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Show IIOLSE. The army appropriation bill, as reported re-ported lrom the committee of the whole on Saturday, came up for consideration con-sideration as the regular order. The first amendment was Schleicher's, striking out the clause prohibiting recruiting re-cruiting of the army beyond the number num-ber of enlisted men on the rolls on the 1st of November. Concurred in. Th,amiinilman(Arr,ilhrv.n nrn viding that four cavalry regiments be recruited to 100 men each company, to be employed in defense of tne Mexican and Indian frontiers ; of Texas, provided nothing herein contained shall authorize recruiting beyond 30,000 men, was concurred in yeas, 13; nays, 127. Republicans voted solidly against the amendment and were joined by Uidding, Mills and Schleicher. Tne amendment providing that stafl officers ahall not be entitled to or receive any additional rank, pay or allowance was rejected yeas, 123; nays, 131. The negative vote was given by republicana, backed by Blackburn, Carlisle, Cook, Harrison, Eckhofl", Mulier, Potter, Willis and Randolph. Uarheld sent to the clerk's desk and had read a letter trom the secretary secre-tary of war, detending himself from the charges made against him for recruiting soldiers since the army bill was before the committee on appropriations. Tne secretary claims that the enlistment of recruits is expressly authorized by law, aud therefore it can be carried on even in the absence of the appropriation. Nevertheless, he had not deemed it beat to coniiuuo recruiting recruit-ing after the 1st of July, not (or want of authority, but because lio thought it inexpedient to muater men into service when there was no money to pay them. An order had been accordingly issued to stop recruiting re-cruiting on the first of July. Subsequently Subse-quently an urgent appeal had corae from Major General McDowell, commanding com-manding the military division ot the Pacific, approved and urged by the I general of the army, asking authority i to enlist recruits for cavalry regi ments engaged iu that department iu carrying on the Indian war. The secretary yielded to that appeal and recruiting had beeu for a short time permitted lor that purpose, Tho order for this recruiting was not only lawful but urgent and necessary, and a refusal to make it under the circumstances cir-cumstances would have subjected the department to grave censure, especially es-pecially as the suaallnesa of the force engaged in tht Indian war was the occasaion of the greatest delay in conquering peace and ot the death of many brave officers and men. This order for rtcruitine had been countermanded counter-manded as soon as the emergency seemed over, and no enlistments htm been made since. The impression that some 500 men had been ecu bit d recently was an entire mistake growing out of a misconstrue tion of the adjutant general' tele gram. A supplementary telegram 'from the secretary was also read etat ing that the order for enlistment was made not by himself, but by the general gen-eral of ths army on the 5tu of Juy Banning, chairman of tne commit tee on military sti;rs, also sent to the clerk's desk and had read a tele gram received today from the adjutant ad-jutant general, stating that recruitiug returns showed 1,0:23 men had beea eniiated since the 1st of Juiy, 1S77. Tne principal part had ben enlisted on the Pacific coast by authority of the general ot the army, given on tne 5th of July to m-.-el toe exigencies of the Indian war. Hewitt, member of the appropriations appropria-tions committee, criticized tne secretary's secre-tary's letter, and said if there bad been acy mistake or misapprehension it was due to tne concealment oi facts on the part of the secretary of war and orLoers of the army, and to their wan; ot c.indor in stating to the committee com-mittee facts. He tuen discussed and denied the right asserted by the sec retary to authcrz? enl:3t:uents iu the absence ol uu pp: op nation, and claiuitd that the jdeat had no such right, otherwitfo it would be a concession of every principle for which the Auglo Saxon race had : struggled from tne lime of Cuaries I. ;HeAii: cited the iuipositin ul the ship mouey lax by Cuaries I. aud the reheiiiou of John Hampdeu aud others, the bill of rights unJer William Will-iam III, aud the dcciaiatiou of Judge Story tuat the control ol the ptn.p.e over the standing army w:is absolute, by reason ul the p:i.vr of ihe house ot repreoeuUlives to dcl appropria lions. Garfield replied that the house would compare the candor ot the letter just read from the secretary of war with Hewiit'B speech in such a way as would uot be unfavorable to the secretary. He wished to know if Hewitt thought the president should have dissolved the army because there had been no appropriation made or that the army should be allowed to melt away by deatu and desertion, until il should become too inedicisui to protect ihe lrootier. The whole regular army bill hud been passed without a dollar of appropria lions. It stood entirely separate lrom ihe appropriation bill. Congress 1 could refuse to appropriate mouey.i but the army would still stand. Tne law fixed the number of the army at I 25,000 men. In the great pressure of danger on the Pacific coast gallant men had gone to the arrr.y headquarters head-quarters in order to assist in protecting protect-ing their homes against savages and had been told that there being no appropriation they would have to trust to the justice of congress for their pay. Wheu by ibis means the country bad bdeu eaved, it was daunted in the lace ol the secretary of war that he was impeachable for high crimes aud misdemeanoia. Ha did not believe the majority on the democratic aide sympathized with that kind of talk, and the country would 0et it down as being made for ihe purpose pur-pose of throwing obloquy upon the gallant army, which had done so much to save the country from great perils. It was as unkind as unpatrt otic and cruel to the army. Gonyress might, of course, rntuse to p iy those 1,000 men who had btvu recruited, but the country would thea knu i whether congress was the eueuiy A the army. Couger said the country knew the ofiicera assailed. They needed nu defence. Banning held that if the army were without their pay it was because the president had not called congress together before the end of the fiscal year, aa under the constitution constitu-tion he should have done. He would vote for the present bill, but not before putting on record his opposition to the man who had violated the constitution by failing to call congress together before the 1st of July last. ' ' Dunnell felt bound, be Baid, when he heard the word "concealment" applied to the secretary of war, to vindicate that official. No truer man , than George McCrary was connected with the government. An honester man had never been connected with the government. He was eminently just, fair and honorable. Iu conclusion conclu-sion Dunnell criticized the bill as magnifying too much the demands of the Texas frontier and belittling the wants of the frontier. The discussion closed and the bill passed without divisien. A large number of bills were introduced intro-duced and referred, including a bill amending the laws regarding mailable matter ot the third class, the existing banking laws, designating the time! for the meeting of congress j on the first Monday of January, ; to reduce the number of military cadets, for the payment of all cotton seized alter the 29th of January, Jan-uary, 1865; also to refund the tax on raw cotton collected from 1S63 t 1S68. By Hunter, to prohibit by constitutional constitu-tional amendment the payment of claims arising out of the late rebellion. rebel-lion. By Phillips, for the payment of im port duties in legal tender notes as noon as they are quoted at par with legal tender coin ot tho United States. iMaoy bills were introduced aud re ferred for ihe improvement of harbors, har-bors, rivers, etc. J Springer oflsred a resolution calling on the secretary of state for informa-' informa-' lion as to the indemnity paid by tne Spanish government on account of the execution of General Ryan and 'others in Cuba, in November, 1375. . Adopted. The house then adjourned. |