Weekly national intelligencer., 1847-07-03


Mr. BELL, being entitled to the floor, began Ivy saying
that the bill under consideration important from the fac
that proposed take large amount of public land and ast
a considerable OF money 1t derived additional and sul
greater Importance from the fact that this land and money
were to be distributed in bountes and pay to the volunteers
and soldiers who had been now, and would be, engag
ed in fighting the battles of the country in Mexico And
this besowa of bounty land and increased pay Mr. BELL re-
marked decidedly in favor 1t is burning shame tha
YOU have not paid the soldiers who have volunteered more
than the allowed by law. And will he stil
greater shame if the bill under consideration, or one having
the same general object, do not pass,
The bill proposes to pay the volunteers ten dollars month";
and to give TO such of may have enlisted Tor twelve
and served three MONTHS bundled and sixty acres oil aha
and to such hereafter mig more than year pro-
posed 10 give the same amount OF land The provisions OF
The bill would therefore exclude from the bounty land uch OF
the volunteers might have served hs than three MONTHS
though failure longer had been produced by sickness
or wounds incurred earlier the service and he VINO served
wear or longer would only receive the same amount o
land as he who the service for three months lhee
was eviden: injustice and inequality IN this
1t is impossible Mr. Chairman, TO deal out exact Jusce
and graduate the OF land precisely 10 the length anu
character of the service can however, approximate IT,
The amendment which have offered for the adoption OF the
committee has attempted and will to some extent accomplish
this object Itproposes to give to all volunteers ~ m "
dollars month"; and TO such Us may nave 'ouheeco o
less than five wears during the and may nave served
or NAV serve six months less approprates eighty acres
land to such ggeve months or less than twelve anu
more .an six one hundred and sixty acres o lanii 70 s
volunteer uL ave ye"s
les hM two ye.rs two spdred and forty acres and moe
ty Years three hundred and twenty acres No a
be given any but such might receive or Oe "
an honorable discharge but giving to the Wido" u
Or father and mother brothers and sisters oi SUCH aS a
been killed in battle or died in the service me same amount
the soldier would have received fhonorlby discharged
The objections which the able gentleman from ONO Nhr
YIsroS had urged papsiby and iorcoy asas 'e p,o
visions of the bill and the amendments have with me put te
weight The chief objection that, the hounY were
given it would only subject the soldiers to the designs anu I'M
\sions of specuaors If this objection were goou heh
pht with equal propety, be urged against all forms OF
bonnty whether of land or money For it Is impossible to
orie in auy conceivable form any pension or bounty that
will not be exposed the difficulty IL Is inherent 10
the very nature of the subject The ingenuity o man can
devise no OF legislation which can prevent tue design
n harer from proving on the creduous and Ignorant NO
legislative safeguard be cautiously conVed as 10 shed
he honest and the simple from the articles OF the fraudulent
and cunning Even your laws which extend pensions TO the
soldiers of the Revolution, have IN many instances proved
more nrofabe pension agent than TO the metoous
versions who intended to be the recipients OF the bench
cence and bounty OF the law. iou s have seen, NO all
have too often seen heaess specuIaor snatch from tue
ICED and inrm soldier onehaf OF that stnted ana 100 Sa
bounty which the gives comfort and make pleasant the
declining DAYS of him whose best and earliest years were spent
IN the service of the country ou nave mus seen men, ha
lowed n the estimation OF the good and CHRISTIAN ny present
ooerty and past services the Republic made the subject OF
heartess speculation ct no man would therefore argue
pensions should have been given to the Revolutionary sol
die Neither ought be urged that because some OF ne
W,
claims to the land which may be given by this bill that there
ore none should be granted may be true that some pro-
visions may inserted this bill which WILL 10 some extent
the lands given the soldier from the arts OF the secu-
lato. but | disagree with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr
JrnSe that by making the land warrant or the land Itself
inaienbe you accomplish the desired result on the
contrary whilst this proposed provision VIII not 90 he pro-
posed goC it viii produce much greater evils In the hst
~ q The nen will give YOU little thanks for land or land scrip
til viii not allow them to sell. Many OF the Voiun
eers youlg just commencing hle' without amheS'
who do settle on the ia' others OF hem nave
families and desrous Of quitting their present 10 seek
other homes the land may them Many OF them
are engaged in mechanical and professional pursuits and who
when to r respective homes, wish TO eengage
in their respective and 10 all such, you forbid
the sale of lands thy bounty thus will be compa-
atyey yaueess In fact its chief value to many OF them
will consist their ability AT some tine to sell II, that they
NAV thus have small which begin lie And 1t Is
with the view Mr. Chairman, OF giving this land and land
scrip higher value, feel constrained to oppose that other
suggestion made by the gentleman from Ohio Mr.. NINToS)
of recurring all the locations to be made specified dis
,rc This the great evil of the past legislation OF the
country in relation land bounur soers, and had
contributed than any other arrangement 10 render the
bounty worthless and expose the soldier TO the designs OF the
specuator Il is far better make the warrants what
called land floats to be located on any public and subject TO
entry and sale at the date Of the ae only restc
ZION which should be imposed is that the SCRIP shall be
subject attachment in chanccy the land labe to levy
and sale under execution.
Without arguing at any gea, length in favor Of any pa-
cuar mode of bastowng these bouuties Others in
favor Of that mode which the collected wisdom Of the House
NAV devise that best calculated most eIacualy
piish the object.
is desirable extend the provisions Of this bill other
classes Of soldiers than those engagcdu the present The
too long neg ected soldiers Of Wayne campaigns should be
remembered and rewarded Let deal with nggard hand
and sned charity with those gallant men who have hereto
fore in times of peril and pnvaion fought the battles Of c
counry or who now from the bunders OF the President
The atrocities of Mexico have been called to Eight in far dis
tant fields The Government has surveyed and cad
,r sale one hundred and fOysevcn millions oi acres; ha
really for survey more than three bundled millions Of
has a sti larger amount unsurgeyed-an amount so ag
that we cannot properly estimate IT, This constitutes vas
,naraznc from which the Government can reward beral
,s soldiers and with fear Of exhaustion self injury Th
eight millions which this bill would take from the public do
main would not in few years he et missed Ten year
hence il would not be known that the deduction had bee
made And in the time great good will be done b.
Withdrawing political contests the public lands whose dis
position has a long time been such disturbing clement
The bill besides the land bounty provides, ALSO as amend
cd proposes increase the of the volunteers from -
so DER month. gentleman from New York MIR. RArn
srxi asks how n the money TO be raised That queso
had better have been asked before TINS entered into
Then would nye bccu wisdom 10 have considered IT. But
s the answer i easy. Bring back the Government to a
economical ba-is put where sood before tins Admins
taon came power reduce overgrown salaries OF CIV
officers the annual expenditure in the civil department
be twenty -four instead Of hIrtyone millions OF dollars hn