The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-05
MIR. CRIFrENDEN said he did no, ria, a :,


ion The opinions delivered here wee pssmatuI.
This simply a resolution Of inquiry; and thsv
| would consult the forms al deceney, justice ana
propriety, by waiting fot the information for which
they asked, before delivering any opinions on n,
cases referred 10. Ii has been said that Gensr.l
Taylor had been enabled TO meet and conquer N,
enemy by being reinforced with part ofths troOp,
called out by General Gaines. He Mr.. ca den.d
| il. "Honor TO whom honor is due" The brays
little army under General Taylor deserved, and
| should have all the honor Our glorious little armv
had won all the glory, and they should enjoy il. Il
had been stated that General Taylor once in i'm.
mnent danger of being attacked and DESTROYED bv
those terrible Mexicans He (Mr. c. never
| entertained such idea for a single momen
He never believed that General Taylor was in the
| least danger. He knew the man; and from
that knowledge he felt assured that whenever ne
Gen. L thought IL necessary he would drive he
enemy across the Rio Grande, whip them, and take
Matamoras. All honor and glory then be 10 the
brave little army who had covered thems elves with
glory. The senator from Arkansas, Mr.. SEurHl
had praised Gen. Gaines He (Nir. c.) would e..
| no blame upon Gen. Gaines prematurely. No one
would rejoice more TO sec HIM fully vind,cated. Bot
while defending one brave soldier, he regretted hsl
the honorable senator had INDUCED in insnuaiions
against another distinguished soldier. Why was
necessary to nsinuale that the Distinguished gen
| eral mentioned In the amer dmont offered by IN.
| senator had Stunned the field of danger by idlnv
his time away from that field TO which his country
called HIM He denied that there any founds
ton for those charges. No, MIR. President a buvsr
| soldier never met an enemy. He no idlsr
| He never stunned danger How could Gen Soou
have rushed to the scene Of war. lie was not Or
dered there, and it his duty wait for orders
How, then, could he have gone to the scene Of ac-
lion without being ordered unless influenced by one
OF those impulses OF patriotism which were referred
| TO by the senator from Maryland Mr.. JoERsoHl-
| who would pardon him for this allusion--he had
rushed of to the field Of battle under Of ne
cessIty, without law or orders, and had thu,
reached the Rio Grandel Has he not given every
evidence that he was ready and willing TO serve he
country in any place which the government might as
| sign HIM But he would make comparison between
these Two brave soldiers. They were both patriotic
brave, and tried soldiers. As far honors go-as
far as public thanks and other marks Of public ap-
proyal gov hat had Gen. Scott received for bs
Iong-ried and patriotic services to the country JUS
tioe and patriotism, under the laws and eonsti-
tuition, ever Characterised his course Of conduct
Whatever the result might be Of these inyestiea-
tons, he trusted that temporary ebullition wJad
make them forget that they lived under govemmen,
OF law, and under constitution. II had been said
that the laws and constitution are sometimes silent
No. no, the constitution never sleeps. Ii is dead
when II sleeps. IL is still awake day and night and
so may IL be forever! He believed that the thanks
Of the Senate were due to the senator from Michi-
gan for bringing this matter before them. He in
tended no censure The resolutions were made for
the purpose OF obtaining necessary information
This information II necessary for them TO have
Were they TO sit there and not TO know how many
troops they were to pay for, and by what authonty
they called QUE Were they not 10 know whether
the laws had been violated thai they might provide
remedy to guard against their violation hereafter
he would vote for the resolution and the proposed
amendment. Let all the correspondence Of Cen
Scott with the department, with everything abou, his
public conduct be published, whether il be for his
veal or for his wo, Let IL come. Let II all come
He felt confident that nothing would be found TO
impeaeh his honor as officer, or to tarnish his
patriotic character as a citizen.
Mr.. JOHNSON, OF Maryland, said that the DIFF
ference between the senator from Kentucky and
himself was rather verbal than substantial The
senator had acknowledged that necessity might
justify the conduct of General Gaines.
Mr.. CRlTTENDEN. I said necessity might
palliate, or be mitigation of his conduct
Mr.. JOHNSON. Well, necessity might pal
late.
MIR. CRITTENDEN (from his seat.) VIVA,
you called a necessity. ..ss F o.. -
Mr.. JOHNSON said that the idea of the senator
from Kentucky about the difference between his
position and that Of the senator from Kentucky was
like the difference long since excluded from courts Of
Jaw, about the difference between unsuitable and
The senator from Virginia (Mr ARcHER) had
said something about him Mr. }. being prostrated
beneath his feei-- = ...s
Several senators interposing no!r
Mr. JOHNSON. Well, then, l shall say no
more. 7.s
Mr.. CALHOUN then rose, and, after a few s.u.
fences not audible in the gallery, said that tbs
| responsibility of General Gaines was, in the first
instance, to the President Of the United States n
he had violated the law and constitution, and the
orders OF the government, the President had ample
powers TO enforce them They had been informed
been ordered to repair to the seat Of government
Ii was, therefore, to be inferred that il was the in
tention of the President enforce that responsible
ty. In the first place, he (Mr. CO. presumed they
would hear what Gen: Gaines had got to say. If
his statement amounted to what might be called an
apology or excuse, very well. If not il would then
be for the President TO determine how he would en-
force the responsibility devolving upon that officer
Now, he submitted TO senator's on all sides, was il
right for them, in ths state of the case to interfere
at all When they talked of Gen. Gaines, or the
President, doing his duty, was it not proper that on
their own part they should take care that they dis
charged their duty, Was il right towards General
Ganes-was it right towards the President of the
United s'ates-to act in the manner proposed They
said 1t was not their intention to cepsure General
Gaines; but he was very greatly mistaken it, in the
circumstances OF this case, the passage of this reso
luton would not be considered preiudgmen, of the
case and censure of the general. Certainly, il he
Mr. g. were in his condition, he would so consider
1t, and he thought upon deliberation there was not
senator in that body who would not entertain the
same opinion. II was taking the matter out of the
Presidents hands They talked about passing
law. What Did they remedy breaches of the
constitution and law by passing new laws
No! that was always the resort of ex-
treme weakness 1t by enforcing law that
law was preserved. He had pursued this
case as far as was necessary to the attainment
of the object he had in view His own opin-
ion was that the Senate would act more in accord.
ance with its dignity if it paused-ifit awaited for
further developments, till the whole case was
brought before them II might turn out that there
was double responsibility Of the President
to the country, and then the responsibility both of
the President and of General Gaines to Congress
he believed that the Senate, after so long debate
had 80 fully made up ita mind that the motion he
thought of making could hardly be received with
any prospect Of success; still he would take what
he believed to be the only proper course--he would
move to lay the whole subject on the table,
Mr.; }: M CLAYTON hoped the resolution,
amended, would he adopted. Il was due 70 both
officers that the aL a,,Id T.. AGA.