61
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1858
that amor patriae, which will always give victory to your arms when you grapple with an adversary worthy of your steel. 1 Cong1·essiona.l Globe, 1857-1858, Part 2, pp. 1427, 1430, 1431-1432, 1433. The bill passed 41 to 13. The title was then amended to read: An Act to provide for the organization of a regiment of mounted volunteers for the defence of the frontier of Texas; and to authorize the President of the United States to call into the service of the United States two additional regiments of volunteers. CONCERNING THE WASHINGTON CITY POLICE BILL 1 April 5, 1858. Mr. Houston. This subject is a new one to me, and I have not had the time to look into the bill particularly; but I under- stand the object to be the improvement and regulation of the police of the city of Washington. If I am correctly informed, it is very important to the security and good order, and to the well-being of the people here, that such a measure should be adopted. The gentlemen who have spoken in opposition to it have presented objections to the adoption of the measure; but they have not suggested a remedy that seems to meet the occa- sion. The honorable gentleman from Georgia says that when this force is organized, doubtless the very persons who would be selected are those who have contrived and produced the present condition of things, and it is a very deplorable one. But in the organization of the police it is not necessary that persons should be selected from the city of Washington, who are iden- tified, either by relationship, or association, with those who have been implicated in the disorders that have taken place. They may be selected from the adjacent country. The inducement will be sufficient to bring persons who are temperate, regular in their habits, and not identified with any of the disorders of this place, and let them know that they have a certain amount of character to maintain by their vigilance, their activity, and their fidelity, and you may organize a corps that will be very efficient, and become indispensably necessary. We all admit, that for the irregularities, the acts of violence, and other disorders, there ought to be a remedy; and yet it is a charge upon the people in Vv ashington that it is necessary for Congress to make provision to employ a police force for the city of Washington. It is pecu- liarly situated and different from all other cities of the Union. There is no other city that is extended over as vast an area as Washington m proportion to its population. It is .in the
Powered by FlippingBook