The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 2: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 22
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22
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
AHg. 1842.
27th Comg 2d Sess.
Army Appropriation Bill—Mr. J. C. Edwards.
H. of Reps.
will do more towards preparing for the permanent
defence of our country than the expenditure of one
hundred millions for an army, in twenty years of
lieace. And yet from five to seven and eight mil-
pons go annually to support an army, while a fiftieth
part of that sum—one hundred or one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars—cannot be obtained to im-
prove our great navigable rivers.
I would not have this Government to enter into a
general system of internal improvements. She has no
power to do so; and if she had, it would be inexpedient
and unwise for her to exercise it. This matter should
generally be left to the States, to whom it properly be-
longs. They have proven themselves wild and reck-
less enough in prosecuting their systems of internal
improvements to satisfy even the most visionary and
extravagant. This Government, turned loose in a
general system of internal improvements, would be
an unbridled hurricane in scattering the funds of the
treasury, and would run the nation headlong and
rapidly to ruin. But this Government has exer-
cised the power of improving the large navigable
rivers—the great natural highways of the Union.
As a means—and one of the very best, too—of pro-
viding for the defence of the country, I see no ob-
jection to the exercise of this power. Further I
would be unwilling to go within the imits of the
States.
But the improvement of these great natural high-
ways of the union would absorb but a small por-
tion of the vast expenditure now lavished upon the
army and navy over and above what the interest of the
nation, requires. Ifthe_army and navy were reduced
only one half, this reduction would save the Gov-
ernment seven or eight millions of dollars annually,
not counting the expense of collecting, which would
be as much more. Shall I be asked what will be
done with this sum? The answer is easy: the
Government will want all she can get to pay her or-
dinary expenses. If that be not so, then we can
lighten the taxes—leave this seven or eight m illions
in the hands of the people—let them husband and
improve and increase it—let them grow rich, or at
least comfortable—let them acquire homes, and get
around them the necessaries of life—let them get
something to fight for. By doing so, we shall do
much toward providing for the defence of our coun-
try. If the people grow in wealth, their wealth
will crcate a necessity for internal improvements,
and the ability to pay taxes to make them; and
these improvements, even when made by the State
Governments, will contribute to the defence of the
country as much as if constiucted by the General
Government itself.
As I have before said, in reducing, we should not
stop at the army. We should reduce the navy too.
Severn I millions might be saved mutually in the na-
vy. Here, too, we are feeding and fostering a large
class of men, much the larger number of whom are
rendering the country no service. They do not pro-
tect our commerce. The world is glad to get our
trade, and to buy our productions, without the in-
tervention of our navy. If they were not so, our
navy could not force our trade upon them; and if
f>hc could, she ought not. Every nation has a right
to regulate her own conduct, and to buy and sell as
she pleases. The stronger have no right to coerce
the weaker.
In the extent of our navy we cannot compete
with Great Britain. It is folly to pretend to do
so. Let Great Britain go. With her army and
her navy, she will run down of herself. Her
productive population cannot support themselves
and her unproductive population. The latter is rap-
idly weighing down the former. The weight of her
navy, unconnected with her other vast expen-
ses, would eventually ruin Great Bntain. She
cannot levy tribute sufficient m other nations
to support herself. She may pursue this course
with China, but she cannot practise it else-
where. If she attempts it, the world will unite
against her. Her half piratical course will be
c hecked. If let alone, she is doomed to fall, unless
her policy be changed. Her debt js too heavy; her
expenditures are too great; her navy and army are
too large; her people are too poor, and too much
oppressed. She must eventually fall. Instead of
imitating, we should learn wisdom from her exam-
ple, and avoid her errors. We should not adopt,
or even imitate them. If, in our navy, we cannot
compete with Great Britain, there is no wisdom m
t rawling after her, at an immense distance behind.
I -r her build her ships, and wear them out. Let
her waste her materials, and exhaust her resources,
In time of peace. Let us lay up our materials, and
husband our resources, until they are needed for
service. In doing so, we shall save our ships, the
expense of building them, and the expense of keep-
ing them in service, when there is no service for
them to perform. Let us reserve our energies for
war.
We are not situated like Great Britain. She acts
more wisely in keeping a large army and a splendid
navy than we do. In our country, the people man-
age the army and the navy. In Great Britain, "the
people do not manage the army and the navy.
They are managed by the nobility; and the nobility,
the army, and the navy, are opposed to the people,
and manage the people; and one object of the army
and navy is to keep the people themselves in sub-
jection. Let us take care that no such object ever
exists in this Government. We do not want an
army or a navy to subject us either to poverty or
obedience. We should reduce, before the people
grow too much averse to the army and navy. Wo
good feeling exists between them now. Tliere is
too wide a distinction between their manners and
customs, and habits, and mode of living. The
people complain that the army and navy are fed
at their expense, render no service, and yet live far
better than themselves, and at greater ease. There
is too much truth in this complaint.
Nor should we stop at reducing the army and the
navy. I would go for abolishing the institution at
West Point—that manufactory of officers at public
expense—as a Government institution. As a pri-
vate institution, I should like to see it kept up and
encouraged. I should like to see others of the same
character, in other sections of the country. As
private institutions, their operation would be equal,
beneficial, and economical; but, as a Government
institution, this is partial, aristocratic, expensive,
impolitic, and unwise. But few can get there.
Only the relatives of public officers, of members of
Congress, of the appointing powers, or those who
have wealthy and influential friends, can get there.
If a poor and an obscure boy is occasionally ad-
mitted, it is rather for the purpose of sustaining the
institution with the people, and preventing that from
going down, than out of any regard for that class
of society. The poor and the hardy boys are no
favorites there. To the great body of the most
meritorious youths of our country, this institution
is hermetically sealed—utterly shut up. Not one
out of a thousand can get there. Ninety-nine out of
a hundred never get farther than to have their names
registered as applicants, or rather as supplicants, at the
War office, for places which ninety-nine out of every
hundred of them will never get. But the successful
applicant is fortunate, if he chooses to be so. He is
educated and supported as no other students in the
land are educated and supported. He becomes at
once a pet of the nation. He is educated in the best
manner; and, what is better for him, he is educated
at public expense; and, what is still better for him,
he is paid for being educated at public expense; and,
what may be better still, after being educated at
public expense, and after being paid for being edu-
cated at public expense, the Government gives him
public employment and a good salary, and he is still
supported at public expense. All this is wrong.
Wc should cdueate all or none. We should not
give one part of the youths of our country an ad-
vantage over another. This is creating the very dis-
tinctions in society which we eschew. The distinc-
tions created by private exertions and superior na-
me genius cannot be avoided. Perhaps they are
right and proper. But the Government should not
lend her hand m creating these distinctions. In do-
ing so, she may place those who ought to obey over
those who ought to command. In this she commits
some sad mistakes. Our Government was not de-
signed to cieate these distinctions. All should have
an equal chance. But, undei piesent regulations in
regaid to this institution, all have not an equal
chance. The most manly youth m our country,
even where he has educated himself at his own ex-
pense, and has become in every way qualified to en-
ter the aimy, is excluded till every cadet from West,
Point (no matter what his grade of intellect, or what
the character of his qualifications) has been provided
with a place. This is all wrong. Men who have
talent and energy to command are excluded from the
army. Many who are unfit, physically, mentally,
and morally, are placed in it. In case of war, these
facts will develop themselves; and the country will
suffer in the development.
The acquisition of military knowledge should be
encouraged all over the land; but the evils of this in-
stitutioB greatly counterbalance any advantages re-
sulting from it. The expense is a great evil. This
does not stop at the institution itself. In manufactu-
ring and multiplying officers,we have to manufacture
and multiply places for them. Every new batch of
officers enlists a new set of friends and relatives in
some corner of the Union, in favor of increasing the
army and the expenses of the Government. In this
way, both the army and navy are extending their
roots into every corner of the country, and fastening
themselves upon the community, as a cancer does
upon the body—not for the purpose of defending and
protecting that community, but for the purpose of
extracting a support by a constant drain in the shape
of taxes from the people.
But we should not be unprepared for war. All
the permanent means of defence should be pre-
pared and preserved. Our army looks with con-
tempt upon our militia; but with or without a regu-
lar army, our main reliance must be upon the mili-
tia. When the trial comes, our militia must do our
main fighting on land, and those engaged in com-
merce our main fighting on sea. It requires men of
active business habits to do good fighting. Volun-
teer companies should be encouraged Si over the
Union. They are the best force for our protection.
They are hardy and brave, inured to labor and toil,
accustomed to all the hardships of life, capable of
undergoing and enduring any fatigue, and always
ready to march at a moment's warning, and that
without costing the Government a cent till their
services are actually wanting. We may rely much
upon such troops; and if properly armed, we are
safe in doing so. We shall get good officers and
good soldiers everywhere throughout our country;
and brave men and true. If we reduce our army
and our navy, and husband our means, and supply
ourselves with the implements of war, we shall be
in a far better state of defence, depending on our
militia, than if we exhaust our means, and impover-
ish ourselves by a large standing army, and a splen-
did navy. They will enable us to make a show in
peace, while we pay them well; but a bad defence
in war, when our means of paying them have been
exhausted.
This closes what I have now to say in reference
to a general reduction of the army and navy, and
the discontinuance of the institution at West Point
as a Government school.
The next object of the amendment is to disband
the second regiment of dragoons. I am opposed to
this branch of the amendment; we must keep some
troops; and if any portion of the army is worth pre-
serving, it is the dragoon corps. They are the most
effective troops in the service; they are almost
the only troops now of any value. If they are not
worth retaining, none are.
We must keep some troops. In Florida, a few are
wanting yet. A proper force should be kept there,
till all the difficulties in that quarter have ceased.
We have not a speck of war anywhere else. But
at other points there is danger. On our West-
ern frontier there is danger. West of Arkansas,
west of Missouri, west of Iowa, and north, there is
danger; and in Wisconsin. We are in contact with
the Indian tribes, full of all the warlike propensities
belonging to that race of men. Under the policy of
this Government, all the different tribes of the Union
have been removed beyond the Mississippi, and
crowded together on our Western frontier. The
civilized, the half civilized, and the savage—the
desperate Seminole, and the wild, ungovernable
Camanche, are all brought m contact. To most of
the Union, the Mississippi is a barrier against these
Indians. But the States and Territories west of the
Mississippi are still better barriers against their
incursions. They must walk over our bones before
they can reach our sister States east of the great
father of waters. Of this our sister States have no
dread; but while they are resting in perfect security,
we are in constant danger; and the security which
we render to others entitles us to a force
sufficient to watch and warn us of the approach of
that danger, and to guard us till we are prepared to
resist. If we he not entitled to protection, there is
no need of troops anywhere in this Union; and
keeping up an army is the veriest humbug. We
are in danger. My honorable friend from Arkan-
sas [Mr. Cross] told us the other day, that sixty
thousand of the best horsemen and bravest war-
riors in the world were now located west of Mis-
souri and Arkansas, prepared at all times for war.
In such a force there must be danger; and if they
could be well united, the danger would be great.
We have some security in their want of union.
But we are not secure from all danger; and, there-
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 2: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2368/m1/32/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.