CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. (!NCKEASE OF PENSIONS.) 



251 



al vaults and chambers to relieve those that 

 are now plethoric with the precious metals ac- 

 quired by the valor of those men, the remnant 

 of whom we are speaking for, it is objected 

 to, and there is a parsimonious and higgling 

 spirit in regard to allowing them anything. 



"I once before on this floor took occasion 

 to speak of this question as it really exists, and 

 that is as a sectional question. New England 

 had but little share in the Mexican War. We 

 might as well tell the truth while we are go- 

 ing along. State after State in New England 

 had no concern in it. The State of the Sena- 

 tor from Massachusetts had but little share in 

 it except by purchased troops. Other States 

 in New England had not one single soldier 

 there. 



" I intend to advertise the country again of 

 the fact that New England was opposed to 

 that war and had no troops there. I will 

 qualify that expression to this extent : when I 

 say that New England had no troops there I 

 do not mean literally that there was nobody 

 there from New England, but I do mean that 

 New England gave no support to the Mexican 

 War. I mean further that I can take a map 

 and outline the boundaries of this Government 

 as it would have been if New England had had 

 her policy. She fought Jefferson. Jefferson 

 purchased Louisiana, with her outlying, vast, 

 and vague boundaries, and New England 

 wanted to impeach him. James K. Polk, 

 another Democratic President, fought the war 

 with Mexico, and New England fought him. 



" The results of Jefferson's purchase are 

 known and the results of the Mexican War are 

 known. 



" If the policy of New England had pre- 

 vailed, if the old Federal idea had obtained, 

 this day and this hour I would hold up on the 

 floor of the Senate the map of the United 

 States bounded on the west by the Mississippi 

 river. The Senator from Massachusetts well 

 knows that fact. I challenge him to show a 

 single instance where New England has ever 

 advocated the advancement of the standard 

 of this country beyond tho Mississippi river. 

 When I say that I say it with regard, so far as 

 he is personally concerned, because I call to 

 mind while saying it a most liberal, broad, and 

 national letter of his last summer on the sub- 

 ject of the improvement of the Mississippi 

 river. I do not include him in any criticism of 

 the policy of the past, but I speak of the past 

 as it is. If this hour the policy of the old Fed- 

 eral party was stamped upon the map of the 

 United States, it would be found as it is hung 

 up in the office of the Commissioner of the 

 Land-Office, at the Department of the Interior. 

 I have looked upon it, and I proclaim here 

 that every step beyond, every step on the sun- 

 set side of the Father of Waters, is due to the 

 spirit, policy, action, and legislation of the 

 Democratic party, and in direct hostility and 

 triumph over the policy of New England and 

 the Federal party of that section. 



" I find every time that the question of pay- 

 ing these old veterans who exist in a few num- 

 bers in each county in the United States ex- 

 cept New England, ten or fifteen in the various 

 counties, poor, humble, waiting whenever a 

 question arises here to do something for them, 

 however small, it is encountered by that section 

 of the country which had neither sympathy, 

 action, nor men in that movement. 



" I do not know that the amendment of the 

 Senator from Florida is to obtain to-night. I 

 expect not. It will be obstructed in some way. 

 I did not intend to advocate a single amend- 

 ment to the original bill 1410, that came 

 here from the House, nor did I. I opposed 

 every one of them. I voted against the amend- 

 ment of the Senator from New Hampshire, 

 which I thought very well of. I opposed the 

 amendment of the Senator from Connecticut, 

 which is not entirely objectionable, but I 

 wanted this bill that came from the House, 

 pure and simple, to help one-legged and one- 

 armed men, to pass, and so I voted against 

 amendments that were in themselves merito- 

 rious. 



"But now, inasmuch as the amendment of 

 the Senator from Connecticut has been adopt- 

 ed, I shall vote for one more ; I shall vote for 

 this amendment offered by the Senator from 

 Florida. I would not vote for it, much as I 

 approve of it, if the bill had not already been 

 amended; I would keep it pure and clean; 

 but whenever the question of paying the sur- 

 vivors of the Mexican War comes before the 

 Senate I shall adhere to what I have heretofore 

 said, that I shall meet this question, always 

 raised on the part of New England in the in- 

 terest of economy, but I think in the interest 

 of an ancient policy on their part, as I have 

 met it here to-night." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said : "I do not 

 know any reason why a professional man who 

 is destitute and who served his country should 

 be excluded from the benefit of his country's 

 gratitude, while the man who is not a profes- 

 sional man should receive it. That is not the 

 way to tempt professional people and mercan- 

 tile people, and all the other body of people ex- 

 cept day-laborers, to uphold the flag of their 

 country. The amendment itself, therefore, if it 

 means what my friend thinks it does, proceeds 

 upon a false theory, in my view. But no matter 

 for that, I do not want to take up time about 

 that. 



" The difference between the case we have 

 in hand, the men whose legs and arms are gone, 

 and the case the Senator from Mississippi states, 

 is this : In this case we know that these people 

 are in their present condition in consequence of 

 their service ; the indigent survivors of the Mex- 

 ican War who do not already have pensions for 

 disability incurred in the line of duty are indi- 

 gent, are sick, or in trouble, not because they 

 were soldiers of the United States, but because 

 like the rest of mankind they are subject to the 

 infirmities of human nature and to the changes 



