IN SENATE.
TUESDAY, January 27, 1863.In accordance with the recommendation from the Committee on Finance, the bill [S. 21] regulating the fees of officers, was laid on the table.
PAY OF SOLDIERS.
Mr. MARCH, from a select committee, reported back the House concurrent resolution with regard to the pay of soldiers, with an amendment reducing the pay of commissioned officers in such manner as the pay in the several grades may be more nearly equalized.
Mr. LANDERS opposed the amendment. He favored the resolution as it came from the House. He objected to burdening the Treasury of the United States. The amendment was indefinite, as regards the pay of commissioned officers.
Mr. CLAYPOOL moved to amend by striking out of the amendment all that relates to commissioned officers. He was not afraid to put himself upon the record. The pay of private soldiers was always too low, and, in the diluted state of the currency, the pay of officers is not too high.
Mr. MARCH, The amendment offered by the committee did not say reduce all grades 25 per cent., but left the amount of reduction to those who knew better than we do what reduction in the several grades would be fair and just.
Mr. MANSFIELD opposed the proposition to reduce the pay of officers. Distinctions must, in the nature of things, exist in military life. Take the military history of the world from the time of Julius Caesar down, and you will find that the stricter the discipline and the more marked the distinctions between the grades, the more high-toned and efficient the army. He would be glad, if it was possible, to raise the pay of soldiers, but that, in the present state of the Treasury, was impossible, and he would vote against the whole proposition. He would prefer to pay what we owed first and then, if we had any to spare, it could fee expended in the manner proposed. But in no ease would he favor a reduction of the officers' pay. He regarded the resolution as a buncombe one.
Mr. WOLFE. It is true in an army that a soldier is looked upon as a mere machine, but Senators here should regard them as men having rights at home, if not in the army. The reduction of the pay of officers would enable the government to deal more liberally with the private soldier, and for that reason he favored the resolution as it came from the House. Is the class of commissioned officers in the army the only class who are not to bear their share of the burdens that fell upon the shoulders of all classes of the people? Are they alone to be exempt? The pay of officers has always been out of all proportion to the services rendered. We hear of these officers now instead of devising plans to beat the enemy, holding meetings and passing resolutions denouncing the loyal citizens of their own State--denouncing members of this Legislature as a miserable set of "butternuts " These gentlemen are getting a little too fast and saucy. They should remember they spring from the people, and should be taught to attend to their own business. Bring these men down to a level that will teach them to attend to their own business, and let page: 89[View Page 89] other people attend to theirs. The same rule holds good in churches. Those ministers, whose salaries were such as made them rich, were always meddling where they should not. The purest preachers were those who were paid the least. He was opposed to the mere money patriot. Such men as McClellan and Burnside, and Rosecrans, men who did not fight for pay, he did not allude to in these remarks. He believed they, and many others, were far above all sordid aims ; but there were thousands of leeches hanging on to the army who were overpaid and their pay should be reduced.
Mr. PLEAK advocated a concurrence with the report of the committee. His own personal experience as a private soldier had taught him that the orderly Sergeant was the most important officer in the company. This officer did more duty and had more responsibility than a Captain, yet he received but twenty dollars a mouth. It was a mistaken idea that a Captain had great pecuniary responsibility. The arms and equipments were charged to the soldier, and, if lost, he was the loser, and not the commanding officer. Lieutenants were often of little utility, but their pay was nearly six times that of the Orderly Sergeant. He knew of officers charging for servants that they never bad. The Sergeant Major did half the duty required of regimental officers, yet his pay was almost nothing. He was for changing the rule, and for equalizing the pay in proportion to the amount of important labor performed.
Mr. MURRAY favored the amendment to the amendment. If that did not prevail he would vote for the amendment of the Committee, and if that was lost he would vote for the House resolution. He did not think as a general rule the officers entered the service for the sake of making money. There may be instances, but he thought they were rare. He wanted the pay of the privates raised at all events He was happy to see that the majority of the Legislature favored the increase. It would have a good effect on the army and the country.
Mr. WHITE favored the amendment to the amendment. The soldiers from Indiana were intelligent, and calculated when they entered the service how they were to meet the expenses. He would, however, favor the increase of pay to the soldier to meet the increased price or value of articles. And he would oppose the reduction of the officer's pay. The officers did not make themselves. They were chosen by the men themselves, with the full understanding of the power belonging to the position and the pay attached to it. There was no division or brigade or regiment in the service ever petitioned to have the pay of the officers reduced. He would he always be willing to vote to increase the pay of gallant soldiers led by gallant men.
Mr. MARCH read the resolutions adopted at Murfreesboro.
Mr. HORD said the reading of those resolutions would determine his vote. As those officers had been so magnanimous as to agree to support the war out of their own private means, he would not favor a redaction of their pay.
Mr. DOWNEY said there was a long list of Major Generals and other officers of high rank who were not doing any military service, and the principle of reduction of pay should apply to this class. Such officers as were engaged in active service should not have their pay touched, and the soldiers should have their pay increased. It might be an act of bad faith for Government to reduce the pay of officers below the amount stipulated when they entered the service. He offered an amendment so as to favor a reduction of the pay of all officers not having any command, or who are unnecessarily absent form the r command.
Mr. CLAYPOOL accepted the amendment. He said that while there seemed to be a spirit existing among legislators to cut down army expenses, they had shown no disposition to economize our own legislative expenses. The pay of pages, doorkeepers and clerks was greater than that of some commissioned officers. Entrenchment should commence in the civil offices at home. While patriotism prompted many to enter the service, it was no reason that these should leave a family at home unsupported. Civil officers at home received more pay in proportion to the amount of ability required or labor performed, to say nothing of their freedom from any risk of life, than some of our officers of the highest grade.
Mr. SHIELDS thought this was all a great fuss about nothing. He did not think our action here would effect much. Perhaps if it was known that this was an expression coming from the people of Indiana, Congress might pay attention to it. Imputations had been made in the public press and elsewhere that the Democratic party would impair the efficiency of the army. Resolutions had been passed in the army, and they had been trumpeted about as coming from Democratic officers, to show that Democrats, as a party, were flouted at by these resolutions He would take one of these officers from his District (Col. Gooding) to show what labor it took to make a Brigadier General, That man sold whisky for twenty years, pretended to vote the Democratic ticket, out bolted, nominations whenever he could make anything by it, got behind a stump at the battle of Perryville, and finally, to cap the climax, came home and whipped his wife. He instanced other officers from his District who were elevated from the lower depths to high military commissions. It was these men who were getting up strife page: 90[View Page 90] in the army, a strife that would demoralize it. It was wrong, and should be discountenanced. One of these army resolutions was to put down traitors at home. Who were the traitors? Were they the Democratic party? That party had done as much as any other to sustain the country. Morton Hunter was another man held up to create derision in the country and the army. These men stigmatize a large portion of people of their State as Copperheads and Butternuts. He stigmatized such men as cowards and slanderers. He warned gentlemen to cease such work. There might be danger at home if it was continued. Gentlemen here sometimes talk well, but has any of them denounced the leading organ of their party in Cincinnati, or their organ here, for their continued and foul denunciations of the Democratic party as traitors?
Mr. MANSFIELD deprecated the use of the army as a political machine, but the expressions of the army at Murfreesboro, as embodied in the resolutions referred to, contained nothing of a political nature. They were expressions that he trusted every Senator would endorse.
Mr. COBB said that the question of a reduction of the salaries of civil officers was not before the Senate, but that of military officers was, and, for one, he believed in so changing the pay as to secure an increase of compensation to the private soldier and reduction of that of officers. The distinction between the pay of the two classes was too great, and he was for a change that would, taking into consideration the duties performed by each, more nearly equalize their compensation. As to the officers' meeting referred to, he claimed that the legislators at home had better opportunities of judging of the wishes and wants of the country, and understood their own duties better than the officers who, from home, are engaged in suppressing an unholy rebellion. When these officers attempt to direct the Legislature here, they neglect their duty, the duty they are paid for, and interfere with what does not belong to them. They should be treated with deserved contempt. It was evident that there was a disposition on the part of the Republican press and politicians to make the Democratic party appear a treasonable organization. The organs of the Democratic party never reach the army, and the vile papers of the Republican party were heaped full of slanders to mislead and deceive the army in the field. But the private soldiers were not fools, and would wait for the facts. The Journal, of this city, gives aid and comfort to Jeff. Davis and the traitors in arms by it's classification of parties on this floor.
Mr. CLAYPOOL. How does the Sentinel classify Republicans in the other House? Does it not call them Abolitionists.
Mr. COBB I don't care how that paper classes them, but for myself I call all those who indorse the President's Proclamation Abolitionists. He could make nothing of such but unadulterated Abolitionists.
Mr. MANSFIELD. Suppose members vote for abolishing the Common Pleas Court, are they Abolitionists?
Mr. COBB. They are in that sense. He would in every vote he gave support the resolutions as they came from the House.
Mr. MELLETT contended that it was a mistaken idea that officers could make money out of their salaries, and he would never vote to reduce the pay of those who wore shoulder-straps as a mark for rebel sharpshooters, and who had wives and children at home to be cared for. But he would favor an increase of the pay of soldiers. Things had been said and written in Indiana by men who remained at home enjoying all the luxuries of life that were treasonable, and it was proper that those who bore the brunt of battle in defence of their country should speak in condemnation of such treasonable actions.
Mr. DUNNING (Mr. Johnston in the chair) was sorry that Murfreesboro resolutions had been introduced into the Senate. But he would say that if those resolutions were intended as an intimidation, they would fail. There was nothing in the conduct of the Legislature to justify any such expressions on the part of the officers at Murfreesboro as would imply a lack of loyalty on the part of the majority. These false imputations upon the Democratic party existed only in the imaginations of men. They had no foundation in fact. The man who would seek to intimidate the great Democratic party of Indiana, or its people, had better understand them. He thought the cheeks of these gentlemen would tingle with shame when they read the resolutions of the Senate thanking the army of General Rosecrans and thanking Governor Morton for his care of the sick and wounded soldiers--Where was the evidence of treason in the Senate? Was it in passing the bills that had passed? There was no other definite action taken. He thought this discussion was all wrong, and he should have checked it when it run off from the question under consideration. He only rose to speak of Colonel Hunter, who was his neighbor.
Mr. SHIELDS and Mr. COBB both disclaimed casting any imputation on the character of Colonel Hunter.
Mr. DUNNING understood that. He simply as a neighbor, wished to say that Colonel Hutner, in his private relations, was a high-toned gentleman, but as a politician he was an intense and bitter partisan. it had been published to the world that he (Hunter) was a Democrat and it had been so published for effect. He simply wished to correct this impression.
page: 91[View Page 91]Mr. BROWNE, of Randolph, said that the Murfreesboro resolutions had been discussed as though they contained imputations of disloyalty upon the Legislature of the State. Such was not the case. The Legislature was not referred to, nor was there any reproach cast upon any political party. As to the question before the Senate, he was in favor of increasing the pay of soldiers, and reducing that of officers, because there was too much discrepancy between the pay of each. He believed that the patriotism of the officers would induce them to submit to a reduction of their pay.
Mr. WOLFE said that the remarks mace by him were called out by the newspaper reports that accompanied the Murfreesboro resolutions, and not by the resolutions themselves. There was nothing objectionable in them as far as he could see now. He was informed by persons who were with the army at the time these resolutions were said to have passed, that they did not believe that any such meeting as that represented was ever held. He believed, when the truth was known, it would be found that a few persons got together over a bottle of champaign, and made and passed the resolutions. The whole matter had caused more discussion than it should have done.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
Mr. WOLFE moved to lay Mr. Claypool's amendment on the table.
On motion by Mr. MURRAY, further consideration of the question was postponed till to-morrow.
CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENT.
On motion by Mr. RAY, it was--
Resolved, That a select committee of one from each Congressional District be appointed on the part of the Senate to act with a like Committee to be appointed on the part of the House, to prepare and present to the Senate an Apportionment Bill districting the State for Representatives in the Congress of the United States.
THE FEDERAL TAX.
On motion by Mr. JOHNSTON, it was--
Resolved, That the Committee on federal Relations be instructed to inquire into the expediency of the State of Indiana demanding of the General Government the right and privilege of collecting and paying over the amount of all Federal taxes that are now levied, or may hereafter be levied on this State, in her own way, under her own laws, and by her own State and county officers, and report by bill or otherwise.
THE STATE OF THE UNION.
Mr. WOLFE introduced a joint resolution [3], which was passed to the second reading.
It is as follows:
WHEREAS, The present civil war into which the people have been forced by the wicked and fanatical factions North and South, is detrimental to the best interest of the country and of mankind, and a reproach upon the civilization of the age--filling the land with widows and orphans and mourning house holds; bankrupting the Government and oppressing the people with taxation beyond their ability to bear; destroying the productive industry of the laboring man and filling the coffers of the wealthy filling the Northern section of the Union with a vagabond and servile race to compete with or prey upon the industry of the white man ; imposing unequal burdens and commercial restrictions upon the different portions of the North, thereby increasing the danger and the evil of further disintegration ; sapping the foundation of religion, morality and public virtue ; corrupting our rulers by an increase of political patronage ; destroying personal liberty under the tyrant's plea of necessity ; and obliterating from the hearts of the people the spirit of nationality and brotherhood, which is the only sure bond of union ; and,
WHEREAS, Experience has taught the costly and bloody lesson, that war alone is no remedy for the evil of disunion, but when waged in the spirit of sectional hatred, for an unconstitutional purpose, or in a manner not sanctioned by the laws of civilized warfare, it is the strongest ally of disunion, and if persisted in will result, not only in the bankruptcy of the nation and the impoverishment of the people, but also in a final separation of the different sections and the destruction of our admirable form of free government; and
WHEREAS, The people of Indiana are desirous that no effort which inspires a reasonable hope of success in restoring the Union as it was under the Constitution, shall be omitted ; and being solemnly impressed with the conviction that arms alone, under the recent and present policy of the Cabinet at Washington, will never accomplish that desirable object; and invoking the prayers of all good men and the smiles of a God of Peace in the furtherance of our patriotic purpose ; therefore,
Be, it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana,
- That while we will continue to obey every constitutional requisition which true patriotism shall demand, for the purpose of restoring the Union and preserving our constitutional liberty, yet we are opposed to a war for the liberation of the slaves ; and, while that policy is maintained by the Administration, the highest dictates of patriotism impel us to withhold from it our support; believing that a war for that purpose is unconstitutional, and a wicked usurpation, and, if persisted in, will lead to the inevitable and lasting destruction of the Union.
- That no Union can be maintained in this country until fanaticism on the negro question, North and South, is eradicated, and the doctrine of Popular State Sovereignty is acknowledged as a fundamental axiom of the Government. The people of the North must yield up the heresy of Abolitionism, or else yield up the blessings of the Union. Abolitionism and the Union are incompatible ; the one or the other must triumph. A war for Abolitionism is war against the Union; a war for the Union is a war against Abolitionism. Abolitionism is moral treason, and but for the forms of law with which it is clothed by the Administration, is actual, legal treason. No patriot can be an Abolitionist.
- That the interest of the white race, as well as the black, demands that the condition and locality of the latter should not be interfered with; and a war, or legislation, or Presidential Proclamations to accomplish the purpose of the negroes freedom and consequent migration to the North, are acts of flagrant violation of the Constitution, and in wicked disregard of the people's voice and the best interests of the country, and all such acts ought to be constitutionally resisted by an outraged people.
- That President Lincoln's scheme of "Compensated Emancipation," which proposes to tax the people of Indiana to liberate the slaves of the South, is unconstitutional, and a monstrous iniquity, which a tax-ridden and over-burdened people will not submit to. The freemen of Indiana will not consent to impoverish themselves and their families to carry it that insane and wicked policy, but will resist is by every constitutional means in their power.
- That the system of arbitrary arrests, and the wanton disregard of the Great Writ of Liberty, commonly called the habeas corpus, by the Cabinet at Washington, are acts of tyranny and usurpation, justly alarming to a free people, against which the State of Indiana protests with indignation ; and in page: 92[View Page 92] the name of constitutional liberty she demands that the accursed system shall cease within her borders ; and we declare the unalterable determination of the people to maintain the liberty of speech, the liberty of the press, the right to the writ of habeas corpus and speedy trial by jury, at every hazard of blood and treasure.
- That the State of Indiana, on account of her devotion to the Union, and her geographical position and commercial interest, never will consent to any settlement upon a basis of disunion or a policy which shall separate her from the States bordering upon the Mississippi river. Her highest interest demands the perpetuation of the Union, and especially that the Great Valley of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth shall remain under one government and one flag.
- That the war in which we are engaged ought to cease as soon as it can be brought to an honorable and satisfactory termination ; and upon that sublet the people, who are bearing its burdens, have a right to speak. Therefore, our Senators in Congress are instructed, and our Representatives requested to use all the power and influence of their positions, by bill, resolution, or otherwise, to accomplish the following objects, viz ; 1. To procure an armistice of at least six months, between the Federal and Confederate armies, for the purpose of testing the probability of a permanent peace on the basis of the Union. 2. To pass a law calling a Convention of all the States, composed of delegates freely chosen by the people, to take into consideration the state of the country, and to devise some plan of settlement to be submitted to a vote of the people North and South, by which the Union shall be preserved, and the country restored to a lasting peace.
- That the Governor be directed to transmit a certified copy of the foregoing preamble and resolutions to each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress, to be laid before their respective bodies ; and to the Governors of each of the States, to be by them laid before their respective Legislatures.
LEGISLATIVE APPORTIONMENT.
On motion by Mr. RAY, it was--
Resolved, That a select committee of one from each Congressional District be appointed on the part of the Senate to act with a like committee to be appointed on the part of the House to prepare and present to the Senate an Apportionment Bill districting the State for State Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly.
NEW PROPOSITIONS.
The following bills were introduced, read the first time, and severally passed to the second reading:
By Mr. DICKINSON, [48] erecting the 14th Judicial Circuit, and attaching the county of Huntington to the 10th Judicial Circuit.
By Mr. BRADLEY, [49] relative to the school tax levied upon corporations, and providing the manner of distribution and loaning of the same, and other matters properly connected therewith.
By Mr. WRIGHT, [50] for the relief of John B. Redd.
By Mr WILLIAMS, [51] to amend the 21 section of an act relative to the salaries of public officers, approved March 5 1859.
By Mr. MARCH, [52] to amend the 55th section of an act to amend an act to authorize and regulate the business of general banking, passed March 3, 855.
By Mr. CULVER, [53] to amend the 1st section of an act to amend the 6th section of an act providing for the organization of County Boards, approved Jan. 17, 1862, which latter act was approved Feb 1861.
By Mr. CLAYPOOL, [54] to amend the 8th section of an act dividing the State into counties, approved June 7, 1852.
By Mr. HORD, [55] to amend the 4th section of an act authorizing Recorders to make out complete or general indexes, approved February 16, 1852, as amended by an act approved February 14, 1855.
By Mr. MARCH, [; 6] regulating the bequeathing, devising and conveying property for religious and charitable purposes.
By Mr. CULVER, [57] to allow County Commissioners to organize turnpike companies when a majority of persons representing the real estate within prescribed limits petition for the same, and levy a tax for its construction, and provide for the same to be free.
By Mr. DICKINSON, [58] to amend an act to authorize the Boards of Commissioners and the authorities of any incorporate city or town to make appropriations in certain cases, approved May 11, 1861, so as to authorize said Boards to make appropriations for bounties for volunteers, disinterring, transportation, and interring the bodies of deceased soldiers, and erecting monuments to their memories.
By Mr. MARCH, [59] fixing the amount of fees to be paid in the State Treasury for the services of the Auditor and Secretary of State in certain cases, repealing all laws in conflict therewith, and amending the 4th section of an act supplemental to the swamp land act, approved June 14, 1852.
WORK FOR COMMITTEES.
Senate bills 42. 44, and 46 (introduce on Saturday) were read the second time and referred to appropriate committees.
Mr. Beeson's County Auditors' bill [45] was ordered engrossed for a third reading.
