The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1852-09-07

I'd session of tho same Congress select
committee of one from each State was appoint
ed to inquire, among other things, "whetber
il would not comport with the public interest
to abolish said institution of which Mr.. Pierce
was member. This committee made report
in favor of modifying the system, which the
House refused even 10 print At the hrs ses
sion of the oath Congress an attempt was made
to get committee hostile to the institution,
but il failed; Mr.. Pierce voted, however, to
suspend the rules for that purpose. At tho
second session of tho Gath Congress the House
good aturedly-granted a select COMMITTEES,
of which Mr.. Pierce was member. Thg
reported a bill. but the House took no notito
of it, and it fell through.
Wo are now prepared for Mr.. Pierce's speech
in opposition to the institution. 1t was delk-
cred in the House of Representatives June 80,
1860 on consideration of the usual Appropri-
alton Act, and after contracting the expenses
Of the institution with its benefits, it concludes
"fferc are tho expenses you have incurred
and the products you have received I leave
them TO bo balanced by tho people. But for
myself-believing as / do that tho Academy
stands forth as an anomaly among the institu-
tions of this country; that IL is at variance
with the spirit if not the letter of the Consti-
tuition under we live; so long as this House
shall deny investigation into its principles
and practical operation--I, as an Individual
member, will not appropriate single dollar
for its support"
$50 long as the House shall deny investiga-
tion." Pretty language-this! after the House
had caused the subject to be investigated; once
by the appropriation standing committee, and
once by select committee, ofwhich Mr.. Piorce
was member
akV;l1 raT,oo 20 aD,~oo-;oko H. Gs,k Jonor
for its support That is to say, in place of
repeating tho law establishing the institution,
you will starve it out. High statesmanship
truly!
To the objection that many of the graduates
did not enter tho army, but went into civil life
ii was replied, by the friends of the institution
that the fact, if true, would throw into society
vast fund of military science, which would
be available in case of war. To this response
we have, from Mr.. Pierce, the following sneer:
"lndeed, sir, these young gentlemen, if they
could be induced to take the field, would
after the lapse of ten or fifteen years, come
from the bar, or il may be the pulpit, fresh in
military science, and admirably qualified for
command in face of the enemyr Poor COM
pliment, this, to Clay, Mckee, and others who
perished an the fields of Mexico.
And then, Mr.. Pierce, it is your opinion that
-
or fifteen years" at the ''bar, or it may be the
pulpit would cut poor figure commanding
Sin face of the enemy What then, are we
to think of the half dozen lawyers who never
saw the inside of West Point, and who were, on
occasion of the late war, appointed by Mr..
Polk major generals and brigadiers for no
other than political reasons, TO the prejudice
of gallant and accomplished officers who had
spent their whole lives in the public service.
What qualifications did they display for 'eom-
Gus tina, these lawyer generals had to surrouiid
themselves with staffs composed of these very
condemned graduates of West Point? and what
could this modern Napoleon Ito say nothing
of the llustrious Pillow, who put the ditch on
the wrong side (have done without their assist
anee? The truth is, that the late war with
Mexico has put down the enemies of the Acad-
emy, just as the war of 1912 put down the en-
emies of the Navy-both the one and the 9TH
or are fused up and done for
His Speech in opposition to the Bill for the Re
lief Of Mrs. Harrison, triddo,c Of the late
President Harrison.
The circumstances in which the widow Of the
and family of the lamented President Harri-
son were placed on his decease arc familiar to
the whole country. He had come TO this city
at great expense. and descended to the grave
in less than one month after his inauguration.
OF couso tho amount of which his widow could
draw from tho Treasury was mere pittance
and it was deemed proper by Congress to make
up to her n full years salary, and proposition
made to that effect. THIS Mr.. Pierce resisted
with his characteristic contractedness. il any
one wishes to sec specimen of cold-hearted
special pleading, we refer him to his speech as
reported in tho Congressional Globe, 1st sess-
ion 9th Congress, p. ll6. lilo protested a.
gainst following that ignis fatuus-that false
light of precedent" thus gentlemen as
he insisted, "might march to any extent in any
direction He added sit made vast differ
ence whether we paid the money from our own
pockets, or drew it from the pockets of our con-
sttuents.' How much relief poor Mrs. Har-
rison would have been likely to obtain from the
pocket of the honorable Senator current an
ecdote may perhaps show. Nevertheless tho
bill passed by vote of % yeas to l6 nays, Bu-
ceanan and Walker Or. J.) voting in the affir-
native, and wo believe II gave universal salts
faction. n l.,.,-, -,
His Votes. fr
When man is brought forward for the high
| ost Office in the gift of somo twenty five mill
| ions of people, who has been several years in
| Congress, and we can discover neither from the
measures which he has advanced, nor from
his speeches any breadth of views, or elements
of statesmanship, it may be indispensable to re-
fer to the votes in order to ascertain who and
what he is. This will often afford an infallia-
bic criterion of the man, and will enable us to
form a perfectly reliable estimate of his char
acter. We havo put ourselves to the troubles
oflooking over the journals of the House OF
Representatives for The 23d and oath Con-
crosses, and Of the Senate for the 25th, 26th
and eth, (up to the 2sth of February, ls42,)
| vofa hy vnta and wo ara coY,a rain eI n aav
that If there was any narrow, contracted, preju-
diced, or illiberal TO be taken of any subject
there wo have uniformly found Franklin Pierce
He seems to have been, when in the House, Q
close follower of the late Mr.. Polk, and We
should Judge, on inspection of the record, that
his highest ambition was to exhibit himself tc
the country as sort of pocket edition of tina
| gentleman. fff .l rs
/ The limits allowed us will exclude many o
the details which we should be glad to lay bo
fore our readers, but it will be sufficient to ro