The Arkansas advocate., 1830-05-19

.will be nearer to S2O than to ;S50 each. 1 thInl SIU,OUU will be enough for their annual forage; but have proposed to | i'll the second blank with s5lo, ,750, for | the remainder ot the present year, ac- cording to the estimate of the Quarter Master, and leave it to time and exPe- rience to ascertain the true amount l This will make the total appropriation, for the present year, about S5u,C00.-l for each subsequent year 1t will pro- bably be about Sl5,OU0, say, ten or twelve thousand dollars for forage, and the remainder to supply the waste of horses and equipments. This is nothing compared to the magnitude, and yarie-
 ty, of the objects which require the ex-
 penditure. Itis nothing in comparison to the good to De accomplished. It is a grain o1 sand to a mountain, compared to Ihe annual expenditures for Atlantic ob- fleets of deience-compared to the an- nuai expenditures for Notifications foi. I the defence of the sea eoast!-eompared
 totheannual expenditure for navy yards, light houses, and ships of war, for the safety and accommodation of maritime
 commerce. But, small and ineonsider- able as this expenditure for the mount cd force appears, there is still another point of view under which 1t is to be looked at, and which reduces 1t still lower, and in fact, annihilatcs it as an I1a [ s,,4.
 piece of economy. ltis this; That, for the want of these horses, 5ssge sums are now expended in chartering steam-boats for moving troops in the western eoun- try, and for volunteer mounted gun men.
 The infantry have to be transported; and for this purpose steam-beats are chartered. They need horsemen, and for this purpose, mounted volunteers are accepted. Every Indian alarm on the frontiers renews the expense of these boats and volunteers; and the expense is heavy proportion to the suddenness of the alarm, the magnitude of the ap-
 parent danger, and the distance ta be trayersed. The Illinois volunteers which
 went to the Winnehago country three
 years ago, cost about St0,G0G. 'ffii fiile
 Missouri volunteers for the last summer,
 when the alarm broke out on the fron- tier of that State, are not yet paid, but
 their claims are considerable. On both occasions steam-boats were chartered.
 The movement of Major Riley3s detaeh- ment, last summer, must also have ifl- yolEed some expenditure for transpor- tation. ] know these various items to
 be considerable, and that they have been incurred, and must be incurred, just so long as we remain without horses. The exact amount of what has been expend- cd heretofore, is unknown to me; the amount that may be expended hereaf-, ter, cannot be foreseen. IL will depend upon the frequency and magnitude of thealarms oa the frontiers; alarms which must arise upon every point of line of more than thousand miles in length, covering the settlements of Louisiana. Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and the new Territory upon the Upper Mississippi. The amount of these casual, and unfore- seen expenditures, may be safely as- sumed to be equal to the expense ef keeping up the ten companies proposed l II the bill. make this assumption ad- visedly, and would be willing 10 stake the passage of the bill upon the Quarter Master Generals opinion of the fact, if the passage of such bill, in the judge ment of any statesman, ought to depend upon such fact, In this point ofyiew and ] fully believe 1t to be correct the annual keeping up of the ten com panies of mounted infantry, will be no expense at all; there will be as much, or more saved from steamboat trans portatIon and mounted volunteers, as will balance the expense ofthese horses. At the same time the mounted horse men will be infinitely more efficient, and incomparably more satisfactory to the West; so that the whole question off passing the bill reduces itself to the mere problem of good will to the West efR country without expense to the F'e- deral Treasury. Mir. B. concluded with expressing his thanks to the Senate for takingup the bill Notwithstanding the necessity for 1t to pass immediately, as the Santa I'e caravan would set out from Missouri in May-aad declaring his readines 10 answer any questions which might be put to him for the far theT information ofany Senator.
 MT. Smith. of Md, said he saw no objection to the passage of the bill. It 1 read. that fhe nunhar If mon 4o ho