Kpeakinyofthe Seminóle Indian?, they s;iy: While this indomilable peoph continue tckere tknj now are, the owners of slaves in our TerrHütij, and even in the States configuous, cannotfor o moment, in any thing like security, enjuy this kind of property." Uu receiving this peti'ion General Jaokson endoraed upon it an order to the Secretary of War "to make inquiry into the fucts alledged, and, if found true, to direct the Indiana to preparo fotthwith lo remove west of the Miasissippi." The Indiana refused to emigrate lest they should lose their wivcs and children. Our troops wore sent to eompel them, at the point of the bayonet, to leave the country, in order that the people might enjoy the benofits of slavery. The war ensued; and our people of the free States have piid millions of dollars for the stipnreseion of (hut hberty of which we so much boast. I have once broiight these facta to the consideraüon of the countrv, and I now repeat them os nn argument why our army should be reduced.Our fricnds in Florida should also recollect thot they provoked hostilities by outrages which they coinmittod upon the Indians. I think it was in August, 17S5, that the first rencounter took place. It wns brought about by a number of the iuhabitants of Florida, who took upon themBelves the responatbüity of tvhipping a party of Jndians encamped in thcir neighborhood. The Indinns nppeared unwilling to submit to this chastisement and made resitance; whereupon the white peopl fired upon the Indiuns and killed one of them. [Mr. Lev_v, of Florida, desired to expkin, and Mr. Giddings yielded the floor. Mr. Levy 6tatt5d that the whipping was in consequence of the Indians having couimitted depredations upon the property of the white people, and in pursuance of a regulalion adopted by the Indinn airent.The chairmarc, Air. Ünderwood, of Kontucky, said that be did not discover the relevancy wbich the whipping of indiana had to the quosüon of reducing the army.J Mr. Giddings resumod. Í cssually referred to this 3s one of the ncidents which led more directly (o the sheddi ng of bJood. I had stated that the principie object of the war, as tihown by the docuracnts on file, was to restora the fugitive slaves wiio vvere residing with the ïndians lo their former mustere, and to prevent others from seeking on asylum among thera. Tt would appear that this obj' et was wol] understood by General Jesup when he took commond of the army. It is manifest from ths tenor of his general oniers, issued soon nfter lus arrival in the Florida?, in which he gave particular direcüons as lo the manner of dispnaiHg of fugitive slaves captured by t'aa troons.[Mr. Johnson, of Tennessoe, called Mr. GiddLncrs ♦ for TTcJcnuTcj. The chairman decided that remirks as to the maiincr id which the troops were employed wcie in order.] Mr. Giddings rosumed. It is not my intention to excite angry debate. I wieh to state facts which I deern important; buc I will do so in the spirit of candor and forbearauce, and hope they may be received in the same spirit. The order to which I allu ded wasduted at Tampa Bay, April 5, 13ÍI7, and rnay be found in document 225 of the H. R., Sd eession 25tli Congress. It is in tlieeo words: "All negroes now at this place, the properiy ofcitizens of tho United States, will be sent to St. JVIurk's. The inspector general wíl! furnish Lieutenant Vimon with a list oflhem, wiih their owners' nimes. Lieutenant Vinton will give nonce to their owners to take charge of i hem immediately."' Under this urder nearly five hundred native born Americans were consipned to a Jife of davery. ( Vide House Doe. 55 of this session. Gen eml Jesup was a military oíficcr of the Federul Government. It was his duiy to light the .nemies of the country, and not toemploy thO tropa h calching fugjtive slaves. I mn aware, Mn Chairman, ihai it iá often snid that we have "by the Constitution puarantied lo the slave States the enjoyment of slavery."- Sir, I deny the doctrine. I aver, if every sin ve south of Mnson and Dixon's line were to Jeavetheir masters to-morrrow and stait for Canada, we should have to do with them. Neither the President nor Congress could interere. We could not ppropriate the money óf the Uniteti Stares to arrest tbein; nor ■ could we employ otir troops in pureuing tliera. It would be a niatler enliiely between tho masteis and the elaves: neither would have a . ño it to ca.'l on us for aid. We should have no constilutional power to assist the slave in efecting his escape, or thomasterin hia pursuit. Ie woin'd have the right lo puraue and arrest he slave hims-elf, or he might employ agents o pursue and arrest the elave for him,under the sisting act of Congress; but he would have o right to ask ua to pursue and arrest our ellow men while fleeing frorn slavery, nor to xpend tho public treasure for that purpose.- f hé follow his slave ínlo a free State, he - ot demand of the citizens of such State aid r aïsistanee. They would be under no obliation to lay their hands upon thé slave, or to oave their business to give cliase nfter him. hey would in such case leave tne matter, . vhere the Constituí ion has left it, between the master and the slave themselves. They 'ould perinit the slave to escape if he could; nd they would leave his mnster to arrest and top him if he could. Such, too, were the - uties of General Jesup. He should have aoided all ínterference, for the plain reason that he poseessed neitlier the CuostitutiQua .

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