WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
473
Are they men of activity? Can they render efficient service, or will they be mere counters in the Army? Will they count one, two, three? They are that description of persons; and moreover, not intending the slightest reflection on their mechanic arts, or upon their origin, or upon the circumstances which surround them, I would venture to say, they are that description of men who are unqualified for these pursuits, and are thrown out of employment, or they are men who have been thrown on our shores from distant countries, alien in feelings to the United States, having no identity with us, who are not naturalized, and who go into the service as a resource; not from choice or motives of patriotism. These are the men that constitute our regular Army, and doubtless one third or one fourth of the men now in the service are not men who are "to the manner born." Are we to rely on these men for defensive purposes, or for other purposes to the country? No, sir. We have a resource in our country to which we can always have recourse. There is another impediment to respectability in the rank and file of the Army. To make the rank and file of the Army respect- able, you must hold out to a man some inducement beyond the mere receipt of eight dollars a month, or whatever the pay may be, clothes for the time being, and rations. To a man of any pride of feelings, or expectation, or of hope, you must hold out some inducement beyond the mere waste of human existence in the routine of military service. You must say to the gallant non- commissioned officer or private, to the man who in civil life would have expectation, if he had not exchanged it for the military profession: "Sir, upon your trial and your conduct depends the circumstance of your promotion to an office, an ensignancy, a lieutenancy, or even a cadetship." By doing that, you hold out to him an inducement to enlist in the Army of the United States. But when you limit a man to the mere routine of a soldier's duty, to what he considers a degradation, and reduce him below the quality of men generally in society, and place him in a position where he is looked upon as a different class of being, you can never fill your ranks with respectable men, whose hearts are stimulated by high and holy motives of patriotism. Pride is as necessary to a soldier as are his rations to his physical existence. [The Vice-President, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Davis, Mr. Gwin, Mr. Iverson, and Mr. Stuart speak.] Mr. Houston. I believe, according to the opinion of the gentle- man, I may be permitted to go on with my remarks. [Mr. Stuart, Mr. Gwin, and the Vice-President speak.]
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