CONGRESS, U. S. 



291 



because she has already furnished nearly thirty 

 thousand troops for three years, as we have 

 been told she has, she cannot furnish half as 

 many more. It is believed that, for a more 

 limited period, and for the special purposes 

 designated in this bill, she can and will furnish 

 more. I need not say that there are many 

 men who could go into the service for twelve 

 months who would find it inconvenient, if not 

 impracticable, to enlist for three years. If it 

 is admitted that it is the duty of the Govern- 

 ment to give protection to loyal citizens who 

 have attested their loyalty to the country by 

 as great sacrifices, at least, as the citizens of 

 any part of the country, I see not how we can 

 hesitate a moment about the passage of this 

 bill. These men must be protected. It is a 

 duty which the Government owes them." 



Mr. Blair, of Missouri, rose and replied to 

 the statement that the force was not needed. 

 He said : " Mr. Speaker, I merely desire to oc- 

 cupy the attention of the House for five or six 

 minutes in concluding this debate ; and I want 

 especially to reply to the remarks made by the 

 gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lovejoy), who 

 first spoke in opposition to this bill. He as- 

 serted over and over again that this force is 

 unnecessary, and that we have more troops than 

 we want, and do not know what to do with 

 them. Now, I would reply to that remark by 

 saying that we have the best reason in the 

 world for believing that we have not got 

 enough men in the field, for we have not been 

 able to conquer this enemy anywhere as yet. 

 That is one proof of it, and another proof of it 

 is that we never have met them anywhere that 

 they have not outnumbered us. We have 

 never confronted the enemy in battle yet when 

 they have not been superior to us in numbers, 

 and we have never been able to drive them 

 back one foot. I think that that ought to be 

 proof conclusive to the gentleman from Illinois 

 that we have not got enough men." 



Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, in reply, said : " I 

 suppose that fact is accounted for by this, that 

 the enemy never will meet us unless they are 

 superior in numbers. They watch their oppor- 

 tunity, and never meet us on an equal field 

 with equal numbers." 



Mr. Blair answered : " Then why does not 

 our army advance and overrun them ? " 



Mr. Lovejoy again replied : " Because we 

 have no generals." 



Mr. Blair responded : " Mr. Speaker, these 

 gentlemen who insist all the time that we have 

 got more men than we want, ought to be made to 

 look the facts in the face. We have not as many 

 men here though the gentleman is complain- 

 ing of being overrun in the city of Washington 

 as the enemy have in their breastworks on 

 the other side of the river." 



Mr. Hickman, of Pennsylvania, now rose and 

 said: "I wish to ask the gentleman from 

 Missouri how it comes, then, that this Admin- 

 istration is derelict in its duty in not asking 

 Congress to raise more men " 



Mr. Blair replied : " I do not know that the 

 Administration is derelict ; I rather think the 

 gentlemen who refuse to vote troops are dere- 

 lict." 



Mr. Hickman responded : " That was not 

 my question. I wish to know of the gentle- 

 man from Missouri how it is that the Adminis- 

 tration is derelict in duty in this respect ; why 

 do they not ask Congress to raise more men ? 

 If we have not yet a number sufficient to con- 

 quer the enemy, then it is the plain duty of the 

 Administration to ask us to vote more men ; 

 but they have not done so. This measure 

 comes upon the recommendation of the Military 

 Committee alone." 



Mr. Blair again said : " Let me say to the 

 gentleman from Pennsylvania that it' the Ad- 

 ministration is derelict, as he argues, that is no 

 reason why we should be so; and when we 

 see the fact as plainly as the Administration 

 can see it, or as anybody else can see it, that 

 our armies are not advancing, and that we have 

 never met the enemy except when the enemy 

 were in overwhelmingly superior numbers; 

 when that is the undisputed fact before the 

 country, we are ourselves derelict in duty if 

 \ve do not vote additional troops. 



" Now, sir, let me reply to another question 

 which the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Love- 

 joy) asked of the gentleman from Pennsylvania 

 (Mr. Wright,) and that was, whether he was 

 willing to accept all the men who would offer 

 'their service in this war ? I say I would every 

 man. It would end the war quicker and more 

 cheaply, in my opinion. I think the objection 

 of the chairman of the Committee of Ways 

 and Means (Mr. Stevens), that this is an ex- 

 pensive measure, and that our Republic is to 

 be crushed by the expense of this war, is in- 

 valid. I believe that the more men we raise 

 the more speedily will we end this war, and 

 the more cheaply, too. I should have been in 

 favor of doubling the number of men we have 

 raised, and putting them in the field ; and if it 

 had been done sooner, in my opinion we should 

 have felt the advantage of it now." 



The bill was then read a third time and 

 passed the House, but failed to pass in the 

 Senate. 



The subject of a reduction of the army came 

 up also in the Senate, on the 28th of March. 

 Mr. Grimes, of Iowa, moved that the Com- 

 mittee on Military Afitiirs and Militia be dis- 

 charged from the further consideration of the 

 following resolution : 



Retohed, That in the opinion of the Senate no per- 

 sons should be commissioned as generals of divisions 

 or brigades except such as shall exhibit superior com- 

 petency in the command of men, or gallantry in action 

 against the enemy. 



Mr. Grimes thus stated the object of the 

 resolution : " I merely desire to get it before 

 the Senate in order that we may put it in the 

 proper form, and then express to the country 

 and to those who have the authority to appoint 

 general officers in the army, what are our con- 



