Daily National Intelligencer

BOUNTY TO DESERTERS.

From the Petersburg Courier.

It is with pleasure we observe that a resolution has at length passed the House of Representatives offering one hundred acres of land to every deserter. This ought to have been done long before; and instead of one hundred acres, the number ought to have been doubled as a sufficient compensation.

It is amusing to observe the absurd and gross assertions advanced by the minority members in their opposition to this measure. Mr. Grosvenor of New York in his speech, uses the following expressions: "We are to settle these raggamuffins on our frontiers. Was there a man who believed that these men who were picked from the jails of Europe, these six penny men, would settle down as Farmers? No; they were men of dissolute lives, men not acquainted with the useful arts."

Mr. Grosvenor, if these be his real sentiments, knows very little of the English army.

The present English army are, with very few exceptions, composed entirely of industrious Manufacturers, who were compelled to enlist from want of employment; for it is well known that during the continental war, three fourths of the hands employed in all the manufacturing towns in England were discharged. These men, therefore, not being accustomed to obtain a living by any other means than the art in which they had been instructed, had no other alternative but to enlist. Desertion in such men ought not to be viewed as a crime, but as a virtue. Having been forced into a state of slavery, it is not only just but a duty incumbent upon them to use every means in their power in order to regain their freedom and become again useful members in society. In place of sending them to the Back Woods and giving them one hundred acres of land: it would also be more for the interest of the United States if Congress would vote a certain sum of money for the purpose of enabling these men to get into employment in their respective trades, and rewarding each according to his talents and industry; but the present proposition is better than none. We are therefore highly gratified that it has passed the House of Representatives, and we trust that it will lead to something still better. Why has not a similar motion been made with respect to the seamen? If Congress would only offer the full value of every vessel of war that would desert from the enemy to the seamen of that vessel: both Admiral Cochrane and Admiral Cockburn, would be more cautious in entering our rivers. This would not only be a just, but the most effectual retaliation which could be adopted.