The Arkansas advocate., 1834-02-28
spEECII OF iIR. pEfl.0N

resolution to aPpoiata Select Committee. fo : impure into the expedency of so extending the general pension law as 10 embrace witb- in its provisions those persons who were
 engaged Q n the l:,l:;s,:s. s, s, t, ,s,
 year l794, and the amendment on t bY Aaf- Reaidin, to appoint U committee to in- , qafe into the moral effects of tie pension
 system upon the eosnmanity, and how tfar- ii
 ought to be abolished CT repealed.
 Mr. Speaker; arose on yesterday froFn
 tae impulse e the moment, not to make a I speech, but ratller orepel what consider 1 ed an igslputation, cast upon men that l was early taught to look upon as patriots, most of whom are gone, than 10 ask for them an act ot justice and charity from their coun- try.
 Tho venerable gentleman from Rhode Island, (lHr. Eurges,) spoke lightly of the early settlers of the West--talked of their sealps- chased them with ( plunderers and savage nanfdefefs.n l, sir, aln proud to trace my origin to that race of men. Hat, ST, no pension law can benefit my ancestors now. t would come too late lor them.- They never asked a pension while they lived. value the reputation of that band of patriots as dearer than gold. You have a right to deny the survivors bread, but no right sst tto cast otbsoiy upon ttiilei, tian,es.
 They were no splunderers." No, sir, they were soldiers, true and pafe; and Q soldier never stains his hand with ..plsin- der The brave are always tender and humane. They plundeiers p What temp taiion was tbere in the frowning forest af 1 the West to invite to G plunder." Noae, sir, none.
 The wild beaat and the naked savage. armed with ail lis instruments of death, the gun, the knife, the axe, and fagot, were tic ;sI.urements held cut. II was not every one whose taste would have led him to pauake in such plender.o question If the geH- 1 tleman, in the unrestraiaed afdor ot lis youth, could have been induced to throw a sickle in and reap for ''pUnder'' there.- The harvest, s!9, was often smoking cabins, murdered wives and, children, scalped and maneIed xifes. They nWderers !'2- They left their fresldes and patrinoniai farms in Carolina and Virginia to protect our mothers from murder-ffon savage torture: and, Sir, tile social and domestic virtues found an asylum Ill tie iorest.=- he strongest rampant vas thrown around thenl-the chlYairy of these men. find tnis reflection soohed and quleted the psag which wrung their sosous wien they stood upon the last hifl which overlooked thelr homes, whore youthful seeliags cluna and hovefed.
 What east animpatation upon the name of Boon, Robertson and Spencer, and tlIsir brave compeers!! Class these men With the savage in want of honor aI4d humanity. They were patriots, and bonetactors ot the west, who deserved to i've Ii marble, and not to De remembered with repEoach and scorn.
 Tie history of Boon and Robertson is known. Robertson was to Tennessee, what Boon was to Kentucky. Spencer, aho has been referred to bY By flle.,d aad colleague (Alr. Ditznsonl Vas the first white man who spent wintefif ny nasiye county, Summer copnty.) He l.ved.is ille hollow of 8 tree at Eledsoe's Lick, alone, surrounded by the savages, and no other of his race on that side of the mighty meun- talns which lay between him and his native Carolina. When the spring opened, and the desert bioomed around him, he return cd, described the country, it's game, Its fer tilty, its rich inviting lovellness; his nelgil- bors went; he was their pilot; he killed their meat; he stood sentry while they slept. Thus he spent his lime for years. At last, upon the hill which bears his name, he fell -yaliantly fell, fighting between the women and the ambushad savage. lis flesh vas l ldevolred, and his bones hieached and mouldered in the woods, until an old man, the companion of his youth. collected them together and placed them in cave, where they are yet. No marble pillar marks the spot but nature, in that proud hill, which rears its head above the clouds, las raised 1 for him a orander monument than man can raise. It is Spencer's Hill, and will so re- main for. ever. But, sir. he was no ''plun- derer," but a generous, kind, and hosplta- ble man. lie would divide nis meat, to the last naorsel, with hungry dog. lie was no murderer,s but a soldier, who would defend himself and friend, fit to have stood by Bruce, Leonidas, or Kosciusko.
 1 Boon and Spencer thought that nature did not intend that mighty Nest-ail that valley which Is watcred by tie "Atng ol Floods,'' and lis tributary streams, to be kept forever for the savage war dance, wild hunting ground. l know, that some few gentlemen have always differed with them, and have opposed emigration to the west, and looked with jealousy upon It's rising prospects have saved their synpa- sfsy for the red man, and their spears and darts for the white man. ] never could understand such enlarged patriotic sym, pathy, much less did expect to ind
 one ready to pierce the dead. agree with l Boon and Spencer, that the Nest shouid