that best of rules, experience. There are but few persons over this age, whose minds have not been well disciplined by habitual study, who can master, with ease to themselves or profit to the service, the very arduous course of scientific studies now required at the Military Academy." p. 43.

But for the sake of the argument, we might admit the assertion of fact here contradicted, and yet it proves nothing in favour of the idea of the anti-republican tendency of the school, by its monopoly of the subaltern offices in the army; for be it remembered, it operates no exclusion of other citizens than graduates. from appointment to the higher posts, the graduates being compelled to pass through the whole slow and tedious series of promotion, before they can attain any considerable degree of advancement. We say it proves nothing in favour of such an idea, because if there were no academy, and of course no graduates, the favoured few appointed to army officers from among the mass of the citizens, would constitute as much a select and favoured class, to the exclusion of the many, as the graduates do now. The same power that appoints the cadets, would make the selections for commissions from among the citizens at large. In the latter case, what struggling, electioneering, and risk of favouritism? If, then, every citizen cannot be provided with an office in the army, and it follows that the corps of officers in the military (as in the civil) service must of necessity constitute a "select class," whether appointed with reference to a military education or not, the question resolves itself simply into one of expediency. Upon that, there cannot be a doubt that the nation does well in insisting that this class shall have been previously educated for the purposes of the service, and in holding in its own keeping the means of being secure in the attainment of that object. At the same time, having under its own eye seen the habits of the youth formed, and fashioned with its own hands their destinies, it avoids the inconvenience (to say nothing of the ignorance and inefficiency of the persons appointed) of the selection of individuals, who may enter the army for temporary subsistence, and who, not being attached to the profession by early discipline, will leave it for any other, for which their previous and various education may have fitted them. It is then no objection to the academy, if it were the fact, that its graduates "monopolize" the army offices, any more than it is an objection to every institution or branch of the government which requires peculiar qualifications and attainments to be possessed by its servants, and in this acts upon the saying of Horace, so sound as to have become an apothegm, that what is well begun is half done.

Not content with assaulting the policy of maintaining the Military Academy by arguments drawn from possibilities and

anticipations of the future, the author of the report attempts to give it a stab by a reference to the times of the revolution. Asserting that the success of our cause in that fearful struggle was attained without the aid of a military school; hence arguing that such an institution can never create a military genius; he then proceeds, with an air of triumph, to put questions and draw conclusions as follows:

"Were the country now in a condition to desire the presentation of some valorous and commanding spirit; a man, or set of men, endowed with the genius and heroic talents of Washington, to guide our forces to battle and victory, would the experienced and practical eye overlook the great multitude of brave, efficient, and energetic men with which private life abounds, and rest its only or principal hopes upon the resources or materials of West Point Academy? or upon any of the graduates of that institution, in consideration only of their past association with it? It is believed that the hopes and confidence of the people would obtain a very different direction at such a juncture. On such occasions, he who is made by nature and by inherent worth the master-spirit of his kind, will stand forth regardless of diplomas, and regardless of the compliments of examining committees, as also of the tinsels of scholarship, and at a single blast of the war note, infused with his own chivalrous spirit, the multitude would seek his standard in preference to that of all others; and his would be the arm most relied upon to defend the nation's rights and the nation's honour; and the ruling motive in the selection of their chief would operate in the choice of commandants under him. All history teaches these truths, insomuch that they almost entirely cease to partake of prophecy. And hence it is believed to be in vain to think of eliciting, in times of profound peace, by any provisions of art, of discipline, or of legislation, that talent and those extraordinary traits of character, which are destined, and best qualified in the hour of danger, to rush into an ascendency over the minds of men, and with giant powers to control the fortunes of a great people. War alone can summon forth such spirits, and they are peculiar to a state of war." p. 28.

This exquisite strain has then much the appearance of being intended for effect. Have we forgotten the employment of foreign soldiers and officers in our armies during the revolutionary war? Have we especially forgotten the necessities which compelled a recourse to foreign engineering talent? Can we forget that Washington himself, before he assumed the command in chief, was not an unpractised soldier? that he earnestly and most anxiously deprecated the want of competent subaltern officers, in his repeated communications to the authorities of the new government? that foreigners were placed in the most exalted stations in order to discipline the troops, and yet with this that great laxity prevailed, so that the struggle was a protracted one? that nothing but the most indomitable courage and unshaken perseverance could have enabled the young giant of freedom to burst the bonds of oppression, unconcentrated and untrained as was the strength which finally accomplished the VOL. XXII.—No. 43.

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glorious deed? Have we ceased to remember, as we have shown in the outset, that the very men under whose guidance the adventurous bark of liberty had passed through the storm and reached in safety the haven of independence, immediately after the adoption of the federal constitution, impelled doubtless by the sad recollection of the necessity which had previously existed, struggled once more to provide for a military school, as the sheet-anchor of safety, whenever the tempest of war should again burst forth? Is not their testimony worth a whole ocean of the unmeaning generalities and suppositions of the "select committee?" But the view taken in the preceding quotations, so far as it bears upon the West Point Academy, places things in a false position. The question is not whether that school creates or nature bestows great genius. Genius, without the knowledge of the means how to apply it usefully, is like the power of steam-when ignorantly directed, self-destruction is the result; when wisely used, it is the proudest triumph of art that ministers to the convenience of man. It is not the object of the school to make or destroy genius; but it is its legitimate object, and it accomplishes it, too, to train and render useful the genius which is the gift of nature, that it may attain to useful ends. And yet we are told that men who combine prudence, the child of knowledge, with genius (of which Washington was a high example), cannot guide our forces to battle or victory! None can deny the necessity of moral courage in a soldier, but it requires something more to insure him success. The kind of "chivalrous spirit" to which the meaning of the author tends-if his words have any meaning, and that is not very clear is that which has been exhibited in the character of a Tecumseh, a Pontiac, a Michiknaqwa, or an Oseola. No one has ever doubted the native genius, high-toned bravery, or chivalric spirit of the American Indian chief, nor the influence by which he can rally around him his tribe, to fight even to the death struggle, at his command. Yet the art of military civilization has driven the tribes before it, like chaff before the wind, till, in the lapse of scarcely more than three centuries, a quarter of the globe has been wrested from their possession. The design of the Military Academy is not to send forth its every pupil fitted to take command of whole armies, for that would be absurd because impossible. Nor is it supposed by any one that any pupil who leaves its walls does so, at once to be invested with the chieftainship of the military power of the nation, by force of supposed merit or genius. What the academy purports to do is, in time of peace, simply, to fit a portion of the American youths with elementary knowledge of the art of war, and practical acquaintance with its duties, so as to enable them faithfully to serve their country in subaltern positions, till advancing in

age, in practice, and in grade by promotion for able service, the genius which God has given them, may stand upon the foundation stone of the education obtained from their parent school, and look for the accomplishment of high deeds, when its force, aided by valour, patriotism, and successful deeds, shall have made them the pride of the whole people. It will not fall to the lot of most of them to accomplish this high destiny, for, educated or uneducated, it is the fortune of few to possess the attribute of great genius. But it is an insult to the character of our people to suppose that the boy of West Point may never, because of his origin, become the man of the nation in after life, if merit in all respects shall mark his career. The navy, to a certain extent, is a school. The midshipman serves a long apprenticeship, at the expense of the nation, before he may get his warrant, and years of service before he may command a ship. Yet the hearts. of the American people beat with a quickened impulse when they speak of the deeds of their naval heroes, and they never stoop to the mercenary feeling which is excited by a calculation of the expense or time bestowed upon the education of the sailor boy. The same popular judgment reaches the army, and long will both services win and enjoy the affections of the people, unless such sentiments as those promulgated in this "Report of the Select Committee" shall come into vogue.

But the most reprehensible part of this report, is that which would not only strip the officers who have graduated at this school of the laurels which they have won in the battle-field, but, by insinuation, avers that they have been totally undistinguished in service, and this with a view of adding force to the blow which it aims at the institution. "The paucity," says the author of the report, "of the number of the graduates for which distinction can be claimed, of itself demonstrates how little advantage is to be counted upon in time of war from its operations and influence." And how does the gentle reader suppose this inference is made out? What does the author designate as the test of distinction? The reader will be astonished to find that a select committee of the house of representatives of the United States, through their chairman, proclaim that the test of military distinction in an officer of the army of the United States is to be killed in battle! The only proof attempted of the assertion of the want of distinction which we have just quoted, consists of a note attached to it, in which the number of graduates killed in battle is stated! That number we have previously seen, up to June, 1837, to be fifteen. We have had but the war of 1812, and the Indian conflicts. May not a soldier earn distinction in battle, without paying for it the price of life? If so, a chance shot may do more, in the way of distinction, for the drummer-boy, than all the deeds of a living

general of successive victories can avail. Bonaparte, by this rule, was never distinguished in a military point of view, for he was not "killed in battle!" Nor Wellington, nor Washington, nor Jackson, et sic de similibus, for they were not "killed in battle!" Why did not the report, for the sake of fairness at least, state the number remaining in the service, and the number of those who have died in the service? The first, up to June, 1837, is four hundred, and the second, to the same date, is one hundred and twenty. Are their names wholly undistinguished because they were not "killed in battle?" author of the "Remarks on the Report" says:

The

"Of the poor attempt to throw discredit on the Military Academy in this way, he can only point to the history of the graduates in every walk of life, as the most ample refutation. He claims nothing for them as geniuses of a high order, nor as eminent heroes; but simply prefers the modest claim to have them regarded as good citizens, who have fulfilled the duties assigned to them by their country, whether off or on the battle field. If any of them, more fortunate than their comrades, have snatched a leaf from laurel-crowned victory, or have earned their country's praise, by pouring forth their best blood in her defence, it is enough for their fame that they were called to so high honour; it is enough for their Alma Mater that they are sons for whom she need never blush. What they might have become, without her nursing care, He alone knows. She is consoled, that, living or dying, they at least denied not their debt to her, and would spurn, with proud scorn, the miserable slanderer who would suggest to them the base ungrateful act." p. 39.

In addition to this passage, we cannot forbear to quote the following indignant and manly rebuke, given by the "Graduate" in his "Letter" to the honourable western member of congress, who chose in his speech to sneer at the services of the graduates in the Florida campaign :

"I have indeed mistaken the chivalrous character of the sons of the west, if there beats one heart amongst them, which feels any thing but disgust in reading your ill-timed remarks as reported in the Globe.

"Who are they against whom these sarcasms were uttered? The events are but of yesterday. The bloody tale is still fresh in the memory of all. Even

'Now the pale maiden weeps her lover's fall;
On their lost sire distracted orphans call;
The widow's wail, the frantic mother's moan,
Blends with each shriek, and deepens every groan.'

"Scarcely has the earth had time to drink up the blood of the victims of the Wythlacoochee, the cheeks of the mother, the widow, and the sister, are still moist with the tears of affliction, the upbraiding cry of the orphan, left without provision or a home, to the cold charities of the world, by a country in whose service the father's heart's blood was gallantly poured forth, is yet ringing in our ears, when a father, a husband, perhaps a son or brother, the representative of a portion of that people in whose defence the sacrifice was made, rises in his seat in the great