The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-04-23

- 4e Rsps.blic Of Monday, contains tn
following editorial.
The explanation, we presume, IL semi-oflicial
Txx FRaszIxRs AAp THE. WAX DsPARrnEsr
-kvssy arrival from California. from Texas
aud New MEXICO, brings intelligence Of some
new outrage perpstsstsd by the Indians.
These g every Fsasop TO believe that, On
couraged by the impunity with which these out
rages have hitherto been too often committed,
they viii make fearful threads into the white
settlements during the approaching summer.
The War Department, we are informed, u
employing all the resources at its command To
avert these calamilies, but those resources are
entirely disproportioned to the magnitude OF
the service.
The Executive has done its duty in this mat
ter The President in his annual message. and
the Secretary of War and Commanding Cen
era in their respective reports At the opening OF
the last session of Congress, all united in earn
estly Recommending an additional number OF
mounted men, experience having shown that in
fantry Is Of but little service against an enemy
who il almost always mounted. Congress paid
no attention to these recommendations.
But this was not all. At an early period OF
the session the Secretary Of War addressed
Communications to the Committee Of Ways and
Means, informing them that the appropriations
for the quartermaster's department for the cur
rent fiscal year lending 30th June nexD would
be insufficient, This deficiency arose in part
from the fact that portion OF these appropria-
tions had been applied TO the payment OF expen-
diturea made or debts contracted during proceed
inc wears. Such deficiencies, In some one of the
departments, or il all Of them, occur every year
and ara provided for as a matter of course; and
vet the Committee of Ways and Means paid
not the smallest attention to this communities
ton. The consequence is, that the appropra-
tons for the Quartermaster's department for
the current year are already exhausted. In
portant movements are now going on in the
army requiring heavy disbursements in that de-
partment Besides it's ordinary expenditures,
necessarily large In countries ain ,ularly desti-
tute OF all the means and appliances acquired for
the support Of an army, services OF an unusual
character are required Of it.
An entire regiment (the mounted riiiemen)
are now on their way from Oregon to Texas
a regiment of infantry has just been ordered
from Jefferson barracks to tho Indian country
west Of Arkansas; while the regiment now sta.
toned in the latter country has been ordered
further west to establish chain of posts ex-
tending through the north Of Texas from Red
river to the Rio Grande. Add to this that the
War Department has been called upon to fur
nish escorts to the commission for surveying
the Mexican boundary, to the party engaged in
surveying the river ella under res0l ution OF
Congress, and to the Indian superintendent
and agents created bv recent acts to negotiate
treaties with the Indians in California and the
numerous tribes that infest the vast plains and
mountains on the route to Oregon. All these
operations require large expenditures by the
quartermaster's department; and yet, by most
extraordinary omission or neglect that depart
ment is left without adequate means to dis
charge its important duties.
Some time si,!ce we alluded to the fact that
the Committee of Ways and Means Of the
House of Representatives had assumed the re-
sponsibility of reducing the appropriations for
the support of the army far below the estimates
and that, too, in opposition to the unanimous
opinion of the Committee on Military Atfnirs
the chairman of which, Mr.. BURT, challenged
the chairman of the Committee Of Ways and
Means to point out single item OF the esti
mates that could be reduced
We understand that the excuse for this hap
hazard legislation in regard to the appropriations
for the ne1t fiscal year, was that Congress woulc
meet long before it expired, and consequently II
time to supply any deficiency; but what apoi
ogy can be offered for emitting to provide fo
an ascertained deficiency in the appropriations
for the current year--a deficiency too occasioned
in part, as we have said, by the applications o.
the funds appropriated for this year to the pay
ment of expenditures of previous years! W.
are far from wi, hing to impute improper mo-
tives to any one We cannot suppose it posi-
Bile that the Committee Of Ways and Meant
aouoht To embarrass the administration by with
holding supplies; we cannot believe that party
spirit could be carried so far rs to trihe with
the lives of the defenceless inhabitants of the
frontier. We leave to Others to speculate abou
reasons or motives. The fact however is un
doubted, and if adequate protection is not at
forded to the people of the frontier, we wIsi
them and We wish the whole country to under
stand where the fault and the responsibility lie
IMPORTANT FROM MExIco-The NeD Or
r. Oh IL H.