stance cannot be found; it does not exist. The most in-not of individual funds, but of the money of the stock. famous would not dare thus to tamper with "the public holders and people. purse.' He would be hurled from office amidst execrations on every side. He would feel, sir, what it is to brave the vengeance of an honest people. But you would muzzle the press! The liberty of the press is in danger! If the bank may not print what it pleases, the constitutional freedom of the press is attackBut, sir, what has this bank done? Disguise it as we ed! Let the bank, then, print what it pleases; but let it may, it comes to this at last: It has fed and pampered, not use its corporate funds for that purpose. I object to even to a surfeit, the profligate and the dissolute, who its use of the public money in that way. The act is unwere supposed to govern the springs which move and authorized! It is not according to the charter; it is a control public opinion; and, in part, with the money of gross breach of trust; an expenditure against law, and in the people themselves. But the sum is small; forty, fifty, defiance of the law, as it is revolting to the moral sense or a hundred thousand dollars only, have been thus lavish-of the people. ed. It is not the money, sir; it is the motive, the actthe vile and corrupt act—not the less contemptible or revolting for being less dangerous. Sir, let us nerve ourselves to this conflict. Let us do our duty fearlessly. Let us meet this potent enemy, which dares to plant itself in hostile array against the Sir, there can be but one safe course, as there is but liberties of the country. Its iron power must indeed be one honest principle for exigencies like the present. Ifelt, and felt by all; but, I trust, not to the extent it has insist, sir, that no gentleman here would dare to show his boastfully asserted. Its golden powers are more dangerface to his constituents, had he voted to use the money of ous. Yet, sir, have we not every thing to cheer and enthe people as it has been used by this bank. One-fifth of courage us onward-sacred duty, hatred of a grovelling its capital is owned by the United States. The directors and sordid tyranny, the approving and encouraging voice ୮ are the agents of the owners of that capital. Sir, so far of an honest people? North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, as the people are concerned, these directors are free Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York-their movements from all responsibility; and they act accordingly. I deny, are significant, and speak in decisive language the consir, that they had any right-any shadow of right-thus to demnation of this institution. expend our money. That power was not confided to Sir, let us do our duty fearless of consequences; "let them. Congress alone can authorize the use of the pub-justice be done, though the heavens should fall." Do fic funds; and it never has, and I trust never will, sanction our duty, and all will be well. But if it were otherwise; any such use of them. Irresponsible to Congress and the if it must come to the worst; if the credit and commerce people, the public money is sported with or lavished in of the country, if the existence of the local institutions, defiance of the true owners. The directors use it at pleas- depend upon this bank; if its efforts cannot be counterure; they are not chosen by or responsible to us; we are without remedy. We have committed our treasure to hands above control, and without the power of recall. We may profit by the experience. Wisdom may be cheap, although purchased at a great price. The public money is not safe in this bank. Deliberate and reiterated resolutions of the board of directors authorize an unlimited expenditure of its fuuds, by the president alone, and without control or accountability to any one, not even to the directors themselves. Under these resolutions, thousands of dollars, of which no account has been rendered, or can be obtained, have been disbursed. How, why, in what way, we are not told. Vouchers none-accounts none. It is a sealed book. We can only collect that the design was to bring the whole press of the country into the service of the bank. An irresponsible president alone can expose, in full relief, its now veiled mysteries. acted with success by the Government and the people FRIDAY, JANUARY 17. THE PENSION LAWS. The resolution offered by Mr. CHILTON on the subject of extending the pension system, so as to include those engaged in the Indian wars on the frontier, together with Mr. BOULDIN's amendment thereto, coming up again as the morning business, Mr. PEYTON continued his remarks in reply to Mr. But it was attacked, and resorted to the press in self- BURGES, as follows: I have but a few observations to offer defence. May it not defend itself against attacks? In in addition to those I made on yesterday. My intention the first place, sir, it was not attacked; the President ex- has never been to make an argument upon the question pressed his opinions of the bank, as it was his duty to do.now under consideration. Nothing was further from my This could not be called an attack upon it. In the second thoughts or wishes than to have found it necessary for me place, the bank has no right to enter the field of political to say a word upon the subject. I expected to have given controversy, in the gui-e of defence. It was created for a silent vote. And, I assure the House, I feel less anxious certain purposes and ends: to loan and collect money, to obtain a pension for the early emigrants to the West, make exchanges, and other things of that nature. It was (richly as I think they merit it,) than to save their memo. the duty of its directors to attend to these objects, and ry from censure and reproach, and show that it would not, by a flagrant usurpation—a breach of trust-pervert not be wrong in itself, nor the example demoralizing, for its corporate powers to political purposes. It was not them to receive their country's notice and its gratitude. created to raise or expend money in printing scurrilous And now, sir, after all that has been said, a vote of this pamphlets, to aid one party and depress another. That House recognising them to be what I contend they was not its design or object. Who authorized any such are-soldiers of the revolution, would be, to those who use of its funds by the directors? Not the United States live, the proudest day of their existence, and a gratewhen they became stockholders; not the individual stock-ful tribute of regard to those who are no more. holders. The charter contemplated no corporative exist- would carry joy and gladness to their bosoms, and afence for these, or similar purposes and objects. ford the means of independence to those who scorn to It As individuals, the right of the directors and stock-live on private charity. But, sir, the gentleman from holders to defend themselves, and to engage as they Rhode Island speaks with contempt and censure of those please in political conflicts, has never been called in ques- petty feuds and private wars which raged on the western tion. It is the corporate interference which has been frontiers. What does the gentleman mean by petty feuds condemned; the acts of the individuals combined; the use, and private wars? Does he call that a petty private war VOL. X.-154 H. OF R.] The Pension Laws. [JAN. 17, 1834 which raged unceasingly for more than twenty years? climbed that steep, and dragged down the tyrant power; which called forth all the savage tribes from Georgia to and, by the bold exploit, not only cheered the drooping Canada?--yes, sir, bands united into armies of painted spirits of the whigs, and carried terror to the tories, but warriors, counting thousands? If that gentleman had been made Cornwallis quail and retreat? Sir, when that com in Buchanan's station when it was surrounded by more flict began, the mountain appeared volcanic; there flashed than seven hundred Creeks and Shawanees, with only along its summit, and around its base, and up its sides, nineteen men and a few resolute women to defend the one light sulphureous blaze. That [pointing to the eagle fort, I question whether it would have struck him as a and flag of the House] eagle's eye shone bright in victo petty feud, or inglorious defence. Sir, Tecumseh, since ry—that banner floated proudly out. Historians give the most celebrated warrior of the red men,then but a boy, this as the most patriotic and illustrious achievement of was there. This fact I learned from the grand-daughter of the revolution. And, sir, need I tell that gentleman, General Robinson--a lady who unites the spirit of her an- who has at least noticed Marshall's History, that it was cestor with taste and learning. Why is it that the gentle-achieved by the hunters of the West, without the aid, or man's sympathies are all with the red men? Sir, at that even the knowledge of Government? And upon that time, they were as a hundred to one when compared with proud mount still let them stand. Who would drag them the whites. They used their superior strength most bar-down to the low estate of savages? Who would tear one barously at all their camps were to be seen stakes with laurel from their brow? If you cannot spare for those who human skeletons hanging around them—some small and live the means of living, be it so, the West will feed her short-infants who had perished with their mothers. patriarchal soldiers-they are old and few. When they are The gentleman spoke of retaliation: did he ever hear gone, may their mantles fall to warm the patriot's bosom, of a white man torturing a female or infant Indian? If and nerve the soldier's arm. But you dare not reproach he has, I beg the gentleman to set it down as false; cow-them; their honor and patriotic worth are our richest inherards and barbarians only are capable of misusing those itanee; and, sir, we will hug and defend it as our counwhom it is the duty of man to protect. Sir, no coward try's honor. Let the war-worn soldier, when pressed to ever showed his face there. He spoke of retaliation, and live, and disappointed in his expectations here, look to seems to think it the duty of the Government to discour-the West; it is what his country has done in the hour of age it, as practised in the West. Was not the gentleman her peril and day of her distress. in favor of privateering during the late war? Did he not Mr. PINCKNEY, of South Carolina, next addressed think it right in his own State to fit out privateers of war the House; and, after recapitulating the propositions in to capture merchant vessels-not that those vessels had the resolution and the amendment, said that it was his done them any wrong, but because their nation was at purpose to offer a few words on both. war with ours? Yet the gentleman's patriotic blood cur- As much had been said in the course of the present dles in his veins at the thought that a rude backwoodsman, debate in commendation of our revolutionary fathers, he with a cabin just sufficient to shelter his family, and a pony should take occasion to say that he yielded to no man on to pack in meat for their support, when robbed of all by that floor, not even to the gentleman from Tennessee the harassing allies of a powerful nation at war with his himself, [Mr. PEYTON,] in veneration for the character, country, should retake his horse, or take another, not by and a grateful remembrance of the services, of those brave attacking a defenceless neutral, but at the hazard of his and patriotic men. He trusted that he valued as highly life. Retaliation, indeed! How could Boon retaliate in as that gentleman, or any gentleman, could do, the 1776, when his daughter and the Misses Calloway were rich heritage of freedom we enjoyed, and as fully appre carried prisoners, by the savages, far, far into the deep ciated the price at which it was purchased by our ances cane-tangled wilderness? What, catch and kill an Indian tors. But he would show his veneration for their memogirl! Could Boon do that? No; no more than he could ry, not by taxing the people for whom they had won these give up his Gertrude-not of Wyoming, but of Boonsbo- blessings, but by maintaining inviolate the principles for rough. They must be saved from the stake and flames! which they fought, and the institutions which they estab He raised his friends, and resolutely followed on; he fought lished. He felt, indeed, that the gentleman who advoand won a battle, and brought the trembling captives cated the original resolution seemed to have, in this dehome to their mothers. He talked of private wars and bate, the vantage ground. They had taken the captivat petty piracy. The lives of a few soldiers were prized at ing side of the question-a side so captivating, and which that day in the West, and when they fell were greatly makes such powerful appeals to all the generous feelings missed. The West was weak, and faint, and bleeding, and of our nature, that even he, who was opposed to the scarce of soldiers. Let us examine and see if those wars whole ground they had taken, had felt his heart warmed were so private as the gentleman seems to think. From by the pictures which they had presented to his imagina1783 to 1790, the loss of property was immense. There tion, and almost tempted, for the moment, to abandon his were killed, and wounded, and taken prisoners, 1,500 men, principles, and throw away the public treasure, as freely women, and children. This is the estimate made of the as he gave his thanks to those who had endured and per loss in seven years of that war, which raged with unceas- formed so much. But he had nothing but his thanks to ing fury for more than twenty years upon that harassed give. He remembered that he had a high and a solemn people, which the gentleman may learn, if he ever reads duty to perform, and he should endeavor to perform it. a book published on the other side of the Alleghanies. He must first ascertain whether the House had a constitu But, sir, as to the services performed by these hunters: tional authority to extend the pension system in the manAt the most gloomy period of the revolution, when de- ner proposed in the resolution; and, if it should appear spair clouded the brow of the patriot, and hundreds were that they had none, then the proposed inquiry would not flocking to the British standard, giving up their liberty only be useless, but positively injurious, inasmuch as it and their country's independence as gone forever-when would only tend to excite hopes and expectations which Cornwallis was in the centre, and Ferguson had taken his might never be realized. position near the mountains in Carolina, encouraging the Mr. P. went on to state that his first objection to the tories, and dispiriting the whigs-who drove that British resolution was, that that House possessed no constitutional general from his post? It was the hunters of Wataga. competency to extend the pension system in the manner They pursued him with the impetuosity of a mountain proposed. Indeed, he regarded the whole pension sys torrent, for thirty-six hours, stopping only one hour for tem, in all its forms, as destitute of constitutional authori refreshment at the Cowpens. At King's mountain, they ty. Where was there a single provision in the constitu overtook the royal army drawn up upon its summit. Who tion which conferred on Congress any such authority? JAN. 17, 1834.] The Pension Laws. [H. OF R. Was it to be found in the enumerated grants of power? concur in recommending to us the strictest economy in or could it be fairly inferred as necessarily incidental to our appropriations, and tell us that, if we indulge in exany one of them? No. He defied the ingenuity of gen- travagant expenditures, a deficiency in the revenue will tlemen to show him any authority contained in that instru- necessarily occur. And yet we have before us schemes ment for applying the public money to purposes of this to cut off three millions from the revenue on the one description. And, if it was unconstitutional to grant a hand, by dividing the proceeds of our public lands among pension even to our revolutionary soldiers, who, of all the States; and, on the other, propositions to apply an others, are most entitled to our gratitude, how much more enormous amount of money for the purchase of stock in so must it be to make such provision for persons who had no agency whatever in the revolutionary war? private associations, and others for roads and canals, and to add thousands upon thousands now to the pension list! I hope not to be misunderstood. Far, very far, be it Now, what is the necessary tendency of these measures? from me to disparage the merits of those for whose bene- Must they not produce that very deficiency in the public fit this measure has been proposed. I concur fully in the revenue against which the President has warned us? And eulogy so eloquently pronounced upon their patriotism, when this shall have occurred, how can it be remedied bravery, and enduring fortitude. I heartily assent to all but by increased taxation? And are gentlemen desirous the praises we have heard. But it is manifest that we to resort to that? Are we to have the tariff question rehave, in this case, no constitutional authority to act; and opened? Are the people of the South, heavily taxed as even if we had, it would, in my opinion, be inexpedient they now are, to be still more heavily taxed, to support a to use it, inasmuch as, whatever may have been the merits set of people who had neither part nor lot in the revoluor the sufferings of these individuals, they were not revo- tionary war? The agitation on the subject of the tariff lutionary soldiers. I take this ground. I deny that they has now in a great degree subsided, in consequence of the were, in any sense, soldiers of the revolution. They had compromise bill. Do gentlemen wish to re-excite it? neither lot nor part in that struggle. They contributed Are we again to be torn and distracted-for a subject like nothing to the attainment of our national independence. this, which has nothing to do with the great interests of They did nothing towards laying the glorious foundations the country-only for the sake of giving pensions to peoof our freedom. All they did, be it less or more, was ple who have no claim whatever to the munificence of this done subsequently to the revolution. How great soever Government? their conflicts, or severe their sufferings, they were not The motto of the gentleman from Kentucky seems to for the national freedom, but merely for the local protec-be simply--generosity. Sir, I trust that, in our private tion and security_of_those_regions of country in which capacity, that will be the motto of every gentleman here. they occurred. Their battles were not fought for the But my motto, as a public man, is justice--justice to the United States, but for their own fields and farms; and, people; justice to the constitution. therefore, they have no claim on that account upon the bounty of this Government. I deny that they have any claim upon it whatsoever. I will now offer one or two remarks on the amendment proposed by the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. BOULDIN,] which is, that the committee inquire into the moral and But, Mr. Speaker, were the fact otherwise; did we pos-political effect of the pension system of the United States sess the power to grant; and had they such a claim as is as at present existing, and the propriety of reducing or set up in their behalf, we ought not to adopt any measure repealing it. going to extend our pension system, because it is infin- Sir, I have no doubt whatever that the system ought itely too extensive already. Sir, what is the extent of to be reduced; and I will even go so far as to say that I this system? Can any gentleman tell? How many pen-should be glad to see it totally abolished. My objection sioners are there at this moment dependant upon the to it "goes the whole." I object to it on account of its Federal treasury? I am informed that not less than from origin, its character, and its consequences. What, sir, twenty to thirty thousand have been enrolled under the was its origin? Is it any thing more than a mere branch act of 1832 alone; and I believe it will be found that the of the protective system? When the tariff of 1832 was pensioners of this Government do not amount, in all, to a passed, and the people of the South were desperately less number than forty thousand. And at what expense struggling against the chains which it was attempted to is this monstrous army maintained? The charge upon the rivet around them, then it was-yes, at that very petreasury for the last year, according to the Secretary's riod of fearful conflict for their rights-that this mammoth report, was more than four millions of dollars. And is it pension system was devised, ostensibly for the benefit of now seriously proposed to extend this system, and still revolutionary soldiers; but, in reality, for no other end or further increase this burden on the people? Are we to enrol thousands upon thousands more? Is there to be no limit to these assumptions of authority-to this monstrous waste of the public funds? object than to create new charges upon the treasury, and to furnish a plausible pretext for keeping up the high duties which had been imposed upon us. The people of the South understand this matter well; and the natural consequence has been, that to them the pension system is no less odious than the tariff itself. They know perfectly well that the system was designed not for the benefit of the soldiers, but as a means of taxing the South for the exclusive benefit of other portions of the Union. And as to the character and consequences of the system, what are they? On this part of the subject, I lay down one or two propositions, to which I defy contradic tion. Sir, if we have a right to pension these claimants, have we not as clearly a right to pension both the soldiers and the militia of the last war also? May we not as well pension for civil as for military services? for services in the cabinet as well as battles in the field? May we not pension for any thing, or for nothing, just as whim and caprice may dictate? Nay, sir, may we not go on until the treasury shall be literally converted into a Roman granary, and every individual at liberty to take his portion of the common stock? It is a most burdensome system. It has no parallel And let me ask, sir, why is this proposition brought for- on the face of the earth. There is not another nation in ward at this particular time? Have we money to throw the world taxed to the extent that we are, to maintain a away? Is our treasury overflowing? Have we nothing system of pensioning. Besides, sir, we have now arrived to provide for but those who hang upon the bounty of the at a new era in our financial history. The public debt is Government? Sir, the President has told us, in his mes-paid, and we have now to adapt our expenditures to a new sage, that the revenue of the ensuing year will hardly be state of things. Shall we still go on in a course of reckequal to the exigencies of the Government. The Secre- less and increasing extravagance? Or shall we not profit tary, in his report, reiterates this statement; and both by the past, and learn, though late, the lessons of economy? H. OF R.] The Pension Laws. [JAN. 17, 184. The present Chief Magistrate was supported by the South It is well understood. The power of the Government i as the reform candidate. We were told by his advocates too great already; it has literally swallowed up all othe that his administration was to be distinguished by a system power in the country; and, by thus enlisting a host of of retrenchment and economy; abuses were to be correct-pensioners, it secures an army dependant on its will, and ed; and the expenses of the treasury reduced to the le-ready to do its bidding. For I lay it down as a genen: gitimate wants of the Government. rule, (a rule to which I admit there are exceptions,) the Sir, how have these large promises been fulfilled? pensioners on the bounty of Government are only so many What retrenchment has been made? What abuses have political partisans. It must be so. It is the natural are been corrected? Are our expenditures less now than inevitable effect of the system. It destroys the sensethey were during the preceding administration? Or did independence; it degrades the spirit of the people; it they not swell immediately, and immensely, beyond all stroys their habits of industry; it generates, instead, the former bounds? I do not pretend to be in possession of habits and the feelings of beggary. The people, instes: accurate information on this subject; but, if i am not mis- of feeling that they are our masters, learn to look to informed, the expenses of Government, which were then for support. Better, far better, would it be that not about twelve millions, have risen to between sixteen and soldier should ever have received a dollar at our hand seventeen millions; and, in fact, we are now told that one than that this deplorable system should have been faster of the departments is insolvent, and obliged to go about, ed on the Government. But, if it must be fastened out like a beggar, from bank to bank, to sustain the credit of if we cannot shake it off, let it at least stop where it is the Government, and carry on the public business. Under Let no other fountain of corruption be opened on the circumstances like these, what is the duty of this House? country. The Government already wields a far grester To create new charges on the public purse, or to abolish patronage than is consistent with our liberty. such as will bear retrenchment? To increase, or to di- Sir, this identical proposition was brought, if I am right minish the revenue? To multiply the taxes, or to reduce ly informed, before the last Congress, and was then de them to the legitimate wants of the Government? As liberately rejected; and as I hope that the independent long as the nation was in debt, the people bore their high of this House will again reject it, I shall move the indet. taxes with patience; but now our debt is paid, they de- nite postponement of the whole subject. I should rate mand a system of economy and reform. They demand for the amendment of my friend from Virginia, but, as ! of us that we shall impose no more taxes, and make no have no hope of its adoption, I suggest to him the pro more appropriations, than shall be absolutely necessary. priety of withdrawing it. The House, I trust, will reject And I do say, that, if there be one item of expenditure the original resolution; particularly as they have the u which may with truth be denominated unnecessary, it is answerable ground to stand on, that, if they now extend this system of pensions. the system in the manner proposed, they cannot refuse I speak, I know, the sentiments of the South, and, I to pension the soldiers of our last war with Britain; and believe, of the great body of the American people, when that, if the system is thus carried out, the whole revenue I say that if there be a tax of which they complain, or if of the country will be absorbed for pensions. He moved there be a reduction of which they approve, it is this pen- the indefinite postponement of the whole subject. sion system. But this system is not only burdensome; it Mr. BURGES said it had not been his intention to ad operates unequally, and therefore unjustly. Of the whole dress the House again on the resolution now in debate. army of pensioners now dependant on the bounty of this I should have been silent, said he, under the rebuke f Government, how many are from the South? Not one in the young gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. PETTON, ten: no, sir, probably not one in twenty. But who con- he not, either from inattention to my remarks, or from tribute proportionally, most largely to the treasury? I some other cause, misrepresented what was said by me assert, without fear of contradiction, that the greatest Nor should I now be anxious to correct his error, il, a proportion of the whole receipts of the treasury is drawn other places, and where I feel a deeper interest in being from the southern States. What, then, is the operation correctly understood, I had not been misrepresented of the system? What, but to draw out the substance of this great question-the military pension system of our cout our wealth, and to give us little or nothing in return, while try. The earliest events of my life brought me into no te it bestows as largely upon those portions of the Union considerable intimacy with the soldiers of the revolutie which contribute comparatively little to the public chest? those men who are the subjects of this system. At the firs Another objection to this pension system is, that it is, in session when I had the honor of a seat in this House, an especial degree, liable to fraud and imposition. It has was placed on that committee to which the claims of been admitted, in the course of this very debate, that those brave and unrewarded men were submitted. From frauds must necessarily occur. If there is any security that time, until the final passage of the law of June?, against the frauds to which it is exposed, that security can 1832, I labored, in aid of others, with unceasing diligente only be found and applied in the States where the claim- and with whatever ability it had pleased God to bestes ants live; where their persons can be identified; and upon me, to convince this House that these men where it may be possible to distinguish an impostor from never been paid, according to the contract made with a patriot, a tory from a whig. And yet it is notorious, them by the United States, for their military service that, even in the Legislatures of the States themselves, the dered to the country in the revolutionary grossest impositions are practised, and have been proved; gentleman in this House, who has been here as long and if, even in the State Legislatures, they are subject to have, and who would give himself the trouble to recollect imposition, what may not be expected in a Government so much, concerning one so inconsiderable, might he rolls on thẻ Who can tell how many of those on our pension me witness that I have never deserted the cause of these how many ever fought at all? Before we go to extend bounty, and not on the justice of their country. the system, let us first devise a mode of purging it from like this? had war. Every Notwithstanding all this, men, adversary to me, have, this fungus of imposture. Let us learn how to tell the with a most malicious diligence, misrepresented me to my true from the false, before we proceed to enrol thou- constituents; and have told to them, when their purposes might require such calumny, that I had always been hund But, sir, I have still another objection to the system. It in this hall in opposition to this claim of revolutionary sands, perhaps, of new impostors. swells, beyond all limit, the power and patronage of the Federal Government, and tends thereby to corrupt the soldiers. Sir, although the misrepresentation in this debate, made people. On this topic I shall not enter into an argument. [by the gentleman from Tennessee, must have originated JAN. 17, 1834.] The Pension Laws. [H. of R. in misunderstanding what I said, and not in any intention said by me was, or was intended to be, disrespectful to hostile to me; yet from, perhaps, too keen a remem-those who, from their exposed situation, were engaged in brance, it did seem to me somewhat german to that made them. My whole purpose was, not to diminish the high last summer to my constituents; and I am not without ap-merit of their achievements, but to prove that they were prehension that my opposition to that extension of pen- of a kind which did not bring them within the principle sions which the gentleman advocates may, by some po- of our pension system. Were they enlisted soldiers? litical transmutation, come to be represented as hostility Were they militia, called out to repel invasions of their Ito the whole sysem. country? Were they volunteers, who joined the army of I regret to have been constrained, by any circumstan-soldiers or of militia? Had they served their country in ces, to say so much concerning myself. Nothing could the revolutionary war? and had that country failed to have induced me so far to have presumed on the cour-make compensation to them for that service? These are tesy of this House, had I not felt a strong assurance that the great questions, when men claim to be placed on the the gentlemen in this hall place on that good opinion of pension roll of their country. their fellow men, which has been earned by fair and hon- Who has called in question the bravery, the persever. orable diligence, too high a value to see a loss of it haz-ance, the patriotism of the Boons, the Lewises, the Spenarded by any one of them, without giving to him a fair sers, and the Robinsons of the West? They are known to or portunity for full explanation. fame; though the gentleman seems, by his so loud and The gentleman from Tennessee has, by frequent repe- frequent repetition of their names, to doubt it. What did titions made since I sat here listening to him, charged me these men do? They were pioneers in the wilderness. with speaking of the western war in disrespectful terms, They advanced before the general range of settlements. and of those engaged in that arduous struggle in phrase-It is true their bravery and hardihood secured those who ology not sufficiently honorable to their known character were in their rear; while they, themselves, were so much for distinguished heroism. the more exposed to the encounters of the savages. They Sir, the gentleman says I denounced their conflict as surely did not make this advance for the sake of the war "a petty war, and those engaged in it as not distinguish-which they were thus obliged to encounter. Their object ed for bravery." This phraseology is the gentleman's was settlement; and they, by encountering these perils construction of my remarks, misunderstood, perhaps, by and hardships, secured to themselves a greater choice of him, but, at all events, misrepresented. All may re- better lands, in greater abundance, and at a cheaper rate. member how often it had been said, by the advocates of They succeeded; and provided for themselves, their sons, this resolution, that the war with the western savages their descendants, and all their connexions, a rich estabhad continued twenty years. I remembered no Indian lishment in a great and fertile country. Is there any war of twenty years' duration, and therefore replied that thing in all this which brings these men within the prin such a war could not have been a public, a national, but ciple of our military pension system? must have been "a private war. Such a war, it was Sir, they do not come here for pensions. Their deremarked by me, had often been waged by the frontier scendants do not come. They earned a rich heritage, by settlers with the aborigines; and from almost the first set- their toils, privations, and perils. No man denies their tlement of the country, up to a very late period of our daring chivalry. It has added fame and honor to their history, there had been bloody and exterminating con-acquisitions of wealth. Such men are too honorable and flicts between white and red men, when there was no high-minded to ask a reward from their country for what open, declared, public war, between the tribes of the they performed rather for themselves, families, and imone and the colonies or nation of the other. If the set-mediate neighborhood, than for the public community. tlers of the West had distinguished themselves by bravery It seems to me that those gentlemen who urge this claim in these encounters, so had those of the East, and of every with so much ardor, do, by that very course, rather tar other part of the country. For this frontier began at the nish than brighten the fame of those men whom they apocean, and every generation of men, in every State, until pear so desirous to eulogize. the red men retreated from their borders, had been ex- If, as it is said, some of these men are poor and destiposed to the perils of first settlers; and every period of tute, the descendants of their associates in those conflicts, the history of our country had been distinguished by the who are so rich, would, I am persuaded, rather relieve bravery of those men, and the cruelty of that war, in the companions of their fathers, than turn them over to every part of our land. be provided for by the country. Nay, sir, those gentlemen who call mountains by their names, and so extol their exploits in this hall, might bestow upon them a little more bread, which it seems they want, and a little less of that praise, which they surely do not need. Sir, was there any word in all this which could fairly be tortured into an expression of disrespect for the wars, or the renowned men of the West? They were as brave as men, in the same condition, who once lived and fought, in like conflicts, for their firesides in New England. Does this gentleman wish me to say that Boon was a braver man than Church? I can only tell him that such a man never lived. Sir, the frontier of our country has always been inhabited by a race of brave, hardy, and enterprising men. They formed a wall of defence around our young settlements, and pushed back the natives, as those settlements Sir, the gentleman from Tennessee tells us that this progressed, farther and farther into the wilderness. Their was a twenty years' war. I ask of him-for he seems to points of defence may be distinguished in our oldest think that I either cannot or do not read; I appeal to you, States; and buildings, used by the inhabitants, in those and you, and you, who surround me, when did this twenty times and conflicts, as block-houses, are now to be seen years' Indian war begin? when did it terminate? No war, in Rhode Island, and in the old colony of Plymouth. The declared by this nation, has been protracted for such a descendants of those who defended them and that fronlength of time. I therefore concluded that the gentle-tier, when that was a frontier, might claim pensions as man who speaks of this war of twenty years must have justly as the descendants of the Boons and Spensers of united together many of those individual and neighbor- the West. hood conflicts which have, from the first settlement of Sir, other countries, of which literature has brought our country, so often arisen between those who inhabited down to us the legends, had their pioneers-heroes who the savage and the civilized frontier. If this be so, I was advanced before their settlements, and drove out or excritically correct in denominating these deadly encounters terminated the aborigines of their regions. In Europe private, individual, not public and national wars; and was a Hercules; in Asia a Samson; and the Greeks and no gentleman can, with any justice, say that any thing the Hebrews have, in their books, preserved the history |