Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1851-12-24


Department at the last session, which wiii
have to be supplied at the present session.
The Secretary, to carry out tne mishes
of Congress, to reduce the expenses %
the army, has cut down tne humper ol
enlisted men in the ordinance department
TO the original number of $50 from 687,
the number in service during the Mexi-
can war. Six of the eight Light Artille-
nv companies existing during the war,
have been dismounted. The original
number was four. Two of those dis
mounted, however, will be remounted so
soon as means are. provided. The num-
Der of clerks and others from civil life,
employed in various capacities, has been
greatly reduced. The cultivation of farms,
by troops, at the frontier posts if success
full, will also considerably reduce the pre-
sent expenses. Various other reductions
too tedious to mention, have likewise
been made but the Secretary says it is
not to be disguised that great laxity of
expenses and disregard of regulations ex-
lists in the army--to remedy which, the
department, seconded by the superior Of
ficers, has exerted itself, and which has
so far been successful that the Secretary
has the satisfaction to announce that the
estimates of the department for the next
fiscal year are considerably below the ex-
penditures of the present and preceding
years.
Tho expenditures for the support of
the army for the fiscal year en-
ding Both Juno last, were $9,060,26S So
The estimates for the next year are 7,99S,775 50
Showing reduction of $l,l61,49 rs
There are some other measures of econ
omy which the department would have
carried out, had the aid of legislation not
been necessary to enable it to do so.
Authority is asked for the Executive
% abolish useless arsenals; and the pre-
vious recommendation for power to enlist
men specially as leamsters again renewed.
The removal of distractions in the Red
River and the Rio Grande is also sugges-
ted, as matter of economy.
But whatever reductions Congress may
make, says the Secretary, the expenses
must continue to be enormous so long as
it is necessary that so large aportion of
our troops should be stationed on the
frontier. He therefore suggests that ev-
cry facility and encouragement should be
afforded to the formation of local mill
tia, in which our new possessions, like all
the Mexican States, are very deficient
On this subject, the Secretary remarks:
"As the first step towards the accom-
plishment of this subject, l would recon-
mend that the Executive be authorized to
distribute arms among the inhabitants
l am fully persuaded that the advantages
that would result from the adoption of
this measure, in familiarising the people
with the use of arms, in inspiring them
with confidence, and in encouraging the
formation of militia companies, would
more than compensate for the trifing ex-
pense that would attend it. The very
fact that the inhabitan were known to
be armed, would tend to in;imidate the
Indians. The distribution should, OF
course, be made with such precautions as
would prevent their being sold or CONVEX
ted to an improper use"
The Secretary is of opinion that policy
and humanity both require that we should
employ some other means of putting a
of our arms. We should try the effect of
conciliatory measures, There is no doubt
that the Indians are frequently impelled
to commit depredations by despair and
hunger,
The Indians are often compelled by the
whitos to lOH~O land which OfFOrdS HOuI
ishment to cattle and game, and seek re-
! fuge in arid plains and mountains. This
is particularly the case in Texas. The
United States, as the owners of the pub
lie domain, have always acted on the
principle that the aboriginal race had at
least right of occupancy in the soil, and
when it was needed for settlement this
right has been extinguished by voluntary
sale. Texas, on the contrary, as the ow-
ner of all the vacant lands within her
limits, acknowledges, it is said, no such
right and she has, from time to time,
taken possession of the territory occupied
by the Indians, laid it off into counties,
Nothing could be more calculated to alarm
and exaSperate the Indians, and to bring
about collisions be ween them and the
white sellers, than tie adoption of this
policy. Thas such has been and must
continue 10 be lis consequence, there can
be no doubt. 1t would seem, therefore,
to be to he advantage Of both Texas her
self and of the United States, that these
Indians should be left in undisturbed pos
session of small portion of her vast ter
ritory,
The Secretary, therefore, recommends
measures to be taken TO furnish, for a Sc
ries of years, food and other necessaries
to such Indians as will abandon their pre-
datory habits and cultivate the soil. Au-
thentic information, recently received at
the Department, leads to the belief that
these tribes are far less numerous than
they are supposed to be. and he has no
doubt (laying aside considerations of hui
manity) that it would be far less expen-