WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1847
509
another company in another, and when all these reports were in, and the companies collected, then, and not till then, would the colonel get his commission. But, under the amendment he pro- posed, the corps would all be ready organized, their services would have been tendered, and all the Government would have to do would be to commission the officers, and tell them to go. Mr. H. said that gentlemen should remember that it was not the mere fact of having inlisted which gave a charm to a soldier or to an officer; it was that he was a soldier or an officer in the army of the United States. The mere form of inlistment that could convert a citizen into a soldier-engagement to serve and sub- sequent discipline and training-would not only convert him into a soldier, but make the volunteer equal to a regular. The citizen entered on his military career with a constitution unimpaired by previous dissipation and dissolute habits; he had a degree of in- telligence, and aptitude to learn, which, under some six weeks' discipline, would make him equal to ~ny soldier that ever entered a field. It was intelligence and habit that made the regular; it was heart that made the volunteer; and it was head that made the commander. This plan would raise a force immediately. It would meet the wishes of those who had volunteered for the war; they were already organized. All they would have to do would be to march to their rendezvous and then forthwith ship for Mexico, and there they would at once present themselves an organized force, all ready for action on the enemy's soil. But if the original bill should be adopted, delay was inevitable. And, besides this, the officers who were authorized to raise regi- ments and failed to succeed, would then come to Congress and bring in their accounts for their expenses in the attempt. Hun- dreds of thousands of dollars would be demanded in the way of reinbursement. If these men were mere expectants of office, they did not deserve to command men who had volunteered to serve the country: they did not deserve to be plac.ed over the head of those who had freely pledged themselves to vindicate the national honor, to the utter exclusion of all selfish ambition on their part. To his plan there could not possibly be any objection. But he did see in- superable objections to the original plan as proposed by this bill. Why, here were six hundred officers to be created for the com- mand of these ten thousand men. Suppose their appointment
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