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and therefore the most judicious policy would be to let them
alone—leave the people without restrictive laws, to assume the
character of soldiers whenever they please, at no other time and
in no other way—permit the farmer to remain at the plough
handle, and artisan in his work-shop, undisturbed by the whistle
of the fife, the rattle of the drum and the waving of the flag:
teach the young when at school, every thing, necessary to be
known, appertaining to the duties of a soldier as you would im-
part to them other useful studies; and whenever wanted, the
whole force of the State could be embodied, and at the first sig-
nal war gun, be in readiness for any kind of service.

My own long experience of the vacillating character, up and
down course of uniformed volunteers—going in and out of regi-
ment, as well by companies, as individually has abundantly shown
that nothing short of a national affront suspended over our land,
or anticipated hostilities, can ever produce such an influence upon
the public mind during profound peace, as to uphold militia es-
tablishments upon a scale commensurate with the spirit of our
laws: for it is notoriously true, that when the novelty of training
in or out of uniform cases, I have found men of all classes, young and
old, prefer business pursuits, or ordinary amusements to military
exercises. As the militia is wisely considered the bulwark of
our safety, by adopting the easy, effectual mode of instruction
above indicated; whenever regiments should be needed for active
service, they will spring into existence with suitable heads to
command them, altogether amply qualified for any imaginable
crisis.

How much confidence and admiration were inspired when we
beheld a bevy of scientific officers clustering around the conse-
crated flag of their country—placing themselves at the head of
undisciplined militia leading their columns onward in quick suc-
cession, from victory to victory; subduing fortified forts as strong
as nature and art could make them—forty battles fought and
won, beginning and ending, more like magic romance than actual
reality; leaving our achievements even in a foreign land untar-
nished by one solitary defeat or blur, which upon the whole is
I believe without a parallel in the history of the world. Who
were they that so gloriously executed the unexampled order of
General Scott, preparatory to the battle of Cerro Gordo? they
were the brave accomplished officers educated at West Point,
able at a glance to apprehend what their General's order con-
templated; and best of all knew how in the fittest manner to
carry out his views. The connected, laborious evolutions which
that original order called for, together with the wonderful suc-
cess attending its triumphal execution; not only electrified every
American bosom, but its rare comprehensive character produced
abroad such an effect—a shock of surprise—as induced an Eng-
lish journalist to remark in reference thereto, "that a like order