Under the views entertained by Mr. Haralson of the princi ples and policy of our government, he has felt it his duty to support the present administration in most of the measures it has proposed. We note, as an exception, the recommendation of the President, at the last session, for the appointment of a lieutenant-general to take command of all the forces in the field. That proposition met the decided disapprobation of Mr. Haralson; and while he regretted the necessity of differing from the administration and many of his political friends, yet a sense of duty, and the judgment he had formed of the interests of the public service, left him no alternative but to oppose this execu tive project.

On the 4th of January, 1847, the President transmitted to the two houses of Congress the following message:

"To the Senate and House of Representatives:

"In order to prosecute the war against Mexico with vigor and success, it is necessary that authority should be promptly given by Congress to increase the regular army, and to remedy existing defects in its organization. With this view, your favorable attention is invited to the annual report of the Secretary of War, which accompanied my message of the 8th instant, in which he recommends that ten additional regiments of regular troops shall be raised to serve during the war.

"Of the additional regiments of volunteers which have been called for from several of the states, some have been promptly raised; but this has not been the case in regard to all. The existing law, requiring that they should be organized by the independent action of the state governments, has in some instances occasioned considerable delay, and it is yet uncertain when the troops required can be ready for service in the field.

"It is our settled policy to maintain, in time of peace, as small a regular army as the exigencies of the public service will permit. In a state of war, notwithstanding the great advantages with which our volunteer citizen soldiers can be brought into the field, this small regular army must be increased in its numbers in order to render the whole force more efficient.

"Additional officers, as well as men, then become indispensable. Under the circumstances of our service, a peculiar pro

priety exists for increasing the officers, especially in the higher grades. The number of such officers, who, from age and other causes, are rendered incapable of active service in the field, has seriously impaired the efficacy of the army.

"From the report of the Secretary of War, it appears that about two thirds of the whole regimental field officers are either permanently disabled, or are necessarily detached from their commands on other duties. The long enjoyment of peace has prevented us from experiencing much embarrassment from this cause; but now, in a state of war, conducted in a foreign country, it has produced serious injury to the public service.

"An efficient organization of the army, composed of regulars and volunteers, while prosecuting the war in Mexico, it is believed, would require the appointment of a general officer to take command of all our military forces in the field.

"Upon the conclusion of the war, the services of such an officer would no longer be necessary, and should be dispensed with upon the reduction of the army to a peace establishment.

"I recommend that provision be made by law for the appointment of such a general officer, to serve during the war.

"It is respectfully recommended that early action should be had by Congress upon the suggestions submitted to their consideration, as necessary to insure active and efficient service in prosecuting the war before the present favorable season for military operations in the enemy's country shall have passed away. "JAMES K. POLK.

"WASHINGTON, December 29, 1846."

This message was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs of the House. On the following day, that committee, through its chairman, Mr. Haralson, asked to be discharged from the further consideration of so much of the message as related to the passage of a law for the appointment of a general officer, and that it be laid on the table. The record says, "This motion was agreed to without any expressed opposition, and the subject was accordingly laid on the table."

On the day following, a motion was made by Mr. Hamlin,, of Maine, that the vote by which the House discharged the Committee on Military Affairs from, and laid upon the table, so much of the message as related to this appointment, be reconsidered; and, by yeas 86, nays 81, the vote was recon

seven.

sidered. The direct question was then again taken on dis charging the committee, and laying the subject on the table. The affirmative vote was ninety-three, the negative ninetyAnd then, on motion of Mr. Hamlin, this portion of the message was referred to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union. That course was taken, not in consequence of any expectation then existing that the House would sanction that appointment, as it subsequently did, but from an opinion, prevalent in some quarters, that the proposition of the President had been disposed of in the first instance by a process rather too summary, and which might bear the construction, though not so designed, that the House had refused to give it the respectful consideration usually bestowed upon executive recommendations.

As time passed, a great change took place in the opinions of members on this question. On the 9th of January, 1847, five days after the transmission of the President's Message, the bill "to raise, for a limited time, an additional military force, and for other purposes," being under consideration, Mr. Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, made the following amendment :

"And be it further enacted, That the President shall be authorized, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a lieutenant-general, who shall take command of our armies, and whose term of service shall continue during the war with the Republic of Mexico."

This amendment was rejected by the following vote:

Yeas: Messrs. Stephen Adams, Joseph H. Anderson, Charles S. Benton, James Black, Franklin W. Bowden, James B. Bowlin, Linn Boyd, William H. Brockenbrough, William G. Brown, Reuben Chapman, Lucien B. Chase, John S. Chipman, Henry S. Clarke, Howell Cobb, John F. Collin, Alvan Cullom, Francis A. Cunningham, John R. J. Daniel, John De Mott, Stephen A. Douglas, Robert P. Dunlap, Samuel S. Ellsworth, Jacob Erdman, James J. Faran, Henry D. Foster, George Fries, William S. Garvin, Samuel Gordon, Martin Grover, Hannibal Hamlin, John H. Harmanson, S. Clinton Hastings, Thomas J. Henley, Joseph P. Hoge, William J. Hough, George S. Houston, Orville Hungerford, Charles J. Ingersoll, James H. Johnson, Joseph Johnson, George W. Jones, Seaborn Jones, David S. Kaufman, Andrew Kennedy, Preston King, Shelton F. Leake, Owen

D. Leib, Emile la Sere, John H. Lumpkin, Moses M'Lean, John A. M'Clernand, John D. M'Crate, William M'Daniel, Joseph J. M'Dowell, James M'Dowell, James J. M'Kay, John P. Martin, Barclay Martin, Isaac E. Morse, Moses Moulton, Moses Norris, William W. Payne, Augustus L. Perrill, Thomas Perry, John S. Phelps, Timothy Pillsbury, George Rathbun, Robert W. Roberts, Joseph Russell, William Sawyer, John F. Scammon, Leonard H. Sims, Robert Smith, Frederic P. Stanton, David A. Starkweather, Henry St. John, Stephen Strong, James Thompson, Jacob Thompson, Allen G. Thurman, William M. Tredway, Horace Wheaton, William W. Wick, Hez- › ekiah Williams, and Bradford R. Wood-85.

Nays: Amos Abbott, Leonard H. Arnold, George Ashmun, Archibald Atkinson, Daniel M. Barringer, Thomas H. Bayly, Henry Bedinger, Joshua F. Bell, James A. Black, John Blanchard, Richard Brodhead, Milton Brown, Joseph Buffington, Armistead Burt, William W. Campbell, John H. Campbell, Charles H. Carroll, Charles W. Cathcart, John G. Chapman, Augustus A. Chapman, William M. Cocke, Jacob Collamer, James L. F. Cottrell, Henry Y. Cranston, John H. Crozier, Erastus D. Culver, Edmund S. Dargan, Cornelius Darragh, Garrett Davis, Columbus Delano, Paul Dillingham, Jr., James Dixon, James C., Dobbin, Alfred Dockery, Joseph E. Edsall, John H. Ewing, Edward H. Ewing, Solomon Foot, Meredith P. Gentry, Joshua R. Giddings, William F. Giles, James Graham, Henry Grider, Joseph Grinnell, Artemas Hale, James G. Hampton, Hugh A. Haralson, Alexander Harper, Henry W. Hilliard, Elias B. Holmes, Isaae E. Holmes, George W. Hopkins, John W. Houston, Edmund W. Hubard, Samuel D. Hubbard, Charles Hudson, Washington Hunt, James B. Hunt, Robert M. T. Hunter, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Timothy Jenkins, Andrew Johnson, Daniel P. King, Thomas Butler King, John W. Lawrence, Shepherd Leffler, Lewis C. Levin, Abner Lewis, Edward Long, William B. Maclay, Robert M'Clelland, Robert W. M'Gaughey, John H. M'Henry, Abraham R. M'Ilvaine, George P. Marsh, William S. Miller, William A. Moseley, Archibald C. Niven, Robert Dale Owen, John S. Pendleton, James Pollock, Alexander Ramsey, David S. Reid, Thomas C. Ripley, John Ritter, Julius Rockwell, John A. Rockwell, Joseph M. Root, John Runk, Cullen Sawtelle, Robert C. Schenck, Henry J. Seaman, VOL. I.-R

James A. Seddon, Luther Severance, Richard F. Simpson, Truman Smith, Albert Smith, Thomas Smith, Caleb B. Smith, Alexander H. Stephens, John Strohm, Bannon G. Thibodeaux, William P. Thomasson, Benjamin Thompson, John W. Tibbatts, Daniel R. Tilden, Robert Toombs, George W. Towns, Andrew Trumbo, Joseph Vance, Samuel F. Vinton, John Wentworth, Hugh White, David Wilmot, Robert C. Winthrop, Thomas M. Woodruff, Joseph A. Woodward, William Wright, Bryan R. Young, and Jacob S. Yost-120.

On the 26th of February, Mr. Boyd, of Kentucky, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom it had been referred, reported back, with certain amendments, the bill from the Senate "making provision for an additional number of general officers, and for other purposes." Among these amendments was the following:

"And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized and empowered, at his discretion, to designate and appoint any general officer of the rank of major-general, whether of the line or by brevet, and whether of the regular army or of volunteers, who may be in the service of the United States, without regard to date of cornmission, to the chief command of the military force of the United States, during the continuance of the existing war with Mexico: Provided, That the officer so designated and assigned shall cease to exercise the duties and powers of general-in-chief, as aforesaid, upon the conclusion and ratification of a treaty of peace with Mexico."

The previous question, which cut off debate, was ordered, and an unsuccessful motion was made by Mr. Ashmun, of Massachusetts, to lay the bill and amendments on the table. The reason assigned for the motion was the fact that a provision had been inserted for the appointment of a lieutenant-general. As, however, there was a manifest desire to discuss the bill, the vote ordering the previous question was reconsidered, and the bill and amendments, on motion of Mr. Garrett Davis, of Kentucky, were referred to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union.

After debate, the amendment specified was agreed to in committee, and was subsequently adopted in the House, by the fol lowing vote: