The Arkansas banner., 1844-05-29
CONCLUDED.

CONCLUDED.
 The defence of the country and of all It: parts against the probable occurrence of war
 IS one of the first and highest duties of this government For this we build forts and arsenals, dry docks and navy yards, supply arms and ordnance. and maintain armies and navies at an annual expense of many millions of dollars, aid for this we guard great cities and important bays and harbors. From the organization of the government under the constitution, up to the latest period in l94i3. for which detailed statements are given, we have expended for the War Department, S374,SSS, ,899, and for the Navy Department, Sl73,236,5 ,569-being for both S54S, ,125,- 373; for the civil list, S6l,3S5,3 ,373, for for eign intercourse, S35,05l. TYP, miscellaneous S6l, ,57S, l6S; making for these three last items, S157, 1910; and for the public debt, S45l, ,749.003; making the total expendi- lures Sl, ,157, ,7S9, ,7S1. Now if, to the ex- penditures for the defence of the country, as above given-S54S, 5,468-we add that portion of the public debt which may be fairly estimated as having been incurred for the defence of the country, 1t would make S94S, l25, ,468 expended for the defence of the country; and leave S209,664,313 ex- pended for all other purposes. The defence of the country was the great object for which the government was founded, and for this purpose, nearly all the moneys collected from the people have been expended; and yet, of this vast amount, but S52,20S,000 have been expended for Qualifications in Louisiana; and New Orleans and the mouth of the Missis- slppl are still to a great extent undetended. When we consider tha. nearly the whole commerce of the West floats through this outlet, amounting now to 220,000,000 per annum, and rapidily augmenting every year, has not the West a right to demand defence, complete and edectual. of this great river Now, Mir. Adams and Mir. Clay, in 1925 and 1927, Tn attempting to secure the reannexa- ton of Texas, say: '9the line of the Sabine approaches onr great Western mart nearer than could be wished;' and in 1929, Gene ral Jackson and MT. Van Buren announce ssthe real necessity of the proposed acquisi- ton, Gas a gaard for the western frontier and the protection Of .Aew Orieahs.n if then, the defence of the country be one oI the main objects and highest duties of this government, and to accomplish which it has expended nearly all the moneys collected from the people, can 1t be unconstitutional or orimproper to acquire Texas, as a mere ques- ton of defence and protection, when we are assured, that the acquisition is a matter ol s.real necessity, ssas guard for the frontier and the protection of New Ofleansw And surely this protection is as necessary now as 1t was in 1925, 1927, 1899, 1933, and 1885; and New Orleans and Texas, and the frontier. and the Sabine, stand precisely where they did at those periods. Indeed, l have now before me letter of General Jackson, almost fresh from his pen, in which he announces his opinion that the remuneration of Texas ssts esseaiial 10 ake United States" Although some of my countrymen may differ from me as to the exalted opinion which I entertain of the high civil qualifications of General Jackson, none will dispute his extraordinary military talents, and that no man living can know so we'll what is necessary 10 the pro tection of New Orleans, as its great and sue cessfui defender. If, then, the remuneration of Texas be more essential to the safety and defence of New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi, than all the Notifications which could be, but have not been. and will not be, erected in that quarter, has not the West right to demand, on this ground alone, the reacqulsition of Texas2 The laonev of the West, as the treasury reports above quot ed demonstrate, is now freely disbursed, and has been expended by hundreds of millions, for the defence of the Atlantic States: and will not those States feel 1t duty and plea sure to defend the West, and their own pro- ducts, which float upon its mighty rivers, by the repossession ot territory which is es- sentlal for our security and welfare? To re- fuse the remuneration, is to refuse the defence of the West in the only way in which that defence will be complete and efieelual; for you 10 extend your Notifications along the whole coast of the gulf. and New Orleans, and the mouth ot the Mississippi, and the Florida pass will remain undelended, so long as Texas Is in the possession of foreign power, and we are open to attacks from the rear through that region. Fortfications, also, may sometimes be captured by great supe- riority of guns and force, by squadrons upon the sea; and with a .sllieient time and ade- quate force, if not by storm, by mine and siege, they may be always taken by assaults upon the land-even Gibraltar and the Moro castle not having always proved mpregna- ble. But Texas, our own, and in the pos session ot the brave and practised marksmen of the West, would be a position where, against all attacks from the rear, every inch of ground would be fercely contested, and every advance would be marked by the blood of the invader; and if New Orleans should be invaded in other directions, our contry- men in Texas, over whom would then float the flag of the Union, would rush to the rescue oi their own great city, and, uniting with their brethren in arms from other States Of the same great Union, would re-enact, upon the banks of the Mississippi, the vieto- rles of San Jacinto and New Orleans If then, we are true to the West and Southwest
 we will, if there were no other reasons, as a question of defence, reacquire the possession ot Texas or do patriotism, and love of the whole country, and of all it's parts, exist only III name2 Does the American heart yet bea