Burlington, June 6, 1861.
The whole action of the President in regard to the
volunteers the blockade, etc., has been unconstitutional, but I am willing to
overlook that, dangerous as it may be. But I cannot and will not agree that he
shall be permitted to remodel the army, more than double its size, and appoint
nine hundred new officers, without any authority of law, and without the
slightest justification in the condition of the country. I say, condition of
the country; by that I mean, that the country demanded immediate troops,
if any at all, and they could only be secured by volunteering. Do you know
that, while we are paying the officers of the new regiments their salaries,
there are not so many men as there are officers? While four hundred thousand
volunteers have rallied to our standard) there have not been fifteen hundred
men recruited for the regular army. These new regiments cannot be got ready for
the field for a year yet, and then they will be raw men, no better than
volunteers. They say we shall want them when the war shall be over. Well, who
is to judge of that, the President or Congress? Was it not possible to wait
until the 4th of July, to let the constitutional authority speak on that
subject? The precedent is the thing that troubles me. Will it not justify the
next President in doing the same thing, and if so, how extensive must the
insurrection be that will justify him? Where is this thing to stop? I see
conscription and direct taxes in the future. I shall be the only man in the
Senate who will vote against the increase of the standing army.
SOURCE: William Salter, The Life of James W. Grimes,
p. 140-1
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