WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1849
76
Now, Colonel Dix had not been discharged previous to his death; he was in the service of the country at the time of his decease; he had not reached home, because he had been detained by his duties, growing out of and connected with the Mexican war; he was engaged in the discharge of those duties when he was, unfortunately for the family and his country, struck down by the shaft of death. Consequently, the compact between him and his Government was not dissolved; and, therefore, it is clear that his representatives are entitled, according to a just inter- pretation of the law, leaving all idea of liberality and generosity out of the question to a pen~ion. It seems to me that there cannot be any difference of opinion in relation to this point, when gentle- men come calmly to consider and weigh all the circumstances of the case. Sir, it is not because of his rank, or the circumstance that he has left an illustrious name behind him, that I would support the claim of his heirs in preference to the heirs of the humblest soldier that had a place in the ranks of our gallant army. The honorable gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Walker] said that he could not consent to the extension of our pension laws; that he thought it would be deleterious in influence and wrong in prin- ciple to extend their benefits to the exalted unless the humble should also be permitted to share in their blessings. Sir, if every one of the forty thousand men who served so faithfully and fought so gallantly in Mexico had perished on their way home, I would have voted a pension to every widow or every orphan left as a representative of any of those soldiers, even though it should have involved this nation for ten years, and been a draught upon our revenue for many years to come. It is not the condition or station of the individual that will regulate my action, but simply the question as to the justice or injustice of granting this pension. I would grant it; and why? Because the person in whose behalf this claim was made, or upon whose merits the claim is based, died in service immediately connected with the war, and no ques- tion as to the justness of the claim could have arisen had he fallen in the field of battle. It is impossible to separate these two phases of the question. Colonel Dix died in the service of his country, in the war with Mexico, just as clearly as if he had been struck down by disease
Powered by FlippingBook