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Congressional

Congressional image
Parent Issue
Day
16
Month
January
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

In the debate on referring the President's Message to appropriate committee. Mr. Giddíngs took ofensión to denounce the wnr,nnd the plea on which it is generally supported by the Whigs. Mr. G. said thrtt therewas a prevailing sentiment aboad, that whenever ourcounIry i 5 at war, bc il jusl or ünjust, evry American is bound to support it wiih all his power. He ir.terly repudiated ibis sentiment,and asan American citizen, in n Christian country, he would not authorree a con'inuance of this war by his vote. - On the quesiion, ench gentleman mus! judge for himself, and act for himselt. - The question was whether our army should be withdrown, and we offer termof peace or the wnr shqiiíd be protracted. If public opinión spoke any thing it declared thnt those who prolonged this wnr would be cast off. For his part, he would nol vote men or money to carry on the wfir ; an in tnking this stand, he was hut following ihe ourse pursued by the Whigs of Great Britain during our revolutionary struggïe. Those eminent men refused to adopt the sentiment, : Our country right or wrong." Thcy would not vote lor the wnr ; and when declared, they refuse to vo!e sïippjies. The Washington correspondent of the New York Commercial Advertiser, writes of Mr. Giddings in relationto his speech on Tuesday : " Mr. Giddinars i a forcible speoker,nd wou ld have more weight but for the enson that, as an aboli.ionist, he is I opular with bih parties. Bth parties re afraid of aboüton, and iu odor ; but ïtre are symptoms that tlio time will ! ome when t shall be the foundation of a redominant and oinnipotent party." ; In the Huusc Dee. 23th, Mr. Baker, f Illinois, Colonel of one of the Reginentsof ÍMinoiá Voluiitrers, oblained t!e oor and made a speech on the subject of ' lic War and the Annv. Col. Baker i lad rocently arrived l'rom iMonierey, and lic correspondent of the Uniied Siates jïazette vri;es that Col. B. " spoke of he effect of the invasión of Mexico upnn .er as a nation ; naiionalizing her, givngherenergy, pntriotism and bravery, is well as concenlraiing her power, and :reating a unanitnous public opinión. - The öhurcb, theclergy, the land holders, 3.-ipitalists, and even tlie woinen, had er?ered heartily, zenlously and unitedly ino this conteát - all the energies of the nation were called forth by it. Wbat we can do, he insisted ought to he done this winter. A su mm er canipaign was destructiva to the troops ; of the volunteers who lmd bfen sent to Mexico, at least 2,000 had lain down upon the banks of the Rio Grande, lo take their last and eternal re:t. lt was one of the most sickly countries in the word. The regiment he had tlie honor to command had consisied of 820 men, young, henrty, gallunt and patriotic. Of these one hundred had died of sickneís, and more than two hundred and gonc home, pale, emacialed wl broken down in health and spiriis. The twothousand of whom he spoke, had perished, not a man of them by the sword jf tlie enemy, but hy disease. It woulc be cold blooded cruelty to require thp troops to spend another summcr in that sickh country. But to prevent this, the war must be pushed with nll the vigoi the nation was capable of giving it. - Mex:co contained 8,000,000 of people, uniied in this waragninst u, and the country was one of the most difllcult io advanre in he ever snw. They could live upor a'most notbing, and their horsos want nothing to eat. [A laugh.] He did not mean this literally, but figurotivtly. - Their horses would live and thrive upon whatthey found by the way side, while ours would die upon such food. " Me thougiit t the sentiment of the American pe;ple, and he was suréit was of the arniy, il.at the war should be shoit vigorous, and brillint ; but to be so, alnindant troops riiust be sjnt, and nmple siippü's fjrnish.ed. He ref rred totlie prop osi'ion of Mr. Crittenden, to give the army three months' extra pny ; said i -.vas deserveJ, and it would be doiüg bu jtistice to thetn. Everyaiticle they hac to purchase was enormously e.xtravr.g m in price, and it was often the cae tha the soldier'á woges would be entirely ex hau-ted, so that he had not the means to purch.ise even necessarics. He h?id seen ;,oor siulc soldiers pny 50 cents per pouru for cheese, 25 cents per pouud for bacon 50 cents for sugnr, 25 cents per pounc for baker's bread, and otl.er things in the same proportion." Col. Baker contrndicted the charge made against the whigs, that they wer opposed to granting supplies for the war nnd urged irompt action in behalf of ;h army. He clused by oflering a joint re3 olution drawn up by the Secreta ry o War, authorizing the Secretary of Wa to procure clolhing foc tlio volunleers, which should be deliveretf to the commander of each regiment, for the men, and be charged to them at cost and no more. The resolution was passed urtanimously. Co!. Baker has resigned his seat in Congiess to take efiect on the lüth of January. and expects soon to leave for the seat of war.The quarrel that we mentioned last week between Bay'y and Davis, is saidto have been setiled by compromiso. In the Sonate, Jan. 4, a messnge from the President was received and read. - He asks for an inercuse iri the army, and the npnointment of a Lt. General. Refened to military cornmiltee. Also, a message from the President relalive to the transmissions of mails to and from the army. Mr. Cameron presented a petition from Bradfurd county, Pa., for the abolition of slavery. The question of its reception was laid on the table. Also, the memorial of Boston College, to import books and instruments free of duty. A memorial for aid for the projected railroad to the Pacific, nnd & memorial 10 bring the war with Mexico to aspeedy clove, were presented. Mr. Cameron sa'd no man in Pennsvlvnnia desirrd to end the war in unv oiher mode than by an honorable pence. The bilí to reduce nnd gradúate ihe public lnnds came up, and was made the special order for Monday. In the Hou?e, Mr. Preston King a=ked leave to introduce a bilí substantially a transcript of that oí laat session, appropriaÜDg 2,000,000 tocnable the President to concludo atreaty of peace wilh Mexico. The House rcfused 10 suspend the rules to réceive il - 8Sto86. On the 2d nst., the House of Representativos was brought to a voto on theproposition to Icvy a duty on tea and fee, by a resolution. ntroduccd by Mr. Wetiiworth, in these words : " Resolved, Thátlt is inexpedienl to lay a tax on tea and cofFee." On the adoplign pf the resolution, the vote stood veas 43, and nays 115. So no duty will be levud on these anieles. Id the Sonate, Jan. 5, the bill to grant public lands in Michigan to completo wurks of internal improvement was paneel 26 to 16. In the House, a message was reccived f rom the President recommending earnstly the adoption pf the Sec reta ry of Var'ssuggestion for incrensing the efiiieney and betier orgánizátion of the ariy,particularly in the higber grades, and nr the appoiot ment of a general ofíiccr o tako command of all the forces in the ield during tho war. Tho President says that efficiënt measïrps lio laken to terminote the war beijie ihe wnrm season commences. He calis tliO atlention of Congress to the im)orlance of immediate aclion in this mater. The me?soge was referred to the military commiitee. The special order was taken up in comniitce of the whoJe, being the bill authorizing ten nevv regiinents. Amendmen".s were proposed by Messrs. Tibbats and Haralson. Mr. McGaughy addressed the comnitlee in npposition to the war. Messrs. R. Dale Owen and ilamlin followed in support of the bill.