The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1847-02-27

regiments corps in the service United
in Mexico, which may be received during the existing
with Mexico, and to commission the officers for the
same
Also, in section soven strike out the words. THAT the
fifth section of the eptited AN raise for limited
time additional military iocs, and for other purposes
musicians, and prvaes provided for the ten regiments BY
the first section OF said act and at the end OF the said sec
9Th section of the of llth of February isH,"
Al the end OF section sixteen add ITO be dsbanded al
Mr. BOYD asked the House to proceed 10 the consid-
Grafton OF the amendments al once, they made ap
MIR. G. DAVIS moved that the bill and amendments
be referred to the Committee of the Whole the state
Mr.. SIMS, of South Carolina, moved the previous
question, which cuts of the motion to commit
Upon the call for the previous question: the yeas and
nays were taken, and resul,ed--yeas 81, nays rs.
MIR. ASHMUN moved to lay the bill on the table
upon which motion the yeas and nays were demanded
and ordered; and being taken resultedyeas H. nays
1906
So the bill was not laid on the table
The yeas and nays were then taken upon the question
Shall the main question be now put p and decided in
the affirmative by yeas l02, nays TO.
Mr.. BOYD then said that he would make proposition,
which, If adopted by general consent, would induce
speedy action upon the amendments and yet afford to the
I'll s the sSonS for
committee and resolution submitted and agreed to-
minang the debate thereon o'clock 80 minutes and
twenty minutes only to be allowed to each person de-
string to participate in the debate up that time Cries
OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The bill was then committed and resolution for the
purposes above stated was agreed to-
The House then resolved itself into Committee of the
W hole on the state OF the Union (Mr. BIGGs in the
chair and proceeded to the consideration of said bill
MIR DAVIS, of Kentucky then addressed the commit
tee. He opposed the amendment the ground that its
effect would be to revive the old for the appoint
ready been tested at the present Congress- and had sig
nay failed in both Houses. 1t now to be brought
up under different auspices-under the auspices of the
power created by the ten regiment bill 1t would in
the patronage,
have tendency to establish in the country elective
monarchy Mr. D. proceeded to state that the President
was the constitutional commander-n-chef of the army
and navy and endeavored to prove that the appointment
of commander in-chef in his stead unconstitu-
tional.
MI BRINKERHOFF then addressed the committee
II not his purpose to reply to the distractions of the
gentleman from Kentucky for the that he could
not their pernency to the question before them That
question was simply amendment from the Senate, au
thorizng the President to appoint certain officers, to
nue in service during the war; and be discharged at its
close. He was in favor of giving the President that
power because the constitution made hun responsible for
the of the ana money which they had placed in
his hands for the prosecution OF the war No one Che
continued) would be more ready and swift to hold the
President to that responsibility than the gentleman from
Kentucky, who had opposed that measure Of this he
did not complains but when they recognised the right OF
gentlemen TO hold the President answerable for the means
which were placed at his disposal the voice OF the peo-
pie declared that they should let the President select his
own agent to represent him upon the field The amend
ment he argued, would be Just abstract proposition
and would commend itself to the calm unbiased mind of
an enlightened public but it not to be denied that
there other and peculiar circumstances existing at
the present time which made it peculiarly proper that
Congress should invest the President with the power h.
had asked for What were those, circumstances II
was notorious fact-a fact with which the pub
lie journals of the country were nfe-that no less
than two of the major generals in service in
Mexic1 were candidates for the presidency They
he (Mr b. were whig, he would say that it was
fair and unjust to the Executive to make his rivals
(not to intimate that Mr. Polk was candidate for the
Quoting the II was more than simple justice TO
grant the Executive such agents in conducting the war
would fight out the war, and fight it out in such way
would lead to successful result; but it was not
reasonable to expect successful issue, if gentlemen
fused to give the Preside mt his own agents He had
voted against the former proposition to appoint Lieu
general from civil life; and he thought at the time
that the administration in in calling for such
officer but since then considerations had come before him.
leading him to believe that that appointment should have
been made The present proposition, however did not
go far that simply allowed the President to
lect such commander as he might fit from the Off
in the field Between the commander nchef in the
field and the commander nchie at Washington the most
intimate and confidential relations must subsst, or the
the public service would suffer immensely Now he did not
say that this confidence did not subsis but he did say
that would be very strange it should subsis between
political opponents, when at the time those generals
candidates for the presidency The public service
he inferred, must suffer. 1t had suffered Most inds-
Greet disclosures had already been made which he did
think would have been made if the commander n-chief
in the field and the commander-in-c at Washington
had been the most friendly terms. He would not
speak a partisan Gentlemen would do him the JUS
tice to admit that this was not partisan speech His
object to favor that policy which would soonest end
the war But he despaired getting out Of il unless they
gave suitable and timely aid to the President
Mr.. GENTRY was the next speaker. He had been
unable from the first any other way of eXtrcatng
themselves from the than by bravey fighting it out
Entertaining this vew he had supported all the meas
which had been proposed for the vigorous prosecu
ton Of the war But he believed that the administration
and its supporters afraid of the growing popularity
of General Taylor His brilliant achievements on the
Rio Grande had made his renowned the world over,
and the country began to hail him glorious For this he
became odious Che sad to the democracy and General
Scott sent to the field to supersede him. General
Scott bid fair to become popular too and fearing that he
would return to the country covered with glory, they
friends influenced by political considerations, then,
in pressing the measure at this time.
Mr.. SIMS, of South Carolina, then addressed the COM
mttee He proceeded to reply TO the constitutional argu-
ment of the member from Kentucky, drawing conclu
favorable to the question pending lie believed the
emplaed by that amendment by the constitutions but
doubts existed that point and it very important
the of their arms that he should be unequivo-
cay clothed with that power, he hoped the amendment
would be adopted He would not charge Gen Taylor OF
Gen Scott with want of patriotism-he would not say
that they might not be qualified to prosecute the war sue
cessfuly but he would refer gentlemen who opposed this
had refused to march under the command OF generals
who believed the to be unjust 1t was not reasona
be had already been sad to expect the same patriotism
and spirit in the prosecution of the from political
opponent at the head of the armies, from who
disapproved OF the he prosecuting, as from
con6ding friend and who regarded the war as
Just and honorable in every respect
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