Abridgement of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856 (4 of 16 vol.)

One other objection he could anticipate – perhaps those who can sneer at the disasters and misfortunes of the late campaign may object that there is no encouragement to vote additional forces, seeing those which have been already raised have been so illy employed. It becomes us all to be equally faithful to our country, whether her arms are victorious or not; it is in times of discomfiture that the patriot's resolution and virtues are most needed. It is no matter by what party names we are distinguished; this is our country – we are children of the same family, and ought to be brothers in a common cause. The misfortune which befalls one portion, should sink deep in the hearts of the others also. What misfortune so great as the loss of character? If we shall forget our impatience under disgrace, and look back on the events that have passed, with only as much candor as becomes us, this objection must vanish. Under the circumstances in which it found itself, without experience, either in itself or others to guide it, Administration ought not to be censured for the bad military appointments it may have made, however much it may deserve, if it shall retain men in employ, when found incapable to discharge the duties intrusted to him. He was fearless of contradiction in declaring, all our disasters sprung from a cause which no man in the nation could have anticipated. It was next to impossible any human being could have foreseen, much less provided against it. It was with pain and reluctance he felt it his duty to speak of an officer fallen and disgraced; he wished he could discover any cause for the surrender of Detroit, less heinous than treachery or cowardice – between them he saw nothing to choose. Justice will hereafter, if party heat denies it now, pronounce the plan of the campaign, as intrusted to General Hull, easy to be accomplished and judicious in its objects. The commandant was furnished with every means necessary for success – with money, men, provisions, and munitions of war, in abundance. What better mode could have been adopted, to prevent Indian hostility and intercept British supplies of the instruments of massacre? That your army had not been protected beyond the point with which communications could have been maintained, is evident from the events which followed. What was there to mar success? The commandant at Maiden needed only an apology to surrender! What if the other Hull had commanded? Every thing would have fallen before him – great science was not necessary; courage and faithfulness would have accomplished every thing. A train of heavy artillery was not required to batter a breach for the assault; it was not necessary to fire a single gun – not a cartridge need have been expended – the bayonet alone was adequate to have taken Maiden at any hour from the moment the American army crossed into Canada, till its most shameful retreat. The fort was not enclosed – one entire side was open to assault. Yes, sir, had the brave Hull, who bore your "thunder on the mountain wave," directed the valor of the army, he would have poured the storm of victory resistless on the foe. This black deed, without a battle, was consummated in the solicitous surrender of the brave corps which were hastening to his relief; these, too, were arrested and thrown back on the community, leaving the whole Western frontier exposed to savage inroad. Hence all our misfortunes! After this, will it be contended that the accidental appointment of an improper agent shall cause a refusal of the force necessary to drag our drowned honor up from the ocean of infamy into which it has been plunged? Impossible! Economy of life and treasure call for a vigorous campaign – away with lifeless expedients; miserable inertness must be banished – zeal and energy must be infused everywhere. One protracted campaign will cost twenty-fold more than the expenditure now asked for. Let this be the signal for resolution – the first evidence of energetic policy. Let us suppose ourselves leading the forlorn hope, and assume the spirit and vigor characteristic of such an enterprise – the army will feel it – the people will feel it – disaster and disgrace will then disappear. It is to save the public treasure – the people's blood; it is for the reclamation of character, I ask for high bounties and premiums; and, so asking, I hope not to be denied.

The question was then taken on filling the several blanks in the first bill, and carried.

Mr. H. Clay congratulated the committee and the nation on the system which had been presented to their consideration, and the prospect of prosecuting the next campaign with a vigor which should insure a successful result. He rose at this time, however, to propose an amendment to the bill, the object of which was to repeal so much of former laws as authorizes a bounty of land to the recruits. He was satisfied that, as respected the nation, this was a waste of its capital, without producing a single provident result. As to the recruiting service, he was convinced, from what he had heard, that it added scarcely any inducement to the recruit – that it had not added a hundred men to the army. He confessed he had been much mistaken as to the effect it had been expected to produce, &c. Mr. C. added many remarks going to support his positions, stating, among other things, that the land would in the end get into the hands of speculators, and the individuals for whose benefit it was intended would derive no advantage from it. Now that it was proposed to increase the bounty in money, he thought it would be a proper occasion to repeal so much of the existing laws as allowed a bounty in land, on which the recruits set generally as much value as if it were located in the moon. Mr. C. concluded by making a motion to that effect.

Mr. Troup and Mr. Bibb stated objections to the motion, as going to withdraw what was certainly, in many parts of the country, an inducement to enlistments, at a time when every means ought to be called into action for the purpose of filling the ranks of the army.

Mr. Clay's motion was then agreed to by the committee.

The other bill before the committee, going to authorize the raising an additional force of twenty thousand men for one year, was then taken up, and the blanks therein severally filled.

Mr. Pitkin, adverting to the provision of the bill which gives the appointment of officers below the rank of colonel to the President alone, inquired the reasons why, contrary to the general usage, the Senate were precluded from concurrence in these appointments?

Mr. Williams stated that the motive of the committee in proposing this provision was, to avoid the delay incidental to the minor appointments, which could be much more easily and effectually made by the colonels of the regiments, respectively, who would be personally acquainted with, and responsible for, the good conduct of those who were appointed.

Mr. Tallmadge moved to strike out the section of the bill which directs the manner in which the company officers shall be appointed. He said he had hoped that the committee would have risen and given at least one day for consideration; that they would have maturely weighed and deliberately made up their minds on this question. It is true that, in 1798, there was a power given to the President of the United States to appoint all officers for ten thousand men under the rank of field officers; but the appointment of all field officers was retained to the President and Senate. Mr. T. said he knew how perfectly easy it was to go on step by step, and yield power till it all passed out of our hands. The argument now is a plea of urgency. What was the case in 1798? Not the same as now. Congress had been making preparations on the contingency of war. The language of the law which has been referred to is to this effect: in case of war being declared by any foreign power, or the country actually invaded, then the President shall have the power of appointing these officers. Such a provision was very different from that now proposed. Mr. T. was also opposed to this section in the bill, because he would not pass a bill going, as far as in the power of this House, to take away the power of appointment from the Senate. It was a disrespect he would not offer to them, to call upon them to ratify a law depriving themselves of a power they have uniformly possessed and exercised.

The question was taken on Mr. Tallmadge's motion to strike out the section, and lost.

The committee rose and reported the two bills and the House adjourned.

Wednesday, December 30

Additional Military Force

The question was then taken on engrossment of the bill for a third reading, and passed in the affirmative – yeas 70, nays 37, as follows:

Yeas. – Willis Alston, jr., Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, David Bard, William Barnett, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John C. Calhoun, Francis Carr, Langdon Cheves, Matthew Clay, James Cochran, John Clopton, William Crawford, Richard Cutts, Roger Davis, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, William Findlay, James Fisk, Meshack Franklin, Charles Goldsborough, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Hawes, John M. Hyneman, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Abner Lacock, Peter Little, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, Thomas Moore, William McCoy, Samuel McKee, Samuel L. Mitchill, Jeremiah Morrow, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, Israel Pickens, James Pleasants, jr., Benjamin Pond, William M. Richardson, Thomas B. Robertson, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, Ebenezer Sage, Thos. Sammons, John Sevier, Adam Seybert, George Smith, John Taliaferro, Uri Tracy, George M. Troup, Charles Turner, jr., Robert Whitehill, David R. Williams, William Widgery, and Richard Wynn.

Nays. – John Baker, Abijah Bigelow, Harmanus Bleecker, Adam Boyd, James Breckenridge, Elijah Brigham, Epaphroditus Champion, Martin Chittenden, John Davenport, jr., William Ely, James Emott, Thos. R. Gold, Edwin Gray, Jacob Hufty, Richard Jackson, jr., Lyman Law, Joseph, Lewis, jr., George C. Maxwell, Archibald McBryde, Jonathan O. Mosely, Thos. Newbold, Joseph Pearson, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Elisha R. Potter, Josiah Quincy, John Randolph, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, William Rodman, Daniel Sheffey, Richard Stanford, Lewis B. Sturges, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Laban Wheaton, Leonard White, and Thomas Wilson.

So the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

The House then proceeded to the consideration of the report of the Committee of the Whole on the other bill reported by the committee, entitled "A bill in addition to the act to raise an additional military force, and for other purposes" – the first section of which is as follows:

Be it enacted, &c., That, in addition to the present Military Establishment of the United States, there be raised twenty regiments of infantry, to be enlisted for the term of one year, unless sooner discharged.

[The remainder of the bill is mere detail; the bounty on enlistment sixteen dollars.]

Mr. Gold said this was a bill involving questions of great importance, as well in principle as in its details. There was one feature especially of the bill which required mature consideration; he alluded to the limited period of service of the proposed additional force. There was no pressing emergency to hurry the bill; and he, therefore, moved to postpone the further consideration of it to Monday, which was negatived.

Death of Mr. Smilie

So soon as this decision was declared —

Mr. Findlay rose. – It is my melancholy duty, said he, to announce to this House that my venerable colleague and old friend and associate, John Smilie, is no more. He departed this life at two o'clock this afternoon.

A committee was then appointed to superintend the funeral of the deceased, consisting of Messrs. Findlay, Lyle, Brown, Roberts, Davis, Lacock, and Hyneman.

A resolution was unanimously adopted, requesting each member of the House, in testimony of their respect to the memory of John Smilie, to wear crape on the left arm for one month.

And, on motion of Mr. Fitch, the House then adjourned.

Thursday, December 31

On motion of Mr. Findlay,

Resolved, unanimously, That the members of this House will attend the funeral of the late John Smilie, this day, at two o'clock.

Resolved, That a message be sent to the Senate to notify them of the death of John Smilie, late a member of this House, and that his funeral will take place at two o'clock, this day.

And then the House adjourned.

Saturday, January 2, 1813

Additional Military Force

The House resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee of the Whole on the bill in addition to the act for raising an additional military force.

The amendments made by the House having been agreed to, the question was stated, Shall the bill be engrossed, and read a third time?

Mr. Mosely said that, in stating concisely some of the reasons which would induce him to vote against the present bill, he should not attempt to enter into a consideration of the justice or expediency of the war, nor the policy of continuing it. War is declared, and it appears to be the determination of those who have the control of our public concerns to prosecute it with the utmost vigor; yes, sir, with a vigor that, within twelve months from the enlistment of the twenty thousand men to be raised by this bill, we are told must bring it to a successful termination. Really, Mr. Speaker, when I listened to the confident assurance of the honorable Chairman of the Military Committee, that with these twenty thousand men, in addition to the troops already raised, and voted to be raised, we should in a single campaign be able to conquer Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and that the object of all these conquests was to procure an honorable peace, I almost felt myself persuaded as a peace man to join the honorable gentleman in his project of fighting for peace one year, with such a certainty of obtaining it at the expiration of that period; but unfortunately I could not but recollect the fate of similar assurances made on former occasions. When we were about declaring war, I very well remember that we were told with equal confidence by gentlemen anxious to engage in it (and who would listen to no arguments, even for delay, against the measure) that we had only to declare war, and Canada would, in the course of a few months, at most, be ours; that the militia alone, with the aid of a very few regulars, would be competent to the conquest of the whole country, except the fortress of Quebec; and that that must very soon fall of course. An honorable gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Fisk) informed us that the people of those Provinces would almost conquer themselves; that they were at least pre-disposed to be conquered – to use his own expression, that they were "panting" to participate in our liberty.

Experience has now proved the fallacy of these predictions. Gentlemen must now be convinced that Canada is not to be conquered quite so easily as they had imagined – that it is not to be subdued with a few thousand militia, regulars, or volunteers, though aided by proclamations. I mention proclamations, because they seem to be considered as an indispensable auxiliary on all great emergencies. What can be done by proclamation, I will readily concede we are competent to do. No nation, I believe, ever arrived at greater perfection in the art of proclamation-making than we have done; and if history is faithful to record them, we shall in this particular at least bear the palm from all the world.

Sir, it can afford pleasure to no man, who feels as he ought for the honor and interest of his country, to dwell unnecessarily upon the disasters and disgrace which have everywhere attended our military operations from the commencement of the war to the present time. I mean upon land; for to our little Navy too much praise cannot be given. Our gallant seamen have not only afforded to their countrymen examples of valor worthy of imitation, but they have also taught us a lesson of wisdom, by which I am happy to find we have manifested a disposition to profit. But, sir, while gentlemen must feel mortified at the miserable termination of all our boasted military exploits thus far, and might wish to draw a veil over the disgraceful scenes which have taken place, it cannot be done; it would be unwise to attempt it. We ought rather to look at the causes which have produced our misfortunes, and pursue a course in future which may not expose us to similar evils.

Mr. Gold said the annals of this Government, the last six months, commencing with the declaration of war, would be found the most interesting, the most deplorable.

In that period, we have seen a war declared, precipitately and prematurely; for, notwithstanding all the arguments urged on that occasion, with so much zeal and eloquence, time has dissipated all; the illusion has vanished; your army, so confidently expected, did not, under the magic of that declaration, spring into existence; the condition of your enlistments would not, I apprehend, at this hour, justify the declaration of war. We have seen, sir, that war conducted in a manner well to comport with the spirit in which it was declared; disaster upon disaster in rapid succession have followed; the tone and heart of the country broken; universal disgust at the past, and deep concern and anxiety for the future, prevail everywhere.

And what, Mr. Speaker, is now proposed for the future – what is to retrieve our affairs – on what are our hopes to rest? An army of twelve-months' men! A broken reed! An army and term of service, which well nigh lost the country in the Revolutionary war; an army which in every step and stage of that war received the uniform and reiterated censure and condemnation of Washington, and every intelligent officer of that period; an army that stands recorded by every historian of that war with deep reproach and reprobation. Such is the foundation of our future hopes; shutting our eyes upon the lessons of experience, we live but to repeat former errors and renew our sufferings. Shall we never learn, that a soldier is not the creature of an hour; that he must be seasoned to the hardships of war; that to remove your recruit from his fireside, from his plentiful board, and all the comforts with which he is surrounded, to the theatre of service, there to sleep on the ground in tents, with two or three articles of subsistence only, is to give him up a victim to disease, to consign him to the grave? This precise result is presented to the mind by the melancholy review of the last campaign; disease and death have walked abroad in our armies on the frontier; they have been swept to the grave as by the besom of destruction. It has not stopped with your army; the frontier inhabitants, infected by the diseases of the camp, fly from the deadly theatre as from a destroying angel! Shall we never learn the difference between our situation, and that of nations who have a competent military establishment, sufficient at all times for both offensive and defensive operations?

The slender Military Establishment of the United States, whilst it consults economy, and favors the genius of the Government, forbids a hasty resort to war, especially extra-territorial and offensive war; time for preparation, after the measure is resolved on, is indispensable; and a disregard of our situation in this respect cannot fail to induce defeat and disaster – to produce such a campaign as has just now closed.

But, Mr. Speaker, wherefore change the term of enlistment, from five years, or during the war, to one year? The sole avowed object of the war by land was the conquest of the Canadas. Are you at this hour nearer your object than on the day you declared war, or has that object, with a steady and sure pace, constantly receded from you as you have advanced in the war? Is Canada so far conquered that you can now reduce the term of enlistment? It is impossible to shut our eyes on the past; while all is disgust and despondency with our own citizens – sick of the past, and concerned for the future; while every post brings to the Cabinet fearful and alarming changes in the sentiments of the people under this ill-fated war; your enemy, the Canadians, take courage, their wavering sentiments have become resolved, and union in defence of their firesides, the land that gives them bread, is spreading and cementing all in the patriotic vow.

There was a time, sir, when you had friends in the Upper Province; there were many who wished well to your arms, and would have greeted your approach, but that ill-fated policy which precipitated every thing, which in zeal for the end overlooked the means, has blasted all our hopes from that quarter. The Canadian, while he knows your power, distrusts your wisdom and your capacity to conduct the war; he dares not commit himself, his all, to such auspices. Hence, sir, difficulties thicken on every side, and at least three times the force is now necessary to effect the conquest, which would have been required at the commencement of the war. Have we made an impression on the Prince Regent and his Ministry? are they now more disposed to succumb and accept your terms than before the war? How stand the people of the British Empire? Instead of their coercing the Government into our terms, which we fondly anticipated, the late election to Parliament shows them disposed to go hand in hand with the Government in resisting our claims and inflicting on us all the evils of war. "Maritime Rights" are echoed and re-echoed with applause throughout the Empire. Such, sir, are the bitter fruits of your policy, and to what farther point the same hand shall conduct the destinies of the country, remains to be seen.

I seek not to aggravate the misconduct of the war, nor to commend our enemies, but only wish, sir, that we may see things as they are, our actual situation, and thus look danger in the face. Do you persevere in the conquest of Canada? Pass not the barrier with an army of less than forty-five or fifty thousand men: if you do, in my apprehension, the defeats and disasters of the past campaign will be visited upon you; another army will be made to pass under the yoke, and at the end of the year, you will find yourself still further removed from your object. The tug of war is now placed fairly before us, we cannot advance without meeting it. Such, Mr. Speaker, are the grounds on which I object to this twelve-months' army; it is not adapted to the professed object of the war, the conquest of Canada. Is there, sir, any other object in contemplation of the Government; any other land of leeks and onions, which Heaven has given us, or to which our destinies lead? Is the South of easier access than the North, and is the circle of hostility to be extended to that quarter? We profess a pacific policy; moderation and justice are our boast; let us beware how we commit to the hazard this high and enviable character; how we yield, on specious grounds, to the mad and destructive policy which we reprobate in others; a policy which has in all periods overwhelmed nations with calamity, and swelled the tide of human misery.

I fear there are points in our neutral course, in our relative conduct towards Great Britain and France which will not bear examination. You proclaimed the Berlin and Milan decrees revoked, and put upon Great Britain the threatened alternative of non-intercourse. Was the fact so? You took a promise for the fact; you proclaimed the fact, while France herself, the author of the deed and party to be benefited, denies and disowns it as done at the time. Here was a fatal error, a departure from the straight line of justice; and when our error in this was palpable to all the world, we gave no explanation, no excuse, but persevered in a measure which led to war. It is this course, sir, this departure from even-handed neutrality between Great Britain and France, that has lost you the support of your own citizens to a great and alarming extent, and at this moment sustains the British Ministry in the hearts of Englishmen. It is this belief of our Government's leaning to France, that has carried that Ministry so triumphantly through the late elections to Parliament.

If any thing could add to the gloom and sicken the mind under the prospect before us, it is the inauspicious conjunction of events. America and France both making war at the same time on Great Britain; we making the enemy of France our enemy, and this at the ill-fated moment when the all-grasping Emperor of that country is rolling a baleful cloud, charged with destruction, north upon the Russian Empire; upon a power always just to America; upon our truest and best friend in the European theatre. Against such a friend, at such a period, we have beheld the march of the Corsican through rivers of blood; his footsteps are traced over the ashes of the proudest cities, and he sits himself down, at length, at Moscow, like Marius over the ruins of Carthage.