Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1847-05-29

his earnest recommendations . on the subject
relation to was, in telling Congress that, indie
pendenly of an unexhausted authority to call int
service volunteers in any reasonable quantity, her
aoere many more regular troops already authorize
by ia,o than had been enlisted, and that it was no
possible to foretell what number oftroops would b.
required. This, of course, was well calculated II
| stimulate Congress TO active exertion Here arr
the extracts from the Secretary's report which re
late to the subject
"Authority given the last session Of Congress to in
the rank and file OF the regiments in the regular
vice to than double the former number Prompt
taken procure recruits but they haze moi bee
attended with tie desired eject When filled up the maxi
allowed by law and Executive approbation our regua
force will be 6 99s officers men but does not nov
exceed 10000" This shows a deficiency in the numbe
then authorized of nearly 1000
IN is not possible 10 toreeH with much precision ha
number Of troops the erigeacies Of the may require m
the ensuing year. The estimates presented to the Secretary
of the Treasury have been made upon the present establish
ment of the regular troops, wholly filled up, giving
force of 1898, exclusive of enlisted Of ordnance
upon ten additional regiments TO be raised TO the
Of the war, which will amount to $50 and upon contn
gent force Of thousand volunteers be organized under
existing laws, and called into service if needed"
Here we have a just and fair exhibit of the yea
displayed by the President and his Cabinet, both
before and after they had undertaken the expedition
intended to penetrate TO the capital of Mexico.
find thus matters stood until Congress had been
IN session nearly a month Then, and not before,
when one-third of the session had expired, did the
President prepare special message, dated on the
29th of December but not communicated to Con-
gress till the 18th of January asking that authority
should be promptly given TO increase the regular
army, and to remedy existing defects in its organi-
cation :" and, connected with this message was
The recommendation to Congress TO authorize the
appointment Of Lieutenant General Of the
.4rmy, which was believed by many persons TO
have been the main or more immediate object OF
the message.
In the mean time, however and on the very day
of the date of this special message, las though it
had been prepared in order accompany it, bill
had been reported in the House of Representatives
by its Committee on Military Affairs, making pro-
vision for the ten additional regiments. This bill
was taken up Immediately on the receipt of the mes
sage, (the 4h January, and, after having been dis
cussed in Committee of the Whole, was passed on
the IL tn OF the same month. 1t then went 10 the
Senate where, after having undergone much essen
tlal amendment, it passed on the lst of Feb
ruary Another week was then consumed in ar
ranging and discussing the amendments between
the two Houses which resulted in the final passage
OF the bill on the 10th of February, being only a
little more than month from the time that the
President specially invited the attention of Congress
to it, So that, notwithstanding all the clamor in
under the circumstances, it was not unreasonaby
delayed by either House of Congress, having
necessarily to undergo much discussion land not
factious discussion either, for we believe il
came more from the Democratic than the Wing
nembers) as to the expedency of giving to regular
troops preference over volunteers, the manner OF
providing and securing land bounty TO the SOL
diers and grave constitutional question respect
ing the privilege of the Senate to pass upon the APP
pointments of officers for the new regiments. To
do all this Congress took but little more time than
did the Executive to make up its mind to invite
that special attention TO the subject for which his
over-zealous partlsans give him so much credit
Such are, plainly stated, the facts in relation to
what is called the Ten Regiment Act; from which
historical narrative every reader will be able to
Judge for himself whether any blame whatever rests
upon Congress for not having passed it in time to
enable troops 10 be raised under it in season " to
take part in Gen. Scorr's operations"