The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-08-26

tions, which are essential to the effective.
ness of military force IN the field. With
40 provision TO pay the troops, the con-
tracts of enlistment would be broken, and
the army must in effect be disbanded; the
consequence of which would be so disas-
trous as to demand all possible efforts to
avert the calamity.
1t is not merely that the officers and en-
listed men of the army are to be thus de-
prived of the pay and em0luments to which
they are entitled by standing laws; that
the construction of arms at the public ar
mories, the repair and construction OF ord
nance at the arSenals, and the manufacture
of military clothing and camp equipage
must be discontinued; and the persons con-
nected with this branch of the public ser
vice thus be deprived suddenly of the en-
plOyment essential to their subsistence
Nor is it merely the waste consequent on
the forced abandonment of the sea-bOard
Notifications and Of the interior military
posts and other establishments, and the en-
ormous expense Of recruiting and re-Organ-
izing the army, and again distributing it
over the vast regions which it now Occu-
pies. These are evils, which may. it is
true, be repaired hereafter by taxes impos
ed on the country.
But other evils are involved, which no
expenditures, however lavish, could rene
DIV, in comparison with which local and
personal injuries or interests sink into insig-
nificance.
\ great part of the army is situated on
the remote frontier, or in the deserts and
mountains of the interior. TO discharge
large bodies of men in such places, without
the means of regaining their homes and
where few, if any, could obtain subsistence
by honest industry, would subject them to
suffering and temptation, with disregard of
justice and right most dcrogatory to the
Government.
In the Territories of Washington and
Oregon, numerous bands of Indians are in
arms, and are waging war of extermna-
ton against the white inhabitants; and al
though our troops are actively carrying on
the campaign, we have no intelligence as
yet of successful result. On the West
ern plains, Notwithstanding the imposing
display of military force recently made
there. and the chastiSement inflicted on the
rcbelious tribes, others, far from being dis
mayed, have manifested hostile intentions,
and been guilty Of outrage$, which, if not
designed TO provoke a conflict, serve to
show that the apprehension of it is INSULT
cicnt wholly to restrain their vicious pro-
pensities. y strong force in the State of
Texas has produced the Temporary su>pen-
sion of hOStilitcs there but in New Mexi-
co, incessant activity on the part of the
troops is required to keep in check the
marauding tribes which infest that Terrific
~. The hostile Indians have not been re-
moved fr"m the State of Florida; and the
withdrawal of the troops therefrom, leaving
that object unaccompliShed, would be most
injurious to the inhabitants, and a breach
of the positive engagement of the General
Government.
To refuse the supplies to the army, there
fore. is to compel the complete cessation of
all its operations and its practical disband-
ment, and thus to invite hOrdps of preda-
tory savages from the Western plains and
Rocky Mountains, to spread devastation
along a frontier of more than four thousand
miles i'll extent, and to deliver up the sparse
population of vast tract of country to ra-
pine and murder.
Such, in substance, would be the direct,
and immediate effects of the refusal of Con-
gress for the first time in the history of the
Government, to grant supplies for the main
tpnance of the army the inevitable waste
OF millions of public trPasure-the intiic
ton OF extreme wrong upon all persons
connected with the military establishments
by service, employment or contracts-the
recall of our forces from the field.-the
fearful sacrifice of life and incalculable des-
truction of property on the remote frontiers
the striking of our national flag on the
battlements of fortresses which defend our
maratime cities against foreign Invasion
the violation of public honor and good faith
and the discrcdit of the United States in
the eyes of the civilized world.
l confidently trust that these considera-
tons and others apPertaining to the domes-
tic peace of the country which cannot fail
to suggest themselves to every patriotic
mind, will, on reflection, be duly appreci-
atcd by both Houses of Congress, and in
duce the enactment of the requisite provi-
Sions of law for the support of the army of
The United States.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
WASHINGTON, AUGUST 81, 1856