, 1860-05-18
Il E AR KS
HON. |. I. STEVENS.
OF WASHINGTON,
ON THE
VAR EXPENSES OF WASHINGTON AND OREGON,
MADE BEFORE THE
Committee Of Military Affairs Of the House,
March l5 1860.
ON THE


I1aTeh 10, lSbU.
Mr.. CHA1RMAN-Before proceeding will
nv remarks, l will request that the bill
providing for the payment of the wal
Claims of Oregon and Washington be frs
read.
The bill was then read, as follows:
A Bill for the payment of the war expenses of tn,
Territories Of Oregon and Washington in 1856.
Re il enacted By the Senate and House of Reprsssn
tuires of the United STATES Of AHeried in Congress
I,,embied That there be, and hereby is, Rppropha
ted ont OF any money in the treasury not otherwise
appropriated whatever amount may be necessary q
spable the Secretary of the Treasury to defuy thu
sTnenses necessarily incurred by the Territorial Gov
srnments Of Oregon and Washington in the suppress
ion of Indian hostilites therein in the years 1865 ant
1883, so far as the claims growing out Of said wa
have been adjudcated by the Commissioners appoint
"a for that purpose agreeaby to the provisions Of th
eleventh eecton Of the act Of the 18th August 1856
entitled An act making appropriations for certain
e expenses Of the Government, for the year ending
sOth June ls57,n and have been reported to the Wa
Dppartment by said Commissioners for payment.
And be further enacted, That the amounts sever
aV found due to the parties contained in the repOr
Of the said Commissioners, shall be paid to the sait
paes respectively or their legal representatives, Of
% the assignees or Attorney duly constituted and ap
pointed by said parties anything in the act approved
Juy 49, ls48 in the act Of February, 1853 to th,
contrary Notwithstanding.
This bill provides for the payment of the
war debt of Oregon and Washington, &c
eordng to the awards Of the commission
This commission was appointed under the
authority of an act of Congress, and We
hold that its decisions are binding upor
Congress, unless fraud or q want of jurisdic
ton can be established. | take it fol
granted that this committee do. not desire
me to go into the origin and. EAhse Of the
war; that they will assume as fundamental
that it was a necessary and inevitable war
that it was forced upon us by a most extra
ordinary combination Of the Indian tribes
in those distant Territories, end that the
very necessity of selfprotection compelled
the organization of the citizen troops oI
those Territories, and the operations which
they undertook against the, indians.
take it for granted that the point which this
committee design 10 consider is, as &c
whether the awards Of the commission shal
be sustained ?-in other words, that it j;
simply question as to prices for the ser
vices of men, and for supplies, Transports
ton, &c.
Mr.. STANTON. We have doubts about
the very thing which you take as funda'
mental We do not know that it was nee
essary TO call ont the troops-at least, to
the extent that they were called out. We
deem the matter still an open question, and
We would like some explanations about
those points.
Mr.. STEVENS. l am perfectly ready to
make those explanations now, although
came here not expecting that these points
would be matter Of inquiry or doubt, and
have, therefore, not prepared myself espe
.eislly for it. Some Of my authorities are
not here; still l am perfectly ready at once
to enter into the explanations desired by
the committee.
Mr.. OLrN. Looking through the des
patches, l find that Gen. Wool and otlieI
officers make serious and weighty charges
against the people Of the Territory, and
express the strongest judgment that there
was no necessity for calling out the volun
teers. l wish to ask, can you point ouI
the official reports-can you point out the
special aiidavits rebutting and disproving
these charges and statements Of Gen. WOOL
Mr. STEVENS. Before replying to these
questions, | have got to assume certair
things as conceded and established. l de
mand that before this committee the report
or statement of a civil officer shall have
precisely the same weight-no More, nc
leas--as that Of military officer | de
mand that the official report or statement
ofthe Governor of Oregon or of the Gov
erDor Of Washington shall have the same
weight as the Official report Of Major Gen
John Il. Wool, commencing the depart
ment of the Pacific and that the reports
Of Indian agents, or officers in the volun
iaer service, or of citizens Of acknowledged
character and integrity in the two Terrific
ries, shall have the same weight as the re
ports or certificates Of officers of the arm,
Or gentlemen elsewhere. Now, in answer
70 the question of my friend, Mr.. Olin,
will frst call the attention Of the committee
TO the general character Of the charges o
ten. Wool against the people and the vol
unieer service of those two Territories
These charges run through all Of Gen
Wool's official reports, and are notorious
throughout the whole country. He state
mat the war was a godsend to the pcopl,
Of those Territories; that the idea Of plum
OeFlng the public treasury had much to d,
hl'h commencing and continuing the war
mat it was scheme of plunder upon til,
pubic treasury that the people of boil
territories were Indian exterminatorS; tina
saese executives did not wish the wa
brought to an end, but desired to keep i
Al progress as long as they could find any
ptetext for it. These are Gen. Wool
Slarges, as given in his official reports
now these same executives, in their oficia
reports, most emphatically deny the trutl
taese charges. The people of those Ter
"'Orle' most emphatically deny the trutl