of the country. From this, Mr. S. said it was evident there was a sort of indelicacy in the motion, as it implies a doubt that the PRESIDENT might fail in this instance, or vary from his usual line of prudence.

[DECEMBER, 1792.

Executive, who are merely the instruments for carrying them into effect.

Upon the whole, Mr. D., however he might himself be in favor of a reduction of the Army, if it stood simply on its own merits, yet, as it now struck him, it being connected with some recent circumstances, he would therefore oppose it as tending only to embarrass the Executive in their attempts towards a pacification. Moreover, he said he knew the temper of Indians so well, by having on earth more extravagant in their demands, when they saw the force against them was lessening. So that what is intended by the motion for reduction at present, as economical, may turn out to be, in the end, the most expensive of any. Mr. WADSWORTH was also against the motion; and Mr. AMES closed the debate by a few observations on the necessity of committing to a Committee of the Whole, as there would be no other way of answering the industrious calculations of the mover.

Mr. DAYTON said, he would vote for referring the motion to a Committee of the Whole, although he disapproved of it. He should not have risen, had he not heard from the two North Carolina members the strangest perversion of argument and the most extraordinary reasoning. The gen-lived amongst them, that there was not a nation tleman who has brought forward the motion, said Mr. D., has decried every idea of energy and efficacy in regular, disciplined troops, considering them not only inefficient, but contemptible, when employed against Indians; and, to confirm this assertion, he has instanced the expedition under General St. Clair, when it is well known that there were not, in fact, two companies of regular disciplined infantry among them. The other gentleman [Mr. WILLIAMSON] has extravagantly commended the back-country militia, and extolled them for their efficiency and success in Indian warfare; and instances the affair of a rencontre between Major Adair, with ninety militia, against two hundred and forty Indians. In reply to this, Mr. D. felt himself compelled to remark, that that affair did not appear so successful in his mind; for those very militia were unquestionably surprised and beaten, inasmuch as they were driven into a corner, until the Indians captured all their horses and other property in their camp; and what is still more disgraceful, one half of the Major's party deserted him at the commencement of the action, and secured themselves within their garrison.

The question on committal was carried, and made the order of the day for next Wednesday.

MONDAY, December 31.

A petition of Isaiah Thomas, of Worcester, in the State of Massachusetts, praying that printing types, of foreign manufacture, imported into the United States, may be exempted from the duty imposed on them by law; and that certain bonds, to a considerable amount, given by him to the Collector of the District of Boston, for the payment of the duties on printing types already imported, may be cancelled.

Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Secretary of the Treasury, with instruction to examine the same, and report his opinion thereupon to the House.

of themselves and the soldiers of the said line, was presented to the House and read, praying that the depreciation which accrued on the certificates of Debt granted them for military services during the late war, may be made good to them, or such other relief afforded them as the present circumstances of the United States will admit.

Ordered, That the said memorial do lie on the table.

Whilst he was up, Mr. D. would further observe on the extraordinary speech of the mover of the question, that it was such as no person could have ever expected to hear within the walls of that House. It seemed to be calculated to prejudice A memorial of the officers of the late Massathe minds of the people against the whole Admi-chusetts line of the Continental Army, in behalf nistration; and it appeared still the more extraordinary that such a speech should come from a gentleman who so lately expressed the nicest delicacy in matters of order and decency; for, in this instance, he has committed the greatest breach of decorum and propriety, by a direct censure of the Secretary of War, the PRESIDENT, and both Houses of the Legislature. [Here several members called Mr. DAYTON to order.] He proceeded, however, and appealed to the House, whether he had not drawn a just picture of the expressions of the gentleman from North Carolina. The very calculations which he has so laboriously produced have been questioned by other members. In regard to the surprise expressed by the gentleman at the increase of the War Department from 1791 to '92 and '93, it was not so strange that five thousand men would require greater supplies than two thousand. Yet the gentleman is surprised at the increase of expense, and seems to imply that abuses have been committed; but if an increase of expense for protecting the frontiers has accrued, the censure ought to fall on the Legislature for directing it by their laws, and not upon the

Mr. WILLIAMSON, from the committee appointed, presented a bill to amend an act entitled "An act establishing a Mint, and regulating the coins of the United States," so far as respects the coinage of copper; which was received, read twice, and committed.

The House proceeded to consider the report of the committee to whom was referred the petition of a number of the inhabitants of St. Vincennes, on the Wabash, together with a letter from the Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the river Ohio, accompanying the same. Whereupon,

Resolved, That the survey directed by the resolve of the late Congress of the 29th of August

Fees in Admiralty Cases-Coinage Bill.

Report on Petitions for Pensions.

"4th. That every claimant shall produce evidence of the time of his leaving the service of the United States, and of his being honorably discharged therefrom. He must also produce evidence of three reputable freeholders of the city, town, or county, in which Mr. SEDGWICK, from the committee appointed, he resided for the two years immediately after he left presented a bill to compensate John Tucker; which the service, as aforesaid, of the existence of his disabili-was received, read twice, and committed.

JANUARY, 1793.]

Military Establishment.

MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the motion of the 28th ultimo for reducing the Military Establishment of the United States.

[H. OF R.

Governor of Georgia. Although they have three thousand men on the frontier of that State, yet it is not found sufficient, and the Indians have driven them in. Indeed, there has been a time when the town of Savannah has been obliged to keep a guard.

Mr. WADSWORTH rose and observed, that he had pledged himself to the House last Friday to It was not his intention to introduce commendshow that the calculations of the gentleman fromations of the officer at the head of the War DeNorth Carolina were not true; and, if true, that partment, but he thought it proper to observe, that the inferences drawn from them were not correct. he is not to be blamed on account of the expenses There was a material difference (he said) between referred to. He is no more than an instrument the appropriations quoted by the gentleman and acting under the Supreme Executive. It is the those which he would now read to the House. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES who has found Here he read a statement which he had prepared, it necessary and proper to recommend the establishfrom which it would appear that Mr. STEELE had ment of a military force. It is, therefore, not the overrated the contingencies, hospitals, quarter- Secretary's, it is the PRESIDENT's war; and to assert masters, forage, cavalry, ordnance, pay, and sub- that the Secretary has had any undue influence sistence, each of them. with the Legislature, would be altogether false; The total difference between Mr. STEELE'S and for, on the contrary, his reports have been treated Mr. WADSWORTH's calculations, from this repre- with disrespect in this House. Was not his resentation, was $27,080 dollars in the year 1790. port at New York ridiculed, and called "preachIn like manner, Mr. W. read his calculations ing," &c., because it was in favor of peace, and for 1791. On comparing which with those of Mr. spoke with great humanity respecting the hardSTEELE, he said there was a difference in the ships often inflicted by the whites on the Indians? total of $252,312; and in the total of 1792, he Indeed, the Secretary of War has been uniform in showed a difference of $567,530. He also par- his endeavors to bring about a durable peace. ticularly objected to Mr. STEELE'S statements of This, however desirable an object, has been found the ordnance expense for 1793, which had been hitherto impracticable, and the Indians have latecalled $23,000; but that sum, although it comes ly carried their depredations to so great a length under the head of ordnance in the estimate, is not that the PRESIDENT has judged it necessary to realtogether appropriated for the purchase of can- pel them by force. They have murdered in cold non; the whole amount of the expense of cannon, blood our ambassadors of peace, whilst holding a he said, had been very trifling-about $700 or flag of truce in one hand and reaching the other $800. Having proceeded thus far in attempting out in friendship to the Indians. Perhaps they to controvert the calculations of the gentleman may have been excited to this degree of barbarity from North Carolina, Mr. W. said, it would in- by many causes. It is hard to determine which deed have been an alarming thing to the United are the greatest aggressors-the settlers on the States, had they been founded in reality. But the frontiers or the Indians. The murder of the Mogentleman had not confined himself to misstate-ravian Indians, the proclamation of Congress ments he had gone further; for he had "lamented the necessity of quoting even truths from that office"-the War Office. Here Mr. W. stated that the quotation which Mr. STEELE had made from a report of the Secretary of War had not been correctly quoted. After Mr. W. had thus represented Mr. STEELE'S calculations as erroneous, and his quotations as misstated, he said that the House ought to beware of not being led astray by them. He next observed, that the gentleman had laid a great deal of blame of the present hostilities between the United States and the Indians, and the expense attending them, to the War Department. But Mr. W. conceived that there were other causes to be assigned for the Indian war, There had never been a day, from the first settlement of America to the present moment, without our being at war with the Indians, in one place or another. The history of the country, the resolves of the old Congress, every book published by Congress, show this to have been the case. [Here he read some quotations from the resolves of 1784, to show the appropriations for defraying the expenses of Indian wars.] He wished the House to take a retrospect of the subject, from the beginning of those troubles down to the late application for assistance from the National Government by the

against our own people, all show that the Indians have ground for complaint.

Here Mr. W. recapitulated the affairs of the banditti at Fort St. Vincennes; the representations of Judge Innis, of Kentucky, from 1783 to 1790, respecting the people there who could not be restrained from the commission of crimes against the peace of the country. From these causes and the common fatality of the times, our attempts towards peace have proved abortive, and the war has been prolonged, but the Secretary is entirely innocent of promoting it.

In regard to the other arguments of the gentleman [Mr. STEELE] respecting the militia, that they would afford either a cheaper or better defence for the frontiers, he had his doubts.

Mr. W. now went over the whole history of the frontier wars; a line of posts was once established and garrisoned by militia, yet they could not prevent the Indians from coming within sixty miles of Winchester, and murdering, scalping, and plundering the women and children. After the peace of 1762, the Indians drove in the militia, and advanced as far as Cumberland and Carlisle, in the State of Pennsylvania.

But Colonel Boquet, with the remains of two regiments of regular troops, who had just before

arrived from the West Indies, marched against the savages, and hired pack-horses to carry some of his sick men. With these regulars, Colonel Boquet fought them and drove them with the bayonet from one end of the country to the other. The battle began at one o'clock the first day and lasted until night, and was renewed the next morning with superior force by the Indians; yet they were entirely discomfited. This news went to Fort Pitt and Virginia, and revived the spirits of the country. Virginia raised more troops-and Colonel Boquet dictated a peace to the savages. These instances furnished sufficient arguments to show the superiority of regular troops over militia. But he could mention many others, viz: General Hartman, with eight hundred chosen men, giving a total defeat to the Indians; Colonel Willet's attack and defeat of them; and General Sullivan's affair in South Carolina.

As to the defeat of Harmar and St. Clair, their men ought not to be reckoned regular troops. They were raw recruits, undisciplined, &c. But even they stood better than the militia; for the militia ran away, and those who remained to fight the savages fell, to their honor be it spoken, whilst the militia, who were the advanced guard, ran and threw away their guns, nay, their coats. Upon the whole, the balance of argument, Mr. W. thought, must appear in favor of regular troops.

[JANUARY, 1793.

their business so many industrious citizens, is a thing beyond the power of calculation; for my part, said he, I do not know figures enough to count it up. For the truth of this position, and for the enormous waste and expense incurred by militia, he appealed to one of the members [Col. PARKER] on the other side of the House, who had experience in the matter, whether it was not absolutely impossible either to bring militia under proper discipline, or prevent their enormous waste. A whole brigade of regular troops would not cost so much as one regiment of militia, to a country. The militia of Kentucky have cost more blood and wealth than all the American war; when the circumstances are considered of calling out men from the tillage of the field, &c. It is enormous the number of lives, and the aggregate loss is countless. The causes of these things are, want of order and discipline, &c. And those causes have produced an universal reprobation of the war establishment; but all those who condemn, are not well acquainted with those causes; they judge from hearing only one-half of the truth in our newspapers. It is supposed a peace can be easily effected, but I know of no peace that has not been effected by force; for, although promises have been made and peace often treated for with the Indians, yet they have as constantly broken those promises. This is a good reason for keeping up the present force of the United States. We are now able to meet the Indians and demand a safe peace. But the gentleman from North Carolina calls our establishment a mere military parade, which it is said by another gentleman [Mr. PARKER] will only tend to rouse the Spaniards and the British, &c.

He further took occasion to animadvert on what Mr. WILLIAMSON had said, when that gentleman expressed himself so strongly in favor of the militia under Major Adair. That officer, Mr. W. observed, had been a Continental officer, and from his own words, it appeared that he had no very great opinion of the militia, for they had fled to He went on quoting the conduct of the Indians the garrison; and the Indians obtained their ends, and their threatening manner, when they told you, notwithstanding the reception given by Major "go to your own side of the Ohio," &c. What Adair. Theirs was the triumph, and when they language do they now hold out? But I am not retired, it seems to have been not so much a mat- at liberty, said Mr. W., to mention it, as it was ter of necessity, as a thing of choice, on their part. confidentially communicated to this House, and The loss of horses, one hundred, perhaps, and the read with our doors shut. However, it is well expense of this affair, amounted to a much greater known to all the members present, the insolence sum than any regular troops would have cost. of that language. For my part, I have little hopes The party under Major Adair, supposing it to of a peace from any promises of the Indians; and consist of a hundred men, cost one hundred dollars although a negotiation is said to be upon the cara day, reckoning the attendant circumstances-pet, I can never depend upon the promises of saand considering it, as Mr. W. did, a complete de-vages who have so often broken them. feat-for there are no circumstances to prove that it was otherwise-the militia having deserted him and left the few regulars he had exposed to the whole of the danger.

Mr. W. did not stop here in his details of militia disgraces-he recounted many other cases. He mentioned the Grant's expedition against the Cherokees, &c. And still he drew a balance against the successes of the militia; for, he said, they had constantly been defeated, and the country left exposed to the depredations of the enemy.

Much has been said, observed Mr. W., of Clark and Sevier's successes. They, indeed, afford an exception to the cases above mentioned; but how far were they successful? The immense expense of men and money, and the interruption given to the agriculture of the country by calling away from

In speaking of the recruits that have been lately raised for the regular army, Mr. W. opposed his opinion to that of Mr. PARKER, who mentioned them in such contemptible terms as having been collected from the stews and brothels of the cities. &c. For his part, Mr. W. had often seen them. and he believed they were equal, if not superior in spirit and appearance, to most of the soldiery during the British war, and better than the soldiery were at the close of the war, with some exceptions, such as respects the men who cost £300 each. Before he could quit the subject, he begged leave to mention another instance of the efficacy of regular troops; it was the affair of General Wayne's surprise, when the light-horse dismounted, and cut the militia to pieces, and the infantry drove them off at the point of the bayonet.