4,92
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1858
to my principles to yield my concurrence to any recommenda- tion of theirs which I do not readily adopt on the information before me. These are my views in relation to the Army; and until I have some evidence before me that I have not yet had, I shall continue to believe that those gentlemen have not had an opportunity of investigating this matter thoroughly, so as to justify us in follow- ing their recommendation, and increasing the Army to the extent proposed. I shall not allude to the condition of things in Kansas, although it has been introduced into the debate. That is a subject which I have not allowed myself yet to investigate. The period was, when in perspective I saw all the calamities that have fallen on this nation-distracted, ruined, or almost destroyed liberties-by the adoption between midnight and dawn of the measure which repealed the Missouri compromise. On the night of its enactment, I stood on this floor appealing to Senators to preserve the peace and vindicate the Union and the national faith; but I was laughed at. They have not laughed since. I have avoided touching that subject, and I shall not do it now. I hope the opportun{ty will be afforded before I quit this Chamber, which will allow me to vindicate myself and the course of principles on which I stood, and then I will lay bare the iniquity, as I conceive, of the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I shall not allude to the use which has been made of the Army in Kansas; I have already expressed the opinion that the President had power to use it there, and as to the mode in which he has used it I shall say nothing. If this increase of force is supposed to be needed for a Mor- mon war, and an Indian war, that is an emergency which cannot be of long duration. For such a service, I prefer volunteers, who can march to the scene of action promptly, who go on their own responsibility, and can be there almost in the twinkling of an eye. If you adopt the system of raising regulars, you will not in less than two years have raised your regular force of men for that purpose; and when raised, they will be utterly inefficient and unqualified for the service. If, however, you take volunteers, in sixty or ninety days or less, from Missouri, from Iowa, and I would say from Texas, troops will go there and settle the business very speedily, if war be necessary; but I doubt whether, unfor- tunately, men have not been there in former times who were worse than the Mormons themselves, and whose moral texture and com- plexion might reflect disgrace upon the Mormons. It may be that such persons incited these men to desperation, and led to the
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