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man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, which if
carried into effect, would with the proverbial skill of our people,
and their natural adaptation to military life, render us the most
formidable military power on earth, and in a just cause, "Confi-
dent against the world in arms." But has the military policy of
Washington been fully adopted? I think certainly not. Congress
while reducing the army below a safe minimum, has never exer-
cised the authority conferred by the constitution to organize the
militia. This power has been left in the hands of the States,
which, with a few honorable exceptions have uterly neglected
this important duty, and appear to have assumed the fact that all
men are born soldiers, and that armies are merely aggregations of
men with muskets or sabres in their hands, and yet nothing can
be more fallacious, the victory is not always to the strong, to the
brave, or to the most expert in the use of arms. It is not so
much a question of prowess, as it is of the skilful drilling and
manoeuvering of masses, in which the individual man is but the
component part of a vast and intricate machine, to perform his
part, in which he is called on, not to think, but to act in perfect
harmony with his associates, and in profound subordination and
obedience to a controlling intelligence. This lesson is taught on
every page of history.

Nearly all great victories, on whose issues have sometimes de-
pended the fate of Empires, have been gained in the open field,
where discipline and skill, other things being equal, turned the
scale. This must always be so; and no nation, can consider itself
safe, that is not prepared to fight such battles. It can never re-
pose with confidence on mere defence of Forts or defiles, or the
fighting of the battles of position, for the selection of the scene of
strife, and the mode of attack, and more frequently rest with the
invader, and the government acting on the defensive, must expect
to engage in pitched battles.

Frequently an army without discipline and instruction, is bro-
ken down, like an ill constructed machine by its own weight,
which does not even bend its momentum. Such an army can
act only on the defensive, and in a position which can be assailed
in but one direction, when it may be said to resist by its vis inertiae,
but should it attempt to assume a new line or change its front, (as
happened fatally, at North Point) to meet the sudden and unex-
pected disposition of a bold and skilful enemy, it becomes a mere
disorganised mob, in which each man stands in his neighbor's way,
and all alike fall victims to their ignorance of the art of war, and
to the superior knowledge and mobility of their opponents—not
to their superior courage or physical strength—the triumph of art
over strength and courage.

The question arises, how are we to remedy the defects of our
militia organization, so as to meet the views of Gen. Washington