"The project of disciplining all the militia of the "United States is as futile as it would be injurious, "if it were capable of being carried into execution. A "tolerable expertness in military movements, is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, 66 or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of "it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and "of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms "for the purpose of going through military exercises "and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to ac66 quire the degree of perfection which would entitle "them to the character of a well-regulated militia, "would be a real grievance to the People, and a seri"ous public inconvenience and loss. It would form an "annual deduction from the productive labor of the "country, to an amount, which, calculating upon the "present numbers of the People, would not fall far short "of the whole expense of the civil establishments of all "the States. To attempt a thing which would abridge "the mass of labor and industry to so considerable an 66 extent, would be unwise: and the experiment, if made, "could not succeed, because it would not long be en"dured. Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the People at large, than to have them prop"erly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this "be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year.

66

"But though the scheme of disciplining the whole "Nation must be abandoned as mischievous or imprac"ticable; yet it is a matter of the utmost importance, "that a well-digested plan should, as soon as possible, "be adopted for the proper establishment of the militia. "The attention of the Government ought particularly to "be directed to the formation of a select corps of mod"erate extent, upon such principles as will really fit them "for service in case of need. By thus circumscribing the

" plan, it will be possible to have an excellent body of "well-trained militia, ready to take the field whenever "the defence of the State shall require it. This will "not only lessen the call for military establishments, "but if circumstances should at any time oblige the "Government to form an army of any magnitude, "that army can never be formidable to the liberties of "the People, while there is a large body of citizens, lit"tle, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use "of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights, "and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to 66 me the only substitute that can be devised for a stand"ing army, and the best possible security against it, if "it should exist."

Thus differently from the adversaries of the proposed Constitution should I reason on the same subject; deducing arguments of safety from the very sources which they represent as fraught with danger and perdition. But how the National Legislature may reason on the point, is a thing which neither they nor I can foresee.

There is something so far fetched, and so extravagant, in the idea of danger to liberty from the militia, that one is at a loss, whether to treat it with gravity or with raillery; whether to consider it as a mere trial of skill, like the paradoxes of rhetoricians; as a disingenuous artifice, to instil prejudices at any price; or as the serious offspring of political fanaticism. Where, in the name of common sense, are our fears to end, if we may not trust our sons, our brothers, our neighbors, our fellow-citizens? What shadow of danger can there be from men who are daily mingling with the rest of their countrymen; and who participate with them in the same feelings, sentiments, habits, and interests? What reasonable cause of apprehension can be inferred from a power in the Union to prescribe regulations for the militia, and to command its services when necessary.

while the particular States are to have the sole and exclusive appointment of the officers? If it were possible seriously to indulge a jealousy of the militia, upon any conceivable establishment under the Federal Government, the circumstance of the officers being in the appointment of the States ought at once to extinguish it. There can be no doubt, that this circumstance will always secure to them a preponderating influence over the militia.

In reading many of the publications against the Constitution, a man is apt to imagine that he is perusing some ill-written tale or romance, which, instead of natural and agreeable images, exhibits to the mind nothing but frightful and distorted shapes —

"Gorgons, Hydras, and Chimeras dire;"

discoloring and disfiguring whatever it represents, and transforming everything it touches into a monster.

A sample of this is to be observed in the exaggerated and improbable suggestions which have taken place respecting the power of calling for the services of the militia. That of New Hampshire is to be marched to Georgia, of Georgia to New Hampshire, of New York to Kentucky, and of Kentucky to Lake Champlain: Nay, the debts due to the French and Dutch are to be paid in militia-men instead of Louis d'ors and ducats. At one moment, there is to be a large army to lay prostrate the liberties of the People; at another moment, the militia of Virginia are to be dragged from their homes, five or six hundred miles, to tame the republican contumacy of Massachusetts; and that of Massachusetts is to be transported an equal distance, to subdue the refractory haughtiness of the aristocratic Virginians. Do the persons who rave at this rate, imagine that their art or their eloquence can impose any conceits or absurdities upon the People of America for infallible truths?

If there should be an army to be made use of as the engine of despotism, what need of the militia? If there should be no army, whither would the militia, irritated by being called upon to undertake a distant and hopeless expedition, for the purpose of riveting the chains of slavery upon a part of their countrymen, direct their course, but to the seat of the tyrants, who had meditated so foolish as well as so wicked a project, to crush them in their imagined intrenchments of power, and to make them an example of the just vengeance of an abused and incensed People? Is this the way in which usurpers stride to dominion over a numerous and enlightened Nation? Do they begin by exciting the detestation of the very instruments of their intended usurpations? Do they usually commence their career by wanton and disgustful acts of power, calculated to answer no end, but to draw upon themselves universal hatred and execration? Are suppositions of this sort the sober admonitions of discerning patriots to a discerning People? Or are they the inflammatory ravings of chagrined incendiaries, or distempered enthusiasts? If we were even to suppose the National rulers actuated by the most ungovernable ambition, it is impossible to believe that they would employ such preposterous means to accomplish their designs.

In times of insurrection, or invasion, it would be natural and proper, that the militia of a neighboring State should be marched into another, to resist, a common enemy, or to guard the republic against the violence of faction or sedition. This was frequently the case, in respect to the first object, in the course of the late war; and this mutual succor is, indeed, a principal end of our political association. If the power of affording it be placed under the direction of the Union, there will be no danger of a supine and listless inattention to the dangers of a neighbor, till its near approach had

superadded the incitements of self-preservation, to the too feeble impulses of duty and sympathy.

I have now gone through the examination of such of the powers proposed to be vested in the United States, which may be considered as having an immediate relation to the energy of the Government; and have endeavored to answer the principal objections which have been made to them. I have passed over in silence those minor authorities which are either too inconsiderable to have been thought worthy of the hostilities of the opponents of the Constitution, or of too manifest propriety to admit of controversy. The mass of Judiciary power, however, might have claimed an investigation under this head, had it not been for the consideration that its organization and its extent may be more advantageously considered in connection. This has determined me to refer it to the branch of our inquiries, upon which we shall next enter.

PUBLIUS.

[From the Daily Advertiser, Friday, January 11, 1788.]

THE FEDERALIST. No. XXXVI.

TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF New York:

N reviewing the defects of the existing Confederation, and showing that they cannot be supplied by a Government of less energy than that before the public, several of the most important principles of the latter fell of course under consideration. But as the ultimate object of these papers is, to determine clearly and fully the merits of this Constitution, and the expediency of adopting it, our plan cannot be completed without taking a